25-0112p Transcript

Preacher: Scott Reynolds

(0:55) We’ve been going over the beginnings, (0:59) and today we actually got into Genesis chapter 1, the first five verses.

Prior to that, (1:07) we looked at before the beginning, because when Genesis starts in verse 1 of chapter 1, (1:15) in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, there’s a lot that goes on (1:20) during that period of time. And you have a tendency, people do, to think, well, when you (1:29) find out that there actually was something that happened before the creation of the earth, (1:35) you want to put a lot of time in there. And that’s not the case.

This all happens on the first day. (1:45) And we had a sermon where we were talking about the Bible before, (1:54) or what occurred, the events that occurred before the beginning, and we learned that heaven itself, (2:02) the heaven of heavens, is a created place. It did not exist before creation.

Heaven did not exist (2:11) before creation. Only God existed by himself, well, the three. The Godhead existed.

When I say (2:21) God, I’m talking about the Godhead, the three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are (2:28) the Godhead, and they existed. They’ve existed from everlasting, and they’ll exist to everlasting. (2:43) So, and they made a plan on they were going to create.

So, (2:54) once they came up with their plan and put it into, and this is the hard part to think about, (3:00) but put it into action where they started creating the universe and the earth. (3:11) They also created the heaven of heavens. We get that, if I can find it real quick, out of (3:20) Nehemiah chapter nine, verse six, where Nehemiah says, you alone are the Lord.

You have made the (3:28) the heaven of heavens. So, God made the heaven of heavens, and that’s talking about, (3:34) in Second Chronicles, it will call it, David will call it the highest heaven. So, God, (3:44) the heaven of heavens is a created place, and Nehemiah says, you made the heavens, (3:49) the heaven of heavens.

Heavens is plural. There’s more than one heaven. There’s (3:56) the, what we now have is the atmosphere.

That’s considered heaven in the Bible. (4:03) What we see, where we see the stars, that’s considered heaven in the Bible. That’s the (4:09) second heaven.

First heaven is where the birds fly. Second heaven is where the stars are, (4:16) and the third heaven, as Paul called it, the third heaven, I was caught up into the third heaven, (4:21) Paul said, is the heaven of heavens, or the highest heaven, (4:29) and that’s a created place. Nehemiah brings that out here, the heaven of heavens, (4:35) with all of their hosts.

So, every being that exists in heaven, the heaven of heavens, and (4:45) except for realizing that the exception is God, the Godhead, the angels are the host of heaven, (4:55) and they are created beings. They were created when the heaven of heavens was created, (5:01) and then he created the earth and all that’s on it, the sea that’s in them, (5:05) and he gives life to all of them, and the heavenly host, that’s the angels, bow down before you. (5:12) So, God created the heaven of heavens, and he did that before he created the physical, (5:26) we call it the physical realm, the natural realm, where we live.

We have sensors, and we can see, (5:38) smell, taste, hear, touch, those are our sensors, and they’re tuned to the physical world. (5:48) We cannot see God, he’s a spirit, we cannot see the spiritual realm, (5:55) so we’ve gone over this before, the spiritual realm has been (6:04) hidden from the physical realm. The spirits can see us, the angels are able to see the physical (6:12) realm, the natural realm, and they’re able to interact with it.

We’ve seen through the scripture (6:18) that angels have interacted with people. So, in creating, God creates the heaven of heavens, (6:31) he creates it first, with their host, so the angels are made, and this happens on the first (6:37) part of the first day, they’re made first. And we mentioned that they observed what was going on, (7:02) and that comes from Job 38.

God created the heaven of heavens, created heaven, (7:10) where he also would reside being spirit. Hebrew chapter 1 tells us that God made the angels (7:17) spirits, he made them spirits, and they inhabit a spiritual realm. So, God is a spirit, and those (7:26) who inhabit heaven with him are spirits.

He made the angel spirits to inhabit the spiritual realm. (7:36) And we know today that 1 John tells us that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (7:50) So, prior to heaven, prior to creation, God is existing in the three persons, (8:00) and there is no darkness, because there’s no darkness with God.

It’s all light. (8:06) So, when he creates the heaven of heavens, that is where he is. It’s a spiritual realm, (8:13) he’s a spirit, it’s illuminated by him, and then, so they know no darkness at this point.

(8:29) And Job 38, four through seven, where God says to Job, where were you when I laid the foundation (8:38) of the earth? So, that gives us the context of what he’s questioning Job about. And when would (8:45) you lay the foundation of something after it’s completed, when it’s been existing for a thousand (8:55) million years, or when you lay the foundation, where is that in the time scale of whatever (9:04) you’re making? When do you lay the foundation? It’s in the beginning. So, he’s giving us the (9:13) context.

