In our hearts, we pray in Jesus’ name. All right, I said when we started the Genesis studies that at some point we would come to look at the question of creation and evolution. And I said I wouldn’t spend a lot of time on the particular question of evolution. Looks like I will spend a little bit more time than I planned, but I don’t think it will be an overabundance of it. Where we’re going in this section of the studies is to look at the doctrine of creation and then address the question of evolution. We will spend a couple of weeks in that. But more largely, what we want to do is get a grip on the doctrine of creation as it’s presented in Scripture.
Today, what I’d like to do is the broadest introduction to it, and that is to sketch out the importance of Genesis 1 and 2, or creation, in the rest of Scripture. Let’s just get a feel for how the rest of the biblical writers look at this doctrine of creation or how they look at Genesis 1 and 2. In particular, do they consider it a historic event or do they consider this some kind of poetic narrative that is just to be understood figuratively or something like that? So that’s kind of the broad scope of what we’ll look at today.
Thoughts on the Genre or the Purpose and the Historicity of Genesis 1 and 2
First of all, I think some thoughts on the genre or the purpose and the historicity of Genesis 1 and 2. It has often been argued—and I think someone brought that up in here in a question one time that they’ve heard it as well—argued that Genesis 1 and 2 is poetry and therefore not to be understood as historic narrative, but just figurative, symbolic language intended to teach some truths about God, but not intended to teach us anything about how God created the world.
Well, first of all, it’s difficult to deny that there is some symbolism, in fact, plenty of symbolism, in Genesis 1 and 2 from the very beginning. Light and darkness becomes a symbol through the rest of Scripture. Adam himself is a symbol, a type of Jesus Christ. The day-night cycle becomes symbolic. The seventh day in particular is very symbolic, symbolic of God’s rest. It’s a theme that runs all through Scripture. The Garden of Eden is symbolic and has symbolic significance all the way through to the Book of Revelation. The two trees in the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that has symbolic value. The serpent itself is symbolic of Satan. The nakedness and being clothed of Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 2, that has symbolic significance later. The coats of leaves and the coats of skin, that has symbolic significance later on. Man himself has symbolic significance as the image of God. There’s plenty of imagery and symbolism going on in Genesis 1 and 2; there’s no denying it.
But, and here’s the catch, two things. One, this is not figurative language as such. This is not poetic imagery. These are types. This is not, oh, what should we say? “Under his wings you will trust.” There’s symbolism. There’s figurative language. Just because there’s symbolism involved does not mean it’s symbolic or figurative language or poetic imagery as such. So number one, it’s not poetic imagery as such. And two, that does not render these symbols as unhistorical. The very nature of typology in Scripture—whether it’s Adam and Christ or the priest and Christ or the sacrifice and Christ and so on—the very nature of typology in Scripture is that we have a historic person or event or institution that stands as a type or a foreshadowing of another historical realization of that in a grander way in Jesus Christ.
So you have the exodus, an actual event, and that is symbolic or a type of the exodus or the deliverance that we have in Christ. You have David, who is a historic person, Abraham, who’s a historic person, and yet they are types of another historical reality that comes about in Jesus. So that’s the very nature of typology. The symbolism is built into the history, and the whole history of Israel, in a broad sense, was designed by God to be that. It doesn’t deny the history of it. It stands in its historic state as a picture of what will come.
And that’s what we have in Genesis 1 and 2. This is not poetry like you find in the Psalms or even in some sections of the prophets. Literarily, in Genesis 1, we have all the marks of a historic narrative. It’s called the waw consecutive in the Hebrew. You have the conjunction “and” with a verb in the imperfect tense. And God saw, and God said, and God saw, and God said, and God saw, and God said. You have the historic narrative running through. That’s the mark of a historical narrative. And we find it all through the Old Testament. This reads no differently from that.
You have something even more explicit than that in Genesis chapter 2, verse 4: “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth.” And that becomes a signal throughout the book of Genesis of the historical narrative that’s being tracked out. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth. This is what’s produced by the heavens and the earth, Genesis 2. Then you get to Genesis 5: “These are the book of the generations of Adam,” and you have his descendants. And later you have Abraham, and you have Terah, and you have others as well. It’s a historical narrative and has all the marks of it.
