Genesis 1: 1 - 13

 

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ 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.

⁶ 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. ⁸ God called the vault ‘sky’. And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day.

⁹ 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.

In the Beginning

Human beings are naturally curious. When we look at the world and everything in it, and the sun, moon and stars, and wonder how it all began, we ask four questions: Who? Why? How? When? Who made it all, why did they make it, how did they make it and when did they make it? Over the years, scientists have tried to answer the ‘How’ and ‘When’ questions, through cosmology, studying fossils, carbon dating and so on. But science cannot answer the ‘Who’ or ‘Why’ questions. However, the Bible (starting at the beginning of Genesis, and continuing throughout) addressed both of those. Who could have made this world? It is God alone, the maker of heaven and earth. “In the beginning, God…” God was there before everything else, and it is he who created everything, including tiny single-cell creatures and distant galaxies. Why did God make everything? He did it because it is his nature to be creative, and also he did it in order to have a relationship with human beings. He made us to be in perfect union with him, in a relationship of love and worship.

Does the Bible also answer the ‘How’ and ‘When’ questions of creation? Some Christians say that it does, very literally, whilst others would say it addresses them more poetically. We can agree to differ on these views, and it is quite acceptable for Christians to take either of those views, or to be unsure. But I definitely believe that the principle purpose of the early chapters of Genesis is to answer the ‘Who’ and ‘Why’ questions – questions that science cannot answer.

In verse 2 it says ‘Now the earth was formless and empty.’ And when you study the account that follows it is interesting to note that on days 1 to 3, God does something about the ‘formlessness’, and on days 4 to 6 God does something about the ‘emptiness’. On Day One God separated light from darkness. On Day Two he separated water below the sky from water above it. On Day Three he separated land from sea. Then he created vegetation. And when God looked at what he had done, he saw that it was good. And it certainly was very good. When we look at the world today we see the beauty of it. We too can look at it and see that it is good. We respond to it in the same way that God does because we are made in the image of God. Whatever people might thing about the climate crisis, there is no excuse for mis-treating the beautiful world that God has created. God made it for us, and we have a duty to care for it, as we shall see tomorrow.

 

Prayer

Lord we thank you for the awesome beauty of your creation – for all that we see in the world and in the sky. We thank you for making it all for us, and making is so intricate and beautiful. Please forgive us for the way we have mis-treated what you have given us. May we be serious about doing something to reverse the damage. Amen.