O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. (Psalm 8:1)
Imagine reading an exciting novel but skipping chapter 1. Who’s the hero? The villain? What challenges must be overcome? There will be holes in the story, plot twists you can’t follow because of missed details.
The same is true of the Bible. If we skip Chapter 1 and the account of creation, the wonderful story of love that unfolds in the rest of the book will be lost on us. It just won’t make sense.
That’s why every major statement of faith made by the church (like the Apostle’s Creed) always begins with Chapter 1: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth….”
In September 1999, after $125m in research and development and 10 months of space travel, NASA engineers were planning to celebrate exciting new film footage from the Mars Climate Orbiter. Instead, they watched it break into burning pieces. What was their error? Apparently, some miniscule amount of data was never converted from metric to Imperial. Engineers were speaking the wrong mathematical language to each other. A small oversight turned into a big problem.
In our world, what has seemed like a small oversight – skipping Chapter 1 of the Bible – has led to some serious consequences. Just think of some of the issues we’re dealing with today that are addressed clearly in Chapter 1:
- The universe was made by God
- Humans were created by God in God’s image
- Male and female, He created them
- A man leaves his father and mother to be united with his wife
- The marriage partners were to be fruitful and multiply
- Eve was “the mother of all living” and gave birth to a son
All of these truths are important building blocks of society. They are on the chopping block without Chapter 1!
Nature is the “theater of God’s glory” (John Calvin). With creation, God has embedded His own character into the work of His hands. “Nature,” as the old hymn reminds us, bears “manifold witness” to God’s great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Join us Sunday for a new sermon series, Manifold Witness, as together, we explore God’s character evidenced by His creation.