God then, we are led to believe in Genesis 1 and 2, created not just the world itself, but with that he created time and history. This is the beginning of it. That’s what “in the beginning” is intended to signify. But not just those kind of verbal hints and evidences of a historical narrative. You have it conceptually as well in the Genesis narrative. You have Genesis 1 to 3, where you have the beginning of the universe. It had a beginning, but then that universe had a purpose and it narrows down to the creation of man. And that narrative expands then through the rest of Genesis and through the rest of biblical history and all of history.
All of the rest of the Bible and all of the rest of history builds on this narrative, this historical narrative that we have in Genesis 1 and 2. You have Adam and Eve, and then you have Cain and Seth and the flood, and you have Babel, and you have Abraham, and you have Israel and the nation, and you have David the king, and then you have the kings, and you have the exile, and finally you have the return from the exile, and you have the nation of Israel living under Roman rule finally, and then you have Jesus. And then after Jesus, you have the expansion of the gospel through the book of Acts. All through the Bible, it rests on this historical narrative of Genesis 1 and 2.
So you’ll hear sometimes that the Bible—it goes something like this: “The Bible is not a textbook of science. It is not intending to tell us how God created the world. It’s just intending to tell us that he made the world.” Now there’s something inherently misleading about that whole claim. Of course, the Bible is not a textbook of science. It’s not a cookbook either, and it’s not a textbook for health, and so on. But it does, along the way, give us teachings that fall into those various slots. And in Genesis 1 and 2, it does tell us something of how God created the heavens and the earth. He spoke. He said, “Let there be,” and there was. And he commanded, and things happened.
So the purpose of Genesis 1 and 2—you don’t let someone push you between the two alternatives. It’s a false dilemma to say that it’s not history, it’s theology. It’s both. And one of the distinctives of the Christian religion is that it is grounded in history, all of its theology grounded in history. We have certain historical claims, which if you could disprove, you’d disprove the whole thing. That’s one of the distinctives of Christianity. Other religions are not always like that. Buddhism, even Islam—if you could disprove some of the historic claims about Muhammad or some of it, it wouldn’t ultimately change the religious system. But in Christianity, it’s built on history and the history itself is intended to teach us theology. The same when we come to the incarnation of Jesus, a historical claim that is essential to the gospel. The crucifixion of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus—all of these are historic claims, and it begins back here in Genesis chapter 1, where the history is intended to teach theology.
So, in Genesis 1 and 2, it purports to be history. It is an appropriate and necessary introduction to history. It has to begin somewhere. Let’s begin at the beginning. It’s referred to—and here’s what we’ll do the rest of the time—it’s referred to and quoted throughout the rest of the Bible as a historical event. And fourth, the historic narrative provides a structure and a foundation for all of the rest of redemptive history. We’re dealing with an essential, a foundational matter, not only in terms of history, but because of that in terms of theology as well.
A Glance Through the Rest of the Bible
All right, now what I want to do the rest of the time then—that’s just glancing at Genesis 1 and 2. Now let’s look at the rest of the Bible. We obviously can’t exhaust this, but let’s take a glance through the rest of the Bible to see how the later biblical writers pick up Genesis 1 and 2, or the creation event, and learn from them how they refer to it.
First of all, just by way of affirmation of Genesis 1 and 2, let’s look at a couple, and why don’t you turn with me to some of these. Psalm 24. Psalm 24, verses one and two: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” All right, there’s the claim that God is God over all. It’s all his. Why is it his? Verse two: “Because he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” Now there’s poetry, there’s poetic imagery, but clearly what he is saying is that God is sovereign over all because he made all. It’s his. He made it, it belongs to him, he’s Lord over it all because he’s the one who made it. So this is the ground of God’s sovereignty in the world. He’s the owner. And he’s the owner because he’s the creator.
Look at Psalm 33. Here again is a poetic interpretation, or poetic rendering better, of Genesis 1. Psalm 33, beginning at verse six: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.” That’s Genesis 1. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts. He gathers the waters of the seas as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” Why? “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” Now that is simply a reference back to Genesis chapter 1. He spoke and there were the heavens and the earth. He gathered the waters together, separated the land from the waters, the dry ground from the waters—that’s Genesis 1, and here he has it. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap, puts the deeps into their storehouses. It’s a poetic rendering of Genesis chapter 1.
