Creation - Class Notes

Class Introduction

  • In this class, we’ll be exploring the theme of assembled worship in Scripture.
  • Our aim is not to critique or change our worship services, but to see how the Bible frames the gathering of God’s people.
  • What we’ll discover is that worshipping together is God’s way of transforming us, renewing our relationship with Him, and equipping us to return into the world as participants in His new creation.

Mountains in Scripture

  • From the very beginning, God often meets His people on mountains.
  • Reflection question: what mountain encounters with God come to mind from Scripture?
  • Scripture traces key mountains as places of encounter, covenant, purification, and commissioning.
  • The author of Hebrews picks up this mountain theme and shows us the ultimate mountain God calls us to for gathered worship.
  • Read: Hebrews 12:18–24.
  • Check question: which mountain does the author of Hebrews invite us to ascend?
    • Bonus question: with which mountain is Mount Zion being contrasted?

Creation as the First Mountain and Temple

  • Mount Zion is the destination of God’s story, which is developed throughout scripture.
  • Each week we’ll see how God assembles His people and how Christian worship follows the same pattern, fulfilled through Jesus, today.
  • In Genesis 1:1-2:3, creation itself is presented as God’s dwelling place, the first “mountain” we’ll explore.
  • Reflection question: when you hear the phrase “dwelling place of God”, what passages or images come to mind?
    • The story of God’s dwelling unfolds across Scripture from creation to the tabernacle, then in the temple, and now in the gathered church, where heaven and earth meet again.

The Construction of the Creation Temple

  • Read: Genesis 1:1–10.
  • The earth was “formless and empty” (tohu va vohu).
    • Deep-dive: other translations include “wild and waste” (Everett Fox), “welter and waste” (Robert Alter), and “weltering wasteland” (Michael Morales).
  • The Hebrew tehom (“deep”) echoes Tiamat, the goddess of the primeval sea in Mesopotamian myth.
  • In that myth, Marduk defeats Tiamat to bring order.
  • But in Genesis 1, God has no rivals. The Spirit hovers over the deep, and the waters lie ready to be shaped. God separates the waters above the “firmament” (raqîaʿ) from those below, establishing order and space for life.
  • Other myths show violent gods battling chaos, but Genesis proclaims that Yahweh creates without contest.
  • Deep-dive: Enlil separated heaven and earth (Sumer); Ptah spoke gods into existence (Egyptian Memphite); Shu lifted the sky goddess above the earth (Egyptian Heliopolitan); Baal conquered Yam (Canaanite).
  • These are the first of ten “And God said” speeches, bringing light and order. God speaks and order comes, light from darkness, waters from land. This structure echoes the Ten Commandments (literally “words”) at Sinai.

The Filling of the Creation Temple

  • After “building” the creation temple, God fills it.
  • Plants (Gen 1:11–12): God, not Nile or Baal, is the source of provision. Eden, later revealed as the mountain top garden, concentrates this abundance. Its imagery (trees, fruit, cherubim) is echoed in tabernacle and temple décor.
    • Deep-dive: Nile flood (Egyptian Hymn to the Nile), Marduk as “Creator of grain and plants” (Enuma Elish), Baal’s rain (Baal Cycle).
  • Lights (Gen 1:14–18): Sun, moon, and stars are reduced to “lights,” stripped of divinity (other cultures worshipped them as gods). Their purpose is “for signs and for seasons” (mo’adim = appointed worship times/festivals). This phrase sits at the numerical center of Genesis 1:1–2:3; worship is central to creation! The seven branched lamp in the tabernacle recalls both cosmic lights and the tree of life.
    • Deep-dive: The Hebrews words for “sun” (shemesh) and “moon” (yareach) were the names of gods in surrounding cultures; stars, too, were treated as powers governing fate.
  • Sea creatures (Gen 1:20–22): Even the great tanninim (“sea monsters”, “dragons”) exist by God’s decree. Their blessing of fruitfulness shows that life flows from God’s favor, not from rival powers. Later, God’s title El Shaddai (“God of the Mountain”) is tied to this blessing.
    • Deep-dive: after the fall, tanninim are sometimes portrayed as rebellious (Ps 74:13–14; Isa 27:1).
  • Humans (Gen 1:26–30): Humanity is God’s living image, placed in sacred space as priest-kings. In the Ancient Near East, idols animated shrines; in Scripture, humanity itself embodies God’s reign within His cosmic sanctuary. This pairing of image and house anticipates the tabernacle and temple, where God’s dwelling and His representatives together manifest His rule.
    • Note: sacred space = where heaven and earth meet, set apart for God’s presence (Eden, Sinai, tabernacle, temple, church).
  • Reflection question: what happens when we choose not to worship as God designed us?
  • Together, these elements show creation as a temple: provision, ordered space for gathered worship, and priestly image bearers.
  • Peter applies temple imagery to the church: we are both the structure and the inhabitants.
    • Reading: 1 Peter 2:4-5

Worship Connection

  • Reflection question: how is the state of the earth different after God speaks? How should the church, gathered for worship, be different after hearing God’s word?
  • Just as God ordered and filled creation, He now builds and fills His church.
  • In exile, away from Mount Zion throughout the week, we are tempted to give in to chaos. But when the church gathers, we step back into God’s ordered creation.
  • God tames chaos, sets boundaries, and fills His sanctuary (the church) with life. His Spirit leads us through the waters into light, His Word re orders our lives, and He reaffirms us as His image bearers.
  • In worship, we declare: God alone is Creator. Heaven’s first songs in Revelation 4 echo this truth.
    • Reading: Revelation 4:8, 11

Resting and Ruling in the Creation Temple

  • Read: Genesis 2:1-3.
  • Genesis 2:1–3 marks the climax of creation. The seventh day is mentioned three times, each verse contains seven Hebrew words, and “work” is repeated three times.
  • These patterns highlight the completion of the three levels of the creation temple: sea, land, and sky, which later correspond to the three decks of the ark, the base, slope, and summit of Mount Sinai and the outer court, holy place, and holy of holies in the tabernacle and temple.
  • Exodus 20:11 links Sabbath rest to enduring stability. Psalm 132 describes God’s resting place as His chosen dwelling, the ark in the Holy of Holies.
    • Readings: Exodus 20:11 and Psalm 132:7 8, 13 14.
  • Creation’s completion foreshadows the tabernacle’s completion and God’s glory filling it.
    • Reading: Exodus 40:33–35.
  • By blessing and making holy the seventh day, God blesses and makes holy the creation temple. God fills ordered creation and dwells with His creatures in the meeting point of heaven and earth.

Worship Connection

  • In the beginning, all creation is God’s temple, but rebellion separates humanity from sacred space.
  • Reflection question: what happens when we return to God as the gathered church in worship?
    • When the church gathers, that separation is overcome through Jesus, our high priest.
    • We taste God’s reigning presence and are re-created as His temple people.
    • Gathering for worship on the mountain becomes a weekly foretaste of new creation, where God dwells with His people again.

Conclusion

  • Creation is God’s first temple—ordered, filled, and blessed—so that He might dwell with His people.
  • When we gather, God re orders our lives, fills us with His presence, and gives us a foretaste of His new creation.
  • Next lesson, we’ll see how the Garden of Eden functions as the Holy of Holies of creation, the innermost sacred space where God’s presence dwells.

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