WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.439 Alright, we are carrying on our series on creation, the doctrine of creation, the theology 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:12.839 of creation. 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:19.879 So we did an introductory city group and then we, Jack, let us in an overall view of the 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:23.120 theology of creation, why it matters, and then we looked at the doctrine of the image 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:28.800 of God in city groups and now tonight we're going to think about the God of creation. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:33.359 And then in city group next week we'll think about everything else that God made, all the 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:35.679 rest of the stuff that God made and why that matters. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:42.000 Okay, so tonight I want to read just the first five verses of Genesis 1 and we'll just have 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.399 a short time of teaching and then we'll create. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:51.439 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth was without form and void and darkness 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:57.439 was over the face of the being and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:02.679 and God said, let there be light and there was light and God saw that the light was good 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:06.879 and God separated the light from the darkness, God called the light day and the darkness 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:13.359 he called night and there was evening and there was morning the first day. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:20.159 So the very first subject of a sentence in the Bible is God. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:25.560 So in the beginning, not the main clause, in the beginning, prepositional phrase, God, 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:26.560 God's the first subject. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:31.159 So the very first main idea that we have in the Bible is God. 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:32.320 It's the Hebrew word Elohim. 00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:37.640 It's kind of a generic term for God, the way we say God in English. 00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:44.240 And if you just look across chapter one, the creation story goes from one, one all the 00:01:44.240 --> 00:01:48.280 way to two, chapter two verse four, the initial creation story. 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:55.079 And immediately we have language like and God created or verse two, the spirit of God 00:01:55.079 --> 00:02:02.319 covered or if you keep going, you see it says that God said, God saw, God separated, God 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:08.199 called, God made, God set, God created, God blessed, God finished, God rested. 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:13.879 So these are all the subject, verb combinations you get across that story. 00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:19.000 And if you add up the total number of times that God has mentioned in the creation story 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.400 is 35, right? 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:24.400 More than any other word. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:25.680 How does that matter? 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:34.280 So if you count the number of Hebrew words in the first verse, first sentence, it's seven. 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:39.960 If you count the number of Hebrew words in the second verse, second sentence of Genesis 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:42.560 one, it's 14. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:47.599 If you count the number of times that we're good at beers, it's seven. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:53.920 If you count the number of times evening and morning beers, it's fill it in for me. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:57.799 Well, 14, that's a good guess, but it's seven. 00:02:57.799 --> 00:02:59.799 I tricked you. 00:02:59.799 --> 00:03:13.159 Now, there are 15 to 20 more facts about Genesis one, one through two, four, just like that, 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:14.159 that we could go through. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:17.159 So if you open up a really good commentary on this, you'll have something that will do 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:23.039 this for you and show you even the total number of letters, Hebrew letters in Genesis one, 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:25.919 one through two, four is a multiple of seven. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:31.560 It's somewhere in the five, six, seven hundreds, but it's a multiple of seven. 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:34.719 God's name shows up how many times 35? 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:40.159 And what is if you divide 35 by seven, what do you get? 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.159 I'd work it out over. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:44.159 I've forgotten my math. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:46.159 Five, right? 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:50.159 So God's name shows up more than anything else. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:56.800 It's five sets of seven and everything comes to us highly constructive in the creation 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:58.960 story in sets of seven, right? 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:04.479 And seven across the Bible is a number of perfection, completion really is the number 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:07.280 of rest of joy. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:08.280 That's the big idea. 00:04:08.280 --> 00:04:10.280 God takes his Sabbath on the seventh day. 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:15.280 We'll be looking at that on Sunday night, by the way, in the fourth commandment. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:21.600 It's the concept of the seventh is the concept of rest and joy and goodness and God's name 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:24.680 shows up 35 times five sets of seven. 