The King of All Creation:

A Biblical-Theological Study

Charles R. Biggs

 

Part One

 

Origins

 

Introduction

Origins.  We all want to know from where we came?  Were we from a foreign country?  When did our people come to the United States for the first time?  You see, our past always enlightens our present.  If we do not know from where we come, we do not have a sense of our own personal history.  Thus, we search genealogical tables to find out our origins.  Personally this is very true, how much more true for who we are as humans.

 

Even though all of us may not have any particular interest in our personal origins, the whole human race, every individual that lives wants to know how he got here so to speak.  You know, how did we get here on this tiny planet in this tiny solar system surrounded by greater solar systems.  For us today it is even a more pressing question for man because man has developed and advanced in such a way that we know that this universe is quite large.  However, the Hubble telescope will never answer these questions.  No matter how deep into space this craft penetrates, it can never satisfy the questions found in the deepest and innermost places of our hearts.  Man wants to know from whence he came.  He wants to know his origin!

 

Sure some men come up with all kind of theories.  We talk about “big bangs” and perhaps an evolutionary “chance” kind of origin, but this does not satisfy our questions.  Why?  Just because we are made in the image of God our Creator.  You know, we modern people are not the only ones that wanted to know their origins.  Did you know that?  The great nations of Egypt, Babylon and other nations all had creation accounts to tell how they got here on this planet.  They had never walked on the moon, never sent out the Hubble telescope, or taken pictures of mars, but they had longings, they had questions that needed to be answered.  

 

So did the Israelites.  When God delivered them from Egypt in the Exodus with a mighty outstretched arm and they crossed the Red Sea and God annihilated their enemies, they needed to know more about this God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 15).  They had been in slavery in Egypt for over 400 years, but some had forgotten the Lord their God.  Some of the Israelites, such as Moses were raised up in the knowledge and understanding of Egypt.  Furthermore, because the surrounding nations had their own creation myths, they needed to know the truth of the matter.

 

The Israelites were the elect, first-born son of God, but they were about to enter Canaan, the Promised Land, which would be surrounded by many foreign and idolatrous nations that would deny their true God and their true origin.  So, because of God’s grace to his people, He inspired Moses to write Genesis 1.  God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, but much time had passed and those who did not know God, nor called upon the name of the Lord had created other myths and tales to account for the origin of all things.  In other words, because of sin among the nations the original truth of creation had been perverted. 

 

Does anyone know what is a cosmology?  Cosmology is the study of our universe, and the way we understand our world.  It is related to phenomenology, which simply means what we see around us: the phenomenon.  The realm in which we exist, live, move and have our being.  We must understand that even before Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, and Carl Sagan, people had “cosmologies”, or theories of the world around them. 

 

Cosmologies and theories of creation or creation narratives, “ancient or modern, is a coherent articulation of the forces (divine or natural) that will account for the observable universe.  In any culture this usually entails a positing of the unseen (forces or personified forces usually understood as deities) acting upon the seen (natural world) and an elaboration of the role they will play from the beginning of time until the end.  The goal of any creation story is to explain the events by which the so-called gods (or God, in the case of the Scripture) brought order out of chaos and to elaborate the ongoing struggle against the forces of chaos and evil that continually attempt to subvert order and uncreate the universe.” [Creation and Blessing, Ross}

 

I want to say a few things about the world-view of the Israelites in contrast to our own scientific or modern cosmology or worldview.  An example between our cosmology, worldview or phenomenological understanding compared to the Israelites can be understood by considering a thunder and lightning storm.

 

In stormy weather, when we hear thunder and see lightning, we have meteorologists and scientists to tell us not only what these things are, but when they are going to come and when they will pass.  We understand in our cosmology more than what is in the appearance of the storm itself.  We know this is a common phenomenon experienced by all, and it will pass.  However, for the Israelite, when they heard and saw these signs, these phenomenological manifestations had different connections. 

