So we are in Chapter 4 of the Confession of Faith tonight, Chapter 4 of Creation. The last two weeks when we met, we were talking about the decree of God, which is His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His own will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. And starting this week and into February, we'll shift our focus to not what is God's decree, but how does God execute his decree? How does God execute his decree? And the Shorter Catechism would say it this way, God executed his decrees in the works of, does anybody know? Creation and Providence. and providence so tonight we're looking at creation and then next month we'll get into providence chapter four as you see if you're looking in the hymnal on page 922 or if you have your own copy of the confession is only two paragraphs so we should be able to cover them both tonight and just to kind of give you a broad sketch of where we're going tonight paragraph one deals with god's work and creation in general talking about all of the created order. And then chapter two gives special attention to the creation of mankind specifically. So again, paragraph one, creation in general. Paragraph two, mankind specifically. And in both cases, the confession is summarizing the Bible's teaching on the who, what, when, and why, and how of creation. So we'll start, and I'll just read for us paragraph one. It pleased God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness in the beginning to create or make of nothing the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good. So, T-ball question for you guys. Who created all things? Or maybe to put it in very familiar language for most of you, I hope, who made you? God. Very good. You guys did your children's catechism. And can we be more specific than God? Well, that's the next question, but more specific than God. Yeah. The Father. Just the Father? The Son and the Holy Ghost. The creation of the world is a triune event. Now the confession says it involves all three. And so let's open our Bibles and we can see that for those of you that have your Bible with you, or I will permit cell phones this time. Genesis chapter one, because it's important that you see this. Genesis chapter one, verses one to three. 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. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And hopefully this is going to be familiar to a lot of you, but it might be new to some of you. What I'm gonna argue is that all three members of the Trinity, are open, present, and active in the opening three verses of the Bible. All three members of the Trinity are right there in Genesis 1, 1 to 3. What's interesting is that the Hebrew noun for God here is plural, but all of the verbs are singular. And so what we have is the one being of God, expressed in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the three persons of God, all working in unison in concert. And so when the Bible says God created the heavens and the earth, what we see is that God the Father is front and center. Usually when there's just a reference to God generically undefined, it's speaking of the Father. Then we see the Spirit very clearly delineated, the Spirit of God in verse two. And how did God create? How does God create things? Well, the shorter catechism would say it's by the word of his power. God speaks the word and things come to be. Now, there's a parallel passage to Genesis 1 that is in the New Testament that interprets creation for us. Does anybody know what that might be? Ford. John 3.16. John 3.16. Right book. John 1. John 1. Yeah, there you go. 1, 1 to 3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. That's John 1, 1 to 3. And we know, of course, later in that prologue of John that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So the Word is the Lord Jesus. So we've got the Father speaking, the Son, in a sense, being spoken. He is the Word that is spoken. And then the Spirit accomplishing things according to the Word of the Father. And this is broadly supported across the New Testament. I'm just going to give you guys some references here. The creation in the New Testament is attributed directly to the Father. 1 Corinthians 8 says, So in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul is attributing creation to the work of the Father, from whom, that's the Father, all things are. Everything that is comes from Him. But then the creation is also attributed to the Son, and we just talked about that in John chapter one. In the beginning was the Lord, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and without Him, without the Son, was not anything made that was made, which means everything that was made was done by Him. And then the Holy Spirit is, has the work of creation attributed to him in Job chapter 33 and verse 4. It says, the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. So the creative act is attributed to the Spirit of God as well. So we see all three people are present. Now, you might wonder, because we did Job a couple of weeks ago on Sunday School, and I said Job is about 30 chapters of bad advice. And that's true. But these words in Job chapter 33 in verse four are spoken by the only person in the whole book that God doesn't rebuke. They're spoken by Elihu. He's the one out of all the main characters that God doesn't expressly rebuke. So we can take his word on it that the spirit of God deserves credit and creation. So that's the who. Who created all things? The triune God. Now, what did God make? Again, going back to the children's catechism, what else did God make? All things. You guys are on it. And again, we see from Genesis 1 that God made the heavens and the earth. And this is an expression that delineates more than just the heavens