Jesus: Creator, Lord, Saviour, King #1 Jesus, In the Beginning Genesis 1

 

Jesus: Creator, Lord, Saviour, King
#1 Jesus, In the Beginning Genesis 1

This year I’m am planning to preach on the person, power and practice of Jesus. Now, all sermons of course should reflect, glorify and proclaim Jesus in one way or another, but I want to center my messages in 2025 on Jesus. So that just like our monthly mottos proclaim, “In Jesus I thrive in 2025, or In Jesus I Revive in 2025, and even sometime when things get really, “In 2025 By Jesus I’ll Survive.”

Back when WA Criswell was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, he would have a lock night service on New Years Eve, but its not what most of us think about when we get together and play games until midnight say a prayer and go home. No, Bro. Criswell first in 1961 preached a message titled “The Scarlet Thread” and in that message he preached from Genesis to Revelation on the subject of Jesus Christ through history, creation and the Bible. He started at 7:30 on December 31st, 1961, and he finished at 12 midnight January 1st 1962 making it a 4 ½ hour message. Well what Criswell did in 4 ½ hours I’m going to try and do over the course of 52 Sundays. Each one dedicated to the person of Jesus, pre-incarnate, incarnate, from his appearances in the Old Testament to his last appearance with His bride the Church standing by his side as the book of Revelation closes. My prayer is that over the Sundays of 2025 we will not only see Jesus in every page of scripture but also in every page of our lives. We begin today in the book of Genesis.

Background:

 Genesis is the book of beginnings; this is what its opening words declare. “In the beginning.”

The Beginnings of Creation and Mankind. 1:1-11:32.

The creation, the beginning of all. 1:1-2:25.

The temptation and fall, the beginning of sin 3:1-24.

The two brothers, the beginning of the family. 4:1-26.

Seth and his descendants, the beginning of the holy line 5:1-32.

Sin and the Flood, the end of the original beginning 6:1-8:22.

Noah's later life, and his descendants, the beginning of peoples. 9:1-10:32.

The Tower of Babel, the beginning of languages. 11:1-32.

The Beginnings of Israel. 12:1-50:26.

Abraham. 12:1-25:18.

Isaac. 25:19-26:35.

Jacob. 27:1-36:43.

Joseph. 37:1-50:26.- Wycliffe Bible Commentary.

Introduction:

"Genesis is the seed-plot of the whole Bible. It is referred to or quoted 60 times in the New Testament, and divine authority is set like a seal on its historical facts.” Richard Gunther

Rejection of the Bible's account of creation as given in the Book of Genesis could rightly be called "Genocide," because it eradicated man's purpose of existence and left a whole generation with no certainty as to its beginning. Consequently, theories and tales of our origin have crept like primeval slime from the minds of those who don't know God. This intellectual genocide has given the godless a temporary license to labor to the extremes of their imagination, - Evidence Bible Ray Comfort

If we reject the literal, Biblical account of creation found in the book of Genesis then ultimately we must also reject God who wrote the book of Genesis by the hand of Moses.  If we reject Genesis as infallible truth, then we must also reject God as infallible God and His grace as insufficient to save us. We must reject Jesus as savior, heaven as our eternal home and hell as eternal punishment. And isn’t that exactly what has been happening for the past 165 years since Darwin printed the great lie called evolution.

Jesus Present in Creation - Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Jesus the Creator

Vs. 1 God: In the beginning God: the Hebrew word translated God is the word Elohim. It is the plural of the word for god, which is El. The word Elohim, does not tell us that there were multiply Gods, but it obscures a truth that will be revealed later. That God is a trinity, three persons in one God. Here it is hidden, but it would be clearly seen in the full revelation of God when Jesus, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all appear on earth and be recorded in scripture.

In Elohim we find the first glimpse that God, though he is only one God, is not just one person. Later in the chapter God says “Let us make…” and we see that before time began, God was not alone. Even in these first few verses of Genesis we are initiated into the mystery of the persons of the Godhead.

In the Old Testament we read, Psalms 33:6-9 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

Then in the full revelation of the New Testament we read in John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Jesus The Word of Creation: Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. In verse three God the Bible records that God spoke, the first words uttered into the fabric of the universe. In this word, this logos, we can see the second person of the Godhead.

