The Bible overview series.
Over the next 16 weeks we are going to begin a series called the Bible overview, which will take us from creation to the new creation. We will start in the OT travelling right through into the NT touching on particular truths which will enable us to see how the Bible fits together.
The Bible is God’s word and if people are to come and know God truly and to understand their world and themselves, they must have an understanding of the message of the Bible. Often the perception that people have of the Bible is one that is daunting and difficult to understand.
• As young boy I remember trying to get to grips with the Bible as I read through Genesis, I soon come un-stuck with the genelogies, and just packed up.
• The Aim of this series is to equip each other to better read , understand and apply the Bible.
Genesis (Greek - Origin source) 1:1 In the beginning God created. 2:7.
• Foundations are so important without right foundations things are prone to collapsing and its no different with Biblical foundations.
We are starting off today with the Biblical truth that God is a God of creation and in the begining He created the Heavens and the earth.
You might be thinking hold Aubrey, did you know that in many ancient cultures there are creation stories - absolutely true - didn’t the Hebrews just pick up on these? No because there is a unique difference - Many of the other creation accounts from the Babylonians, Canaanites for instance were given through oral tradition and this leaves it open to corruption and superstition – rumours today spread - there are course elements of truth in them as they were kmow doubt passed down pre flood and prior to the flood with truth being erroded and mixed with falsehood. Oral tradition is never very reliable that’s why we find falsehood and truth mixed into these cosmogonies.
But with the Hebrew account there is a big difference. Genesis was written by Mosses 1450 BC. Moses is the pen writer to the five books of the Torah so it was He who wrote Genesis through direct revelation and not oral tradition. Check out Psalm. 103:7. The Hebrew text was preserved from error it towers high above any other cosmogony that comes from the ancient world.
So we have here a unique text, lets kick off.
The Big answers to life are here? How did it all begin? Who am I? Why am I here? Today I am not going to debate over creation and evolution - I could because, I am passionate about creation, and believe that the evolution has got a lot of unanswered questions. To me God has made it clear how our origins began, through His Word the Bible - which clearly reveals to us that God never created the world through a process known as evolution but God created it by intelligent design, “It wasn’t in the beginning the Big bang.” But as Genesis simply puts it: Gen 1:1 In the beginning God. There is also good circumstantial and empirical evidence found in all the sciences that points to an intelligent designer behind all that we see, yet I cannot prove it to you, neither can the atheist prove his theory.
This simple statement is one of the most profoundest statements confronting the modern mind - it is a statement that we take on board by faith Heb 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.
God doesn’t spend his time trying to prove to you His existence, He believes that every human being on the face of the planet is without excuse Rom.1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Isn’t that so true? That as we look out at creation we just know in our heart of hearts that all this could just not happen by chance - but there had to be an intelligent designer behind it – Friends if we throw out these foundations of Creation – then we will be people who are prone to throw out any parts of the Bible we so choose and that is what is happening. Yet the Bible says 1Tim 3:16 All scripture is God breathed. It also tells us thast People Rom 1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
People are watering down this book from Genesis to Revelation to make the Bible fit into their current world view of Evolution.
• Professor Andy McIntosh wrote, in regard to a literal Genesis: Genesis records in a matter of fact way that the world was created by a definite act of special creation by God. Consequently the truth of the whole Bible is at stake if we are not to believe it on its first few pages. As the little child said “If God didn’t mean what He said, why didn’t He say what He meant?” We are not dealing with poetry, but the blow by blow account of a series of major events. P31 Genesis for Today.
I would agree with professor Andy McIntosh. This isn’t some symbolic poetic language in chapter 1 of Genesis – because if you take the original Hebrew text, you see that it is written in a historical narrative style, showing the outworking of God’s creative powers in the making of the heavens and earth and all life.
What does this account of creation tell us about God, creation and ourselves in relation to God ? It would take a person a lifetime to consider God, so when I tell you were going to condense it to a 30 -45 minute sermon, you will understand it is like taking a nibble at the edge of a gigantic 22 inch pizza.
1. God is eternal is an eternal being v1 In the beginning (means absolute) God.
So as we commence this first in the series of Bible overview, I want to start from the premise that the Bible makes fundamentally clear In the beginning God. That God is self existent and is eternal. Before anything was made God was. Psalm 90:2. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world. From everlasting to everlasting you are God. Isaiah.40:28. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God. The creator of the ends of the earth.
That is quite a profound statement for our finite minds - but we must understand that He is infinite and far beyond our understanding, but although God is infinite, He is not completely unknowable He has revealed Himself to us through Scriptures, through His Son, through His Spirit,through our consciences and of course through creation itself.
Often I would get asked the most profoundest of questions in the open air whilst open air preaching, from children and adults alike, one of them which was re-occurring was “ Who made God?” Of course the answer to that question is no one made God for He is self existent and eternal God; if somebody had made God he would cease to be God.
God is the uncaused cause of all things - for Christians who believe in a literal creation, we can draw much comfort from this statement‘In the beginning God’ here are solid foundations - because right from the outset the Bible tells us, how things came into being: The universe light – darkness - Sky – Sun- seas – oceans – moon – stars - atmosphere – land – plants - animals – insects – dinosaurs - human beings God is the eternal uncaused cause of all these things.
