Sabbath: Jesus, Creator of Heaven and Earth
Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 1:1; Heb. 11:3; Ps. 19:1-3;John 1:1-3, 14;Col. 1:15,16;John 2:7-11.
Memory Text: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, NKJV).
Only something greater than what it creates could have created it. Thus, only a Being greater than the universe could have created the universe. And that Being is the God who is revealed in the Bible, the God whom we worship and serve because, among other things, He is our Creator.
We also learn that this God-the One who created the universe, the One who has spun those billions of galaxies across the expanse of the cosmos-is the same One who came to earth, to live among us as a human being and, even more amazing, to bear in Himself the punishment for our sins.
Sometimes we hear of things that are “too good to be true.” What could be better, though, for us as sinful beings in a fallen, painful world than to know the wonderful truth of our Creator’s love, a love so great that He would come down in the person of Christ and link Himself to each of us with ties that never can be broken?
In response to such a wondrous truth, how are we to live our lives?
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 5.
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God's existed before creation, no wonder such character of love expressed in his desperation to salvage his creation from the ruin and devastation of sin. The existence and power of God is made manifest in creation. The sabbath day is a celebration, and acknowledgement of God as the creator of the universe. Let the name of the lord be glorified forever and ever.
I like your post, but it.'s pity we sometimes don't see the extent of His unending love for us.
Amen
I am so thankful that our Creator is also Love! The Love that He is and gives to us is so pure and true! It is this Creator, Sustainer and Rescuer that has the world in His hands!
Most of the next quarter's lesson seems to contradict this quotation that appears at the end of the first lesson: “Just how God accomplished the work of creation he has never revealed to men; human science cannot search out the secrets of the Most High. His creative power is as incomprehensible as his existence.”-Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 113.
According to EGW God has NEVER reveal this information to man.
God bless you. At dear Aunty Ellen's time these things may not have been revealed. Space, speed, gravity, and time are relative. The Bible is Truth. Perhaps as God allows more to be revealed (we will never be able to FULLY understand anything from down here) science may catch up to the truth in the Bible.
True science is the revealing of truth also, a truth which also belongs to God. The processes impacting on the material world, such as the physical laws are immutable and everlasting. Just as our understanding of God arises through spiritual insights, so the understanding of His material world is revealed by the development of our intellectual gifts.
Hi Darius, May I assume that you have already studied all this quarter's lessons?
I confess, I haven't, but an overview doesn't seem to support your view. We may know many things about creation, and we may legitimately study what God has revealed.
However, there are some things God has not revealed, and He has not revealed just how He accomplished the work of creation. Scientists have speculated on how our world and even the universe came into existence and published their speculations as "science." However "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, 'He catches the wise in their own craftiness.'" (1 Corinthians 3:19)
Hi Darius, God's richest blessings upon you, I feel compelled to respond to you in short order. The mystery of creation will be told to us, when we are with Him who made creation, he loves us too much to crash our brains because at this point, our simple brain is too fragile and will not be able to contained that information. Thats it in a nutshell.
If we read before and after this statement, we would get a clear understanding of what the prophet is saying.She quotes Deut. 29:29, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God:but those things which are revealed belong unto us and our children forever." the statement and then "God has permitted a flood of lightto be poured upon the world in both science and art; but when professedly scientific men treat upon these subjectsfrom omerely human point of view, they will assuredly come to the wrong conclusion...read the rest. I find no controdiction with what I have looked at thus far.
the moment we understand God, He ceases to be God because He is incomprehensible
Statements like that resonate with some, but I enjoy trying to understand God and his work. I am a curious scientist. Measurement and analysis is part of my life work. I recognise that I will never understand God completely but I appreciate Him. I do not understand my wife either, but I do appreciate her and that does not stop me from endeavoring to understand her more. And she is a lot of fun to try and understand. It is the same with God only more so!
Maurice, I too am curious about many things in God's creation. As a physical therapist, I am constantly studying the crowning work of creation, mankind. I also recognize that I'll never understand it all. (That's for God to do.)
I too am married, and I love (and totally sympathize with) your marital illustration!
