Key Verse: 1:31a
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
1. God fills our emptiness.
2. Jesus is our true rest.
3. God tells us we are good.
There are so many arguments about Genesis chapter 1 that many pastors skip giving a message about it. However, the creation narrative is important because it is the foundation of the gospel. The message of the gospel contains four parts: First, God created paradise; second, human beings lost paradise through our sins; third, Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins and rose again to give us eternal life; and fourth, God will restore paradise when he recreates the heavens and the earth. For those who believe that the universe formed by random forces, there is nothing to define sin, and no purpose for salvation. But for Christians, Genesis 1 is vitally important because it is foundational to the gospel.
C.S. Lewis wrote in his famous book, Mere Christianity, “If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world”. He had been an atheist, and this realization led him to seek God. Today we are living in the modern world approximately 3,500 years after Genesis was written. Therefore, we need to understand why Genesis chapter 1 was written and its original context in addition to its application for us today. We come to Genesis with our modern presuppositions based on scientific questions. The question everyone has is “How?” What method did God use to create the heavens and the earth? – short days or long days? We want to compare it with the methods that we observe in science. But Genesis is not intended to answer the question “How”; it is intended to the answer the question “Why?”, and also the question “Who?” Galileo said, “Science shows how the heavens go; the Bible shows how to go to heaven.” We could more specifically say that God has revealed the whys and left the hows for us to discover. But instead of imposing or modern questions, we need to hear the creation narrative as it was originally intended to be understood.
According to the ESV Study Bible, Genesis 1 was originally written as a short narrative of God’s work of creation to enable a community of nomadic shepherds in the ancient Sinai desert to celebrate the boundless creative goodness of the Creator. Author Sidney Greidanus defines the genre of Genesis as “redemptive-historical narrative” (Preaching Christ From Genesis, p. 24). This means that it is a story about God’s creation in history which is shaped in a literary framework to tell the more important story of redemption. Tim Keller also defines the genre of Genesis chapter 1 as a song (The Song of Creation), because its use of repetition is more like a song than like a journal or a chronicle. Nevertheless, Genesis 1 is true; it is not just a myth or folk tale. The more I study different perspectives on Genesis 1, the more I realize that this short page of text is very complex. For example, it contains a polemical argument against the pagan culture in Egypt where the Israelites grew up, by making vague references to the different kinds of stars, plants, and animals, rather than using the proper names of things in nature that were worshipped as Gods in Egypt. Instead, God’s name is listed 35 times in Hebrew, a clear answer to the question “Who created the heavens and the earth?”.
This passage also uses the framework of the seven day Sabbath so that the original Hebrew audience could relate it to their own schedule of work and rest. Therefore, many scholars believe that the seven days are metaphorical. Beyond the original author, Moses, writing to his original audience, the ancient Israelites, Genesis chapter one has a larger author, God, and a larger audience, the entire human race. But the message of Genesis 1 is also very simple so that even a child can understand. I have found three points in this chapter that are foundational. First, the almighty God created the heavens and earth and dispelled the darkness and emptiness, so we don’t need to be afraid as we follow our life’s journey. Second, God who created with his powerful word continues to communicate and make a relationship with us today, especially he tells us that we are good. And Third, God who rested on the seventh day is the one who gives us true rest for our souls. Beyond its original context, the message of Genesis 1 extends to people of all times and places to teach us these reasons why God created the world. Let’s think about each of these three reasons in detail.
First, God fills our emptiness. (1:1-2)
Let’s read verses Genesis 1:1-2 together, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 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.” Though man was not yet created and had not yet sinned, verse two foreshadows the theme of sin and restoration in the rest of the Bible. The Hebrew word “formless” is the same word translated as “wilderness” in the story of the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness. It is not a state of nothingness, but a state of disarray, confusion, and danger. This was the precarious state of things before God completed his creation. Because of our sins, each of us has a sense of emptiness and darkness in our hearts. There is the wilderness of uncontrollable sinful desires. There is the emptiness of broken relationships with God and others. There is the darkness of guilt that we do not measure up to the standards of ourselves or others, especially God. Darkness harbors fear about the world around us. These days many have fears of terrorism and economic collapse. Darkness ultimately leads to despair and condemnation.
In addition to foreshadowing the problem of sin, verses 1-2 also show us God is not an impersonal force. The Hebrew verb “hovering” is only used for a mother bird hovering to protect her young. This verb expresses the love and care which God has for his creation, like a mother bird that cares for her baby birds. Almighty God watches over us in our sinful and fearful situation. He has great concern for us, and as we can see in the rest of the chapter, God is getting ready to do a great work of transformation. Out of the formlessness, emptiness, and darkness, God makes order, meaning, and brightness. We must realize that the darkness of fear and hopelessness is not the life that God created us to live. This condition is the result of our sins, but God does not want it to stay that way. Just knowing about God is not enough to fill our empty hearts. St. Augustine said that there is a God-sized hole in every person’s heart. We need to meet God personally and experience his fullness of joy and meaning in our lives.
