Beautiful Creation

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

Imagine for a moment that we are angels back at the beginning of the universe. One day we wake up. We never went to sleep, because we never before existed. We just popped into existence and woke up to experience ourselves, our surroundings, and our God for the first time. We have just been created.

The Son of God is smiling at us. He loves us. He has hopes, and dreams, and plans for us. We feel really good and alive, and God feels good that we are content and invigorated. Although we have no previous experience or memories in those first few hours, everything feels natural as we discover ability after ability. Fresh with the feeling of something wonderful out of nothing, we know God loved us first.

As hours turn to days turn to years turn to eons, we continue to do what comes naturally and so we grow in happiness and wisdom. Yet, as we learn, we realize more and more surely that we are not keeping ourselves alive. We are harmoniously moving through the cycles of life, but it is God making the cycles work. At any given moment it is Infinite Power continuing our existence and consciousness into the next moment. He loved us first in the first moment of creation, and He loves us first in the creation of each moment.

We are so accustomed to the world around us just always being here that we think it can exist by itself. In this scientific age we assume that things exist and operate by themselves, but then God makes them behave differently, if He desires. This is false science. God consciously thinks every atom into existence every moment and makes it behave the way He wants it to. He is consciously choosing to exert His power to keep you alive. God does not “set and forget” or wind up the clock and let it go. He keeps it, and us, ticking. In the beginning God created, and every moment God re-creates, otherwise we would come to an instant utter end. Our Father loves us and loves us and loves us and loves us….

“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (1:2)

Physically, as well as spiritually, without Him we are nothing. Unless the Spirit moves upon us, we are less than dead. We are void and non-existent.

We usually think of the word “poor” in the negative sense, as “impoverished”, “lacking”, or “inadequate.” But in a perfect universe there is no negative sense. The poor in spirit are poor relative to God. In other words, finiteness is tiny compared to Infinity. That is not negative, it is a positive reality. We are not Creators. We are finite created beings. Therefore, we are dependent on Infinity, which is not a problem because Infinity has anticipated all our needs and provided for them before we even know of them. Everything is ours if we trust our Father. (Luke 12:32)

Therefore, when the King commands something to be done it is not because it is something we need to do to keep ourselves alive or to make Him love us. That is all beyond our control. God assigns tasks, goals, behaviors, and activities as things appropriate to our skill level for our happiness and growth. A new commandment points out new areas for growth, new ways of experiencing existence. Every command is really an invitation to discover something new.

Because finiteness cannot see even two seconds into the future, it is not humiliating to bow. It is quite reasonable to acquiesce and cooperate. Obedience to the God of love is not slavery, it is the gateway to higher callings. Finite people are inspired and drawn to Infinity. When we stop bowing, when we stop acknowledging His greater goodness, then we gradually lose sight of our source of life and drift into the darkness of death.

Lots of trust is needed to make this interaction work. After all, an infinite God can blink to stop our existance, but God does not create us each moment just to destroy us. In a perfect universe, God gives plenty of uncountered, uncontradicted evidence. It is as natural to trust as it is to breathe. It is ennobling and fulfilling for finite beings to kneel in submission and walk in submission and work in submission to the eternal will of a caring Father. We can see that His will is life filled with beauty, spirit, and reward, and without His life we are without form and void. Blessed are those who know how tiny they are and always will be, for that is the gift of the Infinite One.

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (1:3-5)

In God’s newly created perfect universe there are no dark spots like we know them. Dark and light is relative and even the remote dark places are light compared to our lightest places, because God’s presence is everywhere. There is no quarantined sin-zone yet. So there is no mourning yet. Therefore, we do not need comfort from mourning. Rather, we are comforted with greater personal experiences with our Savior. We always hope for more and our hopes are always granted.

God is not only our King, but also our Savior. With the command comes the power to achieve. When we bow in agreement, He extends His hand of help and always says, Let’s do this together! Infinite Wisdom and Compassion knows that we are not Creators. We can do nothing without His power. Therefore, none of His commands are ever, You do this. They are always, Join Me!

