God-Breathed
I want you to imagine waking up on a stage, while a play is already going on, and then realizing it’s your turn to speak. But you don’t know your lines. You don’t know which play you’re in. But you know you must act.
The author John Eldridge says that is exactly how life feels at times. It’s like we randomly got here, and we know we are supposed to play some part, but we don’t know what it is. We don’t know the larger story. So it begs the question “What story do we find ourselves in?” We need to know the larger story. To understand that, we need to answer the question “Where Did Everything Come From?” Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. So for us to feel connected to the larger story, we have to understand the beginning.
So let’s look at the beginning, in Genesis 1:1. As we read Genesis 1:1 to you, I want you to drop all of your preconceived notions at the door. This is not easy to do. But for a moment, pretend that you have never read this before. And maybe you haven’t- I’m so glad you are reading this then. But for everyone else, read this with fresh eyes today. Imagine these words are being read for the first time ever.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
If we are reading this with fresh eyes, we would immediately be asking “So what is going on in this verse?” Let’s look at what is happening. First, we see that the title given to God here is the word “Elohim”. Elohim is interesting, because it is a title that tells us God is one God, but it is also a term of plurality. We call this the doctrine of the Trinity- that God is 3 in 1. And what’s crazy is that God declares this aspect of who He is from the beginning. He doesn’t give us a full understanding of His triune nature here, so it is somewhat of a mystery of you’re listening with fresh ears. But what we gather is that within God’s very nature, He embodies community. He is completely unique and separate from everything else. He is God. He is Elohim, and He came first. He was here before anything we see or know.
But then, what is the first thing this God, this Elohim, does? He created. So the very first thing we learn about this God is that He is plural but also singular. The second thing we learn is that He came before everything else. The third thing we learn is that He is a Creator. At this point, we are only 5 words into the bible.
What does He create? He creates was heavens and earth.
The word the Bible uses here for “create’ is the word “bara”. And it’s really interesting, because the word “bara” does mean “create”, but it’s more than that- it means to create something new. It’s the same word that God uses in Isaiah 65 when he declares that someday, He will make a new heavens and a new earth. So what we know then is that everything God is making in Genesis did not exist before- He is creating fresh stuff, stuff that wasn’t there before.
Now, for most of us in the Western world are not unfamiliar with the concept of a Creator God. But I want you to realize there are many people around the world that would not start here. Many religious systems throughout the world assume that the universe has always existed. And actually, many scientists, believe that same thing- that nothing exists outside of space and time, meaning there is no creator. So maybe you are sitting there today going “yeah, I am not sure that I believe that God created everything. I still have my doubts on all of that.” Maybe you’re skeptical. And for you, I would say I am so glad you are on this journey with us. I want you here. And honestly, I have been in your shoes.
I grew up in an agnostic home (I did not come out of the womb as a preacher) and I didn’t have really any conception or understanding of the Bible growing up. So for me, the idea of evolution, and the Big Bang theory just seemed like undeniable science.
But even as a kid, things started to not add up for me.
I remember reading a textbook that explained that the universe began outside of space and time, in a spot smaller than a period on a page, and then the elements in that tiny, tiny spot exploded, and became the universe we know today. Now, actually, this goes against the idea that the universe has always existed. The scientific community realized the universe must have began at some point, and they believe that this is how it happened. I would ask teachers questions like “well, where did the spot come from? Where did the first elements come from before they exploded?” And I never got a good answer. So I wasn’t sure about the Big Bang. But a secular worldview teaches us that something like the Big Bang is the only logical explanation for how the universe began.
But the Bible declares something entirely different than other worldviews. In the beginning was Elohim, and He decided to create the heavens and the earth. This means that everything came about due to an act of conscious, deliberate will, not by random chance.
So here is what we have so far- there is a God, He is one but also plural, He came first, and He created everything because He chose to. We are only 10 words into the first book of the Bible.
Now let’s look at verse 2. Remember to read with fresh eyes.
“Now, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. -Genesis 1:2
Okay, so in this verse, something interesting is happening. See, once we get to verse 2, God has already created the heavens and the earth. But, the earth had no form. It was empty. And there was no light, just darkness. And the Spirit of God, (again, this clue of God being multiple and one), was hovering over the waters. Do you ever wonder why God feels closer when you’re out on the water? That’s why. Just kidding. (Well, maybe not!)
Now here is what I find happens once we get ready to move from verse 2 to verse 3. We walk in with our pre-decided ideas about how everything got here, usually because someone else taught it to us. And what I want to do is look at what the text actually says. God is capable of giving is a book of His thoughts that is exactly what He wants it to be. We think God needs our thoughts. But His ways are higher, his thoughts are higher. Sometimes we try to explain away the mystery of God. Our minds cannot comprehend who He is. There are some things we will never truly wrap our minds around. Let’s embrace the mystery. We are called to come humbly to God. So let’s listen with fresh ears.
