The First Creation

Pearson's God of Everlasting Glory is a good preface to the message tonight based on Genesis 1. For a number of Sunday evenings, we're going to be looking into Genesis 1 through 11, which is the book of beginnings, because it's important for us to know where we came from and where everything else came from. There is a bestseller in the bookstores now called Roots, written by a very intelligent and courageous man who wanted to trace the roots of his ancestry.

And it's good to know where you came from. One of our great philosophers has said, he who does not know the past is condemned to repeat it, and there's really nothing new under the sun. The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings, and in this book of beginnings we find the beginning of the world, the beginning of man, the beginning of marriage, the beginning of sin.

We find the beginning of salvation. The word first is going to be a key word for us. We're going to find the first creation, the first marriage, we're even going to meet the first drunk.

Genesis 1 through 11 takes us back to the beginnings that we might better understand the present. It's all happened before. Now Genesis chapter 1 begins with, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. Now actually there are two creations in the Bible.

There is the old creation in Genesis 1, and there is the new creation, the spiritual creation. Just about everyone here tonight can quote 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.

That is not the only verse in the New Testament that informs us that God is building a new creation. For example, I read in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 15, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Not the old ritual of the Jewish law, but a new creation.

You turn the page to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. For we are his workmanship, talking about believers, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. That same verb created is used up in verse 15 of Ephesians chapter 2, talking about our Lord's work on the cross.

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, to create, that's the verb there, to create in himself of two, Jew and Gentile, one new man, so making peace. Now there is a new creation which is the spiritual creation. Jesus Christ is the head of the new creation.

There is the old creation which is a material creation. Adam was the head of that. Now the better we understand the old creation, the better we're going to understand the new creation.

Mr. Peterson's hymn that we sang talks about the book of nature. God has revealed himself in the book of nature. The heavens declare the glory of God.

The firmament showeth his handiwork. God has revealed himself in the Bible. He's revealed himself in the new creation.

And the better we understand the old creation, the better we're going to understand the new. The better we understand Genesis chapter 1, the better we're going to understand the Christian life. You've noticed as you've read the four gospels that Jesus Christ looked at the book of nature and found spiritual lessons.

You notice that? He saw a sower passing out seed and he said the seed is the word of God. He heard about a woman in travail. He said you must be born again.

The wind was blowing. He says the wind blows where it wills. You hear the sound.

You can't tell where it comes from or where it's going. So is everyone that is born of the spirit of God. Water to him was a picture of the Holy Spirit.

If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. I am the true vine. You are the branches.

When the Lord Jesus looked at the book of nature, he didn't simply see vegetables and fruits and people and seeds. He saw spiritual truth. And you and I should do the same thing.

So as we consider Genesis chapter 1, I want you to notice the parallels that exist between the old creation and the new creation. You can take the book of nature in Genesis 1 and the Christian life and you can put them side by side and you can see parallels that exist. And I think the better we understand these parallels, the better we're going to live for the Lord Jesus Christ.

First of all, both of these creations begin with God. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Now, everything we need to know about the universe is right there.

This is the foundation for everything. You've got time in the beginning. You've got personality, God.

You've got force created. You've got space, the heaven. You've got matter, the earth.

And when you have that, that's all you need. In the very first verse of the Bible, God has revealed that he is the beginning of everything. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.

He spoke and it was done. And so we begin with time, personality, force, space, and matter. And God called all of this out of nothing by the power of his word.

I'm sure as you've read your Bible, you have noticed the repetition of this word beginning. In John 1.1, we have a beginning without a beginning. In the beginning was the word.

Way back in eternity past, in the beginning was the word, Jesus Christ. And the word was with God. And the word was God.

You can't go back any farther than that. Mark 1.1 says the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's when Jesus came into this world to share the good news of the new creation.

But here we have the beginning of human history, the beginning of time. Up until this point, there was no time. There was only God.

God self-existent. God self-sufficient. God eternal.

