Creation Day 2
Genesis 1:6-8
This is message number six in our look at Genesis chapter 1 in the study of origins. Some people have asked me, "Are you going to do the entire book of Genesis?" And the answer is no. Others have asked me, "How many messages will there be?" And the answer is I don't know at this particular point. As you might imagine we're just taking what comes in the text. I was also asked tonight if I had preached on this before, and the answer to that is no. This is the first time I've really gone verse by verse through the account of creation. Obviously I've studied it through the years and, of course, writing the notes for the Study Bible as well, going into it in some depth, but this is the first time for me, so I'm sharing with you as I go. And that's the richest way to do it actually.
Now as we come to Genesis chapter 1, we come to that now very familiar verse to us, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." And that answers the question of origins. The heavens and the earth which was the Jewish phrase substituting for the absence of a word for universe by which they described the universe and it answers the question of origins, "In the beginning God created the universe."
Now we've been adding to that as we've been working our way in to the text of Genesis a little bit. And let me sum up what the Word of God in Genesis teaches about origins. It is really unmistakable, it is plain language. There is an inescapable account here in Genesis telling us about the origin of the universe. And summing it up, this is what it says. The eternal God at some point in the past created out of nothing without preexisting material the universe as it is now in six solar days. He capped His creation on the sixth day by creating man in His own image, that is intelligent, with personality, with self-consciousness, and cognition, or the ability to think and reason. This creation occurred in six days, the seventh day it was over and God rested from creating. It occurred about 6000 years ago and the entire creation was mature and aged at the instant of its creation.
At the time of creation death did not exist. In fact, no corrupting influence of any kind existed, and that's why God looked at His creation and said it is very good. There was no death, there was no corrupting influence. Therefore there couldn't have been any animals dying, any plants dying. There couldn't have been any kind of natural selection process going on. There couldn't have been any survival of the fittest because everything survived in that perfect creation. Death and corruption entered the creation for the first time when Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God, then came death and then came corruption. But that is described in chapter 3 and has nothing to do with the six days of creation.
Later on after the Fall, the surface of the now cursed earth was reshaped drastically by a worldwide Flood that was so deep that it completely covered the mountains all over the face of the earth. It was that cataclysmic world Flood that drastically reshaped the surface of the earth which also deposited fossil beds all over the globe. That Flood wiped out all humanity with the exception of eight people and the animals in Noah's ark, they alone were the survivors.
Now that is the Genesis record of origins...creation, the Fall, the Flood, reshaping cataclysmicly the face of the now corrupted cursed earth. Great judgment falls on all of humanity so that only eight survive. All of us then are the descendant of those eight...Noah, his three sons, Noah's wife and their wives, that is the Genesis record.
And let me say something to you that maybe you can just kind of file in your permanently useful file. Science is not a hermeneutic for interpreting Genesis...or for that matter for interpreting any other portion of Scripture. Science is not a hermeneutic. It is not a principle of interpretation. The Bible does not bow to science. The accuracy of the Genesis text is no different than the accuracy of any other portion of Scripture. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All Scripture is God-breathed. All Scripture comes not by any private interpretation but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus summed it up when He said, "Thy Word is truth." The Bible is true whether you're talking about revelation and eschatological prophecy or whether you're talking about Genesis and historic origins. The Bible is true whether you're talking about the history of Israel or the history of the Canaanites. The Bible is true whether you're talking about salvation or sanctification, whether you're talking about the life of Jesus or the theology of Jesus. Whatever the Bible says is absolutely true. And the Bible is as true in Genesis as it is anywhere else, and everywhere else.
Furthermore, since origins are not repeatable, they are outside the realm of science. Since origins were not observable, since there was only one there and that was God, no one can comment on origins but God. So what you have in Genesis is the only and accurate first-hand eye-witness account of origins by the creator Himself.
Now in spite of that very clear-cut approach to the Word of God, many people, including Christians, have turned to science, turned to scientists who speak authoritatively on Genesis. In fact, there are theologians, many of them, Bible commentators, pastors, well-known popular pastors and preachers, some of whom you would even know who deny the Genesis account. They flatly deny the Genesis account because they accept evolutionary science to one degree or another. I've said this to you all the way along and I'll repeat it again without going in to all the verification...science has proven nothing that negates the Genesis record. In fact, the Genesis record is what answers the mysteries of science. But sadly Christians and Christian theologians, Bible commentators, Christian college professors as well as pastors and teachers have denied the Genesis account, being intimidated by science.