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:29.439 That means that in all the sets of seven that the writer here's most pointing to, he's 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:32.399 ultimately trying to get us to look at God the most. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:33.399 God is the main idea. 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.399 God is the big deal of creation. 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:39.720 He is, it is the God of creation, the God who creates. 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:41.240 And so creation all about God. 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:45.240 So let me just take the next 15 minutes with you to think about some of the things we can 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:47.920 learn about God, about God. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:51.480 And we look at creation, we look at the creation story and think about creation. 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:52.480 Okay. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:54.480 So what do we learn? 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:59.920 First, if you're a Christian tonight, you probably at some point have confessed the 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:00.920 Apostles Creed. 00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:06.079 So the Apostles Creed is probably the most basic statement of Christian faith in all 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:07.079 history. 00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:12.879 Besides 1 Corinthians 15, 1 of 4 perhaps, but non-biblical statement of faith is probably 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:13.879 the most basic. 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:21.680 And the very first thing you say in the Apostles Creed is, I believe in God, the Father Almighty 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:23.680 Maker of heaven and earth. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:27.399 So the very first thing you confess as a Christian is I believe in God. 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:32.599 And the first way I know them is the Maker of heaven. 00:05:32.599 --> 00:05:36.479 Now it says, I believe in God, the Father Almighty. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:41.400 And so that word Almighty that shows up all across the Old Testament is a word that has 00:05:41.400 --> 00:05:46.480 been interpreted by the writer of the Creed as a word referencing creation. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:50.120 So immediately in other words, it's saying that when you look at God and say Maker of 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:53.280 heaven and earth, that tells you he's Almighty. 00:05:53.280 --> 00:05:56.879 The creation makes him, tells us he is Almighty. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:03.160 And Almighty is a word in the Creed that's from the, there's a Greek translation of the 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:08.439 Old Testament called the Septuagint for Greek readers in the early days of Jesus' time. 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:11.360 He would have read the Septuagint all the time. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.240 He quotes from it quite often in the Gospel. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:19.600 And in it, the word for Almighty is pentocratour. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:24.520 And you see it, if you, you can go Google this later, but there's all sorts of 1st, 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:34.719 3rd, 4th, 5th century Mosaic paintings, cave paintings where people will have the cross 00:06:34.719 --> 00:06:35.719 or something like that. 00:06:35.719 --> 00:06:42.639 And it will say pentocratour Christ is Almighty and connecting him to God the Father on the 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:43.639 very beginning. 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:47.879 Well, the Hebrew word, you know the Hebrew word probably or pentocratour. 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:50.319 The word Almighty, it's the word should die. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:55.560 So when we say God is, El should die, we're saying he is Almighty. 00:06:55.560 --> 00:07:00.480 And that throughout the Psalms and other places is a reference to the fact that he's creator, 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:01.480 he's maker. 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:06.839 Heaven is making things is what we use to say. 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:09.839 Therefore he is, should die, we're Almighty. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:11.639 Okay, what do we learn? 00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:12.639 Very simple. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:16.800 First thing, God is all power. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:21.759 He is Almighty, which means he is omnipotent, totally powerful. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:27.480 If there is such a thing as power, and there is, you possess some relative power to do 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:31.600 things, to make things, to move, to change things, to make an impact. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.360 God has omnipower. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.960 He is truly absolutely powerful. 00:07:36.960 --> 00:07:40.560 Just let that sink in for a moment. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:42.400 God has absolute power. 00:07:42.400 --> 00:07:44.199 Absolutely power. 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:46.240 That's the first thing we learn. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:51.519 The second thing we learn, the Almighty, the maker of the earth, is he's incomparable. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:53.560 You can't compare him to anything. 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:55.879 If he's all powerful, he's glorious. 00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:59.480 And glorious means he can't be compared to anything else. 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:06.920 So, Psalm 19, Psalm 104, all these Psalms about creation are basically doing this. 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.079 They're saying, who is like you? 