Sunday, July 3, 2016

The Timeline of the Bible: Creation (Post 1)

Creation: Genesis Chapter 1
Photo courtesy: graciechicksblog.files.wordpress.com
The context of this first chapter of the Word we have been given to live by is ex nihilo, (Latin), which means: out of nothing. Nothing preceded this passage of Scripture in history, and God created everything (John 1:3). He knew that there would be sin in the world, He even created Satan so we would have a choice between Heaven and hell; He knows all things. There is NOTHING hidden from Him because He has created everything; nothing surprises Him.

In the beginning of the world, only God was present, and that would have been enough for Him to be sustained forever. God did not need us, because He is God and wants for nothing, but, out of His goodness, He created the Heavens and the earth. A place for us to start, and a place for us to reside after death.
·      God created the light first.
o   I really like the symbolism this provides, as God is light. He didn’t create the darkness, because darkness really is the absence of light, which God cannot be a part of because He is light.
o   Also, the first thing He created (even before separating the Heavens and Earth) was light, because He knew we would need it [His light, salvation] to guide us through this world.
·      God separated light and darkness to be day and night, Heaven, sea and dry land.
·      After all of this creation, He allowed the Earth to sprout vegetation.
·      Then, He knew that the vegetation (and animals and humans to come) would need both day and night to rest, grow and flourish, so He created the sun, moon and stars.
·      After the vegetation, He created sea creatures, birds and beasts of the earth.
o   God created living beings would need to sustain life on Earth before He created the animals and humans. But the most important thing that was created before humans is the first thing that was on the formless earth- the Spirit of God; it has been, is, and forever will be present (Genesis 1:2).
·      He created man in His own image and He blessed them. We had done nothing to deserve His blessing, yet as He formed us out of His own image, He blessed us.
o   We so often forget that we have been made from God’s perfect image. Within the first 6 days of the Earth, God thought of us and made us perfect.
-Society tells us that we must be different than we were created and hate who we are until we fit into the bubble that the world says we should be.
-This completely contradicts the way God created us. “He saw EVERYTHING He had made and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
·      Then, God knew the way He created humans that we would need something to do, so He gave us dominion over the whole earth.
o   He could have given us nothing to do, but He created us with the ability to work, and do work well.
What has always been crazy to me, is that God knew the number of hairs that are on my head today when He created the Earth (Luke 12:7; Jeremiah 1:5). We are so valuable to Him that He would have created this Earth for just one of us!
·      Luke 15:4 talks about the one lost sheep that God will search for. That is proof that, especially when we are far away from Him, we are precious to Him and worth searching for.
·      The next time you think you are worthless or have sinned one too many times, remember that God knew every sin you would commit before He created the Earth for you (Proverbs 5:21). Even with that knowledge, He created the Earth and created you for a purpose (Jeremiah 29:11).
My favorite part of studying Genesis is understanding that this is just the beginning! Our story of redemption is shown over and over throughout the different stories of the Bible, yet this shows the perfection that God created the world with and the Master of it all said that it was very good. At this point of the Earth’s story, God loved us enough to create us and everything we would need to be sustained while on this Earth. Everything that comes after this in Scripture is confirmation of His love for us.


Ultimately, the whole Bible is telling a story of love. God created the Earth, the we are shown how humanity sins over and over again, is redeemed, then crucifies the Savior of the world and are still welcomed to accept a free, loving gift of salvation to live eternally. The two major takeaways I have from this chapter are: we are perfectly created and need to live our lives showing the grace, love and mercy we have been shown.