Tag Archives: Creation

Blog Session 8 – Entering God’s Rest—Today

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This is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my life. And it’s not easy to apply. That’s part of why I keep coming back to it. Grace means a great deal to me, and I see many Christians struggling right here.

What I’m arguing is this: the Sabbath rest of God after creation is a picture—a type—of the kind of rest God is offering you and me today.

And I want to be clear about something right from the beginning. We’re not talking about death. We’re not talking about heaven. We’re talking about a rest that is available right now. Today is a day we can be entering God’s rest. And when tomorrow comes, it will be today again—and the same offer will still be there.

What Do We Mean by “Rest”?

Before we go further, it helps to slow down and ask what we mean by rest.

When we think of rest, we think of things like ceasing activity, relaxing, being restored, letting go of pressure. There’s even a kind of surrender involved. When you lie down for a nap, you’re letting something go. The pressure is off.

That idea—the pressure being off—is important. Because what we’re going to see is that God is offering something deeper than physical rest. He’s offering a rest that reaches into the heart.

The Warning from the Past

The passage we’re working through brings us into Hebrews 3, where the author quotes Psalm 95. And in that psalm, God is looking back to Israel in the wilderness. Those people had seen His works for forty years. And yet God says of them:

“They always go astray in their heart… As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.”

The key issue wasn’t just outward behavior. It was the heart. And specifically, it was unbelief. The author of Hebrews presses that point. He warns:

“Take care… that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

Notice how those words are tied together—evil and unbelieving. Disobedience and unbelief are not really separate things. They go together. At the root, the sin-issue is that we don’t believe what God has said.

Encouraging One Another—Today

Because of that danger, we’re told to encourage one another.

“Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today.’”

That word “today” keeps coming up. It’s not abstract. It’s immediate. When should we encourage one another? Today. And when tomorrow comes? It will be today again.

This isn’t something we put off. The reason we encourage each other now is so that none of us will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. There is a real danger, even for believers, of a kind of hardening that comes from not believing God.

And God uses both His Spirit and His people to keep us. Our security isn’t some detached guarantee. It’s something God actively sustains—through His Word and through one another.

The Problem: Hearing Without Believing

The Israelites had good news proclaimed to them. God promised to meet their needs. He promised provision in the wilderness. But the word they heard did not profit them.

Why?

Because it wasn’t united with faith. They heard it—but they didn’t believe it.

And that’s where this becomes very close to home. God says, “I will meet your needs.” But we find ourselves thinking, “I’m not sure He will—not in this situation.” God says He gives peace. And yet we say, “I don’t have peace.” If God gave it and we don’t have it, where did it go? At some point, that raises a question: do we really believe Him?

If we truly believed that God has given peace, then we would live in that peace. The issue comes back again to belief.

Entering the Rest by Faith

The writer of Hebrews makes a remarkable statement:

“We who have believed enter that rest.” Not will enter. Enter. This is present reality. This rest is something believers are meant to experience now. And to help us understand it, the passage reaches all the way back to creation:

“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.”

That rest of God becomes the model. The author connects it with the rest Israel failed to enter—and then says that rest is still available. How do we know it’s still available? Because the word “today” is still being spoken.

The door has not closed.

There Remains a Rest

This leads to one of the most important statements in the passage: “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”

There remains a rest—for you, right now. Not next week. Not someday. Today.

And this rest is more than stopping activity. It’s something deeper than that. It touches the heart, the inner striving, the pressure we carry.

Resting from Our Works

The passage brings us to this final idea:

“The one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

That’s the picture. God finished His work—and He rested.

And we are told that there is a way for us, in Christ, to enter into that same kind of rest. Not by ceasing all activity—we still live, work, make decisions, raise families—but by ceasing the inner striving, especially the inner striving to prove yourself to God somehow. The grace of God forgives all sins and declares us righteous. The striving for perfection is over!

Ceasing the pressure.

Ceasing the sense that everything depends on us.

