April 10, 2025 • 11 mins
The opening words of Scripture—"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"—set the stage for everything that follows. Three pastors dive deep into Genesis 1, unpacking theological gems hiding in plain sight within this familiar creation account.
Why did light exist before the sun? What does it mean that humans are made "in God's image"? And who exactly is the mysterious "us" in "Let us make mankind in our image"? These questions lead to fascinating discussions about God's nature, humanity's purpose, and the divine blueprint for civilization.
Perhaps most compelling is the exploration of the cultural mandate—God's first commission to humanity. The Hebrew word for "subdue" (kibosh) reveals our call to bring divine order to chaos, just as God did in creation itself. This isn't about exploitation but cultivation, transforming our spheres of influence into spaces where life can flourish according to God's design.
Whether you're wrestling with questions about creation timelines, the Trinity's presence in Genesis, or simply seeking to understand your purpose as God's image-bearer, this conversation offers fresh perspective on Scripture's foundation. The pastors skillfully balance scholarly insight with practical application, showing how an ancient text continues to provide guidance for ordered, purposeful living in today's chaotic world.
Ready to discover how bringing divine order to your relationships, work, and personal life fulfills your purpose as God's representative on earth? Listen now and join us on this journey through Scripture—one chapter at a time.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to a chapter a day keeps the devil away.
All right, we're so glad all ofyou are here.
This is Pastor Plagg.
Joining me is Cody Sparks fromthe Cody Sparks Band and none
other than Pastor Holland Greggfrom Eastside Community Church.
So glad to have both yougentlemen with me as we talk
about Genesis 1.
Now, holland, talk to me aboutsome great insights that you've
been given about Genesis 1.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
All right.
So for me, I think in thebeginning God created the
heavens and the earth.
The very first line of Genesis1 sets the stage for the entire
story of Scripture, with God asthe point.
God is the creator ofeverything, he's the goal of
everything.
I think, understanding thatfrom the very first line of
Scripture we see God as thepoint, the source, the creator
(00:46):
of everything, he's the goal ofeverything.
I think, understanding that,that from the very first line of
scripture we see, god is thepoint, the source, the goal of
all things.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Right, for me, the thing that I I don't know if
it's a struggle or it's aninteresting thought or something
that I just was like that's oddor neat or cool is the sun and
the moon don't appear until dayfour.
A light to rule over the dayand a light to rule over the
night.
So how was there light in thefirst day?
(01:16):
Because he said let there belight.
What was the light from?
Do we know God?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I was going to say Light of the world.
In Revelation, when it talksabout the new creation, it says
there will be no need for sun.
Right, because the glory of theLord, the glory of the Lamb,
will shine as light.
And so God is light.
I think the light could becoming from the glory of God
himself.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So here's the thing I also think about is if there is
no sun and moon, and a and aday is derived from an earth
spinning around, uh, or rotatingaround the sun, sun orbiting,
orbiting the sun once, uh, howare days?
I'm sorry, that's right.
Doing one circular.
Yeah, I was like wait a minute,uh so if, if earth rotating
(02:02):
once, you know, so that the sunrises and goes down, that's and
up again, that's a day.
Um, how do you have a daywithout a sun or a moon?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
hey, doc, don't look over here at me, this is tough
so what I?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
so?
This is where people they'reyoung earth, older, I think you
have.
You have is wild, right?
You've got one day, two day,three day.
The sun and moon don't comeuntil the fourth day, so that
gives you a lot of options.
I know there's a lot of youngearth and a lot of old earth who
want to just battle it out.
You just don't know, and it's apoetic version and so I don't
want to.
I'm not saying I'm not.
(02:40):
This isn't an argument foryoung earth, but it's also not
an argument for old earth.
I just want us to kind of seelike there's a lot of
interpretation in this poetry ofthese verses, and I think you
can argue both.
I've seen both argued by verygood Christian people who love
God, and I don't know if that'sthe place where you want to seat
your faith, as in your abilityto conclude how old the earth is
(03:02):
and your ability to concludehow old the earth is, but I do
think it's a great thing tounderstand is that God did a lot
of stuff before.
There was a sun and a moon,right?
Fair, yeah, fair, okay, howabout?
