7 DAYS OF CREATION                                          

This week we commemorate the passing of one year, and the coming a new year.

*we ring the new and ring out the old.

*we toast each other’s health

*we make new resolutions, while grieving over past broken promises and failures.

*a time of new beginnings

At this time of year, instead of making new beginnings by remaking the same old promises every year, maybe we need to go back to the beginning of beginnings.

Read Gen 1:1ff  "...In the beginning, God..." 

We worship God the creator, God the covenant maker, and God the redeemer...the God who was always there, even prior to the beginning

Genesis is a place of beginnings

*the word literally means “origin;” or  “beginning”

THE CREATION PROCESS:

V.1:1ff “IN THE BEGINNING...THE EARTH WAS WITHOUT FORM...IT WAS VOID (IE. AN EMPTY WASTE...AND DARKNESS WAS ON THE FACE OF THE DEEP.”

Genesis is more than an historical account of the beginnings; It contains many parallels which underscore God's ultimate plans for mankind:

*Adam and Christ (I Cur. 15:21-22 “...for as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

*creation and salvation / redemption

* PHYSICAL CREATION / SPIRITUAL CREATION

PARALLEL #1: prior to Christ coming into our lives, we were here, but without real substance...empty...wasted...and in a profound spiritual darkness that often became terrifying, like flailing around in a vast ocean.

But then, God moved in our lives:

Day one: light (v. 1:3) (read john 1:5-7)

PARALLEL #2: when God spoke in our lives “let there be light..” He sent someone into your life to share the light of the gospel of Jesus. And somewhere, a light bulb came on. And there was something new that we perceived.

But we still hadn’t quite grasped it...

Day two: firmament (i.e. The heavens; the sky) (v. 1:6ff)

PARALLEL #3: (Romans 6:6-8) after god exposed you to the gospel, he had to show you that there was a difference between your old way of life (flailing in darkness in the deep) and a new one (the freedom of the skies; the heavenly, spiritual places)

But just recognizing that was not enough...

Day three: dry land and vegetation

PARALLEL #4: (Matthew 7:24-27) through Christ, we know that we can no longer swim in the dark seas of sin. We have to stand on the solid ground of Christ to regain the relationship with god that Adam lost for us.

(Matthew 7:16) once we step up onto that dry land, that solid rock, we began to see new vegetation growing in our lives; new substance; new fruit. (gen. 1:11 “...let the earth put fort vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth. And it was so.”

Day four: luminaries

PARALLEL #5: (col. 3:2) once we have grasped Christ’s provision and stepped out onto the dry land of salvation, god gives us the ability to raise our eyes to thing above; to take hold and begin sensing things spiritually as well as physically.

The parallel also speaks to God providing his word as a light to us (john 1:5)

Day five and six: birds and fishes

PARALLEL #6 God gives man dominion not only over the earth, but over the powers and principalities of the air. We have victory over Satan and his forces. (Romans 8:9

Day six: animals and men (v. 1:24)

PARALLEL #7 just as God had animals and men begin to regenerate and multiply physically, through Christ he begins to work through us to regenerate all men (Romans 13:12-14)

Day seven: Sabbath

PARALLEL #8 God has brought us back to full relationship with him; which means, we not only want to walk with him on Sundays, but every day. Walking with him again in the garden, the way Adam did before sin came into the world...