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Genesis 1.2-13 February 20th 2022
Okay, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” (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.
I mentioned last week that I believe God is the creator of all things, speaking and breathing all things into existence – all things.
That said, this does not preclude some things from existing before the account about this creation takes please as it seems pretty apparent that what we are talking about here, relative to the earth, is God taking matter (that is there) and actually reforming it.
This is not to say the matter came from nowhere or always self-existed but it IS to say that at this stage it was dead matter, without life, and in chaos.
The Words “earth was without form and void” best mean the earth was in “confusion and emptiness,” as the words are rendered in Isaiah 34:11 which echo the account and this meaning.
I am personally convinced that our globe, at some undescribed period, erupted and was broken up, and was a dark and watery waste for ages – perhaps, until this time when God began to weave this dark and chaotic mess into the planet upon which we now stand.
This views does not defy creation ex nihilo but it does offer some insight into a number of things about our world – like why radiometric dating methods, which calculate the rate of decay in carbon and potassium – rate some matter as being millions of years old.
It may – may – also give us insight into the presence of ancient fossils like dinosaurs, which could have roamed the earth (that was destroyed), decayed into fossil fuels, and were put back together in the recreation of the world on which we now live.
This is not a science book – but we have to believe that what it says hold water. Taking what verse 2 says, I am able to see this creation period as possible and answerable to legitimate scientific theory – and to go from there.
Where it says that the Spirit of God moved–literally, this means that the Spirit of God, the very breath of God, His pneuma, brooded over it, as a hen does, when over her eggs to bring them to life.
And in this very early picture we have the power of God’s breath giving life and reinvigorating dead things to animation.
And while the active account of the Spirit begins at the end of this second verse it appears that the power continues to work on all the various ways we will read in the subsequent verses.
Before continuing, I want to pull from other parts of scripture that help illustrate what I’ve said thus far.
First, listen closely to what the Psalmist, speaking of the creatures of the sea first, says in the first line of Psalm 104:30
Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created:
From this we see that by His Words and Spirit God (note His three working expressions – Him, His Words and His Breath) created all the living creatures in the sea.
Then listen to the second line here which says
“and thou renewest the face of the earth.”
The Hebrew word for renewest used here is khaw-dash, which means to renew or rebuild.
Either Psalm 104:30 is wrong or the scripture is right and so what we know God did in the creation of this world was He renewed matter that had existed before.
I personally see wisdom in this, as the aged elements would come to serve us on earth in innumerable ways – coal, oil, diamonds, minerals and who knows what else.
There is some conjecture here on my part, but what is not conjecture is
a) he did renew or rebuild this earth upon which we live, and b) this trait of His, renewing, restoring, reusing, and saving things is part of His make-up and is evidenced thoughout scripture in a number of beautiful ways.
First, in the second verse of the Tanakh, we have God recycling and restoring material elements back to life. And He does this by and through His Spirit brooding over the chaotic and ruined elements of decay and bringing them life.
Friends, this is what rebirth is all about – of being born spiritually dead or at least diseased, and having the Spirit regenerate or renew us to new life.
Taking our hard hearts, our depraved minds, our dark and chaotic lives, and giving us new life – again, by and through His Spirit.
In a classic picture and type of this event we read a story in Ezekiel chapter 37 where he writes at verse 9
Then said he (GOD) unto me, Prophesy unto the wind (ruwach – breath) prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
This is obviously a picture of God’s capacity to bring broken, dead, corrupt things back to life – by His Spirit or breath.
We recall the story of Elijah and the woman’s son whose breath left him. And we read in 1st Kings 17:17
And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
20 And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.
22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.
24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.
Then in 2nd Kings 4:18 we read about Elisha and another revival – this one even more on point to this creation.
In the story Elisha the prophet is staying with what was called a Shunamite family (but was not there at the time) and we read beginning at verse 18 where it says
And when the child (of the Shunamite woman) was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.
19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
21 And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.
So the woman goes out to get Elisha. Elisha sends a servant with a staff to touch the child but it doesn’t work.
So he goes himself with the woman (verse 32)
32 And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.
33 He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD.
34 And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.
35 Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
And he sent word to the mother who fell at his feet in gratitude.
I mentioned last week where Jesus is with his disciples after his resurrection and we read in John 20:19
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
All evidences of the Spirit bringing dead things life, animus, revival, regeneration.
And so in the very act of creating our world God’s spirit brooded like a hen over her eggs and the restored, reframed, or brought the chaotic and hollow elements together.
From all of this we can see that Our the living God is a God who loves fixing things, broken things, damaged things. He loves taking the broken and hollow and binding and filling them up.
I would suggest that this same God hates waste amidst His creations and seeks to restore and repurpose everything – but especially those things made in His image – human beings.
Of all people groups, many Christians today, because of eschatology, see this world as their own ash tray.
This is NOT a political statement – I care nothing about politics – though the subject of ecology has been politicized causing many in the faith to assume attitudes (relative to conservation) which are frankly contrary to the attitude of God Himself.
We will get to the laws of the harvest God imposes on the COI and how they went to great lengths to save every piece of fruit from a tree – even the pieces that fell to the ground.