What about this?
Let us make God in our ownimage.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Let us make man.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Sorry, I'm sorry, good save, thank you.
Let us make man in our ownimage.
Let us make man Sorry, I'msorry, good save, thank you.
Let us make man in our ownimage, thank you.
So what, who's the us in thatHolland?
What's your gander, god?
All right, that's good.
So would you go with, becauseone of my new favorite books is
Michael Heiser's book UnseenRealm, and where he talks about
(03:42):
divine counsel and I'm going tosay it could be right, it could
also be a Trinitarian view, italso could be just about
anything that you want to gowith.
So your thoughts would be it'sjust a Trinitarian, us, royal,
we kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, are you saying those are the same thing?
No, no, royal, we andTrinitarian view are two
different.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's like, yeah, they're not the same, but
Although they could be.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, well, I was going to say, I mean the royal.
We idea is that, you know,referring in plural form to a
singular person or identity toindicate majesty and, you know,
high status and all that right,and so I think it could be that,
and I'm sure that that's how itwas probably read, either as
that or the divine counsel.
Obviously, no one was readingit in a Trinitarian way before
(04:30):
Christ, Right, Right.
So so you think they?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
were reading in divine council way or royal.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
We either one of those.
Makes either one works.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
There's good arguments for both of those.
There's only one God.
Even if you believe in a divinecouncil, that's just angels and
principalities and authoritiesthat God uses to rule in a, a
shared rule with the heavenlyhost, which he's now having.
A shared rule with the humans,which is his desire is to always
work with and never do anythingcompletely alone, although he
(05:01):
is completely sufficient in andof himself.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, I think the problem there is we're not made
in the image of angels, we'remade in the image of God Sure.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
But I think the hard part though, what is the image
of God?
Sure, but I think the hard partthough, what is the image of
God mean?
Would that mean that there's abillion no good from evil?
Because that's what it seems tosay in Genesis 3, like, oh no,
now they'll be able to know goodfrom evil, like us, like us.
And so I think that might be aplace where that's the divine
aspect of the immortal part ofthe conscience which we could be
(05:31):
getting into.
But I do think the primarything here is that God is the
author, god is the source, andalthough scholars go all sorts
of different ways with what letus make man in our own image
means it is clear that God isthe author, he is the perfecter,
he is the creator of all thosethings.
(05:52):
What else did you see here?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
I was going to say.
You do see hints about theTrinitarian reality of God
already in the first few verses,where it says, in verse two,
that the spirit of God washovering over the face of the
waters.
And so you know, I think weknow now, knowing the
Trinitarian um reality of whoGod is his father, son and Holy
(06:16):
spirit, we can look back and gookay, obviously God was doing
this work of creation in hisTrinitarian way, Right Um, we
know from John, chapter one,that mimics a lot of this
language and that how, in thebeginning, was the word?
The word was with God, the wordwas God as well as, from here,
(06:36):
the spirit of God hovering overthe face of the water.
So you see all three persons ofthe Trinity involved in the act
of creation.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
The spirit and the word is which is the creative
act yeah, which is my favorite.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And God said yeah, that's wild.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Okay, what can we?
If we're going to applyanything from this, is it?
What would that be for you,Holland?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
So for me, you know, right after it says, let us make
man in our image, you get verse28, that God blessed them and
he gives a mission to mankindyeah, be fruitful, multiply,
fill the earth, subdue it, havedominion.
And so this is what's referredto as like the cultural mandate,
the original, you know, missionand command from God.
(07:21):
Here's what you're supposed todo with your life, as being made
in his image.
You are his representative onearth to rule over the earth,
under God and to fill the wholeearth with his glory.
And so I think application ofthis is what does it look like
for us to really take thatmission to heart?
To have dominion, to have ruleunder God, over moving on to
society, how do we see the ruleand reign of Christ in all of
(07:54):
these places, submitting to himand glorifying him?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, I love that.
And what's kind of interestingis the word subdue is the Hebrew
word kibosh.
I don't know if anyone'sfamiliar with the phrase.
Put the kibosh on somebody.
I mean, you know, it's a smackthing.
