Father, thank you for the world, for your love to us.
As you've probably covered the creation numerous times before (and if not then you can view some of the previous year's topics in the 'further reading' section at the bottom of the page), so I thought we'd have a look at a few specific points.
We were discussing creation today as part of the preparation for the Sunday School and one of the topics that stood out was the order in which the events took place. Each stage shows us God's plan in action. The 'day' which seems to cause the most confusion is day 4 - when God created the 'lights in the firmament of heaven'. Why?
Firstly, because we are told in science lessons that the earth was formed as a molten offshoot of the sun, and secondly because the light we see comes from the sun. But was this always so?
For many years I lectured in earth sciences and during that period I tried to reconcile the Bible with scientific theories. And it's very easy to do (most of the time). For example, the Bible's account of creation and the flood fits perfectly with the theory of plate tectonics - that dry land was created as one huge mega-continent and that during the flood the continental plates split forming the first mountains, the waters covering the whole world, just at it did prior to day 3 of creation. But it's 'day 4' which won't fit with any sort of scientific theory, and leads us to another 'why'?
The answer is faith, and I think this is the reason why the text in Genesis chapter 1 is worded this way. The record also adds "and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years". I think this part is often overlooked, yet it forms an important part of God's plan. Jesus birth was heralded by a star and the book of Revelation is full of references to signs of Christ's return in the heavens. The heavens are a way of measuring time, not only of the day but as it says in the verse, of years.
The other important point is that if we can see God in the heavens as the source of light for the planet would we require faith? Paul says
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.If we can see God, that's not faith!
The Bible shows us many times that God is light, and during the first three days that is exactly what he was. It was this seperation of light from darkness that led to the first day.
Just as plants couldn't survive without light, and we can't survive without plants, we can't survive without God either.
The second aspect we've been asked to look at is the 'sustain' part. God made the earth to be inhabited. For the living things he said "Be fruitful, and multiply". The ecosystem he created was perfect, it's been man's greed that has caused the problems. Yet God hasn't given up hope. There will come a time when the perfection of Eden will be restored, and that time will come with the return of Jesus Christ to set up his father's kingdom, when we'll see the true light, as it was seen before day 4.
Does God care about what's happening to his world?
Why did God bother to divide the water from the land? Wouldn't we have been better off as dolphins or mermaids or similar?
Why did God want to create us "in his image"?
Further reading: