III. Genesis 1:1
A. The absolute beginning vv 1:1 – “In the Beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
1) 1st 2 verses separate from the creation “days”?
- Fossils and remains
2) Word was in the beginning - John 1:1-5
3) Word became flesh (Jesus Christ) - John 1:14
4) Wisdom was with God in the beginning - Proverbs 8:22-31
5) Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom - I Corinthians 1:30
6) By the word of the Lord were the heavens made – Psalm 33:6
7) Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom - Psalm 111:10
8) The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting LIGHT – Isaiah 60:19
9) In Him was life; and the life was the LIGHT of men – John 1:4
a. Christ = Light
b. Christ = God
c. God = Light
d. Christ = Word
e. Word = Wisdom
f. Word = God = True Light (John 1:9)
B. In the Beginning – TIME (When did God create?)
1) The 1st Verse in the Bible creates the starting point on the timeline
2) So when was “In the Beginning?”
3) “The Hebrew word ‘re’shiyth’ which Moses used has a very specific sense in scripture. In the Bible the term always refers to an extended yet indeterminate duration of time – never a specific moment. It is a block of time which precedes an extended series of time periods. It is a time before time. The term does not refer to a point in time but to a period or duration of time which falls before a series of events.” - Dr. John Sailhamer; Genesis Unbound p. 38
C. God – SUBJECT
1) Elohiym – Strong’s #430 specifically used of The Supreme God in this instance, Plural of #433 Elowahh which means deity.
- Used 2,700 times in scripture
- Establishes God as Creator, connects to creation
- Indicates His relation to mankind as HIS creatures
2) First mention of God and its in the plural sense indicating the 3 parts of the Godhead
3) Different name than JHVH which the same God in “Covenant Relation”
D. Created – ACTION
a. Why did God create? For an habitation?
- Matt. 8:20 “…the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.”
- Eph. 3:17-18 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
- Eph. 2:22 “In Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit.”
- Acts 17:24 (Paul Speaking) “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” I find it touching that Paul is quoting Stephen here.
- Acts 7:48 (Stephen Speaking) “…the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands…”
- Isaiah 66:1-2 “…The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things hath My hand made, and all those things have been…”
1) How does God inhabit His creation?
· Jeremiah 23:24 “…Do not I fill the heaven and the earth? saith the Lord?”
· We have already established that God = Light, lets take a look at the matter contained in the universe.
· All matter regardless of form (solid, liquid, gas or plasma) consists of elements on the periodic table of elements.
· These elements are determined by how many protons are contained in the nucleus of an atom.
· Protons, neutrons and electrons consist of a charge, a form of energy
· Einstein said that energy and light are directly correlated in his theory of relativity of E = MC2
· Therefore God = Light = Energy inhabits every atom in the universe as stated in Jeremiah
· We’ll get into this later in chapter one especially the element of Carbon, the base element of life.
b. How did God create?
Proverbs 3:19 “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; By understanding hath He established the heavens”
John 1:1 – Word = God
John 1:3 – By Him (the Word) all things were made
Therefore…Word = Jesus Christ = Wisdom
- How does man create/invent? We have to have some understanding of what we want to create, right?
Proverbs 8:22-32 “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way Before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; When there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there: When He set a compass upon the face of the depth: When He established the clouds above: When He strengthened the fountains of the deep: When He gave to the sea His decree, That the waters should not pass His commandment: When He appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; And my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: For blessed are they that keep my ways.”
Colossians 1:16-17 “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist (hold together).”
- So He inhabits and “holds together” all things. We know that within an atom we have several forces in play that keep the Protons, Neutrons and Electrons from flying apart. We have electro-magnetic, centriphical, gravitational and others.
- Lets think about all of the things man has made that in our eyes its pretty amazing:
· Motor vehicles
· Jet airplanes
· Computers
· Internet
· Cell phones
· TV
· Satellite communication
· Space shuttle
· Hubble Telescope
· Virtual reality
- These are all impressive accomplishments and it took great “understanding” for man to invent these things, but as great as these man-made things are, God’s word says:
Isaiah 55:9 “For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
- So whatever man accomplishes, no matter how impressive, according to God’s Word its below the least of God’s accomplishments
- This should help us to understand the feasibility of God being the sole creator of the universe and everything in it for if man can accomplish the above which is quite substantial it’s just not on the same level as God’s ways.