Yeah it's like I'm going tokibosh that person and that
means like a forceful violent,to a point like I'm going to
subdue and rule a word, and sothat means that there's work to
(08:22):
be done to civilize the world,which is sort of wild to think
about.
That God created something thathe wanted man to civilize.
I think sometimes and I'm not,this is not a bash on nature,
but sometimes we can kind oflook at nature and sort of see
the beauty of the wild, but thatGod has called us to subdue it
and that's sort of a.
(08:42):
And I think this is where themaking of gardens and the making
of things that are natural orof like facilitating spaces that
are naturally inclined to seeGod's beauty at work, is part of
our role, but also that tocivilize the world is actually
also a part of our role, which Ithought was sort of fascinating
.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, it solves the original problem that you get in
verse two.
It says the earth was withoutform and void.
Hebrew tohu v'bohu.
Yeah, those words.
You could also think of it asuninhabitable and uninhabited.
Right, and so the goal of manis to make the world inhabitable
and inhabited, to civilize itand fill it, to make the whole
(09:23):
world a place where you can live, and not just live but live
unto the glory of God.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Which is wild.
We live in Texas right now, andyou know, 100 years ago living
in Texas would have been really,really hard with the amount of
heat, with the lack of airconditioning.
And now it's the most ablebecause of our irrigation, of
our ability to harness the powerof the different resources God
(09:48):
has put on this planet for us touse, to that we've used to
further subdue more of the earth, and so that doesn't mean you
want to abuse the earth, but itdoes mean you want to use the
earth what God intended for usto subdue it and bring order to
the chaos.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That's what I was.
That was what I was about tosay before this create.
Before creation, the universehad chaos and then God spoke and
there was order, and that weneed to apply that in our lives,
that when our lives are chaos,that he's there.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, God spoke and he took the chaos into order and
then filled it with life.
That is our role.
We do, like God does to theextent that he's entrusted to us
as his image bearers, to bringorder that can sustain life and
cause it to flourish.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
So I'd say one thing that you could apply here, as
you're reading God's word today,is bring order to your own life
, and that starts with God'sword.
It ends with God's word andthat starts with God's word.
It ends with God's word.
If you're a man, that's likehaving a solid work and purpose
to do.
That fits within being fruitfuland multiplying and filling the
(10:55):
earth, subduing it and havingdominion over everything, and I
think that doesn't look likeyou're going to be an
uncivilized conqueror.
But what it does mean is thatyou're going to bring order to
the part of the world that Godhas given you dominion over, and
it's an exciting thing to thinkabout.
So that might be your marriage,that might be your own personal
life, that might be yourworkplace.
Wherever it is, you want tobring God's order into the world
(11:18):
.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It's good, all right, hey, thanks for watching and
listening.
We will see you tomorrow, as wetake a chapter a day.
Welcome to a chapter a day keeps the devil away.
All right, we're so glad all ofyou are here.
This is Pastor Plagg.
Joining me is Cody Sparks fromthe Cody Sparks Band and none
other than Pastor Holland Greggfrom Eastside Community Church.
So glad to have both yougentlemen with me as we talk
about Genesis 1.
Now, holland, talk to me aboutsome great insights that you've
been given about Genesis 1.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
All right.
So for me, I think in thebeginning God created the
heavens and the earth.
The very first line of Genesis1 sets the stage for the entire
story of Scripture, with God asthe point.
God is the creator ofeverything, he's the goal of
everything.
I think, understanding thatfrom the very first line of
Scripture we see God as thepoint, the source, the creator
(00:46):
of everything, he's the goal ofeverything.
I think, understanding that,that from the very first line of
scripture we see, god is thepoint, the source, the goal of
all things.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Right, for me, the thing that I I don't know if
it's a struggle or it's aninteresting thought or something
that I just was like that's oddor neat or cool is the sun and
the moon don't appear until dayfour.
A light to rule over the dayand a light to rule over the
night.
So how was there light in thefirst day?
(01:16):
Because he said let there belight.
What was the light from?
Do we know God?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I was going to say Light of the world.
In Revelation, when it talksabout the new creation, it says
there will be no need for sun.
Right, because the glory of theLord, the glory of the Lamb,
will shine as light.
And so God is light.
