God's Work in Creation

Good morning as we open today, I would like us to consider the following question. How well do you know your God? And Furthermore let us consider what is at stake if we do not know God as he truly is, as He has revealed himself through his word. If we are mistaken about God and His character we may actually be working against him when we think we are doing service for him. I would like to take a moment to consider the lives of two men who thought they were doing a service that would be pleasing to King David. The men I’m referring to are b. Let me read for you their story from 2 Samuel 4:5–12

“Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest. And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night, and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The LORD has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.” But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.” (2 Samuel 4:5–12, ESV)

Now, the lesson here is that these men thought they were doing something that would please King David. They thought that they would get a reward for the head of Ish-bosheth However, their great mistake was that they were ignorant of the character of King David. They should have known from David’s past actions that he would not be pleased by their execution of Ish-bosheth. When they bring David Ish-bosheth’s head, he reminds them that he killed the messenger who brought him the news that King Saul was dead. If he had killed that messenger how could they expect better treatment? Their error was that they did not consider how King David had acted in the past and they were ignorant of his character. When they thought they were doing something that would be pleasing to him they were doing that which he found detestable. This morning what I would like to do is for us to take some time to take a look at God’s activity in creation. By doing so, we can see the character of the God we serve. Let us not fall into the error of Rechab and Baanah and let us not be ignorant of our God’s character as revealed in His actions.

I ask that you now open up your bibles to Genesis chapter one and will examine the activity of God in creation.

Before we begin lets pray…..

Now that you've opened your bibles to Genesis chapter one please listen and read along as I read for you Genesis chapter one in its entirety.

“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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:1–31, ESV)

What I would like you to notice as we take a look at the narrative here is that the record of creation is focused centrally on the work of God himself. If an artist was drawing a picture and we wanted to write about it, there are two ways we could go about it. We could focus on the artwork being produced or we could focus on the artist. Here, as we can see, this narrative account is focused on the artist, that is God. over and over again it says And God Said or God made, and God saw and so on. At the center of the creation, account is the Creator, not creation.

Now let us turn our attention to examine the 3 activities of God in creation that demand our attention

In this narrative is recorded for us actions or works that God has performed in creation. And all of those tell us something about God and who he is and his character. In total, there are 9 distinct words describing God’s various actions in creation. However, for our purposes, we will categorize these into 3 types of activities of God. These are God’s activities of speech which includes where it says, God speaks, God names, and God blesses. We will look at God’s activity of making and arranging which includes phrases God Makes, God Forms, separates, fills and sets; and lastly, we will look at God’s activity of assessing His creation where it says “and God saw”. So as we examine these, we will also consider what it tells us about God so that we m­­­­ay more confidently worship, obey, and trust in him.

The first of God’s activities in creation that we will examine is also the most significant. That is the activity of God’s speech in Creation. In the first chapter of Genesis alone God speaks 14 times. We see this first at the beginning of Verse 3 and God said; Again in verse 5 and God called; verse 6 and God said; verse 8 and God called; verse 9 and God said; verse 10 God called; verse 11 and God said; verse 14 and God said; verse 20 and God said; verse 22 and God blessed them saying; verse 24 and God said; verse 26 then God said; verse 28 and God blessed them and God said to them; verse 29 and God said.

It can't help but be noticed that God's word dominates this entire creation narrative. A few observations can be made. Every other act of God in creation or every other activity in creation is subsequent to God speaking it or expressing his will verbally. There is nothing that happens in the creation account that does not begin with the formula “and God said, let there be.” The exceptions to this, of course, is verses one and two where it tells us

“in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form and void over the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

This however rather than being a separate part of creation seems to be better understood as a preface to the act of creation that is going to begin at verse 3. This is also supported grammatically in that it is not till verse 3 that the author begins to structure the language in a form that is typical of Hebrew historical narrative, a structure which continues throughout the book of genesis.

