Firm Foundations: God is the Central Character of the Bible
We are going to begin the message for today by reading some selected passages from Genesis 1.
Scripture Reading:
Genesis 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was [a]formless and void, and darkness was over the [b]surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the [c]surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
That was the first day of creation. Then we jump to verse 7 for the second day.
7 So God made the [e]expanse and separated the waters which were below the [f]expanse from the waters which were above the [g]expanse; and it was so.
Down to 9 for the third.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout [i]vegetation, [j]plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after [k]their kind [l]with seed in them”; and it was so.
Verse 14 for the 4th.
14 Then God said, “Let there be [r]lights in the [s]expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;
Jump to 16.
16 So God made the two [v]great lights, the greater [w]light [x]to rule the day, and the lesser [y]light [z]to rule the night, and also the stars.
Verse 20 describes the 5th day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth [ac]across the face of the [ad]expanse of the heavens.” 21 And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Verse 24 the 6th.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after [ae]their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after [af]their kind”; and it was so.
Jump to 26.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [ai]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 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 [aj]sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.”
Jump to 31
31 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.
If you haven’t been with us, we started a new study of the whole Bible a few weeks ago. The study is designed to cover the whole of the Bible in one year. Of course, those who know me, know that I probably will not get through all of it in 52 weeks. But the design of this study is to get an overview of the major themes and message of the Bible. To illustrate that let me mention dendrology. You know…the study of trees. Of course, if a person were to study trees, they could get into all kinds of details about trees.
https://8billiontrees.com/trees/how-many-tree-species-are-there/
“The rough estimate of all the tree species in the world currently stands at 65,065, distributed in all countries worldwide.”
And you could spend multiple lifetimes studying them all. You could get into all the minute details and characteristics of deciduous, evergreen, angiosperms, and gymnosperms. No, I don’t really know what those are, but I’m real good at copy and paste. But, some might argue that getting out your microscope and studying all the details can cause you to miss the forest for the trees. You miss out on the wonder of a massive forest of trees because you are busy counting rings.
Well, that kind of illustrates what we are doing with this study. We won’t be going into great detail in this Bible study, we will be looking at the big themes of Scripture, so that we can understand the whole. So, last time we talked about the Bible, and how we would be studying it. And one of the points I made about how we would be studying the Bible, was about the number one theme of the Bible; God. The Bible is about God. It is His story. It is His letter about Himself, to us. He wrote it through inspired prophets. It is His revelation of Himself, given to humanity.
So, this week we are going to be looking at the first chapter of the Bible. And we will be looking for what it tells us about God. So, you could title this message; “Who is God?”
Let’s pray before we begin.
As I said, we will be looking at Genesis chapter one this morning and using it as a jumping off point for understanding who God is. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. And right from the start, He starts telling us who He is. Now, some of it is only implied or hinted at in Genesis 1, but spelled out in more detail later in the Bible. So, after I tell you something about God from Genesis 1, I will draw your attention to other verses in Scripture that state that attribute of God more explicitly.
Okay, so here are 7 things that Genesis 1 tells us about God.
1. God is revealed. 2. God is eternal. 3. God is Spirit. 4. God is unlimited. 5. God is a Trinity. 6. God is alone God. 7. God is sovereign.
I. God is revealed.
So, we will only get through 4 of those today. Now, if you want to know how to summarize all of the statements that I just presented to you, they can be narrowed down to one statement; God is greater than man. We can come to understand who God is by contrasting Him to who we are. Think of this. Men and women are born, they come into existence at some point and time, and they die. Their physical existence ceases. This is a universal law. But God, on the other hand, had no beginning, and will have no end. Mankind is dependent. From birth he has to depend on others for his survival. God, by contrast, is independent. He doesn’t need us. He doesn’t need our offerings, or our prayers. Men and women have physical bodies, God does not; He is Spirit. We will get to that in a moment. Man is limited in space and time. We cannot occupy more than one space at a time. God is everywhere at the same time. Man is subject to all kinds of authority, most importantly God’s authority. God is subject to no one. He is the highest authority. Men and women have many equals and superiors. God has none.
So, our first point this morning is that God is revealed. And I could further clarify that by saying that God is self-revealed. And further, we can say, that if God had not chosen to reveal Himself, we could not find Him, or find Him out. All religions in the world are really about one thing; finding God, or the supernatural. They are on a constant quest to discover truth beyond this physical reality. That is how Christianity is different than all other religions. Christianity is not our search for God, it is God’s search for us. He has to reveal Himself or we can’t know Him.
Now, where do I find that truth in Genesis 1? There are two things to consider. First, who God is, is far more complex and grand than our little brains can fathom. That is hinted at with those very first words; “In the beginning, God.” In the beginning, there was nothing else but God. He is entirely independent of us. Everything proceeds from Him. And think about this, out of the mind of God came everything that we see in creation. All the wonder of the world, all the mysteries of the oceans, all the complexities of the human brain, all the inventions that we have contrived, He made the minds that built this world.
It never ceases to amaze me when I consider God’s creation. From 1878 to 1880 Thomas Edison tried over 3000 different metal types made into filaments before he found the one that, when electricity ran through it, glowed adequately, and didn’t burn up, or burn down the house, so that he could invent the light bulb. We consider him a remarkable man. But God made all 3000 of the metals that he tried. God made sand that could be made into glass to make the bulb. God made electricity to power the bulb and made electricity’s properties such that it can travel through wires from house to house to house.
So, when I say that the fact that God preceded everything and made everything indicates that He had to reveal Himself to us, we can’t discover Him, that’s what I mean. We don’t have the brain capacity to understand or discover God. Ecclesiastes 8:17 Legacy Standard Bible
17 and I saw every work of God, I concluded that man cannot find out the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not find it out; and though the wise man should say, “I know,” he cannot find it out.
