It’s All About God

Posted on June 3, 2007

 

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Genesis 1:1

The Bible is absolutely the greatest book ever written, and it’s very different from any other book ever written. It’s the word of God, the revelation of God’s mind and heart to His creatures. It’s a love letter, given to us in the gracious provision of God so that we might know and understand the mysteries of God, creation, life, and eternity. It’s a tremendous privilege to begin preaching from cover to cover.

What the Bible is NOT About…

• It’s not a history book, though it’s historically accurate.
• It’s not a science book, though it’s scientifically accurate.
• It’s not a psychology book, though it knows the human psyche perfectly.
• It’s not about creation vs. evolution, though creation wins.
• It’s not about whether “day” is literal or figurative, though it’s literal.

What the Bible IS about – GOD!

• His name (Elohim) is used 32 times in Genesis 1.
• Including personal pronouns, He’s mentioned 43 times in Genesis 1.
• We can know there is a God from creation.
• We can only know about God from His self-revelation, His Word.

TRUTH: GOD is the story of the Bible! All we need to know to about Him and about how to know Him personally is told to us in God’s perfect Word.

Great (?) questions of life…

• If someone owns a piece of land, do they own it all the way to the center of the earth?
• If you have a cold hot pocket, is it just a pocket?
• If humans evolved from monkey’s/apes, why are they still here?
• Do penguins have knees?
• Why did Sally sell seashells on the seashore when you can just pick them up anyway?
• If you pamper a cow, do you get spoiled milk?
• If they have angel food cake on earth, do they have people food cake in heaven?
• Why do we sing “Rock a bye baby” to lull our little ones to sleep when the song is about putting your baby in a tree and letting the wind crash the cradle to the ground?
• Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
• Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don’t lay eggs.
• If you dig a hole through the center of the earth, come out on the other side, and then let go, would you be falling down or floating up?
• Could someone be addicted to counseling? If so, how would you treat them?
• Where do all the daylight savings hours go?
• What would you do if you found a four-leaf-clover under a ladder?
• If Winnie the Pooh was civilized enough to keep his honey in jars, why did he eat it off his hands?
• What happens if you get a paper cut from a Get Well card?
• What happens if every team in the NFL goes 8-8?
• Why is it written “May contain traces of peanuts or other kind of nuts” on peanut butter jars?

ANSWERS TO OUR GREATEST QUESTIONS IN THE BIBLE’S FIRST VERSE…

1. Does God exist?

His existence isn’t argued for, it is assumed. Creation gives evidence of His existence. God created… is there any real denying of it? The reality is, it takes much more faith to believe there is no God than to believe that there is one. You have to go around a mountain of evidence to avoid Him. He’s for real!

2. How many gods are there?

The word for God used in Genesis 1 is “Elohim,” which is a plural form of the word God. Yet Genesis 1:1 says that Elohim (plural) created (singular verb) the heavens and the earth. Moses, who wrote Genesis 1:1, also wrote Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God (Elohim) is one Lord!” The plural form of the word “god” here is perhaps used to allow a capacity for the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity was not fully revealed until the New Testament era, but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all active in creating the worlds.

3. How did God come to be?

Genesis 1:1 teaches us that He is self-existent, eternal, and self-sufficient. He doesn’t need us and He didn’t have to be created. He is self-sustaining, eternally. Our minds can’t wrap around this thought, but God’s eternality is taught, and it’s really essential to an understanding of time and eternity.

4. Does God care?

A better way to put it is, is God involved? Absolutely! He created the heavens and the earth. The three chapters that follow demonstrate that God not only created the universe, He did so for the provision of mankind. He made a garden for the man to inhabit. He’s involved. He wants a relationship with His creation.

5. Is God one of us?

A few years ago there was a secular song written called What If God Were One Of Us? I don’t think the song was good theology, but it does beg the question, is God like us? Is He flesh and bones? The Bible answers this in several ways, but Genesis 1:1 basically teaches that God is separate from matter. He created it all, therefore, He is separate and distinct from it. Yet, He became man when Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary. He robed Himself in human flesh, actual matter, that He might be able to suffer death for us.

6. Is God powerful?

We ask this, especially in the hard times of life. Is God able to do anything about my life, my situation? Can He intervene in history? Yes He can. The entire Bible is the story of His intervention in the affairs of this world. It’s His world and He powerfully intervenes, just as He did in creating it and setting all of its laws in motion.

7. Why? Why would God create the universe, and why would He reveal Himself?

The Bible answers that question…

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” –Psalm 19:1

But how have we reacted to His creative and revelatory acts? The answer is found in Romans 1:18-25. We turned His glory into shame. We worshipped creation more than the Creator. We rejected Him and His morality in exchange for our own way. In our rebellion, we’ve cut ourselves off from the One who has loved us as His very own creatures so dearly.

We are lost. We are undone. We are hopeless to re-connect with our Creator because of our rebellion against Him. We stand condemned by a holy and just God. But He has made a way. He has sent His very own Son to become one of us, that He might live up to all of God’s expectations in our behalf, and then to offer Himself as a sacrifice to the Creator-God, that we, by faith in Him, might be saved! Do you want to know your Creator? Trust Him today!

IF GENESIS 1:1 IS TRUE, THEN…

1. We are mere creatures, not our own gods.

2. We are accountable.

3. We can know our Creator!

He has made a way for you to know Him. He didn’t just create the world, He came into it in the form of His Son, Jesus. He didn’t just speak about creation, He spoke about salvation. He became a man and died on the cross for our sins. All of His created people that look to Him by faith will be saved for all of eternity, for another “new” creation someday!