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:13.600 Who could do something like make things from nothing? 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:14.759 Is there anything like this? 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:22.639 And immediately they're doing that because Genesis 1 is a polemic, an argument. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:28.560 And it's an argument actually against all the other gods of the ancient world. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:30.319 So we can't do this tonight. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:31.560 Maybe another night. 00:08:31.560 --> 00:08:35.720 But if you go through Genesis 1 really carefully, one of the things you'll see is some of the 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:37.039 Hebrew words that are chosen. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:41.159 I can't quite see this in English, but the Hebrew words that are chosen are chosen specifically 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:47.719 to be arguments against the Egyptian gods or against the Babylonian gods. 00:08:47.719 --> 00:08:53.679 So one of the famous Babylonian creation stories, one of the famous creation stories 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:58.679 of the whole ancient East, is that these two gods were having a battle. 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:01.159 They didn't like each other. 00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:03.639 And one was the goddess of the sea. 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:12.120 And the other god beat her and killed her and cut her, basically cut her open, and from 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:16.120 her guts the world, the earth came forward. 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:23.039 And then that immediately says the world is nothing but guts. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:24.720 All of this is just guts. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:29.840 And then because the gods didn't want to have to deal with it, they made humans to be a 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:34.360 slave race for the entire Babylonian image is that humans are slaves of the gods and 00:09:34.360 --> 00:09:36.759 that the earth is an accident. 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:44.560 And actually one of the words for that goddess's name is basically mentioned in Genesis 1, 00:09:44.560 --> 00:09:45.560 the deep. 00:09:45.560 --> 00:09:46.720 It's a home. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:48.480 That's just like her name. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:49.800 And God is the God of the deep. 00:09:49.800 --> 00:09:50.800 He made the deep. 00:09:50.800 --> 00:09:54.320 And the deep in the beginning was actually good, not bad. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:56.360 And so this entire thing is saying, he's incomparable. 00:09:56.360 --> 00:09:58.160 Who is like him? 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:03.600 He's so glorious that this creation account stands completely against every other conception 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:06.240 of creation that had ever existed in long history. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:09.480 So it's important to note there were tons of creation accounts. 00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:13.159 There are tons of creation accounts. 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:15.559 And you say, well, how come this one's true? 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:20.000 And one of the things we can at least say is that there is no creation account like 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:21.000 this one. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:25.039 If you look at this one and then you look at the others, you see that in every one of 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:31.639 the other ancient creation accounts, humans are basically a slave race in the earth. 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:33.839 And the earth is basically an accident. 00:10:33.839 --> 00:10:37.839 And it just exists to pacify the gods pleasures. 00:10:37.839 --> 00:10:40.399 But not at all what you find here. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:42.959 God is incomparable and he's almighty on it. 00:10:42.959 --> 00:10:43.959 All right. 00:10:43.959 --> 00:10:46.519 That's the first thing, first couple things that we need. 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:47.519 Okay. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:48.519 I need to move on. 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:50.519 What else do we learn? 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:55.000 Third, God the maker immediately, therefore, must be. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.039 The royal king creation. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:02.720 So you look across the Psalms and God is almighty. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:04.720 God omnipotent. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:07.759 God is incomparable to anything else. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:08.759 Glorious. 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:10.200 Unlike everything else. 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:12.279 Everything else is just a creature, not like him. 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:13.759 He has a different creation. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:20.159 Third, you get the language of God's sovereignty connected to creation. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:23.240 And what does it mean to say God is sovereign? 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:26.120 We use that term to mean something like he's in charge. 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:27.680 He controls everything. 00:11:27.680 --> 00:11:29.600 But it's actually a royal concept, right? 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:31.279 It's a kingdom concept. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.879 The sovereign, the king. 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:38.600 That's what we're saying when we say sovereignty and it's directly connected to creation in 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:39.680 a very simple way. 00:11:39.680 --> 00:11:45.720 And that's that if you make something, if you make something, if you make a song, if 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:49.919 you write a song, if you write a poem, if you build something, if you invent something, 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:50.919 you own that thing. 