What does Genesis 1 say to us today?
Posted on May 27, 2011 by Pastor Tom
What does this mean for our lives?
We discover our true identity in relationship to this Creator. You are not some accident. You are not some random collection of atoms that happened to show up in the form of a person. You are a creation of the Triune God. He doesn’t make mistakes.
You are a person made in the image and likeness of the Triune God. In the Ancient Near East, to bear the image of a god meant to act on behalf of the god. But here Moses seems to expand that understating. The image of God seems to refer to the ways man is different from the other animals. Man resembles God in the areas of reason, morality, language, creativity and a capacity for relationship governed by love and commitment. So man resembles God which enables man to represent God. Notice the image of God is stamped on both male and female.
We are commissioned to rule over the earth and its creatures.
Genesis 1:26 – Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping things that creeps on the earth. We have been commissioned as God’s representatives to rule over and care for this Earth. We’ll see that more in Genesis 2 next week. But this chapter further reveals that
We are dependent on our Creator God.
We had to be given life; we were born into a family that had opportunity for survival and education; We may have survived war; sickness; trials. We had DNA and “natural” talents and abilities born into us. We received our personality. All of these were given to us.
When I think about giving this message right now, it is amazing how dependent I am on what’s been given to me. I have to have the ability to speak out words; I depend on other scholars and commentators to explain meaning and give perspective. I depend on people who can translate Hebrew into English. I depend on having a brain that can work to put together this information in a meaningful. I depend on teachers who have helped me learn how to communicate this information in hopefully helpful ways. I depend on the Holy Spirit to deliver into your hearts what He wants you to hear and understand.
All the resources we have come ultimately from God. The food we eat needed land to grow in or grow on. The space to live required a separating of the waters so we could actually settle somewhere. The plants we eat need light to grow. To inhabit this planet, we need a sun placed at exactly the right distance from the Earth so that it won’t burn us or freeze us. We depend on the Creator God.
We are accountable to our Creator God.
This is the one most people don’t like today or just don’t believe. Why do you think there is so much disbelief in Hell? Well if we’re all a product of some random natural cause, we’re not accountable to anyone. If there is confusion about the nature of the universe or doubt about the exist of a designer, then there’s no accountability. But this passage declares the supremacy and authority of God because He and He alone created the entire universe.
This is the starting point of the Bible’s story line. If we don’t get this, the rest of the Bible doesn’t make a lot of sense. The cross doesn’t make sense. Why would need a savior from a God of wrath if He didn’t create us in the first place? Why would we need to be concerned about judgment if God has no authority over us? Why would we rejoice in the redemption Jesus purchased if there is no reality beyond natural causes? But this chapter reveals that the same God who redeemed creation from a formless, empty and dark state paid the ultimate price to redeem us from emptiness and darkness. To Him alone be all glory! Amen.
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