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 Creator who should be forever praised and worshipped as he revealed himself.  In other words, there was to be a Creator-creature distinction, a distinction between God himself and what God had made.  The skies and the seas and the land, with all its dangers and all the idols men had made out of these created environments, these were made by their loving Redeemer and God who brought them out of the Exodus and his faithfulness and steadfast love endured from generation to generation (Psalm 100:1-5)! 

 

Despite the pagans who feared the sky, seas and the land, and thus made idols or gods who ruled these regions in order to protect them from these dangerous elements, Israel was to know that their Kind and Heavenly Father had not only created all things, but created them for their good, not harm!  Again, Israel was a nomadic people, who traveled in the elements like many other peoples of the ancient Near East.  They would be “out” as it were in the elements, constantly surrounded by creation.  They were much more “of the outdoors” than we can imagine. 

 

For example, think of when you have knowledge of a huge storm that is coming, how we will go and batten down the hatches, make sure the animals are safe and have plenty of food and water.  If we live on a farm, we check our cattle and horses in the stables to make sure they will be safe in order to pass through the storm?  Well, Israel would be more like the cattle and the horses in the stables than us sitting safe inside our modern homes away from the elements, because they lived among, or “in” these elements.  Like in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s family went into a storm shelter when the cyclone was coming, Israel had no storm shelters, they were always threatened by storms that they would take them like Dorothy to Oz.  Maybe even better, do you know, or have you ever seen homeless people who live in cardboard boxes- -a very threatening kind of existence!  Israel needed to know they were not a threat, they were not only created by, but controlled by their Sovereign God and Heavenly Father!  God was their Great Protector Who would commit himself to them and keep them safe and sound.  This is why Israel spoke of God being a “Rock” or a “Tower” because both of these images in the ancient Near East were images of God’s protection from the outside elements and real and frightful storms.

 

 

III. Seed- the Continuance of God’s Creation (1:11-13)

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.

 

I separated this from the other action on the third day (we are still on the third day), in order to speak briefly about the seed.  This is God’s continuance of his own creation, starting with the environment he created for the highest of his creatures, man.  In v. 11, God said: “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed -zerah], and the fruit tree that yields fruit…”  Then notice, very important: “According to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”.  Although God has created different things, he has also created the continuance of his creation through seed.

 

This teaches us of God being Creator of all things and the Sustainer, but this teaches us about “ordinary providence”—or how God orders things by secondary causes.  This way the creation can be fruitful and multiply and be abundant for the good of his glory and for his creatures.  This seed is very important as well to Israel.  Israel was the Seed of Abraham at this point in redemptive-history, and through Abraham’s seed, the whole world would share in the promises to Abraham.  Also, the seed would have reminded them of God’s covenant faithfulness to sovereignly rule over as Father and Provider of all their needs.  The seed would have reminded the Israelites of the ultimate cosmic and earthly battle between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15; cf. Rev. 12).  More will be said concerning this when we look at Genesis 3.

 

Additionally, fertility cults surrounded the Israelites in the pagan nations.  The pagan nations sought the gods, the idols of their making, to ask them to produce crops and for the animals to multiply each year.  This seed that God created, notice in v. 12 it is to bring forth grass, it yields seed, and fruit which has seed in it as well.  This is for his creature’s nourishment and eating.  Here we have God providing the need for his creatures even before he creates the creatures themselves!  God provides for man, even before he is created!  What a gracious and Sovereign God and Father!  The reason the hospitality is so important in Scripture is because God was the first Great Host of the creation feast!  He will be the Host of a Great Feast when he restores all things in the New Heavens and the New Earth at the Feast of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. 8:11-12).  In other words, God was the first One to show hospitality, and we reflect his character when we show hospitality to others (cf. Rom. 12:13; 1 Tim. 5:10; Heb. 13:2; 1 Pet. 4:9).  In fact, in showing hospitality, we may have entertained angels without being aware of it because they are ministering servants to us!

 

In contrast to the pagans who had fertility cults that sought good crops and provision from idols, Israel was to seek God for all their food and provisions.  Notice briefly in Gen. 1:28: the food is made for man.  During Israel’s wilderness wanderings, when they needed food and water, God provided in spite of their grumblings. 

 

     Let me talk briefly here about Israel’s festivals to the LORD recorded for us in Exodus 23.  Exodus 23:14-25

14 "Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.

