The Consequences of the Fall, Gen. 3:8-24

                                                                                  In The Beginning – God

                                                                                            Genesis 1:1

                 On Christmas Eve 1968 the Apollo 8 spacecraft was orbiting the moon. Astronaut Frank Borman addressed this message to the people of the earth: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” As he reminisced about that message 25 years later, he made this statement, “I had an enormous feeling that there was indeed a beginning and that maybe even our choosing to read from Genesis wasn’t a haphazard thing. Maybe it had been ordained in some way.” His feeling about a beginning was correct, but we do not base the truth on feeling, but on the revealed word of God. And that word tells us there is a Creator God who arranged the beginning of time, space, and mass.

Genesis is the book of beginnings and is foundational to the Christian faith. The Christian life and worldview are based on the word of God. The book of Genesis is the opening key to the Bible. The foundation of Genesis is revealed in first 11 chapters. Those chapters are founded on Genesis 1 which records the creation event. And the core truth of chapter 1 is the very first verse. If a person accepts this truth by faith, they are well on their way to accepting everything else the Bible reveals to us.

Genesis records for us the beginning or origin of many things. The marvels of the universe and planet Earth, the origin of humanity and civilization, how sin entered the world and God’s judgment upon it, the first indication of redemption, and God’s selection of a nation that He would rule and through it, bless all nations of the world.

                Any intelligent, thinking person should be concerned about these realties. All of the questions that pertain to our origins, purpose, usefulness, and destination in life are answered in Genesis. Where did I come from? Why am I here? What am I supposed to do with my life? And where am I going when this life ends? The answer to these questions is in God himself and the revelation he has given to us from the beginning of all things.

                The Bible opens with God revealing himself to us through his creative work. We cannot know these things other than this self revelation of God. No person was present at the beginning to observe and record what happened. But the Almighty God was there and He made sure that men would know the truth about their origins. What you do with His revelation is all important. You can believe it or reject it. But either way, you have to exercise faith – either in God or in man. Certain men who call themselves scientists try to devise other explanations as to how the universe began and how we got here. The evidence they have for their belief is pretty shabby. You can believe in evolution or creation, but not both, and both take faith – believing in something that you did not see happen and cannot prove by scientific means. God will hold you accountable for what you believe.

                “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” What you put your trust in makes all the difference in the right answers to the hard questions of life. 

                Today, will spend some time in preliminary considerations about the Creator of the universe. As we observe the first verse of the Bible, what do we learn about God?

I. We Learn About His Existence.

A. God’s existence is assumed in the Bible.

1. No where in God’s word will you find an argument for his existence. It is assumed from the very first verse – “In the beginning, God…”

• If the Bible were to try to somehow prove the existence of God, this is where the argument would begin.
• But everywhere in the Bible His existence is patently assumed. If He is using his word to reveal himself, how could it be any different?

2. Any philosophy or world view that does not begin with God will be in conflict with the Bible.

• God reveals from the beginning how He brought everything into existence. He is revealing that which could not be known otherwise.
• Our origins cannot be completely determined through scientific discovery or history. It can only be conjectured. However, scientific and archaeological discoveries have never disproved the Bible record and often have given evidence to support it.

3. So from the very 1^st verse, the Bible repudiates all past and current philosophies of man:

• Atheism – the belief that there is no God. The Bible says there is a God and he created all things. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.”
• Agnosticism – a belief that does not necessarily deny a God, but that it is impossible to know him. God set out to make himself known from the beginning.
• Pantheism – the belief that God permeates nature, that he is in everything and one day all things will unite with an impersonal oneness. From Genesis, it is clear that God is a personal being and had a relationship with the first human beings.
• Polytheism – the belief that there are many gods. This is the history of paganism up to modern times. But God reveals himself as one being consisting of three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• Humanism – the modern-day belief in man himself as having all the answers to his own problems. We do not need God or religion, we are our own god.
• Evolutionism – the pet doctrine of humanism, that life came from nothing. The belief that matter is eternal and somehow that which is living came from that which is nonliving. It is a contradiction of science itself.

4. Since the Bible begins with God and assumes his existence, it confronts us immediately with the issue of faith mentioned earlier. Do you believe God’s revelation or not? Heb. 11:6 – “But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Another aspect of existence…

B. The Tri-Unity of God is Indicated.

                The Bible teaches that God is three persons in one essential being. This is attested in Genesis.

                1. The name used of God.

• Elohim is a plural noun, but used with a singular verb tense.
• It is a generic term that is sometimes used in reference to pagan or false gods, angels, and men in leadership positions.
• But most frequently, it is used of God to intensify his creative and mighty power. Some 2,000 times in OT.
• In this context, He is the strong or mighty God who exercises power and dominion over all things.
• Its plural form indicates plenitude of power and manifold majesty. It allows for the concept of more than one person, yet maintains the existence of one essential being.

2. This is revealed in its usage in 1:26a.

          God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit say, Let us make…

3. Note also references to the different persons in the work of creation:

·         Gen. 1:1 – Elohim, Father.

·         Gen. 1:2 – the Spirit.

·         Jn. 1:1-3, speaks of Christ, the Son of God.

