Genesis 1:1-2:3

Good morning to you all. It's the day two of our study for the book of Genesis. We're actually in cover day two, actual day two here. So we're going to read Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. We're going to end in chapter 2, verse 3. So in the final, Genesis 1, 1, when you please stand, freeing God's Word. All right, Genesis chapter 1, beginning of verse 1. 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 waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning the first day. And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse heaven. And it was evening, and there was morning the second day. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in the one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together, he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind on the earth. And it was so. And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the days from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good, and it was evening, and there was morning the fourth day. And God said, let the waters swarm, with swarms of living creatures, and lamber as fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with whistle waters swarm according to their kinds. And every winged bird, according to its kind, and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Free fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning the fifth day. And God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures, according to their kinds, livestock, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth, according to their kinds, and the livestock, according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground, according to its kind, and God saw that it was good. And God said, let us make man an our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, and the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. 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." And God said, "Behold, I've given you every plant yielding seed, as on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in this fruit, you shall have them for food." And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I've given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good, and it was evening, and it was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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. 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. Amen. Let's pray. So, God, again, we thank you for your word. We ask you to bless this hearing of your word, and the proclamation of your Spirit, through your word, by your Spirit. As only you can do. We don't have it within us to grasp truth, revelation of you, unless you make it known. So Father, open our minds to perceive, open our hearts to receive, what has been read here, "Grant to us, we pray proper understanding, and out of that proper application." Lord, we want to acknowledge that You are great and mighty, the omnipotent one, that there is none like You, that You made all things, that all things exist because of You, were made by You and according to Your will. And Lord, we want to acknowledge these things, not just mentally giving some kind of mental assent, but to truly believe these things and understand them to be so, by faith, as we trust in You. We thank You for giving us Your Word, thank You for making Yourself known. Thank You for Your grace. All of these things we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. And we see it. Okay. Amen. As I mentioned before, this, and this is the reason I ask Joel to read that whole bit, including the first three verses of chapter two, because as I mentioned before, this kind of a strange place for a chapter break. Really, you have the creation narrative, the first creation narrative, in the verses that Joel just read. And then you go chapter two, verse four and beyond, and you've got kind of a retelling, but it's with a little bit different focus, than the first account. More centered on man and more to four, and the rest of chapter two is more centered on the creation of man and the Garden of Eden, where God placed man. So we needed to get that whole six day account, seven counting the seventh day rest of the Sabbath. We needed to get all that together, because that's the first week. Well, it's the first week. And it's the first week. It's the week of creation. All right. God's account, or you can say it this way, the account of creation, or the origin of all things according to God. The only one who was there, you know, in Job 38, God raises a question, where were you? And I just kind of paraphrase it. You go there and read the whole thing. But where were you when I framed the world? It's basically what he's asking, "Jove." And of course the entry is, he wasn't there. And neither were you and I. But we have God's account. Several years ago we went to the painted desert out in Arizona. We went in, we were at a gift shop in museum and, you know, beautiful area out there. Of course they have a little visitor center. I guess is what I'm trying to say. Visitor center set up there. And they got a little room with a theater where they play movies for information. And we went in there and watched. And I remember this little movie, the opening line, you know, it's, well, you have to understand it out in the painted desert. They're petrified logs scattered all over the place. And this is in the desert in Arizona. So there's no, today there's no forest there. But they're petrified logs all over the place. And so they start out the movie showing this, which like a rainforest or swamp or something. I don't know what it almost looks like. I guess a rainforest. And the first line of the thing, the guy says, "33 million years ago, this was a