Genesis 1 – How Did We Really Get Here?
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For those of you who have forgotten what I said two weeks ago, or were not present, we started a series entitled, “How Did We Get Here?” It is series through the Book of Genesis. It is not merely fixated on the literal question, ‘how did we get here’, but it also addresses many firsts.
The great thing about the Book of Genesis, is that it is a book of firsts. If you think about it because it is the beginning, much of what happens in the Book of Genesis has never happened before. It answers questions that we often take for granted, like from whence did sin come, why is marriage the way it is, how do we get covenants and why does God engage us the manner that he does. Essentially, it is a series of questions that fall under the umbrella – ‘how do we get here’, ‘how did this happen’, so you want to spend the next several months going through the Book of Genesis, answering many of those questions.
The thing we addressed two weeks ago, the last time I was here, was Genesis chapter 1 verse 1A: “In the beginning God.” And the reason we did that is we wanted, for just a moment, for everyone to be reminded that you are not the primary actor throughout the process. The emphasis in the Book of Genesis is on God. Now we are going to come to that in a moment, but for just a second I want you to appreciate some of the historical and cultural context of the book.
Many people presume the Book of Moses or the Book of Genesis were written by Moses. He seemed to identify it with himself. You’ll notice in the New Testament there were occasions when Jesus identified the Pentateuch – Genesis through Deuteronomy, He identified Moses as the author consistently. You may recall in Luke Chapter 16, there was an occasion when a rich man dies and a poor man dies in a parable. They both end up in Hades/Abraham’s bosom. The rich man is in torment and he says to Abraham, “Please send Lazarus back to Earth so he can warn our brothers about this place.” Jesus’s response is, “If they do not believe Moses and the Prophets, then they are not going to believe Lazarus when he goes and informs them.” The Prophets is referring to the larger books that follow Genesis to Deuteronomy and, Genesis to Deuteronomy is identified by Christ as Moses.
The presumption is that Moses is the author of the Pentateuch. The word Pentateuch means Book of Five. You should not distinguish them from one another in such a manner as to not read them as one work. We want to recognize the Book of Genesis, as the first volume in a five-volume work.
The thing that I’m unpacking right now, is the manner in which God has created every single thing that exists. He says in Genesis Chapter 1, that He spoke. He shows us in Genesis Chapter 1, that He spoke the Universe into existence.
Two weeks ago we addressed the debate whether not the Universe is 6000 years old or this 65 billion years old. Many of you may have walked away dissatisfied by the fact that I said, “Yes. Yes it is,” because I contend that the Universe came into existence with the displays, the characteristics of maturity. In the same way that when Adam was created, he came into existence as an adult man, when the Universe was created it came into existence as an adult Universe. The light that we see from stars that are 30,000 light years away, we’re able to see them because from the moment the Universe was created they had the characteristics of maturity. Even though it would take 30,000 light years for that light to get here, from the moment they existed we could see the light. He did not give us a Universe that came into existence as an infant; he gave us a universe that came into existence as an adult. When he created forest, he did not put little plants everywhere that proved to be trees. When he spoke forest into existence, they were adult 100 year old cedars even though they had only been in existence for one second. He created the Universe as a mature Universe.
Is it 6, 7, or 8000 years old? Yes. Is it 65 billion years old? Yes, so everyone can stop fighting about it. There’s a whole camp of people that say, “the Earth is young.” There’s whole camp of people that say, “the Earth is old.” I stand in the middle and say, “No, you are both right. Please meet in the middle, because you almost got it right, both of you.” That’s how this works. God was very intentional to set up a Universe – this is key, in which He was nesting in anticipation of your arrival. He created a Universe with maturity, so that the mature humans who came on day 6 would be able to thrive in the Universe that he had created. That’s the summary of two weeks ago.
The thing I want you to walk away with today is, He is the Star of the chapter, not you. I want to point something out that I think is overlooked when the passage is being read. Notice what happens repeatedly throughout the Chapter…
Listen to the complete message.
