The Wicket Gate

Introduction

As you know this is an exciting week as we are beginning a new series on a new book of the bible.  Well, the book isn’t new, it’s been around for a while but new for us to work through.   We are going back to the beginning, where our story, the story of humanity and the redemption of man began.  It’s our story because we have been graciously written into it but it’s really God’s story.  Not only because he has written the whole thing and is also the main character but also because, as I pray our Lord will show us, it’s really all about him.  

The common thread I hope to expose is the reality that Christ our Lord is present in every scene and not just hiding in the background like some poorly paid extra but is directing the whole thing with an ordained and sovereign purpose.  This grand story that begins, “In the beginning,” was not written as things went along.  There was no white out, backspace, or eraser used here.  This story, His story, providentially our story, all of history, was outlined and written in the mind of our God, before the ages began.  Before time began, The Word, who spoke the words, who wrote the words, who became The Word, our living word, was.  

I used the past tense form of the word because, for our minds, that’s all we can really understand.  For us, time needs to be linear in order to make sense but in reality we know the one who was by another name. I Am. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the timeless one in whom there is no change.  The transcendent one who dwells far beyond our capacity of understanding. The self-existent one who has no needs. The unknowable God above and behind all things.  But we do know him and we can know him, because in his grace he spoke.  

The Word created that we may know him. The Word spoke that we may understand and obey him.  The Word prophesied that we may recognize him.  The Word became flesh that he should rescue us. The Word’s words were completed and written down that we may remember and believe in him.  All of that had a beginning and that is where we will start.  Turn with me in your bibles to the book of Genesis, Chapter 1.  I mentioned several weeks ago when we talked about going to Genesis that we were going to take this book in large sections over the course of 24 weeks.  As a result, we won’t always be able to read the entire sections which I will preach over in a given week.  Your homework then each week is to read the rest of the passages but I will cover as much of the text as possible and this week, given that it is the initial account of creation, we had to read the whole thing.  

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. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 

The Seventh Day, God Rests

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Genesis 1:28-2:3 – ESV

The Word Created

Beginning this morning I want to make my intentions clear as we move through this book.  There are a number of questions we will run up against during our time and I don’t intend to address all of them or even most of them.  Right out of the gate this morning we can ask, “How long is a day?” “Is a day really a day and if so, is the Earth only 6,000 years old?” “If the sun wasn’t created until day four, how did the plants survive on day three?” Unless a day really is a day.  There are many more we could mention but these are all questions that are best discussed over wine and a charcuterie or an ice tea and a cigar if you don’t like cheese and prosciutto.  If you don’t like fine cheese and prosciutto, I will pray for you.  Those are actually the kinds of questions we should be discussing over dinner with friends as opposed to who we think will get the rose or when Nick Cage is going to make another movie.  

I am not ducking these questions because I find them unworthy of addressing, on the contrary, they make for fruitful conversation and friendly debate and we should save them for that arena.  What we will do here is look for Christ and what he asks of us.  I hope by the end of our time in Genesis you are completely worn out with me showing how Christ is in everything and above and behind everything. That would be a success.  If we really believe that all things are by him, through him and for his glory, surely the book of Genesis is included in that list.  

A little bit of history first.  I don’t think I will surprise anyone with this fact but the book of Genesis, specifically the text we read this morning, was not written at creation.  Shocker I know, but have you stopped to think when it was written and the state of the world when it was written?  Have you considered who it was written to? 

It is believed that Genesis was written around the mid 1400’s BC so even if the age of the Earth follows the youngest possible estimations, Moses wrote this 3,000 years into human history.  For at least 3,000 years, likely more, the people of the world existed without a definitive written story of how it all began.  We know people had questions about it, right?  The worship of false God’s and paganism didn’t begin after our origins were written down.  Remember the flood of Noah. This is what vastly differentiates humans from the rest of creation, we have the capacity and the yearning for answers about where we came from.  An ape is not sitting around a campfire looking up at stars wondering how they got there, who made them or why they are even here.  These existential thoughts are only had by humans and such thoughts aren’t new.  Such thoughts didn’t evolve.  As humans, created by God and given a soul and a conscience we know there is something greater than us, something beyond us.  You can feel it, right? 

