CREATION IS THE FOUNDATION
Common misconceptions among evangelical Christians are:
• that the doctrine of Creation is only a peripheral doctrine.
• that it is important to scientists and philosophers perhaps, but not to ordinary lay Christians.
• that winning people to Christ and building them up in the Christian life are much more important.
• that because Creationism is so controversial and generates such heated opposition whenever it is advocated it should be ignored.
• that belief in God and that He created things is what really matters, not how He did it, or when.
But that is the traditional attitude of the head-in-the-sand ostrich. Creation is NOT a peripheral doctrine.
• Biblical Creationism is the most important Biblical teaching because it is the foundation of everything else in the Bible.
• That is why God put it as the very first revelation in His written Word.
• Genesis is the most important book in the Bible because it is the foundation of every other book of the Bible.
• Without the book of Genesis, which means “beginning,” the whole structure of God's revelation would collapse.
• The first verse of Genesis is the most important verse in the Bible. If you really believe Genesis 1:1, you should have no difficulty believing the rest.
• If you question the truth of that verse and do not believe it, you might as well discard the whole Bible, for it becomes no different from any other religious or sacred book in value or meaning.
LET ME EMPHASIZE THIS: Creation is the foundation of all basic doctrines of the Christian faith, of true science, and our nation. Evolutionism is the root cause of all that is false and harmful.
The foundation of true religion must necessarily be based on worship of the world's true Creator. Other religions may deify great men, or man-made systems, or the world itself. These are all mere variations of Humanism that Paul describes in Romans 1:25,
“men worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator."
It is highly significant that all such religions and religious books begin with the Creation rather than the Creator, except the Bible! That is, they all start with the universe already in existence, and then try to delineate how the primeval space/matter/time universe somehow developed into its present array of complex systems. This supposed sequence characterizes both ancient paganism and modern Humanism. All atheistic, pantheistic, or polytheistic religions are merely various forms of Evolutionism. Only Genesis 1:1, the foundation of all foundations, has a statement of the Creation of the universe itself. Without this foundation, true religion is impossible.
Biblical Christianity is the only truly Creationist religion. Although Creation is the foundation, it is, of course, not the complete structure.
• The One eternal Creator is revealed in Genesis 1:1.
• He is revealed as Creator and Savior in John 1.
• Besides general revelation seen in the Creation, God has explicitly revealed Himself through both His Word and His Son.
• He must be known in His human incarnation as gracious Redeemer and as omnipotent Creator.
Foundational also is knowing Christ as Creator. No one can know Christ as He really is if one knows Him only as Redeemer. Fainthearted Christians often justify their lukewarm attitude toward Creation by saying that preaching Christ is more important. They forget that we are preaching "another Jesus" as Paul states in 2 Corinthians 11:4 if we do not preach Him as He really is, consistent with His complete work. The threefold aspect of the person and work of Jesus Christ is outlined in the majestic declaration of Colossians 1:16-20:
• Past work, Creation: "By him were all things created" verse 16
• Present work, Conservation: “By him all things consist" verse 17
• Future work, Consummation "By him to reconcile all things" verse 20
The great scope of this threefold work is
"all things in heaven and in earth."
Jesus Christ was Creator before He became the Sustainer (or Savior) and Reconciler. The awful price of reconciliation, "the blood of his cross," is the measure of mankind's terrible offense against the Creator. That offense consists essentially of rejecting His Word and denying that He is really the Creator.
To “preach Christ" is to present Him as the Almighty Creator from whom humans were alienated when they rebelled and repudiated God's truthfulness. Only understanding this is it really meaningful to speak of God's forgiving grace and saving love, His incarnation and redemptive sacrifice as Son of Man.
Foundation of Faith is the great message of Christianity. Hebrews 10:38 states,
"The just shall live by faith"
and verse 39 speaks of
"them that believe to the saving of the soul."
But exactly what is this living faith--this saving faith? Faith in the abstract is only naive sentimentality. It must be faith in something and/or someone to have any substance. This faith is outlined in Hebrews 11.
• It is the faith of Abel, offering an acceptable sacrifice.
• It is Enoch's faith, pleasing God in obedient witness.
• It is Noah's faith, believing and acting on God's Word.
• And Abraham's faith, stepping out trustingly on God's promises.
