When God Creates
Posted on June 10, 2007
Genesis 1:1-25
I always loved Legos because you could simulate the creation of your own little world, complete with houses, cars, and people. Or, you could simulate creating two armies that destroy each other… it’s what fallen man does with our creative genius! Some believe that God created the world in much the same way that we create a fantasy realm with toy blocks – that He’s always removed from us, if He’s real at all. But the Bible tells a different story. The Bible tells us that God is in the business, not only of creating worlds, but re-creating lives from brokenness.
Last week, we learned that God creates something where there is nothing. This week, we see Moses’ expansion of that thought. There has been a lot of debate about whether there is a gap between verses 1 and 2 or not, whether verse 1 is the beginning of the passage, or just a summary of 1:2-2:3.
I believe it’s a good spot for the fall of Satan for a lot of different reasons, but the biggest is the description of the earth as originally created by God. Does God create things that are dark, formless, empty and void and chaotic? Not according to Isaiah 45:18, which states that God did not create the earth that way. Satan had to be created after the beginning of time, for he is not a timeless, eternal deity.
The sins of Satan, along with one third of God’s created angels, plunged the original creation into a state of chaos. Verse two, I believe, describes God’s re-creation of the universe, His re-shaping of it. This should not be theologically difficult for us to accept, for the same can be said about the condition of the heaven and earth today. The creation of God is marred by the presence of sin today, but someday we’ll see a “new heaven and a new earth.†So it was then.
WHAT GOD DOES WITH PLANETS… AND PEOPLE!
1. God brings order out of chaos.
Notice the amazing symmetry of the creation story:
Day One: Day Four:
- Light, Day/Night - Sun, moon, stars
Day Two: Day Five:
- Sky, clouds, water below - Birds, water life
Day Three: Day Six:
- Dry land, Seas, plants - The beasts of the earth and man
On each of the first three days, God created the capacity for that which He would create on the second three days.
2. God brings light out of darkness.
This was true at creation, when God issued forth the command that there be Light. But then John the apostle uses this as an illustration of a spiritual truth in the opening chapter of his gospel. Just as God commanded light to shine in the darkness of a chaotic creation, so He commanded light to shine in the darkness of the rebellion of mankind. Yet humanity has rejected, on the whole, the light God has given. Nevertheless, for any who respond to the light by seeking truth, God gives more!
3. God brings beauty out of ugliness.
Have you ever noticed the utter pointlessness of much of God’s creation? Much of what God has made has little practical value or usefulness. However, we do see in such things the nature of God – that God loves beauty and that He is concerned with making things beautiful. God took a sin-scarred planet and made it breathtakingly beautiful. He does the same with a life!
4. God brings life out of deadness.
On the third day, God began to create life where there was simply deadness. Suddenly, there were trees and grass and the capacity for mankind to raise crops. But, once again, the creation of God is not only a scientific and historic reality, it is an illustration of the work of God in the life of a person. The quickening power of God is the subject of Ephesians 2:1-10.
THE RE-CREATING WORK OF GOD…
According to Ephesians 2:10, God wants to bring spiritually dead people to life and re-create them as trophies of His glory and power. God has ordained that you walk with Christ, that you experience newness of life. Will you allow Him to perform His miraculous creative work on you?
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