Genesis 1:1-2

Genesis 1:1–2 “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

This book opens up with, I would argue, some of the most powerful words in all of Scripture.

“In the beginning, God…”

Think about that for a moment.

Before there was a universe, there was God.

Before there were stars, there was God.

Before there was the earth, there was God.

Before there was time as we know it, there was God.

Genesis does not begin by trying to explain where God came from. It simply introduces us to Him as the One who already is.

And then Moses tells us:

“God created the heavens and the earth.”

The Bible begins by answering one of the most fundamental questions human beings have ever asked:

Where did everything come from?

And the answer is not that everything simply appeared.

The answer is not that matter has always existed.

The answer is not that the universe is the product of blind, unguided natural processes or randomness.

The answer is:

“In the beginning, God created…”

What we need to understand as Christians is that God is the Creator.

And because God is the Creator, everything that exists ultimately belongs to Him and is accountable to Him.

God Created Out of Nothing

Now, when we talk about God as Creator, we are talking about something theologians have historically described with the Latin phrase creatio ex nihilo, meaning “creation out of nothing.”

Before God created, there was no independent universe existing alongside Him. There was no eternal matter competing with God. There was no other god who helped Him create. God alone is eternal.

John makes this point very clearly in John 1:3:

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Paul says in Colossians 1:16:

“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…”

And Hebrews 11:3 says:

“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God…”

So when Genesis says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” we are being introduced to the God who is not part of creation.

He is the Creator of creation.

And that distinction is incredibly important.

Because if God created everything, then God is not subject to creation.

God is not defined by creation.

God is not dependent upon creation.

Creation is dependent upon God.

But What About the Age of the Earth?

Now, whenever you begin teaching Genesis 1, there is eventually a question that comes up:

How old is the earth?

And I want to slow down here because this is an important question, but we need to handle it carefully.

There are faithful Christians who disagree over the age of the earth.

Some Christians believe the earth is relatively young, generally around 6,000–10,000 years old.

Others believe the earth is much older and understand the creation account differently.

There are different approaches within old-earth creationism, including

the day-age view interprets Genesis’s creation days as extended periods rather than literal 24-hour days.1 Proponents argue this reading harmonizes Scripture with scientific evidence regarding Earth’s age and geological history.1

The interpretation hinges on the Hebrew word yôm (day). This term carries multiple legitimate meanings—ranging from a portion of daylight to a complete rotation of Earth to an indefinite time period—and biblical Hebrew contains no alternative word for expressing long, finite durations.2 Genesis 2:4 uses yôm to describe the entire creation process, suggesting the term can encompass periods longer than a single rotation.3 Additionally, the seventh day lacks the “evening and morning” formula appearing in the other creation days, indicating it functions differently and continues into the present.3

Advocates contend that God created all matter, energy, space, and time initially, then guided development across vast ages in a sequence matching modern scientific understanding of early Earth.1 Most Day-Age proponents embrace Progressive Creationism, which maintains that God miraculously created distinct biological kinds at specific moments throughout these extended periods rather than through evolutionary processes.1 This perspective trusts both biblical revelation and the natural world as reliable sources of truth, allowing believers to embrace what some call “God’s two books.”2

However, the view carries theological implications. It requires accepting that death—including animal predation—existed before humanity and sin entered the world.3 Critics also note that the necessity for reading yôm as extended time derives primarily from external scientific evidence rather than from the Genesis text itself.3

progressive creationism Progressive creationism holds that God created the heavens and earth across billions of years rather than in six literal 24-hour days.1 The framework attempts to integrate scientific findings about Earth’s age with biblical creation accounts.

Adherents of this view typically share several core convictions. They understand the Big Bang as God’s mechanism for producing stars and galaxies through natural processes operating over billions of years, accept an ancient earth and universe, and interpret Genesis’s creation days as overlapping periods spanning millions or billions of years.1 The model invokes divine intervention at specific moments to produce new species through what amounts to macroevolution over approximately six hundred million years.2

A significant theological consequence emerges from this chronology: death and bloodshed existed from creation’s beginning rather than resulting from Adam’s sin, with humanity appearing only after vast ages of life and death had already transpired.1 Progressive creationists also typically view Noah’s flood as local rather than global, with minimal geological impact given the deep time framework.1

