We’re doing a series of messages called, "How Did We Get Here?" These studies will focus on the first two chapters of Genesis.
Let’s start with the first sentence of the Bible.
The first sentence of any book, or speech, is very important. It sets the tone for everything else that follows. In fact, most writers work for hours trying to come up with the right combination of words that will introduce their subject and leave their readers wanting more.
Such is the Bible. It begins with a wonderful sentence (Gen. 1:1). Only 10 words in English, yet it answers 4 fundamental questions that every person eventually ponders. Questions such as . . .
I. What is all this?
This deals with the wonder of the universe. Humanity has been attempting to answer this question for thousands and thousands of years. The quest to answer this question is what drives men to explore and study the universe and the world in which they live.
So what is all this?
The Bible describes it as " the heavens and the earth." Someone has well said that this phrase is the beginning of true science. The fundamental task of science is to OBSERVE and classify all that can be OBSERVED in the physical realm. Here is a very early attempt at classification. What do you see around you? You see two classes of things: the heavens and the earth. And this classification is universally accepted today, from the most primitive society to the most advanced.
One of the marvels of the Bible is that it uses language which communicates with people of the most primitive and limited understanding while at the same time it still has significance and inexhaustible meaning to the most studied and educated of men. Take this phrase "the heavens and the earth" as an example.
On one hand, it has meaning for a savage in the jungle who perceives the land in which he lives and the sky over his head with a child-like understanding. He notes the earth, with its yield of trees, plants and animal life; and he notes the heavens where the birds fly and the clouds float and where the Sun, moon, and stars shine. That’s all he knows, yet he describes it as the "heavens and the earth."
On the other hand, a modern astronomer, looking out into the far reaches of the universe through a great telescope, would also use the phrase, "the heavens and the earth", to describe the planet on which he lives and how it relates to the solar system in which it moves. Both the savage in the jungle and the modern astronomer would use the same language: the "heavens and the earth.".
The Bible completely avoids the utter ridiculousness of some of the early myths about creation and origin found in other religions. There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that needs to be laid aside as man’s knowledge increases. The first sentence of the Bible classifies everything we see with the natural eye into 2 categories: the Heavens and the Earth. And then it expands on these subjects showing a remarkable knowledge of nature that is centuries before it’s time.
Let’s move to the second question.
II. How did it begin?
This question deals with the origin of the universe. Once again, humanity has been trying to answer this question for thousands and thousands of years. The battle between naturalistic evolution and creation is but the latest chapter in man’s attempt to explain the origin of the universe.
When I talk about NATURALISTIC EVOLUTION, I am not referring to the type of change and variation that takes place withing the various species (such as the pepper moth evolving into the fruit fly, or the development of new varieties of dogs through selective breeding, or the development of a single sperm and egg into a bouncing baby). I’m not talking about that type of change. I’m talking about a particular theory of evolution that has to do with the origin of life. This theory is called "Naturalistic Evolution" in most circles. Naturalistic Evolution says that the universe came into being billions and billions of years ago from some primordial explosion and all things slowly evolved over the eons from the simpler to the more complex. That’s called "Naturalistic Evolution.
Naturalistic Evolution is NOT A SCIENTIFIC FACT. A scientific fact is something that can be observed and verified through experimentation. Naturalistic evolution has not been observed and it hasn’t been verified through experimentation, therefore it is not a scientific fact.
It is a THEORY. A theory is when you start with a hypothesis, gather evidence, and try to make the evidence fit the hypothesis. That’s what naturalistic evolution is. It is a theory.
Furthermore, Naturalistic Evolution has a lot of RELIGIOUS CHARACTERISTICS. It is passionately held to by it’s devotees. And ultimately it is something that you must accept BY FAITH.
That’s Naturalistic Evolution. What about creation? What does the Bible say? The very first sentence of the Bible says . . . He made something out of nothing, then He spent six days shaping and forming it to His liking. That is the doctrine of Creation in a nutshell.
Somebody says, "Wait a second, you’re being pretty biased. You said that Naturalistic Evolution is not a scientific fact, it has a lot of religious characteristics, and it is something accepted by faith. Isn’t the same true for this doctrine of Creation?" Absolutely! The bottom line is, you have to accept one or the other by faith. When it comes to the origin of the universe, I choose to believe God and not man (Heb 11:3).