God is asking him, were you there when I laid the foundation? What’s he asking? Were you (9:19) there in the beginning when I made everything, is what he’s saying. Tell me, if you have (9:25) understanding, who set its measurements? Who crafted this out? You know, the craftsman, he goes, (9:34) you measure twice and cut once. So, who set its measurements, or stretched the line on it? Well, (9:45) on what were its bases sunk? What do you lay the foundation on? And from previous sermons, (9:53) because we’ve talked about Paul using the building paradigm, talking about the church.

(10:02) Jesus said on this confession, I will build my church. And then Paul goes on and talks about (10:13) the foundation and the cornerstone. Jesus being the cornerstone, the foundation is when you build (10:21) your foundation on bedrock.

You have to have something there. What did he, on this rock, (10:27) I will build my church. So, which was the truth that he is the Christ.

He was the Messiah. (10:34) So, his kingdom is based on that. So, when you’re making this, so when he’s talking about (10:45) the cornerstone and who laid its cornerstone, talking about the earth.

And here’s the point (10:52) that we’re getting to in Job 38 that tells us that the angels existed before what we consider (11:00) is the creation. When we talk about the creation, we’re thinking what we can see, (11:09) the universe, the stars, the sun, the earth. And that’s what it says, you know, in the beginning, (11:15) God created the heavens and the earth.

So, we’re thinking our heavens and our earth. And it is our (11:21) earth. But one of the heavens also happens to be the heaven of heavens, the spiritual, (11:28) which you don’t get just from reading.

You have to have other references in the scripture to let (11:37) you know that something more than just the physical realm came into being when God said, (11:45) when in the beginning God created. And here it is, it’s verse seven, when the morning stars (11:52) sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. So, there are a group of beings that are (12:00) observing God laying the foundation that cannot be a human being, (12:10) because there are no human beings when he lays the foundation of the earth.

(12:18) So, it has to be some beings that are existent. And the sons of God and the angels in Job chapter (12:27) one are referred to the sons of God. Since he made them, they would be his sons.

So, (12:35) the morning stars sang together, and we know two people referenced by that term in the scripture. (12:44) One is Jesus Christ. In Revelation, it tells us that now there’s only one morning star, (12:51) the bright and morning star.

The other person, who is the other person in the scripture that’s (13:00) identified as the morning star? And if you knew the Latin for that term, what would the Latin, (13:07) the English rendition of the Latin word is Lucifer, the morning star. Lucifer was one (13:16) of the two morning stars who sang together when God was laying the foundation of the earth. (13:27) All right.

So, the morning stars, Lucifer and Jesus would be, being the (13:35) second person, the Godhead, and all the angels of God shouted for joy. So, the angels are in (13:42) existence, watching, and that’s the whole point. The angels are watching when the earth is brought (13:53) into being.

So, there’s a certain amount of time between when it says God created the heavens and (14:02) it says, and the earth. And actually, it’s right there in the word heavens, because that’s plural. (14:12) One of those heavens is the universe, space that we see.

The other one is the spiritual heaven, (14:22) the heaven of heavens, which he makes first. So, you could actually say in the beginning, (14:27) God created the heaven spiritual, he makes that first, and the angels. (14:35) And just like Adam, he makes them fully cognizant, fully aware, (14:45) and fully functional the moment they’re made.

So, they’re able to observe what’s going on (14:54) after he makes them, then he makes the physical realm. He creates the other heaven, (15:02) they’re in the heaven of heavens, it’s all lit up. It’s bright, because God, in Revelation, (15:10) when time is over, and it says after the resurrection, there will be no sun.

(15:22) In Revelation 22, five, it says, and there will no longer be any night, and they will not have (15:29) a need of the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, (15:38) and they will reign forever and ever. So, God, as John said in 1 John 1, God is light, (15:45) and in him is no darkness at all. So, that’s why he told us to walk in the light, because God is (15:50) light, which gives meaning to the song, Sunshine, that we just rang when it’s talking about the (15:59) light of Jesus and God, when they talk about light, because the Godhead is light.

(16:11) So much so that when all this is over, the light that will be there will be from God. (16:20) And no other light will be necessary, and if you continue reading, and Revelation says there’s no (16:29) night. Night doesn’t come anymore.

It’s always day. Okay, so they observe the creation of the (17:03) sun. I’m kind of recapping what we did this morning.

Verse 3, when it says, (17:13) we thought about all the things God created on the first day. Most people think that what he (17:22) created on the first day was light, and going through, ticking through the list that we were (17:27) just talking about, God created the heaven of heavens and the angels. He created the space of (17:38) the universe, that heaven, and he created the earth.

