Presentation 03

Presentation 03

When people look back over a year of sorrow or loss they often ask, ‘Why did God make a world that is gripped by death, wars and aggression?’ But in truth the world that God originally created and the world in which we now live are light years apart.

Today, God’s original masterpiece is scarcely discernible. It is vandalised, scarred and mutilated beyond all recognition. A useful starting point is to think about the world as God intended it and of man as God intended him to be.

Introduction

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The refrain punctuating each stage of creation, contained the words, “And God saw that it was good” v3, 9, 12, 18, 21, 25 and then in v31 “God saw all that he had made and it was very good”. Whenever I make anything, my response is invariably “I’m sure I could do better next time!” Do you know what it is to have a lingering sense of dissatisfaction with things that you do or have made?

It was said of Michelangelo, one of the most famous artists the world has known, that none of his work gave him pleasure because he strove for perfection.

In contrast, when God looked at the world he had brought into being, he did not think, “This is a rush job I can do better”. He declared it good!

The Goodness of God’s Creation

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God began with the creation of matter, v1 and he created out of nothing. Why should that be important as we consider the goodness of God’s creation? Well the difference between God’s creation and that of an artist is that God was not limited by a range of materials. The artist has to reach out and make do with the brushes and pigments that are already there.

He may say, ‘I wish I had access to a more intense blue or to a finer brush’, but God knew no such limitations. He created out of nothing. There was no mass, no energy particles before God brought them into being. The environment that God created in our world was therefore exactly what God wished it to be.

The Goodness of God’s Creation

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At each successive stage of the creation God surveyed his handy-work and pronounced it “very good”. As far as God was concerned he’d created the best of all possible worlds. At no stage in the process of the creation of this great original was anything introduced, which marred or spoiled it. It was perfect. There was no evil in God’s world at this time, if there were he could not have pronounced it good.

Evil came in at a later stage. These opening chapters are a foundational part of Christian apologetics dealing with evil, suffering and pain in the world. They did not belong to God’s original and are not the product of divine incompetence!

The Goodness of God’s Creation

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If you are familiar with the writing of John Milton you will know that he wrote two major works, “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained”. These titles picture for us not two but three different worlds all of which are described in the Bible. First, God’s great original, which is found in the opening two chapters of Genesis. Secondly, the original now marred almost beyond recognition as a result of human sin. And finally, the world completely restored to its original splendour through the work of Christ. The Bible uses very graphic language to describe this restored world. Why? because its intention is to teach that the broken world in which we now live is not the world God originally planned.

Paradise Lost and Regained

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Consider some of the particular images that the Bible employs? First, we’re reminded of the harmony that will be restored to the animal kingdom, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together...the lion shall eat straw like an ox” Isa. 11.6. God’s original world was not one of predator and quarry. There was peace in the animal kingdom. Incidentally, in Gen. 1.29-30 we discover that this sort of harmony was possible because both man and beast were vegetarian.

Paradise Lost and Regained

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Secondly, we see that in God’s original world there was peace between animal and man, a peace that will again be restored in the new earth,

“the lion shall eat straw like an ox and a little child shall lead them. The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy”Isa.11.7.

Paradise Lost and Regained

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Thirdly, God’s original world like the world to come was not designed to be a place of suffering and death. The natural disasters that wreck havoc in this spoiled creation will no longer be forces to be reckoned with in the world to come. In Rom 8v20ff Paul speaks of the whole of “creation that was subjected to frustration being liberated from its bondage and decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God”.

He is arguing that the redemptive work of Christ is cosmic in scale bringing peace not only between God and man and man and his fellow but harmony to the whole created order.

Paradise Lost and Regained

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Man, was created in the ‘image of God’ cf. v26. What is implied by the fact that out of all of creation only man was created in God’s image.

There are 5 basic aspects of man’s nature, that have been recognised as mirroring God’s likeness; rationality, creativity, dominion, righteousness and community.

Out of all of creation, man alone was selected to be the special object of God’s love and the bearer of his likeness.

The Crown of God’s Creation

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But God’s picture in man was badly shattered, brutally vandalised the details of which we will consider in chapter 3. What is important for us to grasp is that as a result of man’s disobedience and determination to be independent of God, God’s original man was tragically violated and dehumanised.

Not only does he no longer live in the world that God originally intended but man is no longer the creature God intended him to be. Man has dragged the image of God through the mire. God’s likeness has been brutalised.

But in what sense has the image of God been obscured?

The Crown of God’s Creation

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This is seen first in his rationality. Man is a rational being. There’s something of God in man’s power to think, understand, reflect, appreciate and communicate. God made man someone to whom he could speak and who in turn could respond to him.

But now as a result of sin that rationality has been twisted in man and in the process those lines of communication have been damaged. Man’s thinking processes have become darkened and self-centred. Cf Rom 1.21ff.

The Crown of God’s Creation

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Secondly man’s Creativity. God made man capable of shaping his environment. When man fashions and builds, he is displaying God-given attributes. But this creative potential for good, tends towards destruction rather than the enhancement of the environment. Human invention is often used to satisfy man’s greed rather than his need, to destroy and pollute the environment rather than enrich it.

Man discovered a means of splitting of the atom, but that discovery can be used for both good and ill! Today the environment is often destroyed for purely commercial reasons rather than enriched by human discovery.

The Crown of God’s Creation

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Thirdly man’s dominion. God originally gave man a limited sovereignty. He was to be God’s vice regent and permitted to exercise lordship over the earth and all of its creatures. This rule was intended to be for creation’s good but again this potential has been perverted so that dominion becomes tyranny.

Tyrants rule for their own good. Even in democracies much of the cynicism with which many politicians are viewed is fuelled by stories of an abuse of power to bring about their personal financial enrichment.

The Crown of God’s Creation

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Fourthly, man’s righteousness. God gave man an innate consciousness of good and evil. Because God is perfectly just and loving, man the crown of God’s creation was supposed to reflect that image.

What do we see today? Is the reverse not often the case? This moral judgement of what is good and evil has been turned on its head, so that men call good evil and evil good. Cf Is. 5.20

The Crown of God’s Creation

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Fifthly man’s community. There is divine fellowship within the Godhead. When God created man, he designed him to live in community not in isolation. Mankind is intended to be a family where there is a mutual responsibility for one another’s welfare. God’s aim was to produce a caring society. But this idea of community is eroded as men ask the question, ‘am I my brothers keeper?’ Instead of pulling together they are pulling against each other. Real community is not produced by politicians and legislation but only as the divine image is restored.

The Crown of God’s Creation

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We no longer live in God’s perfect world where man reflects his image. The reality of suffering and war are constant reminders that we are no longer living in the way God originally planned. Does this produce a sense of longing in your heart? It should! Longing for the day when God will restore his creation, when men will study war no more, when men will,

“beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks”. Joel 3.10

Conclusion

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Jesus is God’s ‘image restorer’. He came to restore God’s image in the lives of all who will put their trust in him. What might happen if you were to pray, ‘Lord do all that is required for more and more of that image to be seen in me’ ? For all who submit themselves to Christ’s rule there is the promise that God will change them from

‘one degree of glory to another’. 2 Cor.3.18

Conclusion

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