Verses 1:1 – 2:3: This description of God creating heaven and earth is understood to be: (1) recent, i.e., thousands not millions of years ago; (2) ex nihilo, i.e., out of nothing; and (3) special, i.e., in 6 consecutive 24 hour periods called “days” and further distinguished as such by this phrase, “the evening and the morning.”
“In the beginning”: While God exists eternally (Psalm 90:2); this marked the beginning of the universe in time and space. In explaining Israel’s identity and purpose to her on the plains of Moab, God wanted His people to know about the origin of the world in which they found themselves.
“God”: Elohim is a general term for deity and a name for the True God, though used also at times for pagan gods (31:30), angels (Psalm 8:5), men (Psalm 82:6), and judges (Exodus 21:6). Moses made no attempt to defend the existence of God, which is assumed, or explain what He was like in person and works which is treated elsewhere (Isa. 43:10, 13). Both are to be believed by faith (Heb. 11:3, 6).
“Created”: This word is used here of God’s creative activity alone, although it occasionally is used elsewhere of matter which already existed (Isa. 65:18). Context demands in no uncertain terms that this was a creation without preexisting material (as does other Scripture: Isa. 40:28; 45:8, 12, 18; 48:13; Jer. 10:16; Acts 17:24).
“The heavens and the earth”: All of God’s creation is incorporated into this summary statement which includes all 6, consecutive days of creation.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
“In the beginning”: Creation marks the absolute beginning of the temporal and material world. The traditional Jewish and Christian belief is that Geneses 1:1 declares that God created the original heaven and earth from nothing (Lat. “ex nihilo”) and that verse 2 clarifies that when it came from the Creator’s hand, the mass was “without form, and void,” unformed and without any life. The rest of the chapter then explains the process of Creation in detail.
There is no evidence in the Hebrew text for long ages of evolutionary development or a gap of time between verse 1 and verse 2.
“God”: (Hebrew Elohim): This form of the divine name occurs 2,570 times in the Old Testament. The plural ending “im” indicates a plural of majesty and takes a singular verb.
“Created”: (Hebrew bara): Meaning to create, shape or form. This verb is used exclusively with God as its subject. It refers to the instantaneous and miraculous act of God by which He brought the universe into existence. Thus, the Genesis account of Creation refutes atheism, pantheism, polytheism, and evolution.
This leaves no doubt that God is an eternal being. It also leaves no doubt that God himself created the earth. God, mentioned in Genesis 1:1 is actually Elohim (a plural word). Another Meaning of Elohim is, the highest being to be feared, Elohim indicates more than one involved in the act of creation. “Elohim”, (high and mighty).
This high and mighty Eternal One is actually God the Father, God the Word, and God the Holy Spirit. All who is in fact God, a singular verb is used often with the plural word Elohim indicating that there not only is a trinity of beings, but they are one in Spirit.
The three words used in the creation are different, but all translated created (Bara, Yatzar, and Asah). Bara means to create from nothing and is used in Genesis 1:1.
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.”
“Without form, and void”: This means “not finished in its shape and as yet uninhabited by creatures” (Isa. 45:18-19; Jer. 4:23). God would quickly (in 6 days) decorate His initial creation (1:2 – 2:3).
(Hebrew, Tohu wabohu, “unformed and unfilled”) describes the condition of earth after the initial act of Creation. It does not describe a chaotic condition as a result of judgment. Thus was (Hebrew “hayetah”) is correct and should not be translated “became”. How the earth became formed and filled is described (in verses 3-31).
“Darkness” is not always a symbol of evil (Psalm 104:19-24. Here it simply refers to the absence of light.
“Deep” refers to the waters covering the earth, not some primitive evolution. Sometimes referred to as existing waters, this is the term used to describe the earth’s water-covered surface before the dry land emerged (1:9-10). Jonah used this word to describe the watery abyss in which he found himself submerged (Jonah 2:5).
“The Spirit of God” Not only did God the Holy Spirit participate in creation, but so did God the Son (1 John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2). Here is a clear reference to the creative activity of the Holy Spirit.
John 1:3 indicates that Christ actually created all things for the Father. Thus, all three persons of the Trinity are active in the Creation. This undoubtedly accounts for the plural pronouns “us” and “our” (in verse 26), which take singular verbs in expressing the tri-unity of God.
The first emblem of the Holy Spirit in Scripture is that of the Spirit “moving” or literally “brooding” over the waters, much as a bird broods over her eggs to hatch them. The Scriptures assign to the Holy Spirit the works of creating the world (Psalm 33:6), of brooding over the waters (verse 2), of garnishing the heavens (Job 26:13), of renewing the earth (Psalm 104:30), and of sustaining life (Psalm 104:29).
“The heavens and the earth”: All of God’s creation is incorporated into this summary statement which includes all 6, consecutive days of creation.
The Holy Spirit’s work in Creation results in order (Isa. 40:12, 14; Gen. 1:2); life (Job 33:4); beauty (Job 26:13); and renewal (Psalm 104:30).
The work of the Holy Spirit in Creation is one of the biblical proofs of His deity. The Scriptures also describe the physical body of the Christian as the temple of the Holy Spirit, and suggest He is in the process of recreating us into Christ’s image (Phil. 1:6; Gen. 1:2; Luke 4:18).
Genesis 1:3 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
“And God said”: God effortlessly spoke light into existence (Psalm 33:6; 148:5). This dispelled the darkness of verse 2.
This is the first of a highly-structured series of succinct and formulaic sentences expressing the creative commands of God. Thus, Creation is accomplished by His word. Each command consists of:
(1) An announcement, “God said”;
(2) A creative command, “Let there be”;
(3) A summary word of accomplishment, “And it was so”;
(4) A descriptive word of accomplishment, “The earth brought forth”;
(5) A descriptive blessing, “God blessed”;
(6) An evaluative approval, “It was good”; and
(7) A concluding temporal framework, numbering each day.
“Light”: The greater and lesser lights (the sun and moon) were created later (1:14-19), on the fourth day. Here, God was the provider of light (2 Cor. 4:6), and will in eternity future be the source of light (Rev. 21:23).
“Verses 1:4-5 “Divided … called”: After the initial creation, God continued to complete His universe. Once God separated certain things, He then named them. Separating and naming were acts of dominion and served as a pattern for man, who would also name a portion of God’s creation over which God gave him dominion (2:19-20).
Genesis 1:4 “And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”
“Good”: Good for the purposes it was intended to serve (1:31). The word contains less an aesthetic judgment than a designation of purpose and correspondence to God’s will, indicating the moral goodness of the Creation.
“Light”: Not the sun which was created on the fourth day (verse 16), but some fixed light source outside of the earth. The earth passed through a day-and-night cycle in reference to this light.
Genesis 1:5 “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
“God called”: This act demonstrates His sovereign dominion over His creation. In the Semitic world, the naming of something or someone was the token of lordship. Reuben changed the names of the cities of the Amorites after he had conquered them (Num. 32:38). Likewise, Pharaoh Necho changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim after he defeated the Judean king (2 Kings 23:34).
