God Creates

Introduction

What is the purpose of Genesis? If we understand the purpose then we will be better able to grasp what Moses is trying to do with this writing. Genesis means “beginnings.” The purpose of the book overall is to explain the beginnings of God’s people—the beginning of time (creation), the beginning of the human race, the beginning of languages, the beginning of Israel, the beginning of the promised land. This is a book about beginnings.

The language of Genesis is designed to explain things so that non-scientific minds can understand. When Moses wrote this, many of the things that we take for granted did not exist. A view of life existed which was based on magic, myth, and a pantheon of gods. Every culture had a plurality of gods. Moses is inspired to write Genesis with a view that there is only one true God and that one true God brings about these beginnings. God’s hand is in every beginning.

However, it would not be unusual for Moses to use language which would have been common among the people of that day. For instance if we wanted to describe to a teenager in today’s culture that something is good there are a variety of words that we could use—good, cool, phat, awesome—but go back 100 years and these words mean something different or in the case of “phat” do not exist.

Genesis begins with a statement of truth: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This statement serves as the basis for all that follows. Moses’ point is not to argue the particulars as much as he is stating the truth about creation. One God created. Not a group of gods. The rest of the chapter outlines how God created. Again the focus is not on particulars as much as it is designed to reveal God’s creative powers over six aspects of creation. These six parts constitute the whole. In other words, nothing escaped God’s careful attention to creating. The Hebrew in verse 1 actually reads “In the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and earth…God said let there be light.”

Wouldn’t you have liked to have been there? When God created what a sight it must have been. For the next five minutes or so, allow your imagination to see images which remind us of God’s creative ability.

Application

It doesn’t take long after our birth to realize that there is more than just us. And at some point in childhood we look up into the stars at night and wonder where they came from. We wonder how they appeared. And there are only two possibilities—naturally or supernaturally. If you were walking in a meadow and came upon a tree stump with a working watch sitting on it, what questions might you ask or what thoughts might you have? Would you think that the watch just naturally appeared there? We look for explanations of phenomena. We do not accept very well “that’s just the way that it is” answers. Did earth just happen? Did the stars just appear? We begin to reason. Either the earth was created by someone or something that existed prior to it and had power and intelligence to bring it into existence or it exists quite by chance, is somehow eternal in nature, and has produced its present state of order by virtue of natural law.

Genesis begins with the first statement “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The second view is purported to be true from Carl Sagan in his book Cosmos: “The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” The two views can be stated succinctly. Either a personal, loving God created or out of nothingness came matter and through infinite possibilities produced earth. Which is more reasonable? The first assumes that a creator caused and designed our world. The second view assumes a series of miraculous coincidences. Neither view can be proven. But which one seems more reasonable?

There is one overriding theme to Genesis 1—the power of God. We live in a scientific world, but Genesis was not written to contend with science. While science accepts only that which can be seen and tested, Genesis begins with a statement of faith and assurance: “In the beginning, God created…” Only God existed in the beginning. Only God could create. Only God was there to testify about the beginning of our world and the beginning of time. Science theorizes about how matter came into being. Science tries to explain the origin of life but overlooks and denies the existence of something which could create matter. Science says that earth appeared through a series of fortuitous coincidences. No intent; no design; random acts which brought our world into existence. Which one is reasonable?

Is it really hard to believe in God? Or does the real difficulty lie in not believing? When thoughtful people look at the nature of our cosmos, they are examining the fingerprints that God has left on his creation. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Is it really possible to look up into a clear nighttime sky and see the vastness of our universe and galaxy upon galaxy and believe it was random? Or do we look into the nighttime sky and see the hand of God?

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