The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Look at history and see how God has preserved and cared and protected his word, his truth, his knowledge to give this nation the opportunity to still do his work.

Guest (Male): Today on The Healing Word, Pastor Jack Morris is here to begin a powerful new series called Foundations of Faith with the message, "In the Beginning God". Before creation, before time, before mankind itself, God already was. Pastor Morris opens the book of Genesis and reveals the majesty, power, and eternal nature of the God who desires a relationship with his creation.

Pastor Jack Morris: In the beginning, God. There he is. In the beginning, before the beginning. Genesis, as I mentioned, is a book of beginnings. We read about the beginning of creation, the beginning of the earth, the sky, the beginning of the human race, the beginning of civilization, the beginning of man, the beginning of marriage and the family.

The beginning of love, the beginning of blessing and cursing, the beginning of redemption. It's all there and more. To understand the Bible, I believe we have to understand the book of Genesis. We have to understand these beginnings. This is where it all begins.

The book of Genesis takes its name, Genesis, from those words that we just read, the first three words: in the beginning. That's what the book of Genesis means, and it is very much consistent with ancient writers and the creation of ancient books. Genesis takes its name from the first three words. Most ancient books took their title from the first word or maybe the second word of the very first page, and Genesis is right in there with the rest of the ancient books, taking its name from the very first two or three words: in the beginning.

Moses is the one who wrote this book, and God through Moses wanted us to know these beginnings: where it all began, why it all began, and the end of all things that he began. In Genesis, every subject of the Bible is found here in the book of Genesis, and particularly for the most part in this first chapter. It is a powerful book, a great chapter. Let's look at it together this morning.

In the beginning, God. There history begins. The curtain goes up, and standing front and center is God. Now, where did he come from? What about his beginning? I don't know; the Bible doesn't say. It just begins with God already there. He is there to be seen, to be heard, and his power is to be experienced.

You see, the Bible never argues the existence of God. All through the Bible, it never says anything about proving that God is. It simply says he is. History begins with God already there. Look at this word, God. In the beginning, God, G-O-D. The Hebrew word is Elohim. E-L-O-H-I-M. Elohim. Can you say that word? Elohim.

It's a plural noun that allows us to immediately begin to understand that there is a plurality to the Godhead. Immediately, we understand that there is a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that makes up the one triune Godhead. In the very opening statement, the Trinity, the triune Godhead is shadowed forth. The fourth word of the Bible tells us that there is a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Now, did Moses when he wrote that and the first readers understand that? I doubt that they did, because very few things that we hear the very first time do we understand. It took the whole Bible, and particularly the New Testament, to give us a full, complete understanding of the triune Godhead. And yet, it is still such a mystery that we cannot understand it.

When Jesus said when we baptize a person in water, we are to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this teaching goes all the way back to the very fourth word in the Bible. Someone says, "Where did you get that formula?" Well, I got it from Jesus, but I also got it from the very first word, Elohim, the plurality of the Godhead. Here it is. It is scriptural, it is biblical, and we will continue to adhere to it.

Now, there are many names of God given in the Old Testament, many names. There is the name Adonai. There is the name Elohim that we just looked at. There is the name Shaddai and then the name El Shaddai and on and on. All of these names are given that you and I might better understand his character and his nature.

But the very first name that God gives us, that he chooses to be known by, the name that we need to hear first, is the word God or the word Elohim. Do you know in this short chapter, chapter one—how many verses are in chapter one? Thirty-one verses. The word Elohim appears thirty times.

God wants us to know something about his triune Godhead, for he tells us in the opening chapter thirty times that there is a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is a triune Godhead thirty times. He really wants us to know his name. Say it again: Elohim.

This triune Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—speaks to us of a covenant relationship that he has with himself. Here is a mystery that we will never comprehend. There are so many mysteries that we will never comprehend in this life. God is holding some things in reserve for the life to come.

But there is a covenant relationship that he has with himself. Remember when Jesus was praying in John chapter 17, the high priestly prayer before he went back to the Father, he prayed for the disciples and he prayed earnestly that God would make them one. He says, "Father, make them, all of them, all of my people, one even as you and I are one."