But there is a second reason why we can’t know God apart from His revealing Himself to us. The first reason has to do with God’s nature: He is past finding out.
Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
But the second reason has to do with our nature.
Scripture tells us that we couldn’t discover God even if we wanted to.Isaiah 59:9-11 Legacy Standard Bible 9 Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. 10 We grope along the wall like blind men; We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men. 11 All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, but it is far from us.
By nature, we are born spiritually blind.
Romans 3: 10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”
God had to make the sun for us to be able to physically see. He had to make our eyes. And for us to have the spiritual sight to discover Him, it has to be given to us, by Him. So, God is revealed.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 23 Thus says Yahweh, “Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he [a]understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares Yahweh.
II. God is eternal.
The second thing that we learn about God in this first chapter is that God is eternal. He is distinct from everything else in the world. Everything else has a beginning. God does not. And He has no end. Again, let’s go back to chapter one, verse one of Genesis. “In the beginning, God.” Let’s add the next word “In the beginning God created.” Created what? Everything. The heavens and the earth. The “heavens” refers to what we know as the sky, outer space, and “heaven” the place where the angels reside or make their headquarters. So, in the beginning God made the earth, and everything on it, and He made all of space, extending out to the reaches of space, the stars, planets, solar systems, and He made heaven of heavens and its angelic inhabitants. He made it all.
So those first five words tell us that before anything we know of existed, God was there. And He made all that we know. Colossians 1:16 Legacy Standard Bible
16 For [a]in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Now, what does it mean that God is eternal? It is mind-boggling really. I mean it defies description. God has always been. Our world has only been here from a few years. But God goes back a million; a thousand thousand, a billion; a thousand million, a trillion; a thousand billion.
Think of a big number. How about one
million? It's a thousand thousand. That's a lot. If you counted nonstop to a
million, it would take you about 23 days.
A million is small compared to a billion, which is a thousand million.
Want to count that high? You'll be at it for 95 years. But a trillion makes a
billion look puny. A trillion is a thousand billion (or a million million).
Counting that high would take you 200,000 years. Have fun!
Of course trillion is not the biggest number. There's quadrillion,
quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, decillion and
more. Each is a thousand of the previous one. There's even a humongous number
called vigintillion, a one with 63 zeros.
But vigintillion is a shrimp compared to a googol. Googol?
Notice how it's spelled: G-O-O-G-O-L, not G-O-O-G-L-E. The number googol is a
one with a hundred zeros. It got its name from a nine-year old boy. A googol is
more than all the hairs in the world. It's more than all the grass blades and
all the grains of sand. It's even more than the number of atoms in the
universe. Astrophysicists estimate the number of atoms to be a one with 82
zeros. You'd need to add 18 more zeros to get to a googol.
Incidentally, a few years ago, the two men who had invented a powerful
new internet search engine decided to name their website and company for the
gigantic number googol. But they spelled it wrong. That's why the company
Google is spelled with an L-E. But the number googol is still spelled with an
O-L.
Googol is so large that it's practically useless, but the boy who named
it came up with a name for an even bigger number, "googolplex." A
googolplex is a one with a googol zeros. There isn't enough ink in all the pens
of the world to write that many zeros but feel free to give it a try.
So is googolplex is the biggest number? What about a googolplex and one?
Two googolplex? A googolplex googolplex? Any number you say, I can say one
bigger.
I hear you asking, "What about infinity? Isn't that the biggest
number?" Sorry, but infinity isn't a number. A number specifies an amount
and infinity is no amount. It means "goes on and on forever."
And that's what numbers do. They go on and on forever. Infinity is not a
number but numbers are infinite.
And that’s what God is; infinite; into the past and into the future. I just thought of something else God made; math.
And Genesis 1 is the start of God revealing Himself as infinite, eternal, everlasting.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Genesis 21:33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.
Psalm 90:1-2 Lord, You have been our [b]dwelling place from generation to generation. 2 Before the mountains were born [c]Or You brought forth the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
God is the great reality! And in the Bible, God reveals Himself to us as the Eternal One.
He doesn’t offer reasons, or arguments or proof. He does say that if we are really paying attention, and listening, we will come to that understanding. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God set eternity in our hearts. We have an innate sense that life goes beyond what we can see. And Psalm 19 says. The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And the expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
We can begin to see God by seeing His creation.
What else does Genesis 1 tell us about God?
III. God is Spirit.
Genesis 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was [a]formless and void, and darkness was over the [b]surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the [c]surface of the waters.
Verse 2 tells us that “the Spirit of God” was involved in the creation of the world. And as we read through the Bible, we will hear more about the Spirit of God. In Exodus 31, someone is said to be filled with God’s Spirit. So, God is in that person, working creatively to see that His will is done.
In 1st Samuel 10, God’s Spirit comes on Saul, and it causes him to prophecy.
Job 33:4 says, The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
Ezekial received visions of heaven by God’s Spirit. And the New Testament talks about being full of God’s Holy Spirit.
What does all of that mean? It means that God is by nature Spirit. Now, we think of a spirit, we often think of something like a ghost. That’s not what it means that God is Spirit. It means that God is not limited to a physical body. He never has been. In John 4:24 Jesus said to the woman at the well that “God is Spirit.” And He said it to her when she was trying to pin God down to a geographical location. She was Samaritan and her place of worship was on Mount Gerizim. The Jews worshiped at the temple of Jerusalem. She wanted to know whether God was in one of those locations. Jesus said “no.” God is Spirit. He is not bound to a location. Listen to these verses.
Psalm 139:7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
Psalm 145:18 Yahweh is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
2 Corinthians 3:17 again tells us that “the Lord is the Spirit.”
He is not bound to a physical body.