What That Looks Like in Real Life

I’ve been trying to think through what this actually looks like.

You go through your day—running errands, making decisions, dealing with responsibilities. Nothing outward necessarily changes. But inwardly, something is different. You are at rest. You’re no longer carrying everything. You’re no longer striving in the same way. The pressure has been lifted.

That’s not easy. I can tell you from experience—it’s not easy. You face real situations, real concerns, real stress. And there’s something in you that wants to hold on—to keep worrying, to keep managing, to keep carrying it. And yet God says, in effect, “Trust Me.”

And we respond, “But if I don’t carry this, who will?” And the answer is—He will.

There’s that verse about casting your cares on Him. And I’ve come to read it this way: not just that He cares about me, but that He does the caring for me. He carries what I’ve been trying to carry.

That’s the rest being offered.

God finished His work. And in Christ, we are invited into that same kind of rest—to say, in the middle of life, “It’s in His hands.”

And the question that remains is whether we will believe Him enough to enter into it.

*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.

Back to the Beginning – Session 7 Finishing Creation and Understanding the Sabbath

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We’re still in Genesis chapter 1—five weeks in now. It’s been a little slow going, but I wanted to make sure we didn’t rush past the end of the chapter, especially beginning in verse 29, which we didn’t get to last time.

What God Gave for Food

At the end of Genesis 1, we’re told what God provided for food. He says:

“Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.”

So what did Adam receive? Plants. Trees. Fruit. Herbs. Everything growing from the ground. And notably—no animals. We’re not even at the stage of clean versus unclean animals. There simply are no animals given for food at all. Both man and animals were plant-eaters. Verse 30 tells us that every beast and bird was also given green plants for food. That’s hard for us to picture. Lions eating vegetation. No predation. No death in that sense.And this is before the fall, so none of the frustrations we’re used to were present. No weeds. No disease. No fungus ruining crops. No worms in the fruit. Everything worked exactly as it was supposed to.

“Very Good”

Then we come to verse 31:

“God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”

Up to this point, God repeatedly said things were “good.” But here, at the completion of creation—especially after the creation of man—He says it is “very good.” The Hebrew intensifies it. Not just good—but fully, completely good. Everything is exactly as He intended. important. Creation wasn’t partial. It wasn’t unfinished. It wasn’t “good enough for now.” It was complete, and it pleased Him.

The Seventh Day: What God Did

As we move into Genesis 2:1–3, we’re really still finishing the creation account.

There are four things God does on the seventh day:

  • He finished His work
  • He rested
  • He blessed the day
  • He sanctified it

That sequence matters.

God Finished

When God finished, He didn’t stop because He ran out of time or energy. He stopped because there was nothing left to do. He had done everything that was necessary to complete His goals.

That’s different from how we experience work. We might stop working at the end of the day, but most of the time it’s not because everything is truly finished. There’s always more to do tomorrow. But when God finished, it was complete. Exactly as He intended. Nothing lacking. Nothing needing revision.

That’s how God works. He finishes what He starts.

God Rested

God rested—not because He was tired—but because the work was complete.

This rest is not inactivity. Later, Jesus makes it clear that God is still working. But He is at rest in the sense that His creative work is finished and fully sufficient.

God Blessed the Day

When God blesses something, He places His approval on it. It’s not a casual acknowledgment—it’s a full affirmation. He sets this day apart as something good for His creation.

God Sanctified It

To sanctify means to make holy—to set apart as special. So the seventh day becomes distinct. Not just another day, but one marked off by God Himself. Later, Jesus would tell us that the Sabbath was made for man and not the other way around. Unlike the pagan nations that would eventually live in the surrounding territories, God’s people are distinct. They understand that man should not work sunrise to sunset seven days a week.

“Hosts”: Everything Under His Command

Genesis 2:1 says the heavens and the earth were completed “and all their hosts.”

