Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
- The Message (Introduction to Genesis): “First, God. God is the subject of life. God is foundational for living. If we don’t have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at the center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God.”
Isaiah 45:18: “This is what the LORD says-He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited-He says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
- Many fail to look to the Lord God for answers seeking to reduce His role in origins (beginnings)! Whether religious or not, there’s often an awareness (even among scientists) that someone (some designer) is behind all this. It is fashionable to discount the idea of a God Who is All Powerful, always Purposeful and definitely Personal.
It’s become popular in our culture to attack Genesis 1, but these opening verses confront us with this One and Only God and gives answers to our questions in language we can understand! This has tremendous significance for us and has immeasurable meaning.
Science cannot examine God! Scientists aren’t in a position to prove or disprove Him but science has, however, a part to play as we observe humanity and the world around us. In the early chapters of Genesis we have a wonderful description of the Creation of the world. I believe this is a literal historical account asserting great facts and introducing certain immense themes that are developed throughout the Bible. The God whose character is revealed throughout Israel’s history is the One who created the world. This world of ours had a beginning in time. We can try and rationalize it and deceive ourselves that God doesn’t exist but we are constantly reminded He does! We have a depth of meaning that is beyond understanding. We need to grasp that God gave us this record to help us understand what He is sharing with us.
Fredrick A. Filby (Former Prof. of Physics @ London University, Prof. of Astronomy in the Royal Institution): “God made it all (‘asah.) He created it (bara’). It had never existed as such before. The material universe was made from the non-material, which in turn was made from the creative Word of God. The work had a purpose (kun). It was prepared beforehand for the tasks its Creator had planned and it was established so that it needed no constant alterations. It involved the careful forming and fashioning of the Divine Potter (yatsar) to bring it to the form of that pattern or plan which arose, not in matter, but in the mind of God Himself. Such then is implied by the Bible as it fills out for us the meaning of (Gen. 1:1).”
- 11:1, 3. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see…By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so what was seen was not made out of what was visible.”
This God is our Saviour and He is totally in control and sustains all things.
Colossians 1:16 reminds us of the Supremacy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. –
- “For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.”
Your friend and pastor
Jim