Lesson 6
GOD, THE CREATOR
Genesis 1:1-25
Key Verse 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
1. Read verse 1. What does this verse declare about God and the origin of universe, including human beings?
(Isaiah 44:24) How does the view of God’s creation help us to find meaning of our life and our life purpose?
Discuss the fundamental role of this verse to the whole Bible and to our faith. How can we know that God
created the heavens and the earth? (Hebrew 11:3)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
<Isaiah 44:24> "This is what the Lord says -- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who has
made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself..."
<Hebrews 11:3> "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."
 God is the creator God. He is almighty. He created everything out of nothing. Everything came
from God. He is source of everything. He is source of our life. The universe doesn’t exist all by
itself. It is created. It came out from God. He is the primary cause.
 Everything is made with specific purposes. All created things have specific meaning of
existence. Everything is necessary to exist. Everything is precious because it is created by God.
Everything has absolute purpose and absolute meaning of existence. We must exist because the
creator needs us (Ephesians 2:10). However, if we deny God’s creation, we cannot find any
purpose and meaning of our life. We suffer from meaninglessness and commit suicide. We
don’t know about the origin of our life. If we came from air, water and fire, where they come
from? The bible says that God is the primary cause. God exists all by himself; “I Am Who I
Am” (Exodus 3:14). Nobody created God, but he exists all by himself.
 Genesis is the first book out of 66 books. Genesis 1:1 is the first verse of Genesis and the whole
bible. It is the major premise and the chief foundation. The whole bible stands on this one verse.
If anyone denies this verse, he cannot enter further world of faith. Our faith is based on this one
verse. Without it, our faith has no foundation.
 There is no way to understand that God created the universe. Nobody has seen it. Nobody can
prove it. It is done only one time in the history of the universe. People requests evidence and
explanation, but even if God explains it, we can never understand it. We even have hard time to
understand cell mechanism. Jesus raised Lazarus when his body got decayed. It is a fact, but we
can never understand how it happened. With human logic and intelligence, we can never
understand that God created the heavens and the earth. The only way is to understand it by faith.
By faith, we can understand everything in the bible.
2. Read verse 2. What was the state of things before God spoke? In what aspects is it similar to our life without
God’s words? How was the Holy Spirit involved in God’s creation? What did God create to change the
situation? (3) How can our lives be changed when we accept this God of light? (1John 1:5)
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.
<1John 1:5> "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness
at all."
 The earth was formless, empty and dark. Here "Formless" suggests chaos, a lack of order. And
"Empty" means that there is nothing there, it is meaningless and "Darkness" means that there is no
direction and no life. Can you imagine such state? How about a hunted house at night?
 When we carefully look at men’s life without God, it is exactly same. There is no order in their
lives. They do many things in order to fill their empty mind, but they endlessly suffer from
emptiness. Their way of thinking is negative and fatalistic. They don’t know the true way of life.
They just live because they are alive. They have no idea about the order of life, meaning of life
and direction of life.
 In order to bring order, meaning and direction, the Holy Spirit was hovering the surface of the
earth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He planed and designed.
 At this moment, God crated light. Scientifically, our physical life depends on light. Nothing can
survive without light. The light is necessary for life. Can you imagine a world without light? We
don't know what light is or how it works, but know it is fundamental to all other energy. Through
creating light, God dispelled darkness. Only light has power to dispel darkness.
 The Bible says that God is light and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). John 1:4 says that in
Jesus was life and that life was the light of men. Men need light of Jesus. Without it, we have no
life. Men’s life is full of darkness; sinful, negative, complaining, unthankful, hatred, immoral, idol
worshiping, fatalistic, sick, depressed, demon possession, meaningless, etc. When Jesus shines in
our hearts, we are full of life, joy, happiness, etc. Jesus can drive out all sources of evil and power
of darkness. Jesus can heal us and change our life completely.
3. By what instrument did God create the world? (3,6,9,11) How many times do you find the phrases “and God
said...and it was so”? What does this suggest about God? About his word? (John 1:1-4, Psalm 33:6-9;
Colossians 1:16)
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 an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the
expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse
"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.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as
signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse 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 expanse 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.
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the
sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems,
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.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along
the ground, and 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.
<John 1:1-4> 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with
God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him
was life, and that life was the light of men.
<Psalm 33:6-9> "By the word of Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers
the waters of the sea into jars, he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the
world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm."
<Colossians 1:16> "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."
 The universe was created by the word of God’s command.
 In chapter 1, the phrase, “And God said..."is repeated 9 times.(3,6,9,11,14,20,24,26, 29 ). It is
followed by the words, "and it was so" (or the equivalent) 7 times. First, God speaks. He is not
just an abstract 'ground of being"; nor is he just a "force" or a power. He has a personality. He
thinks; he feels; he communicates with us. He wants to have personal relationship with us-so we
must listen to and follow his word. God is not like man-made idol. He communicates with his
creatures. Second, the word of God has almighty power in it. When God said, "Let there be light.",
there was light." (3) Heaven and earth and all things came into being at God's word of command.
God created the world by his word. Men’s words are rarely fulfilled, but everything happens
according to God’s words. There is nothing false. That’s why God’s word is the truth. We have to
pay attention to God’s word.
4. What are the various plants, fish, birds, and animals that God created? (11,12,21,24,25) Think about the
character of God who created the plants and animals according to their kinds—his diversity, wisdom, and
artistic sense.
 This phrase also suggests that God created plants and animals and birds and fish in definite
separate acts of creation and that there is order and harmony in his creation. God created plants and
animals according to their various kinds. It shows us his diversity, wisdom, and artistic sense. We
don’t know exactly how many plants’ species exist in the world. But the approximately, there are about
300 thousands or 400 thousands species. Jesus said that not even Solomon in all his splendor was
dressed like one of lilies. 800 thousands species in animal kingdom have been found.
5. Draw a diagram of the 6 days of creation. Try to make your diagram reflect the relationship between the first
three days of creation and the last three days. What can you learn from this about God the Creator? About
the world he created?
 On the first three days God created the environment; in artistic terms, he created the background;
On the first day God created light, and he separated the light from the darkness to make night and
day. On the second day he made the sky-the atmosphere of our earth. He separated the waters
above from the waters below, and the waters continued to cover the earth. On the third day, he was
very busy. He pushed aside the waters and made the dry land appear. Then he commanded the land
to produce vegetation. He thus prepared an environment that would sustain the life of animals and
man. On the next three days he filled the environment with the main actors. On the fourth day, he
put the sun, moon and stars to rule the day and night--which he had made on the first day. On the
fifth day, he commanded the waters below the teem with fish and water creatures, and the sky
above to be filled with all kinds of birds. Then, on the sixth day he created the animals from the
dust of the ground. He created each species to reproduce according to its kind. He made wild
animals and domestic animals-animals to help man and animals that would come to fear man. Our
God was very thoughtful when he created the heavens and the earth. He made an environment that
sustains life first. This suggests us about the importance of environment-making when we are
carrying out God's mission
* Do you believe that the universe is created by God?