1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,360 I would encourage you to turn to Genesis chapter 1. 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:09,600 It is literally found on page one if you're using one of our 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:11,280 Bibles. If you're using a different 4 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,000 Bible, I don't know, it's probably somewhere in the area 5 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:15,600 of 1. But you never know how they 6 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:21,880 number Bibles these days. So 21st century Christians 7 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:26,720 neglect to consider the context in which Scripture was written. 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,680 Scripture wasn't written in a vacuum. 9 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:36,120 Genesis was written well before recorded history began, actually 10 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:40,760 nearly 2000 years after the beginning of recorded history in 11 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,480 Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization. 12 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:48,320 Now, when we neglect to remember the culture in which the word 13 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,960 was written, we start to impose our own ideas onto the text 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,840 rather than allowing the text to communicate to us. 15 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:00,520 But Frank Turek and Norman Geisler, in their book I Don't 16 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,239 Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, set forth the notion 17 00:01:04,239 --> 00:01:07,960 that the Bible isn't trying to answer questions of math and 18 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:10,360 science. It doesn't aim to answer 19 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:12,960 technical or mathematical descriptions of natural 20 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:16,440 phenomena. Scripture is more concerned with 21 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:21,000 life's bigger questions of origins, purposes, morality, and 22 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:28,280 destiny. So would you please stand this 23 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:33,880 morning as we read from Genesis 1 verses one through 13. 24 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:42,200 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 25 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:48,960 The earth was was over the and the Spirit of God was hovering 26 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:53,000 over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be 27 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,280 lights and lights. And God saw that the light was 28 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,760 good. And God separated the light from 29 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,040 the darkness. God called the lights day and 30 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,600 the darkness he called nights. And there was evening and there 31 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,440 was morning the first day. And God said, let there be an 32 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,840 expense in the midst of the waters and let it separate the 33 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,720 waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and 34 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,800 separated the waters that were under the expanse from the water 35 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,080 or above the expanse. And it was so. 36 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:21,840 And God called the expense heaven. 37 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:24,760 There was evening, and there was morning the second day. 38 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,320 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered 39 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,200 together into one place, and let the dry land appear. 40 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,800 And it was so. God called the dry land earth. 41 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,480 And the waters that were gathered together he called 42 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,760 seas. And God saw that it was good. 43 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,120 And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation yielding seed 44 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,040 and fruit trees bearing fruit, and which is their seed, and 45 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:50,920 each according to its kind on the earth. 46 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:57,680 And it was so the earth brought forth according to their own 47 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,080 kinds and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each 48 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,200 according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 49 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,440 And there was evening, and there was morning the third day you 50 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:13,960 may be seated. Now, if you do the math, you see 51 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,360 that we're doing 13 verses this morning and you start counting 52 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,720 chapters in Genesis. You might not like what how that 53 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,240 looks. We're not going to be in this 54 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,960 for two years, but we will be in it for a while. 55 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,840 Last week I mentioned being confronted by my humanities 56 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,080 teacher regarding the Epic of Gilgamesh. 57 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,080 This encounter had left me dumbfounded because I was 58 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,880 completely ignorant of the reality and context in which 59 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,600 Genesis was written. I couldn't fathom that other 60 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:50,080 people had flood stories. I'd never heard that before. 61 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:55,080 In the years since then, I've come to realize that many, dare 62 00:03:55,080 --> 00:04:01,240 I say most, peoples of the world have flood stories as part of 63 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,400 their origins. Many ancient Near Eastern 64 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,680 people's stories have accounts with some similar ideas to 65 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,120 Genesis. However, that is not to say that 66 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,360 Genesis is stealing from the Babylonians or their other 67 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:21,360 neighbors. Rather, in Genesis Moses is 68 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:25,680 taking a pre-existing genre that that of the origin stories and 69 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:29,720 he's writing of how creation really came to be. 70 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:33,320 It's sort of a rebuttal to the creation mythologies that 71 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:35,600 existed in the ancient Near East. 72 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:41,600 And it all starts with the first few words and verses one and 73 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,040 two. In the beginning, God created 74 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:45,600 the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and 75 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,000 void and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit 76 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,600 of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 77 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:59,120 So here we are at the beginning. This is the foundation of 78 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,720 creation. This is seemingly before even 79 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:06,400 time has begun. There's the earth. 