“First day”: God established the pattern of creation in 7 days which constituted a completed week. “Day” can refer to: (1) the light portion of a 24-hour period (1:5, 14); (2) an extended period of time (2:4); or (3) the 24 hour period which basically refers to a full rotation of the earth on its axis, called evening and morning.
This cannot mean an age, but only a day, reckoned by the Jews from sunset to sunset (verses 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). “Day” with numerical adjectives in Hebrew always refers to a 24-hour period.
Comparing the order of the week in Exodus 20:8-11 with the creation week; confirms this understanding of the time element. Such cycle of light and dark means that the earth was rotating on its axis so that there was a source of light on one side of the earth, though the sun was not yet created (verse 16).
“Day” (Hebrew yom): Apart from the use of the word day in verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31, where it describes the days of Creation, it is used in at least four ways in the first two chapters of Genesis:
(1) The 12-hour period of daylight as opposed to night (verses 14, 16, and 18);
(2) A solar day of 24 hours (verse 14);
(3) The period of light that began with the creation of light on the first day (verse 5); and
(4) The entire, six-day creative period (2:4).
Everywhere in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew bible), the word “day” when used (as here) with a definite article or numerical adjective means a solar day or a normally calibrated, 24-hour day. Thus, the biblical account of Creation clearly indicates that God created the world in six literal days (Exodus 20:11).
In verse one, the only indication we have when heaven and earth were created is that it happened in the beginning. We must dwell on Genesis because a true and firm revelation of faith and God’s grace begins right here at the beginning.
God’s grace in that he wanted fellowship with mankind so much that He would go to the trouble to create the world and everything in it for man’s use. Then the faith comes in on our part. We must believe that God’s Words are true and that the world was created by Elohim God.
Thus, brings the end of the first day.
Genesis 1:6 “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
Firmament or expanse is the portion of God’s creation named “heavens,” that which man saw when he looked up, i.e., the atmospheric and stellar heaven.
“Firmament” is an “expanse” between the waters suspended by God in vapor form over the earth. Most likely, approximately half of the waters upon the earth were supernaturally elevated above the atmosphere, perhaps in the form of an invisible vapor canopy.
This would have trapped the earth’s heat with a “greenhouse effect” and would have provided a uniformly tropical climate everywhere, until it collapsed upon the earth during the universal rainfall at the time of the great Flood (7:11). This might explain the longer life described in Genesis 5, in addition to providing a water source for the Flood of chapters 6 to 9.
I do not believe that God expects us to scientifically figure out how this all came about. He just expects us to have faith that He did it.
Genesis 1:7 “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so.”
“Firmament … under the firmament”: This refers to subterranean reservoirs (7:11).
“Above the firmament”: This could possibly have been a canopy of water vapor which acted to make the earth like a hothouse, provided uniform temperature, inhibited mass air movements, caused mist to fall, and filtered out ultraviolet rays, thus extending life.
Genesis 1:8 “And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
“And God called the firmament heaven”: Including the starry and airy heavens: it has its name from its height in the Arabic language, it being above the earth, and reaching to the third heaven; though others take the word “shamaim” to be a compound of two words, “sham” and “maim”, that is, there are waters, namely, in the clouds of heaven.
At the end of the second day there is no phrase “and God saw that it was good” (verse 10). Anything we might say about this would be just supposition.
Thus, here was the second day.
Verses 9-10 “Dry land”: This was caused by a tremendous, cataclysmic upheaval of the earth’s surface, and the rising and sinking of the land, which caused the waters to plunge into the low places, forming the seas, the continents, islands, rivers and lakes (Job 38:4-11; Psalm 104:6-9).
Genesis 1:9 “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.”
Verse 9 – Day three. The distribution of land and water and the production of vegetation on this day engaged the formative energy of the word of Elohim. And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.
To explain the second part of this phenomenon as a consequence of the first, the disclosure of the solid ground by the retirement of the waters from its surface, and not rather vice versa, is to reverse the ordinary processes of nature.
Modern analogy suggests that the breaking up of the hitherto universal ocean into seas, lakes, and rivers was effected by the upheaval of the land through the action of subterranean fires, or the subsidence of the earth’s crust in consequence of the cooling and shrinking of the interior mass.
Psalm 104 hints at electric agency in connection with the elevation of the mountains and the sinking of the ocean beds (comments added by author).
Psalm 104:7-8 “At thy rebuke they (the waters) fled: at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away (were scattered). They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them”.
The gathering of the waters into one place implies no more than that they were, from this day forward, to be collected into one vast body, and restrained within bounds in a place by themselves, so as to admit of the exposure of the earth’s soil.
The “place founded for them” was, of course, the depths and hollows in the earth’s crust, into which they were immediately withdrawn, not through direct supernatural agency, but by their own natural gravitation. The configuration of the dry land is not described; but there is reason to believe that the original distribution of land and water was the same, or nearly the same, as it is at present.
Genesis 1:10 “And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“And God called the dry land earth”: The whole chaos that was a muddy fluid, a mixture of earth and water, a rude unformed mass of matter. But now that part consisting of, or formed of, land and was separated from the waters, and they from it, is called “earth”:
Which has its name in the Arabic language from its being low and depressed; the lighter parts having been elevated, and moved upwards, and formed the atmosphere; the grosser parts subsiding and falling downwards, made the earth, which is low with respect to the firmament, which has its name in the same language from its height, as before observed.
“And the gathering together of the waters called he seas”: for though there was but one place into which they were collected, and which is the main ocean, with which all other waters have a communication, and so are one; yet there are different seas, as the Red sea, the Mediterranean, Caspian, Baltic, etc.
Or which are denominated from the shores they wash, as the German, British, etc., and even lakes and pools of water are called seas, as the sea of Galilee and Tiberias, which was no other than the lake of Gennesaret.
“And God saw that it was good”: That these two should be separate, that the waters should be in one place, and the dry land appear, and both have the names he gave them. And this is here mentioned, because now the affair of the waters, the division and separation of them, were brought to an end, and to perfection.
Verses 11-12: “After his kind”: God set in motion a providential process whereby the vegetable kingdom could reproduce through seeds which would maintain each one’s unique characteristics.
The same phrase is used to describe the perpetuating reproduction of animals within their created species (verses 21, 24-25), and indicates that evolution, which proposes reproduction across species lines, is a false explanation of origins.
Genesis 1:11 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”
“Whose seed is in itself”: The principle of reproduction that marks all life (verses 22, 24, 28).
Contrary to the modern evolutionists (who insist that all plants and animals developed over hundreds of millions of years from a single speck of life in the ocean) and theistic evolutionists (who claim the Bible allows for such processes by the use of such phrases as “Let the earth bring forth)”.
Genesis not only dates the creation of marine life (verse 20), as being after the creation of plants and fruit trees, but also reveals that fruit trees were created already bearing fruit “whose seed is in itself.”
God produced a functioning and mature Creation. Plants were created full-grown, as mature and adult organisms, with a superficial appearance of age. Similarly, Adam and Eve were created as adults. The phrase “after his’ [or their] “kind” is repeated 10 times in this chapter, and demands that adults of each “kind” would have to be created supernaturally to begin the life cycle.
