Sermon26-8 Gen1&2 Guide

Genesis 1 & 2, theme verse Gen 1:25

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this thid Sunday of new year 2026, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. As we entered the new year of 2026, last two week, we became to know that when God created this world, He envisioned His kingdom in mind. Yet, even with human sins and disobedience, sending His only Son Jesus Christ and His Spirit, He inaugurated His kingdom filled with righteousness, peace and joy in love and called and made His people to proclaim the gospel of His kingdom. And while fulfilling His mission amidst sufferings, we became to know that we clarify God and are being transformed like Him in His glorious character. Yet, this week, through Gen 1 and 2, we would like to delve deeper into His kingdom that God envisioned, so that we would like to learn few lessons on how God wanted us to live in His kingdom together.

1)    Today's text, Genesis 1 and 2, is the very first chapters in the Bible which tells about God's creation of the heavens and the earth and every things in it in the beginning.

Verses 1-2 describe the creation of primitive matters which was a chaotic, void, and dark over the surface of the deep. Here chaos signifies a lack of order, while void signifies futility and worthlessness, darkness signifies the state before light, and the deep signifies the unstable state of primitive matters.

And then going forward from this chaotic primitive matters, God, through His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit, began to bring orders. On Day 1, it is said God separated light from the darkness. And on Day 2, it is said that God separated the deep, into the waters above and the waters below, creating an expanse between them. And then on Day 3, He gathered the waters under the expanse together into one place, called the ‘seas’, and as dry land appeared, he called it the "land". Then He filled the land with grass, seed-bearing plants, and fruit-bearing trees.

And then God started to fill each of them, I mean, the heavens, the seas, and the earth. On Day 4, He placed all the celestial bodies in the firmament such as the sun, moon, and stars, to be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. And then on Day 5, He created birds in the sky and fish in the waters. And then on Day 6, He filled the earth with animals an then He created human beings, the culmination of His creation—male and female in His image. And finally on Day 7, it is said that He rested. And it is said that the end of this God's creation is the manifestation of His glory.

2)    In this creation, we can know that there are few characteristics.

I mean, first, God's creation was "creation from nothing," in Latin, creatio ex-nihilo. In other words, God, with His almighty power, created primitive matters, light, time, and space, from nothing as it was described in verse 2 in which it is said that the Holy Spirit maintains the boundary between chaos and order, while governing life and death as Psalm 104:27-30 says "They all wait for you to give them their food in due season. You give them, they receive; you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. You hide your face, they tremble; you take away their breath, they die and return to dust. You send out your spirit, they are created; you renew the face of the earth."

Second, it is the fact that God created all by His Word. In other words, God's almighty word not only causes all things to be as He said “Let there be”, but also, as the "word" in John 1 is translated as "Logos" or "Tao” in Chinese, which means the way, reason, or principle, set all things to operate or live in the principles and laws, I mean, how they have to live and what the purposes of their existence are.

3)    Yet, in today’s text, there are a few difficult things to understand too.

I mean, first, even though it is said the sun was created on the fourth day, yet it is said that light already appeared on the first day. So, we can know that this light of the first day does not refer to the sunlight that appeared on the fourth day, since the Bible says so. Therefore we can understand it that as some scientists suggest, it means the light in the first day means the moment when light particles first appeared after the Big Bang, or, as some theologians suggest, it could refer to the light of God. So I think there should be no problem as all, if you select one of interpretations.

Second, it is said that there were the waters above the expanse appearing on the second day. This means that the original Earth in the beginning, was different from the present one, I mean, it had a layer of water or vapor above the sky. But then, as described in Genesis 7 and 9, during Noah's flood, this water above the expanse was poured down so that the earth became current one.

Third, this account of God's creation seems to have significant differences from the theory of evolution, which we learned in science classes so that this often causes lots of conflict among students and even Christian scientists. Accordingly, some Christian scientists proposed the theistic evolution, that is, the theory that God created living things through evolution. And also some other Christian scientists acknowledged micro-evolution in which within a species, there can happened evolution, while denying macroevolution, in which species cannot evolve into other species. And also, in order to harmonize the long period of geological time that science speaks of with the time of the Bible, some proposed the day-age theory, which states that each day in Genesis 1 does not mean a 24-hour day like today, but rather a geological era. Or some scientists proposed that the day in Genesis 1 must have been much longer than 24 hours because the early days of creation were under extremely high temperatures and pressures, unlike today so that they said the time was relatively long, using Einstein's theory of relativity. Yet, since each argument has its own strengths and weaknesses, I encourage you to be more flexible in these discussions.

4)    Anyhow, in His creation work, we can see also God added three elements to it.

I mean, first, it is said that “God saw it was good.” Here the Hebrew word translated "good" is "טוֹב (tov)," referring that at the time of creation, all His creations were operating or living according to God’s intension to fulfill His purpose. And even on Day 6, it is said that “God saw it was very good," since His creation was perfect. Yet the reason why He did not say "It was good" on Day 2 was because Day 2 in which God had separated the waters above and under the expanse, yet, still the waters under the expanse were not yet separated into "water" and "land," referring His creational work was not yet finished.

