Sermon Central
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1 - In The Beginning
Contributed by Sterling Franklin on Jan 15, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: God created a beautiful World and beautiful creatures. What did he create, and where were we deceived as humans?
> In the Beginning <
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1
From out of nothing (the world was without form and void), God created the Heavens and the Earth! The creation all took place in 6 days, and God then rested on the 7th day (also known as the Sabbath). The Hebrew word for ‘day’ here is ‘Yom’ (pronounced ‘yome’), and when ‘evening’ and ‘morning’ are used in the same context, it means literal 24-hour day.
Day 1: Light (Day) and darkness (Night)
God spoke the world into existence, as He did day and night. The first words recorded in the Bible by God are “Let there be light.”
“6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”
Isaiah 45:12 – “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.”
Day 2: The separation of waters – water on earth from atmosphere
At the creation of the earth, it seemed that the water was in vapor form, all together. The second day was a day that the Lord separated the waters. Water went into the atmosphere as well as on the surface of the earth.
Day 3: Made dry land (Earth) and separated land from ocean (Seas), and Vegetation (herbs and fruit trees)
Continents and plants were formed and created on the third day.
Day 4: Lights to rule the day and night (Sun & Moon), and the stars – the moon was the ‘lesser light’ and the sun was the ‘greater light’.
Genesis 1:14 – “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”
One thing I found interesting is that the sun, from sunset to sunset, is a marker of one day. The moon cycles about once every month. The constellations (groups of stars) tell different times of the year. As the earth rotates around the sun, different star constellations can be viewed. As an example, Orion is a constellation that can be seen in winter in the Northern Hemisphere (summer in the Southern Hemisphere).
Psalm 19:1 – “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”
Day 5: Ocean life (including whales) and birds in the air
These animals were living creatures meant to fill up their territories. God even told them to be fruitful and multiply (1:22).
Day 6: Basically, land creatures (cattle, creeping animals, and beasts of the earth), and humans (man & woman).
The word for man in Hebrew is adam, pronounced aw-dawm. This word is related to adamah, pronounced aw-dawm-ah. Adamah in Hebrew relates to ‘red earth’, or red clay. We find out from Genesis 2:7 that “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground…”
Chapter 2 of Genesis is a more detailed chapter, describing deeper and different elements of Creation. We find…
- Man was created from dust and God breathed the Breath of Life into his nostrils (2:7)
- God put man in charge of the Garden of Eden and put him to work pretty much immediately, to dress and keep the garden (2:15) and to name the animals (2:19-20) {man was not meant to be lazy, ahem!}
- Woman (wo-man – {‘out of man’ or ‘from man’}) was created when the Lord put Adam under a deep sleep and took a rib from Adam and made a woman from it. She was to be his helpmate and companion (2:18). This woman was ‘bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.’ The wife was later named ‘Eve’ (means ‘life’) by Adam since she was the mother of all living (3:20).
Man was given dominion over the animals (1:28), and for food, God gave man a bunch of trees to eat from (1:29). The animals were given the green herbs for food (1:30). Everything then was peaceful and non-destructive. When sin entered the world, things started going chaotic!
Day 7: God rested – known as the Sabbath (rest).
The weeks of the calendar are derived from the seven-day ‘Creation Week.’
Genesis 2:3 - “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”