Moses uses the word “kind” 30 out of the 31 times it appears in the Old Testament. The word may not require the separate creation of each species by God, but it does require at least the separate creation of families within orders.
You see God not only created the first plant life, grass, fruit, trees etc., but He also provided the way for it to perpetuate itself. Plant life could not exist without the light acting on the chlorophyll in the plant leaves and causing it to grow.
Notice, the first three words “And God said”, and the last four words say it all “and it was so”.
Genesis 1:12 “And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
“And the earth brought forth grass”: In great abundance at once; the hills and vales were clothed with it, and so a rich provision was made the beasts and cattle of the earth a few days before they were created:
And herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind”: wholesome and healthful herbs and plants, and delicious fruit to be meat and food for man, ready prepared for him when created (see Gen. 1:29); on this day, though after related, were made the garden of Eden, and all the trees in it, pleasant for sight, and good for food.
Particularly the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
“And God saw that it was good”: Which he had now caused to spring forth, grass, herbs, and fruit trees, which were good for men and beast, and this he foresaw would be so.
Genesis 1:13 “And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
And here was the third day.
Genesis 1:14 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”
“Lights”: Verse 16. For 3 days, there had been light (verse 4), in the day as though there was a sun, and lesser light at night as though there were the moon and stars. God could have left it that way, but did not.
He created the “lights, sun, moon, and stars,” not for light, but to serve as markers for signs, seasons, days, and years.
“Signs”: Certainly to include:
(1) Weather (Matt. 16:2-3);
(2) Testimony to God (Psalms 8, 19; Rom. 1:14-20);
(3) Divine judgment (Joel 2:30-31; Matt. 24:29);
(4) Navigation (Matt. 2:1-2).
“Seasons”: It is the earth’s movement in relation to the sun and moon that determines the seasons and the calendar.
The Scripture says they were also to be for telling the seasons, and the days, and the years. In the Jewish calendar a month occurs at every new moon.
“Verses 15-18”: “Two great lights … to divide the light from the darkness”: It was God (not some other deity) who created the lights. Israel had originally come from Mesopotamia, where the celestial bodies were worshiped, and more recently from Egypt, where the sun was worshiped as a primary deity.
God was revealing to them that the very stars, moons, and planets which Israel’s neighbors had worshiped were the products of His creation. Later, they became worshipers of the “host of heaven”, which led to their being taken captive out of the Promised Land.
Genesis 1:15 “And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”
“Lights in the firmament … give light upon the earth”: To continue there as luminous bodies; as enlighteners, as the word signifies. Causing light, or as being the instruments of conveying it, particularly to the earth, as follows: “to give light upon the earth”; and the inhabitants of it, when formed: “and it was so”.
These lights were formed and placed in the firmament of the heaven for such uses, and served such purposes as God willed and ordered they should.
Genesis 1:16 “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.”
“And God made two great lights” refers to the sun and moon. They did not appear (a different verb and stem), as the dry land did in verse 9, but were actually made (`asah, synonymous with bara’), at this time. God makes it clear that He, not the sun, is the earth’s Creator, and that God is not dependent upon the sun either for the earth’s material substance or for the sustaining of life.
From the standpoint of astronomy, the sun and the moon are obviously not “the two great lights” of the universe. This is the language of appearance, as seen from man’s viewpoint. Genesis is written in geocentric (rather than heliocentric), terms.
“Signs” in verse 14 might refer to unusual sights in the heavens, such as eclipses of the sun, rather than suggest that God designed the celestial bodies to determine the destinies of individual men as modern astrologers proclaim (2 Kings 23:12; Jer. 19:13; Zeph. 1:5), where God condemns such practice.
Genesis 1:17 “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,”
In the fourth day’s work, the creation of the sun, moon, and stars is accounted for. All these are the works of God. The stars are spoken of as they appear to our eyes, without telling their number, nature, place, size, or motions; for the Scriptures were written, not to gratify curiosity, or make us astronomers, but to lead us to God, and make us saints.
The lights of heaven are made to serve him; they do it faithfully, and shine in their season without fail. We are set as lights in this world to serve God; but do we in like manner answer the end of our creation? We do not: our light does not shine before God, as his lights shine before us. We burn our Master’s candles, but do not mind our Master’s work.
Genesis 1:18 “And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good.”
And God set (literally, gave), them (i.e. sun, moon, and stars), in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and even the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. An intimation that on this day the astronomical arrangements for the illumination of the globe and the measurement of time were permanently settled. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:19 “And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
This was the conclusion of the creation of the sun and moon as fixtures that we might see the light in, thus ending the 4th day.
Genesis 1:20 “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
“Moving creature”: These creatures, including the extraordinarily large ones, included all sorts of fish and mammals, even dinosaurs (see notes on Job 40:15 – 41:1).
“Let the waters bring forth”: is better translated and understood as, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures,” so as not to misleadingly suggest that the waters themselves produced marine life. This text also implies that aquatic life and fowl appeared simultaneously, denying the evolutionary sequence of reptiles before birds.
God had now provided the habitation for the fish and the atmosphere and dry land for the fowl, so the logical step would be to populate the oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and all bodies of waters with fish and all sea life. The dry land had appeared and God had populated the air above and the ground below with fowl.
You see, God was doing all of this in preparation for his greatest creation (man). He needed to prepare food for the man before the creation of man. This whole creative act was God building a home for mankind.
We are told in John chapter 14 that Jesus is in heaven now preparing our eternal home.
John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.”
You see God’s plan from the beginning was to build man a home.
Genesis 1:21 “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“Great whales” is not the best translation; better is the term “great sea creatures” to include the great fish as well as whale. Taninim is used elsewhere to describe the serpent (Exodus 7:9-10, 12), and the dragon (Psalm 148:7: Isa. 51:9; Ezek. 29:3). There is no evidence whatever, either from paleontology or genetics that whales or great sea monsters could have developed from land animals.
The theory of evolution claims that the first animals in the oceans were microscopic, single celled creatures, and that whales (sea cows), had to evolve from four-legged land mammals, which in turn evolved from cold-blooded marine creatures. Thus, they would have devolved!
Just the vastness of the thousands of varieties of fish and birds of all kinds is mind boggling. To think that God in a moment of time (no matter how long), could figure out, all the varieties, and have each one have a useful job to do in God’s scheme of things is just beyond comprehension.
God is not only love, but the greatest planner. You see, He figured out the needs of each one and fulfilled it here on day five.
Genesis 1:22 “And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”
“Blessed”: this is the first occurrence of the word “bless” in Scripture. God’s admonition to “be fruitful and multiply” was the substance of the blessing.
Genesis 1:23 “And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”
Here is the end of the fifth day.
Verses 24-25: “Cattle … beasts”: This probably represents all kinds of large, four-legged animals.
Genesis 1:24 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
“Beast of the earth”: Different from and larger than the clan of cattle, this would include dinosaurs like Behemoth (Job 40:15).
“Living creature” is the same Hebrew expression used for man in 2:7, translated “living soul.”
Genesis 1:25 “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.”
The Creator’s wisdom and power are to be admired as much in an ant as in an elephant. The power of God’s providence preserves all things, and fruitfulness is the effect of his blessing.