 

First of all without meteorologists and scientists, they neither knew when these storms were coming (or going) and what in the devil they were!  They lived in a time long, long ago when other nations saw these storms as manifestations of the wrath of their gods.  Their gods needed propitiation and so they would sacrifice to them.  Idolatry permeated the culture of the Israelites (thus the reason for the first commandment and the prohibitions about making images of God).  They had no idea about these storms and were a nomadic and traveling people who were out in the elements, so their very lives were threatened by these so-called “insignificant” storms that we also experience.  Yet we merely go into the house, shut our windows, dim the lights, and turn on a television show and drink cocoa or coffee unmoved and unafraid. 

 

You see the difference what a cosmology will make?  Well, keep this in mind with the Israelites.  God is the God of all of creation, all the waters, all forces of chaos such as the storms they experienced, he was sovereign over all and loved his people.  This was the purpose of Genesis 1!  We should try to read Genesis first as an Israelite might have read it after their release from Egypt when Moses was inspired to write it.  We must be conscious of our rational, Enlightenment worldview as best as we can, and try to experience a thunderstorm as the Ancient Israelites did.  Remember how frightened the Israelites were at Sinai where the mountain thundered and glowed with the power and majesty of the presence of YHWH!  Exodus 19 records that they were frightened to death by this phenomenon called a theophany, or an appearance of God.

 

Genesis: True and Inspired Theological History

Genesis is 1 is true and inspired history.  We must remember that it was written after the time it took place, man was not there during creation, but God was.  God tells Moses the author how it happened and what theological perspective he must have when he wrote Genesis.  But keep that in mind.  Genesis was penned in the Torah, the Five Books that Moses wrote, and it is after the Israelites’ redemption from Egypt in the Exodus. 

 

Genesis 1 is indeed the beginning of history as far as time, the world, and man are concerned.  Although God is eternal, he did truly in the beginning create into nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days…and all was very good.  The thing we want to remember is to not ask of Genesis (or any other Biblical text) to answer all of our modern or scientific questions.  The purpose of Moses is greater than that.  In fact, Genesis can be simply understood as an introduction or origin for Israel and for the creation of order out of chaos. 

 

In other words, the purpose of Moses in Genesis 1 is not a science textbook, and we should not expect it to answer all of the volatile and faithless questions of our unbelieving friends.  In fact, as with all other Scripture, reason will never prove anything to anyone; no portion of Scripture that speaks with authority concerning sinful man is going to be received accept by divine illumination.  The purpose of Moses in Genesis 1 is to show the Sovereignty and almighty power of YHWH as the Great Creator and Sustainer of the universe.  The One Who is Almighty LORD of His people.  We must come to Genesis (as with all biblical texts) with submission and ask the LORD to teach us what he wants us to know about himself and our own origins.  Again, Genesis 1 is not a science textbook, it is a theological history!  Genesis 1 was written first to the people of God in the OT to teach them the origin of all things, including their own origins as the people of God.  That is, from where they came and ultimately, From whose hand they came.

 

The reason for discussing these matters is that all often times we ask the wrong questions of Biblical texts.  We need to seek answers from Scripture, but we also need to ask the right questions of Scripture.  A good starting place is to ask the question “What was Moses’ purpose in writing Genesis when was it first read by the people of God?  Although we want to later understand Genesis from the perspective of the resurrection and ascension of Christ (Luke 24:44ff), we should begin our interpretation in the context in which it was written.

 

Although the Israelites had been delivered, the LORD was gracious through Moses to reveal to them the beginning of all things.  In contrast to all the so-called gods of the nations by which they would be surrounded in Canaan, God was gracious to accommodate himself in their language and time period in history to tell them as about his Sovereignty and Power.  God wanted the Israelites to understand who they were as His people, as well as their origin-  - their beginning, before the Exodus from Egypt, before the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, before sin had reached catastrophic proportions and God saved Noah and his family, and before Adam and Eve fell in the Garden. 

