Bible Basics 101 – Seven Days of Order and Function: Genesis 1 - Part 2

Bible Basics 101 – Seven Days of Order and Function

What is the story of creation all about? Is it a “scientific” account of how God created the world? Yes, we can believe this, and many people do, which is fine. But in the first chapter of the Bible I see something far greater than a technical scientific manual, I see God’s road map for how his creation is to function and operate, according to his plan, not ours. I want to be clear, yes God made the world, but with the Bible we get the more important story of why God made it, not so much of the how. Let’s take a walk together along the road of creation and see what we can find and learn.

Day One: “And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” (Gen 1:3-5)

With Day One God brings forth light into the darkness of chaos. He then gives purpose and function to time by naming the day and the night. This shows us from the start that God desires the world to be ordered and move upon a set time, with seasons and years. Not a world upside down but one controlled and ordered.

Day Two: “And God said, “Let there be a firmament (canopy) in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven (sky). And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.” (Gen 1:6-8)

God then takes the water and puts it into its proper place. With some water in the sky that would come down in rain and other water that covered the earth to give further life. Water as with time must work in a certain way within God’s creation.

Day Three: “And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.” (Gen 1:9-13)

By the Third Day, we start to see the picture of the world that we recognize. Sea and land are now in their proper place. God then gives the land a function by bringing forth vegetation from the ground. What was lifeless dirt in now full of life and this causes God to call this “good”. 

Day Four: “And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.” (Gen 1:14-19)

Now things start to get interesting of us. God creates the two great lights. The sun to “rule the day” and the moon to “rule the night”. By doing this God gives power to the sun and moon to be active parts of his creation, in a way he shares his own rule over the world. Light and darkness are now longer in “chaos” but they have rulers to maintain order. The sun can, as the land did, become fruitful and give life. God looks upon this ordering that he gives and again calls it “good”.

Day Five: “And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens.”  So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.” (Gen 1:20-23)

What is God to do with the sky and sea that he has created? He is going to fill them with life. Taking these parts of creation, turning something useless and giving them the great purpose of bearing life. God then wants his new creatures to fill the sea and sky, to show forth the goodness of creation.

Day Six: “And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.  And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.” (Gen 1:24-31)

This at last brings us to the very full Day Six. There is so much here that we could talk about, but right now I just want to skim the surface, then later on, in additional posts, I will draw out much more detail from this passage. God as he did with the sky and water, creates animals to fill the land that he has made. Again, adding purpose to the earth, making it a dwelling place for new life to burst forth. God then faces a bit of a problem, we might say, he is faced with the issue of who to put in charge of this world that he has made. God has made this “good” creation, but how is God going to be a part of this world and share his rule with a special creature, unlike the others that he has made? This leads God to create his “Image Bearing” creature Man. The one who is given “dominion” over this beautiful and fruitful world. Man becomes God’s own agent, his coworker or partner, to take care for and fill this new land. This “dominion” is not Man’s tyranny over the world, but a God given responsibility that everyone of God’s image bearing people share in, one of love and partnership. Notice what happens, when everything that God has made is given its proper function and the world is ordered the way that God desires it to be, with Man himself at the helm, then God can say that his world is, “very Good”.

Day Seven: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.” (Gen 2:1-3)

With the Seventh Day God finishes his great plan of creation. What if he had just stopped there? What if he had never “blessed” and consecrated the Seventh Day? How would our relationship with God be different? If God would not have done this, then he would be the “master” and us the “slaves” in the worst possible understanding of those words. No sharing of partnership but only working for the one master. But God gave us the great day of rest, to share in the fruits of the world, not to be tied to work and gain for profit all the time. Though in our time many people forget this important truth. It is a day for Man to refresh himself and offer worship to God as Life giver and Creator, not out of fear, but because this is how God made us. It is through our worship that we show forth that we are his coworkers and not slaves in creation, worship then becomes a two-way street; we offer creation back to God, thereby revealing the God whom we serve and who’s “image” we have been created in. From the very beginning we learn that proper ordered worship must be the cornerstone and center of our lives in communion with God and one another.

Ok, this should give us something to build upon and move forward with. Forming the beginning of the God given plan to fix our “squeaky cars” and put our lives back on track with God and others. Not just getting us from A to B, but growing and prospering, transforming us in mind, body, and soul, to run as smoothly as we were created. In the next post, we will look at the rest of Chapter Two in Genesis and learn more about our relationships, those with God and our fellow human beings.

Bible Basics 101 – Chaos and the Squeaky Car - Part 1

Bible Basics 101 – Chaos and the Squeaky Car

One reason for writing this blog is I think many people need a bit of “Bible Basics” in their lives. If we as God’s people are going to act in his world, then we must know what he wishes us to do. We can only understand this with a basic grasp of the Biblical Story. The great questions of life: why did God make me? What does he desire from me? What does the story of creation have to do with me? Why does it seem that half of the time or more, my life is a mess no matter what I do? All of these and many more questions are answered in just the first three Chapters of the Bible, with Genesis.

Why should we start there? Why not just jump right to the Gospels or the Letters of Paul? A short answer is the New Testament, its thoughts and teachings, build upon what is found in the Old Testament. Meaning that short words like “salvation” and many others, have a very long history and to realize their full meaning, we need a firm foundation, a blue print, of what those words mean for us today. Not just from our modern limited view, but the full scope in the story of the Bible. We have to know why God has “saved” his people, what does he want us to do with this “salvation” found through Jesus Christ? I am convinced that God has laid out for us, with the two Stories of Creation, his own basic desires and goals he has for us, and sadly many times our own are far away from his. This causes our view of what life should look like to be vastly different and nothing resembling what the Bible reveals to us.

