Jesus, God & Creator

Psalm 104 is all about creation. While it begins with a description of God, the praise shifts to a laundry list of all the things God has created and the power God still holds over them.
God places the earth on its foundation.
God holds the watery depths in place.
God guides the valleys and shapes the mountains.
God knows each and every animal,
each of which bears a majesty of its own.
The angels are God’s to command,
as is all of this.
It’s a cosmically powerful depiction of God, but how are these lines used in Hebrews 1:7? They point to the ordering of the cosmos and the authority given to Jesus. These initial chapters of Hebrews are reframing everything we think we know about God and the world, only with Jesus now at the center. Language about Son and Father is conflated, and old words describing Israel’s kings are reappropriated to describe the universe’s king. But whenever we talk about creation in this way, it’s hard not to read our modern debates onto it.

Look, I’m not going to get into Creationism and Evolution right now, but that debate has injured our reading of the first few books of Genesis. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 show slightly different timelines for the creation of the world, but more importantly, they send us different (but equally true) messages about who God is:

Genesis 1 gives us a majestic God creating by words, but it’s important to note that the word used for God here (Elohim) is plural. Could this word choice be implying the Trinity? Maybe. Could this word choice be a sort of “royal we”? It’s possible. Could this word choice be implying a heavenly host aiding God in these creative acts? Again, maybe. It’s hard to know. Regardless, the plural majestic depiction of God lines up very well with this initial chapter of Hebrews. Everything is about order and glory and justice and holiness, and it’s all very cosmic. God commands the day and night to separate, and they retreat to their separate hemispheres. God commands the seas to bring forth life, and the fish emerge. God commands the skies to bring forth life, and the birds glide forth. Etc.

Genesis 2, however, is totally different. It’s intimate. It’s personal. Here, we see God the Gardener physically walking through the world and deciding to make a man. God reaches down into the dirt, shaping a body with his hands and pinching a little nose before breathing into it the divine breath. God talks to this man. God presents him with animals to be his friends. The scene is simultaneously sweet and almost a bit comical as Creator gets to know creation before easing him back to sleep to make a companion for him.

Modern readers —or at least the ones I grew up around— struggle to explain how the grand cosmic God of Genesis 1 and the personal hands-on God of Genesis 2 can coexist. The most frequent explanation I hear is, “Well, Genesis 2 gives you a more detailed version of Day 6 from Genesis 1.” This argument is a relatively recent invention though; the early Hebrew writers and early Christian commentators saw no need to explain away the differences in these portrayals of God.
God is both intimate and cosmic.
God creates with both words and hands.
God is overseeing and yet present.
And this seeming contradiction is okay because we’re talking about an infinite God. The desire to merge these seemingly-incompatible depictions of God is a modern hang-up, not an ancient one. And so, as modern readers, we have to confront this desire in ourselves when we read Hebrews.

These first chapters of Hebrews show Jesus’s place in the whole order of the cosmos, so as we explore these questions about God’s relationship to the world in Genesis, we have to remember that Jesus is tied up in this.
Who is this Son of God who is also God?
Who is this Creator who can reside among Creation?
We’ll keep exploring these questions as we continue through the book of Hebrews. See you next Sunday!

A Quick Note:
When our group from San Marco Church initially talked about Brews & Hebrews, we conceived of it as a fun 14-week study. Currently, we’re on week 3, and we’re just 9 verses in— not even through the first chapter. Clearly, we underestimated the depth of this book, but I’m far more excited by this than deterred! You see, Hebrews is meant to evoke memories that modern readers don’t necessarily have, and so, to really take in its meaning, we have to sit with deep questions; we have to go back and reread large chunks of the Old Testament; we have to look at ourselves and reflect on what we don’t know while accepting the invitation to dive deeper into what we think we know. Simply put, it’s a blast, but it can also feel like a mental workout at times. As such, to get the most out of studying this book together, we’re going at whatever pace we need. And if you want to join our study, but you’re worried about being behind on reading, good news! We’re only on verse 10!

Leave a Reply