PART ONE
CREATION CONCEIVED
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- John1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
- Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Genesis 1:1
GOD, Eternal
The first verse of the Bible simply presents us with God. The rest of the Bible is an expansion on the theme of who God is, what He is like, and what He is doing. God has no beginning--He is eternal; He is without beginning and without ending. He brings about the beginning of all else through His power as Creator. The eternity of God is difficult for the human mind to understand since we are so rooted in time and are accustomed to measuring life by the passage of time. Eternity is not simply unlimited time, forever extending backwards and forwards. Eternity is another dimension of existence and belongs solely to God. Time itself is a creation of God. Time is the experience of a succession of events and experiences for a created being. God existed in the dimension of eternity when He had not created time. As eternal, God stands above time just as He stands above matter and persons whom He also has created. But He may also choose to interact with persons or things within time. In this passage, we see the beginning of all things, but not the beginning of God, for He was already living when time came into being. If God had a beginning, He too would be a creature, and we would want to worship the one who brought Him into existence. We human creatures cannot explain the existence of God. His existence will always be a mystery to the human mind.
PERSONAL CREATOR
The world came into being through the perfect will of a free, personal, self-existing Spirit (Joh 4:24). Creation included the entire material world we experience--the earth on which we live and all the space of the heavens with the heavenly bodies. God's creative acts are introduced by a special verb (Hebrew bara') of which God is always the subject. The verb separates God's way of creating from all human experiences and comparisons. Creation is a uniquely divine act which humans cannot perfectly imitate. The verb never has an object naming material out of which God creates. He creates from nothing. Other verbs are used to describe God's shaping preexistent materials into new forms. Creation is God's sovereign act motivated only by His will and done without hindrance from any other power or being.
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
HOLY SPIRITS PARTICIPATION
The Spirit of God participated in the creation of the world. The Hebrew word "ruach" may refer to God's Spirit, the spirit of a person, breath, or wind. Scholars are divided about whether the reference here is to the Spirit of God creating or to God's breath blowing across the waters. The eternal Spirit of God was certainly present at the creation. The Spirit is everywhere associated with power and life, both of which are important in creation. This reference to the Spirit should not conceal the metaphor used here. God's breath-like Spirit moved or hovered over the waters which covered the earth. God's Spirit thus kept the chaotic forces in check. Only a few verses associate the Spirit with creation. He is more often associated with individual persons. Other references to the Spirit creating include Job 33:4; 34:14-15; Psa 33:6; 104:30.
THE FIRST DAY
3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
- God notes the importance of creations progress.
3. Then said God, Let there be light. The author presents God's first creative word. With unbelievable ease and deliberate consciousness, the omnipotent God brought light into existence. He uttered his word, and instantly His will was accomplished (Psa 33:6,9). Light was God's answer to the dominance of darkness. It was the Lord's first positive move toward completing the full program of creation. Without it, the other steps would have been meaningless. The Apostle John tells us that "God is light" (1st John 1:5).
4. God saw ... that it was good. When the Creator looked upon the product of his will, he found it perfectly complete and admirable; and he was pleased. Seven times this statement is made. Every one of God's creative acts was perfect, complete, pleasing, satisfying. It is good to remember that this was the same light man sees and enjoys today.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
- God notes the importance of creations progress.
THE SECOND DAY
6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."
7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
- The "expanse between the waters" was a separation between the sea and the mists of the skies.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
THE THIRD DAY
9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
- Let the dry land appear. At one stage, water covered everything. On the third day, however, the Lord made the land and the vegetable kingdom. By his divine power he caused the land to emerge from the great mass of waters, and formed the earth (cf. Psa 104:6-8; Job 38:8-11). From the soil, at the express command of God, living vegetation sprang forth, and soon clothed the earth with beauty and provided food for living creatures.
THE FOURTH DAY
14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
15 "and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
- Let there be lights. Hebrew"me'orot", describes the luminaries or instruments of light. By means of these luminaries, the earth received the light necessary for maintaining life. They were to rule over the day and the night (v.16), to be for signs and seasons, and to give light upon the earth. The account makes it clear that God made them and then set them in place. According to the divine blueprint, the sun, moon, and stars were all brought into being to carry out his specific will.
THE FIFTH DAY
20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens."
21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
THE SIXTH DAY
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
SALVATION, BLESSING
- God's salvation is His blessing. God blessed the creatures of the sea, the birds of the air, and the man and woman whom He had created. He told them to be fruitful and multiply. An added blessing to the man and woman was to fill the earth and subdue it. They were given stewardship over the rest of God's creation. Compare 5:2. Saved persons are stewards of God's blessings.
FAMILY, SEXUAL NATURE
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
- In God's creative purpose, human life is inherently sexual since maleness and femaleness define the physical nature of humans. Human sexuality describes all feelings about being a man or a woman that develop from infancy on through adult years. These feelings contribute to our understanding of masculine and feminine roles in marriage and family as well as in all of society. Sexuality also refers to the various ways in which sexual desires are accepted and expressed in human relationships. Numerous Bible passages celebrate the gift of sexuality as a blessing to human life. Other passages illustrate how one's sexual nature can be expressed in exploitive and sinful ways. Doctrinally, sex ought not to be considered to be evil because of God's judgment on the wrong uses of it. Human sexual nature is God's idea and is to be used in accordance with His purposes for it.
29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
- Palm 115:12 The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear the LORD, Both small and great.
14 May the LORD give you increase more and more, You and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
17 The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor any who go down into silence.
- But we will bless the LORD From this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!
THE SEVENTH DAY, GOD RESTS
GEN 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.
2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
- Finished (kalah) .... rested (shabat) .... hallowed (kadash). When the Creator had pronounced his approval of everything he had made, including man, the crown of creation, he declared the work finished. For the present, he would undertake no further creation. However, he sanctified, or hallowed, a day of complete rest. The Hebrew word shabat can be translated "desisted" or "ceased" or "cut off." During this time even God would rest from creative activity (cf. Exo 20:11; 31:17). 3. The seventh day was set apart to be hallowed and honored through the years as a reminder that God had appointed a season of rest, refreshment, and complete cessation of all ordinary work, toil, and struggle.
