In our evangelism Sunday School class, we’ve been studying through the Two Ways to Live curriculum. It’s an excellent presentation that breaks the gospel down into six basic points. Interestingly, rather than starting with sin, or God’s “wonderful plan” for our lives, The Two Ways to Live outline begins with creation. The first point says “God is the loving ruler of the world. He made the world. He made us rulers of the world under Him.”

Creation is a vital doctrine that we often sell short. In an age of enlightenment, creationism is usually portrayed as primitive, superstitious, and unscientific. Richard Dawkins, for example, calls creationism a “preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood.” The Bible, on the other hand, actually begins with creation. It’s the first building block of an accurate worldview. Without creation, the rest of the gospel is absurd.

The first verse in the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). There is a remarkable amount of theology and scientific data wrapped up in this verse.

• The phrase “in the beginning” confirms that all matter did have a beginning. It had a first cause. And there was a pre-existent, intelligent Being who initiated the “beginning” of the world.

• The statement “God created” is a declarative, matter-of-fact statement. Elohim, the all-powerful God of the Bible, created without using any tools or supplies. He created ex nihlo, “out of nothing,” by the power of His word (Gen. 1:3).

• The last phrase tells us precisely what God created: “the heavens and the earth.” This is a Hebrew figure of speech called a “merism.” By mentioning the two extremes, it captures everything in between (cf. “morning and evening”). It’s a poetic way of saying “God created everything,” and it summarizes what the rest of chapter one will describe in closer detail.

Now, the question is, are you willing to accept this bold claim in Genesis 1:1? “But it requires a leap of faith,” you say. Yes, I agree. Hebrews 11:3 even states, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” But faith does not contradict reason. We don’t need to jettison our heads in order to believe with our hearts. In fact, I would contend the leap of faith in creationism is far more reasonable than the leap of faith in evolution. When we look at the universe through the interpretive lens of Scripture, we find that every scientific detail makes perfect sense from a creationist worldview. And there are three implications that result:

• Because God created the universe, it was very good. Genesis 1:31 says, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good…” Since God is holy and morally perfect, all the work of His hands must have been good. It is comforting to know that all the sickness, pain, injustice, and disappointment in this world were not part of God’s original design, but a result of man’s fall (Gen. 3). But as God continues His work of redemption through Jesus Christ, He is reversing the curse of the Fall, first in our hearts, and ultimately upon the earth itself.

• Because God created the universe, it is very sophisticated. The Bible depicts this world as the handiwork of a highly skilled and powerful God. In Psalm 8:3, David writes, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man?” The heavens are just one aspect of God’s creation, but they provide ample proof for an intelligent Creator. Take our sun for example. Jonathan Sarfati explains that our sun is an extremely powerful object, often throwing out flares, and occasionally belching out coronal mass ejections (CME). These CMEs cause huge electric currents in the earth’s upper atmosphere and disrupt power grids and satellites. But compared to other stars, the sun turns out to be ‘exceptionally stable.’ If the sun were to erupt as frequently or intensely as most other stars, the ‘superflares’ would destroy the earth’s ozone layer with catastrophic results for life. It is no coincidence that we are located at just the right distance from such an exceptionally stable star. This is the handiwork of our Master Architect.

• Because God created the universe, we are answerable to Him. He made us, and thus He has the authority to tell us how to live, what to do, and what not to do. God had the prerogative to command Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28), then later to stipulate, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Gen. 2:16-17). Likewise, as our Creator, God has the right to command us to “be holy, as He is holy” (1 Pet. 1:16), and to judge us when we rebel against Him. As His creatures, we are answerable to Him, and deserving of His punishment when we fail. And this, of course, explains why so many reject creation today: because creation involves accountability to a Creator.

Next Wednesday, I will continue this study on creation, considering how God created the world, and whether or not He did it in six literal days.

Rejoice Christian Software is offering a special sale right now on the 12-volume Expositor’s Bible Commentary. The print version of this set runs for $129.99 plus shipping at CBD. However, right now at Rejoice, you can buy the CD-ROM for only $59.95 (the discount will be applied when you click “buy now.”

My seminary professor Jim Rosscup called this set “the top general work of scholarly evangelicalism.” Perhaps a good way to spend some of that Christmas money?

Please note, this set is NOT compatible with the Logos Bible Software I mentioned a couple weeks ago. It must be viewed in a separate program called Pradis. Unfortunately, Logos has not yet struck up a deal to publish Zondervan books in the Libronix format. This is a minor inconvenience, but the set is still very worthwhile to have.

We’re pretty good at feeding our bodies, but are we equally faithful to feed our souls? Perhaps you are making a resolution to “eat less” food in the new year. Why not also resolve to “eat more” spiritual food? Job had a constant craving for the Word of God. He said, “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).

Here are several Bible reading plans to help improve your spiritual intake in 2008:

• The Book-at-a-Time Bible Reading Plan. Designed by Discipleship Journal, this plan is my personal favorite. I’ve used it for several years. There are two readings each day. I read the first in the morning in private devotions, and then Natalie and I read the latter (one chapter) at bedtime. I must confess I didn’t make it all the way through the Bible this year (I will probably only make it into November). Nevertheless, this reading chart has given me the guidance and accountability I need to read my Bible regularly.
• The Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan. M’Cheyne was a Scottish pastor in the nineteenth century who died at age 29. He was a devout man of God – truly a man of whom the world was not worthy (Heb. 11:38). His reading plan goes through the Old Testament once a year, and the New Testament twice a year. A little more rigorous, but very rewarding.
• A One Year Bible like the MacArthur Daily Bible. These Bibles have gained popularity in the last decade, and are formatted specifically for daily Bible reading. They are broken into 365 daily readings, so you can read from front to back without all the flipping. In the MacArthur version, each day has an Old Testament passage, New Testament passage, a Psalm, and portion of a Proverb.

One common element of these plans is that you do not attempt to read the Bible sequentially, from Genesis to Revelation. If you tried reading straight through the Bible in a year, it would be September 30th before you even got to the New Testament. Not a good idea! It’s much better to alternate between the Old and New Testament, as each of these plans do.

In 2008, may all of us treasure God’s word more than our necessary food!