We would be remiss if we didn’t point out again that after Jesus multiplied bread and fish in John 6:12 He says
“When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”
If Jesus was concerned with gathering up fragments of fish and bread so that nothing is lost, and God restores the elements of the earth and uses them again, perhaps believers ought to be more inclined to the environment, but even moreso, in the case of every living soul, realized that the worth of one of His human creations is beyond our comprehension, and He is not flippant about the eternal condition of their souls.
So there is a tacit call on the Children of God to partnership with God, by and through His Spirit, and seek to restore all people, to give chaos and dark destruction new life, and through longsuffering and kindness and mercy to fill people with hope and purpose no matter how far they have fallen.
And so we come to verse three which appears to give us the specific measures God did things in to create the world. And Moses, with very succinct words says, describing the first day in verses 3-5
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
This decree is one central to His personal character and make-up – light, illumination, the ability to see, perceive, understand, comprehend.
Let There Be . . . LIGHT.
Verse 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Go back to how Moses describes the chaotic void which the Spirit of God brooded over.
That is the result of the absence of God – chaos, emptiness, purposelessness and frankly waste. It is the absence of Light, the absence of warmth, the absence of order and meaning.
In order to drive darkness out of a room we bring light in. In order to liberate the hearts and minds of souls we illuminate them with truth.
To know the truth is to be set free. And truth is discovered by, through and in light.
And so, the first day of His creative act God says let there be light and this ostensibly divided the light from darkness – the very results that occurred in each of the cases or restoration we just heard.
Valley’s of bones, sons lying dead, apostles uninspired – and the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of Truth, entering in each situation and giving life to the people and objects involved.
Because this is all the same God doing the same things, Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
And so, as illuminated children, restored children, we bear within us what Paul described as, “the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
And so we seek, strive, desire to be children of light – and ALL that this entails.
Synonymous with Light is authenticity. Genuineness, and resisting acts, words, and lives of deception. It is not easy and sometimes it is neither fun to do nor rewarding, but is central to authentic living before God and Man.
I am not talking about appearing translucent. I am talking about the hard cold reality of being transparent because when we are, we are . . . truly free.
Anything else is merely acts of deception by allowing shadow into our lives, hearts and minds.
Light is the first of the Four Principle L words by which Christians strive to embrace in life – Light, Learning, Love and Liberty.
Now, speaking of learning, most commentators, even most Christians believe that what we are reading here is God creating our earthly time structure of days and nights which orbit around a fixed sun.
This thinking is reinforced by our next and last verse describing the first day of creation where Moses writes:
Verse 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Because of verse 5 most reliable commentators say that these passages are describing our days and nights. I don’t agree.
Relative to day and night, and the seasons, the Psalmist wrote Psalm 74:16
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
But there is a bit of a glitch in the chronology here because while the passage certainly says that God called the light Day and the Darkness Night and that the evening and the morning were the first day, we don’t have a sun created yet – that doesn’t happen until the fourth day of the narrative.
So, we have a decision to make – is what Moses says here speaking to our days and nights, our evenings and mornings in some “non-literal sunlight” manner or when God said, “let there be light” and that the net result of God dividing the light from the darkness here is actually speaking to something else?
Like perhaps dividing His spiritual light from the abiding darkness that accompanied the chaotic void of dead matter from which God created this world?
If this is so, which it seems to be for me, why then does Moses write, “and God called the Light Day and the Darkness Night” and capitalizes the words Day and Night?
The only reason words are capitalized in scripture is when they are a proper noun name. And so what I think we can say about this is that God gave the light present here the name Day, and He gave the dark (present here) the name Night.
Let’s go to the board for just one minute.
Genesis 1:5 And God <'elohiym> called
EXPLAIN THEN COME BACK
Now,
Light is owr (which means illumination)
But DAY is YOWM (and can mean warm age or space)
And darkness is Choshek (which figuratively means, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness and obscurity) And Night is LAYIL (which means to twist away, and adversity).
BACK
So, we can say that he called “the illumination a warm age or space.”
So, he called the miserable obscurity “twisted away adversity.”
And in all of this I see this first day representing not our 24 hour days and nights but God separating the cold miserable obscurity of adverity from His warm illumination.
This would enable the creative process to be void of all defect, and ultimately allow God to look upon it all and call it good.
Note too that Moses presented this in the way Jews see days and not Europeans – and instead of saying:
And “the morning and evening were the first day,” he wrote:
“And the evening and the morning were the first day.” In other words, sunset to sunset instead of sunrise to sunrise.
This is far more in harmony with the order of things here in the creation as first the earth’s materials were chaotic and void (evening) and then God said let there be light (day).
Okay, let’s go to the second day, which begins at verse 6 and goes through verse 8.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. (the waters from the waters – what)
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.
Okay, Day (of illuminating warmth) Two
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
To make this simple, the word firmament, rawkeeah in Hebrew, is best understood as a blacksmith taking a lump of metal, or a pizza maker taking a lump of dough, and pounding it or throwing it up in the air to spread it out.