In that light, every assignment becomes something more than a mere task, a mere obligation to obey and duty to fulfill. Every command becomes a personal project with the Savior, a special experience just between the two of us. What might be a cause for mourning is actually a source of desire, hope, and eagerness! Small things, big things, anything accomplished with God uplifts us, encourages us, and forever puts us on a higher level. This is why perfect people in a perfect universe are never reluctant to be commanded. They are always eager to obey, perform, achieve, and experience the next great thing.

From glory to glory, from light to greater light, this is the design of the Father’s universal home. Even when light-years from the throne, we are never far from God, for in Him we live and move and have our being. All things are by Him and of Him. Like a baby cradled in its mother’s arms, we are always comfortably nestled in the Savior’s presence. We climb higher and higher because there is never the risk of falling or failing. Blessed are those who desire the Light, for they shall bask in ever warmer and brighter Glory.

“And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse: and it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (1:6-8)

God commanded some water up and some water down. Like people, the water drops were all basically the same, but each one had its unique, mysterious place and purpose.

When a command goes forth, we may not understand it, but we recognize it is a good thing and will be an uplifting experience for us. Yet, we still need to actually agree to it. Nothing happens without our choice. God draws, woos, requests, and suggests, but He never forces. His commands are not threatening lightning bolts, but musical whispers of the most exquisite kind. Through the Holy Spirit that is able to communicate directly with the throne room in our minds, God encourages us to cooperate.

In a perfect universe, surrender never means defeat or loss. It only means the beginning of greater victory. Thus, the meek inherit an earth they want to keep and improve. They want to learn to harmonize with the ways that work for eternity. They are not ashamed to admit their finite limitations. They are eager to find them, test them, and expand them. The meek know that surrender to God’s will is the secret to endless growth.

Notice again that some of the waters went above the atmosphere and some went below. Both places were good. It was not a matter of choosing between good and evil, but between good and good. God had a particular reason and purpose for each particular drop. It is the same with us. We each were created for a particular place in the great eternal plan that brings the most fulfillment and joy to us, to others, and to God. The meek do not complain, “I want to be up there,” or, “I want to be down there.” Consecration to God includes consecration to His plan for our lives and to the place in which He has put us.

I can resist. I can fight. Or, I can surrender. It is my choice how I want to perceive God and His commands and purposes. If I surrender, it simply means I withdraw all resistance and objections. I embrace His glorious future for me. Blessed are those who eagerly take their place in God’s great plan, for they will enjoy it forever.

“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. The evening and the morning were the third day.” (1:9-13)

The command is given and agreed upon. Now the journey begins, which means the need for nourishment begins. From start to finish, the Creator supplies our needs. We have no fear of lack of resources. We are hungry and thirsty, not from starving, not from lack of anything, but from eagerness to learn. In a perfect universe that is always progressing forward, we are continually empty and continually full.

Each plant is made “after his kind.” Each fruit has its own taste, its own look, its own combination of nutrients. Every tool and every resource in the Creator’s universe has its purpose and makes its contribution. As the project progresses, the Master Teacher shows us how to use each aid. Our knowledge and appreciation of the universe grows as well as our admiration for its Creator. Every command, every journey, every enterprise challenges us and teaches us. We become wiser, stronger, better, more experienced. We become more like the infinite good person.

Heaven is often pictured as sitting around on clouds playing harps while lost in rapture, almost like being forever trapped in a drug induced stupor. However, there is far too much living, growing variety for that to happen. In the original perfect world and in the world made new there will always be new wonders to explore, new truths to discover, and new improvements to be shaped. Like a flower, our experience with the universe will continuously unfold and blossom. We will always have questions, and Christ will always have amazing answers, and more questions for us. Learning and loving never ceases. Blessed are the explorers, the entrepreneurs, the students of all good things because they have an eternity of amazing educational experiences waiting for them.

“And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” (1:14-19)

God is the sunlight of the sun and the starlight of the star, but the sun and the stars enjoy the privilege of channeling His light. God could have been the only star of the universe with everything revolving directly around Him. Instead, planets orbit stars which circle within galaxies which all spin around the great throne. The Caregiver of the universe places us all in relation to each other so that we also give care and guidance.

While we all have our private moments and missions with Christ, the bulk of our time is spent on team projects. We are social beings by design. Eternity is not isolated people working in isolation. We work together, learn from each other, and encourage each other. Sometimes I am a guiding star to you and sometimes you are a guiding star to me. God teaches us through each other. We use our collective positions to build community and to navigate community. We are created to give and receive mercy.

Because we are our brother’s and sister’s keeper, we are all caregivers to some degree. We may not be experts in technology or medicine, yet we can encourage, assist, and be insightful companions to computer programmers and doctors and nurses. At the end of the day, at the end of the job, we are all human and we can all shine and reflect love and appreciation to each other.

Some people and positions are like the sun, which has many planets orbiting around it. Others are like a moon which spends its time circling only one planet. There are advantages and disadvantages, differing privileges and responsibilities, for the moon compared to the sun, but each one helps various groups of people at various times with various tasks. God distributes His blessings through many channels, which becomes our privilege to share. Blessed are those who give to receive and those who receive to give.

“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.” (1:20-23)

This took me the longest time to figure out. I could not see a connection until I saw the similarity in the sanctuary. The animals of the sixth day are land-bound, but the animals of the fifth day are fish and fowl. They are the animals that move in all three dimensions. Like the smoke from the altar of incense filling the height and width and length of the temple, so the birds fill the skies and the fish fill the waters.

The pure in heart do not merely survive. They live abundantly. They live on the earth and they are connected to heaven in continual communion. Their hearts are full of good things like the sanctuary with incense and the sky with birds and the sea with fish. There is praise and music in their heart and God’s word on their lips. They do not so much purify themselves as they are purified by the infilling and overflowing Spirit.

The pure in heart are not passively refined. They ask God for challenges to make them grow. They seek out Infinity to discover new ways, new paths, new areas for exploration. They are quite comfortable in confiding to Christ their limitations and where they would like to expand. And God works with them to make custom plans. Like a priest or pastor we can go to for counsel, our Father is easy to approach and eager to work with our individual personalities. Their walk and talk and work and rest with the High Priest refines them.

In a perfect universe we see God everywhere. There is not the wide gulf between the physical and the spiritual like there is now. There is no contradictory information or confusing discoveries. Our every thought, feeling, and impulse of the heart is part of God’s perfect machinery rolling onward through eternity. There is no fear of making a misstep or of asking a dumb question. Our overall objective is to learn and grow and we are very comfortable with that. Blessed are they that comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Christ’s love, for they will know the fullness of God.

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (1:24-27)

The concept of judging is terrifying only because of evil, but in its basic sense, judging is discerning. It is the process of separating this thing from that thing to appreciate the qualities of both. If there was no judging then everything would be one big blob. Only evil requires judgments of condemnation, but good inspires judgments of commendation. Praise and thanksgiving to someone is a positive judgment of them!

On the sixth day God judged mankind capable of ruling over, and taking care of, all the animals. Humanity was a level above mammals, birds, and fish, for only men and women were made in the image of God. This was a judgment call by God and only people have the judgment to wisely exercise dominion over the earth.

The animals were implanted with a naturally peaceful submission to mankind. Their gods are us. However, evil changed much of that and now animals are afraid of humans and attack humans. The same conflict took place between humans and God. The evil heart fears and hates the Divine Presence. There is no peace between the rebel and his Creator. It is the task of peacemakers to inform and inspire so that the heart can be transformed and unity can be restored.

In the beginning there was no evil, no conflict, no separation, no distrust. Rather than peace making, people were involved in peace keeping and peace building. Peace was not the absence of war (which was unknown) it was the creating of songs and games and productive activities involving people and pets. Just as God created a beautiful world for us, so we were to shape this world for the enjoyment and use of man and animal. That mission required the judgment which was gifted only to humanity. Blessed are the kings and queens, for they shall discern and do wise things.

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (1:28-31)

We are continually judged by God because He is always planning the next move for us. In the perfect universe we are constantly judged, constantly blessed. With the King’s approval ringing in our ears we burst into fruitfulness and reign over the earth as He would. There is no persecution, only challenges conquered. The command given us at the beginning is now returned to the Father fulfilled with accomplishment. We are ready for the next project. The fruit we have produced is now seed for the next cycle of growth.

