God’s Word is Truth

One of the things that has been on my mind the last couple of weeks is how we handle the promises of God. We read them, we believe them, we might even memorize them—but sometimes they just sit there as facts. True facts, important facts, even encouraging facts—but still somewhat distant.

I’ve been trying to change that in my own thinking.

Instead of simply acknowledging a promise, I’ve been trying to take it in personally. When the Bible says, “God never leaves us nor forsakes us,” I want to stop and think, God never leaves me. Not just generally true—true in my life, right now. When He promises to meet every need, I want to hear that as something directed toward me, not just something I agree with in theory.

As we read Scripture, we’re not just reading religious material. We are reading the word from God. That’s what Paul commended in 1 Thessalonians 2:13—that they received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. That’s how I want to approach passages like Psalm 33.

Seeing the World Through Psalm 33

In Psalm 33, we read statements that are easy to pass over, but they’re meant to shape the way we see reality.

“The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”

Do I actually believe that? Does it look that way to me as I go through the day? Or do I mostly notice what’s wrong—what’s lacking, what’s frustrating, what hasn’t gone the way I wanted?

God says the earth is full—full to the brim—of His goodness.

The psalm goes on to remind us that by the word of the Lord the heavens were made. He spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. And then it says something that I find especially encouraging: He brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

All the plans, all the discussions, all the decisions that dominate the news—God is not threatened by any of it. He sees it all, and He rules over it all. His counsel stands forever.

That’s meant to steady us.

The Pattern of Creation

As we come back to Genesis 1, it’s helpful to review what we’ve seen. And one of the things that stands out is the structure of the six days of creation.

On day one, God creates light. Then on day four, He creates the sun, moon, and stars to govern that light.

On day two, He separates the waters and forms what the Hebrew calls the raia—the expanse or space. Then on day five, He fills those realms with birds and fish.

On day three, dry land appears, along with vegetation. And on day six, He fills the land with animals and mankind.

There’s a kind of correspondence there—day one with day four, day two with day five, day three with day six. It’s orderly, but there’s also something almost poetic about it. God is not only purposeful in what He creates; there is a structure and beauty to how He does it.

Appointed Times

When God made the sun, moon, and stars, one of their purposes was to mark what the text calls “appointed times.” The Hebrew word is moed—a word used for set meeting times.

This wasn’t just about seasons or agriculture. It also relates to the rhythm of worship—Sabbaths, feasts, gatherings. These heavenly bodies were given, in part, to structure time around meeting with God.

And it’s interesting to note that three days after their creation—on day seven—we arrive at the Sabbath, the appointed day of rest.

“Let Us Make Man”

When we come to the creation of man, we read, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.”

There’s a plurality there—“Let us… our image.” We’re hearing something of the Trinity in that statement.

And then we’re told that man is made in the image of God.

Image and Likeness

The word “image” carries the idea of a figure, a representation—even something like a statue. Not in the sense of a false god, but in the basic sense of a visible representation of something.

God made us as His image—His representatives in creation.

Then there’s the word “likeness,” which has the idea of form or pattern—something modeled after another. So we’re not just general representations; we are shaped in a way that reflects Him.

God is spirit, and we are not. We have physical bodies. But there is something about us—our nature, our capacities—that reflects Him.

The Perfect Image

In the New Testament, we’re told that Christ is the image of the invisible God.

That’s significant. Adam was made in the image of God, but he fell. The image was not lost, but it was marred. There is now sin, weakness, corruption.

Christ, however, is the perfect image. Where Adam failed, Christ did not. He is the true and flawless representation of God.

A Thought on Idols

Something that struck me recently is this: God tells His people not to make graven images. And yet, in a sense, He has already made an image—mankind.

He created the true representation. There’s no need for us to create substitutes and bow down to them. That’s a distortion of what He has already done.

Male and Female

Genesis says, “In the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

That’s an important statement. The image of God is reflected in mankind as male and female. Both together are part of that design. We’ll explore that more when we come to Genesis 2, where the creation of Eve is described in more detail.

The First Commands

God then gives mankind their first instructions.

“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth.”

The intention is clear: humanity is to spread, to fill the earth. Not to remain confined, but to extend outward.

Then He says, “subdue it.”

That word can sound harsh to us, but this is before the fall. There are no weeds, no chaos in the sense we experience now. So what does it mean?

It has the idea of bringing under order—organizing, shaping, managing what God has made.

There is work to be done, even in a perfect world.

Dominion Under God

God also says that man is to have dominion. That’s a kingly term. It speaks of rule, authority.

But we need to understand this correctly. God is the King. He rules over everything. What He does here is place humanity under Him as sub-rulers—managers, stewards, representatives of His authority in creation.

You might think of it as a kind of structure: God at the top, and under Him, human beings spread across the earth, exercising rule in their appointed places.

A Living Picture

I’ve often thought about this in terms of something very practical.

When a Christian man and woman marry and start a home, they’re not just forming a household. They are establishing a place where God’s design is being lived out. In their neighborhood—maybe just a few houses down—there is now a home that reflects something different.

The way they treat one another, the way they raise their children, the way they live—it becomes a visible expression of what it means to live under God’s rule.

That’s part of what it means to bear His image.

Ordering the World

Even in the beginning, part of man’s role was to bring order.

You can imagine Adam taking what God had made—already good, already beautiful—and arranging it, shaping it, organizing it in new ways. Not correcting something broken, but developing and structuring what was there.

That’s part of subduing the earth.

The Weight of Being an Image Bearer

Every human being is made in the image of God.

Even in a fallen world, that remains true. And that has implications. It affects how we treat people, how we speak about them, how we pursue justice.

We are not free to take vengeance into our own hands. Justice is meant to reflect God’s character, not our impulses.

