“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1

In my Bible study, we are studying Genesis, the book of beginnings.  I have read Genesis 1:1 many times, but this time, it jumped off the page at me!  What an amazing verse!  Ten little words with so much meaning, a summary statement introducing the six days of creation.  Let’s take a brief look at five of those ten words:  beginning, God, created, heavens and earth.

BEGINNING – this is the beginning of TIME as we know it, but there was never a time when God did not exist. Before earth’s beginning, there were no hours, days or years.  Our minds think of everything in time:  time to travel from here to there, time to work, time to play, so many hours in a day for chores to be done.  Time on earth has a beginning and an end and only God knows when that end will be.  “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands,” Psalm 102:25.

GOD – In the beginning, there was God.  He always existed, He was not created.  I understand the word for God in this verse is Elohim, meaning plural, more than one.  In Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, so we know all three persons of the Godhead were involved in Creation.   God spoke the world into being, “And God said,” is mentioned 10 times in Genesis 1.  By merely saying the words, God brought the world into existence!  “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth,” Psalm 33:6.  God has no limits, He cannot be measured, His power has no limit.  God’s knowledge has no limits, His love has no limits.  God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the same:  infinite.

CREATED – God created everything, from the tiniest atom to the farthest galaxy in the universe.  Everything we see and what we cannot see – the heavens, angels and the spiritual realm.  He spoke and these things appeared.  God alone is able to bring something out of nothing.  As the Creator, He is distinct from His creation, He alone is to be worshiped, not created things.  “This is what the Lord says…. I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,” Isaiah 44:24. 

 HEAVENS – “God created the heavens,” a simple statement with a challenging concept for our human minds.  My Bible notes say: “The vast galaxy we live in is spinning at the incredible speed of 490,000 miles an hour.  But even at this breakneck speed, our galaxy still needs 200 million years to make one rotation.  And there are over one billion other galaxies just like ours in the universe.   Some scientists say the number of stars in creation is equal to all the grains of all the sands on all the beaches of the world.  Yet this complex sea of spinning stars functions with remarkable order and efficiency.”  God told Abraham, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore,” Genesis 22:17.  We are descendants of Abraham through faith in Christ Jesus!

EARTH – God created the earth for His Son’s pleasure and man’s habitation.  God spoke and it was so!  He didn’t need a sudden explosion, or a process that evolved over billions of years.  God created the earth out of his great love to give to all people a special place to live.  We will never know all the answers of creation, but this simple truth is enough, “GOD SAID IT!”  “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth,” Psalms 108:5.

Ponder and enjoy!

Your friend, Jean