Genesis 1, and I'll read verses 1 and 2. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. As we begin, I'd like us to remember our preparatory sermons for Genesis where we looked at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse three. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Now remember the astrophysicist and his son that we talked about. There they are looking up at the night sky. And the astrophysicist is filled with excitement to tell his son all the wonderful things about the stars and their names and their movements and the great celestial bodies. And the son asks the million-dollar question, well, that's all wonderful, Dad, but where did it all come from? Why, to put it in more philosophical terms. This is a very precocious boy, apparently. Dad, why is there something instead of nothing? Yes, it's wonderful to look up at it all and to describe the physical properties of it all, but why? Where did it come from? Why is it here? What's the purpose of it all? And we talked about how for all of the wonderful Glorious questions that science can answer, it cannot penetrate to the heart of those deeper questions of existence. Now, what happens is that many people come to Genesis 1 wanting science. And they dismiss it when it doesn't meet their expectations. Or, alternatively, they come to Genesis 1 wanting to prove some aspect of their own man-made conception of religion. And, you know, it's like a bank robbery. They hold the Bible at gunpoint to steal the verses that suit their own version of things. Well, when we come to Genesis 1, we find that Genesis 1 is not a scientific textbook. Neither, and certainly not, is it fodder for false religions to kidnap verses for their own purposes. In other words, we have to be careful. Because we can come to Genesis 1 looking for something that was never designed to be, thereby missing the true power and beauty and glory of what it truly is, the revelation of the one true and living God concerning the origin, meaning, purpose, and goal of existence. It comes to the heart of those questions, Maybe you're looking up at the night sky, maybe you're looking into a microscope, maybe all of a sudden you are struck with the magnitude of the problem of existence yourself and you ask, why is it all here? Where did it come from? What is its meaning and its purpose? As the young boy from the previous illustration with his dad looking up at the night sky. Enter Genesis chapter 1 and the beauty and the glory of God's revelation to us about the origin of the universe. Again, science answers many wonderful and beautiful questions about the way things are. Well, Genesis comes to us and answers many glorious and beautiful questions about the universe, but from a different perspective. Now, to illustrate that further, think about someone very dear to you. Maybe it's a wife or a husband, a son or a daughter, a mom or a dad or a friend that you've known for a very long time. If someone came up to you and asked you, Could you describe that person to me? I really want to know a little bit about them. Who are they? Describe them to me. Would you pull out their medical file and look at the latest blood panel, and look through the doctor's report, and go through all of the physical, biological aspects of their existence. That would be a true representation of something about them, right? And that was the question, tell me about that person. Why not go that direction? Well, it would be a true description of something about them, But as to the deeper answer of who they are as a person, it would fall short. We wouldn't just rattle off a series of physical attributes. We would speak of their character, what sort of a person they are, what they have meant in our lives and in the lives of others. or to put that a different way, why don't they just republish a coroner's report as someone's obituary? They're two different things, right? One says very true things about that person's physical condition and the manner of their death, but when we go to remember them in an obituary, we are taking into account who they are as people, the totality of their lives and their character and their meaning in the lives of others. You often hear from certain quarters of people who revere science, you know, we've proved Genesis 1 wrong. Well, science can't prove Genesis 1 wrong any more than the results of a blood panel can prove something wrong about someone's character or soul. They're two different things, two different descriptions. Both have their place, but they are non-competitive, understood correctly, science and theology. Always be wary when someone wants to put those two things at opposition to one another. Science truly considered, theology truly considered, are two different descriptions of the same reality. But they both have the same end, which is the worship of the one true and living God. Now, why does this matter for Genesis 1? And here and there, as we make our way through Genesis chapter one, we'll talk about the relationship of science and theology. We can't spend too much more time on it this morning. But why does this discussion matter as we press forward beyond verse one here in Genesis chapter one? Well, it's because this glorious chapter answers for us those deeper truths about the universe. And one thing to notice about it is that it is wonderfully rich and dense. Each word matters. You know, when we come to Genesis chapter one and we just want the answers, we want proof, we want verses to slap onto our preconceived notion about how things ought to be. We miss the beauty and the glory of how rich this chapter is. How much meaning is in every word? We can't rush through it lest we miss something or lest we twist something important to God's revelation about the origin of this universe. And we saw that in Genesis chapter one and verse one. Every word rich and laden with meaning and significance. And for as much as we found in verse one, Well, we have to keep going, right? Because not everything that we need to know is there. For as rich and glorious as verse one is, there are still a lot of questions to be answered. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Well, what is God's ongoing relationship with that creation? Does God have any relationship at all with the works of his hands? Should we be deists? Should we believe in the so-called watchmaker God where he winds it up and then just lets it go and off it goes according to its own laws and principles without any further intervention? And so enters Genesis chapter one and verse two. And there's an amazing and essential transition that takes place as we move now from verse one to verse two. It's there in the English. It's even a little more striking in the Hebrew, but look at the last word of verse one and the first word of verse two. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. the earth. There's a narrowing of focus that takes place in Genesis chapter one and verse two. I've heard someone describe it this way, and so I'm going to repeat it and explain it a little bit, that the Bible is a very earthy book. In other words, we have Genesis chapter one and verse one, and we have testimony there of God's having created everything. Every atom, every particle, everything that exists in the universe, God has created it, but then immediately, verse two, we have a focus on the earth. Because the Bible was given to mankind. concerning our own context, upon the earth that God has given to us, upon which we live, and upon which we are called to worship him, to know him, and to serve him. And so immediately, again, the Bible sets upon teaching us about the earth that was given to man. And we'll be singing this after the service. We'll be remembering it a couple times throughout the course of the sermon. Genesis chapter one and verse two makes us think of Psalm 115, verse 16. The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. And it is immediately here in verse two that our attention is fixed upon that earth. And to put it this way, if this is helpful, verse one teaches us that the Bible most fundamentally is a God-centered book. But then what do we learn in verse two? That secondarily, but in a related way, it is also a man-centered book. Not that we're meant to puff ourselves up in a humanistic sort of a way, but that God gave us this book that we would know our purpose, our meaning on the earth that he has created within this universe that testifies to his eternal glory. And in this sense, this is the first movement of a narrowing of focus that will continue on throughout the rest of the book of Genesis. We can't talk about this much now, but if you've read through the book of Genesis before, think about how it goes. We have a narrowing from the heavens and the earth to the earth, and then we have a narrowing down to humanity and Adam and Eve. And then things press forward, the fall happens, and eventually the flood takes place, and there's another narrowing down onto the family of Shem. And then out of the family of Shem, there's another narrowing onto the family in the line of Abraham, and Abraham's son Isaac. And out of Isaac's two sons, not Esau, but Jacob. And out of Jacob's 12 sons, a final narrowing onto the name of Joseph, with which the book of Genesis ends. So the whole book of Genesis is this great protracted narrowing, and the whole Bible in that sense is a narrowing because it's all leading us to the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. But that very first narrowing happens right here in the transition from verse one to verse two. The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but earth he has given to man. Now, how is the earth described? Well, we have three phrases that describe the condition of the earth in verse two. without form and void, darkness over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters. Now, listen. In the history of the book of Genesis, verse two has been, I mentioned it, I think, in the context of a bank robbery earlier. Lots of people have broken into Genesis 1 at gunpoint, stolen verse 2, and done a lot of terrible things with it. You'd be hard-pressed to find a verse throughout the history of theological speculation that has been as exploited and twisted as Genesis 1 and verse 2. What people have done with it, and you can go back thousands of years and find this, is they've looked at verse two and said, okay, without form and void and darkness, it sounds as though the earth is an evil, chaotic mess. And God is this primitive deity has to sort of go in and wrestle the chaos into a sense of order. But that is not at all what is going on here in this verse. Yes, the earth was without form and void, but this is not an evil, chaotic, rumbling, primitive mess. It's simply a statement that the earth is not yet habitable for the purpose for which it was created. Again, Psalm 115, verse 16. This will be something of a key that we keep close at hand to unlock the purpose of Genesis 1, verse 2. The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of men. But here in Genesis chapter one and verse two, it's not yet ready for that goal. The ultimate goal of God's creation of the earth is the habitation of man, but we're not ready for it yet. It's not ready for its intended goal. In fact, it's not until verse 10 that we have the pronouncement of God that something is good. Now what does that mean? Does it mean that everything before verse 10 wasn't good yet? Well, no, not at all. It simply means the picture wasn't yet finished. Things weren't yet ready for the creation of mankind. Now to draw this out, And we'll get here and talk about it more fully in due time. But if you press forward into chapter two, verse 18, God looks at Adam and says, it is not good. Now, Adam is made in utter perfection. How is it that God can look at Adam and say, it is not good? Well, we know how that verse ends, don't we? It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. It's not as though he is not good in the sense of being evil. It's that the picture isn't yet complete. And so God brings forth Eve as the completion of humanity, the helper fit for the man. And so it is here in Genesis 1, verse 2. Not good doesn't mean evil. It simply means not yet ready for its final purpose. What we have in verse 2 is the divine artist, if this is a helpful image, preparing the canvas. He's getting it ready. All the materials are there. He's created the heavens and the earth, but now the earth has to be made