Welcome to the Faithful Men website hosted on The Tuinstra’s URL. I (Roger) have had the opportunity to teach adult Sunday School classes and Bible studies for almost 60 years. Before I retired, I seemed to have enough time to post to my blog here quite regularly. For a while, a very short while, I thought I could post once a day like Challies does. But that dream didn’t last a week! Since retiring, I have even less time to write regularly, although I have kept up with my Bible study and teaching responsibilities.
As many of you retired folks can attest, we men often struggle with our goals and purpose in life after retirement. God reminded me of what Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians in Phil. 1:25. Here is my paraphrase: Since God has me still here, I know that I will remain and continue here for the progress and joy of faith in the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
It’s good to be back in Genesis. We’ve had a couple interruptions the last few weeks — holidays, a baptism for one grandson, then another baptized on Easter — but now we’re settling back into our study.
My goal as we move through Genesis is to go slowly. Not tediously slow, I hope, but slow enough to see what’s really there. We’ll keep making connections to the New Testament and to truths that help us see the greatness of God more clearly.
Today, I want to begin in the New Testament before returning to Genesis.
“What Is Seen Was Not Made Out of Things Which Are Visible”
Turn to Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter. Let me read the opening verses:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:1–3)
That last line is what we’re focusing on: “what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
As someone who taught chemistry and physics for 25 years, that verse always meant a lot to me. The more you dig into almost any subject, the more it ends up glorifying God. If you grow flowers, you plant a seed in the same dirt as everything else — potatoes, corn, tomatoes — and yet each plant comes up tasting like what it’s supposed to taste like. That alone is amazing.
But let’s talk about something even smaller.
A Little Science — and a Big God
Everything in the material world is made of atoms. Atoms are too small to see. There are over a hundred elements — iron, copper, zinc, oxygen, hydrogen — but most of what we deal with every day is made from maybe ten or twelve of them.
Every atom has three parts: protons, neutrons, and electrons. The sacks in the picture represent the idea that God made everything from those three components. (In actuality, it’s a lot more complicated than that, but I think it gives you a mental picture.)
Protons carry a positive charge.
Neutrons have no charge.
Electrons carry a negative charge and move around the outside of the atom.
Protons and neutrons are packed tightly together in the nucleus. Electrons move around that nucleus. Opposites attract — positive and negative — so the electrons are attracted to the nucleus.
Now here’s where it gets interesting.
Take carbon. Carbon has six protons and six neutrons in its nucleus, and six electrons outside. That’s what carbon is. Graphite in your pencil is carbon. A diamond is carbon.
Add one proton, one neutron, and one electron, and now you have nitrogen — an odorless gas that makes up a large part of our air. And if you were to add three hydrogen atoms, also an orderless gas, to one nitrogen, you have ammonia, which is anything but odorless.
Add another proton, neutron, and electron to nitrogen, you have oxygen — the air we breathe.
It’s the number of protons that makes an element what it is. God, in creating, used these basic building blocks — protons, neutrons, electrons — and from them came everything.
Let’s talk about iron.
Iron has 26 protons and 30 neutrons in its nucleus, with 26 electrons outside. That’s iron.
If you hold a common nail in your hand — mostly iron — that nail contains 26 billion billion atoms.
Now stretch your mind a little.
If we could expand one iron atom so that its nucleus was the size of a ping pong ball, the nearest electrons would be about 26 feet away. The outermost electrons would be about a third of a mile away.
And between the nucleus and those electrons?
Nothing.
Empty space. Not air, because air is made of atoms and there are no atoms within other atoms.
That means an atom of iron — something that seems solid and hard — is mostly nothing. The next atom would be another third of a mile beyond that.
So this nail, which holds buildings together and will hurt if you drive it into your finger, is mostly empty space. It’s made of things you cannot see — and most of it is nothing.
When you hit a nail with a hammer, the atoms of the hammer never actually touch the atoms of the nail. The electrons around each atom repel one another. It’s like magnets pushing away from each other. Forces are involved, but nothing truly “touches.”