It didn’t all start “through the ghew, through the zoo, to you!” by chance but with the uncaused cause – the eternal self existent God designed it to be so.
On the other hand, if you don’t believe in the existence of an eternal God and believe in an atheistic world view with the underlying premise that we evolved. You need to be asking yourself the question ‘How did it all begin? Remember God doesn’t exist in the atheistic worldview what was the uncaused cause? You must have first an underlying cause that created the process in the first place, what is it?
Sir Fred Hoyle, professor of astronomy at Cambridge University—“The chance that higher life forms might have emerged by chance is comparable to the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 airplane from the materials therein. The likelihood of the formation of life from inanimate matter is one out of 10 with 40,000 zeros after it. It is big enough to bury Darwin and the whole theory of evolution.”
Popular notion today is the Big Bang? Yet this isnt even a theory.... Wait a minute you telling me my long lost ancestor was a piece of rock? But what created the bang in the first place – what was present before the bang and what created the rock? That all life came through the primordial soup? Were just a bunch of chemicals? But where did the ingredients for that come from and where did they come from? The law of Biogenesis clearly states that ‘life can only come from life.’ And here in Gen 1: 1 we have the starting blocks of life the eternal living God who in the absolute beginning created the heavens and the earth.
He is the uncaused cause that the atheist needs to see......God is the eternal uncaused cause . Now we are going to see that God is a creative God v1 In the beginning it tells us that God created the heavens and the earth.
2. God is a creative being v 1
Unique creativity of God: (Create out of nothing - bara) The word create here is used to refer to something which is fundamentally new, when God created man you will see the word used is formed Gen 2:7. Aa different word than this one here. The Hebrew word for create is more restrictive than the English word create - we use it broadly to anything from a motor car to a house to a model plane can be created.
But the Hebrew Word Bara when used only refers to absolute creation out of nothing. God created it all out of nothing. Are you creative? every time we create we need something - car – parts - Computer – hardware – new life - male and female. Yet the awesome fact is that all that we see was created from nothing, God needed no raw materials.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” so read the American astronauts – Andres, Lovell and Borman as they gazed in Awe at the earth from their orbit around the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. These three men experienced a deep conviction that what they saw could only be explained by supernatural creation and design .
The wonder of its design: Some scientists state that there are enough stars in creation equal to the grains of all the sands on all the beaches in the entire world. Yet this complex sea of spinning stars functions with remarkable order and efficiency. To say that it just happened requires more faith than believing that God is behind it.
Albert Einstein wrote ”The harmony of natural law reveals an intelligence of such superiority that all systematic thinking of human beings is utterly insignificant.
The Bible states that the intelligence behind it all is one awesome creator God, who created the heavens and the earth out of nothing through the power of His Word. He spoke and it was in six literal days (not millions of years) ( Hebrew – Yom 24hr period this is historical narrative not poetic account )
Let’s take a look at its creative design v1 He created the heavens and the earth v3 let there be light (light comes from God) let there be an expanse v9 let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear v11 let the land produce vegetation v14 Let there be lights 16 God made two great lights to govern the day and night v20 Let the water team with living creatures and lets birds fly in the air v24 Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds v26 Let us make man in our Image.
How can anybody fail to look upon this earth and not see our creators fingerprints all over it?
Why did God create it all? Was it that God was lonely? Not at all, God doesn’t need any one of us, so why? Because God is love, and love is best expressed towards something or someone else - So God created this world and created human life as an expression of His love .
God’s Creative purposes : fundamental point to understand , is that the whole of creation was not a meaningless event but it had a purpose and human beings were at the centre of it - not placed here by chance with no purpose but we are here because there is a creator who deeply loves YOU and desires an intimate relationship with YOU. Out of all of Gods creating processes, we see the pinnacle of that process is human life, our identity and purpose is found in our creator v26 -27. We are made in His image.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made: The information sciences unravelled the Human DNA speaks of design. Scientists have discovered that in every DNA molecule lies the blueprint of life. DNA is the most efficient information system in the world. But what is DNA? It’s a message; it’s a language; it’s information with content. Just like our alphabet uses a 26-letter, DNA uses a four-letter chemical alphabet. Which makes up the building blocks of our life? DNA contains about 2,000 genes per chromosome 1.8 meters of DNA are folded into each cell nucleus. A nucleus is 6 microns long. This is like putting 30 miles of fishing line into a cherry pit. And it isn’t simply stuffed in. It is folded in. If folded one way, the cell becomes a skin cell. If another way, a liver cell, and so forth. To write out the information in one cell would take 300 volumes, each volume 500 pages thick. The human body contains enough DNA that if it were stretched out, it would circle the sun 260 times. I am talking about the information inside of you here today – do you see that you are here by design made by God.
