The Beginning

We can all create things of one form or another. We may not necessarily be proud of what we have created but we can all create. God has given us that ability. It’s a beginning. Everything in this universe has a beginning. Everything that is except for God. This earth had a beginning.

Genesis 1:1 NKJV

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

Psalm 33:6 NKJV

6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

Psalm 33:9 NKJV

9 For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

"Look at this! Here's a fossil fish that's different. Notice the thick fins that look a little bit like arms.

All the scientists in the group crowded around. All agreed that this fish was beginning to develop arms and legs that would eventually evolve into a creature capable of crawling onto land.

"I'm sure this fish became extinct millions of years ago," said one learned scientist. "Let's call this fossil coelacanth (see-la-kanth) and keep it in a museum as evidence of evolutionary change."

But later in 1938, some fishermen were pulling in their nets off the coast of South Africa. They found a large fish more than five feet in length and weighing more than 100 pounds.

'"Tis indeed a strange one. Never caught one like this before. Fins are padded and stick out from its body like little arms," one fisherman commented.

Someone from a museum saw this unusual fish and decided to keep it. A scientist heard about it, came to see it, and was aghast. "That fish is just like the extinct coelacanth. But this one is swimming! And we were sure that fossil was extinct millions of years ago," he exclaimed.

He might not have been embarrassed had he believed God's creative account: "The Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is" (Exodus 20:11).

Preview

Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote the account of creation in Genesis 1 and 2. Do these chapters contradict each other, or are they consistent?

The first chapter recounts the events of the six days of creation chronologically. The second chapter begins with the wonderful seventh day.

Then verse 4 introduces a family:

"These are the generations…” This expression goes on to include more details of the creation of Adam and Eve and their garden home. We're informed of the nature of humanity—of God's divine government and His plan for man. Only if accepted literally and historically do they harmonize with all the rest of the Bible.

Now the big question. Are the days of creation literal, or do they represent large time periods?

Note that each day ends with these words, "And the evening and the morning..."

Genesis 1:5 NKJV

5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

This goes on through each day, you’ll find it in vs 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31. The Bible measures individual days with the day beginning at sunset:

Leviticus 23:32 NKJV

32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”

Evening to evening can only mean a period of twenty-four hours. If Moses meant "day" when he wrote Leviticus, would he then mean thousands or millions of gears when he wrote Genesis?

The Hebrew word translated "day" is yom. It has various meanings. However, a careful study of its usage reveals that every time yom is accompanied by a definite number used as an adjective, a literal day is indicated.

Note that the last three days of creation week, clearly controlled by the creation of the sun on the fourth day, are alike in length and described as evening and morning. It would be logical, then, that days one, two, and three—also described as evening and morning—would refer to the same period of time.

The wording of the narrative implies shortness of time. God spoke. Immediately it was done.

If each creation day consisted of long geological periods, a problem appears after the third day. Green plants cannot be kept alive in continued darkness. The pigment chlorophyll would rapidly decompose in the absence of light. Before many months of the millions of gears of darkness had passed, every green plant would have died. The account says these green plants appeared on the third day and lived through creation week, furnishing food for animals created on the sixth day.

This indicates that these were literal, solar days.

Also, flowering plants are dependent on insects for pollination to reproduce. If from day three to day six, millions of years had passed, many plants would have vanished from the earth before the pollinators appeared.

The Sabbath commandment definitely states that we should work for six days and rest on the seventh (Exodus 20:8-11). The twenty-four-hour Sabbath day commemorates a literal week of creation. If the first six days were long geological periods, and the seventh was a solar day, as God Himself said in Leviticus 23:32, the Creator would be commanding us to do an illogical thing of observing a twenty-four-hour day as a memorial to periods of millions of gears. The fourth commandment would be meaningless if each day were stretched into long periods of time.

Some are puzzled by what Moses meant when he wrote Genesis 1:16: "He made the stars also." Were the heavens really made only 6,000 years ago? Surely creation week did not involve the heaven that God has dwelt in from eternity, nor the great, vast universe. This earth, instead of being Christ's first creation, may have been His last one. The sons of God mentioned in Job 1:6-12 no doubt came from great distances in God's vast universe—from far beyond our sin-polluted solar system. We, on this speck of a planet, are privileged to study a bit of the glories of the stars.

It is apparent that if we are going to accept the creation story of Genesis as upheld by the Bible, we will have to view creation as God's miraculous act performed in six twenty-four-hour literal days. The Bible is God's golden chain of truth.

Points To Ponder

1. Who brought this world into existence?

John 1:1–3 NKJV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

The word here stated is Jesus.

All the members of the Godhead were involved in Creation, but the Son of God, the preexisting Christ, not only made us but bought us back. He created human beings so they could enjoy a relationship with Him.

2. What was the purpose of creation?

Psalm 19:1 NKJV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Genesis 1:28 NKJV

28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The heavens declare the glory of God. Can you look into the sky at night and not wonder at it?

3. On each day of the week of creation, something different was created.

Day 1

Light and darkness

Day 2

He divided the firmament. Firmament in Hebrew simply means expanse. A space divided the waters above from the waters below, the water above is general considered water vapor of some sort. The world before the flood was a very different place.

Day 3

Dry land appeared and seas were created, trees and plant life grew on the dry land. God saw that it was good the Bible says.

Day 4

Times, seasons, day and night were created. He created the Sun to rule the day and the Moon to rule the night.

Day 5

The seas became teaming with life- from whales to small fish and plankton, and the air was filled with every kind of bird, both great and small. What a wonderful sight that must have been. Up till then the earth was quiet, now it was filled with bird song.

Day 6

The land animals appeared. Beasts of every shape and size. From creeping things to elephants and giraffes. God saw that this was good as well, but He wasn’t satisfied.

Genesis 1:26–27 NKJV

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Day 7

Genesis 2:2–3 NKJV

2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Nuts and Bolts

Satan tempts us to ignore the significance of creation. He knows that if we reject ang part oft biblical account, he can lead us to ignore, belittle, or reject many great Bible truths.

1. Creation is the antidote to idolatry.

Isaiah 42:8 NKJV

8 I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

Anything we put before God in our affection is our idol.

2. Creation is the foundation of true worship

Revelation 14:7 NKJV

7 saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

3. The Sabbath is a memorial of creation.

Genesis 2:3 NKJV

3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

If people had obeyed God's command and kept the Sabbath holy (Exodus 20:8-11) there would be no belief in the theory of evolution, no unrest, but only a weekly celebration of jog with the Creator Himself.

4. Marriage is a divine institution.

Genesis 2:18 NKJV

18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Mark 10:9 NKJV

9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

5. Creation gives to humans true self-worth.

Genesis 1:27 NKJV

27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

6. Creation provides the basis for true fellowship.

Malachi 2:10 NKJV

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another By profaning the covenant of the fathers?

If we accept God as our Father and treat all of those around us as our brothers and sisters, wouldn't racism, bigotry, and discrimination disappear?

7. Creation provides the basis of our responsibility toward the environment and true personal stewardship.

Genesis 1:28 NKJV

Everything we have physical, mental and spiritual—is a gift from God. If we are not faithful stewards, how can we face the question,

Malachi 3:8 NKJV

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.

8. Creation teaches the dignity of manual labor.

Genesis 2:15 NKJV

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

9. Creation reveals the holiness of God’s law.

Genesis 2:16–17 NKJV

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

God had laws before the fall. His charge to Adam and Eve not to eat the forbidden fruit was a reflection of that law, demanding absolute allegiance to Him. God was calling on them to demonstrate their loyalty.

10. Creation reveals the sacredness of life.

Psalm 139:16 NKJV

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

If we believe we have derived from a protoplasm or a monkey, we have lost respect and dignity for human life. Creation helps us remember that life is a gift from God and that we are made in His image.

Words to Remember

Preexisting matter: A substance, solid, liquid, or gas, that existed before in a previous state. At creation, God was not dependent on preexisting matter. He spoke and it was done. However, Go did use preexisting matter in the creation of Adam and Eve.

Condescension: Voluntary descent to a lower level, as when Christ assumed humanity.

The Difference Between

Creation: The process whereby God brought to existence the universe and life on it. With respect to this earth, He created the world in a short period of six days. He spoke the worlds into existence. At creation Christ spoke, and it happened instantly.

Salvation: The process whereby God saves sinners and makes them once again part of His redeemed family. He does not speak salvation into existence. Instead, He sent His Son Jesus to for the sins of the world and make forgiveness for, and salvation from, sin possible. For each individual, salvation is a lifelong process.

I Truly Believe

An explorer in South American jungles noticed an unusual nest in which the leaves were sew together with tiny silken threads. He saw only ants scurrying about, not spiders. How could they accomplish this impossible feat?

Carefully, he cut the silk threads that held the leaves in place. Then he watched. Immediately, the ants removed the old strands of silk. Then, making a chain with their bodies, they formed a bridge from the end of one leaf to another. Carefully, the first ant pulled the leaf to the next and the next, until the edges of the leaves touched.

At that moment worker ants appeared, each carrying a totally helpless baby or ant larva, which spin cocoons around themselves as they change to adults. Holding the ant larva to the leaf edge, the adult ant banged on the hind end where the silk thread emerges. Expertly, he moved it up and down, back and forth, like a zigzag sewing machine. Each time he wanted to make a new stitch, h hit the hind end again and continued until the nest was totally repaired.

What a great God planned this remarkable feat so that jungle ants could live in their environment. Surely, He can solve your problems, too, just as well as those of the sewing ants.

He who gave man the Tree of Life in Eden hung on a tree for you at Calvary. The same God who declared creation finished on that first Friday suffered as He declared the plan of salvation finished on crucifixion Friday. The hands that made the universe are the same hands that—pierced and bloodstained—secured eternal life for you.

Won't you accept Him as both the One who created you and is now recreating you in His divine image?