Sinclair Ferguson

to what we were originally destined to be.

And all this in a sense is already embedded in the opening chapter of the Bible.

It's a chapter about God as creator.

Now, if I were to ask you, what is the single most important thing about Genesis chapter one?

I suspect there would be many Christians today who would say the really important thing about Genesis chapter one is the length of the days of creation.

But if you think back to Moses, it's very doubtful, isn't it, that that was a question that troubled Moses.

And I think it's demonstrable that it wasn't the big issue for Moses.

Now, that may be an important question.

It may be a difficult question.

But what I want to emphasize is it's not the message of Genesis chapter 1.

And I want us to think just for a moment then about what is the message of Genesis chapter 1.

I want to suggest that that message is sevenfold.

First of all, Genesis chapter 1 indicates to us in a preliminary way that creation is the work of God, the Trinity.

We hinted at this in a previous study.

God the Father speaks the word.

God the Spirit hovers over the original mass of creation and brings order and light and fullness into that creation.

So when we think about the created order, much more, I think, than we usually do, we need to reflect on the fact that this is the amazing work of God the Trinity.

The old Latin theologians used to have an expression to describe the work of the Trinity, opera ad extra, the works outside of the Trinity, opera ad extra trinitatis, indivisa sunt.

They are indivisible.

In everything God does, he always does it in a Trinitarian way.