God lonely. No, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in the eternal bonds of love. But did you know, my friend, that the new creation started before this? You ought to take your concordance sometime and find out when God did this great plan of salvation.

It was before the foundation of the world. I want you to notice some verses in your New Testament. John 17.

Here is an amazing statement. Both creations begin with God, but the new creation began first. John 17.

Our Lord is praying in verse 23. I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. He's praying for the unity of God's people.

And that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. There's an amazing statement that God the Father loves his children just as he loves his son. But now look at verse 24.

Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world. Now, if God the Father loves me the way he loves his son, that means he loved me before the foundation of the world. That, to me, is a tremendous thing.

You see, the love of God went far beyond Genesis chapter 1. Long before God ever spoke anything into existence, he loved. Well, we'll turn the page to Ephesians chapter 1. And in verse 4, Paul makes this statement. According as he, God the Father, hath chosen us in him, God the Son, before the foundation of the world.

Not only did God love us before the foundation of the world, but God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's an amazing statement. Revelation chapter 13 makes an even more amazing statement.

Chapter 13 and verse 8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, meaning the beast, whose names are not written in the book of life, of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I tell you, my friend, when you stop to realize God's eternal covenant to save lost sinners, it overwhelms you. I have no problem reading a clock.

It may appear I have problems at times, but I can read my watch. And I have no problem reading the calendar. I can find out what day and what year and what month.

But when I start reading statements like, he loved me before the foundation of the world, he chose me in Christ from before the foundation of the world, he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, I say to myself, this I cannot fathom. And yet that's the new creation. Over in 2 Timothy chapter 1, Paul writes to young Timothy and makes a rather drastic statement, except it's inspired by the Spirit of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Apparently these young preachers needed this statement because he wrote something like this to Titus, Titus chapter 1, verse 2. In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began. Do you realize, my friend, that Calvary was not an afterthought? God was not pacing heaven's floors or streets and saying, what will I do next? What will I do? I think I'll send my son to die. Oh, no.

All of this was ordained and ordered and organized before the foundation of the world. Both creations begin with God. But will you notice, please, the new creation is not linked to the old creation.

It started before the old creation. So that regardless of what happens to the world, we're still saved. Regardless of what happens to the human body, we're still saved.

No matter what may go on in this universe, we are still saved because our salvation is linked with the eternal, not with time. And I give unto them eternal life. Eternal life doesn't just mean life that is extended.

He didn't say, I give unto them extended life. I give unto them eternal life. That means we reach all the way back before the foundation of the world.

We are sharing the very life of God. And those who have never been saved are linked to time. And therefore, you don't have eternal life.

Both begin with God. Now back to Genesis chapter 1. There's a second parallel between the old creation and the new creation. Both involve the Spirit of God and the Word of God.

I might just as well tell you, because you may line up to ask me, I do not believe in the gap theory. I don't make it a test of fellowship or a test of orthodoxy, nor do I criticize anyone who holds to it. I do not believe that between Genesis 1.1 and Genesis 1.2, there was a cataclysm, a chaos that wrecked the creation.

God believed in the gap theory. God began in his creation, and what was created was without form. It was empty, and it was dark.

And so God had to solve three problems. Formlessness, emptiness, darkness. And how did he solve these problems? The Spirit of God and the Word of God.

The Holy Spirit of God brooded over this chaotic creation. That's what the Holy Spirit does today. The night that I came to Jesus Christ, I was just like Genesis 1.2. I was formless, I was empty, and I was dark.

My life was chaos. Now outwardly, that life was pretty orderly. But inwardly, my life was a life of spiritual chaos.

This is the condition of every unsaved person. And how did God change this condition? The Spirit of God used the Word of God to bring order out of chaos. And God spoke, and God said, let there be light.

And light came on the scene. Now, if you think I'm inventing this, just turn to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, that my heart and the heart of every unsaved person, my heart when I was unsaved, was just like Genesis 1.2. My heart was without order, without light.

