Timeline: C is for Creation

We begin our timeline at no other spot than, well, the beginning. Here at the creation we are given God’s intent and desires for His work. Although we are only at the beginning, we will end up journeying to the end due to the plan of God being consistent from the very start. So let’s begin with the verse that starts off the word of God:

Genesis 1.1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The creation account in Genesis outlines the magnificent work that our God did for us. There are other passages in Psalms, Isaiah, and Job that give us even greater detail in the workings of God on creation. For the sake of this discussion, let’s focus on what we see in the first chapter of Genesis.

Starting on the first day, we see God proclaiming there to be light and then proceeding to give it the function to be, what is now called, the day. Equally, then giving the dark to be the night. Second day, God creates a space from earth where He places waters above from the waters below; in other words, the clouds in the sky. Third day we are introduced to the dry land, which is then filled with all the plants and trees with all their fruit. Fourth day the sun, moon and stars are made to give the function of day and night to the earth. Fifth day is filled with the creation of all the sea animals and birds in the air. Lastly, we have the sixth day of Gods creation. Here God makes all of the animals that dwell on the land and finally finishes with making humans.

Genesis 1.27

And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The creation of the man and woman (Adam and Eve) reveals one of the key reasons why God made everything: for a family. After creating Adam and Eve in His own image (as a child is in the image of their parents), He then gives all that He just created to them. God gave the fruit of the trees as their food and the authority over all the animals to His children.

Genesis 1.31

And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

God’s creation from the start was very good, meaning He was satisfied with what He had made. The plan that God had from the beginning was finally enacted and He was able to rest, or stop, from creating anything else because it was good.

Isaiah 45.18,19

18 For thus says Yahweh, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it a formless place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am Yahweh, and there is none else,

19 I have not spoken in secret, in some dark land; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a formless place’; I, Yahweh, speak righteousness, declaring things that are upright.”

Yahweh God is the creator alone who made everything; and, He made it for a purpose. It wasn’t made formless, but for it to be inhabited. Not just by His creations (humans and animals alike), but inhabited by Himself as well!

Genesis 3.8

Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst if the trees of the garden.

God was walking in the garden, enjoying His creation at the start. He was living with His family. Contextually, this is right after Adam and Eve sinned and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Often called the fall of mankind, we see the heartbreaking moment when God is rejected by His creation to His face. They chose their own desires rather than the love God gave and deserves to receive. But this didn’t change God’s plan for creation.

Psalm 132.13,14

13 For Yahweh has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation.

14 “This is my resting place forever; here I will inhabit, for I have desired it.”

Psalm 68.16

Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, at the mountain which God has prized for His habitation? Surely Yahweh will dwell there forever.

After the rejection of God by His family, He left the earth; but not forever. His desire is to return and to dwell back where He once was; the earth. This is his resting place forever! Not alone, though. God’s plan is not to be alone but to have a loving family with Him.

Ephesians 1.3-5

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4 just as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love,

5 by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

God had a plan from the beginning to bring His creation back as His family. He gave His son so that we can be adopted back as children of His. God predestined this plan before even forming the world. Now God is patiently waiting for all who will choose Him, rather than themselves, in order to be with Him on the earth as His family.

Revelation 21.3,4

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things passed away.”

Even though we are looking at creation, we are jumping around the timeline (even to the end) to see what the summation of everything will be; because, God has not changed His motives for His creation. God created the world for a place to live, likewise created humanity for a family to love and be loved by. Although His creation initially rejected Him, God’s plan was forward thinking, enacting a way for His creation to come back to Him; to come back into His family. Then when all who will choose God and love him is done, God will return to earth to be with His family forever! Just as He had planned from the very beginning.

So we begin at creation, not only because that is the start of everything, but because it is where we see the purpose God had from the beginning revealed: a home and a family. Continue on with the series to the Flood where we see the judgment of God on the world then, echoing the judgment that is to come on the world present.

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