 

God also wanted to reveal to them and to teach them that man was made in the image of God, and is the apex of God’s gracious creative activity.  Genesis 1 was written in a historical situation like all the books of Scripture and would have been read in a particular historical situation.  Don’t forget that!  We shouldn’t merely read Genesis 1, then proceed to go to John chapter 1 and Colossians chapter 2, or Hebrews chapter 11, without considering the “whole counsel” of God in redemptive-history—first!  This is a good interpretive principle.  Remember Genesis 1 is located in a very important place as the prologue to the covenant God makes with man.  It is the beginning or the prologue of the Kingdom [Kingdom Prologue, Meredith Kline] to all that happens in chapters 1-11 which forms one section to the Book, and chapters 12-50 which forms the second part of the Book, and it should be read within this particular context.

 

     So, we who are far removed from this particular place in history, want to try (as best as we can) to see and read Genesis as an Israelite would have long, long ago.  That is, they did not have the scientific and modern worldview that we have, so if we go back and read Genesis 1 with this worldview and the questions our modern cosmologies raise, we will fail to miss God’s gracious accommodation to them in language that they could understand, but we will fail to understand the creation account as a whole.  Look at history, the people of God have fallen into foolish traps by asking questions of Genesis 1 it does not set out to answer. 

 

In other words, we should “speak where Scripture speaks and be silent where Scripture is silent.”  I do not know the number of books that are written on Genesis 1 that are only speculative, and ask questions that the chapter was not written to answer.  You know, “the earth was without form and void” how did the earth get that way?  Or how about this one: “It says that there was morning and evening on the first three days, but the sun was not created until the fourth day…how can this be?”  God doesn’t say; be should satisfied with that.  You may be able to sell a lot of books to prove your speculation or theory, but you may not rightly interpret this chapter nor find out the great encouragement that our God has revealed in this magnificent chapter of holy writ.  Christians, but particularly unbelievers, are always ironically allowing what God has seen fit not to reveal to keep them from the clear and gracious teaching of what he has revealed.  So with that said, we proceed with humility and caution, as we seek to understand our origin, the origin of man who is made in the divine image!

 

Turn in your Bibles to the first book of beginnings (lit.) or the Book of Genesis.

 

 NKJ Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

 6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

 9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.

 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

 11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.

 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.

 14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

 15 "and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.

 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,

 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

 20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens."

 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

 22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

 24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so.

 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

 29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

 30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.

 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

 

NKJ Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.

 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

 

 

From formless and empty to formed and abundantly filled!

Let us first consider the form in which Moses communicated this to the Israelites then, and to us now.  Then , we will consider an overview of the content, how it was read by the people of God in the OT and the significance for the creation account in redemptive history. 

 

I want to break down the verses into “bite-size” chunks and then consider the theological instruction of the passages, but first let’s take a look at the form of the creation account.  Notice first the way the days of creation are arranged.  God makes the environment, or the realms for his creation, and then he creates or fills the environment or realms with those who would exist in these environments.  Remember, according to verse 2 the earth is without form and void.  The earth was literally formlessness and emptiness, or tohu and bohu.  So what Genesis 1 teaches us is that God on days one through three gave the formlessness, form and on days four through six, God filled the emptiness.

 

            A) Environment for God’s Creation    B) Created things in these Environments

Day One- Day and Night                         Day Four- Sun, Moon, Stars, etc.

Day Two- Firmament-Heavens-Seas         Day Five- Creatures of the Air and Sea

Day Three- Land                                    Day Six- Creatures of Land/ Apex: Man

                                    Day Seven- God Rested

 

Moses teaches the Israelites not merely a science lesson, but a redemptive-salvation lesson.  He shows his people in Genesis 1 how everything from the smallest to the greatest was created by the God who had redeemed them out of the Exodus.  You could summarize Genesis 1 this way: “Out of the darkened chaos God sovereignly and majestically created the entire universe in six days, bringing perfect order and abundant fullness for people to enjoy and to rule, and then blessed and sanctified the seventh day, which marked the completion of creation.” [Creation and Blessing, Ross].

