Articles
In The Beginning
What the Bible Says About: Creation
From whence did we come and when did it all begin? These are questions have entered the hearts of men for centuries. It’s difficult for beings of a finite existence to grasp the beginning and the end of the matter. Science (falsely so called) has attempted to explain the origin of all things through theories and suppositions, taking what is and applying it to what was is unreliable at best. Beyond all the suppositions lies the fact that no human being was present at the moment of creation to reveal the process. What anyone believes concerning the origin of all things is based entirely upon faith. Many debates have been conducted on the subject and it is not the intention of the writer to enter such an arena. The purpose of this article is to set forth what the Bible has to say about the creation. The Bible does not argue the existence of God. It simply begins with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The term “beginning” refers to the beginning of the heavens and the earth, not the beginning of God. The Psalmist said of Jehovah, “Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (90:2). God is described as having no beginning and no end. In verse one we have the beginning of time, the operation of energy (God), the action of creating and the beginning of space, i.e. the heavens, and matter, i.e. the earth. Thus, “By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear” (Hebrews 11:3). The scriptures reveal that “God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). The scriptures also reveal that “in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day” (Exodus 20:11).
The term day is defined within the text of Genesis 1: “And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (vs. 5). The sequence of events are described as having taken place in the following order: on the first day God created Light, day and night; the second: the firmament, waters were divided; the third: land and water were divided and vegetation; the fourth: sun, moon and stars; the fifth: animal life, fish and birds and the sixth: beasts, creeping things and man.
Man was unique from all the creation, in that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27).
Whereas chapter one follows an order of time, chapter two follows an order of thought. Though the two chapters reveal the “who, what, when and where” of the creation, the writing was penned by Moses when the children of Israel were at mount Sinai. By writing as he does, Moses calls attention to the fact that in all the created world woman is the only suitable answer to man’s needs. The focus is not on the order of the creation, but the relationship between man and woman.
Following the creation of man, and before God created the woman “God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof” (Genesis 2:19). After the woman was created and brought to the man, Moses reveals that God established at that time that man shall “leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). This identifies the marriage relationship. It was the first “institution” to be established by God.
When God first created man, he was placed in a “garden eastward, in Eden. Though the exact location is unidentifiable the scriptures tell us that “a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted and became four heads. The name of the first (river) is Pishon, the second river is Gihon, the third river is Hiddekel and the fourth is the Euphrates” (Genesis 2:11-14).
That gives us a brief glimpse of the creation and how the universe came to be. Concerning the purpose of creation, God said, “every one that is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yea, whom I have made” (Isaiah 43:7). “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). ret
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