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, January 26, 1992.

We read tonight from another psalm, Psalm 74, this evening. Listen to the word of God. O God, why hast thou rejected us forever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance, and Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt. Turn thy footsteps toward the perpetual ruins.

The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary. Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thy meeting place. They have set up their own standards for signs. It seems as if one has lifted up his axe in a forest of trees, and now all his carved work, all its carved work, they smash with hatchet and hammers.

They have burned thy sanctuary to the ground, they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name. They said in their heart, let us completely subdue them. They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land. We do not see our signs, there is no longer any prophet, nor is there any among us who knows how long.

How long, O God, will the adversary revile and the enemy spurn thy name forever? Why dost thou withdraw thy hand, even thy right hand, from within thy bosom, destroy them? Yet God is King from of old, who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength thou didst break the heads of the sea monsters in the waters, thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan, thou didst give him as food for the people of the wilderness, thou didst break open springs and torrents, thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams. Thine is the day, and thine is the night, thou hast prepared the light and the sun, thou hast established all the boundaries of the earth, thou hast made summer and winter.

Remember this, O Lord, that the enemy has reviled and a foolish people has spurned thy name. Do not deliver the soul of thy turtle-dog to the wild beast. Do not forget the life of thine afflicted forever. Consider the covenant For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. Let not the oppressed return dishonored. Let the afflicted and the needy praise thy name. Do arise, O God, and plead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee all day long. Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries. the uproar of those who rise against thee, which ascends continually.”

Then, from Genesis 1, beginning at verse 20, God said, “…let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth.” in the open expanse of the heavens. And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. There was evening and there was morning.

Surely, Lord, your word is living and active, it is powerful to the point of dividing even within our body, soul, and spirit. You search our hearts, and that by your word you know our innermost thoughts. O Father, may we not be foolish so as to think that we could hide from you. O God, we appear before you, that one in whose presence all things are open and disclosed. We pray, our Father, that this might also convince us that you know your work in our souls and in our hearts, that we, in our heart of hearts, desire you above all else. Therefore, our God, fill us. May we be satisfied. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

There is undoubtedly a beauty to the opening chapter of Genesis, a beauty that draws even the unbeliever to consider it. Some of you have been in literature classes where Genesis 1 has been used as an example of classical style even. and placed in front of you as a marvelous work of literature, compelling in itself. We have noted also the complexity of this chapter, we have taken note of that, and we have been impressed with the maturity of this account of creation. It may well have been that those who have sat through literature classes have also sat through other classes where they have been exposed to the ancient mythologies. And when you compare the account of creation as it appears here with similar accounts that appear from ancient civilizations, the maturity of this account stands out. to the account we find here of the fifth day, verses 20-23.

And in this, we cannot help but be impressed with the God who is responsible for this revelation, the God of the Bible, the God who is inscrutable, incomparable in power, wonderful in love. The God whose works are perfect, whose plan unfolds gloriously. All that is opened up for us here is to his praise, and we are left awestruck. We are left in complete amazement. We should let ourselves then be immersed in the creation story. there to meet God once more, the God of revelation, the God who is the one true living God. This God who is beyond, above, and apart from his creation, the Creator.

But this God who also bows down to know his creation and his creatures. making covenant with them, so that they might live in union with him. His creating work, his active works of providence, are testimony to his love. For what he has made, he continues to sustain. His commitment is to that which he has made, in order to preserve his creation, and in the to bring that creation and those he loves in it to their appointed end.

Marvelous, marvelous stuff. Now we have been watching as the days unfold, we have been watching the shape of things And over the course of those days, we have been impressed with certain features again and again. We want to keep in mind the pattern of God’s creating activity. I hope you don’t get worn out with my repeating to you, once more, the pattern that we observe in the progression of the days.

