In The Beginning...

Perhaps the most captivating words ever written to invoke a sense of curiosity, wonder and attentiveness. The “beginning” begs questions. When was it? How did we get here? How do I balance theology and science? Is the Bible right or is modern scientific teaching?

We often want to run straight into the Creation/Evolution debate and in the defensive posture we miss the most exciting part. Think of when you were a child and your parents grabbed a book and began to read…”once upon a time.” What was your response? Or when you are watching Star Wars and the prologue begins, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” what emotions were invoked?

Excitement? An expectation of thrill and wonder? Precisely!

Though I am one who enjoys a good philosophical dialogue or a theological debate, which there is a time for that. But first, opening up the Bible and reading the first words should invoke the curiosity of our hearts as we begin to read the Story of God!

Do you remember the scene from Princess Bride, when the little boys grandfather says he has come to read him a book on his sick day from school? The boy’s first response was, “this is going to be boring!” and he as full of complaints, even critical of his grandfather. However, as the story progressed he was drawn into it. In the end, the boy asks his grandfather if he would like to come read it to him again.

A good story will draw you in, it will captivate you and you will desire it more. Too often we forget that the Bible is the Story of God. It is the Story He wrote before the foundations of the World. It is the Story of His love for you. Come to it with wonder and expectation. Allow yourself to be overcome with the story. Return to that time as a child that you could not wait for story time. Listen to the voice of the Author describe the Hero and reveal His love for you.

In the beginning…

The Artist was there. Nothing else. It was an immense dark canvas of emptiness. He gazed into the void and saw something. A glimmer in His eyes and the smile on His face revealed the joy He saw in the expanse.

If you could’ve looked into that canvas at that moment, you would have saw…nothing. The void would be too great. Imagine looking into non-existence itself and trying to see something. You could not, for you are finite.

Yet the infinite eternal Artist could see beyond the emptiness. He saw. And what He saw was amazing, so amazing that He wanted to share it with others before He even began His work. He spoke a word and a host of angelic beings became the audience for the Artist.

The angelic host watched in amazement as the Artist began with a Word! He spoke “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” The bystanders could not even describe the experience. His Word was like a song, so beautiful and so powerful. As He spoke, it wasn’t just saying the word; it was as if His Word was the substance He was speaking. The brilliance of the glory of the Artist illuminated the dark canvas for the very first time. He separated the light and the darkness and created the first day. Time, as we know it, began in an instant, with a Word. The Angels could not hold back as they watched, but they sang praises to the Artist as He created.

Each day the angelic crowd waited in anticipation to watch as the Artist created with the power of His Word. On day two, His Word separated the oceans from the sky. He gathered the waters and made dry land. On the dry land, He spoke into existence plants and trees, which produced seeds according to their kind and this completed the third day.

On day four, the Artist stepped back from the earth and hung ornaments in the sky that brilliantly lit up the tapestry of the universe. The next day, the Artist filled the waters and seas with fish, the sky with birds, and the dry land with all kinds of animals. After each day, the Artist stepped back and reflected on His work and said, “This is good!”

With every new day, came new chorus of praise and worship. The Angles rejoiced in bringing glory to the Artist.

The First Humans

On the morning of the sixth day, the Artist’s demeanor changed from the joyous and happy expression He had been creating with. For a moment there was a deep sorrow, pain and hesitation. Only those angels close enough could hear the still small voice of the Artist that willed a “YES!” With that, the Artist’s joyfulness returned and He motioned for the crowd to see what was coming next.

The Artist spoke to Himself, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, and they will care for my creation.” To the surprise of the crowd, He knelt down on the dry land that He spoke into existence. He used His hands and got dirty and formed a man from the dust of the earth. He leaned over him and breathed his own breath into him, giving him life. The Artist called this man Adam.

Later, the Artist made the first woman, Eve, from one of Adam’s ribs, to be a companion and helper for him. Male and female, the Artist created them to be in His image, the Imago Dei.

The Artist created a very special garden, Eden, for Adam and Eve to attend to. It was the perfect paradise for the first humans. It had everything the ever needed or could desire. In the center of the garden, the Artist, planted two very special trees. One was the Tree of Life and the other was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Artist established only one rule for them, “you can eat of any tree in the garden, except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” With the warning that if they did eat from it, they would surely die.

