Truth Seekers Newsletter
November 11, 2007: Creation's Story!
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We have been looking at the many messages God gave us through the Creation of the Temple He built Himself, that being the human body. But God's Creativeness actually started before He brought man into His World on earth. Today, we begin our exciting look at how God prepared a place for us, even before the beginning of Time.
Let's Get The Nursery Ready! The Baby Is On The Way!
Genesis 1 tells us that at the beginning of time, the earth was formless and empty ... dark ... watery. Does that sound like any place you would like to live? No, God did not think so either. He knew His Children were about to be born and He wanted a perfect world for them. So God set to work. Let's look in on Him, zipping around the earth, preparing for the coming of His Children!
Turning On The Lights!
On Day One of Creation, God turned on the lights. He separated the light from the darkness. He saw the light was good. I agree! I love the light! So if it was so great, why would God allow darkness at all? Does darkness have any purpose?
Rest
By God resting on the seventh day, He showed us that rest is important. God knew when to rest. However, we humans sometimes need reminders to stop and rest. Sometimes it takes turning down the lights to remind us to stop our constant "doing", so we can be still and know that He is God. God wants us to enjoy everything He has created for us. But He does not want us to spend so much time playing that we forget to spend time with Him, the Giver of all those good gifts.
Trust
When we can see more of the world around us, sometimes we get the idea that we are in charge, without need of God. Having only enough light to see a few steps in front of us causes us to realize our need for God's Guidance. He is the Lamp unto our feet and the Light unto our path. It is in our darkest moments that we know how much we need God's Light.
Anticipating the Light After the Darkness
Darkness clearly makes us appreciate the light. When I was growing up in South Carolina, it was very common to have thunder storms. The electricity would go off and all activities would come to a halt. We then lit candles and kerosene lamps and eagerly anticipated the return of the light. How like the world we live in now. Sometimes we feel trapped by the effects of sin and we eagerly anticipate the day of Jesus' Return. We anticipate living in that City, described in Revelations, where there is no night and the Glory of God lights everything!
Beginning the Organization of Earth: Separating the Top from the Bottom
On Day Two, God separated the earth and the sky. Oh, the joy of a day with a blue sky! Ever just lie on the grass and look up? There are lots of fascinating things up there. The sky seems to give the message to "look up!" It is very easy to become absorbed in our own world that is near to us and begin to believe that's all there is. But the sky reminds us, there is something else, up there.
There is Someone watching over us ... and He is much bigger than we are. The Bible tells us that the heavens are God's Throne and the earth His Footstool. He has placed us at His Feet. He is above us. If we want to see what God sees, we will have to look up ... and upon occasion, He will pick us up and let us ride on His Shoulders for a grand view!
Continuing the Organization of Earth: Separating the Sides from the Sides
The Land: On Day Three, God separated the land from the sea. Some people believe that originally the land was all together in one place and the seas were all together in another place. In Genesis 1:9, God said to let the water be gathered into one place. It is possible that at the time of Creation, the lands of earth were not separate. Possibly, events after the Creation separated the land. Those who hold this view point out how the continents appear to be puzzle pieces that could easily be put together, if the sea did not separate them now.
Could it be that the world God envisioned was one? Could it be that the separation of the earth and its people were part of the fall of man? Did the great flood of Noah's time cause the land to separate? Or was it something in later years? I don't know, but it is interesting to think about.
The Mighty Seas
In the beginning, we saw that the earth was formless and watery. But now that God had gathered up the water, dry land appeared. God planned for His Children to be walkers, not swimmers. He created a firm place for them to put their feet.
I love the water. Going to the beach is one of my favorite things to do. But the seas can be treacherous. The seas do serve as dividers. At the end of time, there will be no more division. So where does that leave the seas? Revelations 21:1 tells us that there will no longer be any sea. Nothing will ever separate God's People again!
God, The First Farmer!
Day Three of Creation was a busy day. Besides separating the land and the sea, God allowed the land to produce vegetation and seed bearing plants and trees that would bear fruit. God knew His Children were coming and He was preparing the meal for them already. He knew the way He was going to design their bodies and that they would need a regular source of food.
We see God feeding His People all through the Bible. A few examples are:
- David noted in the 23rd Psalm that God prepared delicious food for him to eat.
- Jesus fed the 5,000.
- And after Jesus arose from the dead, He even cooked fish on the beach, waiting for the disciples to come and get it!
Seeds of Greatness
God planned plants and fruits with seeds inside of them. What is the purpose of seeds? They are for the continued provision of more of what we have now. God never gives one time gifts. He always gives the types of gifts that keep on giving!