 15 You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread; as I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed.

 16 You shall keep the feast of harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.

 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD.

 18 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

 19 "The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

 20 "Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.

 21 Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him.

 22 "But if you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

 23 "When my angel goes before you, and brings you in to the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,

 24 you shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

 25 You shall serve the LORD your God, and I will bless your bread and your water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

 

We want to appreciate how the Creation in Genesis 1 would have instructed the Israelites further on the three feasts of the year, particularly this section, Gen. 1:11-13 on seed.  Israel was a community where God made divisions among clean and unclean things, pure or impure, etc.  But Israel did not have a separation between what we might call the sacred and the secular.  Work was intimately related to their God and his rest on the seventh day.  Work was a gift of God and therefore his people would know that all of the provision of the land and the cattle came from God.  The feasts of Israel were Feasts that graciously illustrated God’s provision and the people’s constant dependence, as well as gratefulness for God’s goodness in allowing the Israelites to be blessed with work and to cause the earth/land to bring forth fruit from the seed.

 

Three times a year Israel held religious festivals that were revealed to Moses at Sinai: (1) The Feast of Unleavened Bread; (2) The Feast of Pentecost; and (3) The Feast of Ingathering. 

 

To put it simply, the 1st feast of unleavened bread, sometime in our late March or April, was to remind the Israelites yearly of their redemption from Egypt, how God with a strong and outstretched arm delivered them from the power of Pharaoh, so their salvation comes from God alone, it is monergistic in nature, it is God alone who initiates and provides. 

 

The 2nd feast of Pentecost, was to remind the Israelites of the God who has provided the seed and the provision for all their daily needs, for their very lives.  Therefore, they were to offer the first portions, whether produce, grain, or cattle, in our month of June, to the LORD God who provided all of their needs!  This offering of first portions was a tithing where God provides for them the first portions of the harvest and they are tithed, or given back to him, and this encourages God’s people that God will also provide the final harvest during the 3rd feast, or the Ingathering! 

 

This enlightens us as to what Paul meant when he calls Christ our first-fruits of the resurrection, or first born from the dead; Paul is using festival-language.  Christ is the first portion, the tithe of the harvest of those he represents, so that their hope is that they shall be raised to be with him.  So, Christians live between Pentecost and the Feast of Ingathering!  The point: the feasts were to remind Israel in the midst of paganism and polytheism, that although the pagans had temple prostitutes and fertility cults to promote the increase of cattle, grain and produce, the Israelites knew that their very existence derived from, and was sustained by, God the Creator Alone!  We also must seek first the Kingdom and all its righteousness and not worry, or be anxious about our provisions as the pagans do, our Heavenly Father knows we have need of them, even before we ask him! (Matt. 6:9-34).

 

Now back to Genesis 1.  In Genesis1:11-13, we notice that God sets an example he will later command of Adam and his seed: God Himself is creating and “being fruitful and multiplying” the rest of creation through seed.  Later, we will see that is what he commands man to do: “Be fruitful and multiply.” (Gen. 1:28).  He also gives man and his creatures the ability to propagate after their own seed, but notice in verses 11-13, he provides for their sustenance first so that they will survive in this world God has created in order that they might have life and produce seed.  It is God acting first here, as in everything to give man the ability to do what he does.  Remember that seed is very important in redemptive-history, as we will be able to see this more clearly in Genesis 3:15. 

 

IV. Guidance- the Time for God’s Creation (1:14-19)

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.

 

On the fourth day, the LORD gives lights in the heavens for the day and for the night.  Implicitly God is showing as he teaches in the Law, that things in his creation are to be divided.  If not explicit by now, it has been extremely implicit.  Remember, Israel’s food laws for instance, “clean” and “unclean”, laws for the Temple, “holy” or “sacred” and “unholy”, etc.  Well, God has already made divisions between light and darkness, different kinds of plants and vegetation and the seeds and the fruit according to its kind, now he makes a division between day and night.  Israel was also divided or set apart from the other nations.  They were to be a light in the midst of the pagan nations, they were to be different thus one of the reasons for the ceremonial and food laws concerning them.  Theses ceremonial and food laws God reveals to them would have been gracious illustrations of what it means to be a “separate” or “holy” people.  People and things God separates from other people and things are holy unto the LORD.