The creation of the higher animals completed the earth’s preparation for the advent of man; to which, doubtless, the Creator’s commendation of his finished work had a special reference. Everything was in readiness for the “magnum opus” (the most important work), which was to close his creative labor and crown his completed cosmos.
This most clearly shows and proves that the above creatures were not produced by the mere force of nature, or the powers the earth were possessed of, however the matter of it might be disposed and prepared, but by the omnipotent hand of God.
You see, as I said before, God was preparing this planet for His greatest creation, mankind. All through these Scriptures, please take note that God said, “everything after its own kind”.
Verse 26 is the reason all the things were created. Notice the plurality of the Creator as well.
Genesis 1:26 “And 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 that creepeth upon the earth.”
In contrast to animals in verses 20 and 24 where God said, “Let the waters bring forth” and “Let the earth bring forth,” He now says, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” All others reproduce after their kind,” but man is the only one made in the image of God and reproducing in that image (5:3).
The terms “image” and “likeness” are used synonymously, and refer primarily to man’s spiritual resemblance (rationally and morally) to his Maker. God placed a chasm between man and the beast, for only man has the capacity for eternal life, fellowship, moral discernment, self-consciousness, speech, and worship.
“Us … our”: The first clear indication of the triunity of God (3:22; 11:7). The very name of God, Elohim (1:1), is a plural form of El.
“Man”: The crowning point of creation, a living human, was made in God’s image to rule creation. Even after the Fall, man retains this image of God (9:6; James 3:9), though it has been marred. The plural pronoun “us” is most likely a majestic plural from the standpoint of Hebrew grammar and syntax.
“Our image”: This defined man’s unique relation to God. Man is a living being capable of embodying God’s communicable attributes (9:6; Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:10; James 3:9). In his rational life, he was like God in that he could reason and had intellect, will, and emotion. In the moral sense, he was like God because he was good and sinless.
“Image and likeness of God”: Man was created in both the image and likeness of God. An image is a representation or replica of one person or thing by another. An image may be similar but not necessarily identical to its original. The term “likeness” is used as a gauge of comparison, or analogy. When man fell, he retained an impaired image of God (9:6).
Regaining a likeness of God is one of the accomplishments of salvation. Our spiritual likeness is restored in justification. Our character likeness is being continuously developed in the process of sanctification. We will be like Christ physically when we are glorified. God’s purpose in our lives today is to conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29; Gen. 1:26-27; Heb. 4:12).
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
“Man” is used in a generic sense which is amplified by the phrase “male and female” even though Eve’s physical formation is not detailed until 2:18-24.
These words are not the usual Hebrew words for “man” (ish). and “woman” (ishah). The words used here specifically distinguish the sexes, male and female. Sexes are only implied with regard to animals, but not here. The reason is that a completely unique relationship was to develop, namely, holy marriage (2:22-24).
Man was created by God on the sixth day of Creation and is the grand climax of all that God had accomplished in the Creation week of miracles. The final act of Creation was that God joined the material and immaterial parts of man. Man’s body was shaped from the dust, but then became a living soul only after God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils (2:7).
Our formation; by natural birth is no less noteworthy than Adam’s formation from the dust. With David, we need to say, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14; also Genesis 2:7).
The image and likeness of God is SPIRIT. God is SPIRIT. We are a spirit. We are housed in a body and possess a soul. If God is Spirit as the Word says He is, then the image and likeness of us, are spirit as well. As we read in verse 27, both man and woman are spirit.
We will find as we continue this study that woman is just as responsible for the care and nurture of her spirit as man is. This is directly opposite of what some religions teach today. We are individual spirits, but our flesh is one with our spouse.
Between verses 25 and 26 there is a separation. If you will notice after verse 25, God closed that creation with His statement, “And God said that it was good”. Man has a preeminence that no other creation has. Mankind, male and female, are made in the image of God. God created all the rest for mankind to rule over.
Man, unlike all of the other creations, was created with a mind and will. Even to the point that God allows man’s will to choose God or Satan. Man alone was created with power to make decisions. Man alone was made to commune or fellowship with God.
God is Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. He made man ruler of the earth.
Because of man’s fallen state from his magnificent beginning (image of God), God the word, Jesus, took on a body and redeemed mankind and restored them to their original state of standing with God. The Bible says that when we get to heaven, we will recognize Jesus because we will be like Him.
We will be restored to the image and likeness of God. We will not be God. We will be a shadow or image of the real thing. Our spirit will be in accord with His Spirit. We will be His servants or subordinates.
You see God gave mankind dominion over this earth. Mankind, through an act of his will, turned this dominion over to Satan, as we will see in a later lesson.
You know our whole country is under a president, and then smaller areas or states are under dominion of a governor, and then even smaller areas under a mayor. However, the mayor is under the governor on important matters; and all are under the president on the most important matters.
You see, God is over all. We are His subordinates. Even though we shall rule and reign with Him, we will not be His equal.
Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
“Dominion over”: This defined man’s unique relation to creation. Man was God’s representative in ruling over the creation. The command to rule separated him from the rest of living creation and defined his relationship as above the rest of creation (Psalm 8:6-8).
Dominion is not the content by the consequence of the divine image (1 Cor. 6:3; 15:27-28; Heb. 2:7-10); James 3:7-8).
“And God blessed them:” To “bless” is not only to bestow a gift, but also to assign a function.
“Replenish” is better translated “fill the earth,” indicating the first time. It cannot be used in support of the refashioning of an already judged earth, for it always means to fill something the first time.
“Blessed”: This second blessing (1:22), involved reproduction and dominion.
“Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth”: God, having just created the universe, created His representative (rule over) and representation (image and likeness). Man would fill the earth and oversee its operation. “Subdue” does not suggest a wild and unruly condition for the creation because God Himself pronounced it “good.”
Rather, it speaks of a productive ordering of the earth and its inhabitants to yield its riches and accomplish God’s purposes.
In this verse, we see that mankind did not have to take dominion. The dominion was given to him by God.
So many people associate sex of any kind (even the marriage bed), as the sin that caused the fall of man. This verse above proves this is not so. Mankind was commanded of God to be fruitful and multiply long before the sin in the Garden of Eden. The sin in the garden was disobedience to God.
Verses 29-30: “I have given … for meat”: Prior to the curse (3:14-19), both mankind and beasts were vegetarians.
Genesis 1:29 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
“Meat” meant “food” in the early seventeenth century, when the KJV was translated. No actual animal flesh was condoned until after the Flood in Genesis 9:3.
God provided the means for mankind’s needs from the very beginning. Everything that God created here on the earth was directly or indirectly for the use of man. Even the food for the animals would ultimately be of use to man as we read in verse 30.
Genesis 1:30 “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.”
“God saw” is an expression in anthropomorphic terms (human characteristics or behavior), relating His evaluation of His Creation (6:5; 11:5). Now at the end of His Creation work, He says “it was very good,” “exceedingly good” and not simply “good” as before in the chapter.
Genesis 1:31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
There are several things the spirit must understand in the Scripture above. The number six means man. The verse reiterates again that God made all of it, and that everything was good. It also establishes the six days of work that we will see all through the Bible.