lush forest." And, you know, it just popped into my head. Who was there that recorded that? Where's the eye witness? I want to, where's the 33 million year old man who can give the eyewitness account that this was a lush forest 33 million years ago? Well, that's the point of Job 38. There is no witness. That's pure speculation. Even though they presented his fact, it's pure speculation. But we have an eyewitness account. by the one who was there. God. And that's what you've got in Genesis 1 and 2. Now I'm going to try to move rapidly here because I want to go back over these verses that Joel just read and make a little bit slower and make a few comments and then try to sum it up and get all that done by three o'clock. So let's get to moving. Maybe a little before that. Alright so just a couple of reminders. I told you we're going to use just a basic outline here for chapters 1 and 2. I'm thinking the whole thing. God which we did talk about last week. God and then 2 creation and then 3 man. Mal and female created in the image of God. So we're at that second point. We're talking about creation today and more specifically with the title I've got on your bullet in there. The work and rest of God. And of course included in that is the origin of all creation and the work of God. So the work and the rest of God is what we're going to try to cover today. Now I'm not going to do much recap. I'll just mention this. We did point this out last week when we're talking about God specifically that as I just said a moment ago there was no one in the beginning but God. Alright so that's the big picture point of all of this. There's one true living God. He created all things. All things came from him. So here's our main point again for today. You might say this is very similar to last week. It is pretty similar to last week because we're basically dealing with the same text. But here I think I worded it a little bit differently. In fact I borrowed some words I'll explain in a moment. But here it is. Everything comes from God and exists by His power and is intended for His glory. And I do think that's the main point that we're supposed to take away from this narrative, this creation narrative. Now that's actually coming from Romans 1136. I said I borrowed those words from the new living translation. The new living translation of Romans 1136. Which in the ESV reads this way. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things to Him be glory forever." King James says, "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever." Amen. And I've read for from Him and through Him and for Him are all things to Him be glory forever. Amen. That's what RFGates used to call it. "Eye's theology." He was referring to the Greek prepositions used there. I won't really go into that. Probably for good reason, I don't put anybody's sleep if I can help it here. But I'll say this. That verse is not only relevant to what we're talking about today, but it is relevant to all of life and why we exist, period, and our whole purpose for being, of Him, through Him and to Him are all things. So that's about all of them. Let's say about it, but meditate on that. When you think about it, go back and read it and just kind of part there for a while. "For of Him and through Him are all things to Him be the glory forever." Amen. So I'll read it one more time, the way that I've worded it here, borrowing from the new living translation. This is our main point for today. So when you think of all of creation, think of it's by His power, it comes from God, by His power, and for His glory, or something along those lines. "Of Him, through Him, to Him." That's why everything is. Say, "Is what?" Finish the sentence. Now that's the end of the fifth sentence. That's why everything is. "Of Him, through Him, and to Him." For His glory. Amen. So that comes with some implications. We may come back to in a few moments. I'll just run through them here real quick and try to come back to them at the end. God owns everything. That is, including every individual. He has right of ownership. Therefore, nothing is outside of His sovereign rule. Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing is outside of God's sovereign rule. God can therefore command His creation and His commands are binding. You notice, I'm talking about the whole creation. God has the right to do that. It doesn't matter whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, it doesn't matter. God has the right to command you. For example, He can say, like Paul said, He does in Acts 17, He commands all men everywhere to repent. It's not a suggestion. It's a command. And He has the right to do that because He made everything, including you and me, all things, including you and me, are of Him, through Him, and to Him for His glory. So He can command His creation and His commands are binding, like it or not. And I love it. And I think probably everybody in the room does, but even if we didn't, it's still so. God can rightly do whatever He wants with all of and any part of His creation. Whatever He does, He's just in doing it. He owns everything. All right. So the work of God and the rest of God. Now, we're going to start, of course, with those are just going to be the two main points I'm going to try to hone in on. Start with the work of God. And we're talking specifically about creation. Genesis is called Genesis because the word means beginning. And it's taken from the first verse there in the beginning. So this is a book of beginnings. And hopefully I will be diligent to point a lot of those things out as we go through. So I mean, you got several things here. Of course, you got the beginning of all things in the sense of all things, all the universe being created. You've also got things like the beginning of marriage, right? I mean, this is where marriage is instituted by God. When you get to the end of chapter one and over into chapter two, you've got, for example, we get a little further along. There are various covenants that we'll try to point out as we go, but I guess what we would think of is the main overarching one. When God cuts his covenant with Abraham, that is a beginning. Abraham is called the father of the faithful. So our understanding of salvation has to go all the way back to Abraham at least. And really, you could say back further because we're going to see even here in the garden, there are hints that it is coming. There's the fall and then there are hints of restoration, reconciliation. So anyways, the book of beginnings, I mean, everything, it would be fair to say all of biblical truth has its roots here. It's all coming out of here. So Genesis is an extremely important book. Now, God's work, the beginning of creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the earth without form and void. Now I'm just going to move through here and say a few things and then try to pull it all together and just to make a couple of points. But for now, I'm just going to move through here and say a few things. We pointed out last week, there was nothing but God before this point, this is when all things came into being. And when God created the heavens and the earth, interestingly enough, we're told in verse 2, the earth was without form and void. So God's speaking things into existence, but it does not appear that, at least like in the formation of the earth, it does not appear that God spoke it into its final state immediately. First, He created it, but it was without form and void. We're told in verse 2. And I know there are other theories on that. Maybe we can talk about them another time. I'm just going to tell you for a full disclosure here. I'm pretty much a literal six day when it comes to interpreting Genesis 1 and 2, Genesis 1, a literal six day person. I don't see any reason God could not have done this in six days. I know about the fossil accounts. I know about the brilliant scientists to talk about Rainforest 33 million years ago, but the only one who was there was God. And I don't see any reason why God could not create everything that He is just as we have it here in six days. That's about the most fair way I know to say it. I just don't see any reason that really that shouldn't be taken it that way, taken this way. So that's the approach I'm coming at. If you take a different one, that's okay. Unless you get too theoretical with it, but it's okay. [BLANK_AUDIO] take a different approach, but it seems to me to be a literal six days. So God creates the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. So this is the state, the earth is first created in. So it appears to be kind of a chaotic state, but then he goes on to say the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water. So even at that point all things are being held together and controlled by the spirit of God, by the power of God. And God is about to do something. What's he about to do? He's about to do two things that we're going to talk about here and that is form and feel, form and feel. So in other words what you've got in Genesis 2, the original condition of the earth, the earth was without form and void. Are your translation may say empty, which is appropriate. The earth was without form and empty. Now what we've got in the remainder of the chapter is God forming and filling the earth. And it starts with verse 3 and God said, now I think it's fair to say that God spoke all things into existence. In other words, even back in verse 1, God created the heavens and the earth. God said, let there be heavens, let there be earth. I think that's fair to say because for example Hebrews 11, 3, by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. So that's what the writer Hebrews is saying. God spoke all things into existence through his word. But here's where we get the first actual explicit account of that. Verse 3, when he creates light, commands light to be. God said, let there be light. And I touched on last week what is John called Jesus the Word, right? The Word of God. And right there in John 1, John goes on to describe Jesus' role in creation. In the beginning was the Word, words with God, the Word was God, right? And then he goes on to say that there was not anything made that was made without him. So here it is. God said, the Word, the Word of God, God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. There's a beginning for you because this motif of darkness versus light is going to run through the rest of the scripture. And here's where God first creates the light and God separates the light from the darkness. In fact, we find out later, don't we? God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. John says, and is a pistol. So that's important. It's an important thing that starts right here. And it's a literal account of something literally physically happening, but it's also a very important picture of a theme that's beginning of a theme that's going to run throughout the rest of the scripture. As a matter of fact, you might be saying, let me just kind of get in my head of myself for just a second here because we haven't got to the creation of the sun yet, have we? And you might be thinking, I was going to point this out when we get there, but I'll just, while I'm thinking about it, in case I forget. But you might be thinking already anyway, he calls light into being and there's no sun. Well, it's interesting, isn't it? This is how in the beginning of the Bible, right here, we have light. God commands light. And there's no sun. You get to the end of the book of Revelation, you have the exact same thing. When we get to glory, there's no more need for the sun because God Himself, the lamp, Jesus is the light of, it's His glory. It's lighted by His glory. So it shows us that the true source of light is not the sun, right? Are the many, however many thousands or millions of suns that are out there that we call stars or whatever, other suns that are out there, those things aren't the ultimate source of light. God is. So you have light before the sun and division of light, separation of light from the darkness. Let there be light. He's spoken into existence, into existence, light be and there was light. Now that's one of the patterns you're going to see here. In other words, God says something that happens. That's what Isaiah is talking about when he says his word does not return to him, void it, accomplishes that purpose to which he sent it. When God speaks something, when he determines something, it comes to pass. Period. All right. So God said, let there be light and there was light and God saw the light was good. Watch for that too because that's also a pattern. You're going to see throughout this creation narrative. He sees his creation and he's pleased with it. So right at front, we're learning something about the pleasure of God. God is pleased with his works. That's important. He calls something into being. He looks at it and says, that's good. It's a way of talking about his pleasure, his satisfaction with his work. And God separated the life of the darkness. Verse 5, God called the light day and even and the darkness he called night and there was evening and there was morning the first day. And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters. And it was so. So again, it was so just exactly as he commanded. And God called the expanse heaven or maybe your translation says sky. That's fine because that's what we're talking about here. The waters below the sky separated from the waters above the sky. So maybe just meaning waters above the sky maybe just referring to the clouds, for example, the water that the clouds carry. And there's a separation by what we call the sky or the atmosphere. And there was evening and there was morning the second day. So what's happening? God, in the beginning, he created the heavens and the earth. Now he's giving to the heavens and the earth form. It's taking something that is without form and empty and forming it and filling it, bringing order to chaos. Verse 9. And God said, we're at day three now. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land earth and the waters that were gathered together, he called seas and God saw that it was good. So there again, you have it. God created formed. In this case, he formed take what he'd already created and formed it. And then he saw that it was good. He was pleased with it. It was pleasing to him. And that word earth can be translated land. So some of you, some of you, bubbles may say that. He called the dry land land and the waters were gathered together. He called seas, which of course are separating the land masses. And God said, let the earth, this is verse 11, God said, let the earth sprout, vegetation, plants, yielding seed and fruit trees, bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to his kind. Now, let me, let me real quickly and because this is such a major topic in our day, but I'm not going to, at least my plan is not to spend a lot of time on it, but I want to mention it and you can think about this yourself. Here's another pattern emerging here when God starts filling the earth and the sky with things. You're going to see this phrase or something like it, in which is their seed, right? Verse 11, let the earth sprout, vegetation, plants, yielding seed and fruit trees, bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, each according to its kind. That's extremely important because the, the, the, the, at least we're told, the consensus in our day is that outside of Christianity is, is this belief in what we call macro evolution, where kinds actually evolve, one kind evolving into another kind and some Christians, you know, are going to be a lot more of a great, even accept that and embrace that. And to me, this is just a, it seems to me to be just a clear refutation of it. He says this about the plants, he says this about the animals. In other words, they reproduce according to the kind that they are at creation. So Christians, and again, without getting off in it too much, I had some young man ask me one time or implied that what I was telling him. He said, well, he was in a particular field in school. And he was trying to tell me, well, this is just fact, because we see these mutations, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, look, nobody denies microevolution. In other words, you have changes within a kind. So Jordan has different hair colors than I do. And you can look at Jordan and Daniel and Joshua, and they all three came from Leslie and I, but they all look different. And they have different personalities. There are differences within a kind, but every one of them, almost certainly certain, every one of them are human beings. They can't really allow them quite certain of it. They're not of a different kind. We didn't have apes as children and none of them have turned into apes, since they were born. Microevolution is one kind, transforming into another kind. So they tell us we came from apes. That's microevolution. And that's a hoax and a lie, I believe. Microevolution is changes within a kind. And that's perfectly logical. And yes, that is something we can observe. As I said, all you got to do is have children. And you can observe that happening. But I have never seen a human being transform into another species. And I don't believe it ever has happened. And that's why you hear about this mysterious missing link because they have never been able to prove it. They never will be able to prove it because it didn't happen. And you've got all different kinds of different representations of a single species, but not something changing from one species to another. So anyway, I'm pointing that out because there's this emphasis here on according to its kind, verse 11. And verse 12-- let's think of it in verse 12. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kinds, trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. God was pleased with that. And there was evening and there was morning the third day. Now I need to say something here before we go to the fourth day, because I want you to notice a correlation. And it has to do with these two things-- forming and filling, forming and filling. So day one-- and you can watch for this as we go through the next three days. Day one correlates to day four. Day one God creates the light. And day four, he basically feels the world with light by creating the sun, moon, and stars. So day one, forming day four, filling. Day two, God creates the sky. And day two correlates with day five. Day two, God forms the sky, basically, right? Because he creates this expense to separate the waters from the waters. And he calls the expense the sky or heaven. And then on day five, he fills it with all manner of birds of the air. And then day three, God creates land. So he forms land by separating waters and creating land masses. And day three correlates with day six, in which God fills the earth. That is, he creates man and all manner of animals. So just watch that as we-- or be aware of that as we move through here. So here's day four, verse 14, correlates with day one. And God said, let there be lights in the expense of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And let them be lights in the expense of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. That, of course, is talking about the sun and the moon. And then he goes on to say, and the stars. Verse 17. And God set them in the expense of the heavens to give light on the earth to rule over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness. And I notice we keep hearing that. The separation of light and darkness. It was back in verse three and four. And where was it down in verse 15? 14, 15, somewhere around there also. And so he does this verse 18 to separate the light from the darkness. Big theme in Scripture. Separation of light and darkness. Yes, this is talking physically here. But it's also going to foreshadow great spiritual truth ahead. There's this pleasure again expressed. Verse 19. And there was evening and there was morning the fourth day. And God said, verse 20, we're going into the fifth day now. Remember it correlates with day two. And God said, let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expansive heavens. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarm according to their kind. Notice that phrase. According to their kinds. And every wing bird according to its kind. And God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply and feel the waters in the seas. And let the birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and the morning. And there was morning the fifth day. So day two. God created the land mass and the seas. And on day five he's filling them up. Filling them up with all manner of birds in the sky. All manner of creatures in the seas. Each after his own kind. Then we get to day six. And this is what we're going to call the apex. And I say, we use this is what it has been historically called. The apex of creation or the pinnacle of creation where God creates a creature in his own image. Now think about that because up to this point with all of the wondrous things. And I'm going over this so fast. We're not really stopping to take time. Like God creates the heaven and the earth. What's all included in that? All of the universe out there. The vastness of the universe. I wanted to read a quote. If I could put my finger on it real quick, I'll read it. But I was just hesitant to take the time. But I think it's helpful even though it's coming from a nonbeliever. Stephen Hawking, who's considered to be probably the one of the greatest minds alive today in terms of physics. And I'm trying to think of the specific field and my mind's drawing a blank. One reason I'm not considered one of the greatest minds alive today. But here's what in his book, A Brief History of Time-- and I like to say he's an unbeliever. He doesn't believe in God. He doesn't believe in course that things were created. He's evolutionists and so forth. But his life has been dedicated to studying the universe. Theoretical physicist is what I was trying to say. He's a theoretical physicist. And we should probably put heavy emphasis on the theoretical part. We just have to make this distinction between what can be observed and what cannot be observed. Because when he or anybody else talks about origins, they cannot observe that. It becomes completely theory. But what I'm about to read to you here is a quote coming from his comments about what he sees in the telescope. Now that's something different because that's something he's observing. And here's what he says. We now know that our galaxy is-- only one of some hundred thousand million that can be seen using modern telescopes. Each galaxy itself containing some hundred thousand million stars. It is commonly held that the average distance between these hundred thousand million galaxies each 600 million, I'm sorry, each 600 trillion miles across, so in other words each galaxy 600 million, 600 