Genesis 1:1, Pt. 2 — Elohim

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning God... .” The word translated as God is Elohim. Elohim is the plural of El. I find it significant that the first reference to the One True God is a plural word. The Hebrew Scriptures insist that God is One, yet here a plural word is used. Elohim, when referring to God, is always singular. It does support the Christian view of the Trinity: One God in three persons. The word denotes majesty and power.

Creation teaches us several things about God and clearly points to him.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20)

What can we know about God from viewing his creation? We know the following:

• God is wise
• God is powerful
• God is a master craftsman, an artist
• God owns us

That God is wise is evident from his created works. Some scientists, or should I say “pseudoscientists,” would have us believe that we are here merely by a fluke, an accident of nature. In our modern age with so much knowledge, why do educated but foolish people still think we descended from monkeys?

How is it that we could have developed over millions of years and eons of time from a single-cell that somehow from somewhere received life from who-knows-what? If Darwin was right then why do we still have handicapped people? Why do some who are ill, lame, mentally deficient, and otherwise not as strong as robust people often outlive those who are superior to them in their intellect and health?

How did it come about that an entity incapable of thought developed thought? How did it develop a reproductive system as intricate as found in humans today? How did it develop an immune system? Wouldn't a more simple life-form, long before it evolved into homo sapiens, have died off from a virus or bacteriological infection?

No, believing in evolution is just plain silly — and stupid — and takes a great more faith than believing that God created man.

But before God made man he had to make a place for us. His wisdom is evident in man's home, the Earth. Tucked safely away in one of the arms of the Milky Way Galaxy, our planet is relatively free from interstellar storms and other dangers of the Universe. We are placed at an optimum distance from the Sun so we neither get too cold nor too hot. And this is just the beginning of the display of God's wisdom evident through creation.

That God is powerful is also evident in creation. If we confine what God did in forming Earth, we see only a minuscule display of God's power. When we compare the feats of mankind against what God has done, our power is dwarfed by his.

Creation displays the craftsmanship and the artistry of God. Again, it is no mere coïncidence that the stars are placed where they are. That the Big Dipper points to Polaris, the North Star, is not an accident. We see his artistry and craftsmanship throughout nature: in flowers and trees, in sects and animals, on land and in the depths of the sea. Everywhere we look, we see the marvelous handiwork of God.

Finally, we understand that because we too are God's creation we are not our own, but belong to God. It then stands to reason that if God created us he can tell us what to do. He can hold us accountable for what we do and he will ultimately reward us according to what we have done. And therein is the heart of the matter when it comes to evolution. Deny creation and its God and then one does not have to consider the possibility of the eternal consequences for his actions. However, such denial only helps one (if the word help can be used at all) in this life: it does not change the outcome. We shall all stand in judgment before God. Those that have honored him will receive eternal life; those that have disobeyed him will receive eternal damnation.

God Won't Make You Do What You Don't Want to Do

“God is a gentleman and won’t make you do anything you do not want to do.” This is the quote I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post. I considered in that post the first portion of the quote,; viz, God is a gentleman. Today I want to address the latter clause: “and won’t make you do anything you do not want to do.”

Again, we must examine the statement in the light of the Scriptures. What does the Bible have to say about that? Does the Bible make any direct statements supporting that quote? Does it allude to the possibility of it being true? Does it make any direct statements to the contrary? Does it allude to the possibility of it being false?

In yesterday’s blog I presented evidence that God is not a gentleman and, more than that, not always gentle. Today I will show that the second part of the quote is just as false.

Let us start with the book of beginnings, Genesis. In the first chapter of Genesis God created Adam and Eve. Did He consult with them and get their permission to bring them into existence? Did God consult with you and ask if you wished to be born? When Adam sinned and fell from grace, did God commiserate with him about leaving the Garden? Did He not summarily expel them? Did He ask Eve if she would like to endure agony during childbirth? Did He ask Adam if he’d like to pull weeds the rest of his life?

We look a little farther in Scripture and we come across the prophet Jonah. “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me,” (Jonah 1:1-2)
Did God make Jonah go to Ninevah? You may answer, “No,” and you would be correct. God expects His people to obey Him. Did Jonah go? Sure, after God made him willing to go. Did Jonah do what he did not want to do? He sure did.

Now, let’s go to our day and age to people like you and me. Does God make us do things we do not want to do? He certainly does. Does anyone you know want to go through the torture of cancer? No one in their right mind would. Yet how many people experience the debilitating diseases of cancer? This is done against our will.

And how about death? All of us are bound to die. Just the other day a young man of my acquaintance died. He was having fun, living life to the fullest. His recreation was innocent enough yet it led to his demise. He had no desire to die. He had no anticipation of death. He did not know that his life would be required of him. He left behind a beautiful wife and an infant son. This was not what he wanted. God made him do what he did not want to do.

We forget that God is sovereign. He owns us. “Look, every life belongs to Me,” God says to the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 18:4). God owns us because He made us; He is our Creator. As our Sovereign, God can and often does make us do what we do not want to do. Sometimes God gives us the option of disobeying Him, as He did with Jonah, but makes us pay through the nose (or the whale’s belly) for our disobedience. In the end, God will have the final say, rewarding us for what we have done whether good or evil.

Who Am I?

The three great philosophical questions are: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” and “Where am I going?” The Bible has the answers.

Genesis 1:27, “God created man in his own image,” answers the first question. We are created by God. We are not here by happenstance nor have we arrived through chance evolutionary processes. Each of us is here because God created us. God made us from nothing and we are here by his express desire.

Because God created us we have a purpose in life. Because we are created we have responsibility and accountability. It is to God that we will answer for the things we have or have not done in this life. Creation implies we neither have ultimate control over the course and destiny of our lives nor do we have the inherent right to do as we please. Evolutionists and humanists attempt to make an end run around these implications by either denying creation or by insisting that man is autonomous.

Genesis 1:27 also teaches we are created in the image of God. What does that mean? Does it mean that we look like God? No, that would make God a hermaphrodite—half man and half woman. Not only that, but God explicitly states that he is not a man (Numbers 23:19). In what way, then, are we made in the image of God?

The image of God consists of the moral and intellectual nature of man. God is spirit (John 4:24) and the essence of man is spirit. Man is a spirit clothed in a body of flesh, bones, and blood.

Man differs from animals in that man is a moral being. Animals, while possessing various degrees of intelligence, are not moral creatures. Animals perform by instinct. Man's performance is based on rational thought coupled with the workings of his conscience.

When God created us he put into us the knowledge of his law. We know that it is wrong to murder, to steal, to commit adultery. These things we do not have to be told. Animals, on the other hand, mate according to instinct. Some are monogamous, others are not. Some exist by stealing because that is the way God made them. Predatory animals kill other animals instinctively and without remorse.

It is the image of God in man that makes the sin of murder so heinous. There is no sin in killing an animal provided the animal is not wasted or killed for greed. To kill a human being, however, is to destroy the image of God.

As we realize we are image bearers of the Creator and honor that image we will find peace and satisfaction that will carry us through the difficulties of life and provide comfort for our souls.