My heart was without life. There was emptiness and darkness. And I believed.

I believed the gospel. I believed on Jesus Christ. And the light came shining in.

And God, who commanded that light back in the old creation, still commands that light. What a joy it is to see the light shine into the human heart when a person believes on Jesus Christ. Now, that light comes and changes start to be made.

Because the Holy Spirit of God takes the Word of God and begins to make changes. Salvation is a crisis. The light comes in that leads to a process, the changing of our lives.

Now, a person is not saved because his life is changed. His life is changed because he's saved. I'm not talking about evolution.

I'm not saying that Genesis 1, God had a long span of time in which he was evolving things. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that in six creative days, the Spirit of God took the Word of God under the direction of God the Father and God the Son.

And tremendous things happened. Now, the new creation is the same way. We'll not go into detail on it.

But if you'll trace your New Testament carefully, you will discover that whenever God does something, it's the Spirit of God using the Word of God. The angel came to Mary and said, Now, Mary, you're going to give birth to the Christ. And she said, How shall this be? Not how can this be? That would have been unbelief.

How shall this be? Seeing as I don't have a husband. Oh, said the angel. The Spirit of God is going to overshadow you.

And Mary said, Be it unto me according to thy word. The Spirit of God and the Word of God brought the Son of God into the world. The same thing is true of our salvation.

How are you saved? The Spirit of God takes the Word of God, born of the Spirit, born of the Word, and applies it to our hearts. We believe and we're saved. How is a person sanctified? Same way.

If you want to grow in your Christian life, the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and applies it to our hearts. Both creations begin with God. Both creations involve the work of the Spirit of God and the Word of God.

Before we leave this particular parallel, I want to point on something very important. God said in verse 3, God called in verse 5. God said, Let there be light. And there was light.

And God called the light day. And God called the darkness night. Over in verse 8, God gave an identification.

God called the firmament heaven. In verse 10, God called the dry land earth. Will you watch this very closely? The Word of God identifies what things are.

Now, please get that. God did not confuse heaven and earth or day and night. He didn't say the darkness was day and the light was night.

He didn't say that the dry land was heaven and the firmament up above was earth. No, no. The Word of God, the same Word of God that brought light, also brought identification.

God names things. Now, with that in mind, look at Isaiah, if you will, please. Chapter 5. The prophet Isaiah makes an interesting statement in Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 20.

Woe unto them who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. You get the point, don't you? We're living in that world today. God's Word says this is sin.

And man says, no, don't go by that label. It's just a mistake. It's just a weakness.

It's some hereditary genetic problem. God says this is wrong. Oh, no, it can't be too wrong.

Too many good people do it. After all, if that many people do it, it must be right. You see, the same God who gave me life through his Word says now this same Word tells you what is right and what is wrong.

Both involve the Spirit of God and the Word of God. I must hasten. There's a third parallel.

Both creations follow a plan. When God created in Genesis chapter 1, he followed a plan. Now, what did he do? It's very simple.

You read those six days of creation, and you find in the first three days, he formed. In the last three days, he filled. Day one, light.

Day four, lights, plural. Day two, the heaven above, the waters beneath. Day five, the birds and the fish.

He made the heavens, then he put the birds in them. He made the waters, he put the fish in them. Day three, he made the earth.

Day six, he made the animals and the plants. One, two, and three, he formed. Four, five, and six, he filled.

That's God's plan. Now, that's God's plan in the new creation. How does God work in the new creation? He forms you, then he fills you, and you produce fruit.

And he forms you, and he fills you, and you reproduce. This is the way God works. You take any character in the Bible about whom we have any information, you'll find that's the pattern God followed.

He took Abraham, he had to form him, he filled him, he used him. He formed him some more, filled him, used him. It was true of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and David, and Samuel, and Peter, and you, and me.

