Last week in our introductory lesson we saw what God was doing before creation “In the beginning God…”
1. God existed eternally.
2. The Eternal Godhead was in communion.
3. The Eternal Godhead planned redemption.
Tonight we begin to move thru the creation process. God created the entire universe and then formed and filled it, all in six-24 hour days.
1. God Created [vs. 1-2]. “Heavens and earth”
2. God Formed [vs. 2-13]. “Days 1-3”
3. God Filled [vs. 14-27]. “Days 4-6”
1. God Created [vs. 1-2].
Verse 1b: “created the heaven and the earth”
In the dateless past God brought the universe into existence out of nothing.
Ps. 33:6, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”
Heb. 1:3, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
God declares his creation in six days and begins to explain how he did it.
Note the word “create.” This is the Hebrew word “Bara” and is used in 1:1, 21, and 27. The word can refer to create out of nothing or with something. The word “asa” is used in 2:2, 8, and 19. It is the word formed.
God created everything by the spoken Word. Matter is not eternal but spoken into existence by God.
Scientists say there are five things necessary for existence- time, force, action, space, and matter. Beginning that’s time, God that’s force, created that’s action, heaven that’s space, and earth that’s matter.
Heaven in verse 2 is plural in the Hebrew. There are 3 heavens mentioned in the Bible:
The first heaven is the home of the birds, clouds, and the atmosphere [Dan. 4:12]. Sky
The second heaven is the home of the sun, moon, planets, and stars [Ps. 19:1]. Stellar
The third heaven is the home of God, angels, and departed saints [2 Cor. 12:2].
Verse 1 refutes 6 popular world philosophies:
1. Atheism- God exists.
2. Pantheism- God is separated from his creation. God is not all.
3. Polytheism- there is one God.
4. Materialism- Matter has a supernatural origin and was not eternal.
5. Naturalism or evolution- God created.
6. Fatalism- A personal God who freely chose to create with a purpose and plan.
Verse 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.”
v. 2 describes the conditions that existed before God formed and filled the earth. Verse 1 describes the creation of the universe. Verses 3-31 describe the process of creation by which God formed and filled what was void.
God created and it was chaos, dark, formless, and empty. God made no mistake and there was no catastrophic judgment between verse 1 and verse 2. Creation vs reconstruction.
Gap proponents say “was” means “became.” They say between v. 1 and v. 2 were chaos from judgment and what we have in v. 2 is a reconstruction of creation. The gap could be millions of years.
What we have in v.2 is just the beginning of creation as God progresses in his creation. God then formed it and filled his creation.
Gap proponents put the fall of Satan, geological ages, pre-Adam race which Lucifer ruled over from the Garden of Eden and a judgment between v. 1 and v.2.
There are two great arguments that refute the gap concept:
1. You can’t have death or judgment before sin [2 Cor. 15:21; Rom. 5:12].
2. Ex. 20:9-11; 31:17-
God created in six 24 hour days and verses 1 and 2 are included in the 6 days, not million or billion of years between them.
Let’s define some words in v. 2
“Without form, and void” means not finished in its shape and uninhabited by creatures [Isa. 45:18]. Gap proponents fail to read the rest of verse.
“Darkness” can refer to sin and judgment, but it just means there was no light yet. Evening was part of the days God declared good [v. 5]. In Ps. 104:19-24 darkness can be good.
“Deep” is the water that covered the earth before dry land was formed. The earth’s surface was like a vast sea with no land.
What about angels? Angels were created before creation.
Job 38:4-8, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. (5) Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? (6) Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; (7) When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (8) Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?”
Who are the Sons of God? [Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Gen. 6:2, 4
Ps. 148:2-3, “Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. (3) Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.”
Next week we will begin to speed up as we look at the rest of day 1 thru day 6.