E. The Heavens – SPACE (What did God create?)
1) The expanse we know as the universe
2) Notice heavens mentioned first which seems logical that it was created first
3) No indication of how long this took (or taking)
4) Psalm 19:1-6
F. The Earth – MATTER (What did God create?)
1) When God says “Earth” is He talking about this planet Earth or matter in a general term
2) The Hebrew word here can be used as both, but since it has an article “the” its likely to mean the planet earth
3) No indication of how long this took
G. The heavens and the earth – Merismos
1) Merism – A figure of speech in which the whole thing is mentioned by naming some of its parts
2) “God created the universe”
3) James Moffett Translation “This is the story of how the universe was formed. When God began to form the universe…”
H. “The Foundation of the World” ~E.W. Bullinger Appendix 146 of the Companion Bible
1) To arrive at the true meaning of this expression, we must note that there are two words translated foundation in the New Testement: (1) themelios, and (2) katabole.
2) The noun, themelios, occurs in Luke 6:48 , 49; 14:29 ; Acts 16:26 ; Romans 15:20 ; I Corinthians 3:10-12; Ephesians 2:20; I Timothy 6:19; II Timothy 2:19; Hebrews 6:1; 11:10 ; Revelation 21:14, 19. It is never used of the world (kosmos) or earth (ge). The corresponding verb (themelioo) occurs in Matthew 7:25; Luke 6:48; Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:23; Hebrews 1:10 and I Peter 5:10. The verb is only once used of the earth(ge). Hebrews 1:10
3) A comparison of all these passages will show that these are proper and regular terms for the English words ‘to found’, and ‘foundation’.
4) The noun katabole, occurs in Matthew 13:35; 25:34; Luke 11:50; John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 4:3; 9:26; 11:11; I Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; 17:8 and the corresponding verb kataballo occurs in II Corinthians 4:9; Hebrews 6:1; and Revelation 12:!0.
5) A comparison of all these passages (especially II Corinthians 4:9 and Revelation 12:10 ) will show the kataballo and katabole are not proper terms for founding or foundation, but the correct meaning is ‘casting down’, or ‘overthrow’.
6) Consistency, therefore, calls for the same translation in Hebrews 6:1, where instead of ‘not laying again’, the rendering should be ‘not casting down’. That is to say, the foundation already laid, of repentance, &c., was not to be cast down or overthrown, but was to be left – and progress made unto perfection.
7) Accordingly, the noun katabole, derived from, and cognate with the verb, ought to be translated ‘disruption’, or ‘ruin’.
8) The remarkable thing is that in all occurrences (except Hebrews 11:11) the word is connected with ‘the world’ (Gr. Kosmos), and therefore the expression should be rendered ‘the disruption (or ruin) of the world’, clearly referring to the condition indicated in Genesis 1:2, and described in II Peter 3:5,6. For the earth was not created tohu (Isaiah 45:18), but became so, as stated in the Hebrew of Genesis 1:2 and confirmed by II Peter 3:6, where ‘the world that then was by the word of God’ (Genesis 1:1), perished, and ‘the heavens and earth which are now, by the same word’ were created (Genesis 2:4), and are ‘kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment’ (II Peter 3:7) which shall usher in the ‘new heavens and the new earth’ of II Peter 3:13.
9) ‘The disruption of the world’ is an event forming a great dividing line in the dispensations of the ages. In Genesis 1:1 we have the founding of the world (Hebrews 1:10 …themelioo), but in Genesis 1:2 we have its overthrow.
10) This is confirmed by a further remarkable fact, that the phrase, which occurs ten times, is associated with the preposition apo = from (seven times, and with pro = before three times. The former refers to the kingdom, and is connected with the ‘counsels’ of God; the latter refers to the mystery and is connected with the ‘purpose’ of God (see John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; I Peter 1:20).
11) Ample New Testament testimony is thus given to the profoundly significant fact recorded in Genesis 1:2, that ‘the earth became tohu and bohu’ (i.e. waste and desolate); and darkness was on the face of the deep’, before the creation of ‘the heavens and the earth which are now’ (II Peter 3:7)
I. Credibility
1) How do Christian’s lose credibility in the world?
- Let’s look at the circumstances surrounding Galileo. In February 1616, the Catholic Church condemned heliocentrism (the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a stationary Sun at the center of the universe) as "false and contrary to Scripture", and Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it—which he promised to do. When he later defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy," forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
2) Now obviously now we know that the sun is not the center of the universe, but our solar system. This however was far more accurate than the catholic churches belief that the earth was the center of the universe. We have two problems…
A) Scientists who don’t consider the Word of God when studying science and
B) Christians who don’t consider science when studying the Word of God.
3) If science and our beliefs don’t agree one or both of them have to be wrong. How we interpret scripture to determine our beliefs may in fact be erroneous, likewise assumptions that scientists make when evaluating data may be erroneous. It is just like the human nature to think that they cannot possibly be wrong. Science and God agree it’s the human interpretation of each that creates disagreement. The same thing is going on today that was going on with in 1632 and throughout history.
J. Fun with numbers – Gamatria
- A system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like. It is likely that the term derives from the order of the Greek alphabet, gamma being the third letter of the Greek alphabet (gamma + tria).
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