Genesis 1:1-31
Genesis 1 has, to me, 3 big themes.
God is the Creator. God is all about the details. Man was created as a reflection of God.
God is the Creator
The importance of God as the Creator of heaven and earth is often understated. The God we serve created us. We are His creation. He planned it out with precision, every detail perfect. So perfect, in fact, we will never really comprehend it all. Genesis 1:1 (Life Application Study Bible) says, “God created the heavens and the earth.” He made the universe, placed the planets in their orbit, placed the stars, created moons, invented gravity and created earth.
Just creating the earth was beyond anything imaginable. Genesis 1:2 (Life Applications Study Bible) says, “The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” That is an awesome image! The earth started out as a massive ball of water! A ball of water floating in space! Only God could create such a phenomenon!
Then God, systematically, created the earth and everything on it. He called forth by his voice the light, day and night, the atmosphere, the sky, the land, the sun, moon, plants and animals.
With that kind of power, God could have just as easily spoke man into existence. But, He didn’t. He took the extra care, time and patience to hand-make man. This shows a different kind of love for man. I picture the creation of mankind as a different level of creation. I have had great pride in making crafts, putting together model cars and airplanes and painting pictures. But, God created mankind. All through the chapter, the verses say, “God saw what he had made and it was good.” That shows great pride in what he was doing. Like an artist stepping back to look at his work. Admiring it from different angles and finding it pleasing.
Have you ever seen a high school boy who bought an old Junker and restored it? He spends all of his time working on it, talking about it and obsessing about it. He becomes filled with excitement, pride, passion and even love for it. When he finally finishes, he treats it with tenderness, fauns over it, brags about it and above all else, protects it.
How much more would God feel about His creation? He made an entire universe, a world teeming with life and hand-made the first human. Imagine the love and passion that must have gone into the preparations. Picture the excitement and pride He felt as He lovingly hand-sculptured Adam. Seeing that every molecule was perfect and in place. It is truly amazing to think about the tenderness, love and passion that went into creating mankind.
All about the details
In the creation story, it is clear that God is the Creator. However, it also shows that God, in His infinite wisdom, had a plan. The little details were important. If creation did not have the order that it did, the plants would have frozen or man and animals would have suffocated. The order was important.
Science now gives us a small glimpse into the intricate details that went into creation. DNA sequencing is specific, detailed and unique. The discovery of DNA should have put evolutionists on the run or on their knees. For that matter, Christians should have fallen to their knees or faces also. The DNA that scientists discovered is evidence of the grand plan of the Creator. We cannot begin to imagine the great scope of God. Yet, we act as if we are all important. How many of you made a universe, populated a planet or breathed the breathe of life into a nothing and made life last week? I know I sure didn’t. I worried about money, what someone said about me and trying to accomplish some unimportant goal. How much time did I waste that could have been spent praising the Creator?
Man was made as a reflection of God
Genesis 1:26-27 (Life Application Study Bible)
“Then God said ‘let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground’
So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He made him, Male and female He created them”
God not only made sure that humanity knew He was the Creator, but that He used Himself as the template to make man. He did not just create mankind, but He wanted humans to be familiar to Him. To have such a walk with Him, that when we walk with Him we reflect Him. We look like we belong to Him. When we are with Him, we look like family. Others would say, “Oh, you look like your Father.”
Have you ever met a child and instantly knew whose child it was? You could see the parents in the child’s face, hair and mannerisms.
WE WERE CREATED LIKE THAT!! In the likeness of our heavenly father!
In Verses 28-31, we see that God gave us rule over the earth and everything on it. This shows that He wants us to reflect Him in more than just image. He expects us to reflect His character. We should rule with the love, compassion, righteousness and justice that He has shown us.
How have we done?
We poison the land, air and water. We have killed off our subjects. We murder our offspring. We slaughter our cousins. We base the value of our fellow humans against shiny stuff that comes from rocks or nasty, sludge that oozes from the dirt beneath out feet.
We need to repent for showing such a distorted reflection of His character. We would be truly offended if God treated His subjects the way we treat ours. We need to pray that God shows Himself to us so we can become the reflection of him that He intended.