habitable for humanity. Lots of unfortunate things about social media, but one thing is you get to, you know, everybody posts videos, and so you get a little bit of insight into things you would have never come into contact with previously, and I wasn't that long ago, I was watching a video of someone had made about a painting, and they were making this big, wonderful paint on a large canvas, and they just start slapping all of these colors up, and at first, if you didn't know otherwise, you'd think it was all completely random. You know, what are they doing? What's the purpose of this? It just seems like a chaotic mess. But if you just wait, and watch where they're headed with it, you realize that all of those initial actions were part of the necessary creative process by which they eventually brought about a painting that was beautiful and wonderful and complete. The divine artist has brought out his canvas and we are waiting upon him here in verse two to begin the work of adorning it. If you're more architecturally minded, you might think of it, you know, you're driving by. In fact, we used to do this all the time when the kids were really little. You'd be driving around and just see the frame of a house or the frame of a building. And you'd wonder, we'd talk about it. I wonder what that's going to be. And then over the next couple of months, or depending on the part of, you know, in Philadelphia, it was sometimes years before things would be finished, but, you know, you'd watch it. Eventually, the frame would, they'd put up walls, you'd see the rooms start to form, and eventually you've had a completed structure. And along these lines, those two words in Genesis chapter one and verse two, Two Hebrew words, the earth was, without form, and void. They actually point us forward to the work that God is going to do in the six days of creation. Without form, meaning it has yet to have structure, and then void, meaning it has yet to be filled. And what does God do on days one, two, and three? He creates the great structures of the universe. And then what does God do on days four, five, and six? He fills those created structures with bodies, celestial bodies, living bodies, and finally on day six, the creation of man is the pinnacle of his creative activity. And so far from suggesting this chaotic evil mess, those two words, without form and void, are actually looking forward to the wonderfully structured narration that we have of God's creation of all things in the space of six days. We'll talk more about that as we actually get into the days of creation themselves. But verse two, brothers and sisters, it teaches us about the direction of the purpose of the creation of the earth. It is being prepared for the divine image-bearer. that the earth might be given to that image bearer, that he might exercise dominion at the command of God, that he might live upon this earth to worship his maker, to serve him, and to proclaim his glory to all the works of creation itself. Now, with all of that said, There's an extraordinary detail at the end of verse two that we need to pay careful attention to. Many people have commented on the fact that, well, when you go back to ancient mythologies and ancient cosmologies that speculate on the creation of the world by the hands of these various deities, often you'll find that there's an evil, chaotic mess that a deity sort of has to come and wrestle into submission. And we've already talked about how that is not the case in what is taking place here in the Book of Genesis. But there's an additional feature that makes God's account, God's own revealed account of creation, completely and utterly set apart from ancient mythologies. and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. What you do not have in this verse is a tribal deity who, faced with the overwhelming chaos of the darkness and the void, has to wrestle it into submission. You have the divine architect who has created the heavens and the earth, whose spirit now is close and is near, intimately near, hovering over the face of the waters. And Moses chooses the most wonderful and beautiful picture for this. That word, which we have translated here, hovering, it's only used, it's a very rare word, first of all, it's only used two other times in the Hebrew Bible. And the first time it occurs is the other time that Moses uses it in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 32. And I'm gonna go ahead and just read that verse. It's in the Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32, verse 11. And I'll back up a verse to verse 10. Moses is describing God's care for his people Israel. He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness, he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions. The Lord alone guided him. The eagle is hovering with its wings over its young. Same verb, Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2, that the Spirit of God is hovering over the face of the waters. The picture here is one of careful, watchful, intimate care. that in the same way that God broods over his people Israel and cares for them, so the Spirit of God here is hovering over the face of the waters, that this earth without form and void would be prepared and made ready for the divine image bearer. And this is why in the book of Job, There are these little places throughout the Old Testament where we have deep reflection on the Spirit's activity in the creation of the universe. Job chapter 33, verse four. This is Elihu speaking, not Job, but Elihu turns to Job and says, listen to me now, Job. My words declare the uprightness of my heart. My lips know they speak sincerely. The Spirit of God has made me. And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. So remember that question we had from verse one earlier. Okay, God created the heavens and the earth. Is he near? Does he have a relationship? What is it? Well, immediately, Genesis begins to answer that question. God is near. The Spirit of God is brooding intimately over the face of the waters that the earth might be made ready for the habitation of man. And we see this then throughout the Old Testament. The Spirit is there, giving gifts to God's people Israel that the kings might rule. that the judges