And then God said “Let there be light,” and there was light.”
-Genesis 1:3
What just happened here? God says let there be light. God says something, and then particles appear. How did God create? He spoke. The “bara” work of God, His creating a new creation, happens when He simply speaks things into existence. Throughout Genesis 1, you can find the phrase “And then God said…” in all 6 days of creation.
All that we see and know came from the very breath of God. His breath. His word.
I find that absolutely fascinating, and we will come back to that later. But here is what I find many people do- they blow right past these first few sentences of Genesis 1 because they want to get into the 6 days where God does the creating work. But this is where it gets sticky.
Because even many who call themselves believers don’t agree on the Genesis account. Often, the arguments come down to 3 main categories of theories:
1. Young Earth Theory- the earth cannot be older than 6000–10000 years old, and that the “days” in Genesis are literal 24-hour days.
Genealogies are the way they determine this. Literal days seems to make sense when you look at it this way.
2. Old Earth Theories- the earth is probably older than 10000 years old
a. Gap Theory- That between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, there is an unknowable amount of time.
b. Days As Ages Theory- each “day” in the Genesis account is 1000 years or more
Some Christians, even thinkers and pastors like Tim Keller and NT Wright, say that these views leave room open for some aspects of evolutionary theory to exist within Genesis. Their idea is that though God was involved in creation, He used something like an evolutionary process to create- this might sound a little like Deism, where God begins the creation work, but then backs off to allow creation to form on its own. One problem that other Christian thinkers will bring up here there is the Scriptural pattern is God speaking things into existence, and that God assigns order and purpose to everything in creation. There is no such thing as material arising from a random process. But there might be aspects of adaptation that can resonate with Genesis.
3. “Genesis-as-Metaphor” Theories
a. Framework Theory- Genesis is not chronological, but instead is showing us God’s template for creation
b. Days of Revelation Theory- each “day” represents a way God reveals his creation to humanity- the time it took doesn’t matter
Essentially, these are people that think God isn’t wanting us to focus on time or chronology at all- that God is simply using time-related language to help us understand patterns or to try to reveal some deeper truth to us.
I wish I could go deeper into that, but I want to direct you to our resources page, www.christtherock.org/truenorth to do more research for yourself.
As you can see, not all Christians agree on what it means when Genesis declares “God created”. And in all of these conversations, people are trying to figure out if we can reconcile science and the Bible.
But actually, Christians have been arguing about how science and the Bible fit together for hundreds of years. 500 years ago, the Christian world was hotly debating whether the earth revolved around the sun, or if the sun revolved around the earth. Both sides used Scripture and scientific evidence to back up their claims, and it nearly tore Christianity apart.
And we are doing the same thing today. I do not believe the church needs to be afraid of science. And when I say science, I don’t mean unsupported theories that cannot be proven. That is just philosophy. Even many of the claims of the Bible are not able to be scientifically proven- they must be taken by faith- that doesn’t mean there isn’t evidence, there just isn’t scientific evidence. Science is observable and repeatable. Science tells us how things appear to work. Science cannot reveal why things are the way they are.
Take gravity. Scientists can tell you that there seems to be a force that makes things fall back toward the earth when they are thrown into the air. We collectively call it gravity. But what actually is gravity? What is it made out of? Where did it come from? Science cannot actually tell you that, nor should we expect it to. Science simply points out what is there and what it does.
Therefore, I have found that science actually leads people to a better understanding of God rather than pulls people away from God, because science will always reveal how incredible His creation truly is. Pastor Joel will talk more about this to us next week. But science cannot tell us everything. At a certain point, the mystery of God demands faith on our part.
So church, I think we need to enter into this next part of the conversation with some humility.
The truth is, the Bible does not tell us the age of the earth. There is not one verse in the bible that explicitly tells us the age of the earth. Genesis simply doesn’t argue the age of the earth. Now, this is important, because I don’t want to say less than the Scriptures are saying, but I also don’t want to say more than they are saying. I also don’t want to go outside of the scriptures to try to make the scriptures say something they are not saying. I want us to say exactly what the text says- no more, no less.
What we know is what we have covered- God created everything because He decided to, and that He spoke it into existence. We learn later in the chapter that everything He made, He declared it all good. That is what it tells us. That’s it. I know some of you might feel very uncomfortable right now, because you thought I was going to try to bring some resolution to these tensions, and I didn’t, so you might feel uncomfortable, and I’m okay with that. Because again, I am here to declare the truth of Scripture- nothing more, nothing less. Arguing theories that we cannot prove brings division to the church. But agreeing on the truth of the Bible and what it actually says is one of the things that brings unity to the church.
These past couple of weeks, we have meditated on these words of Jesus: The truth shall set you free.
So if the truth sets you free, what does the truth we learned today set you free from? I pondered on this earlier this week, and I realized there are certain lies that held me back in life. Here is how the truth of Genesis 1 set me free: (these can come up one at a time on a full screen graphic)
- I don’t have to understand everything before taking the adventure of faith.