 

Notice how God created the sun, the lesser light or the moon, one was to rule the day and the other to rule the night.  He also made the stars.  This was to divide the light from the darkness; God’s people would know when their work should be performed and when it should not be done.  In a sense, God was turning “down” the lights at night in order for his creation to enjoy the stars, but he was not going to give enough light for them to work after the day was completed because at night they needed to sleep.  Thank God for our rest!

 

And so we see that with the sun, the moon, and the stars, even these God has created for his people!  Contrary to the pagans that surrounded them who worshiped sun gods and moon gods and gods of the heavens, these were given for signs and seasons, days and years.  These were not to be worshipped like idols.  God’s people were not to worship these created things, but they were to remind the people of God’s eternality and their own time-bound existence.  Time in signs and seasons, days and years, taught Israel that they were temporal people, that they grew old and time passed from one day to the next, from one season to the next, from one year to the next, but these times were created and controlled by God their Redeemer (cf. Ecclesiastes 3)!  Although the people of God age and change, God does not.  In the present time, God is their origin, their provider, Sustainer, and ultimately the fulfillment of all their future hopes as well!

 

These gifts of creation were for guidance in temporal life, not idolatry.  But the pagans read their horoscopes, came up with elaborate displays of the heavens in the stars and tried to map their life out by them.  The pagan peoples sought answers to their deepest questions, to answer the deepest longings of their hearts; they sought answers from created things that were unable to give such answers.  Ultimately, in their sin, the exchanged the created things for the Creator, Who is forever praised, as the Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 1.

 

The pagans personalized the “rulers of the heavens”, the sun, moon, planets, and stars.  They called them by name, the name of their gods.  Whether Akkadian, Babylonian, Northern Mesopotamian, Ugaritic, or Canaanite, these sought the heavens for answers.  Much like modern man does today.  With all his reason and rationalism, man often seeks the heavens for answers to the problems here on earth.  Today we have our own magicians and sorcerers—they don’t wear elaborate ANCIENT NEAR EAST priestly garbs with serpents on the turban – in fact they look more like businessmen like Anthony Robbins, or L. Ron Hubbard, and singers like Dionne Warwick.  However, they still seek the stars, the Tarot, the horoscopes.  Our daily papers carry these things.  In fact, we are probably the only culture in the history of man where you can be entertained by Peanuts and Garfield on one page, and seek idolatrously the stars on the same page!  We also have “900” numbers for readings on our future and “Psychic Hotlines” etc.

 

Now you may say to me, “Charles, we are not surrounded by paganism like those way back in Israel!”  Let me ask you a question.  Allow me to suggest to you that even in your day-to-day affairs, you yourself use pagan symbols and language.  Now this does not mean you are not a Christian, nor that you intentionally partake in pagan practices, but it is to point out to you just how much pagan culture surrounds us today.  For instance, if I ask you what day we meet for Bible Study during the week, how would you answer?  If I asked you what day ends our work week, how would you respond?  Please, be honest.  Tell me.  

 

Well our days, the things that mark our day-to-day affairs even as Christians, are preservations of pagan language and worldviews.  We mark our daily calendar by a seven-day work week, as we should!  However, notice how subtly we have paganism mixed in with a Christian work week!  Remember, paganism and idolatry does not ask you to choose between two things, it is syncretistic, it is like velcro, it sticks to anything.  Consider this, for example: Monday: comes from Moon’s Day (the day the lunar god was worshipped by the Ancients); Tuesday: comes from Tiu’s- Day (Tiu was a Germanic God, remember the Germanic peoples invaded and took over Rome, so some of the Roman deities names were changed to Germanic names); Wednesday: comes from Woden’s Day (another Germanic god); Thursday: Well, this is Thor’s Day (and I am not talking about the Thor of Marvel Comics, this is the Germanic God Thor, even is wife Frigg is celebrated); Friday: comes from Frigg’s Day (the wife of Thor); Saturday: is Saturn’s Day (in old Roman times); and finally, Sunday: comes from Sun day (the day that the ancient peoples worshipped the sun for its energy and great power of providing all that the people need by making Mother Earth fertile).

