CREATION: REDEEMING CHAOS
February 10, 2013
We begin our new series today on the redemptive plan of God as seen throughout the Old Testament and finally revealed in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The story of the coming of Jesus Christ into this world begins not in the Book of Matthew, but in the Book of Genesis. The shadow of Christ can already be seen in the early verses of the first chapter of the Bible. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let Us make man in our image, in our likeness . . .” It wasn’t until John 1:1-5 that Jesus was identified specifically as being with God at creation. John said, “He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” Jesus Christ was there from the very beginning with God involved in creation.
But prior to creation, the Bible tells us several things that Jesus was involved in:
1. Fellowshipping with God – John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
2. Creating angels – Job 38:4, 7 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand . . . while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
3. Planning for the Church. Ephesians 3:9 “and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery (Church), which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.”
4. Adopting us into His family – Ephesians 1:4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”
5. Preparing for the future Kingdom – Matthew 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”
6. Providing salvation for the world – 1 Peter 1:18-20 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
When you look at the Word of God, even before creation, God was already thinking about us. And when you look at the overarching theme of Scripture you will find that it is: God’s redemptive plan for mankind. Whether it is through Noah or through God’s covenant or through the sacrificial system, God’s redemptive plan is clearly seen throughout the entire Old Testament.
This morning we are going to look into the first chapter of Genesis, at two important truths about creation ….
1. CREATION WITH GOD – CHAOS TURNS TO ORDER
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2
In the first two verses of Genesis we find God creating the heavens and the earth and it says that the earth was formless and empty. In the original Hebrew text, the terms “formless and empty” were meant to convey the idea of confusion and disorder. God created the earth to be inhabited, but for a short period of time before he created the light, the water, the land and plants, the sun and the moon and the stars, the water creatures and the birds, the land animals and finally man, before He did all that, the earth was void of anything. In other words, there was confusion and disorder.
And yet, God turned all that confusion and chaos and gave it order and He placed the billions of stars and plants in the universe and all of them are orbiting in an orderly fashion. Did you know that the movement of the planets of our solar system is so precise that scientists can calculate exactly where a planet will be hundreds of years in advance?
Also, by observing the stars, we can actually calculate time. The Naval Observatory is basically the world’s time keeper. They are responsible for keeping the precise time used worldwide for everything from banking to the GPS devices in cars. They do so by making observation of the stars and adjusting their master clock accordingly.
So if God had just left things the way they were in Genesis 1:2 and had not penetrated the darkness with His words, there would be no life, only confusion and disorder. And yet God took all that darkness and all that confusion and disorder and He set the universe in motion.
David wrote in Psalm 8:3-4, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” God’s creation is absolutely amazing and wonderful and David said that God did it for you and for me. We are the masterpiece of His creation because from the very beginning He though of us and had prepare all that we see and enjoy!
Someone once said this, “God is crazy about you. If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If God had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring, and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He listens. He could have chosen to live anywhere in the universe, but He chose to live in your heart. Face it, God is crazy about you.”
When God created the light, He spoke it into existence. When He created the water, He spoke that into existence. When He created the land and plants, the sun and the moon and the stars, the water creatures and the birds, and the land animals, He spoke all of His creation into existence. But when God created man, the Bible tells us in Genesis 2:7, “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” With man, God did not speak him into existence, but rather it is as if God knelt down to the ground and He personally fashioned man with His own hands and breathed life into him. All of God’s creation, including man was created for His good pleasure and when God looked at His creation, He said that it was good.
Chaos was turned to order because God was present at creation.
2. CREATION WITHOUT GOD – ORDER RETURNS TO CHAOS
In Jeremiah 4:23, God said, “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.” This is the same phrase that was used in Genesis 1:2. It is the story of Genesis 1 in reverse. The prophet Jeremiah was warning the children of Israel that all of nature will be in upheaval and there will be no area of life that is untouched. Chaos will engulf their physical world, their land and their nation would be destroyed and they would end up in utter chaos unless they repented. Any time man pushes God out of the picture there is chaos:
• Moral corruption (5:1-6)
• Sexual impurity (5:7-9) God provided for them, yet they flocked to the temple harlot to participate in the fertility rites of Baal. Their worship spilled over in to all areas of their life.
• Unbelief (5:10-18) They did not believe that God would do what He said He would.
• Religious apostasy (5:19-24) God said they would be destroyed because of their worship of false gods.
• Social injustice (5:25-29) The rich were cheating the poor. Their houses were full of ill-gotten gain.
• Corrupt leaders (5:30-31) The leaders of the nation, Kings, prophets, priest were leading the people down the wrong path.
Does all this chaos sound familiar? Our society is progressively moving towards chaos. We have teachers sleeping with students. School violence is increasing. We have more and more drug and alcohol abuse. The family structure is under attack by those who are trying to redefine what God calls a marriage. Those who stand for righteousness are called intolerant. We are in chaos because we have pushed God out of our lives …… and darkness has returned.
But there is hope, it is found in John 1:1-5 where it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ was with God at the very beginning and that He is the Creator God. Jesus Christ is the originator of light and life. Light is often contrasted spiritually with darkness. In verse 4, John says that in Jesus was the light of all mankind and as a result, Jesus gives us life. Even though there is darkness all around us and chaos and emptiness and despair, Jesus identifies Himself as the light of the world (8:12). And as such, Jesus gives us hope and not despair because God’s light delivers us from sin and the darkness that fills all of humanity.
John also tells us that Jesus came to penetrate darkness and that darkness could not overcome it. The light of God is always contrasted with the darkness of sinful humanity and he says that this light, which is Jesus Christ, cannot be extinguished by the darkness of this world. Remember that John wrote this Gospel after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore He knew that Christ was victorious because He defeated sin and the power of sin in our lives by dying on the cross. That is why John was able to say that darkness has not overcome the light.
Wherever God is absent, there will be chaos and confusion. Can you imagine what would happen to the universe if God were to remove His hand from it? Can you imagine what society would look like if God is removed? How about a church where God is not at the center, how would that church look like and function? How would your life be different without God?
From the beginning of time the Bible has demonstrated that man is inherently sinful and that we desperately need a Savior. God knew that so He sent His one and only Son to penetrate this darkness with the light of His truth. Jesus became one of us. He became a human being in order to provide a way so that we can all have a right relationship with a God who is Holy and without any sin. He did so by dying on the cross so that those of us who place our trust and faith in His perfect work on the cross may have life eternal.
Jesus was able to do this because:
• He is the Son of God, God Himself.
• He existed with God before creation came into being
• He is the Creator of the world
• He is the Originator of Life and Light
CREATION: REDEEMING CHAOS
Psalm 8
Jesus was with God before creation:
• Fellowshipping with God – John 17:5
• Creating angels – Job 38:4
• Planning for the Church – Ephesians 3:9
• Adopting us into His family – Ephesians 1:4
• Preparing for the future Kingdom – Matthew 25:34
• Providing salvation for the world – 1 Peter 1:18-20
TWO IMPORTANT TRUTHS
1. CREATION WITH GOD – CHAOS TURNS TO ORDER
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:3-4
2. CREATION WITHOUT GOD – ORDER RETURNS TO CHAOS
“I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.” Jeremiah 4:23
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5
