Genesis 1:24-2:3 A Present / Active God - Creating the pinnacle of creation

What is the greatest achievement you have ever achieved?

I. The pinnacle of creation: Bringing fullness and life

A. Day 4 – Sun/moon/stars

Creation now has the structure in place to support life Now God brings bringing fullness to His creation

(ESV) Genesis 1 14 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, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 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.

1. Made the sun / moon / stars – the universe as we know it

2. Not named intentionally? - Not gods / not to be worshipped

3. Stars an afterthought – have no power to control men’s lives

4. Intended to serve man not control him

a. Means of providing light on the earth rather than through God Himself

b. Means to tell time / direction / time of year changes

c. Note: plants already created before the sun – impossible naturally

5. Created with apparent age

a. In order for the light of these bodies to be visible from the earth God must also have created the photons from those bodies that extend the billions of light years to earth

b. In order to be a fully functional system and represent the beauty and majesty of God, again there is the appearance of age – set them where they are

1) Galaxies not just symmetrical but all types of shapes and in all sorts of apparent interactions with one another 2) Gasses around stars reflecting colors / in various forms and stages

6. Day/night cycle – Sun/moon,star=day (24 hours)

(ESV) Genesis 1 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

a. And it was good

B. Day 5 – Fish/birds

Now the world is ready for living / breathing / thinking creatures

(ESV) Genesis 1 20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly abovethe earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creaturethat 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.

1. Creates ‘souls’ – living things (distinct from vegetation) – alive in a different way – seek to satisfy self/desires / self determination

2. Seas populated

a. Swarms of swarms / not just a few / but vast numbers / with diversity

b. Sea creatures that in other countries are viewed as competing with gods, are mere created animals – no power over man – just an example of the greatness of God

c. Creation of dinosaur swimming creatures – real great sea creatures/monsters

3. Atmosphere populated with birds / flying things

4. Fully populated, not evolving – created as is

a. Distinct from one another

b. Not an image of evolution / an image of an all powerful God who instantly creates a world of life with all its variety

5. First time God blesses –

(ESV) Genesis 1 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was eveningand there was morning, the fifth day.

a. Empowers to reproduce / enjoy all that was made for them

b. Beings acting with some level of volition

c. Totally different view of God

1) Is God distant and at work through far away means 2) Is God immanent, personally involved, independent of means / shocking in His might

C. Day 6 part 1 – Animals Gen 1:24-26

(ESV) Genesis 1 24 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. 25 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.

1. Animals created

a. Domesticated animals

b. Small animals

c. Large wild animals

d. Dinosaurs / ancient animals/ The key kinds that will branch out to be all that will descend from them

2. With distinction / good

II. The pinnacle of creation: Creating man in His image

A. Uniquein creation

ESV Gen 1 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. … 27 So God created manin his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

1. Very different than animals in important ways

2. Not just spoken into existence - shaped

B. His inherent characteristics (some)

ESV Gen 1 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. … 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

1. But not exactly the same / not God / His likeness

2. Alive by the breath of God – different than animals –

3. personality, moral, and spiritual qualities that God and man share self-consciousness, responsibility, speech, moral discernment, freedom of conscious choice

4. An eternal being

5. A God-consciousness

6. By the Trinity (our)

a. Consultation before the creation of man/woman

1) Plural of majesty 2) Discussion among the Trinity

C. A representative of the original

ESV Gen 1 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. … 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

1. The one who is the real representation (statue as in ancient scripts) of the one who is not present physically - the Word made flesh

2. Rulership

a. Acting on behalf of the original

3. Sonship

a. son is the image of His father

What Adam should have been in shadow/ Christ became in its total fullness

D. A multiple/one community

ESV Gen 1 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. … 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

1. Both in His image

2. Marriage unit / one yet different

3. Context of family unit – producing children

4. Serving as a unity

5. Sexual terms – male / female / (then add children)

III. The pinnacle of creation: Creating man with purpose

A. Represent God on the earth

(ESV) Genesis 1 26 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.”

1. Rule in His image

a. On His behalf / The way He would rule / Steward over all that has been created

B. Create a Godly community

(ESV) Gen 1 28 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.”

1. A foundation of the home – in community

a. Have children

b. Not a secondary thought

1) Not an inconvenience that gets in the way of self fulfillment 2) Mothers with other primary goals than caring and nurturing children 3) Fathers unengaged totally not accepting their critical role to represent God in the home / responsibility for teaching/modeling/training in righteousness

2. Develop them in the image of God to represent God in creation - discipleship

C. Give God glory for His supply

(ESV) Genesis 1 29 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. 30 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.

a. God provides it all to sustain him

b. Implied – recognize it / react with this in mine

c. All vegetarians? until Genesis 9:3 / Or just emphasizing the harmony

D. A perfect result

(ESV) Genesis 1 31 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.

1. Very good / all creation in its interactions / Man the crowning point

IV. The pinnacle of creation: Creating a time to reflect

A. Day 7 - Ceased activity

(ESV) Genesis 2 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his workthat he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

1. Not tired – ceased activity

2. Reflect on/ admire / enjoy what has been done

3. Principle of Sabbath rest

a. Grounded in God’s creative action of working six days and resting on the seventh,

b. Established prior to the Law – has some impact on all ages

c. The Sabbath, says Jesus, is meant for humanity

4. A time to cease from distracting activity

5. A time to reflect on what God has done

The creative work of God in us has ongoing ramifications for today. The same God lives. The same God is still involved. The same God is still at work.

Here are some examples for the prayers of the Godly that show how they responded as they applied God’ creative activity to their current situations.

B. Set apart for God

(ESV) Genesis 2 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

(NKJV) Mark 2 27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

1. A repeating design for their sanctification.

a. Reminds Israel again and again that God completes his work.

b. A means to confess regularly that their God is Lord of all creation

c. The best interest of all people and all animals not a burden of rules and religion

d. A sign that the Creator has set His people apart for a special covenant relationship with him

e. Later Israel that they were slaves in Egypt but that the mighty Lord has redeemed them from servitude into rest

f. Gives concrete expression to the

g. church’s realized eschatology the hope that when they cease from their labors after their fleeting days they too shall enter an eternal rest.

h. Recognize and celebrate the significance of time. Participating in God’s rest gives us significance as we reflect on what we have done and allows us to participate in something eternal (transcendent time).

2. A time to worship God

C. Looking to a future reality

(ESV) Hebrews 4 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” …spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest forthe people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

1. A time to rest in what God will ultimately do (Hebrews 4 a time of ultimate rest)

V. The pinnacle of creation: Our response

A. Worship Revelation 4:11

1. In heaven the angels/elders

(ESV) Revelation 4 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

B. Trust Him for deliverance 2 Kings 19:15-19

1. Hezekiah facing Assyria

(ESV) 2 Kings 19 15 And Hezekiah prayedbefore the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. … 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”

C. Serve/witnessboldly Acts 4:24-29

1. Disciples after being imprisoned/warned by the Jews

(ESV) Acts 4 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earthand the sea and everything in them, … 29 And now, Lord, lookupon their threats and grantto your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,