When We Came to Be - Genesis 1:1-26

Copyright October 27, 2018 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

We have heard time and time again "the earth is billions of years old." It is stated as a fact and accepted as incontrovertible. Anyone who does not embrace this belief is treated as an intellectual baboon. Professors who have dared to question these ideas have been fired.

The Bible paints a different picture. Sadly, many PROMINENT Christian Pastors have readily dismissed the book of Genesis as not being a statement of history. Their concern is people will not listen to them if they stand by the book of Genesis as history. However, if you abandon the early chapters of Genesis the question becomes: do you have anything left to offer people?

This morning we are going to look at what the Bible tells us about Creation. Before we look at the days of creation, we need to understand four things:

The primary rule of Biblical Interpretation is: "if the plain sense makes sense . . . seek no other sense." The Bible was written to be understood. If what you are reading is clear and understandable do not conclude that there are hidden codes or the words that mean something different from what they clearly seem to mean.

We must remember everyone is looking at the exact same evidence. The difference is in their bias (or paradigm). Those who believe in evolution will look at these things one way and those who believe God created the world as it says, will look at it another.

Christians interpret these words differently. Some believe in what is called a young earth and others believe in an old earth. We disagree and sometimes we do so strongly, but how you view creation is not a test of salvation.

This account of creation in Genesis 1 was never meant (and does not claim) to be an exhaustive account of the creation of all things. It is written to explain the process of God's creation of the earth and life as we know it. As a result, we will have many questions, even after we study these words. God is teaching us about the beginning of OUR world, not of all worlds.

The Biblical Text

Whenever we read the Bible we need to be very careful. Many people have drawn erroneous conclusions by reading what they wanted to read into the Bible. We don't have to go any further than the coming of Christ to see how badly some of the scholars of the day missed what the prophets were saying. So, let's read these words carefully.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Verses 1-2 tell us that God created everything there is. It appears to me the earth, at this time was just a planet in the sky that appears to be covered in water. The million-dollar question is: How long was the earth in this state before we get to verse 3? Was it a short time or a long time? We don't know. There is NO evidence that there was a previous world God destroyed and now He is making a new earth in the seven days of creation. There is no indication of previous inhabitants on the earth. The text does not support this. Such speculation is injected into the text to "make room" for evolution.

The Days of Creation

What follows is the process of creation that takes place over seven days.

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

6Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8God called the space “sky.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.

On the first day, God created light while He created. He creates space, time, matter, and energy. He separated this light from darkness and we have day one. People struggle with the fact that God created light but did not create the sun until the fourth day. However, in John 1 we are told Jesus was the Word and He was the light and life of men. In John 8 Jesus said He was the Light of the world. As you read the book of Revelation, we are told in the New Jerusalem the Lord Himself would be Light. Someone astutely mentioned that perhaps God did not create the sun until day 4 because He wanted us to know that He is the giver of Light, not the Sun. He wanted us to know we should not worship the sun, but Him.

On day two, God created the atmosphere that surrounds and sustains the earth. The ozone in our atmosphere limits the amount of UV rays that get through to earth. The atmosphere also regulates the temperature on the earth.

Day Three was a busy day. God commanded the water to pull back to allow large plots of dry land. It is possible that the earth was originally one land mass and they moved apart during Noah's flood. (Scientists now speculate about a continental drift). It is likely the world God created at this time looked differently than it does now. A worldwide flood (with Noah) would have changed the landscape drastically.

This is also when vegetation comes on the scene. He created seed-bearing plants that were "mature" and already contained fruit. Creation by God's design would be somewhat self-sustaining.

On Day four God ordained the Sun to rule the day and the moon and the starts to rule the night. God could certainly create stars so their light was already seen on the earth.

On day five, God created the creatures of the sea and all the birds. All of these living beings were given the ability to produce offspring of the same kind. From these basic kinds a great number of varieties of animals have come about. In other words, from a bird, lots of different kinds of birds came into being. God majestically created us to adapt to our environment.

On day six a bunch of things happen.

24Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

27So God created human beings in his own image.

In the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

On the sixth day God made the animals and human beings. Only human beings were created in the image of God. In other words, the notion that dogs and cats are people too, is not true. Chapter two recounts this process in some detail. We will look more closely at this in the next two weeks.

Also in chapter 2 we are told that God rested on the seventh day.

When Did This all Happen

There is a huge debate over the age of the earth. People have widely different answers to this question. Google says the earth is 5.3 billion years old. Others say it is only 6-12,000 years old. One is called the "old earth" view the other is called "young earth." I will let you choose which is which,

The argument for an old earth is layers of sediment and fossils. I believe both of these are better explained by a worldwide flood than by billions of years. Others point to the expanding universe discovered by astronomers starting with Hubble as evidence of the age of the earth. This tells us the universe had a beginning. However, when this is used to date the earth there are some assumptions that are biased.

