II. Theme: In the Beginning God 09-Jun-02 Genesis 1:1-2 Schaeffer pp. 13-34 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, according to His perfect will, by the Word of His power, out of nothing, and all very good. Review Last week we began our summer study on the first part of Genesis, chapters 1-11, sometimes called the primeval history. I gave an introduction to the course, to our textbook, and to the book of Genesis, particularly focusing in on chapters 1-11. Let me take just a few minutes to review the main ideas from last week, before we plunge in to Genesis. Out study of the Genesis 1-11 is going to be exegetical. We will be reading the text and then studying it to understand what it means. We ll be looking at the organization of the material, the themes, the repetitive ideas, the connections between sections and with other parts of Scripture. I will be using our textbook by Francis Schaeffer, Genesis in Space and Time, and also supplementing it with materials I ve studied from other sources. Last week, I listed some of the main themes of Genesis 1-11. 1) First, there is obviously the theme of origins or beginnings. Genesis is a book of beginnings, and many of the themes and ideas of Scripture are grounded in the early chapters of Genesis. 2) Genesis introduces us to God it tells us who He is and what He does. 3) Genesis calls us to worship our LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. 4) The book of Genesis gives us a right perspective to look at the world. We understand that God is holy and that man is fallen. Despite man s fallenness, he has great value, because he is created in the image of God. This knowledge from the early chapters of Genesis gives us hope that the pagan cannot have. 5) In Genesis, we see the pattern of transformation started by God and continued by man. We are to image God in our work, transforming our world into the glorious image of heaven. 6) Genesis explains the two humanities the godly and ungodly lines and we see what happens to these lines. Genesis traces the history of the line of the Seed, which ultimately finds full expression in the advent of Jesus Christ. 7) Finally, the Primeval History teaches us that in the beginning God created a perfect world, and it is our future hope to return to paradise. We need a new creation to counteract the curse of sin. That is our hope in Christ. We then took a short tour of Genesis 1-11. The outstanding structural feature of the entire book of Genesis is the repeated phrase, These are the generations of or This is the history of.. These phrases alert us that a new section of material is beginning, telling us about the next phase of redemptive history. The generations are both of the godly and ungodly lines the ungodly line usually coming first and of shorter duration before focusing in on the godly line. After the account of Creation in 1:1-2:3, there are ten generations sections in the book of Genesis. We will be covering five of them in this class. I then gave a short overview of the material of Genesis 1-11. Following Creation, there is the account of the Garden of Eden in chapter 2; the Fall of Mankind in Genesis 3; the story of Cain and Abel, and the line of Cain in Genesis 4; the line of Seth in Genesis 5; the prelude to the Flood in the early part of Genesis 6; the account of Noah and the Flood in Genesis 6-8; the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 8-9; the account of Noah and sons after the Flood at the end of Genesis 9; the Table of Nations in Genesis 10; the Tower of Babel and the Line of Shem in Genesis 11. The primeval history goes from Adam through Seth to Noah; and then from Noah Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 16 DSB 9-Sep-05
through Shem to the father of faith, Abraham. The account of Abraham starts at the end of chapter 11 and then carries on until Genesis 25. But that s material for another quarter! Introduction Before I begin our study this morning in Genesis 1, let me propose to you another way of looking at the book of Genesis, and indeed the whole Bible, thematically. In Genesis 1-2, there are three so-called Creation ordinances. They are: rest (Sabbath or worship), marriage (family), and work. These three ordinances correspond to the three zones of the original creation. In Genesis 2:8-15, three zones are described: The Garden of Eden, which is the Sanctuary where worship takes place (containing the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil); the Land of Eden, or the homeland in which you live with your family; and the other lands (e.g., Havilah) of the world, where we work and carry out evangelism. This three-fold model is described in Genesis 2 and carried out in the rest of the Old Covenant. After these 3 zones, we have the first three sins in Genesis. The first sin in the Garden of Eden is the sin of sacrilege or impatience. Adam sinned against God; he presumed to be like God, to be God. Adam did not worship God correctly this was a sin of worship. As a result, Adam was kicked out of the Sanctuary, the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:22-24). There in the land of Eden, Adam begins to build a family. The second sin in Genesis is in the story of Cain and Abel. Cain s sin start out as a sin of worship, but it leads to fratricide in the land. As a result of his sin against his brother (family), Cain was kicked out of the Land (Gen. 4:10-16). He is exiled from the homeland, and begins to build a culture in the land of Nod, the land of restlessness. The third sin in Genesis is the sin of intermarriage between the godly and ungodly lines, which leads to the Flood. This starts out as a family issue, but it leads to violence and wickedness in the culture of the world. As a result, the culture must be destroyed and mankind