Lesson 1: God is the Creator
All Bible passages are from the New International Version. Zondervan Publishing
Before we start this lesson let’s make one thing clear; the Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is without error, and is inspired by God. Although written by men the words were chosen by God through the Holy Spirit.
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of
Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but
men spoke from God as they were carried along by the
Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:20-21
Also, the account of creation was written as history with God himself as eyewitness. It was not written as myth, fable or parable. Thus, we need to interpret the events found in Genesis as an actual historical account that happened in real time and space.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over
the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering
over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and
there was light. God saw that the light was good and he
separated the light from the darkness. God called the light
“day”, and the darkness he called “night”. And there was
evening and there was morning – the first day.
Genesis 1:1-5
God never tries to prove his own existence; he only states that which is obvious. There is a creation, thus there is a Creator God. God created time and space. Before this point there was nothing, only God. Earth being formless simply means that God created the raw material of what the earth would become. Before the formless earth could take shape, God had to create energy or what is stated as light. It is energy that holds atoms together. Now you have a planet called earth.
Watch short video clip. https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/creation/habitable-planet/
And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to
separate water from water.” So God made the expanse and
separated the water under the expanse from the water above it.”
And it was so. God called the expanse sky. And there was evening
and there was morning – the second day.
Genesis 1:6-8
Our planet earth was at this time covered by water. Have you ever wondered why the oceans have salt in the water? God created salt because of its’ cleansing properties. Salt keeps the water clean. 3.5 percent of the weight of seawater comes from the dissolved salts. By some estimates, if the salt in the oceans could be removed and spread evenly over the earths’ land surface it would form a layer of about 500 feet thick.
It would seem that God took a layer of that water and put it over the earth.
Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.
Psalm 148:4
Psalm 148:4 seems to testify to this. We can’t be certain if this water was liquid, ice or vapor. There are other planets and moons with some form of water surrounding them. The planet Venus is shielded by a vapor canopy so dense we cannot see through it to the surface. Saturn’s moon, Titan, also has a cold vapor canopy surrounding it.
God also put into place the earth’s atmosphere. This atmosphere had greater air pressure and 25% more oxygen. Breathing would be easier and you would heal quicker. You could also run farther because of the greater air pressure and increase oxygen.
Watch short clip.
https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/animals/communities/
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to
one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God
called the dry ground “land”, and the gathered waters he
called “seas”. And God saw that it was good. Then God said,
“Let the land produce vegetation; seed-bearing plants and
trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to
their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced
vegetation; plants bearing seed according to their kinds and
trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and
there was morning – the third day.
Genesis 1:9-13
God raised a single super continent above the oceans, and planted all sorts of vegetation on it. Most secular and biblical geologist believe that at one time there was one supercontinent called “Rodinia”. Biblical geologist believe that this supercontinent was the land that God created on Day 3. This supercontinent broke up at the time of the flood into the continents we see today.
Back to day 3… God created soil and thousands and thousands of species of plants and millions of individual plants, every blade of grass, every shrub, flower and tree.
Watch short video clip. How big is BIG?
And God said, ”Let there be lights in the expanse of the
sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve
as signs to mark seasons and days and years and let them
be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.”
And it was so. God made two great lights – the greater light
to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.
He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the
sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night,
and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it
was good. And there was evening and there was morning
-
the fourth day.
Genesis 1:14-19
Why did God put a moon where He did? Yes, the moon reflects the light from the sun to give us a “lesser” light at night, but it also serves to stabilize the earths’ rotation. When the earth rotates it wobbles slightly on its’ axis. The moon’s gravity holds the earth as it rotates and also keeps the earth from rotating too fast. And we all know about the moon’s gravitational pull on the world’s oceans producing tides.
The estimated number of stars that scientists have calculated is
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s 1 billion trillion) stars in the observable universe.
The galaxy that our earth resides in, the Milky Way galaxy has over 200 billion stars and is 100,000 light years in diameter. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year. Light travels 5.8 trillion miles in one year. It’s hard to imagine something that is 100,000 light years in diameter.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a large telescope that NASA launch in space in 1990. The Hubble is as long as a school bus and faces out toward space taking pictures of planets, stars and galaxies. All in all, this telescope reveals an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the universe. How did the scientists at NASA come up with 100 billion? This amazing piece of technology takes a picture or views an image, consisting of a region of space barely a thousandth of a square degree on the sky; so small it would take thirty two million of them to fill the entire sky. This incredibly small image shows an amazing 5,500 galaxies. Projecting this over the entire sky, we find that there are around 100 billion galaxies in what can be seen by the Hubble. The best way to explain this concept is to take a 2 inch by 2 inch post it note and put it on the wall. Pretend that this post it note is in the sky and the Hubble took a picture of just that size photograph. In just that size there are 5,500 galaxies. Now take that post it note and cover the entire sky with them. God is so powerful that creating all this was done with a spoken word.