Now, watch it begin to develop. Hear the triune Godhead in conversation. Let the Holy Spirit impress upon you this holy truth: his name that he wants you to hear. God begins to make man. What does he say? He says, "Let us—" What's the word? "Let us." Who is he talking to? There is one God with a plurality of three. "Let us make man in our image."

When man sinned, what did God say? "Man has become as one of us." Who is he talking to? At the Tower of Babel, when man had become disobedient, God looked down and God says to himself, to the plurality of the Godhead, "Let us go down and confound their language."

And so, here in the very beginning is shadowed forth this great doctrine of Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here is brought forth to our attention the covenant relationship that God has with himself. There will never be a division between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's an indissoluble union that will last forever and ever throughout all eternity.

But it doesn't stop there, that covenant relationship. And here is where you and I need to have ears to hear clearly and to receive. That covenant relationship, that indissoluble eternal relationship, not only binds God with God with God, the triune Godhead—not three gods, one God in holy Trinity—that covenant relationship extends to all of us.

Here is the great mystery. You and I have been baptized into a new body, into an indissoluble union. Are you listening to me? You are part of a holy community that will never be dissolved: the Church of Jesus Christ. That is a great mystery. And this is what Jesus was saying when he prayed, "Father, make them one."

The church is not a divided church. People will become divided, but the church, the true church, the mysterious church, the church that is in your heart, you are not divided. You are one. You are in an indissoluble eternal union. You have come out of the world into a holy place. Something mysterious has happened in your life. You have been changed and transformed and have become part of God, for he has breathed into your nostrils his own breath.

You are part of him. He is linked to you. You can't get away from him, and he can't get away from you. He is linked to you with an eternal covenant. You are bound to him. You're not alone in this world. You're not a wandering pilgrim or an orphan that is lost. You have a very special relationship as real as the relationship that the Trinity has with the Trinity.

So does this relationship God has with you. Now, we need to have that relationship with one another. We're hooked up, whether you like it or not. You can't divorce me, do you know that? God has made us one holy new people. And it all begins in this fourth word of the Bible telling us that the church is one because of God's nearness and preciousness to us.

God now is going to disclose himself. He desires that you know him, that you see him, that you experience him. He does not desire to be a God that is far off, but a God that is very close and very near you. No one has seen God at any time. The scripture plainly says that. But you can see God if you follow me now and become sensitized to his revelation in nature.

In Psalm chapter 19, verses one and two: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." Now, the atheist would tell us that there is no God. Absolutely, there is no God. We're all here by accident. Something just happened, but that something they can't fully explain.

But they know what they don't believe, and they will purport that belief with all of their energy: there is no God. The agnostic will come along and say, "Well, I'm not sure. There may be, there may not be a God, but none of us will ever know whether there is a God or not because all true knowledge is uncertain and can never be discovered."

The pantheist will come along and say, "Well, God's everywhere: in a tree, in a river, in a flower, in a candlestick, in the carpet. You can just bow down and just worship him anywhere because everything is God." But God is saying no, all of that is erroneous. None of that is true.

And so, God now is beginning to reveal himself and come to us in knowledge and in understanding step by step, that we might truly understand him and discern him and truly worship him. Now, notice what it says: "The heavens declare the glory of God. Day after day they pour forth speech." We can look at the sun, the moon, the stars, the tree. We can look, and as we look, we hear.

There is a sign language that is coming forth. And God is saying, "I'm here. I did it. I created it." You see, predictability, understanding, and perfection is no accident of nature. Where there's an accident, there's always confusion. But the universe is so ordered. It is so clear. It is so predictable. There is no confusion there at all.

And so, God is saying, "Look at the universe. I'm speaking forth volumes to you." How could anyone say there is no God? But nature itself is not sufficient to bring us to salvation. It's not sufficient to bring us to the place of forgiveness of sin. The purpose nature serves is to incite our curiosity to search further. It's the first step.

So, without a Bible, the people of far-off lands who've never heard of God, God has placed a witness of his truth and of his person and of his being in the stars, in the moon, in the trees, in the seasons. It's already there. And without Bible or missionary, the first step God set in order and put it forth. The scripture says, "Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." This is our God. He's trying to get through to us.

