Genesis 1.1-3
Messenger Dox
Call to worship / Old Testament reading: Pastor mike Champoux
Exodus 20.1-17
New testamenT reading:
pastor bobby owens
Matthew 3.13-17
song:
Grace Alone
Historical reading:
Pastor andrew loginow
Nicene Creed
song:
Holy, Holy, Holy
Confession & Pardon
dr. Brett eckel
song:
There is a redeemer
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Genesis 1.1-3
Introduction
Let’s do a mental exercise together – don’t worry, you don’t have to raise your hand or say anything, but think about a time – trivial or serious, or anything in between, think about a time when you found yourself in a situation that caused you to stop and think: “how did we get here?” Maybe it was the darkest moment of your life – a serious illness or the loss of a loved one; maybe it was a financial crisis or a relationship crisis, or maybe it was one of the happiest memories you have of a family trip, your wedding, the birth of a child or grandchild, a graduation, a victory or defeat in some form of competition, regardless, have you ever had that thought? Have you ever stopped and thought – how did we get here? Or maybe your mind has traveled deeper down the rabbit hole than that; maybe you’ve gone more metaphysical than that; maybe you’ve wondered – where did we all come from? What is our origin? Is there purpose to life, humanity, and the world?
I love the film The Emperor’s New Groove, have you ever seen it? If you haven’t, you should; it’s an absolute banger. The Emperor’s New Groove is based on the short story The Emperor’s New Clothes and it’s starring David Spade and John Goodman and it’s hilarious. One of the things I love about the film is that it doesn’t open with the chronological beginning of the story – it opens with our protagonist at the low point of the story and he asks, “How did I get here?” And then he takes us back to the beginning of the story to show us.
We need to do a similar mental exercise as we begin the book of Genesis. You see the original setting for Genesis is not the narrative we’re going to inhabit in the coming weeks, but actually years later. Moses wrote Genesis as Israel was preparing to enter the Promised Land. The 1st ever written Scripture was not Genesis 1 but was actually the 10 Commandments, written by the finger of God himself and given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. As Moses prepared for his death and the 2nd generation of Israelites post-exodus prepared to enter Canaan, Moses wrote Genesis to remind them who they are, where they came from, and most importantly to reveal the 1 true and living God who created them and redeemed them from slavery in the Exodus.
These questions will be answered in the coming weeks; our focus this morning is on the main character of the Bible. Last week Pastor Kevin opened Genesis showing us that there is 1 true and living God who is eternal, who created all things and who is sovereign over all. This morning we take a deeper dive into the 1st 3 verses of Genesis 1 to see just who this God is who is creator and sovereign over the world.
The Father
As we begin the book of Genesis the 1st question you might ask is what does Genesis mean? Where does the title come from? The word Genesis is a transliteration of the Latin Genesis – in the Vulgate (the Latin translation of Scripture) the title of the 1st book of the Bible is Liber Genesis. The Latin word is also a transliteration of the Greek word γένεσις, which is the book’s title in LXX (Greek translation of the OT). γένεσις means, “generations, family line, origins;” so both the LXX and Vulgate title this book as the book of our origins, or family line, or generations.
But the original Hebrew of Genesis goes by another name: בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית. בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית is the 1st word in the Hebrew text, which the ESV translates with the familiar – In the beginning. Even though most, if not all, English translations include the definite article (in the beginning) the Hebrew is actually without it – so a wooden translation of בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית would be, “in beginning,” or “at beginning.” Point being the ancient Israelites entitled Genesis with the 1st word of the text and viewed it as the book of the beginning.
At this point you might be thinking, “hold up, preacher, what’s the deal here? Hebrew, Greek, and Latin all before noon?! Are you trying to bore us to death? Get to the point!” The point is we begin Genesis by reflecting on how God’s people have understood it throughout millennia. Genesis is the book of beginning; it is the book of origins, generations, and family line. This is not merely Jewish family line, but it is our family line. The book of Matthew begins with the very same Greek word as the title for Genesis when the Spirit inspired St. Matthew to pen The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matt 1.1).