Critics argue that progressive creationism rests on rejecting a literal reading of Genesis, treating the creation “days” as extended periods rather than 24-hour units.1 A central theological objection concerns the placement of death before the Fall, which appears to contradict biblical teaching that death entered the world through sin.1 However, progressive creationism itself predates modern evolutionary theory, having been suggested by some early Christian writers.

the gap theory. The Gap Theory proposes inserting millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 to reconcile the biblical creation account with scientific evidence for an ancient earth.1 The theory speculates that a vast temporal gap exists between God’s initial creation of the heavens and earth and the description of an unformed, void cosmos, during which Satan’s fall and rebellion occurred, resulting in millions of years of death and destruction.1

According to this view, God then destroyed the original creation in judgment, with verse 2 describing a ruined cosmos and verse 2b depicting a “second creation” initiated by the Holy Spirit, with Adam and Eve as humanity’s new progenitors.1 The creation week thus begins at verse 2b—“and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”—rather than at verse 1.1

The Gap Theory originated with Scottish Presbyterian theologian Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847), though he wrote little about it.1 Also called the “restitution theory” or “ruin-and-reconstruction theory,” it gained popularity in conservative evangelical circles during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.1 Proponents were attempting to accommodate nineteenth-century geological discoveries within Scripture’s timeline.1

However, the theory faces significant exegetical problems. The Gap Theory holds that everything except Adam and Eve was created before the six-day creation week, and that the sun existed before Day 4—contradicting Genesis 1:14–19.1 The hypothesis ultimately satisfied neither evolutionists nor those committed to a straightforward reading of Scripture, causing it to fall from favor.

Now for us sitting in this room today.. we need to recognize something very important:

The Bible never gives us a verse that says, “The earth is exactly 6,000 years old.”

The young-earth calculation comes from interpreting the creation days and genealogical information in Genesis and other passages.

Likewise, the commonly accepted scientific age of approximately 4.5 billion years is not something scientists simply “read off” the earth. It is a calculated conclusion based upon various scientific dating methods and assumptions about the history of the earth and the universe.

So we need to be careful about saying more than Scripture says.

There is an important principle here:

The main things are the plain things.

The Bible is incredibly clear about the things we absolutely need to know.

It is clear about who God is.

It is clear about sin.

It is clear about our need for salvation.

It is clear that Jesus Christ died for sinners and rose from the grave.

It is clear that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ.

But when it comes to certain questions—such as precisely how old the earth is—the Bible does not give us an explicit number.

Why I Hold to a Young-Earth Understanding

Now, having said that, I want you to know where I stand.

I believe the young-earth position is the best interpretation of Genesis 1–2.

I sat under someone in my Christian science courses that laid out so much information that if I gave you just a bit of it we would be here all night, but I believe its just the right way to look at it.

I believe the natural reading of Genesis presents six days of God's creative work.

we will notice.. how repeatedly Genesis says:

“And there was evening and there was morning…”

The creation account establishes a repeated pattern of evening and morning for each of the six days.

And then Exodus 20:11 says:

“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them…”

Exodus 31:17 similarly says that the Lord made heaven and earth “in six days.”

So when I read Genesis, I believe the most straightforward reading is that God created in six ordinary days.

But here's what I want you to understand:

My commitment to young-earth creationism isn't primarily because I have a calculator that proves the earth is 6,000 years old.

My primary concern like all things is biblical authority.

I came across an interview with Ken Ham where he was asked why being a young-earth creationist was important to him. His answer was very simple:

“The reason I believe this is because of scripture.”

That's really the heart of the issue.

The question isn't simply:

“How old is the earth?”

The deeper question is:

“Do we allow God's Word to establish our understanding of reality, or do we allow our understanding of reality to determine how we interpret God's Word?”

Now, that doesn't mean Christians should be afraid of science.

Science is the study of God's creation.

We should examine evidence.

We should ask questions.

We should think carefully.

We should not be afraid of what can be discovered about the world God made.

But science is not infallible.thought people might disagree with that.

Scientific models change.

Interpretations of evidence change.

And when we're talking about the distant past, we are dealing with events that none of us personally observed.

God was there.

We weren't.

And so our ultimate authority is not human speculation about the past.

Our ultimate authority is God's revelation.

The Issue Is Bigger Than the Age of the Earth

Ken Ham made another statement that I think gets to the heart of the issue. He said:

“The issue is more than just the age of the earth. The issue is naturalism and putting man in authority over God’s word.”