In the beginning, God created the heavens (17:46) and the earth. On the first day, when the spirit of God is hovering over the waters of the earth, (17:55) the earth has to be there. So the earth was created on that first day.

And we also noted (18:02) that water must have been created, because it’s talking about water’s existence, (18:09) and it’s not eternal. So water was created. So you have the heaven of heavens, heaven (18:16) of the universe, the earth, and water, all at least, and there might be more, but that’s (18:25) all that we’ve mentioned, all before light is created.

So when God says, let there be light, (18:37) and there was hell and darkness was on the face of the deep. So we talked, we got this idea (18:51) that God created darkness, because here we have the situation that we set up, God created the (19:05) heaven of heavens, it’s a spiritual place, spiritual beings, God is a spirit, God is light, (19:13) so it’s illuminated. And when God creates the heaven of heavens, it’s created in the light (19:22) of God.

It’s illuminated. When he creates the angels, they’re there in the heaven of heavens (19:29) with him, he illuminates everything, just like he will in the end, when the saved are brought (19:39) into his presence, they too will be illuminated. That’s what we read out of Revelation 22.

(19:46) So where did the darkness come from? Because when God created the earth, and then he’s, (20:00) you have the Holy Spirit hovering over the water, he’s hovering over the water in darkness. (20:08) So where did the dark come from? And Isaiah 45.7 tells us, Isaiah said that God is the one (20:21) forming light and creating darkness. Darkness is created, it did not exist (20:33) before the creation of the physical realm.

When God created first the spiritual realm, (20:42) there still is no darkness. So when God creates the physical realm, all of a sudden that physical (20:50) realm, heaven would not be dark, it would still be illuminated. The angels would still be watching (20:57) this from the illuminated heaven.

So there’s light there, there’s no darkness. (21:04) So when God creates the physical world, all of a sudden, where he’s going to create that, (21:12) the heaven of the physical realm is dark. It’s just dark.

He creates darkness, and in that (21:23) darkness, he creates that universe and the earth. So the earth and the universe are created in this (21:34) darkness. And the implication of that, we said, because I don’t know if you thought about this (21:42) before, but it’s a novel, I haven’t heard it.

I haven’t heard this idea before. I don’t remember (21:52) how I came across Isaiah 45.7, but it stuck with me for a couple of years, at least now. (22:02) And this idea that God creates darkness.

And it wasn’t until we started working on these ideas (22:11) that with the Truth Project, God is truth, his word is truth, the foundation of Christianity (22:19) is truth, what he tells us is truth, and anything that’s opposite of what he’s saying (22:28) is not the truth. So we are in a battle, if you haven’t noticed in our culture, (22:39) and the battle, Del Tackett of the Truth Project tells us, he calls it the cosmic battle, (22:44) and that battle is between truth and lies. And Satan is the father of lies.

And when he (22:52) tells a lie, he’s speaking, Jesus said, he’s speaking from his native language. (22:59) Because that’s all he speaks, are lies. What did he say to Eve? He lied to Eve.

It’s through (23:06) deception that he motivated Eve to sin. So you have this battle, this cosmic battle that’s going (23:17) on, it’s between truth and lies. And where do we get the truth? Jesus said, John 17, your word is (23:26) truth.

Sanctify them in the word, your word is truth. So God is giving us the truth. So you have (23:37) this battle going on.

And we were talking then about this idea of darkness being created. (23:50) And like I said, I haven’t seen it anywhere, and we were working through this. So we then talked (24:00) about being saved by faith.

We talked about earlier, before the creation, what took place (24:08) before the creation. Again, when we say creation, we usually think of just the physical realm. (24:14) But creation, the spiritual realm, was created on the same day, (24:22) later on the same day than the spiritual realm.

But they were both created on the same day. And (24:30) whoever thought that heaven itself was a created place, the only thing that’s ever existed forever (24:39) is God. Nothing else.

You don’t have a place that has been existent as long as God. God created (24:52) a place for him to dwell with spiritual beings, which is what’s going to happen at the end also. (25:00) But he also created a physical, a natural realm that is separated from the spiritual.

(25:16) So we started talking about being saved by faith. Why is it that we need to take God (25:26) on faith? Why doesn’t he just show himself? And then if God showed himself to you, wouldn’t you (25:35) obey him? And so God creates the spiritual. They are spiritual.

They see God as he is. (25:51) They are witnessing because he creates them. You know, this is like Adam.