Now there is one book, there is one book that comments on Genesis of great note...one book that I would say is absolutely authoritative and it's the only authoritative book...one true, infallible, inerrant, authoritative commentary that has been written on Genesis...one unarguable divine book, one heavenly inspired commentary on Genesis that speaks with absolute authority, is to be unchallenged in its truthfulness. And frankly, for me this book forever settles the issue of the accuracy of Genesis.
What book is it? It's the New Testament...it's the New Testament. It was not written by any scientist and not even by a creation scientist. It was not written by theologians or a theologian. It was written by simple men who were given the Word to write by God Himself so that the creator is the author. You have in Genesis the account of the creation. You have in the New Testament the creator's inspired commentary on the Genesis record. if you go to the New Testament you will find there is an affirmation there of six-day creation. There is an affirmation of divine fiat, or instantaneous creation. There is an affirmation of man being made in the image of God. An affirmation of Adam being created and then Eve. There is an affirmation of the Fall there in very specific terms. There is an affirmation of the Flood there in very specific terms. There is an affirmation of Noah and the surviving family of Noah. All of the Genesis record is very carefully referred to by the inspired New Testament.
Hubert Thomas, in his French book on Genesis 1 to 11 in the introduction, writes this, "In effect, three main points are demonstrated by reading the list we provide. These three points confirm that the New Testament can in no case whatsoever be appealed to in order to sustain any sort of evolutionary theory."
He's absolutely right, you can't find anything about evolution in Genesis, it's not there. You can't find it anywhere in the Old Testament and you can't find anywhere in the New Testament where commenting on Genesis somebody casts it into an evolutionary light or into the light of legend or fantasy or some kind of poetic license.
And then Thomas goes on to give three reasons. "First, without exception references to creation and especially the citations of Genesis 1 to 11 point to historical events. They are no different than the historical death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Golgotha. As far as the New Testament is concerned, creation ex nihilo...that is out of nothing...and the creation of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, as far as the New Testament is concerned there is no legend and no parable. All deal with persons and events of historical and universal significance."
"Secondly," writes Thomas, "without exception creation is always mentioned as a unique event which took place at a particular moment in past time." It's not something that's going on all the time, as is the theory of evolution. He further says, "Creation took place, it was finished. Events occurred which corrupted the world and now it awaits a new creation which will take place in the future at a given moment."
"Thirdly," Thomas says, "recitations of creation given in Genesis 1 to 3 are considered in the New Testament to be literally true, historical and of surpassing importance. The New Testament doctrine based on these citations, out of Genesis 1 to 3, would be without any validity and even erroneous if the events of Genesis were not historically true. For example, consider the entry of sin into the world. If Adam were not the head of the whole human race, then Jesus Christ, the last Adam, is not the head of the new creation," end quote.
He's referring to Romans where it says as in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive. Clearly the New Testament writer under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit saw sin and death enter the world through the very historic man Adam, and through his very historic act of disobedience.
And so, that sort of sums up the issue for us. The New Testament makes no small number of references to Genesis and to creation. And it does so very naturally. it doesn't...it doesn't come across affected, it doesn't come across sort of incredulous, it doesn't come across saying, "Oh I know this is hard to believe and I know you're going...you're going to really have a tough time swallowing this, but this is how it is." It doesn't do that. There is no attempt to defend, no attempt to explain somebody's incredulity, it's simply stated as fact.
Now, for example, Matthew 13:35, "I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world," indicating there was a point in time when the world was founded. Mark 13:19, "For in those days shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created." John 1:3, "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." That is there alone a verse that would immediately cancel the creation of anything by chance by some random process...everything made was made by God. Acts 4:24, "Lord, Thou art God which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them." That's as comprehensive as you can say it. Acts 14:15, "That you should turn from these vanities, these idols under the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein," everything, the heaven, the earth, the sea and everything that inhabits all of that.
Romans 1:20, "For the invisible things of Him...that is of God...from the creation of the world are clearly seen." Second Corinthians 4:6, "For God...and we studied this last Sunday night...who commanded the light to shine out of darkness." That's exactly what He did on day one, He commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Colossians 1:16, "By Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, all things were created by Him and for Him." Hebrews 1:10, "And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of Thine hands," and we're going to see that a little later on day two. Hebrews 11:3, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God." He spoke them into existence so that those things which are seen were not made of things which do appear," that's ex nihilo, He created things which are seen but they weren't made from anything which existed before.