·         The cooperation of the Trinity in creation may be described in this way; God the Father – author; God the Son – agent; God the Holy Spirit – artisan.

          So, from the very beginning the Bible attests to the existence of a Triune God as creator of the universe.

II. We Learn About God’s Attributes.

          God’s attributes are the qualities and characteristics that make him what he is. A number of them are revealed in Genesis 1.

A. His Eternality.

1. “In the beginning” – this is in reference to the beginning of the material universe as we know it. It also conveys the beginning of what we call time. Eternity really has no time. The continuum that we call time was created by God.

2. When dealing with origins, this issue of eternality must be faced. In order for there to be a universe to exist something must have predated it, something must be eternal in nature. The Bible assumes God was there before the beginning, thus He is the Eternal One from which all things derive.

• Science teaches us that something does not come from nothing. The universe did not come from nothing, life does not create itself. If matter is the eternal substance, then why do the laws of thermodynamics indicate that matter is breaking down?
• And we cannot show or prove how life was supposed to have developed out of inorganic matter.
• God is the eternal being who has always lived and always will. Since he is life itseld, he can give life. “From everlasting, thou art God.”
• We do not have to fully comprehend this in order for it to be so. We accept it by faith because it is what God reveals.

3. This usage of “the beginning” also suggests an ending.

·         Creation is the commencement of God’s plan in time and space which sets the stage for the consummation of God’s plan. Thus, we have references to the end of time, the last things, and the last days. The end of God’s plan will be similar to its beginning.

·         Is. 65:17 – “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and he former shall not be remembered or come to mind.”

·         Rev. 21:1 – “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”

·         The consummation of time ushers in the eternal state which will be perfect and remain so for all eternity.

B. His Infinity.

1. An eternal being must supercede the finite. He is more than we can comprehend. If we could, then he would cease to be God.

2. We cannot even comprehend the magnitude of our own galaxy, let alone the universe and its Maker.

• For instance, the Milky Way Galaxy spins at an incredible 490,000 miles per hour. Yet, science says it takes 200,000,000 years to make one rotation. That means it has not made even one rotation yet.
• And there are millions of galaxies doing the same thing. Can you comprehend that? Can you get your mind around it?
• We could cite hundreds of other examples displaying God’s infinity.

C. His Creative Wisdom– this includes the attribute of omnipotence in order to create.

1. God created – Hebrew verb is only used of God’s creative power.

• It is used in reference to a new activity and its subject is always God. So, it alludes to a special activity that can only be accomplished by deity resulting in something new or being renewed.
• It also refers only to what is created not the material from which it was made. We can assume then that God created all things “ex nihilo” or out of nothing. Chapter one indicates that He spoke the universe into existence without the use of pre-existing material.

2. What did he create?

• Heavens – this is translated either singular or plural. It is the only Hebrew word that indicates our idea of space. God created the vast expanses we call outer space and he later placed in this space the stars, planets, galaxies, etc.
• Earth – this in reference to matter or mass. He brought into existence the materials from which the land was formed to be inhabitable. The earth itself was without form until God made it something.
• This word is also translated “land” which speaks of material elements. The motif of “the land” later promised in the Abrahamic covenant is introduced in the very first verses of Genesis.
• Let’s observe Prov. 8: 22-30 where Wisdom is personified and speaks of its presence before and during creation.

D. Sovereignty.

1. The Lord is sovereign ruler over what He created. This makes perfect sense to us. If you build or make something it belongs to you and you have the right to do with it as you please.

2. This is manifested in the fact that God named what he created. Vv. 5, 8, 10 and capstone of creation, Adam, 5:2. In the Semitic world, the act of naming was a claim to sovereign rights or lordship over what is named.

3. But his sovereignty does not mean that he created the world and then became uninvolved with it.

• He is a personal God who intended to have a relationship with his creatures. He cares for what he created; he sustains what he created.
• His self-revelation to us begins with the record of our origins through his creative activity. If he had chosen not to reveal these truths, we could never find him out or know him. Creation was the Lord’s first act of revelation.

E. Grace and Love.

1. Grace – God did not need the universe or man to make him content or complete. “What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you visit him?” Our existence is due totally to the divine favor and will of God.

2. His self-sacrificing love – He was willing to create that which he knew would fall into sin and rebellion. He knew that man, the apex of creation would reject him and cause him great grief.

·         Yet, He planned before the foundation of the world the redemption of all things. In time, a Savior would be sent into the world to pay the penalty for sin and rebellion and be the means of bringing mankind back into right relationship with its Creator.

·         This too is incomprehensible to us, but it is what God reveals in his word and we must accept it by faith in order to be saved.

3. If a person cannot or will not believe the first verse of the Bible, they will not believe much else that is in it either.

·         God holds everyone accountable to the evidence of creation, even though they may not have heard the gospel, Rom. 1:18-20.

·         The first verse of the Bible establishes the truth that there is a magnificent God who made us, is concerned about us, has loved us from the foundation of the world, and claims sovereign rule over our lives.

There is no better place to be in this world than in the hands of the Almighty God who brought into being all that exists, who has given us not only physical life, but life eternal. May we in thankful humility submit ourselves to his rule every day.