The Most Incredible Story
The beginning of the story of the Bible is incredible. Genesis 1 may be the most incredible selection of writing ever. You know what’s pretty crazy? The ancient Hebrews didn’t allow anyone under the age of 30 to teach or talk about Genesis 1 to other people. You weren’t even allowed to talk about until you turned 30! You just had to listen and learn. Because they knew that the truths in this chapter, the way our story starts, is so deep and complex and shapes how we view everything else, they believed you needed to spend a few decades learning about it before you could start to speak about it.
We Meet Our God
In the creation story, we learn that there is only one God. There aren’t multiple gods in Genesis 1 who come together to create the earth. There were many stories in ancient times of multiple gods fighting to create the earth, or of gods reproducing to make everything. But our story begins with one God. And we learn that He actually created. He didn’t sit back and watch it happen. He was active in creation. This was His plan, His intent. We also learn that He is incredibly complex. In the first verse of the Bible we see the first indication of the Trinity. The word for “God” is plural, and the word for “create” is singular. This would have been an incredible reality to the original audience. And it is an incredible introduction to the God of the universe. If the most famous opening line in literature is Herman Melville’s “Call me Ishmael,” then the beginning of our story blows that away with, “Call Me the Triune God, Creator of everything!”
We Learn About the Universe
Amazingly, the universe gets very little time in the creation story. “God created the heavens” is just about all we get here. But we could talk about the heavens forever with all the intricacies and uniqueness that exists outside of our atmosphere. When we learn of the 200 billion stars in our galaxy, and how we can see billions of galaxies with our most powerful telescopes, we realize that we have a microscopic amount of information about what all God created. But what we can see, even without telescopes, is spectacular enough to praise our Creator God: “To whom then will you compare me […] Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.” Isaiah 40.
We Learn About the Earth
We see that the earth was without form and void in Genesis 1:2. Before God started forming and shaping the earth, it was useless, dark, empty, and purposeless. And we see that God takes that chaotic mess of stuff and starts to form it and shape it into something that is good and useful and has a purpose. God makes something new and beautiful, and He calls it good. Incredibly, the story of our beginning as a creation also shows us what it looks like to become a child of God. Without God, our lives are chaotic, without purpose, dark and empty. But when God recreates our lives because of Jesus, He brings order and beauty out of chaos. He can bring life and purpose out of emptiness and meaninglessness with just a word. He’s been doing it since the beginning.
Harbor Church West Oahu is in the middle of a sermon series called “The Story.” Next week we are looking at the creation of Man. Come and hear about your place in the story!