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"In the Beginning God…" (Part 1)
Rev. Charles R. Biggs
Text: Genesis
1:1
"In the beginning" is a
foundational, rich, vital statement of truth that is the true foundation
for us to understand God our Creator, the obedience we owe to him, and the
reality of creation before the Fall, and the need for redemption.
I.O.W: Obedience is the only true way
to real fulfillment, real purpose, and real happiness in God's created
world!
FCF: The Almighty Sovereign,
Perfectly Blessed God, revealed Himself by creating all that there is! God
gloried in himself - -Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- - and in his perfect
will for eternity. Should we not also glory in this Great Creator and
Redeemer? God's eternal will was all that existed before he created; God's
eternal blessedness and glory was the only purpose that existed before he
created. We have followed our own way, our own wills rather than God's
revealed will in his Law. We have made ourselves the center of the
universe- - the fall has caused us to "glory in ourselves".
Introduction
- What is the first sentence of the creed that we recite and
believe called the Apostle's Creed? It is a foundational statement of
truth that we as Christians believe. This foundational statement of
belief is the bedrock to any solid faith. It is of the utmost
importance that we believe it! We confess: "I believe in God the
Father Almighty, Maker (or Creator) of Heaven and Earth." You
believe in a God who existed before anything else in perfect
blessedness and satisfaction in himself. You believe in a Sovereign
God who created all things out of nothing, by the word of his power,
in the space of six days- - and was all very good!
- Because this is the foundation of all Biblical truth, as well
as our confession of our faith, let us consider our Sovereign Creator
God today and the practical implications for living that this teaches
us. How can we begin each day of our lives-not asking what is on my
calendar today- - what are my plans, etc. But by reflecting on your
Sovereign Creator God, how can you have a right perspective every day?
I mean, how can you ask yourself the question daily: How can I live
obediently today and therefore glorify God? It is only through
obedience to our Sovereign Creator God that we can truly find
fulfillment, real purpose, and lasting happiness in God's created
world! This is his world, we are his creatures and we owe him our
utmost allegiance and obedience. Our end, goals and purpose must be
conformed to his end, goals, and purposes: to glorify God in all we
do!
- The Israelites were to be taught the same truth from Genesis!
Moses had led the Israelites out of pagan bondage in Egypt (recorded for us in Exodus). By God's
grace, the LORD inspired Moses to record the "beginning" or
the 'Genesis' of all things. Israel was to learn through these Scriptures in
chapter one of Genesis that God was not only their Redeemer, but he
was also the Sovereign Creator of all things. Genesis taught them that
had God condescended 'in the beginning' to create a Kingdom so that
his creatures would glory in his goodness and Being!
- When we study Genesis, we need to remember that it was written
post-Egypt, post-Fall (IOW, it is in the context of history somewhere
between Egypt and the Promised Land). It records for us
the existence and reality of our Trinitarian God prior to the Fall,
but also prior to their existing anything else but God! God, who was
full-complete blessedness - satisfied, glorying in his Trinitarian
Divine Being- - This Sovereign God "stooped" (condescended)
to create and build a Kingdom for his glory and our good! Ultimately,
so that we might revel in his blessedness and glory- - partake of the
divine nature as the Apostle Peter teaches us!
- IOW: Genesis was written for the people of God - - not as a
science textbook- - but as a rich, theological history to teach God's
people: (1) the obedience we owe to God; and (2) the ultimate purpose
of our created existence in glorifying God!
- Genesis is primarily concerned about who
created and why- - not as much about how and when. Science cannot
answer the who and the why, and Genesis is largely silent about the
how and the when. As Reformed Theologian Louis Berkhof says in his
Systematic Theology: "The doctrine of creation is not set forth
in Scripture as a philosophical solution of the problem of the world,
but in its ethical and religious significance, as a revelation of the
relation of man to his God. It stresses the fact that God is the
origin of all things, and that all things belong to Him and are
subject to him."
Outline
- The God who sovereignly exists
- God completely blessed and satisfied in his
Trinitarian existence.
