Genesis 1:1, is a summary of creation, Hebrews 1:3, and the rest of the chapter are the accounts. And notice there are no ‘ifs’ ‘buts’ or ‘maybes’, there’s no questioning if God exists because the Bible never sets out to prove the existence of God, it’s written as a matter of fact, John 1:1 / Hebrews 1:1. This one verse throws out all other religions, like Evolution, Atheism, Polytheism, Pantheism, Materialism and Humanism.
In 1820 A.D. a man named Hubert Spencer gave the world five scientific principles by which man may study the unknown. They are time, force, energy, space, and matter. Notice we have time, ‘in the beginning,’ we have force, who is ‘God’, we have ‘created’, that is, energy, we have space, that is, ‘the heavens’, and we have matter, that is, ‘the earth’.
Notice also, that God created everything ‘in the beginning’, Genesis 1:1. It is therefore, reasonable to assume that, before this, matter did not exist. The phrase, ‘in the beginning’ has been called ‘the dateless date’ because we cannot go any farther back than ‘the beginning’.
The word ‘El’ is the singular word for ‘god,’ and the word here, Genesis 1:1, is ‘Elohim,’ which is plural, Genesis 1:28 / Genesis 3:22 / Genesis 11:7, meaning strong, mighty, and used approximately 2,000 times in the Old Testament.
God is self-existing, Exodus 3:14, but the world depends on Him. He is full of mercy, Luke 6:36 / Ephesians 2:4-5, and love, 1 John 4:8 / 1 John 4:16. He is eternal, Psalm 90:2 / Isaiah 40:27, and omnipresent, Psalm 139:7-10. He is all-knowing, 1 John 3:20, and all-powerful, Isaiah 44:6. God always existed, and He will always exist, and He needs nothing to help Him exist.
When the noun ‘God’ is capitalized, it means the one true God, the God we worship. When the noun is not capitalized, ‘god’ refers to a false god. For example, the term ‘elohim’, god, is used to figuratively speak of pagan deities, Psalm 96:5, to designate human rulers, or judges, as they represent God and stand in His place, Psalm 82:1 / Psalm 82:6, and angels as His messengers, Psalm 8:5 / Hebrews 2:7.
There is only one God, ‘Shema’, Deuteronomy 6:4. The people of Old Testament times would have that Scripture in a Mezuzah which is like a small pencil object with this verse inside it hanging on their door as a constant reminder that there is only one God.
Please note the Hebrew word for ‘one,’ in Deuteronomy 6:4, is ‘echad’, and it functions much like the English word in that it can refer to a solitary oneness or to a complex unity as Genesis 2:24, shows us.
This does not mean there are three gods, ‘Elohim’ means there is one sovereign God, the Godhead or what Christians call the Trinity. God is one being, or essence, which exists in three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father and the Son are both God, Ephesians 4:6 / John 5:18, and are one, meaning perfectly united, John 10:30, but they are not the same divine person, John 14:28. The Holy Spirit is God, Acts 5:1-4, but He is not the same person as the Father, John 14:26 / John 15:26, or the Son, John 15:26 / John 16:7.
They are three perfectly united divine persons. The Father possesses all that makes God who He is, the Son possesses all that makes God who He is, and the Spirit possesses all that makes God who He is.
The word ‘created’, Genesis 1:1 / Genesis 1:21 / Genesis 1:27, is significant, because the word ‘bara’ used in this chapter, means ‘to bring into existence something which has not previously existed’. The word ‘bara’ is only used for the works of God, Romans 4:17 / Hebrews 11:3.
Notice that Genesis 1:1, says God created the heavens, plural. The Jews believe in three heavens which are as follows.
1. The heaven which is God’s spiritual eternal home. This isn’t physical and isn’t created.
2. The heaven where the stars and planets are. This is physical and is created.
3. The heaven surrounding the earth where the atmosphere is, and the birds fly. This is physical and is created.
The word ‘heavens’ is used in different ways in the Bible.
1. It’s used of the two heavens that God created.
2. It’s also used of the third heaven. This is the uncreated heaven where God has always been from eternity.
This third heaven is also known as ‘paradise’, is used in connection with ‘the third heaven.’ Paul speaks about being ‘caught up in the third heaven and caught up in paradise’ in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. In other words, the third heaven and paradise are the same location. And there’s no need to speculate where Paul was because John tells us that paradise is the heavenly realm of God, Revelation 2:7.
