Jesus in Creation

At some point in our lives we were all kids. And as kids we all had toys. Not all of us had the most expensive toys. Some of us had to make due with the rocks and sticks outside, but some had real genuine store bought toys. The interesting thing about any toy, whether its legos, play-doh, puzzles, pop guns, or dolls. We had to use the one toy we all had, no matter what income bracket our parents were in or what kind of toys we had to work with. In fact, this toy is not something you can hold, but it’s one we all used quite extensively in our youth and even still use it today.

If your are thinking your imagination, then you are correct. Our imagination is the toy of all toys and perhaps as an adult it is the tool of all tools. You see a pile of legos, or Lincoln logs. A pallet of wood and a bucket of nails. Your brain starts working and doesn’t stop.

Our imagination is a good thing. It helps us solve problems, put together that which is broken. And it helps us form that which is unformed. But there is one thing our imagination cannot do. It cannot create from nothing. I can’t imagine a brand new building and it just pop into being. I can’t imagine a new car and have it appear in my driveway. Our imagination has limits and restrictions.

But the neat thing about our imagination is that it was a gift from one who can use his imagination to create from nothing.

In our new saga, I’m not going to call it a series, because it will take a while to get through and I don’t want anyone thinking it’s going to be short or simple. Easy, yes, simple, no. Meaning we are going to go deep, but I will do my best to keep things in layman’s terms.

The goal of this saga is simple. When did Jesus come? We just finished the Christmas season. Actually, today is the 12th day of Christmas and tomorrow is Epiphany, which will officially end the Christmas season and give us all permission to take down our Christmas decorations.

Those who have a casual understanding of Christmas may believe that Jesus showed up on the scene in Matthew chapter one and before that wasn’t around.

Perhaps the regular church goers will understand the word Christophany, which is Jesus appearing before the incarnation or his birth. But I want to take a trip through the scriptures and see that Jesus didn’t just make a casual appearance here and there, but he is ever present from the beginning all the way to the end.

Here we have Jesus at the center. The gospels, which are all about his life and ministry on earth, including his crucifixion, rise, and ascension are circled around Jesus. Then we have all around Jesus and the Gospels, all the books of the Bible. This includes all the Old Testament Books before the Gospels, and all the New Testament books after the Gospels.

The reason for this comes from a saying we have in Christianity. Jesus has saved me, he is saving me, and he will save me. The character and mission of Jesus has never changed past present or future. The Old testament point forward to Jesus. The Gospels point directly at Jesus and the New Testament points back to Jesus.

Seems to me if Jesus is this important, we should be learning as much about his as we can.

1 John 2:6 ESV

whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

How can we know how Jesus walked if we don’t read how he did. We can listen to sermons, which is good, they help us understand. We can listen to Christian Music, which is good, it centers our hearts on worship. And we can spend time with Christians outside of church, which is good because it helps keep us from temptation.

But the best way to learn how Jesus walked is to read your Bible and talk to him.

Kati and I checked out a new show this last week called Destination Heaven. In the first episode, there is a woman who runs a company and is a Christian. As her assistant gives her her lunch the assistant mentions a homeless shelter the company supports. Being very busy the woman said, just give then what ever amount of money they need. She then bows her head to pray for her meal and finds herself in a vision with God the Father. The interesting thing about his episode I noticed was, she didn’t freak out. She didn’t cower in fear, she wasn’t skeptical. My thought was the way the writers of the show wrote this scene was. The woman knows God and therefore doesn’t need to be skeptical about who she’s talking to.

When we read the Bible we are getting to know Jesus more and more with each chapter.

So, that when we meet him, we won’t wonder if it truly is him. We will know, because we know him. And in contrast, the more we read the Bible, the more we will be able to identify counterfeits. We need not invest much study into counterfeits, because if we know the original we will know a counterfeit when we see it.

So, let’s open our Bibles to Genesis one and dig in.

Our reading today included these words from Colossians 1:16

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.

The last part of the sentence is is key to our study today. The universe was created through him and for him. That means this entire thing we call existence is here for his glory. He did create us because he was lonely and needed company, he created us using only his imagination for his glory. So what did he create?

Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

We see these words and and we see the first three things God created. We think it light, but that’s not accurate. First he created the beginning, or time, prior to this moment only God existed. There was no clock ticking away and no concept of time. God just was and outside of God there was nothing. So he created time, the clock began ticking.

