God, Man, and Nature

Genesis 1:1-2:3                                   God, Man, and Nature

1/10/16            D. Marion Clark

Introduction

Where did we come from?

Do our lives matter?

Is this all that there is?

Our passage this morning answers such questions.

Text

God the Creator

In the beginning,

The beginning of Scripture takes us to the beginning of everything. Where did we come from? Where did everything come from? The answer is, from God.

If God alone is in the beginning, what do we ascertain from this fact? God is eternal. Unlike us and everything else, God has no beginning. God is self-sufficient. Everything owes its existence to something/someone else. God owes his existence to no one. Furthermore, God needs nothing and no one to maintain his existence. He needs nothing outside of himself to sustain him, to make his life meaningful, more complete, or happier. Isaiah speaks of this:

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable (40:28).

We grow faint without sufficient food or drink. We grow weary from too much activity. We have limitations with our bodies and our minds. But God of no beginnings never becomes weak, never tires, never is without complete knowledge.

There is no beginning for God, but God begins everything. God is the Creator.

God created the heavens and the earth.

Where did everything come from? From the one God. There is no other creator; there is no other god. Again, listen to God speaking through Isaiah.

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
    and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last;
    besides me there is no god….
Is there a God besides me?
    There is no Rock; I know not any.”

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
    who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things,
    who alone stretched out the heavens,
    who spread out the earth by myself… (44:6, 8, 24).

Let’s now consider a phrase that occurs throughout our text: And God said, “Let…”

³ And God said, “Let there be light…

And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters
⁹ And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place
¹¹ And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation
¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens day.
²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
²⁴ And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds

Moses highlights the activity of God speaking and specifically of God speaking forth creation. He could have written, “God determined that…” or “God made/created…” Instead he introduces each activity of creation with the spoken word of God.

This idea that the word of God spoken has power is replayed in Scripture.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
    and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
    he puts the deeps in storehouses.

⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord;
    let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood firm (Psalm 33:6-9).

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

God the Creator speaks and creation comes into being. God the Ruler speaks and his will is carried out. Such is the almighty power of God.

One other thing that we see in this presentation of the Creator God is that he is outside of his creation. Creation is not an extension of God. Furthermore, God is above creation. To put it another way, God remains in control of his creation. He is not Frankenstein (the name of the doctor-creator, not the monster) who fashions a creature and then loses control over it. This is the message of Isaiah 40:26:

Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
    and because he is strong in power
    not one is missing.

So, we learn that there is but one God; one God who is the one Creator of all that exists on earth and throughout the heavens. He is outside of and above his creation, which he brought into being by the power of his spoken word. Let’s turn now to man.

Man, the Image of God

There are two dominant concepts in the text focused on man which set him apart from the rest of creation. We see the first one in the first sentence.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

Then,

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

“In the image of God,” man is made. (Note who all comes under the term “man”: male and female.) What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Ah, that is the question, indeed! I am not going to jump into the centuries of theological debate and discussion, but we can note some simple and agreed upon thoughts.

Man – male and female – has a unique relationship with God by virtue of this image. Whatever may be scientifically true about the common makeup between man and animals, there is nevertheless something in man that sets him apart, something that makes him like God in some way. Is it reason? Is it morality? Does it involve some other character trait? That is an interesting, though tricky thought to explore. Whatever it is, it links us to our Creator in a way that no other creature is linked to God, at least in the physical world.

The next point enforces this understanding. Man – i.e. mankind – as the image of God, is given dominion – the right and responsibility to rule – over the remainder of creation.

²⁶And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

David reflects on this status given to man in Psalm 8.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
⁷ all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

This position of authority also reflects the dominion of God. It is another way in which man is uniquely connected to God the Creator.

Let’s recap what we have learned so far. There is but one God – one God who is the one Creator of all that exists on earth and throughout the heavens. He is outside of and above his creation, which he brought into being by the power of his spoken word. The capstone, so to speak, of his creation is man – male and female – who alone is created in his image and who is given dominion over the rest of created nature. What then do we learn about nature?

Good Nature

The primary thing we learn about nature and what we learn about the physical world is that it was made good. Seven times this is said.

⁴ And God saw that the light was good.
¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
¹² The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
¹⁷ And God set them [sun and moon] in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
²¹ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²⁵ And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Surely we can conclude that creation – the physical world – is good. This is in distinct contrast to forms of Greek philosophy and of Eastern religions which teach that the physical is evil at worst and excess baggage to shed at best. Such thought has even creeped into some Christian teaching so that we have the idea that our final destiny is a spirit life. But the creation of physical life is clearly presented as something good, and, indeed, when understood properly is a means of giving us greater understanding and appreciation for our Creator God.