trillion miles across and containing 100,000 million stars. It is commonly held that the average distance between these hundred thousand million galaxies is three million light years. On top of that, the work of Edwin Hubble, you've all heard of the Hubble telescope, the work of Edwin Hubble based on the Doppler Effect, has shown that all red spectrum galaxies are moving away from us and that nearly all are red, thus the universe is constantly expanding. Some estimates say that the most distant galaxy is eight billion light years away and racing at a, and racing away at 200 million miles an hour. Almost as fast as I'd wrote to Atlanta. No, I'm just kidding. Finally, the fact that the expanding universe demands, the fact of the expanding universe demands a beginning. Stephen Hawking played a crucial role in convincing, because he's been doing this, I think it's back in the late 60s or whatever, that he wrote some papers and he was played a crucial role in convincing physicists of the big bang theory that it is indeed a fact. My understanding is that now he has changed his mind, and that's amazing. That's one of the problems, you know, with what we call science a lot of times. Of course, it's constantly changing because you're talking about me and looking at evidence, drawing conclusions. Sometimes they find out they're wrong and they have to go back to the drawing board, so to speak. But the reason I read that is just because I wanted you to hear him speak about the size of the universe. Some estimates say that the most distant galaxy is eight billion light years away. That's what God, and Genesis 1, 1, that's what he's talking about. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth is talking about all of that and more, because they haven't seen it all yet. And yet in all of that, he has not yet made something in his own image. And I do not believe that there are other intelligent beings out there. My understanding of the scripture is that all of creation revolves around what happened here on this planet, and most specifically about 2,000 years ago, with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's what all of creation exists for. That's what it was all brought into being for. That being the centerpiece of time and history. But in all of that creation, I've got to move quickly now, with all of the wonder of creation, nothing yet bears the image of God. And you would think, well, that makes sense because God is so far and above everything else. He's transcendent, as we say, what could bear his image, but he does create something that does. So on the sixth day, verse 24, God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind. Notice the phrase again, livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kind. There's a little bit of emphasis on that, isn't there? God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. So God is pleased. He's made all things and he's pleased with it. But then, verse 26, we get to the apex, the pentacle. Then God said, let us make man an hour image. I think the plural pronouns there hint at the doctrine of the Trinity, the triumphant God, God the Father, Son, and the Spirit. In other words, God's not talking to angels, certainly not talking to man because they hadn't created man at this point. Who's he talking to? Well, that's conversation among the Trinity. Angels are created beings just like we are. And this is that creation. So he says, let us make man an hour image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. And I should mention this, verse 27, some have pointed out is the first poetry in the Bible. And I think about, I think roughly one third of the Bible is poetry. But this is the first expression of it. Verse 27. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. So again, just to point out a hint at the Trinity, what I think is a hint at the Trinity, notice the plural pronouns in verse 26, let us make man an hour own image after hour likeness. Then you get a verse 27. So God created man in his singular own image. God is one exists as three persons, one essence. Okay. And verse 28, and God bless them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, feel the earth and subdue it. So he's filling up the earth on day six. 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. And God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth. And every tree was seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of 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. And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. You know what's happened now? He's done. He's completed his work of creation. And he looks at it and he's very pleased. Now that he has put his own image in the midst of it, we're not just told that God saw that it was good, but that he saw that it was very good. Because now he has a reflection of himself in the midst of his work. And he gives, as part of being made in the image of God, we are given dominion over all of the rest of creation to be stewards of it. And then comes the seventh day. Now let me just say this because we're almost done here. That's what we just read. That's the work of God in creation. Now we're getting to the point where God ceases from his work. And sometimes people get a little confused about that. And they think, so God, at the end of the six days, you know, whether it was a literal six days or not a little or six days, it ended at some point right, which by the way, it's another problem I have with the theory of evolution. If evolution is true and it's ongoing, then the six days aren't over with. But, you know, that's maybe that's for another time. So the six days, the Bible makes clear, ended and God rested. So people get the thought on their head. So he hasn't