Genesis 1  By Jack Nattress

I thought tonight we would now just have things a little bit different, change is sometimes good and I thought that we'd just speak as if you were, say, students in a bible college and you are, as the Christians, the disciples, but anyhow, I'm just going to teach and sort of begin at Genesis some things and you'll see, especially some of you younger ones, I dare say some of you might see a bible college sometime and I'll try and give you the kind of things that you'll have to know and memorize and sort of put together, at least the way I would do it.
So put in it, remember it as God's word and it'll do us good and even the first chapter of Genesis contains the gospel, faces us up with the responsibility of being a man or a woman of God.
Now we'll begin at Genesis and we'll read a good portion of this chapter.
Now in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light and God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness and God called the light day and the darkness he called night and the evening and the morning were the first day and God said that let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters and God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so and God called the firmament heaven and the evening and the morning were the second day and God said let the waters under the heaven be gathered together under one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and God called the dry land earth and the gathering together the waters called he sees and God saw that it was good and God said let the earth bring forth grass the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in itself upon the earth and it was so and the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind of this tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind and God saw that it was good and the evening and the morning were the third day and God said let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth and it was so and God made two great lights and greater light the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the stars also and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the And to rule over the day, and over the night, and to buy the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good.
Now may the Lord bless those verses to us, and it will be enough for our reading.
Now as we said, we just want to, as we're teaching from this book, this book of Genesis,
and of course Genesis means beginning, since the book of origins, or beginnings and developments
they're from, and in one mighty, sublime sentence, God gives the origin or the beginning of the
universe.
This is where we begin, in one sweeping, marvelous sentence, in the beginning, God created the
heaven and the earth.
Now in a few other just-as-sublime sentences, he gives the origin of the earth, that is
the beginning, and it's good to know how we need to think and to study, with all the confusion
today, of how this earth began, and that part of the universe which is to become the scene
of the vital story, that is the earth, you see, first he created the heavens and the
earth, and we believe that means the whole universe, the whole universe, and it's ended
with a general statement of the origin of man, that is this chapter, this portion we
deal with.
It deals then with the origin and the beginning of man, and in the bible school of course
you learn those things first, we need to know them, most of you do, but it's good to go
over them, and as the origin of man and as a race, a race of men appointed to occupy
and subdue the earth, this is a purpose, God had plans and purposes, man sometimes goes
along very carelessly, and he forgets that both God's plans, and God's beautiful sublime
order, he created the universe and he created the earth, and when that was completed he
created man, and they were to subdue and populate it.
Now that is of course very brief in the beginning, and of course in 1-1 beginnings mean commencements
of time, and shows that matter had a definite origin.
Now when we look at solid things we see great rocks in the mountains, and think of it as
rocks in the Alps, and Pikes Peak, Everest and so forth, and we forget sometimes that
matter, that is all material things, it had an origin, it had a beginning, and of course
some scientific people think that it had no beginning sometimes, and they think it was
formed in other ways. But anyhow we'll only try and teach on the truth, we won't go into
the errors of man's thinking, and we've got to remember that matter had a definite origin,
and matter did not start itself, God alone is eternal. We must remember the great eternal
one, you see, he alone is eternal, matter is not. It had an origin, it had a beginning,
it is something that was created, and God is the explanation of this origin. We don't
have to listen to any other explanation, but God is the one who began all things. He is
the explanation, and it saves us lots of mental thought if we'll really remember that. And
of course created means, as we mentioned last night, it means brought into being without
any pre-existing matter, created out of nothing to put it in plain words. No existing matter,
if we make anything. Of course Mike does a bit of welding, or somebody here made a nice
cupboard one day, and they had to have existing things to make it out of, but God didn't have to
have anything. Who can understand this? Of course we can't. And as there was no human witness,
when the foundations were laid, and as human science deals only with pre-existing materials,
our knowledge cannot come by science, it cannot come by history, it cannot come by tradition,
that is something handed down, it cannot come that way. And how does it come then?
