LUCKY NUMBER 7

(An "interesting note" - on Friday the 13th I wrote this message for my Emailed Bible Study - this morning I see when posting it here, that it is the 13th post on GetLifeRightNow! The pulpit! Things that make you go... hmm..."

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

March Theme: Luck

Luck: Genesis 1
Faith: John 1

I suppose if Darwin is right, we are all creatures of luck. I remember being in high-school and a new science book had been released that year. The teacher read with us from the first page, but I didn’t move from that first paragraph with the rest of the class. I still remember reading a portion over and over: "…and somehow there was a big bang, and from that bang a single cell life form emerged…"

Somehow? Even then, “somehow” did not seem scientific enough for a science book! “Somehow” didn’t explain a big bang and it certainly did not describe how a single cell life form emerged. But let’s say “somehow” is an accurate description and somehow that single cell life form evolved throughout all these years from an amoeba to a dinosaur to an ape to a Neanderthal to a human – or some such nonsense. Wow – we would indeed be the luckiest creatures in the entire universe!

And if we really were somehow created from such an amazing happenstance, then wouldn’t that nature of luck be written into our DNA? Shouldn’t just luck abound in our reality? Shouldn’t we have evolved into something more fantasmic by now? And shouldn’t we be able to tap into that nature of luck and somehow create other amazing creations from that same substance we were created from?

Perhaps it was somehow a big bang of bad luck that keeps all those scenarios from being true. Or perhaps that “bang” was the insurmountable, unfathomable, all encompassing voice of God saying through His Word “Light be!” (Genesis 1:3)

Then in Genesis 1:26, “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” There was no somehow - God spoke us into being through the same Being in which He spoke light into the world. We were created by the same voice and with the same breath that spoke all things into being. And that was no happy accident! The very nature of what created us is in our DNA. That very nature abounds in every aspect of our reality. And through that nature we can evolve and will evolve into something far more fantasmic than what we are today and what we are in this life. We have access to and can tap into that same nature any time we want and from it and through it we have the power to create and be creative just as we were created.

Here is the proof: (and all it takes is that you stretch your belief just a little bit past “somehow” to “was”) John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” Now, doesn’t “was” sound far more definitive, decisive and absolute than the word “somehow?” Also, I submit to you this small change in the wording – “and somehow the darkness comprehended it not.” Those who are in darkness cannot comprehend the light – they instead comprehend luck.

Now before I go on, let me make sure you understand the significance of these scriptures. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – these verses are my most absolute favorite in the entire bible. In the beginning was God. There was nothing else, just God – everything that was, was God. And so, God is not in a specific place, God’s presence is the place. And in that place was the Word – capital “w” (a pronoun).

And that Word was with God, and that Word was God and all things were made by Him. Which "Him" was that? The Word God; the Word of God; God and the Word – they are one and the same. “And the same was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:2)

All things were made by Him – what Him? All things were made with the Word, spoken through the word, (or spoken through the Word) – in other words, God spoke Himself into being. And what was the first thing He spoke of Himself? Genesis 1:3 “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”

Let’s go back to John 1:6-10 “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” Notice here the word “Light” is capitalized as in a “pronoun”. There is no mistaking who the true Light is – but in case you haven’t gotten it in all the other times I’ve mentioned it: John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” God spoke Himself into light through His Word, and that Word became flesh and became the Light of the world – Jesus, the Christ.

We too are called to let our lights shine as a lamp on a hill. Could that very same Light we’ve been talking about, that very same Word we’ve been reading about – could it be that light is built into the very nature of our DNA? God says it is. Genesis 26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: - remember? The “us” God is talking to is Himself: Father, Son and Holy Ghost; God the Presence, Jesus the Light and the Spirit that moved across the face of the waters in Genesis 1:2. We are created in their image – we are created from their image and we were given life through the breath of life: the Spirit of life – that same life that moved across the face of the waters.

I just now remembered a joke I heard a few days ago… “Scientists determined they had discovered exactly how to make life out of nothing, just like God. And so to prove their new skills they went to God and challenged Him to a duel. We can make life out of nothing just like you, they said. Let’s see who can make a man better and faster. God agreed to the challenge. On your mark, get set, go, He said. And the Scientists bent down to scoop up dirt to form their man, but God stopped them. Go get your own dirt, He told the Scientists.”

The very same substance, or rather “substantial Word” that made light also made the dry ground, and the very same nature that was spoken into light was also spoken into the dry ground. And Adam was created from the dust of that dry ground and God breathed the breath of life into him – male and female God made He them.

God did not leave this stuff up to chance! In seven days God made the heavens and the earth; all the swimming things in the waters, the fowls and flying things in the air; the creeping things on the ground and Man – male and female (mankind) – and on the 7th day He rested.

Now that’s the only lucky number 7 I want to believe in! How lucky we are that God decided to make us in their image! How lucky we are that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever should believe would not perish but have everlasting life!” (John 3:16)

That “Only Begotten Son” God gave to die on the cross was God Himself, in the flesh. Oh, and aren’t we lucky He did! That “world” God loves so much is the world of mankind – the very same man He made from the dusts of the Earth and breathed life into. Oh, and aren’t we lucky that He did! And all that we have to believe in is not that somehow this all happened but that this was what happened! Oh, and aren’t we lucky that it did!

Is luck in our very nature? Only if you take that chance and believe in God our Creator and His only begotten Son. I feel lucky indeed!

Your eHome Bible Study homework: We’ve been studying Genesis 1 and John 1. Compare how 1 John 1:1-3 compare to the first verses in Genesis and John.