For this reason passages like this from Jeremiah are found:
Jeremiah 10:12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
What is the “spread out piece” that is over the earth at this time that was water? Apparently, the sky. Also called the heavens. It is the expanse or space of air, so to speak, between the water and land of earth and the cloudless skies of space.
And when Moses has God say, “and let it divide the waters from the waters,” we appear to be talking about evaporated rain clouds resting in the firmament, divided from the heavier waters on the surface of the earth below.
We could, I suppose, refer to the firmament as “an atmosphere” where the lighter parts of the waters (which however over the earth’s surface) were drawn up and suspended in the visible heavens, while the larger and heavier masses of water remained below.
The air was thus “in the midst of the waters,” that is, it separated them from each other.
To a Jew reading this in Genesis God separated the “water from the water” and above the earth was filled by sky-water (shamayim) and the earth below was covered by sea-water (yammim).
Now, some people suggest that pre-fall, the earth/garden of Eden was very much like a hothouse used for growing dewy flowers and vegetation – like a tropical paradise on steroids.
Maybe. Or maybe the separated waters were seen very much like our clouds and earth waters today. What we can say is
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.
Solomon in Proverbs wrote the following about this part of creation when he said, personifying wisdom:
Proverbs 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Back to Genesis, Moses adds at verse 8
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Now, we have to remember that to a Jew the term heaven has a number of meanings, as I mentioned last week. In the early first century some scholars decided to gather these meanings up and officially described seven of them.
I will share them with you but remember, by this time Judaism was filled with legend and man-made beliefs, so take this all with a grain of salt.
In anycase, the system of their “Seven heavens” was called Vilon (???????) or Araphel (???????)
The first heaven, governed by Archangel Gabriel, is the closest of heavenly realms to the Earth; it is also considered the abode of Adam and Eve.
This would be the home of flying birds and clouds and that part that as separated from the earth below.
Raqia (???????): The second heaven is dually controlled by Zachariel and Raphael. It was in this heaven that Moses, during his visit to Paradise, encountered the angel Nuriel who stood “300 parasangs high, with a retinue of 50 myriads of angels all fashioned out of water and fire.”
Also, Raqia is considered the realm where the fallen angels are imprisoned and the planets fastened.
Shehaqim is what they called the third heaven, under the leadership of Anahel, serves as the home of the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life; it is also the realm where manna, the holy food of angels, is produced.
Interestingly, the Second Book of Enoch, states that both Paradise and hell are accommodated in Shehaqim with hell being located simply “on the northern side”.
The fourth heaven is called Maon (??????): and is ruled by the Archangel Michael, and according to Talmud Hagiga 12, it contains the heavenly Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Altar.
The fifth heaven is called Makon (??????, Makhon) and is under the administration of Samael. It is also where the Ishim (a class of angels closest to earth) and the Song-Uttering Choirs reside.
Zebul (??????): The sixth heaven falls under the jurisdiction of Sachiel who in kabbalistic angelology, is the covering angel of God or a cherubim and finally,
the Seventh level of heaven is called Araboth and is under the leadership of Cassiel
This is the holiest of the seven heavens because it houses the Throne of God attended by the Seven Archangels and serves as the realm in which God dwells; underneath the throne itself lies the abode of all unborn human souls. It is also considered the home of the Seraphim, the Cherubim, and the Hayyoth.
Now, before you get all twisted up by legend and myth, know that these views are not biblical but formed, like all views that are extrabiblical, by taking some concepts (passed down orally or in pseudepigraphal writings) and creating a system of beliefs.
I do not subscribe to them as real but do not discount them as empty. But in the end, their support from canonized books is minimal.
The important thing to know (relative to our topic here) is the Jews certainly believed in levels of heaven, and one of them was the atmosphere surrounding the earth.
DAY THREE – which encompasses verses 9 – 13, reads
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.
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.
Alright, jump back to verse 9 and we will wrap our day up by covering the third day of creation were Moses writes:
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.
From this it appears that God gathered all the water on earth somewhere (one place is what it reads) and this act caused the dry land to appear.
Now the one place, according to verse 10, appears to be what Moses calls “the seas” which are lower than the land, and so by gathering them together in these sunken basins, the land appeared.
Was this water gathered in the seas so huge that all the land on this nascent earth were once covered until this was done? It seems so. So perhaps the gathering of them shaped and contorted the earth into different heights and spans including the depths of the ocean floors.
I don’t really have any idea except from what the text says. But Psalm 104:1-9 does add dimension, saying
Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty.
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
Now listen closely as it says:
6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
10 ¶ He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
Back to Genesis verse 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.
Now, we are still on the third day but it wraps up with another advance, saying:
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.
What do you notice? Did you catch that God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed AND the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth – and it was so.
Grass, plants and trees the three great divisions of vegetation – were called to come forth FROM the earth and do not seem to be called into existence like the Light, seas and the earth itself.
By His word they were made to grow from the earth, but we do not read – and this is all I am saying – but we do not read in this setting that God created the seeds or planted them in the earth. All he does in the narrative is to tell the earth to bring them forth. Listen to verse 12
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.
This third day is filled with potential meaning, but we will stand on what it plainly states at this point. We will stop here.
Questions comments please.
PRAYER