How does our knowledge come? How do we know these things? It comes, of course, by revelation from
God, and ever man must seek revelation. He must look to his God and look to the scriptures and
look to the Spirit for revelation, because we are dealing with things that are not handed down,
not in history. Now revelation, of course, must be received by faith. Now there we have the
difference between the believer and the unbeliever. I could tell these simple things, these origins,
I could tell them, I could tell them to any man, whether he's learned or unlearned, I could tell
them to the most scientific man, and then when he is without faith, he cannot understand them.
But I could tell them to a boy or a girl, a young boy or girl, who has faith, and they can
understand them quite simply, because they have faith from God. And it's the same with the gospel.
If anybody here is confused about the gospel of God saves a man, it means that you need this
revelation from Almighty God to understand it, because we can talk to you where it's possible,
one thousand years and longer. You'd never understand it. And when the word comes to you,
it's got to be received as from God, and He will reveal it to you. But most men, of course,
they don't bother with their Bibles. It's only old curiosity to put some nice plants and flowers,
or to press something, and to put an old letter from grandma that's deteriorating a bit and press
it in the covers. And you see, they don't continually put themselves under where God's
revelation occurs, and they flee out into the world. They get to running. But we should stay
under the word and read the word. Now Hebrews 11 3, it's good to know this, Hebrews 11 3,
through faith it begins, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God,
through faith. And of course this word, framed, has the same similar meaning as when we make
a house or anything like that. Now if anybody has found it there quicker than me, just read it.
Hebrews 11 3.
Yes, the things that are seen are not made from the things which do appear,
through faith. Now, and then we of course we have Psalm 103 verse 7, He made known,
no, yes, Psalm 103 verse 7, He made known his ways to Moses in his acts to the children of Israel.
When you found it, just see if I've quoted correctly, I think that is
the verse. And when we speak of heaven and earth, it means the whole universe.
Now, our God is a mighty God, and it is not possible for man to understand His great power
and Godhead. And of course the heavens do declare His glory. And if we could only look through the
great telescopes, there's one comparatively new one in Palermo in the States, which is a fabulous
thing. And I believe that it can see out into the heavens and its disclosed stars and universes
and bodies in the heavens that man didn't know existed. Tremendous telescope, something that's a
scientific marvel. But of course God created them all, and I believe He created them at this time.
At this time it doesn't speak, and we get lots of learned professors who have to put what they call
a gap between these first two verses, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,
and then they imagine some gap of certain expanse or millions of years or something like that,
that God has sort of missed out on. But it doesn't speak of that. I believe that it's being
wiser than that which is written. We just take the scriptures as they are. It's much better,
and it saves lots of trouble just to consider the scriptures as God placed them before us.
Now remember it is through faith we understand that the worlds were created.
And when we speak of the origin of the earth, of course we have Genesis 1, and it goes right
through from 2 to 31. We won't read it again, we've read most of it. God tells you about the
creation and the times that He does it. And then we have in Genesis 2, 1 to 3.
Thus the heavens, it says in Genesis 2, thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made,
and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day
and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and
made. Now isn't it wonderful that the child of God, he doesn't have to struggle with scientific
thesis and problems and maths and so forth, he takes the plain statement of God, and through
faith he knows. And when the apostle is speaking, he takes it to the Hebrews, when he was speaking
of that he was laying a foundation for their faith in Christ. He was telling them every Jew
would believe and would know perfectly well in his heart that God way back there had created
the heavens and in the earth, and had revealed to Moses in the first five books in this Pentateuch
as it's called, in these five first books of the Bible, caused Moses, revealed to Moses these
truths, because no man was there at the time, and it revealed them to him. And there is a foundation
for their faith. You see, we know in our hearts, we know as if we've seen it, it's so being planted
into our hearts and minds by God that if we had been able to see and see the creation there,
where it's possible, we don't have to see that. We know that God created the heavens and the earth
and the universe and all that is in it. Know it perfectly well.
Know that knowledge that you have in your heart came from God. Wonderful, isn't it?
No doubt about it. No clouds, no mist, no fog. We know that God did this. He plants that in our
heart. Now there's the foundation to believe God's glorious gospel, to believe what he says
all about it, and we'll deal with that a little later, that Christ was to come in due time,
in the fullness of time, and he was to die for the sins of his people, and that all that simply
trusted in him would be saved. It's just the same as believing this. There's no obstacles to faith,
only the obstacles that man puts there between him and his God.
Faith is a simple believing what God says. No obstacles. And if we know that, if we are sure
in our hearts that God did what he said and sent his beloved son to die on Calvary for us,
what joy and what confidence we should have in our hearts. The same confidence that God created
the heavens and the earth. Now of course this quickening we've got in verse 2, and the earth
was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters. Now there it tells us about the quickening or making alive
as inert matter, dead matter. It's actually speaking, and the word brooded is the same
word that we use. It's a precise word. You know how when she's got a dozen eggs,
and the eggs are the proper eggs, and you put them under the mother hen, and she's a good faithful
old hen, and she sits on them, and she broods them, and brings life out of them by the wall.
And it's using the same figure, the same analogy, that the Spirit of God over this awful mass
brooded upon it and brought life by his mighty power into all the forms of life that we know,
all the greenery, all the fish of the sea, all the ten thousand kinds of animals, the different
plants, and all its beauty and all its form, the Spirit of God out of this inert mass brought life.
Now it's good to begin on these things. I know that you have read Genesis many times.
Every time, very often I've got through the Bible a few times, but I'm always going to read it
quickly a few more times. And I get to Genesis, and I race through Genesis, and somehow or other
I've got to study other things, so I don't know how many times I've read Genesis. But I guess
that many of you have done the same thing. Are you guilty? Are you not? Especially these first
few chapters. Read them over and over again. Mr Mack is. He's played in guilty already.
But anyhow, we ought to know these things, and the description is very vivid, very vivid in our
language even. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the
deep. We have waste and void and dark, and it actually it indicates a rude, rough, unassimilated
mass. Cold things actually warring against hot things, and wet things with dry. There's
a poem by a great ancient writer called Ovid, O-b-i-d, one of the classics, and he has a great
list of it. I got tired of reading. Just picked out something he said. Wet things with dry,
soft things with hard, imponderable things with heavy things. This awful, impenetrable mass. And
well the doctrine teaching in this is that matter of itself is inert.
Now you young school people will know that, what an inert thing is. What's an inert thing God?
Yes, that's right. Do you think A.S. Rock would be inert?
To a certain extent, yes. Well that is the teaching. In itself it has no
capacity to become a world of order and beauty, and so is the human heart without Christ.
Actually the teaching is the teaching to enlighten us about beginnings, but it also has direct
reference to the fallen human heart. No capacity to become a world of order and beauty,
and the quickening of matter by the Holy Spirit, actually it was the second creative action.
We had in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and it is without form,
and then we have the work of the Holy Spirit. And given matter alone,
just matter alone, we have chaos alone. Disorder, no order. Thus when we have this great mass
of chaos with an extraneous power, by that we mean an outside power,
intelligent, beneficent, omnipotent, to bring the light to, and to direct movements we would have
a well-ordered and beautiful world, and that's what happened in the first place. We had this
tremendous inner mass, and then we had a mighty power, extraneous, outside of it,
with power and authority and order and beauty, and he brought this. And so it makes the Psalm,
and I consider this, it made 19 again, it brought to my mind about the heavens declaring, unfolding,
showing the glory of God. And when we think of this inner mass, what power could God the Spirit,
that the mighty God, could bring forth life out of it, bring forth forth all its beauty,
its ten thousand forms of life, and all its mysterious ways. Now,
then we have of course verse three, and God said, let there be light, let there be light,
and there was light. How calmly we can read that, how lightly we can read that.
