Does Creation Matter?

It seems self evident that God and creation go together. If there is a God then he surely created the universe. You could hardly have an atheistic creationist and one would think you cant cant have a Christian anti-creationist!

There seems however to be a deafening silence in Christian circles as regards creation. Has creation now become an embarrassment that we should ignore and move directly to Christ in the gospels on the basis that it hardly matters what came before?

Worse still there are those amongst the apparently Christian faithful who seem to have an antipathy towards the doctrine of creation.

I heard one very well known Christian theologian and author explain that there was no need to take the first few chapters of Genesis (creation and the flood) as historical accounts! Apparently they can be ‘true’ in some other way than as historical accounts, really?

In fact creation is of vital importance. Consider how the following doctrines are impacted if the Creation story isnt real history.

The goodness of God demands an originally good creation, doesn’t it? If God didnt create an originally good world it raises serious questions about his character.

We may struggle to work back from the fallen world we see now (even though we still see good things in it) to a perfect original but it is foolish to conclude there could never have been a truly good world.

If you discover a badly smashed vase it hardly proves that it wasnt originally beautiful does it?

However, who is man?

If we are only evolved apes it may not be so clear whether the Lord Jesus truly became one of us. There have been times in the past when some have doubted whether the Gospel is applicable to all peoples on the basis that some races were thought to be inferior and not fully human.

Yet Christ came to redeem a ‘multitude... from every nation, tribe, people and language’.1 Revelation 7:9

Without a historical fall where is the need for salvation? Either the human race isnt fallen or it is.

Does it make any sense for the Father to send his Son to save us from the consequences of a mythical fall?

It was the serpent (confirmed as Satan by the New Testament) .2 Revelation 12:9 who led Adam and Eve into the fall. Who can deny the devastating consequences of this catastrophe?

Fallen human beings (no matter how bad) are not our true adversary, Satans work of deception is the ultimate source of evil.

The vast majority of the creation narrative concerns Earth. If you think modern science has overturned this, I would ask you to consider quantity versus quality. There are many billions of stars of course but space exploration has yet to reveal anything to rival the staggering variety of life on Earth.

The lights in the sky only get one day and the stars only a single sentence! 3Genesis 1:16 If you think it is unreasonable for all this to occur on day four might I ask how much expertise you personally have in creating universes?

It has become fashionable to denigrate man in favour of the rest of creation (described as Nature today to hide its true origins).

I don’t deny that sinful mankind has and is doing appalling damage to Gods creation. Nevertheless mankind was and is the summit of Gods creative work and furthermore his redemptive work confirms this.

It is remarkable that there is even a veiled reference to Gods plan of redemption found in the curse he proclaimed upon the serpent.

‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’4 Genesis 3:15

The Lord Jesus defeated Satan at the cross 5Colosians 2:15 but in doing so received an apparently mortal blow himself.

You can see from that ancient prophecy that this Saviour was to be a descendent of Eve. This of course is only possible if Eve herself were a real person and the ‘mother of all the living’.6Genesis 3:20

The Lord Jesus freely taught from Genesis giving us good reason to believe he regarded it as inspired and historical. If he is our Lord and Saviour (and we hang on his every word) we hardly have room to disbelieve it.