Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, Don. I have some tools. Look at. What do you think? How do you think about this?
[00:00:03] Speaker B: I love the tools. And just so you know, three of my brothers are builders, contractors.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: And I recognize some of these tools and I used some of them as an undergraduate working for my oldest brother. For example, that. That hammer is a finish hammer. There are different size hammer. One's a framing hammer. It's a little larger, it's heavier. Okay. So you can do 16 penny nails. This is like finish nails. These are great tools.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: Yes. Okay. I love that you even knew what kind of hammer that was. I didn't. I don't have any skills when it comes to this kind of world. It blows my mind that people know how to use tools. And when we were discussing what to talk about today and I saw all that you had put into today's discussion, I immediately went to tools. Because our discussion today is going to be about the tools that God used to create. And it's mind blowing. Not only did he know how to use them, but he expertly used them. And we're going to tell you what those tools are today.
Welcome to Jesus Christ in Finding Christ on Every Page. I'm Tammy Usalak hall, and I'm with Dr. Donald W. Perry. And today we are so excited to have you dig into your scriptures. So everybody grab them and for sure you're going to want to have a pen because we're going to give you so many cross references in our discussion of Genesis chapter one, all the way through Genesis chapter two, verse four. So let's go there.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: So we're going to look at God's role in the creation.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: First let's read a couple passages. The light and redeemer of the world, the Spirit of truth, who came into the world because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. The worlds were made by him, men were made by him, and all things were made by him and through him. And of him. And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, the full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh and dwelt among us. A lot of powerful things in that quote. Christ is the power by which the earth was made. Now, Sister Hall, I went through so many scriptures about Christ being the Creator. We could spend hours just discussing those passages. We're not going to.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Yeah, we could, though. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I. I created the heavens and the earth and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father and the Father in Me. And in me hath the Father glorified his name.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Now, I'm not going to read all of this, but I wanted to point out God. In the Hebrew, it's Elohim. The name title elohim is attested 36 times in the creation narrative. That means he is prominent in the beginning. God created the heaven and the earth and the spirit of God and God saw the light. So he's a prominent. We call it a character zone.
Of all the characters or things in the creation narrative, he's the top. He's number one. I went through carefully and I put all of his divine actions of verbs with him as the subject. God created. Chapter one, verse one. God said, God saw, God divided, God called. And so I put these down and on the right hand side, God is the subject of the following verbs. And the reason I put this is a lot of people when I've taught this over the years and maybe I'd ask what verb is used? Oh, create. Create. Yes, create. Well, look at all the verbs repeated. Created, said, saw, divided, called, made, set, blessed, rested, sanctified. When we talk about Eve in an upcoming God built.
God built Eve. Va Na.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: You're not going to want to miss it because you taught that to me. It changed everything with the way God created Adam. But God built Eve. That's our teaser. It's so cool.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Now for repetition, but also for emphasis. So now I put how many times the 51 verbs created in Hebrew, it's bara seven times, said 10 times, divided five times, and so on. And here's a testimony from our beloved, recently passed away prophet. The creation itself testifies of a creator. We cannot disregard the divine in the creation. And that's what I'm trying to do is say, look at God's role in the creation.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: I think what's resting with me right now is when he says the creation itself testifies of a creator, that would then imply that me that I am a testimony of the Creator and that all of the words God used, all the action words, all the verbs, if he used them to create the world, then surely he could use them to help me. And the world is so much bigger than I am, right? And so I just think, take that moment to go. If God created this world and used all those verbs, then surely he could apply them to my little life in my little part of the world. Because Right now, I. I need him to see, I need him to set. I need him to bless and to rest and to sanctify a part of my life. So I love what I'm learning from this and the verbs.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: I love what you just said. If he can do this with the heavens and the earth, he can help us with our little verbs. Thank you. Now, I looked at some Hebrew and Isaiah. There's a lot of symbolism here, and we're not going to look into the symbolism today.
God, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. So it's shoal. And I put the Hebrew here, and it's like a cupped hand, and he's measuring and marked off the heavens with a span. And I remind everyone, a span is the hand from here to here. Does that make sense? And enclose the dust of the earth in a measure. That one. I'm citing a lexicon, a famous lexicon. And when we say a measure, some lexicographers think it was a bronze bowl that had a certain measure. Scales balance an apparatus for weighing with a horizontal beam. And I'm not saying this scale here is the right one. The picture here, this is just an image. And then so. And weighed the mountains in scales. That shows his great power.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Yes, it does.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: And then.
And the hills in a balance.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding who hath laid the measures thereof, and if thou knowest, or who hath stretched the line upon it. We have a measuring line, which is a string or a cord for measuring length. And the Hebrew word is kav. And then we have a compass. Did God also use a compass?
