LESSON 5:- GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH - PART II

LESSON GOALS:
-To show that God created the heavens and the earth and that he created from nothing.
-To show God’s character and attributes as revealed through creation.

A. INTRODUCTION
Creation is not a theory
It is the truth.


It has not and will not change.

The account of creation helps us see who God is:
• The sovereign creator
• The all – powerful God
• The all – knowing one
• The God who exists by his own power
• The holy and perfect God

B. THE THIRD DAY: DRY LAND, OCEAN, AND ALL FLORA CREATED
Genesis 1: 9-13
God gathered the waters into seas and made the dry ground appear.
Have you ever witnessed the devastation caused by a flood or a tidal wave? What man can think of standing against such forces, much less commanding them? Imagine the power involved in shaping the seas- all in a day! Only Almighty God could command
The waters encircling the earth to move and make the dry ground appear.
Psalms 95:5, Job: 38: 8-11
-God alone, who made the waters of the earth, can control them.
Genesis1: 11-13

God made all of the plants and trees.

-God alone has the knowledge and power to create plant life.
The more scientists study plant life, the more complexities they discover.
God, in his infinite wisdom, was able to create all plant life and to perfectly suit every kind to the rest of the earth’s systems that he was creating.
-God made the plants to produce seeds, which would produce more plants like the originals.

A Fir tree doesn’t produce petunia seeds!
Have you ever made something you liked; only to have it were out? If you want another like it, you have to start over. But when God created plants life, he put within each plant the capability to bear seeds, which sprout into new plants like the first. God is the giver and sustainer of life.
The plants we have today came from those God created in the beginning.

-Why did God make flowers, trees, and plants?
Did God need them?
-God is independent of all things.
-God doesn’t need anything.
God made the plants and trees for man, whom he was going to create next.
-God made the plants to meet our physical needs:
To provide food for us to eat
To give off oxygen for the air we breathe
To provide wood for building
And to provide many other things which are essential to our lives.
-God made the plants to delight us with his love for us:
He didn’t have to make such a variety of colors, sizes, shapes, flowers and fragrances.
A few kinds would have met our needs.

God could have made everything black and white. But instead, he created colors – colors that could be seen by the eyes of the man he would create.

Everything has been tasteless. But God created flavor (and taste buds to taste it)
He did the same thing with fragrances.

-The variety he made was to be a daily reminder of his great love and care for man.
-He made the earth NOT JUST LIVEABLE, BUT TRULY BEATIFUL.

In the plants we can see that God is a God of order- the master designer.

Look at a flower. Each flower of a certain kind has an identifying pattern that makes it recognizable as that kind of flower. The seed from which it grew contained certain characteristics, which always produce that kind of, flower with that kind of orderly petal and stem, arrangement fragrance,etc.

If you were to look at the flower under a magnifying glass, you would see other patterns characteristic of that kind of flower.

If you take a tiny slice of the petal or the stem and put it under a microscope, you would see still more orderly arrangements of minute cells characteristic of that kind of flower.

All these things show us that there is a master designer.

What if you took a handful of marbles and drooped them on the floor? Would they fall into a beautiful pattern?
What if they did happen to land in some pattern? Could you repeat the pattern over and over again?

Now what if you took the marbles one by one and placed them into a pattern of your choosing? You do this over and over; because you designed the pattern and insured it’s repetition. Your design would not be a product of chance; rather, it would reflect the work of a designer – you
What God has created endlessly reflects His work as Master Designer of everything.
When you see a design, bear in mind that there was also a designer. And when you see a design in plants or flowers or any other part of creation, remember that God is the one who is being reflected in that design. It didn’t just happen that way. God designed it all.

- Everything that God created on this day was good.
All these plants were beneficial, lovely – created perfect.
- Thorns and weeds did not exist.
- No fruit was poisonous.
-Vegetables and fruit did not get diseases or spoil.
Everything was perfect in the beginning, because God is perfect, and everything he does is perfect.
Genesis 1:31, Psalm 18:30; 93:5; 99:3,5,9, Isaiah 6:3, James 1:17, Revelation 4:8


C. THE FOURTH DAY: SUN, MOON, AND STARS CREATED
Genesis 1: 14 –19
THEME:- GOD IS ALL – POWERFUL
God spoke, and the sun moon and the stars came into being.
-Only God has the power to create such vastness!
-In Isaiah 44: 24 God says, “…I am the lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth.
Psalm 33:6, Isaiah 40:26

