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Sound Doctrine / 28 Fundamental Beliefs
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Creation
| Doctrine 6. Creation |
| God has revealed in Scripture the authentic and historic account of His creative activity. He created the universe, and in a recent six day creation, the Lord made "the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them" and rested on the seventh day. Thus He established the Sabbath as a perpetual memorial of the work He performed and completed during six literal days that we call a week today. The first man and woman were made in the image of God as the crowning work of Creation, given dominion over the world, and charged with responsibility to care for it. When the world was finished it was "very good,'' declaring the glory of God. The above revision was approved at GC Session on July 7, 2015, below is the prior wording of FB #6
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| Video - Genesis Conflict - Walter Weith, Amazing Discoveries ( 57 min. ) |
| The Bible account is simple. At the creative command of God, the "heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them" (Exodus 20: 11) appeared instantly. A mere six days saw the change from "without form, and void" to a lush planet teaming with fully mature creatures and plant forms. Our planet was adorned with clear, pure, bright colors, shapes, and fragrances, put together with supurb taste and exactness of detail and function. |
| Then God "rested" stopping to celebrate, to enjoy. Forever the beauty and majesty of those six days would be remembered because of His stopping. Let us steal a quick look at the Bible's account of the Beginning. |
| "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The earth was shrouded with water and darkness. On the first day, God separated the light from the darkness, calling the light "day" and the darkness "night." |
| On day two, God "divided the waters" separating the atmosphere from the water clinging to the earth, making conditions suitable for life. On the third day God gathered the waters together into one place, establishing land and sea. Then God clothed the naked shores, hills, and valleys; "the land produced vegetation plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds" (Genesis 1: 12 NIV) |
| On the fourth day God established the sun, moon, and stars "for signs and seasons, and for days and years." The sun was to govern the day, the moon the night (Genesis 1: 14 - 16). |
| God fashioned the birds and marine life on the fifth day. He created them "according to their kind" (Gen. 1: 21), an indication that the creatures He created would consistently reproduce after their own kinds. |
| On the sixth day God made the higher forms of animal life. He said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according ti its kind" (Gen. 1: 24). |
| Then, the crowning act of creation, God made man "in his own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen. 1: 27). God saw everything He had created and "indeed it was very good" (Gen. 1: 31). |
| The Creative Word of God |
| "By the word of the Lord," the psalmist wrote, "the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breadth of His mouth" (Psalm 33: 6). How did his creative word operate? |
| The Creative Word and Pre-existing Matter |
| The words Genesis, "God said," introduce the dynamic divine command responsible for the majestic events of the six days of Creation (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24). Each command come charged with a creative energy that transformed a planet "without form, and void" into a paradise. "He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33: 9). Truely, "the worlds were framed by the word of God: (Hebrews 11: 3). |
| The Creative word was not dependent upon pre-existing matter (ex nihilo): "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible" (Hebrews 11: 3 NIV). Though at times God did use pre-existing matter - Adam and the beasts were formed of the earth, and Eve was made from Adam's rib (Gen. 2: 7, 19, 22) - ultimately, God created all matter. |
| The Creation Story |
| Many questions have been asked about the Genesis account of Creation. Do the two creation narratives the first book of the Bible contains contradict each other or are they consistent? Are the days of Creation literal or do they represent large time periods? Were the heavens - the sun, moon, and even the starts - really made only 6,000 years ago? |
| The Creation Account |
| The Bible's two reports of Creation, one in Genesis 1:1 to 2:3, and the other in Genesis 2:4 to 25, harmonize. |
| The first narrative recounts, in chronological order, the creation of all things. |
| The second narrative begins with the words, "These are the generations of . . ." (KJV), an expression that in Genesis introduces a family history (cf. Gen 5:1; 6:9; 10:1). This narrative describes man's place in creation. It is not strictly chronological, but reveals that everything served to prepare the evironment for man. (1) It gives more details of the creation of Adam and Eve and of the environment God provided in the garden od Eden than does the first. In addition, it informs us of the nature of humanity and of divine government. Only if these two Creation accounts are accepted as literal and historical do they harmonize with the rest of Scripture. |
