Date: October 11, 2002 (Magdalen College Lecture)

Bible Text: Genesis 1 | Roger Magnuson

Series: Magdalen College Lectures: Old Testament

Title: Creation Principles

Teacher: Chancellor Roger J. Magnuson

Topic: Discuss the principle of authority in the light of Genesis 1 and describe how the dominions and rulers created by God reflect the ultimate struggle of redemptive history.

To build the right kind of house you need to have the right kind of foundation. God says that His creation is very good; this, the beginning of His world, was an excellent start. What is it about Genesis 1 that teaches us what is "very good"? What is the essence of a good start?

• Ruler—"In the beginning, God..." Ha Elohim. If you understand nothing else in life, understand this one thing: there is a Ruler who made us, who is acutely aware of what we are doing, thinking and trying, and who will ultimately call us to account at the end of our lives. If it is our ultimate goal in life to please Him, we will go far in our ventures in life. Every kind of sin and mediocrity creeps in when we don’t understand that there is the ultimate authority of the universe watching over us; but when our minds are dominated by thoughts of Him, His greatness, His Lordship, His reality, everything else in life falls into place. Every false philosophy—like evolution—seeks to gain ascendancy by denying the uncomfortable idea that there is an ultimate boss, a higher authority, a God. The fact is, we often act as practical atheists: we don’t love Him with all our hearts, we don’t consult God before we do things, we don’t organize every event of our lives with one objective in mind: that is, to please Him, and to enjoy Him, and to worship Him. The first thought on our minds at all times should be this: there is one with whom we have to do.

• Relationship—God creates according to a pattern and we must understand that pattern to understand not only creation, but also the spiritual architecture of God’s universe. God does things alike. You listen to Brahms, and you can tell Brahms; Mozart is Mozart; Bach is Bach. Creators create with similar patterns. God’s foundational pattern is found in Genesis 1: if we understand this pattern, we’re way ahead of the game:
  • Dominions—God first creates dominions:
    • Day 1—Day and Night
    • Day 2—Seas and Skies
    • Day 3—The grasslands
    • "Dominion" is a place for someone to dominate: it is a place where a lord or an authority has his jurisdiction.
  • Rulers—God then gives rulers for each of the dominions:
    • Day 4—Sun and Moon, to rule day and night.
    • Day 5—Fowl and Fish, to rule the seas and skies.
    • Day 6—Animals, who rule the dry lands; man, who is given rule over all other rulers and all other dominions. We are godlike in our mastery over everything; therefore, we can take a sharp plow to the field, pick off apples from a tree, use the sea for sailing, use the sky for flying, train animals
  • Rest—Day 7, God tells everyone to rest. He wants everything to shut down on earth in order to remember who’s the ultimate owner of Planet Earth. He wants us to take a day off to realize it’s not our land, it’s not our air, it’s not our world. The day of rest is a silent testimony that God is the landlord and we are the tenants. Long before the law was established, God established a sabbath; and long after the law has been abolished, we will join with Christ for the final sabbath in heaven; the sabbath rest is something to honor today.
  • Principles—

1. Authority runs down; consecration runs up. The authority is responsible to exercise loving leadership. Those under authority must identify their leaders, then honor and obey them. Satan flips around this proper order designed by God. The whole triangle of creation is inverted: the higher is consecrated to the higher, and the lower is given authority. The flesh exerts authority over the spirit, land exerts authority over man. The earth was meant to submit to man: but when rebellion crept in, the ground began to live off man—the ground, which is meant to provide food for us, will feed on us.
2. God operates through jurisdictions. Throughout our studies we will see four principle jurisdictions: government, church, business and family. God works through these to establish authority and consecration. There are things properly in the hands of the government that the church should leave alone; there are things left to the church that business and government ought not to interfere; there are things for the family jurisdiction that the church has no business doing. God wants us to think jurisdictionally, and He shows us exactly how He thought jurisdictionally in the creation of the world.

• Responsibility—God has given us authority and dominion, and therefore, He holds us responsible. The modern age says the church isn’t responsible to convert sinners, the criminal isn’t responsible for his sin. But this is contrary to God’s cultural mandate: multiple and make the earth serve you. We have God—given permission to make cures for diseases, to penetrate the secrets of nature and make them serve man. And if you are a minister of Jesus Christ, you still have a mandate to harness the things of this earth. Everything you do is holy because in it you are fulfilling your responsibility of making your environment serve you. The idea that Mother Earth has equal rights to us, is nothing more than modern neo-paganism: it has nothing to do with true theology, for God says that if we need or want something from the world, we can take it; if we are vexed by illness, find a way to cure it; if we want prosperity, we can establish a business. God has given us a spiritual mandate—to seek to spread His kingdom and to be under His authority, as well as a cultural mandate—to subdue the earth under us to make our work excellent. We are responsible: that means, capable of responding; God will demand a response from us as to how we spent our time, our resources, how we maximized the things we were given upon earth.