And there’s no need to speculate where Lazarus was located, he was in paradise, the heavenly realm of God. And there’s no need to speculate where Jesus and the thief on the cross were going that very day, Luke 23:43. They were both going to paradise, the heavenly realm of God. The third heaven, paradise, is the place where Paul and all Christians long to go to, 2 Corinthians 5:6-8.
The heavens, Genesis 1:1, refer to the galaxies of all suns, moons and stars and the earth refers to that on which man resides, Genesis 2:1 /Genesis 14:19 / Genesis 14:22 / Jeremiah 23:24. It is very different from the word ‘made’. One can ‘make’ a thing out of pre-existent material, but God first ‘created’ the matter, brought into existence the ‘building blocks’ so to speak and began to produce the ordered system which we know as ‘the heavens and the earth’.
Genesis 1:2, tells us that God created things from nothing. The heavens and the earth include all material elements of the universe in their unorganised compositional condition. The earth being ‘without form and void’ means that the earth was uninhabitable. It was not ready for man or animal to dwell on it, or trees or plants for that matter.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The physical universe, though created, was as yet neither formed nor energized. The absence of physical light means darkness, just as the absence of form and inhabitants means a universe in elemental form, not yet completed. No evil is implied in either case, merely incompleteness.’
Notice that ‘the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters,’ Genesis 1:2, signifying that He is involved in creation, Psalm 33:6-7 / Job 26:13. The word ‘hovering’ gives us the picture of a mother bird fluttering over her nest, ready to feed her children. It is an intimate and personal figure of speech, Deuteronomy 32:11.
In the New Testament we read of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, Luke 1:35. Remember there’s no light at this point in time but there is water, Psalm 104:5-9, and so God is going to create everything out of water, 2 Peter 3:5.
Did God create the heavens and the earth millions of years ago, and let them become, without form and void. Then, the spirit of God moved, and we have the world today? We should notice exactly what Genesis 1:1-2, tells us.
It doesn’t tell us that God created the heavens and the earth and then allowed them to ‘become without form and void’. Instead, it makes a positive and emphatic statement about their origin, Genesis 1:1-2. It tells us that they were created by God. That is how they came to exist.
Genesis 1:2, tells us that at the time of its creation, the material to which God himself later gave the name ‘Earth’, Genesis 1:10, was as described in the Hebrew text which is almost a play on words! The A.V. translated this as ‘without form and void’ and both words mean ‘empty’.
How long has God allowed this state of emptiness to continue, or if He allowed it to continue at all, we cannot say. There is nothing in the Bible that will permit us to be dogmatic on the matter. But, in order to account for the fossil record, and, especially, to make room for the Dinosaurs mentioned in the question, attempts have been made to fix a gap of millions of years between Genesis 1:1, and Genesis 1:2.
Sometimes, in order to prevent the Bible from being called ‘unscientific’, very clever religious people have gone out of their way to accommodate the scientists, or, at the very least, have tried to harmonize, the Bible and ‘Science’. We have here a case in point.
Thomas Chalmers was a Scottish clergyman, born in 1780, who is probably best remembered as the man who was largely responsible for the founding of the ‘Free Church of Scotland’. Dr Chalmers was a great orator, a mathematician, and a chemist. As a writer, he produced a work entitled ‘Institutes of Theology’ which ran to thirty-four volumes!
In his attempts to reconcile the Biblical account of Creation with what was claimed to be ‘science’, he produced the ‘Catastrophe Theory’, which assumed that in the imaginary time-gap between Genesis 1:1, and Genesis 1:2, there had been an earlier ‘Creation’, which had been destroyed by some sort of disaster which destroyed all life, including the Dinosaurs, which, he thought had existed during that earlier time.
According to this theory, it was this ‘catastrophe’ that, besides killing the dinosaurs, also produced the fossils. Since there is no mention of anything like this in the Bible, how did Thomas Chalmers support his theory?
He did it by going to Genesis 1:2, and changing the translation. He said that the word ‘was’, which in Hebrew is ‘havah’, should really be ‘hayah’, which means ‘became’. With this change, the verse comes out as ‘the earth became without form and void’.
