It’s pretty likely that you’ve heard something about the Bible’s account of creation. And you’re likely aware of the narrative known as the Fall. But what do these two historic biblical events have to do with you and me today? It’s easy to look at these in the abstract and relate them to a different time and place. It’s even tempting to look at them as isolated events in history. But I believe we do a disservice to God’s purpose when we isolate these two events from the rest of the story of scripture.
Remember before we get too far into this that the Bible is called the books of books. This means that all of it together speaks to one concept. One common idea. One overall plot that weaves its way throughout. Each event builds on the others. Every blessing and every consequence impacts not just the immediate audience but the rest of the story as well. Over the next several weeks, we’re going to look at the story in a couple of different ways. We’ll look at it from the window of an airplane at 30,000 feet. We’ll get the gist of how this fits into the overall story of the bible as a whole. But we’ll also step out of the plane and dig in the dirt. Then look at the accounts with a microscope. We’ll get into the details of these big Bible events. So it’s probably a good time to get started.
Our starting point is the beginning, a pretty good place to start, huh! Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the
Right away we see the story line laid out plain as day. God creates everything out of nothing. But look a little closer. Can you see it? Formless? Void? Empty? Chaotic? Contrary to popular belief, when God started with creation it wasn’t all fully assembled and put together. There was no order. As a matter of fact, when the world was brought into existence, it was a mess! But keep reading, because God is not in the business of making messes. He takes the next several days to clean it up. Like an architect he sets his boundaries. He doesn’t use a pencil. No need for an eraser. These boundaries are to be for good. He separates the waters from the land. Gathers the dirt to form lands and pushes the skies to hold their position. Then he fills it all in.
The creation narrative is all about establishing order out of chaos. God took the pile of yarn the cat unraveled and carefully put it back together. Then to top it all off he put mankind in the world. He set Adam & Eve in the Garden to rule over it. All of creation was to follow Adam’s lead. Naming, directing and caring for creation were his tasks. God set man in the Garden to keep things in order. He was to be the master of all that was created. Adam was, in a manner of speaking, king of creation. Which made Eve the queen.
But something went wrong. Terribly wrong! The bible calls it sin. Adam did the one thing he wasn’t supposed to do. And this is where we disconnect. We see this event as something historical. A one and done kind of thing.
Remember that airplane ride I referred to earlier? Well it’s time for take-off. From up here we see something we couldn’t see while on the ground. We see a series of events that start with Adam rebelling against God but they continue and escalate. It’s like a stone dropped in a pond. The ripples keep echoing outward. Adam’s self-centered action is unraveling all of God’s creation. All of that perfect order is splattering against the wall. God had just put it all together. Each piece was in its place. But, because of sin, it’s all falling apart. This perfectly ordered creation slowly was spinning into chaos.
This is where we’ll end for today. But as we close out, think about the roll of toilet paper in your bathroom. You can go there if you’d like to get a look at it. Now spin the roll so that all of it starts to pile onto the floor. One thing is certain. Now that this roll of paper is successfully removed from the cardboard tube, you will never get it back the way it was. This is like creation too. No matter how hard we try, we’ll never be able to fix this unravelled creation. But don’t be in despair because God has a plan. And this plan will be the subject of our next gathering. While God has no plan to put his unraveled creation back together again, His plan is to make the world brand new.
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