The first verse of the Bible gives us a satisfying and useful account of the origin of the earth and the heavens.

The faith of humble Christians understands this better than the fancy of the most learned men.

From what we see of heaven and earth, we learn the power of the great Creator.

And let our make and place as men, remind us of our duty as Christians, always to keep heaven in our eyes, and the earth under our feet.

The Son of God, one with the Father, was with Him when he made the world; Although, we are often told that the world was made by Him, and nothing was made without Him.

Oh, what high thoughts should there be in our minds, of that great God whom we worship, and of that great Mediator in whose name we pray!

And here, at the beginning of the sacred volume, we read of that Divine Spirit, whose work upon the heart of man is so often mentioned in other parts of the Bible.

Observe, that at first there was nothing desirable to be seen, for the world was without form, and void; it was confusion, and emptiness.

In like manner the work of grace in the soul is a new creation: and in a graceless soul, one that is not born again, there is disorder, confusion, and every evil work: it is empty of all good, for it is without God; it is dark, it is darkness itself: this is our condition by nature, till Almighty grace works a change in us.

This is one of the most profound statements that has ever been made, and yet we find that it is a statement that is certainly challenged in this hour in which we are living.

I think that this verse is all we have of the actual creation—with the exception, as we shall see, of the creation of man and animals later on in the Book of Genesis.

But this is the creation story, and I’ll admit that it is a very brief story, indeed.



Our Scripture will be coming from

Genesis 1:1-2 KJV

[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.



Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

The Bible begins with God, not with philosophic arguments for His existence.

Neither the peoples of the ancient world in general nor the Scriptures in particular assert innumerable beginnings.

Only one beginning is in view, and it is that which commences in the first verse of the Bible.

The concept of the beginning is not limited to a singular point of time, but rather includes the span of events that are described through Genesis 2:4.

Scripture gives no data for determining how long ago the universe was created.

The Hebrew word translated God is actually plural in form.

Some well-meaning believers, knowing that Scripture clearly teaches there is only one true God (Isaiah 46:9; etc.), assert that this plural form demonstrates that God is a trinity.

Unbelievers claim that this plural form indicates that the Old Testament teaches the existence of many gods.

Neither view is necessarily supported by this plural form, for two reasons.

First, though a plural noun in Hebrew may indicate “more than one,” a noun may be plural to signify honor; this is similar to the royal “we” spoken by a king or queen.

Second, the Hebrew behind the verb created is singular, indicating only one subject.

The best explanation is that God is viewed as a single essence who is honored above all other beings.

This expression is roughly equivalent to our term universe.

In Hebrew, two words with opposite senses are often paired to indicate a totality.

For example, “great and small” in 2 Chronicles 34:30 means all kinds of people.

Therefore Genesis 1:1 is expressing quite clearly that all we call “matter” today is not coeternal with God.

Rather, God brought it into existence.

Genesis 1:2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Two main interpretations have been advanced to explain the expression "without form, and void" (Hebrew tohu and bohu).

The first, which may be called the Original Chaos interpretation, regards these words as a description of an original formless matter in the first stage of the creation of the universe.

The second, which may be called the Divine judgment interpretation, sees in these words a description of the earth only, and that In a condition subsequent to its creation, not as it was originally.

To begin with, look out upon this vast creation—something has happened to it!

Man’s trip to the moon reveals nothing in the world but a wasteland up there.

How did it get that way?

Maybe there was a catastrophe in God’s universe.

That is specifically mentioned in regard to the earth because this is to be the place where man lives, and so the earth is described as being “without form and void.”

“Darkness was upon the face of the deep” indicates the absence of God, of course.

We move to the description of the situation after the creation of matter in verse 1.

The exact phrase (in the original Hebrew) of earth’s description without form, and void also occurs in Jeremiah 4:23.

There it describes the moral chaos of a chosen people who do not know the Lord, who do not know how to do good, and who are wise only in knowing how to do evil.

The phrase seems to describe a situation that is without moral boundaries.

In parallel, Genesis 1:2 implies that physical boundaries are not yet fully defined.

Here, the word darkness communicates the absence of light in a physical sense.

Later writers and Jesus Himself will use this word to communicate the absence of light in a moral sense.

It also comes to be used in contexts that call for the punitive acts of God.

Regarding Genesis 1, the literal, physical sense is clear.

But as we read the Old Testament in light of the New Testament, our understanding of figurative uses of the word darkness is enhanced.

The word translated Spirit is elsewhere translated “breath” (Genesis 6:17), “wind” (8:1), “spirit” (45:27), “courage” (Joshua 2:11), and others.

Regarding a choice between translations of Spirit or spirit, the translators were faced with a difficulty in that the Hebrew language does not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters.

So translators must interpret the meaning, and they capitalize when the reference is to God personally as divine being.

As a result, the phrases Spirit of God and spirit of God occur 10 and 4 times respectively in the King James Version of the Old Testament.

Many Christians think the phrase Spirit of God always refers to the Holy Spirit.

But passages where the identical Hebrew is properly not translated that way are 1 Samuel 16:15, 16, 23; 18:10.

The phrase Spirit of God in the passage before us refers to the same one known as “the Spirit of the Lord.”

This Spirit can be present (Judges 11:29), take action (13:25), speak messages (2 Samuel 23:2), and depart (1 Samuel 16:14).

These are the qualities of a personal being, not an impersonal force.



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