Creation

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Our text today is the source of some of the most profound truths about God, his character, and his work in our world. It is a text intended to display the unique love, creativity, and glory of Yahweh. This “Sunday School” series aims to center ourselves on the timeless truths of these stories. We want to situate them in their original context to understand the narrative of scripture so we can see God working in our own stories.

As modern Western readers of this ancient Hebrew document, we must practice humility when we approach this text. We tend to come to these accounts with our own cultural assumptions - that these narratives need to describe what literally & physically happened at the creation of the universe. We might assume that this text aims to “prove” that the earth was created in a particular fashion because these are the types of questions our culture seeks to answer.

But is that the question that the author is seeking to answer or that the original audience is trying to find? Probably not.

Genesis 1 and 2 are documentary video footage of the universe's origin - they are poetic narratives designed for meditation and to discover truth about God.

So what truths are the author trying to communicate about God, creation, and humanity? There are enough to be meditated on for a lifetime. But to start, here is one foundational truth that will propel us into the rest of these “Sunday School” stories.

Our God is a good God who wants to be with us.

God ordered the formless, void, and dark earth to be a place of order, flourishing, and goodness. Each action of creation - from setting the boundaries of time to blessing the ground’s vegetation - gave humans a place to be with God. He set up a place for humans to flourish, so that we could experience his goodness, love, and glory.

The first few lines of the story are God pushing back chaos and bringing order so he could create us and be with us. This is not to center us in the story but to show us that God’s heart has always been to be with us. God displays his glory through his creative power and loving relationship with humanity.

The creation narrative of Genesis 1 shows us that God desires to dwell with his people. God's spirit dwells within us as we wait for new creation. The author of Genesis one reminds us that humanity being with God has always been God’s intent. Let’s thank God for being so good as to order all things so that we can access Him.