Genesis for Today, Part Two - July 21st, 2024
Introduction
One night, after hours spent in observing the movements of the stars and planets, the great seventeenth-century astronomer Kepler said to his friends, ‘I have been thinking over again the earliest thoughts of God.’ Three hundred years later, Albert Einstein, though not of any orthodox faith, said he felt ‘rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that compared with it all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection’.
The harmony, design and evidence of purpose that run through the entire creation, from the world of quantum physics to the worlds of distant galaxies and universes, from the intricacies of the human brain to the tantalizing ripples at the edge of the universe, cry out for recognition and explanation. The biblical testimony is that the primary explanation has already been given—by the God who made us and all things for His glory. Even apart from the special revelation of Scripture and even in their fallen state, human beings are made to see in the created world:
Romans 1:20 AV 1873
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
They are without excuse when they ‘suppress the truth’ they know.
Romans 1:18–19 AV 1873
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
The God who continues to reveal Himself
In [our previous times together] we stayed fairly close to the text of Genesis 1. Here I want to broaden the same lessons out a little in terms of the Bible as a whole, applying some of them more closely to our own times. [The Reformers] described the opening of Genesis as ‘certainly the foundation of the whole of Scripture’ (Quoted in Blocher, p. 16). We know God only because He makes Himself known, in deed and word, by general revelation in the creation and by special revelation in the Scriptures.
Psalm 19:1–14 AV 1873
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech,
And night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language,
Where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
And his circuit unto the ends of it:
And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
And in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me:
Then shall I be upright,
And I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth,
And the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
The God who meets us in the first chapters of Genesis is the God who continues to reveal Himself to us in the rest of Scripture. There is a marvellous unity about the books that go to form our Bible, a collection of books written and edited by more than forty authors over a period of fourteen or sixteen hundred years. We do not find there is one God of the Old Testament and a very different God of the New. The elements of greatness and goodness, justice and mercy, love and wrath in the one true God are there from the early chapters of the first book to the final chapters of the last.
The opening of Genesis tells us something about the goodness of God. He did not have to make the world. He had evidently lived in the self-sufficient blessedness of His own eternal Triune Being. He did not make us because He was lonely; He made us because He is generous, good and loving. He did not need us, yet He ordained to bring us into existence, to give us the gift of sentient life and ultimately to take us into the perfect circle of His life and fellowship for ever. His goodness means that He is the standard of all that is good:
Psalm 119:68 AV 1873
68 Thou art good, and doest good; Teach me thy statutes.
…and the giver of every good gift.
James 1:17 AV 1873
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
The self-giving nature of God’s goodness should cause us to see God in all His works, and to praise Him for them. At the same time it ought to cause us to seek Him in and beyond them all.
Psalm 73:25–26 AV 1873
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth:
But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
The goodness of God is the presupposition of the fundamental goodness of creation.
This goodness is a matter that needs to be recognized and maintained by believers when so much evolutionary theory stresses a world built on suffering and therefore on evil. A thing is good if it fulfils the purpose for which it was created. God has made our interconnected world and its means of survival and growth. God and His creation do not cease to be good because the spider eats the fly or because larger animals eat smaller ones.
The Spider and the Fly is a poem written by Mary Howitt and published in 1829, 192 years ago. The first line of the poem is “Will you walk into my parlour? said the Spider to the Fly.” The story tells of a cunning spider who entraps a fly into its web through the use of seduction and manipulation.
“Will you walk into my parlour?”
Said a spider to a fly;
“’Tis the prettiest little parlour
That ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour Is up a winding stair,
And I have many pretty things
To show when you are there.”
“Oh, no, no!” said the little fly,
“To ask me is in vain;
For who goes up your winding stair
Can ne’er come down again.”
“I’m sure you must be weary
With soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?”
Said the spider to the fly.
“There are pretty curtains drawn around,
The sheets are fine and thin;
And if you like to rest awhile,
I’ll snugly tuck you in.”
“Oh, no, no!” said the little fly,
“For I’ve often heard it said,
They never, never wake again
Who sleep upon your bed.”
Said the cunning spider to the fly,
“Dear friend, what shall I do
To prove the warm affection
I’ve always felt for you?
I have within my pantry
Good store of all that’s nice;
I’m sure you’re very welcome-
Will you please to take a slice?”
