Introduction to Genesis 2

Justin Taylor, author of my favorite Christian blog, recently related a funny story about his kids. Instead of saying, “what on earth are you doing,” he blurted out, “what are you doing on the earth?” Then his 3 year old daughter was squirming while getting her face washed and said, “Hey, what’s the big idea?”[i] These are both questions of origins; questions about purpose and being. I believe you could open any book of the Bible and find the basic answer to these questions, but in the book of Genesis these questions are answered with unique clarity.

I want to tell you something that may shock you. I believe that evolution is a brilliant and superior theory. Evolution completely and convincingly describes how the universe began, how life formed on the earth and how we have evolved from molecules to man in a relatively short span of fifteen billion years. I absolutely believe this is a true statement, but under one condition—if you remove the supernatural Creator from the picture. If there is no God, no divine creator and everything that exists has come about by purely natural processes, then the theory of evolution is a superior theory for the single reason that under those circumstances, it would be the only theory.

There are two basic types of explanation for the existence of the universe, and everything in it—either it has a supernatural explanation or it has a natural explanation. This is also explains the two basic types of worldviews. There are obviously more than two types of worldviews, but all worldview can be lumped into these two categories—natural and supernatural. Most people throughout the history of the world have held to some type of supernatural worldview. Whether you believe in one god who created everything or many gods/spirits who created and/or inhabit everything, you understand that the universe came about through some form of supernatural power.

But when you totally eliminate any possibility of a supernatural power, it’s not like you have a smorgasbord of options left to you. You only have one—a purely natural explanation. And if you force yourself into a natural explanation, then the theory of evolution, even with all of it massive holes, inconsistencies and inaccuracies, becomes the best and brightest theory precisely because it is the only theory available to you. Can you see why the secular scientists defend evolution with such extreme religious fanaticism ? They have to defend it because it is their only option. They are religiously devoted to their evolutionary dogma because they have nowhere else to hide. It’s not as if the scientist or person with a naturalistic worldview has spent the time studying and comparing their naturalistic worldview with a supernatural worldview. They haven’t compared the two because they don’t want to compare them. They simply reject the supernatural worldview which forces them to stay in their own little circle.

When you hold to a wrong worldview, you fulfill Isaiah’s words. “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He did not make me’? Can the pot say of the potter, ‘He knows nothing’?” (Isaiah 29:16) Those who hold to a naturalistic worldview don’t even bother talking back to the potter, they simply eliminate the potter. This type of worldview asks the question, “What potter? I don’t see any potter.”

But Genesis chapter one and even the first verse is a direct attack on this worldview with the simple but powerful phrase, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” You can choose to live in your own fantasy world and pretend that the potter does not exist, but that doesn’t make it true. As Genesis crushes the naturalistic worldview, we are left with the supernatural worldview. And this can be divided into two basic types—polytheism and monotheism. Of the two, polytheism is the larger and includes every type of religion except Christianity, Islam and Judaism. We might think that the polytheistic person is way ahead of the godless naturalist, but in reality, they are no closer to the truth. Instead of asking, “What potter?” the polytheist asks the question, “Which potter?” I can’t possibly choose only one. There is the sun god, the moon god, the rain god, the harvest god and the sex god. Hinduism has millions of gods, so they are seriously asking the question, “which potter?” But the first verse deals an equally fatal blow to this worldview. “In the beginning God—[NOT many gods]—created the heavens and the earth.” Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, “I am”—he has many different names, but he is one God and he made it all.

Tell me which came first—polytheism or monotheism? Sociologists will adamantly tell you that it was polytheism. They see polytheism all over ancient cultures and they believe that Moses was probably the very first monotheist, but we know that this is not true. Adam and Eve were strictly monotheistic. Their ancestors quickly developed polytheism with its inherently corrupt morality. This polytheism led to the worldwide judgment of the flood and Noah and his family started over with monotheism. This again quickly degenerated into polytheism, so God called Abraham out of a world of polytheism and back into monotheism. Long before the Ten Commandments were carved in stone by the finger of God, the first commandment was written on the hearts of all men—“You shall have no other gods before me.” An incorrect worldview always begins with breaking of the first commandment. “What potter? I don’t see any potter. I don’t want a potter.” “Which potter? There are so many. Are you asking me to choose among them?”

After the first verse of Genesis, have we arrived at a full blown description of the gospel of Jesus Christ? We haven’t made it that far yet, but just with the first verse we have already eliminated two-thirds of the false worldviews that exist today—naturalism and polytheism are gone. This leads me to the first of six points.

This morning I will give an overview of the categories. We will revisit these categories again and again. Also, you will see that these are not hard and fast categories—they overlap and are interdependent upon one another. We already finished the first one. A worldview is another name for philosophy—a way of looking at life. From the very first verse, Genesis establishes a philosophy of monotheism.

If you are a history buff, then Genesis is the ultimate history lesson, and if you aren’t a history buff, then you ought to be. This is the beginning of all history. There was a time when time was not. At a point in time, God created time. God, who was outside of time, created time, space and the start of history. But most people don’t think that Genesis is the beginning of history. Even many Christians don’t believe it. They believe that what is recorded in the first chapters of Genesis is primeval history. It is so far back in time that we have no idea when these things actually happened. Furthermore, they reason, especially chapter one is like poetry—it is meant to be read as figures of speech and not as literal history. Certainly God created everything, but did he do it just like it says here? Probably not, many believe.

An O.T. scholar from the Master’s College did a detailed analysis of chapter one and compared it with other poetic sections of Scripture, such as Psalms. Here is a summary of what he found.