Now the first product of the Spirit's power exercised on light, and
uh, it was Milton. Milton wrote a form of, wasn't quite poetry, it's called an apostrophe, a series
of magnificent statements, and in that he had something about light, and he said, hail, holy
light, offspring of heaven, first born. And you see, this was the first work of the Holy Spirit,
he brought forth light, let there be light. Now, light is the emblem of divinity,
light. It's, no man has been ever, ever able to define it. No
scientist, whether Christian or otherwise, can really understand it, or get to its origin.
You can't do it. God is light, the Bible says. In him there is no darkness at all.
It foreshadows in it, and it speaks of divinity, light itself. And uh,
you remember there's many verses on light. God is light, in him is no darkness, and the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. I think that's about from John 1 9, and uh,
his people reflect his image. God says, if ye have the light of the world, they reflect,
reflected light, as the moon reflects the light of the sun. The moon has no light of its own,
it's a dead world. And he said, his people reflect his image, and the creation by a mighty
mighty fiat of God. By a fiat. Now you scholars, what do we mean by that?
F-I-A-T, and don't talk about motor cars. What do we mean by a fiat?
You come across that in your...
Yes. A great supernatural act. One mighty act. And I'd rather, rather doesn't indicate a series
of acts, or a continuing number of acts. It means one mighty expression of power to change something.
And of course that's what God did. And it shows the glory of our God. His almighty power. Nothing
is too hard for him, not even making worlds and universes. And it serves to illustrate a mightier
creation. Now it illustrates this way, when we think of God way back there in,
in this described in Genesis, by this mighty fiat creating the heavens and the earth,
it illustrates a mightier act than that. Now what would that be?
As scholars and students, who've got a sit here exam soon, what would this mean?
What would it indicate? What does it illustrate?
It illustrates the conversion of the soul by the same mighty
spirit. It's a greater act of creation than the creation of the earth. God says so himself.
And it's a tremendous thing, the conversion of one soul is more than that mighty fear of long ago,
because there he's dealing with inert matter. God can make worlds as he has done, and thrust them
out into infinity. But the creation of a soul takes another kind of work, just as miraculous
and just as mighty. The quickening power of the spirit on a dead soul. So when we're speaking
and when we're preaching, we must look to God. We're trying to expound the man, his need of
salvation, to save him from eternal death. But at the same time, we know that God can do it
by a mighty act of the Holy Spirit. Actually it speaks of that conversion of a soul by that same
spirit. In 2 Corinthians 4-6, everyone should know this verse, and I dare say you would,
and it begins of course with God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
2 Corinthians 4-6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Now this is the experience of conversion.
And has the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shining to your hearts? And I believe
in most cases it has. The understanding, the light from God about Christ dying to sinners.
And this is a wonderful figure. I remember when I was a young Christian,
I was reading this one day, and I thought, what a wonderful picture of a conversion. I thought I
was the first one in the world, I think of it. And you know, wherever I went after that same night,
somebody preached on it, and I was so disappointed. I thought I had an original thought. And I've been
reading about it ever since. I really thought I was the first one to see this. How foolish was I.
How foolish was I. There must have been countless thousands
seeing the same thing, long before I ever was thought of.
And uh...
Now that's a wonderful scripture. God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness.
God commands in this salvation. Shine in our hearts, giving the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So you'll see that conversions are tremendous.
It's a marvelous thing. Greater than the creation of the earth. And how
likely some people look at church, or listening to the gospel, listening.
How likely people come. I remember son Graham once preaching in a church,
and that immoral's end, a certain church. And the young people, and I speak of the young people,
I think a lot of the old people were looking at him, but they weren't listening,
their thoughts there. They were making cakes and recipes and all sorts of things,
because there seemed to be very little light in the church. But they were actually playing and
having the time of their life. And I do think they got a shot when son stopped the service,
and he said, the word of God I'm preaching. Listen to it all my love. I think it is proper to do so.