And God did that.
The God you worship designed matter that way. The God who made you made a world where solid iron is mostly empty space held together by forces we cannot see.
That’s what Hebrews 11:3 means in part: “what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
Now go back to Genesis 1.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” “The earth was without form and void… and darkness was over the surface of the deep… and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”
Before God spoke, there was no light.
He commanded something that did not exist to exist.
That’s not magic. That’s authority. He spoke to what did not exist and said, “Light, exist.” And light obeyed.
Paul picks this up in 2 Corinthians 4:6:
“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
The saving work of Christ is like creation. God says, “Let there be light,” and light shines in a dark heart. He creates spiritual life just as He created physical light.
Romans 4:17 says He is the One who “calls into being that which does not exist.”
That’s what God does.
Separations, Naming, and Order
As we move through Genesis 1, notice what God does.
After creating the heavens and the earth and bringing light into existence, much of what follows is separation and ordering.
He separates light from darkness.
He names the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
There was evening and there was morning, day one.
On the second day, He creates the expanse — the firmament — to separate waters from waters. He calls the expanse “heaven.”
The Hebrew word for that expanse, raqia, comes from a word meaning to beat out metal into a thin sheet. Ancient people looked up and saw what appeared to be a solid dome. That’s the language being used.
God separates waters above from waters below. Then He gathers the waters below so dry land appears.
Up to this point, after the initial creation and the creation of light, He hasn’t created new materials. He has been separating and ordering what He already brought into existence.
Light and darkness. Waters above and below. Sea and dry land.
He is dividing, naming, structuring.
The Sovereign God Who Does It All
Let me close with Isaiah 45.
God speaks to Cyrus, a pagan king. Cyrus did not know Him. Yet God says:
“I am the one who forms light and creates darkness, producing peace and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)
There is no other.
He forms light. He creates darkness. He produces peace. He creates calamity. He raises up kings. He brings down kings.
This is the God who created iron atoms that are mostly empty space. This is the God who spoke light into existence. This is the God who shines light into human hearts.
And this same God gave us a Savior.
He could have judged us all. We have all rebelled against Him. But He desired to save. He desired to glorify Himself in mercy. So He sent Christ. The God who calls things into existence that do not exist called us into spiritual life.
That’s the God we’re studying in Genesis. And that’s the God we worship.
Last week we spent a little time thinking about time itself, and I hope it didn’t fry anyone’s circuits too badly. Before time even began, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were already there. They existed before He made the heavens and the earth, and in perfect unity they determined how everything would unfold. We get a small glimpse of that divine conversation when God says, “Let us make man in our image.”
Today we’re going to look at the opening verses of Genesis 1 and start unpacking them.
The Text
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”
We touched on this briefly last time, but now let’s slow down and ask some real questions.
Who Was the Original Audience?
Even though the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture for every generation—including us—the first people to hear or read these words were the Israelites. Moses wrote this account for the people of Israel, the Jewish people of that time.
When we read the Bible, it helps to remember that different parts belong to different genres. The Psalms, for example, are largely poetry—not the rhyming kind we’re used to in English, but Hebrew poetry. Genesis is true history, yet it’s written in a way that carries a poetic rhythm and style natural to the Hebrew language. The original hearers would have picked up certain nuances that we sometimes miss. That doesn’t mean we’re misunderstanding the text; it just means we can gain helpful perspective by imagining how they heard it.
The Name “God” – Elohim
The very first word for God in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim. You’ve probably heard that term before. It’s grammatically plural, yet it’s used here with singular verbs to refer to the one true God we worship. Elohim is actually a more generic word for deity. When Aaron made the golden calf, he pointed to it and said, “This is your Elohim who brought you out of Egypt.” Foreign idols and false gods were also called elohim (lowercase in our English translations to show the distinction).
Hebrew didn’t use upper- and lowercase letters, so context carried the weight. We do something similar in English when we say “the gods of the Egyptians” versus “the God of Israel.”