From the very first day, Adam and Eve realized that the Artist created them to be with Him. They were amazed that the Artist spent so much time with them. It wasn’t that the Artist needed them, because He didn’t need anything…He was the Artist. They were overwhelmed that He would desire to spend time with them. The Artist would spend time on the cool of the day walking and talking with them. He created them to live abundant life under His protection forever.

Now the canvas was no longer empty, but full. Not just with brilliant colors, but with life! The Artist had left His fingerprints all throughout creation, but especially in those He created in His Image to reflect Him. He reflected on His handiwork and said, “this is VERY GOOD!”

The Artist rested on the seventh day and set it as a day of rest.

Disruption

 With each day of creation, one of the Angles, Lucifer, watched the angelic host praise the Artist as He displayed His creativity. This is what the angels were created for. The praise He received was intoxicating to Lucifer. He wanted the other angels, and even the Artist himself, to praise him.

Lucifer gathered the angelic host and claimed, I will be like the Artist, I will sit upon His throne and I will be God. A third of the angels began to follow Lucifer. Lucifer and his angels rebelled against the Artist.  Any rebellion against God is called sin. The Artist, God, cannot and will not allow sin in His presence. So God, expelled Lucifer, now calling him Satan, and his followers, now called demons, to the earth waiting for their final judgment.

It didn’t take long for Satan to own his new persona. He knew how much God, the Artist, loved His creation, especially those humans. If he could get Adam and Eve to worship him then he could replace God. Satan knew that all he really needed to do is get them to disobey God’s one command. Disobedience, like rebellion, is a sin against God and would require punishment.

Satan took control of a serpent and entered the garden of Eden. He found Eve and said, “Did God really say you must not eat of any of the fruit of the garden?”

Eve told him, “No, we can eat of any tree in the garden. Only we cannot eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil, or even touch it, or we will die.”

The serpent responded with, “you won’t die! God knows your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”

When she saw that it was good it looked and delicious it was and that it would make her wise, she took it and ate it. She offered it to Adam and he ate it too. Adam and Eve both chose not to believe God, the Artist who gave them breath, but disobeyed and ate the fruit. Instantly their eyes were opened and their hearts filled with shame and fear. They ran and gathered fig leaves to cover their nakedness.

Later that evening, they heard God walking in the garden and, for the first time, they hid from Him. “Where are you?” God called to Adam. “I heard you coming and was afraid because I was naked, so I hid,” replied Adam. God said, “Why are you ashamed of being naked? Did you eat the fruit I told you not to eat?” Adam pushed the blame on Eve saying, “It was the woman you gave me. She gave me the fruit.”

Then God said to Eve, “How could you do this?” Eve blamed the serpent saying, “the serpent tricked me into eating the fruit.”

So God said to the serpent, “because you have done this evil thing, you will crawl on your belly and will eat dust all the days of your life. You will be the enemy of the woman and her children. You will bite His heel, but He will crush your head.” Here God gave the very first promise of redemption.

God said to Eve, “because of your rebellion you will experience pain in child birth and your desire will be against your husband.”

God said to Adam, “because you disobeyed my command and listened to your wife, the ground will be cursed under you. Through pain and toil you will work it and one day you will return to the dust you came from.”

The Artist’s heart was broken over their disobedience, but He could not overlook what they had done. God always does what is good, right and perfect. His perfection required that there is punishment for rebellion. So God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, lest they eat of the Tree of Life and live forever in their sin. No longer following God’s way, they were removed from His protection and subject to pain, sickness and even death.

However, God continued to love Adam and Eve. He sacrificed an animal and made skins to cover their nakedness. Their sin led to the death of an animal to provide coverings. Little did they realize the picture that God, the eternal Artist, was painting with this sacrifice as one day He would send His own Son to provide the ultimate sacrifice for their sins, covering them with His own righteousness.

[This week's story taken from: Genesis 1-3; Job 38; Isaiah 14; Revelation 12; Psalm 8; Psalm 19]

(Today’s post is adapted from: The Storyformed Way is a derivative of The Story of God © Copyright 2003-2006 Michael Novelli & Caesar Kalinowski, all rights reserved. This derivative was created and distributed with permission. You are free to use, remix, and build upon this work non-commercially if you attribute Soma Communities. For details, see creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)