Word of Salvation – Vol. 42 No. 20 – May 1997

 

I Believe in God the Creator

 

A Sermon by Rev. J. Haverland on Genesis 1:1; H.C. Q 26

Scripture Reading: Psalm 104:1-9, 24-35; Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26

 

Congregation,

Everyone around us has a way of looking at the world, a perspective on life, a viewpoint on living that guides their thought and action and behaviour.  This may be conscious or unconscious, well understood, or something a person hardly thinks about; but everyone has, what has been called, a "world and life view".

For many in NZ/Aust today it is humanism, a viewpoint that puts the human person at the centre of everything.  This is linked with secularism, a viewpoint that excludes God; and with materialism, a way of looking at life from a physical and material point of view.

The Christian also has a world and life view – a view of life that is based on the Bible, and especially this verse.  The opening line of the Scriptures is the basis of this Christian world view; it is the fundamental premise for all Christian doctrine.  This verse gives us a place to stand, a position from which we can orientate ourselves, a starting point from which we can live.

This verse teaches us to approach all of life and reality from the viewpoint that God is the Creator of this world; this is how we must see all our living.  Today we want to follow this theme by going word by word through this verse.

"IN THE BEGINNING"

The origin of the universe has fascinated people through all the ages; it has inspired scientists in their research, and has intrigued laymen in their speculations.  When did everything begin?  How did it happen?  What was the cause of it all?  All agree that everything must have begun sometime, somewhere.

The word "Genesis" actually means beginning, or origin.  This first book of the Bible describes the origins of the world, of mankind, of sin, of salvation, of God's saving plan for his people.  This first verse, Genesis 1:1, describes the beginning of this world, of this universe, of time as we know it, of the history of this planet.

It tells us that God started it all, he set it going, he set it in motion.  "In the beginning, GOD...!"

He is immediately introduced as the subject of Genesis, not only of these opening chapters, but of the entire Bible.  His name is mentioned 35 times in the first 34 verses.  He is introduced as the Source and Cause of all things – He is the Great Originator.

He is also introduced without any background or preliminaries.  In this way the Bible has a very blunt beginning; we get right into it.  His existence is not proved or argued, but simply assumed.  He was there.  In fact, he always has been and always will be; he has no beginning or end; he is eternal.

Stop and think about this for a moment.  This is a staggering thought: that before this world was made, God was there; there in his triune majesty: there as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; there in divine companionship; there for all eternity.

This Eternal Creator God is named with the Hebrew word, Elohim.  This word is a reference to God as sovereign and almighty, a God of majesty and splendour.

When the word Elohim is used for God in the Old Testament, it is used of God the Father.  The Scriptures describe the work of creation as primarily that of the Father.  However, each person was involved.

Even in the very next verse we see the presence of the Holy Spirit: "...the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters".

And the New Testament is very clear that God the Son had a hand in the word of creation: "Through Him (that is, the Word) all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:3).  The Apostle Paul tells us that, “...by him (that is, Jesus) all things were created... all things were created by him and for him” (Col.1:16; cf Heb.1:2).

This is our fundamental starting point: God exists and He is the Eternal, Almighty, Triune Creator.  This is the position of theism: we begin with God the Creator.

We can set this world view in contrast to atheism, which denies the existence of God; and humanism, which places man in the centre of the universe rather than God.

This is the worldview being worked out in our secular and humanistic society today.  You can see this in every area: politics, economics, the business world, the medical profession, the state education system.  Everywhere you turn, God is ignored, bypassed, sidelined.  The world goes about its business as though he did not exist.

The Christian begins with the premise: "In the beginning God", while the secular humanist begins by ignoring him.  How you begin determines how you end; your starting point points you to your destination; your foundation influences the shape of the building.

This is why we are so vigorous in promoting Christian schools – because we want our children to view life from this perspective, vantage point.

But this is important, not just for our children, but for all of us.  Because we are living in a world where God is ignored, it is easy for us to ignore him too; to live as though he was not there; to act as though he did not exist.

You confess that you "believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth", but do you live this out in your day to day life?  Do you carry this perspective into your office or your factory, your university or polytech/TAFE, your home and community?  Do you view all of life from the perspective that God was there, in the beginning, and that he is here today?

Genesis 1 goes on:
"In the beginning God CREATED..."