- God is Triune. That is, he reveals himself
in Scripture as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is unity and
diversity in the Godhead, but all three are one in essence, and are
equal in substance, power, and glory. This means that God is
Trinitarian in his Blessed Existence as the Eternal Being! Without
being simplistic, you should understand the Trinitarian creation as:
the Father created through the Son by the Holy Spirit. Colossians 1:15-18
captures this well, speaking of the Son of God and his place in
creation (we will discuss the Spirit's work in creation in the next
weeks):
15 He is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn [that is, the Preeminent One- - not the
"first-born" as if he were born in time; if this were so, the
Holy Spirit would have inspired Paul to use "first-created"] over
all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and
that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
- Paul also speaks of this truth of God the
Father creating through the Son in Ephesians 3:
8 To me, who am less
than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make
all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of
the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus
Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made
known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly
places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ
Jesus our Lord…
God completely
blessed and satisfied in his Trinitarian existence for eternity!
- How do we understand a concept like:
"God is eternal"? (Quote WCF: Who is God: "God is
Spirit, Infinite, Eternal, Unchangeable in his Being; Wisdom, Power,
Holiness, Justice, Goodness, and Truth."). How do we as people
of time understand a concept like "eternal" at all? How
about: No Time. Well, you still need time in order to understand the
concept. Do you see how frail we are? We are bound in a temporal
setting. Genesis begins: "In the beginning God…" yet God had no beginning. Time is related to change -
-God doesn't change, he is immutable or unchanging in his Being.
- God does not use watches, he has no clocks
to put it in understandable terms. Time passes for us, but "God
is- - He is". He revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush
in Exodus 3 as "I AM, THAT I AM." Before the historical
moment of "Let there be…" there was only
God.
- Augustine's theological definition of
"time" in eternity (from Augustine's Masterwork, City of God):
"For [God]
does pass from this to that by transition of thought, but beholds all
things with absolute unchangeableness; so that of those things which emerge
in time, the future, indeed, are not yet, are the present are now, and the
past no longer are; but all these are by [God] comprehended in His stable
and eternal presence…nor does His present knowledge differ from that
which it ever was or shall be, for those variations of time, past, present,
and future, though they alter our knowledge, do not affect His, 'with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning' (as James teaches us in
chapter 1)."
- Our response to such a Great and Sovereign
Creator, must be "wow!"
- Practical point: If these reflections on
the God who exists, the God who is Eternal, prior to the creation of
the world, if these reflections cause you to revel in his goodness
and blessedness, if they overwhelm you with is power and infinite
magnitude- - allow this to inform your apologetics! When witnessing
to others about the truth of creation, you indeed do want to be
ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within in you with
gentleness and respect, but this is preceded by saying "set
apart in your hearts Christ is Lord." We ought to as well,
focus our friends' to whom we are witnessing, to Our Sovereign
Creator God first! Then explain the reasonableness of creation. You
see, if you convince someone of the soundness, or the reasonableness
of creation, yet fail to turn their worship to the Sovereign Creator,
it is possible that they be a creationist, but a creationist who is
going to hell! Use the advice of both Augustine and Anselm. Teach
our unbelieving friends to: Believe in order to Understand (God, and
themselves); not Understand in order to believe!
Who is like
our Sovereign Creator?
- Who is like our Sovereign Creator God? The
great Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck describes God thus: "[God
is] Pure Actuality, an infinite fullness of life, blessed in
himself." God is indeed the Eternal One. In him there is
neither past, present, or future, neither becoming or change. All
that he is, is eternal: his thought, his will, his decree!
- The Psalmist praises the Lord in this
Divine Uniqueness:
Ps. 71:19 Also Your
righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God,
who is like You?
Ps. 113:1
Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the
LORD!
2 Blessed be
the name of the LORD From this time forth and forevermore!
3 From the
rising of the sun to its going down The LORD's name is to be praised.
