Saturday 31st December
Read Genesis 1:9-13
“And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground ‘land’, and the gathered waters he called ‘seas’. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.”
We have been considering Genesis 1 so far from the viewpoint of ‘form’ and ‘fullness’ and presenting the view that God first created the space for creation to blossom and then expansively filled it. Another view of Genesis 1 is that it establishes the cosmos as the temple of the living God. Creation is an enormous temple within which Yahweh is worshiped. There is much to commend this view. Later biblical authors draw parallels regularly between the creation narrative and the temple, as do the prophets. In the ‘cosmic temple’ view God created time on the first day, seasons and weather on the second day and agriculture on the third day. In other words, the essential functions of a temple are systematically presented culminating obviously in humanity as priests serving in that cosmic temple. In this view Genesis 1 is not concerned with material creation, but with functional purpose. This has the useful outcome of rendering debates about the scientific veracity of Genesis 1 less important than they are considered today…
That this functional purpose is important to the author of Genesis is best seen after the flood. The flood was an act of decreation. A reversal of the order God imposed in establishing the cosmos. The waters above and below cease to be separated (cf Day 2). It is an act of judgement on the increasing sin and violence in His world. After the flood, Noah sets up an altar and offers a sacrifice of thanks to Yahweh for His salvation (Genesis 8:20-21). This ‘temple’ act is followed by an amazing promise by Yahweh. Not only does He reverse the curse of Genesis 3 on the ‘earth’ (Genesis 8:20) but He promises that…
‘As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.’ (Genesis 8:22) (NIVUK)
All the functions established on Days 1, 2 and 3 are guaranteed into the future. Time, weather, and agriculture in perpetuity. The first three days of creation represent God’s promise that He will uphold creation faithfully. The requirements for life in the land will never be compromised. Great is God’s faithfulness indeed!
