Page 6 - Moravian Messenger April 2019

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The Temple of Creation
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, The world and those who dwell therein, Psalm 24.1
The Bible has a beautiful and sophisticated account of the Creation and the role of human beings, but this is not set out in a single text. Both in the Biblical stories of Creation and in the design of the Jerusalem temple, there is a single vision of the relationship between time and eternity; between God and Creation; and between the visible world and the invisible world of God and the angels. To understand what the Bible says about the Creation, we too must glimpse the vision that informed the worship of the Temple, the poetry of the Hebrew prophets, the sayings of the sages and the images of the storytellers. All express and honour the same truth about the Creation. Since the New Testament shares this view of the Creation, it is the basis of Christian belief about the environment.
The temple in Jerusalem represented the Creation. The Genesis story of the six days of Creation also described the ceremonial building of the temple, which was in two parts, divided by the great curtain. The tabernacle built by Moses at the foot of Mount Sinai was the model for the later temple, and the clearest picture in the Bible of how the place of worship represented the creation can be seen by comparing Genesis 1 and Exodus 40.16- 33. This section of Exodus divides into sections that correspond to the six days of creation. The end of each section is marked by 'as the Lord commanded Moses', verses 19, 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29.
All the parts of the tabernacle and its furnishings were prepared beforehand, and Moses began to assemble them on the first day of the first month, Exodus 40.17. This means that as they assembled the tabernacle, they were re-living the miracle of creation which was celebrated at every New Year. Moses first assembled the frames and coverings of the tabernacle, which corresponded to God separating light and darkness, and thus creating 'Day One'. It was not called the 'first day' despite what most translations say. There was a special reason for it being 'Day One', as we shall see in the fourth of these articles.
On the second day, God created the 'firmament' to separate what was above from what was below, and Moses erected the great curtain, later called the veil of the temple, which separated the holy of holies from the rest of the holy place. He set the ark behind the curtain. On the third day God gathered the waters together, created dry land and caused trees and plants to grow. Moses placed the golden table on the north side of the tabernacle for the offerings derived from trees and plants: bread, wine and incense. On the fourth day God made the sun, moon and stars, and Moses set the seven-branched lamp on the north
side of the tabernacle. The lamp stand was a golden almond tree, Exodus 25.31-37 whose shining lamps were the lights of heaven. It represented the tree of life, as we shall see in the seventh of these articles.
Then there is a disruption in the pattern. The incense altar within the temple was added later to the old story of the tabernacle and this disrupted the ancient pattern of tabernacle and creation. On the fifth day of creation God made the living things of the air and the sea, birds and the fishes, and this corresponded to Moses' sixth action: setting up altar of sacrifice where birds and animals [but not fish] were offered. On the sixth day, God created human beings, and this corresponded to Moses seventh and final action: purifying Aaron and his family to be high priests and serve in the tabernacle.
The stories of creation and building a place of worship are full of symbolism about our place in the world and how we should care for it. The outer area of the holy place represented the visible material world and the inner part was the holy of holies, the invisible world of the Glory of God and the angels. The curtain represented matter concealing the Glory of God from human eyes, but the holy of holies in the heart of the temple showed that God was at the heart of Creation. All temple worship concerned the relationship of the Creation to God - praise, thanksgiving, asking for forgiveness - and the whole of the visible world was seen as the temple of God where human beings were the priests. After six days, God rested on the seventh, the Sabbath, showing that when the Creation was complete and 'very good', nothing more was made. The goal of Creation was not more and more, but sufficiency, completion and rest.
How very different from our current world view, where human beings are so often seen as only animals. God created human beings to be the divine image in the creation, Genesis 1.27, to care as God cares. Our role is not to consume more and more, but to look at everything, work with the Creator to see that it is good, and then rest, Genesis 1.31 and Genesis 2.3.
O Lord of heaven and earth and sea, To thee all praise and glory be; How shall we show our love to thee, Who givest all?
Hymn 470
Dr Margaret Barker
Methodist Preacher and Theologian
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