But beginning with day one verse 3 every act of Creation begins with God’s word in the Formulaic structure of “and God said” followed by a “let there” be dot dot dot . Now, what does this tell us about God?

First of all it tells us that there is nothing that God did that was not a result of His will. Creation did not spin-off of God or accidentally come out of him as just an overflow of who. There was nothing accidental about it. To the contrary, every single detail that God created was part of his express willed design. There are no accidents with God, there are no surprises to God, there is nothing that has happened from the time of creation till now of which God did not intend. Not only was there no part of creation of which God did not expressly and intentionally will to happen but there is nothing that will happen in your life or has happened of which God is not likewise fully aware of. The trials and difficulties of your life are not an oversight of our God; rather he has intentioned every detail of every difficulty and hardship according to His purposes which we know is for the good of those that love him.

Secondly, he is a personal God. Yes, it is true that in the account of creation we see displayed an infinite expression of power that it is virtually incomprehensible to us. Yet, at the same time, we see a God who relates to and even speaks in an understandable way to his creation. We see this especially in God's blessings that he gives to his creation. This is seen first after God creates all the sea creatures and all the creatures of the Sky. He does not just create them and leave them without a purpose or provision. In verse 22 we are told that “God blessed them saying, ‘be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply on the earth.’” Even to the birds and the fish, God expresses his will to them. And Furthermore, we can see that the thing that God blesses them in is giving them the freedom to do the very thing for which they were created to do. God again gives a blessing in verse 28 when God blesses man and gives him instructions relevant to God's purposes for mankind. Namely, be fruitful and multiply fill the earth subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea birds of the heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Secondly, God adds to this blessing with his provision to man and to the animals where He says,

“And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.” (Genesis 1:29–30, ESV)

God is not an impersonal God; God is concerned for and God interacts with his creation. God is not and has never been silent.

Now Thirdly looking at God's word and creation we see that God's word is always fulfilled. If there is nothing else that you take out of the sermon today, I want you to pay attention to this. There is a pattern in the creation account in which every day of creation begins with the word of God speaking his will, followed by the execution of his spoken will, and then followed up by a statement of confirmation. This happens first and most simply in verse 3 where it says

“and God said, let there be light and there was light”

Now in this first instance, there is nothing that comes between the word that God expresses and the statement of confirmation. As the account continues, the author adds filler in between to tell us what happened along with other details. However, the pattern never changes. Each time there is a “and God said” is inevitably followed up by an “and it was so.” Every single word of God is accomplished. The author is emphatic on that point to make sure that we know that every word of God, everything he says and everything he declares is accomplished. Furthermore, this pattern of God’s word followed by fulfillment does not end on day 6. Herein we see a truth that is critical to recognize, not only within the context of Genesis chapter one but throughout all of scripture. God’s words are faithful, that which God promises will come about. Scripture is replete with the fulfillment of God’s promises. God tells Noah that he is sending a flood, but that he and his family will be safe, and it is so. God tells Abraham that he shall have a son through Sarah, and it is so. When God spoke to Moses through the burning bush God said that he would surely bring the Israelites out of Egypt to worship him at that very mountain, and it was so. God promised Joshua and Caleb that they alone of their generation would inherit the land on which they treaded, and it was so. God promised David that he would be King, and it was so.

But some might wonder, must God fulfill all of His promises? After all, if he is God and he can do what he wants then can't he choose to fulfill some promises and not others? Must God keep His word? It is here in Genesis, I believe, more than any other place in scripture that we see the impossibility that God could lie or not fulfill his word. We see in the creation account that existence exists because God says it does. Things are, because, God says they are. To put this another way if I were to tell all of you that pigs fly, I would be a liar. If God were to say pigs fly then I tell you bacon would become much more difficult to acquire. Because if God says it is, it is. If it were possible for God to lie, then reality itself would fail to exist for it is His word that created it and His word that upholds it.