That plural form of Elohim—combined with phrases like “Let us make man in our image”—offers a quiet hint of the Trinity. It’s not a full explanation, but the plurality is there.
Later in chapter 2 we’ll meet another name: Yahweh (often rendered “LORD” in all capital letters in our English Bibles). That’s the personal, covenant name God gave to Moses—“I AM.” Many of us grew up saying “Jehovah,” but the more accurate pronunciation scholars use today is Yahweh. Personally, I prefer using the name when Scripture does. Saying “the LORD says” feels a little like stepping back into third-person distance, while “Yahweh says” keeps the directness of the text.
The Word That Creates – Connecting to John 1
Genesis 1:1 begins, “In the beginning God created…” John 1:1 picks up the same phrase: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The Greek word logos means far more than a single spoken word. For the Greeks it carried the sense of wisdom, logic, reason, order—the organizing principle of the universe. John is telling us that this logos—this wisdom and commanding speech—was there in the beginning. When God said, “Let there be light,” that was the logos in action.
Later John says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So the one through whom God creates is none other than Jesus, the second person of the Trinity.
Psalm 33 echoes the same truth: “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth… For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”
Why That Should Fill Us with Awe
Think about it. We can’t speak physical reality into existence. I can’t say, “Let there be a chair,” and have one appear. But God speaks, and entire realms come into being. That same word holds everything together right now. Colossians tells us that in Christ all things hold together. If He stopped sustaining creation for even an instant, it would unravel.
A being with that kind of power and reach ought to inspire both awe and a healthy fear. We were made to worship Him. When we grasp—even a little—that He can call things into existence from nothing and can just as easily call them out of existence, respect and wonder are the only right responses.
The Earth Was Without Form and Void – To hu va-bohu
Genesis 1:2 says the earth was tohu va-bohu—without form and void. Those Hebrew words roll off the tongue in a memorable way. Tohu appears far more often than bohu in Scripture, and Isaiah uses it more than anyone else.
Tohu gets translated in various places as:
wasteland
wilderness
empty space
confusion
empty things
nowhere
Put together, the picture is a chaotic, empty, desolate, unfinished wilderness—a dark, watery, formless expanse.
Isaiah 45:18 says God “did not create [the earth] in vain [tohu]; He formed it to be inhabited.” So the original state wasn’t the final goal. He didn’t make a permanent mess. Something was underway.
Other passages that use tohu and bohu describe places under God’s judgment—Edom turned to burning pitch and desolation (Isaiah 34), or the land shaken and emptied because of the Lord’s fierce anger (Jeremiah 4). In both cases the language echoes Genesis 1:2.
Three Ways People Have Understood This
A blank canvas / unshaped clay God created the raw material in a formless, void state—like a potter’s lump of clay or an empty page—and then over the six days He shaped it into the ordered, inhabited world. Nothing wrong with that view.
A result of judgment Some suggest a catastrophe happened between verses 1 and 2—perhaps tied to Satan’s fall and being cast to the earth—leaving the creation in chaos. God then reshaped it.
A pre-Adamic world judged An older view (popularized by Scofield) proposed an entire earlier creation—animals, perhaps even people—that God judged, leaving fossils and a tohu va-bohu earth before the six-day work began. Many today (including Ken Ham) push back on that because it would place death before Adam’s sin.
We don’t have a definitive answer. What we do know is that God makes no mistakes and has no Plan B. He doesn’t say, “Oops, that didn’t work; let me try again.” Everything unfolds according to His eternal purpose.
The Spirit Hovering / Brooding
Genesis 1:2 ends with the Spirit of God “hovering” over the face of the waters. The Hebrew word carries the sense of brooding, fluttering, protecting—like a bird over its nest, wings moving, eyes focused, single-mindedly watching and guarding.
The Spirit wasn’t abandoning this dark, watery chaos. He was present, actively involved, poised for what came next. When God said, “Let there be light,” the work began.
That’s where we’ll pick up next time.