“First, it is not statistically defensible to interpret Genesis 1:1-2:3 as poetry or metaphor. Second, since Ge 1:1-2:3 is clearly narrative, it should be read as other Hebrew narratives are intended to be read. That is the creation account describes actual events which carry an unmistakable theological message. Third, when Ge 1:1-2:3 is read as narrative, there is only one tenable view: God created everything during six literal days. This is surely the plain, direct intention of the text.”[ii]

I took the chapter one and divided it into its seven day description. I gave it the title “A Creation Hymn,” not because I don’t believe it is literal history, but because it has a hymn-like quality with several repeating parts to each of the seven days. There is a rhythmic feel to the chapter that, at first glance, may give the impression that this is not historical narrative…

You might be wondering why I feel the need to spend so much time defending the literal reading of Genesis. Shouldn’t we move on to the next chapters? Why is it so important to spend time on this subject? Here’s the problem with a poetic or non-literal understanding of Genesis. First, like I said last week several times, it is the most plain understanding of the text. It is what most Christians have believed for two thousand years and it’s what an honest reading of the text presents. I would do my conscience harm not to believe it.

But even beyond this, a literal understanding gives increased confidence in the entire Bible. If we can’t be sure about chapter one and two, how do we know chapter three is right? Did Satan really tempt Adam and Eve which led to the fall of mankind, or is this merely an ancient myth that more or less describes all of the evil in our world? We end up asking the same question that Satan asked Eve in the garden, “Did God really say?” Scientists and their cohorts in the media constantly hammer us with doubts. Did God really create? What about those billions of years? Did God really say? None of us are likely to believe the blasphemies of atheist Richard Dawkins or Charles Gibson, the talking head on the evening news. We won’t fall for a full-frontal attack on our faith and on the Bible. But all of this hammering away at the authority of the Bible can begin to erode our confidence in the Word of God, without us even realizing it. To top it all off, a good segment of Christians join in a somewhat similar tune by saying, “The Bible doesn’t tell us when God created or how he created, but only that he created.” To me, that’s a bit like saying “The Bible doesn’t tell us when Jesus died on the cross or how he saved us, only that he saved us.” Did God really say? Yes he did, and he said it quite plainly and quite clearly from the first verse of Genesis.

If God initiated history in Genesis 1:1, if he created all that exists ex nihilo—out of nothing—what did God do before he created? Or another big question: Why did God create? One can quickly add up all of these huge questions, and then shrug your shoulders and say, “Oh well, I guess I’ll ask God these kinds of questions when I get to Heaven.” But we don’t need to wait because we already have answers to these questions. What did God do before he created? In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:5) Jesus and his father had an unbroken, perfect, glorified relationship for all of eternity.

There is a theological characteristic of God called aseity. Aseity means that God does not need anything. God is sufficient unto himself. God does not need us and he did not need to create. But he did, and the reason he created us was in order to redeem us. Ephesians chapter one says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” This verse answers both questions—what God was doing before he created and why he created. Before he created, God chose us in Christ Jesus to be holy and blameless in his sight. In other words, before he made us, he saved us. Salvation was prior to creation. Therefore, the chief reason he created was to carry out this redemption to completion. We were created in order to be redeemed.

This week someone said to me, “The Bible is a love letter from God to us.” That is an absolutely correct statement, but much more than that—all of creation is one massive love letter from God. Do you see? If he created the entire universe with the express purpose to redeem us, then the universe itself has his fingerprints of love smeared all over it. The Bible testifies to this in many places, as in Psalm 19.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

²Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

If we only had eyes to see, we would see that all of creation screams out the glory of God. But is creation, in all of its beauty and glory, sufficient to redeem us? Even though God created in order to redeem, creation itself is merely an amazing backdrop for his redemptive work. The word of God is necessary for salvation. Even the next verses in Psalm 19 gives creation its proper perspective in relation to God’s word.

Creation speaks and testifies to the glory of God, but its testimony is incomplete. The law of the Lord is perfect. The word of God is the complete testimony of God’s saving work. And of course, the Word, Jesus Christ, is mediator and Savior, who not only brought everything into existence through his creative word, but he also entered into creation. God created us in order to redeem us and Jesus entered creation in order to redeem us.

But if we cannot trust the history of creation, then why should we be able to trust the history of redemption. Creation and redemption are linked and first introduced in the beginning of Genesis.

Another common objection is similar to World magazine editor, Marvin Olasky. Olasky was literally a card carrying communist in his college days. He was vehemently anti-American and studied Marxism with all his might. He even made a trip to the Soviet Union in the early 70’s, made an appointment with a mysterious Russian man, and was convinced he was going to be drafted as a Soviet spy. Eventually he abandoned communism but was not yet a believer. This is what he wrote about this intermediate stage.

“The sticking point for me was not His existence but His sovereignty. I knew that God existed but my intellectual pride left me not wanting to admit dependence. Furthermore—sad but true—I wanted the intellectual and sexual promiscuity that modern university life serves up, and an allegiance to God would mean a turning away from all that.”[iii]

If God created everything then we are accountable to him, and many, many people simply cannot tolerate this idea. They are not willing to submit to a Sovereign Creator. They don’t want to submit to him, so it is much easier, and more convenient to ask questions. “What potter? I don’t see any potter.” “Which potter? You can’t make me choose just one.”

What are you doing on the earth? You are here to bring glory to God, because he made you. What’s the big idea? The big idea is that God created you so that he could redeem you and let you share in his marvelous glory.

[i] http://theologica.blogspot.com/2009/05/kids-say-darndest-things.html#comments

[ii] Dr. Don DeYoung, Thousands…Not Billions (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2005), p. 169.

[iii] Marvin Olasky, God Doesn’t Give Up, World Magazine, May 23, 2009.