| The Creation Days |
| The days of the Bible's Creation account signify literal 24 hour periods. Typical of how the Old Testament people of God measured time the expression "the evening and the morning" (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13 19, 23 31) specifies individial days with the day beginning at evening, or sunset (see Lev. 23: 32; Deut. 16: 6). There is no justification for saying that this expression meant one literal day in Leviticus, for instand, and thousands or millions of years in Genesis. |
| The Hebrew word translated day in Genesis 1 is yom. When yom is accompanied by a definite number, it always leans a literal, 24-hour day (e.g. Gen. 7: 11; Exodus 16: 1) -- another indication that the Creation account speaks of literal, twenty-four-hour days. |
| The Ten Commandments offer another evidence that the Genesis Creation account involves literal days. In the fourth commandment God says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work . . . for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" ( Exodus 20: 8 - 11 ). |
| Succinctly God retells the Creation story. Each day (yom) was filled with creative activity, and then the Sabbath climaxed the Creation week. The 24-hour Sabbath day, therefore, commemorates a literal week of Creation. The fourth commandment would be meaningless were each day stretched into aeons. (2) |
| Those who cite 2 Peter 3: 8, "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years." trying to prove that the days of Creation were not literal twenty-four-hour days, overlook the fact that the same verse ends with "a thousand years" are "as one day." Those who read into the days of Creation thousands of years or large indefinite periods of millions of even billions of years are questioning the validity of God's word - - just as the serpent tampted Eve to do. |
| What are the "Heavens"? |
| Some people are puzzled, and understandably so, by the verses that say that God "created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1; cf. 2:1; Exodus 20: 11 ) and that He made the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day of Creation week 6,000 years ago (Gen. 1:14 - 19). Were all heavenly bodies brought into existence at that time? |
| Creation week did not involve the heaven that God has dwelt in from eternity. The "heavens" of Genesis 1 and 2 probably refer to the planets and stars nearest earth. |
| Indeed, the earth, instead of being Christ's first creation, was most likely His last one. The Bible pictures the sons of God, probably the Adams of all the unfallen worlds, meeting with God in some distant corner of the universe (Job 1: 6-12). |
| So far, space probes have discovered no other inhabited planets. They appearently are situated in the vastness of space - - well beyond the reach of our sin-polluted solar system quarantined against the infection of sin. |
| The God of Creation |
| Just what kind of God is our Creator? Is such an infinite Personage interested in us - minute specks of life in a distant corner of His universe? After creating the earth, did He go to bigger and better things? |
| A Caring God |
| The Bible's Creation account begins with God and moves to human beings. It implies that in creating the heavens and the earth God was preparing the perfect environment for the human rece. Mankind, male and female, was His glorious masterpiece. |
| The account reveals god as a careful planner with a concern for His creation. He planted a special garden home for them and gave them the responsibility of cultivating it. He created human being so that they could have a relationship with Him. This was not to be a forced, unnatural relationship; He created them with freedom of choice and a capacity to love and serve Him. |
| Who Was the Creator God? |
| All the members of the Godhead were involved in Creation (Gen. 1: 2, 26). The active agent, however, was the Son of God, the pre-existing Christ. In the prologue to his Creation account, Moses wrote: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Recalling those words, John specified Christ's role in Creation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" ( John 1: 1 - 3). Subsequently in the same passage, john makes abundantly clear of whom he was writing: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1: 14). Jesus was the Creator, the One who spoke the earth into existence (see also Eph. 3:9; Hebrews 1: 2). |
| A Display of God's Love |
| How deep God's love! When Christ with lovong care, knelt over Adam, shaping this first man's hand, He must have known that men's hands would someday abuse and ultimately nail Him to the cross. In a sense Creation and the cross merge, since Christ the Creator was slain from the foundation of the world ( Rev. 13: 8 ). His divine foreknowledge (3) did not stop Him. Under the ominous cloud of Calvary, Christ breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, knowing that this creative act would deprive him of His breath of life. Incomprehensible love is the basis of Creation. |
| The Purpose of Creation |
| Love motivates all that God does, for Hs is love ( 1 John 4:8). He created us not only so we could love Him, but so that He could love us, too. His love led Him to share, in Creation, one of the greatest gifts He could confer - existence. Has the Bible, then, indicated for what purpose the universe and hits inhabitants exist? |