is kicked out of the world by the Flood (Gen. 6:1-8). The three major stories in Genesis regarding the patriarchs correct these sins. Abraham relates to God. He is told to be patient. He is always building altars to God (Gen. 12:7,8; 13:18; 22:9). He is tempted to seize the forbidden fruit (Hagar). The theme of Abraham is his patience in relating to God. Because Abraham was patient, he inherited the promises (Gen. 26:2-5). Abraham is the Father of Faith. Faithfulness in the Sanctuary be patient, do not seize what God has withheld. As a result, Abraham begins to build a family. Isaac is a transitional figure between Abraham and Jacob. With Jacob, his conflict with his brother Esau is prominent, carrying forward the brother/brother theme. He has conflict with Esau, Isaac, Laban, and even God Himself. Jacob wrestles with God and man and as a result he inherits the land. Faithfulness in the Land live in peace with your brothers (Gen. 27:29; 28:13-15; 32:24-28; 35:9-15). As a result, Jacob s family grows into a large group that begins to establish their own separate cultural identity. The theme of Joseph is how to relate to the world. Joseph had the choice to get involved with Potipher s wife (intermarriage) or to stand firm. Joseph stands firm, unlike what his brother Judah was doing in the land. Joseph contrasts compromise with the world vs. standing firm. As a result, Joseph becomes the ruler of Egypt and the most powerful man in the world. Faithfulness in the World bear witness and stand firm. Joseph s work impacts all of society. Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 17 DSB 9-Sep-05
These same three themes are repeated in the rest of the Old Testament. In the Mosaic period, the emphasis is on the Tabernacle-Sanctuary. The focus is on the worship of God. Throughout the book of Judges, the main sin is idolatry, or against God. Because of the sins of the Mosaic era, they lost the Sanctuary in 1 Samuel (1 Sam. 4:10-11; 19-22). The Ark is taken by the Philistines. Plagues occur in Philistia, and the Ark returns to Israel with spoil (cp. Exodus). Afterwards, God restores them and builds the Temple. The question of this period is: How does Israel worship God? The covenant of the kings is established in the Davidic period. The Temple has two pillars guarding it: Boaz (the King s pillar, because Boaz is the Davidic king s family name), and the priestly pillar. Now we have brother/brother conflicts in the land (Saul vs. David, David vs. Absalom, Judah vs. Israel). Because of their sin, at the end of the book of Kings, the Temple is torn down, the pillars are dismantled, and the people are taken into captivity into Babylon. The people lose the land. They are restored and given a new covenant. The question of this period is: How does Israel live in the land? The 3 rd period of Israelite history is the Restoration period, the time of Daniel and Ezekiel. This period of history is dominated by world kingdoms and not by Israel. It ultimately results in Christ coming and becoming the eternal world emperor. The theme of this period is standing firm (cp. Daniel, who is challenged to stand firm before the emperor). If you don t stand firm, you commit the sin of intermarriage (cp. Ezra 9:12, twice in Nehemiah 10:30 & 13:25 where you have the sin of intermarriage; Malachi also decries intermarriage). The sin of compromise is a major theme in this period of history. The question of this period is: How does Israel live and work in the world? All of these questions find their answers in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our true Priest we worship Him in Spirit and truth. Jesus is the Word/Prophet who enables us to live in peace with our brothers; we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus is the righteous King who reigns until all his enemies are His footstool. We still need to ask these same questions today: How are we to worship God? How are we to live a Christian life? How are we to live and work in the world? Rest, Marriage, Work. Sabbath, Family, Labor. The questions of Genesis are still with us today. And the answer is found only in Jesus Christ. Now, with that as an overview, let s turn our attention to Genesis. Today, Lord willing, we will cover the first two verses of Genesis 1! Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. We will look at this first verse of the Bible, one word or phrase at a time. In the Beginning First, in the beginning. Every good story has a beginning. Fairy tales usually begin, Once upon a time... Star Wars begins, A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The Bible is no different. It takes us back to the beginning. It takes us back to the beginning of the Creation. It takes us back to the start of time. Now, the Hebrew word for beginning here does not mean an indeterminate period of time. It does not mean In the beginning period of time. Rather, it means a definite moment in time, in fact, the first moment in time. For the other thing we need to be aware of, is that this verse, Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 18 DSB 9-Sep-05