So again, what we find here in terms of the psalmist—and this psalm, I think, is one that does not have a title; it’s presumed to be David, well, don’t need to get into that—but the psalmist here obviously takes Genesis 1 at its face value. Now, what you’ll see in some of this, which we need to take away from these kinds of passages, is that if someone says the Genesis narrative is not to be understood as historic narrative, our first response needs to be: “Okay, well, it seems to be, and then two, and in fact, later inspired writers take it that way as well, so I think I’ll follow their opinion. I think I’ll be safe with that.”
John chapter 1, we have another. John chapter 1, verses 1 to 3. Very familiar passage, and here it specifies that the creation was the work of God the Son, or His involvement in it. John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” So the emphasis here is on the totality of his creative work. Everything that was made was made by him. If it exists and it’s not God, God made it. God made everything that is.
We have the same, if you’d like to write it down, Colossians chapter 1, verse 16 affirms the very same thing. We have in Acts chapter 17, verse 24, Paul opens up his message to men on Mars Hill in Athens with “God who made the world and everything in it.” That’s the God we’re talking about. The God who made the world and everything in it. It is obviously a reference back to Genesis chapter 1. Also in Acts chapter 14, verse 15, Paul says that idolatry is unworthy of the creator simply because it fails to recognize this distinction that all that is, is because he created it. He made it all.
One that you should look at, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 3. Here we have again a reference back to Genesis chapter 1. And again, it takes Genesis 1 at its face value. Hebrews 11:3: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” All right, first of all, the first part of the verse: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.” It has to be by faith because we weren’t there. We have it on God’s word that he did it, and so by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. And here’s the reference now to Genesis 1: “so that what is seen,” that is visible things, “were not made of things that are visible.” That is, they were made by the command of God. So again, we have what we’ve seen before, the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, creation out of nothing. God spoke and there it was. The reference is Genesis 1:1 here in Hebrews 11, and he takes it clearly at face value.
Now there are just countless other passages like this that affirm that God was the creator. We don’t have to belabor this any longer. The biblical writers unanimously understand creation as a historical event, not a non-historical myth. When people want to claim that, what needs to come to mind is that is not the way the later inspired writers of Scripture understand it.
The Ground for Praise
A little more narrowly now, not just—let’s look at the biblical writers and how they refer to Genesis 1 and 2. And they refer to it not just to affirm it, but they refer to it as the ground of praise. I want to spend some time here. Look at Psalm 136. They refer to the events of Genesis 1 and 2 as ground for praise.
Psalm 136. Now verses one to three here begin this threefold doxology for God’s goodness and greatness. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Now beginning with verse four, he enumerates the reasons for praise, and that is God’s goodness and his greatness. Why should we praise God? Well, because his steadfast love endures forever. But let’s enumerate some others. “To him alone who does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
Okay, you get the feeling here that this is an antiphonal psalm. You have one choir maybe singing the first half of the verse and the other choirs echoing back with the second half of the verse with that refrain. But we’re looking here now at the first half of these verses. Verse five: “To him who by understanding made the heavens.” Verse six: “To him who spread out the earth above the waters.” Verse seven: “To him who made great lights, the sun to rule over the day, the moon and the stars to rule over the night.” Now that is simply a reference back to Genesis 1. And here he is saying this is ground for praise because this God is the one who can do such great wonders.
Verses 10 and following, then he begins to enumerate God’s great acts of goodness in later history for his people Israel: “To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, brought Israel out from among them with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, to him who divided the Red Sea and made Israel pass through the midst of it, but overthrew Pharaoh, to him who led the people through the wilderness.” All of this here we have—the acts of God in Genesis 1 understood as historical and in fact just as his later redemptive acts on behalf of Israel in verses 4 and following, then verses 10 and following. So he views here Genesis 1 not only as historical, but he views it then as ground for praise. Give thanks to the Lord, praise the Lord. Why? Because he made the world and he made Israel. And that’s a common theme throughout the Psalms. So these acts of God are understood as ground for praise.
