God is the Creator and Ruler of all in existence. Because of this, He deserves our worship. Does your view of God compel you to worship Him with your life? This is the beginning of “The Gospel Story.” God, the everlasting Ruler of heaven and earth, created all we see before us. This isn’t the beginning of God, but it’s the beginning of the story He has allowed us to be a part of.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:1-25 NIV
To bring order out of chaos is an expression of who god is the gospel story. Genesis 1:2- As God began to move in his week of creation, he brought order from that initial disorder. He organized, he formed, he made, he filled. From that unformed substance emerged the beauty, the order, of this world. But it emerged only by his effort, his will, his handiwork.
God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. [Ps. 104:30; Heb. 1:2; 11:3.] So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Col. 3:9, 10; James 3:8, 9.]
Genesis 1:26-27 NIV
An understanding of who we are begins with knowing we are made in the image of God. Much debate has been made over what being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26) means for humans today. That the image and likeness of God in man is in three folds: personality, morality, spirituality.
Aspects of being made in God’s image
-Personality: will, emotions
-Morality: judgement and conscience
-Spirituality: connection to God
And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.
Genesis 1:28
Man was the crowing glory of God’s entire creation and as man and wife, Adam and Eve were authorised to rule over the works of God’s hands. Man’s stewardship over earth was established, and the unique position of humanity in the plans and purposes of God was instituted by the Lord Himself. Without the goodness of God’s blessing, human life would be not only unbearable but also impossible.
God also gives man a job to do – fulfill god’s plan for man to exercise dominion over the earth
Genesis 2:1-7 AMPC | THUS THE heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. [Heb. 4:9, 10.] And God blessed (spoke good of) the seventh day, set it apart as His own, and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had created and done. [Exod. 20:11.] This is the history of the heavens and of the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens– When no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not [yet] caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the ground, But there went up a mist (fog, vapor) from the land and watered the whole surface of the ground– Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being.
Adam’s body had just been formed by God from the dust of the earth—a lifeless human body lying on the ground. Then God leaned over and breathed His own breath of life into the man. God is the source of life, and He directly placed life within you.
Man receives:
– God’s identity
– God’s blessing
– God’s purpose
– God’s infusion of life
Essentially, God is the creator and ruler of all in existence. Because of this, He deserves our worship.