We need an explanation for the beginning of the world.  There are essentially only two: you either begin with eternal matter, or you begin with an eternal God.  Something cannot come from nothing.  So we must begin with something.  Evolution, of course, begins with eternal matter; by this we mean the stuff, the substance, the material of this universe.  The evolutionist believes that something was always there.  Perhaps gasses came together to form a cell, which then began to divide and multiply, and so you have the beginning of life!

This theory then suggests that the universe as we see it today was the combination of time (immense periods of time) plus chance.  This equation led to a gradual development in life forms, beginning with simple ones and progressing to those which are more complex.  Each time the fittest survived and so there was a constant progress and upward development.

There are many problems with this view which will not detain us today.  However, we should mention that the evolutionary model contradicts some of the most basic laws of science (most notably the second law of thermodynamics).  We should also note that this viewpoint is not supported by the fossil record; this is why evolutionists are always searching for the missing link – even for missing links, because there are many gaps.

The believer, however, begins with the Creation of the world by God.  God created the world.  The Hebrew word for create (bara) is always used of God's activity.

The Word itself does not necessarily mean creation out of nothing, but in Genesis 1:1 it most certainly does.  This is clear from the rest of the Scriptures.  In Romans 4:17 the Apostle Paul speaks of a God who "calls things that are not as though they were" (cf Ps.33:6, 9; Heb.11:3).

We have to recognise that both of these are positions of faith.  Neither creation nor evolution can be proved.  When you are watching a major sports event on TV, you can often see a replay.  Someone scores a goal in the World Cup football – you can see it again in slow motion.  You are watching cricket and you missed a spectacular catch; never mind, they'll play it again.

Well, you can't do this with creation – there is no replay.  So no one can 'prove', in a scientific manner, how the world was formed.  Evolutionists need to come clean on this; they often present their view as though it was scientific fact, but it is only a theory.

As Christians we confess that we believe in God the Creator, by faith.  Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible."

Although we acknowledge this as faith, we do want to say that this fits well with the way things are.  Our view is consistent with the evidence.  Certainly, faith in God as the Creator goes beyond our reason, but it is still reasonable to believe.  So we believe that "In the beginning God created."

What did he create?
"THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH"

In other words, he created everything.  Opposites in the Scriptures often mean totality.  God made everything on this earth and in this universe; all that we can see, as well all that we can't see.  This has some important implications.  One is that God is distinct from his creation.  This counters the creation myths of the ancient religions that had gods arising out of the world.  Against these views the Bible declares that God made the world.

This also counters the pantheism of Eastern mysticism, which has been taken up in the New Age movement.  Pantheism makes god part of the world.  “God is in everything, god is in you, you are god!” say the Eastern religions and the New Age movement.

But in the Christian world view, God is the Creator, we are his creatures; God, up there, made the world, down here; God is above us, beyond us, distinct from us.

Yet this Great God wanted to make this world for us to live in.  He made this world, the earth, a tiny speck in a vast universe, a universe so large it is incomprehensible; yet this earth is the focus of God's interest.

JB Phillips tells a story to illustrate this point; it is a story about two angels.  A young angel is being shown around the universe by a more senior and experienced angel.  They passed whirling galaxies and blazing suns; they travelled infinite distances in the deathly cold of interstellar space.

Finally they came to our galaxy, the Milky Way, and to our solar system.  As they went through our solar system the senior angel pointed out our planet as being of great importance to God.  The younger angel was puzzled.  This planet did not seem significant for its size or beauty – he had seen things more spectacular and even more beautiful – why the fuss about his one?

So the senior angel said, "This little planet, suspended in all the vastness of the universe, is the centre of God's creation, is the focus of his love; the entire universe was created for the sake of the people on this earth."

In fact God so loved this world that he sent His Son, the Lord of all glory, to this earth, to die for the sins of his people, for those whom he had chosen even before the foundation of the world.  This is why the Heidelberg Catechism confesses that this eternal God and great Creator is "my God and Father, because of Christ his Son."  Through the Lord Jesus Christ we can know this almighty God and faithful Father.

This is the basis of a Christian world and life view.  Here is the starting point, the beginning, the premise of Christian faith and life.  Here is a place to stand, a foundation to build on.  This is what we must live out in our lives; this must shape our thinking, and guide our behaviour. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

As we look back to the beginning, we also need to look forward to the end.  For what God has made, he is remaking; what he has created, he is recreating.  Just as that original creation was made in and through His Son, so the work of recreation is done in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

This recreating work will go on until God's purpose is complete: to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  At the end there will be a new heaven and a new earth, complete and perfect in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.  For he is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Amen.