All right, go to Romans chapter one, verse 19. Look at one more scripture with me. "Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them." Look at verse 20: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

If people do not know God, if people are eternally lost, they are going to be without excuse. Now, here's what I believe happens. We wonder sometimes why certain missionaries discover a new tribe somewhere. All of a sudden they said, "Oh, there's a group of people back here. They don't have a written language, they don't know the Bible, they've never heard of Jesus Christ. We just stumbled on them."

How did that happen? No, it didn't happen by accident. You see, when a group of people begin to look at nature, they are awed by it. Nature gives a general call to come to God. Nature incites their curiosity. And when that tribe or a people within that tribe begin to look up and look around, they see the sun coming up, they see the sun going down with regularity.

They see the change of the seasons and begin to predict it, and then it dawns on them: there is something, or more importantly, there is someone behind all of that. When that truth dawns on them, a missionary stumbles on them and finds them. When they take the first step, then God will take the second step.

One little bit of revelation leads to a greater revelation. Nature itself will never bring a person to a saving knowledge of Christ. It will never convey the message that Christ died and his blood was shed to cleanse them from all sin. But nature is the first call that leads to the second bit of knowledge that will bring them into the kingdom of God.

And so, when you hear that a new tribe has been found, that the gospel has never reached them but now missionaries are going in, you can be sure that they heard the speech of nature first, and now they're ready to hear the second, which is the written word of God. Isn't that wonderful what God does and how God leads us in his ways?

The second revelation of God is history. One has only to look at history to understand that there is a God. Particularly, look at the world wars that we have come through. God has preserved America, the greatest missionary gospel teaching, missionary sending, word of God printing nation in the world.

The Bible is still the bestseller. What would have happened if Hitler had won the war? We would have been under Nazism today. What would have happened if Mussolini had won, or Tojo? Would we have been called a Christian nation? Would the Bible be the bestseller? Could you give money to the church and get tax exemption for it?

Could you raise your young and send them forth as missionaries? I think not. And when that would have happened to America, the whole world would have become an atheistic state. Look at history and see how God has preserved and cared and protected his word, his truth, his knowledge to give this nation the opportunity to still do his work.

And when you stop praying, and when you stop giving, and when you and I become unconcerned about lost souls and missions, then it is just as well if Nazism had won. But look how every ideology that is anti-Christ, including communism in the Soviet Union—watch history and see it go down and see the truth and the freedom of the gospel still have an opportunity to go forth. Particularly in the history of Israel, we see God's great hand of mercy.

And then the heart, the human heart. Would you want to turn with me to Romans chapter two, verse 14? "Indeed, when Gentiles—" that means all other nations other than Jewish nations—"who do not have the law—" that means the first five books of the Old Testament—"do by nature things required by the word of God, the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law."

Here is where I want you to be: "Since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them." The part there that I want you to see is that the law of God is in nature, the law of God is in history, but more importantly, the law of God is in the human heart.

When man is honest, man believes in God, because God has stamped a certain knowledge in the heart that he is there, that he is God. And here in Romans chapter two again, without Bible, preacher, missionary, or church, there is a particular call to conscience within. That's why you can go into any country and any tribe, and you'll find feelings of guilt and feelings of shame.

People's conscience will bother them. They must make restitution; they must make things right. What's going on? It's the stamp of God. And listen, friend, every person here today and every one of your acquaintances and friends have that knowledge stamped within their heart. It is another step toward God, but again, not great enough to bring a person to Jesus Christ.

So, these are some of the divine revelations that God has put forth to say that I am. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, Elohim. And God, from the very beginning of human history, has been attempting to get through to us to say, "Here I am. Look at me. Acknowledge me. You're part of me. You have the breath of life within you, and as eternal as God is, just that eternal are you, your spouse, and your children."

To live in peace and to know God is to know God. To live in eternal peace is to know God. But the greatest revelation of God, the fullest revelation of God, is Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): The message today reminds us that history begins with God, and true peace begins when we know him personally through Jesus Christ. When you visit The Healing Word online, you'll find additional Bible messages from Pastor Morris, encouraging devotionals, and the prayer wall where you can submit your personal prayer requests.

And if these broadcasts are strengthening your faith, would you consider supporting this ministry with a financial gift? Your partnership helps share the gospel message with listeners across the nation and around the world. Thank you for joining us today on The Healing Word. Next up, Pastor Morris continues this series with "In the Beginning God, Part Two".