Watch short video clip.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9dnTRPk0N4
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures and
let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” So
God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and
moving thing with which the water teems, according to their
kinds and every winged bird according to its kind. And God
saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “ Be fruitful
and increase in number and fill the water in the seas and let
the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening and
there was morning – the fifth day.
Genesis 1:20-23
Watch short video clips. https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/animals/desined-for-flight/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4OH6gMN6vY.
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures
according to their kinds; livestock, creatures that move
along the ground and wild animals, each according to
its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals
according to their kinds, the livestock according to their
kinds and all the creatures that move along the ground
according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:24-25
Watch short video clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrNds0ydBK0&t=42s
You probably never thought of a giraffe bending its neck down to drink water as God’s amazing design. The 25 pound heart is one of the largest in the animal kingdom and nearly double the blood pressure of nearly any other animal. Why doesn’t the giraffe pass out when he stoops down for a drink with all that blood rushing toward the brain? What should be a problem in reality is not. God designed the giraffe with jugular blood vessels in the neck that have a series of one-way check valves to hold back the blood from rushing to the brain when it lowers its head. These check valves also stop the blood from flowing away from the brain too quickly when it lifts its head again. Just in case some extra blood does reach the brain, a series of spongy tissue at the base of the brain soaks up any excess blood.
Watch short video clips.
https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/animals/chameleons/
Scroll to next page. Find Echolocation.
Then God said, ”Let us make man in our image, in our
likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and
the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of
God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26-27
After God created all the animals, God created mankind. People are not another animal; God created us separately in His image. What does that mean, in His image? Like God, we know the difference between good and evil. Like God we have feelings and emotions and we can respond to other people’s feelings and emotions. God comforts us and because we are made in His image we have the capacity to comfort others. God gets angry, frustrated and disappointed and so do we. God loves and forgives us and we have the capacity to love and forgive others. God uses His own creativity to create and because we are made in His image we have the capacity to use creativity to build bridges, buildings and washing machines. People continue to learn new things and to develop their talents and skills. Each generation taking the knowledge from the previous one and building on it.
Watch short video clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxfHMtgg2d8
Taking the intellect that God gave us, we invented the car. Each generation since that time has made a better car. We now have cars that have built in computers that tell us how to get to any destination we wish to go. Yes, other animals can create; beavers can build dams, termites build complicated nest with air vents to regulate temperature, birds make nest, some quite complex. But these animals do not use their own creativity. God gives them that ability by what we call instincts.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that
we should be called children of God! And that is what we
are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did
not know him.
1 John 3:1
God loves us and wants a relationship with us. We too can have a friendship with God. Animals were never created to love God, only people were. And God gives us a choice on whether we love Him or not. Because God made us in His image, we are different from the rest of creation. Remember that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, not the sins of animals. God promised salvation to us not animals.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase
in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of
the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature
that moves on the ground.” Then God said, ” I give you every
seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every
tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
And to all the beast of the earth and all the birds of the air
and all the creatures that move on the ground – everything
that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for
food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made and it
was very good. And there was evening and there was
morning – the sixth day.
Genesis 1:28-31
God gave Adam and Eve “every seed-bearing plant” as food. Only after the flood we were given permission to eat meat. Also, all the animals ate plants as well. Wait! What about all the animals that have sharp teeth for cutting meat? Those sharp teeth can also be used to eat plants.
Watch short video clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwkZnPfvC3s
The Panda is among many animals that have sharp teeth, yet eat only plants.
Why is the study of the creation important?
There was once a missionary that wanted to share the message of Jesus Christ to a people that had never heard of God sending His Son to die for mankind. This missionary started teaching these people with the story of Jesus found in the gospels. They were not understanding what the missionary was teaching them. He thought about what he was doing wrong. Then he realized his mistake; he was starting the story of God’s salvation in the middle. He needed to start at the beginning with a creator God, creation, Adam and Eve made perfect, and man’s rebellion against a holy God. It worked; the people started to understand. The missionary began the message with a foundation that was in Genesis. Once the foundation was learned, the gospel was plain and simple.
Another reason to study creation is to build a strong confidence in God’s Word and to answer questions skeptics ask.