Genesis 1:1–2:4
Today’s Old Testament reading presented us with the creation account from the Book of Genesis. It is real history, written in majestic prose, by divine inspiration. The Book of Genesis is not written in the vocabulary of modern science, because it is a story for the ages.
It was true and meaningful before the methods of modern science came into existence. And it will continue to be true and meaningful for as long as this world endures, long after the terminology and concepts of today’s scientists have become obsolete.
Even those who reject the claims that the Book of Genesis makes regarding how the world was created, would have to admit that it is a beautiful work of ancient literature. The Biblical creation narrative is a simple yet profound account of an almighty triune God – through his powerful Word, and accompanied by his life-giving Spirit – speaking all things into existence, and putting them into order.
At each step of creation, what had been brought into existence up until that point is described as “good.” But when creation was finished, and when humanity as the capstone of creation had been brought into existence, it is all described as “very good.”
God’s creation was filled with order and harmony, balance and symmetry. The account of the creation of man especially shows this. We read:
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
The story, as a well-crafted piece of literature, is very good. The account, as an accurate work of history, is very good. And the creation itself, as a tangible expression of God’s glory and love, was very good.
But the creation itself is no longer “very good.” The order and harmony have been disrupted. The balance and symmetry have been ruined.
Sin was inserted and infused into the good creation of God, at the suggestion of Satan and with the cooperation of Adam and Eve – the first human creatures. With sin came corruption. And with corruption came death.
I will be conducting two funerals in the coming week. The week following I will probably be conducting yet another. It might not be me, but someday a pastor will conduct a funeral for each of you. And someday a pastor will conduct my funeral.
Every time a physical death occurs, it is a stark reminder, which cannot be ignored, that the pristine physical world that God created is pristine no longer. The immortal man and woman whom God placed in the world, so that he could enjoy his fellowship with them even as they enjoyed their fruitful love for each other, are immortal no more.
Their descendants likewise, in each generation, taste the bitter reality of St. Paul’s words: “The wages of sin is death.”
And the relationships that their descendants have with one another are often not loving and fruitful, either, but instead are often conflicted and perverse, strained and broken. These relationships are marred and disfigured by sin, because the people who are in those relationships are marred and disfigured by sin.
The confusion and suffering that now reign in this world take many different forms. Those who yearn for companionship are often lonely. Those who have companions often mistreat them. God’s guidelines are often ignored. God’s boundaries are often flaunted.
People are often blind to what is actually obvious by any objective standard, regarding the complementary differences that God put in place between men and women, to show us how marital relationships and families are supposed to work. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes:
“In the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.”
The moral voice of the conscience, which God planted in the human heart at creation, is frequently ignored and muted, even when Jesus reiterates that inner voice with his own plain and clear voice:
“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Again, Jesus says:
“The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
But what happens instead? To a lesser or greater extent, we ignore God rather then loving, serving, and obeying him in all things. And to a lesser or greater extent, we love ourselves first and last, and use our neighbor for our own selfish purposes.
The world that God created, and the human race that God created in the world, were very good. But they are not very good now. In many ways they are very bad now. Will they ever be good again?
In his Epistle to the Colossians, St. Paul gives us a higher and deeper perspective on the goodness of God’s plans for us and for his world, in spite of the corruption and death that have infected it. He writes that God’s Son – the Lord Jesus Christ –
“is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
So, ultimately, God is still in charge of his creation, and of our lives. And he makes good things happen for us through Jesus. In Colossians Paul also writes that God the Father
“has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
To be sure, there is much darkness in this world, and in the human heart. But Jesus says:
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
And while “the wages of sin is death,” St. Paul is eager to announce also that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus truly does give lost and confused people like us a way out, and a way forward. He does this in three ways.
First, by the power of his Word – as we hear it proclaimed and as it is sacramentally applied to us – Jesus instantly and fully transfers us, in God’s eyes and in our own hearts, from this realm and dominion of sin and death to a new realm and dominion of righteousness and life.
This happens when God’s Spirit brings us to conviction regarding our sins, so that what we used to be, without Christ, is now put behind us, and we die to those things; and this happens when God’s Spirit then draws us in faith to the wounds of Christ, by which we are redeemed, and to his empty tomb, by which we are raised up in hope.
By faith we are in Christ, as Christ is now also in us. And as St. Paul writes in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians,
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Yes, we are still in this world. But as St. Paul explains in his Epistle to the Philippians, we do not set our minds on earthly things. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…”
The second way in which Jesus gives lost and confused people a way out, and a way forward, is by opening their eyes, their minds, and their hearts, to see and know that the goodness of God can in many ways still be found even in this world, in spite of the corruptions.
Much beauty remains, if you know where and how to find it. And by his Word and Spirit God gives you the ability to find it. He changes how you think, and how you live.
St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
But the things of the Spirit of God are not foolishness to us, because “we have the mind of Christ.” And God is making us to be like Christ in other ways, too.
Those who know Christ in time, were, by the incomprehensible mystery of God’s grace, known by God – in Christ – from eternity. St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans that those “whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
A Christian, though bathed in God’s grace, nevertheless continues to struggle against the allurements of the world, the temptations of the flesh, and the deceptions of the devil. And a Christian is often weak in those struggles, needing God’s daily forgiveness for his failures, and yearning for God’s daily help.
In his weakness, it is often not easy for a child of God to find peace and contentment in this world, or to find the place to which God’s vocation would be calling him. This is especially so when the pain that was previously inflicted upon him ran very deep, and when his previous separation from God was very distant.
But St. Paul had some experience with human weakness. He told the Corinthians about his struggles, and about God’s way of helping him in the midst of those struggles. Paul wrote:
“[the Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
God will help you in your weakness, too. You have been baptized into Christ and into the church of Christ. This is who you are now.
You have been adopted into the family of Christ, and have become an heir of eternal life. This is who you are now.
You have been naturalized as a citizen of the kingdom of Christ, and you have been designated as a member of his royal priesthood. This is who you are now.
As a child or as a parent – whatever your calling may be – this is who you are now, in God’s new creation. Whether you are single or married – whatever your life circumstance may be – this is who you are now, in the new beginning that Jesus gives you every day: according to God’s unbreakable promises and unchanging truth.
Live in this truth. And when your earthly life comes to an end, die in this truth.
And that brings us to the third way in which Jesus gives lost and confused people a way out, and a way forward. It is the way of resurrection.
The corruptions of this earth will finally be brought to an end, and God’s creation will be purged of all sin and death, when we – on the last day – are called forth from our graves, and by the mercy of Christ are vindicated through his justification in the final judgment.
And then something magnificent will happen. St. Peter tells us in his Second Epistle that
“the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
In the new heavens and the new earth, there will be no more giving and taking in marriage in the conventional sense. But the holy church of Jesus Christ will be his beloved bride for eternity.
The order and harmony of God’s creation will not only be restored, but will be elevated beyond anything we can imagine now. The balance and symmetry of human existence as God always wanted it to be, will not only be put back into place, but will be made more beautiful and elegant than anything we have ever experienced.
God’s creation – his new creation – will be, once again, “very good.”
In the First Epistle to the Corinthians, we read:
“‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.”
So, someday this will come. And we know that it will come. Therefore, with a patience that God gives and work in us, we wait, certain that we will not be disappointed. Indeed, as the Epistle to the Romans reminds us,
“We know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope…” Amen.