4 The LORD is
high above all nations, His glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like
the LORD our God, Who dwells on high,
6 Who humbles
Himself to behold The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
- So why do we make ourselves the
"center of the universe"? Why do we follow our wills and
live for our purposes? Have you ever considered how individualistic
we are as a people at the beginning of the 21st century! Every truly
does what is right in his own eyes! Instead, we should start each
day of our lives reminding ourselves that we are creatures- -God is
the Creator! This should prompt us to think his thoughts after him-
- to meditate on his word. We must place him first in our lives as
we live obediently for him and not for ourselves! If you want to
truly honor your Creator, you must seek to glorify him in all that
you do!
- Evaluate yourself: (1) How much time do
you spend in meditating on Scripture and prayer each day? (2) How
often do you just allow yourself to meditate on God: his perfections
and attributes? (3) Here is one thing I recently did - -I re-read an
old Christian classic: Augustine's Confessions; Jonathan Edwards'
Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World; Calvin's
First Book of the Institutes ('On the Knowledge of God and of
ourselves'); and any Thomas Watson, or Charnock's Existence and
Attributes of God. Notice how these authors revel in God's Being,
Blessedness, and then live for God's glory. Think how they think on
our Sovereign Creator God- -then go and turn on the television.
(Disclaimer: I am not against TV per se; I am against us Amusing
Ourselves to death and not Amusing truly amusing ourselves by being
obedient to our God and finding true purpose in glorifying God). TV is
incredibly shallow when you compare it with such things, but most
Christians have a heavy diet of TV that does not separate them from
the rest of the world. TV can be entertaining, but like with
anything else, it must be done with disciplined moderation! Meditate
on God's Word and his Works- - the God of Creation who has revealed
himself to us! Meditate on the thoughts this will produce in you- -
and the wisdom you will gain from it in your everyday life when you
place him first in your lives!
- Before anything else existed God did Moses
wrote In the Beginning, God created all things (that is, heaven and
earth- -the universe!!). Do you realize what this truth of the
Sovereign Creator would have taught the Israelites concerning the
obedience they owed to God before entering the Promised Land
(remember it was written after the Exodus from Egypt and prior to
entering the Promised Land)? God gave them his Law, his revealed
will at Sinai! Do you realize why the Law as the revealed will of
God is important to us in light of the Creator's Nature and Being?
In other words, it revealed their duty and ultimate purpose in life!
Think about it:
- Example: Commandments:
(1) No other
gods!;
(2) No images- -man the image;
(3) God's Name- - very Holy;
(4) Sabbath rest;
(5-10) Love for neighbor, etc.
- As creatures, all things should be done in
accordance with God's will; there is absolutely no excuse. (No
"ifs, ands, and buts about it" my mother used to tell me
when she commanded my obedience). All things should be done in
accordance with his will and for his glory. There was a
"time" (as we would say it), when there was only one will-
- the will of God! Only one Being who exists eternally in unity and
Trinity! There was no glory sought except in the Divine Being! God
gloried in his Divine self! This is our Creator and Redeemer, people
of God!
- God condescends to create a Kingdom.
- God did not create because he needed
something: As some have taught concerning creation, God was not
experiencing Divine Loneliness (that is a contradiction in terms!).
God is perfectly satisfied and blessed - -he needs nothing,
including us! He did not create the world because he needed
something, but in order to communicate himself to it! This is why,
the glory of God is the ultimate end, telos, of creation! The glory
of God, God's glory revealed in, as well as through, his creation,
was the purpose and end of creation.
- God creates out of nothing a peaceable
Kingdom that was "very good" according to the Divine
Judgment. The creation of the heavens and the earth was "very
good" and pleasing to the will of God. His creatures' wills
were to be conformed to his will (the Eternal will); his creatures'
end and purpose was to glorify his Creator- - in him alone was he to
glory! This is the way things were created to be; in other words,
this is the way things ought to be!
- Israel was to be reminded by Moses through
the Book of Genesis that there was only one Sovereign God (this is
Monotheism - -"Hear, O Israel"). They were entering a land
God had promised to Abraham before the Egyptian bondage and the
Exodus. The Promised Land was God's pure electing grace to poor
sinners. In this land, Israel was to be witnesses to other fallen
Kingdoms who had been dispersed at Babel. God separated Israel so
that she would witness to the profound original purpose of God in
creating a Kingdom for himself- - that is, prior to the fatal fall!
