God’s Creative Power

MINDMAP – God communicates through Art, Play, Word and Spirit and Sabbath
Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens tell out the glory of God, the vault of heaven reveals his handwork.
One day speaks to another, night with night shares its knowledge,
and this without speech or language or sound of any voice.
Their music goes out through all the earth, their words reach to the end of the world.

Genesis 1 / John 1:1-5 In the beginning of creation, when God made heaven and earth … God said, “let there be light”, and there was light…

Bible references Art, Play, Word and Spirit, Sabbath:

 

ART

1. Tabernacle (Bezalel and Aholiab)
Exodus 31:1-11 / chapter 36-39 The Lord spoke to Moses and said, Mark this: I have specially chosen Bezalel,…I have filled him with divine spirit, making him skilful and ingenious, expert in every craft, and a master in design … Further I have appointed Aholiab … to help him, and I have endowed every skilled craftsman with the skill which he has.
2. Prophecy
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and so on … Malachi.
3. Temple
First book of Kings 6-8
4a. Pictures of lights: sun, moon, stars
Job 38:31,32 Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades or loose Orion’s belt? Can you bring out signs of the zodiac in their season or guide Aldebaran and its train?
4b. Pictures, by example: the good shepherd
John 10 / Ezekiel 34
4c. Symbols, by example: the cross
Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is crucified to me and I to the world.
5. Music
Job 38:7 …when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted aloud?
1 Chronicles 13:8 / 2 Chronicles 7:6 / 34:12,13 / Ephesians 5:19 / James 5:13 Is anyone in good heart? He should sing praises.
6. Wisdom
Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes
7. Stories: many parts of the bible are high quality stories
8. Literature: many books of the bible
9. Songs
Exodus 15 / Psalms / Colossians 1:15-20 / Philippians 2 / 1 Corinthians 13
10/11. Play, drama, dance
Jeremiah 13:1-9 / 19:1, 10-11 / 27:2,3 / 43:8-10 / Ezekiel 4:1-12 / 5:1-4 / 12:3-6, 18 / 21:18-20 /
2 Samuel 6:5, 14 David and all Israel danced for joy before the Lord without restraint to the sound of singing, of harps and lutes, of tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

 

PLAY

1. God’s wisdom is playing in his presence
Proverbs 8:22-31 Then I was at his side each day, his darling and delight, playing in his presence continually, playing on the earth, when he had finished it, while my delight was in mankind.
1b. God plays
Psalm 104:26 …here is Leviathan whom thou hast made thy plaything.
2. Swift as a hind
Psalm 18:33 Who makes me swift as a hind.
3. Parables
Jeremiah 18:1-6, more than 40 parables of Jesus. Can I not deal with you, Israel, says the Lord, as the potter deals with his clay? You are clay in my hands like the clay in his.
4. Bread and wine
Proverbs 9:5 / 1 Cor. 11:23-26 / Luke 22:14-20 This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me…This cup is the new covenant sealed by my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.
5. Play together: observance
Acts 2:41-47 / 4:32-37 / 1 Cor. 12:12 For Christ is like a single body with its many limbs and organs, which, many as they are, together make up one body.
6. God’s kingdom belongs to the children.
Luke 18: 15-17 Let the little ones come to me; do not try to stop them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
7. Children playing music
Luke 7:31-35
8. Mary’s gift
John 12:1-8
9. Rules of the game
Deuteronomy 4:2 / Revelation 22:18,19 / Matthew 7:24-27
You must carry out all the commandments of the Lord your God which I lay upon you.
10. Live by the day like the lily and the birds
Matthew 6:28,29 / Philippians 4:6,7

 

WORD AND SPIRIT

1. Like A dove
John 1:32,33 John testified further: I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and resting upon him.
2. Ruah, sighing of the wind = sound and breath
Genesis 1:1-3 / Acts 2:2 / Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
Psalm 33:6 The Lord’s word made the heaven.
3. Preaching
2 Samuel 23:2 / John 3:34 / Matthew 10:20 …when the times comes, the words you need will be given you; for it is not you who will be speaking: it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking in you.
4. Streams of living water
John 7:37-39 Streams of living water shall flow out from within him. He was speaking of the Spirit which believers in him would receive later…
5. Purifying fire
Isaiah 4:4 / Matthew 3:11 / 1 Peter 1:6,7 / 4:12 Even gold passes through the assayer’s fire, and more precious than perishable gold is faith which has stood the test. My dear friends, do not bewildered by the fiery ordeal that is upon you, as though it were something extraordinary.
6. Study
Acts 2:42 / 17:11 …they received the message with great eagerness, studying the scriptures every day to see whether it was as they say.
7. Fruit / Harvest
John 15:1-7 / Galatians 5:22 I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that shall last. But the harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control.
8. Everyone contributes
1 Cor. 12:4-11 / 14:26 To sum up, my friends: when you meet for worship, each of you contributes a hymn, some instruction, a revelation, an ecstatic utterance, or the interpretation of such an utterance.
9. Body and spirit is one
Psalm 86:11 …let me be one in heart…
Colossians 2:9,10 / 1 Thessalonians 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, make you holy in every part, and keep you sound in spirit, soul, and body, without fault when our Lord Jesus Christ comes.
10. New creation (the Holy Spirit as an advance)
Psalm 104:30 / Ephesians 1:13,14 / 2 Cor. 1:22 …it is God also who has set his eal upon us, and as a pledge of what is to come has given the
Spirit to dwell in our hearts.

 

SABBATH

1. The garden of Eden
Genesis 2:8-15 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden away to the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. The Lord God made trees spring from the ground, all trees pleasant to look at and good for food…
2. The seventh day: relax
Exodus 31:12-17 The Israelites shall keep the Sabbath, they shall keep it in every generation as a covenant for ever. It is a sign for ever between me and the Israelites, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he ceased work and refreshed himself.
Matthew 20:1-16 / Psalm 92
3. God’s Kingdom
Psalm 2:6 / 93-99 / Matthew 6:10 / Matthew 13, 18 / 14:25 / Revelation 12:10 / Mark 10:14 Let the children come to me; do not try to stop them; for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
4. Resting
Proverbs 10:22 / Luke 10:38-42 / Matthew 11:29,30 …for I am gentle and humble-hearted; and your souls will find relief. For my yoke is good to bear, my load is light.
5. The created universe waits
Romans 8:18-26 For the created universe waits with eager expectation for God’s sons to be
revealed.
6. Three times a year: celebration
Leviticus 23 / Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles
7. Healing
Mark 1:21-28 / 3:1-6
8. Freedom / Exodus
1 Corinthians 15:20-24 / Romans 8:20,21 / Philemon 16 It was made the victim of frustration, not by its own choice, but because of him who made it so; yet always there was hope, because the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and splendour of the children of God.
9. Blessing: shalom
Genesis 1:28 / 2:3 / 12:3 / Numbers 6:24 / Psalm 67 / Mark 10:16 And he put his arms round them, laid his hands upon them, and blessed them.
10. Grace = chein = fun
John 1:16 / Romans 1:7 / 5:15-17 / 1 Cor. 2:12 Out of his full store we have all received grace upon grace; for while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Willem de Vink