done anything since then. But Jesus tells us in John 5 that he's constantly working. Because they jumped on Jesus for working on the Sabbath day. And Jesus said, "My father works and I work." My father works hitherto and I work. He probably didn't say it in the O.K. James. But that's what he meant. My father works up till now and I work. Now, so what are we talking about being finished here? His work of creation. Which again, to me, just refutes the idea of an ongoing evolution. Creation is done. He has done all that he intended to do in terms of creation. He's made it to the apex, to the pinnacle. He's created something in his own image, something a creature that bears his own image to reflect his own character and glory. And so we get to chapter 2, verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished. That's the rest that we're going to be talking about here. It is, he ceases his work of creation. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them. 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. Notice how it emphasizes that. He rested from his work. He rested from his work that he had done. What work did he had done? The work that he had done in creation? The heavens and the earth were finished. All the hosts of them, they're finished. God finished his work of creation. So, verse 3, 6. says, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it, God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. So this is the rest of God. It's the rest of God that David speaks about in Psalm 95. It's the rest of God that the writer of Hebrews speaks about in Hebrews chapter 3 and chapter 4, where God ceases from his work and specifically in his case, he ceases from his work of creation. So here's what I want you to note about it. This is the goal and we learned this actually in our little book that we've been going through in Sunday school. This is the goal of creation to bring everything into the rest of God. That's what you need to think about the Sabbath. It's the rest of God. And if you don't believe me again, read Hebrews 3 and 4. That's what the way the author refers to it there is what he's talking about. So God made all things, he formed and filled all things and then ultimately comes to this point of rest. And then you got this beautiful picture of Adam and Eve created in the image of God at rest, enjoying God's rest, which by the way, again, it's just like him. It doesn't mean they didn't work. They did work. They were given something to do in the gardening, but they rested in God. So even the way they could work till the land and all, at rest in God. That is while enjoying the rest of God. And here's the real short version of the rest of the story. But then came the fall. And there's no more rest for man. Right? I mean, man falls into sin, rebellion against God. Man who has created in the image of God to bear the image of God. That is to display, put on display, the character and glory of God. Instead rises up in rebellion against God. And from Adam and Eve on, every human being born into this world except for Jesus Christ is conceived in sin and is alienated from God. And so through the rest of the Bible, there is this effort, or probably I should just think of it in terms of, we should think of it in terms of a promise. There is a promise to bring man into the rest of God, which he's out of because of sin, because of the fall. He has no more rest. There's no rest, right, for the wicked. And so you get over to Matthew, for example, and Jesus says, come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden. And I promise you Jesus didn't have anything against working hard. In other words, he wasn't saying, you guys that are out there laboring in the field all, all they stop it. Take a break. I'm not what he's talking about. He's talking about something spiritual. You're weary. You're burdened down with sin. You're a slave to sin and sins a hard task master. So he says, come to me. And I will give you rest, right? My burden is like my yoke is easy. You'll find rest for your soul. So the rest of God is ultimately realized only through faith in Jesus Christ. And those who believe have entered that rest. Now that's that's kind of the big picture, sharts and offices. But that's what all of this is pointing to. These things have a reason. They have a purpose. The Sabbath rest of the rest of God. It's these things are looking forward to spiritual realities that are going to be unpacked all the way throughout the Bible. And we get little by little more and more revelation, more and more understanding until you get to the end. I'm talking about the whole New Testament. And you find that it is all fulfilled in Jesus. He is the light of the world. He is the one who makes the ultimate separation of light and darkness in his life, death and resurrection. And in the lives of believers, because we've become children of the light. And he is the one. In fact, we'll get you to say it this way. He is the rest of God. That's why he says, come to me. Come to me. And I will give you rest. And the writer of Hebrews elaborates on that and says, look, it means that you rest from your own works. If you are laboring to be right with God, you will never, ever make it. Enter the rest of God, which means trust Jesus Christ. Would you stand, please? Remember, no classes this evening. Lord willing, we'll see you back here at 6 p.m. Pray for us as we go to the jail this afternoon. Pray, if you would, pray especially for those that will be there listening. I do believe there are a lot of Christians there, but I believe there are a lot of them there not. Pray that their hearts are open to God's truth and they come to know Him. Let's pray. And we'll dismiss. Wesley, you mind praying for us.