 

These facts are interesting and perhaps a bit disconcerting, it doesn’t mean that as a Christian from now on you must say: “Worship is on ญญญญญญญ________; “Bible Study is on ญญ________ night” etc.  What it does mean is that we as Christians cannot truly separate from the secular paganism of our culture- - no matter how hard we try!  We are to be lights in the world, not separating from the world, neither becoming like the world!  It also means, that we as Christians, like the Israelites before us, can depend not on our own wisdom and shrewdness to conquer or to even “Christianize” culture, but that in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation, we can be confident that God is faithful to us and we should worship him and him alone and love our neighbor (pagan or not) as ourselves! 

 

As Christians we are to remain in the world as Israel did, but as 1 Cor. 10 teaches us, we should learn from Israel’s example.  Israel did not separate into a pious monastery away from the world, and the remnant did not become like the world, but some did fall into the trap of being taken by idolatry and forgetting the only True God!  So we are surrounded by paganism as the ancient cultures, and we must use discernment and wisdom as we navigate the course and run the race with perseverance that is marked out for us- - keeping our eyes always on the Author and the Pioneer or Perfecter of our faith!

 

V. Sea Creatures- the Chaos Monsters (1:20-23)

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.

 

Let me say a few things here about the chaos monsters of the ancient Near East.  They are a fascinating subject!  The sea creatures represented chaos symbols in the ancient Near.  This showed that even the dreaded sea monsters were created by God and he was sovereign over even these dreaded, uncontrollable beasts.  As in other ancient Near East creation myths, there was no contest between YHWH and the seas.  He created them, controlled them and filled them.  All of creation was under his control…from Leviathan and Tiamat, to Rahab! 

 

The cosmic sea symbolizes for the ancient Near Eastern peoples the continued threat the forces of chaos pose against God and creation.  As we saw earlier in Job 38, the sea “pushes” against the boundaries God established for it (Job 38:8-11; Jer. 5:22).  The pagan neighbors of the Israelites taught that in the creation of their gods (polytheism, a pantheon of gods) there was a primeval battle between the creator god and a sea monster of chaos called Leviathan, Rahab, or the dragon or serpent (Job 41).  Unlike these pagan myths, God shows the Israelites in Genesis 1 that he himself is the origin of these so-called chaos monsters; he placed all the sea creatures in the sea (Gen. 1:20-21; Ps. 104:24-26). 

 

In contrast to paganism, God did not have to go to battle with the sea god or chaos monster in order to create.  Rather, he created all things out of nothing, by the word of his power!  In fact, although the sea creatures (and other mighty creatures God had made) stirred up the cosmic sea in the Israelite’s estimation, God wounds and subdues these great creatures (Job 26:12; Ps. 74:12-14; 89:9-10; Is. 51:9) and they will ultimately be vanquished in the end times (Is. 27:1).  This was extremely good news for the Israelites.  Because God is the Creator, Sustainer and Protector of his people, there was nothing upon this earth that they were to fear!  Perfect love surely casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).

 

For the ancient Near Eastern peoples, the home of the chaos monster can be roused and the sea “stirred up”, and the sea symbolizes for them the threat of the reemergence of chaos (Job 3:8).  However, God is in control of even that which symbolizes the greatest threat and danger to Israel!  What are you most fearful of?  You have your own fears today?  Know this: God is the Almighty and Powerful Creator and Sustainer of all things!  Of whom, or of what shall you be afraid?  Whenever you get the chance, skem through the Scriptures sometime and notice how often the sea and Leviathan, Rahab and Tiamat  are mentioned as things of which to be afraid!

 

In fact, if you re-read the Book of Revelation, I think you will be amazed at how many times the sea and the monsters of the sea are mentioned!  Remember that the evil world powers and the anti-christ of the last days which oppose God and his people are symbolized as beasts arising from the sea in Daniel 7:3 and Revelation 13:1.  Also, one of the great hopes of the New Heavens and New Earth is that there is no sea- -no more chaos!  Notice the description of the throne room of God in Revelation: there is something like a sea of glass, an order or calmness (Rev. 4:6; 15:2).  The calmness of the sea symbolizes the absence of evil and chaos in heaven, for there is not “monster” of chaos to disturb it.  At the consummation of all things, the cosmic sea is mingled with fire, symbolizing judgment in Rev. 15:2.  After the consummation there is no longer a sea, as recorded in Rev. 21:1- - that is, there is no more actual or possible threat to the New Creation and to the Sovereignty of God!