If God's going to work in the new creation, the Spirit of God has to take the Word of God and form us, and then fill us, and form us, and then fill us. Now, would you notice that in this chapter, and I'll not read it to you because you know it so well, God has a ministry of dividing and separating. God does not allow things to get mixed up.

He doesn't mix the heavens with the earth. He doesn't mix the earth with the waters. He doesn't mix the things in the waters with the things flying in the heavens.

He doesn't mingle things. He keeps them separated after their kind. Some folks don't like this doctrine of separation, but it starts in Genesis 1. If God is going to bless us, if God's going to form us and fill us, we have to be separated from that which is wrong.

God will not form us and fill us if we're not separated. That's why the Word of God says, Come ye apart, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing.

I'll be a father unto you. You'll be my sons and daughters. God wants to bless us.

God wants to build our lives and use our lives. But it's only going to come if we're separated unto him. If we make a distinction, if we let God make a division between what is right and what is wrong, God follows a plan.

I'm noticing in chapter 1 of Genesis that before God put man on the earth, everything was there that man needed. This encourages me. Man needed light.

Man needed air. Man needed water. Man needed food.

And they were all there when God made him. Now, if you'll pick up Genesis 1 and put it side by side with John 1. Genesis 1 starts, In the beginning, God. John 1 starts, In the beginning was the Word.

In Genesis 1, you have seven days. In John 1 and 2, you have seven days. Check it out.

But if you'll put the two chapters side by side and then move into the Gospel of John, you'll discover in the new creation, God provides everything that the believer needs. Chapter 1, light. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness was not able to put it out. Chapter 3, air. The wind bloweth where it listeth.

Chapter 4, water. Ask of me, and I'll give you a well of water springing up to everlasting life. Chapter 6, food.

I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst.

You see, in the new creation, God gives you in Christ everything you need to live. He is your light, and he is your breath. And he is the water of life, and he is the bread of life.

Both follow a divine plan. There's a fourth parallel. Both creations climax with God's image.

God works on day 1, and day 2, 3, 4, 5. He comes to day 6 and calls a committee meeting. And he said, let us, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, let us make man after our image. The climax of the old creation is not the creation of animals.

And we love animals. I would not criticize your parakeet for anything. The climax of the old creation is to the amazement of angels, to the utter astonishment of Satan.

God makes a creature out of clay and gives to that creature the image of God, a spiritual nature that can fellowship with God, a mind that can think, a will that can decide, emotions that can feel. Much higher, much higher on the scale than that of an animal is man made in the image of God. And the climax of creation is a creature made in the image of God.

What's the climax of the new creation? Why, we're going to share perfectly in the image of God. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

We're going to have a glorified body like unto his glorified body. We're going to have purified minds and hearts and wills. Our whole nature is going to be changed and made ready instantly for a heavenly home.

The climax of the old creation, man in the image of God. The climax of the new creation, believers in the image of Jesus Christ. Now, I should say this before we move on to the last statements.

Don't wait for the rapture to start reflecting his image. Start now. Over in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 24, Paul gives us that admonition.

And that she put on the new man, which after God is being created in righteousness and true holiness. He says, right now, you and I can share in that beautiful new creation and start thinking the way God thinks and loving the way God loves and acting the way God acts. So that when Jesus Christ comes back, we are well on our way to being like him.

There is a fifth parallel. Both creations lead to rest. The six days of creation, the seventh day God rested.

And of course, this was the beginning of the Sabbath day. And God rested on the seventh day. He ended his work from all the work which he had made.

The old creation ended with rest, but that rest was broken. God had to break his Sabbath rest and go out looking for a lost soul. Adam, where art thou? The new creation is going to end with rest.

I'm looking forward to that. When I was a bit younger, I used to think that people were cowardly. They were sissies when they talked about, I'll be so glad to get to heaven where we can serve the Lord and not be tired anymore and not have aches and pains.

I don't talk like that anymore. I used to criticize David in the Psalms when he prayed, Oh, that I had wings like a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest. I don't criticize him anymore.