An image may help to illustrate the point I am trying to make. Let’s say you have a mechanic and the only cars that he has been around and knows about are cars that the brakes squeak, the engine smokes, they burn lots of oil, and every time you stop, there is a big backfire. Now he thinks this is the description of a proper running car and he also thinks your car should run like this one. Would any of us go to this mechanic? Of course not. We would go to someone who knows how a car is meant to run and drive. Smooth as silk, not spitting and spurting all the way back home. That bad car will get you from A to B, but that is about all, and half the time you would be broken down beside the road. This is the problem with many of us and how we are living our lives. We are spitting and spurting, and since we do not know how God intended us to act and for what purpose he made us, we never change. Then to go along with this picture, the people many of us live around or choose to seek advice from, are squeaking as much as we are.

This is why the account of Creation, found in Genesis can help us. Here God lays out his plan for the world and each of us. He tells us why he made us, what purpose he has for us, and what he wants us to do. The manual to a fully function human life is found there. We just have to dig down a bit and open our eyes to see the full display of what God is trying to teach each of us.

Chapter One begins with a picture of our “squeaky car”, God has yet to give any purpose or function to what exists. We read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” (Gen 1:1-2) This is a description of chaos; the water has no purpose and there is just darkness. A kind of “no man’s land” we might say. But the “Spirit of God” is there upon the waters, telling us that the chaos is about to change. God himself is about to go to work in his world, to turn this broken-down Pinto, into a purring Rolls Royce.

Over the next several posts, it is my plan to go through the Days of Creation and see how this “manual or guide” works for us. Then we can move to the story of Adam and Eve, building upon Chapter One, to fully understand our “vocation or calling” as God’s image bearing people.

Emmanuel - God is With Us

Emmanuel – God is With Us

God gave the greatest gift he could give to his creation just over 2,000 years ago. The gift of his only begotten Son. As we read is Matthews’s Gospel, the angel of the Lord, tells Joseph in a dream, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt 1:20-21) Matthew then reminds us all that this was God’s promise to his people from long ago, “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.” (which means, God with us).” (Matt 1:22-23)

How often do we really think about what these powerful words mean for us, “God with us”? Is this just a nice story we happen to read around Christmas time, or does God mean what he says to his faithful people in Matthew’s Gospel? Do we live out our faith in a way that reflects this great truth of Christianity, the truth of God’s own personal presence with his people?  To truly answer these important questions, we have to look back at the Old Testament, and see how God was present with the people of Israel.

In the Book of Exodus, after God through Moses, leads Israel out of Egypt, he guides them through the desert towards the Promised Land. He does this for forty years in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. As we read in Exodus “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.” (Ex 13:21-22) God himself is guiding his people to the land he has chosen for them, not leading them astray, but down the proper path that they must follow. Israel began to call this a “cloud of glory” because God was present in it. We also see this same presence of God with his people when Moses makes the Tabernacle, the great tent of meeting that Israel would carry with her on this long journey. “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” (Ex 40:34)

The Old Testament describes a presence of God that the people could see and in some ways put their hands and minds around. For them there really was no question that God the Lord was with them. And they knew full well, when they as a people fell away from God’s plan, because the “Glory Could” was taken away. How about us living today? We have no cloud to guide us in our lives, but God has given us a much better gift, the presence of his Son with us, revealed through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sadly, many people do not view God’s presence in this way. They see God as a far-off deity, not really concerned about this world, but one, who from time to time, might get involved in his creation. Usually when thought in this way, God simply sends some people to heaven and other people to hell. Meaning he is “watching” you from way up in the sky, to reward you if you are good and punish you if you are bad. I am amazed by how many people see the God of Christianity in this way. Believing that the God who created the world is simply an “absentee landlord” who is letting his creation fall apart and really seems not to care. But this is not the God who guided the people of Israel and he is not the God who is manifest through his Son Jesus Christ.    

So then how are we to truly understand the God whom we serve? How do we contrast this view of God, with “Emmanuel” – the God who is with us? The beginning of John’s Gospel is a good place to begin if we are to answer this question. There John writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father.” (John 1:14) He is telling us all that Jesus came into the world to be with his people, he “pitched his tent among us”, is what John literally means here. Jesus takes on our flesh, therefor we can now see the “glory” of God, in the face of a human being. With this “glory” revealed through Jesus, we see the fullness of what the old “glory cloud” was pointing to, was foreshadowing, that God truly is taking up residence with his people, not far away, but as one of them. That old “tent of meeting” where Israel would offer worship and sacrifice, is now a person. Meaning that in and trough Jesus, we serve the living and true God of creation. Our Lord himself makes this same point at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, where he says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Jesus is assuring his sent forth disciples and each one of us, that he is with us always, therefor do not be afraid, but get own with the vocation of being my people for the world. He is telling us, I am not very far away, yes, I am right here with you! Paul equally adds to this picture that God is not “absentee” in Romans, “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (Romans 10:8), he is reminding us that Jesus, through his powerful Spirit, is there with us, so we can fully be God’s people, from our very hearts. Not just by words or thoughts, but through our actions.

There is much more that I could say on this subject and will have more to say in the future. But, to summarize, let us not “short change” the great gift that God gave the world with the birth of his Son. He did not give this gift, to take it back again, no, he gave us this gift, to be with us. To lead and guide us from our hearts and minds, to be his people, for his world. We are called to reflect this presence of “God with us” to all those that we meet daily. Living our lives in a way that says, yes Jesus, you really have come into the world, and are still present here, through your family, the Church.

Now how we do this in action is going to be the focus of some of my upcoming post. Merry Christmas everyone!