Genesis 1:1-11 - The History of Creation

Genesis 1:1-11

(Genesis 2:4–9; Job 38:4–11; John 1:1–5)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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.

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.

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. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second 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.

This beginning is recorded by inspiration of God, likely by the hand of Moses, to open our eyes to understand that God made the universe and this world we inhabit by His hand of creation in his spoken word.  This word we find later in John 1:1 -2 is the Son of God Jesus Christ Himself and no mere vocal sound from God our Father.  Furthermore, we find out that all things in heaven and earth were created by Him (Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:2, 11:3) and are held together (Colossians 1:17) by His omnipotent will and sovereign authority.  God first made the earth as an empty slate of dust to build upon on the first day of creation.  His Spirit hovered and moved over the waters on the surface in the midst of darkness until He spoke the light into existence to illuminate His glorious creation.  How the light shone before the sun and moon (Genesis 1:16) were hung in place three days later is a mystery left unanswered, but we know that there was light of Day and darkness of Night as described for us.  We can speculate how or where this light emanated from, but we can compare the new creation where God Himself is the light (Revelation 22:5) where there is to be no sun or moon, and we can therefore rest assured this is true if left undefined for us presently.  All that God created was called ‘good’ by Him as each day brought new additions to the earth and sky.  The second day between the making of waters on the world on the first day and the third day of covering with vegetation on the soil of the newly minted planet saw sky separating the waters of the sea from the mist covering above the ground.  Then on the third day of creation we are told that the waters on earth gathered together into definable seas and dry land was brought out between them for the next step.  This identification of the good earth and seas makes clear that this was the state of the earth on this day.  He then made the grass, herbs, and trees to cover the exposed ground and caused them by intelligent design to be self-sustaining by seeds of the plant and in the fruits of the trees as we still see today.  He set all in motion according to His design from the very inception of each and did not merely create chemistry to randomly coagulate together to magically form into the vegetation we still have with us now.  These are all planned and designed and put on earth by the Maker of Heaven and earth Himself!  All God made is self-sustaining and unchanging in its kind, not transforming or evolving apart from His design.  We are no different in this regard, no matter what some would erroneously try to influence us to believe to discredit God and His word.  This history of creation is an account of God’s work as historically recorded for us by One who cannot lie or deceive us otherwise as the deceiver who later comes into paradise would have us believe by doubting (Genesis 3:1, 5, 2 Corinthians 11:3) instead of trusting the truth of His word to us.  Knowing these truths, why should we ever doubt the goodness and work of God and the verity and integrity of His word for us to live by?  The history of creation itself points us to faith that takes God at His word in making the world and us for His purposes and glory.