Creation Undone: A Good Friday Sermon
Patrick Edwards
Matthew 27:45-46
Introduction
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, ''Let there be light,'' and there was light, (Genesis 1:1-3).
When God creates He doesn't make a perfect finished product at once. Rather, He creates a formless and empty mass shrouded in darkness, and it is into this darkness that He speaks light. It's into this chaos that He brings order. It's into this void that He brings repleteness. What is deemed ''good'' over and over again is creation itself corresponding to His precise design and purpose. When He ''rests'', therefore, on the seventh day He is showing not only pleasure with this world, but His kingship over it. This is what the world is meant to be.
Conversely, then, throughout the Old Testament, after humanity's rebellion against God, after creation's plunge into sin and futility, after God's own people, Israel, refuse to honor and worship Him, God warns of a return to darkness. A day is coming, He warns, when the full effect of humanity's sin will come upon the world, when the wrath of a holy and righteous God will be unleashed on a rebellious planet.
On that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
When one looks at the land,
there will be darkness and distress;
light will be obscured by clouds, (Isaiah 5:30).
When I snuff you out,
I will cover the heavens
and darken their stars.
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon will not give its light, (Ezekiel 32:7).
And in that day-
this is the declaration of the LORD God-
I will make the sun go down at noon;
I will darken the land in the daytime, (Amos 8:9).
That day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of destruction and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day ...
Patrick Edwards
Matthew 27:45-46
Introduction
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, ''Let there be light,'' and there was light, (Genesis 1:1-3).
When God creates He doesn't make a perfect finished product at once. Rather, He creates a formless and empty mass shrouded in darkness, and it is into this darkness that He speaks light. It's into this chaos that He brings order. It's into this void that He brings repleteness. What is deemed ''good'' over and over again is creation itself corresponding to His precise design and purpose. When He ''rests'', therefore, on the seventh day He is showing not only pleasure with this world, but His kingship over it. This is what the world is meant to be.
Conversely, then, throughout the Old Testament, after humanity's rebellion against God, after creation's plunge into sin and futility, after God's own people, Israel, refuse to honor and worship Him, God warns of a return to darkness. A day is coming, He warns, when the full effect of humanity's sin will come upon the world, when the wrath of a holy and righteous God will be unleashed on a rebellious planet.
On that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
When one looks at the land,
there will be darkness and distress;
light will be obscured by clouds, (Isaiah 5:30).
When I snuff you out,
I will cover the heavens
and darken their stars.
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon will not give its light, (Ezekiel 32:7).
And in that day-
this is the declaration of the LORD God-
I will make the sun go down at noon;
I will darken the land in the daytime, (Amos 8:9).
That day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of destruction and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day ...
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