 

Part Three

VI. The Kingdom- Beasts and Man (1:24-31)

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.

 

Man is “God-like”- - imago dei- -or made in God’s image.  God made man to be the vice-gerent, or King over his creation.  Man was to rule over the three realms, or kingdoms: the sky, the land, and the sea which God had created on days 1-3.  All of the creatures of the earth were to be his kingly subjects.  He was to rule over the earth on behalf of God as one made in the image of the invisible God.  Out of gratitude and obedience to God’s commands, he was to live in submission to God, creating a place where righteousness dwells throughout the earth.  He was to serve God, loving both God his Father and his family who would come from his own loins.  He was also to make God and his commandments, the truth God had revealed to him, known to his posterity after him.

 

In contrast to the true creation story of Adam made in God’s image, the gods of the pagans were often half-creatures, half-men (you know the half-serpent, half-crocodile, etc).  This was not true for God’s people; they were made in God’s image, not the image of the creatures God had made!  The creatures were placed under man’s dominion and authority (he even names them).  They were not made God-like, or in his image, but they were ruled by man.  Notice how the beasts are made in verses 24-25, again each according to its kind from the smallest, creeping things, to the great cattle or behemoth upon the land, God was their Creator.

 

The way our pets come to us when we come home after a hard day is a small glimpse of what it must have been for Adam in the Garden of Eden.  Such loyalty and submission to man their master and king.  Yet, after the fall, these same animals would threaten the life of man their king, and would eventually be used for the food of man.  These animals were to be the uniquely beautiful subjects of man, each of the animals displaying certain personality traits which the man had.  In some ways, as man was made in God’s image, reflecting his personality, there is a small bit of man’s personality reflected in the animals.  There is shrewdness in the serpents; courage in the lions; wisdom in the owls; diligence in the ants; order in the locusts; faithfulness and loyalty in dogs (cf. Proverbs 30:24-31). 

 

Then verses 26-28 show God’s making of man in his own image, he makes his prince over creation, a prince to rule his Kingdom.  God made man in his own image or likeness he created him; male and female, he created them.  So God blessed them and 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, over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 

 

This is the epitome of grace.  God has not only created man to be in his image, but also given him all things, to rule or have dominion over the earth.  In v. 28 notice three important verbs concerning God’s purpose for man, his great climatic conclusion to his creation activity.  After God blesses them and says (commands) to them to be fruitful and multiply, he expands this to explain his purpose:

 

1) Fill  the earth.

2) Subdue it.

3) Have Dominion  over all creation.

 

That is in Hebrew, man was to: malah, cabash, and radah, fill, subdue and have dominion.  Very important to keep these verbs in mind as you read the remainder of Scripture.  Without going into too much detail, read Scripture with some of these themes and ideas of what we have studied in Genesis 1 and you will be profoundly amazed at how many times they appear.  Sometimes it is profitable to ask yourself, is this a “creation motif” or an “echo of the creation account”?  Many times when there is water, seed, land, descendants and blessings involved, it usually has something to do with creation.  Think on that.

 

In verse 29, God has already provided the foods for his people, but now he makes it explicit to Adam.  God says to him: “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 as food.  Wow, wouldn’t Israel have been thankful to know that all things had been provided by their heavenly father?  When they were wandering in the wilderness or going into a strange land, perhaps they would remember that God supplies according to his unfathomable riches!  In verse 31, God says everything “is very good” or you could say “Mission Accomplished.”  All that God has set forth to create for his glory and man’s good has been accomplished!

 

VII. The Divine Rest (2:1-3)

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.

 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

 

God rested from his creation activity.  This is where God’s creation ends and his providential overruling and sustaining of all his creation begins.  God sets a pattern for man as Creator as he reveals in Exodus 20:8-10 and Deuteronomy 5:11-14.  He commands man to set aside one day in his work week to worship and remember him.

 

The Divine rest of God teaches us that work is good, but rest is good as well.  God commands us to set aside a day to worship and to remember him.  God wants us to remember that our week revolves around God’s providence and faithfulness to us.  Israel’s week was to be founded upon God’s creating and upholding of all things.  Our week is to be remembered in the same way.  We ought to have an understanding of the Lord’s Day, or the Lord’s Divine Sabbath Rest in light of the first day of the week, which was the first day of the resurrection and thus not the last day of creation as here in Genesis 1, but the first day of the New Creation.

