Trinity 21 Sermon

TEXT: Genesis 1:1-2:3
And God said, “Let there be… And it was so… And God saw that it was good.”

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

God said. And it was so. God spoke and He created the heavens and the earth. God spoke and the earth that was without form and void… took shape and was filled. There was nothing in heaven or earth that existed before He spoke it into being. There was only the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit from all eternity. And when the fullness of the Godhead spoke… things were created out of nothing… and God saw that it was good. The Psalmist says it this way, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth.”

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. No there was no sun or stars on the first day. But there was light. And God said that the light was good. There was evening and morning, the first 24 hours of creation.

God said, “let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from waters,” and there was an expanse that God called Heaven. This heaven might be called a vault or simply, “the sky.” God created it to separate the water in the sky from the water on the face of the earth. And God saw that it was good. There was evening and morning, and the world was 48 hours old.

God said, “let the waters under the heavens be gathered together and let dry land appear.” The land was called Earth and the water spots were called seas. And it was so. God also said, “let the earth sprout forth vegetation,” and every annual and perennial came to be. God saw that it was good. There was evening and morning, and the world was 72 hours old.

God said, “let there be lights in the expanse,” and the sun and the moon appeared to join the light that was already there since the first day of creation. God saw that it was good. There was evening and morning, and the world was 96 hours old.

God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let the birds fly…” And it was so. Now the lakes teemed with all kinds of fish and water fowl… and there were panfish and gamefish in the water and doves and sparrows in the sky… even dragons of the sea and pterodactyls of the sky. God saw that it was good. And God said, “be fruitful and multiply…” and God created them to have babies. And there was evening and morning, and the world was 120 hours old.

God said, “Let the earth bring forth livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth.” And it was so. So the earth was full of full of sheep and cattle and bugs and even alligators and brontosauruses. And God saw that it was good.

Then God made the crowned jewel of everything in he had made. He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” And Adam was made first and Eve was made from Adam’s rib. He commanded them to rule over the earth. They were created to love God’s creation by caring and tending to creation’s needs. God saw all that He had made and it was very good. It was completely perfect and holy and without sin. And there was evening and there was morning and the world was 144 hours old.

And on the seventh day God rested and made it a holy day, a day set apart to rest in Him.

By Chapter 3, one of the angels that God had created perfect and holy had rebelled against Him. He tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. And so the curse that God had given came to be, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” And the curse of death came upon all of creation. Sin came into the world.

The Lord God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Some 2000 years ago, the woman’s offspring was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. God said through the Angel Gabriel, “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus… the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the spirit of the Most High will overshadow you.” And it was so. And God saw that the Word had become flesh and dwelt among us. “The Word was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” God saw that the Word was good, very good. And there was evening and morning the day Mary conceived, and the world was only 4000 years old.

The Word made flesh was given the name, “Jesus” for He would save his people from their sins. He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and even made dead people rise again. Jesus did it all by His Word. When Jesus “said”… it was so… because He is God.

Jesus came to His own, but His own would not receive Him. His creation cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” And it was so. And the Creator of the universe hung upon a tree that he had created. And He died. Before He died, he said these words, “It is finished!” And it was so. And God saw that it was Good. God accepted the punishment for the sin of all of humanity in the death of Jesus. “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

God’s Word is still a creative Word even today. Where it is spoken things happen. On the day of your Baptism, God said in the Words of the Pastor, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and Holy Spirit.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good to call you His own dear child. In Confession and Absolution God says to you, “I forgive you all your sins.” And it is so… and God sees that it is good. In the Holy Sacrament, God says, “This is my Body… this is my Blood Given for you for the forgiven of sins. And it is so… and God sees that is Good.

IN the Name of Jesus. Amen.