Genesis 1:1-31

Dear Church,   

God has built His church not out of wood or stone, but through the flesh of you and your reborn Spirit, given to you through repentance, baptism, and renewed through His very own flesh and blood, or the communion that we take.

Please stand with me as we read God’s word and as we pray.  Today, we will be reading Genesis 1.  Let’s begin:  

Genesis 1:1-31

The Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  And the earth was formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.  Then God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.  God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.”  And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Then God said, “let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.  God made the expanse, and separated the waters that were below the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so.  God called the expanse “heaven.”  And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so.  And God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the waters He called “seas,” and God saw that it was good.  Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them, and it was so.  The earth produced vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, according to their kind; and God saw that it was good.  And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years; and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”, and it was so.  God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.  God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.  And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”  And God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.  God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”  And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kind:  livestock and crawling things and animals of the earth according to their kind, and it was so.  God made the animals of the earth according to their kind, and the livestock according to their kind, and everything that crawls on the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.”  So God created man in His own image, and in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them,.  God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every animal of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life.  I have given every green plant for food; and it was so.  And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.  

***

You may be seated. 

In the beginning was the Word.  And the Word was with God.  And the Word was God.  God came into creation that He might visit us and save us from the sin of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden.  For God knew the end from the beginning, and the beginning was — in the timeless way of God — also the end; for God forsook Himself that we might be saved and spend eternity with Him in heaven.  He did this as HIs Holy Son, the Messiah, or Christ Jesus the Nazarene.

When Christ Jesus walked this earth, He spoke Aramaic and was known as Yeshua Mashea, or “Salvation, the Messiah” translated into English.  He came at a time when many others had claimed to be the Messiah and people were looking for Him and expecting Him.  Although much like in the time of Creation, He had plans that were unimaginable to everyone who sought Him, who had prayed for His coming, and who had vowed to follow Him before they knew Him and what He was all about.

During the first 6 days of Creation, God created ‘something’ from nothing.  He demonstrated His power and creative ability by creating the heavens and the earth.  He then separated the waters from the land, created the light of the day — the sun — and the dimmer lights of the night (the stars).  God made the animals who roamed about the land, each in number such that they could reproduce and fill the earth.  He created the creatures of the sea in the same fashion.  God even made the birds of the sky before He introduced man — in His very own image — to His creation.  On the sixth day, He made man, in His Holy image.  And when He saw that man was lonely, He fashioned woman out of man’s rib, showcasing that He could both make something from ‘nothing,’ as well as something from ‘something’.  God demonstrated that He had no limits, and then He rested on the 7th day, blessed it, sanctified it, and called it Holy.  This day is Shabbat, or the Sabbath day.  And even today, God rests with us and speaks to us on this very day; Saturday.

We have learned to worship on Sundays, which is good.  We have learned to take time off and be with God, which is good.  But one thing, Church, that I say to you is that we must rest on Saturdays and honor God’s Holy dominion over this earth.  We must build a relationship with God when He is most available to us.  For He has created this day, called it Holy, and sent His only begotten Son to be sacrificed on the very same Day.  

We have forgotten, as a Church, that God’s covenant blessing over man is that we have dominion over all animals on the earth.  We have forgotten that in spite of our sin — which was forgiven by Yeshua Mashea — God’s covenant is forever. 

Yet, God has reminded us through Genesis 15 and 17 when He blessed Abraham.  God reminded us when He swore to never destroy the earth as He once did through the rainbow covenant He made with Noah.  He reminded us again in Genesis 32:24-32 when He wrestled with Jacob, allowed Him the privilege of prevailing, and renamed him Israel.  God went on to bless Jacob’s sons and, from them, the 12 tribes of Israel came into being.

Yet, when God blesses man and makes a covenant, that covenant is forever.  Especially in these times, it’s easy to judge others and pray for their destruction.  For example, just take a look at how Israel is treating Iran right now, or how Iran is treating Israel.  Both countries and religions believe in the Old Testament.  Yet, neither one is listening and praying for those whom God has already blessed. 

In Genesis 1:28, it is clearly written that God blessed man and woman.  God’s blessing, from the very creation of human beings, persists today.  

In Genesis 16, God blessed both Isaac and Ishmael.  Ishmael went on to live in a foreign land, which many believe has eventualized into the Arab nations.  He was said to be a donkey of a man whom everyone would hate and that he would hate everyone else.  Do we not see this aggression, anger, and generational hate taking place in the Arab world today that God prophesied long ago?