He then created the heavens

שָׁמַ֫יִם

This word here means more than our understanding of heaven. It’s sky or expanse. We would also use the word space.

So in the first verse of the Bible we have time and space.

We also have earth. What goes best with time and space? Matter. So, just in verse one we have time, space and matter. All the building blocks. Reminder, when we use our imagination we need stuff to make the things we imagine a reality. But whereas we need to find the stuff to make our bookshelf, or log home, or whatever. God spoke it all into reality.

And that’s just verse one.

Genesis 1:2 (ESV)

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Here we have the first instance of God entering his creation. He observes after created time space and matter that the earth, which is covered in water is dark and void. But don’t worry it gets better.

Genesis 1:3–5 (ESV)

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.

And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

So God creates light to compliment the time space and matter he has created. When all this was done, from beginning to end 24 hours have passed by. Day one. He even gave us a gauge. when it’s light, it’s day, when it’s dark it’s night and when the two have cycled through we have 1 day.

Genesis 1:6–8 (ESV)

And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.

And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

This is more than likely the creation of the atmosphere

Genesis 1:9–10 (ESV)

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

So, things were moved around and dry land appeared. The Hebrew word used here for appear also means revealed. This in more likely that the ground was beneath the waters and God rose them up. He had already created the earth and was now shaping it.

Genesis 1:11–13 (ESV)

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

This one is pretty self explanitory, but does pose a question I’m going to answer right now.

Why are plants created before the Sun? And how did they survive?

Quick answer, because that’s how God did it. But we can make an educated speculation. Remember the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. When he said let there be light and there was no sun or stars at this point, where did the light come from? More than likely, the Spirit of God and the earth was more than likely rotating at this point, so there was evening and morning until.

Genesis 1:14–19 (ESV)

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”

And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.

And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

If the Spirit of God was the source of light then we can assume here that he is creating an different source of light that is stationary, according to our view. THe sun, the Moon, and the Stars. Here we have again creation from nothing. God spent day one, creating, then day two and three shaping the creation.

Genesis 1:20–23 (ESV)

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”

So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Here’s an interesting note. This doesn’t seem to be God shaping his creation. He’s not using materials already at hand to create the birds and the fish. He speaks and they come into being. Keep that in mind.

Genesis 1:24–25 (ESV)

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Here’s day six part one. God here is shaping the beasts of the earth from the earth and they began to live. He didn’t do anything special to them, except they seem to be different from fish and birds. And finally

Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV)

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.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

We’re going to skip into chapter 2 here, because here it said God created man in his image, but chapter 2 gives this creation in detail.

Genesis 2:7 ESV

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

So, here we have the special. birds and fish, it seems God spoke them into existence. The beasts of the earth were formed from the earth. Then we have a trinity in the creation of man. First man is created in the image of God. to keep this short, ever wonder why you are creative, it’s because God is creative. Ever wonder why you have friends and family. Because God is relational. We are made in his image, to be more like him.

Then God formed us from the dust of the earth. We are like the beasts of the earth in this manner. We have instincts and a concept of time and jobs and a slew of other things.

But this last one is very special. After God had formed man, he breathed life into man. THe birds didn’t get this, the beasts didn’t get this. Only man. We are made in the image of God, he formed us and breathed into us. Unlike the rest of creation, we have living souls. And therefore since our origin comes from the very breath of God, we are also eternal. We will exist forever.

Where is Jesus in all this?

John 1:1–5 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

He was there. The whole time. If you read Genesis 1 and move straight to John 1. It becomes very clear that Jesus is God and was there creating, time, space, matter, light, plants, atmosphere, planets and stars, birds fish, beasts and the crown of creation. People.

And check this out, because We don’t notice it enough

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This is almost the opposite of Gen 2:7

Genesis 2:7 ESV

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

God formed us from dust and breathed into us. Then after a whole lot of Old Testament, which we will cover in due time, God took on human flesh. Now there is the Christophany to think of, which is Jesus appearing in the flesh prior to being born and we will cover that, but not today.

We have Jesus, God in the flesh, come to us. He was from the beginning, he was in the beginning and we can see from the beginning he was 100% God with us even then.

Now, as fun as it would be to go through EVERY single verse in the Bible and show Jesus every single week, we only have 80-100 years on this ball and I’ve already used 43 of them. So, we will go straight through and we’ll visit some places longer than others, but I will do my best, with help from God, to give you what he would have me give you. And I hope you will be blessed.

Let’s pray.