Consider then some of his promises of which we have not yet seen the fulfillment, could there possibly be anything more certain than the reality that these promises will be fulfilled? If God through his word says that He has loved you from before the foundation of the world, who are we to doubt that it is true? If God says that all who believe in His son Jesus Christ will be saved from their sins and will be with Him in the resurrection unto eternal life; have we any reason to doubt his power and intention to accomplish it? He has demonstrated His power to us in creation and by raising Jesus from the dead. Life may be full of uncertainties, But God’s promises are not uncertain. There is nothing in life that you can be more sure of than that God will accomplish that which he promised. That you will make it home today or even breathe your next breath is pure speculation. You have no certainty of those things. The only certainty we have in life proceeds from the mouth of God. If you have anything but God’s declared Word as the foundation for your life, then you are building your life on that which will not stand. Trust in His Word. Trust in Jesus Christ.

Now I would like us to take a look at the second activity of God in creation. This would be the actual work of creation that God does in response to His word. As we look at the creative activity of God we find that his works fall into one of two categories; that of separating and filling. On day one God creates light and separates the light from the darkness. Again on day two God makes the expanse which then separates the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that are above the expanse. On day three we see God separating the water from the dry land. So in these first 3 days we see God primarily acting in the process of separating. Again, he separates Light and dark; earth and heavens; land and sea. However, on day 3 he's going to begin the process of now filling these areas that he has created. So again on day 3 after God has separated the waters from the land, God now begins to fill the land, and in verse 11 God says “let the earth sprout vegetation plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit.” God begins filling the land that he had only recently separated from the waters. On day 4, God fills the heavens with lights but he does so to separate the day from the night. So God fills the heavens which he has separated out and then in filling them with lights; the greater light and lesser light, he also separates day and night into two distinct times of the day. And more than that, as we read in verse 14 “and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years” and so we see that the lights are not only to separate out night and day but also to separate one season from another as well as calendar years. Moving forward to day 5 we read that God fills both the skies and the seas with life. He fills the waters with swarms of living creatures, and he fills the sky with flying creatures. However even as he fills his creation, there is still separation. This is shown in the distinctions between the creatures meant to inhabit the sea as opposed to those meant to fill the sky. And among the creatures of the sea and the sky, they also divided up according to their kinds. In this act, we see God both filling and separating at the same time. This pattern continues into day 6 where God likewise makes the living creatures for the earth of all their different kinds to fill the earth. He makes livestock, beasts, and all sorts of creeping things, each according to their kinds. In fact, throughout the entire creation account, it says 10 times that God created things “according to their kinds.” So what then should we think of this activity of God of both separating and filling?

First of all, the act of separating is to create order out of chaos. I think of my children's bedrooms, without a force outside of them everything in their bedroom would simply be in a massive single pile in the center of their room. In short, it would be chaos. However, it is the act of separating things that both bring order and usefulness. A bed is not useful as a bed when it is covered in Legos. Neither are Legos very useful when mixed in with play dough. Furthermore, although an untidy bedroom may lose some of its utility and usefulness; a universe that is not separated into distinct areas would be completely unable to support life. The sun would not do us very much good if it was not separated by a distance from the earth. Likewise, if the waters and the land were not separate distinct areas neither would be useful. And so we should recognize that it is God that creates boundaries; boundaries for the waters; boundaries for the sky; and boundaries for the heavens. Moreover, he creates boundaries for life, some life for the water, and some for the land but all according to their own kinds. Now we can all readily see that these boundaries that God creates in existence are for our good. For if they did not exist, neither could life exist. Why then I ask, should we even for a moment question the boundaries that God has provided for us in his moral and ethical instruction for life? Our culture today would try to say that we need to blur these distinctions, particularly those between men and women. However, as should be evident from nature itself; to push back against the boundaries put in place by God himself is contrary to life. If we take for a moment the opportunity to consider the full extent and range of ways that we sin against God and push back against the boundaries He has set in place, we are in every way working contrary to that which is for our own good. There is no law or rule of conduct that comes from God that is not for the benefit of us in life and happiness.