| To Reveal God's Glory |
| Through His created works, God discloses His glory: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their coice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world" ( Psalm 19; 1-4, NIV). |
| Why such a display of God's glory? Nature functions as a witnes for God. He intends His created works to direct individuals to their Creator. "For since the creation of the world," Paul says, "God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" ( Romans 1: 20, NIV ) |
| As we are drawn to God through nature, we learn more about the qualities of God, qualities that can be incorporation into our own lives. And, by reflecting God's character, we bring glory to Him, thus fulfilling the purpose for which we are created. |
| To Populate the World - - The Creator did not intend the earth to be a lonely, empty planet; it was to be inhabited ( Isaiah 45: 8). When the first man felt the need of a companion, then God created the woman (Gen. 2:20: 1 Cor. 11:9). Thus He established the marriage institution (Gen. 2: 22-25). And the Creator not only gave the couple dominion over this newly created world - but, with the words "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1: 28), He gave them the privilege of participating in its creation. |
| The Significance of Creation |
| People are tempted to ignore the doctrine of Creation. "Who cares," they say, "how God created the earth? What we need to know is how to get to heaven." Yet the doctrine of a divine Creation forms "the indispensible foundation for Christian and Biblical theology." (4) A number of fundamental Biblical concepts are rooted in the divine Creation (5) Indeed, a knowledge of how God created "the heavens and the earth" can ultimately help one find his way to the new heaven and earth John the revelator speaks of. What, then, are some of the implications of the doctrine of Creation? |
| The Antidote to Idolatry |
| God's creatorship distinguishes Him from all other gods (1 Chron 16: 24-27; Psalm 96:5, 6; Isaiah 40: 18-26; 42: 5-9; 44). We should worship the God who made us, and not the gods that we have made. By virtue of His creatorship He deserves our total allegiance. Any relationship that interferes with this allegiance is idolatry and subject to divine judgment. This, faithfulness to the Creator is a life-or-death matter. |
| The Foundation of True Worship |
| Our worship of God is based on the fact that He is our Creator and we are His creatures (Psalm 95:6). The importance of this theme is indicated by its inclusion in the call extended to earth's inhabitants just before Christ's return, to worship the One "who made the heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water" ( Rev. 14: 7 ). |
| The Sabbath - a Memorial of Creation |
| God established the seventh-day Sabbath so that we would have a weekly reminder that we are creatures of His making. The Sabbath was a gift of grace, speaking not of what he did, but of what God has done. He especially blessed this day and sanctified it so that we would never forget that, besides work, life should include communion with the Creator, rest, and celebration of God's marvelous creative works (Gen. 2: 2,3). To emphasize its importancem the creator placed the injunction to remember this sacred memorial of his creative power in the center of the moral law as an everlasting sign and symbol of Creation ( Ex. 20: 8-11; 31: 13-178; Ezekiel 20:20; and the Fundamental Belief The Sabbath ). |
| Marriage - a Divine Institution |
| During the Creation week, God established marriage as a divine institution. He intended this sacred union between two individuals to be indissoluble: The man was to "be joined to his wife" and they were to "become one flesh" (Gen. 2: 24; see also Mark 10:9; and the Fundamental Belief Marriage ). |
| The Basis for True Self-worth |
| The Creation account states that we were made in God's image. This understanding provides a true concept of the worth of the individual. It leaves no room for a low estimate of ourselves. Indeed, we have been given a unique place in creation, with the special privilege of constant communication with the Creator and the opportunity of becoming more like Him. |
| The Basis for True Fellowship |
| God's creatorship establishes His fatherhood (Mal. 2: 10) and reveals the brotherhood of all humanity. He is our Father; we are his children. Regardless of sex, race, education, or position, all have been created in God's image. Understood and applied, this concept would eliminate racism, bigotry, and many other forms of discrimination. |
| Personal Stewardship |
| Since God created us, we belong to Him. This fact implies that we have the sacred responsibility to be faithful stewards of our physical, mental, and spiritual faculties. Acting in complete independence of the Creator is the epitome of ungratefulness (see Fundamental Belief Stewardship ) |
| Responsibility for the Environment |
| At Creation God placed the first man and woman in a garden (Gen. 2: 8). |
| Psalms 19: 1- 6; 33: 6, 9; |
| Psalm 104 |
| Hebrews 11:3 |
| Videos worth watching Amazing Discoveries - A Day to be Remembered |
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