Unfortunately for his theory, there is no linguistic evidence or authority for making such a change in the text. Linguistically, the word ‘was’ in Genesis 1:2, refers to all the time during which the ‘Earth’ existed as a formless mass.
But to support his theory, Dr Chalmers also turned to Genesis 1:28, which, in the AV. reads, ‘replenish the earth’, and he took this to mean, ‘fill the earth again’. But the word ‘male’ doesn’t mean ‘fill again’, it means ‘fill up’.
God commanded those whom he had created to ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill up the earth’, Genesis 1:28. In other words, God commanded the first human beings to populate the planet which, as His work on the previous day’s reveals, He had prepared for them to occupy. Still no evidence for the ‘Catastrophe Theory’!
Dr Chalmers also argued from Isaiah 45:18, which tells us that God ‘created the heavens and formed the earth’. The verse continues to say that God ‘did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited’. Bear in mind that Isaiah had not heard of Dr Chalmers’s theory! The prophet is speaking on behalf of God and is speaking about the earth on which we live today.
Notice who was involved in creation. God the Father, Genesis 1:1-2 / James 1:17 / Isaiah 40:28 / Acts 4:24. The Word, that is, Jesus, Genesis 1:1-2 / John 1:1-3 / Colossians 1:15-18 / Hebrews 1:1-3, and the Holy Spirit, Genesis 1:1-2 / Psalm 33:6-7 / Job 26:13.
The Hebrew word for day is the word ‘Yom’, which means twenty-four hours. When this word is used with a numeral adjective, it always signifies a twenty-four hour day, Exodus 6-9. Forty days and nights, Genesis 7:12. One-hundred and fifty days the Earth was flooded, Genesis 7:24. Jonah, three days and nights in the belly of the great fish, Jonah 1:17. Creation, rested on the seventh day, Genesis 2:2-3.
Of the one-thousand, two-hundred and eighty-four times, this word is used alone without the numerical adjective in the Old Testament. There are only a few exceptions when it does not signify a twenty-four hour day. The plural form ‘yamin’, always refers to a twenty-four hour day, Exodus 20:11. If God is who the Bible describes Him to be, then certainly He has the power to create and the power to create in a single moment.
Everything was made in order of creation on purpose so that everything that was created already had its environment created first, Genesis 1:2. ‘Hay etha’ is Hebrew for ‘was’, Genesis 1:2. Let’s not forget that the earth was formed in order to be inhabited, Isaiah 45:18. God brought form to the unformed Earth.
Notice that each day of creation follows in a logical sequence. One step is taken so that another might follow. Without the energy source of light, there can be no use made of either the sea or of the earth that will later emerge.
There are two important repetitions found through these first six creation days. The first repetition is ‘And God said.’ Each day begins with God speaking and when He speaks, things are created, Genesis 1:3 / Genesis 1:6 / Genesis 1:9 / Genesis 1:11 / Genesis 1:14 / Genesis 1:20 / Genesis 1:26.
The second repetition is that God sees His creation as ‘good’. Six times in the first twenty-five verses, Genesis 1:4 / Genesis 1:10 / Genesis 1:12 / Genesis 1:18 / Genesis 1:21 / Genesis 1:25. The repetitions tell us what we are supposed to focus on regarding this account.
God creates by His powerful word and what He creates is always good, Genesis 1:4 / Genesis 1:10 / Genesis 1:12 / Genesis 1:18 / Genesis 1:21 / Genesis 1:25. When He finished creating, He said it was ‘very good’, Genesis 1:31.
This is the first recorded words of God and notice it is the Word who is speaking, Genesis 1:3 / John 1:1-3. The text should read, ‘be light’ or ‘light be’ because it is a command and what He commanded, happened, there was light, Genesis 1:3. God worked during the day, in the day, in the light and when He speaks, He commands, and things come into existence from nothing, Colossians 1:16-17. The Hebrew word for ‘light’ is ‘owr’, Genesis 1:3-4.
If light existed on day one, what was its source prior to the formation of the sun on day four?
The Way Of Truth Website, says the following.