What did John say? John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John in his Gospel gives an almost parallel passage to Genesis 1:1-3. By doing this he shows that Jesus, God the Son, the second person of the Godhead was present in Creation. us…

And not just present but as Paul tells in Colossians 1:16-17  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The Holy Spirit In Creation: Then in vs. 2 The Spirit: And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The third person of the Holy Trinity is represented as taking part in the work of creation by moving upon the face of the waters.

Here we also see the Holy Spirit in the work of creation. The word moved here  means to shake. This gives us the sense not of the Spirit passing over the waters but of the Spirit moving the waters themselves. An active and immediate force in the work of creation.

From the very first verses of the Bible we can see the Godhead in the work of creation. This universe is brought into existence by the power of the Triune God, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. In the full revelation of the New Testament then John tells us that Jesus was the Word of creation and Paul tells us that Jesus was the cause, the purpose and the sustainer of creation.  

Satan In Creation - Genesis 3

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made

After the world is created and all made ready, then man and woman are placed in a Garden that God had made within creation just for them. Man, He made from the elements of the earth and woman from the elements of man. God then gives them dominion over the earth, not to just be a part of it but to rule over it and to care for it.

Into this paradise, this true God made utopia, Satan the fallen archangel first name Lucifer, comes as a serpent, we would be right in calling him the dragon, because that is what he is called in scripture.

This is the dragon described in the Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.

The old serpent, the great dragon enters the Garden tempts, deceives and brings death to Eve and Adam. As a result, sin and death enter into creation.  

This terrible turn from God’s law to God’s wrath was not a surprise to God. He knew that when man was made in His image that free will was part of that image and in His foreknowledge, He knew that man would use that gift of free will to make the worst decision of all time and eternity, he would choose to disobey God, but God already has a plan and promise in place. We can see that plan and promise in chapter 3.

Jesus Promised in Creation - Genesis 3:14-20

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Jesus and the Protoevangelium

This verse of scripture is called the protoevangelium, that is, it is first seed of the Gospel, the first promise of redemption, the first hope of salvation. Long before those words were recorded in scripture God has, in this verse, already promised a way back to paradise, a way back to Himself. The Garden of Eden wasn’t paradise just because it was beautiful, it was paradise because God was there, walking and talking with Adam and Eve. That is what they lost but now God has promised a way back.

Genesis 3:15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

This isn’t talking about a fear of snakes. This is talking about the warfare between Satan and mankind. We are at war, and it is a war that we will lose every time. We can’t overcome Satan. He is the covering cherub. He was there at the beginning. He is the great deceiver, the Father of lies and has supernatural power to do miracles second only to God himself. We can’t save ourselves; we can’t redeem ourselves, we can’t pay the price for our sins and so we can’t in ourselves find salvation. We can’t go back to God or paradise.

No, this war of the ages can only be won by a hero that has greater power than Satan because He created Satan. This war can only be won by a hero who is willing to die for others, willing to shed His own blood in order to shield us from the wrath of God upon sin.

The great hero is introduced here in the protoevangelium by the title, the seed of woman. Eve who by her yielding to the temptation of Satan brought sin into this world would one day have a daughter named Mary and she, as a virgin, would give birth to Jesus and the promise of God given at the dawn of time would be fulfilled in the fulness of time.

Galatians 4:4-7 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Brought back to God, by the seed of woman, by the Son of God, by Jesus our Savior.

There is one more place in the creation account that we can see Jesus and this time it is in a picture.

Jesus Pictured in Creation – Genesis 3:21

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins and clothed them.

Jesus and the Covering of Sin

Now we deal with the last verse of God’s dealing with the sin and disobedience of Adam, and that is all what sin is, disobeying God. God is the arbiter of what is right and wrong, holy and unholy, righteousness and sin. Adam and Eve sinned simply because they did what God said not to do. Sin is not what society decides, or what your family decides or what a government decides. Sin is sin by the declaration and determination of God. He is infinitely holy, infinitely good, infinitely righteous and that which is outside of those parameters is sin.