In Matthew 19 Jesus said, "Have you not read that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female?" Again, speaking of mankind as being the direct result of the creative act of God. Acts 17:26, "God has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth and has determined the times before appointed in the bounds of their habitation." He is the creator of all the nations of men. First Corinthians 11:8 and 9, "For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man, neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man," again created. First Timothy 2:13 and 14, "For Adam was first formed, then Eve." Romans 5:14 takes us to the Fall, "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses." Romans 5:17, "By one man's sin, Adam's, death reigned by one." First Corinthians 15:21, "Since by mn came death, by man...meaning Christ...came the resurrection from the dead." And I remind you again of 2 Peter 3:5 and 6, how that Peter refers to the Flood and even to the preshaped world when it was engulfed in water when he says, "By the Word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water," and so forth as we noted last time.
Ephesians 3:9, "The mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ." James 3:9, "Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God." Again, God is the One who made man in His image. Revelation 4:11, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." Revelation 10:6, "And swear by Him that lives forever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are and the earth and the things that therein are, and the sea and the things that therein are." Revelation 14:7, "Worship Him that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters." Romans 1:25, "Man worships and serves the creature more than the creator." And so it goes. Hebrews 2:10, "It became Him for whom are all things and by whom are all things." And so it goes. Over and over and over and over in the New Testament the creation account is referred to.
Now as we have been saying, evolution has been introduced really as an atheistic alternative, as a godless alternative. And evolution demands irrational faith in impotent chance. Evolution can't happen. It is impossible. It has been proven by science that it can't happen, as we saw, because of DNA, genetic codes information systems. Creation is rational faith in Almighty God. Evolution is irrational faith in impotent chance.
Evolution is...is really naturalism. Any sort of evolution is a form of naturalism. Naturalism believes that God exists only in the mind of non-intellectuals, only in the mind of low-level religious people. Naturalism says nature is all there is, that's really all there is. And that is virtually the assumption that underlies all natural science. It underlies all naturalistic, humanistic philosophy. It underlies all intellectual work. It underlies all morality, or better, immorality. In other words, the underpinning of our entire culture is this idea of nature is all there is. If naturalism is true, then man created God, God didn't create man. And belief in God is nothing more than a groundless superstition, and more importantly, since it is a superstition, we don't have to listen to anything in the foolish Bible, certainly not the Ten Commandments, the moral laws, and so forth.
So, we aren't interested in what religious people think. They're a threat. They're non-intellectuals. They're...they're more than a bother. They intrude on our moral freedoms. In fact, we don't even talk about morality anymore, we just talk about rights and values, don't we? Rights and values...and rights and values are to be decided on by every individual. People don't do wrong because of sin. With all...in the wake of all this massacre up in Littleton, Colorado, you haven't heard anybody talking about sin. People don't do wrong because of sin. They do wrong because somehow they overextended their rights. Somehow they had warped values. They are psychologized rather than theologized. There is no creator, there is no moral law, there is no moral judge, there is no purpose for life, there is no reason for life except to get through it as happy as you can. There is no destiny. And there is no true theology.
Folks, I want to take you there cause that's the most important thing. There is in a naturalist's world, the humanist's world, the evolutionary world no true theology. So a theologian is really a useless interruption. In fact, they would probably hope that theologians are so low on the evolutionary chain as to be unable to survive. There's no such thing as a true theology because there's no such thing as a true God. The issue for evolutionists is not that Genesis is not believable, it's just a simple, straightforward account. It's not that they want to argue about whether Genesis is true or not, I mean...that, they've already won that battle. And that's why I'm going back there. Listen, they've already convinced most of the Christian world that Genesis isn't true. They have successfully attacked with their relentless theories and scientific illusions and sleight of hand and misrepresentation, they have successfully attacked Genesis and got most of the evangelical Christian world to believe that Genesis is not a true account.
But that's not really, they're just not trying to debunk Genesis. I mean, that in itself doesn't gain them much ground. The real issue with evolutionists is that if God created man and cares so greatly about what he does as to identify eternal consequences for his behavior, that is a serious threat to their sinful pleasures. The naturalistic evolutionist hates God and loves sin. Sometime you should read Paul Johnson's book, the historian's book on The Intellectuals. Read...read the biographies, it's absolutely riveting reading. The biographies of the people who shaped western society, they were perverse to put it mildly in their own personal lives. The naturalist hates God and loves sin. The theistic evolutionist who wants to bring evolution and impose it on Genesis and kind of marry it up with God, he will say he loves God and he will say he hates sin, but he actually loves God a little and his academic reputation a lot.
Now let me tell you something, and I'm not blowing my own horn, it just so happens that it does refer to me. The governing discipline in the world, the governing discipline in the world, the governing discipline in the matter of life on this planet, the most important realm of thought, the most important arena of understanding is not science. Did you hear that? Now you would think it was. You would think it was. That's what our whole society goes back to all the time.
