God With Us - Part 1
God desires to be with us. This is nothing something new that began with Jesus. God has desired to be with us from the very beginning and the creation account makes this very clear.
In the beginning
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
- Genesis 1:1 NKJV
The creation account is the preamble to the entire Bible, announcing that God, the covenant Deliverer of His people, is the Creator of all that exists. The opening verse is the theological presupposition of true biblical religion: the Lord of covenant and the God of creation are one and the same.
God is depicted as an autonomous Master who has by His uncontested word commanded all things into existence and ordered their design and purpose. Creation by word stands in stark contrast to Mesopotamian cosmogony (origin of the universe). In the mythopoetic stories of the ancient Near East, the ordered universe owed its existence to a cosmogonic struggle whereby the “cosmos” resulted from the victorious clash of a hero deity overcoming a monster who restrains order. The gods of creation were themselves the product of the generative primeval material. The cosmogonic stories told little about creation itself but focused on the origins of the gods. The gods of creation were depicted primarily as re-ordering unruly primeval matter, not creating matter. Moreover, cosmogonic myths were sociological in function and goal, presenting a divine, cosmic explanation or pattern for the established social system. (K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 116-117.) Here is a brief and tongue-in-cheek account of some creation stories that give you a general idea of how some of these accounts go.
Heaven and Earth
In Genesis 1:1 the mention of heaven and earth is a reference to all there is—the universe. Genesis 1:1 declares the great and important truth that all things had a beginning; that nothing throughout the wide extent of nature existed from eternity, originated by chance, or from the skill of any inferior agent; but that the whole universe was produced by the creative power of God (Ac 17:24; Ro 11:36). After this preface, the narrative is confined to the earth. (Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 17.)
Creation History?
There are many who want to downplay the creation account of Genesis and argue that it is not meant to be taken literally or as history, but rather it is a beautiful poem. It is a beautiful poem, a song of creation if you will. However, I take it also to be an accurate account of creation. This account is not concerned with explaining the biology or physics of creation but rather with the character and power of the Creator. Genesis 1 and 2 are not concerned with defending creation against evolution, rather it is concerned with revealing what the God of the Bible is like.
I hold on to this interpretation because the rest of the Bible seems to treat the creation account in Genesis as historical.
In Matthew 19:4-6, when Jesus is questioned about divorce, He references the creation account in His defense of the sacredness of marriage. Once you throw out the creation account what do you base marriage on? If Jesus treats the creation account and Adam and Eve as history why should I interpret it symbolically?
Luke 3 traces the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam (v.38). Indicating that Luke and his audience believe that Adam existed and therefore that the creation account is understood as a historical event.
In Romans 5 Paul explains how sin entered the world through one man, Adam (vv12-15). If we throw out the creation account and with it the story of Adam and Eve then where did sin and death originate? See also Romans 8 where Paul talks about all of creation suffering because of sin (vv.20-23). If we are to remove creation and the fall of humanity, it becomes impossible to explain the gospel as salvation in Jesus from the death that came as a result of sin. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”
-1 Corinthians 15:22.
What does the creation account teach me?
The first thing that comes to my mind when I read the creation account is that I worship the creator God. Revelation 14:6-13 records three angelic messages that are to go to the whole world before the second coming of Jesus. The first angelic message is all about the everlasting gospel and worship of the right God, the creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water (Revelation 14:7). If I make the creation account symbolic then how do I know who to worship? When do away with the creation week I do away with the foundation of the entire Bible and suddenly I’m not even sure who I should worship? Christianity becomes another philosophy, another religion just telling people to be nice.
Maybe you are okay with that. Maybe what you want is a community that encourages you to be nice, if that is the case many world religions would work just fine. What makes the Bible unique is that it is the story of God creating us and longing to be with us. The Bible tells us of a perfectly powerful God and perfectly loving God who longs to spend time with us, who wants to reveal Himself to us and bless us and save us and provide for all of our needs.
God with Us
As I write this it is December. Here in the Boise area, there are Christmas decorations going up all around me. Everywhere I look there are lights and decorations and a festive spirit permeates all that we do. What are we celebrating? Not everyone believes in Jesus, but at the core of this celebration is the notion that God came to be born as one of us. the Christmas season is a celebration of God’s great love for us.
I will cover the birth of Jesus in my second post in this series. But in this one, I want to focus on how the creation account is the first revelation we have in the Bible of God’s desire to be with us and to provide for all our needs.