So this book was not written at the beginning but rather given by grace in the midst of a people with questions and longings.  Do you know that all cultures dating to Moses and before have a creation story? All cultures follow some form of religion and many describe salvation coming by a God-man, or a God who sacrificed himself, or the resurrection of a deity.  Most include some narrative about a great flood and about a battle between good and evil with hell and paradise.  How can this be?  Because it’s true. It’s all true and mankind, on the whole, spent thousands of years feeling their way in the dark for answers and getting these glimpses of the truth.  Yes God did speak to and reveal himself to people prior to Moses, we will read about that through Genesis, but what I need you to see is that Genesis is a marvelous grace from our God, the God.  

Not the Gods that so many found in their reaching in the dark.  Not the beginning of one of the myths that hit close to the truth but not quite.  God set the record straight.  He gave us the true myth. He revealed the story so we could know the truth.  This is the beginning of the light in the darkness.  It is the revelation that answers the deepest questions in the human heart.  How did I get here? Who made me? Why is there evil? Why do I struggle? Who will save me from this mess I am in? By the grace of God he answers all those questions for us, he just took 66 books over 1500 years to answer it fully, but he does, and he did.  And we know from the Gospel of John that when we read here in Genesis, “In the beginning, God” this is not some impersonal force in the universe creating because he was bored.  This is the Word.  This is the personal God, this is Christ.  This is our savior and our Lord speaking into existence the things in which he will later redeem.  When those first words of creation were spoken, the Triune God knew that the fullness of time ended on a cross.  He created knowing that his creation would one day kill him.  That the tree that he made, and watered and grew would be his torture.  That you, his beloved image, would be marred with sin and reject him.  That you would turn from him, but that he would die for you to reconcile you once again to himself.  Why?

Why would he even do this then? The only answer I can give, beyond simply that he willed to do it, is because he knew you and loved you.  But I am so far being loveable by a holy and perfect God.  Yes, and doesn’t that make it all the more gracious? Also, time isn’t linear for God. right? He may see you now as he saw you then not as you are presently but as you will be, transformed by his Grace.  Revelation 21 was written in the mind of God long before the words were ever put on parchment.  

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Revelation 21: 1-7 – ESV

That end is what began when The Word, created.  

Order from Chaos

We do have to get to the rest of the passage beyond the first 5 words so settle in.  The second thing that I want us to pull from this creation narrative is that our God orders the Chaos. Have you ever seen those painters, usually in some kind of performance, who scatter paint all over a canvas and it looks like nothing until right at the end they throw baby powder on it and turn the painting upside down to reveal a picture of Johnny Cash.  Now imagine that same painting but the painter walks out on stage and just presents the finished work.  Still a great painting but when you see how it was made the awe is far greater.  There is great drama and suspense in the process especially when it takes you by surprise. Oh how our God often takes us by surprise, doesn’t he?  

Could God have just spoken once and everything immediately existed? Of course he could have.  It is not as though his power has limits and he can only create so much in a certain day.  Rather he is establishing the rhythm of his creation and condescending to his creation by himself following the very patterns in which he is creating into creation.  This obviously points us to the ultimate condescension of God when he became his creation.  “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” 

So God follows the patterns of his creation and he follows the drama of his creation.  He throws paint on the canvas and then over the course of six days begins to add to and shape this tapestry.  He takes that which is formless and void and he begins to reveal his masterpiece.  He puts all the lights in the sky, all the other stars and planets and galaxies.  He creates an atmosphere around the Earth that not only makes it habitable for the rest of his creation but it also forms the weather.  All of the properties and principles that make rain and weather possible, he created.  He gathers the water on the earth together in specific places so there is dry land and oceans.  He makes all vegetation and also the seeds, that is the processes by which the vegetation can increase and multiply, he placed in the creation.  Do you know how amazing and complex plant life and soil is? God made all that.  

He placed the sun (our star) and the moon in the perfect spots and tilted the Earth just right so we have tides, and seasons.  We have warmth and cold, light and dark, rain and snow.  We begin to see the rhythm he is creating.  The patterns he is etching into his creation.  He places creatures in the sea and he places animals on the land.  He also creates the capacity within them to procreate. Just like we saw with the plants, the capacity for creation to be fruitful and multiply. For creation to also create.  