Many Christians have tried to alter the "plain sense" of the passage so it more accurately mirrors the predominant teaching of the scientific community. Some have suggested the word "day" used here is not a 24-hour day. Some creatively squeeze millions of years between each day! There is no reason at all to believe this! These are attempts to squeeze the Bible record into the theories of science.

There is a view called the Framework view that says "seven days" was a literary device to describe the creation. Somewhat like a memory tool. That is possible but the question we need to ask is: What is the plain sense of the text? I believe the plain sense of the text is 6 24-hour days. Listen to what God told Israel in the Ten Commandments.

You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. (Exodus 20:9-11)

Later in Exodus 31:17 Moses said,

17It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.’

Our week is patterned after the seven days of creation! The command to take a day for rest and worship is anchored to God's actions in creation. It seems the Jews understood these words as historical and not as artistic.

Where do the 6000-10,000 years come from? These numbers come from adding up the genealogies recorded in the Bible. There are many of those records in the Bible. Those who have much more time on their hands than I do, have added all these dates and come up with their figures. However, people are known to collapse genealogies. What that means is sometimes people skip several generations. For example, I might say, "I am a son of George Washington." (This is just an illustration, I have never done any exploring on my heritage). I would be telling the truth, but I am also skipping numerous generations. Because we know this sometimes happened in Bible records, we must be cautious about setting a date. However, we would say the earth as an inhabited planet is not millions or billions of years old.

When you add the Biblical testimony of a worldwide flood . . . the various levels of rock and dirt, the numerous fossils, fossil fuels, landscape changes, the extinction of dinosaurs, and some atmospheric changes are all explained. A worldwide flood would produce all of these things. There is lots of evidence to back up a worldwide flood..

Does it Matter?

Does it matter if Genesis is history or not? It does. First, if we conclude Genesis is not history (creation, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Fall, the Tower of Babel, the Flood), then why is it that we believe the rest of the Bible?

In most surveys you will learn people do not believe in the Bible. They believe it is outdated and has been “proved wrong.” Why do they feel this way? Because pastors and others are trying to find ways to fit in with the theories of science rather than trusting the revelation that God gave to His people! If you conclude Genesis is just a story, you are welcoming a cancer into your soul that will erode the power of the Word of God in your life.

Before you write off the book of Genesis as just a nice story, you owe it to yourself to listen to the arguments of those who defend the Bible as history. Maybe you should take a trip to the Creation Museum or the Ark Adventure. You should also check out some of the videos listed in the bulletin.

James 1:27 says,

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

We usually hear the part about caring for widows and orphans, but we must also hear the last words: “refusing to let the world corrupt you.” Romans 12 says, “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.” (Phillips translation) As believers we must be very cautious of tossing aside the authority of the Word of God in order to conform to the popular opinion on anything . . . including the creation of the world!

There is a second reason this is vitally important. Jesus and the Apostles referred to these events as historical. Jesus quotes God’s word at the creation of Adam and Eve when teaching about marriage. He referenced Sodom and Gomorrah. He likened the Second Coming to the time of Noah. Jesus’ genealogy is even traced through Adam!

Peter talked about the flood. Paul made Adam a prominent part of His teaching on theology. He talked about creation being made subject by the Fall of man (the choice of Adam in the Garden). If Jesus and the Apostles thought of the early chapters of Genesis as history but they were wrong . . . It makes it difficult to trust Christ as Savior or to believe anything else these men wrote in the Bible! This is a BIG deal!

Recent discoveries in science (tissue and marrow in dinosaur bones, DNA, and other such things) strengthen the Biblical view and go against the view of evolution and the "billions of years" age of the earth! A growing number of scientists are embracing the young earth timetable.

This is not simply an academic or theological discussion. Are we mere accidents of nature or purposefully created? Is this life heading someplace or is this just a mad race going nowhere?

The opening chapter of Genesis sends a message that our lives matter both here and in eternity. God made the world and made us to live uniquely in this world. He wants us to know and love Him. That’s His plan, that is His purpose. If we negotiate the first chapters of the Bible, we are negotiating away our faith, our hope, our purpose, our dignity, and our value.

The Bible is the Word God. It is God's explanation of how it all began. The Bible is our guide to all things. We are not free to cut out parts of God's revelation to us. God does not ask us to believe in spite of any evidence. There is ABUNDANT evidence, you just need to open your eyes to examine it.

Being lazy when it comes to these matters is like haphazardly building the foundation of a home. It may not seem like a big deal at the time, but eventually, it will create disastrous consequences. When the storms of naturalism and atheism come against those who hold to the truthfulness of God’s Word but have a shaky foundation, the foundation may begin to crumble

I am arguing that you do not have to stop thinking in order to take the Bible as true. In fact, it is very important that you start thinking!