Genesis 1:1-2 In the Beginning God Created
What record do we have of the beginning of creation? Only one book in the whole world claims
to be eyewitness evidence, that is Genesis, when God told Adam what He had done. Genesis 1
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1 In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The story opens “in the beginning”. By definition, if it was the beginning, then that was before
everything else, when there was nothing! Because if you have something there then it can’t be
the beginning! But how do you get something out of nothing? (3) You can’t of course! So there
had to be something or someone there in the beginning, right? Who was there in the beginning?
The eternal God word says that He alone was there, no-one else. If then, God was the only one
there, therefore He is the only reliable eyewitness to the whole event. This story has been given
to us by God. Our understanding is that this is the only true record of the history of Creation. So
then, when a scientist today, who has only lived for about 40-50 years, says with great
authority, that the universe came into being 4.5 billion years ago at the Big Bang... and no God
was involved… should we expect that he can have full knowledge of what he says? The
question to ask the scientist is, “Were you there?” All we can compare man’s opinions with is
the revealed Word of God. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer to put my trust in the
Bible and Genesis 1 for my understanding of the universe and its creation than a man.
The fact that God created the heavens and the Earth means that everything owes its existence to
the will of God… (4)
Rev 4:11 "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by
your will they exist, and were created."
And we can see God’s sovereignty and power by the things that He has made. (5)
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 (men) are without excuse (6)
Because of what God has done, we can all see the evidence and none of us has any excuse to
say “I don't believe God exists”,
because obviously, it has been made and is right in front of us
Beginning – God creates time, heavens – God creates space and earth- He creates matter. Does
God actually create & finish everything in this verse? No. Here He creates the raw materials
from nothing and lays out the tools in place for the job He’s about to do, in exactly the same
way an expert workman would get all his materials and tools together for a job. This verse is
not really day 1. It’s a summary verse, telling the big picture of what God did, then the
following verses show us the specifics of what he did happened each day. It’s like a title, saying
“Toyota made a Lexus”, in verse 1, all the materials are created and prepared and then the rest
of the chapter describes the process on the production line.
There is no mention of God’s past, for He alone lives in eternity (7)
Rev 1 8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord God, "who is and who was
and who is to come, the Almighty. (8)
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Genesis 1:1-2 In the Beginning God Created
This is not the beginning of God. He has lived forever in eternity! So this moment is just part of
God’s work that we call the beginning, but not the beginning of Him at all. He has no
beginning, just like He has no ending, He was already always there. God is not trapped inside
His creation, He is not held by time, space or matter, so He exists outside of time and looks in.
He can see our past, our present and our future all laid out in front of Him perfectly clearly and
all at the same time.
He can see all our choices and what we did, He knows every possible thing because He is
already in the future. We live inside time, but tell me, Can we change our future? we are not at
all trapped by fate, and God has not trapped us, He simply dwells in the past, the present and
the future and can see what our motives are and what the results of our decisions were!
Therefore, there is only one Being in all creation who knows the future, because He lives in the
future, the present and the past all at the same time.
God is above, outside and infinitely more powerful than His infinite creation. He is not
confined by anything he has made. (9) So God is Eternal, Omnipotent (All-powerful),
Omnipresent (Everywhere all at once) and Omniscient (knows everything) and Good! (10)
God made matter, but He is not matter, so cannot be seen, felt or contained in a body in the way
we experience matter. He is Spirit and beyond our vision. So we can’t and must not make an
image to look like Him.
God made space, so He is not held inside any amount of Space. He is everywhere all at once.
He is bigger than infinite, because that is just our understanding of a place with no boundaries.
God
Who is God and how can we identify Him? (11) The Hebrew word El, means strong and mighty
one. This is the singular noun used for God. But strangely, the first mention of God is not the
singular noun El “He”? It is in fact, Elohim “They”, the plural pronoun for the singular Mighty
God “El”. In the 31 verses of chapter 1, the only name used for God 32 times is Elohim, the
One God who is more than one. The title “El” is not used even once! It is saying “God is one,
AND He is more than one”. This is clear for Christians know that God is one God but also 3
persons in one. We describe Him as the triune Godhead. God is NOT a solitary being. He is one
who is more than one. Jesus showed us God is 3 in One = Father, Son & Spirit.
Created the heavens and the Earth
Out of nothing. But how did He do it? He did it through Jesus, God the Son. (12)
Colossians 1 15 He is the image of the invisible God,… 16 For by Him all things were created… All things were
created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (13)
John 11 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 ... (14)
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Genesis 1:1-2 In the Beginning God Created
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. (15)
In the beginning, God creates heaven and earth, is a summary statement of everything God does, and the
following verses explain what He did with the raw materials. He brought the raw elements out of
nothing, and everything starts without form, in an unfinished state, the elements scattered throughout
space are called deep and waters. Without form means confusion, chaos and wasteland while void
means everything is empty, so even though God has created the waters (elements of matter) yet they are
spread throughout the deep - lengths of space in the volume He has created, and have no definite shape
to them. So in this step, God has created all the building blocks, but they appear to be in a mess. In His
plan, the mess is both the first step and a sharp contrast to the amazing order of the beautiful creation He
was about to produce.
I'm not going to make a great big teaching out of this fact, but think for a moment, does God use this
pattern anywhere else? To our ordered minds, we like things to be clean and discrete. I doubt that any of
us would ever dream of creating ourselves as babies. Giving birth is a unique and messy process, and so
is child-raising. Runny noses, messy bottoms, food everywhere, toys and clothes and love and fun and
tears and on and on.... Do you get my point? God does things in a way that often contradicts how we
would do things. God could have created everything in a finished and sterile state. But He doesn't work
like that. Things start in an almost unrecognisable way before they grow. (16) God often starts with a
mess.
Without any light, there is darkness and mystery everywhere. But everything was in place, scattered far
and wide, in a big mess. Again, what God starts with is unrecognisable from the finished product.
Remember that one has to work by faith when we can’t see ahead. (17)
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
But now the moment had come and God began to move. Deut 32:11 is the only other passage in the
Bible where “hovered = rawkhaf” is found. Here it describes the action of an eagle hovering over its
young before it flies off. The word describes the motion of the wind, and for this reason it’s also
translated as the “Wind of God” was moving over the face of the waters.
The picture we get is that of God the Holy Spirit suddenly sweeping massive wings and imparting all the
energy ever to enter the universe. This energy is. It instantly began to cause all the other events to come
into being, such as Light. (18)
Review:
1. Our God is the All-powerful one who is not a solitary being, His title God is Elohim, He is one, but
He is more than one. He is 3 in One. He lives forever, He is everywhere all at once, and is the allknowing God who created out of nothing. He is the Lord whom the creation obeys. Be careful to
worship God alone, He commands we have no idols!
2. How did God create the universe? He did it through Jesus, God the Son.
3. God the Holy Spirit was with Father God at creation and filled the universe with energy. Today we
have seen that our God is Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
4. He has created and ordered the universe and He deserves our praise forever as the Creator. Let’s read
Revelation 4:11 to Him today as part of our worship. (19)
Rev 4:11 "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things,
and by your will they exist, and were created."
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