Furthermore, as God has created separation and distinction for good, He also fills that creation with goodness. It should be recognized that God does not provide meagerly. God wants the living creatures that he makes not only to enjoy the goodness of the place that he has made for them, but he wants them to do it fully. And furthermore, as he fills, he does it with a diversity of creatures.

Now… for some reason whenever I take time to consider God's creation, I'm always drawn to compare the quality of his work in creation to that produced by small children. Unlike God, children tend to make a number of mistakes that mar the quality of their work. As an example, a child might use only one color crayon for his entire drawing, producing a work that is entirely bland. It lacks diversity. A second mistake would be to use every color but to mix them up so that all that is left is when big Brown mess. It lacks distinction as nothing has been separated. However, probably the most frustrating mistake for me personally to observe is a failure to fill the canvas. This is the tendency of some to draw a tiny tiny picture in the corner of a piece of paper and to simply leave the rest of it blank, considering their work finished. When my own children do this to me, I turn them around and I tell them to finish it and fill the page. If not, I'm left with a pile of papers each with one tiny scribble here and there but almost completely wasted. God on the other hand, when he creates, he does so with diversity while in every way each thing maintaining its own uniqueness. In addition, He fills up his creation so that it is brimming with life. It has always been a marvel to me as it has too many others that every corner of the earth is filled with life and that everywhere we turn there is some unique creature, even in the most inhospitable places, that is perfectly equipped in its own way to live and thrive there. As we consider the beauty of God’s diversity of design in the natural world and how he has given each creature its own unique set of abilities to live and thrive in its own way; we should also recognize God’s goodness in the diversity He has given to the church. Though all people are of one kind and all made in the Image of God, we recognize that God has made each person unique for the good of His church. It would not be befitting of God to fill His church with people of only one kind of gifting or usefulness.

Now, the last aspect of God's activity in creation that we must consider is the matter of God’s assessment of His creation. 7 times in the 6 days of creation we read the phrase; “God saw His creation and it was good.” It occurs once on the first, fourth, and fifth days; twice on the third and sixth day, and is absent from the second day. On the sixth, at the finale of creation, God does not just say that it is good but that it is “very good”. Now, this leads to a few important truths regarding the nature of God. Firstly, God and everything that proceeds from God is good. Secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, God is the standard and the only rightful judge of what is good. God does not need to ask his creation whether what he has created is good. This is the error of many who reject Christ. Instead of seeing themselves as those who are to be judged they turn and point the finger at God. They judge their own sinful behavior as good and judge God to be in the wrong for not accepting their definition of what is good. Or they fail to recognize the world it is present state is not the “good” world God created and deem that God can’t be good who allows bad things to happen. They fail to realize that God is going to judge all the evil in the world and that it is not they who judge God, but God who will judge them. Even those in the church may at times find themselves questioning God’s goodness. But of course, at the center of this way of thinking is to put self at the center rather than God. And when that happens, we make ourselves the judges who look at God with a critical eye. Yet, as we reflect upon Genesis 1 we must recognize that as created beings we have no place to judge God. Rather, it is we who are under the gaze of an almighty God who is Himself the sole standard of goodness. We must rather be diligent to reshape our mind and our thinking conform to God’s standard. Should we fail to do so we may find ourselves committing the same fallacy as Rechab and Baanah. Thinking that we are doing a good service to our God when in reality we may be doing that which He despises. And if we submit to Him as the sole authority of goodness and righteousness we know that He speaks to us and will reveal to us His precepts and instruction that we may live within the boundaries that He Has assigned. For we know that if we trust His word which never fails and lives according to its truth it is His good desire to fill us with all the fullness of His goodness. And he has placed us within His church full of all the diversity of people of differing skills, talents, and gifts that can likewise encourage and exhort us to live in faithful dependence on Him as we worship Him for all that He has done and what he will yet accomplish. Let us pray