Chapter 2: God Created the Heaven and the Earth
Let us now explore the first section of the Bible in detail: Genesis 1:1-2:3.
Genesis 1:1-2:3: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
(3) And 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) And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
(6) And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. (7) 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. (8) And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
(9) And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto 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 called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. (11) And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (12) And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (13) And the evening and the morning were the third day.
(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: (15) And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. (16) And 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) And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon 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) And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
(20) And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. (21) And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his 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 fowl multiply in the earth. (23) And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
(24) And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. (25) And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
(26) And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
(29) And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (30) And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. (31) And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
(2:1) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (2) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (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.
This story shows the unfolding of the primordial world. Only God can tell us about the creation of the world because He was the only one there. We see how God was alone in the beginning, and He created everything out of nothing. It all started with God being alone. God then brought the universe into existence, including a world populated with animals and people. Let us look at some of the major themes that are included in this beautiful creation narrative.
- Everything had a beginning except God. We have seen this already when we looked at Genesis 1:1. God was alone, and created everything out of nothing. Everything had a “birthday” so to speak. But not God... He always existed.
- The Spirit of God subdued the primordial waters. In the pagan literature of the ancient Near East, the waters were personified as gods. Here, we simply see the Holy Spirit subduing these waters. There is likely more going on than what we see here, and we will look at this in a little while. For now, let it suffice to say that these massive waters were easily controlled by God, for He created them (Nehemiah 9:6). There was no life, just water and chaos, and God was about to form something out of all of this.
- God created everything by His Word. Genesis 1:3 reads, “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” God spoke, and light simply began to exist. When God commands something, it happens. He is the boss and king over the entire created order. God issued commands 10 times in this passage of the Bible, and whatever He commanded immediately happened without any delay. Even the inanimate elements of creation obey His commands. There is more than just words being spoken like we speak words. The Word is the Son of God, and by the Word was everything created (Colossians 1:16).
- What God creates is “good.” Genesis 1:4 reads, “And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” In fact, we see this refrain six times, with a seventh time when God said that His creation was “very good.” We will see why in a moment. However, God by His very nature is good, and He can only create good things. God is perfect, and the world He originally created was perfect and lacked nothing.
- Living creatures beget after their own kind. Genesis 1:12 tells us that “the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” When you see an apple tree, you expect to find apples on it. It would be strange to see oranges on an apple tree. Likewise, dogs give birth to dogs, deer give birth to deer, and people give birth to people. God is a God of order, and His creation shows His orderliness.
- God created humankind in His image. The Bible tells us, “And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26).
First, in some aspect, God created people to be like Him. In other words, we have some similar traits and abilities that God has. We are personal beings. We have personality, far more than we see in the animal kingdom. We have the ability to think, have emotions, and communicate with one another with sophisticated language.
Second, we see that humankind was to rule over the created order. Though God is the King over everything, He delegated authority to people. We are to be the caretakers of the world.
Lastly, we note that God had said, “Let us make man in our image.” We spoke briefly of the Trinity above, that He is three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is the “us” here. - God is love. This is not Hollywood or greeting card love. Love means service. Though God is the King of the universe, He provided all of the essentials for the creatures He brought into existence.
So many conditions in the universe and on our planet make us, and all life, possible. The herbs and fruit trees were food for all of the animals and people. The earth was created just the right amount of space from the sun to sustain life. The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere allows for life to exist; one extreme would allow human beings to suffocate, and the other would cause fires. If the gravitation force were altered by 1 part in 1040, the moon would not keep in its orbit, and the sun would not exist. And if the universe were expanding at the rate of one millionth more slowly, the earth’s temperature would be 10,000 degrees. (See Geisler, Norman L. Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999. pp. 26-27.) - God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh day. God created the world in six days. He did not need endless millennia to think about design and execute His plan. He did it instantly, orderly, and in a few days. The six fold refrain “And the evening and the morning were the xth day” explains that these were literal days; there was an evening, a morning, and it was a numbered day. God did not set the world in motion and let things evolve from primordial slime; He created the world to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18), and placed living creatures in the world within days of the dawn of time.
It may seem rather curious that God rested on the seventh day. Why would He need to “rest”? God is all powerful, and does not need rest. We may get tired after a long day’s work. God, however, never gets tired. So why rest? Because there was nothing else left to do (Genesis 2:1)! It was a perfect world, and when God created humankind, He declared it “very good.” He created everything for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11), and He had created everything exactly the way He had planned it to be.
All of these themes are important groundwork as to understanding the fundamentals of the Bible, who God is, and who we are before God. All of this was the visible created world. As we will see next, God also created some invisible elements of the universe.
Next: Chapter 3: O Lucifer, Son of the Morning!
Previous: Chapter 1: In the Beginning