and the earth, but it's the idea of He made the heavens and the earth, and then everything in between. It's the whole gamut, the whole spectrum. Everything that there is between heaven and earth was made by God. And we see this, again, made plain in the New Testament. Somebody please read for me Colossians chapter 1, 15 to 17. Colossians 1, 15 to 17. Ms. Barringer, go forth. "...who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Alright, so Paul there is writing of the Lord Jesus, and note some of those words that he uses. all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. So everything that exists, whether you can see it or not, he created. Whether thrones or dominions, or what's the next one? Rulers or authorities. So, not just physical things, but like a dominion. A geographic boundary, is that like a real tangible thing that you can put your fingers on, or do we just have lines on a map that we kind of generally respect? God establishes those. The concepts of rules, dominions, authority, it all flows from Him. And so that's what I'm saying when I say God made not just heaven and earth, but everything that exists in this created order, whether we can see it or not, whether we can touch it or not, it all flows from Him. So that's the who, the triune God, and the what is He created the heavens and the earth. Now, when? And this is where we'll spend a fair bit of time tonight. He did it in the beginning, right? That's what the text says. That's what the passage says. The beginning of time was the creation of the world. And more specifically, and to the point, in the space of six days. in the first six days. Now this idea of creation being in the space of six days is a really thorny and controversial issue even in our own denomination. The PCA, which is our denomination, actually allows for four different views of creation, which is a little alarming. but they allow for four. And I'm going to just briefly explain three of them because two of those four are so similar that for me to break down what was different about them would take about 25 minutes. So it's easier to just lump them together. All right, just for the sake of simplicity. So we're going to, we're going to talk about these different views. And by the way, the idea that that God made everything in six regular days, six 24 hour days, which is the view that our church holds, which is the view that our, Presbytery holds, and I would say is the view the Bible argues for, is probably the most widely taken exception to the Westminster standards in our denomination. And a lot of people don't think that's a big deal, but it is, and we'll talk about it. The first alternative view is something called framework hypothesis. Framework hypothesis. And what this view does is that essentially it looks at Genesis 1, And it recognizes there's some manner of rhythmic organization going on here, which is true, by the way. But then they say, therefore, this is a poetic passage and is not meant to be taken at face value. Now, let me show you one thing that they'll point to. And you may or may not have seen this before. I trust everyone here has read Genesis 1 several times. We all start our read the Bible through in a year plan, and we do well on the first day. We get through Genesis 1 to 3, and then we see how it goes from there. So we've all hopefully read Genesis 1 a couple of times. Let me just point something out to you that, again, this is something you want to be aware of, because it is a legitimate point. Just where they go with it isn't real. So day one, God makes what? Does anybody know? You're allowed to look at your Bible. All right, day two, what's he make? Uh, air. The sea, the waters. Let the expanse come out of the ground. All right, day three, what's he make? Sun, moon, stars. Nope. Land. Land. So we have three kind of, we'll call these environments, per se. And then what's he make on day three? Sun, moon, and stars. Day four? No, no, sorry. Didn't he make... Didn't he make... Day four, you're right. I'm sorry, I wrote three twice. I got off on my... Didn't he make plants first? Nope. Day five, he makes what? Plants? Ocean creatures? The plants are counted as part of the land making. Oh! Yeah. Right, sea creatures, yeah. And then, what's he make on day four? So you see, they're recognizing there's a literary framework parallel, yeah. What did the sea go on if there was no land? What did the sea go on if there was no land? The gravity. The Bible doesn't necessarily tell us. I can give you how I've always read it, but we're not, we don't know for sure. Yeah, question? How did God make light and dark? Because darkness is the absence of light. So he distinguishes the light from the darkness. God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light and that it was good. And he separated the light from the darkness. So we're talking about day and night, essentially there. He's dividing the two. Well, the Bible says in revelation 22, that there will be no more sun and the Lord himself will be our light. The Bible says in John chapter one, that in Christ is light. And that light is the light of men. So there is light that exists before he creates the sun, moon, and stars. Yes? So did he just make the rest of the planets along with sun, moon, and stars? That's one theory. That's not the focus of the text, but that's one idea. Another one is that there's a gap some people see between verses two and three where everything else is made. I don't necessarily buy into that. I think it's more likely what you're talking about. Those are not the point of it. I'll take one more. Do you think that the land on the sixth day Yes. Yeah. So the point is though, that people will take this kind of framework structure of forming environments and then