(By Nathan Busenitz)
Despite a bit of rain, the Shepherds’ Conference opened with its usual anticipation and excitement. Our church is always so blessed to have hundreds of like-minded pastors and church leaders who come. And this year is no different. The enthusiasm is palpable.
The opening session begins with a choir of men from The Master’s Seminary singing two hymns, followed by the entire congregation of conference attendees lifting their voices in praise to God. The sound is loud. It is so loud that, even when singing at the top of your lungs, you can hardly hear yourself. Only those who have experienced the Shepherds’ Conference before can really appreciate what the singing is like—when three thousand pastors join together as one great choir. It is particularly moving and, in the most real sense, heavenly.
10:28 AM John MacArthur begins by noting that he wants to read to us the beginning of the Bible, and asks us to turn to Genesis 1. He continues by reading the entirety of chapter 1 and the first three verses of chapter 2.
10:33 Dr. MacArthur notes that two years ago, he opened the conference by talking about how self-respecting Calvinists should be premillennialists; and last year regarding how they should reject church-growth strategies. This year he will focus on how self-respecting evangelicals should affirm literal six-day creationism.
10:35 “The Bible does not take a back seat when it comes to getting things right scientifically.” Theology is the queen of the sciences and takes precedence over any other scientific theory. The One who created the universe knows how it was created; and He has revealed that perfect knowledge in the Bible.
10:37 If God is intelligent enough to create the universe, He is certainly capable of doing the comparatively simple task of revealing the truth about how He created the universe in a way that is straightforward and understandable.
10:39 Dr. MacArthur spends several moments talking about false creation views, noting that the true Creator would never reveal something false about His creation. When we come to the true record of creation in Scripture, it is a reliable account of the creation given to us by the Creator Himself.
10:41 Genesis 1 is clear and straightforward; it is simple and yet profound. Herbert Spencer was a non-Christian scientist who died a century ago. His greatest achievement was that he determined that everything that exists fits into one of five categories—time, force, action, space, matter. Genesis 1:1 revealed those categories millennia ago, “In the beginning,” that’s time, “God,” that’s force, “created,” that’s action, “the heavens,” that’s space, “the earth,” that’s matter.
10:44 There is no such thing as a science of creation. Why? Because there is no scientific way to explain creation. It was not a natural event or a series of natural events. It was a brief series of monumental supernatural events that cannot be explained by science. All true science is based on observation and no one observed creation. All true science necessitates verification by repetition and creation cannot be repeated, and thus it cannot be verified. Creation had no observers (except God) and cannot be repeated.
10:48 Creation has no connection at all to science anymore than the behavior of Lazarus could in any way reveal how he was raised from the dead. Creation was a massive supernatural miracle to be equaled by the future uncreation (2 Peter 3) when in a lot less than six days God destroys everything He created. Neither event, creation or uncreation, can be explained by any natural fixed laws. All that is left to the reader is the opportunity to believe.
10:50 Did God use evolution? The question is irrelevant and intrusive. But the answer is no. He couldn’t have used evolution because evolution requires death and the Bible reveals that there was no death before the Fall. God does not equivocate with Himself, He determined to create miraculously which is the only way that it could have happened because it is the way it did happen. And He did it all in six days. This is either true, or it’s not. If it is true, then Scripture is true. If it is not, then Scripture become suspect from the opening chapters. So from the very outset of the Bible, those who claim to believe the Bible face a formidable test.
10:52 Job 38–40 – Who are we to question God about creation, when He Himself has told us what He has done?
10:55 Evolution is a rejection of biblical revelation, and demonstrates a lack of fidelity to what Scripture has revealed about origins.
10:57 Ask any Christian organization in the world what their view is of Genesis 1 and 2 and you will get a sense for their level of fidelity to the Word of God.
10:58 The Genesis account is by all honest consideration simple, plain, clear, perspicuous, uncomplicated, unmistakable, unambiguous. Note John 1:1; Col. 1:16; Deut. 4:32; Psalm 104; 148; Isaiah 40:28; Eph. 3:9; Rev. 3:14.
11:03 Genesis 1 and 2 is not poetry; it does not have the characteristic of poetry.
11:04 The writers of the New Testament affirm the Genesis record. There are 165 passages in Genesis directly quoted or referred to in the New Testament. They are all straightforward affirmations of the book of Genesis and the simple account of creation that is contained there. Every New Testament writer refers to Genesis, and they universally affirm its truthfulness.
11:05 God created with a clear end in mind. God didn’t create and hope some meaningful plan evolved. He created with a very defined ultimate purpose that would be brought to its fulfillment.
11:07 Jonathan Edwards said, “Providence subordinates all successive changes in the affairs of mankind.” Everything from creation to consummation is part of one great divine plan being worked by God’s powerful providence. Note Isaiah 46:9; Eph. 3:8.
11:12 In creation we see the very beginning of the purposes of God in redemption. Note Rom. 5:18 – 19; 1 Cor. 15:21, 47–49; Rev. 2, 22.
11:14 One of the richest analogies between redemption and creation is in 2 Corinthians 4: “For God who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness.’” That is referring to creation. God said, “Let there be light.” Paul sees in the original creation of light an analogy of the light of salvation.
11:15 It is that same God who spoke light into the primeval darkness who is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the light of salvation. God creating light in the midst of the darkness is a picture of what He does in the darkness of the sinner’s heart. If some convoluted concept of evolution is introduced into the book of Genesis, the instantaneous miracle of God in redemption also becomes convoluted.
11:16 Jonathan Edwards pursued this idea, and noted that it was a magnificent picture of the life of a believer. This is the glory of redemption tucked in to the testimony of creation.
11:18 In closing his session, Dr. MacArthur switched from discussing Creation to discussing the great “uncreation” of the world described in 2 Peter 3. In so doing, he specifically focused on how silly and unnecessary it is for evangelicals to jump on the environmentalism bandwagon.
11:20 Evangelicalism’s eagerness to embrace global warming and other environmentalist agenda items is a lost cause.
11:26 The environmental movement is the bandwagon of the evolutionists, and Christians have no business jumping on the bandwagon. [Dr. MacArthur included a number of statistics and articles which we are not able to include here.]
Note: The audio from this session will soon be available for download on the Shepherds’ Conference website.