God's glory through our salvation

It was Christmas Eve 1968; Apollo 8 was orbiting the moon (the furthest from Earth that mankind had ever been) and it sent back those unforgettable pictures of our beautiful, blue-green planet, rising above the lifeless grey of the moon. And one of the crew read from Genesis:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…

And isn’t it remarkable that people at the cutting edge of the space age should turn back to the 3,000 year old text of Genesis? Because, like the whole Bible, it’s often dismissed as having nothing to say to modern, scientific people. And yet its explanation of who we are and why we’re here resonates far more deeply with us than the story that we’re simply here by chance, and alone in a meaningless universe. And can I say, if you’re just thinking through what you believe, Genesis isn’t going to prove the existence of God to you. Instead, Genesis wants you to ask ‘Does this explain you and your experience of the world better than anything else?’ That’s partly what convinced C S Lewis, who once said:

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

And Genesis 1-3 is going to help us see who we are and why we’re here – and even more importantly, what’s gone wrong with us, and why we need Jesus to put it right. So before we get into it, let’s pray:

Father God,Thank you for this part of your written Word to us. Please help us to see you in it, and to see ourselves in your light.In Jesus’ name, Amen

So would you have one of the Bibles in the seats open at page 1, Genesis 1.1. And the first thing we’re told here is that:

1. The one true God created everything

Look at Genesis 1.1:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth [in other words, everything].

Genesis was originally written for God’s Old Testament people as they went to live in the land God had promised them. So God had rescued them from Egypt, where people believed in one lot of gods (like Re the sun-god) and he was taking them to a land surrounded by people believing in another lot of gods – like Baal, the fertility god. So one purpose of Genesis was to remind God’s people that he was the one true God who’d created everything; and to knock other beliefs on the head. And that’s still one purpose of Genesis today. So for example, it knocks on the head the belief that in the beginning there was just matter and nothing else. As far as I understand it (which isn’t very far), big bang theory says you can trace things back to a beginning where all the matter currently in the universe was gathered into a single point, a singularity. Which begs the questions ‘How did that get there?’ and also the question ‘How could matter (what is impersonal) give rise to persons like us?’
Isn’t it more credible that a personal Creator explains that? Well, back to Genesis 1.1:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth [everything].

That’s the heading to Genesis 1. And the rest of the chapter describes God doing it. So, Genesis 1.2:

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.

So by Genesis 1.2, some kind of ‘initial creation’ has already happened. In Great British Bake Off terms, it’s as if God has created his lump of dough in bread week, but there’s now far more to do, to create the showstopper he has in mind. And the purpose of Genesis 1.2 is to emphasise that, at this point, the Earth is uninhabitable. It’s like those pictures from NASA probes of other planets and their moons; you take one look and think ‘Nothing could live there.’ So Genesis 1.2; There’s no light. There’s no form – no separation into places that could support life; there’s just the waters, the deep. And it’s void – empty of any living creatures. And Genesis 1 is structured around God reversing those three things: First bringing light. Then bringing form – spaces for life. And then filling those spaces. So the second thing we see here is that:

2. God created everything…for us

Now that might sound too mankind-centred to you, and of course, God created the world for all other living creatures as well. But Genesis emphasises that, in particular, God made this world for us – for which we should be incredibly thankful. So going back to those pictures from Apollo 8, we look at the Earth and think ‘Isn’t it amazing that we have this life-supporting home in an otherwise seemingly lifeless solar system?’ Or looking at the physical constants that science has discovered, we think ‘Isn’t it amazing that if any one of them were fractionally different, the universe – and therefore we – wouldn’t be here.’ So let’s see how God created everything…for us. Look on to Genesis 1.3. I’m going to read days 1 to 3 of God’s creation week. And just ask yourself ‘What impression of God does this give you?’ So, Genesis 1.3-13:

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.

So day one reverses the problem of darkness, and days two and three reverse the problem of no form – we now have sky (or atmosphere) and dry land. But what impression of God did it give you? You see we say things like ‘Let there be DIY shelves up in the kitchen’ or less ambitiously, ‘Let there be IKEA furniture assembled.’ But it’s never a foregone conclusion that there will be. And even if it happens, it’s often a struggle to the final success. But there’s none of that here with God is, there? The impression is of effortless power; total control; whatever he plans happens – in Christian ‘jargon’: the sovereignty of God. And that, again, was designed to knock on the head the other beliefs that God’s people were surrounded by. Because those beliefs basically said that the gods simply found this lump of dough (this chaotic mix of good and evil) and struggled to get on top of it, and mould it into shape. So the world on that view is unpredictable and unstable, and you don’t really know whether good is in control, or evil is in control, or nothing is in control.

By contrast, Genesis says: the one true God, who is thoroughly good, is in control – and in control of all the things that make us fearful and anxious. So for example, we fear the dark but God doesn’t. Because he knows what’s in the dark and he’s in full control of it. We fear the waters, the deep, the thought of a flood or the sea reclaiming the land – but God doesn’t. Because to him, it was child’s play to gather the waters together into one place, and it’s child’s play for him to keep it there – he’s in full control of it. Whatever we fear, God doesn’t, and he’s in full control of it. Now the sovereignty of God doesn’t give us the comfort of knowing why God is allowing things to happen, but it does give us the comfort of knowing that they’re not happening because he’s lost control. So we’re up to Genesis 1.13. We now have form. And from Genesis 1.14 onwards, we have filling. And in Genesis 1.14, God fills the heavens with inanimate bodies (Genesis 1.14-19):

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.

