How long ago do you think that was?
Before the cars were here. Before houses. Before trees. Before flowers. Even before the earth and the sky. In God's beginning there was nothing; nothing at all.
And out of nothing God made something. That something was the heavens and the earth.
But the earth became covered with water and everything was in darkness. Then....
God looked at the waste, empty earth all covered in water and decided to form it into a nice pleasant place. And so about six thousand years ago God spoke one day and said: "Let there be light.”
And there was light. Suddenly out of the darkness light appeared. It shone through the darkness and showed water—water everywhere.
When God saw the light He saw that it was good and so He called the light by a name that we can all understand. What do you think God called the light? He called it DAY. What do you suppose He called the darkness? Of course, He called it NIGHT.
So God made Day and Night. In the first day of the life of our world God made Day and Night.
Next God had to do something with all the water everywhere so He separated it or divided it. He spoke and formed the sky. God called the sky HEAVEN. Not the same heaven where the Lord Jesus is, but just the heaven that we can see—where all the stars and moon are. Of course, when God made the heavens He hadn't made the moon and stars yet. It was just a big empty sky with nothing there. That is why the Bible says that God "hangs the world upon nothing.”
Did you ever see a man make something that can hang in the air with nothing holding it up? No—man cannot do that, but God can. God is almighty.
So God made the Heavens in one day. And He made Day and Night in one day.
Well, it wasn't much good just having a heaven and an earth all covered with water so God made the land come out of the water so that there would be a place for people to walk on.
All over the world the water rushed and gurgled together into one place and the dry land came up where the water had been.
God gave names, too, to the land and the water. What would you have called the land? What would you have called the water? Well, God called them EARTH and SEA. They are good names, aren't they?
Have you ever tasted the sea or the ocean as it is often called? If you ever get to swim in the ocean and get some of it in your mouth it tastes really, really salty, doesn't it? It's not good to drink at all. God made it that way. He made the salty sea and the dry land in one day. And He made a lot of things to grow on the new earth that day, too. There were grasses of different kinds and trees and perhaps even flowers. All these things started to grow when God told them to. All this was done on the third day.
On the fourth day God made the sun and the moon and the stars. He set them in His chosen place in the sky and made the earth spin around the sun in a special circle so that we could have spring and summer and fall and winter. He also made the earth spin around and around like a bicycle wheel so that we could see the sun in the daytime and the moon at night. So God made everything move exactly the way He wanted it to, in a way that would be best for us. The earth and the sun and the moon and all the stars didn't just get there on their own. No, our God put them there.
On the fifth day God spoke to the sea and to the air. What do you think He did that for? Well, He wanted things to grow and live in the sea and in the air. What kinds of things do you know of that live in the sea? What kinds of things live in the air?
Yes, God created fish and all water creatures. The Bible tells us one kind that God created. That was the whales. And He created all the birds.
The fifth day was over. God saw all the fish in the sea and all the birds of the air and He saw that they were good. He was pleased with them. There certainly are some very beautiful fish and birds, aren't there?
How many days have gone by since God began to form the world? Five. Let's see if you can remember what God did in each of the days.
On the first day He made Day and Night. On the second day He made the Heavens. On the third day He made the Sea and Earth and grass and trees.
On the fourth day He made the Sun, Moon and the Stars.
On the fifth day He made the sea creatures and the birds.
Now we come to the sixth day. God made some very wonderful and beautiful things on this day, too. Animals: all kinds-from big to little, from fat to thin. And do you know, not one fought with another. No, they all lived and ate together without ever fighting. Do you know why that was? It was because there was no sin on the earth yet and this made all the animals to be friends and at peace with each other.
Before this day ended God made something very special. He wanted this creation to be His friend, but this special creation has made God sad many times. Do you know what it was? It was Man. Just like your daddy or your grandpa. God made a man (and some time later He made a woman, too).
But He made them with special care and in a special way that we will talk about in another story.
God put man on the new earth and told him to look after it, to take care of the animals, and to eat herbs and vegetables and fruits. Do you know that even all the animals were to eat the same kind of food that man was to eat? That seems funny, doesn't it? But don't forget that we don't know what it was like when there was no sin here. It must have been very wonderful.
So at the end of the sixth day God looked at His creation. He looked at the Day and the Night. He looked at the Heavens. He looked at the Seas and the Earth and all the grass and trees. He looked at the Sun and Moon and Stars. He looked at the fish and sea creatures. He looked at the birds flying through the air. He looked at the animals and He looked at the Man. And when He had seen it all He said: "It is very good.”
God was very pleased. He had made a beautiful world with beautiful things in it. He had made it all in just six days.
And on the seventh day God rested.
So God made the world and everything in it. All things were perfect. But the man and the woman turned away from God and disobeyed Him. Sin was brought into the world through their disobedience and as a result man died. Man would be separated from God forever. What a terrible thing to have happened. But God had a great love for His creation and so He sent His Son, Jesus, to bear the punishment due to man because of his sin. On the cross at Calvary almost two thousand years ago the Son of God satisfied God's requirements for man's sin and so made it possible for mankind to come back to God—to be acceptable in His sight.
May each one of you who has read this little book trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, know your sins are forgiven and be at peace with a loving God.
If you want to read this story for yourself from the Bible, it is in the first book, Genesis, chapter 1.
Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.