In The Beginning (Part I) Series

In The Beginning

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

In today’s culture, we are challenged by two worldviews. The evolution worldview says that we are products of chance and are not a part of God’s divine plan. The biblical worldview says that God has created us for a purpose. The Bible says that we must trust Christ by faith, walk by faith and live every part of our life by faith in our God and His purpose for our lives. Does faith mean that we have to be blind to the evidence or should the evidence all around us build our faith? I heard one Christian defend her faith to an atheist by saying, “are you going to believe the evidence, or are you going to believe God?” Do we have to make that choice, or does the evidence point to God? I stand on the fact that the evidence points to God and because I know that what God has said is true, I can be confident that He is trustworthy to direct my future. You can’t exempt faith, but you can support it. My point is that God does not demand that we deny reality, but that we acknowledge the work of His hands and based on what He has done, we are to have confidence in Him in the things we can’t see with our eyes. This universe is a testimony to our God. What I plan to do is show that both evolution and creation require faith, but the evidence points toward creation and those who hold to evolution or a godless worldview are the ones who live by blind faith.

We read the first 5 verses of Genesis discussing the first day of creation. The remainder of creation follows:

Day 2 verses 6-8, God created the firmament (or expanse).

Day 3 God created the dry land and separated from the seas, and the plants. 9-13

Day 4 God created light, stars, moon and sun. 14-19

Day 5 God created life in the waters, birds 20-23

Day 6 God created animals on the land and the beasts of the field 24-25

Also on day 6, God created the crown of His creation. Man was created in the image of God.

Day 7 God rested to give man a day of rest.

Was man created by God and if so, Why?

Let’s first break this study into two parts as the above question suggests. We’ll look at the creation question first and then we will turn our eyes toward the spiritual application of the beginning as revealed in Genesis.

Part I. Was man created by God?

If God did not create man but instead we are products of random chance, then the purpose of man is meaningless and any further discussion of living for God is irrelevant. Obviously, the debate of creation verses evolution can’t be adequately addressed in a short study such as this. Many volumes have been written on this subject and many more volumes more will be written. When I approach a study such as this, I base it on the principle Jesus used in John chapter 10:

25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.

26 "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.

27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Those who belong to God will hear His voice and the evidence will draw us toward Him. Those who do not believe have rejected God and no amount of evidence will convince them. God has not called me to be a debater and my goal is not to overpower those who reject creation. What God has called me to do is present the truth and provide reasonable evidence that allows faith to stand or fall based on what we choose to believe. I am absolutely confident that the evidence is overwhelmingly in support of the Biblical account of creation. However, what position we are seeking to validate is what we will ultimately choose. If an evolutionist sets out to prove evolution, he or she will be more than willing to ignore the facts that contradict this presupposition and cling to anything that can be forced into the evolution model. Watch any nature show and you will see this clearly this. I listened to this comment the other day, “Laying eggs is usually reserved for birds and reptiles. Only two mammals lay eggs instead of giving live birth, the platypus and the spiny anteater. It is a mystery as to how evolution preserved this trait when these mammals descended from their reptilian ancestors”. Anything that can’t be explained is called a mystery and credited to the intelligence of evolution. Evolution is given attributes as though it is intelligent and the word ‘design’ pops up inevitably. Evolution documentaries do not deny the fact of amazing design, but they attribute it to the intelligence of the evolutionary process. This focus of this study will be on the beginning of Genesis. In our present culture, it would be a mistake to examine creation without acknowledging the challenge that evolution has presented.