[00:06:38] Speaker B: This one. I ask a question. Some scholars say he used a compass, and that's the meaning of that word. Others disagree. And I just want to remind our listeners and viewers where there are three scholars, there are four opinions.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: It's so true.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: So I left it a question mark in case anyone else out there says, no, that's not quite what that says.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: So my daughter, she's our youngest, all of the kids have left for college, and she is alone in the basement. And so we decided, let's make the basement nice, so that she feels like she's not by herself. So we decided we're going to redo her bedroom. And she said, okay, Mom, I found some wallpaper that I want. We're going to put it on the walls. The wallpaper came. It wasn't what we wanted. So. So then she says to me, well, mom, let's Just paint it. But the wallpaper was stripes, lots of stripes on this big, long wall. And I said, I don't know how to do that. Like, I'm not good with rulers or anything. So we borrowed a measuring line, like one that is automatic. So you put it on the carpet, and then it just puts it on the wall for you. And you pencil it, tape it, paint it. I couldn't get that to work either. It was so difficult for me to figure out how to use a line, a string, or a cord for measuring anything.
So what we ended up doing was using a ruler. And we perfectly ruled every, like, six inches, whatever we needed to do these stripes. And it was so many stripes, dawn, you can't even like. It blows my mind that we did it. But I will tell you this. Every day before we painted, she would say, let's say a prayer. We would pray and ask Heavenly Father to please help us with our measurements because we don't do well with math and measuring.
I'm going to bring a picture so I can show you.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: I'd love to see it.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: No doubt that God knows how to use these things, because if he can get me. And it goes back to that idea, like, if he can create the world and in this big, huge, gigantic universe and he knows the tools, then surely he can help little me in my house, truly praying that I will get this line correct on a wall and that it mattered to him. And it turned out, except for one little spot when my husband came down to see it, it was hilarious. He goes, it looks so good.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: And then he said, should I say anything?
[00:08:29] Speaker B: Did he?
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Yes, he. Well, Sophia, my daughter goes, oh, go ahead, dad. And he's like, right there. And every stripe was perfect, except for right at the very bottom. It slightly went to the left. And I think it was sort of God's reminder of who helped you do this. So we just put a chair in front of it. Nobody can see. But I love this concept of him using tools. And it's like Isaiah is taking tools that all of us realize and recognize almost to have you go, there's no way he could. And then Isaiah goes, it's God. Like, of course he can. So, wow. Thank you.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: These texts remind me of when I was a Boy Scout. Oh. I was all in with Scouting. Cub Scouts. Boy Scouts earned the merit badges. I remember, are you an Eagle? I am an Eagle.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: And then order the arrow and a couple palms. I worked really hard. I was really into Scouts. I remember when I earned my astronomy merit badge. We Were at Warm Lake in Idaho, not far from Cascade, Idaho, a scout camp.
So we were youth. And the scout leader said, we're going to wake you up at I think 1am to look at the stars.
Oh, that was so hard to wake up and like, what? Really? Are you serious? So they woke us up. We went outside of our tents. So there's scout camp.
The sky was so brilliant up in the mountains. No light pollution. None whatsoever. And you could see the Milky Way in all its glory. And they taught us the Big Dipper and how to. And the Small Dipper and how to find the North Star. And to this day I remember some of those things I learned. I just loved it. Loved it. And the power and the glory of his creation does show us that He's God. And he put it together.
President Nelson, a prophet is speaking. I testify that the earth and all life upon it are of divine origin. The creation did not happen by chance. It did not come ex nihilo out of nothing. And human minds and hands able to build buildings or create computers are not accidental. It is God who made us and. And not we ourselves. We are his people. The creation itself testifies of a creator.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: We cannot disregard the divine in the creation. Without our grateful awareness of God's hand in the creation, we would be just as oblivious to our provider as our goldfish swimming in a bowl. With deep gratitude, we echo the words of the psalmist who said, O Lord, how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all? The earth is full of thy riches. I. I want to know from you, Don, in your own life, how have you been able to see the divine? How he says we cannot disregard the divine in the creation. How have you noticed him in the creation of you?
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Let me just respond by bearing testimony.
I know I'm a child of God.
God created us and we have divinity within us because of God.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: And I will echo and second that, that we absolutely are children of God and that he loves every single one of us. And one of my favorite things to say to everybody I meet, and I'll say it here today, is that whether you choose to believe it or not, I'm going to encourage you to believe this, that you are God's favorite. He created you and he loves you. And we leave that with you and hope you have a fabulous week in studying your scriptures and marking all of God's verbs in your life. Shalom and goodbye, Sam.
