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Sermons from the Book of Genesis |
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The existence of man raises three great questions: who are we, where did we come from, and what are we here for? There are many who try to answer these questions based on the assumptions and theories of evolution. What do we mean when we talk about the theory of evolution? The World Book Encyclopedia gives this definition: "Evolution is a process of gradual change. . . .the process of evolution most commonly refers to the formation and development of life on the earth. The ideal that living things evolved from non-living matter and changed through the ages is called the theory of organic evolution, or simply the theory of evolution."1
In other words, evolution states that man is a form of life that came from non-life and through a series of changes over the course of millions of years came to be man as we know him. Again I refer to World Book Encyclopedia: "According to this theory, the first single celled organisms appeared about 3 or 4 billion years ago, soon after the earth's crust had formed and cooled. As time passed, more complex organisms gradually developed specialized characteristics that helped them adapt to their environment. This evolutionary process eventually produced all the species that inhabit the earth today."2
Dr. Robert Jastrow, a well-known geologist, astronomer, physicist, who is also an agnostic said: "It happened this way: now and then in the primordial seas of the earth, collisions occurred between neighboring molecules; in some of these collisions, two small molecules stuck together to form a larger one; then another small molecule collided and stuck; and then another. Eventually after countless millions of chance encounters a molecule was formed that had the magical ability to divide into two copies of itself. This was the start of life."3
It is believed that about 50 million years ago, in the development of primates, three main lines emerged: the Prosimians (now represented by such animals as lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers), New World Monkeys (such as mosets, howler and spider monkeys), and Old World Monkeys (such as baboons).4
It is believed that at some point there was a split off from the Old World Monkeys giving us our hominoid group, which includes gibbons, apes, and humans.5 It is believed that these monkeys and apes, also called anthropoid (human-like) primates, evolved about 50 million years ago. The great ape-human divergence happened between 5 and 8 million years ago.6
Dr. Philip Whitefield, Head of the Division of Life Science at King's College, University of London writes: "Apes evolved from the Old World and it is on this most recent branch of primate 'bush' of species that Homo Sapiens belongs."7
To put it very simply, man has been trying to make a monkey out himself for years. Someone summarized the evolutionary theory with this little poem:
The whole thing is some what like the monkey that seen coming out of library with two books under his arm. One was a Bible and the other was Darwin's Origin of the Species. Someone asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm trying to find out if I'm my brothers keeper or my keepers brother."
When we look at God's Word, we can't help but ask why man would try to make a monkey out of himself. What God has to say is so much more so much more logical. Sir Fred Hoyle, one of Britain's foremost scientist, conducted a computerized study of the chance that the first living cell could have developed by a random process. He calculated that the chances of random chemical shuffling in some primordial soup that could produce the complex basic enzymes of just one cell of life, is only one in ten to the fortieth power (10 followed by 40 zeros) that life just happened. He said, "There is about as much chance of evolution being true as a hurricane going through a junk yard and building a Boeing 747."8
Dr. Conklin, a professor at Princeton University said, "To suggest that life just happened by accident has about the same probability as suggesting that a Webster's unabridged dictionary would result from an explosion in a printing factory."9
Lets notice God's Word and see what how man really got here, who he is, and the purpose for which he is here. First, we see that:
1. MAN IS A DIVINE CREATION
We read in Genesis 1:26-27, "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 creepeth 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." How did we get here? Man was created by God. The existence of man is not due to a process but to a Person. The missing link is not found in the Piltdown man, the Java Ape-Man, nor the Nebraska Man. It is found in God!
As we look in the Bible we see that man was:
A. Miraculously Made
We read in Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The word "formed" is used of a potter shaping clay. God took the dust of the earth into His hands and fashioned the man that was in His heart. Once God had formed man from the dust of the earth, He breathed into his nostrils and man became a living soul. Man did not come from non-life material and through a process develop into a living being. Man was formed by God, and in one Divine breath, he became a living soul.
Incidentally, according to many, the theory of evolution explains the origin of a man. Yet there is the explanation for the woman (Of course no one can explain a woman). Where did the woman come from? Both man and woman were created by God. They both are a miracle. The existence of man can be nothing less than a miracle. Man is a miracle from the Master.
Furthermore, we see that man was:
B. Marvelously Made
We read in Psalm 139:141, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Man is marvel to the mind of the most educated scientist. Man is a marvel to the keenest Biologist. Man is a marvel to the smartest physiologist. Man has indeed been fearfully and wonderfully made.