this phrase, implies an absolute beginning. The thought is not When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form and void. You see, that thought would imply that the earth already existed in a formless and empty state, and all that God did was somehow rearrange the pre-existent material. While that would be miraculous enough, that would be a serious departure from the orthodox position of the absolute creation of God. If that were true, then God is not truly a creator He would only be a shaper or molder. Yet the Scriptures are clear that everything came into existence through God by the Word of His power. Ps. 33:6-9 6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. 9 For He spoke and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. Thus, we must affirm the absolute beginning of Creation happened at a moment in time, through the power of God, in the beginning. God Now, the phrase in the beginning leads us to ask the obvious question, What happened before the beginning? In the fairy tale, you know that something happened before the Once upon a time. Before Cinderella had a stepmother, she had a mother. In Star Wars, you know that The Phantom Menace, The Attack of the Clones, and Episode 3 (as yet unnamed) happened before Episode 4: A New Hope. Something always happens before the beginning, because our beginnings are always relative. Well, what about the beginning in Genesis 1? Schaeffer: Although Genesis begins with in the beginning, that does not mean that there was not anything before that (cp. Jn. 17:5, 24). Jn. 17:5, 24 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, wit the glory which I had with You before the world was. 24 Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. There is something that reaches back into eternity back before the phrase in the beginning (cp. Eph. 1:4; 1 Pe. 1:20; Titus 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:9). Eph. 1:4 Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. 1 Pe. 1:20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Ti. 1:2 In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. 2 Tim. 1:9 Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 19 DSB 9-Sep-05
When did history begin? History began before Gen. 1:1. To avoid confusion, Schaeffer uses the word sequence in contrast to time to remind us that something was there before in the beginning and that it was more than a static eternal. Something existed before creation and that something was personal and not static; the Father loved the Son; there was a plan; there was communication; and promises were made prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth. Eveson: Appropriately, the subject of the first sentence of the Bible and of Genesis is God. Before the commencement of all things God was already there. God was there when time began, when the universe began. Schaeffer: The question, Has it always been there? leads to four possible answers: 1) Once there was absolutely nothing and now there is something; 2) Everything began with an impersonal something; 3) Everything began with a personal something; and 4) there is and always has been a dualism. The first and last possibilities are non-starters. The impersonal beginning, the notion that everything began with an impersonal something, is the consensus of the Western world in the twentieth century. It is also the consensus of almost all Eastern thinking. An impersonal beginning, however, raises two overwhelming problems. First, there is no real explanation for the fact that the external world not only exists but has a specific form. Second, and more important, if we begin with an impersonal universe, there is no explanation for personality. Man has a mannishness. In short, an impersonal beginning explains neither the form of the universe nor the personality of man. Schaeffer: However, the Judeo-Christian tradition begins with the opposite answer. And it is upon this that our whole Western culture has been built. The universe had a personal beginning. Before in the beginning the personal was already there. In the beginning is a technical term stating that at this particular point of sequence there is a creation ex nihilo a creation out of nothing. All that is, except God himself who already has been, now comes into existence. Before this there was a personal existence love and communication. Love and thought and communication existed prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth. This means love and communication are intrinsic. And hence, when modern mans screams for love and communication (as he frequently does), Christians have an answer: there is value to love and communication because it is rooted into what intrinsically always has been. Schaeffer: The root of the biblical doxology is a person, not a thing (cp. Jer. 10:16). Jer. 10:16 The Portion of Jacob is not like them (idols), For He is the Maker of al things, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of Hosts is His name. The Christian not only says that God is really there, but that he was there, he always has been there, and that he is my portion now. Rev. 4:11 says by thy will they were created and have their being! This is the Christian cosmogony. Here is an answer for modern man overwhelmed by the problem of being. Everything which has being, except God himself, rests upon the fact that God willed and brought it into creation. Schaeffer: Did God have to create? No. He did not have to create something face-to-face with himself in order to love, because there already was the Trinity. God could create by a free act of the will because before creation there was the Father who loved the Son, and there was also the Holy Spirit to love and be loved. Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 20 DSB 9-Sep-05