That word “hosts” is important. It can mean armies, but more broadly it refers to everything under God’s command. The stars, the heavens, all creation—everything exists under His authority. Nothing operates independently. Everything answers to Him.

The Sabbath in Israel

When we move forward to Exodus 20, the Sabbath becomes a command.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

Why? Because God already made it holy. Now Israel is commanded to treat it that way.

They were to rest completely:

  • No work
  • No labor from servants
  • No work from animals

The entire rhythm of life stopped.

And the reason given is creation itself—God rested, so they were to rest. In addition, God told them to keep the Sabbath because they had been a slave in Egypt. There again it pointed to the fact that His people were set apart, different.

Later, in Exodus 31, the Sabbath is described as a sign of the covenant between God and Israel. It wasn’t just a helpful practice—it was part of their covenant relationship with Him.

Before the Law: The Manna

Even before the Ten Commandments, we see a preview of Sabbath in Exodus 16 with the manna. They were to gather daily—but not hoard it. If they tried to store it, it spoiled. Except on the sixth day. On that day, they were to gather double, because no manna would come on the seventh day.

God was already teaching them a rhythm of trust and rest before formally giving the law. God would always make sure that they had enough.

What Happened by the Time of Jesus

By the time we get to the Gospels, the Sabbath had become something very different. The Pharisees had developed extensive rules—thirty-nine categories of prohibited work, each expanded into detailed restrictions. Simple actions—like picking grain, tying knots, carrying small items, or even writing a couple of letters—could be considered violations. The focus had shifted from the meaning of the Sabbath to the regulation of behavior.

Jesus and the Sabbath

In Mark 2, Jesus’ disciples pick grain on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees object.

Jesus responds with two key statements:

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

“The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

That reframes everything. The Sabbath exists for human good—not as a burden. And Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath, has authority over how it is understood and applied.In another instance (Mark 3), Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and confronts the question directly:

“Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath?”

The issue is no longer technical compliance—it’s the heart and purpose behind the command.

The New Testament Perspective

When we come to Romans 14, Paul addresses how believers treat days.

“One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”

This is a shift. Under the new covenant, Sabbath-keeping as a legal requirement is no longer binding in the same way it was for Israel. Some believers set aside a particular day with special focus on the Lord. Others treat all days alike. Both can be done in a way that honors God.

The Meaning That Remains

Even though the commandment structure changes, the meaning of the Sabbath does not disappear.

God rested.

And He invites us into that rest.

That’s the deeper reality.

Not merely setting aside a day—but entering into a way of living where we trust God, where we are not constantly striving, where we rest in His completed work. That doesn’t mean inactivity. God Himself is still working. But it does mean confidence. Peace. Trust. And that’s something we struggle with.

We go through seasons where life feels like constant striving—pressure, confusion, responsibility. And in the middle of that, God says: enter My rest.

That’s not easy. It’s something we have to learn.

As Scripture says, we are to “strive to enter that rest.”

There’s effort involved—not in working more, but in learning how to rest in Him.

Living It Out

Even practically, there is wisdom in stepping back. Not as a legal requirement—but as something good for us.

We don’t need to live seven days a week at full speed. There is value in setting time aside—time focused on God, time that is not driven by work.

Some treat Sunday that way very intentionally. Others don’t structure it the same way. But the principle remains: we were not made for endless striving. We were made to rest in God.

And learning how to do that—really do that—is something we grow into over time.

Morning Meditations

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1 Peter 1:3-5

Meditations on First Peter.

(Adapted from my weekly men’s email.)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Let’s start out with this — Blessed be the God and Father. What does it mean that God is blessed? Certainly, there is nothing we can do that adds to God’s situation to make Him happier, better off or more complete. That might be what it means when we are blessed by God, but God is totally complete in and of himself. I think this phrase is a way we human beings can express our praise and adoration and thankfulness for who God is and for all He has done. When we say, “Bless God!” we are thanking and praising God.