It is the foundational faith of Hebrews 11:3, the faith by which
"we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
This affirmation clearly tells us that any meaningful faith for salvation and the Christian life must be founded on faith in God's special Creation of all things, not out of already existing materials, but out of nothing, and solely by His omnipotent Word!
Next, Creation is the foundation of the Gospel. Many Christians who either ignore or compromise the Biblical doctrine of Creation have urged Creationists just to "preach the Gospel--not Creation!" But this is impossible, because the saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is squarely founded on Creation. The wonderful threefold work of Christ--Creation, Conservation, Consummation-- outlined in Colossians 1:16-20, is identified as "the Gospel" in Colossians 1:23. The last reference to the Gospel is Revelation 14:6-7. John calls it the everlasting Gospel, so it could never have been any different. Its message is to
"worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
While it is surely true that the central focus of the Gospel is on the substitutionary atonement and victorious bodily resurrection of Christ of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, it also includes His coming kingdom (Matthew 4:23) and His great Creation. Any other gospel is "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6), and is not the true Gospel.
• Without the Creation, a supposed gospel would have no foundation.
• Without the promised Consummation, it could offer no hope.
• Without the Cross and empty tomb, it has no saving power.
When we preach the true Gospel with the complete person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
• we build on a "sure foundation" (Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 33:6).
• we can promise a "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13).
• we have available "all power in heaven and earth" (Colossians 1:11) through Christ who, in all His fullness, is "with us, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
Creation is also the foundation of true evangelism and missions. If, as I have just explained, Creation is
• the foundation of understanding Christ,
• the foundation of saving faith, and
• the foundation of the saving Gospel of Christ
then it must also be the foundational basis of leading people to Christ as Savior.
This is supported by the fact that the one book of the Bible with a specifically evangelistic purpose begins with the doctrine of Creation. The apostle John said that what he had written was to help men to believe on Christ as the Son of God and, by that, to receive eternal life. Significantly, he began this writing with
"In the beginning was the Word. . . . All things were made by him" (John 1:1-3).
Many evangelistic events give a copy of the Gospel of John to new converts.
After the death and resurrection of Christ, as the apostles scattered everywhere to preach the Gospel, they would also begin with Creation whenever their hearers neither knew nor believed the Scriptures (Acts 14:11-18; Acts 17:22-31). When they preached to those who already believed the Old Testament Scriptures and the Genesis account of Creation, they continued to preach Christ and His resurrection as described in Acts 17:1-3. Even Christ Himself, in His first teaching ministry after His death and resurrection, began with Genesis as we read in Luke 24:27.
If we would follow the example of Christ and His apostles, we also should begin with Genesis and Creation if we want to firmly ground our potential converts in the truths of the Gospel and lead them to a genuine, solid, understanding faith in Christ. This is especially true if they have been raised in a pagan culture or in an educational system structured around Evolutionism.
Creation is also the foundation of home and family. The most important human institution is that of permanent, monogamous marriage. This was established by God when He created the first man and woman on the sixth day of Creation Week described in Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 2:18-25; and Matthew 19:3-6. The family, especially the father, is then responsible for the teaching and training of the children.
Finally, Creation is the foundation of Salvation.
• The main reason we need a Savior is that we have rebelled against our Creator, both as individuals and as a whole society.
• Because of His holiness, God must judge and condemn all sin.
• None who are in a state of sinful rebellion can possibly have the fellowship with their Creator for which He made them.
• Since God is both omnipotent and omniscient, all-powerful and all-knowing, He will not fail in His purpose in Creation.
• The Creator Himself paid His own righteous penalty for the redemption of sinners and for the sin of the world.
Neither angels nor men can accomplish our salvation. Only God can become God-Man and Messiah, as Jude 1:25 says,
“the only wise God our Savior.”
THE INVITATION
★ You can't depend on your own goodness to get to Heaven. We've all sinned (Romans 3:23). Jesus paid the penalty for your sins with His death on the cross and His resurrection (John 3:16).
★ To be forgiven and be guaranteed a place in Heaven, you need to repent of sin, confess that you are a sinner, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart (Acts 2:21).
★ You can use the following prayer or your own words, but you must actually believe in your heart that your prayer is real:
Lord Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God. I confess that I have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed. Please forgive all my wrongdoing and let me live in relationship with You from now on.
I receive You as my Savior and recognize that the work You accomplished once and for all on the cross was done on my behalf.
Thank You for saving me. Help me to live a life that is pleasing to You.
In Your name I pray, Amen.
