Creation

Intro

One of life’s most important questions, where do we come from? As I started to be able to formulate deeper thoughts and think through things logically, this became a scary, real question. A question that would change my perspective, my focus, my goals. It’s a question that would change my life.

I grew up in the church and knew the Genesis story. I’ve been told that everything is from God but is that true? Is Jesus actually real?

Read and Stand Genesis 1 - 2:3

Pray

The Big Picture

God Creates - We see God create something out of nothing. Keep in mind, it says that we are image bearers of God which means His likeness is within us and we must show that likeness. God is Pleased - Throughout this first chapter and the beginning of the second, we see that God is pleased with His creation. He says it is good. God’s Purpose for Us - We see that we are made in the image of God. This statement has so much meaning and depth to it because it relates to God. God Rested - Does God need to rest? No. But why does He do it? God’s Word - Obviously, creation is related to this but His words have and are powerful. Out of His words the world came to be. Out of this word, would it become flesh and live among us, to be the savior of the world. The Trinity - We see so much of God creates this and that and you might think singular. All of a sudden when God says to create man and woman, He says “our” image. We know this now, but who is the our? God’s Redemptive Plan - As we read the old testament, let us not forget how in when we read the old testament, the plan was to always point to Jesus.

1. God Creates

Get 3 people to look up Psalm 139:13, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 1:16.

We will see in the first 3 days God Forms and then the latter 3 days God fills.

Day 1: God Forms What was created? Light Scripture Reference: Genesis 1:3-5 Day 2: God Forms What was created? Sky and separation of waters Scripture Reference: Genesis 1:6-8 Day 3: God Forms What was created? Dry land, seas, and vegetation Scripture Reference: Genesis 1:9-13 Day 4: God Fills What was created? Sun, moon, and stars Scripture Reference: Genesis 1:14-19 Day 5: God Fills What was created? Sea creatures and birds Scripture Reference: Genesis 1:20-23 Day 6: God Fills What was created? Land animals and humans Scripture Reference: Genesis 1:24-31 Day 7: God Rested

Two things I want to mention from this:

God loves to create and He continues to create

Psalm 139:13 (ESV): "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb."

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV): "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Colossians 1:16 (ESV): "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him."

As we will connect later and already know, Christ is God and He is also the creator with God. Christ is still working today and making a new creation through His spirit.

The Timeline of His Creation

There are two ways of looking at this. Young Earth and Old Earth.

Young Earth - This side would say that these days of when God was creating were 24 hour days such as we have now and everything was created within that timespan. Some people who believe in this theory either will say that science is just flat out wrong regarding the age of the earth or that God created the earth with history, with age. This idea is brought from when Jesus turned water into wine and they all said it was the best wine. Fun fact, good wine is aged well.

Old Earth - This side would say that the days were not 7, 24 hour days, but 7 periods of time at least for the first 3 before the sun and stars were made. Luminaries is how we know time such as the Earth revolving in orbit around the Sun. Every time the Earth rotates we have our 24 hour days.

These two topics could be lesson on their own but I felt it was important to introduce these to you and to help you realize that many Christians land in either camp and this is not essential to your salvation. It’s okay to not fully know but also to realize that science still is not contradicting the bible. It tries and maybe there are hypothesis but the bible is vague yet specific enough on showcasing who the creator is and how this all came to be.

2. God is Pleased

Several places throughout this passage is that, “God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25), culminating in God seeing “everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). God is pleased with His creation and we should be thankful to be in and apart of it. Thank God every day for this. Remind yourself of the love of God to create all of this and to say it was good.

3. God’s Purpose for Us

Someone look up Genesis 1:26-28, Colossians 1:15-16

26 "Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"

In the latter part of this section, we see that God has given us a job to do. To multiply the earth and to have dominion of every living thing on earth. I love this. God created us to work before the fall. Work is good. Productivity is how we are wired. Now sin has distorted that and we want to be lazy, but work guys and take ownership of it. Be on your phone less. Write, read, create, more. Fill your life with these kinds of habits, change your perspective of work and school. From the very beginning we see how God wired us. To resemble God and to be in a loving relationship with Him. We are made to worship and glorify God and we have a responsibility to reflect this creator in our every day lives. Through the fall, sin distorts this message, but through Jesus He restores that and we now are restored through a loving relationship with Him and now represent the ultimate image of God (READ Colossians 1:15).

4. God Rested

Though God does not need rest, He chose to rest on the seventh day: "So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation" (Genesis 2:3). This rest sets a pattern for humanity. Mark 2:27 explains, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," highlighting the importance of rest in our lives. By saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), Jesus was restating the principle that the Sabbath rest was instituted to relieve man of his labors, just as He came to relieve us of our attempting to achieve salvation by our works. We no longer rest for only one day, but forever cease our laboring to attain God’s favor. Jesus is our rest from works now, just as He is the door to heaven, where we will rest in Him forever.

5. God’s Word

God’s word is powerful, as demonstrated in creation:

Genesis 1:3: "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light" (Genesis 1:3).

The New Testament reveals the ultimate power of God’s word:

John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

It says in John 1:14 that the Word became flesh in Jesus Christ, the savior of the world (John 1:14).

6. The Trinity

Genesis mentions the plurality in God’s nature:

Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.'"

This points to the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each involved in creation.

7. God’s Redemptive Plan

1 & 2 - God Creates and is Pleased - Don’t think that God made a mistake. He Created everything perfect according to His will. Hard to think this through but even sin is part of God’s redemptive plan and the need for Jesus.

3 - God’s Purpose for Us - We see that we are made in the image of God and the perfect image is Jesus

4 - God Rested - Jesus is now our sabbath and rest

5 - God’s Word - It says in the first chapter of John that Jesus is the word and He became flesh to save us all.

Last - The Trinity - The use of "our image" (Genesis 1:26) points to the involvement of the Trinity in creation and redemption. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together in the redemptive plan, with Christ’s sacrifice being central to restoring creation and the spirit working through us, today.