Let’s move to the third question.
III. When did it begin?
This question deals with the age of the universe. And once again, humanity has been trying to answer this question for thousands and thousands of years.
What does the Bible say about the age of the universe? It doesn’t give a specific age. All it says is, "In the beginning . . ."
Sorry, that’s it.
What about Usher’s Chronology? Usher’s method was flawed. He assumed that the genealogies of the Bible were strict genealogies - they list father, son, father, son, etc. But we’ve learned a lot more about the Hebrew language and the Hebrew culture since the 1600’s and one of the things we’ve learned is their genealogies aren’t strict. They don’t necessarily list father, son, father, son. Sometimes they list father, son, father, grandson, father, great great great grandson. So we can’t use the genealogies of the Bible to determine the exact age of the earth. However, the genealogies of the Old Testament do indicate that the earth isn’t billions and billions of years old. It’s more along the lines of thousands of years old.
Somebody says, "What about all those radio metric dating methods?" I don’t know. That’s out of my field. I’m a preacher, not a physicist. That’s out of my field. I do know that there is some debate among physicists about the reliability of those dating methods, but I’ll leave the debate to them.
In the meantime, I’m not going to worry about the exact age of the universe. Besides, I figure it knowing the exact age of the universe was important, God would have told us in the Bible. The Bible tells us everything we need to know, it doesn’t tell us the exact age of the universe, therefore we don’t need to know exactly how old the universe is. Enough about the age of the universe.
Let’s move on to the final question.
IV. Who is behind it?
This question deals with the creator of the universe. Once again, humanity has been trying to answer this question for thousands of years.
What does the first sentence of the Bible say? "In the beginning God created . . ."
Man can never escape the thought of God. There has never been a society or civilization discovered on the face of the earth that does not have a concept of God and of worship. Man has a natural instinct to worship. He must worship something, and the reason for this is very simple. It is because everything around him and within him speaks of the existence of another personality, a Being of great intelligence, power and wisdom who must exist somewhere. Man can never escape that thought.
It is only by the power of depraved rationalization that man can ever rid himself of the idea of God. That is why it is usually those who, by virtue of learning, have trained themselves to adopt an atheistic position. But man left to himself, observing the universe as it is, comes to an inescapable conviction that God exists: that behind all the design, the marvel and wonder of the universe, lies a great mind and personality and heart
Men of science explore the atom and come at last to a realm of mystery, where everything is reduced ultimately to pure energy, and man does not know what to do with it or even what to call it. The astronomer probes into space. He discovers the great galaxies whirling in their courses. He sees no observable limit to it but finds that it all is permeated with tremendous power and energy. He does not know what to label it. The doctor holds a newborn baby in his arms. He cannot explain where that life came from, what made it develop in the way it did to produce this little creature. It is all a mystery. We are surrounded with mystery on every side -- The Grand Perhaps! We do not know even a tiny fraction of a percent of what there is to be known. We hardly can put the relative amount of our knowledge in terms small enough to express it.
But who is behind all this?
As Paul said to the men of Athens, "The God whom you ignorantly worship, whom you have labeled ’the unknown God,’ him we proclaim to you," {cf, Acts 17:23}. This is the God whom most of science attempts to eliminate from its planning and its thinking today; whom the vast majority of people try to reason out of their lives. The God whom men ignorantly worship, the unknown God, the God whom men will not name and cannot name. "Him," Paul says, "we declare unto you."
We know his name. It is Jesus of Nazareth. "Without him was not anything made that was made," {John 1:3}. "All things were created by him and through him," {cf, Col 1:16}. And one day, as Paul writes to the Philippians, all creation and all things within creation shall bow the knee, and shall confess with the tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father {cf, Phil 2:10-11}.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This is the first sentence of the Bible. It brings us face to face to the Almighty. I hope that you will step out in faith and agree with Genesis 1:1 that in the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth.
Note: Parts of this message are based on a sermon preached by Ray Steadman, and a sermon preached by John Philips. Also, all Scripture references are from the NIV.