And so we are told to look up to the physical sky:

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

The physical world helps us to grasp the marvelous traits of God:

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.
 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
    your judgments are like the great deep (Psalm 36:5-6).

Romans 1:20 states this clearly:

For [God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

Nature, far from turning us away from the truths and beauty of the spirit, was originally intended to draw us all the closer to God.

It was also intended for the pleasure and the nurture of man. He was to take pleasure in its beauty. He was to be fed by the food produced and to reap many other benefits from his dominion.

So we have God our Creator, who alone is God, who alone is self-sufficient, who alone is ruler over his creation. We have man, created in God’s image, who as a result holds a special relationship with God and a special status in creation, and who serves as steward-ruler for God’s creation. And there is nature, created as something good, something intended to display the glory of God and to serve the needs of man.

Lessons

We have touched on much and on so little. There is much to learn and much to apply to our lives and the issues of today. Here are a few lessons.

We have responsibility

God has given man the dignity of dominion over the earth and its creatures. But that dominion carries with it responsibility. God is the Creator of our domain; all the more then we must take good care of what he created to be good. We do not take care of animals because they and we are the same product on an evolutionary scale. We do not protect the environment merely for the reason that we depend on its health for our survival. We care for creation because it is our Creator’s creation. We are rulers who are stewards for the Great Ruler.

We have a Creator to whom we matter

I have referenced “The Desiderata” before, a kind of poem made popular in the 70s. Its basic purpose is to assure us that we are okay: “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”

It is a nice sentiment based on no assurance, just the nice feelings of a writer earlier in the 20th century. We are to be at peace with God, whatever we conceive him to be. Genesis 1 introduces us to the one true God who is our Creator. We are not an accident, neither as mankind, nor as individuals. We matter, because we have an eternal Creator to whom we matter.

For those who would rather do without a Creator. Think of what that means. Thomas Hardy, a self-professed atheist, did just that and wrote a poem about it, called “Hap.”

If but some vengeful god would call to me

From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing,

Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy

That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!"

Then would I bear it, clench myself and die,

Steeled by the sense of the ire unmerited;

Half eased in that a Powerfuller than I

Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.

But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,

And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?

-Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,

And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan...

These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown

Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.

To put it simply, Hardy is saying that both the pains and the joys of life come our way by blind chance. There is no god, which means there is nothing in the universe that pays us any notice. That is the reality if the atheist is right.

But he is not right. There is a God, who is our Creator. And though there is much we do not understand, yes, the universe is unfolding in a purposeful way, and we, each male and female, have purpose. We matter, for we matter to our Creator.

We not only matter, but we matter more than anything else in creation.

We are made in the image of God. We have marred that image, so much so that we have brought shame to the image. Nevertheless, the image remains in us, and it is for the very purpose of redeeming and purifying that image that the greatest, most wondrous, most glorious act incurred since creation – the Son of God took on man’s flesh and redeemed these images of God.

It was not for any other creature that Christ died. It was not for other animals; it was not even for angels. It was for us. And however brilliant may be the stars; however grand may be this universe and all the galaxies – it is we, who were made in the image of God, who shall reign in glory. It is for us that praise and glory and honor will come at the revelation of Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Peter 1:7). As Colossians 3:4 teaches us: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Glory, glory is what awaits us. Why glory? Because we are not merely being saved, but in our union with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our images are being conformed to him, the eternal image of God, the true substance of God.

One of our favorite verses is Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

It is a verse we’ll quote to ourselves whenever something unpleasant happens and we need reassurance that there in some good purpose, even though we can’t see it. Our real problem is that we are short-sighted. We are looking for the good purpose to be something immediate, something that will make us happy. Well, we will indeed be happy, more than we understand. For the purpose is expressed in the following verses:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

We will be glorified! We will be glorified because God is causing all things to conform us to the image of his Son. We were created in the image of God so that all along we might conform fully to the image of God the Son. The Fall happened. It marred the image, but it did not destroy it. God the Son came to redeem that image, and he through the Holy Spirit is restoring that image in us, and he will not fail. God has predestined it to happen in us. Indeed, we can consider it done.

We are not children of the universe. We are the children of God the Creator. He has not created us to live a few years and then decay in the dust. He has created us to live forever, and the day will come when he will raise us up from the dust from which we were originally formed. “ Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust [Adam], we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven [Jesus Christ]” (1 Corinthians 15:49).

That is the destiny for all who look to the Lord Jesus for salvation. That is the promise he will keep to all who come to him.