filling them with things. That grows their question. Okay. The point is that people will take this idea of there's, there's these environments and then they're filled and they'll say, see, there's this poetic rhythm to it and therefore the passage is not to be taken at face value when they say six days. And therefore the passage is not to be taken at face value when they say six days. Now I want to say this is actually true. This is the rhythm of the text, but just because you find order in an account does not make a poem out of it. Okay. I, at the beginning of this lesson, gave y'all the outline of where I'm going, and now I'm trying to fill that outline in. That doesn't mean I intend you to take me metaphorically or poetically while I'm up here. I don't think I'm speaking Shakespeare. So just because you recognize form doesn't change the issue. The second view that's an alternative to six normal 24-hour days is called the day-age view. And what this does is it takes Genesis 1 as a historic account, And instead of day meaning regular 24-hour day, as we would understand it when we say today, yesterday, the next day, whatever, they take it to mean day as in a long period of time. Day as in an age or an epoch, right? And so they're going to say all of this happened in the order, all of it happened just like it says in Genesis 1, except day suddenly means millions of years or thousands of years or whatever. Now, they will point to there is biblical warrant, and this is true, for taking that word day and applying it to a period of time. So, for example, Ruth chapter 1 verse 1 says that this story takes place in the day, or in the days, rather, when the judges ruled Israel. And so there is use of the word that way in the Bible. The problems come in with then, well, what do you do with, in Genesis 1, where it says, and then there was morning and evening the first day, and then there was morning and evening the second day, and then there was morning and evening, morning and evening, and that rhythm. What does that mean when we're differentiating periods of time? They don't define that, it doesn't make any, I would say that morning and evening rhythm is trying to communicate to us, as we understand day. Further, and this is probably too in the weeds for you guys, but I'm gonna throw it out there anyway, Whenever the term yom, which is the Hebrew word for day, is used, and there's a number affixed to it, it always means, so when it's in that construction, everywhere else, it always means normal 24-hour day. And so that really, I think, is kind of a death blow for that argument. And then, finally, I actually already hit that point, I just did them out of order. Finally, the correct view is that Genesis 1 means what it seems to mean. Six 24-hour days. Question? What was the word again? What was what word? The Hebrew word? Yom. The final view, and I would say the correct view, is Genesis 1 means what it seems to mean. Six 24-hour days. The only thing that makes that difficult is if you forget that we're talking about the work of an almighty, all-powerful, eternal God. He can do that. He has that ability so to do. And if you neglect to take that factor in, then yes, I can see that it's very difficult to imagine everything that exists coming into creation within the span of six days. But when you keep that factor in play, it's suddenly abundantly possible. Why does this matter? And by that, I don't mean, why does it matter that God created all things? What I mean is, why does it matter that we understand this to mean six days and not six ages? Why is that significant? Why is it that a man that comes for ordination in Calvary Presbytery and has the day age view is going to be told, you need to study some more and come back to us? because that tells you a lot about how somebody reads the Bible. And what I mean by that is, you could plausibly read Genesis 1 with the day-age view. You could do it. You could fit that understanding into the text. But our approach is not to see, what can I fit into the Bible? Our approach is supposed to be, what can I get out of the Bible? Those are not the same thing. We're not supposed to ask, what views can I shoehorn in here? What can I make room for? But rather, if this is my final authority, what does it say? Those are the two options, and that's why it matters. The Bible plainly teaches six 24-hour days. So we've got that down then. That's what paragraph one is saying as far as the who, what, and the when. Why did God make you and all things? For his own glory. The confession says, for the manifestation of his glory. Is this a clarification question? Let's see. Okay, so given that it's a six day week for the creation week, Right so that's a question that's way beyond the parameters of what we're doing tonight, but I'll answer it in brief You have to remember Is science's job to tell you what happened in history or how something works? Primarily. Can you go back in time and observe creation and test it and retry it again? You can't. That's not the role of science. That's not its job. Science's job is to tell us how things work. So we can say, based on what we see now, things may appear to have X age, whatever that might be, whatever you want to insert in there. But that's a guess. How are we as Christians to interpret the age of things? I think Ken Ham does some good work at that and give some plausible theories. And beyond that, I don't have, that's not my, that's not my field of study. And I'm sorry, I can't give you more than that. But, um, anyway, and the point you make, by the way, about Adam being created as an adult male is significant in this debate as well. because God has demonstrated that he did make things, specifically people, the pinnacle of his creation, fully developed