‘The most consistent interpretation of Genesis 1:3, is that God created a form of physical light that existed independently of the sun. This understanding affirms the Bible’s literal six-day creation account without unnecessary allegorizing or accommodation to modern scientific theories. While it is clear from Scripture that God Himself is light, 1 John 1:5, Genesis 1:3, describes a specific creation event in which God called into being a physical form of light, distinct from His eternal nature.’
The Way Of Truth Website continues and says the following.
‘This view maintains the integrity of the biblical text, upholding both the clear distinction between creation days and the authority of Scripture. On the fourth day, God then formed the sun, moon, and stars as light sources, distinct from the light He had already created. This interpretation best harmonizes the biblical narrative, presenting a God who is both powerful and intentional in His creation of the world.’
The truth of the matter is, we simply don’t know because the verse doesn’t tell us. We know that the object of creation on this first day was light, which stands in contrast to the object of the fourth day of creation which would be the creation of light-bearers. In Genesis 1:16, the Hebrew word used for light is ‘mar-rot’. This is an object that gives light, such as the sun or stars. The first describes elemental light without any reference to the source of that light and the second describes the light sources.
The Hebrew word used for darkness in Genesis 1:4, is the word ‘chosek’, which is the opposite of the Hebrew word ‘owr’, Isaiah 5:30 / Isaiah 9:1 / Isaiah 47:5. God created light and then straight away separates the light from the darkness, Genesis 1:4. Notice when He made this separation, He only defined one of them as ‘good’, that is, the light, the darkness He called ‘night’, Genesis 1:5.
The two would exist in the world separately from each other, with light being the dominant force. The reason for the separation signifies the beginning of day and night, evening and morning, Genesis 1:5.
We know that Jesus Himself is the Light of the world and the light of life, John 8:12, and we know that God Himself is light, 1 John 1:5. We also know that Jesus often used physical realities to make a spiritual point, Matthew 12:39. They are actual, factual, historical events intended to point beyond themselves to greater spiritual truths.
Paul suggests that God has done the same thing in creation itself, 2 Corinthians 4:6. Paul here is alluding to Genesis 1:3, and Paul considers it to be a historical, factual, and plainly understood the text. God said, ‘Let there be light,’ Genesis 1:3, and there was light. The text, for Paul, points to a real event in time and history, the creation of light around six thousand years ago, as recorded in Genesis.
However, God revealed to Paul that the text does even more than record history. God showed Paul that His acts in creation were like cosmic words, foretelling spiritual things to come. Just as God said, ‘Let there be light!’ Genesis 1:3, He now says to helpless, weak, sinners, ‘Let there be understanding of who Christ is,’ 2 Corinthians 4:6.
As the light on the first day invaded the darkness of cosmic creation, so God’s grace invades our weak, frail minds. We stand before God without spiritual light and void of goodness. Like the original creation in Genesis 1:1-2, we don’t yet have spiritual life but all that changes because of God’s grace, John 1:4-5.
Like Paul, John, John 1:4-5, also is alluding to Genesis 1:3, and he believes that every word is historic and literally true. In addition, God revealed to John that the Genesis text says much more. God intended the historic light of creation to burn into our minds an even greater spiritual truth.
On day two God is going to create everything out of water, Genesis 1:2 / Psalm 104:5-9 / 2 Peter 3:5. God is now going to divide that water, Genesis 1:6. Some of the water stayed on earth to eventually form the oceans, lakes, and rivers. On day five these waters will be filled with fish and other sea creatures, Genesis 1:20-23.
The Bible says that the rest of the water was ‘separated’ from this water on earth and was placed ‘above the vault,’ Genesis 1:7, which God calls the ‘sky’, Genesis 1:8. What is the vault?
The word ‘vault’ is the Hebrew word, ‘raqiya’ and means a space or expanse. This includes the universe, outer space, and the sky, 2 Chronicles 2:6 / Isaiah 13:10 / Jeremiah 4:25. The vault refers to a space or expanse called ‘heaven’, Genesis 1:1 / Genesis 1:8.
On day four of creation, God put the sun, moon, and stars in the heaven, Genesis 1:17, and on day five He created birds that fly in the part of the heaven that is near us, Genesis 1:20. So from this, we know that on day two God created our atmosphere, what we call the ‘sky’ and outer space.