Now remember: Genesis was written to show us the one true God and to knock on the head other beliefs – back then, and now. And back then, like now, many people believed that the sun, moon and stars controlled your life, because they believed they were gods – like the sun-god Re in Egypt. To which the one true God says ‘They’re not gods for you to serve. They’re just things I’ve made to serve you.’ For example; to give you light, and to help you tell the time, and to help you tell the seasons – so that you plant your crops at the right time, and remember how I rescued you from Egypt at the right time, and so on. The fact is, if we look at this world without knowing the one true God, we inevitably make gods of other things. We might not be tempted to do that with the sun, moon and stars. But what about money, or sex or power, to name but three? And Genesis calls us to live for the one true God (who will free us to be what we should be) rather than the wrong gods (who won’t). So in day four God fills the heavens with inanimate bodies. Then in days five and six, he fills the earth, sea and sky with living bodies. Genesis 1.20-25:

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.

Genesis 1 is very carefully structured writing. For example, it repeats things to make a point like: And God saw that it was good – which means nothing that’s now not good can be traced back to God as the cause, as the one to blame. So it’s significant that, when every piece of action has been introduced by And God said…we now get a unique introduction to the creation of mankind – to show that mankind is unique in God’s creation. Genesis 1.26-27:

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.

Those verses are so important, I’ve given myself another sermon to unpack them next week. For now, let’s just see that they’re saying we’re unique. So we may share 98% of our genes with apes – there is that physical commonality, but we’re not just animals because in a unique way we are created like God, and capable of imaging or reflecting God in the way we live. But just as a mirror will only reflect someone if it’s facing that someone, so we will only reflect God as we were made to if we’re facing him in relationship, rather than living with our backs tunred to him, as if he wasn’t there. More on that next week. For now, look on to Genesis 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.”

I could have said this when we saw the earth bringing forth vegetation or God’s similar blessing to sea and bird life, but the gifts of fertility and new life come from God. And it’s hard not to feel that deeply when you hold your newborn for the first time. My brother’s not a Christian, but he said to me his immediate thought at that moment was ‘I didn’t make this life; I was given it.’ And then we’re told how the gift of food also comes from God. Genesis 1.29-31:

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.

So God created everything for us. For which, as I said earlier, we should be incredibly thankful to him – recognising the Giver behind the gifts. Whereas maybe there’s someone here saying ‘I don’t need God – life is good without him.’ or maybe you’ll meet someone who says that to you as you’re trying to share your faith. And the answer is: ‘Actually, if life is good, that’s only because God has been good to you as your Creator. And even if you haven’t recognised it, you’ve needed him for all the good in your life all the way along.’ So: The one true God created everything. God created everything… for us. The last thing to see here is that:

3. God created everything…for us…and us for his purposes

Because the beginning of Genesis is not mankind-centred. Like the whole of the Bible, it’s centred on God and his purposes. And that’s the point of Genesis 2.1-3 which is the climax of this account of creation. So, look at Genesis 2.1-3:

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 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.

I’ve already said: this is very carefully structured writing. So six times a section has ended:

And there was evening and there was morning, the [whichever it was] day.

But there’s no such ending for the seventh day, which has got to be deliberate. It can’t mean that Moses (assuming it was Moses) broke for coffee then forgot to put it in. It means that the seventh day never ends. So what is it? What does it stand for? The answer must be that it stands for all of history and then eternity beyond. So days 1 to 6 stand for God’s creation week – by the end of which the universe was complete, and day 7 stands for all of history and then eternity beyond.

So, let me point out that day 7 is an unusual kind of day, and also that Genesis 2.4 says:

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

So did he make it in six days or one? Which all begs the question: how is day being used here? My view is that God inspired the writer to use the structure of a week to describe God’s creation work and then his stopping that work, for a reason we’ll see in a moment. But that reason wasn’t to tell us how long it took God to create. I don’t think Genesis 1 requires us to understand the days as 6 periods of 24 hours. And I don’t think Genesis 1 tells us anything about the age of the Earth. The reason it uses the structure of a week is to teach us that our goal is to live a holy life now, and to look forward to rest with God in eternity. So just look at Genesis 2.3:

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy

I think that refers to two things. For one thing, Genesis 2.3 refers to all of history and eternity beyond, because that’s what the seventh day stands for here. So it’s saying God has made all of that holy – which means ‘set apart for God and his purposes.’ So at one level, Genesis 2.3 is saying our lives are not just chance blips in a meaningless universe. God has put us here to live for him and his purposes – to get up every day and say: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And in that, we will find meaning. But the other thing is that Genesis 2.3 refers to God’s gift in his Old Testament law of a day of rest for his people. And if you read the Ten Commandments, you find that the rationale for that is Genesis 1. It’s the pattern set here by God of six days’ creation work, and then stopping that creation work on day 7.

And Genesis 1 is implicitly calling us to follow that pattern for our own good. Because the purpose of one day off from our regular work is to stop us becoming absorbed in our work, as if we were just workers like Marxism says. It’s to stop us thinking that we are what we do or that we are our results, or that we are what we earn and what we own and so on. And the purpose is to have a day which lifts our eyes to God and reminds us that what we really are is people made in his image, made above all for relationship with him now, and for relationship with him in eternity, when we will rest for good from all the struggles and sorrows of this fallen world. And every day of rest we take in this life is pointing us to that rest beyond this life.