80 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,080 No one knows how long the earth has has been in this state. 81 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:16,840 The text actually doesn't tell us, but it's empty and wild in 82 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:19,720 the Hebrew indicates that it's chaotic. 83 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,560 The ancient Babylonians and Egyptians believe that 84 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,400 everything was in a chaotic water state before the ordering 85 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,240 of the universe. The act of creation is about 86 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:38,000 bringing order to the chaos, to what God has already put in 87 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,280 place. And we look at this version of 88 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:45,160 of the earth, it doesn't resemble what we think of today, 89 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,800 right? There's no form to it. 90 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,040 It's empty, it's dark, and there's a deep abyss. 91 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,160 But God's spirit is hovering over the water. 92 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,760 The earth has already been formed, but the spirit is 93 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,200 standing by. He's on call to to finish this 94 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,720 work. Now, who was there at the 95 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,200 beginning when it says that God created the heavens and the 96 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,200 earth? What exactly does that mean? 97 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:18,360 First of all, the word Moses used for God is elohim, which to 98 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,040 be honest, is a fairly complicated word, but we're not 99 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,360 going to go into all that this morning. 100 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:30,640 At its most basic form, Elohim means that means God, and it's 101 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,280 plural. There's been thousands of years 102 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:37,040 of debate over this, but the fact that Elohim is a plural 103 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,120 word doesn't seem accidental to me. 104 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:49,040 As God is a plurality, 3 persons in one Godhead, we naturally 105 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,240 understand verse one to refer to the Father. 106 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:56,800 Then in verse 2, we're told that the ruach of God, the the breath 107 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,800 of God, the Spirit of God was over the face of the deep. 108 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:05,600 Psalm one O 430 corroborates interpreting this breath to be 109 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:11,760 the actual Holy Spirit. Psalm one O 430 reads when you 110 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:16,000 send forth your spirit, they that is God's various creations, 111 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:21,720 they are created and you renew the face of the ground. 112 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:27,600 So there and then there are three passages that people hold 113 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:31,240 up as excelling all others in terms of Christology. 114 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,240 That is the study and learning about Jesus Christ. 115 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:40,680 Those passages are John 1, Colossians 1 and Philippians 2. 116 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,720 Well here we see that Jesus is mentioned in two of those 3 117 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:51,520 passages as being part of the creative creating process. 118 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,600 John One says all things were made through him, and without 119 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,640 Him was not anything made that was made. 120 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:04,240 The Colossians 116 reads For by him all things were created in 121 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,800 heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or 122 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,640 dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were 123 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:16,440 created through him and for Him. So these two verses plainly tell 124 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,000 us that Jesus created all things. 125 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:23,480 And then Paul expands on the statement to say it wasn't just 126 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,880 the physical world, the things that you can see that Jesus 127 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:31,600 created, but it was also the spiritual world that Jesus 128 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,440 created. He created that which is in the 129 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:40,240 invisible realm as well. So Jesus was there at the very 130 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:46,040 beginning, complicit and involved in creating. 131 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,880 I think it's important to say that even the word creation 132 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,920 denotes intentionality. This isn't randomness, things 133 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,320 magically and without intention popping into place. 134 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,960 The word Bara speaks to the creative act. 135 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:10,960 It's like an artist creating something and it denotes 136 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,200 creating out of nothing. Creation, ex. 137 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,640 Niolo. When this word is used, it's 138 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:21,440 always used to speak of God's activity. 139 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:26,280 When God acts, he acts with intention. 140 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:30,280 And when we talk about the creation of the world and the 141 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:34,520 cosmos coming into existence, a system of thoughts has has 142 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:38,760 arisen in the sciences. Intelligent design. 143 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:43,400 Now, most people who hold to intelligent design believe in 144 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,480 God, but there are some who hold to intelligent design but don't 145 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,000 believe in God. How that is, I don't truly know. 146 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:54,720 But intelligent design sets forth the notion that this world 147 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,600 was not brought into into existence simply by chance, but 148 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:03,520 someone or something with intelligence intentionally 149 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:09,960 created it and designed it. You look at the world and it 150 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:14,760 doesn't look random, but it looks intentional. 