When he creates Adam (25:59) and God brings the animals before him to see what he would name him, (26:05) God puts Adam, made the situation to see what he would name them. So he did this and he made Adam (26:20) by himself before he provided a wife for him. He didn’t create them at the same time.

(26:27) That is deliberate. Now, you know, what God is all-knowing, so he’s not doing experiments. (26:37) He knows, he knows the whole gamut, the beginning, the end of that which has a beginning and end, (26:47) which is the physical.

Time also was created when the physical realm was created. Actually, (26:57) I’m thinking time was created when the spiritual realm and the angels were created. I don’t believe (27:07) that the angels existed, experienced when there was no time.

Everything that’s been created (27:20) has been created under the confines of time, which God isn’t. Jesus said when he was asked (27:31) about Abraham, he said, before Abraham was, I am. Present tense.

He didn’t say before Abraham was, (27:42) I was, which would be true. But he said before Abraham was, I am. Now, am is present tense.

(27:57) God is in all times, not just all places and everywhere, all time. That’s hard to fathom. (28:14) We’re under the constraints of time.

All right. So God creates the angels to observe (28:24) the physical realm being created. They were purposely created before we were, (28:36) so they could watch God in the creation process.

They weren’t around to observe themselves being (28:48) created, but they were created first, become aware, and now they’re watching the rest of God’s (28:57) creative process. Now talk about the Israelites being brought out of Egypt and seeing all the (29:06) miracles that they saw and multiply that by a million of what the angels saw when they witnessed (29:17) God creating the rest of creation. How could a being who can see God and who walks by sight, (29:31) angels don’t have to have faith.

They see God. They experience God. They, in Job chapter one, (29:40) the angels interact personally with God.

Satan, wasn’t that what was going on? Satan, even Satan (29:49) was conversing with God. They have a relationship with God. We don’t.

A personal experience, (30:00) experiential, that’s not faith, that’s sight. So angels are creatures who walk by sight and they (30:11) witnessed the most spectacular miracles that you can imagine when God brought everything into being, (30:23) save them. They didn’t get to see them.

They weren’t around, but they’re brought in first (30:29) and they get to see the creation of everything else. Wouldn’t that be jaw-dropping? (30:35) I would. And what do they do? What’s their reaction? (30:46) The morning star sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy.

Wouldn’t you? (30:54) Wow. This is spectacular. Wouldn’t you? I would.

It’s amazing. All right. So (31:07) they experienced that.

They walked by sight. God creates them a realm in darkness (31:17) where he shields them from his light. The angels walk in his light.

It’s there. They walk by sight. (31:30) He creates a realm where they must walk by faith.

They don’t get all the information (31:41) that the angels got. The information we get is through revelation, God’s word, and observing (31:52) his handiwork. When you go out and you look at the stars, and that’s what it said, you know, (31:58) the creation exclaims God.

And then when you go out to Romans 1, verse 18, that we can know God by (32:14) what he has made. And it’s plain for us to see because he’s made it plain. You can’t look at (32:21) that and be honest, truthful.

Remember this battle, truth and lies? You can’t be truthful (32:28) and say that just happened. That’s an accident. It’s just an accident that the moon happens to (32:36) be placed at just the right place going around our sun.

It’s just the right size that when it (32:44) moves in front of our sun, that’s also just the right size and just the right distance away from (32:50) us that it perfectly matches. And when we get an eclipse and you can see just that little, (33:01) the diamond effect. Did you get to see it when it came this last year? Were you able to observe (33:10) that? That’s not an accident.

That’s not a happy coincidence. That was designed. (33:20) And that’s just one example.

So anyway, (33:28) so you have these people that the angels walking by sight, we’re walking by faith. This handiwork (33:36) tells us that he exists. And why does he do that? Why doesn’t he just because we’re offered (33:46) salvation? How are we offered salvation? Salvation through faith.

Okay. So we’re offered (33:59) salvation. What about the angels? You know, some of God made two realms, spiritual, physical.

(34:05) In the beginning, everything’s hunky-dory, no sin, no darkness. Satan evidently sins (34:18) by the time between his creation and by the time he tempts Eve, he has fallen. He has sinned.

(34:29) It may be even the very act of what he’s doing with Eve that tempts Eve could be (34:36) the fallen act. That’s a possibility in tempting that. (34:47) But so you have someone from the realm that walks by sight fallen.

Now you have Adam and Eve, (34:58) some those who walk by faith, sin, and God says, repent, and you’re all okay. (35:13) Here’s the surprise. It’s not okay for Satan.

Jesus says, I saw Satan fall from heaven. (35:25) And to the angels, Titus and the other places, it talks about their reserve. There is no offer.

(35:33) There’s no offer of salvation to the angel. Not offered. Adam and Eve sin.

What do you think (35:44) Satan’s thinking? He has sinned. He’s probably sinned them before. He (35:53) tempts Eve.

Because what do you think his expectation is when God said, on the day you eat, (36:05) you shall die? And they sinned. What’s Satan’s expectation? He wasn’t offered salvation. (36:18) What about them? They don’t die on the day that they sin.

And if you catch the inference, (36:29) they were trying, their sin was, they now knew their nakedness. (36:33) They knew they were naked. And what do they try to do because of their sin? They try to cover (36:41) themselves.

And they cover themselves with leaves. And God comes walking through and says, (36:48) where are you? And they hid. Why are you hiding? Because we’re naked.

Who told you you are naked? (36:57) Did you eat? Did you sin? Not that he doesn’t. He’s a parent. You disciplined your kids? (37:07) Did you ask them questions you knew the answer to? Why? To get them to confess.

(37:16) It’s not that he didn’t know. Of course he knew. He knew before he even made them (37:24) what was going to happen.

But here’s the surprise. And Robert Milligan mentioned this in his book (37:30) and from 1869. But anyway, he said that probably the biggest surprise in all of history, all of (37:40) time, occurred right there when God did not kill Adam and Eve.

Because what do you think (37:48) Satan’s expectation is? That they were going to be treated just like him. And they weren’t. (37:59) God makes them coats of skin.

What happened? Because of the cover them. Wasn’t that why (38:08) what they were trying to do? Cover themselves? So God gives them coats of skin. (38:13) What had to happen for him to be able to provide them skins for clothing? What happened? (38:25) Something died.

That’s a sacrifice. Because of their sin, specifically for their sin, (38:37) the animals were sacrificed, were killed, so that they could cover their sin. And God did it.

(38:47) God provided the sacrifice by giving them coats of sin. Coats of (38:56) animal skin. That’s it.

Skin, not sin. Skin, tomato, tomato. Skin, sin.

Anyway. (39:06) All right. So you have this, and the biggest surprise has to be Satan when he sees that.

(39:15) What happened? Why are the angels not even offered salvation? Man is. Because we walk by faith. (39:27) That’s how we’re saved.

We’re saved because we have to take God by faith. We don’t see him. If (39:36) we see him, what happens? You die.

The only way you can see God, unless he permits, well, (39:46) he hasn’t permitted that. The only way you can see God is by entering the spiritual realm. (39:53) That happens when we die.

We enter the spiritual realm. At that point, we are no longer, (40:03) now we don’t walk by faith. When you enter the spiritual realm, we have a soul and spirit.

(40:10) When we enter that realm, when we die, we are now walking by, now we can see God as he is. (40:20) Wouldn’t you, if you saw God, want to change? Well, guess what? The angels proved that just (40:27) by seeing God doesn’t mean you won’t sin against him. They saw him as he is.

They saw the light (40:37) that illumined them. They saw the creation. They witnessed the power of God, Jesus speaking (40:47) things into being, the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters.

They saw that, which is far more (40:57) impressive than what the Israelites got coming out of Egypt, isn’t it? I think so. (41:07) And they saw that, and some still sin. For those who walk by sight, God no longer offers (41:22) the hope of salvation, only to those who walk by faith.

Because in a lot of ways, we are ignorant (41:35) in that spiritual realm. We don’t know Jesus. What did he say on the cross? Forgive them.

They don’t (41:41) know what they’re doing. Okay. Well, we’ll kind of go there because I’ve gone way over.

(41:50) I hope you got something out of that. There’s a lot more, but we’ll stop here. (42:02) Isn’t that phenomenal? Just the first day, even, what’s occurred there.

When you do a little (42:11) digging and you look at what the scripture tells you, but doesn’t tell you right there, (42:18) tells you about the angels observing the creation. It tells us that. It tells us about (42:25) heaven itself being a creative place.

Not there in Genesis 1.1, but it tells us that in the Bible. (42:32) You put this stuff together and it’s just, it created darkness. Darkness did not exist prior (42:43) to this realm that is covered so that we must walk by faith.

Why is it dark? To keep the light, (42:53) the fullness of God’s light out so that we can walk by faith. If he took that away, (43:03) we would then be walking by sight and we would no longer have that hope of salvation. (43:12) So to me, that makes the difference.

I think I’m thinking that’s what’s working at work here. (43:19) The creation is all based on salvation and the two realms. One that isn’t saved and one that is (43:29) offered salvation.

Okay. So if anyone needs to respond, we’re offering the invitation. (43:37) Come.