2.4 Creation and Re-Creation                   

 

1. What is revealed about God in the first verse of the Bible?
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

 

2. What contrast is repeatedly drawn in the Scriptures between the true God and false gods?
Jeremiah 10:11-16
11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
12 He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion.
13 When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.
14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of His inheritance: The LORD of hosts is His name.
Jeremiah 14:22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for Thou hast made all these things.
Acts 17:22-29
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us:
28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

 

3. Through whom did God work in creating all things?
John 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.

 

4. Through whom does re-creation take place?
Romans 5:8,9
8 But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
5. In what Scripture do we read that Christ, who was the true author of creation, is also the head of the church?
Colossians 1:16-18
16 For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:
17 And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.

 

6. What Scripture passage shows that the Creator is also the Redeemer?
Isaiah 43:1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

 

7. Who is declared to be the source of strength for the weak?
Isaiah 40:28, 29
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding.
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.

 

8. Which prayer of David shows that he viewed redemption as a work of creation?
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

 
9. Who holds the heavenly bodies in their orbits?
Isaiah 40:25, 26
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.

 

10. What can this same Holy God do for believers?
Jude 24, 25 24 Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

 

11. What is the measure of the power that is available to the believer?
Ephesians 1:17-20
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,
20 Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

 

12. How great was Israel's redemption from the Egyptian slavery?
Deuteronomy 4:32-34
32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34 Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

 

13. What Scripture clearly shows that it is God's creative power that transforms the believer?
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 

14. Of what great work is the Sabbath both the memorial and the sign?
Exodus 20:8-11
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.

 

15. Of what, besides the original creation, was the Sabbath appointed as a sign?
Ezekiel 20:12 Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

 

16. By whose power is the visible universe sustained?
Colossians 1:17 And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.

 

17. What words prove that all things, both physical and spiritual, are upheld by the same Person?
1 Corinthians 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.

 

18. Why is God worthy to receive honor and glory?
Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.