Lesson 1: God’s Revelation In Creation

LEARNING TARGETS:

At the end of the lesson, the students can;

Doctrine: Explain God’s revelation according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Moral: Demonstrate practical ways relating to one’s role in creation
Worship: Articulate prayer of thanks for the gift of creation

GOD’S REVELATION

"It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal Himself and to make known the
mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the
Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature." (CCC #51).
The Scriptural passages of the above statement are summarized in the Dogmatic
Constitution of the Word of God (Dei Verbum #2). To wit:
 In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us
the hidden purpose of His will (Eph. 1:9);
 by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, (people) might in the Holy Spirit have
access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4);
 Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (Col. 1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17);
 out of the abundance of His love speaks to (people) as friends (Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-
15);
 And lives among them (Bar. 3:38) so that He may invite and take them into
(communion) with Himself.

This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having in inner unity: the deeds
wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities
signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in
them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of (humankind)
shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.” (cf.
Matt. 11:27; John 1:14 and 17; 14:6; 17:1-3; 2 Cor 3:16 and 4, 6; Eph. 1, 3-14.)

GOD’S GRADUAL REVELATION

The divine plan of Revelation is realized simultaneously "by deeds and words which are
intrinsically bound up with each other" and shed light on each another. It involves a specific
divine pedagogy: God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by
stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate
Word, Jesus Christ (CCC, 53).
The stages can be distinguished through the advents of creation, human beings and the
Jewish people.

THE STORY OF CREATION: GENESIS 1 & 2

In the Book of Genesis, the days of the account of creation were narrated as follows:
Day 1 - God created light and separated the light from the darkness, calling light "day"
and darkness "night."
Day 2 - God created an expanse to separate the waters and called it "sky."
Day 3 - God created the dry ground and gathered the waters, calling the dry ground
"land," and the gathered waters "seas." On day three, God also created
vegetation (plants and trees).
Day 4 - God created the sun, moon, and the stars to give light to the earth and to govern
and separate the day and the night. These would also serve as signs to mark
seasons, days, and years.
Day 5 - God created every living creature of the seas and every winged bird, blessing
them to multiply and fill the waters and the sky with life.
Day 6 - God created the animals to fill the earth. On day six, God also created man and
woman (Adam and Eve) in his own image to commune with him. He blessed
them and gave them every creature and the whole earth to rule over, care for,
and cultivate.
Day 7 - God had finished his work of creation and so he rested on the seventh day,
blessing it and making it holy.

Genesis 1 and 2 can be summarized as follows:

Summary (Genesis 1)
a. God is the origin of everything especially life.
b. Creation is orderly and good.
c. Humankind is the summit of all creation.
d. Humans are stewards over all creation.
e. Human sexuality and procreation belong to the divine order of creation.
f. Rest is Godly.

Summary (Genesis 2)
a. There is an intimate connection between land and the human being.
b. The human being is both body and soul

c. Eden is the original locale of human beings.

 d. Man has a vocation to care for and cultivate the world.

e. Man and woman complement each other

f. Human love and marriage are divinely ordered.

Summary of the two creation stories

• God is the source of everything.

• The whole of creation is good. Creation reflects the beauty of God.

• Man is the highest creature – he is the only one created in the image and likeness of God.

• Creation is at the service of man. Man is the steward of creation.

• Man is not a solitary being. He only finds happiness by relating with others.

• Man and woman are equal. They become one in the community of marriage.

THE STAGES OF REVELATION

In the beginning God makes himself known

 "God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant
evidence of himself in created realities. And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to
heavenly salvation - he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning." He
invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and
justice (CCC #54).
This revelation was not broken off by our first parents' sin. "After the fall, [God] buoyed
them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show
his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek
salvation by patience in well-doing." (CCC #55)

The Covenant with Noah

After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin God at once sought to save
humanity part by part. The covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the principle
of the divine economy toward the "nations", in other words, towards men grouped "in their lands,
each with [its] own language, by their families, in their nations.” (CCC #56)
 This state of division into many nations is at once cosmic, social and religious. It is
intended to limit the pride of fallen humanity united only in its perverse ambition to forge its
own unity as at Babel. But, because of sin, both polytheism and the idolatry of the nation and of
its rulers constantly threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism (CCC
#57).
The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the
universal proclamation of the Gospel. The Bible venerates several great figures among the
Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest Melchizedek - a figure of Christ - and the upright "Noah,
Daniel, and Job". Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by those
who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of
God who are scattered abroad". (CCC #58)

God chooses Abraham

In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his
kindred and his father's house, and makes him Abraham, that is, "the father of a multitude of
nations". "In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." (CCC #59).
The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the
patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare for that day when God would gather all his
children into the unity of the Church. They would be the root on to which the Gentiles would be
grafted, once they came to believe (CCC #60).
The patriarchs, prophets and certain other Old Testament figures have been and always
will be honored as saints in all the Church's liturgical traditions (CCC #61).

God forms His people Israel

After the patriarchs, God formed Israel as his people by freeing them from slavery in
Egypt. He established with them the covenant of Mount Sinai and, through Moses, gave them his
law so that they would recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God, the provident
Father and just judge, and so that they would look for the promised Savior (CCC #62).
Israel is the priestly people of God, "called by the name of the LORD", and "the first to
hear the word of God", the people of "elder brethren" in the faith of Abraham (CCC #63).
Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation
of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets
proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a
salvation which will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear
this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith and
Esther kept alive the hope of Israel's salvation. The purest figure among them is Mary (CCC
#64).
THE RELEVANCE OF CREATION TO SALVATION
Creation is the foundation of "all God's saving plans," the "beginning of the history of
salvation"(GCD 51) that culminates in Christ. Conversely, the mystery of Christ casts conclusive
light on the mystery of creation and reveals the end for which "in the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth": from the beginning, God envisaged the glory of the new creation in
Christ (CCC 280).
The importance of the truth about creation comes from its being the “foundation of God’s
saving plans . . . the beginning of the history of salvation, which culminates in Christ”
(Compendium, 51). Both the Bible (Gen 1: 1) and the Creed begin with a confession of faith in
God the Creator.

Creation is “the first step towards the Covenant of the one God with his people”
(Compendium, 51). In the Bible creation is open to the saving action of God in history, which
reaches its fullness in the paschal mystery of Christ, and which will reach its final perfection at
the end of time. Creation came about with a view to the Sabbath, the seventh day on which the
Lord rested, a day which completes the first creation and opens up to the eighth day when a still
more marvellous work begins: the Redemption, the new creation in Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5: 7; CCC,
345-349).

Thus, we are shown the continuity and unity of God’s plan for creation and redemption.
There is no hiatus, but rather a link, between them, since man’s sin did not totally corrupt God’s
work. The relationship between the two—creation and salvation—can be expressed by saying
that, on one hand, creation is the first event of salvation; and on the other hand, redemptive
salvation has the characteristics of a new creation. This relationship throws light on certain
important aspects of the Christian faith, such as the ordering of nature to grace or the existence of
a single supernatural end of man.

References:

Catechism of the Catholic Church - The Creator. Retrieved from http:// www. vatican. va/ archive/ ccc_
css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p4.htm

Focus, Vison for Life. 2009. Salvation History. Retrieved from http://www.focusequip.org/assets/pdf/
sh-student-preview.pdf

The Mary Foundation. 1996. Creation of Heaven and Earth Retrieved from https:// www. catholicity.
com/catechism/creation_of_heaven_and_earth.html