God-Centered, Man-Sensitive - Genesis 1:6–19

When a baby is on the way, parents make all kinds of preparations in the home. They clear a room in the house, they paint and decorate the room, and then they fill the room with things like a crib, a rocking chair, toys, diapers and so on. As the child grows, more is done to prepare the home. Electrical outlets are covered, cabinet doors are latched, dangerous or valuable objects are put out of reach, and baby gates are installed.

If you’ve done these things or observed them, you might think that a place where all this is done is a baby-centric home. You might wonder, “Does this entire household revolve around this little child?” For parents of a newborn or a young child, it can feel that way sometimes! But there is always more going on than simply the raising of the child.

Someone goes to work to earn a living, not just to support the child, but to support the household. There’s a marriage that existed before the child came along and will exist after the child grows up and leaves home. There may be other children at home as well. You see, the home shouldn’t be child-centered, but it must be child-sensitive, because children have certain, specific needs.

We know that the home should be God-centered, and under that, it should be family-centered, and even in that atmosphere the marriage relationship must be prioritized. A truly child-centric home would be harmful, not helpful, for the child. Why? Well, a child needs to learn that the outside world will not revolve around him or her. The world God made does not function in that way.

A parent might argue, “Well, I want my child to feel loved.” But God does not communicate love by placing us in an environment that revolves around us. The world in which we live, the world which God created within the universe He made, is not man-centered, although it is often treated that way.

But at the same time, our world is man-sensitive. God has demonstrated that He is aware of what we need to survive on the earth. Genesis 1 shows us how God created the man-sensitive world in which we live. Like parents with a new baby on the way, God has prepared a place for us to live and He filled it with the things we need.

But with the entrance of sin into the world, we naturally have a man-centered response to the world God made. We’ve read and sung and prayed about our sin already this morning. The effects of sin are evident in numerous ways in our lives, and I would propose to you that one effect is that we have a hard time grasping that something could be prepared for us and address our needs and benefit us and be a blessing to us without being all about us.

We quickly grow entitled and feel that our wants and desires are central. Isn’t selfishness the source of so much of the anger and sadness in our world? Isn’t it the source of so much conflict? But according to the Scriptures, the universe in which we live is not ultimately about us or even for us. In Colossians 1 in the NT, the apostle Paul writes about Jesus Christ, and he says, “all things were created through Him and for Him.” In other words, for His purposes. All things find their ultimate meaning in Him; we live in a God-centered world. But by nature, we are hopelessly self-centered, and there is enmity or hostility between us and God.

And yet God has responded even with a salvation that is God-centered yet man-sensitive. In the person and work of Jesus, God meets our need for redemption and deliverance from sin and death. In Jesus, God reconciles us to Himself. We have peace with God through Jesus.

By the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, God makes us a new creation. He enables us to turn from sin and put faith in the righteous work of Jesus Christ. And then, throughout the rest of our lives, Jesus rules over His people by His Word and Spirit, and as we look to Him, He transforms our desires and behavior, re-making us as God intends for us to be, making us increasingly God-centered, in line with His holy will and living to glorify Him.

We should aim to grow more and more God-centered in how we respond to God and to the world around us. But how can we begin to do that? There’s an outline on page 6 in your WG that begins to answer that question. Today’s verses in Genesis 1 help us, revealing two things about our God-centered, man-sensitive world. God prepares for us a place which accommodates us but does not revolve around us, and God fills the place He prepares with what will sustain us but does not ultimately exist for us. As we see and understand these things, God will transform us into a God-centered people. So let’s look at these together.

Look at verse 6 again, “And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’” This expanse is often called a “firmament.” Apparently, after God created the expanse, there was then water above it, water below it, and a space between. The expanse itself refers perhaps to the atmosphere, or the sky, or both the atmosphere and sky, although the Hebrews understood it to be some kind of solid mass.

Certainly, there is a space between the ground and what’s above us, with things staying down here and up there. But while the exact nature of the firmament is not entirely clear to us, what the writings of Moses demonstrated for the Israelites and for us today is that God exercised absolute control over the waters.

Look at verse [7], “And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse (that would be oceans, rivers, seas, etc.) from the waters that were above the expanse.” Was the firmament a solid mass of some kind, like a roof holding up a great body of water over the sun, moon, and stars? Apparently so.

There are various opinions on what this means, but a solid mass is what is described. And what we see God doing is preparing a place where mankind can dwell. Remember that verse 2 states that once God made the universe, the earth was entirely water. In the Scriptures, the sea is often associated with danger. It’s not a stable place for humans. There are storms and waves; it is deep and wide. The earth in its pre-land state was not a place humans could live.

Notice verse [8], “And God called the expanse Heaven.” Now, here “Heaven” refers to the sky. I had a seminary professor who pointed out that in the Scriptures, “heaven” can refer to one of three things: where the birds are, where the stars are, and where the risen Jesus Christ is. Verse 8 says that God called the firmament “sky,” “And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”

God was preparing a place for His people, but what’s missing? There’s nowhere to stand yet! But notice verse [9], “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.” Regardless of what scientists observe about the earth and the changes it has undergone over time, God performed these actions instantaneously, and the assumption here is that they actually took place. By His powerful word, “God said...And it was so.”

In the Hebrews manuscripts, we see more evidence that this is the case. Those who study ancient languages observe a special marking in the Hebrews writings that they call the “vav consecutive.” It is a small but easily distinguishable mark that is present throughout historical accounts but almost never seen in poetry. It looks like a little backwards lowercase “r.” The mark is placed in sentences periodically to communicate that the events described took place in a sequence. In the OT Scriptures, some parts are history, such as Genesis; some are poetry, such as the Psalms.