Our conclusion is this, that God in the first three days labors to resolve the formlessness that is mentioned in the second verse. This he does by establishing spheres, or dominions, or kingdoms, if you will. The second three days, days four through six, find God laboring to resolve the emptiness of his creation mentioned in verse 2. And this he does by creating works and living creatures to fill the spheres, the dominions, the kingdoms that he had established in days 1 through 3. So then, days 1 through 3 match days 4 through 6.

But in this connection, we have noticed something else. God confers upon his creatures, which fill the various spheres, an authority, so that they are viewed as governors or rulers. Therefore, on day four, God creates the two great lights, we are told. The greater light rules or governs the day. The lesser light rules or governs the night, verses 16 and 18. But not only is there the establishment of these rulers over their respective spheres, we have also found an ascendancy, or, dare I say it, a hierarchy, a chain of command in the creation, as we move through these days of creation, through days four through six. At last, anticipating what is coming now, at last the chain of command will end in the creation of man, male and female, to whom is given universal dominion, verse 28. I know that I have jumped ahead to day six here, but in this connection it is difficult not to mention what we find in Psalm 8.

Thou dost make him to rule over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens. the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the pans of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.”

At any rate, what we find here in Genesis 1 verses 20-23 fits the pattern which we have observed. God fills the waters of the earth, which he had segregated on day two from the waters above the firmament. God fills those waters specifically, the waters of the earth now.

Mention is made of the great sea monsters in verse 21 to establish the fact that we have here the theme of rule or power or dominion. It is carrying through in this day as well as we found it in day four. The living creatures then, the living creatures in the sea, will rule the sea, as it were, just as the birds, the winged fowl, will rule the sky, they filling it. In both cases, part and parcel of their rule is their filling of their respective spheres, a filling which is initiated by God’s direct work of creation, but also furthered by his specific command in verse 22. He blesses his creatures, and his blessing translates into, then, the command by which these creatures are to fill their respective steers through reproduction.

We will have more to say about this matter when we deal with day six and the creation of man. So this is what we want to keep in mind as we move through the creation story. The kingdoms and the spheres then filled by those or those creatures that will govern or rule.

There’s another thing, however, we want to keep in mind, and that is the relationship that exists between the visible world, that which we see, and the world that we don’t, the invisible realm. This too, given testimony in the creation story. We are pressed by the biblical account of creation to admit to this relationship, to see that there is not just then that world that appears, but there is that world behind and beyond this world. There is another world that, even from the beginning, this creation, therefore, as we have pointed out before, this creation is a temple.

It is a sanctuary in which God’s creatures are to perform service for him. The totality of the creation is a sanctuary. and holy service is to be performed to our God within the boundaries of this sanctuary. All of life is service, then, rendered to God. It is not just when we are in a house of worship.

It is not merely when the children of Israel congregate at the tabernacle or go to the that they are to serve God, but they are to live holy lives unto God at every point, since their lives are conducted within the boundaries of a sanctuary which is as expansive as the creation itself. The world that God has made is a temple. in which he will meet with men and women, a temple in which they then will perform service to him, consecrating themselves in all that they do and in all that they are before him. The creation is a temple, but it is no end in itself, for it is but reflective of the that is above, into which God has promised in the end to draw his people, his elect.

As far as day five is concerned, the form of the invisible world hits us from two angles. Verse 21, for instance, mentions the great sea monster which even in this pre-fall description appear to be fierce and awesome, otherwise they wouldn’t be described as monsters. As if the waters were not threatening enough in themselves, as if the seas, in their chaos, in their tumult, in their ways, were not threatening in themselves. Now, these waters are inhabited by sea monsters, we are told. Later revelation associates these creatures, these sea monsters, with the malevolent forces of evil, which are crushed by God in the great cosmic battle for the redemption of his people.

Did you hear it when we read from Psalm 74? Did you pick it up from that great psalm? Verse 12, Yet God is my King from of old, who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength, thou didst break the heads of the sea monsters in the waters, thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan, thou didst give him as food for the people of the wilderness.”