151 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:19,720 In the 4th century BC, Aristotle set forth the notion of the 152 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,680 unmoved mover. The unmoved mover is the one who 153 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:28,600 who brings it all into being, the force that causes all things 154 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:33,120 to move to function as intended. And the unmoved mover is not 155 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:39,560 himself moved or changed. The unmoved mover is the 156 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:43,640 necessary first cause of all that is in the world. 157 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:47,880 And we understand who the unmoved mover is. 158 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:49,560 Of course. It's God. 159 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,120 He's the one who caused and brought it all into being 160 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,760 because He was there before it all began. 161 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:02,600 So God had set the foundation for the creation. 162 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:05,840 The earth was ready to be formed. 163 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:09,520 So then, so then God frames creation. 164 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:15,600 Now, as with anything you do, you need a structure to to build 165 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,760 upon. There must be a foundation, 166 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,920 something on which everything else is dependent. 167 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:25,440 So here on day one, we see the very beginnings of the 168 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:30,000 framework, and on day one God created light. 169 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,360 I know everybody's like we learned this in Sunday school, 170 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:41,320 but there's so much stuff here. God said, let there be light and 171 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:43,280 there was light. And God saw that the light was 172 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,960 good and God separated the light from the darkness. 173 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,960 God called the light day and the darkness He called night. 174 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,840 And there was evening and there was morning the first day. 175 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:59,160 Now remember the previous verse, Darkness was over the face of 176 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:04,000 the deep. There's there's no light at this 177 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,880 point in time. Everything was dark, but God 178 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:12,040 spoke into the darkness and he said let there be light. 179 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,640 At his very word the light came to be and I'd venture to say it 180 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:20,440 was probably God's glory as the sun wasn't even created until 181 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:26,840 the 4th day. Now if you're like me, you 182 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:31,000 learned in I think it was high school, unless it was in that 183 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,800 same humanities class that the Egyptians worshipped the sun God 184 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:39,920 RA or Ray, whichever pronunciation. 185 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:45,760 As Yahweh creates lights, he's setting himself up as the object 186 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,760 of worship. The ancients worship celestial 187 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:51,600 objects, but here Moses is showing that there's no 188 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,440 autonomous sun or moon that's worthy of worship. 189 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:01,400 God's sovereignty over creation should drive people to worship 190 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:06,480 Him instead of the objects of creation. 191 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,360 This is only appropriate when we consider what John writes in 192 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:14,800 Revelation 22 verses 3 through 5. 193 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,920 Time as we know it has come to an end and and the vision John 194 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:24,720 has is this. No longer will there be anything 195 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:27,920 accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it. 196 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:30,880 This is where we're in the new heavens, the new earth. 197 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:32,440 And his servants will worship Him. 198 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,840 They will see his face and His name will be on their foreheads, 199 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:42,440 and night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp 200 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,800 or sun, for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign 201 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:53,800 forever and ever. So here God is the source of 202 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:57,760 light in the new heavens. God is the source of light and, 203 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:02,640 and this seems to be what's happening here on day one. 204 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:08,640 God is the source of light and, and God saw this and he said 205 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:13,720 that it was good. Now as God separates the light 206 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:19,000 from the dark, He gives them names or or labels, day and 207 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,480 night. When we label something or give 208 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,080 it a name, it helps to take away its power over us. 209 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,840 The dark is no longer seen as a threat, but now it has a name, 210 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:35,360 night. And with the night comes the 211 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,800 arrival of the first day of all time. 212 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:46,000 The Jewish day, you will recall, begins as sundown. 213 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:52,160 Hence, Moses writes, there was evening and there was morning 214 00:14:52,680 --> 00:15:00,760 the first day. But now we get to a sticky part. 215 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:08,200 What's a day? Is it 24 hours? 216 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:10,680 That's our understanding of it, right? 217 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,720 Or is the text speaking metaphorically of an epoch of 218 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:20,120 time, a long period of time for each day? 219 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:26,560 Well, people have been discussing this for a long time, 220 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,920 and there are two basic thoughts on on what a day is. 221 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:37,080 First of all, not surprisingly, there's the literal 24 hour day. 222 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,000 This is what we would call the the plain reading of the text 223 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,520 over and over again throughout the creation process. 