Paul put it this way in Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;.

God is the absolute and perfect standard. He is the only standard.

Now Adam and Eve have come short of that standard by believing Satan’s lies and yielding to the temptation he challenged them with. Eve by deception and Adam willingly.

Genesis 3:7-8 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Their eyes were opened to their sin and their nakedness was their nakedness before God, who would see their sin. So, they tried to hide themselves when God came to be with them in the cool of the day. It’s interesting that that word “cool” in Hebrew is the same word for breath, or wind or spirit. It could be that the coolness was because of the spirit of God was moving through the Garden searching for them. But this time they hid and tried to cover their nakedness with girdles, or aprons they made themselves from giant fig leaves.

They failed. They could not hide from God, and they could not hide their sin. The first man and woman could not and no man nor woman since has ever been able to. God found them and God saw through their foolish attempt to cover their sin. Just as he does us.

Now God confronts them and challenges them and then he curses them. This is the consequence of sin. We will all be judged by God and we will all suffer the consequence of sin. But of course, the story doesn’t end here and aren’t we glad? God gives them the promise of redemption through the seed of woman who will one day crush the head of Satan. He gives them hope in that promise of redemption.

But one more thing must happen before this opening story ends. God leaves them with a promise, but He will not leave them as they are now, in the shame of their clothes of corruption. He acts so that they are not left in leaves of lies, their aprons of iniquity, their clothes of corruption.

The Picture of Propitiation God takes an innocent animal and slays it, then with the skin from that innocent one, by His own had and by His own design He fashions that skin into clothing that now fully covers their naked sin. God had warned Adam and Eve that the day the took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would begin to die, but theirs was not the first death that occurred in creation. It was the death of this innocent one, slain for their disobedience, it’s blood shed that their sin might be covered.

Isaiah seems to almost echo this when he condemns the sin of Israel, God chosen people who were not disobeying Him. In Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

What was true of Adam and Eve, what was true of Israel is also true of all mankind. We have sinned just as Adam sinned.

Look at what Paul again says now in Romans 5:12-14 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

We are all sinners and death is the proof of that terrible truth. Even where there is not law of God people still die.They cannot escape the consequence of Adam’s sin or his curse. Death passed upon all mankind, when sin came into the world.

But just as it was in the Garden so it is with us. God did not abandon Adam and Eve and He did not abandon you and eye. Look a bit further at what Paul says. Romans 5:15-19 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)  18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

In 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

The sin of Adam and Eve was covered by God through the slaying of an innocent and our sins are covered by the death of the most innocent of all, Jesus. His shed blood was the propitiation, the covering of our sin. All through the Old Testament and until the temple was destroyed the High priest would bring the blood of a slain lamb into the holy of holies and would pour it upon the mercy seat, covering it with the blood that stood for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His death, his shed blood would be the given as the propitiation, the payment for our sin.

Praise God, he did not abandon us. Thank you, Lord, for the precious gift of your life that can never be repaid. You paid the price for Adam’s sin and for my sin and now I can come when God calls me. When the spirit moves in the cool of the evening of my own life, whenever that may be, then I can come into God’s presence.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. That is the call of God in the cool of the evening in every man’s life. And you must answer that call and you can because of what Jesus did for us.

Conclusion:

Isn’t it amazing on the first page of scripture we find Jesus and when sin threatens to destroy the creation of God and plunge man into the curse of sin, Jesus is there. The promise of His coming victory over Satan and the picture of His shed blood covering our sins for all eternity, when in the cool of the evening God came looking for lost Adam and Eve.

For all of us there is a time, our own cool of the evening, when the Holy Spirit brings  not just the promise and picture of salvation, but the person of Jesus, Titus 2:13-14 that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity…

That cool of the evening came for me when I was a 7 year old boy attending the 1st Baptist Spanish mission of Miami Arizona. Has it come to you? Have you felt the wind of the Holy Spirit’s hope? Have you heard the voice of the Father calling? Have you accepted the gift of salvation purchased by Jesus shed blood? Could today be the day you feel and hear the Holy Spirit bringing the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ?