Wednesday
Wednesday
The Sobriety of the Genesis Narrative
And God said, “Let there be….” And it was so…. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:6, 9–10
It is often claimed that there are striking parallels between the creation myths of the ancient Near East (especially the Babylonian epic known as “Enuma Elish”) and the biblical account of creation in Genesis 1. But what is remarkable about the Babylonian and the biblical stories is not their similarity but their dissimilarity. So far from copying the Babylonian account, Genesis 1 critiques and challenges its basic theology. In the Babylonian myths the gods, amoral and capricious, squabble and fight with one another. Marduk, the loftiest of gods, attacks and kills Tiamat, the mother-goddess. He then proceeds to split her body in two, half of it becoming the sky and the other half the earth. From this crude polytheism it is a relief to turn to the ethical monotheism of Genesis 1, in which the whole creation is attributed to the command of the one true and holy God.
According to the book of Revelation, the eternal worship of heaven focuses on the Creator:
You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.
Revelation 4:11
Scientists will continue to investigate the origins, nature, and development of the universe. But, theologically speaking, it is enough for us to know that God created all things by his will as expressed in his simple and majestic Word. For this is the repeated refrain of Genesis 1: “And God said….” Moreover, as God contemplated what he had made, he “saw that it was good.” We need, therefore, to rejoice in all God’s created works—whether food and drink; or marriage and family; or art and music; or birds, beasts, and butterflies; and many other things besides.
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.
1 Timothy 4:4
For further reading: Jeremiah 10:12–16