buildingbodies4christ

building on the foundation of Jesus Christ

Archive for the tag “Creation story”

13 Jan 2024

In the Beginning

Starting out this new year, my Sunday School class is studying Genesis. It’s a bit unfortunate since we had already done that book through another study guide just last summer. But like all Scripture, we can learn something new each time we study God’s Word. God has something new to teach us in this season.

As I started out this morning reading the beginning of God’s creation story, I was reminded of a few things and what we experience in this time we live in. There is a struggle we all have that is rooted in us from the beginning of time.

After God formed man from the ground, He created woman from the man. He formed man from dust but “built” the woman from the man. Different actions taken for each, but in the same likeness of God. God breathed life into man, different from His other created beings. God placed value on us and in us.

There was no one suitable for man after all the creatures were formed. So, God “built” one who would be a helper to man – a valuable aid and support to man. This indicated a completeness to man and woman, showing the union God created in human beings with each other. We are made for community.

I know we don’t want to speak of these things today. Man and woman. It’s such a “hot” topic in our society. But this gets to another feature that happened in the Garden. Sin – or a deception that is used to this day to distort God’s Word.

There was a thought that jumped into my head as I was reading the narrative – from the Garden to the Cross. The sin narrative started in the Garden of Eden by Satan distorting God’s Word to Eve (and Adam who was in the same vicinity when this conversation took place, just pointing this out – they are both at fault for falling for this deception).

The commentator of this lesson pointed out the sin was not what Eve had done, but what Satan said to distort God’s Word thus causing Eve to have doubts about God.  The commentator noted “Satan questioned God’s integrity, goodness, and therefore, His trustworthiness.” God had already given Adam and Eve everything they needed. He just commanded them one thing (Genesis 2:16-17):

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat of the eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

 But God… God knew what would happen in the Garden. God knew the heart of man. He gave Adam and Eve free will to choose to follow God’s Word. When Eve took the fruit and gave some to Adam, their eyes were opened. Satan always points out the “good” things we will gain by following him, but fails to mention the things we will lose because of our choosing him over God. Yes, the fruit was good. But now there are consequences for those actions that will reverberate throughout history.

But God… in the Garden of Eden was the beginning of sin and death. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them (Genesis 3:21) the foreshadow of shedding blood to cover the sin. But God also stated in the Garden (Genesis 3:15): “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” Death will be defeated by One who will come through Adam’s line – Jesus!

At that moment of the first bite, human kind became separated from God. No longer was there fellowship with Him in the Garden. The Garden was closed to them and God sent angels to guard the Tree of Life. Adam had to struggle for his food and Eve would struggle in childbirth. Life would become a struggle for all of us.

As history continues to prove the sin nature of humanity and the deception of Satan is alive and well, but God made a way in another garden to put an end to this sin problem. This garden would see drops of blood as Jesus struggled in His prayer with the Father to let this cup of wrath that sin created to be taken away, but Jesus said “not my will, but yours be done.” And so it was in that garden, Jesus laid down His will to the Father’s and went to the cross to die for our sins.

The separation ended on that day. No longer was there a curtain between God and man because Jesus died to rip that veil in two – but that wasn’t the end of the story. That’s just the beginning of the end. Jesus was raised to life; defeating death. Jesus said (John 10:10):

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Remember God’s goodness, His integrity and His trustworthiness. Jesus has given us life. Do not be deceived by the enemy’s tactic still being used to distort God’s Word. If there is any confusion, recognize the deception leading to death and look toward what God has to offer us – Life and to the Full!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

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24 Feb 2016

Aged to Perfection

I love the first miracle Jesus performed was done at a wedding festival. Who doesn’t love a good party! Jesus told the servants to fill the stone jars – not just any ordinary stone jars, but the ones used for cleansing preparation. When water was placed in those jars, it was considered holy. It was ceremonially clean. Jesus not only used holy water to make the wine, He used many jars to make an abundance of wine. He could have told the servants to fill one jar, but He told them to fill all the jars. Six jars that held 20 to 30 gallons. That’s a lot of wine!

I had an “ah ha” moment this past week while I was listening to a lecture on this miracle. There is an aspect of the creation story in Jesus’ first miracle. Jesus created water out of wine. I think we all get that aspect of the story. The deeper truth though is that the miracle shows Jesus’ ability to create something from nothing just as it was done in the very beginning of time. He took ordinary water and made it wine – not just any wine, but the really good stuff. In those days, new wine was put into new wine skins to age. Jesus bypassed the aging process and just put it into jars. It was already aged to perfection. The “ah ha” moment came in the statement that God takes age into account when He creates.

When you consider creation – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” – He brought the earth and the heavens into its fullness in aged perfection. They were created in the perfect way, and it was sustainable from the beginning. Light years didn’t develop over time; it was on the first day. I have always struggled with the idea about earth being billions of years older than what the Bible and theologians say is only thousands of years in existence. I can’t explain dinosaurs or antiquity either. It has baffled my mind for years.

But I figured God doesn’t tell us everything for a reason. It’s called faith. Take it on faith that what we are told in the Bible is the Truth. And the Bible is confirmed by the Spirit. So I believe because God said it was so, and the Spirit confirms what I read. If Jesus can age wine in the miracle, then I believe God can age the earth in the miracle of creation. It makes perfect sense in a supernatural way. Only God knows the complete story of creation. We are given the highlights, and left to discover the rest in the right time. However, doubts come when things don’t seem to add up to our logical sense.

The disciples all believed Jesus was who He said He was after that first miracle. This miracle was the first sign of Jesus’ glory: “and His disciples believed in Him” (John 2:11). But it took the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in them for them to become true witnesses throughout the world. John wrote his Gospel of the accounts of Jesus so that readers of his Gospel would believe (John 20:30-31).

The first miracle had significance for many reasons. It wasn’t because Jesus was so cool to bring His glory to a party – even though He is pretty cool like that. John’s Gospel is the only Gospel that records some of the amazing things Jesus did while He walked the earth. John gave us an eyewitness account of these things. He testified of Jesus’ glory just as John the Baptist did when Jesus was baptized.

After the resurrection, Jesus walked with the two men to Emmaus and explained what had taken place. The men said the words spoken by Jesus burned in their hearts (Luke 24:32). Luke recorded the conversation in Luke 24. Jesus “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” We are given these things so that we too may believe.

God’s story is aged to perfection. One day, we too will be aged to perfection in our glorified bodies when we are resurrected from the dead. Yes, God considers the aging process before time began. The Ancient One came to live among us so that we would believe in the One who sent Him – Jesus testified about His Father. Believe it as Truth because He said so!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. (John 1:1, 14, 18)

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