"Something From Nothing!"
"In The Beginning" series part 1 of 7
Text: Genesis 1 & Selected
Cross Creek Community Church
Pastor Dave Martin - August 19, 2001
www.crosscreekcc.org
God’s Word is Powerful, Relevant, and Life Changing!
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
KEY TRUTH:
God is our Creator, He makes the RULES!
General Introduction to Genesis, the Book of Beginnings:
* The beginning of the universe, man, sin, redemption, languages
* The 1st song, 1st flood, 1st drunk, 1st marriage, 1st murder, 1st to die, and the 1st not to die!
Creation is the work of God bringing all things into existence. Something out of nothing!
* Genesis is constantly under attack.
* From the academia to the skeptics. Creation is the opposite of modern society teachings.
* Rightly understood, it has never been disproved!
* The New Testament refers to Genesis over 200 times, & over 100 times to the first 11 chapters of Genesis alone!
* Moses is the most commonly accepted author. 2Chron. 23:18; 30:16; 35:12
* Understanding Genesis is critical to being a grounded Christian.
Created - Hebrew word "Bara" - Instantaneous, something out of nothing.
Gen. 1:1 refutes the following FALSE teachings of:
1. ATHESIAN - Doctrine of no God (Madeline Murray O’Hare)
2. PANTHESISM - Doctrine of everything is God. (Green Peace)
3. POLYTHEISM - Doctrine of many God’s. (American Indians)
4. DUALISM - Doctrine of two eternal Gods. (Star Wars)
5. EVOLUTISM - Doctrine of forces of nature. (Intellectuals)
God’s Pre-Creation Activities:
1. Having fellowship with His Son, Jesus. 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 "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
3. Planning for the Church. Ephes. 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. Choosing the elect. Ephes. 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5. Planning 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. Planning for the Savior of 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, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
There are various theories concerning the formation of the universe.
* Atheistic or materialistic - One group says the universe has no beginning or end. They believe there is a continuous creation of "new" matter by way of hydrogen atoms. The big problem is there is no example of anything now being created! Another group espouses the "Big Bang" theory - "Ylem", the cosmic glob that exploded which happened 15 billion years ago. As an expanding universe, which reaches it’s limit then it starts to contract for another "Big Bang". This is a false theory.
* Atheistic evolution - The mentality of leaving a jar of mud on a shelf long enough, it will eventually become a man. They believe through chance and accidental happenings is how our perfectly ordered universe came into existence. This is false.
* Theistic evolution - says God was in creation, He just took millions and millions of years to evolve everything to it’s present state. This is sometimes referred to as the day/age theory. This is also false.
The three laws of thermodynamics says:
1. Energy can change forms but cannot be either created or destroyed.
2. Everything is winding down, not progressing upward.
3. Life produces similar life. Dogs give birth to puppies not elephants.
But Special Creation - believes God created the heavens and earth. We believe a literal interpretation of the Bible, God’s Word. This is also backed by much unrefutable scientific evidence which we will be seeing over the next few weeks.
The Six days of Creation:
Day, "Yom" - literal 24 hour period, NOT a long indefinite period of time where "olam" would be used.
God Created on the...
First Day MATTER, ENERGY, WATER, LIGHT Genesis 1:1-5
Heavens and the earth:
1. First heaven - air we breath and the birds fly. Gen. 1:7-8
2. Second heaven - Moon, sun, stars, outer space. Ps. 19:1
3. Third heaven - The very abode of God. 2Co. 12:2-4
The Holy Spirit moved - in a sense He vibrated upon the earth, He energized everything.
* Energy waves started, waves of heat, sound, magnetism formed.
* Energy and matter is formed with all the energized atoms.
* Earth’s rotation starts along with the rest of the universe’s movements.
* Time now begins.
* Our basic force fields, now goes into effect. Gravitational, electro-magnetic radiation (light) and nuclear.
Second Day - ATMOSPHERE Genesis 1:6-8
* KJV says firmament, suggesting something hard or firm. In the Hebrew it means a vast, expansive area.
* This is the separating the waters above with the waters below. Requiring tremendous amount of energy.
* The waters raised was massive, possibly miles thick, forming a perfect "green house" effect.
* The water above was most likely frozen (waiting for the great flood to occur). Maintaining perfect climate conditions.
* No wind, air mass movements, clouds, rain, snow, a great filter for harmful radiation (longevity of life).
* Moisture in clouds today is estimated to weigh 54 trillion 460 billion tons! Estimated 100 times more than today!
Third Day - LAND, PLANT LIFE Genesis 1:9-13
* God raised the land up out of the water. Naming them land and seas.
* No jagged mountains or deep valleys at this time (these occur after the flood).
* Most likely one large landmass, unlike what we have today with our various continents. (see Gen. 10:25 - Peleg).
