Homework
I don't know how long it's been since I've had to do homework. Since I'm spending time writing this, I might as well post it up.

Genesis 1:1-2:3

The Bible begins by introducing us to God. The first verse of Genesis effectively introduces God as the initial and foremost character in the narrative of creation and the Bible. In essence He is not only the Character that is omnipresent in the created universe, but if we are to take the Bible seriously, the one that is omnipresent in our lives. In fact God is the only character involved in the account of creation. All other elements - light, darkness, sky, seas, land, heavenly bodies, plants, animals, and man – are secondary. Any themes introduced in this passage reflect God’s character in his design and actions. Although there are many minor themes and ideas introduced within this chapter that are reflected and repeated both within this text, and in the other texts of the Bible, they can be categorized in overarching themes of God’s power in his word and actions, God’s goodness in his design, and God’s holiness in his rest.

Perhaps God’s omnipresence and omnipotence are one and the same. It might be possible to argue that they are technically different, but the first three verses of Genesis simply awes us with both qualities in a God who singlehandedly “created the heavens and the earth”. He is a being so ancient that he was present and “moving over the surface of the waters” before the world as we know it came into being. His dominion extends to the point where he merely needs to utter “‘Let there be light’; and there was light”. God simply decreed the existence of the world, “and it was so”.

God’s power and presence are constantly echoed throughout scripture. The magnitude of his power is echoed in the Flood that covered the entire earth, returning it to its state before creation, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt, and the darkness and earthquake surrounding the death of Christ. His presence is affirmed in turning points in history, walking with Adam in Eden, appearing to the patriarchs through their pilgrimages, with the Israelites as a column of fire through the desert, walking among men in Galilee in Christ, and as the Spirit among believers at the Pentecost. The unchangedness of his character through the rise and fall of Israel and throughout the Biblical geneologies is reflected in Daniel where He is called the Ancient of Days. His authority is seen in microcosm when the centurion in Matthew 8 pleads with Jesus “but just say the word, and my servant will be healed”.

The account of creation shows a God that not only has a power to create, but one who does so with a sense of order and purpose. He is not like a painter that randomly throws paint on a wall in hopes of creating an aesthetic composition, but rather a sculptor which sees a statue of a man within a block of stone, or an architect who envisions a functional structure on an empty plot of land. The elements of creation complement each other to form an ordered structure out of chaos. Incompatible elements are separated into their own regions – light and darkness, sea and sky, earth and water – forming interfaces in which physical life could be sustained. A sense of natural order comes into being. Heavenly bodies governing the cycles of the days and seasons. Plants and creatures to spring forth, not randomly but according to their kind. There is an implicit role for the different elements of creation in their web of interactions with each other. Man exists to rule the other creatures, they exist to fill the earth. They have been provided plants to eat, which grow from the ground that was separated from water and the light that was separated from the darkness. There is the sense of provision that each element was created along with what it needed. Yet each element in itself was also not haphazardly created, but made and declared good.

God’s plan and provision are echoed throught the chronology that leads to Christ. In retrospect we can see God’s design in every step after the fall of man culminating in our redemption by grace. We see God work purposefully throughout the generations to bring the seed of Abraham to their promised land in Canaan. As we narrow in from the perspective of creation to the perspective of a nation, we see God’s provision in the mana that fed Israelites in the wanderings. On the individual level we see God’s provision for Abraham’s sacrifice instead of Isaac, or Boaz as a redeemer in the story of Ruth. On the scale of humanity we see Christ as the same provision of a sacrifice for us. The goodness of the elements of design are also echoed throughout scripture, whether described in the intricacies of the prescribed structure of the temple, or echoed in the Psalms or even in the beauty expressed in the Song of Solomon.

The story of creation closes off with the seventh day, which exists after the rest of creation was completed. In a way it emphasizes God’s holiness apart from his omnipotence – he does not exercise his power in creation, there is no awe of seeing something new come into existence. But yet a sense of reverence is conveyed in the vision that “the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts”, perhaps akin to the awe of staring at something like the Grand Canyon and realizing the amount of energy slowly trickling over time to form such a grandiose structure, not seeing the process but awed by the result. God introduces the idea of standing in silence and awe, for the first time blessing an abstract, a day, instead of a physical creature.

This abstract concept of rest and holiness is crystalized in the practice of the Sabbath laws, but it seems also to be the template for our concept of symbolic worship. It represents our worship of God’s holiness in itself rather than as an offering of thanksgiving for something He has done, or a sacrifice for atonement for something we have done. This attitude of worship is seen throughout the patriarchs, in David’s psalms, through the prophets, and finally in our embrace of God’s grace after Jesus declared that his work is done.

Genesis 1 speaks to us in terms of God’s character. Our knowledge of Him would therefore have to be applied to our relationship to Him or our relationship with the world around us. God’s power and purpose lead us into faith in Him. That is, a faith that is grounded in our knowledge of His provision for us, and supported by our understanding of his power and presence. In our moments of weakness, we can trust in His providence, knowing that our lives and actions fit in to those of others around us. In our times of need we realize that he is able to provide. His goodness and holiness arrests us to reconsider our interactions with other people. It causes us to question whether we can look at our own acts and declare that they are good, as they should be in the light of God’s holiness. And finally, God’s rest sets an example in our worship to Him. This rings true especially in a culture where we can be constantly busy, often times devoting only an hour or two in worship a week, with our minds racing with the other concerns in life. The appreciation of His holiness however reminds us of worship that is pure and focused on Him who, being the sole Character responsible for creation, is also the sole recipient for our adoration.