The Beginning: Can you imagine?

Genesis: Can you imagine - - no people, no animals, no fish, no plants, no oceans, no land, no earth, no universe? Is there anything or anyone out there? Bereshith is the title in Hebrew, meaning “In the beginning.” The book that we know as Genesis, which means “origin.” Both are appropriate titles. This is a record of the beginning of history, but not the beginning of God’s activity. We have recorded several instances that demonstrate God’s work prior to his creation of the world. First, it is obvious by the first words of the Bible that God pre-existed the beginning. “In the beginning, God…” demonstrated the God was already there. God always has been. Psalm 90:2 records Moses’ prayer in which he states, “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, you are God.” Both Peter & John speak of Jesus’ pre-creation existence. 1 Peter 1:20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you. John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Not only did Jesus exist, but he had in the same glory as the Father. Jesus is also co-creator. This is seen in John 1:2-3, “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” We have quite a few verses throughout scripture demonstrating the pre-existence of God before creation: Matthew 25:34 The King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 2 Timothy 1:9 he saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, Revelation 13:8  speaks of everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. The whole truth of the Bible and the foundation that we stand on is firmly rooted in the opening chapters of Genesis and God’s self-existence throughout eternity in order to undertake creation. If the universe is several million or billions of years old and come from nothing, or from a “big bang” as much of the scientific community, as well as the educational system and the world claim, then the Bible is found to be untrue in its opening chapters, bringing the whole of scripture into question. God is the cause & creator of everything. All of scripture hinges on two things, one really, but the second is crucial. The first is the first four words in the Bible. “In the beginning, God.” To deny this fact is to put your faith in the “Big Bang” and evolutionary model of creation. Think about it; it takes a lot more faith to believe along those lines than it does to come to the realization that God created everything out of nothing by his word. He spoke everything into existence. Looking at the “bang,” where did it come from? Where did the material come from that the big bang exploded to bring things about? See the problem? This theory does not solve anything; it just moves that question of origin further back and then drops it. As for evolution, just stop and look in a mirror. If life started from a single cell, how did a functioning body come into being? What parts of you came first and discovered that they needed other parts in order to work? Your heart? Lungs? Circulatory system, Liver? Kidneys? Brain?... Consider just the complexity of your eye. It is an amazing item. How did your eye, with its rods & cones, fluid, cornea, iris… come into being by means of evolution? If life started in the sea, how did creatures that needed gills to get oxygen from the water wind up developing lungs so as to breathe outside of the water? It is a stretch to move from that sea creature on to the apes that we supposedly came from. What do we have representing all of the stages in between? Maybe they became extinct…. As you were growing up and getting your education, you saw pictures in your school books depicting the stages of development that finally resulted in men coming from apes. Where are all of those stages today? Maybe they became extinct…. Now, I have a simple question for you if you hold to this model. If the in-between stages that should fill a whole lot of empty gaps in the evolutionary scheme are gone, obviously becoming extinct for some reason, why are the ones still around where the end products came from? Why do we still have fish, apes, and other such creatures and not the “missing links” that we find no evidence for in any archeological digs or fossils? Because there aren’t any. Let’s consider the biblical record. God, who has, does, and always will exist created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless & empty, covered by darkness. The Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters. God spoke light into being to separate night from day. This was the 1st day. On the 2nd day he separated the water in the ground from that in the sky, forming a protective shield of water vapor over the earth. We will see the purpose of this by the after effects of it being removed at the time the earth is flooded in Noah’s day. On the 3rd day he gathered the water on the earth into seas and formed dry land. He then created plant-life on the earth. The 4th day hears God saying, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years. They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” So he set the sun in place for the day and the moon for the night. Day 5 comes and God created everything that moves and swarms in the water and the winged creatures, all according to their kinds. And now it is the 6th day and God made the living creatures—livestock, & creeping things, & the beasts of the earth according to their kind. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.” God then told man that he had made provision for both him and the animals, that they may eat any green plant on the entire earth and the fruit of all the trees for food. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Evening came and then morning and the 6th day was over. So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation. Have you bought a computer, tablet, cell phone, etc.? Downloaded any apps? You have to agree to the terms & conditions before they will be activated. This is true whether it is Microsoft, Samsung, Toshiba, or Apple. We will get to take a closer look at Adam & Eve, in doing so, we will be introduced to the first people not to read the Apple Terms & Conditions…. As we continue on, let’s be sure to agree to and apply God’s terms & condition.