Genesis 1:1–2:3
St. John 4:46–54
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
There was once a scientist who made a bet with God. He said, “I bet I can create human life in my laboratory just like you can, God.” God said, “Okay, I’ll take that bet.” So, God got to work: He scooped up dust from the earth, formed it into a man, and then breathed life into the man’s body. Now it was the scientist’s turn, so he scooped up some dust and was taking it to his lab, when God stopped him. “Hold on,” said God. “You go get your own dust.”
God created the universe out of nothing. There was no pre-existent matter that He could use. In the beginning… the earth was without form and void. It was empty and shapeless—there was nothing. But nothing comes from nothing. So, how did God create His dust? How did He create anything? He spoke.
God created the universe out of nothing by His Word. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation…” and there were plants. God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above… Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth”… And it was so. When God speaks, things happen. God’s Word does what it says. Simply by speaking His Word, He created something where once there had been nothing.
And God didn’t just create a bunch of stuff and let it sort itself out. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). He is a God of order. The earth was without form and void—shapeless and empty. But by speaking His Word, God was filling and forming His creation. He created an orderly world.
God created the universe out of nothing by His Word in six days. First, God creates light, so there is darkness and light, evening and morning. This constitutes a day. Within the order of the six days, there is more order. Water above in the sky and water below in the sea. Sun for the day, moon and stars for the night. Swimming creatures in the sea and flying creatures in the air. Animals on the land, and humans over all the animals. And even within humanity there is order: male and female.
Let me say a bit more about this order. Humans were created in the image of God, so they exercised authority over the animals which do not have God’s image. But besides their relationship to the animals, humans also reflect God among themselves, which means they reflect the good order that is even within God, within the Holy Trinity. God the Father is the head of God the Son. Both are eternally equally God, but they relate to one another in an order that is good and beautiful. Likewise, there is an order within humanity. Man or husband is the head of woman or wife. Both are equally in the image of God, but they relate to one another in an order that is good and beautiful—it’s good for man and woman, and it beautifully pictures the order of Christ the Bridegroom and His Bride the Church.
So, at least in the beginning, every creation of God had its place in His order so that all creation worked according to the form, according to the plan, as God intended. This is why God called His creation good and very good. What God created is beautiful because it fits, it works, according to His good purpose. His creation was not without form and void, but orderly and full of life. The Word that God spoke gave His creation its existence. His Word orders all things and gives life to all things. And by listening to that Word, by keeping His Word and echoing it back to Him, by sticking to His order and receiving their life from Him, God’s creatures continue to be His good creation.
However, the devil and our sin ruined that creation. The devil spoke a different word, a lying word. Our first parents refused to listen to God’s Word and instead listened to the devil’s word and to their own word—they did what they thought was good. And so the devil and man’s disobedience brought disorder and chaos, sin and death. By rejecting the Word of God, we reject the thing that created us. We reject the order and life of that Word. Which means we are led back into what we were before God filled and formed us: back into nothing. Without the Word that God speaks, we die, and all creation with us.
Yet, the Lord would not have His good, beautiful, orderly, full of life creation be destroyed and emptied back into nothingness. The Lord would not let the devil take us and this world captive. The Word of God that first spoke creation out of nothing chose to come into His creation as a creature. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He came into His dying world to rescue it and re-do His creative work. The Word made flesh joined us, even to the point of dying our death. The Word made flesh suffered for our sin and so conquered death. The Word made flesh rose to new life in order to speak a new life-giving Word, healing and restoring His good creation.
This is what we see in the life and work of Jesus—the very same Word that created all things, now joined to human flesh and blood. In His miracles, He began to heal His creation, like we saw in the miracle today. He spoke His Word and the son was healed. When God speaks, things happen. God’s Word does what it says. In His miracles, Jesus was beginning to take back His fallen, disordered creation. He was setting things back to the rightful place, reversing the effects of sin and death, returning creation to His order and filling it with His life.
And this was ultimately achieved in His death and resurrection. By dying for our sin, Jesus also turned back the results of sin, the disorder and death that followed. If sin is paid for, then death has no business in God’s world. The death of Jesus means that a new Word of God can be spoken: the forgiveness of sin. And the resurrection of Jesus means that the new Word is indeed being spoken. Like the Word that God spoke to first create the world, this new Word creates a new world, a new heavens and a new earth. This new Word of forgiveness means the restoration of God’s order, His goodness, and His life for His creatures.
Still, the devil will not give up easily. By tempting us to sin, he still seeks to bring disorder and chaos into our world. He wants to see fellow men turn against each other and tear each other apart. The devil wants man and woman pitted against one other so that we make a mockery of the love between Christ and His Church. The devil sets creation against creation, and creation against the Creator, so that there is no good, life-filled order, but only hatred, violence, and death.
Now Christians, you are not just any old sinners, to be used as pawns in the devil’s war against God. The image of God has been renewed in you through faith in Jesus. Even though you still have a sinful nature, you also begin to reflect the goodness and beauty of God. This means, as Christians, you have to fight against the Devil, fight against his temptations, fight against his lies and disorder. On the seventh day of creation, it says that the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. This means that God’s creatures are His hosts, His armies. You Christians are enlisted into those ranks. You have been rescued from the devil’s clutches by your Savior Jesus, so you fight for Him now.
So, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against… the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil… Therefore take up the whole armor of God… Stand firm… having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. In that last weapon, we are given the very thing that gave us existence in the first place: the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Word of God comes to us in the pages of Holy Scripture, and it comes in two ways: in the Law of God and in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
People are tempted to think that the Law of God, His rules, are arbitrary and unnecessary. But as we’ve seen from creation, God has established a certain order. Order means Law and rule. His Law is not arbitrary or random, it is His eternal will. His Law is the order built into His very creation. And as sin spreads and increases, this Law has to be explicated, unpacked and applied to those specific various sins. When we speak God’s Word of Law, we are actually echoing the good order of God’s creation, and so fighting against the devil’s sin-filled chaos.
But the Word of God is the two-edged sword of the Spirit. So, we also wield the Word of God by speaking the Gospel. And the Gospel resounds in abundance: in forgiving one another our sins, in singing to one another and talking about God’s Word with one another, in baptizing sinners into the death and new life of Christ, in feeding and strengthening us with the resurrected body and blood of Christ. Just as the Law shows us God’s good order for life, the Gospel fills us up with the life that begins now and lasts forever.
The Word who is God, and who in the beginning first spoke creation into existence—this Word is still speaking. The Word made flesh is speaking a new creation into existence. Out of the nothing of the devil’s chaos, out of the nothing of your sin, He is re-ordering and re-filling you with His goodness, His beauty, His life. His re-creative work will be brought to its consummation at the resurrection of all flesh. And frankly, we can’t wait to see it.
Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.