Look over at Psalm 104. Here we have a psalm of praise to the Creator. This is a common theme in the Psalter, praising God who created the world. This psalm is unique among them because the entire psalm seems to be structured around the six days of creation week in Genesis chapter 1. Let’s read through it quickly and note how it’s echoing or giving a poetic rendering of Genesis 1.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty.” There’s the controlling idea of what follows. And now what we have is an enumeration of what makes—why is God so great? Verse two: “covering yourself with light as with a garment.” That’s day one, “Let there be light.” Verse 2b, and the following verses, here we have day two. You remember in day two of creation week we saw, “Let there be an expanse, let it separate the waters,” and so on. Notice how that’s echoed here. The last part of verse two: “stretching out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers as flaming fire. He sets the earth on its foundation so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took flight.” There’s a poetic rendering of Genesis chapter 1, day 2 of Creation Week.
Then verse 8, here we have the first part of day 3 of creation where God said, “Let the dry land appear, let the waters be gathered together.” Here’s how the psalmist renders it: “The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst,” and so on.
So here we have day three, but now verse 11 begins the rest of day three with the creation of the vegetable world and trees. Beginning verse 11: “beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth fruit from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man’s heart. The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers,” and so on.
So there’s day three again with the creation of the vegetation. Beginning with verse 19, we have a reference to day four creation, that’s Genesis 1:14 and following, with the creation of the hosts of heaven, the luminaries in the heavens as timekeepers. Remember he created the moon and the stars for the seasons and so on. Here he says, verse 19: “He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.” Fascinating expression, isn’t it? The lions—can you see them praying before they eat? “Thank you, Lord, for this food.” They don’t quite do that, but ultimately they are seeking it from God because he’s the provider of it. “When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work and to his labor until evening.”
Now verse 24 then pauses for praise. And this is the focal point of the psalm: “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” And then verse 25, he begins again to take up creation week here, day five. Verse 25: “Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan,” this great sea creature, “which you formed to play in it.”
And then verse 27 begins day six, where we have the creation of animals and man and food that was appointed for all: “These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.” That is simply a poetic rendering of day six.
But you can see then that he takes it at face value. But our point here is not just that he takes it as historic, but that because it is an actual event, God then is praiseworthy for it. And so verses 31 and following, we have a prayer for the glory of God: “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke,” and so on. So again, this is understood both as historic event and as then, therefore, the ground of praise. Creation marks the goodness and the greatness of God.
Now in terms of our overall question: Genesis 1 and 2 and the rest of Scripture. Is this legitimate praise? Or is it just pretending? Of course the question answers itself, but the psalmist is not mistaken. He takes the Genesis narrative at its face value and sees in it ground for praise of God. More familiarly, Psalm 19, verse 1—a verse I think probably all of you are familiar with—Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” That is, you look at the created order in its majesty, in its greatness, and in its intricacies, and its balance, and what you see is the greatness, and the power, and the might, and the wisdom of the one who made it. Do the heavens then declare the glory of God or not? Is it just an accident?
Well, we have the same if you’d like to jot it down. Again, you’re familiar with it. Romans chapter 1: creation displays the glory of God. The human heart and its rebellion suppresses it, but yet there it is. We ought to praise God and we ought to bow before him because he is the one who made everything. And this comes to a climax in Revelation chapter 4, verse 11, a marvelous passage where the rulers of the world stand around the throne of God. You have these angelic rulers as kings on thrones themselves with their own dominions and realms of authority. And yet all of them bowing before the God who is on the throne, separated from them by this majestic sea and all of this wonderful imagery. And they bow before him in Revelation 4:11: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Here is the maker of all things, and because he is the maker of all things, all of the created order ought to bow; it owes him reverence and praise.
The Ground for Trusting God
All right, so creation in the other biblical writers is not only considered a historic event, it’s considered, therefore, the ground of praise. And then the biblical writers go further. It’s not only the ground for praise of God, it becomes in the biblical writers the ground for trusting God. If they follow the logic of it, if he is the God who created everything that is and is therefore Lord over it all, well, then this is a God who surely can keep his word. Nothing will ever interfere with his purposes. You can trust him. And that’s the logic that we have often in the biblical writers.
Most famous of this is Job chapter 38. Let’s look at that. I’m going to take the time to go through this. Job 38—you remember the problem here that Job is facing? He is suffering. His so-called friends are saying that it’s because you’ve sinned greatly. Job evidently agrees with their theology, but it doesn’t fit with him. “I haven’t sinned. I don’t deserve this suffering. I’ve been faithful.” And it creates this quandary in Job’s own mind. And so he begins to question God. “This isn’t fair. This isn’t right. This shouldn’t be that way.”