 

Now let us look at the content of verses 1-5.  Verse one says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  The reason I broke down the first part into verses 1-5 was for the sake of appreciating the foundational message for Genesis and even the rest of the Bible.  Let’s consider the verbs and the action that Moses teaches the Israelites then, and us now.  But first, let me give you an overview of what I am going to cover.  We could be here for days on this chapter, so I have chosen some particularly important themes and theology to help us in studying all of redemptive history. 

 

We will proceed thus:

1) We will look at the verbs in verses 1-5 and ask what they communicate to Israel when they were first penned and call this section GOD THE KING OF CREATION.

 

2) We will consider verses 6-10 under the heading of SKY, SEAS, AND LAND: the Preparation for God’s Creatures, and how this would have communicated and taught the Israelites when they first read this book.  We will also consider the cosmology of what the sky, seas, and land meant for these ancient, Near Eastern people.

 

3) Then we will look at verses 11-13 under the heading of SEED: the Continuance of God’s Creation.

 

4) We then will look at verses 14-19 under the heading GUIDANCE, NOT IDOLATRY: the Time for God’s Creation.

 

 5) Next, in verses 20-23 we will look at SEA CREATURES/MONSTERS: Creation over the Forces of Chaos.

 

 6) Then we will consider verses 24-31, and discuss THE KINGDOM:: Beasts and Man.

 

 7) Finally, we will look at 2:1-2 as a summary statement and GOD RESTS.

 

I. God the King of all Creation (Gen. 1:1-5)

Let’s begin by considering the verbs in verses 1-5.  There are six verbs with which I want you to be familiar.  1) Verse 1: created bara; 2) Verse 2: hovered rahap (cf. Deut. 32:11); 3) Verse 3: said amar; 4) Verse 4: saw raah; 5) Verse 4b: divided  badal; 6) Verse 5: called  qara.  Notice the form of these verbs.  Who is the subject of all these verbs and what does this teach Israel then, and us now?  Say it like this in summary: “God created, hovered, said, saw, divided, and called.”  Consider this summary statement about Genesis 1:1-5: God is Sovereign, Majestic, and Powerful over everything that exists. 

 

In a land surrounded by polytheists and pagans who had their gods associated with everything in the sky, seas, and land, Gen. 1 taught the Israelites that they were to be monotheists.  Worshipping the One and Living God, or Monotheism was not because God was afraid his people might not like him as much as the other pagan gods (that would be true enough at times due to their unbelieving hearts), but God was the Only God and Creator, the Only Single Power over all things, including Israel’s destiny and hope.  A God who could do this could not only comfort you in those frightful Ancient Near Eastern storms we spoke earlier about, but this God was the source of all  life, and since their Exodus from Egypt, the source of their redemption.  Israel needed a true creation theology that would enlighten their present living and give them hope for the future as they believed the promises he revealed to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 2:24-25).  God was gracious enough to teach them so that they might better know him through Moses their Mediator.  They needed to know from where or better from Whom they came?

 

Notice what these verbs would have taught Israel in the midst of paganism then, and in the midst of our paganism now.  Remember, pagan gods could be attractive; it was the “thing” to do in the ancient Near Eastern culture as well as in our culture today.  There is persecution and criticism for then, as well as for today for those who believe in the One and Only Living God.  For the people of God, those who receive God’s promises there is always the temptation to have more than one God.  This is reason Moses would instruct the Israelites that God is One, and they are to love him with all of their being (Deut. 6:4-6; cf. Matt. 6:24).  Even when Jesus comes, the One greater than Moses to reveal God to His people, he says that “No one can serve two masters, of gods.”