The old creation ends with rest. God ceased his work, not because he was tired. God cannot get tired, but because his work was finished.

It was the rest of completion. Now, in the Bible, there are four different rests. There's the rest of completion, which was God's Sabbath, which was broken by sin.

There's the rest of the covenant, the Jewish Sabbath. God said to the Jewish nation, I want to remind you, I purchased you out of Egypt. You take that seventh day, six days, your labor.

Seventh day, you're going to rest. It's my covenant mark with you. There's the rest of salvation.

Come unto me all you that labored or heavy laden. I'll give you rest. But there is that eternal rest that one day we're going to enjoy with the Lord.

Now, please don't think of it as lying around on white clouds, preening your feathers and doing nothing. It will be rest in that our earthly work will be over. Our earthly burden will be gone.

Our earthly struggles will have ended. All earthly impediments and hindrances will be removed. And it will be rest in the sense that we'll have all eternity just to enjoy and serve God.

Are you looking forward to that? I hope you are. The new creation is going to end with rest. We're going to see in this series that Revelation, the book of Revelation, and the book of Genesis stand side by side.

Everything that God starts in Genesis, he's going to complete in Revelation. All of the things that were ruined by sin in Genesis are going to be redeemed in Revelation. And we're going to enter into God's rest.

Finally, both of these creations glorify God. The heavens declare the glory of God. I imagine the morning stars when they sang together, and the angelic hosts must have been awestruck by God's creation.

You know, creation is beautiful. We've made a mess of it. The book of Revelation tells about the day that God is going to destroy them who are destroying the earth.

God's going to solve the ecology problem one of these days, and it's not going to be an easy solution. But nature is beautiful. I was flying home from Seattle some weeks ago where I'd spoken one night, and I'd never flown out that way before.

And we were looking out the window, and there was this beautiful mountain peak. I think it was Mount Hood. Gorgeous thing.

And I turned to the fellow across the aisle to say something. You know what he was doing? Reading a comic book. Reading a comic book.

He was all wrapped up in Superman or Batman or Spider-Man or something, when here was this gorgeous piece of free scenery out there, courtesy United Airlines. There it was. Just shows how dumb people are.

God made a beautiful world, and it's still beautiful in spite of sin. But you know, one of these days there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. Wherein dwelleth, says Peter, righteousness.

And God's going to make his people fit for that new environment. And when God puts together his new creation with a beautiful new heaven and earth, it's going to be a magnificent, magnificent thing. And we're going to sing his praises.

The book of Revelation tells us that all the creatures in heaven and on earth and under the earth are going to praise him, for the creatures are going to acknowledge the Creator. Thou hast made all things. All things were made by him and for him.

And by him all things hold together. But meanwhile, we have to endure the pain and the trial and the travail of this old creation that's under the slavery of sin. But thank God we belong to the new creation.

Thank God we can look forward to that time when everything shall glorify God. The heavens and the earth and every creature. Every creature shall bow before the Lord.

Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Why? To the glory of God the Father.

Meanwhile, there's no reason why we can't be glorifying him today as a part of the new creation. And so all I'm saying tonight is this. Genesis chapter 1 says here is God's old creation, but look deeper.

It's more than just mountains and lakes and rivers and atoms and insects and animals. Look deeper. It's a picture of the new creation.

Are you a part of that new creation? One difference now. We've been talking about parallels. One difference.

It didn't cost God anything to make the old creation. He spoke and it was done. That's all.

In fact, the psalmist said, when I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers. God just wiggled his fingers a little bit and there's the universe. About all I can do with a wiggling finger is scratch my neck.

But God just moves his finger and speaks the word. And there is the old creation. When it came to the new creation, it cost God something.

He had to bear his arm. Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Jesus had to die. The old creation required no cross.

The new creation had to have a cross. The old creation required no price. The new creation, a price had to be paid. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross.