This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 9, 1992.

Once more, I would like to read this evening Psalm 8, as we again consider the sixth day of creation. So, to return to Psalm 8, as we begin our scripture reading this evening. Listen to the word of God. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth, who hast displayed thy splendor above the heavens.

From the mouth of infants and nursing babes thou hast established strength, because of thine adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. When I consider thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou dost take thought of him, and the son of man that Thou dost care for him? Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God, and dost crown him with glory and majesty. Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands.

Thou hast put all things under his feet. all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth.”

And again, turning to Genesis chapter 1, beginning at verse 24. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind. And it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.

And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Then God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed. It shall be food for you. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw all that he had made. And behold, it was very good.

And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day. We will be spending a little bit of time with the sixth day, working our way through it and its special considerations. Thus far, in our study of the sixth day, we have looked at, once more, reminded ourselves again of, the structure of Genesis chapter one.

We have had reinforced for us again and again how the first three days of creation tell us about the creation by God of the various spheres, the various domains, the various kingdoms. Day one, the day and night. Day two, the firmament, dividing the waters above and below it. the dry land with its vegetation. The second three days answer to the first three days, and they present us with the creation of the various creation kings or rulers or governors. Day four, the moon, the stars, the sun, these rule the day and the night. Day five, birds and the fish, to rule the heavens and the seas respectively.

And finally, day six, the beasts, first of all, to rule the earth seemingly, and finally man, to rule over everything. Now, in addition to this structure, which should be well set within our minds by now, We have the two sets of days, of course, then, matching each other. But in addition to this structure, we have as well the internal structure of the account given us of the sixth day. Day six tells us not only about the creation of the beast, but of the creation of man. And the account given us of this day moves us as if up a ladder to the apex, the crown of God’s creative effort.

Therefore, man, the last of God’s creations, stands in the exalted position. The last is first. The last is first. Man stands then in the exalted position, having been created last, he has the position over all. There is a principle here that will be worked out repeatedly in Scripture, and most particularly in the Gospel. So then, man has this exalted position He is uniquely and distinctively made. He is made specifically to preside over the works of God’s hands. He is a governor, a ruler. He is a king par excellence.

Now this truth which we have seen from The Lord’s account of the sixth day of creation cuts in two directions. First of all, as we saw last week, it cuts away at the evolutionary pagan philosophies. Those philosophies which, on the one hand, exalt man but only by way of that process of natural selection, only by the way of that law of the survival of the fittest. The evolutionary pagan philosophy, on the one hand, holds out for a dignity for man, but only by root of these natural means. But now, on the other hand, these evolutionary philosophies are faced with a manifest contradiction. For in their most recent expressions, they are pressed in the direction of removing all distinction between man and all other reality. Thus these philosophies place man at the level of, or in a position inferior to, all other reality, with no more authority, no more right to his position than anything else in reality.

So we have seen how the biblical account cuts away at the evolutionary pagan philosophies. And I might add, there isn’t much new or even modern with regard to these evolutionary pagan philosophies. They are merely reworkings of ancient myths and pagan ideas. However, the truth of the biblical account of day six cuts equally deep in another direction.

Man’s creationally endowed ascendancy, together with the fact that he is created by God under orders from God, confers upon man a task from which as man he cannot recoil. Man is created for dominion. Man is created for rule. This inevitably, invariably, this by definition, this worked within the fabric of man by God’s very creation. for God has created man in his image, and as God is king, exalted king above all, even man, so man in God’s image is a ruler like unto God. So it is. Man’s creationally endowed ascendancy Together with the fact that he is created under orders from God, confers upon man a task from which he as man, that is, as one created in the image of God, he cannot recall.

This fact has thrown modern man into turmoil. On the one hand, man cannot deny the developmental side of the world under his own dominion, a development that takes place because he is exercising his dominion in the affairs of the created order. natural man himself. And the evolutionists are able to put their own twist to this very fact of reality, as it applies to man’s technological and scientific progress, which in their hands means that they nearly strengthen their grip upon the environment all the more. for purposes that they deem worthy and proper. So man finds himself given over to these technological and these scientific pursuits even though he does not understand the reason why, ultimately he perceives them.

However, on the other hand, man is in rebellion against his own nature. He is in rebellion against his own nature, even in this developmental side of things. even in this technological and scientific side of things. And more and more we see men and women calling for a return to primitivism, calling for a return to nature, a rejection of technology, a rejection of science. science and technology then being looked upon as inherently evil and destructive. These folks then more and more consistently rejecting the technological and the scientific advances of man.

As these two principles or visions or philosophies come in contact with one another, it is more and more clear to us just how confused man is about himself and his work. Unfortunately, in this area, we find Christians who have become equally confused and bewildered. Among some there is a certain biblicism that has overtaken them, their churches, and this biblicism is especially evident amongst some popes. What do I mean by biblicism? Biblicism is that attitude that is so slavishly literalistic when it comes to the interpretation of Scripture that it cannot and will not see the extension of texts or the wider application of texts by what the Westminster divines have called good and necessary consequence.

For example, when we look at Genesis 1, verses 26 and 28, we notice that the language that is used there is seemingly very limited. Verse 26 sees man as a ruler to be sure, as having dominion to be sure, but ruling over the fish of the seas, over the birds of the sky, over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. Verse 28 repeats much the same language. But note that the language used here is itself very limited, and if taken in a bibliophistic way, seems to suggest that the proper domain of man’s rule extends only as far as the creatures created in days five and six, and has nothing to do with the realms of those days, nor the realm or the creations of day one and four. It’s just birds, and fish and creeping ferns. That’s it.

On the basis of such exegesis as this, those Christians of a biblicistic stripe have been known to oppose all and every technological advance. They have been known to especially get out of joint over matters like modern appliances, cars, trains, air travel, space exploration, and at every juncture they have been equipped to proclaim, to declare, that God is opposed to all these things.

If God meant man to fly, he would have given him wings. Of course, even more fantastic biblicistic interpretations of texts of scripture have been employed by certain sects and cults to oppose even those advances in technology, in medical technology, even to the point of foolishly jeopardizing the health of the individual who espouses such a position, or the health of those who are under their roof. Do verses 26 and 28 then of Genesis 1 stand in the way of man’s technological pursuits? Are the Biblicists correct in their exegesis, or do these verses themselves provide a foundation for those very pursuits? Is God opposed to man’s aerospace enterprises? Or are they, even they, part of his design, and in keeping with his positive will for man? Is God actually delighted with his children, who pursue careers in the scientific and technological fields? Or is it, as some Biblicalists have suggested, that these children are running counter to him.

It is precisely at this point that we find Psalm 8 so helpful. Now I will admit freely that on a casual reading of this very familiar and popular psalm, it might seem as if it were merely reinforcing the biblicistic reading of Genesis 1. We might conclude that what David states, for instance, in verse 6, where he says, Thou hast made him to rule over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet, We might conclude that what David states at verse 6 is expounded well and adequately by what follows to the end of verse 8.

In other words, what David has in mind is only the sheep, the oxen, the beasts of the field, the birds of the heaven, the fish of the sea. That’s all he has in mind. The fact that God makes men to rule over the works of his hand, the fact that God puts all things under his feet, is explained by the sheep, the oxen, the beasts, the birds, the fish. mentioned in verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 8 match up perfectly with the preachers of days 5 and 6. And these then are in view in verses 26 and 28, and these only from Genesis 1.

But I want you to note that man’s rule mentioned in verse 6 of Psalm 8 is not merely intended as a heading for what follows in 7 and 8, but as a summary of what has preceded in verses 3 through 5. This means, then, that as we move through verses 3 through 8 of Psalm 8, we are moving along lines that match precisely those lines that we find in Genesis 1 in its entirety.

And once more, man is seen as the apex, the crown of creation, destined for a position above all that God has made, above all that God has made. This, then, means that the mention of the heavens, the moon, and the stars in verse 3 are not meant to accentuate man’s smallness, his finitude, and relative insignificance. Rather, their mention is meant to accentuate just the opposite. Indeed, upon contemplation of the vastness of the heavens, the heavenly body, Man may appear small, yet it is man, this very man created by God and by root of his creation by God, who stands higher than even these. For he has been made, you see, a little lower than God, and has been crowned with glory and honor. and further.

If man’s original creation and the goal of his creation bears any parallel to Christ’s exaltation as second Adam, then the case is closed. For you see, Jesus as second Adam is exalted not just as ruler, governor, over beasts and fish and fowl, but he is exalted to a position above the heavens, above the moon, above the stars. He is exalted to a position over all principalities and powers. even over all the works of God’s hands. Therefore, even into the heavens man goes, even in his scientific and technological pursuits.

Here are worthy enterprises even in this fallen world, which can be pursued to the glory of God. May all those whom God has regenerated, in whom he has also placed a heart to pursue the scientific and technological enterprise, pursue these worthy tasks with clear consciences, with godly zeal, and with Christ-like service.

Our Father, teach us well about worthy pursuits. May we rejoice in your creation, in its variety, in the multiple tasks that are set before us in it. May we stand in awe of you. And may we also marvel, marvel about the way in which you have made us. And Lord, may we not be found slothful or lazy, even inventing excuses and alibis for ourselves within this world. that may we pursue worthy enterprises, even into the heavens, to the glory of our God, and with Christ-like service. O Father, we pray that you will deal a death blow to our misunderstanding and to our sloth And may we give ourselves afresh to such pursuits as you have called us to pursue. We ask it in Jesus’ name.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.