and formed. Therefore, what's to prohibit making other parts of the created order with apparent age and moving forward from that? We don't know the starting point, so we can't tell exactly how old it is, though I think is the bottom line there. All right, so God made all things for his own glory, or the confession says the manifestation of his own glory. And the point there is, God didn't make all things because there was something lacking in him. He didn't make all things because he was somehow deficient in glory and needed a creation to give it to him. Rather, he made it as a demonstration of his glory, a manifestation. I really think that's an important concept. And to help illustrate what I'm getting at here, let's see. Chase, who's your favorite music artist? I don't know. Weezer. I too think Weezer is brilliant. Now here's a question. Was Weezer musically talented before they released the Blue Album? Right, so the Blue Album is a demonstration, is an evidence, a manifestation of that talent. Does that make sense? Same idea you could apply to a famous artist. Was Michelangelo a great artist before he painted the Sistine Chapel? Yes, that's why he was able to do it. Does that make sense? The same idea here is God did not create creation to get glory, but to manifest, to demonstrate, to show forth his glory. So now, how did he do it? He did it by the word of his power. He spoke, and it was. He said, be, and it was so. So that's the creation account in paragraph one. And we will try and do paragraph two very quickly of man. So let me just read that for us. Paragraph two. After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his own image, having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing. being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change. Besides this law written in their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which they kept, which while they kept, they were happy in their communion with God and had dominion over the creatures. And so again, we'll try and tackle these who, what, when, and how questions together. We'll go ahead and pair, just for the sake of time, who and what together. Who is, again, God. What did God make? In this case, he made mankind. Genesis 1 gives a general account. Genesis 2 gets a little bit more specific. Look at Genesis 2, verse 7. Genesis two verse seven, it says, then the Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature. And then skip down to verse 22 and this is the creation of woman and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. The language is very significant here. He uses different words to describe the creation of man and woman from each other, and also from everything else. Derek Kidner notes that these two verbs, formed and breathed, have a balance to them. Formed expresses the relation of a craftsman to material, with implications of both skill and sovereignty. In other words, God carefully formed and fashioned the man. with an, I don't wanna say intentionality as if to imply he wasn't intentional with the others, but more intimately, more directly, more focused. This was a special work. And then we also see the word that he uses for woman in 222, it says in your ESV, made, which is correct, but it's hard to bring into the English language what the Hebrew is getting across there. It's a very special word. Speaking of making with the sense of beauty really is the closest thing I could put it to. It's the same word that's used in Psalm 78 and verse 69 that describes the Lord making his sanctuary. Or it's the same word that's used in Amos chapter 9 where it describes the Lord building his heavenly courts. This is the most beautiful, the most splendid part of creation. He uses that same word to describe the forming of woman, which is, the point is this, is there's a very special significance to both man and woman that there is not in the rest of creation. And he has a very, important purpose for that creation. Why did God create mankind? And we'll end on this. And note, I'm not saying what is man's purpose in the world, or what is woman's purpose in the world. Each gender has their own unique roles and functions to carry out, but I'm speaking corporately for all of mankind. God made us. in his own image, that we might commune with him. That's what the confession talks about, that they would enjoy communion and fellowship with God, and that we would have dominion over the creation. That is that we would rule and reign as his representatives, or you might put it this way, God made human beings that we might glorify him in our work, whatever that might be. Whether that's, some of you guys have part-time jobs, whether that's in your schoolwork, whether that's in duties and responsibilities at home, relations to one another, friends, whatever that might be, that you might glorify Him in that, and that you might enjoy Him in worship forever. That's what the idea is here when it talks about enjoying communion with God, that we might dwell with Him. That's what we come to do on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings, that we might enjoy fellowship with God in a unique and special way. It's what we were made for. Let me pray for us. God in heaven, I give thanks to you for your work of creation and how it's carrying out your decree that you might receive all glory from it. I know that this is a familiar topic for a lot of us. It's something that this church is very strong on and I pray, Lord, That while it might be familiar, that it would not be taken for granted. That we would appreciate the glory that your created order manifests of you. Indeed, the psalmist says, the heavens declare the glory of God. And may we always appreciate and rejoice in that fact. In Christ's name we pray, amen.