Verses 1:1 – 2:3: This description of God creating heaven and earth is understood to be: (1) recent, i.e., thousands not millions of years ago; (2) ex nihilo, i.e., out of nothing; and (3) special, i.e., in 6 consecutive 24 hour periods called “days” and further distinguished as such by this phrase, “the evening and the morning.”
“In the beginning”: While God exists eternally (Psalm 90:2); this marked the beginning of the universe in time and space. In explaining Israel’s identity and purpose to her on the plains of Moab, God wanted His people to know about the origin of the world in which they found themselves.
“God”: Elohim is a general term for deity and a name for the True God, though used also at times for pagan gods (31:30), angels (Psalm 8:5), men (Psalm 82:6), and judges (Exodus 21:6). Moses made no attempt to defend the existence of God, which is assumed, or explain what He was like in person and works which is treated elsewhere (Isa. 43:10, 13). Both are to be believed by faith (Heb. 11:3, 6).
“Created”: This word is used here of God’s creative activity alone, although it occasionally is used elsewhere of matter which already existed (Isa. 65:18). Context demands in no uncertain terms that this was a creation without preexisting material (as does other Scripture: Isa. 40:28; 45:8, 12, 18; 48:13; Jer. 10:16; Acts 17:24).
“The heavens and the earth”: All of God’s creation is incorporated into this summary statement which includes all 6, consecutive days of creation.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
“In the beginning”: Creation marks the absolute beginning of the temporal and material world. The traditional Jewish and Christian belief is that Geneses 1:1 declares that God created the original heaven and earth from nothing (Lat. “ex nihilo”) and that verse 2 clarifies that when it came from the Creator’s hand, the mass was “without form, and void,” unformed and without any life. The rest of the chapter then explains the process of Creation in detail.
There is no evidence in the Hebrew text for long ages of evolutionary development or a gap of time between verse 1 and verse 2.
“God”: (Hebrew Elohim): This form of the divine name occurs 2,570 times in the Old Testament. The plural ending “im” indicates a plural of majesty and takes a singular verb.
“Created”: (Hebrew bara): Meaning to create, shape or form. This verb is used exclusively with God as its subject. It refers to the instantaneous and miraculous act of God by which He brought the universe into existence. Thus, the Genesis account of Creation refutes atheism, pantheism, polytheism, and evolution.
This leaves no doubt that God is an eternal being. It also leaves no doubt that God himself created the earth. God, mentioned in Genesis 1:1 is actually Elohim (a plural word). Another Meaning of Elohim is, the highest being to be feared, Elohim indicates more than one involved in the act of creation. “Elohim”, (high and mighty).
This high and mighty Eternal One is actually God the Father, God the Word, and God the Holy Spirit. All who is in fact God, a singular verb is used often with the plural word Elohim indicating that there not only is a trinity of beings, but they are one in Spirit.
The three words used in the creation are different, but all translated created (Bara, Yatzar, and Asah). Bara means to create from nothing and is used in Genesis 1:1.
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.”
“Without form, and void”: This means “not finished in its shape and as yet uninhabited by creatures” (Isa. 45:18-19; Jer. 4:23). God would quickly (in 6 days) decorate His initial creation (1:2 – 2:3).
(Hebrew, Tohu wabohu, “unformed and unfilled”) describes the condition of earth after the initial act of Creation. It does not describe a chaotic condition as a result of judgment. Thus was (Hebrew “hayetah”) is correct and should not be translated “became”. How the earth became formed and filled is described (in verses 3-31).
“Darkness” is not always a symbol of evil (Psalm 104:19-24. Here it simply refers to the absence of light.
“Deep” refers to the waters covering the earth, not some primitive evolution. Sometimes referred to as existing waters, this is the term used to describe the earth’s water-covered surface before the dry land emerged (1:9-10). Jonah used this word to describe the watery abyss in which he found himself submerged (Jonah 2:5).
“The Spirit of God” Not only did God the Holy Spirit participate in creation, but so did God the Son (1 John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2). Here is a clear reference to the creative activity of the Holy Spirit.
John 1:3 indicates that Christ actually created all things for the Father. Thus, all three persons of the Trinity are active in the Creation. This undoubtedly accounts for the plural pronouns “us” and “our” (in verse 26), which take singular verbs in expressing the tri-unity of God.
The first emblem of the Holy Spirit in Scripture is that of the Spirit “moving” or literally “brooding” over the waters, much as a bird broods over her eggs to hatch them. The Scriptures assign to the Holy Spirit the works of creating the world (Psalm 33:6), of brooding over the waters (verse 2), of garnishing the heavens (Job 26:13), of renewing the earth (Psalm 104:30), and of sustaining life (Psalm 104:29).
“The heavens and the earth”: All of God’s creation is incorporated into this summary statement which includes all 6, consecutive days of creation.
The Holy Spirit’s work in Creation results in order (Isa. 40:12, 14; Gen. 1:2); life (Job 33:4); beauty (Job 26:13); and renewal (Psalm 104:30).
The work of the Holy Spirit in Creation is one of the biblical proofs of His deity. The Scriptures also describe the physical body of the Christian as the temple of the Holy Spirit, and suggest He is in the process of recreating us into Christ’s image (Phil. 1:6; Gen. 1:2; Luke 4:18).
Genesis 1:3 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
“And God said”: God effortlessly spoke light into existence (Psalm 33:6; 148:5). This dispelled the darkness of verse 2.
This is the first of a highly-structured series of succinct and formulaic sentences expressing the creative commands of God. Thus, Creation is accomplished by His word. Each command consists of:
(1) An announcement, “God said”;
(2) A creative command, “Let there be”;
(3) A summary word of accomplishment, “And it was so”;
(4) A descriptive word of accomplishment, “The earth brought forth”;
(5) A descriptive blessing, “God blessed”;
(6) An evaluative approval, “It was good”; and
(7) A concluding temporal framework, numbering each day.
“Light”: The greater and lesser lights (the sun and moon) were created later (1:14-19), on the fourth day. Here, God was the provider of light (2 Cor. 4:6), and will in eternity future be the source of light (Rev. 21:23).
“Verses 1:4-5 “Divided … called”: After the initial creation, God continued to complete His universe. Once God separated certain things, He then named them. Separating and naming were acts of dominion and served as a pattern for man, who would also name a portion of God’s creation over which God gave him dominion (2:19-20).
Genesis 1:4 “And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”
“Good”: Good for the purposes it was intended to serve (1:31). The word contains less an aesthetic judgment than a designation of purpose and correspondence to God’s will, indicating the moral goodness of the Creation.
“Light”: Not the sun which was created on the fourth day (verse 16), but some fixed light source outside of the earth. The earth passed through a day-and-night cycle in reference to this light.
Genesis 1:5 “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
“God called”: This act demonstrates His sovereign dominion over His creation. In the Semitic world, the naming of something or someone was the token of lordship. Reuben changed the names of the cities of the Amorites after he had conquered them (Num. 32:38). Likewise, Pharaoh Necho changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim after he defeated the Judean king (2 Kings 23:34).