Second, Jesus is our true rest. (2:1-3)
Let’s read Genesis 2:1-3 together, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing: so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Analogous to the Sabbath schedule that the Israelites were familiar with, God worked for six days and rested on the seventh. Even in the modern world, we have an expression, “T.G.I.F. – Thank God it’s Friday,” which we say as we look forward to a fun and restful weekend. A child in kindergarten Bible class said, “On the seventh day, God took a nap!” However, God does not get tired since he is omnipotent. But there is more to the meaning of rest. It is to be so completely satisfied with your work that you want to sit back and enjoy it. The word Sabbath means a deep rest and a deep peace, a state of wholeness in every dimension of life. We need many kinds of rest. We need physical rest to restore our physical energy. We need vacations to get away from the daily rat-race to relax, unwind, enjoy time with our families and friends, and just have fun. But God also calls us to a deeper spiritual rest for our souls. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus is the source of deep rest that we need. He came to give true rest for our souls.
One way that Jesus gives us spiritual rest is by lifting away the heavy burden of our sin and guilt. Another way that Jesus gives us spiritual rest is by freeing us from legalism so that we can know that Jesus who saved us said “it is finished”. Therefore even our work is an expression of thanks and praise; it is not intended to earn merit with God. In the movie, Chariots of Fire, there were two runners racing for the Gold Medal. Eric Liddell, a Christian, refused to run on the Sabbath day because he valued the principle of rest more highly than achieving the Gold medal. The other runner, Harold Abrahams, said before a sprinting event, “I’ve got ten seconds to justify my existence.” Abrahams was racing to prove his value as a human being. Liddell said, “God made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure.” (Keller, p.42) Abrahams was tired even when he rested, but Liddell rested even when he was running. Most of us work hard trying to prove ourselves to convince God, others, and ourselves that we are good people. That work never ends unless we rest in the gospel. At the end of his redemptive work on the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished”. Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the life we should have died. When we rest in Jesus’ finished work, we can be sure that God is satisfied with us, and we can be satisfied with ourselves also. We can truly rest when we deeply know that God loves us and our sins have been forgiven.
Third, God tells us we are good. (1:27-31)
Let’s read Genesis 1:31a, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Looking over the entire chapter, after each thing that God made, his assessment was that it was good. But after God made man and woman, his assessment was that it was very good. Human beings are the crown of God’s creation. He chose us to be the last and best part of his creation. In fact, the rest of the creation is merely a background, and each of us are the star actors and actresses. Because of our sins, we know that we are not good. But Jesus makes us good through his work of redemption. At Jesus’ baptism, God said in a voice from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). The message of the gospel is that God’s recognition of Jesus is given to us by his grace. We did not earn this merit and value before God, but Jesus earned it on our behalf and chose to give it to us at the cost of his dying on the cross. In a video series on Authentic Manhood, Pastor Robert Lewis said that every son needs to hear his father tell him, “I love you. I’m proud of you. You are good at…” This truth applies to daughters as well. Dr. Ben Toh told the story of a mother who always told her son, “You are the reason for all of my trouble”. The son graduated from medical school with honors to try to earn her favor, but finally he committed suicide, leaving her a note that her trouble was over. Many problems result from not believing that we are loved and that God regards us as very good. Especially when we fail, we need to know that God sees us as very good. Knowing that we are good in God’s sight is the key to true happiness and fulfillment.
Today we thought about the creation narrative with a redemptive point of view. This is the point of view from which it was written both in the short term as Moses wrote to give hope and encouragement to the fearful and uncertain Israelites who were passing through the wilderness to enter the Promised Land, and also in the long term as God’s creation is foundational to the gospel message, as we pass through the wilderness of our sins, find true rest in Jesus, and enter the paradise that Jesus has restored. All of this background gets us to the place where we can know that God regards us as being very good.
Works Cited:
Greidanus, S. (2007). Preaching Christ From Genesis. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans.
Keller, T. (2011). King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus. New York: Dutton.
Study Questions:
1. Intro: How many times is God’s name mentioned in this passage and what do we learn from this? Who was the original audience of this passage? Who is the ultimate audience of this passage? Who was the assumed author of this passage? Who is the ultimate author of this passage? Why do you think this passage was written? What context was it written in? Do you see evidence of a polemic against pagan gods of nature in this passage? How does the repetition in this passage resemble a song?
2. What was the state of things before God spoke? (Gn1:2) Define “formless”, “empty”, and “dark”. How do these words foreshadow man’s fall into sin. Do these words describe how you feel or how you once felt? How does God restore this situation in the following verses? What instrument did God use to prepare the earth for man’s habitation? How do words introduce a relationship? How did Jesus become the full expression of God’s communication? (Jn1:14)
3. How many days are mentioned in this passage? In what way would the Israelites have been familiar with the seven day framework? (Ex.20:8-11) What did God do on the seventh day? (Gn.2:1-3) How can we have true rest? (Heb.4:1-12)
4. What does it mean that we are made in God’s image? (1:27) What is man’s purpose? (1:28) How did God feel about creating man and woman? (1:31) How is this different than his feeling about the things he made on the first six days? Who can really and completely say that they are very good? How does Jesus make you “very good”?