But we must also note that even though Genesis is telling us the story of our family – the story of the Kingdom of Christ – we can’t miss that Genesis is telling us the story of all of humanity. When Scripture declares: In the beginning God it reveals that the 1 true and living eternal God is the creator of all things. In the ancient Near East every people group, every culture, every nation had their own origin story for creation. The Egyptians, the Canaanites, the Babylonians all had their own creation lore. Most of these origin stories taught that the world was born out of a dual between good and evil, and that the various pagan gods were the origin of various cultures. But Moses reveals that the true creator is not merely Israel’s God, he is not a tribal God, but he alone is the beginning of all things.
And for thousands of years the church has described the nature of God’s creative work using the Latin phrase ex nihilo – out of nothing. There is but 1 eternal, creating, sovereign God and he created all things out of nothing. Our western culture has bought into the lie of naturalism, that matter is eternal and that there was some sort of cataclysmic event, the big bang, from which the universe evolved. But Scripture corrects our naturalistic idolatry by unequivocally announcing that there was only God and that he created all things out of nothing.
The Hebrew word translated God is אֱלֹהִים. אֱלֹהִים is a masculine plural noun. Throughout the centuries Jewish scholars have struggled to try to explain why the noun is plural while also rejecting polytheism and confessing monotheism – that there is only one God. They’ve wondered if it’s because God is so majestic and powerful that the noun demands plurality, or if it’s because the angels surround God. Many Christian Hebrew scholars have followed the same path in their exposition of אֱלֹהִים. But I don’t think the answer is that difficult and I suspect that this may be a case of people much smarter than me outsmarting themselves.
אֱלֹהִים is plural because, as we confessed earlier in the creed, Scripture reveals 1 God in 3 persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But, you might retort, the Bible doesn’t clearly reveal the Holy Trinity until the pages of the New Testament so there is no way Moses was thinking of the Trinity in Genesis 1. You are correct, but you must also remember that Moses was inspired by the true author of Scripture, the Holy Spirit and I promise you that the Spirit knew about the Trinity when this narrative was written. One of the key hermeneutical principles we hold as Christian theologians is that the New Testament always interprets the Old, never the reverse. So as the Holy Trinity is revealed in the New we can look back on the Old and see that the Father, Son, and Spirit have been there all along.
What we also see is that while the name God sometimes refers to the Holy Trinity in general, often times in the Bible the name God is used as shorthand for the person of the Father specifically. So here in Genesis 1 we see that the Father is the initiator of creation. We confessed that earlier in the creed as well – “We believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” Louis Berkhof notes that while all of God’s works are triune, there are 3 works in particular in which the Father is in the foreground: (1) designing the work of redemption, including election; (2) the work of representing the Trinity in the counsel of redemption as the holy and righteous being, whose right was violated; and (3) the works of creation and providence, especially in their initial stages. 1st Corinthians 8.6 says: there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. The Father is the initiator of creation.
Also, to Berkhof’s 1st point – the Father is also the initiator of the new creation, or redemption. When we remember the setting in which Genesis was written (Israel in the wilderness, preparing to enter Canaan) it’s clear that Moses is showing us that the same God who is creator is also redeemer. The same Father who initiated the creation is the Father who has initiated redemption. We get further confirmation in the New Testament. Ephesians 1 tells us the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, that the Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and that he predestined us to adoption in Christ. God the Father is the initiator of creation and he is the initiator of the new creation, of redemption, of salvation.
The Son
Moses goes on to tell us how, or by what means the Father created the world and he does so using 2 specific themes – light and Word. The 1st theme is that of light. The very 1st element of creation that God spoke into existence was light. Throughout Scripture light is used to represent God’s glory. Think about when Moses asked to see God’s glory and God hid Moses behind the rock and revealed his back to him; when Moses went back down the mountain the people couldn’t stand to look at Moses because he shone so brightly that he had to be covered. God’s 2nd hand glory covering Moses was too much for the people to take. Light represents God’s glory and that’s why God created light 1st because the primeval chaos must initially be filled with his glory – His glory is the reason for which the world was created. We confessed so last week from the WSC – “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
The other theme Moses reveals is that of Word. How does God create all things? God speaks all things into existence – God creates via his Word. God said, “Let there be light and there was light.” The Word of God is one of the major themes that can be traced throughout the Bible. Not only does God create all things through his Word but God primarily is a speaking God; God gave his Word to be written 1st in the 10 Commandments and then as the rest of Scripture took shape. God reveals himself 1st and foremost through his Word.