Now we must listen to this word of God, because the Holy Spirit is here whenever the word of God
is preached in the Bible. He is here, and he'll do his work, and he'll continue to do his work,
Neil, and lighten his line of one line as long as we listen. But if we care less, it is, I believe
it grieves our God. And it's very good to speak it to a little community who do listen. It's a
wonderful thing. And it's light and it's knowledge. The atheistic philosophers
vainly tried to solve the mystery of light, and apart from revelation it cannot be answered.
And yet you Christian philosophers, Christian people with wisdom, know full well how light
began. And you don't have to explain it, because we can't, can we? That is impossible.
And the Almighty's question to Job remains unanswered. He asked Job certain questions.
Now that's Job 38. There's a lot of questions in there, but we'll just look at one or two.
Job 38 19 and 24.
These are the questions. Job must have been rising up somehow, this
wonderful man, that somehow he was like the rest of us. He was questioning things. And God said to
him, verse 19, he said, where is the way where light dwelleth? And as for darkness, where is the
blaze thereof? Now we have to remain silent, haven't we? And it's one of those questions that God
later on, the apostles said, let every mouth become stopped and guilty before God.
But in this case, of course, we can stop our reasoning. I trust that all of us here have
become guilty before God, and listen to what God has said concerning salvation. And then he goes on
to say, in verse 20, that thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know
the path to the house thereof. Knowest thou it? Do you know it? Because thou wast not the
because thou wast then born, or because the number of thy days is great, hast thou entered into the
treasures of the snow? Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved
against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? By what way is the light parted?
Tell me, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth, what way is the light parted?
The question remains unanswered, and it ever will. We can't answer God in these matters,
that atheistic philosophers, as we mentioned before, are trying to find out these impossible things.
And the eye is made for it, and truly the light is sweet. And what unaided wisdom can comprehend
it's mystery. It's the mystery of God. So we're dealing with mysteries, and as Lucas said,
show me a verse, old learned Erasmus, he was speaking in mockery. Show me a verse,
thou man of reason, it can be understood without faith.
Because we say it most tenderly, and we say we cannot understand one verse in the
word of God without faith. Look at the great verse that is quoted so many times of John 3 16.
And look at the common of the verses that we know. Thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and he that believeth shall be saved. What tremendous and mysterious verses these are.
But we found them to be true. We believed and we were saved. That's all. True faith,
my faith, the gift of God. And that verse of 5 24, he that heareth my words, and believeth
one thing that sent me out everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation. Now what wonderful
statements there we have the whole sum of theology contained in these. And we believe this book by
faith, and we just cease our reasoning, although we do try and examine and see what God is saying
to us. They are mysteries in origin. Exquisitely, now when we're speaking about light of course,
it's mysterious in its origin. And it's exquisitely beautiful in its combination of colors.
Sometimes I was, I recall a lot of a message a man preached in light, an old brethren assembly.
He was a man who was, I think he was about 82 at the time, and he couldn't stand this man down at
Adamstown assembly. He used to sit on the seat. He preached. He couldn't stand to preach. He was
getting too old, but he gave a marvelous message, light, the meaning of his colors. I recall a lot
sometime I'll gather it together. And it's light of course is a number. If you get a prism,
it will sort out the colors, and you'll find that there are, isn't it seven or eight basic colors?
What is the number, you know, Gordon? I think it's seven. Seven basic colors form two lights.
Most wonderful thing. And each of those, the blue for royal and so forth, he had
in the white for purity, had a message for each, about each color, and combined together a deep
glorified God who is light. Now as we said, it's mysterious in its origin, and it's immaculate
light. It's immaculate. It's incorruptible. Now we can sort of sully everything. Everything
can be sullied. The very air itself can be mixed with gases, and the air is impure,
and the seas and water and all things can be corrupted. But light? No. You see what a true
type it is. He dwelleth in light which no man can approach, and Christ is the light of the world.