Secondly, it is said that “God blessed" His creations. I mean, God blessed the birds of the air, the fishes of the seas, and the animals of the lands, as commanding them to be fruitful and multiply, filling the heavens, the waters, and the earth. Through this fact, we can know that the prosperity of these creatures comes from God's blessing and that God cares for all living things with His Blessings in His Providential Care.

And also, it is unique that God blessed Day 7 so that through this blessing, He distinguished it from the other days not only so that all His creatures could rest and recover on this day, but also, as Isaiah 58 says, He blessed human beings on this Sabbath day to lay aside all their work, receive new strength from God, and enjoy spiritual restoration and joy.

And then finally, we can know God added one more element to humanity, which is the pinnacle of His creation, I mean, He created them in His image and likeness.

5)    This fact that human beings were created in God's image means that:

First, humans were created to share God’s Attributes such as His righteousness, goodness, and holiness. Therefore, after receiving His salvation in grace, we Christians have to resemble more the image of Christ, since only by becoming like Him, we can live.

Second, because we are created in God's image, we have to live according to God's will, I mean, obey to His word. Therefore, before the Fall, in the Garden of Eden, as God commanded, we should’ve eaten not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, since as God declared we would surely die when we eat it and live according to our thoughts. And as such after the salvation as God said in Exodus 20, after delivering Israel from Egypt, them to keep the Ten Commandments and to live holy lives before Him, we have to obey to His commandments since it will be righteousness for us to do His commandments as Deut 6:25 says.

And third, because we human beings were created in the image of God, we became to rule over all His creations, as His representatives. Therefore, that’s why Genesis 2:15 says that God commanded us to cultivate and guard the Garden of Eden and also Genesis 2:19 says that Adam and Eve were invited to participate in God's creation and named various wild animals and birds.

And then finally, the reason why human beings were created in God's image was so that God could walk together with them and have fellowship with them.

6)    Here, the Hebrew word used in Gen 3:8 saying "walking together" is the verb “הלך (halak)."

This verb can mean "to go" or "to walk," but also it means "to walk together," "to accompany," or "to follow a way of life." So this verb implies that two people, holding hands in hands, constantly conversing, having more intimate relationship.

And also this verb appears not only in today's text, Genesis 3:8, but also as 2 Samuel 7:23 says "God went and redeemed them," Exodus 33:14 says "My presence will go with you" and also Isaiah 45:2 says "I will go before you," this verb indicates that God came to people and walks together with them, being with them.

Yet, even people rejected this "coming and waling with and being with them" of God and went their own way, the Bible says that Enoch and Noah "halak," I mean, they walked with God, in Genesis 5:24 and 6:9.

As such, when this word was used for human beings, it meant we have more intimate relationship with God and become more and more like the Lord, while following with and communicating with God who came to us.

But we have to know the fact that this companionship between God and human beings presupposes the coming of God and then and when we walk with Him,  as He leads us to do “what is good in God’s eyes,” I mean, to do His pleasing will. I mean, if we use the New Testament expression, when we walk by the Holy Spirit, I mean, walk in step with His guidance, who came and dwells within us, as Gal 5:25 says, then, in this process, God refines and cultivates our character by His grace, forming within us the character of the Lord, I mean, humility and gentleness, and also producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us.

This presence of God in us or fellowship of of God is a very important theme which encompasses both the Old and New Testaments. I mean, in the Old Testament, God described Himself as a husband, while Israel as His wife in Isaiah 54:5. And in the New Testament, our Lord, introducing His name "Immanuel," meaning "God is with us" in Mt 1:23, He said that His primary purpose in calling the twelve disciples was to be with them in Mk 3:14 and in John 15:15, He even called His disciples His "friends."

And also in John 14:16, He promised to send the Holy Spirit who would be with us forever, while He Himself also promised He would be with us always to the end of the age, in Matthew 28:20, before He ascended to heaven. And also in Revelation 21:3, it is said that God would be with us forever in the new heaven and new earth.

7)    And that’s why in Micah 6:8, God said, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Here, justice means living righteously and enforcing the law fairly, as living righteously means doing what is right as a human being which is loving God and loving one's neighbor, to have a right relationship with God and our neighbors, and also enforcing the law fairly to encourage good and punish evil. And the word kindness which is a translation of the Hebrew word "hesed," means that for God, it signifies "God's faithfulness to His covenant," while for human beings, it signifies "walking faithfully based on the fear of God and being truthful and trustful toward others." And finally walking humbly with God does not simply mean walking with God, but rather learning His character through personal fellowship, while walking in step with Him. Therefore, I pray that in this new year, we may all bear witness to His kingdom to advance it among the next generation, and enjoy the joy of fellowship with God, while walking humbly with God, resembling His character, and fulfilling the mission He has given us.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that the reason why God created us in His image was to share His Attributes, to do His Word, to rule over the world as His representative and to walk together with us. So, after reviewing our life and thinking how we have to live in His pleasing will, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And also, we became to know that fellowship with God means to do His will following the leading of the Holy Spirit so that we can clothe with His characters and produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So after meditating on how we can walk together with God and have fellowship with God, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.