Today, as we are on the cusp of beginning a new year, we are going to begin a new series on the book of Genesis. Genesis is a book of beginnings. The word Genesis literally means origins. It is a record of the beginning of time, the beginning of the earth, the beginning of the animal kingdom, the beginning of man, the origin of marriage, the origin of sin. There are many other firsts that we will see as we study through this book. But I call this a series in Genesis, because it will not be a complete exegesis of every chapter and verse, but an expose of significant passages that form the foundation of the gospel.
The foundations of our theology are established in Genesis. For example, the doctrines of the trinity -God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the creation of everything that exists by the expression of God’s will, the fall of man, redemption, judgment, and the kingdom of God. The foundation of the gospel is presented in Genesis, and without a firm faith in the truth of Genesis as the word of God, I believe it is impossible to be saved. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
That being said, it is important to know that though Moses is said in scripture to be the human author of Genesis, the inspiration of the word was by the Holy Spirit. 2Peter 1: 21 “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke [as they were] moved by the Holy Spirit.”
And 2Tim. 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
So in actuality, God is the author of Genesis. He was the only one that was around to witness it. That’s important to keep in mind because if you begin to study the origins of the world in many academic institutions both religious and secular, you will very quickly be told that there were multiple authors of Genesis that altered and added to it’s account down through the centuries. So that what we have today is a mishmash of traditions and myths and handed down stories all edited and combined together in such a way as to make it completely unreliable and actually a creation myth that is not dissimilar to other creation myths such as the Babylonian epics like the Enuma Elish.
But of course, modern academic criticism doesn’t believe in the divine inspiration of scripture at all. However, if we are to have Biblical faith, saving faith, then we must believe in the literal interpretation of scripture according to it’s literary context, as we have received it. A creationism theologian by the name of Henry Morris said, “The only proper way to interpret Genesis 1 is not to ‘interpret’ it at all. That is, we accept the fact that it was meant to say exactly what it says.”
So we don’t rely upon Moses having reliable documents or verbal traditions to guide him or to use as a reference. We don’t rely upon ancient rabbinic editors who added or changed Genesis to suit their preferences or teach a particular view point. We rely on God to speak through his servant Moses the truth concerning Himself and His creation, and His salvation of man, and to guard His word and establish His word for all generations to come.
The most reliable interpretation of scripture comes from scripture itself. Someone has counted over 200 quotations or allusions from Genesis in the New Testament. And probably one of the best interpretations or explanations of the creation account is found in John 1, starting in vs 1. “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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
So notice the correlation between John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” And John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” John is actually writing a commentary on Genesis 1:1, expounding details that were not fully made clear in Genesis.
But first I want you to notice that phrase, “in the beginning.” In Genesis, you might suppose that to mean that at the beginning of creation, God began to create the earth. But according to John, there is more to the phrase “in the beginning” than simply a starting point of creation. Because John goes on to stress the eternal nature of God by saying of the Word; “He was in the beginning with God.”
There is no starting point in “in the beginning with God.” God is eternal. He was before all things. As was God in the beginning, so was the Word in the beginning. Paul says in Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible [attributes] are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”
So many scriptures speak of the eternal nature of God that I cannot begin to quote them all here, but we see it in Psalm 93:2 which says, “Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.” And Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” His eternal nature is essential to our salvation, because the great gift of salvation is eternal life. And if God is not eternal, then how could He give eternal life? So our salvation is bound up in the doctrine of God being eternal.
The next word I would like to address this morning is the name of God given in vs 1, which is Elohim. Hebrew scholars tell us that this word is plural, which speaks of the Godhead, the trinity. That plural aspect of God is further borne out by the phrase in vs 26, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’” Once again notice that the plural pronouns are used in reference to God. And of course that correlates with what John said about the Word being in the beginning with God and active in the creation of all things.
Someone has pointed out that you can see all three persons of the Godhead at work in Genesis; Elohim in vs 1, the Spirit of God moving on the water in vs 2, and the Word of God speaking in vs 3, “Then God said…” The concept of the Word being one of the Godhead is established in John’s account. So believing in God as He is described in scripture is essential to our salvation as we read earlier from Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
So then “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. The word create in the ancient Hebrew means to bring forth something out of nothing. God didn’t use preexisting materials. God spoke the world and the heavens into existence, from nothing into something. Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.” The creative power of the word of God is beyond our comprehension.
John 1:3 says “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” It’s important to understand that everything was made by Him. God created everything that exists. Everything spiritual, everything physical, everything in the heavens. Col. 1:16-17 speaking of the Son of God says, “For by Him all things were created, [both] in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
Paul refers in 2 Cor. 12 to there being three heavens. He said he was caught up into the third heaven. Theologians have determined that there are three heavens; the first is our atmosphere, the region of the clouds, the second heaven is the sphere of the stars, and the third heaven is the sphere of God. I’m not sure how that looks, since they may not be stacked upon one another but intermingled in some way. In other words, the third heaven may not be beyond the farthest star, but somehow between the particles which make up our atmosphere. I don’t know. There may be even more than three heavens. But one thing’s for sure, God made the heavens and all the occupants of the heavens.