Why did God say they would produce, according to their own kind? Can an apple tree produce pears? No. What grows from a tree will be just what the tree was designed to grow. The Power is in the seed.
This is also true with humans. Jesus told us that we would know people by their fruit. The fruit of our actions starts out as just a seed. If the seeds are good, good fruit will result. If the seeds are bad, bad fruit will result. Every monumental success began as a simple thought. Every heinous crime also began as a simple thought. Whatever we plant and nurture in our minds and hearts, grows! Solomon reminded us in Proverbs, "As a man thinks, so is he!"
Wow, in just three days, the nursery of the earth had undergone monumental transformation. But God wasn't done.
Fine Tuning the Light: Putting in a Few Dimmer Switches
On Day Four, God created the sun, moon and stars. He was not only fine tuning different kinds of light, but He was also creating more separation. The day was separated from the night. The calendar was divided into days, years and seasons. From the beginning, God created pauses in life to rest and to categorize our times into file folders of years and seasons.
Why Days, Years and Seasons?
Even as God is completely seamless, He wanted us to slow down and notice things. He wanted us to be able to look backwards and forward in manageable bites of time. The NIV translation says God created the sun, moon and stars to "mark" seasons, days and years. God tells time without marks, but He knew His People would need some marks to be able to see clearly the flow of the Life He envisioned. It was as if God were saying, let's highlight a few things, so you will remember them more easily.
God would put this sense of time within our very bodies, but He also wanted us to see it all around us. He wanted us to be able to quantify things. When it was said that someone did something for 40 days and 40 nights, He wanted us all to have the same idea of how long that was.
God demonstrates His Goodness through the seasons of the world and also the seasons of man's life. He wanted us to see our lives reflected in the world around us.
He wanted us to see His Provision and Mercy in each season. He wanted us to know things change. He wanted us to see nature submitting to His Directed Changes. He wanted us to give us hope for tomorrow and a joyful anticipation of the next season of our lives.
Creatures!
So far God had been busy creating the environment of earth ... light, dark, sky, ground, sea, plants, days, years, seasons ... but now He began to populate the earth and seas with other creatures. When you know the end of the story, and you are reading this part of creation, you can feel the excitement, as God is building up to the Climax of His Creation.
On Day Five, God created all the creatures of the sea and the birds. He commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. He wants lots of them!
On Day Six, God created all the creatures of the land ... livestock, creatures that move along the ground and wild animals. The earth came to life!
Was God Practicing or Preparing?
Some people take the stance that up to now, God had just been fooling around, making things and He decided to "take it up a notch" by adding people. However, I believe that God knew from the very beginning what He planned. Everything He had created up to the moment of Day Six was preparation for what He knew would be the Pinnacle of His Creation.
Made in Their Image!
In Genesis 1:26, God says, "Let US make man in OUR Image." Who was He talking to? God is part of a Trinity ... God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They decided to give man the extreme honor of making him in their Image. What does this mean?
You are made after His Own Kind! When God called Himself Father, He was letting us know that we are related to Him. When He called Jesus His Son, He was letting us know that Jesus is our Brother. And the Holy Spirit is our constant Reminder of our kinship with them all.
The best that could be said about us is that we look and act just like our Daddy ... our Father God. We were made in His Image! God wanted everyone to know that we were His Children!
Birth Announcement!
Now the world was ready! God had created the climax of all He had done. The humans, who are our ancestors, had arrived on earth. I imagine that everything God had already created sang for joy!
Why Are We Here?
God spelled out from the beginning in verse 26 that He intended man to rule the earth. As King of Kings and Lord of Lords, God rules the universe and everything in it. As His Children, He has given us a part in ruling a part of that universe, called earth.
Not only has God given us designated power to be responsible for the running of earth, but He has also given us full access to His Ability to create. As we use our God given talents, we become part of God's Hands extended all over the earth.
As God paints sunrises and sunsets, there are humans dipping their paint brushes onto canvasses and showing us a little of God's Glory.
As God sings beautiful, melodious songs, there are many voices echoing the strains. Some are writing what they hear. Others are playing instruments. Others are singing to His Glory!
As we use our creative talents, it is our Father working through us. God sees Himself replicated over and over again. And we begin to see more and more of the Father, as we are treated to His Creations through His Creations!
You are So Good!
Do you know what God says when He sees the evidence of all He has planted on earth ... and all He has planted in you? He says what He said when He saw the results of His Creation during that first week. "It is good!"
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