And what do we do? I pick up three magazines this afternoon to read then, Newsweek, Time magazine...one of them had some kind of a missing link on the cover. The other one promised on the pages on the inside to show the difference in the brain makeup of a criminal from a normal person, and it had some kind of photographs of some medical analysis of brain patterns. Then the discussion is all about the processes of evolution that lead to or away from that kind of behavior.
Listen, the queen of sciences in our world today, in the sense of knowledge is naturalistic science. They're supposed to have all the answers for everything and the fact is they don't. The governing discipline in the matter of life in the universe at every single point is not science. The governing discipline is theology. The only way you will ever understand the universe, the only way you will ever understand the history of man, the only way you will ever understand behavior and why people do what they do, the only way you will ever understand the flow of life and where we came from and where we're going is when you understand a true theology...the only way you'll ever understand it. We cannot then allow our theology to vacate its throne at the beginning of the Bible and take a footstool while science ascends the throne. Science and every other discipline, every other realm or arena or sphere or paradigm of human thought bows to the king of all disciplines and the king of all disciplines is a true theology and a true theology is a theology that comes from the Word of God.
Theologians aren't respected today. That's tragic. And in some measure they're not respected because they've jettisoned their position. Theologians aren't respected who hold their ground because they're the enemy...there's a concerted effort to paint them as non-intellectuals, people who are bound up in superstition and fantasy. But every one of you as a Christian, and I am going to elevate you, you don't even have to take any classes, I'm going to do this to you just...you are all theologians. And I want you to understand what I mean by that. You understand theology. You may not understand every nuance of theology. You may not be able to tell the difference between sublapsarianism, infralapsarianism and a Labrador retriever. You may...I just threw that in. You may not be able to explain the doctrine of the emuzio(??) or every aspect of kenosis. You may not know all the terminology, you may not know all of the ins and outs of every theological concept. But let me tell you something, folks, you are all theologians because you know the true and living God and you know the means by which He is known. And furthermore, you know the Word of the living God which is the substance of all truth in theology.
Give evolution the throne and you make the Bible the servant of man and you court disaster. But the queen of sciences today is natural...naturalism. Everything goes back to it, and naturalism is defined in evolutionary terms. So what rules our whole society is evolution. It's even gotten into theology to the point now, I am reading a number of different resources lately where the writer is saying, "God Himself is also evolving." Oh yeah...this is God in process of becoming what He would like to become. So even God has been swept up and God is just another little piece of the evolutionary process. Give evolution the throne and it takes over everything. Give it the throne in the first few verses of the first book of the first page of the Bible and you've abdicated at the very outset.
And in a world that evolves, it's very hard to have any fixed points. That's why educators today are relativists. They're basically relativists on everything. You know, you hear all this about we've got problems in the schools, and you've heard it lately, well what are we going to do?...what are we going to do?...we can't have kids going shooting up the schools, what are we going to do about this? We've got to teach them some standards. We've got to teach them some standards.
So, I have a great solution. Just take into every single school the very finest Bible teachers in a given community and let them have the kids every day for a week and just let them teach the Word of God to them. That's the standard. That's the absolute standard.
Fat chance. That isn't going to happen. And until it happens, things are going to get worse cause there are no answers.
What they're talking about...and when the educators get into this and they say we need help, we've got to do something, they use this phrase, "Values clarification." Values again...what is values clarification mean? Well they...it basically, you know, they've got it down to you work hard and you don't hurt people. Moral reasoning which means I have all the freedoms to do whatever I want but my freedom stops where your nose begins. If I want to go out and beat my head against the wall, and if I want to go out and behave in a certain fashion, that's fine. But I cannot take a weapon and shoot you because now I've invaded your space. So I have to learn to reason morally and know that my freedoms have some moral limitation and the limitation is where by society's standards I've stepped over some line that effects you. By the way, it gets very, very fuzzy and the society is so fuzzy on it they don't know what to do about it, they're letting people produce video games, television programs, music, movies that cross the line by miles in creating evil influences in the lives of young people that are as deadly as if somebody put a gun to their head and fired it.
There is no hope for a society where naturalistic evolution is the queen of the sciences, where everything has to answer to that. Students are supposed to be given values clarification by teachers who don't have any moral standards. They're supposed to be taught moral reasoning by people who don't have any absolutes. And then they're told they need to forge their life style...no authority, no sin, no fixed divine law, no shame, no guilt, no set consequences.
But there's one thing in our society that they're not relativistic about, do you know what it is? Evolution. That is the one dominating absolute in our society. If