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Genesis 1:1-23

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Genesis, which was written by Moses, is a book of origins. In this passage we see the origins of the universe, the earth, the sun, moon and stars, sea life, fowls of the air and plant life as God creates each of them simply by speaking the command.

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

“In the beginning” – The Septuagint (the Greek OT used in Jesus’ time) titled this book “Genesis” (“origins) but the Hebrew scriptures titled it using the first word of the book which is translated “in the beginning” and means “first” or “beginning.” So, the beginning of what? From what transpires over the remainder of chapter and the next it’s obvious that the context is the beginning of creation as we know it.

“God” – No explanation is given for the presence or existence of God; it is assumed that no explanation is required. God already existed before the creation of the universe and He had no date of birth or creation. He has existed eternally and will always exist. The Hebrew word used here for “God” (“eloheem”) is plural, implying the Trinity.

“created the heaven and the earth” – When we humans create things we have to use existing material from which to form our “creation.” The context here shows that God created the heaven and the earth without any prior material. Nothing existed until God created it. John 1:3 (speaking of Jesus Christ) “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” All of creation has its origin in God alone.

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.

“And the earth was without form [formless; wasteland], and void [empty]” – At this point the earth was merely a lifeless ball of muddy rock covered with water. Whether this was because of Satan’s rebellion or because the earth was still a work-in-progress is a matter of debate.

“and darkness was upon the face of the deep [deep body of water]” – The earth was flooded with water and there were no sources of light since God had not yet created them.

“And the Spirit of God moved [hovered] upon the face of the waters” – The Holy Spirit also participated in the creation, along with the Father and the Son. Col. 1:16 (speaking of Christ) “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”

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.

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” – The earth was in darkness and now God commands light to shine upon it. Throughout creation God merely speaks and His creation obeys. Critics complain that God gives light to the earth even though the sun is not created until verse 16. What was the source of light? God is the creator and He certainly could give light without a source or perhaps He Himself was the source of the light illuminating everything until He set the sun in place. Faith helps us explain what unbelief doubts. Heb. 11:3 “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

“And God saw the light, that it was good” – Light is always good because it drives away the darkness, both in a physical sense as well as a spiritual sense. Here God apparently recognizes the light as being good for life to exist on earth.

“and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” – God establishes the mechanism for creating day and night, apparently starting the earth’s rotation as it is illuminated by a fixed light source which will eventually be the sun.

“And the evening and the morning were the first day” – This type of phrasing is used for each day of creation, emphasizing that these are literal days and not long periods of time as evolutionary creationists try to argue. In Jewish thought sundown (evening) designated the end of the day with the advent of darkness until the next morning so the reference here to evening and morning implies that these were literal 24-hour days. God could have created it all in an instant but He chose to do it over the span of a literal week so there is no reason to interpret each day of creation as anything other than a standard 24-hour 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.

The Hebrew word for “firmament” means “an expanse” and God calls it Heaven. Remember that these things are described from the perspective of a human being standing on the earth, so “heaven” in this context refers to what we see when we look up at the sky. God later places the sun, moon and stars in the firmament and creates birds to fly in the firmament (at least from the perspective of someone standing on the surface of the earth). This firmament separates “the waters from the waters,” dividing the waters below the firmament from the waters above. Some commentators believe that this step in creation formed a water canopy over the earth which later collapsed during the flood. It’s also possible that the firmament of outer space separates us from water outside the universe, which may be why scientists keep discovering water in space, the remnants of the water that space separates from us. This concluded the second day of creation.

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.

God gathers the waters below the firmament on the surface of the earth into bodies of water to expose dry land and to create oceans and seas. This step prepares places for land animals and sea life to live and thrive, which God recognized as 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.

God speaks again and creates the grasses and herbs of the field that produce seed. This probably included grains like wheat and barley. He also created fruit trees. While grasses produce seed at the end of their stalks, the fruit trees produced fruit containing seed, such as apple and pear trees. Notice that these are general descriptions and not an attempt to divide plant life into biological species. Again, God saw that what He had created was good and thus concluded the third day of creation.

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.

God sets “lights” in the expanse of the sky as viewed from the surface of the earth. These are the stars and planets that can be seen from earth and He sets them in their places throughout the universe. These lights were used to mark time. For example, they could mark days by the sunrise and sunset, and the location of the moon, stars and constellations as they moved in the sky throughout the year could be used to determine the current season of the year. These things became the basis of calendars and the tracking of time by counting days, years, seasons, etc. Even the time of day could be measured by determining the position of the sun using sundials.

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.

These verses expand on vs. 14-15 by giving more detail on what lights were created. The “greater light” and “lesser light” are obviously the sun and the moon. These, along with the stars, were placed in our sky to give light upon the earth and to provide a distinction between day and night. God considered the creation of these things good and thus concluded the fourth day of creation. The pagan nations surrounding Israel worshiped the sun, moon and stars as “the host of heaven” but here God demonstrates that these were not gods but “lights” that He created.

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.

God now speaks into existence animal life to populate the seas and the air. The passage specifically states that “every living creature that moveth” in the water was created by God. Evolution played no role in their creation. In fact, it states that all sea life and winged fowl reproduced “after their kind.” The Hebrew word for “kind” refers to a species, meaning that an animal can only reproduce another creature like itself. A dog can never give birth to a cat or something in between. When people have tried to mix species through cross-breeding it either fails to produce a pregnancy or it results in sterile offspring, such as a mule which has a donkey and a horse as parents. God has built a mechanism in the DNA of animals that prevents reproduction outside of their species. This mechanism allows for micro-evolution (adaption to the environment) but does not allow macro-evolution. A classic case study cited by evolutionists is the appearance of a black form of peppered moths during the 1800s in the industrial parts of England as soot blackened the tree trunks and walls of its habitat. Evolutionists claimed the black color was an evolutionary response to the moth’s environment to protect it from becoming the prey of birds and other predators. However, no matter what color the moths may become, they were still moths. Likely people were noticing the black moths more because the peppered moths were getting eaten, shrinking their population and limiting the gene pool that was reproducing to black moths.

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.

The earliest record of God giving His blessing is upon sea life and fowls of the air. He blesses and commands them to reproduce and fill their habitats with life. Thus concludes the fifth day of creation.