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Sermons

Understanding Creation, Pt. 1 (Genesis 1:1)

Part of the The Book of Genesis series, preached at a Sunday Morning service

David Torres
David Torres
January 27, 2013

Sermon preached on Sunday, January 27, 2013 at Garden Valley Chapel during our worship morning service based on Genesis 1:1.

Take your Bible if you will and open it to the book of Genesis 1, Genesis chapter one. In others words, page 1 of your Bible.

Today we embark on a new journey, one that will last for some time and I trust the Lord will move and stir in your soul a greater love and faith in the one true God, the sole Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of all.

This first book of the Bible is about God from first to last. It is about the true God who alone creates and rules all that has been created.

God´s uniqueness [i.e. He is like no other] and sovereignty emerges from verse 1 and it is clear that He alone creates the heavens and the earth.

God was there in the beginning, of time itself as the Psalmist declares in Ps 90:2 -

2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Whether you are talking about the beginning of time or the end of time, God is there, has always been there.

Genesis is the first book of the Bible, the beginning of everything but God.

If we had to give a contemporary English title to this book, we might call it the "book of beginnings."

In fact, it was the custom in ancient times to name a book by its opening word, which is what the Hebrews did in titling this initial Bible book Bereshith בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית
, which means “in the beginning.”

When the OT was translated into Greek about 250 B.C. the Greek equivalent of the title was rendered Genesis.

Ἐν ἀρχῇ

The title alone gives us the answer to the following questions:

Where did the world come from?
Where have I come from?
What is life itself?
What is its origin?

Here in the first three chapters of Genesis we have the complete biblical view of history and humanity!

Here in the very first verse of the Bible, we begin with God -

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

While the psychologist starts with and ends with you, the Bible begins and ends with God (Rev 22:20-21 - “‘Yes I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen”).

You either believe that the world is God’s creation, or you believe that the world is the result of some impersonal, accidental, evolutionary process.

The Bible begins with Genesis:

Chapters 1-11 Primeval History (the early history of Planet Earth - which records four major events: Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the tower of Babel, the Dispersion)
Chapters 12-50 Patriarchal History (the history of Israel’s founding fathers - “where sin increases, grace abounds” theme Rom 5:20)

The Bible begins with creation.

Surprisingly it takes only two (2) chapters on creation, one (1) chapter on the Fall, while detailing the story of Abraham in thirteen (13) chapters and the story of Joseph which covers a 1/3 of Genesis.

A fifth of the book covers 20 generations (Adam to Abraham) while 4/5 is devoted to just 4 generations (Abraham to Joseph).

Interestingly enough, Genesis covers 25% of the Pentatuech, while Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy cover 75% (120 yrs).

Not only does it begin with creation but it traces our family tree all the way back to its roots in Adam and Eve.

As Paul testified in Acts 17:26 of God -

26 ...He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

It also depicts the beginning of sin, the doctrine of man, the great doctrine of salvation.

We see both the beginning of it all and the grand development of God’s eternal will.

It is no wonder that we study this very significant book for it will tell us of our God, of ourselves, of His revealed will for our lives, and of our world.

So how do you read this book?

Well let me begin by saying: Genesis is not a “popular, long-transmitted, poet account dealing with past person or events”1 as some would like to think. It is about history - actual, factual, history.

German theologian Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932) has argued,

“It has been objected that Jesus and the apostles apparently regarded these accounts as reality and not poetry. Certainly. But NT figures had no particular stance regarding such questions. Instead, they shared the opinions of their time.”2

In other words, Jesus and the apostles believed Genesis as real accounts of history because that is what everyone believed.
He later writes:

“Genesis reports things that contradict our advanced knowledge” (Gunkle, ix).

“The theory underlying the patriarchal legends that all the peoples originated through the expansion of one family and one patriarch each is extremely childish” (Gunkle, x).

No, you are mistaken Mr. Gunkle.

We are to read Genesis as narrative of factual history.

It is Moses who is moved by the Holy Spirit to pen these words after the Exodus around 1445 B.C., but before his death around 1405 B.C. - the early 15th century.

It was a time when the people of God were wandering through the wilderness and perhaps even wondering about Abraham and the patriarchs; ultimately about their origins.3

Thus God met Moses with his Word, giving him not only Genesis but what we call the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.

And now as we consider the opening lines of Genesis we are introduced to this self-existent, solitary, self-sufficient Creator.

The very opening lines of Genesis go against the opening line of Carl Sagan’s best-seller Cosmos which stated:

“The cosmos is all there is, or has been, or will be.”

In other words, matter is God! This is what has dominated the sciences for more than a hundred years.

Today we want to focus upon the Word of God. Today I want to introduce you to this marvelous book of Genesis.

Today I want to begin our journey of studying that great book of beginnings, starting with the topic of creation.

Stand in honor of God’s word as I Read Genesis 1:1-2:3.

About David Torres: David Torres was born in San Salvador and moved to the States at the age of 6. He came to Christ at age 15. He is a graduate of The Master’s University (BA ’01) and The Master’s Seminary (MDiv ’06; ThM ‘19). He served as a pastor-teacher in Garden Valley, CA for 8 years. In 2014, he returned to Grace to You as the GAV Radio Producer serving the Spanish speaking world through the teaching ministry of John MacArthur. He serves in the Joint Heirs Fellowship Group at Grace Community Church and on the council for Grace Advance. He also serves as a Section Instructor at TMS. He was married to Angie in 2000, and they have seven children: Isaiah, Emilia, Micah, Eva, Isabella, Elizabeth, and Jeremiah.