In simplistic, the Creator is so crazy in love with his creation, that even cost him his life to redeem it. I honestly feel I am worthless, But I am worth my saviors blood. my Lord! my prayer song to you hymn 330 (Take My Life and Let it Be)
This is how the first sentence in this week lesson reads'Only something greater than what it creates could have created it'. This sentence is problematic in biblical sense. The bible shows that God is The Word (ho logos) meaning God is a Spirit. The biblical fact is that the simple not complex God, the Immaterial not Material God created the cosmos. Now there is no rationality in the size of God and the material complex vast cosmos he created. We need to avoid confusing biblical anthropomophic data with natural science data. The Bible truth is that the simple God whos is only a Spirit created a perfect complex material world. And thus, he does not need to be big enough to match what he created. I doubt if the author of the lesson or the editor ever read I the editor the 'God Dulusion' authored by a dyed-in-a wool atheist, Prof. Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist at St. Mary's College, Oxford Univeristy. Dawkin's argument is similar to the one presented in this lesson. My approach to creator God is different. I have set in the above paragraph counter argument. In other words, what I have just said above is the only rational and biblical answer to Dawknin's argument and thus correct the first sentence in this week lesson.
Thank you for your input, Joseph. I am not sure I fully understand your point, however. Could you please explain why you feel the spiritual is less complex than the material? Thanks.
Dear Stephen, sorry that I did not make myself clear. English is my third language and this may contribute to poor communication skill. When I write I think in my mother tongue first, national language second and English last. However, I do not wish to further discuss this topic for I am not sure of the spiritual or intellectual levels of the community that reads this communications. I will not be happy to shift the spiritual value so dear to some members in this blog. With Christian Spirit of service to our Lord Jesus the Christ.
Joseph, I am sorry regarding your experience, and I regret the loss of your input here. I feel diminished spiritually at the loss of even one opportunity to share with a brother. If you are willing to answer, may I ask what your primary language is? My wife is bi-lingual in English and German. I have a background in several languages. Some I am better at than others. English is my primary and French is perhaps my strongest alternative modern language. as you can read from my brief bio, my education is in theology and biblical languages from Walla Walla University. I also share some moderation responsibilities here on SSNET. I understand from personal experience how difficult it can be to achieve the proper tone when writing in a secondary language. Sometimes it can be elusive even in one's primary language. It is especially difficult when discussing theological issues because it is so easy to drift into discussing absolutes rather than possible perspectives. I hope you will not give up on us, and allow us to grow as well.
Hello Joseph, you wrote:
Perhaps English is not your first language, and that may be the cause of a bit of confusion. The word "greater" does not necessarily refer to size. One may be greater in power, in intellect and wisdom, irrespective of size. I suspect that the author intended all of these concepts and more, because we understand God to be omnipotent, omniscient, and infinitely wise. Thus he expressed a truism -- that a creator is always greater than the thing he creates. A potter is greater than the pot he makes. A writer is greater than the book he has written. A designer is greater than the design he produces.
I am puzzled by your suggestion that God is "simple," as compared to a complex creation, and I am also interested in your answer to Stephen's question.
Furthermore, while Dawkins is quite an entertaining writer, his arguments are not always very good. His arguments against God in the God Delusion are largely against a God I don't believe in either. To me many of them are straw-man arguments.
I wonder what you see as being Dawkins' greatest argument against the existence of God. (And I wouldn't be so quick to conclude that the Sabbath School lesson editor, Clifford Goldstein, has not read The God Delusion.. I'm guessing he has read it and would be quite ready to give an intelligent critique.)
Inge--
Of course I read it. I read it just after it came out; I even did a series of programs on my HOPE channel show on it. it was a fun read, but not a particularly well done book.
Cliff
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Editor's Note: Cliff's program on the Hope Channel is simply called "CLIFF." See http://cliff.hopetv.org/, where you can watch a few episodes online. To find out when his program is broadcast on the satellite channel, consult http://www.hopetv.org/watch/program-guide/.)
Cliff, welcome to SSNET. Since the Sabbath School Quarterly is in some respects your child, it would be nice to see your presence more often here. Your input is always appreciated.
Thank you for those links Elder/DR Goldstein.
Cliff, are the programs you did on Dawkins archived somewhere for viewing today??
For those who would like to explore the relationship between the creator and created, the work of John Polkinghorne makes interesting reading. Most of us would describe Polkinghorne as a theistic evolutionist (or ancient creationist) and some would be rather dismissive of his work on that basis, however, he does provide an interesting theological foil for the cynical and somewhat vitriolic Dawkins.
Polkinghorne agrees with the statement that "After all, if there is no God, then God is incalculably the greatest single creation of the human imagination." (Anthony Kenny) He is critical of Dawkins' mechanistic explanation of the cosmos, preferring a model that seems to draw its symbolism from quantum theory.