THEME:- GOD IS EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME.
We can see only a tiny part of the endless reaches of the universe.
Yet God created even the most remote galaxies and stars – he created everything.
How could God have gotten to all those places that are countless light years apart?
-Jeremiah 23:23,24 says, “Am I a God at hand … and not a God afar off… do not I fill heaven and earth?”
-Distance is no problem for God.
-God is everywhere.
-We cannot imagine the immensity of the universe; much less can we comprehend the greatness of God!
Although God is everywhere present in the universe; He is distinct from it.
-The idea that God is everything and everything is God is a concept totally foreign to scripture.
-There is one true God, not many “gods”.
-The Bible refers to the universe and everything in it as God’s creation, not as part of his being.


THEME:- GOD IS ALL – KNOWING
Jeremiah 10:12
God’s infinite wisdom and knowledge are displayed in the universe He created

THEME:- GOD NEVER CHANGES
- God never changes, nor do the laws of his creation.
-Has there ever been a day in your life when the sun didn’t rise and set? Granted, it may have been hidden by clouds, but it did just what it always does, day after day. How about the moon? Do you know that calendars & tidal charts can be made years in advance because the movement & position of the moon & earth & sun are completely predictable?
This certainly isn’t happening by chance; it was designed that way by God himself.
Psalm 104: 19
He wanted us to have an orderly world with dependable days, nights, seasons, and tides.
-We get very excited about seeing one vehicle thrust into a path in space; & we certainly should, for it has taken an unbelievable amount of research & effort to achieve this feat.
But imagine God’s knowledge! Imagine God’s creativity & skill as a master designer! Imagine his power! God spoke, & the entire universe was created!
Psalm 19:1-3
-We need to watch this display & listen to the message God is sending us!


THEME:-GOD IS HOLY.
Everything God made on the fourth day was good.
- God is perfect, & everything he does is perfect.
- God was very pleased with his creation.
Psalm 18:30, 93:5, 99:3,5,9 Isaiah 6:3 James 1:17 Revelation 4:9


D. THE FIFTH DAY: ALL SEA LIFE AND BIRDS CREATED.
Genesis 1:20-23
THEME:- GOD IS LOVE
- Just as he had done in his creation of plant life, God made numerous kinds of water creatures & birds with countless, colourful shapes & designs.
-the more we search the ocean depths & the remote places of the earth, the more kinds of fish & birds we discover!
-Why did God create such variety & beauty?
He did it to show his love to us.
He did it to show us his creative power & understanding.

THEME:- GOD IS ALL – POWERFUL
God made these wonderful things by his great power & understanding.
Psalm 104:24
Could we make even one common sparrow?
-We might make a model or an “imitation”.
-But we will never make a living sparrow.
But God can; He made sparrows & every other creature.
Even the tiniest, most ordinary creatures are God’s creation & are incredibly complex.

E.SIXTH DAY: THE CREATION OF ANIMAL WORLD
THEME:- GOD IS ALL – POWERFUL
THEME:- GOD IS ALL – KNOWING
Genesis 1:24,25
God created an unbelievable number & variety of animals.
-Some animals are very familiar to us as a part of our daily lives.
-Some can be seen at zoo
-Through television & books, we learn about many more.
God created each kind of animal with unique characteristics, & each kind of animal is capable of reproducing only other animals like itself.
-Dogs have puppies.
-Cats have kittens etc.
-Even in the smallest animal we can see the stamp of the Master Designer.
Only God has the power to create animals.
Man has never created nor will he ever be able to create an animal.

THEME:- GOD IS HOLY.
All of the living things that God made on the fifth & sixth days were good.
Everything He made was good.
Because God is perfect, everything He made was perfect.
Psalm 18:30; 93:5; 99:3,5,9; Isaiah 6:3; James 1:17; Revelation 4:8

F.CONCLUSION
We are daily surrounded by evidences of:
- God’s existence
- God’s infinite power & knowledge
- God’s love
- God’s orderliness
- God’s holiness
- We are surrounded by reminders of a Master Designer who created with skill and purpose.

We can learn a great deal about God by observing the things He has made, but our true understanding of Him & how He created everything must be based on what God has
told us in His word.
Hebrews 11:3
-God, the Creator, the one who was there before the beginning, has given us His record of creation in His word.