God Creates Heavens and Earth

September 2, 2018 Background Scripture: Genesis 1:1 – 13 Lesson Passage: Genesis 1:1 – 13 So many things are put into proper perspective when we first consider the biblical account of the creation of everything. Throughout recorded history, man has always yearned to know about the origin of everything—including humanity. The rational mind is led to the conclusion that the physical world is the result of an intelligent creator. It takes much more faith to believe that such an orderly nature could somehow appear out of nothing. Man has developed many philosophies purporting to explain his own existence as well as the universe. The more man searches, the more he continues to find. There appears to be no end to the wonder that is the universe. When advanced technology telescopes are launched into space and aimed at the dark spaces between distant stars, countless other galaxies, stars, planets, and asteroids suddenly appear. When one takes the most powerful microscope and aim it at what appears to be nothing, a whole world of micro-structures appears. When the psalmist without the aid of technology observed the night sky, he asked, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” Any unbiased observation of the natural world leads to humility in men. Furthermore, any dissertation that suggests an explanation of what is still unfolding in our observation is worth considering. In other words, if I were not a person of faith, I would still be interested in an explanation of the things that I observe in nature. To this longing for meaning and explanation, God responds, I did it! I made all of it. What we have seen and even what we have yet to see are all the product of God’s creative expression. God called forth those things that were not and they came forth. In the mind of God, He saw everything that He desired of a physical world and he called it into being. The first words of the bible are, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Note that God shows up without explanation of Himself. There is no segue into the creation story. God is self-existent. The ever-present God calls for those things that did not exist. There is no statement concerning God’s existence prior to His creation of the physical universe. What is clear from the first verse of the bible is that God was present when there was nothing physical in existence. There is much written and debated about how much time elapsed between the first verse of the bible and the second verse. Did God create an empty and shapeless earth and then populated it little by little? Or did God create a populated earth and a disaster occurred that caused His creation to become empty and shapeless? Regardless of how much time elapsed between the first two verses of the bible, the second verse reveals to us that the Spirit of God was brooding over the desolate and empty earth in preparation for life as we know it. That’s encouraging to consider that the Spirit of God can brood over a desolate and empty life and bring forth something wonderful from it. Only God could know what light is when there is nothing but darkness. So, He called light from the darkness and commanded them to separate the one from the other. To this day, light and darkness stand as testaments to the sustaining power of the word of God. Light and darkness cannot coexist in the same space. Where one is, the other cannot be. They maintain the separation God commanded at the beginning. Then God separated the water from the land and caused vegetation to appear. Thus, ended the third day of the creation story. Robert C. Hudson August 23, 2018