I think the light could becoming from the glory of God
himself.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So here's the thing I also think about is if there is
no sun and moon, and a and aday is derived from an earth
spinning around, uh, or rotatingaround the sun, sun orbiting,
orbiting the sun once, uh, howare days?
I'm sorry, that's right.
Doing one circular.
Yeah, I was like wait a minute,uh so if, if earth rotating
(02:02):
once, you know, so that the sunrises and goes down, that's and
up again, that's a day.
Um, how do you have a daywithout a sun or a moon?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
hey, doc, don't look over here at me, this is tough
so what I?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
so?
This is where people they'reyoung earth, older, I think you
have.
You have is wild, right?
You've got one day, two day,three day.
The sun and moon don't comeuntil the fourth day, so that
gives you a lot of options.
I know there's a lot of youngearth and a lot of old earth who
want to just battle it out.
You just don't know, and it's apoetic version and so I don't
want to.
I'm not saying I'm not.
(02:40):
This isn't an argument foryoung earth, but it's also not
an argument for old earth.
I just want us to kind of seelike there's a lot of
interpretation in this poetry ofthese verses, and I think you
can argue both.
I've seen both argued by verygood Christian people who love
God, and I don't know if that'sthe place where you want to seat
your faith, as in your abilityto conclude how old the earth is
(03:02):
and your ability to concludehow old the earth is, but I do
think it's a great thing tounderstand is that God did a lot
of stuff before.
There was a sun and a moon,right?
Fair, yeah, fair, okay, howabout?
What about this?
Let us make God in our ownimage.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Let us make man.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Sorry, I'm sorry, good save, thank you.
Let us make man in our ownimage.
Let us make man Sorry, I'msorry, good save, thank you.
Let us make man in our ownimage, thank you.
So what, who's the us in thatHolland?
What's your gander, god?
All right, that's good.
So would you go with, becauseone of my new favorite books is
Michael Heiser's book UnseenRealm, and where he talks about
(03:42):
divine counsel and I'm going tosay it could be right, it could
also be a Trinitarian view, italso could be just about
anything that you want to gowith.
So your thoughts would be it'sjust a Trinitarian, us, royal,
we kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, are you saying those are the same thing?
No, no, royal, we andTrinitarian view are two
different.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's like, yeah, they're not the same, but
Although they could be.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, well, I was going to say, I mean the royal.
We idea is that, you know,referring in plural form to a
singular person or identity toindicate majesty and, you know,
high status and all that right,and so I think it could be that,
and I'm sure that that's how itwas probably read, either as
that or the divine counsel.
Obviously, no one was readingit in a Trinitarian way before
(04:30):
Christ, Right, Right.
So so you think they?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
were reading in divine council way or royal.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
We either one of those.
Makes either one works.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
There's good arguments for both of those.
There's only one God.
Even if you believe in a divinecouncil, that's just angels and
principalities and authoritiesthat God uses to rule in a, a
shared rule with the heavenlyhost, which he's now having.
A shared rule with the humans,which is his desire is to always
work with and never do anythingcompletely alone, although he
(05:01):
is completely sufficient in andof himself.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, I think the problem there is we're not made
in the image of angels, we'remade in the image of God Sure.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
But I think the hard part though, what is the image
of God?
Sure, but I think the hard partthough, what is the image of
God mean?
Would that mean that there's abillion no good from evil?
Because that's what it seems tosay in Genesis 3, like, oh no,
now they'll be able to know goodfrom evil, like us, like us.
And so I think that might be aplace where that's the divine
aspect of the immortal part ofthe conscience which we could be
(05:31):
getting into.
But I do think the primarything here is that God is the
author, god is the source, andalthough scholars go all sorts
of different ways with what letus make man in our own image
means it is clear that God isthe author, he is the perfecter,
he is the creator of all thosethings.
(05:52):
What else did you see here?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
I was going to say.
You do see hints about theTrinitarian reality of God
already in the first few verses,where it says, in verse two,
that the spirit of God washovering over the face of the
waters.
And so you know, I think weknow now, knowing the
Trinitarian um reality of whoGod is his father, son and Holy
(06:16):
spirit, we can look back and gookay, obviously God was doing
this work of creation in hisTrinitarian way, Right Um, we
know from John, chapter one,that mimics a lot of this
language and that how, in thebeginning, was the word?
