Jehovah Bara: Creator God (part 1)

JEHOVAH BARA: CREATOR

~ Names of God ~

Isaiah 40:28

Introduction

How many of you here like to create things with your bare hands? (show pictures) Maybe it is a Lego structure. Maybe when you were little, you created with Tinker Toys or Lincoln Logs (How many of you remember those?) Maybe you like to create art, sculptures, or structures (carpenters do a lot of that). Creating new things can be quite inspiring and even relaxing for some people. When things are crazy in their life, they find ways to start creating. Today, people create with more and more sophisticated equipment to make amazing items. (show pictures) They use equipment like 3D Printers, embroidery machines, and laser cutters and engravers. I even started dabbling in a new form of that creativity recently myself when we got our own mini laser engraver. My wife and I worked together and designed and cut out a wood engraving of some mountains in Montana with a Bible verse for inspiration to give to our mothers for presents. (show picture).

Being creative isn’t merely a human desire. It is actually hard-wired into us by God, who is the ultimate Creator. Today, we are going to talk about another name of God that is related to this characteristic of Creator. Before I look into that name, however, let le recap some of the names of God we have talked about over the last several weeks. Here is a list of them: Jehovah Shammah: The Lord is there; Jehovah Kahbodi: The Lord, My Glory; Jehovah Migdal Oz: Our Strong Tower; Jehovah Nissi: My Banner; Jehovah Shalom: Peace; Jehovah Jireh: My Provider; Jehovah Rapha: Healer; Jehovah Zimrah: My Song; Jehovah Sabaoth: God of Angel Armies; Jehovah Ori: My Light. There are some great names there. But there’s another great one we are going to talk about today. Today, we are going to talk about Jehovah Bara: Creator God. This name comes directly from Isaiah 40:28. Here’s what it says:

Isaiah 40:28 – “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord [JEHOVAH] is the everlasting God [ELOHIM], the Creator [BARA] of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”

Most of us with a biblical view know that God is creator. But we may not understand all that it means. Today I want to help you understand what it means.

Body

I. The Meaning of Jehovah Bara (Bah-ra)

A. He is the Creator!

The Hebrew word Bara (pronounced bah-rah’) literally means Creator. We see bara (Creator) in action when He spoke things into existence and created so many things that only He can do. Hebrews 11:3 reminds us that “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.” Throughout Genesis, we see Jehovah Bara many things as well. Let me give you some examples of things that the Bible says that God created.

What God Created:

The heavens and earth. At the beginning of the Bible, we read in the very first verse (Genesis 1:1), “In the beginning God created (bara) the heavens and the earth.”. (see also Gen 2:4; Isaiah 42:5; 45:18).

Sea Creatures and birds. In Gen. 1:21 it says, “So God created [bara] the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.”

Humans. The greatest of God’s creation shows up in Gen. 1:27. It says, “So God created [bara] man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (see also Isaiah 45:12; Psalm 89:47) We are the only of God’s creation created in His image. We are special!

Heavenly hosts (angels). In Psalm 148:2-5 we read about how God created the heavenly hosts such as the angels, and spiritual beings. It says that like other things he made, “he commanded and they were created.”

Here are some other things He created according to the Bible:

Stars and other heavenly bodies in the night sky (Isaiah 40:26), light and darkness (Isaiah 45:7), water and trees in the desert (Isaiah 41:17-20). It even lists unusual things God has created such as: the North and South (Psalm 89:12), the ends of the earth (Isaiah 40:28).

He even created His chosen people, Israel (Isaiah 43:1). He raised them up from among every other people group in the entire world to be His people. He created them special. It wasn’t because they deserved it or were somehow better than anyone else. He chose those who were nothing to be something by creating a people unto Himself.

Bey calling Him Creator, we also understand that…

B. He is great!

Not as in “fantastic.” But as in larger, greater, magnanimous, more awesome, one of a kind, etc.

Isaiah 45:18 – “For thus says the Lord, who created [BARA] the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!):“I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

This creating nature of God speaks to how great He is! We can’t create like He Can. He is the Lord and there is no other! It reminds me of the song What An Awesome God: God is great, give him all the praise: Hallelujah name above all names. Fire is His eyes. Healing in his veins. Everywhere His glory on display…. Our God is an awesome God.