I do not agree with everything that Polkinghorne says, but I find that it is delightful to find a scientist who has kept his faith and is eloquent enough to tackle some of the serious questions issues about God that Dawkins raises and to do it in a gentle Christian manner.
It is dangerous to venture ourselves down on such a smooth but yet a slippery slope. We must not drink from polluted fountians or half polluted fountain. Leave it alone eventhough there are a few attractive truths included. I will not recommend it to anyone. You will be held accountable on your part if someone will be ensnared by the information you recommeded.
To my mind, the precursors to creation are as important as creation itself. We are sometimes mesmerized by the Genesis account of God speaking, and the various components of creation appearing like magic at the sound of his voice. The "real genesis" is the design. As anyone who has built anything at all will tell you, the time and effort spent in design is typically far greater than the time spent building.
The Genesis account is mostly concerned with painting a broad picture of the relationship between the creator and man. It gives us the spectacular bit - the actual building. It has been left to us to discover the design.
At midnight, just a few hours ago 1.6 million Australians standing on the foreshores of Sydney harbor watched in awe and excitement as several tonnes of fireworks were exploded in a dazzling display or pyrotechnic art. For 15 minutes the crowd enjoyed the spectacle with shouts of surprise and sighs of enjoyment. Few people would have thought about the 40 odd workers who laid wires, carried rocket launchers, heaved barrels of explosives, for the last several weeks. Very few people would have given thought to the design of the fireworks plan that was about 12 months in the making. Ultimately the design plan is the underlying key to the success of last nights spectacular fireworks.
I think that it is entirely appropriate that we consider the design elements that have gone into creation. Not all of us can understand the detail of the design, but all of us can appreciate it, and should choose not to be overwhelmed by it.
Hi sir bigger and greater has different meanings which I clearly believe you understand. As the heavens are higher than the earth.I clearly uderstand it to mean of a higher quality,or as with me and my father senior is above junior in rank.
What was the light that created on the first day
Good question. Perhaps we'll have to ask Jesus when we get to heaven. 🙂
Perhaps the earth was lighted up with the light of the presence of the Creator?
What are your thoughts?
Hi Madam, I believe you are right, since New Jerusalem has no more need for the lights of he sun and moon because of the presence of the Godhead.
It is undeed wonderful, to know that inspite of what happens here on earth, our Big, Powerful, Wonderful God who was before time, who doesn't exist in time, is still in charge of us.
The Creator becoming like man is what human have not sat down to assess and appreciate the extent at which or God loved us. But if we are to use a scenario where a wealthy man donates to orphanage or partake in a daily activities of the vunerable, man because of the limitation of our mind would have comprehended so well appreciated in such a way that such wealthy person is seen as some form of god.
The truth is that we have not seen the might and sovereignty of Jesus. As the Creator of the universe which has been quarterly discovered by the scientist, He left all the might and power He had and came down on earth for me to be called the son of God. This is the most amazing and unthinkable act of love that one can offer to the ones he or she loves.
As christisns we need to ask God for the Holy Spirit to give us deeper understanding of what Jesus did on the Cross for us. This is make us aware that God cares and He is interested in the affairs of men.
God bless us all. Amen
It amazes me, as a student of science, that the evolutionist will tell me that I came from a lesser order of being when basic biology and other areas of science state one of the most basic laws of the universe, everything has to come from a higher order. For eg. computers do not come from bugs, they come from mankind, a higher order. Why then am I told that a cell made me?
Good question!
A few years ago I went to an evolutionist's website. It was very well laid out. It looked good. I left a comment saying something like this, "You have a wonderful, very organized, attractive website. Do you think this happened by chance?"
Norm, will you please tell more about your perspective as a scientist?
Thank you. Having been raised as an atheist and having never considered the possibility of creation, I have had to take the knowledge of creation on faith ...will you please elucidate?
Wow! Thanks Mr Goldstein for your commentary on
hope TV, it helps with this lesson. My son, who was raised Christian, has recently decided he is either agnostic or atheist, based on his knowledge of science. He has a very high i.q., which doesn't seem to be a benefit to him as a Christian; his "logical" thinking overrules the Spiritual. We get into some very interesting discussions, he recommends books for me to read, I read them and see problems in their theory, and he makes me think I'm just too dull of thinking to understand them. He however, cannot dispute, that I KNOW a Creator and Savior, Redeemer, etc...and, that God has changed my life. I can recommend your talks and writings, maybe he will give it a look. I pray for all 3 of my children, all the time, that they may know the One who loves them far more than they know. I pray God's blessing on this site. Love to all.