“Oh, no, no!” said the little fly,
“Kind sir, that cannot be;
I’ve heard what’s in your pantry,
And I do not wish to see.”
“Sweet creature,” said the spider,
“You’re witty and you’re wise;
How handsome are your gauzy wings,
How brilliant are your eyes.
I have a little looking-glass
Upon my parlour shelf;
If you’ll step in one moment, dear,
You shall behold yourself.”
“I thank you, gentle sir,” she said,
“For what you’re pleased to say,
And bidding you good-morning, now,
I’ll call another day.”
The spider turned him round about,
And went into his den,
For well he knew the silly fly
Would soon be back again;
So he wove a subtle thread
In a little corner sly,
And set his table ready
To dine upon the fly.
He went out to his door again,
And merrily did sing,
“Come hither, hither, pretty fly,
With the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple,
There’s a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright,
But mine are dull as lead.”
Alas, alas! How very soon
This silly little fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words,
Came slowly flitting by.
With buzzing wings she hung aloft,
Then near and nearer drew-
Thought only of her brilliant eyes,
And green and purple hue;
Thought only of her crested head-
Poor foolish thing! At last
Up jumped the cunning spider,
And fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair,
Into his dismal den
Within his little parlour-but
She ne’er came out again!
And now, dear little children
Who may this story read,
To idle, silly, flattering words,
I pray you, ne’er give heed:
Unto an evil counsellor
Close heart and ear and eye,
And learn a lesson from this tale
Of the spider and the fly.
All of this to say, if you stay with your compromise, you will get comfortable! Many believers compromise, but it never happens over night. We must remember that the road to darkness is a journey, not a light switch. Constant exposure to wrong-doing causes us to get comfortable with compromise. Does compromise make you comfortable? Not at first, but after a while, it is the place of comfort you will desire to be.
It is true that our world is damaged and frustrated because of the fall of human beings from God.
Genesis 3:17 AV 1873
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Romans 8:22 AV 1873
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
But God does not cease to be good in creation, providence and grace. From God’s goodness flow His love, mercy, patience and grace.
Genesis tells us something, too, about the spirituality of God, His transcendence and immanence.
transcendence. The attribute of God that refers to being wholly and distinctly separate from creation (although always actively involved in and with it as well). The declaration that God is transcendent means that God is “above” the world and comes to creation from “beyond.” During the medieval era God’s transcendence was especially emphasized, as is evident in the architecture of the great gothic cathedrals with their high, arched ceilings that lift one’s gaze upward. . . .
immanence. The idea that God is present in, close to and involved with creation. Unlike pantheism, which teaches that God and the world are one or that God is the “soul” (animating principle) of the world, Christian theology teaches that God is constantly involved with creation without actually becoming exhausted by creation or ceasing to be divine in any way. See also transcendence.
God is distinct from everything created. He is also at the centre of everything created; standing apart and standing within. He is so truly ‘spirit’ that nothing in all creation can be worshipped as divine, and yet so involved that nothing in all creation is irrelevant or unknown. God’s transcendence means that He is not to be ‘located’ spatially as created things are. He is not ‘in’ one place more than another, and there is not more of Him in one place than another. God is present in a way which transcends spatial terms. Millard Ericksen writes:
All finite objects have a location. They are somewhere. This necessarily prevents them being somewhere else. The greatness of finite objects is measured by how much space they occupy. With God, however, the question of whereness or location is not applicable. God is the one who brought space (and time) into being. He was there before there was space. He cannot be localised at a particular point. There can be no plotting of his co-ordinates.
However, God is immanent as well as transcendent. The immanence (not imminence) of God means His indwelling; it means that God is everywhere, present at every place in all of His creation at all times. As Ericksen puts it, ‘The point here is that nowhere within creation is God inaccessible. Jeremiah quotes God as saying,
Jeremiah 23:23 AV 1873
23 Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
The implication seems to be that being a God at hand does not preclude his being afar off as well.’ [ibid.]. God is present in everything created yet He is infinitely removed from everything created because, in terms of His own essence, He transcends everything created: He is the God who is Spirit and who must be worshipped in spirit and in truth.
John 4:24 AV 1873
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
It is this infinite difference—God’s transcendence even where He is present—that underlies the biblical protest against idolatry:
Isaiah 44:9–11 AV 1873
9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity;
And their delectable things shall not profit;
And they are their own witnesses;
They see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image
That is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed:
And the workmen, they are of men:
Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up;
Yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
Isaiah 45:18–23 AV 1873
18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens;
God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it,
He created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited:
I am the Lord; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth:
I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain:
I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations:
They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image,
And pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell ye, and bring them near;
Yea, let them take counsel together:
Who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me;
A just God and a saviour; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
For I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself,
The word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return,
That unto me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall swear.
Isaiah 46:8–10 AV 1873
8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men:
Bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
9 Remember the former things of old:
For I am God, and there is none else;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
Saying, My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all my pleasure:
Isaiah 48:12–14 AV 1873
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called;
I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth,
And my right hand hath spanned the heavens:
When I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear;
Which among them hath declared these things?
The Lord hath loved him:
He will do his pleasure on Babylon,
And his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
…including the well-nigh universal worship of the sun, moon and stars. Nothing can be worshipped, simply because nothing is God or any part of Him. In the beginning God did not say ‘Let Me be light’, but ‘Let there be light.’ This is in strong contradiction of much ‘New Age’ Western thought which sees everything as a part of ‘God’, including ourselves.
Genesis 1 tells us too about the creativity, wisdom and power of God. He is infinite and invisible. Yet His fingerprints are on every snowflake, and He writes His signature in the stars for us to read and recognize. What teems in the mind of God soon teems in the oceans of earth. The land becomes rich and abundant in plant and animal life. As the animals came out of Noah’s ark two by two, so the wonders of creation and the creatures of planet earth come out of the great ark of the Divine Intelligence million by million. However He did it, He did it wonderfully, wisely and well. Genesis says it was with a word; John says it was by the Word; and Paul says that He who is the Word shall have the last word, when He reconciles to God ‘all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven’ in a creation where God makes everything new.
Genesis 1:3 AV 1873
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Genesis 1:20 AV 1873
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
John 1:1–3 AV 1873
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Colossians 1:20 AV 1873
20 and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Revelation 21:5 AV 1873
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Throughout the chapter [Genesis 1] the purpose of God in creation is stressed. The progression from disorder to order—the movement which gives shape, beauty and life in all its forms—is not described as an automatic or self-enclosed process. Rather it is depicted as God’s way of proceeding, the result at every point of His creative and directive word. God is the God of order. This is made clear by the repeated refrain ‘And God said, “Let there be” … and there was.’ The process is not specified, but the purpose is. [Whatever processes we might think of being involved in creation], the one [clear] thing precluded here is random chance as the reason for life.
It has been said that the probability of life originating from accident is comparable to the probability of a dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing works. However, the opening chapter of the Bible does not speculate about a probability but proclaims a Person. Here is purpose, intention, guidance, direction, achievement. This purpose is said to reach its highest objective in the creation of humankind, male and female, which is created ‘in the image and likeness of God’. From the start biblical truth sets man and woman in the context of both the creation and the Creator. Human beings have a unique relationship with both which defines them.15
Genesis 1:26–30 AV 1873
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Psalm 8:1–9 AV 1873
1 O Lord our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength
Because of thine enemies,
That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
And hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Psalm 139:1–18 AV 1873
1 O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
Thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down,
And art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue,
But lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before,
And laid thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me,
And thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;
Even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee;
But the night shineth as the day:
The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins:
Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Marvellous are thy works;
And that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from thee,
When I was made in secret,
And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
And in thy book all my members were written,
Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God:
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are moe in number than the sand:
When I awake, I am still with thee.
Acts 17:24–31 AV 1873
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Revelation 21:3 AV 1873
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
The creation account ends in Gen. 2:2–3 with the rest of God. On the seventh day He ‘rested’, signifying a work completed, which would not be undone. This was no mere experiment, interesting but disposable; this is an act of commitment…. The very existence of creation carries within it the promise of a future. For even in the world of the fall:
Hebrews 4:9 AV 1873
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Romans 8:19 AV 1873
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Revelation 21:1–5 AV 1873
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
And so the first chapters of the Bible link with the last. God made a world which has been spoiled, but God has a plan which cannot be spoiled. He has a sovereign purpose which mysteriously overarches human failure and cuts a path through fallen human history. The sovereign purpose of the all-good and all-powerful God is the first and final refutation of all fatalism and the antidote to all despair.