Sunday: Christ, the Creator
Read Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:6-9; Isaiah 45:11-12; Jeremiah 51:15; and John 1:3. What do these texts tell us about the goodness of the material world?
“It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field. ‘His strength setteth fast the mountains.’ ‘The sea is His, and He made it.’ Ps. 65:6; Ps. 95:5. It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song. And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the message of the Father’s love.” – Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 20.
Material things, in and of themselves, are not evil. Unlike some religions, which teach that the material world and matter itself are bad or evil and that only spiritual things are good, the Bible values the material world.
After all, Jesus Himself created it. How, then, could it be evil? It can, unfortunately, as with all of God’s gifts, be perverted and used for evil, but that does not make the original gift evil. The Bible warns against abuse and perversion of the things that God has created in this world, but not against the things themselves.
On the contrary, God created the material world, and He wanted His people to enjoy the fruit and benefits of this world as well: “And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you” (Deut. 26:11; see also Deut. 14:26).
Jesus is the Creator (John 1:1-3), and the earth is a mere sample of what He has made. His creative ability gives Him a unique perspective on life itself and those who live on it. He knows the value of material things, and knows that He gave them to us for our benefit, and even for our enjoyment. He knows, too, what happens when humanity perverts those gifts, or even makes the gifts an end in themselves, when, as with all things, they were meant to be used to glorify God.
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Look around at the incredible bounties of the created world. Even after the ravages of sin, we can still see the inherent goodness in so much of it. What does the created world, in its goodness, tell us about the goodness of its Maker? |
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"What does the created world, in its goodness, tell us about the goodness of its Maker?"
It shows me that God Loves us and cares for us and provides for us and that, if we would be like Him as He designed us to be, we will do the same for those we know and love and care for. I notice that God gave opportunity for mankind to enter into the program of operation of this Earth by giving us dominion over it.
Of course, Satan has usurped the position we were given, but we can regain that by allowing God's Character to have the ascendency in our lives. This will motivate us to operate properly and Godly involving the world and those around us.
Thank you for your observations. They are very meaningful in my walk with GOD! THANK YOU!
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Psalm 19:1-3 God is love, bless be his holy name forever!
Esther Moran
The created world for sure explore the unselfish behaviour of our almighty God, since he created the pleasant world, everything is in order and upon our thinking we can't explain the extent and the knowledge God used to create this world, thus why Job asks a question who knows the foundation of this world? but no one knows it
But the bad thing we as humans we are selfish for what God has created/ given us (material), while God intends all of us to enjoy but it may seen your neighbour is suffering from hunger while you have a lot hidden in your house . Thus why it become perverted in accordance to what God intends for us.
The created world shows us how God created every single thing with meticulous detail and purpose. The fact that the Earth is just far enough from the Sun that it isn’t unbearably scorching like Mercury or Venus, but close enough that it’s not too cold like Neptune or Uranus. That’s perfect planning from the Lord. Or the fact that plants give us oxygen and we give plants C02, that’s perfect planning from God. So it is with our own lives. God has a special plan for each and every one of us, and he has planned out our destinies just as meticulously as he formed Earth and everything in it.
This world still has beauty for us to enjoy despite sin that made the thorns and thistles.
God gave us a wonderful world to marvel at the creation. Every flower insect bird or animal is so unique that they show His handiwork
What a great God we serve Marvellous are His ways
Where did you come from?
Satan, ameba a single cell
God, I have created you in My image
Satan, you are nothing
God, you are everything and the proof is in the scars in My Son
Satan, Become number one in this world at any cost.
God, I became nothing (emptied of heaven) so that you can become everything in Me.
Satan, you are an accident, you are nothing, you will be nothing.
God, I have created you with my own hands, I have redeemed you with the blood of the lamb. I will never stop until you and I will be together.
who do you want to listen to?
Eternal destiny rests upon this choice.
The Quarterly which I hold in my hand clearly states that it is the "Sabbath School Bible Study Guide". However from my observations regarding Sunday's lesson, "Christ, the Creator", the lesson differs from the Scriptures in identifying the Creator.
In Genesis Chapter 1, there are 35 references to "God" singular, and none regarding Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. In fact, the name Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus does not appear in the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi.
Genesis 1:1; God created ...
Isaiah 44:24; Thus saith the Lord, … I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
Isaiah 45:12 I have made the earth
Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it.
These are strong declarations by God himself and just a few of many passages that identifies the only True God as the Creator of the Earth, the World.
We have to be very careful to follow, to adhere to the Bible and the Bible alone.
As a SDA for 45 years and a student of the Bible, I am openly seeking an explanation by the commentators in this forum to understand why is there a difference in the Creatorship of the Earth.
