Days of Creation
Genesis 1:1-31
The Lord has not left us in the dark. Through the authors of the Bible He has revealed to us the past, the present, the future, the plan of redemption, and the renewing of the relationship that existed between God and man in the Garden of Eden.
God did not create the heavens and earth because He had nothing else to do. He didn’t need them. They add nothing to His nature or character. If He didn’t need the heavens and earth why did He create them? There is a reason behind everything God does or does not do. There is purpose and logic in everything God does, has done, and will do in the future. If we want to understand God’s reason for doing something or not doing something we think He ought to do and His purpose in doing what He has done, is not doing, and will do we must examine the situation we are in and the condition of the world.
When Moses wrote the account of the creative activity of God people were asking questions. They were troubled and confused just as we are today. They knew what God had promised Abraham. Why were they enslaved and oppressed in Egypt. The situation didn’t change after Moses led them out of Egypt. They are in the wilderness. They want to know why they are where they are and what happens next. What will happen when they get to wherever it is they are going? How many times have we asked these questions?
The account of the creation is a foundation the great-great grandchildren of Jacob, the son of Isaac, and grandson of Abraham will build on when they enter the Promised Land. It is good news. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can do the impossible. He can bring into existence what never existed. He is the one true God, the strong, mighty leader, supreme Deity. He speaks and what did not exist comes into being. He is stronger than the nature deities and gods of Egypt. He is stronger than the nature deities and gods of the land they are in. He is stronger than the nature deities and gods of the land they will enter.
This is the account of the heavens and earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
“In the beginning” has no references to eternity. Eternity has no being or ending. In the beginning answers the question when someone did something and where they did it. “In the beginning God” answers the question who did something. “In the beginning God created” answers the question what God did. The question how God created the heavens and the earth is answered in the definition of the Hebrew word translated created which means to make from nothing the material from which He will use to form the universe.
In its original state the earth was formless and void. The construction of the sentence does not support the “gap theory,” an indeterminate period between verses one and two. Formless describes the condition of the earth prior to God molding the earth into its present state. Prior to the separating of the light from the darkness, the waters from the waters, and dry land from the water Void means the earth was uninhabitable.
The deep is not a reference to the mythological Babylonian monster Tiamat, as it has been alleged. It is a reference to water. In Psalm 104, a hymn of praise and a poetic parallel to Genesis 1, the psalmist portrays the Lord (Yahweh) as the One who created the heavens and earth and provided the needs of all living creatures. He has dominion over all creation and is worthy of praise. He “established the earth upon its foundations…covered it with the deep as with a garment” and at His “rebuke they fled.” Reference to “the deep” is found in Genesis 7:11: 8:2, subterranean waters, in Jonah 2:3; 2 Corinthians 11:25 the Mediterranean Sea, in Romans 10:7 the abode of the dead, in Luke 8:32; Revelation 9:1-2, 11; 20:1, the abode of evil spirits.
“The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” There are two logic reasons why the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. One, He was protecting the material God created and will use to form the earth. Two, He will participate in the creative activity of God. Why was the Holy Spirit acting as a protector? There is evidence found in the Bible to support the teaching of a revolt that occurred in heaven, the spiritual realm of God’s kingdom that was led by the arch-angel Lucifer. He was defeated and cast from the spiritual kingdom of God. However, this did not end his determination to have a kingdom, and praise that is due to his Creator. Defeated in the spiritual realm of God’s kingdom Satan turns his attention toward the earth. If he can take control of the material God will use to form the earth he can contaminate it. He is unable to do this because the Spirit of God is moving over the surface of the waters, protecting, guarding the earth.
Satan is not easily discouraged. He will strike again.
The Days of Creation
“Then God said, let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day”
Genesis chapter one verse three marks the beginning of the days of creation and how God filled the earth. In the account of the days of creation the phrase, “Then God said let there be” is evidence of the orderly nature of the universe. The phrase “God called” is evidence of lordship. He is Lord of the heavens and earth and all their hosts. “After their kind” fixed the boundaries of reproduction.
God’s first act in the days of creation was the filling of the earth with light. The light He filled the earth with did not come from the sun; the sun was created on the fourth day (v16) and there is a good reason for this. The sun and moon are not a source of energy they are a source of light and heat. The light created on the first day of the days of creation marked the beginning of the time called day and night. “And God saw the light, that is was good.” It was exactly as He intended it to be and fit to answer the end for which He designed it. It was useful and profitable and He put His seal of approval on the light. Then “God divided the light from the darkness”. This is the first of three separations, light from darkness, sky from water, and land from seas. “God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.”
God creates and God names what He creates. The act of giving a name to something was in the Semitic world, evidence of lordship. The naming of the light and darkness brought to a close the first of creation.
“Then God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And 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. And God called the firmament heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day” (vv 6-8).
God’s second act in filling the heavens and earth was the creation of a firmament in the midst of the waters, an expansion that separates the water in the clouds and those that cover the sea, the waters in the air and those above the earth. And He called the firmament heaven. The naming of the firmament brought to a close the second day of creation.
“Then God said. Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters He called seas: and God saw that it was good” And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters He called seas: and God saw that it was good. The God said, Let the sprout forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day”
There was one more thing God will do to prepare the earth for habitation.
“Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven 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: He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 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. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day” (vv 14-19).
The sun, moon, and stars are to serve as lights. They are not objects of worship. They are the work of God’s hands. The Creator is the one man is to worship and not the creature. Now the earth is fit for habitation.
“Then God said, Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. Then was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.”
“Then God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good.”
God put His approval on His creative activity in the first part of the sixth day of the days of creation.
“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 cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female He created them. God blessed them: and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Man is the apex of creation. Created last was both an honor and a favor.