Lord willing, we’ll keep moving slowly through the chapter. There’s depth here worth taking our time with.
* Some articles on this publication or website are adapted from my recorded Bible teaching. I use transcription and editing tools (including AI-assisted editing) to convert spoken lectures into readable written form. The ideas, interpretations, and theological conclusions are my own and come directly from my teaching.
Several months ago in our adult Bible class, We began a series called “Back to the Beginning.” I chose that name because I think we need to return to the opening pages of the Bible. Genesis gives us the foundation of our Christian faith and a great deal of the thinking that shaped Western culture. We’re going to look at the text more carefully than most people do when they remember the stories from childhood.
Let’s start actually before the beginning.
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” My immediate question is: the beginning of what? The creation of the earth. Creation itself. Time. The beginning of everything.
Before we walk into verse 1, I want us to consider what Scripture says about what was happening before time began. The Bible does speak about a “before time began,” and it’s worth asking: what was God doing before He started creation?
Fellowship in the Trinity Before Anything Existed
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit existed in perfect fellowship before time began. There was communication and love among the three Persons of the Godhead long before any creature was made.
Look with me at a few passages.
2 Timothy 1:8–9 “…according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”
Before time began, God already had a purpose and grace in place for us in Christ Jesus. The plan of salvation wasn’t an emergency response; it was already settled.
Titus 1:2 “…in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.”
God promised eternal life before the world existed. There was no one yet to receive the promise, but He made it anyway.
Ephesians 1:4 “…he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”
Something concerning us and Christ’s saving work was already determined before the world was founded.
John 17:24 (Jesus’ high priestly prayer) “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
The Father loved the Son before anything was created. There was love, glory, and relationship within the Trinity.
1 Peter 1:20 “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you…”
Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world.
From these passages we see that before time began, God had a structured plan. Some call it a covenant between the Father and the Son (with the Spirit’s involvement) to accomplish our salvation. Jesus speaks of doing only what pleases the Father and of not losing any whom the Father has given Him. That plan was agreed upon before time started.
God Did Not Need to Create
This matters when we think about why God created at all.
Unlike what some teachings say about Allah—that he created because he was alone and needed fellowship—the true God is Triune. There was already perfect fellowship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God had no need, no lack, no missing piece. He doesn’t need anything.
So why create? He wanted to. He desired to display His glory, to receive praise from creatures—angels and people. He wanted to show mercy and grace, which are part of His character. But even that wasn’t a need; it was something He freely chose to do.
He didn’t need glory—He already had it in the Trinity. He didn’t need needy people to be merciful toward—He simply wanted to demonstrate who He is.
Time Itself Had a Beginning
Time started when God created the heavens and the earth. Before that, there was no time.
Even people who hold to the Big Bang (and who don’t believe in God) say there was no time before that event. On this point, they agree with the Bible: time had a beginning.
That means there was no “Thursday” on which God suddenly decided, “Today I’ll create the universe.” There were no days, no sun, no moon to mark time. Asking why God “suddenly” created at a particular moment is a question that doesn’t make sense in eternity.
God never changes His mind. He never learns anything new. Nothing ever surprises Him. Adam and Eve’s sin was not a derailment that forced a backup plan. Christ was foreordained as Savior before the foundation of the world—before Adam and Eve were ever made.
When the Bible speaks of “before” or “after” or “the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4) or “when the day of Pentecost had fully come” (Acts 2:1), it uses language we can understand. God accommodates our experience of time. But with Him there is no before or after. He simply is. He exists outside of time.
I sometimes picture it like a parade. If you’re standing on the sidewalk, you experience one float at a time. The beginning passes you, then the middle, then Santa at the end. But if you’re high above, you can see the whole parade at once—the start, the middle, the finish—all in view together. God is like that, only perfectly so. He sees every moment of history simultaneously. When He promises to be with you tomorrow, He is already there. You just haven’t arrived yet.
Scripture keeps saying the same thing:
James 1:17 — no variation or shadow due to change
Colossians 1:17 — Christ is before all things, and in Him all things hold together
Exodus 3:14 & John 8:58 — “I AM”
Psalm 90:4 — a thousand years are like yesterday
Hebrews 13:8 — Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever
Malachi 3:6 — “I the LORD do not change”
Revelation 4:8 — “who was and is and is to come”
Isaiah 57:15 — “I inhabit eternity”
He fills eternity the way He fills the earth.
Eternity in Our Hearts—and the Sin Problem
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God has put eternity in our hearts, yet no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. We sense there is something bigger than ourselves. We make plans, we have aspirations, we think in terms of lifetimes. Romans 1 tells us everyone knows there is a God and understands something of His eternal power and divine nature. But we don’t want to bow to Him. That’s the root sin: we suppress the truth and worship the creature rather than the Creator.
That suppression leads to a downward spiral. You see it in culture, in history, in current events—wars, injustice, rebellion. It all flows from refusing to acknowledge who God is and what we owe Him.
Not Religion—Reality
A lot of religion is about jumping through hoops: read your Bible—check; pray—check; go to church—check. That’s how people often treat pagan gods: do the right things, appease the deity, and maybe he’ll leave you alone.
That’s not Christianity.
Christianity is about the real God who exists, who is exactly as we’ve been describing. He doesn’t need to be appeased by our performance. He has already provided propitiation—appeasement—through Jesus Christ. God Himself came as a man, died on the cross, and paid the actual penalty for our sins. Not symbolically. Not religiously. Actually. The debt is paid. There is nothing left to do to make God accept us.
Because of that, we’re free. And in that freedom we bow, we worship, we give thanks. It’s not obligation anymore; it’s opportunity. We get to serve Him because of His grace and kindness toward us.
A Quick Look at Genesis 1
Next time we’ll pick up right here: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
For now, listen to the opening verses and notice a few things.
The earth was without form and void, darkness over the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Picture that.
Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. In Hebrew it’s more like a command: “Light—be.” He spoke to something that didn’t exist, and it obeyed instantly.
God saw the light, and it was good. He divided light from darkness, called light “day” and darkness “night.” Evening and morning—the first day.
He made a firmament to separate waters above from waters below, called it heaven. And it was so.
Notice how much God does in this chapter. I’ve asked people to list every action: God said, God saw, God made, God called, God separated. It’s striking.
Also notice: God created light on day one, but the sun, moon, and stars don’t appear until day four. Light existed before anything to hold or emit it.
There’s a lot of separating—light from darkness, waters above from waters below, sea from land. Much of the work is division rather than making something out of nothing.
Read Genesis 1 yourself this week. Jot down everything God does: “God created;” “God saw;” “God made;” etc. It will give you a different perspective of God’s creative work.
* Some articles on this publication or website are adapted from my recorded Bible teaching. I use transcription and editing tools (including AI-assisted editing) to convert spoken lectures into readable written form. The ideas, interpretations, and theological conclusions are my own and come directly from my teaching.
Scripture tells us that it is God that is at work in us both to will and to do of this good pleasure. Sometimes, when I’m battling with some sinful attitude or practice, it is more a problem with the desire to change than the power to actually make the change. When we pray for God’s help in such times, it seems to me we could start with asking for a change of the will. We need to be willing to be made willing.
As I have studied the Bible over the years, I sometimes want to go back and think about the beginning. We who have been raised in the church know a lot about the Old Testament through the Bible stories that were read to us as children. But I don’t think that we take enough time to really take in what the Bible says about the relationship and interaction of the True God with His creation. I’m going to take time over the next weeks and months to do that for myself to better inform my thinking and teaching.
The Bible starts out with the statement, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” My mind then wanders to questions like, “What was going on before time?” and “Why did God decide to create the universe at that particular place and time?”
Time itself deserves some attention. Time did not begin until God created it at the beginning. According to 2 Timothy 1:9, God’s purpose and grace were given to us “before time began.” With God there is no “before” or “after.” He just is. He is outside of time. I believe that when God speaks to us in terms of time, such as “before” or “after,” He is accommodating the fact that we as humans live in time.
Colossians 1:7 speaks of Jesus Christ like this: “He is before all things.” I think we would expect the word “was” in that context. Apparently, God is not just present everywhere in the location sense, He is present everywhere in time. That doesn’t just mean that God has always been present. It means that He is present right now at all times. He is as much present with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob now as He is with us. We don’t understand that of course, but the Bible seems to be pretty clear about that. At the time Jesus was walking the streets of the Holy Land with His disciples, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).
Isaiah tells us that God inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15). Isaiah also quotes God as saying, “Even from eternity I am He” (Isaiah 43:13). Revelation 4:8 explains that Jesus is the one who “was, is, and is to come.” For God, a day is no different than a 1000 years (2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 90:4).
But, in my own feeble way, I still want to know what was going on before time began – before “In the beginning”? The Bible does give us some clues. In John 17:24, Jesus acknowledges that God loved Him before the foundation of the world. This means that love existed before there were any people. There was love between the Father and the Son. In Proverbs 8, wisdom is personified and says, “From everlasting I was installed,” and “Before the mountains…I was brought forth” (Proverbs 8:23, 25).
What else was going on “Before”? Titus 1:2 tells us that God promised eternal life before all time. Jesus was foreordained and considered slain before the world was created (1 Peter 1:20, Revelation 13:8). And we know that the kingdom was prepared for God’s people before the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).
So in the mind and heart of God, plans were in place to accomplish the complete work of redemption that would be needed to restore a broken world and broken people to Himself. You should never think that God must have a plan B or C depending on how we respond to events and circumstances. God encompasses it all.
I think I’ll wrap up my thoughts about the “Before” at this point. Next time I have a chance, I’ll write some of my thoughts related to the first few verses of Genesis 1.
This is a repost of a blog article I wrote in 2005 after I had read The Vanishing Word by Arthur W. Hunt III. I think the main points are still valid even after 20 years, and probably even more so considering the proliferation of visual imaging technologies including AI.
I have just finished reading a most fascinating book called The Vanishing Word by Arthur W. Hunt III. At the risk of oversimplification, let me summarize my understanding of Hunt’s thesis. Basically he ties classic Judaism/Christianity with word-based thinking and communication. On the other side, paganism throughout history has been associated with the image and image-based communication. Hunt compares paganism in the ancient history of Egypt and Babylon with the text-based culture of the Hebrews. He then explains how the “Dark Ages” were a return to the ancient paganism at the same time that the literary culture was falling by the wayside. With the invention of the printing press and the spread of the Reformation, textual based thinking and communication became dominate and true religion was able to flourish. His concern now is that with the advent of television, movies and the Internet, we are becoming an image-based culture, and as such, the danger of a return to paganism is very real. In using the image, paganism both ancient and modern involves a heavy emphasis on sex, violence, and celebrity worship.
I have been a public school teacher for over 30 years and I have been able to see the decline in verbal skills during that entire time. More recently with the advent of the Internet, students’ ability to communicate their ideas and thoughts verbally is very low. My son, who teaches engineering in college, is frustrated by the fact that students are not able to communicate to him their understanding of the concepts they are supposed to be learning. If they could accurately communicate their ideas, he would know whether they understood the concepts or not, and if not he could help them to correct their misunderstandings, but as it is, it is very difficult even to know what they understand.
This problem should be especially alarming to us as Christians because God has chosen to reveal Himself and the truth about Himself in words! If we cannot understand the words, we will not know who God is or what our condition is or how that condition can be rectified. The two components of the Great Commission involve proclamation of the gospel and teaching the Word of God. Although good teaching and even the proclamation of the gospel can be aided by illustrations and stories or can even be presented in dramatic form, it ultimately comes down to understanding the declarative propositions God has made of Himself.
Many of the recent innovations in worship style that have taken place in Evangelical churches in recent years have involved the reduction in word and the increase in image. Many churches have replaced the sermon with dramatic productions. Sermon outlines are now projected on lovely backgrounds using computer technology. Rather than encouraging people to have a copy of the Word of God in their hands, many churches are providing key passages on the screen using that same display. While it is the same word of God, it is my opinion that it reduces the church member’s appreciation for and respect for the Word of God. Reading the key passage in context used to be encouraged, but now with the display of a short passage, the context is missing. When the display changes, the reader can’t go back and re-read the text to allow it to settle into his mind. All of this tends to minimize the importance of the Word and to reinforce the cultural view that image is everything.
Another recent innovation that has been brought to us by our technological society is the commodification of faith and especially music. By commodification I mean the fact that aspects of Christian worship, especially music, has become a big business commodity. Most of the major Christian record labels are not owned by Christians anymore. CD’s are being produced and mass marketed and they are hyped over Christian radio in the same way that secular music is marketed. The result is that the consumer brings these newly developed tastes into the church and expects to be served the same fare. In many instances, there does not seem to be much thought given to the effect this market driven approach will have on the worship of God’s people. Who is asking the questions about what God has required in His word for His worship? Who is asking questions about what is being taught by the music (or the VBS materials, or the Sunday School youth magazines, etc.) that are being adopted for use in our churches? Do these increase our understanding of the Word or do they cater to the image saturation of our culture?
In concluding his book, Dr. Hunt gives several suggestions for reducing the impact of the image in our lives. To his thoughts I add my own. Most of these involve time and attitude adjustments. With respect to time, we need to give less time to the image and more time to reading. This means spending less time in front of the television and computer screens and more time reading and conversing. Churches can help by re-elevating the importance of the word in worship and in teaching. We are going to have to do some re-educating of the people in our churches who have been raised in an image based society. They do not know how to think in the thought patterns that the printed word requires. We are going to have to help them learn how to do this. I think of how Wycliffe Bible Translators and other groups have worked tirelessly not only to translate the scriptures, but to bring literacy to the people. We are going to have to have our own version of this in our churches as we seek to raise the literacy level of our members.
May God help us not to just jump into the cultural river and “go with the flow”. God calls us to be a distinct people. We must use the technological innovations whether printing press, TV or computer for God’s glory, but we must set the agenda based on God’s Word and not let the appeal of the pagan image lead the way.
I was reading my dad’s Bible the other day and came upon some notes that he wrote related to II Cor 13:4 which says, “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.”
His notes are as follows:
Because of II Cor 13:4 I need to pray daily:
1. By faith I apprehend and trust in a perfect Christ and His perfect work – but I do so with an imperfect faith. I pray that God will help my unbelief. (Mark 9:24)
2. Pray in trust that God will work in you (me) both to will and to do of His good pleasure – Phil 2:13
3. As I wait in prayer before God, I need to confess the love of whatever sin I may have succumbed to as well as the fact that I have fallen.
4. Daily I need to reaffirm my comprehensive choice, solemnly made before God to live in the NEW nature and refuse to live in the OLD.
5. Daily in prayer, I need to ask God to make real in experience the fact of Rom 6:14 “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”
6. Daily in prayer, I need to ask God to “Gospelize” and spiritualize my obedience.
7. Daily I need to plead: “Lord strengthen me mightily by thy spirit in the inner man against temptations that daily come my way.
8. Daily I should review important matters for prayer – especially those for whom I have promised to pray.
He closes with the words from the hymn Not What These Hands Have Done
Not what these hands have done can save a guilty soul Not what this toiling flesh has borne can make the spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs or tears can bear my awful load.
Thy work alone, oh Christ can ease the weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O lamb of God can give me peace within. I bless the Christ of God I rest on love divine. And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.
Scripture tells us that it is God that is at work in us both to will and to do of this good pleasure. Sometimes, when I’m battling with some sinful attitude or practice, it is more a problem with the desire to change than the power to actually make the change. When we pray for God’s help in such times, it seems to me we could start with asking for a change of the will. We need to be willing to be made willing.