Colon as SDAs we believe in the inspiration of all the Scriptures and not just Genesis through Malachi. Colossians is obviously speaking of Christ when it says,
"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood,[c] the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, Colossians 1:13-19
Also John 1:1-3, 14 are clearly speaking of Christ.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:1-3,14
Hebrews 1:2 reads, " has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;"
As far as the Genesis account goes, I am wondering how you understand it as singular when it reads, "Let US make man"?
I observe the following regarding Sunday's lesson "Christ, the Creator":
Paragaph 1 - “It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. ..."
Paragraph 3 - "After all, Jesus Himself created it (the earth)".
Paragraph 5 - "Jesus is the Creator"
My earlier posting identifies a number of passages which clearly identifies God, the Lord God, as the Creator.
In Wednesday's Lesson on the subject of "A Jealous God" -
Paragraph 3 - "God has no equal ... God remains God ... After all, He (God) is the Creator ..."
I must then ask the question; of what is God the Creator?
Your thoughts would be welcome.
Don't leave out the words, "in our image", singular. Mankind was made in His singular "image" of God as well as His triunity-- body, Spirit, and mind.
How do you get singular out of "our"? A group has an image as well.
Christ means 'GOD AMONG US' God among human being, A God we can touch... Mt 1.21,23
The OT didn't refer to Him because he were not yet revealed to the human being.
He is the Creator, He's the Savior, He looks like 'me'(human) and He's GOD forever more.
It takes 3 to make one God. God made man like Himself. It takes three (body, spirit, & mind ) to make one human soul.
If anyone of the three we are made of leaves or is destroyed or given up, we no longer live as a soul.
The OT makes little direct reference to either Christ or the Holy Spirit. There are a variety of reasons cited for this, including that it might be misinterpreted as polytheism. In fact the OT rarely mentions satan, either, with God often "owning" things that satan did.
But the NT makes it clear that God of the OT was in fact Christ, and Ellen White expands even more on that theme. This planet was Christ's special project from creation right down through calvary. The term God or LORD in the OT can sometimes be taken to refer to the Godhead in general, and often refers to Christ. It isn't to be understood as the personal name of the Father.
There is a lot of interesting background to God's names in the OT, including the fact that Jews decided not to say his name. The wrote out the four consonants, and when the read it aloud, they substituted the word adoni, which means lord or master. In most English translations whenever the four consonants occur in the original, the word LORD in all capitol letters is used for translation to indicate this.
As you can see, trying to match a specific member of the Godhead with a word in the OT may not be feasible.
Prov 23:4 says "Labour not to be rich" and Ps 62:10 says "If riches increase, set not your heart to it" God created everything for us to enjoy but not to the point where we worship those material things. We must worship the giver of the gifts and not the gifts. To accomplish this our mind must be renewed. Without the Holy Spirit no man can serve God, the Holy Spirit will make us good stewards.
The author of the quarterly put it so elegantly, "Faith requires a decision." I get it. One way or another a decision is made as to whether we believe and trust God, or we don't. Either way a decision is made, and hopefully it's towards faith.
I found this in James 1:6 (reading from the NLT version) "But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. . . . Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do."
If stewardship must include faith, then I find this verse fitting. But that also leads me to periodically check my fruits and realize that if not careful, I can have more excuses for not doing what is required; and that can be anything in my wholistic spirituality. For instance,
1) reading my bible everyday, some don't have a bible. I have a bible so I have no excuse. OR
2) OK Lord, I have a bible, what do I read? And there are reading plans I can use and there are sites we can go to or I can reflect on the previous Sabbaths message from church. OR
3) But Lord, i want to do more that read...what should I study? There's and answer for that too. We have a quarterly and this quarter it on stewardship...faith-based stewardship that involves me making a decision, a decision that faith requires.
My prayer for all of us that the God helps each of us to stay focused and not be distracted by anything that will point us to making a wrong decision. What may seem right, may not be right. We must constantly check our fruits. I get it, or a better word...Amen.
I think the real questions you should ask yourselves are:
Do you really feel safe, secure, and loved by God as you say you are? Do you really Believe and have Faith in God?
Look around your living room, inside your wallet, closet, shoes and all your possessions... If you believe he will provide what you need, why do you hoard or collect these things? Why saving those money when you can feed the hunger, cloth the poor, provide shelters, etc...
If God is all you need, why do you have two cars? Is it for emergency in case God doesn't provide?
Why do you have so many empty spaces in your home when there are so many folks living out there in the streets? Didn't God say give to the poor and not to worry, I will provide whatever you need?
Why having these things gives you a sense of security?
Is God not enough to make you feel safe and secure?
If you say he is, then how do you serve Him with using all that you have?
While it is always appropriate to ask questions about accumulating objects we need to bear in mind that the issue is not the same for everyone. For example, I have what some people would consider an expensive set of cameras and lenses. I am retired and spend considerable time photographing birds. Bird photography has become my way of interacting and sharing with a wide range of people. If my cameras were simply to show off my status or to bolster my security then that would be quite wrong. As it is, they are a tool of witness.