How about Isaac?  God said that the Abrahamic covenant would go through him and that Abraham would become the father of many nations through his seed that passed through Isaac.  Once again, we see that Isaac bore two sons (not one), and that it was not both seeds that God loved.  For God despised Esau and loved Jacob, in spite of Esau being the older brother.  Jacob acted with deceit towards Esau and stole his birthright.  He acted deceitfully once again and tricked his father Isaac into blessing him rather than Esau when Isaac was too old and blind and couldn’t tell who he was blessing.  

Yet, God chose Jacob, a sinful man, to become the one who had to right his ways and pass on the Abrahamic covenant to the twelve tribes of Israel, his sons.  Jacob had three wives, Leah, Rachel, and the maidservant.  He fought God.  Jacob only agreed to follow God as “his God” if God provided for him in the desert.  He acted unrighteously repeatedly, but God saw goodness in his heart and chose him to actualize the Abrahamic blessing.  Eventually, through the tribe of Judah — one of the original tribes of Israel — God chose to have a Son, bore Him from the Virgin Mary, and saved humanity forever.  God’s blessing, which He gave man upon the inception of man, was realized through His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior.  

So, if you’re feeling like you’ve been sinful in your life… if you’re feeling like repentance might not be enough — even after the birth, death, and resurrection of Yeshua Mashea — I encourage you to trace our beginnings.  God saw that man has a sinful heart from our youth, and yet God chose to let us survive. . 

God knows that during the time of the Nephilum, we reproduced with the evil ones, or the fallen angels from heaven.  God knows that even the most pure-hearted of us are not like God, in that we may be made in His Holy image, but unless we are born again, we have no chance of salvation.  

For this reason, God sent His only begotten Son, who is one with Him.  It is only through the righteousness of God that His covenant blessing over Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Israel that He chose to fulfill His promise.  And God always keeps His promises.  God acts upon His words.

Whether God has to wait 400 years, as He did before releasing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, or whether He chooses to act immediately, it is His sovereign choice.  Yet, no matter what or when, God does not forget.  And God will deliver upon what He has said.  

So, I caution and remind you, brothers and sisters, act righteously in the sight of the Lord.  Yes, you are saved by Grace.  And, also, through the power of Christ in you, you can sin no more.  

If you mess up, repent.  The power of repentance was powerful before the time of our Messiah, and it is still powerful now.  Sure, you may make it to heaven either way by believing in our one and only Lord and Savior, but do you wish to anger God?

Loving God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul, and all of your strength means that you love His creation as yourself.  It means that you listen to His laws to the best of your ability and that you ask God, through Christ Jesus, to give you the strength that you cannot summon on your own.  It means that you accept that you are a sinner and the only path to heaven, realistically speaking, is through the Grace of God.  And it means that between now and the time you reach heaven, you have an opportunity to practice goodness, kindness and love, so that you might be ready to meet God and live with Him for eternity.  

Think of yourself as a guest in God’s home.  Would you follow the rules of someone else’s house if you came to stay with them for awhile on vacation?  Or would you set your own rules and mock them whenever they remind you how they feel?  

The same is true with our hearts by the sensations we experience through Holy Spirit. God sent His Helper to us three weeks after He ascended back to heaven, that we might know right from wrong, sin from living sin-free, and act with kindness towards one another.  He demonstrated what it means to have a generous heart, to perform miracles by glorifying our Father in heaven, and to truly love one another to the point of death.  

God held nothing back from us; shall we not offer God the same through intentions, actions, behaviors, and choices?  

Perhaps our most powerful prayer might go something like this:  “Father God in heaven, we pray in the Holy Name of Yeshua Mashea, for we know You are one with Him.  Just as You created something from nothing, might You create a sinless being out of me, someone who has been destined to sin all of my life so far?  Might You choose to create a new creation out of me, that I might be an example and light for all the nations and people whom You have loved and adored to the point of death?  Yet, not my will Father, but Yours be done.  In Yeshua’s Holy Name, I pray and I repent.”  

I leave you with this, Church.  Forsake yourself, but do not forsake God by forsaking others.  Make way for the Holy Spirit to convict your heart and then listen.  Be still, and you shall hear God.  Especially do this on the Sabbath day, the day God has chosen to bless, sanctify, and call Holy.  Listen to God, build a relationship with the Lord of Hosts, and remember always that anything good that comes out of you or your life is a result of His grace, His love for you, and His creation in you.  Glorify God with all that you do.  

The great fall is now over.  Christ Jesus has paid for our sins in full and chosen Himself as a ransom for our eternal lives.  Now, live for God.  Truly live for God by letting God live through you.  

Bless you, Church.  And bless God.  Believe in His eternal covenant that lasts forever, and pray for your enemies that they might also come to know God, be welcomed in His home, and be your neighbors one day, in heaven above.