What if...

 Read Genesis 1

You will get the full chapter at the 11 am service, but let’s just do some fun stuff here.

On the first day, God did light and darkness.  God called the light good.

On the second day, God separated the waters above and the waters below. Later God would separate land and water on the earth, but what about the water above.  What’s that all about?

What if the earth was encased with a shield of water?  What if it acted like super sunscreen?  How would we know?

How about people living to a very old age.  Methuselah lived to be 969 years of age.   Noah was 500 years old when he and his wife had kids.

Imagine that Facebook post:  EMPTY NEST STATUS SOON TO EXPIRE.

Then what came next?  The flood.  Remember, because you live in Oklahoma, any time someone mentions the flood, you are required by Oklahoma law to say, “We got 2 inches of that.”

Where did all of that water come from?  What about the water above? What if all the water in the flood came from the protective waters that were above the sky?

When you have a few minutes, think on this. Maybe you are on a long drive by yourself or there are only 3 minutes left on the spin cycle before you can put the laundry in the dryer.  If you go start something else, you will forget the laundry and have to wash it all again.  So, think about his for 3 minutes and wait on the spin cycle to finish.

Think about what again?  Water above, water below, the flood, people lived longer before the flood, was there any mention of disease before the flood, look at the disease and cancer since the flood—that should give you something to think on for the next 100 miles or until the spin cycle stops.

How long was a day before the 4^th day?  There was light and darkness, but the sun and moon were not a deal until day 4.  There were still days because on day 1 we are told there was evening and there was morning and that constituted the first day.

Was it 24 hours?  Was it 24 billion years? After day 4, we expect that days were 24 hours, but we have no way of knowing.

Measuring time is a man-made thing.  Once upon a time, people measured the day into 12 equal parts and the night into watches, usually of 3 or 4 hours.

Genesis accounts for a day as from sunset to sunset.  It’s only by day 4 that there are heavenly bodies to define time for day and night and for seasons and for sacred days, at least as we measure time.

So how long did creation take?  It’s 6 days, right?

How long was 6 days at that time?  At least 48 hours.  We expect days 5 and 6 were 24 hours long, those before it, well, go figure. It could have been another 96 hours or 96 billion years by our modern calculations. It could have been 96 seconds. 

If we look at the creation, we see God’s intricate designs at the macro level and the micro level.  God created it all.

Let’s go back to the beginning of beginnings, ok, let’s do verses 1 and 2.  Where did the formless stuff come from?

Where did the divine Playdough come from?  What? Let’s try verse 2.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

God had something to work with to make the earth.  Where did it come from? Let’s try verse 1.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In the most general terms, the first verse of our Bibles read, God created. In the original Hebrew, God bara’ (בָּרָא) everything. 

Go to John 1.  Everything that was made was made through him, that includes the divine Playdough.

It also leaves us the Big Bang theory, but at the same time shoots holes in it.  The sun, moon, and stars didn’t show up until day 4 but God had matter to work with on day 1.

That doesn’t discount that it could have all been spoken into existence scattered purposely to create the universe.  Day 4 just did what we have seen elsewhere, put form to formlessness.

Hopefully, there is some fun stuff to chew on.  Enjoy!

But you know that I like to send you out with something to affirm or challenge you, not just food for thought.  Let’s go with this.

God create it all.  The creation account need not agree with modern science, but science to be valid should always be in accord with God and this account.

Genesis is not a science book and is not a book of details, but our science books should not include as fact those things opposed this creation account. They often do, but we who live by faith, need not be worried.

The world may not agree, but we need to have eyes to see.

What must we see?

God created.  Think on those two words this week.

God created.

Amen.