 

Considering the difficulty of living among pagan peoples, while living for only One God, think about the persecution and temptation that is ever before them.  During Israel’s time, if you lived among a pagan people and you were required to “propitiate” the wrath of the so-called gods, but failed to do it, you could be mobbed and killed by the people.  The pagans saw this as the irreverent act of an individual that caused ill fortune to be brought upon the people as a whole community.  Remember that living in Canaan, was not going to be easy as a monotheist. 

 

First of all, the pagans would have thought their gods were more in number than Israel, and thus more powerful.  Additionally, they thought their gods showed many ways to find divine favor and not just one way.  “Surely there is not just one God and not just one path to this God,” they might have said.  You could hear the pagans speak to Israel and say: “What makes you think you know the true God?  Can you prove he exists?  How can you believe in a Living God whom you have never seen?  How do you know he exists?  Join the others in following our gods, get with our pagan program of peace if you want to prosper among our people!”  Sounds familiar, huh?

 

In contrast to this pagan mindset that exchanges the truth of God for a lie (cf. Romans 1::23), look at what verses 1-5 teaches us. 

 

1) God created, that is HE is the Source of all things, including the pagans among whom they lived in Canaan. The Hebrew word bara or create is used only of God.  Hebrews and people made in God’s image were creative in the sense that they “made” or asah things, but no one but YHWH creates (cf. Gen. 1:27; 2:3; 5:1; Dt. 4:32: Ps. 51:12; 104:30; Is. 40:26). 

 

2) God’s Spirit hovered, that is God is the life and substance, the sustainer- - the One who gives form and order to all things (cf. Deut. 32:11), including calling a people who were not God’s people, to be God’s people.  God’s Spirit would later hover over the Israelites as fire by night and a cloud by day.  God’s Spirit would hover over them in lovingkindness and covenantal faithfulness as he protects them and hides them beneath his gracious and Sovereign wings.  As God would later reveal through the Psalmist: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty…He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge” (Psalm 91:1, 4).

 

3) God said: God is the only True God and the Only God with the right to say or to declare…. and it is so.   God speaks the words which brings all things into existence in the space of six days!  The Living God reveals himself to his people as the “speaking God” who will reveal himself to his people so that they might know him.  He makes man with the ability to speak and to communicate as well as his vice-gerents, or princes over his creation.

 

4) God saw: God not only speaks by divine fiat and it is so (or it comes to pass without any resistance), but he declares it good when he sees it- -He is the Judge and Absolute Authority to declare a benediction over anything done.

 

5) God divided: Ultimate power to create and make things they way he wants them to be…and they are.  He divides or separates by his mighty power to bring form to formlessness and order to chaos.

 

6) God called: God not only has the authority to create, sustain, declare, judge, and divide, but ultimately the only one who names.  He has the authority to name all things.  God called the light…God called the darkness, etc.  Naming things was very important in the ancient Near East.  For example, In the Babylonian creation myth, the way the writer describes the reality before the creation of the gods, he describes it: “Before anything had been named…”  The Israelites would have understood the power of “naming” to be the power to control and to understand.  Only YHWH-Elohim had the power and authority to name all that exists, only he can control all things.  In these verses, notice how throughout Genesis 1, God is the Source of all things then continues from the very beginning to sustain and uphold what he has created, while expanding up to the apex of his creation, which is man- - made in his likeness or image.

 

[Note: the use of Babylonian, or other pagan creation myths is to remind us that once Babel occurred in Genesis 11, and God confused the tongues of the people and they filled the earth, they perverted, or forgot, and exchanged the truth of God for a lie because they were not the immediate receivers of God’s special revelation in his Word.  This is why Israel was such a special people- cf. Rom. 1:18-25; 9:4,5] 


 

Part Two

Remember, from our last study, we discussed the fact that Genesis was written by Moses sometime after the Exodus from Egypt and prior to the Israelites entering into Canaan the Promised Land (or before the death of Moses recorded in Deut. 34).  We discussed the fact that Moses did not write Genesis merely as a modern, scientific textbook, but as a literary, theological-history - -an inspired and infallible, literary, theological-history!  Israel needed to know from where they came or better from Whom they came because the people whom God had elected were to worship only one God (to be monotheists), but they would be surrounded by cultures and peoples who would test and tempt them toward polytheism in the land of Canaan and among the peoples of the earth!

 

As an “early, pre-Day of Judgment” (some call this an “eschatological intrusion”), Israel was to be light to all of the nations, and when they went into Canaan, the land God had promised to Abraham, they were assigned by God to execute and kill all the people in the Name of the LORD.  This is not an example set for the people of God today.  Today, since the fullness of times, our battle in Christ is spiritual and not of the flesh (2 Cor. 10:3-5).  However, Israel was going to be used by God to bring early judgment on pagans living in the Promised Land.  Since they did not completely accomplish this task because of disobedience (Judges 1-2), they would always be susceptible to pagan religion and temptation.  However, even before they entered the Promised Land, they were tempted to go back to Egypt and they complained against Moses their Mediator, and the LORD their God (1 Cor. 10:1-13).

 

If you had been an Israelite in the midst of all these pagan nations and powers, you would appreciate very much this summary of Genesis 1: “God is both Author and thus the Authority over all things!”  That means that not only had he shown his might and power against Egypt, but he could and would by his grace keep his promises to Abraham!  He would create his Kingdom and sustain it in the midst of wicked and perverse generations, even in spite of his people! 

 

The creation account for Israel taught them that there was only One Supreme God and Creator of all and that this God had made a covenant with them of all the peoples of the world (Deut. 7:7ff).  Thus the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4-6: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD your God is one…” Not only that, but if God could command the creation from chaos to order, then he could also redeem them from the chaotic ways of sinful man and bring them into and sustain them as an orderly nation. 

 

The truth of creation teaches us concerning the Law as well.  When the Law was given at Sinai, the Ten Commandments (lit. Ten Words) would have been understood in light of the creation account because Genesis 1 was probably written by Moses after Law had been given at Sinai!  God had condescended to covenant with, and redeem Israel from all the peoples of the earth and therefore this is how they were to live in light of this grace he showed to them.  It made “Thou shall have not gods before me,” and “Do not make an image or idol of the LORD your God,” and particularly “Keep the Sabbath, because it is holy to the LORD,” more understandable and meaningful to the Israelites.  God begins the Ten Commandments with the prologue: “I am the God Who has brought you out of Egypt…”  Genesis 1 serves as a greater, more lengthy prologue to the Kingdom of God and to the previous covenantal promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [Kingdom Prologue, Kline]

 

This was the Sovereign Creator God who had redeemed them and now wants to give them order in his Kingdom amidst all the chaos in the world.  Listen for instance to the words of Moses, on the Plains of Moab, as he is reminding the Israelites of the mindset they must have as God’s people, as they pass over into Canaan (or the Promised Land).  This is the second generation, because the first generation (even though they saw all the LORD their God had done for them, forgot and broke covenant with him, and many were destroyed).  Keep in mind that this is one of the most important chapters in Biblical history for understanding the historical books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and Kings.  Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4:1-40 (these are some of the last words of Moses—extremely important!):

 

NKJ Deuteronomy 4:1 "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you.

 2 "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

 3 "Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal Peor; for the LORD your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor.

 4 "But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you.

 5 "Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess.

 6 "Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

 7 "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?

 8 "And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?

 9 " Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren,

 10 "especially concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'

 11 "Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

 12 "And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.

 13 "So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

 14 "And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.

 15 " Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

 16 "lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,

 17 "the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,

 18 "the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.

 19 "And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.

 20 "But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.

 21 "Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

 22 "But I must die in this land, I must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and possess that good land.

 23 "Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.

 24 "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

 25 " When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the LORD your God to provoke Him to anger,

 26 "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed.

 27 "And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.

 28 "And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

 29 "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

 30 "When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice

 31 '(for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

 32 " For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard.

 33 "Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

 34 "Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

 35 "To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.

 36 "Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.

 37 "And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power,

 38 "driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day.

 39 "Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

 40 "You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time."

 

As we continue with our study of Genesis 1, keep in mind how important creation was to the Israelite’s understanding of their world, particularly the way God revealed to them the way they should walk before the world as a witness!  We should also remember how important the creation account is for the people of God today, but we shall turn to discuss this further in future studies.  Creation revealed to the People of God that God created out of nothing and gave form to all things (order to the chaos), and was sustaining the whole creation.  He had also called a people out of slavery and bondage and was giving them order from sinful chaos through the Law and he could sustain them as his Kingdom people!  This should have taught the People of God how blessed and how gracious God was and in light of this, they should have desired to devote their entire being to the Living God! 

 

However, history records things differently for us and it pains us who have “Redemptive-Historical-Twenty/Twenty vision”, to look back upon the Israelites and see their failure to remember not only the Law, but the God who redeemed them and created all things.  They show how they forgot  what Moses had taught them as Mediator in Deuteronomy 4, when they went off to worship foreign Gods even while God was near to them: Exodus 32- Golden Calf; Numbers 25:1-3- Baal of Peor; Joshua 24:14-15- Joshua’s Last words are warnings against idolatry in the promised land; Judges 2:10-15- Israel is serving Baal and Asherah; 2 Kings 17:7-23- Idolatry in God’s Kingdom leads to Exile (cf. 2 Kings 23:26).

 

Genesis 1 taught that there is only one God and therefore Israel then and we now must remember: Hear, O Israel, the LORD your God is one; Love the LORD your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength!  Just because many in Israel became idolaters, both in a subtle manner, as well as obvious, God was still preserving his people in spite of them.  We today struggle with idolatry in subtle and obvious ways.  We do not carve dumb wooden idols and set them up on our homes, but anything that we place in importance before the LORD our God and his glory alone, we are idolaters, no matter how subtle.  When we regard our family as more important than the congregation of our church, for instance; or when we are tempted to worship God’s word, the Bible, rather than the God who speaks and reveals himself in the Bible (Remember the Ark that the Israelites tried to worship- - the Ark was symbolic of God’s presence, it pointed to God, it was not to be made an idol—in the same way, the Bible is God’s Word, but it is not God).  Another temptation toward idolatry which is extremely subtle is any love of self, for other people or possessions, where we give more of our time, talents, and thoughts than to God.  It is important to remember, idolatry permeated the ancient culture and it permeates ours today!  As long as men have fallen and sinful hearts, there is going to be idolatry in subtle and obvious ways.  That is why we are to guard our hearts, give our hearts to the LORD for cleansing and transformation, watch the love and affections of our hearts.

 

II. Sky, Seas, and Land- the Preparation for God’s Creatures (Gen. 1:6-10)

6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

 9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

 

Here we have God dividing -badal the waters, making separations between the waters under the firmament - raquia, and the waters above the firmament.  The firmament he called heaven.  Then notice, God even has the power to gather together to seas, and separate the sea from the land.  As God spoke to Job in a whirlwind in 38:2-11:

 

2 "Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge?

 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

 4 " Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,

 7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

 8 "Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb;

 9 When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band;

 10 When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors;

 11 When I said [to the seas]:, 'This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!'

 

We should understand the sea, or the cosmic waters from the perspective of the people of the ancient Near East, gathering an understanding of the sea from the theology found in Scripture.  God created the cosmic sea (Ps. 95:5; Jon. 1:9) and gathered the waters covering the entire face of the earth into seas and established their boundaries, as we read in Job 38 above (cf. Ps. 104:5-9).  In the ancient Near East, the cosmic sea symbolized the continued threat the forces of chaos posed against God and creation [Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, Ryken and Longman].