Man is made up of about 24 elements; 65%oxygen, 18.5% Carbon, 9.5% Hydrogen, 3.3% Nitrogen, 1.5% Calcium, 1%Phosphorous, 0.35% of potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. There are also traces of iron, iodine, zinc, molybdenum, selenium, cobalt, fluorine, silicon, copper, manganese, boron, aluminum, chromium, and selenium.10
A human being normally has 46 chromosomes (23 pairs) in all but the sex cells. Half of each pair was inherited from the mother's egg; the other half from the father's sperm. Chromosomes contain thousands of genes, each of which has information for a specific trait. That information is in the form of a chemical code, and the chemical compound that codes this genetic information is called DNA. Each of these thousands of genes are coded for a specific protein. These proteins determine specific physical traits (such as height, body shape, color of hair, eyes, skin, etc.), body chemistry (blood type, metabolic functions, etc.), and some aspects of behavior and intelligence.11
There are anywhere from 50 to 75 trillion cells in the human body.12 The activity within a single cell is equivalent to that of a large city such as Tokyo or Chicago. The genetic information contained in just one cell of the human body is roughly equivalent to a library of 4,000 volumes. There are 2 trillion chemical reactions taking place in every one of those 50-75 million cells every second of your life.13
These cells so small that the letter "0" on the page of a book could contain up to 40,000 cells. Yet, each individual cell is a world in itself with a specialized function and an intricate timetable that tells the cells when to grow, when to divide, when to make hormones, and when to die. In a human body some 3 billion cells die and are replaced every minute. The human brain contains some 30 billion cells; the skin has about a million cells per square inch; and in some veins some 20 trillions cells go about their business.14
One molecule of hemoglobin, the protein in blood that carries oxygen to every part of the body, contains 3,032 atoms of carbon, 4,812 atoms of hydrogen, 780 atoms of nitrogen, 4 atoms of iron, 880 atoms of oxygen, and 12 atoms of sulfur. 15
I think of the human eye. The retina of the eye contains 130 million light receptors and allows us to distinguish 8 million colors. The simple act of walking into a room and immediately recognizing all the objects requires more computing power than a dozen of the worlds top super-computers put together.16
Would you not agree that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. How could anyone deny that behind the human body is a designer and creator? We must agree that MAN IS A DIVINE CREATION. Man can make a monkey out of himself if he wants to but I prefer to accept the fact that God made me.
We not only see that man is a divine creation, but we also see that:
2. MAN IS A DISTINCT CREATION
When you look at all God created, you see that man is unique and distinct from all creation. All things were created by God, but man was distinct from it all. The creation of man was:
A. The Final Work of Creation
Over the course of 6 days God created all the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. The last of God's creation was man. God saved the best for last. Man was the highlight of all God's creation. God spent the first 3 days forming the earth and the last 3 days filling the earth. The truth is, God created a place for man to live and created the provisions for man to live.
Notice Genesis 1:29-30, "And God said, Behold, 1 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 meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so." Everything was created for man. God created an earth on which to live and food in various forms by which to live. God did it all for man. When it was all done, then God created man. Man may have been the final work of creation but he was the foremost work of creation.
We also see that man was:
B. The Favored Work of Creation
Man was created on the 6th day. But that is not all that was created in the 6th day. Notice Genesis 1:24-25, "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 ft was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good." Man and animals were created on the same day. Yet, we see that there was something unique and distinct about man that made him different than the animals.
Notice Genesis 1:26, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." We also read in Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." What made man so unique and distinct from all other creation is that he was made in the image of God. In this matter, man was unlike any other part of creation. There was given to man a resemblance of God. The word "likeness" speaks of a "model" and "image" speaks of a resemblance. It does not necessarily mean that we look like God in our physical features.
Notice carefully that God said, "Let us." The "Us" no doubt speaks of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He is one God manifested in 3 persons. It is my belief that this is the likeness referred to. You see, man is distinct from all creation because man is a trichotomy. Man is body, soul, and spirit. Plants have a body, but they don't have a soul or spirit. Animals have a body and a soul (mind, will, feelings, etc.) but not a spirit. Man is the only part of creation that is body, soul, and spirit. By our body we relate to the world around us. With our soul we relate to the world about us. With our spirit we relate to the world above us. Man is the only part of creation that can communicate and have communion with its Creator. Plants can't fellowship with God. Animals can't commune with God. Only man!
Everything in creation was created for man. But man was created for God. In this man was not only the final work of creation but the favored work of creation. We are the only part of creation that can know its Creator!
Lastly, notice that:
3. MAN IS A DOMINATE CREATION
We read in Genesis 1:28, "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 moveth upon the earth." This is the first words of God to man. God made man and then spake to man. You might say that this is the first commandment of the Bible. What did He tell man to do?
First we see that God told man to:
A. Reproduce On The Earth
God said, "Be fruitful and multiply." Man was given the ability to reproduce and the responsibility to reproduce. Now think with me for a moment. Every time a baby is aborted the first commandment of God is broken. Babies were never meant to be aborted, but born. In our day and time, I should point out that God was speaking to a man and a woman. Homosexuality is a violation of this first commandment. Men can't reproduce with men, and woman can't reproduce with women. Homosexual relationships are not a sickness but a sin. They are not alternate life-styles but abominable life-styles. They go against the purpose of God's creation.
Also, we see that God told man to:
B. Rule Over The Earth
God told man to "subdue" the earth and 'have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth." The word "dominion" means "to master, prevail over." We read in Psalm 8:6, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." Man is under the Lordship of his Creator, and the creation is under the lordship of man. This is seen in each scientific, medical, and technological discovery and feat of man. No fish has ever discovered a cure for some disease. No bird has ever invented a computer. No dog has ever designed a rocket that could go to the moon. Man was dignified in creation with a headship and lordship of the earth.
When we see man and that he is a divine creation, a distinct creation, and a dignified creation, we have to ask, WHY WOULD ANYBODY WANT TO MAKE A MONKEY OUT OF THEMSELVES?
1. The World Book Encyclopedia 1988 edition 2. Ibid. 3. Quoted in the sermon "Creation or Evolution: What Really Happened?" by Dr. James Merritt 4. From So Simple A Beginning (The Book of Evolution) by Philip Whitfield 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid. 7 Ibid. 8. Sermon "Creation or Evolution: What Really Happened?" 9 Ibid. 10. "The Handy Science Answer Book" compiled by the Science and Technology Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid. 13. "Sermon Creation or Evolution: What Really Happened?" 14. "Exploring Philippians" by John Phillips 15. Ibid. 16. Creation Magazine
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