Can Something Come From Nothing?
October 14, 2021
Lesson 4 in a 5 week series
Growing up in the 90’s one of my favorite movies was Hook. Have you seen that one? Robin Williams was a grown-up Peter Pan whose children were kidnapped by Captain Hook. In order to rescue them, he had to return back to Neverland, and partner with his old buddies: the Lost Boys. It took a while for Peter to remember Neverland was ever a part of his past. One vibrant scene in particular was my favorite. In this make-believe land, the Lost Boys would sit to dinner at an empty table. Only when they imagined their meal, would the food actually appear. They closed their eyes, pictured the grub, and there it was. No preparation, all imagination. This skill would come in handy on road trips when I hear, “Mom, I’m hungry!” perpetually from the back seat, But alas…
We can’t make something come from nothing, but I know someone who can!
Genesis 1-2 is our origin story as Believers. It paints for us a picture of how all that we see came into being, who God is, and who we are in relation to Him. There is so much that we learn about God in these opening chapters of the Bible, but I want to bring forward four main themes to consider today. (1) We see the different persons of the Trinity. (2) We see God’s tremendous power to create everything out of nothing. (3) We see Him as the creator of all that was originally designed as good. (4) We see his original design for mankind.
Eternally Existing
First, we see that God is first. Scripture attests to God existing as Trinity before time and space were established. In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” Indicating that the members of the Trinity were discussing amongst one another. Rich relationship happened within the Trinity before Genesis 1. If God created “the beginning,” he needed to exist before, “in the beginning.” There are glimpses of this notion peppered throughout the rest of the Word as well. Ephesians 1:4: “God chose us in Him before the foundations of the world.” 1 Peter 1:20: “[Jesus’ sacrifice] was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” Titus 1:2: [eternal life was] promised before time began.” God is eternally existent meaning he had no beginning and will have no end.
Not only is He first and eternal, but we also see his aseity, meaning that He is self-existent, self-contained, and self-sufficient. He is independent and autonomous. This notion is important because it shows us that God created us so we could enjoy Him, not because He needed anything from us. Phew, that relieves some pressure, doesn’t it?
All-Powerful
Second, we can’t gloss over God’s power in creating: what He spoke happened. In philosophy, we have learned that “something cannot come from nothing,” but when you are the Almighty God, you are able to create ex nihilo, or “from scratch,” as we referred to earlier. He did not have preexistent building blocks from which to work. He spoke into nothingness, and with the breath from is mouth came into being everything that exists (Hebrews 11:3). He displays His divine nature and eternal power through what he has made (Romans 1:20).
Creator of All
Third, this narrative shows that God is creator of all. Moses, as the author of Genesis, clearly and specifically outlines all that God made. One of the reasons he details it out for his audience is because, at that time, they were on their way out of captivity in Egypt and headed towards a land God had promised to give them. If you have done any study on Egypt, you know they have a pantheon of gods - hundreds of them, in fact. There was a god for almost anything you can imagine: the sun, the underworld, storms, fertility, war, language, the list goes on.. Moses distinguished that Yahweh created everything because He wanted to clarify to his people that there weren’t multiple gods as they were influenced to believe in Egypt. We see that everything God created was originally good because its Creator is good. As creator of all, He is sovereign over all.
In His Image
Fourth, let’s come back to the notion of God forming man to be intentionally designed in His image (Genesis 1:26). There is a fancy theological term for this called the Imago Dei which is translated “Image of God.” Have you ever wondered what that means? Us being made in the image of God? Growing up, I always thought it meant that we look like him physically.. like God has two arms, two legs, a brain, and bellybutton. But that doesn’t hit the mark because Scripture tells us that, “God is Spirit” in John 4:24. (Yes, we know Jesus eventually put on flesh, but at the moment of creation, the Trinity was existing in spirit.)
So, we go back to the question, what does it mean that we are made in His image? Here’s a breakdown of four ways this fleshes out:
We have an eternal, immaterial soul that distinguishes us from the animal kingdom. This is a piece of God’s image because, as we already established, He is Spirit.
We also share in some attributes with our Creator: we have minds that think, hearts that feel, and wills that act.
Just as God rules over us, He designed man to rule over and subdue creation - He gave us dominion in the created order to care for this planet and to steward well what He has given us.
We inherited God’s moral sense of right and wrong.
The Trinity exists in relationship with one another, and He gave us the ability to experience that with mankind and with Himself. As humans and image bearers, we have a moral obligation to one another. We must treat one another with respect, dignity, and value.
Humanity truly bears the fingerprint of God. You are valuable.
Although sin marred the Image of God within us, it wasn’t completely destroyed. Sin makes us believe that we have the authority to state who we are, why we exist, who is valuable, etc.. rather than looking at God’s explanation of these things in his Word. If we throw out this creation narrative, we completely lose our sense of purpose and run the risk of falling into hopelessness.
Respond
As we close this discussion on creation, can I encourage you to do something? Spend some time in silence before God contemplating these things about Him. Thank Him for who He is. Then, take a listen to the song “Psalm 8” by Shane and Shane and worship our God who is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.