I thank God for His creation. I take it as one of the mystries among salvation process and His faithful judgement. Though there are a lot of lessons trying to describe these mystries, we dont understand in full yet we always want to know more what God doesnt want us to. But God wants us to know the basics lesson
Science can not explain God! Science is logic, God is Spirit. God's ways are not man's (read atheist's) ways! A fool says in his/her heart 'there's no God. The human heart is deceitful above all else, who can fathom it? God knows our hidden thoughts! He knows the future as much as before time. God is God, let Him be God to receive honor, worship, and glory. Come to Him in fear and awe, for Him alone is worthy of worship! That same God is the creator, He crafted you and me, better accept this sooner than later, logic aside. God bless.
I am a scientist and while I understand what you are saying, I see no need for a dichotomy between science and God. Both science and religion seek to make sense of the world around us. We believe that the physical universe is created by God and if that is the case, a study of science should reveal something of the creator.
I appreciate the insight into the working of God that logic and scientific investigation has given us. Much of my scientific career has been in the area of computer science, and it has given me an appreciation of the working of the human mind. God said, "Let us make man in our image ..."; and He gave us logic to help us understand Him, and creativity to both appreciate and praise Him.
How would you use your scientific knowledge as a computer scientist to inform about the existence of God?
My work is less about "informing about the existence of God" and more about appreciating the complexity of human thought processes and how we process information. Computer programs are for the large part mechanistic. Their stength lies in the their ability to do those processes much faster than us and doing them repeatedly without fatigue. Going the next step to make a machine that can learn and develop new processes by its experiences is a whole new level of computer programming. Our efforts in that direction, while impressive, are miniscule when compared with the learning skills of a 5 year old child. I should know, I have two grandsons about that age and they learn much faster than my computer and are a whole lot more fun. That is what I meant when I said that I have an appreciation of the human mind, and by inference, its creator.
I grew up in Barbados in a time when so much was censored and lacked knowleged in many areas, when I came to New York City I found I was ignorant in many things of the world but not foolish. We have to love our brothers and sisters like Jesus and put away hard language as we come to know the incredible love of Jesus.
While studying this week's lesson I was suddenly overwhelmed by how small I am in the grand scheme of things. Yet, warts and all, Jesus Christ stepped down from all His glory to become a simple human like me, and paid an unfathomable price for a debt He did not owe. All to give me such a privilege as to be reconciled to my Creator and to give an opportunity for eternal life!
I cannot begin to fully wrap my mind around the awesomeness of my God because of His immeasurable love for mankind, but, I thank Him with all my heart for His sacrifice and His love.
How He created this universe? I don't know. I will wait until I see Him, while He dwells among us in the new earth, to ask Him those things.
Then again, I will be so happy to be in heaven that those questions will be of no consequence to me. I'll be too busy singing praises to Him!
God bless you all!
What a discussion!This all points one to this, as long as we are in this world, we will not fully understand and comprehend mysteries of heaven. what we should do, is by faith accept that which has been given to us for adequate understanding who our creator is. Trying to go beyond what is revaeled in the holy writing will be suicide. IF indeed we need to know the truth as revealed in the scriptures, indeed we will by faith, without any prejudice, it will be given to us. Let us remember that the will of God will not take us where His protection is. All the the supposition questions will be answered
I, too, admit english is not my first language, but all these languages have their genesis from the creator. We can ably understand and know Him and communicate things of heaven when we are led by His spirit. In fact, our desire should be to know Him better day by day. May the our creator and the creator of heaven and earth and all the hosts of the be our sole guide and dependence as strive to be like Him.
I am enjoying the very best of my life when I sink-in the lesson study in my personal life. My decision to become a Seventh-day Adventist was a difficult one to accept. Growing up in a Catholic faith, with everyone around you strongly believe in, makes it difficult for such transition to be easy. THANK GOD for the University Seventh-day Adventist Christians at 1135 W. Martin Luther King Blvd. who held me with love to remain after a study of the book of Revelation, which opened my eyes and understanding to reality about truth and error of religions faith. I say all of this to express my thanks to God for the Seventh-day Adventist dedicated enlighten servants who unceasingly provide these remarkable studies for us readers and students. May God bless the servants of the Lord. I want to be in heaven with my family when HE comes
May God continue to bless you and provide you with the zeal to study His word, and most of all keep you faithful, so that you and your family will one day be in heaven with Him.