God Is

All of us face a difficult test every day and most of us don’t even realize it. It isn’t a test in school, or a medical test. It isn’t a test of ability, nor of endurance. It is the daily test of your will against God’s will. Will you choose to listen to God’s word, believe Him, and live according to what He says, or will you choose your will and live according to what is right in your own eyes?

The dominant narrative in our world tells us that the world is a chaotic, fearful place and you should serve yourself and do what is right in your own eyes. But that’s not a new narrative. We read about it first in Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

There are a lot of firsts in Genesis, the book of “beginnings”. While it tells us for the first time that we all fail the test of wills, choosing good and bad for ourselves and condemning ourselves to destruction, it also tells us for the first time that there is good news. The good news that we first read in Genesis is that God created us to share in His eternal life, and even though we have rebelled against Him in our sin, God redeems and restores us to His eternal life. Genesis lays the foundations of our faith in the God who redeems through Jesus.

If I was to use three illustrations for how crucial this book is to our lives, I would start by saying Genesis is the headwaters of all the tributaries of the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible that flow back to Jesus in the New Testament. Another illustration would be seeds of the gospel that grow into full fruit in Christ. Or the way we’ll say it more often is that Genesis lays the foundation upon which every other building block of our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ is established. So, how stable is our foundation? For you, is Genesis ancient history, myth, or a life-giving record of God’s redemptive plan for you? Believe it or not, everything you need to know is in verse 1 of the Bible, Genesis 1:1. Everything else derives from that.

Genesis 1:1 ESV

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

What can we learn from this verse for our lives? What foundation is being laid? We will learn today that when the world feels like chaos, we can hope in God’s plan of redemption, established before creation, and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Context is Everything

First, we need to understand context. We need to own the fact that Genesis is an ancient text. If we read it through contemporary lenses, we could think that this book is an ancient “just so” story, about why the world is the way it is (like “how the leopard got his spots). Some people read it as a polemical apologetic argument against secularism rising from the enlightenment and the age of Charles Darwin and a materialistic worldview. Some people read it as morality tales, or life lessons from the fathers of faith. In which case it’s mostly stories of what not to do. All three of these have led to a lot of misunderstanding of this important book.

We need to examine the original author’s message for his original audience.

Historical Context: Genesis was written over three thousand years ago by a prophet of Israel to the people of Israel after everything has already gone wrong. They have been enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years. But God has redeemed them, and they are on the verge of receiving a four hundred year old promise made by God to their ancestor Abraham, that his offspring would be a great nation and would receive a land in which to dwell with God, who would give them abundant life in His presence. Everything could go right, if they will listen, believe, and live according to God’s words. This is the test in front of them.

This becomes a universal message for us too. All humans for all time have been asking the same questions. Why is the world a hard, broken place? Why is there so much chaos? Why does our work produce little fruit and why are our relationships broken and fraught with selfishness and violence?

Cultural Context: Genesis wasn’t the first account written to answer these questions. The people of Israel would have been familiar with other Near Eastern creation and flood accounts from Egypt, Sumeria, Canaan, and Babylon. They tell of gods that emerge out of the chaotic elements and give form to skies, land, rivers, animals, and storms.

These gods are selfish and violent, and because they don’t want to bear their own burdens, they create humans through a mixture of their own blood with clay so that the humans will serve them. The stories were written of course by ancient kings, who claimed to be the image of their god on earth, or the son of the god. The king’s job was to keep order in the chaos, and your job was to serve him. The gods that these kings created and placed in temples strangely resembled human rulers who maintained power through fear and violence.

These are essentially “just so stories”. Their answers to life’s questions boil down to: life is chaos, it’s always been this way. You were created to bear the burden of work for the rich and powerful. Selfishness, conflict, and violence is elemental to the system, and the gods are against you. Serve the gods, and maybe your crops will grow.

Here is Israel’s test: will they listen, believe, and live according to the words of a God that can’t be seen, contained, or controlled? Or will they give in to the fear and run after other gods that are easier to understand, reflect human attributes and hierarchies, and promise pleasure on earth?

This is no different than our test today. We have modern idols that offer us comfort in the chaos, give us pleasure, and are easier to understand than the Ever-living God that created us. The God revealed in Genesis is so far outside the box of popular theological conceptions of both Moses’ day and our day too, a relationship with Him requires faith. Let’s begin at the beginning and we will see that...

God is Everything

Rather than beginning with a story of chaos and conflict, the Bible begins with God. Before the emergence of any created thing, God is. This is the first foundation stone of our faith.

Genesis 1:1 ESV

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

This book is going to be about God. He is the main character. (It’s not you.) At the beginning, God is. You can have hope that the story isn’t about eternal chaos and conflict. But it’s not about you either. We must accept that we are part of His story, His world, His plan. This is God’s world, and we’re living in it. How does His ever-living reality shape our world and our lives?

