1st Sunday After Epiphany, Year B. Series

Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29:1-11, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1:4-11

A). THE FIRST DAY.

Genesis 1:1-5.

GENESIS 1:1. “In the beginning” is a temporal expression; it pertains to time. In fact, here it refers to the beginning of time itself; but also to the beginning of Creation. This is the beginning of everything.

“In the beginning God.” Before time was, before the heavens and the earth, there was God. Not one God among many, but God alone. Not a positive force to counter an imaginary negative force, but only one God.

Yet the word translated “God,” (i.e. ‘Elohim’) is a plural word, suggesting a plurality of Persons within the Godhead. The “Spirit” (Genesis 1:2) and the ‘Word’ (Genesis 1:3; cf. John 1:1) will soon appear with “God” (Genesis 1:1), as the narrative unfolds. Later in the chapter we are even permitted to listen in on the holy conversation of the Triune God (cf. Genesis 1:26)!

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This is a summary statement; but it also signifies “the beginning” of a process. Implicit in this statement is the fact that God created all things of nothing (cf. Colossians 1:16).

God is without beginning and without end, and is totally unrestricted by the bounds of time and space. ‘He was, and is, and is to come’ (cf. Revelation 1:8), and ‘declares the end from the beginning’ (cf. Isaiah 46:10).

GENESIS 1:2. At this stage of the process “the earth” was “without form and void.” It was an empty wasteland, lacking order and shape. It was also “dark” and gloomy, and impenetrably “deep.”

But the empty wasteland and the dark depths are not without the presence of God: “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The picture is as of the eagle ‘fluttering’ over her young (cf. Deuteronomy 32:11). It is, after all, the Spirit who gives life (cf. Job 33:4).

GENESIS 1:3. We now discover that our God is the speaking God: “And God said.” We next learn what God said: “Let there be light.” Then we see the inevitable fulfilment of His command: “and there was light.”

GENESIS 1:4. Next we see God’s approval of what He has done: “God saw the light, that it was good.” Then we read of the separation of the light from the darkness.

GENESIS 1:5. Next God names what He has made: “and God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.” And the day is rounded off: “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” [Interestingly, it was not until Day 4 that the sun, moon and stars were created (cf. Genesis 1:16).]

GENESIS 1:3-5 serves as a template for the remaining days of Creation.

So we have seen our God as the eternal God, the only God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth (GENESIS 1:1); the Triune God (GENESIS 1:1-3); the present God (GENESIS 1:2); and the speaking God (GENESIS 1:3) who orders all things (GENESIS 1:3-5). And all this in the first five verses of the Bible!

B). THE SONG OF THE THUNDERSTORM.

Psalm 29:1-11.

“The voice of the LORD”.

1. The thunderstorm.

Storm clouds gather over the Mediterranean. The thunder rolls inland over the cedars of Lebanon, and lightning strikes strip the cedars bare. Even the mountains of the North seem to be shaken to their very foundations. The storm turns, travelling the whole length of Israel, and seems to shake the wilderness. The sand cannot remain still, and anything loose is driven like tumbleweed across the plain. The red deer calves early, and all creation stands in awe at the might of the storm.

The claps of thunder are not the sound of the mighty Thor of Norse mythology, who was said to be riding his chariot across the sky. Nor are they the voice of the Canaanites’ storm god Baal, who allegedly dwelt ‘in’ the storm (and if he was not there, he was on vacation - or maybe sleeping - cf. 1 Kings 18:27). Nor is this the beginning of yet another disaster movie, but a metaphor of the awesome might of the LORD, who sits “above” the storms of life (Psalm 29:10).

Repetition drives the momentum of the storm in this song. This is not the ‘repeat, ad lib, and fade’ of popular music, but a powerful push towards peace. Three times the “sons of God” (Hebrew), the ‘mighty ones’ or ‘heavenly beings’ are called to give - or “ascribe” - glory to the LORD (Psalm 29:1-2). Seven times the thunder claps are identified with “the voice of the LORD” (Psalm 29:3-9). “The LORD” is named four times in the closing verses (Psalm 29:10-11), reminding us that the Psalm is not about the storm, but about the LORD who sits above the storm. Nothing is outside His power.