When you read you begin with ABC. When you count you begin with 1,2,3. When you sing you begin with do-re-me. In the Bible you begin with Genesis. The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings. You find out how the world came into being.
There are many theories, hypothesis and philosophies regarding how everything began. But God stated it simply in Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God is eternal and stands alone without beginning, but God chose to create. All his creation, heaven and earth and every living creature all have a beginning.
Genesis records the creative activity of God. God created purposefully and intentionally. Creation is not the result of random chance, but the work of the master designer, God. The title of the book comes from the first word in the Greek version, Genesis means, in the beginning.
Genesis and the creation story serve as a building block to understand many important subjects; creation, man, the fall of man, God’s plan of redemption are among them. The creation story is the actual account of God’s work and the starting point of history.
The Hebrew word for Bara is a verb that has only God as the subject. It means to create something out of nothing. It is the doctrine of “creatio ex nihilo” – creation out of nothing. We can create a work of art, but we need a canvas and paint brush to form our creation. The materials were already there.
God created the world using no pre-existing materials, creating something out of nothing. God simply spoke the universe into existence. There are other views besides the biblical account. The other views are well, not the biblical view. So then, how does the biblical account of creation reconcile with evolution? It doesn’t.
To say that man evolved from lower life form isn’t found in the Bible account of creation. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Hebrews 11:3).
God formed man from the dust and breathed the breath of life into him. The woman he fashioned from the rib of man. Man was created fully man. He did not evolve into a man. God created him a man.
The bible says that the creation account was seven days. The word in Hebrew is Yom, like you find the word in the term Yom Kipper, the day of atonement. The word Yom is used 16 times in Genesis creation account of chapters 1 &2. There three different ways the word Yom is used in the creation account.
In one ways of usage Yom is light as opposed to darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night (Genesis 1:5) This is the way we use day for morning, noon and afternoon. As opposed to night.
Another use of Yom is a period of time. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created (on the day), when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. (Genesis 2:4) It speaks of the period of time when the heavens and earth were created. The meaning would be like saying the day of Abraham or the day of Moses. A period of time.
Another usage of the word Yom is a 24 hour period. ”And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day (Genesis 1:5) Anywhere in the Hebrew Bible day is used with a numerical adjective it means a 24 hour day.
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:11)
In addition to the numerical adjective there is mention of evening and morning each day of creation. In creation the first 3 days added form to the earth that was formless and void. Days 4-6 add life to the empty earth.
The creation account.
Day 1
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (Genesis 1:3-5)
The sun and the moon were created on the 4th day, but God spoke light into existence before He made the sun and divided the light and darkness. The light was “good.” The earth was declared God’s good creation.
Day 2
And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. (Genesis 1:6-7)
The Lord created the atmosphere in day 2. He divided the water below and about. God created the sky.
Day 3
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. (Genesis 1:9-3)
On the third day the water was gathered into seas. The dry ground appeared. The vegetation appears on the earth on the third day.
Day 4
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19)
There has already been light and darkness, but now a specific light bearing body, the sun. On the third day the moon and stars are created. There are the divisions of days and seasons and years.
Day 5
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23)
God created all the sea creatures great and small. The sea has both extremes from the whale to the plankton. God created the delicate birds of the air.
Day 6
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:24-31)
God created the livestock and land animals on day 6. He gave man dominion over the creatures and man to name the animals (Genesis 2:18-19).
Man was the crowning achievement of creation. Man only was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) Even with this special place of man we must never forget we are creatures and God is our creator. God made man male and female and gave them the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Day 7
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:1-3)
On the 7th day God rested from his creation. It was completed. It was good. God blessed the seventh day as a holy day of rest, because he rested from his work of creation.
God is creator. He is not impersonal and unknowable. God desires a relationship. He put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and related to them. That is his desire. That relationship was spoiled by sin in Genesis chapter 3. Ever since the fall of man God has orchestrated his plan for the coming Messiah to restore the relationship between God and man. That coming one is Jesus Christ who died the just for the unjust to bring us back to God.
The study of the creation story makes us want to praise God for his creation and for who he is. His power in universe displayed. Oh God, How great thou art.