And I think that's an important distinction.

Because the battle isn't ultimately between Christians who believe in 6,000 years and scientists who believe in billions of years.

The deeper issue is authority.

Who gets the final word?

God?

Or man?

If Scripture says God created, then Christians begin with the conviction that God created.

We don't begin with the assumption that natural processes must explain everything and then try to figure out how God might fit into that explanation.

We begin with God.

“In the beginning, God…”

Why This Matters for the Gospel

And this becomes even more important when we move beyond Genesis 1 and into Genesis 3.

Because Genesis isn't simply just telling us how the universe began.

Genesis is telling us how our problem began.

In Genesis 3, we encounter the Fall.

Sin enters the world.

Death enters the human experience.

Humanity rebels against God.

And the rest of the Bible tells the story of God's plan to redeem fallen humanity.

This is why the historical reality of Adam matters.

Paul doesn't speak about Adam as though Adam were merely a fictional character used to communicate a spiritual lesson.

In Romans 5:12, Paul says:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin…”

And then Paul develops an entire theological comparison between Adam and Christ.

Romans 5:18–19 says:

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

That's huge.

Adam and Christ are connected.

The first Adam brought sin and condemnation.

The last Adam, Jesus Christ, brings righteousness and life.

1 Corinthians 15:22 says:

“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

So when we talk about Genesis, we're not talking about some insignificant opening chapter of the Bible.

We're talking about the foundation upon which the rest of the biblical story is built.

So Is things like the Young-Earth Creationism a Salvation Issue?

Now, I want to make something very clear.

I believe the young-earth position is the best interpretation of Genesis, but I do not believe believing in a young earth is a condition of salvation.

You are not saved because you believe the earth is around 6,000 years old.

You are not saved because you believe in six literal days.

You are saved because you have repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus Christ.

Ken Ham was asked directly whether he believes someone has to believe in a young earth and six literal days to be saved.

His response was emphatic:

“Never said that in my life.”

And that's an important clarification.

The gospel doesn't say, “Believe in six literal days and you will be saved.”

The gospel is Jesus Christ.

He lived the righteous life we could never live.

He died the death we deserved.

He was buried.

He rose again.

And everyone who turns from sin and trusts in Him will be saved.

So I don't want us to make the age of the earth the gospel.

It isn't the gospel.

But neither do I want us to act as though our understanding of Genesis doesn't matter.

Because it does matter when we're talking about the authority of God's Word.

The Foundation

Think about a building.

The foundation may not be the first thing people see, but everything else depends upon it.

And Genesis is foundational.

Genesis tells us:

God created.

Genesis tells us:

Humanity was created in God's image.

Genesis tells us:

God's creation was good.

Genesis tells us:

Humanity rebelled against God.

Genesis tells us:

Sin entered the world.

Genesis introduces us to the promise that God would ultimately provide redemption.

And as we continue through Scripture, we eventually arrive at Jesus Christ.

The Creator enters His creation.

The One who made the world takes on flesh.

The One who gave life lays down His life.

And the One who created the universe rises from the grave.

So don't miss what Genesis 1:1 is telling us.

The first question isn't ultimately:

“How old is the earth?”

The first question is:

“Who made it?”

And the answer is:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

He created it.

He owns it.

He sustains it.

And because He created us, we belong to Him.

The Creator has authority over His creation.

And if the Creator has authority over His creation, then He has the authority to tell us how we are to live.

That is why Genesis matters.

That is why creation matters.

And ultimately, that's why the first four words of the Bible are so incredibly powerful:

“In the beginning, God.”

Now a little on verse 2 it says..

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

After this beginning we see the state of the earth, and we see there was darkness, and we see that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

In my study I noticed there was a real pattern about the spirit of God hovering over the waters..

Listen to this commentator..

Exalting Jesus in Genesis God Forms the Created Kingdom (Genesis 1:1–2)

Where do we see this language about the Spirit hovering as an act of new creation again? When Gabriel tells Mary that the Spirit of the Lord will overshadow her. This is the same kind of language used in

application..

Live Like You Belong to Your Creator

1. Submit to the authority of your Creator. Because God made you, He has the right to tell you how to live.

2. Trust the Spirit of your Creator. Because the Spirit of God brings life and order out of what is dark and disordered, don't run from Him when your life is messy—surrender to Him.

amen