 


 

Redemptive-Historical Conclusions to Part One

Let us make a few connections between Genesis 1 and the rest of redemptive-history.  I will make a few observations, thematic or theological connections, and perhaps you can go from this study and think on the rest.  Remember, the Scriptures teach us to meditate upon the Scriptures.  That means to think about Scripture; think about connections to other Scripture; think about the God who has revealed these Scriptures, and ask the Scripture the right questions.  Here are a few observations:

 

1)     We must have a creation worldview- -not merely a redemptive worldview.  The fall of man caused blessing and order to turn into sin and chaos, but this was not God’s original reason for creation.  God was setting up a Kingdom, and his prince Adam failed the covenant probation in eating from the forbidden tree.  Remember to think on this: redemption is God’s graciousness in the midst of creation and history.  His redemption is historical in his creation.  We are not like the Platonists and the Greek philosophers who avoid all material things, such as what God has created, including our bodies, thinking these are somehow inherently evil.  For example, in the ancient church, there were Gnostics, people who were anti-materialistic, and even came to the point of denying Christ’s humanity (cf. 1 John 4:1-5).  Ancient Christians sought refuge in caves and monasteries with hopes of fleeing the creation into a world surround simply by God’s redemption.  The sphere of creation was full of sin and temptation, therefore the fled from the world, not fully realizing the problem was not outside of them in creation, but in their own hearts.  Even in our time period, well-meaning American fundamentalists flee from many things that are good in creation and in our culture, implicitly denying the goodness of these things (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31).  All of these groups desire to separate from the creation to escape to a place of redemption- - to get out of the evil world, etc.  We must remember that God made all things well, and he is not just merely saving individuals, but the he is renewing the entire creation.  Listen to Rom. 8:18ff:

 

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?

 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

 

The Apostle Paul teaches us in Romans 8:18-25 that we awaith the restoration of all of the creation.  Our hope is in our full adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  Again, we must have a creation worldview- - this world “is very good,” says God.  We should think so too, regardless of sin’s influence, God is still King of his Creation!  We do not want to separate creation from redemption; call creation “evil” while we openly receive redemption as “good”.  We are making an unbiblical and Greek separation between the two! 

 

2)     Kingdom- God was establishing a visible kingdom, allowing his creature, man to be prince, to fill, subdue and have dominion.  Man was to serve as God’s vice gerent or “second in command” under God.  We should keep this in mind throughout redemptive-history.  For example, God calls Noah, Abraham, and ultimately Israel in the OT to be those over his Kingdom.  What do you think the Promised Land of Canaan not only pointed toward, but back to: Eden, Paradise, a new creation, a new Kingdom.

 

3)     Noah’s Flood- Genesis, chapter 3 records the fall.  Then Genesis chapters 4-6, describes the devastating consequences of man’s sin.  In fact, Gen. 6:5-8 says:

5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

 7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."

 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

 

The flood was a creation reversal- - from order which sin disordered to chaos, when God unleashed the fury of his wrath by allowing the waters to devastate without borders or boundaries.  Remember, the waters, the sea was the great fear of all the ancient peoples, including Israel.  What a judgment of YHWH, they would have thought!  But God in his grace, reestablished his Kingdom with Noah.

 

4)     The call of Abraham and the covenantal promise to him and his seed- After the Kingdom prologue (as it has been called by Dr. Kline) of Genesis chapters 1-11.  The LORD calls Abraham to leave his pagan country and homeland and to “go” where YHWH will show him.  God chooses Abraham and makes a covenant with him, and chapters 12-50 are concerned about tracing Abraham’s heritage and lineage to Joseph, until they are slaves in Egypt.  This is where the Book of Exodus picks up on the story!  The call of Abraham is a visible manifestation of God’s Kingdom in Israel.  This gave Israel identity as the people of God and showed that they were a Holy Nation or Kingdom, a new creation to witness to the nations also made in God’s image who surrounded them.

 

5)     Exodus- God rules over Pharaoh, the gods of Egypt with “creation reversals” in the plagues.  Rather than the creation being “user-friendly” God made it “user-deadly” to the Egyptians.  God brought a chaos of judgment upon them.  He rescues his people when he made the waters separate with the congealing of the seas, and he destroys the Egyptian power in the waters as he had done in the flood before.  God is powerful as King over all things- - all of creation.