When we come to Job 38, after everyone has had their say, including Job, now God speaks. He comes on the scene. Verse 1, Job 38:1: “The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.'” And here he begins to ask questions: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.”
Now notice in the following verses too how God describes his creative work as intelligent design. Verse 5: “Who determined its measurements—surely you know! You’ve been complaining against me; you must have superior knowledge. Who determined the measurement? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
And now the seas. Verse 8: “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?”
Then with verse 12, we have the day-night cycle: “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place? Are you the one that makes the day-night cycle?”
Verse 16, again, the seas: “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” And now verse 18, the earth again: “Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.”
Verse 22, now we have the weather: “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass? Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?”
And now verse 31, he turns to talk about the stars and the planets: “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their seasons, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?”
And then again, the weather: “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of water may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?”
Verse 39, the animal world again in the food cycle: “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?”
Chapter 39, verse one, again, we have the animal world: “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? Who has let the wild donkey go free? Verse nine: Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Verse 19: Do you give the horse its might? Verse 26: Is it by your understanding the hawk soars? The eagle, verse 27,” and so on.
So we get to chapter 40, and God now calls for Job to speak. Okay, now, Job, it’s your turn. And Job puts his hand over his mouth and said, “I’ve talked too much already.” So beginning in verse six, God speaks further, and he starts talking about these great sea creatures, behemoth and leviathan, that he has made. Who did that? Chapter 42, verses one and following, Job again confesses, “I talk too much.”
And so God himself then takes credit for the entire created order, not only its existence, but its functioning in its order all over the world and all over the animal kingdom as well. Ordering of it all is God’s doing. The creating of it is God’s doing. And the whole thrust of all of this is: “Job, should you really be questioning me?” The ground of trust is found—not entirely, there are other grounds of trust too—the ground of trust ultimately is found in God as Creator and as Lord over all of his creation. In Job, there’s nothing naturalistic about the created order, there’s nothing random, there’s nothing unguided about it. It is all the workings of God, even to the lions seeking their food from God. God being Lord over all of the created order, from beginning and throughout, he is the God who rules over it all. And that then, for Job, he learned is the ground for trust. “If he’s this kind of God, I shouldn’t be questioning him. I owe him my trust.” Wonderful message.
Psalm 121, familiar song: “I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? Verse 2: My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Here you have a pilgrim on his way to Mount Zion for a festive worship at one of their great festivals. He’s making his way there. It’s a dangerous walk. It’s up a mountain. There’s brigands. There’s wild animals. And he’s wanting to know, where is my help coming from as I go on this trek? Answer: Help comes from the Lord. Why is he a great help? Oh, he’s the maker of heaven and earth. He can help. You see the logic of it? It’s a ground for trust.
We have this in a massive way in Isaiah chapter 40. We don’t have time to go there. I’ll just read you one of the passages. Isaiah 40, verses 12 and following: “Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.” Why do you say—here’s the application, God is Creator, now is the application—”Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” Well, here we have a God who is just this majestic, transcendent God who made the entire created order. And Israel, don’t you think you owe him your trust? Don’t you think such a God can be trusted?
Well, we find the same logic in Acts chapter 4 in the prayer of the early church when they’re threatened with persecution. They appeal to God, the sovereign who has created the world and who directs all of history according to his sovereign purpose. My purpose in all of this is to show that the entire Bible asserts and affirms the realities, the truth of Genesis 1 and 2, and then it builds on it as ground for praise and ground for trust in God.
Let me close with just, I think, a helpful quote from Benjamin Warfield. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s not Warfield, that’s Moses. But Warfield cites it. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That is the first sentence in the Christian revelation, that God alone is the first and the last, who changes not, that all that exists is the work of his hands and depends on his power for both its existence and its continuance in existence. This is the unvarying teaching of the whole Bible. It is part of the very essence of Christianity, therefore, that the explanation of the universe is found in God, and its fundamental word is, accordingly, creation.”
All right, that was a quick whirlwind trip. Any questions? Quickly. All right, marvelous theme. Pastor Greg, would you dismiss us in prayer, please?