Introduction The world we live in is breathtaking and complex. The glory of it all points to Something/Someone greater than ourselves. Who is this Creator who hung the sun, moon, and stars? What does the story of creation in Genesis tell us about the Creator’s character?
Genesis was written to help us know the Truth about God. The creation story reveals the character of God and the life He offers us. If you want to know God and why we are here, you can find out by studying the story of creation in Genesis.
Genesis 1:14-19
14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.
On the fourth day, God created the sun, moon, and stars.
Before we go any further, we need to consider the magnitude of this claim. The Greeks and Romans and many others civilizations saw the sun, moon and stars and believed they were gods. It is no wonder. One cannot help but be in awe of these mysterious heavenly bodies floating across our sky. However, Genesis claims that even these heavenly bodies are a creation of the One, True, and Living God.
This was an amazing testament to the early readers of Genesis about the power and majesty of God. The Moon has a mass of approximately 81 Quintillion Tons. Yet it travels around the earth at the blazing speed of 2,288 miles per hour. At this speed, it still takes a little under 28 days to go all the way around the earth.
Our Sun is even more impressive. The sun looks small to us because it is 93 million miles away. It’s so far away it takes about 8 minutes for sunlight to reach us. It’s a good thing it is so far away or we would be incinerated. The surface of the sun is 10,000 degrees F, but that’s nothing. The core of the sun is believed to reach 27,000,000 degrees F! The sun is huge! If the Sun were a hollow ball, it would take 1 million earths to fill it up!
Genesis makes a stunning claim. The creation of the sun, moon, and stars was no big deal for God. He simple said, “Let lights appear in the sky…” Psalm 33:6 puts it this way, “The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.” Wow…
The sun is only one of the gazillion stars in space. There are so many stars in the Milky Way galaxy that if we counted one star every second it would take 2,500 years to count them all! *The Milky Way galaxy is so large, it would take 100,000 years to cross it if we could travel at the speed of light – 186,000 miles per second.
If our whole solar system—the sun with its 9 orbiting planets---was the size of a quarter, the Milky Way Galaxy would be the size of the North American Continent. Where is the quarter? All this God breathed into existence, but it gets even more mind boggling.
The Milky Way galaxy is only one among a hundred billion other galaxies—each galaxy filled with hundreds of billions of stars with orbiting planets! This is a composite picture of the known universe. Somewhere inside there is a dot that is the Milky Way galaxy. Somewhere inside that tiny dot is our solar system of the sun and 9 planets… “The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born…” How great is our God!
The sun, moon, and stars point us to God.
Genesis tells us God created these “lights” to be signs for us. Through them, we know the time of day and the seasons. But the sun, moon, and stars can guide us to even deeper understanding.
The Prophet Isaiah said in 40:25-26 – “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.”
When we see the sun, moon, and stars, it gives us a sense of the magnitude of God’s power. It reminds us how big God is and how small we are. This—if anything—should cure us of our selfish misunderstanding that life is all about us. And yet, the Bible also tells us God knows exactly how many hairs you have on your head (Luke 12:7). God is infinite enough to create a universe too big for us to comprehend and yet He is personal enough to be interested in every single hair and the DNA inside every cell of your body!
God gives us guides so we can know Him.
All of Creation guides us to know God. As Romans 1:20 says, “Ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
However, God doesn’t stop with astrological and natural witnesses. God goes even further. He gives us people to guide us to Him. Think about your own life. There have probably been people who have taught you, inspired you, encouraged you, and helped show you the way. Do you realize that God put these people in your life to help you? God wants you to know Him and He often uses special people to help you. You will probably never know how many prayers have been said on your behalf by people who care about you?
God also gave us the Bible to guide us to Him. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” The Bible is an amazing tool to help you know God. Everything you need to know for salvation is written there. Even more amazing, the Bible is the Living word of God. That means you can read it as God speaking to you at this very moment. If you open your heart to hear God’s voice, you can hear Him guiding you in your moment of need.
The greatest guide God gives us so we can know Him is Jesus Christ…
We can look at creation and know that there is a God and that He is incredible and that we are so small. But God sent Jesus so that we can know for sure that this incredible God is deeply concerned about us. John 3:16 says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Imagine, God made a universe that is 96 billion light years in diameter. (It would take 96 billion years for a beam of light to get from one side of the universe to the other). We cannot even comprehend how incredible God is, and yet He is so interested in you that He sent His one and only son to personally guide you to know God.
You might be thinking, “A God like that could never be interested in me.” YES HE IS! He would do anything to have a personal relationship with you! He has done everything to have a personal relationship with you. The only thing left is for you to choose to have a relationship with God.
Invitation
On behalf of this incredible God, I have the privilege today of inviting you to have a relationship with the One, True, and Living God of the Universe. The One who made it all, invites you to choose a relationship with Him. Why don't you pray to Him right now? You don't have to use any special words. Simply talk to Him the way you would talk to a loving father. He'll listen and understand.
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