Sermon25-13 Gen1 Guide

Gen 1:1-5 theme verse Gen 1:1

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this eighth Sunday of 2025, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we meditated on the divinity and glory of God the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son eternally, yet this week, we would like to look at the creation of God together.

1)    Today’s text, Genesis 1 opens the Bible by declaring “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” in Gen 1:1. Here, the time of “in the beginning”, בראשית (breshit) in Hebrew, has to be seen to mean the original “beginning”, not a certain time in eternity, since there is no definite article so that it refers to the starting point of time, space and all things and since there was nothing before that, we can infer creatio ex nihilo, that is, creation from nothing and also since God was at that starting point, we can know that God has existed from eternity. And also the verb ברא (bara) can mean to create something from nothing or to reproduce something that already existed, yet in this case, it refers to God’s special act of creation from nothing. Also, the words “the heavens and the earth”, את השמים ואת הארץ (et hashemitem baet hayretz) refers to the primitive universe and the primitive earth. Therefore, from these facts, we can know that God’s creation in Genesis 1:1 is creation from nothing. However, the fact that God is the subject of the first verse of the Bible is not a coincidence and also the fact that God is used 35 times in this creation account ultimately declares that God is not only in charge of the entire chapter on creation, but also the sovereign of all things to come after the creation.

2)    And then in the verse 2, describing the primordial universe and primordial earth, the Bible said “the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep,” while Calvin called this mass of chaotic matter as indigested mass. And over that deep, the Bible says that the Spirit of God was hovering.” Here the Hebrew participleמרחפת  (merachepeth), translated as “hovering” refers to that a bird is hovering over its chicks, to describes the Holy Spirit is maintaining this mass of chaos. And then in next seven days, God gave order to this chaos. Regarding these six days, Moses says that during the first three days, the backgrounds were created, and for the latter three days, the things that govern each background were created. I mean, on the first day, God divided the light from the darkness and called the light day and the darkness night. On the second day, God divided the firmament and the waters – the waters above the firmament and the waters below the firmament, and called the firmament heaven. On the third day, God gathered the waters under the heaven into one place and made dry land appear and called the dry land Earth and the gathered waters Seas. Then God told the earth to produce all grasses, herbs and trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind. While on the fourth day, God told the heavens to have lights and told the greater light - the sun to govern the day and the lesser light – the moon to govern the night. Then on the fifth day, after God caused the waters and the sky to multiply all the living creatures – birds and fishes, and blessed them saying “Be fruitful and multiply, in the seas and on the land.” And then on the sixth day, God created the living creatures – beasts, livestock, and all creeping things. And finally God created man and woman in His own image and blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, subdue it and rule over all the creatures in the seas, in the sky, and on the earth.” and gave human beings and all living creatures vegetables, fruits, and grass for their food and on the seventh day, He rested. As such, God created all of these things, by the work of the Holy Spirit and by His Word.

3)    And then this creation of God by His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit can be known only by faith alone, as Heb 11:3 says “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,” where it is said that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible, in order words, what is seen was created from nothing.

4)    And in regards of this creation of God, Belgic confession Article #12 also confesses that “We believe that the Father, when it seemed good to him, created heaven and earth and all other creatures from nothing, by the Word that is to say, by the Son. God has given all creatures their being, form, and appearance and their various functions for serving their Creator. Even now God also sustains and governs them all, according to his eternal providence and by his infinite power, that they may serve humanity, in order that humanity may serve God. God has also created the angels good, that they might be messengers of God elect and serve the elect. Some of them have fallen from the excellence in which God created them into eternal perdition; and the others have persisted and remained in their original state, by the grace of God. The devils and evil spirits are so corrupt that they are enemies of God and of everything good. They lie in wait for the church and every member of it like thieves, with all their power, to destroy and spoil everything by their deceptions. So then, by their own wickedness they are condemned to everlasting damnation, daily awaiting their torments. For that reason we detest the error of the Sadducees, who deny that there are spirits and angels, and also the error of the Manicheans, who say that the devils originated by themselves, being evil by nature, without having been corrupted.”

5)    To summarize it, Belgic confession confesses that God created all things of nothing in His pleasing will by the Word and has given all creatures their being, form, and appearance and their various functions for serving their Creator. So that all creatures may serve humanity, in order that humanity may serve God in other words, God gave the purpose of existence and the abilities necessary for it and even God has created the angels good, that they might be messengers of God and serve the elect. But, some of angels were fallen and become enemies of God and of everything good, so then, by their own wickedness they are condemned to everlasting damnation, daily awaiting their torments.

6)    As such, confessing God’s creation in other words, confessing God as Creator, Sovereign, Providential carer, and Judge; firstly, makes us live in His pleasing will, since God gave all the function and the purpose, after He created us in His pleasing will; secondly, makes us give thanks to God since God gave us life and end of life; thirdly, makes us endure in any situations, since all things which occur in our lives are under His control, not is chance, and we believe that His goodness may cover us; And fourthly, makes us entrust our future to Him, since we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

7)    And even though God forms community of love of the Triune God and His glory is so great that it cannot be expanded any further, yet regarding the purpose God created the world and humanity, as Louis Berkhof said in his book “Systematic theology”, the church of Jesus Christ found the true end of creation, not in anything outside of God, but in God Himself, more particularly in the external manifestation of His inherent excellency. In other words, the extension and manifestation of His attributes such as goodness, love, and mercy is the supreme end, yet the subordinate end is to elicit the expression of their gratefulness and love and adoration from their souls by promoting the happiness and salvation of His creatures, as Psalm 104:24-30 said “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.”

8)    And in addition, God not only holds and maintains the life of His creatures through His eternal Providence, but also created humanity, the climax of His creation to have fellowship with them, different from claiming by deism that God does not intervene in the operation of the world and the life of humanity and only judge in the end. That’s why John Bolt said in his book “Bavinck on the Christian life” that “Human beings were created to have fellowship with God,” quoting of Bavinck.

9)    As such, confessing God as Creator means to recognize and live in His pleasing will for us and also to enjoy the fellowship with the Father and the Son. That’s why John the Apostle said in 1 Jn 1:3-4 that “What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Thus we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” Therefore, I hope this year we may recognize and live in the will of God in His creation, I mean, the fellowship in love and the enjoyment of Him and filling with joy with tasting His goodness.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 According to today’s sermon, we can know that the end of God who created all the universe and the earth and all things on them in His pleasing will and by His word, is the manifestation of His excellency and glory and also by promoting the welfare and happiness of His creatures, He wanted to elicit the gratitude, love and adoration from their hearts. So, after meditating on His creation, reviewing whether we really thank, love and adore Him, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And also the end of His creation is the fellowship with Humanity in His image as His summit of His creation. So, after reviewing our life to check whether we have been living the life of fellowship with God which is the will of God, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.