Foundation of all the World Pt. 1

Creation Day 1

Introduction

Handout the 12 Major Events of the Old Testament Document

Introduce the Foundation of all the World.

Genesis 1-2 give the Biblical account for creation and make up the first major event of the Old Testament. “The foundation of all the World.”

The title Genesis means the book of beginning. As I was studying I came across the thought that the first words ever penned where “In the Beginning God”

Creation is a foundational Doctrine to the rest of the Bible. If the Bible is incorrect on the doctrine of creation, how can we trust it for Salvation?

It’s sad that even among Christians there are different views that go directly again the word of God.

Theistic Evolution- Teaches that everything evolved but God was in Control of it. The view strips the Bible of its Accuracy

Someone said this “Christians who adopt evolution are inconsistent because they are accepting the foundation of the humanistic worldviews. Essentially, they are telling God that they believe Him when He told us about the Virgin Birth, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ, but they do not trust Him when He tells us about how He created the world.”

Gap Theory - A gap exists between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. God made the world, and then something happened that caused it to “become” without form and void.

During this gap, so-called “prehistoric” creatures lived and died. Gap theorists believe that Lucifer was in charge of this “gap” world, but when he fell from grace (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28) God destroyed the gap world in a “Luciferian Flood.” After this, God “remade” the world in six literal 24-hour days, as outlined in Genesis 1

Day Age Theory - Teaches that the word “Day” can mean an era, or age lasting a great length of time

When believers attempt to add evolution and millions of years to Genesis, they lay down a foundation of death and suffering on which to build their worldview. If Christians believe the lie that Genesis cannot be trusted, they are paving the way for the trustworthiness of the gospel message to be called into question.

Literal Six 24 hour days of creation

This is the most straight forward view of Genesis 1, as we will see as we go through the first two chapters of Genesis.

*Creation not only deals with the foundation of the world, but also with the foundation of Christianity.*

The Setting of Creation vs. 1

Who is the creator

God- The word used for God is Elohim which is the plural form of God proving the trinity was there in the beginning and all throughout the Bible.

The Bible is clear that the other two persons of the Godhead were there at creation

John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

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.”

God is eternal, existing before the universe, and is omnipotent, having created the universe.

Henry Morris said this “No attempt is made in this verse to prove the existence of God; It was recorded in the beginning when no one doubted God.

Even Paul declared God as the creator of the world. Acts 17 tells us he was in Athens and the people there had a god for everything. As he is walking through the city he comes to an Altar with the inscription “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” He then tells them that he knows the God who they ignorantly worship.

Acts 17:24-26 “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; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;”

Not only do we see the who of creation, we see the what of creation.

Time

Before God created the heaven and the earth there was no such thing as time. There was just eternity.

Some ask where God was before creation, I remember hearing an old preacher answer that question. He was in His Glory. His Glory is from everlasting to everlasting.

Space

The heaven here refers to the sky, later in the chapter we will see the heaven divided into heavens.

Matter

Earth - The Dwelling place of humans.

When earth is paired with heaven like in Genesis 1:1 it separates the ground from the sky.

We also see the when of creation.

When was the world created?

This question is answered in the first three words of Genesis 1. “In the Beginning”

God has been here from everlasting to everlasting, but the world has been around for around 6000 years.

The amazing thing is when God created the world it only took 6 literal days which we will see as we go through the rest of Genesis 1.

The details of day 1 vs. 2-5

The earth was without form and void vs. 2

Form - determinate shape

Void - Empty; without inhabitants

2 Peter 3:5 “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:”

The book of Jeremiah also describes this time in Jer 4:23 “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; And the heavens, and they had no light.”

Darkness was upon the face of the deep vs. 2

Here the Bible is talking about how the earth material was suspended in a matrix of water (“the deep”) completely static therefore it was in darkness

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters vs.2

Moved upon the face of the waters literally means the spirit vibrated in the presence of the waters.

The unformed earth material as well as the waters were quickly formed into a spherical form under the new force of gravity and planet earth was formed.

And God said vs. 3

Every thing in creation was spoken into existence by God.

Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”

Let there be light and there was light vs. 3

Immediately when God spoke light into existence the darkness dissipated.

The amazing thing about this light is that it was there before the sun, moon and stars were created.

The Bible tells us what the light was though

2 Cor. 4:6 “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

It was Jesus Christ

And God saw the light, that it was good vs 4

Everything God created was good because it was absent of evil that came through the fall of man. Genesis 1 shows us creation in its perfect form.

While sin has cursed the earth (Thorns/sweat/hard work/heat/cold/etc.) God is going to one day restore his creation to perfect form, this time to never be cursed by sin again.

And God divided the light from the darkness vs 4

Divided- parted or disunited

God separated the light from the darkness

Verse 5 tells us what god separated them into.

God called the light day

God called the darkness night

In verse one God created time and here in verse 5 he creates the day which is made up of the evening and the morning. The evening was from 6 PM to 6 AM and the morning was from 6 AM to 6 PM

This is an important concept as the bible uses this timing throughout the whole Bible.

I’m thankful that we don’t have to guess what a day is because God clearly defines it for us.

Conclusion

The Foundation of the world is foundational to Christianity. Day one of creation is especially important because time, space and matter were all created by the spoken word of God which is proven again and again throughout the whole Bible.

Do you trust God and the Bibles version of creation?