The word was with God, the wordwas God as well as, from here,
(06:36):
the spirit of God hovering overthe face of the water.
So you see all three persons ofthe Trinity involved in the act
of creation.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
The spirit and the word is which is the creative
act yeah, which is my favorite.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And God said yeah, that's wild.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Okay, what can we?
If we're going to applyanything from this, is it?
What would that be for you,Holland?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
So for me, you know, right after it says, let us make
man in our image, you get verse28, that God blessed them and
he gives a mission to mankindyeah, be fruitful, multiply,
fill the earth, subdue it, havedominion.
And so this is what's referredto as like the cultural mandate,
the original, you know, missionand command from God.
(07:21):
Here's what you're supposed todo with your life, as being made
in his image.
You are his representative onearth to rule over the earth,
under God and to fill the wholeearth with his glory.
And so I think application ofthis is what does it look like
for us to really take thatmission to heart?
To have dominion, to have ruleunder God, over moving on to
society, how do we see the ruleand reign of Christ in all of
(07:54):
these places, submitting to himand glorifying him?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, I love that.
And what's kind of interestingis the word subdue is the Hebrew
word kibosh.
I don't know if anyone'sfamiliar with the phrase.
Put the kibosh on somebody.
I mean, you know, it's a smackthing.
Yeah it's like I'm going tokibosh that person and that
means like a forceful violent,to a point like I'm going to
subdue and rule a word, and sothat means that there's work to
(08:22):
be done to civilize the world,which is sort of wild to think
about.
That God created something thathe wanted man to civilize.
I think sometimes and I'm not,this is not a bash on nature,
but sometimes we can kind oflook at nature and sort of see
the beauty of the wild, but thatGod has called us to subdue it
and that's sort of a.
(08:42):
And I think this is where themaking of gardens and the making
of things that are natural orof like facilitating spaces that
are naturally inclined to seeGod's beauty at work, is part of
our role, but also that tocivilize the world is actually
also a part of our role, which Ithought was sort of fascinating
.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, it solves the original problem that you get in
verse two.
It says the earth was withoutform and void.
Hebrew tohu v'bohu.
Yeah, those words.
You could also think of it asuninhabitable and uninhabited.
Right, and so the goal of manis to make the world inhabitable
and inhabited, to civilize itand fill it, to make the whole
(09:23):
world a place where you can live, and not just live but live
unto the glory of God.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Which is wild.
We live in Texas right now, andyou know, 100 years ago living
in Texas would have been really,really hard with the amount of
heat, with the lack of airconditioning.
And now it's the most ablebecause of our irrigation, of
our ability to harness the powerof the different resources God
(09:48):
has put on this planet for us touse, to that we've used to
further subdue more of the earth, and so that doesn't mean you
want to abuse the earth, but itdoes mean you want to use the
earth what God intended for usto subdue it and bring order to
the chaos.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That's what I was.
That was what I was about tosay before this create.
Before creation, the universehad chaos and then God spoke and
there was order, and that weneed to apply that in our lives,
that when our lives are chaos,that he's there.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, God spoke and he took the chaos into order and
then filled it with life.
That is our role.
We do, like God does to theextent that he's entrusted to us
as his image bearers, to bringorder that can sustain life and
cause it to flourish.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
So I'd say one thing that you could apply here, as
you're reading God's word today,is bring order to your own life
, and that starts with God'sword.
It ends with God's word andthat starts with God's word.
It ends with God's word.
If you're a man, that's likehaving a solid work and purpose
to do.
That fits within being fruitfuland multiplying and filling the
(10:55):
earth, subduing it and havingdominion over everything, and I
think that doesn't look likeyou're going to be an
uncivilized conqueror.
But what it does mean is thatyou're going to bring order to
the part of the world that Godhas given you dominion over, and
it's an exciting thing to thinkabout.
So that might be your marriage,that might be your own personal
life, that might be yourworkplace.
Wherever it is, you want tobring God's order into the world
(11:18):
.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It's good, all right, hey, thanks for watching and
listening.
We will see you tomorrow, as wetake a chapter a day.
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