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — I find that sometimes I read right over a phrase like this, wanting to get to the “meat” of the passage, but it is important to think about what Peter is saying here. He is making sure we understand who Jesus is. Remember, Peter is the guy who denied that he even knew Jesus. Now he is acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is Lord, and His father is the God who is actually who we are actually praying to. He is the one who accomplishes all that the rest of this passage promises. And remember, this is the same Father we pray to when we pray, “Our Father who is in heaven….” That makes us brothers of Christ because the scripture says, “He is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Hebrews 2:11).

I think we’ll wrap this short devotional at this point. There really is a lot to meditate on this section. Sometimes we just need to slow down and pay attention.

Creation Week – Moving on

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Looking Back at the First Four Days*

Before moving forward in the creation account, it helps to review where we have been. Last time we walked through the first four days of Genesis 1.

On the first day God created light. “Let there be light.” And there was light.

On the second day God made a separation. He separated the waters below from the waters above and created the expanse between them. Some Bible versions call it an expanse, while older translations use the word firmament. I mentioned the Hebrew word raka last time. Ancient people didn’t think of this simply as empty space. They thought of it as the sky itself—the place where the sun, moon, stars, and planets were set.

Then on day three there was another separation. Nothing entirely new was created at first. God separated the waters from the land so that dry ground appeared. The dry land he called earth, and the gathered waters he called seas.

But something else happened on that third day. God said, “Let the earth sprout,” and plants began to grow. Vegetation appeared with seed in it so that it would reproduce.

That raises the question of kinds. The text says plants reproduce “after their kind.” When we talked about that, I mentioned that I’m comfortable with the idea that “kind” does not necessarily mean every modern species as we categorize them. There may have been one kind of oak or one kind of maple, and over time there was diversity within that kind. When we eventually talk about animals and Noah’s ark, I don’t think Noah necessarily had to bring every kind of dog—cocker spaniels, German shepherds, and so on. There could have been a basic dog kind from which those variations came. I’m comfortable with that understanding, though if someone isn’t, that’s okay too.

Then we came to day four.

The Lights in the Expanse

On the fourth day God placed lights in the expanse of the heavens.

Light itself had already been created on day one. That sometimes makes people stop and think. How do you have light without the sun, moon, or stars? But light itself is a real thing. In the original creation, God first created light, and then later he made the things that would hold or produce that light.

Sometimes when we explain it to children, we say that God made the sun and the stars as containers for light. The light existed, and then God made the things that would bear it.

Genesis says these lights were given several tasks.

First, they were to separate the light from the darkness.

Second, they were given as signs.

Third, they were for seasons, and for days and years.

And finally, they were to give light on the earth.

It’s interesting that giving light on the earth is listed last. When we think about the sun, we usually think that providing light is its main purpose. But in the biblical description, that appears at the end of the list.

The word translated “seasons” is especially important. When we read it, we usually think of the agricultural seasons—spring, summer, autumn, winter. But the Hebrew word carries a deeper meaning. It refers to appointed times.

These are the appointed times for gatherings.

Later in the Old Testament the Hebrew people had their new moons, Sabbaths, and festivals—Passover, the Day of Atonement, and the rest. All of those observances were guided by the positions of the sun and moon. They didn’t have clocks or wall calendars like we do. Nobody could walk over to the kitchen wall and check what day or month it was. They had to keep track of time by watching the sky.

Even today the Jewish calendar is complicated because it is based on the lunar cycle. A lunar month is about twenty-nine and a half days. If every month followed that pattern, eventually the calendar would drift out of sync with the seasons. So they occasionally add a leap month. Not every year, but some years. That keeps the festivals tied to the proper seasons.

At one point in history the wider world had to correct its calendar as well. Things had drifted so far that they suddenly skipped a number of days in order to bring everything back into alignment. People who had birthdays during those missing days simply lost them that year.

All of that helps us see what Genesis is saying. God placed the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens not only to give light and regulate the agricultural seasons, but also to mark the appointed times when his people would gather.

