Implications of being created rather than evolved . . .

Genesis 1; Matthew 1; Ezra 1; Acts 1

I start a new year with a devotional guide describe in the sidebar. Carson is a respected theologian with thoughts that are deep and will be enlightening as well as challenging. His entry for today reveals a keen observant mind. It also exalts God.

From reading four passages about new beginnings, I’m settled on the glory of creation in Genesis 1 where the created order points to the glory of its Maker. Later, David writes this:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)

How can anyone miss it? Aside from their insistence that these glories happened by time and chance, several television channels feature nature programs that fill me with awe, the same as when I can get out where I can see them in person. I’m also in awe (a different kind) that many people cannot see that such beauty and intricacy necessitate a designer. For me, all of creation declares the wonder of the Creator.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

As Carson says, this points to His transcendence. He is above all things yet in sinful blindness many people assume that God is a figment of human imagination — as if we created Him.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place . . .  (Acts 17:24–26)

Not only that, along with all of humanity, I am, created in His image. I’d be a fool to think God can be pictured by any image I or anyone else could create.

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. (Acts 17:29)

And then there is Jesus. Genesis 1 repeatedly says, “And God said . . .” in the act of creating the world. John wrote:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

God spoke and that Word was Jesus who willingly became a babe in a manger who grew to manhood and died for my sin. He is God in human flesh, sent to the people who knew the most about God, yet they rejected Him, but not all. Some believed and were restored to His family by a new birth . . .

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:10–14)

As a person made in the image of God, given the right to be His child and one given a glimpse of His glory, I have a responsibility to show forth that image, to reflect the Maker in whose image I am made. If I ever thought I had no calling, this makes it clear; I am called to reflect of the wonder of God. Something I know I cannot do apart from being filled with His Spirit and totally yielded to His will.

This is easy to say in the comfort of home, but not so easy to follow through, even here or when out of my comfort zone. I want the Lord to keep me shining, paying attention, listening, obedient. May His perfect will be done.

Oh how He loves you and me

The book I’m using for devotions asks a question about the significance of the events in John’s Gospel that are not included in the other three Gospels. After reading more in John, I thought of how we define other people. Often it is by what they do: Mr. Smith is a high school teacher. Sometimes it is by who they are: Mr. Smith is a man with great love and respect for teenagers. Or by where they came from: Mr. Smith was born and raised in Georgia. Or by their unique traits: Mr. Smith has a wonderful sense of humor.

These first four books in the New Testament are about Jesus. Each have a particular emphasis when describing Jesus. Matthew writes about Him as a King, Mark presents Him as a Servant, Luke as fully Human. However, when reading John, I get the great sense that Jesus is God who became man and loves us. Yes, He is Savior, Prophet and King. Yes, He came from the Father and returned there when His time had come. Yes, He was born in a stable. But more than all these, He is God who loves us.

He is God because He created all things:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

He is human, not like us who were created in the image of God, but fully God who became flesh:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

And He loves us:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17)

The religious leaders decided this was unacceptable. They accused Him of being a sinful man and wanted Him dead. The crowds loved Him as long as He fed them, but when Pilate asked who he should release, they yelled, “Crucify Him” forgetting His innocence, His power and His love for them.

The other Gospels are filled with action, their stories suitable for a stage play. John’s writing depicts the heart and appeals to the heart. It is more frequently used to show sinners how He loves us, and more frequently depicted in film and on the stage.

John called himself ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ He used the word ‘love’ more than twice the times the other three put together. This theme drives home the truth that rebuffs Satan’s most frequently used lie that God does not love me. John wants his readers to know their security in the love of God.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, Your love melts my heart. From the least of Your children to the greatest, all of us need to know that, be reassured of it. No matter how long we have walked with You, the enemy tries to ruin us and make us stumble using lies on this very issue. John knew we needed to hear the truth in a variety of ways so we could we could be set free from the bondage that comes when we fall for Satan’s lies, particularly that lie about Your love. John could have written about Your life like a resume but instead wrote it like a love story. Thank You for the gift of Your love so wonderfully expressed in Your life as written in the Gospel of John.

Jesus, Lord of all

In Communion our church remembers the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. In Baptism, the people baptized proclaim their union with the Lord Jesus Christ as the rest of us, with great joy, celebrate their new life. The joy continues in my heart today as I think of what God has done in sending His Son to be my Savior.

Jesus came in the fullness of all that God is — to declare Him to us. Jesus is God in human flesh, yet the Bible warns that this will not be welcome news to everyone. Paul wrote: 

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” (Colossians 2:8–9)

The identity of Jesus is an affront to some people. I’m trying to think why, but all I know is my own difficulty in declaring Him. It is easier to talk about God than to name the name of Christ. Perhaps this is because whenever I do, there is a reaction. Besides that, just saying His name reminds me of my own sin, my shortcomings, my personal reason for believing. I worship and serve Jesus Christ because there is nothing else that is important, that I can boast about. Talking about Him is humbling.

Nevertheless, Jesus is everything. “He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” (Colossians 1:18) He is ‘the firstborn of every creature’ (verse 15), meaning that Christ is the one out of whom creation was born.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1–3)

Because all things sprang from him, He is the original cause of all things, “the beginning of the creation of God.” And this makes me fall on my face, sense my nothingness in the light of Him. This is the same experience of anyone who hears and yields to this amazing King of kings. The Bible declares how He will be honored in heaven:

“And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.’” (Revelation 4:9–11)

Some will refuse to honor Him in faith. Even His disciples doubted at first. Eight days after He rose from the dead, His disciples were inside a room along with Thomas . . .

“Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” (John 20:26–29)

Those who say they must see to believe are making excuses. Jesus is God raised from the dead, God revealed. The Bible says that one day everyone will know this:

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11)

Jesus, I’ve no reason at all to hesitate at saying Your name. One day, everyone will say it — willingly or otherwise. Grant me whatever I need to boldly declare it now, even as I will forever in eternity.