- I am part of a bigger story; and I am not the main character of the story, which actually takes a lot of pressure off of me.
- There is more to the story than the few decades I will exist on this earth.
- I am not a cosmic or biological accident- I was made on purpose, with purpose.
We are not actors who are in the middle of a play in which we do not know the story. The story has been given. The stage has been set. The question is, are you willing to listen to the Director?
But this leads us back to our first mystery in Genesis: who is this Director, this God? Sure, Genesis 1:1 tells us that He is a creator, but we don’t learn much else about Him here.
But did you know another book in the Bible begins with the exact same 3 words as Genesis?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
-John 1:1
Does this sound familiar? In the beginning. John begins this Gospel with the exact same words in Genesis 1:1. But here is what is different. He doesn’t say “God” first. He says “the Word” first.
!Let me show you what I mean:
“In the beginning, God…” Gen 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…
-John 1:1
What is John doing here? It’s actually rather genius.
In Genesis 1:1, we don’t get a lot of description of who this God is. All we know, if we have no preconception of the Bible, is that He was there, and He created. But John tells us more. This God is the Word. He was with God, and He also is God.
John continues:
He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
-John 1:2–4
Who is the “him” John is referring to? Jesus. So John places Jesus at the beginning. He was there with the Father. He created everything. It was created for Him and by Him. And that He is the Word. Remember, everything was created by the spoken Word of God. So Jesus is the Creator.
And when we link this back to Genesis 1, we get all three members of the Trinity- Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
In Revelation 21 Jesus declares He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who is and was and is to come.
But that’s not all. He isn’t just the beginning and the end. For He also is Emmanuel, God with us. He was born as a human child- talk about intervention! Deism falls apart here, because you cannot get more involved than that! He becomes one of us! Fully God, fully human.
He then died for us. He rose again. So Jesus is also the middle of the story. The story starts with Him, He is in the middle of the story, and the story ends with Him. The story is all about Jesus.
Everything we know was created by Jesus and for Jesus. He owns it all. He is Lord over it all. Life itself cannot exist without Jesus.
John 1:9- “…they didn’t recognize Him…”- They didn’t know who He was. It would be like Jeff Bezos walking into Amazon and no one knowing who he is. Because Jesus is the Creator. He spoke it all into being. They didn’t even recognize the Creator of their world; the Creator of their bodies? My question is this: do you recognize Him? Do you recognize that He is doing something in your life right this moment?
I don’t know your story. As I mentioned earlier, you might be where I was at one point- skeptical but interested; curious. You’ve got questions. You’re not sure exactly what to beleive; you’re trying to figure it out. Or maybe you have been burned by the church, and you are trying to reconcile the God of the Bible with people who claim to represent this God, but they hurt you. If that’s you story, I am so sorry that happened to you. Maybe you have addictions, anxiety, depression. Maybe you have shame. I was in your shoes. I felt so far from God- I did not know Him.
I don’t know your story. But here’s what I do know: God is extending an invitation to you today- to enter His story. History is His story! You can enter His story- you can play the part He has created you to play. That you can be with Him for all of eternity. He created you. He died for you; because He couldn’t stand the thought of eternity without you.
At a certain point, we either accept that Jesus is who He says He is, or we don’t. At a certain point you accept that you are part of a story that is bigger than you. At a certain point, you allow that truth to set you free, or you stay bound by the lies the enemy has taught you.
Let me tell you one more thing the Bible says: when we put our faith in Jesus, we become a new creation in Christ. Did you get that? A new creation in Christ! The bara work of God continues today- He does it in the hearts and lives of men and women just like you and me. He is still creating new things. He gives us a new heart when we give our lives to Him. I do not have scientific evidence for this, but I do have lots of evidence in my own life. Because there was a time where I was lost, and then I was found. I felt so lonely, and so hopeless. My family was living in a trailer park and I remember thinking “Is this all there is? Is this what I have to look forward to?” I tried all the things the world said would make it better, and they didn’t.
But then someone told me the same thing I am sharing today: that I could be a new creation- that God loves me just as I am. He can do that work in my life if I let Him. And I was so amazed that God would just love me like that. His name is Jesus. If you put your faith in Him today, He will be that God for you. He will bring clarity and purpose to your life. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. He has a place for you in Heaven, and He wants you to be there with Him.
I pray that if that’s you, that you will If you have never put your faith in Jesus, I don’t want you to miss it. You can do that right now. You can just say “Jesus, I don’t know all the right words to say. What I know is that I want You. I want to follow You and believe what Your word says. So help me to do that. Give me a new life- let me be a new creation in You.”
The Bible says that when we do that, God is faithful to do His part.
He can create a new creation in you today.
(This is a manuscript from Ben’s message at Christ the Rock Church from Sunday, April 25th, 2021. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iOdx0ZAKCk)