Before God created this ‘expanse’, the atmosphere, there was probably no free oxygen, and evaporation of the ocean’s water was impossible. The ‘water above the expanse’ was probably in the form of a dense vapour canopy, not clouds. The whole earth was like a giant greenhouse.
Where did the water go that God put ‘above the vault’? No one knows for sure because the Bible doesn’t give us many more details. But this likely refers to water somewhere in outer space. As we learn more about the universe, studying it through the lens of Scripture, we’re sure to find out where this water is.
After God divided the waters and created our atmosphere and outer space, there was evening and morning, ending day two, Genesis 1:8. Notice that God didn’t say ‘it was good’ at this point, why? Because it was incomplete at this point.
Here we see God creating dry land and separating it from the sea. On day one, He created a water-covered earth, and on day two, He created our atmosphere and outer space. But there was nothing on the earth, not even any land and nothing in space. On day three, it was time to start filling them up.
First, God commanded the water to go into one place so that dry ground could appear, Genesis 1:9. Because this water went into ‘one place’, it seems that God created one great big ocean and one great big continent. It wouldn’t be until the flood that we would get the seven continents that we have today, Genesis 7:11.
Now that there was dry land, God commanded it to produce plants, Genesis 1:11. Soon fruit trees, green grass, flowers, and many other kinds of plants filled the land, Genesis 1:12. Notice that each of these plants reproduces ‘according to its kind’, Genesis 1:11-12. This implies that they were mature enough to reproduce.
This also means that one kind of plant cannot turn into another kind of plant. Daisies always produce more daisies and pine trees always produce more pine trees. Plants didn’t evolve. The same principle applies to everything God created, Genesis 1:11-12 / Genesis 1:21 / Genesis 1:24-25.
God created all of the plant kinds on day three and since part of His creation was completed, God saw that the dry land, the seas, Genesis 1:10, and the beautiful plants were ‘good’, Genesis 1:12. It was then evening and morning, the end of the third day of Creation, Genesis 1:13.
Here we have the account of God creating the sun, moon, and stars to govern night and day. On day two God created, among other things, outer space, but outer space was just, space! So, on day four He filled it with all kinds of beautiful things.
These ‘lights’, Genesis 1:14, include the sun, moon, and the stars, as well as many other things that aren’t named in Genesis, such as the other planets in our solar system, Amos 5:8 / Jude 1:11-13. God’s creativity isn’t just seen here on earth with all the different kinds of plants and animals. The creativity of our Creator is seen throughout everything He has made, including the objects in outer space, Psalm 19:1.
God created the sun, moon, and stars for two reasons. Not only to separate the day from the night, but also for ‘signs and seasons, and for days and years’, Genesis 1:14. People didn’t need clocks or watches years ago to tell the time, they simply used the sun, Genesis 1:16. The moon, Genesis 1:16, determines our months, while years are determined by earth’s revolution around the sun.
Earth Science For Kids, says the following.
‘While the Sun and the rotation of the Earth both have some tidal impact, the location of the moon has the biggest affect on the tide. The gravity of the moon causes a high tide both on the side of the Earth directly below the Moon (sublunar tide) and the opposite side of the Earth (antipodal). Low tides are on the sides of the Earth ninety degrees away from the moon.’
The stars, Genesis 1:16, also change depending on the season, and we can use them to determine directions just as people did many years to help them get to their destinations. The sun, moon, and stars do a good job doing what they were designed to do.
The other purpose for the sun and moon is to provide light on the earth, Genesis 1:17-18 / Genesis 1:15. The sun, the greater light, Genesis 1:16, gives us lots of light during the day, and the moon, the lesser light, Genesis 1:16, reflects the sun’s light on earth at night so that we can see. Just as Christ is the Light of the world, John 8:12, as Christians we should reflect His light in the world so people can see Christ in us, Matthew 5:14-16.
God saw that His creations, the bright sunshine, the cool night moon, the twinkling stars, and all the other objects in outer space, were ‘good’, Genesis 1:18. Then there was evening and morning, the end of the fourth day, Genesis 1:19.
