What Child is This? The Creator!
Pastor Kellen Lewis
Sunday, December 4, 2016
John 1:1-3
John 1:1-3 (ESV)
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All
things were made through him, and without
him was not any thing made that was made.
The Baby in the Manger is the
Creator of Everything
1. Jesus is God, the eternal creator. (John 1:1-3)
John 1:1-3 The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the
beginning with God. 3 All things were made
through him, and without him was not any thing
made that was made.
2. Genesis gives a play-by-play of creation.
(Genesis 1)
3. Contemporary science theorizes the same
play-by-play.
1.[Gen. 1:1] In the beginning God created heaven
and earth.1
The ancient Hebrew language had only about 3,000
words and did not have a word for ‘universe’ so it
used the phrase ‘heaven and earth’ instead. Big
bang cosmology says the universe had a definite
beginning from nothing. In other words, it came
about through an act of creation. Science can’t tell
us if the cause of the creation of the universe was
conscious (God) or unconscious (super-nature).
2.[Gen. 1:2] The earth was without form …
Just after the creation of the universe, there were
none of the cosmic structures we see today. There
was no Earth just after the big bang.
3.… and empty, …
There was no matter at this time.
4.… with darkness on the face of the depths, …
Light was trapped by free electrons in the universe at
this time.
5… but God’s spirit moved on the water’s surface.
Current scientific theory says that something called
‘inflation’ happened that is currently not understood in
terms of the laws of physics. It was a one-time event,
consistent with what Christians call a miracle or divine
intervention. It is interesting that both physics and the
Bible say that something unique happened at this point
in the development of our world.
6.[Gen. 1:3] God said, ‘There shall be light,’ and
light came into existence.
Up until this point photons of light have been trapped
by repeated collisions with free electrons. Once the
universe is cool enough to allow electrons to
combine with atomic nuclei to form neutral atoms,
photons become free to roam the universe.
7.[Gen. 1:4] God divided between the light and
the darkness.
The Bible is saying that ‘darkness’ is a thing in and of
itself. Modern astrophysics now agrees that darkness
is more than just shadows or the absence of light.
Modern physics is struggling to understand this with
concepts such as dark matter and dark energy.
8. [Gen. 1:6] God said, ‘There shall be a sky in
the middle of the water, and it shall divide
between water and water.’
There is evidence that our universe may have been
formed by the interplay of two fluids — something
called quarks and what we think of as ‘empty’ space.
For example, the December 2005 issue of Scientific
American includes an article, “An Echo of Black
Holes,” by Theodore A. Jacobson and Renaud
Parentani, that hypothesized that spacetime is in
some ways like a material fluid. Another article from
the May 2006 issue, “The First Few Microseconds”
by Michael Riordan and William A. Zajc, explains
how the “quark soup” that came into existence at this
stage of the universe acted like a perfect fluid.
In regard to Gen. 1:6, Maimonides explains, “It has
been declared by our Sages that the portion above
the firmament is only water in name, not in reality …
the account of the firmament, with that which is
above it and is called water, is as you see, of a very
mysterious character.” The problem once again is
that ancient Hebrew had a relatively small number of
words. Because it had no word for ‘fluid,’ the word
‘water’ was used instead. This did not prevent
ancient and medieval scholars of the ancient
Hebrew from gaining important scientific insights by
carefully reading Genesis. Refer to Maimonides’ The
Guide for the Perplexed, Chapter XXX for a truly
thought-provoking and scientifically-compatible
explanation of this passage.
9. [Gen. 1:7-8] God [thus] made the sky, and it
separated the water below the sky from the water
above the sky. It remained that way. God named
the sky ‘Heaven.’
Galaxies comprised of stars, including the Sun, were
formed.
10. [Gen. 1:9] God said, ‘The waters under the
heaven shall be gathered to one place, and dry
land shall be seen.’
The Earth was formed and continents appeared
through the process of plate tectonics.
11. [Gen. 1:10] God named the dry land ‘Earth,’ and
the gatherings of water, He named ‘Seas.’
The oceans formed around the continents.
12. [Gen. 1:11] God said, ‘The earth shall send
forth vegetation.‘
The first life on Earth was vegetation, and it appeared
right after the oceans formed.
13.‘… plants and fruit trees that produce their
own kinds of fruits with seeds shall be on the
earth.’
Plants with seeds and fruit came later, after the first
primitive one-celled vegetation.
14. [Gen. 1:14] God said, ‘There shall be lights in
the heavenly sky to divide between day and
night.’
Plants changed the atmosphere of the Earth so that it
became transparent.
15.[Gen. 1:15] ‘They shall be lights in the heavenly
sky, to shine on the earth.’
Enough (unscattered) light was eventually able to
reach the surface of the Earth to allow the Sun, Moon,
and stars to become visible.
16.[Gen. 1:20] God said, ‘The water shall teem with
swarms of living creatures.’
Animal life appeared first in the oceans in an amazing
and scientifically unexplained abundance during the
Cambrian explosion (also called the ‘biological big
bang’).
17.‘Flying creatures shall fly over the land, on the
face of the heavenly sky.’
Insects, including winged insects, appeared next.
18.[Gen. 1:21] God [thus] created the great sea
monsters, …
The Hebrew words “gadolim taninim” translated here
as “great sea monsters” has also been translated as
whales, crocodiles, serpents, and dragons. Without
doubt the word “gadolim” means “great” or “large,” but
over the centuries, people translated the difficult word
“taninim” in terms of their own experience. That’s why
the King James Bible, translated by a person from a
sea-faring nation, translated it as “whales.” In his
book, The Science of God, Dr. Gerald Schroeder
argues that the correct translation of the ancient
Hebrew word “taninim” is “reptiles.” Therefore this
passage could be translated as, “So God created the
great reptiles.” Those would be the dinosaurs.
19. … along with every particular species of
living thing that crawls, with which the waters
teem, …
New forms of animals appeared, that developed the
ability to crawl and walk on land.
20. … and every particular species of winged
flying creature.
Winged dinosaurs and eventually birds appear.
21. [Gen. 1:22] God blessed them, saying, ‘Be
fruitful and become many, and fill the waters of
the sea.’
Millions of species of animal life eventually appear.
22.‘Let the flying creatures multiply on the land.’
A number of species of animals develop the ability to
fly in different ways, including bats, which are flying
mammals.
23.[Gen. 1:24] God said, ‘The earth shall bring
forth particular species of living creatures,
particular species of livestock, land animals, and
beasts of the earth.’
Mammals appear which eventually become of special
interest and use to humans.
24.[Gen. 1:26] God said, ‘Let us make man in our
image and likeness.’
The physical ancestors of humans appear in the form
of smart animals (hominids).
25.[Gen. 1:27] God [thus] created man with His
image. In the image of God, He created him, …
At some point, humans acquired the mysterious
quality of consciousness.
26.[Gen. 1:28] God said to them, ‘Be fertile and
become many. Fill the land and conquer it.
Dominate the fish of the sea, the birds of the
sky, and every beast that walks the land.
Humans come to dominate the Earth in ways no
other life form has.
4. Contemporary science is starting to
recognize a creator.