C. We are small (compared to Him).

One of the greatest fallacies in mankind is this: thinking that we know it all, have all the answers, or can figure it all out. Make no mistake about it, we have some great talents and abilities – all given by God (even if we don’t acknowledge Him). God even acknowledged our human ability at the tower of Babel. He said in Genesis 11:6, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” Notice what He didn’t say – He didn’t say nothing will seem impossible. He said nothing will be impossible. He admitted that his greatest creation can accomplish some amazing and incredible things. Especially when we work together. But often when we do, we try to become God and leave him out of the picture.

Isaiah uses an interesting picture to express the extent of how big God is. He is Jehovah Raha. And as Creator God (ba-rah), it says that He “created the ends of the earth.” That phrase is something I learned is called a merism. A merism is a rhetorical term for a pair of contrasting words or phrases (such as near and far, body and soul, life and death) that is used to express totality or completeness. An example of another merism in the Bible is when God is called Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:8). That describes the extent of him. He created the whole earth. He made it all. He is everything. He is big. We are small! He is above and beyond, the transcendent God who looks down on all He has made.

In Isaiah we see things from His lofty vantage point compared to man. It says that God sees man, whom He made in His own image, as little more than grasshoppers in His sight. In Isaiah 40:22 it reads, “He (God) sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.” This is not a statement meant to deny the value of humanity but to stress the immense difference between the Creator God and his creation - we are small compared to Him

When did we get it in our head that we are as big as God and can do whatever we want? What elevation of ourselves beyond where we actually stand in the order of Creation is dangerous. God is always bigger! We are always smaller! The truth is that we are NOT God, nor ever will be. Why would we even pretend to be?!

People… by acknowledging God as our Creator, we are recognizing his greatness and our smallness! And yet, I want to remind us of something important: despite how small we are, God still loves us beyond measure! God’s love is enormously great for us - even if we are small compared to Him! His word gives us some indication of how big his love is towards us. It says that his love reaches as high as the heavens (Psalm 103:11 – “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him”). His Word tells us that His love extends out in every direction, too (Ephesians 3:18 – “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”).

[Optional]: How much does God love us? Here’s other ways that he reminds us of His love…

He knows our name (Exodus 33:17; Isaiah 49:16).

He knows how many hairs are on our head (Mt. 10:30).

He died for our sins on a cross (1 Peter 2:24; Romans 5:8) – even while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”)

II. Two Ways Things Are Created

There are two Hebrew words that are translated in the English as “create.” One means to create out of pre-exiting materials (to fashion), while the other means to create out of nothing (to initiate). One is used of humans, and the other is used only of God. I bet you can’t guess which belongs to which.

A. Humans create from what already exists.

We know from the Bible and from experience that humans can only create from what already exists. We take raw material that we are given and combine things together into something new. Let me give you some examples.

Example #1: Artificial Intelligence. Modern Artificial Intelligence is quite amazing (and scary). But it is limited by the data that is programmed into it. It can only learn from what it is taught. Here is a great example that happened to me last year when trying to use AI. Last year, I was doing a sermon series on the literal giants in the Bible, (Goliath, Og King of Bashan, etc.). I wanted to create a picture of one of the giants that the Bible says had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (2 Samuel 21:20). So, I asked AI to create that for me. (show pictures on what it came up with). What was the problems with these pictures? Why do they look like this? AI couldn’t do six fingers because the raw material or data it reads from on humans all have 5 fingers and five toes. It couldn’t create something new, even though we think that should be simple – just add another finger. It could only create from what already exists.

Example #2: The Law of Conservation of Energy. In modern science, we learn of something called the Law of Conservation of Energy. How many of you have heard of that? The Law of Conservation of Energy essentially says “energy cannot be created or destroyed.” According to this law, the total amount of the energy in the universe never changes. This law works perfectly in a perfect system (but there are other factors in a non-closed or open system). According to this law, since energy cannot be destroyed, energy can only change from one form to another, such as turning chemical energy into heat or motion. The energy remains the same, even though the form may change. Let me give you some examples to illustrate this.

Illustration #1: Newton’s Cradle. There is something called a Newton’s Cradle that converts potential energy (stored from gravity) into kinetic energy. You don’t lose any energy, you just change its form. When you pull the ball back, gravity pulls the ball down. The stored energy is then turned into kinetic energy making the ball move fast. When the ball hits the line of balls, the motion stops, but the energy must go somewhere. The energy passes through the balls until it reaches the other end and exits out the farthest back ball. This kinetic energy then pushes the ball up and turns into both kinetic and potential energy until the whole system reverses again. This continues on indefinitely in a closed system (In reality, friction and air resistance can eventually slow down the balls because the energy leaks or escapes).

