Village Christian Fellowship

The early 1960’s witnessed the “Space Race” between the United States and the Soviet Union. In August of 1961, Major Gherman Titov became the second Cosmonaut to orbit the earth. Titov later spoke at the World’s Fair and proudly held up the Soviet take on things: 

“Some told me that perhaps I might see God up there in space. But I didn’t see anyone at all, no angels and certainly no gods. I don’t believe in God. I believe in man, his strength, his possibilities and his reason.” Upon hearing that Major Titov denied seeing God on his travels, someone quipped, “Well, had he just stepped out of his space-suit for a few moments, he most certainly would have!”[1]

Contrast this atheistic expression with the words and actions of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve, 1968. Three American astronauts were in orbit around the moon. They took one of the most famous photographs in history – the “rise” of the colorful and living earth in the blackness of space and over the barren waste of the grayish moon. Before the largest TV audience in history up to that point Lunar Module Pilot, Bill Anders, stated: “We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.” 

Then Anders paused for a moment to pick up a book he’d carefully packed for the “trip” and began reading: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, `Let there be light.’ And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness. 

Anders handed the Bible to Command Module Pilot, Jim Lovell, who read verses five through eight. Then Mission Commander, Frank Borman, covered through verse ten. Borman concluded by saying, “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck and a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you – all of you on the good Earth.”[2] 

How could it be that people looking at the exact same facts, the same planet, the same sun, the same stars and the same natural complexity come up with such opposing conclusions? 

PROCLAIMING GOD’S EVERLASTING EXISTENCE. The Bible claims to be God’s authentic Self-Disclosure. With what subject then does Scripture begin? That’s quite obvious: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Word opens up with the clearest kind of affirmation for God’s eternal existence. 

God is not only before all beginnings. He has no beginning.  How great is that!

God is not only before all beginnings. He has no beginning. How great is that! In case we didn’t quite get it at the start, the Scripture will return and affirm this conclusion for us throughout. A few examples include: “All things were made through Him and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3) For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him; and He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17)

What do you think? Is it advisable that we begin our journey through Scripture by stopping at the “entrance” to note, acknowledge and revere the One who is Alpha and Omega -- the beginning and the end? And more than that to “enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise!” (Psalm 100:4)          

The first revelation that is offered in Scripture is in many ways the first in order of importance as well; defining that upon which all else will be built. For this first verse assumes for us two very crucial underlying presuppositions; that God exists and that God has spoken reliably to us about Himself through the Word. It also makes the conclusion that creation reflects the reality of the Lord’s influence. His divine fingerprints, so to speak, are all over it.

“The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1-2) 

AFFIRMING OUR STATUS AS DEPENDENTS. Genesis One affirms then that God is the Creator and that we are His creation. Verse one stuns our souls with a brief but awesome glimpse of His Absolute Uniqueness. The door swings open for just a second and we sneak a peek and hear: God has always existed. We are immediately in the presence of Surpassing Greatness both in this world and in this book!

Did we “create” God as some post-modernists would express it? Did the human race invent God as a wishful and convenient figment of our imagination to explain the unexplainable?

Did we “create” God as some post-modernists would express it? Did the human race invent God as a wishful and convenient figment of our imagination to explain the unexplainable? No, God created us. What “side of the aisle” you stand on regarding this first truth will make all the difference.  

The Creator/creature distinction is essential both to knowing God and knowing ourselves. Genesis One indirectly indicates our vast limitations the implications of which are also crucial. We are not autonomous and self-sufficient creatures. Though we have unique powers of reason and observation (indeed as gifts from the Creator) we are not granted the ability or the right by those talents to look down on and figure out God.

Rather we are entirely reliant on Him for all the accurate information we have about Him. As it is written and we have read: “He that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) If the truth be known God has hidden Himself quite effectively from all who will not finally submit to the “must believe,” the dependents-only door. 

INTERPRETING THE UNIVERSE. The affirmations of Genesis One negate certain other viewpoints. It’s not an accidental and unknowable universe that just happens to exist. It’s not an unexplainable material universe without any discernable starting point. (The all-that-matters-is-matter view.) It’s not primarily a mechanical universe that consists at its most fundamental level as a grouping of repeatable impersonal processes. Rather the universe is personal and relational. It’s God’s earth and creation!!! 

The universe echoes to us and points us back to the reality of an eternal, infinite, powerful and wise Creator-God who remains active in His creation. This disclosing of God through the natural creation has been termed, General Revelation. 

Yet because of our limitations, blindness and sinful bias (and we don’t get to why concerning that until Genesis 3), the Lord graciously revealed Himself even more clearly through His Word. Scripture explains God more clearly and is designated, Special Revelation. 

John Calvin said that the Word could be compared to “eyeglasses” that correct our vision. Thus we’re aided in discerning with more awareness and accuracy the reality of God in the natural creation.[3] Genesis One is Special Revelation serving to help us rightly interpret General Revelation. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” 

THE CONTROVERSY. You’d expect that the reality of God’s existence would be completely obvious and beyond all controversy. Instead, this first truth has become the Great Dividing line running throughout the human race and continuing throughout human history. We’re all ultimately defined by our belief or unbelief regarding God’s existence. In this now corrupted and deceived world this very point, the first point and the supreme point is the subject of numerous disputes. And so we have two fundamental scriptures around which the two groupings are assembled:

        Those who believe: “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 . . . . and without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:3, 6)

        Those who don’t believe: “The fool says in his heart, `There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:1-3; quoted in Romans 3:9ff)

Why is there a controversy? The Scripture indicates that it’s not for lack of indications in the creation but to a basic failure in people. Sin has introduced an anti-God bias. The human race has developed, so to speak, a spiritual version of macular degeneration. If you recall, the condition of the eye known as AMD results in the loss of the central part of vision. Romans, Chapter One, indicates that we no longer “see” what’s at the center – the central point being God’s eternal existence:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (1:18-21)   

Romans makes it plain, God’s existence is known to everyone. But people willfully and deliberately “suppress” this knowledge and/or the implications that come with that admission. 

Yet we can say that where there’s a painting, what do we know? There’s an artist around somewhere. Where there’s a musical score and song around, what do we conclude? There’s a musician and performer somewhere. When we encounter a wonderful house, what do we admit? That there’s been a designer and craftsmen present on the site. Where there’s a book written, what do we assume? There’s certainly been an author at work. When there’s a universe established, what do you know? There’s a Creator present at the creation!

Young people, what if this afternoon you left your room with your Legos^® all put away. Then you came back home and went up to your room and saw an awesome Lego^® castle – the most complicated you’d ever encountered – sitting right there in the middle of the floor. Would you assume that somehow through a complicated series of accidental happenings and perhaps with a strong wind coming in through the window the Legos^® just happened to fall right into place?

Even if you were away for a year, or ten years, or one hundred years or even one thousand years, or even one million years, could you be convinced that the Lego^® castle just happened to happen? Or would you rather conclude that someone had been in your room and that that someone was the best Lego^® builder in the world?

How do you get a design without a designer? How do you get a complicated creation through an uninitiated series of accidents and unguided processes? Where did all the stuff that exists come from anyway? How do you get both some-THING that is intelligible in the universe and can be predicated through repeated experiments and also some-ONE who is intelligent and can understand how it works, without a vastly superior (actually infinitely superior) divine intelligence?

Isaac Newton stated: “Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done . . . . This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being. This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called `Lord God.’ God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect.”[4] 

GENESIS ONE APPLIED - THE DUTY AND PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIP. We were sitting down to dinner to have roast. My young son, Joey, liked to put salt on his meat and so he reached over and picked up the shaker. The next thing we knew the top popped off and half the container came out on his plate.  Whoever filled that shaker forgot to tighten things. There was enough salt on that meat to preserve it for a decade. When offered, even our dog thought twice about downing the briny slice. Too much controversy is like too much salt. 

Yet in the midst of a world where God’s existence is so often a debate topic we must concentrate on one enjoyable task. We’re called to worship!

By rejoicing that all our security is anchored in His very existence! (Psalm 102): ²⁴ "O my God," I say, "take me not away in the midst of my days- you whose years endure throughout all generations!" ²⁵ Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. ²⁶ They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, ²⁷ but you are the same, and your years have no end. ²⁸ The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

By exalting God for His matchless, indeed His incomparable greatness and goodness to sustain us! (Isaiah 40): He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. ¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? ¹³ Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? ¹⁴ Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? ¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. ¹⁶ Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. ¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. ¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 

²⁵ To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. ²⁶ 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. 

²⁸ 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. ²⁹ He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. ³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; ³¹ but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

By returning to a place where our soul is often renewed and refreshed in absolute awe of the Eternal God who is Creator (Revelation 4): ⁸ And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" ⁹ And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 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."