“First day”: God established the pattern of creation in 7 days which constituted a completed week. “Day” can refer to: (1) the light portion of a 24-hour period (1:5, 14); (2) an extended period of time (2:4); or (3) the 24 hour period which basically refers to a full rotation of the earth on its axis, called evening and morning.
This cannot mean an age, but only a day, reckoned by the Jews from sunset to sunset (verses 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). “Day” with numerical adjectives in Hebrew always refers to a 24-hour period.
Comparing the order of the week in Exodus 20:8-11 with the creation week; confirms this understanding of the time element. Such cycle of light and dark means that the earth was rotating on its axis so that there was a source of light on one side of the earth, though the sun was not yet created (verse 16).
“Day” (Hebrew yom): Apart from the use of the word day in verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31, where it describes the days of Creation, it is used in at least four ways in the first two chapters of Genesis:
(1) The 12-hour period of daylight as opposed to night (verses 14, 16, and 18);
(2) A solar day of 24 hours (verse 14);
(3) The period of light that began with the creation of light on the first day (verse 5); and
(4) The entire, six-day creative period (2:4).
Everywhere in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew bible), the word “day” when used (as here) with a definite article or numerical adjective means a solar day or a normally calibrated, 24-hour day. Thus, the biblical account of Creation clearly indicates that God created the world in six literal days (Exodus 20:11).
In verse one, the only indication we have when heaven and earth were created is that it happened in the beginning. We must dwell on Genesis because a true and firm revelation of faith and God’s grace begins right here at the beginning.
God’s grace in that he wanted fellowship with mankind so much that He would go to the trouble to create the world and everything in it for man’s use. Then the faith comes in on our part. We must believe that God’s Words are true and that the world was created by Elohim God.
Thus, brings the end of the first day.
Genesis 1:6 “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
Firmament or expanse is the portion of God’s creation named “heavens,” that which man saw when he looked up, i.e., the atmospheric and stellar heaven.
“Firmament” is an “expanse” between the waters suspended by God in vapor form over the earth. Most likely, approximately half of the waters upon the earth were supernaturally elevated above the atmosphere, perhaps in the form of an invisible vapor canopy.
This would have trapped the earth’s heat with a “greenhouse effect” and would have provided a uniformly tropical climate everywhere, until it collapsed upon the earth during the universal rainfall at the time of the great Flood (7:11). This might explain the longer life described in Genesis 5, in addition to providing a water source for the Flood of chapters 6 to 9.
I do not believe that God expects us to scientifically figure out how this all came about. He just expects us to have faith that He did it.
Genesis 1:7 “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so.”
“Firmament … under the firmament”: This refers to subterranean reservoirs (7:11).
“Above the firmament”: This could possibly have been a canopy of water vapor which acted to make the earth like a hothouse, provided uniform temperature, inhibited mass air movements, caused mist to fall, and filtered out ultraviolet rays, thus extending life.
Genesis 1:8 “And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
“And God called the firmament heaven”: Including the starry and airy heavens: it has its name from its height in the Arabic language, it being above the earth, and reaching to the third heaven; though others take the word “shamaim” to be a compound of two words, “sham” and “maim”, that is, there are waters, namely, in the clouds of heaven.
At the end of the second day there is no phrase “and God saw that it was good” (verse 10). Anything we might say about this would be just supposition.
Thus, here was the second day.
Verses 9-10 “Dry land”: This was caused by a tremendous, cataclysmic upheaval of the earth’s surface, and the rising and sinking of the land, which caused the waters to plunge into the low places, forming the seas, the continents, islands, rivers and lakes (Job 38:4-11; Psalm 104:6-9).
Genesis 1:9 “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.”
Verse 9 – Day three. The distribution of land and water and the production of vegetation on this day engaged the formative energy of the word of Elohim. And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.
To explain the second part of this phenomenon as a consequence of the first, the disclosure of the solid ground by the retirement of the waters from its surface, and not rather vice versa, is to reverse the ordinary processes of nature.
Modern analogy suggests that the breaking up of the hitherto universal ocean into seas, lakes, and rivers was effected by the upheaval of the land through the action of subterranean fires, or the subsidence of the earth’s crust in consequence of the cooling and shrinking of the interior mass.
Psalm 104 hints at electric agency in connection with the elevation of the mountains and the sinking of the ocean beds (comments added by author).
Psalm 104:7-8 “At thy rebuke they (the waters) fled: at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away (were scattered). They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them”.
The gathering of the waters into one place implies no more than that they were, from this day forward, to be collected into one vast body, and restrained within bounds in a place by themselves, so as to admit of the exposure of the earth’s soil.
The “place founded for them” was, of course, the depths and hollows in the earth’s crust, into which they were immediately withdrawn, not through direct supernatural agency, but by their own natural gravitation. The configuration of the dry land is not described; but there is reason to believe that the original distribution of land and water was the same, or nearly the same, as it is at present.
Genesis 1:10 “And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“And God called the dry land earth”: The whole chaos that was a muddy fluid, a mixture of earth and water, a rude unformed mass of matter. But now that part consisting of, or formed of, land and was separated from the waters, and they from it, is called “earth”:
Which has its name in the Arabic language from its being low and depressed; the lighter parts having been elevated, and moved upwards, and formed the atmosphere; the grosser parts subsiding and falling downwards, made the earth, which is low with respect to the firmament, which has its name in the same language from its height, as before observed.
“And the gathering together of the waters called he seas”: for though there was but one place into which they were collected, and which is the main ocean, with which all other waters have a communication, and so are one; yet there are different seas, as the Red sea, the Mediterranean, Caspian, Baltic, etc.
Or which are denominated from the shores they wash, as the German, British, etc., and even lakes and pools of water are called seas, as the sea of Galilee and Tiberias, which was no other than the lake of Gennesaret.
“And God saw that it was good”: That these two should be separate, that the waters should be in one place, and the dry land appear, and both have the names he gave them. And this is here mentioned, because now the affair of the waters, the division and separation of them, were brought to an end, and to perfection.
Verses 11-12: “After his kind”: God set in motion a providential process whereby the vegetable kingdom could reproduce through seeds which would maintain each one’s unique characteristics.
The same phrase is used to describe the perpetuating reproduction of animals within their created species (verses 21, 24-25), and indicates that evolution, which proposes reproduction across species lines, is a false explanation of origins.
Genesis 1:11 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”
“Whose seed is in itself”: The principle of reproduction that marks all life (verses 22, 24, 28).
Contrary to the modern evolutionists (who insist that all plants and animals developed over hundreds of millions of years from a single speck of life in the ocean) and theistic evolutionists (who claim the Bible allows for such processes by the use of such phrases as “Let the earth bring forth)”.
Genesis not only dates the creation of marine life (verse 20), as being after the creation of plants and fruit trees, but also reveals that fruit trees were created already bearing fruit “whose seed is in itself.”
God produced a functioning and mature Creation. Plants were created full-grown, as mature and adult organisms, with a superficial appearance of age. Similarly, Adam and Eve were created as adults. The phrase “after his’ [or their] “kind” is repeated 10 times in this chapter, and demands that adults of each “kind” would have to be created supernaturally to begin the life cycle.