might judge rightly, that the makers of the temple might be filled with gifts to build and beautify God's dwelling place among his people. And throughout the Old Testament, just as God brooded over the face of the waters, so he is with his people, building them up, making them beautiful. protecting them and leading them. And in the New Testament, when we think about this image of a brooding spirit, it doesn't diminish, it enters into its fullness. What is one of the very first things we encounter when we open up the pages of the New Testament? the Holy Spirit brooding, not now over the face of the waters, but over the womb of the Virgin Mary. You see that God might come in human flesh, that the Word might become flesh and dwell among us. The Bible, the Old Testament opens with the Spirit brooding over the waters of the earth without form and void, and the New Testament opens with the Holy Spirit making within the womb of the Virgin Mary our Savior, fulfilling all the promises of the Old Testament, and sending the Son to be born of a woman in the fullness of time. And then, in the rest of the New Testament, there is yet an even further and additionally glorious revelation of the Spirit's work. He not only brooded in the womb of the Virgin Mary to bring about the human life of our Savior, but He continues to brood over the church, giving us new life, regenerating us, sanctifying the human heart. Again, from Genesis 1-2 to the end of the Bible, this is what the Spirit does. He broods, He builds, He beautifies. He is the one who in the eternal plan of God comes to us and beautifies us, sent by the Father and the Son to be the one who raises us to new and everlasting life. Think about how gloriously and intimately Jesus speaks of the Spirit. On that eve of his betrayal, Now less than 24 hours from crucifixion, Jesus speaks about this blessed spirit. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. And we already read the passages from Paul, right? You don't have time to turn there and to go through them all, but Paul takes up everything the Bible has revealed about the glory of the Spirit. and under the inspiration of that same Spirit, shows us how it is the work of the Spirit within us that brings about a new creation. Jesus tells us He will dwell with us and He will dwell in us. And Paul teases that out and shows us what it truly means, that it is nothing less than the work of new creation in our hearts. Now turning back to Genesis 1.2, this is where the work of the Spirit begins in God's revelation to us of the creation of the universe. The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And as we conclude, brothers and sisters, You know, we may be thinking to ourselves at this point, well, that's all wonderful. And yes, it's amazing to look and to see how it is that the work of the Spirit is developed and brought out and further explained throughout the course of the Bible. But what does, how does that help me? Right? In a life where I am struggling against sin, where I am suffering, where I have struggles with my faith and doubts and pains and disappointments, how does the work of the Spirit, how does the brooding of the Spirit help me? Well, brothers and sisters, And the New Testament rejoices in this glorious fact. It is the Spirit brooding over the face of the waters that raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. And it is the Spirit that raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead that now dwells inside of you and brings you new life. It is none other than this brooding Spirit of Genesis 1.2 that is in you. As you have believed upon the Lord Jesus, He has sealed you with His Spirit for the day of redemption. He has united you to Himself in the bond, in the unbreakable and eternal bond of the Holy Spirit. And He is brooding over you as He brooded over the waters when the earth was without form and void. Are you too sinful? Is your heart too cold and hard? Well, yes, of course it is, and so is mine. But you see the power of the Spirit that brooded in Genesis chapter one and verse two. The power of the Spirit by whom the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The power of the Spirit by whom he was raised from the dead. There is nothing too hard from Him. He is the creator spirit. And the Lord Jesus has poured Him out into our hearts to keep us and to seal us for the day of redemption. Rejoice in Him. Rejoice in Him. And in all things and in all the anxieties of life, go to your Father. Jesus continues there at the end of John's gospel. And I know in the afternoon we will arrive, Lord willing, at the end of John's gospel in due time. But Jesus cannot stop speaking in those chapters about the work of the Spirit and what he means to us. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. I don't know if you've ever thought of the Spirit this way, but he is the divine homemaker, in whom and by whom the Father and the Son come and make their home with us. As he brooded over the earth in the first creation, so he broods over the church in the new creation. And he makes our very hearts to be a home for the Father and the Son, that our communion might be with all persons of the Holy Trinity. This is our hope, this is our joy, and this is our life. Let's pray together. Gracious heaven and Father, sin has corrupted the first creation. Our bodies are testimonies of this to us every day. Our sin our pain, our suffering, but you have brought about a glorious renewal. Yes, this first creation is passing away. The Spirit now, however, is brooding over yet a new creation. For if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. And yes, the outer man is passing away, but the inner man is growing stronger. The inner man is sealed for the day of redemption. The inner man is held fast by the power of the Spirit whom Jesus has sent to dwell within us. May this strengthen us through this veil of tears. For there is a new heavens and a new earth coming wherein righteousness dwells. We praise you for the Spirit and his work. We praise you, Lord God, that you will renew the face of the earth and that all will be righteousness and every tear will be wiped away. And we say, amen, come Lord Jesus. And we ask these things in his name, amen.