Every day ended with “it was good,” but this day ends with “it was very good.” Perfection has been accomplished and now it is the foundation for the next level of construction. Perfect becomes very perfect, just like in the spiral staircase. We climbed a complete spiral to get from one floor to the next, now we are in position to climb the next spiral to the next floor. As we advance from floor to floor, from glory to glory, the spirals get bigger, more challenging, more rewarding, more fruitful. The small projects measured in days at the beginning of eternity grow until we can carry out huge enterprises requiring millions of people and millions of years.

The blood of martyrs is seed to bring others to Christ. The success of saints is also seed to spur growth and inspire others. Not only the King, but all of His children rejoice over our achievements. They also approve, because everything we have done together with the Son is worthy of praise and admiration. As a human race together with Christ and the angels, we not only enjoy and live in eternity, we build it. We grow it and guide it like a precious plant. Blessed are those who are challenged for righteousness’ sake, for they will expand the universe and fill it with every good thing.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (2:1-3)

“And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead of it. And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cling unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (2:20-24)

After the seventh day the narrative flashes back to the sixth day to provide us with important details. To have included them in the first part would have ruined the list of brief day descriptions. Likewise, I am breaking with the day order to continue with story order.

In the Beatitudes we have salt and light. In Genesis we have God resting and humans marrying. In the sanctuary we see the Shekinah Glory flanked by angels. The pattern is clear. The Creator shares His glory with created beings. It is actually necessary for the preservation of the universe.

Salt is of the earth and preserves the food of the earth. However, if it has lost its saltiness, if the salt has lost the glory of salt, then it fails to preserve. Human beings—beings of faith, hope, and love—are given dominion over the earth, but if they lose what makes them truly human, then they become pillagers and destroyers.

Human-ness is passed on through birth which is the product of marriage between a man and a woman. If marriage loses its glory, then the family loses it glory. Humanity degenerates as it descends through the generations. History shows that in all cultures the happy family is the foundation and cornerstone of a happy society. It is impossible to maintain healthy community at large when community in the home is broken.

Light is from heaven and comes down to lighten the world. It comes direct from God and indirectly through His people. The purpose in both cases is the same. It is to keep people looking up to their heavenly Father so that they don’t lose sight of Him. This is the purpose of the Sabbath.

God came down to rest on the seventh day. He put His glorious presence in that day and so it was forever blessed. The blessing was not in people or behavior or even law. The blessing was in the day and all who enter the glorious day, like leaving a dark place to come out into the light, will experience that blessing. One does not take the light and work it or mold it or rub it on the skin or any such thing. To receive the blessing of light and glory on the seventh day, one must rest in it. One must bask in it and allow the glory to bathe and infuse the being so that God’s masterpiece can be highlighted and put on display. It is a day for God’s glory, not ours.

When a person is created at the beginning of eternity, they are perfect. That honors God because it shows He is a perfect Creator. Then growth commences. Throughout eternity, the perfect person grows more perfect. Faith, hope, and love encounter new situations and new challenges and continue to grow. Perfection grows. Perfection is uninterrupted growth as well as the unflawed current state.

We tend to think of perfection as only the destination. Therefore we discount the perfection of the steps taken in its direction. In a perfect universe we have perfect bodies and no internal or external temptation. That is perfect, but so is the growth we experience. To merely be perfect without growing would not honor God because growth is the cornerstone of His plan for us. Perfection without growth is like light without shining.

Therefore, while we now wait for perfect immortal bodies, we can grow spiritually in our choices, in our wisdom, in our exercise of faith, hope, and love. That spiritual growth, at any and all levels, from the poor in spirit to the persecuted, honors God because it shows we are ready to appreciate eternity in perfect immortal bodies, just like He originally intended.

Finally, notice the emphasis on state of being, not effort of doing. The salt is salty. The light is bright. God rests. The man and woman are one. Everything is perfect, glorious, harmonious, filled with infinite potential that will burst forth in limitless ways. The light that diffused itself in the prism of creation is light again and ready to splay itself again into the spectrum of the rainbow. Over and over through the endless cycles of eternity, from one seventh day to the next, God and man and woman, in glorious harmony of oneness, will live in honor and interact with love.