Moses uses the word “kind” 30 out of the 31 times it appears in the Old Testament. The word may not require the separate creation of each species by God, but it does require at least the separate creation of families within orders.
You see God not only created the first plant life, grass, fruit, trees etc., but He also provided the way for it to perpetuate itself. Plant life could not exist without the light acting on the chlorophyll in the plant leaves and causing it to grow.
Notice, the first three words “And God said”, and the last four words say it all “and it was so”.
Genesis 1:12 “And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
“And the earth brought forth grass”: In great abundance at once; the hills and vales were clothed with it, and so a rich provision was made the beasts and cattle of the earth a few days before they were created:
And herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind”: wholesome and healthful herbs and plants, and delicious fruit to be meat and food for man, ready prepared for him when created (see Gen. 1:29); on this day, though after related, were made the garden of Eden, and all the trees in it, pleasant for sight, and good for food.
Particularly the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
“And God saw that it was good”: Which he had now caused to spring forth, grass, herbs, and fruit trees, which were good for men and beast, and this he foresaw would be so.
Genesis 1:13 “And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
And here was the third day.
Genesis 1:14 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”
“Lights”: Verse 16. For 3 days, there had been light (verse 4), in the day as though there was a sun, and lesser light at night as though there were the moon and stars. God could have left it that way, but did not.
He created the “lights, sun, moon, and stars,” not for light, but to serve as markers for signs, seasons, days, and years.
“Signs”: Certainly to include:
(1) Weather (Matt. 16:2-3);
(2) Testimony to God (Psalms 8, 19; Rom. 1:14-20);
(3) Divine judgment (Joel 2:30-31; Matt. 24:29);
(4) Navigation (Matt. 2:1-2).
“Seasons”: It is the earth’s movement in relation to the sun and moon that determines the seasons and the calendar.
The Scripture says they were also to be for telling the seasons, and the days, and the years. In the Jewish calendar a month occurs at every new moon.
“Verses 15-18”: “Two great lights … to divide the light from the darkness”: It was God (not some other deity) who created the lights. Israel had originally come from Mesopotamia, where the celestial bodies were worshiped, and more recently from Egypt, where the sun was worshiped as a primary deity.
God was revealing to them that the very stars, moons, and planets which Israel’s neighbors had worshiped were the products of His creation. Later, they became worshipers of the “host of heaven”, which led to their being taken captive out of the Promised Land.
Genesis 1:15 “And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”
“Lights in the firmament … give light upon the earth”: To continue there as luminous bodies; as enlighteners, as the word signifies. Causing light, or as being the instruments of conveying it, particularly to the earth, as follows: “to give light upon the earth”; and the inhabitants of it, when formed: “and it was so”.
These lights were formed and placed in the firmament of the heaven for such uses, and served such purposes as God willed and ordered they should.
Genesis 1:16 “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.”
“And God made two great lights” refers to the sun and moon. They did not appear (a different verb and stem), as the dry land did in verse 9, but were actually made (`asah, synonymous with bara’), at this time. God makes it clear that He, not the sun, is the earth’s Creator, and that God is not dependent upon the sun either for the earth’s material substance or for the sustaining of life.
From the standpoint of astronomy, the sun and the moon are obviously not “the two great lights” of the universe. This is the language of appearance, as seen from man’s viewpoint. Genesis is written in geocentric (rather than heliocentric), terms.
“Signs” in verse 14 might refer to unusual sights in the heavens, such as eclipses of the sun, rather than suggest that God designed the celestial bodies to determine the destinies of individual men as modern astrologers proclaim (2 Kings 23:12; Jer. 19:13; Zeph. 1:5), where God condemns such practice.
Genesis 1:17 “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,”
In the fourth day’s work, the creation of the sun, moon, and stars is accounted for. All these are the works of God. The stars are spoken of as they appear to our eyes, without telling their number, nature, place, size, or motions; for the Scriptures were written, not to gratify curiosity, or make us astronomers, but to lead us to God, and make us saints.
The lights of heaven are made to serve him; they do it faithfully, and shine in their season without fail. We are set as lights in this world to serve God; but do we in like manner answer the end of our creation? We do not: our light does not shine before God, as his lights shine before us. We burn our Master’s candles, but do not mind our Master’s work.
Genesis 1:18 “And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good.”
And God set (literally, gave), them (i.e. sun, moon, and stars), in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and even the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. An intimation that on this day the astronomical arrangements for the illumination of the globe and the measurement of time were permanently settled. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:19 “And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
This was the conclusion of the creation of the sun and moon as fixtures that we might see the light in, thus ending the 4th day.
Genesis 1:20 “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
“Moving creature”: These creatures, including the extraordinarily large ones, included all sorts of fish and mammals, even dinosaurs (see notes on Job 40:15 – 41:1).
“Let the waters bring forth”: is better translated and understood as, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures,” so as not to misleadingly suggest that the waters themselves produced marine life. This text also implies that aquatic life and fowl appeared simultaneously, denying the evolutionary sequence of reptiles before birds.
God had now provided the habitation for the fish and the atmosphere and dry land for the fowl, so the logical step would be to populate the oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and all bodies of waters with fish and all sea life. The dry land had appeared and God had populated the air above and the ground below with fowl.
You see, God was doing all of this in preparation for his greatest creation (man). He needed to prepare food for the man before the creation of man. This whole creative act was God building a home for mankind.
We are told in John chapter 14 that Jesus is in heaven now preparing our eternal home.
John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.”
You see God’s plan from the beginning was to build man a home.
Genesis 1:21 “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“Great whales” is not the best translation; better is the term “great sea creatures” to include the great fish as well as whale. Taninim is used elsewhere to describe the serpent (Exodus 7:9-10, 12), and the dragon (Psalm 148:7: Isa. 51:9; Ezek. 29:3). There is no evidence whatever, either from paleontology or genetics that whales or great sea monsters could have developed from land animals.
The theory of evolution claims that the first animals in the oceans were microscopic, single celled creatures, and that whales (sea cows), had to evolve from four-legged land mammals, which in turn evolved from cold-blooded marine creatures. Thus, they would have devolved!
Just the vastness of the thousands of varieties of fish and birds of all kinds is mind boggling. To think that God in a moment of time (no matter how long), could figure out, all the varieties, and have each one have a useful job to do in God’s scheme of things is just beyond comprehension.
God is not only love, but the greatest planner. You see, He figured out the needs of each one and fulfilled it here on day five.
Genesis 1:22 “And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”
“Blessed”: this is the first occurrence of the word “bless” in Scripture. God’s admonition to “be fruitful and multiply” was the substance of the blessing.
Genesis 1:23 “And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”
Here is the end of the fifth day.
Verses 24-25: “Cattle … beasts”: This probably represents all kinds of large, four-legged animals.
Genesis 1:24 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
“Beast of the earth”: Different from and larger than the clan of cattle, this would include dinosaurs like Behemoth (Job 40:15).
“Living creature” is the same Hebrew expression used for man in 2:7, translated “living soul.”
Genesis 1:25 “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.”
The Creator’s wisdom and power are to be admired as much in an ant as in an elephant. The power of God’s providence preserves all things, and fruitfulness is the effect of his blessing.