I must confess that there is a part of me that wants to believe that there is an indefinite period of time between vs 1 and vs 3. There is something in theological circles called the Gap Theory which says that there was a space of time between vs 1 and 3 which may have been millions of years long. I can see that as plausible just from reading those verses, and it lends itself to explaining the geophysical age of the earth. But the Gap Theory also claims that there was a previous creation which God had destroyed and part of the judgment of God was that He condemned Satan to the confinement of the earth. And so they see the chaos and darkness that covered the earth as evidence of that.
I don’t think that scripture supports that theory in the full dimension of what they claim. I don’t think the fossil record is from a previous creation, but rather is evidence of the flood. I believe the Bible teaches only one creation on earth. But I do think that it is possible that the earth and the heavens were dormant for possibly millions of years before creation, and the earth was just formless and void.
But I have to say I cannot be dogmatic about that view in light of further study of this passage. And that’s due to the events of day four. Because on day four God created the sun and the moon and the stars. So that would seem to indicate that the entire universe was created on day four. I don’t know if that includes other galaxies or not. I would tend to think that God made other galaxies prior to ours, but I don’t know that there is any support for that one way or another. But it seems that on the basis of scripture, God created our universe in the six days of creation.
I do find it odd though that the creation of the earth is described in this way by Moses, which seems to imply a separate act of creation in creating the heavens and earth, and then in vs 3 another definitive aspect of creation, that being light, which happens on day 1. The best explanation that I can come up with is that Moses says in the beginning, an indefinite period of time, God created the heavens and the earth. But the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. We know from further reading that there is earth under the water because on day two God separates the water and dry land appears. But in the beginning, for an indefinite period of time, there is globular form of water suspended in space.
I find it interesting that when scientists search for evidence of life on other planets, the primary thing they want to find is evidence of water. Without water there can be no life as we know it. And as far as we know, the earth is the only planet that has water in any sort of liquid form.
But scientists tell us that they believe there is something in the universe called dark matter and dark energy. I don’t even begin to understand it, but they seem to think that the mass–energy content of the universe is 5% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter, and 68.2% a form of energy known as dark energy. I don’t understand any of that, except to say that according to scripture the heavens and the earth were created and yet the sun, moon and stars had not yet been created. One noted scientist has said that dark matter is the glue that holds all the universe together. I believe that is actually God Himself, or as Moses says here, the Spirit of God moved across the waters. Col 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Notice also what Hebrews 1:3 says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. So even in the beginning of creation, God is moving, controlling, energizing His creation. Holding the waters of the earth together. Holding the universe together. Without that power of God over His creation, the entire universe would explode and scatter across space.
Now let’s assume that in the beginning God made the matter which constitutes the heavens and the earth, and that existed for an indefinite period of time. But when God makes the light on day one, it does not become a day until He makes light appear. The light separates the darkness, and makes one day. That day does not exist until there is light.
Let’s read that. Vs 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 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, one day.”
So the The first day of creation is defined by the manifestation of light. Notice I don’t say that God created light because the scripture doesn’t say God created light. On day four God creates the lights in the heavens, the sun, moon and stars. But on this day one, God says let there be light. John 1:4-5 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
But on day one, God said, “let there be light.” If there is no sun, moon or stars yet created, then where does the light come from? The only answer is that the light comes from God. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” 1John 1:5 “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
Now you may say correctly that the gospel is light. But you must also remember that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” But however we try to explain it, there was light which God commanded to appear to the world and it was so. It is the light of God, so I say it was not created, because God was not created, but it was manifested to the world. 2Cor. 4:6 “For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
So Genesis tells us that light, day, and night each existed before the sun and the moon were created on the fourth day. This shows us that light is more than a physical substance; it also has a supernatural aspect. It says in Revelation 22:5 that in the new heavens and the new earth, there won’t be any sun or moon. God Himself will be the light.
The other important thing to consider about this statement is that God created time. Time is relevant only to our universe, and a day is calculated by the cycle of evening and morning. A day is defined as evening and morning. So the rotation of the earth in relation to the light constitutes one day. And we have further divided a day into 24 hours. This concept of time is important to understand because God exists outside of our time space continuum. And further, it refutes the theory of Theistic Evolution, which is a belief that the day spoken of in Genesis actually refers to an age that may have lasted for thousands, if not millions of years in order to correlate to evolution.
So the creation of the world and all that is in it happened in six literal days, as defined by evening and morning. And that should not be something that is difficult to believe, if you believe that God created the heavens and the earth, or if you believe in the eternal nature of God. But if you do not believe in God as eternal, then neither will you believe in His gospel.
Jesus said in John 5:46-47 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
So if we believe what Moses said concerning the origin of the heavens and the earth, then we must believe that God Himself was before the beginning in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We must believe that before creation there was a plan of God. Eph 3:11 says [This was] in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We must believe the mission of Jesus was foreordained before the foundation of the world. 1Peter 1:20 says, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”
We must believe that eternal life was promised before time began: Titus 1:2 says, “in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.”
We must believe that the mystery of the gospel (the cross) was foreordained before the ages: 1 Corinthians 2:7 “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.”
We must believe the grace given unto us was given before the world began: 2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”
And we must believe that believers in Jesus Christ were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world: Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
Do you believe what the word of God says concerning what happened in the beginning? Then believe also in Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 12:46 "I have come [as] Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
And He said in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”
As Jesus prayed with the disciples before His crucifixion, in John 17:3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
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