21-01 In Den Beginne - 1

The One who created me Genesis 1 To begin a study of the Book of Genesis (or any book of the Bible for that matter), one of the most important things to keep in mind is the author’s intended purpose for the book. “Good hermeneutics, that is, good interpretation and study of God’s Word, starts by taking into consideration the original author, audience, and historical context.” Our natural reaction is to bring our expectations, thoughts, feelings, and culture to a text and with Genesis we want to bring the modern “origins” debate to the table. When we start reading in Genesis, we arm ourselves with arguments against macro-evolution and against the onslaught of arguments made by countless Atheists. But this is not the original intent of Genesis. If you read Genesis with science in mind, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Every branch of science wants more information than what is given in this chapter… a botanist is not satisfied with verse 11; an astronomer would choke at “and the stars also” in verse 16; a marine biologist would be put off by the lack of words to describe the variety of life in the sea; and an ornithologist - new word for the day - is not impressed by the flighty description of miraculous flying animals. Can you imagine how long Genesis would need to be if it was indeed the author’s intent to satisfy all these sciences? In asking the text questions that it is not intended to answer, we end up missing the point completely. Imagine Heather and me sitting on the beach and watching the sunset. We’re enjoying the moment, snuggling in closer for warmth… one of those perfect relationship moments… Heather utters: “I love sitting here with you and watching the sun set.” I look at her and say: “You know, Heather, actually the sun isn’t moving. The earth is spinning and moving in an orbit around the sun and we are turning away from the sun right now. The sun just appears to be setting.” And then I wonder why Heather gets up, shakes the sand off and walks to the car. It ruins the moment and it misses the intent. Genesis is about introducing God - the mighty God: Elohim. And what He is capable of. In six days he created everything. And why? That’s the point! Genesis is an invitation to worship not an instruction manual for the universe. What does this almighty creator-God do? He makes spaces Day 1He creates time 2-5 Day 2He creates realms 6-8 Day 3He creates a habitat (with food) 9-13 He fills the spaces Day 4He creates sun, moon and stars 14-19 Day 5He creates marine life and birds 20-23 Day 6He creates land animals and man 24-31 God says, divides, makes, names and sees. He speaks and then assigns function. He sees and calls it good. All of it culminates in the creation of mankind. Everything is created with him in mind… to make life on earth possible, to give time and mark the passing of time, to give a multitude of things to investigate and understand and lead him back to God. Food, work, enjoyment… all for man. And God changes the rhythm in creating man: God speaks to Himself, gets intimately involved in the process, creates in His image blesses, and places all things under his feet. And all of creation is given to man… and His final assessment: it is VERY good. It all leads us back to God… and we should be in awe of His story. He turns chaos and emptiness (verse 1) to living abundance… and He will do the same with your heart.