Thus far we have taken note of the ongoing debate regarding whether the first eleven chapters of Genesis, and particularly the accounts of the creation and the flood, were meant to be taken as history. We noted that much of the Christian Church has long felt compelled, due to the claims of science that the earth is old, to embrace various views that seek to reconcile science’s long ages with the straightforward Genesis account of creation by God in six days.
I believe it is obvious that such re-interpretations of Genesis would never occur to anyone apart from such claims, claims which come from outside the Bible. Effectively, the Word of God is being made subject to the supposed “higher light” of modern science. Yes, you read that right! Millions of Christians have essentially considered modern science to be a greater, more reliable source of light and truth regarding the history of the world than is the Word of God, who created it all!
I was a product of that sort of compromise and so I shared my own testimony regarding the issue. As a result of such compromises I went for years as a sort of agnostic concerning the creation account: I believed that God had created everything but didn’t know exactly how or when...and didn’t really care! Surely such issues were secondary at best to the preaching of the cross and the coming of Christ.
I briefly recounted the process by which the Lord gradually changed my mind. He made me aware of the biblical issues involved and also of the growing body of science that was emerging to challenge secular science, the work of fully qualified scientists who saw no conflict between the Genesis account and true science.
And so I set out to answer two basic questions: why does this matter? and what about the claims of science? So far we have focused on the first question.
In summary: atheistic evolution with its claims of an old earth has risen as a direct challenge, not so much to the cross itself, but to the foundational truths that establish the very reason for the cross. We noted three particular aspects of truth that are affected simply by compromising the Genesis account, let alone by embracing evolution itself.
One of these concerns the very character of God who claims to have created everything and then called it all “very good.” Every compromise involves believing that there were at least hundreds of millions of years of suffering and death of morally innocent animals long before Adam arrived, let alone sinned. Suffering and death are not, therefore, due to sin’s corruption of a perfect creation but are rather a “design feature” of creation. In other words, God meant it to be that way. Such an idea has serious implications for our understanding of the Bible, our Creator, and our world.
We also noted the intimate connection between the cross and Adam’s sin. That sin resulted in a spiritual separation from God but also in his own physical death and a curse upon the creation that had been given into his charge. As a result he fathered a race of sinners who need a Savior. That leads to the cross where Christ, the last Adam, not only cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” but also died physically. Salvation is consequently available to Adam’s children who repent of their sin and put their trust in Jesus and what he accomplished for them through his death and resurrection.
The other issue concerns the reliability of God’s Word. We noted that everywhere in the scriptures themselves the inspired writers invariably regarded the creation account as history. Were they wrong? No less than Jesus himself referred to the institution of marriage as being at the beginning of creation. Mark 10:6-8. Who was he? Only the Creator, that’s all! Hebrews 1:1-2, 10, Colossians 1:16-17. If Jesus was either mistaken or lying about creation why should we trust anything he said?
And in the ten commandments, written on stone tablets with the finger of God, we read that he created everything in six days! Exodus 20:11. If Genesis isn’t true, what else isn’t true? Is the whole Bible to be made subject to man’s intellect and re-interpretation or is it the Word of God?
If we look only at the scriptures themselves there is an unbroken line of truth extending from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. We learn our history, God’s purpose, our need, God’s provision for that need, and how we can share in His loving eternal plans expressed in a new creation free from every ill of the present one. As Revelation 22:3 says, “No longer will there be any curse.” What the Bible says about these things is abundantly clear.