And on it goes to speak in language reminiscent of the creation. So later revelation, the revelation that comes to us from Psalm 74, for instance, associates these creatures, mentioned in verse 21 of Genesis 1, with the malevolent forces of evil, which will be crushed by God in the great cosmic battle for redemption. That the sea monster’s head must be crushed reminds us of another creature to which a crushed head is promised. Satan himself.

Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman who crushed the serpent’s head. And then you have the statement of the Apostle Paul in Romans 16 verse 20, where he tells that congregation in Rome that the Lord will shortly crush Satan under your feet.

An invisible world. An invisible world. The realities of that world at play behind the things that do appear. And what of the birds? Or more precisely, as the text puts it, winged birds. Does not mention of the birds, the winged birds, remind us of the Spirit of God already mentioned? Do you recall how the Spirit of God is described in verse 2? He is described as hovering, bird-like, over the surface of waters. The birds now that fill the sky are like unto the Spirit, moves across the face of the earth. But even going further than that, the winged bird is reflective of the winged hosts of the Lord, the angels who reside where God resides. who moved bird-like from him into this visible world, unseen, to perform his service.

So then, behind what we see is a whole world unseen. And what is made is after the pattern of things that do not appear. And it is unto that unseen world that we shall be eventually brought, that we shall be eventually brought, and into the presence of God, there, to live with Him forever. Presently we walk by phases, not by sight.

But the day comes when we will see him face to face. Finally, and I hope this will not be fifteen minutes Finally, we want to make sure we appreciate the testimony given to us in this account of God’s absolute sovereignty. We want to make sure we appreciate the testimony that this account gives us of God’s absolute sovereignty. I will say it again, as I have said it all along in our treatment of this chapter.

The creation lacks of itself all power to resolve its own predicament. God makes the world at first so that it bears the stamp of an inner impossibility. It is formless and void, and it lacks all inherent power and strength to resolve that formlessness and that emptiness. The creation cannot remedy its own impotence. So his, as we come to day five, we are told once more, God must act. God must act. Do we need convinced of this? God must act if the emptiness of his creation is to be resolved.

The waters cannot, even if they were animated, Even if they were alive, the waters cannot, for as long as they may, live to themselves regardless of how long, the waters cannot generate fish any more than the sky can generate birds. Now you tell me who the idiots are. The water cannot make fish. The air cannot make birds.

We are face to face here with impossibility. of such magnitude that only the God who is described in scripture can resolve. And how does he answer these impossibilities? By his word. How tragic that the Church in this latter day has so little confidence in the Word of God. The magnitude of our apostasy We are not here talking about a peripheral matter. We are talking about a central matter, the central matter. How does God resolve the impotence of his creation. How does he resolve the impossibilities with which we are faced in that creation in its initial stages? By his word, that’s how. Just how central is the word?

Why, the word is associated, as you know, with, and identified with, the Son of God. He then, in the end, as the revelation is spilled out, is that one who is the resolution of the impossibilities which this world faces. And that has to do not just with the original creation, but with the new creation. If you are to be born again, if you are to have life once more, if you are to be raised from the dead, if, faced with that impossibility, there is to be any resolution of it, it will have to be by the Word. And that Word is none other than Christ. the Son of God.

By his word he calls into existence that which was not. There weren’t fish there before, and then there were. There were no birds, and then there were. These creatures do not come out of the inherent powers of the sea and the air, nor do they appear through an evolution of gases or grasses or other living things. Do you not stand in awe of such a God?

For as another psalm puts it, by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. for he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. Amen.

Convince us afresh, Lord, of your greatness as we are swept along through the days of creation’s first week. May we be amazed at you, in your power, in your greatness, and in your kindness and love. O Father, may we be moved, moved within our souls. as we are face to face with you through the revelation that you have given of yourself. And may we confess, Lord, that as it was true with regard to the first creation, so it is with the second. And as your world lay in the grasp of impossibilities, likewise we ourselves were in such a grasp until you, by your word, made us alive. We praise you through Christ.

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.