When I read that, it tells me something about God’s interests even in the creation week. In the middle of these seven days, God is already providing for the gatherings of his people. Later in the biblical story there would be Israel with its festivals, and eventually the gatherings of believers who worship the true God. The heavens themselves help mark those appointed times.

So when we read the word seasons, it’s helpful not to limit it in our minds to weather patterns. It also includes those special, appointed times for gathering.

The Fifth Day: Life in Water and Sky

That brings us to the fifth day.

Genesis 1:20 says:

“Then God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heavens.’ And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarmed after their kind and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.’ And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.”

On this day God created the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air.

One phrase that caught my attention in my translation was “great sea monsters.” I hadn’t thought much about that before, so I looked into the Hebrew word used there. It refers to large sea creatures—things we might think of as dragons, crocodiles, whales, and other massive creatures of the deep.

Then you also have the rest of the creatures that swarm in the waters—fish and everything else that lives there.

When you start thinking about the oceans, you realize how much life there is that we have never even seen. There are creatures living at depths we cannot easily reach. My grandson was telling me about organisms that live near volcanic vents on the ocean floor and somehow get their energy from sulfur compounds coming out of those vents. I had never even heard about creatures like that before.

It makes you wonder how many things exist down there that nobody has ever seen. The ocean is deep enough that there may be countless forms of life we still haven’t discovered. God made them all, and I sometimes think he must delight in them.

Someday when human beings discover more of those things, we will probably stand back and say again how remarkable the Creator is. Perhaps when He created them, God thought, “I can’t wait until they first get their eyes on this!”

The Blessing on the Creatures

There is another detail in this passage that is easy to miss.

After creating the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air, verse 22 says, “God blessed them.” He said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

Later we will see God say something very similar to human beings. But humans are rational creatures. We can think about what it means to be fruitful and multiply.

What does it mean when God says that to animals? He is speaking to creatures that don’t reason or reflect the way we do. Yet the text still says he blessed them.

One way to understand that blessing is that God created them with the instinct to reproduce. The blessing guarantees the continuation of their existence. If God had created all these living creatures but withheld that blessing, they would disappear in a single generation.

Instead, the blessing means that one generation follows another. Creatures reproduce after their kind, and life continues.

Some things have gone extinct over time, but in general the pattern remains: life reproduces life after its own kind. The blessing God spoke at creation ensured that the world he made would continue to be filled with living creatures.

And that is exactly what we see.

*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.

Back to the Beginning – Session 1

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What Was God Doing Before “In the Beginning”?

 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.

In the Beginning

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The purpose of this series of articles is to demonstrate the centrality and supremacy of Christ as given to us in the Scriptures. The first part of this series I’m calling “In the Beginning.” The first verse in the Bible tells us, “In the beginning God …” Obviously this means that in the beginning, God was there before anything else existed. In John 1:1 the Bible tells us “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Before anything else existed, God was there, as was the Word, and the Bible says that the Word was God. We also know from Genesis 1:2 that the Holy Spirit was also present at creation hovering over the waters. These verses lay the foundation for the Christian worldview and philosophy. We are going to discover that “The Word” is none other than the Son of God and the man Jesus Christ, and He is the center of everything.

What we can see from this is that the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all present at creation. In John 17:24, Jesus testifies that God the Father loved Him before the foundation of the world. Earlier in that same chapter Jesus looks forward to the day when He will share again in the glory He had with the Father before the world began. What we know, then, is that within the Trinity there was love, communication, and glory before anything else had been created. Should we be surprised then that we as human beings, who have been created in the image of God, have personalities that include love and communication as part of our nature?

