## Article V: Of Creation

## Genesis 1:1

To profess to believe the express declaration of Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," is to be branded by society as being naive and unscientific. After all, everybody knows the theory of evolution is really fact! So stated by Sir Julian Huxley in 1959, "Darwin's theory is no longer a theory but a fact. No serious scientist would deny that evolution has occurred, just as he would not deny the fact that the earth goes round the sun."

The theory of evolution is the idea that life came into existence by a purely natural process according to the principles which are operative on our time level, that no special or supernatural activity or intervention was necessary, that all the forms of life we know today have descended from a single, or, at most, a few common ancestors, and that man descended from animal ancestors.

Some would contend that the argument over origins is unnecessary. Does it really matter? YES! If the Word of God is wrong in Genesis 1 and 2, it cannot be trusted anywhere else! Can't we believe in both? NO! Some have tried to blend the two, but the hybrid results are unacceptable.

I. Consider the Genesis Account.

A. The first day: v1-5

1. Heaven and earth created without form, uninhabited, and in darkness and covered by water.

2. God speaks into existence light.

3. He divides the light from the darkness and calls the light "day" and the darkness "night".

4. He tells us a day consists in the evening and the morning (since daytime closes at evening and the night ends with the morning, the phrase indicates that the first day- night-cycle was completed).

B. The second day: v6-8

1. God divides the waters by a firmament.

2. He calls this firmament "Heaven".

3. There was waters above, and below this firmament.

C. The third day: v9-13

1. God gathered the waters below into one place and allowed the dry land to appear.

2. He calls the dry land "Earth" and the waters "Seas".

3. He created vegetation on this third day.

D. The fourth day: v14-19

1. God created the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

2. The purpose for these were to be for signs, for seasons, for days, and for years.

3. They were also to give light upon the earth.

E. The fifth day: v20-23

1. God created the sea creatures and the fowl of the air.

2. God commands them to 'be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas'.

3. He commands the fowl of the air to 'multiply in the earth'.

F. The sixth day: v24-31

1. God created the creatures on the earth.

2. This includes beasts, cattle, and creeping things.

3. God created man in His image and after His likeness.

4. He gives man dominion over all of the creatures in the sea, in the air, and on the earth.

5. He commands man to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.

G. The seventh day: 2:1-3

1. Creation is now finished.

2. God ends His work.

3. He now rests from His creative works, and sanctifies the seventh day.

II. The Importance of Creation.

A. It distinguishes God from idols.

1. Ps. 96:5, "For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens."

2. Is. 37:16, "O Lord...thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth."

3. Note: Jeremiah 10:10-12

B. It establishes the sovereignty of God.

1. Note: Isaiah 40:12, 26, & 28

2. God is sovereign over all of the earth and over man.

3. To deny that God created the world in which we live is to deny that man has an obligation to obey Him and honor Him.

4. This is the danger...to be anti-creationism is to be anti-God!

5. He is Lord. cf. Col. 1:16-17

6. Those who deny that God created this world and all that is therein fall in line for the same condemnation as those in Romans 1:25.

III. Faulty Thinking Concerning Creation.

A. Day-age theory.

1. This theory equates the "days" of Genesis 1 with the "ages" of the scientists' geological time table.

2. They begin with Azoic (no life) era and proceed through the intervening eras into the present Cenozoic (new life) era, which according to the geologists, has been going on for a million years or so.

3. The major problem with this is the Exodus account of creation.

a. Note: Exodus 20:9-11

b. It is obvious from this passage that the "days" of creation were literal 24 hour periods of time.

B. The Gap theory.

1. The basic contention of this view is that Genesis 1:1 declares the original creation.

2. And that there is a "gap" of millions of years between v1 and v2.

3. One weakness of this theory is that it arrived on the scene shortly after Darwin wrote the "Origin of the Species".

4. This theory has been promoted by the Scofield Bible and Clarence Larkin as well as many others.

5. The greatest problem with this theory is theological: death is introduced (for the formation of fossils) before any sentence of death is passed by the Lord.

Conclusion: Creation and Evolution are noncompatible. We believe that God's Word is true. God said what He meant and meant what He said. My faith is not shaken by so-called scientific discoveries.

Hebrews 11:3, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Jesus told Thomas, "...blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Jn.20:29

We believe the literal account of creation just as much as the literal account of salvation! Where is your faith tonight? Is it in the Word of God or the words of men?