This of course culminates in the creation of humans on the sixth day.  I don’t want to go too deep into the creation of humans as we will get into that a little more next week except to say that we know that when he made humans there was something different.  Not only was man the only thing he created in his own image but man was the only thing he created specifically from creation.  He got his hands dirty, so to speak, when he made man.  I think this speaks again to the personal nature by which God regards man that God speaks all of creation into existence by his word but when he creates man we get a picture of God forming man from the dust and forming woman from the man’s rib.  The hands that formed man, were later pierced for him.  The very breath that he breathed into man to give him life was exhausted for his salvation.  There is this personal connection there that I don’t want us to miss and a connection that is lost in other religions.  Our God, the true God, is a very personal God.  

All this demonstrates the way in which God forms the formless and brings order to chaos.  If our God can place the galaxies and define their vast orbits or hold back the depths of the oceans from dry land does he not also have a method for your formation.  If our God is so great and so powerful that he can hold the stars in his hands, do you suppose your problems are too great for him?  Does the God who breathed life into your lungs not care for you? Does the God who gives every plant and every animal everything they need, not going to do the same for you? If everything we see came to be because God said let it be and he continues to maintain every molecule of creation for his divine purpose why do we think that doesn’t include you?  

The world seems chaotic and unpredictable only because we aren’t God but he has long ago ordered the chaos and is presently working all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.  The question is not whether or not he will provide and protect but do you love him and trust that he will.  If the work of Christ on Earth shows us anything it should be that he will do anything for his own.  Or do we suppose his provision stopped after Christ? He has a plan for you and certainly included in that plan is our last point this morning. 

Stewardship of Creation

Our text tells us that the plan for humanity was to fill the Earth and subdue it.  Do you know what subdue means?  It means to bring under control or order.  So God orders the chaos or subdues the rest of creation but on the Earth, he tells man now do what I have done.  Or put another way, imitate me.  I have given you everything you need and I will provide for you everything along the way, multiply and order the Earth.  

Far too often we assume that this command was dismissed or forgotten after the fall right? We were supposed to subdue the Earth before we fell but after sin entered the world the plan was changed and now we just throw our hands up and wait for Christ to fix everything.  Is that what he wants of us? Is that how Christ taught us to pray? “Our Father in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” You mean he wants his kingdom to come on Earth? Is that what Christ commands in his great commission? “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, ya’ll sight tight and hang on, I’ll be back soon.” No, go disciple the world, he says.  Make people followers of me, teach them to obey me.  Is he not making all things new? Is he not bringing everything in subjection under his feet? 

Then let us fill the Earth and subdue it. Let us actually try to fulfill the great commission with the expectation that we will be successful in our efforts to bring order to the chaos because we are imitating God by doing so.  Those who were with us on Wednesday, perhaps sensed some of my frustration but I am so tired, church, of people assuming the world is going to end tomorrow.  Not just because there is an eclipse and everyone loses their minds but too many Christians live like they just assume the world is ending tomorrow.  What if it isn’t.  What if the great commission actually is successful?  What if the command from Genesis still applies and our call is still to fill and subdue the Earth.  Not as perfect, pre-fall humans, but now as redeemed people who get to see and be a part of Christ making all things new.  A saved people who get to bring order.  A people who have the opportunity to imitate our creator.  What if there are 1,000 generations still to come.  What if everything is working out perfectly according to a plan? What if everything is going to be ok, good even? How will you live? Will you work and have rest? 

Ultimately our rest has already come. Christ is the Lord of the sabbath and just as God rested from his work we too can find rest from our work in Christ.  I think the fact that God establishes this pattern of work and rest in creation should indicate to us that the business of subduing and discipling requires rest because it is hard work.  Sunday is great but Monday always comes.  We run the race, we labor on, we rest and then we run some more.  We can do this with confidence that we don’t labor in vain because in Christ we do have an eternal rest.  He won, he brought order, he has saved us, he is making things new and we will be with him forever.  I just happen to believe the bible teaches that we’ve got a little more work to do on the road to get there and I am happy and excited to serve him along the way.  I hope you are too. 

There is so much more I want to say and I honestly feel like I could preach 10 sermons on just what we brought up today but I promised we would get through Genesis in 20ish sermons so that is the beginning. And I guess kind of the end as well.  Next week we fall and the story of redemption really begins so make sure you are here for that.  I do pray that the Lord will bless our efforts in Genesis.  Amen.