Schaeffer: If we are being fully scriptural, we do not praise him first because he saved us, but first because he is there and has always been there. And we praise him because he willed all other things, including man, into existence. Therefore, when we read in Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, what a tremendous statement this becomes as we speak in the modern world! Upon this hangs any distinctively Christian answer which is going to be strong enough for men in the twentieth century. Created Schaeffer: How did God create? Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God (Heb. 11:3). Here we have both a parallel with and a distinction from an artist s creation. God who existed before had a plan, and he created and caused these things to become objective. Furthermore, just as one can know something very real about the artist from looking at his creation, so we can know something about God by looking at his creation. And yet the differences between the artist and God are overwhelming. Because God is infinite, he created originally out of nothing ex nihilo. This concept of creation by a spoken word is wonderfully expressed in two passages in the Psalms (Ps. 33:6, 9; 148:5). Ps. 148:5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created. Schaeffer: Suppose you could trace everything in the world back to a single molecule. This is still no answer to man s basic problem, because it does not explain how that molecule came to be there or how from that molecule could come the form and complexity of the present universe, or something as personal and mannish as man. For this, the scriptural answer is needed. God by fiat brought the world into existence (cp. 2 Pe. 3:5-7). God not only brought the heavens and the earth into existence by divine fiat, he still works into history in the same way. He has not become a slave of history. History is going somewhere there is a flow to history. I now can be thankful both for the knowledge of what is and for my salvation in Jesus Christ. For both are rooted in the fact that the portion of Jacob is not like the gods old or new. He is different: He is the former of all things. Schaeffer: The word created is used only a limited number of times in scripture (e.g., Gen. 1:1, 21, 27; 5:1-2), [and every time it is used, God is the subject. It is significant that no materials are ever mentioned when it is employed. It is never said that God created out of something. The word always refers to what is new, unusual or wonderful.] The first of these is the point at which God created out of nothing (1:1); the second the point at which God created conscious life (1:21); and the third point at which God created man (1:27). In this third passage, the special form of created is repeated three times, indicating there is something special about the creation of man. This same triple repetition of the creation of man occurs again in 5:1-2. God is saying that three aspects of creation creation out of nothing, creation of conscious life, and creation of man are unique. The Heavens and the Earth In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What did God create? The heavens and the earth. What does this mean? Well, in one sense, the phrase the heavens and the earth refer to all things, to all creation, to the whole universe and everything in it. But it does more than just that. It teaches us that God made the heavens and that God made the earth. God made one universal creation, but the creation consists of two parts: heaven and earth. Just like in Hebrew, we use the word heaven in several different ways. One meaning is the sky when we Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 21 DSB 9-Sep-05
look up into the sky, we look heavenward. We also refer to outer space, the region of the planets and stars as the heavens. And of course there is Heaven, the place of God s throne, of God s glory; the place where angels dwell, and that is the ultimate heaven. Jordan C6D: In the beginning God created heaven and earth. He created two things, not one. The earth as it was made was good, of course, but not yet developed. It lacked structure, was empty, and was dark. Nothing like this is said of heaven. Indeed, it is clear from the rest of the Bible that heaven was made structured, full, and bright from the beginning. The angelic host does not multiply, and so new angels do not appear in the process of time. Humanity was created as a race that matures into a host, while the angels were created as a host from the beginning. The Bible teaches us that heaven and earth are two realms, with different functions in history and in the total cosmos. The earth matures in a way that heaven does not. Heaven is thus the model or paradigm for the earth. The earth is to grow more and more heaven-like. In the rest of the Bible, when heaven opens, men see the models they are to reproduce on earth (e.g., the Tabernacle and the Temple). Jordan C6D: One of the important aspects of Genesis 1 is that the earth is developing in time toward a goal, unlike heaven, which was created finished and perfect to start with. What Genesis 1:1 says is that God created the heavens and the earthly cosmos. This was definitely a one-time event, and a finished one. The rest of Genesis 1 shows us working with the earthly cosmos to bring it forward from glory to glory, starting out the historical process that His Spirit-endowed image, humanity, is to complete. We notice that at each stage of His work, God saw that it was good, so that the universe was completed at each stage. The completed universe that God made at the beginning was formless, empty, and dark, but it was still good and still a completed act. [This gets us into the theme of transformation of following God s pattern of creation in the world.] Genesis 1:2 And that brings us to Genesis 1:2. 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. The Earth Eveson: In verse 2, our attention is drawn toward the earth. The rest of the chapter deals with items that are in one way or another related to this world. Nothing is said about the creation of spirit beings who belong to the heavenly, invisible realms. [The clear implication is as stated above: heaven and heavenly beings were created complete at the beginning, but the earth was developed over time.] Was Formless, Void, and Dark Verse two then states the condition of the earth as it was when created and until God began to form from it the present world. The earth was without form and void, or unformed and unfilled, or formless and empty. In addition, it was dark, without light. Now, there is no sense of evil or wrongness with this description. The intent is to convey that the original world was a wilderness, incapable of supporting human life. The original world was uninhabitable, not ready for man. However, this was not to be the final state of the Creation. God did not create the world to be a desolation or an uninhabitable place, but to be inhabited. This can be seen from Is. 45:18: Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 22 DSB 9-Sep-05