Dr. Michael. Denton, senior research fellow in human molecular genetics at the university of Otago in New Zealand has concluded, “ All the evidence available in the biological sciences supports the core proposition…. That the cosmos is a specially designed whole with life and mankind as its fundamental goal and purpose, a whole in which all facets of reality have their meaning and explanation in this central fact.” (Natures destiny. How the laws of biology reveal purpose in the universe. New York free press, 1998) p389
3. God is a relational being v26 -27.
From this account we see also that God (Elohim - plural form for God it refers to the triune nature of God) as a relational being Father, Son and Spirit. We see the triune God at work in creation who works through the Spirit and the Word in creation.V2 The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And we know from the NT that Christ was also active in creation.Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created : And no stronger evidence than for the plurality of the Godhead is found here in v26 Let us make man in our image. This is reference to the trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons, yet one God, co equal and co-eternal in perfect relationship.
This is of course is far beyond our infinite minds:
St. Augustine, while puzzling over the doctrine of the Trinity, was walking along the beach one day when he observed a young boy with a bucket, running back and forth to pour water into a little hole. Augustine asked, "What are you doing?" The boy replied, "I’m trying to put the ocean into this hole." Then Augustine realized that he had been trying to put an infinite God into his finite mind.
a) V26 We are made for a relationship with God.
The simple point I am trying to convey here is not to explain the trinity - for that is like the little boy trying to put the ocean in a little hole - but my point is that this triune God who is a relational being - desires a relationship with us. Out of love - He creates us - unique to everything else created. We are made in His image v26 we are in his likeness (connectedness to God) Like God we too are creative relational beings made for a relationship with our creator.
In Him we find our Purpose and self worth : Our Purpose is found in our relationship with Him, Our self worth is found in our likeness to Him. Many people ask the question who am I? Why am I here? But sadly get no answers.... Many people talk about travelling the world and finding themselves or looking inside themselves, but people cannot truly know who they are or find their real purpose until they find themselves in relationship with God.
At the beginning of creation we see a triune God creating humanity in His image - sharing Himself with us – This is Gods invitation for humanity to share in relationship with the triune God. What is amazing about this is that God desires to share relationship with us, its not that God is lonely or unsatisfied, because all his needs are satisfied in the triune relationship.
In God alone do we find our self worth and purpose? The great commandment is to Love God with all your heart soul mind and strength - this is only possible when we are in relationship with Him.
We live in a society where there is a breakdown in relationships: In the beginning Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God - but it became dysfunctional, diluted, divorced through sin - the relationship with God was severed and as a result ever since we have lived in a world where we see that chasm in our relationships between God and humanity has now been severed.
• Like a married couple going through a divorce – the intimate relationship they once shared is no more.
b) Gen 2:18. We are made for a relationship with one another also. God created a help for Adam it was Eve and the two formed a lasting relationship. But this relationship too was effected by the fall - their relationship would become thwart when Eve took the fruit and there family would become the first ever dysfunctional family, with relational problems running right through it , just look at Cain and Abel.
Friends we humans beings are called not only to love God, but also called by Jesus, to love our neighbour as we love ourselves, as a consequences of loving God we will also love one another. How the world needs to embrace a relationship with the one true God, as this alone can bring us into a right relationship with our neighbours .
We see in our world increasing breakdown of relationships : between civilisations, between nations, in our communities , between families, between parents and their children , and the reason being is that we are out of relationship with God.
• Lennon and McCartney wrote and sung , ‘ All we need is love’ How true that is,but that love can only be found when we are invited into a relationship once more as Adam and Eve were with the God of Love who made us in His image.
• Look around you in your own community and family is there a breakdown in relationship? Is there a dysfunctional element about our communities and families today? There is in mine… and ther was in me until I entered into relationship with my Creator.
Many, many people are not living for a relationship with God nor with others, but people today are living for themselves, living for pleasure,for possessions, for personal gain it’s a dog eat dog world. Our communities are becoming more and more isolated as people are living behind closed doors. Not interacting and living in relationship with each other - and it all stems from a broken relationship with God – it effects our relationship with others. Yet at the end of the day it’s the only thing that really matters.
• Rick Warren writes in “The Purpose Driven Life,” “I have been at the bedside of many people in their final moments, when they stand on the edge of eternity, and I have never heard anyone say, “Bring me my diplomas! I want to look at them one more time. Show me my awards, my medals, that gold watch I was given.” When life on earth is ending, people don’t surround themselves with objects. What we want around us is people – people we love and have relationships with. In our final moments we all realize that relationships are what life is all about. Wisdom is learning that truth sooner rather than later. Don’t wait until you’re on your deathbed to figure out that nothing matters more.” – p. 126.
At the end of the day our relationship with God is the only thing which will count the relationship we form here with God (albeit negative /positive will go on in eternity) .
In conclusion this creation account tells me that God is eternal , self existent and that the heavens and the earth isn’t here by Chance but by intelligent design and that you and I have not evolved from some primordial swamp but are wonderfully and fearfully made in the image of God, and as such God is inviting us all today into relationship with Him once more through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
Please leave any comments. If you would like to hear the sermon in the flesh go to www.cbchurch.org.uk. cyberchurch tab then click audio.....