These truths lay the foundation for what comes next. In Genesis 1:1 we learn that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In John 1:1-3 we learn that the Word, that was in the beginning with God, and was God, created all things, and there’s nothing that’s been created that He did not create. Therefore, as we look around, everything we see around us has been created by the Word, the Son of God. Furthermore, according to John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

“He (speaking of 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.” (Colossians 1:15–17, NKJV)

“[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:2–3, NKJV)

What do we learn from these passages? Jesus Christ the Son of God created all things including thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. We further learn that He made everything for Himself. Just as we sometimes create artwork or a piece of furniture for our own use and enjoyment, Jesus Christ did the same with all of creation. In addition, we learn that He holds everything together. Why is it important to consider the centrality and supremacy of Christ? Because He is the foundation of all of creation, and He supports and holds it together for His own pleasure and glory.

Let’s think about these ideas in a different way. In the beginning all that existed was a 3-person God who existed in a spiritual form, that is, He did not have a body. And yet there was communication and love among the members of this Trinity. At some point before time began, this triune God decided to create the universe. All of the atoms and molecules that make up our universe, our world , and our bodies, were created out of nothing through the Word of this God. And what John tells us in John chapter one is that this Word, that created all things, is God himself, and that He is currently holding all things together. If that’s not amazing to you, I don’t know what it would take to amaze you!

I think what we need to do as Christians is to try to put aside the conception of these things as being religion or religious teaching. The Bible is saying, and we as Christians believe, that these statements are actually true. This truth is at the core of all science and all history and, in fact, all knowledge. There actually is a God who exists in three persons, and who created all things by His word. I would go so far as to say that if you do not believe this to be true, then it is likely that you are not actually a Christian, because these statements in the Bible, are the foundation and the core of all the rest that follows.

Link to video on youtube: https://youtu.be/7979yF2hm6s

Part 2 – The Word Became Flesh and Lived Among Us

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The argument I am trying to make in this series of articles is that Jesus Christ, the God-man, is the core of all knowledge, all science, our very being, and He is the Supreme ruler of all things. As we read in the gospel of John chapter one verse 14, John writes that the Word became flesh and lived among us. The Word is the second person of the Trinity. Earlier in the first chapter of John he wrote that in the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God. So now we see that the Word becomes flesh; this thing called the Word becomes human, taking on a body. We know this person as Jesus Christ. There are several passages of scripture that I would like us to look at and I’m going to quote them verbatim so that you can see what the scripture is claiming.

“He [speaking of Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (Colossians 1:15, NKJV)

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,” (Colossians 1:19, NKJV)

“in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3, NKJV)

“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;” (Colossians 2:9, NKJV)

“[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:2–3, NKJV)

According to Colossians and Hebrews Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. The writer to the Hebrews says He is the express image of God. In other words, He is the exact impression of God. Just like we might make a stamp and impress an image onto a block of clay, Jesus Christ is the impress stamp , the image of God the Father. These verses further tell us that all of the fullness of the godhead dwelt in Jesus Christ bodily. That means that when Jesus was walking around on this earth getting his feet dusty, He was the embodiment of the entirety of the godhead. In addition to that, Paul wrote to the Colossians that all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be found in Jesus Christ himself. The word all leaves nothing out. Every bit of wisdom that exists in the universe has its origin in Jesus Christ. All the knowledge of science , chemistry , astronomy, psychology, sociology and so forth are rooted in Christ. Any wisdom that there is in the universe has its source in Jesus Christ. This is why His being is central and supreme.

There can be nothing said of someone more profound and acknowledging of the supremacy of that one and the centrality of that one than to say that he is the creator of all things, the entirety of God almighty is contained in him, and that in him dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Part 1 – In the Beginning

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The purpose of this series of articles is to demonstrate the centrality and supremacy of Christ as given to us in the Scriptures. The first part of this series I’m calling “In the Beginning.” The first verse in the Bible tells us,“In the beginning God …” Obviously this means that in the beginning God was there before anything else existed. In John 1:1 the Bible tells us “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Before anything else existed, God was there, as was the Word. And the Bible says that the Word was God. We also know from Genesis 1:2 that the Holy Spirit was also present at creation hovering over the waters. These verses lay the foundation for the Christian worldview and philosophy. We are going to discover that “The Word” is none other than the Son of God and the man Jesus Christ and He is the center of everything.