And these 2 themes – Light and Word – find there fulfillment, their meaning, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. St. John could not be clearer when he opens his gospel with these words:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known (John 1.1-18).
Jesus is the Word of God who is the light of the world. Jesus is agent of creation. Jesus is the light – he reveals the glory of God. Let me read 1st Corinthians 8.6 for you again: there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. All things were created from the Father and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that but Jesus is the agent of new creation; he is the means by which God saves us, redeems us. The Father initiated salvation and the Son secured salvation.
The Holy Spirit
Also notice this peculiar scene here in verse 2: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The picture we’re given of creation before the light is that of darkness and chaos. The phrase without form and void in Hebrew is תֹ֨הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ, which conveys the idea of “topsy-turvy.” It means things are not as they’re supposed to be; it conveys the idea of the wilderness, a barren wasteland. Darkness was over the face of the deep. It’s a picture of dark water, the sea, the place of death and chaos.
But notice tat even in the chaos God is there – The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The Hebrew word רוּחַ can be translated as, “Spirit, wind, or breath.” It’s as is God is breathing on the waters. It’s as if he is the hurricane stirring the dark chaotic sea. His spirit is hovering, covering the topsy-turvy watery wilderness.
The same imagery is used in Luke 1 when the angel tells the virgin Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God (Luke 1.35).” It’s the same imagery we read in our call to worship from the baptism of Christ where Jesus went into the water and the Spirit descended on him like a dove and the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son.” Just as the Spirit hovered over the chaotic creation, so he hovered over the virgin when the Lord was conceived and he hovered over Jesus at his baptism. That’s because just as the Spirit applied God’s work in creation so he applies the work of new creation. The Father initiates creation and redemption; the Son secures creation and redemption; and the Holy Spirit seals creation and redemption.
You see, the Father’s plan since before the creation of the world was that he would send his Son to be conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, to live without sin in the place of God’s elect and to die in their place as the substitute on the crossing bearing God’s wrath against sin. And then just as he did with the original creation, on the 3rd day God said, Let there be light” on the new creation when the Spirit hovered over the chaos of Jesus’ dead body and breathed the breath of life into him. Jesus rose from the dead and started the new creation.
What we must do is repent & believe this good news. To repent means to confess our sin and turn from our sin. We can only do that if the Holy Spirit has already hovered over our hearts and breathed the breath of new life into us giving us illumination and the gift of faith. So the ultimate question is: do you have faith?
Do you know the good news? Do you know that God is your holy creator, that you have sinned against him and deserve eternal conscious punishment because you’re guilty, and do you know that the death and resurrection of Jesus is your only hope for forgiveness and eternal life? Do you assent this message to be true? Do you confess it and not deny it?
Finally, do you trust in Jesus Christ alone? Are you betting eternity on the good news that if you confess of your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved? Like a trust fall, are you letting go of any self-righteousness and falling completely into the promise that if you confess your sins [Jesus] is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness?
Conclusion
Because that’s the only way foreword from the question “how did we get here?” In those moments of pain, in those moments of metaphysical introspection, we can look back on where we’ve come from – the 1 true and living God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created all things. But if we left it at Genesis 1 there would be no good news, you see the good news is that not only is God creator but he is also redeemer. God spoke creation into existence and He is speaking a new creation into existence through his Word – the Lord Jesus Christ. Our prayer is that you will find the answer to life’s deepest questions – questions like, “who am I?” “Where did we come from?” “Is there purpose to life, humanity, the world?” Our prayer is that you will find the answers to these questions in Jesus Christ, who is the true and final Word of God, who is the light that shines in the darkness. God created all things through his Word, may he do so again this morning through the preaching of his Word.