God and Everything Else

In the Beginning

(Genesis 1:1-2, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, June 1, 2014)

[1:1] In the beginning,

The book of Genesis begins with these words. Origins matter. We are not OK with just being a speck on a speck without any understanding of where we came from and no clear sense of purpose from above. To get better direction for our lives than what atheism offers we need to take a very close look at the first three chapters of the Bible. Everything that we need to know in the Bible is told there in seed form. We start with God's creative work.

God created the heavens and the earth.

The heavens and the earth did not come from some meaningless, purposeless accident. God created them. He made the skies, but he also made a realm beyond the skies that he calls “the heavens.” There was a time when the heavens and the earth were more obviously connected. The events that took place in Genesis 3 changed that. For now we need to be introduced to our Creator. He is the only God of power and purpose. He made the heavens and the earth.

[2] The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

The earth needed ordering. Moses tells us that prior to the speech of God that we will begin to explore next week in the days of creation, the earth was not yet ordered. It was “tohoo vabohoo.” God is an expert at perfecting that which needs order, stability, and beauty. He has been doing that since the beginning.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The Lord exists eternally in three persons. In our passage this morning we are explicitly told that when the key moment came for God to do His great work of ordering, the Spirit of God was ready to do all that had been agreed upon in the eternal council of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He was hovering over the face of the ancient waters from which creation would begin to be more fully displayed.

Put the Word to Work: Any view of the origins of the universe that denies the opening message of the Bible is bound to lead us in very wrong directions. Why should we care that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? A random universe that spontaneously erupted from some unknown and unknowable source leaves human beings in a very precarious position. Every possible question of significance in life is impacted by the answer to the question of origins. The God of the first creation has spoken. He alone can tell us why we are here, what has gone wrong, and whether anything can be done to fix our broken world. Our answer comes in the Word that not only created, but who also became flesh for us, died, and rose again to a second creation that will continue forever. His Spirit is ready for a new creation among us.

Memory Verse from the Songs of Ascent—Psalm 120:1

In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.

Gospel Reading—Matthew 12:38-42

The sign of Jonah