In the Beginning 2018/09/09

In the Beginning 2018/09/09 – Pastor Dave Cottrell

In the Beginning God 1

Genesis 1:1

Everything we observe in this world had a beginning. Nothing that exists in our universe has existed forever. On this point, virtually all scientists agree. Any who do not are hypothesizing without evidence, based only on their philosophy – aka, faith. Furthermore, there is no evidence to support such faith. Furthermore, all the known laws of our universe dictate that such belief, that the physical universe, itself, is somehow eternal, is illogical. It is an immutable law in this physical world that everything that exists had a beginning and therefore a cause. Secular humanist and atheist scientists have been trying to find out how the universe began without a primary cause. Such a quest can only be undertaken when blind faith overrules logic.

“What is this blind faith?” you ask. It is the belief that there is no primary cause – aka, God – for this physical world. The fact is, as the word of God underscores, there is no evidence of any kind for this world existing without a cause, but an overwhelming bounty of evidence that it had both a beginning and a Primary Cause.

Genesis 1:1

Here we have, in careful detail, the account of the creation of the world, given to us by God, Himself, in His Word. While some might foolishly declare this to be an oversimplification of events, God has declared the Bible to be his revealed Word. In it, He has revealed Himself to us, telling us in terms we can understand who He is, what He does, and what His purpose is for us. The Bible is written in plain language. It is not intended to be a book of mystery, to hide things from us using metaphorical or allegorical language. We need to be careful when we read the Bible to let God speak to us through His Word, rather than reading things into it that aren’t there or accepting what others say it means without searching the scriptures to see if it is so, as the Bereans did and were commended for: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11

I In the Beginning

1. Our Bible begins very appropriately with the words, “In the beginning…” We are immediately told, with no fanfare or flowery introduction, that there was a beginning.

   1. This is an observable fact in the universe we live in. Everything we see had a beginning. Nothing has existed forever.

   2. Every possible test shows that everything began at some point in time, and in fact, will also end. Nothing we can observe in our universe, even with most sophisticated equipment, is eternal. The way godless science, so called, is explaining the existence of the universe, today, is by saying that “nothing,” which they write in quotation marks, “is inherently unstable, so the initial leap from nothing to something may have been inevitable.” Note the logical fallacy. They base their entire hypothesis on a foundation of assuming that nothing is actually something.

      1. They do this because everything that can be observed about the universe at every level declares that it had to have a beginning. An eternal universe is scientifically impossible for a very large number of irrefutable reasons.

2. In the beginning, there was a beginning of time, space and mass, of time and things. Before that, there was nothing, not even a before, because time did not exist.

2

1. 1. Time began in the beginning. Things began in the beginning. “Before” began to exist in the beginning. The mental gymnastics of secular mathematicians and philosophers playing games with words, even redefining what nothing means, could go on as long as time. The reality they are still faced with is that there was a beginning that could not be caused by anything in space and time, because there was no space and time. Space and time began at the beginning, from a cause that logically and absolutely had to be outside of space and time. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Hebrews 11:3

   2. There are only two possibilities for the existence of the universe and everything in it. Either the universe is eternal, or it had a beginning that required a Primary Cause.

      1. All the evidence, including the very laws of the universe, tell us that the universe had a beginning. There is no known mechanism whereby mass can spontaneously appear, let alone form itself into the complex world in which we live.

      2. Note that virtually all evolutionary theory is based on the preexistence of the universe. Evolution cannot logically explain how the universe got here, nor how it was possible for all the harmony and order that we see today.

      3. An other massive problem that is completely ignored is the problem of where the universe is. All physical things have boundaries, or containers. What contains the universe? What is outside of the universe? For a very typical and typically illogical explanation of a physical universe with no edge expanding nowhere into nothing, look up “Where’s the Edge of the Universe?” on space.com. In a nutshell, atheist astronomers love to belittle those who ask this question with a statement like, “The short answer is that this is a nonsense question, the Universe isn’t expanding into anything, it’s just expanding.” In other words, “Don’t ask questions we can’t answer, because they make us look stupid.” The bottom line is, secular scientists do not like people who ask logical questions they can’t answer, and almost always will belittle those who ask them. Unfortunately for secular, God-denying science, so called, every question does have an answer, and it doesn’t matter whether or not you like it.
      4. The Bible has a completely logical answer that covers every question about the beginning, including where the universe is. The Bible tells us that everything that exists was not made out of something that preexisted, like a quantum dot, quantum foam, string theory or anything else that man has dreamed up. Everything comes from the word of God. In the beginning, there was a primary cause, and that primary cause was God.

II God

1. The word translated “God” is the Hebrew word, “elohiym (eloheem).” It is the plural form of the word “eloahh,” meaning at its most open form, “power,” and then a power that is greater than normal human beings, then strong and mighty.

   1. In this context and plural form in the Hebrew language, it always means almighty God, or the greatest God. We capitalize it in the English language to differentiate between Almighty God and any others. Furthermore, we recognize that when we speak of God as being one, we are referring to the “elohiym,” plural, God in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

3

1. 1. 1. While not specifically named in Genesis 1:1, God as a trinity has already begun to be revealed.

   2. God is almighty. The word “almighty” in reference to God appears 57 times in the King James Bible. In both the Old and New Testaments, it means all powerful, the ruler over all.
   3. God is JEHOVAH. This name of God appears in the Bible more than 6500 times, usually rendered LORD or GOD in all caps. It is the proper name of God, meaning “Existing One.” It means that God is self-existent and eternal. He did not begin to exist, but simply exists as he always has and always will.
   4. God is the I AM. “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14 Once again, God has declared that he is eternal by his name, which means “I Exist,” declaring that He is eternal and therefore all powerful. Only a being who is all powerful could exist eternally by his own power.
   5. Jesus Christ is the God our Creator. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1 – 3 Furthermore, we have yet another declaration of this fact in Colossians 1:15 – 17, again talking about Jesus Christ: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

Conclusion

1. Thus it is clear, from the very beginning of the Bible, and repeated again throughout the Bible, that God was in the beginning, before anything was made. He does not reside within space and time, but is the cause of space and time. “In the beginning God created…” God is the Primary Cause. The universe was and is God’s creation, existing, as God does, in a place we call, “Eternity.” This explanation of the origin of everything is completely logical, perfectly explaining everything, including all things that exist, as well as the harmony and order in the universe. It also introduces us to the troubling problem for those who reject absolute truth, of a moral Creator to whom we must one day give an answer.