Genesis 1e
Genesis 1 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Please open your Bibles to Gen. 1 and 2, Matt. 28. If so inclined, to Luke 5.
Over the last several weeks we’ve covered Genesis 1 and how God created order out of chaos; to be human is to be the image of God; to be human is to have intrinsic value, and last week we talked about the Dominion Mandate – that humans were given the responsibility to lovingly rule or steward God’s creation. I want to clarify a few things before we get to Gen. 3.
In Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
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.
We can look at this from a scientific and geological perspective – and that’s ok. But before we do that, we must first look at this from an ancient Hebrew worldview. The ancient world would have understood vv 1-2 not so much as a scientific process, but as describing a cosmic chaos that existed prior to the formation of the known world
But what exactly is this chaos? I ask that because if we don’t understand the Biblical concept of chaos and order, then they become quite subjective – and that can get us into trouble, especially as we define what we think chaos is and order what order should be. Think of it like this - just as one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, so one person’s chaos is another person’s order. My point is that chaos and order in Gen. 1 may not be what we assume them to be. Let’s revisit this concept.
In v2,
Without form (tōhû) means a wasteland that is in a state of confusion and is uninhabitable.
Life does not exist in tōhû. The word
Void (bōhû) means to be empty.
Tōhû va bōhû are poetic descriptions of chaos, of some kind of primordial existence that lacked life, light, and purpose. Chaos was a state of nothingness.
Interestingly, Scripture mentions Leviathan, a chaos sea monster that caused death and destruction, whom only God could conquer or tame.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
and so on. God created order out of the chaos. He conquered Leviathan and began to speak life into existence. So, I summarize Genesis 1 like this -
Chaos is the absence of life. Order is the presence of life.
I think our Western minds are prone to interpret chaos as wild and disorderly and negative. And we can interpret “order” as being orderly or organized or “a place for everything, and everything in its place.” I want to be careful with that because the Biblical concept of chaos and order, at least here in Genesis does not necessarily mean orderly or lack thereof. If we stick to the idea that Chaos is the absence of life, and Order is the presence of life, then the Dominion Mandate and the Great Commission in Matthew 28 - it makes a lot more sense.
So, God created Order out of Chaos, but how did He do it and what does this mean for us?
God first created an environment for life.
God created day, night, sun, stars, land, waters and so forth. Of course, there is some orderliness to creation. However, that orderliness does not eliminate all chaos. When we look outside, we see trees, bushes, flowers, of different colors, shapes, sizes and so on. There is an order, but there is also some chaos that is beautiful and exciting and good. Not all chaos is bad. Then God filled the environment with life.
God spoke life (and environment) into existence.
God used the power of His words to create life where there was lifelessness – might even say He created life where there was death.
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.
Here we see that
God breathed life into a lifeless (chaos) being.
God created order – life – by creating an environment suitable for life to exist, by speaking life, and by breathing life into lifelessness. Are you seeing where this is going?
So hold onto all that. In
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
In essence, this Garden was God’s Kingdom on earth (greater detail weeks to come). It’s from this Kingdom that humanity was given what we call the Dominion Mandate, which we see in
Genesis 1:26–28 - God gave humanity authority and dominion to lovingly rule and steward all of creation.
They were to expand Eden (“God’s Kingdom”) out into the world and continue the work of subduing chaos. They were given the task to go and create an environment in which life could exist.
And the same is true of us today. Just as the first humans had the responsibility to expand Eden, we have the responsibility to expand God’s Kingdom.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What if we stopped looking at Matthew 28 as a mandate to convert people to Christianity, and began looking at this as a mandate to create order, to subdue chaos, to create life where there is a lack of life and purpose? What if we did
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
That is the Dominion Mandate – image God; walk in love.
Let’s take a little deviation and come back. Isa. 42, Zech. 12, and a few other places in Scripture and in the Wisdom of Solomon we see that this breath of life that God breathed into Adam is a person’s spirit. To be in relationship with God is to be in a state of life – your spirit is alive. To be separated from God because of sin, rebellion and unbelief is to be in a state of death – your spirit is dead.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
We also see this in
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
We can’t make anyone alive – only God can do that through Christ – and that is by receiving the free gift of salvation. However, we can and should, as disciples of Jesus Christ follow God’s example found in Genesis 1. We can create an environment where life can happen; we can speak life and breathe life into the lifeless or lifeless situations.
The question is how? I was wracking my brain on this, and praying, “God I need something here.” I was driving and I think God flicked me and said, “Hey, you’re making too complicated.” You see, when we look at the Dominion Mandate in Genesis 1 and the Great Commission in Matthew 28 – God tells His people to go, but He never gave specifics on how. That’s part of the simplicity of the mandate. It’s not rocket science to partner with God in creating order – doing that which creates, and speaks, and breathes life into our homes, communities, churches – wherever people need life. This could be as big as going on missions around the world or easy as grabbing someone (meeting) for a cup of coffee. It’s using your talents, skills, hobbies, spiritual gifts to breathe life into others. (our children’s ministry)
This is not about fixing people or having all the solutions. This is about creating, speaking, and breathing life into those who are in chaos. The reality is there are too many scenarios and variables for me to tell you how to do this. If you are a follower of Christ, then are responsible to do just that – follow Him. And as we follow Jesus, and offer ourselves to Him and make ourselves available to Him … then there will be opportunity to be His “agents of order” – people who create, speak, breathe life into chaos. And there are times when we need to receive the same.
There is a lot of chaos around us, a lot of people living in and causing chaos – lifeless and without purpose or hope – and it can be overwhelming. But Jesus showed us how to navigate the chaos and the demand for life.
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Jesus knew when to engage the people, and when not to, because He did not neglect a slowed-down close relationship with His Father.
What is the Spirit saying to you? Is there someone He’s bringing to mind? What do you have to offer God …?
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