[There is audio along with a PowerPoint video of this study at  https://youtu.be/JPnmeApPQ3c ]

What we can see from this is that the Trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit were all present at creation. In John 17:24 Jesus testifies that God the Father loved Him before the foundation of the world. Earlier in that same chapter Jesus looks forward to the day when He will share again in the glory He had with the Father before the world began. What we know from this is that within the Trinity there was love, communication, and glory before anything else had been created. Should we be surprised then that we as human beings who have been created in the image of God have personalities that include love and communication as part of our nature?

These truths lay the foundation for what comes next. In Genesis 1:1 we learn that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In John 1:1-3 we learn that the Word that was in the beginning with God and who was God created all things and there’s nothing that’s been created that He did not create. Therefore, as we look around, everything we see around us has been created by the Word, the son of God.

“He (speaking of 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.” (Colossians 1:15–17, NKJV)

“[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:2–3, NKJV)

What do we learn from these passages? Jesus Christ the Son of God created all things including thrones, dominions, principalities and powers. We further learn that He made everything for Himself. Just as we sometimes create artwork or a piece of furniture for our own use and enjoyment, Jesus Christ did the same with all of creation. In addition we learn that He holds everything together. Why is it important to consider the centrality and supremacy of Christ? Because He is the foundation of all of creation and He supports and holds it together for His own pleasure and glory.

Let’s think about these ideas in a different way. In the beginning all that existed was a 3-person God who existed in a spiritual form, that is, He did not have a body. And yet there was communication and love among the members of this Trinity. At some point before time began this triune God decided to create the universe. All of the atoms and molecules that make up our universe , our world , and our bodies, were created out of nothing through the Word of this God. And what John tells us in John chapter one is that this Word that created all things is God himself. If that’s not amazing to you, I don’t know what it would take to amaze you.

I think what we need to do as Christians is to try to put aside the conception of these things as being religion or religious teaching. The Bible is saying, and we as Christians believe, that these statements are actually true. This truth is at the core of all science and all history and, in fact, all knowledge. There actually is a God who exists in three persons and who created all things by his word. I would go so far as to say that if you do not believe this to be true, then it is likely that you are actually not a Christian because these statements in the Bible are the foundation and the core of all the rest that follows.

CL Discussion – Abortion

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These CL Discussions are imagined conversations between a conservative Christian and a liberal person. The conservative’s name is Charles. The liberal’s name is Larry. These are not real conversations. They are imagined and the conservative views are mine, a fact you would have had no trouble discerning yourself. The opinions of the Liberal are typical of people I have met over the years, but don’t reflect any one person’s point of view. I am not claiming that these discussions are unbiased. I’m using them as a means of organizing my own thoughts as well as possibly helping others clarify their own point of view as well. Let me know what you think.

(Check for further conversations like this on Fridays. Whenever I have a CL discussion, I’ll post it on Friday.)

C: What do you think of this political campaign. It’s really something, isn’t it.

L: Yeh, I’ve never seen anything like it. But I agree with Hillary. It’s not right to tell women what they should do about their own body when it comes to pregnancy.

C: You think it’s wrong then to pass laws that would prevent a woman from having an abortion?

L: That’s right! Legislators have no right infringing on a person’s right to choose whether to terminate their pregnancy or to go ahead and have the baby.

  1. So you’re saying that it is wrong to pass such laws.

L: Yes, it’s wrong.

C: Do you mean wrong as in personal opinion “wrong”? Or do you mean it’s wrong like it’s wrong to steal or murder someone?

L: Well, obviously your examples are way extreme, but yes, it’s wrong in that sense. It shouldn’t be done.

C: So other countries where they pass laws supported by a majority  of their people blocking abortion, those people are wrong. Right? Or do you mean it’s wrong here because a majority support women’s right to choose, but it’s ok there because those people see it differently?