224 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,880 We see there was evening and there was morning, and then an 225 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,400 ordinal number is assigned to that day, first, second, third, 226 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:54,880 and so on. And the belief here is that when 227 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,240 scripture says the first day, it means it was literally the very 228 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:02,440 first time that the earth spun around completely around its 229 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:07,360 axis. And then by the end of the week 230 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,840 you would naturally have the Earth having completed 7 full 231 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:19,160 rotations around its NS axis. Obviously if one holds this 232 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,320 viewpoint, then there are other beliefs that necessarily go 233 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:26,560 along with a literal 24 hour view, such as the age of the 234 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:29,240 earth. The literal approach posits that 235 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:33,800 the earth is approximately 6 to 10,000 years old and this 236 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:37,320 position is known as Young Earth Creationism. 237 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:43,960 Today's biggest advocate for this position is Ken Ham and his 238 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:48,560 organization Answers in Genesis. If you have been to the Creation 239 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:54,240 Museum or to the Ark, you are no doubt familiar with Ken Ham and 240 00:16:54,240 --> 00:17:01,560 his work. The second idea in which we call 241 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:09,280 a theory is the Day Age Theory, the day age theory. 242 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:15,000 Now, the day age interpretation posits that God created over a 243 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,880 much longer period of time than than six days, and within this 244 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,680 framework, each day is interpreted to be an epoch of 245 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,800 time. At a basic level, there's an 246 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:29,400 attempt to reconcile what the observer views in the world of 247 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:33,960 science with what they read on the pages of Scripture, although 248 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:39,000 of course, scientists will lie on both ends of the spectrum. 249 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:44,280 Most day age theorists believe the Earth is anywhere from 5 to 250 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,720 14 billion years old. To be honest, I don't know how 251 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,640 we really measure that stuff. I can't comprehend that. 252 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,120 However, this does not necessarily mean that the day 253 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:58,880 age theorists holds to an evolutionary view of humanity's 254 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:01,720 origins. They will always come back to 255 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:06,360 the fact that God created it all, regardless of the means 256 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:09,520 that he used. Even the fossil record does not 257 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:14,280 indicate an actual transitional form between apes and humanity, 258 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,440 and this position is somewhat obviously referred to as Old 259 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,520 Earth creationism. Today's biggest advocates for 260 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:24,920 Old Earth creationism are Hugh Ross. 261 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:31,080 I think he catapulted it into popularity a couple decades ago. 262 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:35,680 A few decades ago, as well as the website biolagos.org. 263 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:40,200 Now when we talk in theology circles, we'll say something 264 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,520 like he's an old earther or he's a young earther. 265 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,360 It's important to say that throughout history, both sides 266 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:52,600 have garnered the supports of committed and highly revered and 267 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:58,240 respected Christians. This may rock your world, but 268 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,360 that's the reality. Each side has their arguments 269 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:05,720 and both positions have issues that they need to overcome, but 270 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,880 contention for each viewpoint is that God created and what we 271 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:14,880 read in Genesis is true. Now I hadn't planned to do this, 272 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:19,440 but I know people are going to be like, so Pastor, where are 273 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:27,520 you? So I grew up in a staunchly 24 274 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:34,440 hour view, held on to that for a long time in seminary. 275 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:39,200 I did a research paper on the day Yom, read some books, 276 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:46,320 started to make a shift when I was ordained, I was ordained 277 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:54,120 defending a more day age position then earlier this year. 278 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,200 And I've, I've held that loosely, I should say very 279 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:03,040 loosely, shift 01 day. I can be literal 24 hours 280 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,920 another day. Oh wow, things look old. 281 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:09,160 I don't, I don't. But earlier this year I began 282 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:15,200 shifting back to a a literal 24 hour period. 283 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:23,040 But the point here is that God created the the person who holds 284 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:28,040 to the day age position. Believes that God created. 285 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:34,040 We're not talking Darwinian evolution because no time in all 286 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:39,000 the world can make that happen. And you'll see that here from 287 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,800 the text as we continue through our study. 288 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,720 So whatever your view, it's important to remember that 289 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:49,600 famous quote in Essentials Unity, the essentials of the 290 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,680 Gospel in non Essentials liberty. 291 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,600 So this is one of those non essential points. 292 00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:01,560 But in all things charity, the age of the earth and how it came 293 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,400 to be is a secondary issue. What matters most is your 294 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,720 perspective on the Creator. While the lights and darkness 295 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,920 are literal, there's also a metaphorical meaning to be 296 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,720 understood. Here we see that the dark is in 297 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:20,000 some sense bad, right? The text kind of indicates that 298 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,960 the light was called good, but the darkness presents certain 299 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,840 challenges which the reader must overcome. 