Illustration #2: Air Conditioning. In an air conditioner, energy cannot be destroyed. That means that you cannot create cold or destroy heat. All you can do is transfer thermal energy from one form or place to another. So, when you cool off an area, you must move the heat away from one place and put it somewhere else (or vice versa). So, in essence, when your air conditioner runs, it takes heat out of the sanctuary, for example, and blows the heat outside to another location. It uses a closed system to accomplish this. Or when you turn on the air conditioning in your car, it pushes cold air in to the interior of your car and blows hot air outside. That is why cars can overheat when running an air conditioner in extreme temperatures. You are essentially blowing the heat out of the inside of your car and back out into the space near where the engine is located.

Both of these examples illustrate the law of conservation of energy. We can only move or change forms using raw material that is there. We can’t create something new. Another example of how human create from what already exists is…

Example #3: Cloning.

Back in 1996, the first mention of cloning hit the news. A sheep was cloned from pieces and parts of other sheep to create a brand-new sheep named Dolly (BTW, it was named after the legendary singer , as you may have heard, passed way this last week. She apparently was flattered that they named it after her, although she said she didn’t want to be cloned herself.)

Fast forward to today and in the news recently was another example of cloning an animal (some of you may have heard this story). A Dallas-based scientific group called Colossal Biosciences claimed to have genetically recreated the extinct dire wolf. (show pic)

Both animals (Dolly the Sheep and the new “dire wolf”) were created from existing material to create a brand new creature. The dire wolf took DNA from an ancient dire wolf tooth and an ancient skull and extracted the DNA. They then combined it with current gray wolves, the closest modern match, and then modified the DNA to match traits from the ancient Dire wolf. They then created modified DNA embryos and placed them in domestic dogs to grow new wolves.

All of these animal creations or clones are made from what already exists to try and create something new. That’s how man creates. In creating something “new,” the chief scientist of the dire wolf project, Beth Shapiro, proudly boasted, “We are an evolutionary force at this point. We are deciding what the future of these species will be.” She goes on to brag, “If we want a future that is both bionumerous and filled with people, we should be giving ourselves the opportunity to see what our big brains can do to reverse some of the bad things that we’ve done to the world already.”

In her words, they believe that they can create anything they want with their “big brains.” In fact, their stated next goals are to de-extinct other species such as the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the Tasmanian tiger (called the thylacine). But man can only create from what is already there, nothing new. There won’t be any unicorns anytime soon (because they don’t exist). This is where God comes in. The God of the Bible, Jehovah Bara, creates differently.

B. God creates from nothing!

God doesn’t need anything to exist before He creates it. Let’s jump into the extended meaning of the Hebrew word Bara, which we translated as Creator. Bara is the creative Hebrew word that is limited to only God’s divine activity when he creates out of nothing. God truly is the only one who has the ability to make something out of nothing. Humans cannot! At our very best, we can only create things from materials that already exist. Michelangelo needed a block of marble to sculpt his statue of David, and Van Gogh needed canvas and paint to create “Starry Night.”

Simply put, man cannot bara. It reminds me of a joke related to this: An atheist scientist came to God and said, “We’ve figured out how to make a man without you.” [Isn’t that just like how haughty man can be. We think we can do things without God. We think we can even become god-like in what we can do.] In this instance, God replied to the atheist, “OK, let me see you do it. Create a man without me.” So the atheist bent down to the ground and scooped up a handful of dirt. But God stopped him and said, “Get your own dirt!”

You see, we need the dirt that God created, or the DNA that God already created, or the parts of the sheep that were already there. But, God created the dirt from nothing, and man from the dirt He created. He didn’t need any existing raw material. (There wasn’t a blob of matter that came before God. Before anything, God was. Not some giant mass of matter that exploded.) God spoke and things new were created. [One of the biggest problems of evolution is that where did something come from. Something (matter) had to be there. But how did it get there. Only God creates something from nothing.]

Hebrews 11:3 succinctly explains God’s creative work coming from nothing. It says, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was NOT made out of what was visible.” God created from the invisible (from nothing) and made it into something. That is how God works! That is how God creates!

Closing (Part 1)

I have a lot more to say about Jehovah Ba-rah. But I want to share the rest of those thoughts next week in the conclusion of this name. To close out today, I want to bring this idea home to our spirits about how God creates something in our lives out of nothing.