Light is about the only thing which will give us a true concept of the fact that with his perfect
sinlessness and his glorious state, he that is without sin are spotted and cannot be defiled with
by contact with impurity as earth, air and water. And this was not science. Scientists will say
that it is solar light or stellar light. That's light from stars or light from planets. But it's
not so. This was before that. It wasn't. And then they would call it cosmical light. And
well that's to name something, and yet it's not to explain something. It explains exactly nothing.
I remember when we were schoolboys we would have it in England when the boys would get into trouble
with one another and they'd say to us, why did you do that? And we would say because.
It's not giving an explanation at all. We used to say that. Very often we'd finish having
a fight over the matter, wretched if we were. Now
the only ultimate explanation is that it was a creative product resulting from the movie,
brooding, quickening work of the Holy Spirit. It was something that was created by the Holy Spirit,
light. And some object to regard earth light as a creative product because it now reaches us from
second causes. Light now comes from the sun and the stars. But that objection perishes
by pushing back the inquiries past that. Where did their light come from? And if we push the
question back far enough the question itself perishes, doesn't it? See the only explanation
is that it was created light. And of course we have in John 1 4, speaking of light,
light is illumination. Christ alone can illuminate, illumine the heart. We have to look to him.
If we don't, haven't got understanding about anything, if we don't understand what the
Gospel is, if we sit week after week and don't truly understand it, he alone can illumine
the heart. I am the light of the world. No other world. You can't go to God direct because
he deals through Christ and Calvary. And it's 8 12 isn't dying the light of the world.
And then the other one 4, Christ lighteth every man that cometh into the world. But that's not
always saving light. General light of law, knowledge. And then we have guidance of course.
Way back when the children of Israel were coming through for 40 years in the wilderness
they were illumined by a pillar of cloud. It was light from God. And light is illumination.
And ecclesiastic is 11 7. It's the only light that can bring happiness. Light from God.
Someone might look that up. I've just forgotten that. And I think it concerns happiness.
And Ephesians 5 13. We have to look. When you find Ecclesiastes 11 7 would you just read it?
Yes. Light is sweet. Beautiful and clear. And Ephesians 5 13.
Do all things that are approved are made manifest or made known by the light.
For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. See the light of God. It reveals ourselves to ourselves.
And it reveals Christ to us also. That's Ephesians 5 13. And then of course in this chapter,
speaking generally of the chapter we haven't got time to go much further, it speaks of the
character of God in creation. The character, and that's something that we ought to study.
The character of God. And he's great in power. And his people need to lay hold of this fact.
In a dead city, in a dead world, and we must press and arm our minds and hearts with this fact.
That God is great in power. Almighty. The nations that drop in the bucket. And these great powers,
ungodly powers that are rising up. And also he's great in action. Here you see God in action,
speaking this and speaking that. And he was so. Great in action. And when we pray we should
remember. Tremendous in action. And here we have. Or we could have stood back there somewhere
and seen the great workings of God speaking in those first seven days. And the wondrous
change coming over this tremendous earth. Too much for the heart and the mind to grasp.
And then glorious in display and stood back in everything that was good. And look at the earth
today. A fallen earth. Beautiful and glorious. Magnificent. Beyond comprehension. Travelers
who have traveled in flames all over the earth on a business and pleasure. And cannot grasp the
wonders of this earth. Glorious in display. Then it shows of course later on, after he made man,
you see, that he was glorious in mercy. In mercy. And that's what we were singing about in Psalm 51.
This man, even though he was a man of God, this David, senior. And yet God showed him mercy.
And all through the pages, especially the Old Testament, God brings his mighty deeds and shows
through his mercy, he was lifted up to be a man of God.