300 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,520 Throughout Scripture will routinely see a conflict between 301 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:37,520 the kingdoms of light and dark. Darkness is dangerous opposition 302 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,640 and hostility and the light stands in contrast to the 303 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,760 darkness and and we have a king who sovereignly stand against 304 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,280 the darkness of Satan's working in the world. 305 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:56,040 So that's the first day. Verses 6 through 8 reveal to us 306 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,480 the second day. God said let there be an expanse 307 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,480 in the midst of the waters. Let it separate the waters from 308 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,520 the waters. God made the expanse and 309 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:08,440 separated the waters under the expanse from the waters that 310 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,360 were above the expanse. And it was so. 311 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:12,400 And God called the expanse heaven. 312 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,280 There was evening and there was morning the second day. 313 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:22,120 Here we see God creating the sky on day 2. 314 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,720 So God's creating the sky. But we spend a lot of time here 315 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,000 talking about waters. So there are waters above the 316 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,840 earth and waters below God create an expanse or or a vault 317 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:40,360 or some texts say firmament to separate the waters above from 318 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:43,920 the waters below. You know how water exists in 319 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,720 three different forms. It's liquid, solid and gas or or 320 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,320 vapor. When water is in its liquid 321 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,080 version, we naturally just call that water. 322 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,920 When we say water, we are referring to the liquid version 323 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:01,160 of H2O. When it's in solid form, it's 324 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,200 ice, and when it's in vapor form, we call it humid. 325 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:12,040 Stay with me here. All right, Well, the waters 326 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,800 needed to be separated. By the way, I can do without 327 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,760 this summer. This humidity needs to go away. 328 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:20,760 I'm so sensitive to the humidity. 329 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:23,280 My California roots are like deep. 330 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,640 Well, the waters needed to be separated to create the 331 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:33,480 framework for this new earth. The waters below are the seas 332 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:34,640 and such. Though I think for the 333 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:36,960 Israelites reading this or hearing it, they would have 334 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:41,040 naturally looked at the the waters as probably being all 335 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,640 around them everywhere, even under the earth. 336 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:51,280 Nonetheless, somehow God separated the waters from above 337 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,960 from the waters below. And the theory that's proposed 338 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:59,400 is called the canopy theory. And these are all just theories 339 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,320 because we don't know how God actually works, right? 340 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:06,200 The the idea is that God created some sort of canopy that that 341 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:12,240 held back the waters above until the flood. 342 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:21,400 Now water can be dangerous in both its absence and in its 343 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,800 abundance. When we don't have enough water, 344 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,480 we end up with drought conditions which can lead to 345 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,040 famine. And when there's an 346 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,960 overabundance of water, the threat of flooding becomes 347 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,720 imminent. Nights and the waters of chaos 348 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:42,360 are fundamental images of non creation in Egypt and in Babylon 349 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,840 and ancient Israel. These ideas aren't being 350 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,800 borrowed from other cultures or or their their other 351 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,720 cosmologies. This is their very own 352 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:58,520 perspective on the world. Water is significant here, and 353 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:03,840 it serves as a hyperlink. As you continue to read 354 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,720 throughout Scripture, you'll repeatedly see moments where the 355 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:13,040 water is a threat to God's people, but God shows himself 356 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:20,760 sovereign over the waters. There's of course the Exodus, 357 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,800 there's providing water from a rock, Jonah being thrown into 358 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:34,320 the sea, Jesus walking on water, Jesus calming storms and catch 359 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:41,800 what Revelation 21 says. Revelation 21 verse 1, John 360 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:43,760 writes. Then I saw a new heaven and a 361 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,200 new earth for the 1st heaven and the first earth had passed away 362 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:55,480 and the sea was no more. So the water, the sea is going 363 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:59,760 to be removed in heaven. It sure seems that in the 364 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:04,600 heaven, the new heaven, the new earth, surfers will have to pick 365 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:07,840 out a new hobby. I'm not sure what they'll do. 366 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,560 Maybe they can surf on the river, I don't know. 367 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:16,320 So God is in control of the waters, and it's important to 368 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:20,200 note that the separating of the waters serves a purpose as it 369 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,120 prepares the new creation for for life that will be coming on 370 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:28,400 day 6. Without waters being confined to 371 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:33,480 the right places, life will struggle to exist. 