Recently, we finished reading the book of Joshua in worship, which tells the history of the Israelites before and after they entered the Promised Land of Canaan. The entrance into Canaan is not a metaphor; it’s not figurative language. The point is that those things actually took place.

And so the vav consecutive is present throughout Joshua, 4x in chapter 1, 20x in chapter 2, and so on throughout the book. In Genesis, in chapter 1 alone, the vav consecutive marking is present 51 times. Moses presented this information as events that actually happened as he describes. Again, regardless of what scientists observe about the earth and the changes it has undergone over time, God separated the waters to form the sky and the land instantaneously.

Notice verse [10], “God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.” God made a place for earthly creatures to eventually live and prosper. It is interesting though, there’s no indication that the land needed people. It was already good in God’s eyes. Put differently, the Earth, Seas, and Heavens brought God joy, ultimately because they brought Him glory. God prepared a place for mankind which would accommodate us but does not revolve around us. It is good in God’s eyes apart from us.

Much later in time, Jesus would speak about preparing a place for His people. In the gospel of John, Jesus tells His disciples He is leaving, that He will be put to death and one of them would betray them. They were understandably upset. But in John 14, the Lord told His disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Jesus was returning to a God-centered place; He was returning to the Father, to Heaven.

There, God is recognized for who He is. That’s often not the case here and now, is it? In Heaven, God is worshipped as He should be. That is why, when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He said, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It makes sense that Heaven is God-centered; do you realize that Earth is God-centered as well? We exist and all of human history plays out under His control, according to His plans, for His glory.

Do you do what you do with a sense of God’s glory? Do you ask God to help you see the world in that way? This is how even good things can be contaminated by sin, when we work and play and rest with self at the center and God’s glory and a side note. Heaven, like Earth, is man-sensitive, but it is God-centered.

Now look at verse 11. “And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.’ And it was so.” God prepares a place for us, and He fills the place He prepares. Again, instantaneous creation by God’s powerful word.

Verse [12] says, “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.” There’s a great deal of repetition in the creation account. In Hebrew writings, this was done for emphasis. When we see a phrase repeated, we should pay special attention to the phrase and what it means. Moses is emphasizing that God built into these plants the ability to reproduce themselves.

The wording indicates that all plant life was created at that time. God obviously had the future in mind. Plants would need to make more plants, which would benefit mankind. But notice the rest of verse 13, ”And God saw that it was good. [13] And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.” The plants also brought glory to God before human life was created. God was filling the place He prepared with what would sustain us but does not ultimately exist for us. Romans 11 says, “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever.” Like the creation of the land and the bodies of water, the creation of plants is man’s future provision to the glory of God alone.

Question 11 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism gives an excellent summary of the Bible’s teaching on providence. It says, What are God's works of providence? God's works of providence are his most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions. God was not haphazard in His work of creation. He was systematic; He was intentional. We speak often about the plan of God. The separation of land and water, and the creation of self-reproducing plants, were the plans of God and they foreshadowed additional plans.

But He’s not done. Look at verse 14.“And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, [15] and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. Up until this tie, the light of God’s holy presence lit up the world. Now God creates these celestial bodies to give light.

Notice the summary of God’s work in the next verses: [16] “And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.” The Israelites had lived for generations in Egypt. They were very familiar with the false gods worshiped by the Egyptians. Like other pagan cultures at that time, the Egyptians believed in many gods, the greatest of which was Ra, the Sun God.

For the Egyptians, the sun was the god Ra and the Pharaoh was thought to be the son of Ra. What Moses is telling the Israelites is that there is no Ra, there is only one true God. The sun is not a living being, but rather, another thing created by God with a certain function. Like plants, humans need the sun. The sun and moon have key roles in our ecosystem. But like the plants, they brought glory to God in and of themselves while also being part of the preparation for mankind.

Notice verses 17 and 18, “And God set them (literally, God gave them) in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, [18] to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. [19] And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. God filled the Earth with plants and luminaries for the benefit of man. But, again, it is right to say that they do not ultimately exist for us. They do sustain us, but they exist for the same reason we exist -- to glorify the living God.

It’s wrong to think and act as though everything revolves around us. We will see next week, as God creates man and woman, that we do have a special role in creation, and humans are different from the other creatures, made in God’s image and entrusted with a degree of dominion over the earth. And we are made for a special relationship with God. But the earth is a God-centered place.

What is your attitude toward those things with which God has filled the earth? All the things you have and enjoy - why do you think those things exist? Your job, your home, your school, your hobbies - why do those things exist? Do you see how out of sync you are with God’s will when you pour yourself into your work, or escape to the outdoors without a sense of God’s glory in your heart? God provided those things to sustain you, but they do not ultimately exist for you.

The work of creation was God centered but man sensitive; so is the work of salvation. God is preparing a place for His people - a place with no more sin, no pain, no suffering or strife. No danger, no fear. No doubts and depression. No sleepless nights. No loneliness. How can this be? It is because when God prepares that place, He fills it with His glorious presence. God fills that eternal place with Himself. Eternity with God will accommodate our every need and will sustain us forever, but like the universe in which we live now, eternity with God will not revolve around us or exist for us.

At the end of the NT, in Revelation 21, the apostle John describes the vision God gave him of the end of time on this earth, when Jesus returns to gather His people, and to judge sin,and to renew the earth as a dwelling place for His people. John writes, [1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

There is no hope of enjoying that eternal place with God apart from Jesus Christ. Do you know Him?

Let’s bow in prayer.