Let me ask a question to you. What do you have to offer to God today to enter into His presence and his favor? What kind of raw material do you think you need to bring before him to get him to fix you, help you, or make you better? What kind of act or offering do you think will be enough to get God’s attention?

There is this misconception that we have to do something, or be something for God to accept us. We need to give Him some better raw material in our life to work with before He will accept us or make us better. So, we try to clean our life up before we come to God. We stop cussing. We stop drinking. We stop gossiping. We do good things for others. Then we feel like we will be in a place where God will accept us.

The Bible shatters that idea. We do not need to bring anything to God for His acceptance! It says in Isaiah 64:6, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” Any deeds that we bring to God are never enough. God doesn’t need something from you to create a better you. He doesn’t need better raw material. God creates something from nothing. He is Jehovah Bara. All you need to do is to come to Him and cry out for His help! We see this play out in the prayer of King David in Psalm 51. Understand that this was written right after David had blown it big-time by not only committing adultery with one of his military officers wife Bathsheba, but he also had the commander Uriah murdered to cover it up. God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David about what He had done. And David cried out to the Lord in his filthy state with these incredible words found in Psalm 51:10. He prayed, “Create [Bara] in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” His heart was far from pure or clean. His actions were far from pure or clean. He knew he had blown it. He knew he was soiled, so to speak. His acts WERE like filthy rags! But he knew that Jehovah Bara could create [ba-rah] a clean heart in Him. He knew that by confessing his sin and falling at the feet of God, he could be forgiven and find mercy. As it says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

You may be here today and you have blown it. You may think you need to get your act together before God will accept you. You don’t. All you have to do is to confess your sin and pray to Him for His mercy. Then watch God create in you a clean heart!

You may think you have to clean yourself up before God will restore you. That doesn’t work. It would be like trying to remodel a broken-down vehicle that doesn’t have the right parts and never will. God doesn’t just remake your life, or your heart. He creates from nothing a clean heart in you. Release your old heart to Him and let Him give you a new one. Let him be yourt Jehovah Bara, just like he was for King David who blew it.

Whatever issues you may have in your life right now, I urge you to NOT try and clean it yourself or make yourself good enough to come to Jesus. You may be here today and feel like you can never measure up or be acceptable to God. In your own efforts, that is true. But God creates a new you from nothing because that is how He works. You just have to cry out to Him! Ask the Lord to create in you something new? A new heart. A new part of your body hat is broken (that is ultimate healing). Maybe even a new attitude or new strength. That is His specialty! He loves to create from nothing. God can take your nothing and turn it into something – even something great! Are you ready to give whatever it is that needs made new to the Lord today? He is Jehovah Barah if you will trust him and let Him!

Closing prayer

III. What God Can Create in Your Life

Let’s look at some examples in the Bible here that tell us what he can create form nothing. Three of them are found here in this passage in Isaiah and one is from the New Testament and Jesus life.

In your life.

One of my grandma’s favorite Bible verses came from 2 Corinthians 5:17. It says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Something comes from nothing. God creates something new in us.

What can God create in you? A pure heart. A new heart.

New spirit

He produces life from death.

New heart

At salvation, He places a new heart within us.

New minds

He regularly renews our minds through the power of His Word

A new thing is created as Christ comes into our lives and does something we never could. If we tried really hard, we might be able to reform our own sinful nature, but Jehovah-bara isn’t limited like that. He doesn’t just re-form. He creates a brand new nature in us. He gives us a new heart-a clean heart-because He alone is Jehovah-bara.

God does NOT re-make or re-form you.

God does NOT want you to come to him and clean yourself up.

Righteousness and salvation (Isaiah 45:8)

Isaiah 45:8 - “You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the Lord [Jehovah], have created [Bara] it.”

He removes our sins as far as the East is from the West and replaces them with the righteousness of Christ.

Next, let me first read the verses following our key verse in Isaiah 40. Let’s read verses 29-31.

Isaiah 40:29–31 – “29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait (hope) for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Let’s highlight some of the creative work that God produces in human lives. The first is…

He gives power to the faint.

Think of this in light of “the law of conservation.” That law says that energy has to be transferred in from somewhere, because energy cannot be created. But with God, he is not subject to that law (after all He is God!). He can create from nothing, including creating power in somebody that is faint or weak. He doesn’t need to transfer His power to you (that’s not how He works.) He can create power from nothing. He just makes power appear in your life when you need it. (It’s better than a sugar rush or caffeine that wears out. It is a holy and creative act of Jehovah Bara, the Creator.)