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:53.039 You have a good pattern to do it on it. 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:54.439 It's yours, right? 00:11:54.439 --> 00:12:01.159 But if you happen to be the one who made everything from nothing, then your pattern, right, is 00:12:01.159 --> 00:12:02.659 pretty big. 00:12:02.659 --> 00:12:06.919 You have very broad rights over everything that you make, right? 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:07.919 You are the king. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:08.919 You are the sovereign. 00:12:08.919 --> 00:12:13.240 You get to not only say everything is yours, right? 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:17.719 So God is unlike us in that he has a right to direct everything towards himself because 00:12:17.719 --> 00:12:19.219 he made everything. 00:12:19.219 --> 00:12:22.079 It really is his, right? 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.280 So he has a right unlike the rest of us. 00:12:24.280 --> 00:12:29.920 But the other thing to say about that is that that means that he has the right to define 00:12:29.920 --> 00:12:32.639 everything that exists, right? 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:40.320 So in Genesis 2, God gives Adam permission to name the animals. 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.720 And that's part of Adam's royal participation in God's sovereignty. 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:48.680 He's given his permission and saying, look, I'm going to let you participate in this thing 00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:52.319 and you get to name the animals, right? 00:12:52.319 --> 00:12:53.319 Why? 00:12:53.319 --> 00:12:56.839 Because God has the right to name everything. 00:12:56.839 --> 00:13:02.279 And that's why across the Bible, when you put a name to something, it's like trying 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:06.919 to clarify its essence, its nature, what it is. 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:09.239 And so this is incredibly important for us. 00:13:09.239 --> 00:13:13.000 And we said on Sunday, God created marriage. 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:16.039 It's one of the things he made. 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:19.240 He gets to tell us what it is. 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:20.839 God created humanity. 00:13:20.839 --> 00:13:26.039 He gets to tell us what we are, male and female, and what we should do. 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:27.120 God created the world. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:28.519 He gets to tell us how to live them. 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:30.879 God created essences and natures. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:35.120 God gets to tell the lion how the lion should be. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:39.279 God gets to define the orientation and essence of every single thing that exists. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:40.279 He gets to define it. 00:13:40.279 --> 00:13:41.279 All right? 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:43.839 So here we are, the briefings so far. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:48.040 God is almighty, He's omnipotent, all power. 00:13:48.040 --> 00:13:51.399 God is incomparable. 00:13:51.399 --> 00:13:57.000 And third, God is the royal king, meaning He gets to define everything because He made 00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:58.000 it. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:13:59.000 All right? 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.240 Now, let me bring this on with a few lessons and stop. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:07.200 I'm not even going to make it the part to the full video, but halfway. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.840 A few lessons and we'll stop. 00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:19.600 The DNA, the DNA of the modern world that we've been in, the DNA is one of meaning 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:20.600 lessons. 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:26.960 We live in an age that's still living in the light of the Enlightenment. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:30.840 The Scottish Enlightenment, very important movement in the 18th century. 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:35.639 We have our friends here all in statues on the Royal Mount that were all the main players 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:37.800 in the Scottish Enlightenment. 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:44.719 And the Enlightenment tried to say that the true meaning of the human being is to separate 00:14:44.719 --> 00:14:49.120 yourself from the body and to make their own meaning. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:52.759 That's the downstream consequences of the Enlightenment. 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:58.559 And that means that out of the Enlightenment came an idea that we now call existentialism. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:03.039 Now existentialism is the heartbeat of the modern world. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:07.559 And it says that if there is going to be meaning in your life, you have to make it. 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:08.559 You have to create it. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:12.559 You have to decide who you're going to be and go be it. 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:14.559 Amen brothers. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:19.559 It's the frozen soundtrack. 00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:20.559 You get to choose who you want to be. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:21.559 You've got to go make your song. 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:23.559 Make an entry to your song. 00:15:23.559 --> 00:15:27.559 If you know the frozen soundtrack, you've got to work that out. 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:31.439 That's the heartbeat of modernity, actually. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:40.760 Now the doctrine of creation comes to you and says the world is not meaningless. 