Creation: Genesis Chapter 1
The context of this first chapter of the Word we have been
given to live by is ex nihilo, (Latin),
which means: out of nothing. Nothing preceded this passage of Scripture in
history, and God created everything (John 1:3). He knew that there would be sin
in the world, He even created Satan so we would have a choice between Heaven
and hell; He knows all things. There is NOTHING hidden from Him because He has
created everything; nothing surprises Him.
In the beginning of the world, only God was present, and that
would have been enough for Him to be sustained forever. God did not need us, because
He is God and wants for nothing, but, out of His goodness, He created the Heavens
and the earth. A place for us to start, and a place for us to reside after
death.
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God created the light first.
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I really like the symbolism this provides, as
God is light. He didn’t create the darkness, because darkness really is the
absence of light, which God cannot be a part of because He is light.
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Also, the first thing He created (even before
separating the Heavens and Earth) was light, because He knew we would need it [His
light, salvation] to guide us through this world.
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God separated light and darkness to be day and
night, Heaven, sea and dry land.
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After all of this creation, He allowed the Earth
to sprout vegetation.
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Then, He knew that the vegetation (and animals and
humans to come) would need both day and night to rest, grow and flourish, so He
created the sun, moon and stars.
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After the vegetation, He created sea creatures,
birds and beasts of the earth.
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God created living beings would need to sustain
life on Earth before He created the animals and humans. But the most important
thing that was created before humans is the first thing that was on the
formless earth- the Spirit of God; it has been, is, and forever will be present
(Genesis 1:2).
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He created man in His own image and He blessed
them. We had done nothing to deserve
His blessing, yet as He formed us out of His own image, He blessed us.
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We so often forget that we have been made from
God’s perfect image. Within the first 6 days of the Earth, God thought of us
and made us perfect.
-Society tells us that we must be different than
we were created and hate who we are until we fit into the bubble that the world
says we should be.
-This completely contradicts the way God created
us. “He saw EVERYTHING He had made and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
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Then, God knew the way He created humans that we
would need something to do, so He gave us dominion over the whole earth.
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He could have given us nothing to do, but He
created us with the ability to work, and do work well.
What has always been crazy to me, is that God knew the
number of hairs that are on my head today when He created the Earth (Luke 12:7;
Jeremiah 1:5). We are so valuable to Him that He would have created this Earth
for just one of us!
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Luke 15:4 talks about the one lost sheep that
God will search for. That is proof that, especially when we are far away from
Him, we are precious to Him and worth searching for.
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The next time you think you are worthless or
have sinned one too many times, remember that God knew every sin you would commit
before He created the Earth for you (Proverbs 5:21). Even with that knowledge,
He created the Earth and created you for a purpose (Jeremiah 29:11).
My favorite part of studying Genesis is understanding that
this is just the beginning! Our story of redemption is shown over and over throughout
the different stories of the Bible, yet this shows the perfection that God
created the world with and the Master of it all said that it was very good. At
this point of the Earth’s story, God loved us enough to create us and everything
we would need to be sustained while on this Earth. Everything that comes after
this in Scripture is confirmation of His love for us.
Ultimately, the whole Bible is telling a story of love. God
created the Earth, the we are shown how humanity sins over and over again, is
redeemed, then crucifies the Savior of the world and are still welcomed to
accept a free, loving gift of salvation to live eternally. The two major
takeaways I have from this chapter are: we are perfectly created and need to
live our lives showing the grace, love and mercy we have been shown.
