Climate Change and Genesis 1

Climate change is news, big news.  People clamour for governments to take action – otherwise we are doomed.  Strange as it may sound, it all has to do with God’s creation as described in Genesis 1.  God created the earth first.  Look at the tightly interwoven creation after six days.  God built successively on what precedes.  Simplified it is something like this: 

#  Day 1

The earth is created.  Everything was still in darkness.  Then God created light and divided the light from the darkness and called them ‘day’ and ‘night.’

#  Day 2  

God created an expanse (He named it ‘sky’) that divided the waters above it from the waters below it.  In that way He created the hydrological cycle of evaporation, rain and snow.  Without it there can be no life on earth.

#  Day 3

• God divided the waters and the land.  Creation became more interdependent.  The waters above, the waters below (seas) and the land in balance as a tightly integrated unit. 
• Next God covers the ground with vegetation.  Thus the earth which was empty and formless, becomes more ‘filled.’  The plants, the land, the seas and the sky form a unit.   
• As an aside, it is obvious that bare soil will be eroded unless covered with vegetation.  This is one indication of the upset of nature’s intricate balance, when the ground is denuded with deforestation and overgrazing, et cetera. 

#  Day 4

God created the sun, moon and stars.  The sun has exactly the right rays to set the photosynthesis factory in the leaves of plants in action.  That produces oxygen, which all living organisms need.  Living organisms produce carbon dioxide which all plants need.  They are closely related, each dependent on the other.  

#  Day 5 & 6

In these two days God created the fish and organisms in the water, birds and all flying creatures, animals and man.  They are all dependent on the plant life, on the land, on the seas and other waters, and the waters in the sky.  

#  A tightly interrelated ‘unit’ 

So in six days God created a tightly interrelated ‘unit.’  Everything is interdependent on all the others.  What happens with climate change is that one aspect of the ‘unit’ is either replaced, displaced, or destroyed,.  Immediately a chain reaction begins like falling dominoes.  For example, when people cut down forests, the animals and birds lose their habitat.  The production of oxygen and use of carbon dioxide is changed, the water cycle is influenced, et cetera, et cetera.  Result?  Catastrophes, global changes in the climate, floods, et cetera. 

Conclusion

• Man, marred by sin, is the main culprit in this ecological catastrophe.  He was appointed to rule over creation.  That rulership was stolen by Satan, who influences people to wantonly destroy because of greed or often, ignorance.  
• God is not silent about the destruction of nature.  Revelation 11:18 speaks about the end of this age and says, ‘The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding…and for destroying those who destroy the earth.’ 

What happens when you unhook the red and black letter words in the Bible?

Some Bibles have the words of Jesus in the Gospels in red.  So some claim that the ‘words in red’ are more important than the rest of the Bible.  The question is how do we handle the ‘red superior/black inferior’ doctrine?  

# Do Jesus’ words have more authority?

• In Matthew 19:5 Jesus said, ‘…have you not read that He who made them….’   This is a ‘red letter’ important saying of Jesus.  Yet Jesus quoted a ‘black letter’ saying from Genesis 2:24, written by Moses.  So do we pronounce those specific words also ‘red letter?’ 
• When Satan confronted Jesus after His forty day fast, all Jesus’ ‘red letter’ words were from Deuteronomy 6 and 8.  Should those black letters then also be red?  Do they carry higher authority? 
• Jesus uttered another red letter saying in Matthew 9:13.  Yet He quoted Hosea 6:6, a black letter verse. 
• The same happens when Jesus quotes Micah 7:6 in Matthew 10:36, and Malachi 3:1 in Matthew 11:10 

#  The significance of those examples

• Jesus’ words were written down by the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Were they more inspired than those of, for instance, Moses, writer of Genesis? 
• Remember all 66 books were inspired by the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit according to 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 2:9-13

#  Is there a scale of importance in the Bible writings?

• Is, ‘This is what the Lord says’ (mainly Old Testament); Jesus’ personal words in the four Gospels; or the letters of Paul, Peter, John, James and others, equally important or not? 
• If somebody claims that Jesus’ words have more authority, then he or she has to prove that the four Gospel writers were more inspired than either Moses, Paul or the others.  
• We cannot do that, since it is clear from the examples that there is no inspirational difference between what Moses, or Matthew or Paul wrote.  There is no evidence at all that one writer was more inspired than the others.  One Holy Spirit was at work in all the writers.

Conclusion

Scripture comes from God.  There is no order of ‘importance.’  Do not be misled by those who claim that the ‘red letters’ are of more value than the ‘black letters.’

No Resurrection, no New Testament

It is Easter, the time of the year that we celebrate the greatest event of all time: the Redeemer, the King on the Cross that died and was resurrected on the third day.  It sounds a bit strange, but it is a demonstration of how God’s ways differ from the ways we think.

#  Did the Resurrection happen?

At this time of the year many defenders of the faith write about the Resurrection and how we can know it really happened.  They understand that without the Resurrection, we would have no New Testament.  The logic in Scripture tells us that Jesus rose from the dead.  Let us look at what the New Testament reveals:

#  Jesus’ appearances to Peter and Paul after His resurrection

• Jesus talked to Peter after His Resurrection.¹  Peter wrote the two letters, 1 & 2 Peter.
• The Resurrected Lord Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus.  If Jesus was then still in the grave, He could not have appeared to Paul.  He did.  Which explains why we have Paul’s letters.  Without the Resurrection, Romans as well as the letters to the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, et cetera would not be in the Bible. ²
• Paul’s companion, Luke, wrote both the Gospel of Luke and Acts.  There would have been no message to spread if Jesus did not rise from the dead.  Luke accompanied Paul on some of his journeys to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles.  Luke reports in Acts 22:21 that the resurrected Lord Jesus said to Paul, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’

#  Because of the Resurrection we have the four Gospels.

• If Jesus did not rise from the dead, why would the disciples tell the world His story?  Jesus said to His disciples just before His ascension, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations….’ ³  So the four Gospels as well as the spread of the Gospel throughout the world testify to Jesus’ resurrection.

#  The beloved John wrote and saw the glorified Jesus.

• Scholars accept that Jesus’ beloved disciple, John, wrote the 3 letters of John.  John writes about Jesus as if He is alive in His Father’s presence, ‘But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.’ ⁴  That is only possible because Jesus rose from the dead.
• Likewise the resurrected Jesus gave the book of Revelation to John.  The glorified Lord Jesus said to John, ‘I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever….’ ⁵  

#  Jesus’ brothers believe in Him.

• We read in John 7:3-9 that Jesus’ brothers did not have faith in Him.   Yet the letters of His brothers James and Jude are in the New Testament.  Their change from unbelief to belief must have happened after the Resurrection.

#  Jesus at His Father’s right hand in heaven

• In the letter to the Hebrews God says to the Lord Jesus after His ascension, ‘You are my Son, today I have become your Father.’ ⁶  God also said to Jesus, ‘Sit at my right hand….’ ⁷  It happened after the Resurrection, because the Father was satisfied that Jesus paid the death penalty for sin.

Conclusion

If Jesus did not rise from the dead on the third day, there would be no New Testament.  We have the New Testament.  We glorify the Resurrected Jesus, our glorious, wonderful Saviour.

References

1. John 21:1-22
2. Acts 9:4-16; 22:7-10; 26:14-18
3. Matthew 28:18
4. 1 John 2:1
5. Revelation 1:18
6. Hebrews 1:5
7. Hebrews 1:13