372 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,960 Yahweh separated the waters above from the waters beneath. 373 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,000 Now we come to the third day of creation. 374 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:50,800 God created land. God created land on the third 375 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,320 day God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered 376 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:55,960 into one place and let the dry land appear. 377 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,000 And it was so God called the dry land earth and the waters that 378 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,360 were gathered together He called seas. 379 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:07,560 And God saw that it was good of the waters under the heavens 380 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:12,480 were were apparently spread out. Perhaps this was rivers or 381 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:17,040 marshes or something like that, but God called for the waters to 382 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,840 be drawn together into one location. 383 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:23,160 Also, that the dry land could appear. 384 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:28,040 Now, as with the day and night, God chooses to assign names to 385 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:33,040 the dry land and waters. He calls them earth and seas. 386 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,520 Now, if you're really paying attention, you may have noticed 387 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:42,920 that God didn't declare the second day good. 388 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,640 The work of the second day wasn't quite yet complete. 389 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:52,960 The waters were separated, but the specific task at hand wasn't 390 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:55,880 quite done. God needed to createspace for 391 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,960 the waters and provide a place for vegetation. 392 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,120 Once the final separation of waters was achieved, then God 393 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:10,600 called it good. So what's the significance of 394 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:16,000 the land? Well, it's a place of safety. 395 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,840 The struggle against the sea and its potential monsters that 396 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:26,200 Psalm 74 refers to are are no longer of consequence with the 397 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,400 creation of the land. In Genesis 1, God assures his 398 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,760 people that they they should not fear the sea because the sea 399 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:39,560 wouldn't exist apart from Him as its creator. 400 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:47,880 He is the sea's master. If God created the sea, He can 401 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:51,280 protect us from the dangers of the sea. 402 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:54,880 If God created the land and He can provide for us. 403 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,880 As we talk about God's creating the heavens and and now dry land 404 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,920 of the earth, it's fitting for us to consider how they might 405 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:11,040 have processed the world It's normal for us to think in in our 406 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,720 21st century ways of looking at the world. 407 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,000 We naturally think of a globe because in the 4th century 408 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:24,600 Aristotle discerned that only a round sphere could could create 409 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:29,040 a circular shadow when looking at a lunar eclipse. 410 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,080 It's quite astute, but I hate to break it to you. 411 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:40,960 The people of Moses day were most likely flat earthers. 412 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,800 When they viewed the sky the the heavens, they thought of it as a 413 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:51,720 as a Dome like structure and and the earth being flat and like I 414 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:55,400 mentioned waters perhaps being under the earth. 415 00:29:55,400 --> 00:30:04,600 Even God created the dry land on that third day, but it's not 416 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:09,440 done yet. Genesis 1 verses 11 through 13. 417 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,920 God said let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding 418 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,960 seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit, and which is their seed, 419 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,360 each according to its kind on the earth. 420 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,240 And it was so the earth brought forth vegetation, plants 421 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:25,000 yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing 422 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,520 fruit and which is their seed, each according to its kind. 423 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:34,880 And God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was 424 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:40,960 morning, the third day. Since God had created dry land, 425 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:42,960 everything was now sufficient for life. 426 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:48,160 So in verse 11, God commanded the earth to sprout vegetation. 427 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:53,400 And then what happens? Well, in verse 12, the earth 428 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,520 does what God says it. It sprouts vegetation, plants 429 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,440 with seeds and trees that and trees that bear fruits. 430 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,960 Everything reproduced according to its own kind. 431 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:11,520 Now here's a basic arguments in Scripture that kind produces 432 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:17,320 kind. Got that this is important. 433 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:23,160 Kind produces kind. One kind does not turn into 434 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,680 another kind. A cat doesn't become a dog or a 435 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:31,880 dog doesn't become a cat. An ape cannot become a human. 436 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:37,120 Each kind produces after its own kind. 437 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:44,040 Again, God's power over creation is shown as he simply speaks 438 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:49,800 plant life into existence, calling it to reproduce itself. 439 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:53,880 So here we've seen the first few days of creation. 440 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,960 Day one, God created the lights and called it day. 441 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:58,880 In the darkness He called nights. 442 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,720 Day 2 God created the sky when he separated the waters above 443 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,560 from the waters below. And then on day three, God 444 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:10,600 created land when he gathered the waters into one place. 