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Genesis
1:1 - 2:3
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the
face of the waters.
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was
light.
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light
from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness
he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning,
the first day.
And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of
the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were
under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.
And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there
was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered
together into one place, and let the dry land appear."
And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters
that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that
it was good.
And
God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding
seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed,
each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so.
The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according
to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their
seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the
heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be
for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them
be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the
earth." And it was so. And God made the two great lights--the
greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the
night--and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the
heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and
over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.
And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And
God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the
heavens." So God created the great sea creatures and every
living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according
to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying,
"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas,
and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening
and there was morning, the fifth day.
And
God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according
to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of
the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And
God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and
the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that
creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that
it was good.
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and
over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in
the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful
and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and
over every living thing that moves on the earth."
And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding
seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with
seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every
beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything
that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of
life, I have given every green plant for food." And it
was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold,
it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning,
the sixth day.
Thus
the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had
done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that
he had done.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on
it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
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Modern
science provides us with mind blowing theories of how the
universe could have been created - the most notable being
the "big bang". But none can be proven, and even
if, for example, a "big bang" did occur, what
created/initiated the "big bang"?
Happily,
Christians can turn to the first two chapters of the Bible
to find some important truths about creation that are both
enlightening and exciting. Here we find two descriptions
of creation, the first of which is in a beautiful, poetic
style (see left hand column) that we are going to
consider below;
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| God
is the creator |
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The
Bible starts with the straight forward statement that "In
the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
God existed before the universe when there was nothing but
a formless, dark void. It's chaos being represented by the
waters over which God's Spirit hovered.
There
is an absolute truth about creation for Christians - God
is the creator. As Paul writes to the Hebrews (Hebrews
11:3) "By faith we understand that the universe
was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not
made out of what was visible".
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| Jesus
in creation |
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Indeed,
all three persons of the Godhead were involved in the creation.
God the Father is mentioned from the start, whilst we read
of God the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters. So where
is Jesus, God the Son?
Well,
to see Jesus in creation we have to first note that the
description of each day's act of creation begins with the
phrase "And God said". God's Word had an essential
role in creation. As John 1 1:3 states "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things
were made through him, and without him was not any thing
made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the
light of men."
Indeed,
John provides us with more information about this "Word"
in John 1 : 14,16-17 "And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as
of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ."
So
Jesus (God the Son) was the Word that created the universe.
Moreover, we read in Colossians 1:15-17 that "He
(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of all creation. For by him all things were created, in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created
through him and for him. And he is before all things, and
in him all things hold together."
So
the universe is not only created through Jesus (God the
Son), but also for Jesus and under Him.
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| An
ordered creation |
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The
Bible does not intend to tell us the scientific detail of
how it was all done; how would people have read it in the
past? Indeed, it is very unlikely that we would understand
it today. Instead, the first chapter of Genesis presents
a vision of the ordered process that God used to create
the earth and the heavens.
It
is a beautifully ordered account - separated into 7 days
each begun with God's word. During the first three days
God shaped the matter of the universe;
Day
1 - The creation & separation of light and darkness.
Day 2 - The separation of the waters to form the sky and
the sea.
Day 3 - The separation of the sea from the dry land and
the creation of plants.
Then
during the next three days God filled what he had created
in the same order as the first three days;
Day
4 - The creation of the lights to rule the day and the night.
Day 5 - The creation of the birds and fish to fill the sky
and the sea.
Day 6 - The creation of the animals and humans to fill the
land and eat the plants.
There
is some debate among Christians about whether a day here
is 24 hours or more. Some Christians think there is no reason
to restrict the length of a "day" in this account
to the length of our current day. (For example, we can say
"this is the day of the motor car" which has now
lasted for over a century). Others think that the days do
represent normal 24 hour days and nights. What is important
to realise is that God created everything in a perfect order
in His own time.
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| Seven
days of creation and of life today |
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It
could be said that the actual creation took place over 6
days, but that would leave out the all important seventh
day - the day when God rested. This was and is important.
In fact the nation of Israel was ordered to rest on each
seventh day (the Sabbath) as recorded in Exodus 20:9-11
"Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but
the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it
you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter,
your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock,
or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days
the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is
in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
From
creation comes the cycle of seven days that virtually everyone
across this world lives to this very day - with a time for
work and a time for rest (and, for some, a time for God).
God's creation is reflected in the structure of our everyday
lives in the 21st century.
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| And
God saw that it was good |
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At
the
end of the sixth day, when all was done, we read that "...God
saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very
good."
It
is well worth reflecting on this truth - all that God created
in the beginning was good (there were no mistakes or imperfections
in the world that God provided for man). God's creation
was perfect.
The
truth is that mankind's actions destroyed that perfection
when a big mistake was made. A mistake that we read about
in Genesis 3 and that we will look at in the next study.
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origins of mankind are shrouded in centuries of history. Some
people hold to the theory of evolution as an explanation of
our origins, but we can never be totally sure that any theory
is completely right. However, Christians can learn some important
truths about mankind and its creation from the second of the
two descriptions of creation in the Bible (see the bottom
of this page). So lets see what we can learn; |
| Made
from the soil |
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Firstly,
we see that God made mankind out of the soil of the newly
created world (The question of whether this was over millennia
or in an instant is a matter of debate among Christians).