Learning to Rule

The New Testament tells us that believers will one day rule and reign with Christ.

And that sheds light on something else. In this life, we are learning. Even in the ordinary conflicts of life—disagreements, misunderstandings—we are being trained.

Paul rebukes believers for taking their disputes to court and asks, in effect, “Don’t you know you will judge angels?”

That’s a remarkable statement. It means that what we are doing now is preparation. This is practice.

Creation Calls Us to Praise

We ended by reading Psalm 148, which calls all of creation to praise the Lord.

The sun, the moon, the stars, the weather, the animals, the nations—everything is fulfilling His word.

Even the stormy wind does exactly what He commands.

And when you think about that, even in a world that has been affected by sin, there is still so much beauty. The earth is still full of His goodness.

That ought to move us to praise.

And as we go through our days, whatever our routines may be, the call is to take God’s word as what it truly is—the truth from God—and to live in light of it.

In our last overview we had a little science lesson.

We talked about the fact that everything is made of three basic particles — protons, neutrons, and electrons. That’s the chemist in me coming out. But it struck me years ago, even when I was teaching chemistry, that if you picture it this way, God basically had three “sacks” of things. And everything we see is made out of those three put together in different ways.

That’s amazing to me.

We went there because of Hebrews 11:3:

“By faith we understand that the worlds were formed out of things that are invisible.”

With my chemistry background, I immediately think of atomic structure. The invisible things. And yet everything we see is built from them.

On page five of your notes we reviewed a few passages. Romans 4:17 tells us that God “calls into being things that do not exist.” That’s what He did at creation. He called light into being. He calls things into existence that were not there before.

Then 2 Corinthians 4:6 reminds us that the God who spoke light into being at creation is the same God who shines the light of the gospel into our hearts. The One who said, “Let there be light,” is the One who awakens us by His Spirit through His Word.

And then Isaiah 45 — especially verse 7 — where God says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” He speaks of creating light and darkness, peace and calamity. He even names Cyrus before Cyrus knows Him. The gods of the nations are inventions. The God we serve is the One who actually does these things.

That brings us back to Genesis 1.

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Day One: Light and Separation

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Then we are told the earth was without form and void, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Something is about to happen. There is chaos and darkness, but God is present.

Verse 3:

“God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

He speaks. It happens.

God saw that the light was good — tōv. There’s your little Hebrew lesson for the day. If you’re doing really well, you can say tōv me’od — very good.

Then God separated the light from the darkness. He named them — Day and Night. And the evening and the morning were day one.

We talked a bit about why it says “evening and morning.” The story begins with darkness. Darkness first, then light. The Jewish day begins in the evening. And that pattern runs all the way through Scripture.

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Day Two: The Expanse

On day two God says:

“Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters.”

The Hebrews used a word — raqia — which carries the idea of something beaten out thin, like metal hammered into shape. They did not understand space the way we do. To them, it looked like a dome overhead, like a planetarium ceiling.

God says, “Expanse, be.” And it is.

This expanse separates the waters below from the waters above. Some creationists suggest there may have been a canopy of water above the atmosphere, creating a greenhouse effect. That would explain tropical growth found in places like northern Canada and Greenland. According to that view, the canopy collapsed during the flood. I don’t know if that’s correct, but it’s interesting.

God calls the expanse “heaven.”

Psalm 19:1 says,

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.”

Daniel 12:3 uses the same word when it says the wise will shine like the brightness of the expanse.

Again, God speaks. It happens. And He names it.

Evening and morning, day two.

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Day Three: Land and Vegetation

On day three, God gathers the waters below into one place so dry land appears. He calls the dry land Earth and the gathered waters Seas.

Then He commands:

“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind.”

Notice that phrase — “after their kind.” He repeats it. Plants yielding seed after their kind. trees bearing fruit after their kind.

That matters, because when you plant corn, you do not expect carrots. There is continuity. There is variation within kinds — like dogs. You can have Chihuahuas and German Shepherds and all kinds in between, but they are still dogs. What I struggle with is the idea that a fish turns into a dog. That is a different claim altogether.

The more we learn about the complexity of cells — the machinery inside them — the harder it is for me to imagine it all arising by accident. I was raised in a Christian home and trusted Christ at five. But I am more convinced now than ever that what Scripture says is true.

God commanded the earth to bring forth vegetation, and it did. The earth obeyed Him.

And God saw that it was good.

Evening and morning, day three.

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Day Four: Lights and Appointed Times

On day four, God says:

“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens.”

These lights are for several purposes:

• To separate day and night
• For signs
• For seasons
• For days and years
• To give light on the earth

He makes the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and He made the stars also. He places them in the expanse to rule and to separate light from darkness.

And God saw that it was good.

Evening and morning, day four.

But here is something that fascinated me.

The word translated “seasons” is mō’ed. When I hear “seasons,” I think summer, winter, spring, fall. But mō’ed means appointed times, meetings, assemblies.

Genesis 17:21 — Isaac would be born at the appointed time.
Genesis 21:2 — Sarah conceived at the appointed time.
Exodus 13:10 — the Passover is kept at its appointed time year after year.
Exodus 27:21 — the tent of meeting. The tent of mo’ed.

The heavenly lights were placed there not only for weather cycles but for appointed gatherings. Festivals. Worship. Fellowship with God.

Israel’s calendar was governed by the sky — new moons, full moons, equinoxes. Even Easter today moves because it is tied to Passover, which is tied to the location and phases of the moon.

So when Genesis says the lights are for seasons, it may mean more than agriculture. It includes appointed times with God.

God loves fellowship with His people.

Doug mentioned Ecclesiastes 3:1:

“To everything there is a season.”

That word season again. An appointed time. A purpose.

And all of it — from atoms to stars — begins with this:

God said.

And it was so.

*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.