I see trees of green, red roses too,
I see them bloom for me and you,
and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
I’m sure you know that song by Louis Armstrong. He sings about all sorts of things - skies of blue, clouds of white, colours of the rainbow, the faces of people, friends shaking hands, babies crying. And his end point is: ‘Yes I think to myself, what a wonderful world.’
What is it for you that makes you think of how wonderful our world is? Perhaps it’s the way your garden grows up; or a beautiful landscape or spectacular mountain range; or some of David Attenborough’s wildlife programmes. Whatever it might be, your wonder is inspired and you’re amazed, and perhaps it even leads you to ask the question - where did this wonderful world come from?
As you’re probably aware, many people think that this wonderful world came about by pure random chance. Some sort of chemical reaction, a big bang of some kind, and it just so happened to produce everything that we see in this wonderful world. We started with a song - so here’s another, the theme song to The Big Bang Theory:
Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started, wait
The earth began to cool, the autotrophs began to drool
Neanderthals developed tools
We built a wall (we built the pyramids)
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries
That all started with the big bang! Hey!
The book of Genesis tells us how the world came about - not by random chance, but by the direction of the God who made everything. So who is the God we are introduced to in this opening chapter of the Bible?
He is the eternal God. Look at verse 1: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ The word ‘Genesis’ means beginnings - we hear of the beginning of the heavens and the earth, but God already existed. God was already here before the beginning. He is the eternal being - the creator of time itself, but himself without beginning or end - the Alpha and the Omega.
The eternal God is also the God who speaks. You can’t miss it in this chapter. Verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29 contain either ‘And God said’ or ‘Then God said.’ God is a speaking God. He didn’t just speak creation into being, he has also revealed it to us. Back in the day, day one of creation, there was no Facebook or Twitter; no one was live-blogging creation as it happened; making snap judgements on what had happened. People hadn’t even been formed yet. We wouldn’t and couldn’t know about how God created if he hadn’t told us. And so he revealed it to Moses, who wrote it down for us.
Genesis is not necessarily a ‘how to’ - even though the order and sequence of creation is being corroborated by the work of scientists. God is showing us the ‘why’. God speaks, and tells us what we need to know about himself, and ourselves and our place in his creation.
The eternal, speaking God is also the God of power. We see this because when God speaks, things happen. Have you ever had the frustration of saying something and nothing happens - telling the kids to get ready for bed; or asking for a cup of tea - you might as well be talking to the wall! But not so with God. Look at verse 3. ‘And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.’ He just says it, and it happens. Do you see that pattern running through the chapter? ‘And God said... And it was so.’ (7, 9, 11, 15, 24) God is powerful, his words have power.
And what is it he says - this eternal, powerful, speaking God? His words show that he is the God of order. In verse 2 we see that the earth was ‘formless and empty’ (tohu wabohu). As the days of creation unfold, we watch as God forms the world (days 1-3) and fills the world (days 4-6).
There is separation as God forms the world - separating the light from the darkness (day 1), separating the waters under and above the sky (day 2), and separating the day land and the water (day 3). And then he repeats the pattern, as he fills the world - light and darkness match up to the lights in the expanse of the sky, the sun and moon [which aren’t even named, as some of the Israelites’ neighbours worshipped the sun and moon - Genesis reminds us that God made the sun, the moon, and v16 ‘he also made the stars’ - we worship the creator, not the creation]; the waters and sky of day 2 are filled by the fish and the birds of day 5; and the dry land is filled by animals and people (last of all) on day 6. God is the God of order.
The eternal, powerful, speaking, orderly God is also good. And the things he makes are good. Did you notice the constant chorus, the repeated refrain: ‘And God saw that it was good.’ The good God works goodness, and when he makes humans, the climax of all his work, we see God’s verdict on everything in verse 31: ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’
The God who made everything is the eternal, powerful, speaking, orderly, good God. And this is our God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Right at the very beginning we see God the Father, who creates and speaks; we see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters; and we see the Son, the Word of God, by whom all things were made. There is one God, in three persons - the Trinity. And we see that again in verse 26: ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”’ If not the Trinity, then who would God be speaking to or about when he says ‘Let us...’
This is the God who made everything: the eternal, powerful, speaking, orderly, good God who made the first humans in his own image and likeness. It is only as we see and know the God who made us that we can see who we are.
In Genesis 1:27 we find the only rational foundation for human rights. The secular world argues strongly for human rights, but underneath they have little basis for equality and rights; and that’s why many reckon that the unborn, the elderly and the sick should be conveniently dealt with. But here we see that every human, male and female, is made in the image of God and is precious.
We also see our purpose in verse 26: ‘Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ And it’s found in the blessing God gives in verse 28: ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule...’
We have been made according to God’s plan and purpose, shaping the world and us by his power and goodness to be like him and image him to the world - in love and community, dependent on our maker who gives us our place as stewards over the creation, and gives us food and everything we need for life in this world. We are called to care for creation, under God’s rule and care.
The good God made everything good. And we continue to get glimpses of what a wonderful world we live in. But alongside the trees of green and red roses too, our world is also full of pain and sadness and sickness. In a few week’s time we’ll see how that came about, but this morning we acknowledge that God’s good world has been marred and broken by sin; just as God’s image in us has been marred and broken by sin. We have turned our backs on God; we have exploited and abused his good gifts to us.
But one man did walk on the earth, perfectly displaying what it is to be the image of God. God himself became one of us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The Lord Jesus calls us back to relationship with him; calls us to turn to him by faith; to receive his blessings (won for us by his perfect life and spotless, sinless death); and to enter into his rest. God made the heavens and the earth and everything in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. It wasn’t that God was tired after all his work and needed to take it easy for a day or so. No, it was a day of enjoying all he had made, a day of blessing.
On the seventh day, the pattern is broken. Six days of work, one day of rest. And that’s what we find in the Ten Commandments also. But notice also that the pattern of numbering the days is broken. In verse 5, 8, 13, 19, 23 and 31 we have a pattern: ‘And there was evening, and there was morning, the ...th day.’ But for the seventh day, you don’t get the same. The pattern is broken. And that’s an indication that God is continually resting from his work of creation - an unending Sabbath rest, which he is inviting us to share in.
Our weekly rest day (now the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day), when we rest from our labours, is a sign and symbol pointing forward to the perfect rest of heaven. Jesus invites us to share in his rest - a rest from labours, a rest from trying to earn our way, a rest from religious striving, and to instead receive his blessing and his rest:
‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:28).
This is our God: the eternal, powerful, speaking, orderly good God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are made in his image, made for his purpose, and made for relationship with him. Will you come to him, and find your true identity in him today?
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 1st September 2019.
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