L: No, they’re wrong too and eventually they will understand and make their law match what is right.

C: So how do we know your opinion is the right one?

L: It’s common sense. Anybody can see that you shouldn’t tell a woman what she should do regarding her pregnancy.

C: It can’t be that common sense because for most of the history of our country and in many other countries, the laws prohibited abortion. So it can’t be because of common sense.

L: Well, no. People who are sort of uneducated and sort of backward in their thinking can’t see it.

C: So there is a certain group of people who are able to see it, but not everyone can?

L: that’s right.

C: How are we able to tell who are the people who have it together enough to know the truth and which ones don’t. By seeing if they agree with you? That’s not the proof of anything. If you’re claiming that some position you are taking is absolutely right and not just an opinion of some people at some particular time in history, then we need to look outside of ourselves somehow to determine what is absolutely right.

L: There’s nothing outside of ourselves. We just have to work it out from within ourselves as a people. You’re trying to get me to admit that there is some absolute standard of right and wrong outside of ourselves. That list of truth doesn’t exist.

  1. If that’s the case, you can’t say it’s wrong to prevent a woman from having an abortion if she wants one. All you can say is, “There are a lot of us who want it to be this way and we’re in the majority.” And you can do that, but it doesn’t make it right or wrong. What if we all agreed it was right for people below the poverty line to go into other people’s homes and take what they want. Would it be right then?

L: I can see what you’re saying, but in this country we base our laws on the constitution and how the supreme court interprets the constitution.

C: Do you agree with all of the supreme court’s decisions?

L: No.

C: When you disagree with them, do believe it’s just a difference of opinion, or do you believe they were wrong?

L: Usually that they were wrong.

C: But they’re not wrong if there’s no list somewhere to tell you what is right or wrong.

L: We’ve already been around this circle. They are interpreting the constitution. It’s the constitution that is what is right and wrong.

C: But you said you don’t always agree they are right. And besides that, it only applies to our country and I would bet that there are things that you think are right or wrong everywhere and not just  because some judges in the U.S. say so.

L: That’s true.

C: So why do we think there are some things that are absolutely true or right or wrong?

L: I don’t know, but I do know that there is nothing that is absolutely right or absolutely wrong at all times and in all places.

C: Was that last statement absolutely true at all times?

Check next Friday for another exciting CL discussion.

Christian Worldview 5 – Made in the Image of God

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(For Part 1 click here)

In the Bible class I teach we are discussing how to develop and defend our Christian worldview. This week we are investigating the creation narrative and what it tells us about being made in the image of God. Along with that we are discussing the position God has given mankind in subduing and having dominion over the creation.

What does it mean to be made in the image of God? We know that God does not have a physical body like we have. He is a spirit being. So that can’t be what the Bible means. There are certain characteristics that God has given us that he also possesses. For example, he is able to think and we are able to think. God is creative and he has given us the ability to create. God can communicate and we have the ability to communicate. I’m sure you can think of others. Internally we are a spirit as well. God says that his spirit bears witness with our spirit. So we are spirit beings inside of a physical body.

God has given us the dominion over his creation and has told us we are to subdue it. To subdue means to bring it under control. We are God’s representatives to be the stewards or care-takers of his creation. One of the first things that Adam did was to name the animals. Naming things is one way we make sense of and gain control over our environment. After Adam’s fall, this stewardship responsibility became much more difficult. Work was harder and more laborious.

As God’s managers we have the responsibility to take good care of the created world, the environment we live in. But we are to remember that God has created this world with resources for us to use. Some of the creation has been given to us for food and so we should not be afraid to take plants from the ground or kill animals for our nourishment. On the other hand, having dominion doesn’t mean we should wantonly waste resources or pollute them so that they are unusable by others. There’s an important balance that we must maintain as we serve God by managing his creation.

(Part 6)