On day five, God filled the oceans with fish, whales, corals, clams, squid, jellyfish, marine reptiles, and so much more, Genesis 1:20-21. All of them were created on the same day by God but God wasn’t finished yet, He also created birds and other flying creatures, Genesis 1:20-21. These creatures didn’t come about slowly over millions of years, with corals, sponges, and jellyfish coming first and then fish coming later.
Imagine the quiet earth with all those beautiful plants, Genesis 1:11-12, suddenly filled with the songs and cries of all kinds of different birds. It must have been amazing, but it wasn’t just birds, God also created bats and flying reptiles on day five, He created the birds and all the sea life, ‘according to their kind’, Genesis 1:21. So bats have baby bats, crabs have baby crabs, and whales have baby whales.
Of course, this is exactly what we see in the world today. One kind of animal never produces another kind. They always reproduce according to their kind, just as it says in Genesis. When God looked down and saw all the wonderful and amazing sea creatures and the beautiful flying creatures, He saw that it was ‘good’, Genesis 1:21.
After He had finished creating all the sea and flying creatures, notice we see them receiving a blessing from God, Genesis 1:22. There was evening and morning, the end of day five. Genesis 1:23.
What about the dinosaurs? Some people suggest that dinosaurs were created on day five, other suggest that they were created on day six, Genesis 1:24-25. Genesis 1:21, offers us something to think about. On the fifth day God created ‘great sea monsters’, R.S.V.
Here the Hebrew word used is ‘tannin’, which is used to describe any ‘long’ creature and is used to refer to sea monsters, dragons, serpents, and lizards. This would include the Leviathan, Psalm 104:26 / Psalm 74:14 / Job 41. The word ‘dinosaur’ comes from ‘deino saurus’ and means ‘terrible lizard’.
We know that God created everything in just six days, Genesis 1 / Exodus 20:11. On each day of creation He formed something unique and amazing that brings glory to Him. Day six was His final day of creation. On day six, God commanded the earth to bring forth living creatures, Genesis 1:24.
All of the animals that live, or lived on the land, such as elephants, horses, and dinosaurs, were created on this day, Genesis 1:24-25. And each kind was unique and different, from tiny mice to the huge T. Rex, to howling monkeys. As I mentioned earlier, there are some who believe the dinosaurs were created on this day, rather than on day five, Genesis 1:21.
Each one was created to reproduce ‘according to its kind,’ Genesis 1:25, so one kind will never turn into another kind. Dogs always have baby dogs, cats always have baby cats, and horses always have baby horses.
After He finished creating the animals, God turned His attention to His most important creation, mankind, Genesis 1:26. Notice, ‘Let us make man in our image’. This only happened when God created man, Colossians 1:16, and notice the plural unity of the Godhead, Genesis 1:28 / Genesis 1:1 / Genesis 3:22 / Genesis 11:7.
Adam and Eve were created with free will and they will have choices to make. They have freedom, freedom of choice, Ephesians 4:20-24 / Colossians 3:9-10. True righteousness means being right by God and holiness means being set apart for a purpose.
God created man and woman in His very image, Genesis 1:27, ‘and God breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living being’, Genesis 2:7. Man is unique among all that God made because none of the animals were created in God’s image, only man and woman were.
Being created ‘in the image of God’ refers to the spiritual inclinations of man that make him a spiritual being who seeks to worship a higher power than himself. God even created a special place for them to live, the Garden in Eden, Genesis 2:15.
God created Adam, the first man from dust, Genesis 2:7, and made Adam’s wife Eve from his rib, Genesis 2:21-22. This was the very first marriage, created by God. Notice also that man has dominion over everything, the animals etc, Genesis 1:26, except the heavens.
He goes on to bless them further and told them that they were to ‘rule over the earth and fill it with children’, Genesis 1:28. This implies that they both created old enough and mature enough to produce children.
Note that Adam, Eve, and all the animals were created to be vegetarians, this means they only ate plants, Genesis 1:29-30. This is because there was no death in God’s original creation, Adam and Eve were created never to die, neither were the animals. So, they and the animals only ate all the delicious fruits, vegetables, and plants that God had made on day three, Genesis 1:12.
At the end of day six, God looked at all He had made, all the different animals but it wasn’t until He created Adam and Eve, He said everything was ‘very good’, Genesis 1:31. Then there was evening and morning, the end of the sixth day, Genesis 1:31.