I encourage you to read Genesis 1 in its entirety on your own but for the sake of brevity, I’ll focus on Genesis 1:26-31
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.
- Genesis 1:26-31NKJV
In these verses, we learn that humans, men, and women, were created in the image of God. A man does not reflect the image of God more than a woman but rather both together give us a better understanding of who God is. The value and dignity of human life above that of anything else God created on the earth are established.
Also, God makes clear that we humans have a responsibility to care for the planet, plants, and animals, they are under our care and responsibility.
God created us in a perfect world. Everything we could possibly need exists and so much more. God does not create an okay world that will eventually evolve and get better. God does not create life but makes it so that it has to struggle to survive in order to evolve. God creates perfect life. The world is perfect, the plants the fish the birds the mammals, and the first humans are all perfect.
God saw everything that He had made and it was very good!
God creates a perfect world. God’s creation reveals His character. God is good, God is a provider, and God wants us to have the very best so He places us in a perfect world. God created a good, perfect, physical world. The physical world is not bad or evil but is part of God’s original plan. God meant for us to enjoy the food He created and our physical existence in a physical world where we can run and build and hug and play and eat and explore and learn.
The seventh day.
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.
- Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV
The seventh day is the counterpoint to the works of creation. God ceases to create but He is still active. God finished, rested, blessed, and sanctified the seventh day. The spiritual lessons of the seventh day are embedded in its historical reality. The seventh day not only concludes the creation story but is also the dawn of human history. The Sabbath is a spiritual entity, but one that is meant to be experienced in the historical reality of human time.
According to Isaiah 40:28, God never gets tired.
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
- Isaiah 40:28 NKJV
God rests not because He is tired but because He meets us, humans, on our own turf. His divine rest becomes our rest. God shares His rest with us. After all, we had done nothing to deserve rest. Humans had done no work during the creation week. God worked for us while we were still absent. The rest we receive and are invited to experience with God is an underserved gift, or pure grace. God invites us to enter into His rest. (Matthew 11:28; Hebrews 3:18; 4:1-11) because our value is not related to our productivity. God values us because He created us, simply because we exist. We do not have to earn our rest, we do not have to earn His love. He loves us and wants to spend time with us.
The Sabbath rest is an invitation to pause, to switch gears, to rest in the care and providence of a loving, all-powerful God. God reminds us each week that He is our provider, He is our creator, and He values relationships more than the works of our hands. What God really wants is your heart, your affection, and your time. He wants a relationship with you, not your works. God has no need that we can supply, but He loves us and wants to spend with us. Every week, on the seventh day He invites us to remember all that He does for us and to take a break and enjoy a rest with Him.
When Israel comes out of Egypt, where they had been slaves God reminds them that He has given them “the Sabbath of the Lord” (Exodus 20:10; 16:25,29). In Exodus 20 when God writes the 10 commandments with His finger in tablets of stone God is not establishing the seventh day Sabbath, He is reminding His children that they are free and they can rest because of the word He did and continues to do for them.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
- Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV
The Sabbath was meant for everyone, including animals. the Sabbath rest on the seventh day of the week is a reminder and a celebration that we serve a mighty creator God who values us and wants to be with us. Every week, on the seventh day, God reminds us that our value is based on what He does for us, and not on what we do for Him. Every week we are reminded that we can stop and rest because God is our provider.
When God created us, humans, the very first full day we experienced, God took a day off to spend with us. God taught us from the very beginning that relationships are more important than work, and being is of greater value than doing. God loves us because of who we are not because of what we do.
When we live our lives we should live them from a place of abundance. God loves us so we can afford to love others. God provides for our needs so we can afford to help others. God invites us to stop, and when we rest we don’t lose our identity, we do not become less valuable, rather we are reminded of the source of our value, God’s great love for us.
As you go through life, and life gets busy, and you feel like you can’t keep up, you might feel like a failure. remember that God invited you to rest in Him. On the seventh day, all of creation gets to rest and be reminded that we serve a mighty and loving God, and God who wants to be with us. We are free because God has set us free. Do not allow your work, studies, or ambitions to take away your freedom.
God sets you free and invites you to rest with Him. He is your Savior, He is your Provider, will you accept His invitation to rest and to invest in a relationship with Him?
If you enjoy beautiful cinematography and music I recommend you watch this video on creation.
If you ever wondered about the creation account found in Genesis one and the one found in Genesis two this video is very helpful.