Illustration: I like to think of it this way. This last week, I had to jump-start a vehicle. When you jump-start a vehicle, you connect a good battery to a bad battery with jumper cables. In simple terms, there has to be power in the good battery to transfer to the bad battery so that it can charge up and start your vehicle. In essence, it depletes from the bad battery to fill up the good battery. But God doesn’t work that way. God is all-powerful and doesn’t lose anything when his power comes into your life. His battery doesn’t go dry. He creates power in you that wasn’t there, because he is Jehovah Bara.

If you are faint and need power, he can be your Jehovah Bara, Creator God.

He brings healing to the hurting.

We also see an example of this in the New Testament with Jesus healing a person. In the story of the woman with the issue of blood, she literally reached out to touch Jesus on the hem of his garment because she wanted to be healed. Instantly, she received healing and she knew it. Jesus,. Who was God in flesh, recognized something had happened. So he questioned out loud in Luke 8:45–46, “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Creative power went out from Jesus and entered into this woman. It was a healing power that was created on the spot. Just like power is created to the faint, healing is also given to the hurting. Healing power didn’t drain Jesus (like a jump-start)! It just creatively appeared! God loves to create things in your life that you need, like healing! No one has to give it, release it, or take it from somewhere else so that you can have it. That’s the creative power Jehovah Bara has! He gives power to the faint, and He gives healing to the hurting.

He gives strength to the weary.

Let’s go back to Isaiah. It says, “and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted, 31 but they who wait (hope) for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint …Bring into existence out of nothing - Something from nothing

They could trust in Yahweh’s power to bārā’ (create). They would not need to bring their own strength, He would provide it. They would not be required to muster up the energy, He would supply His own. Jehovah-bārā’ is able to meet all their needs. He is the same God who “created [bārā’] the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 ESV). He is the same God who “created [bārā’] 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” (Genesis 1:21 ESV). And He is the same God who “created [bārā’] man in his own image, in the image of God he created [bārā’] him; male and female he created [bārā’] them” (Genesis 1:27 ESV).

He gives hope to those who trust Him!

The word given here for hope or wait here is the Hebrew word kee-vah. It means to have trust or confidence in someone. “those who kee-vah (wait/hope) in the Lord will renew their strength. They will have hope. They will soar. They will not get weary. When a person is hopeless, try waiting upon the Lord. Try putting your hope in Him. He will not disappoint you! He promises to come through. He doesn’t need your strength to work with, or some outside force to give him the resources to help you. He can create what you need! That is what faith and trust in God can do! He can give you the strength, power, and hope that you can’t muster up yourself.

The truth is: you can’t pick yourself up! You can’t overcome that addiction. You can’t live a perfect life. But when you trust Him, he creates something inside of you supernaturally that strengthens and helps you! How cool is that?!

Jehovah-Bara stands ready to create on behalf of His people; to shape, fashion, and form, just as He did heaven and earth – out of nothing. The same Jehovah-Bara who created man can also create new conditions and circumstances. He is also the creator of transformations, just as the apostle Paul reminds us.

II. God’s Future Creations

In the world.

He promises to create (bārāʾ) the new heaven and new earth (Isa 65:17).

In the end.

Isaiah says that after the exile God will create (bārāʾ) a cloud of smoke during the day and a flame of fire by night over Mount Zion (Isa 4:5).

Revelation 21:5 - 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

New body

Jehovah-Bara lives among His people, using His vast creative powers to transform hearts, minds, and circumstances

Response

1. Remember your Creator.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 – “Remember your Creator [BARA] in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”

In the beginning, which was close to the start, there wasn’t anything except God, darkness and some gas. The Bible says, “The Lord, thy God, is one,” but I think He has to be much older than that. Anyway, God made the world and then He said, “Give me some light,” and somebody gave it to Him. He split an atom and made Eve. Adam and Eve didn’t wear any clothes, but they weren’t embarrassed because God hadn’t invented mirrors, yet. Adam and Eve sinned by eating one bad apple and they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. I’m not sure what God drove them in because He hadn’t invented cars, either. Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, hated his brother as long as he was Abel. After a while, all of the first people died, except Methuselah, who lived to be, like, a million years old.

2. You don’t have to bring anything to God to receive what God has for you!

Psalm 51:10 – “Create [Bara] in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

God does NOT re-make or re-form you.

God does NOT want you to come to him and clean yourself up. It’s like trying to remodel a broken down vehicle that will keep breaking down. Release that old model. Get the new one.