445 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:18,680 Now here, this is the framework for creation. 446 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:21,920 That is what we see on the 1st 3 days of creation. 447 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:24,680 This is the framework for creation. 448 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:30,040 The foundation has been laid. Essentially, Yahweh built the 449 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,160 structure and now it's time to decorate it. 450 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:38,520 To fill in all the details. The artist starts with a canvas. 451 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:45,640 The home builder first frames the home frames out the walls 452 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:51,080 and the roof and everything before rocking it and and 453 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,120 covering it and everything that they need to do. 454 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,280 So next week we'll see how each day of creation, days 4 through 455 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,640 6 correspond to days one through three. 456 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,480 I know some of this can sound remedial, like a good Sunday 457 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:11,880 school story, but it's important to see what God made on each 458 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:17,360 day. Lastly, we see God's sovereignty 459 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:24,200 over all creation, God's sovereignty over all creation. 460 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,640 I briefly touched on this earlier, but when Genesis 461 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:33,000 asserts that God created it all, it's showing God to be 462 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,440 sovereign, to be in control of everything. 463 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,640 The Babylonians no doubt would have had reservations about 464 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:43,720 their gods as the world came into existence through a battle 465 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:47,720 between the opposing gods, Marduk and and Tiamat. 466 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,920 The Genesis account of creation stands apart from the creation 467 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:58,480 mythologies of those other false religions in that Genesis 468 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:04,560 demonstrates who Yahweh is, and he is starkly different from all 469 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,960 the other gods that's the ancient Israelites and their 470 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:15,440 neighbors had known about. Imagine you're a 14th century BC 471 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:22,239 near or Middle Easterner. You have much different concerns 472 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:28,159 than we can really fathom. Darkness, water scarcity, good 473 00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:31,679 land to grow food. Genesis informs the reader that 474 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:37,679 God is sovereign over it all. Will I be safe in the dark? 475 00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:40,520 God created the lights. Will I have enough water? 476 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:45,679 He provided water as well as protection from the dangers that 477 00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:47,960 water can pose. Will I have enough food to 478 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:52,719 provide for my family? Genesis answer is yes, yes and 479 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:56,440 yes. God is providing for his people. 480 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,600 He has given them light to protect them from the things or 481 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:01,480 the people that lurk in the night. 482 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,880 He has provided protection from the scary waters and He has 483 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:08,920 provided the land that grows with vegetation and fruits for 484 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,240 His people to enjoy. This. 485 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:18,920 This is who the Israelites and our God is. 486 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:30,840 Therefore we can trust him. The myths of the ancient world, 487 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:37,400 like the Enuma Elish, help us appreciate the radical nature of 488 00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:43,320 of the Genesis account. They show us a world filled with 489 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:47,400 capricious, sexually charged gods motivated by power 490 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:55,920 struggles, and against this backdrop, the opening chapters 491 00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:01,200 of Genesis stand as a powerful declaration of God's singular 492 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:09,640 holy character. In the first three days, we see 493 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:16,680 not a king who claims power through violence, but rather a 494 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:22,200 divine artist who creates and brings it all into being through 495 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,600 the spoken word. From the separation of light 496 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,960 from darkness to the division of the waters and the emergence of 497 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:35,000 dry land, each act is deliberate, purposeful, and 498 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:38,000 peaceful. There's no jealousy or 499 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:45,200 insecurity driving our creator. He's a God of peace and his 500 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:48,680 character is imprinted on the very order and fullness he 501 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:54,680 brings into being. This is the God we worship. 502 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:58,720 Not a God to be appeased through magic or or feared in battle, 503 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:05,120 but a good God whose nature is to create and bring forth life. 504 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:11,040 So as we go from this place this morning, let us carry the image 505 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:15,480 of this good and powerful Creator and reflect his 506 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:20,920 peaceful, ordering, life giving character in our own lives. 507 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:29,720 Let's pray God, we come to you this morning and we thank you 508 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:34,320 for the opportunity to look into your word, to begin at the 509 00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:40,840 beginning of creation and to consider how you have worked, 510 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:54,440 How awesome it is to consider that you created it all, that 511 00:37:54,440 --> 00:38:04,960 you are in control of it all. So we can only respond in 512 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:09,840 worship and proclaim how great you are. 513 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:17,560 So God, this morning as we close our time, may we may reflect on 514 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:24,400 truly your greatness. So we thank you for this time. 515 00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:27,960 Jesus name we pray, Amen.