- Israel was given the Divine Law, the
revealed will of God. The will of God that had existed from
eternity, from age to age. This Law, this revealed will of God was
to be communicated to all the nations of the earth who were
following their own perverse wills and laws, and ultimately glorying
in themselves. God's people were to show that the only true and real
purpose as creatures of God is to be found in glorifying God- - the
Creator of all things!
- Israel would be tempted to succumb to
their own wills and live for the glory of their own kingdom, rather
than God's Kingdom. They would be tempted to "do right in their
own eyes" as the Book of Judges sadly records for us. They
would be tempted to live like the other pagan nations who inhabited
the Promised Land and be tempted to follow after other gods, who
were really no gods at all!
- IOW: Israel would be tempted to "be
like the other nations" around them - -other creatures of God,
but those creatures who did not know God! Their desire became not
separation and holiness, but desired to "fit in" and to
conform to the ways of the sinful kingdoms. This happened because
they did not conform to God's perfect will revealed in his Law.
- As the people of God in any age, we are
all tempted to follow after our own ways and be conformed to this world.
We sometimes walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of
sinners, and sit in the seat of mockers. But we must remember to
delight ourselves in the Law of the Lord and on the Law of God,
meditate both day and night. As God had told the Israelites, so he
teaches us, he was their Redeemer who brought them "out of
Egypt" but he was also the Sovereign Jehovah, the Creator of
heaven and earth!
- The will of God is our standard for living
and conduct because God is Creator. This is the will of God who
existed in Unity and Trinity from eternity! He does not change;
neither does his holy and perfect will. As the people of God you
need to have a true understanding of the absolute, Sovereign,
Majestic, Creator God. He who is perfect in attributes and condescending
in his love and grace by creating us creatures!
Conclusion
- The study of our Sovereign Creator God teaches us about who he
is and the allegiance we owe to him, and our true purpose as his
creatures! If you want to know how things should be, or ought to be,
look to God's creation where he declared all things "good"!
All things in heaven and earth were created to serve God's holy, just,
and good purpose and will. All things in heaven and earth were created
for the end of glorifying God and enjoying him forever!
- But although that was the original purpose of God, man sought
after disobedience, fulfillment in himself and his own desires, as
well as sought his own glory! God glorified himself even in this! The
Creator God became man so that he might fulfill his own law, by his
own perfect obedience on our behalf. He died in order to remove the
curse of the law, but was raised from the dead and ascended to God's
right hand! Jesus has sent the Advocate, the Spirit of God to teach us
all things. He has given us a first fruits of his Spirit so that we
might die to ourselves and live for the glory of God through obedience
to his revealed and eternal will!! As Christians, our obedience has
been made possible again in Christ.
- Christ is not only the Mediator of Creation,
but by God's glorious grace, he is the Mediator of the Re-Creation! In
Christ, we have been made new creatures! The Apostle Paul sums up
these truths in Ephesians 2:1-10:
And you He made
alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among
whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead
in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show
the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should
boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
- What is beyond our full comprehension, yet revealed in
Scripture, is that God before the foundation of the earth chose to
create, chose even to allow the fall to occur (because God ordains
everything that comes to pass), yet lovingly elected his people in
Christ. In the execution of his decrees- -that is, what he decreed to
come to pass in time and history- - "In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth"-God created! This is Our Sovereign
Creator God!
- Nothing is more essential to, and determinative of the
Christian's life than that the end of all things is the glory of God…All things have their beginning and their end in God!
- This is why in the Book of Revelation, we
read these marvelous words, and we sing along with the redeemed saints
and angels:
8 The four living
creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And
they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" 9 Whenever the living
creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne,
who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him
who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast
their crowns before the throne, saying: 11 "You are worthy, O Lord, To
receive glory an honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your
will they exist and were created."
LORD WILLING, NEXT SERMON WE WILL
CONSIDER "CREATION OUT OF NOTHING" AND THE CREATION AS REVELATION
OF GOD'S BEING AND GOODNESS TO ALL MEN!
CRB
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