The creation of the higher animals completed the earth’s preparation for the advent of man; to which, doubtless, the Creator’s commendation of his finished work had a special reference. Everything was in readiness for the “magnum opus” (the most important work), which was to close his creative labor and crown his completed cosmos.
This most clearly shows and proves that the above creatures were not produced by the mere force of nature, or the powers the earth were possessed of, however the matter of it might be disposed and prepared, but by the omnipotent hand of God.
You see, as I said before, God was preparing this planet for His greatest creation, mankind. All through these Scriptures, please take note that God said, “everything after its own kind”.
Verse 26 is the reason all the things were created. Notice the plurality of the Creator as well.
Genesis 1:26 “And 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 that creepeth upon the earth.”
In contrast to animals in verses 20 and 24 where God said, “Let the waters bring forth” and “Let the earth bring forth,” He now says, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” All others reproduce after their kind,” but man is the only one made in the image of God and reproducing in that image (5:3).
The terms “image” and “likeness” are used synonymously, and refer primarily to man’s spiritual resemblance (rationally and morally) to his Maker. God placed a chasm between man and the beast, for only man has the capacity for eternal life, fellowship, moral discernment, self-consciousness, speech, and worship.
“Us … our”: The first clear indication of the triunity of God (3:22; 11:7). The very name of God, Elohim (1:1), is a plural form of El.
“Man”: The crowning point of creation, a living human, was made in God’s image to rule creation. Even after the Fall, man retains this image of God (9:6; James 3:9), though it has been marred. The plural pronoun “us” is most likely a majestic plural from the standpoint of Hebrew grammar and syntax.
“Our image”: This defined man’s unique relation to God. Man is a living being capable of embodying God’s communicable attributes (9:6; Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:10; James 3:9). In his rational life, he was like God in that he could reason and had intellect, will, and emotion. In the moral sense, he was like God because he was good and sinless.
“Image and likeness of God”: Man was created in both the image and likeness of God. An image is a representation or replica of one person or thing by another. An image may be similar but not necessarily identical to its original. The term “likeness” is used as a gauge of comparison, or analogy. When man fell, he retained an impaired image of God (9:6).
Regaining a likeness of God is one of the accomplishments of salvation. Our spiritual likeness is restored in justification. Our character likeness is being continuously developed in the process of sanctification. We will be like Christ physically when we are glorified. God’s purpose in our lives today is to conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29; Gen. 1:26-27; Heb. 4:12).
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
“Man” is used in a generic sense which is amplified by the phrase “male and female” even though Eve’s physical formation is not detailed until 2:18-24.
These words are not the usual Hebrew words for “man” (ish). and “woman” (ishah). The words used here specifically distinguish the sexes, male and female. Sexes are only implied with regard to animals, but not here. The reason is that a completely unique relationship was to develop, namely, holy marriage (2:22-24).
Man was created by God on the sixth day of Creation and is the grand climax of all that God had accomplished in the Creation week of miracles. The final act of Creation was that God joined the material and immaterial parts of man. Man’s body was shaped from the dust, but then became a living soul only after God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils (2:7).
Our formation; by natural birth is no less noteworthy than Adam’s formation from the dust. With David, we need to say, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14; also Genesis 2:7).
The image and likeness of God is SPIRIT. God is SPIRIT. We are a spirit. We are housed in a body and possess a soul. If God is Spirit as the Word says He is, then the image and likeness of us, are spirit as well. As we read in verse 27, both man and woman are spirit.
We will find as we continue this study that woman is just as responsible for the care and nurture of her spirit as man is. This is directly opposite of what some religions teach today. We are individual spirits, but our flesh is one with our spouse.
Between verses 25 and 26 there is a separation. If you will notice after verse 25, God closed that creation with His statement, “And God said that it was good”. Man has a preeminence that no other creation has. Mankind, male and female, are made in the image of God. God created all the rest for mankind to rule over.
Man, unlike all of the other creations, was created with a mind and will. Even to the point that God allows man’s will to choose God or Satan. Man alone was created with power to make decisions. Man alone was made to commune or fellowship with God.
God is Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. He made man ruler of the earth.
Because of man’s fallen state from his magnificent beginning (image of God), God the word, Jesus, took on a body and redeemed mankind and restored them to their original state of standing with God. The Bible says that when we get to heaven, we will recognize Jesus because we will be like Him.
We will be restored to the image and likeness of God. We will not be God. We will be a shadow or image of the real thing. Our spirit will be in accord with His Spirit. We will be His servants or subordinates.
You see God gave mankind dominion over this earth. Mankind, through an act of his will, turned this dominion over to Satan, as we will see in a later lesson.
You know our whole country is under a president, and then smaller areas or states are under dominion of a governor, and then even smaller areas under a mayor. However, the mayor is under the governor on important matters; and all are under the president on the most important matters.
You see, God is over all. We are His subordinates. Even though we shall rule and reign with Him, we will not be His equal.
Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
“Dominion over”: This defined man’s unique relation to creation. Man was God’s representative in ruling over the creation. The command to rule separated him from the rest of living creation and defined his relationship as above the rest of creation (Psalm 8:6-8).
Dominion is not the content by the consequence of the divine image (1 Cor. 6:3; 15:27-28; Heb. 2:7-10); James 3:7-8).
“And God blessed them:” To “bless” is not only to bestow a gift, but also to assign a function.
“Replenish” is better translated “fill the earth,” indicating the first time. It cannot be used in support of the refashioning of an already judged earth, for it always means to fill something the first time.
“Blessed”: This second blessing (1:22), involved reproduction and dominion.
“Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth”: God, having just created the universe, created His representative (rule over) and representation (image and likeness). Man would fill the earth and oversee its operation. “Subdue” does not suggest a wild and unruly condition for the creation because God Himself pronounced it “good.”
Rather, it speaks of a productive ordering of the earth and its inhabitants to yield its riches and accomplish God’s purposes.
In this verse, we see that mankind did not have to take dominion. The dominion was given to him by God.
So many people associate sex of any kind (even the marriage bed), as the sin that caused the fall of man. This verse above proves this is not so. Mankind was commanded of God to be fruitful and multiply long before the sin in the Garden of Eden. The sin in the garden was disobedience to God.
Verses 29-30: “I have given … for meat”: Prior to the curse (3:14-19), both mankind and beasts were vegetarians.
Genesis 1:29 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
“Meat” meant “food” in the early seventeenth century, when the KJV was translated. No actual animal flesh was condoned until after the Flood in Genesis 9:3.
God provided the means for mankind’s needs from the very beginning. Everything that God created here on the earth was directly or indirectly for the use of man. Even the food for the animals would ultimately be of use to man as we read in verse 30.
Genesis 1:30 “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.”
“God saw” is an expression in anthropomorphic terms (human characteristics or behavior), relating His evaluation of His Creation (6:5; 11:5). Now at the end of His Creation work, He says “it was very good,” “exceedingly good” and not simply “good” as before in the chapter.
Genesis 1:31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
There are several things the spirit must understand in the Scripture above. The number six means man. The verse reiterates again that God made all of it, and that everything was good. It also establishes the six days of work that we will see all through the Bible.
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