Genesis 1
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:1-2).
Some of us have seen a man make a table. Of course he must have the wood. Wood may be bought from a lumber company, and then cut into shape and put together to make a table. But a man could never make the wood itself. Or, a man making bamboo baskets—he must first get the bamboo. This he splits into strips to weave. But to begin with, he must have the bamboo.
When God first created the world, He did not use stones or water or anything. Yet, through faith, we know that the world was created by the Word of God (Heb. 11:3), and the heavens too (Psa. 33:6). None but God could do this.
At first the earth must have been very good. But how did it become waste and empty, with darkness? God has not told us, but we believe God’s Word: “the earth was without form and void,” or, “empty.”
People speak of “the darkness of the world.” They do not mean that the sun and the moon do not give light, but that our hearts are dark. As the earth was empty and dark, so this is a picture of people. Light is knowing God. Darkness is not knowing God. How may this darkness be made light?
“The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light.” There are three persons in the Godhead. They are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is He Who is often called “The Heavenly Father”. If we are His children we may call Him, “Abba, Father”. That is something like, “Dear Father.” The Son of God is Jesus. If we belong to Him, we call Him, “Lord Jesus”. He is God, but He once became a Man, and lived on the earth. He died to put away our sins and rose again from among the dead and went up to heaven. He is truly God and truly Man, the risen Man in the glory. The Holy Spirit is also God. He lives on the earth in those who belong to the Lord Jesus. He also speaks to people.
When God said, “Let there be light”, the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the dark waters. So He now works in people giving them spiritual light.
If you know that your heart is dark and empty, it is the Holy Spirit speaking to your soul. Then God says, “Let there be light”, as He did to the dark world. And God saw the light that it was good. So He divided the light from the darkness. He called the light Day, and the darkness, Night. So there was evening and morning, the first day.
Then the world had light, but it was still waste, and covered with water. God said: “Let there be a firmament” (air) “in the midst of the waters” to divide the waters into the upper clouds and lower seas. God called the air “Heaven,” and we call it the sky. There was evening and there was morning, the second day. The water in the upper part we call clouds. The lower part is called Seas, Rivers, Lakes, and Ponds. As God divided the light from the darkness, so now He divided what was below from what was above, as God always divides good from bad. People do not do that. God tells those who call Him Lord, to go away from what is bad (2 Tim. 2:19). God said: “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.” God called this land ‘Earth’ and the mass of waters, ‘Sea.’ God saw that it was good. God said that grass should come on the earth, and vegetables that have seeds, and also fruit trees, and it was so. God saw that this was good; there was evening and morning—the third day.
God said, “Let there be lights”, to divide day from night, and for signs and seasons, days and years. So God made two great lights, the Great Light, the Sun, for the day; and the Small Light, the Moon, for night. God made the stars also. And He put the lights in the heaven to shine on the earth, to divide the day from the night, and the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. That was the fourth day. These lights are not God Himself. They are things that God made. If we call them gods, God will not be pleased with us. If you see a table, and you say ‘That is the man who made it,’ do you think the man would be pleased? No! He would say, ‘This is simply wood, a table made by me. It is not I.’ So we worship God and not the sun or the moon.
Now the earth was beautiful! It had flowers, grass, vegetables, and fruit trees. Then sun, moon and stars were shining. Still there were no living animals. So God said that the waters should bring forth a great many living things. So God created fish, and birds in the air. God saw that all was good and blessed them all on the fifth day.
Then God made the wild beasts and the cattle and the creeping things. God saw that it was good. The air, the land, the sea were filled with living things—birds, animals, fish and creeping things. Everything was beautiful! Yet there was no man on the earth; so God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing.”
So God created Man and blessed them. God said that He had given them every vegetable bearing seeds, also the fruit trees, for food. And to every animal, and the birds, and the creeping things He gave grass as food. God saw everything that He had made, and it was “very good”. There was evening and morning, the sixth day.
Man is different from every other moving thing. God made him in His own image, so that Man’s spirit lives forever, and never dies. A dog or a cow has no spirit that lives forever. Your body is like a house in which your spirit lives. If you get sick and die, it is as if your house is destroyed. Then you must move to another place. If your spirit leaves your body, where will it go? Your body can be buried in the grave, but not your spirit. Where will it go? There are two places; one is Heaven, the other is Hell. The Lord Jesus is the Door to Heaven; He says Himself: “I am the door, by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved” (John 10:9).