Is. 45:18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited. In Is. 45:18, the word translated in vain is the same as without form in Gen. 1:2. God did not intend the world to remain formless and empty forever; He gave it structure and filled it, filled it with everything necessary to support life human life. Jordan C6D: Genesis 1 rather obviously follows an outline set up in 1:2. The earth is formless, empty, and dark. This sets up the discussion that follows, to wit: 1) First God takes care of the darkness problem by creating light. 2) God takes care of the formless problem by separating waters above and below and putting the firmament between them, and then by separating the land and sea. [And 3) God takes care of the emptiness problem by filling the earth with plants, and fish, and birds, and animals, and finally Man.] The Spirit of God Young: Lastly, the statement is made that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The Hebrew word as is well known, means breath, wind, spirit. Here it is the Spirit which is of God and which acts upon His creation. He is the agent of the divine purpose in imparting life, and reducing the void, waste earth to order and clothing it with beauty. Despite the fact that the earth was not then habitable, all was under the control of God s Spirit. Young: Genesis 1:2 is the first picture of the created world that the Bible gives and the purpose of the remainder of the chapter is to show how God brought this world from its primitive condition of desolation and waste to become an earth, fully equipped to receive man and to be his home. The earth was desolation and waste, but all was in God s hand and under His control; nothing was contrary to His design. Young: Verse two describes a condition of things in which all was under the control of the Spirit of God. Even though the earth was not in a habitable condition, it was a God desired it to be. It stands out in great contrast to the finished world of verse thirty-one, but at every stage in the development God is in control, things are as He desires them to be. Conclusion In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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. In these two verses to open the Bible, we have a true beginning, a personal beginning, a miraculous beginning, an absolute beginning, a universal beginning, a developmental beginning, a planned beginning, a Sovereign beginning. This is a true beginning, for time as we know it, or sequence, begins. But we know that God exists before in the beginning. And in God s eternal pre-existence, there is love and communication within the Godhead of the Trinity. Because God is a Community, because God is personal, the beginning is personal. Our origins explain our personality, because we were created by a personal God. We were created by a personal God to have love and communication with Him, and with others. Because we have a personal beginning, we can have hope. We are not hopeless descendents of apes evolving out of primordial ooze. We are personal beings created by a personal God. Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 23 DSB 9-Sep-05
The beginning is miraculous. God created everything by the word of His power, ex nihilo out of nothing. Thus, our beginning is absolute. It derives from the absolute power of God. God didn t form us out of the cosmic dust that was already around. God created everything out of nothing. This beginning is universal. Everything that was made was made. Everything in heaven and earth. Who made you? God. What else did God make. All things. The universe and everything in it was made by God. However, God also created in stages. It is a developmental beginning. The original condition of the earth was uninhabitable. And God works in time and space to develop His creation, to lighten it, to form it, and to fill it, to make it into the perfect place, the ideal world, for Man. It is a planned beginning. God established His plan, His decree in eternity past, and He works in time to fulfill His decree. Everything happens according to plan. There are no hitches along the way. There are no gaps between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. There is no ruin and reconstruction going on. And that s because it is a Sovereign beginning. God is sovereign over His creation. Everything is under His control. His Spirit is in intimate contact with the creation. All is as it should be. But not all is as it will be. The creation is good but it s going to get better. And that s what we will be looking at next week. And we will see, that by the end of the Creation week, that it is a perfect beginning. But the final thought I want to leave you with is this: we need to worship our God, the Creator. We need to contemplate about the wisdom and power and glory and honor of our great God and Savior, who displays His mighty attributes in the Creation of All things. We re going to be doing that a lot in heaven. Rev. 4:11 Amen. You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created. Close in Prayer. Next week: Lesson 3 God and Creation (Gen. 1:3-25) Schaeffer pp. 34-39, 55-57 Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 24 DSB 9-Sep-05