00:15:40.760 --> 00:15:43.640 But if there is no God, it is. 00:15:43.640 --> 00:15:45.720 So the Enlightenment's right. 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:52.000 If God does not exist, if there is no Creator, if there is no absolute authority, then Nietzsche 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:55.800 and Camus and all the others were absolutely right. 00:15:55.800 --> 00:15:57.920 That the world is meaningless. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:01.759 God defines natures, essences, what we are, what we do. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:07.919 He defines, you could think of creation almost like a piece of wood that has the grains all 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:10.159 moving in the same direction. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:14.039 And God just defines the direction of the grains. 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:20.919 So when you're walking in your life horizontally, when all the grains are vertical, you lack 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:21.919 joy. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:22.919 You lack meaning. 00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:23.919 You lack purpose. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:28.360 Because you're not actually walking in the grooves of existence, the nature. 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:31.159 Your nature is God as the final. 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:35.159 Whereas that what we find with the Ten Commandments basically, that's what we look at. 00:16:35.159 --> 00:16:36.159 That's the grain. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:40.799 That's what God says life is all about. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:42.719 The world is not meaningless. 00:16:42.719 --> 00:16:45.639 And it is if you don't have God. 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.159 You don't have God. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:52.000 So this applies so directly to our current order. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.720 Let's get more personal. 00:16:55.720 --> 00:17:06.240 Secondly, what this tells us, what places like Rowland's One-Times or Acts 17 is that 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:17.720 you can, you can encounter the living God in your daily life in creation. 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:19.720 You have access. 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:24.360 If you're a Christian today, especially, you have access to the living God, you have access 00:17:24.360 --> 00:17:30.039 to the living God by looking for God in the created order. 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:35.240 So Rowland's One tells us that very directly that God is near you. 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:37.240 He's so near you. 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:42.880 Colossians 1, 15 to 17 says that at Jesus, the Son of God were to move away from you 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.039 at any moment, stop mediating their existence. 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:53.480 He would split apart into dust at the quantum level and you would no longer be held together. 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:56.000 That's how near God is to you. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:02.399 Right now, every single human being, God is holding their existence together by the Word 00:18:02.399 --> 00:18:03.399 of His power. 00:18:03.399 --> 00:18:06.159 He's that near creation. 00:18:06.159 --> 00:18:13.599 And so right here we see in verse 3 that as soon as God speaks by His absolute power, 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:19.559 the Spirit of God hovers and the word hover there shows up a few times across the scriptures, 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:27.679 but it's the word that gets used for like the eagle hovering over its eggs to protect 00:18:27.679 --> 00:18:28.679 them. 00:18:28.679 --> 00:18:30.199 That's the word, the verb that is shown here. 00:18:30.199 --> 00:18:35.199 In other words, the same God becomes for us metaphorically immediately like a mother 00:18:35.199 --> 00:18:36.199 bird. 00:18:36.199 --> 00:18:42.399 That's the metaphor that's being used, protecting, guiding, instructing, arranging creation. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:47.759 So immediately you're told God is so powerful and He's so near. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:51.960 He's so absolute and transcendent and yet imminent authority. 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:55.880 So close, so close to you. 00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:58.280 And it's still that way. 00:18:58.280 --> 00:19:00.200 God is near you. 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:08.440 And so Paul in Acts 17 goes up the area up of this in Marshall and he says, I see that 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:11.759 you have been looking for the unknown God, God you don't quite know him. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:13.400 So let me tell you who he is. 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:19.359 In him, all of you, a bunch of people who did not believe, they were pagans. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:23.879 He said, in him, you would have been able to have your way. 00:19:23.879 --> 00:19:27.000 And he said, God is not far, the Spirit is not far from everyone. 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.000 That's the next thing he says. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:30.000 God is near. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:31.000 You can draw near. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:36.759 Now we need another day to talk about that more in detail. 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.000 We talk about this in grace groups, by the way. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.160 How do you draw near to God? 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:44.320 How do you draw close to God? 00:19:44.320 --> 00:19:49.440 That takes, that takes, in one way it's incredibly simple. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:53.279 And in other ways, the deepest mystery of all, right? 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:57.040 Prayer, of course, prayer is one, one of the important means. 00:19:57.040 --> 00:19:58.519 But God is near you right now. 