But the fundamental truth is that, from the beginning, human
beings have experienced the world as part of nature and
through it.
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| God's
breath of life |
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Then, we read that God gave the man life
by breathing into him. God fashioned a body for man, but
real life only came from God's breath.
This is not the only place in the Bible
where we read of the life giving qualities of God's breath.
One example is in Ezekiel 37 where the prophet, Ezekiel,
is presented with a valley full of dead bones. If you read
this chapter you will learn that God put flesh on those
bones to make fully functioning bodies, but still there
was no life in them. It needed God's breath to give life
to those bodies.
Interestingly, the
Hebrew word for breath, "Ruach", also means spirit.
So, we can equally read that it is God's spirit that brings
life. And there lies a great truth - it is not the working
of nature that has created the spirit of life that animates
each one of us, that spirit of life is from God.
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| Eden
- A perfect home |
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We
also read that God created a perfect garden for man. God
planted it and put the trees there that provided food and
beauty. A paradise for man to live in. It was here that
man could actually meet with God, as shown in Genesis 3
when we read of God walking through the garden in the "cool
of the day".
The
Bible indicates a rough location for this garden by mentioning
the rivers that flowed from it, including the Tigris and
the Euphrates. This would indicate an area around what is
now Iraq, although continental drift may mean this assumption
is uncertain.
Wherever
it was, here was a perfect home for mankind.
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| The
task of mankind |
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And
man's task in the garden was clear from the start. "The
LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden
to work it and keep it.". The Earth has been given
to mankind to keep it for God. To care for it. For we know
that God created man in His own image (Genesis 1:26) and
as such mankind has the responsibility of ruling over the
world in His place.
One of mankind's most important
tasks is to be a steward of God's world. All Christians
should feel that call to care for this world, not only for
those to come after us, but primarily for God. Sadly, it
is a task that mankind has too often neglected.
Mankind's task as steward
of God's creation is emphasized in the way God created animal
life for man and brings all it's forms to the man to name.
Animal life is there for man and man has the responsibility
of stewardship over it.
But, as the passage says
"But for Adam (the man) no helper was found".
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| Man
& woman - the equal partnership |
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The
man needed a helper. And here God's social plan for mankind
was born, for God extracted a rib from the man (Adam) and
made a woman (Eve) from it.
The
way God created the woman in Genesis 2 is very important
to understand. You see, there is nothing more important
to anyone than their own flesh and bone. Accordingly, Adam
says as he sees Eve for the first time; "This
at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.".
Clearly, men and women
were originally created as equally important as they were
both made of the same flesh and bone. They are and always
will be equal and different. This is beautifully put by
Matthew Henry when he observed;
"The woman was made
of a rib, out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head
to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon
by him, but out of this side to be equal with him, under
his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved"
What is more, their relationship
was to be characterised by that very fact, as we read "Therefore
a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast
to his wife, and they shall become one flesh".
At
the very beginning of creation we find the institution of
marriage, defined, as it is now in Christian marriage, as
the man and woman "becoming one flesh". In other
words, the bride and bridegroom come together to be a totally
equal team, with both acting as one and helping each other
as they would themselves.
One
commentator has noted that Christan marriage is not so much
a vision of a couple looking lovingly into each others eyes,
but more a vision of that couple holding hands as they look
and move forward in the same direction. United and together
in love, they act as one.
Marriage
was God's social plan for mankind from the start, with Adam
and Eve being the first married couple, and marriage is
still the centre of social life across the world centuries
later.
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| Naked
innocence |
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The
last line of Genesis 2 - "And
the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed"
- leaves us with a marvelous image. So innocent was mankind
at this moment that that they were both naked without any
problems.
In
a perfect garden, with a perfect climate, what use were
clothes? If in blissful ignorance, why hide anything? But
we cannot be naked and innocent now for that perfect world
was destroyed by mankind's disobedience. To read of that
disobedience that continues to this day please read our
next study.
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 God
created the heavens and the earth
Jesus,
God the Son, was involved in creation, as was God the Father and God
the Holy Ghost
Creation
was achieved by God in an ordered way that took seven days including
a day of rest
There
is some debate about whether the seven days of creation were days of
24 hours or of vastly larger duration
The
seven days of creation are reflected in our seven day week that is still
used across the world
What
God created was very good.
God
created mankind's body from the soil (nature) and gave life to mankind
through his breath (spirit)
A
perfect home was created by God for man, represented as a beautiful
garden (Eden).
Man's
God given task was to care for the world. Therefore, Christians must
remember that we are steward's of God's world and that we must care
for it accordingly
Man
and women come from the same flesh and bone. And that reality is reflected
in the way marriage should be.
Marriage
was God's social plan for mankind from the very beginning.
In
the world that God created all was perfect and innocent. We can see
this in the fact that God thought that his creation was very good, and
also that there was a naked innocence then that could never be completely
reattained in our imperfect world.
God
created a perfect world. However in the next chapter 3 of Genesis we
read of the events that changed everything. Events that we shall look
at in our next study
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