 

According to Scripture, the sea pushes against the boundaries God has established for it (Job 38:8-11; Jer. 5:22).  In the pagan religions that surrounded Israel, there were creation myths (perversions of the truth) that described a primeval battle between a creator god and a sea monster of chaos called Leviathan, Rahab, or the dragon or serpent (Job 41).  Unlike the myths of neighboring nations, God Almighty reveals himself as the Creator of the so-called chaos monsters and places them in the sea (Gen. 1:20-21, which we will discuss further; Ps. 104:24-26).  That means that what gave pagans and the ancient Near East their greatest fear, were really created and controlled by Israel’s Almighty and Sovereign God!  What grace is revealed here as we see the God who covenants with his people and keeps his promises, is the Great God of the Sea!

 

The Israelites were terribly frightened of the sea.  In the ancient Near East, the belief was that the sea-chaos-monster stirred up the cosmic sea, but we see in other Scripture that not only is God the Creator of this great sea creature, but he is wounded and subdued by God- - God controls one of the sources of the greatest fear to other pagan peoples in Israel’s time (cf. Job. 26:12; Ps. 74:12-14; 89:9-10; Is. 51:9).  The Great Sea Creature will ultimately be vanquished in the end times (Is. 27:1).  As the home of the chaos monster that can be roused, the sea symbolizes the threat of the reemergence of chaos (Job 3:8).  In fact, this is why the evil world powers and the antichrist of the last days which oppose God and his people are apocalyptically symbolized as beasts arising from the sea (Dan. 7:3; Rev. 13:1).  We will study more concerning this interesting subject when we get to Gen. 1:20-23.

 

Remember Israel’s perspective on what they saw around them in this world, their phenomenon that they experienced with their five senses (don’t forget phenomenology that spoke of in the first class: the phenomenon is how we describe what we perceive with our senses: the sun rising and setting, etc.).  From the warmth of the sun in the heavens, to the stars on a clear night in the dark heavens, Israel would know that from least to greatest, YHWH had made all things.

 

Do you recall as a child laying on your back and staring up into the sky in the day or at night?  Perhaps you had no belief in God at the time, or perhaps you had the privilege to be a covenant child.  Regardless, do you remember thinking how magnificent this “place”, or this “world” is, the place where you live?  Do you remember knowing nothing more about the skies, the heavens, the seas, and the land around except what you perceived with your five senses.  I mean, you had no real scientific knowledge yet and what you saw, was what was really there to your perception. 

 

I recall one time looking up in the middle of the afternoon on a clear spring day, and saying “There looks like there is a dome up there.”  A dome like a top on the earth.  I knew enough to know the earth was round or a sphere, but I did not know that much more about space and the heavens, etc. as a young child.  From my perspective, laying on my back as a child there was a dome up there.  Imagine how Israel would have perceived the skies, seas and land.  Imagine before we could fly in airplanes, ride on ships and boats, and travel fast in cars upon the land, imagine the inability of man to control these environments, especially the sky and the sea.  They didn’t have the scientific knowledge and understanding that we do.  God knew all of this scientific knowledge, but God allowed his created people to understand science gradually and progressively throughout history.  Israel would not have understood all that they saw in the skies and in the seas except two realms, or domains that they did not seem to truly have dominion over (although Adam and the human race were given these realms as well as the land in Genesis 1).

 

You see why it was important for pagans to propitiate their sky gods and their moon gods and their sun gods and their sea gods and their river gods, etc…on and on.  It gives you a pre-modern perspective to try and understand this culture and the context in which Genesis 1 was written.  It was a much different culture and time from ours where we  have learned with electronics to  “burn” a digital CD disc, watch stock reports flash across computer screens moment by moment, get weather reports days in advance, ride in airplanes and ships and travel on beltways and highways around the land.  No, there was no Route 66 for the ancient Near Eastern peoples, no meteorologists, no stock reports, no planes trains and automobiles! 

 

Remember also concerning the skies, seas, and land, how Israel is told in the Law not to worship any image, nothing in the heavens above or the earth beneath (as we learned from Deut. 4:1-40).  They were to know these were created gifts given to them to live in God’s world, but it was not the