READINGS FOR FEBRUARY 5: GENESIS 1, MATTHEW 1, PSALM 1                                          GENESIS 1—DAYS 1-3 THE STRUCTURES; DAYS 4-6a FILLING THE STRUCTURES.                

DAY 6b MAN/WOMAN CREATED AND GIVEN DELEGATED AUTHORITY.                                      DAY 7 GOD’S FINAL AUTHORITY DECLARED AND BLESSING GIVEN. (graph from Sandra Richter)

God’s plan of creation looks to be focused and sequenced totally to provide humans with the best structure and resources to flourish, while keeping humanity, who was made in God's image, subject to God’s gracious authority. 

Many today reject such a divine intent for and involvement in the origin of the physical universe. Such a view struggles to answer the ancient cosmological and teleological arguments for God’s creation (adapted from William Lane Craig). The kalam cosmological argument addresses how we started with something rather than nothing:  

• Whatever begins to exist has a cause. (The expanding universe points to a time when it began as a single point of energy and matter. Where did this energy and matter come from? Unaided spontaneous generation has never been demonstrated in a laboratory or otherwise proven.)
• The universe began to exist. (This agrees with “the Big Bang Theory” and the Bible.)
• Therefore, the universe has a cause. (This cause is well explained by the uncaused God who is described in the Bible as eternal, all powerful, all wise, and all loving.)

The Teleological Argument for God’s involvement speaks to the design of the Universe:

• The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessity, chance, or design. (There are so many measurements and mixtures in our world that fall into an extraordinarily narrow range of life-permitting values. Were these to be altered by a hair's breadth, the life-permitting balance would be destroyed, and life would not exist.)
• It is not due to physical necessity or chance. (Atheists agree the odds are too great for this to happen by itself. Thus, they speculate that billions of universes must exist to increase the odds. However, there is no evidence of multiple universes.)
• Therefore, it is due to design. (This corresponds to God as described in Gen. 1.)

READINGS FOR FEBRUARY 5 CONTINUED: MATTHEW 1, PSALM 1

It might be a mistake to skim over the genealogies in the Bible. Jesus says in Matthew 4:18 the smallest letter or stroke is important in God’s Word. One scholar suggests that by seriously considering genealogies there is a way to accept the apparent fossil and genomic evidence for evolution while holding to a literal belief of the direct creation of Adam. Here is his thinking:

• God directly created Adam and Eve in His image from the dust in the Garden, perhaps as recently as 6,000 years ago—4,000 BC.
• When Adam and his family were driven from the Garden, they came into contact with individuals who had developed biologically through God-supervised evolution. They were outside the Garden and not made in God’s image. This would account for the women available for Cain and Seth to marry, but not part of the line of Adam and Eve.
• Through using genealogy modeling, and including what is known about intermarriage and migration, it can be determined that likely everyone existing in the world by the birth of Jesus were genealogical ancestors of Adam and Eve. This would make Jesus a true sacrifice for all humans then living and thereafter. (adapted from Joshua Swamidass)

Of course, this is just one plausible explanation. One could hold to a young-earth view and believe that God gave the universe the appearance of age. We can see stars that are millions of light years away. Perhaps God gave those stars and their light the appearance of age. Or there may be a totally different scenario for creation that God finally reveals to us in Heaven.

This genealogy in Matthew 1, emphasizing Jesus’s human descent, is traced from Abraham. It gives importance to God’s work with His people as described in the Old Testament. We cannot really understand Jesus without paying attention to that history. Notice that this listing is unique in that it includes five women: 1) Tamar, a twice widowed woman who tricked her father-in-law into having sex outside of marriage in order to have an heir; 2) Rahab, a prostitute from Jericho, Israel’s enemy; 4) Ruth, a foreign widow; 3) Bethsheba, a woman who had an adulterous affair with David; and 5) Mary, a pregnant single girl from a small town. What do you think the significance is of these “mothers of Jesus” appearing on the list?

PSALM 1—Prayerfully reflect on these questions:

• Do we commit to following God’s revealed truth or do we follow cultural norms?
• Do we really delight in God’s Word more than other hobbies or social activities?
• Do we quickly read through the Bible, or do we mediate on it and obey it?
• Do we pray for family or friends who presently do not walk in the Lord’s way and who are in danger of perishing?