6)     Jesus/Last Adam- He is head of a new creation of people.  Remember this: Protology (or beginnings), enlighten or inform our eschatology.  The end in Revelation is always in the beginning in Creation as well.  God is renewing all things in redemptive-history to have Jesus reign over an eternal, visible Kingdom.  Jesus came into this world to overthrow the Kingdom of darkness by the power of the Spirit of God.  Jesus walked on water, the chaotic sea he stilled; he had the power of creation and the NT writers tell us that God created through him in John 1, Colossians 2, and Hebrews 11 (among many other places).  On the Day of Pentecost, God’s Spirit hovers again over God’s people, making a new creation like he did in the beginning, in Genesis 1:2.  The Christian life is the reality of being a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17ff).  God fills us with his life-giving, creation Spirit (ruach Elohim) in order to renew us into his image.

7)     No matter how modern our world seems, not much as changed.  God is still sovereign ruler and Lord over all creation, we still are surrounded by idolaters, but they are more subtle perhaps about it here in America.  As Rom. 1 teaches us, fallen man although he lives, moves, and has his being in God’s worlds, resists the truth and submits and worships the created things rather than the God who created all things. 

All of Israel was surrounded by blatant idolatry, and they fell into temptation and oftentimes became idolaters themselves (a cursory reading of the Book of Judges and 2 Kings will inform you on this).  We are tempted to be idolaters, but in more subtle ways that we have to be even more careful.  Our temptations for idolatry are more private, subtle-  -let us be aware of this!  Remember, the Apostle Paul teaches us in 1 Cor. 10:1-11 that Israel’s history and experiences is for our instruction and teaching.  They were surrounded by Ugaritic, Akkadian, and Babylonian Creation Myths as well (these were perversions of the truth of creation revealed by God in Genesis 1).  They were to hold on to the teaching God had revealed about himself and all that he had made for his people! 

We also are surrounded by creation myths such as evolution, “big bang” theories, etc.  For instance, just watch the X-Files, (and without sounding like a big geek-man) watch Star Trek, particularly Star Trek: the Next Generation and some of the more recent spin-offs.  Read Carl Sagan’s Cosmos; Watch the films Close Encounters of the Third Kind or the movie adapted from the book: Contact- - we have our own creation myths!

Think about it: We may not see idols around our land here in America as the Israelites, but we have our own “religious myths” and idols.  Since the Enlightenment of the 18th century, our idols look much more like ourselves-  -men, because man and his reason has become the measure of all truth (homo mensura).  Man’s reason is the judge of all things including supernatural revelation found in God’s word.  We don’t bow the knee to Baal or Marduk, but we do often “bow to our reason”.  We are a proud and independent people who like to make idols out of ourselves at the end of the 20th century.  Narcissism or “love of one’s self” (better translated selfishness), these are the idols of our making rather than worshipping the true God of all creation, we are still worshipping the created things- - ourselves!

We are far away- - disconnected in time by the ancient Near Eastern peoples and culture, but there is absolutely nothing new under the sun.  Genesis 1 is not a scientific textbook but a glorious theological-historical, inspired account and testimony to our Great God and Savior, who is (in spite of sinful men), sustaining all things by the Word of his power!  He is renewing all those who are “in Christ” to be with him in the New Creation (no more chaos, no more sin, only order and perfect beauty and symmetry in the presence of God- - see Rev. 21-22)!  The temptations to idolatry, creation myths, etc. may come in different packages to us today, but they are very real and powerful!

However, our God the Creator of all things (who is redeeming us and the creation in Christ), is much more powerful as he was to Israel in the midst of paganism, so he is to us today!  He is ruling and redeeming his people.  Regardless of whether sinful man has corrupted himself and all of God’s world, it is still God’s world-  -his Kingdom, and the Almighty LORD YHWH is on the throne!  Creation is good- - Let us say tonight: “And we saw it and it was very good,” because that was our Great God’s estimation of things, may we think so as well!

CRB

 

Essays | Studies | Sermons | Word of Encouragement | Resources | About

 

ฉ 2002-2003 A Place for Truth

 

1 1 1 1 1 1