God does not emerge from chaotic elements in our universe. He is sovereign over His creation. He is not in competition or conflict with anyone. He has no rivals. He creates from His own sovereign will and power. He is living and active. He is creative and wise. He offers order to our lives. In fact, He can make something of your life when you’ve given up trying (Hebrews 11:3; 1 Corinthians 1:28-29).

Before time and space existed, God is. He is eternal; He is not bound by time. He is not contained within His creation. He is not limited to one aspect of creation, such as the sky or the land, or rivers, or beasts. He is personally involved in all of it, but He exists above it all. He is incomprehensible. He is infinite and limitless in knowledge and power. He is unchanged by the many changes of our world. Even if earthquakes level cities or governments fall, God is not diminished in power or glory.

The word for God here is “elohim”, which speaks of an exalted, powerful being. God is in sovereign control over creation. He is not dependent on anyone or anything. You and I did not invent Him or create Him. He needs nothing from us. He Is self-sufficient. He will not require sacrifice for His own sake, but to free you. He always has more to offer than you can ask or imagine.

God created “the heavens and the earth”. This phrase doesn’t necessarily mean the invisible heaven where God dwells and the globe planet we call Earth. It is simply “the skies and the land”. It would be like saying, God created everything above your head and everything under your feet. And He created your head and your feet too. There’s nowhere you can go that He will not know, and He knows you better than you know yourself.

We will see this more in a couple weeks, but another key difference between the Bible and the other worldviews is the creation of humans. Humans are not created out of the conflicts between the gods, to serve them as slaves. He formed humans tenderly, intimately, breathing life into a clay creature. He creates humans in His image to partner with Him to tend a garden, bringing order and fruitfulness to the chaos. We were not created in brokenness and conflict. The brokenness comes from our own rebellion against God and a desire to be our own gods and determine good and bad for ourselves.

There is a hint in the word, “elohim”, which is a plural word used in a singular context of a complex unity, like a community. The God who created our world is personal, existing in community (not to get too ahead of ourselves) of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, seeking relationship with creation. When we broke our relationship with God, it did not change God’s plan and desire to commune with us and give us abundant, eternal life in Him. The God who creates also redeems.

What can we derive from what we learn about God in this verse?

God is, God was, God is to come. He is unchanging, His plans are unchanging, His word and His will are unchanging. Do I make my choices based on my own will or based on conscious contact with God, praying, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”?

Your life comes from God. Do you seek Him daily for how He would have you use the life He has given you? In what ways are you living for self or living for God’s glory? Is there any shift that needs to happen?

God is above every created thing. In what ways are we worshipping idols that promise comfort and pleasure, but demand our time, attention, money, and family? Has self become that idol?

Chaos and conflict do not control our destiny, no matter what you may see in the news. They exist because of our desire to be our own gods, deciding right and wrong for ourselves. Where have I given in to the old narrative that I must live by fear, control, selfishness, or hate? Would people who know me say that “He is so free of anxiety and fear, he must really believe that God is in control”?

Do I believe that the God who can make something out of nothing can redeem all the somethings I have squandered and made nothing living my own way?

Genesis is the beginning of the story of God’s plan to bless humans: eternal life in His presence. We bring chaos and conflict into the story when we choose our own will over God’s will. But before humans sinned and sought to become our own gods, God already had a plan of redemption. It wasn’t plan B. It was His plan all along. We read in the gospel of John,

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.

Jesus was there at the beginning too. And He was there before the beginning. Everything that God is, Jesus is. And when God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit planned a world in which humans created in their image would choose their own will and doom themselves to destruction, they also planned a way of redemption. God the Son would shine as a light in the darkness, and even though it seemed the darkness of human sin had overcome Him on the cross, His resurrection demonstrated that far from being overcome, He was redeeming what was lost. And He lives forever to give life to all who will repent of their own will, listen and believe Him, and live according to His word. “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Questions for Discussion

What are you thankful for this week? What are some things that have brought chaos into your life this week?

What is Genesis about, according to your understanding going into this series? What are some lessons from Genesis that have been helpful to you?

What do we learn about God in verse 1 of Genesis? How many attributes or descriptions of God can we derive from this verse?

Why is it important that God is creator of the heavens and the earth?

How does this truth compare to other conceptions of God in history or in popular opinion today?

What do we learn about ourselves in verse 1 of Genesis?

If we were to live according to the reality that God is eternally existent, having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, what thoughts, emotions, and behavior would you expect to see in us?

What are the idols we have created that keep us from knowing God as the Ever-living, all-powerful Creator, and living to His glory?

How do you deal with chaos in your life, and how does our verse help give you perspective on that?

How will you respond to this verse this week?

With whom you can share this verse this week?