* Notice three different catagories of plant life. Seedless - grasses / seed bearing - vegetables / fruit bearing - fruit.
* 100,000 spieces of plant life with over 5000 types of grasses alone.
* What does a plant survive on? Plants take in carbon dioxide and put out oxygen. Note the order in creation!
* Look at the phrase "according to their kinds" - Remember the 3rd law of thermodynamics? This phrase is found 10 times in Genesis chapter 1. You can have mutations and change within a species, it’s never progressive.
Fourth Day - SUN, MOON, STARS Genesis 1:14-19
* Gen 1:3 "light" - "or" the existence of light as a phenomenon, Special, God Himself. Here the light is "me’ore" meaning an actual source of light.
* Gave as signs to mark seasons and days and years. The perfect placement of our sun for heat and light.
* To mark time with, watches, calendars, seasons, planning. We’re all subject to time and space. Eph. 5:16
* "He made the stars also" trillions upon trillions of them. As the sand on the seashores.
* 1.3 million earth’s can fit into our sun! 64 million of our suns can fit into a star of Antares! 100 million Antares can fit into the star called Hercules! 27 BILLION of our suns could fit in the largest know star called Epsilon!
* Quasars - Very powerful stars, more than 350 are know to exist today. (Anti-matter)
* Neutron Stars - Very dense, heavy - like a giant crystal. If the earth was contracted to this density it would be 328 feet in diameter. All humans would be compressed to the size of a raindrop! A teaspoon of a neutron star would be so massive, dropped from a table it would bore a hole through the earth and oscillate back and forth till coming to rest at the center!
* Black Holes - The collapse of a super nova. Nothing can escape, not even light! Only grows larger!
* Ps. 147 God calls them all by name!
Fifth Day - FISH, FOWL Genesis 1:20-23
* This is the 2nd time the Hebrew word "bara" is used - God creating something totally unrelated from prior days.
* Life blood being pumped through veins. This is the creation of a soul, which is consciousness of things around them.
* Creation of the hummingbird weighing 1 oz. To the great blue whale weighing 300,000 pounds. Longer and heavier than a Boeing 737 jetliner and 3 to 4 times larger than the largest known dinosaur.
* Both created with stream-lined bodies, scales & feathers, hollow and light bones, laying of eggs, & migratory instincts.
* There are over 30,000 varieties of fish and 9,000 varieties of birds. All reproducing, "after their kind".
* One drop of ditch water equals over 500 million microscopic creatures! Evolution? No way!
Sixth Day - INSECTS, DOMESTIC ANIMALS, BEASTS, MAN Genesis 1:24-31
* Domesticated animals like cattle, chickens, sheep, etc.
* "Creatures that move along the ground" - To swarm or to move. We’re told there are over 800,000 different insects!
* If you were to put all humans on a scale, then all the insects. The insects will out weigh the humans by 11 times!
* There are over 6,000 reptiles (dinosaurs). Over 3,000 amphibians. Over 5,000 mammals.
* God sure loves variety! Just look at yourself. There is no one like you. You are unique.
* Beasts or wild animals would include the dinosaurs.
* Did God only create two of each? Or did He completely populate the earth? I believe He fully populated the earth.
* Notice the phrase - "According to their kinds". Aren’t you glad an elephant can’t mate with a butterfly!
Crown of Creation - Mankind
* Man is know to be 97% blind to colors and 98% deaf to sounds.
* "Let Us" (Trinity) make man in "our" image. Only man can reason, choose, having a consciousness of God.
* Man was created in a natural (emotions, will, intellect) and moral likeness to God. Man lost the moral likeness when Adam fell into sin in Chapter 3.
* Perfectly created man’s senses were perfectly in tune. His sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.
* Question???? When was the first radio mentioned in the Bible? When God took the rib from Adam and made a LOUD speaker! What was the first thing Adam said when he saw Eve? WOOOO MAN. (She was beautiful).
* God pronounced his approval in Verse 31 when He said, "God saw all that He had made, and it was very good".
The Seventh Day God ceased from His work! (Genesis 2:1-3)
KEY TRUTH:
God is our Creator, He makes the RULES!
Hebrews 4:13 " Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account".
Some here this morning are living by your own rules. Thinking you’re OK to make it to heaven. Our Creator God says you cannot come to His perfect heaven with your sin. He created you to love and to have a relationship with you. He demonstrated that love by sending the Son of God, Jesus. Jesus suffered and died, was buried and rose again for you. Have you received Him?
As a Christian, how’s your walk? Being obedient to God’s rule book, the Bible? God is our Creator, He is also our Judge. Everyone here this morning will someday stand before your Creator God. What will be the outcome of your encounter with God?
Are you standing in the righteousness of Christ or your own filthy rags of pride, sin and self?
Let’s Pray