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:02.440 God is upholding your body, your existence, your life, your soul, all of it right now, 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:03.440 no matter what you do. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:06.080 And so you can draw near to God. 00:20:06.080 --> 00:20:09.800 A couple more more. 00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:15.079 It reminds us that creation is not necessary. 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:19.680 Thinking about the God who made the world reminds us creation is not necessary. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:22.599 That's very important. 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:24.079 God did not need to do this. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:25.799 He did not have to do this. 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:27.799 God is free. 00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:31.480 So he was free to create or not to create. 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:35.759 So unlike the Babylonian story, it wasn't an accident. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:40.920 It didn't spill over out of him, you know, tipping a cup over and there's the world. 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:43.359 All the other creations are like that, but not without God. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:48.160 God created freely because he wanted to. 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:49.480 So that tells you two things. 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:51.079 And this is it. 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:53.559 One, you don't have to exist. 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:55.559 It's very important. 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:57.200 God for us. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.759 We, I, I say, I do not have to exist. 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:02.720 None of us have to exist. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:10.759 We are contingent, non-necessary creatures. 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:13.720 And God made him. 00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:15.839 The God who was free to make or not to make. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:20.759 The God who doesn't have to do anything that he doesn't want to do. 00:21:20.759 --> 00:21:21.759 That means, you know what that means? 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:24.200 It means that he wanted to make him. 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:25.200 He wanted to. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:28.200 He didn't have to, but he wanted to. 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:30.920 You don't have to exist, but you do. 00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:35.880 And that means one of the real heartbeats of the story of the creation, I think, and 00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:44.880 what it tells us about God is in that sevenfold refrain that he is, that creation is good, 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.039 good, good, good, good, good. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:48.960 That's what it tells us. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:55.920 And that has to mean that the God who stands behind it is good, good, good, good, good. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:57.840 He is good. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:04.599 And his goodness is basically the exact same thing as speaking of his love. 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:13.559 So the fact that he'd be willing to make something and it'd be good, it'd be yours, for you, given 00:22:13.559 --> 00:22:14.559 over to you. 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:17.799 It means that he made it in love. 00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:21.119 So here's the age-old question that we'll be doing. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:26.519 The theologians for 20 centuries now have come to the classroom and they've written on the 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:32.400 chalkboard, why did God create? 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:36.079 And the smartest of them have said, I don't know. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.279 That's the only answer. 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:41.119 Yeah, you can also say this. 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:43.839 Why did God create? 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:44.839 Because he loves you. 00:22:44.839 --> 00:22:48.200 That's the only thing we can say. 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:49.200 And why does he love you? 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:50.200 Why did he make the world good? 00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:51.200 Because he loves him. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.759 He said, for his glory, right? 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:57.200 He loves you. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:22:59.480 His glory loves you. 00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:00.480 That's the only answer we do. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:01.480 He is a God of love. 00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:02.480 He is good. 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:03.480 He's all-mighty. 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:04.480 He's absolute. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:05.480 He's near. 00:23:05.480 --> 00:23:10.079 All of these things we learned just from reading the first five verses, the first page of the 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:11.079 Bible. 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:17.480 Now, if we have more time, we will talk about how creation itself reveals the trinity, the 00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:26.440 trinity, even in a way without reading scripture, you can already start to see that creation 00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:27.440 reveals the trinity. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:35.440 But we don't have time for that. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:36.440 So we'll have to leave it. 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:48.960 So maybe some other time.