Sermon Tone Analysis

And God Said — Day 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This is the foundational verse.

It’s the foundational verse of the entire Bible, of the OT, of Genesis — it’s the foundational verse of the creation account.

God created everything — including, and this is very important — Time.

God created Time.

It’s says, “In the beginning.”

In the beginning of what?

In the beginning of everything, before there was anything — there was absolutely nothing — except God.

So it was God who was, and as He told Moses — I AM.

So, only God, the eternal One.

He created everything.

And you’ll remember Henry Spencer’s 5 Characteristics susceptible to scientific examination: Time, Force, Action, Space, and Matter.

“In the beginning” — That’s Time.

“God” — That’s Force.

“Created” — That’s Action.

“The heavens” — That’s Space.

“And the earth” — That’s Matter.

Like Space and Matter, Time is God’s creation.

None of these are absolute or eternal.

They each had a beginning.

There will be a time when they will be uncreated.

Since God created Time, wouldn’t it be best to believe Him as to what happened at the beginning of Time, when it was only God? So, considering the language of — six 24 hour days — Don’t you think God is able to communicate what He wants?

if He wanted to communicate billions and billions of year, don’t you think He would have clearly stated it that way, rather than clearly stating Evening — Morning — Number — Day?

“Evening came and then morning: the first day.”

Let’s look at what God said He did on the First Day of Creation.

I.

The Foundation

The beginning

B’reshet “In the beginning” is written in such a way to clearly tell us about the beginning of all things.

This is the beginning not only of space and matter, but also time.

This is NOT — Once upon a time, as merely to tell a story or fable.

This is clearly and unmistakably, Historical Account according to the only One there — God.

God

Elohim “God” this is the first occurrence of the the divine name.

Elohim stresses His majesty and power.

Throughout the creation account it is Elohim, 32 times in chapter one.

In fact, it’s not until 2:4 that Yahweh is used.

This one statement — “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” soundly refutes all false philosophies.

Atheism — the universe was created by God.

Pantheism — God is transcendent to all His creation.

He is beyond it and superior to it.

Polytheism — Elohim is in the singular — One God.

Materialism — Matter had a beginning.

God is.

Dualism — It was God alone, none other.

Isaiah 45:6

Humanism — God is the ultimate reality, NOT man.

Evolutionism — God created all things.

It truly is — God and no other.

Created

Bara “created,” There is a uniqueness to God’s creating because of the absoluteness of it.

Everywhere in Scripture, the creative action is past tense.

God is not creating anything else.

Genesis 2:

The infinite, eternal, personal, triune God created, brought into existence that which was not prior to the moment of creation.

That which is now everything, was in the beginning — nothing.

Ex Nihilio, Latin meaning out of nothing.

How did He do it?

He spoke it into existence.

— “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light!”

God spoke into existence everything that wasn’t before, from the grains of the sands to far away galaxies, from bacterial microbes to enormous nebulae, form the single cell ameba to mankind.

God made everything.

He made every rank of angel.

God made Lucifer.

The Devil is God’s devil.

Behind the universe and everything in it stands the Originator, the Creator — the living God who was and is and is to come.

We are introduced to the Creator in John 1.

John 1:1-3

Isn’t this enough to settle all issues?

Without Question — It’s enough to settle the issue of origin, age of everything, sin and death, evil and wickedness, the meaning of life, the reason for reason — it settles the issue of you.

Isn’t it enough to settle every doubt of the text of ?

The only Eyewitness of the beginning of everything is the One who was before the beginning and created the beginning and who will bring it to it’s end.

The Heavens

Shamyim “the heavens” this is a plural noun that is not the stars (those come into existence in verse 4).

This is space.

The Earth

Erets “the earth” refers to matter — not the planets, stars, or material bodies — this is the Earth, as we’ll see, that was without form.

God will take this formless matter and form it, shape it and make it habitable for life.

This is the general framework, the foundation for everything God will create and make.

Look at verse 2, and let’s see what and how God began to form the earth to make it livable.

II.

The Earth — Formless and Empty

The Gap Theory

Here is where some Christians place what is referred to as the Gap.

They try to fit in millions and billions of years to a six day creation story so as to harmonize the Bible’s chronology with the accepted Geological Ages.

The Gap Theory, as it’s commonly known, assumes chaos, destruction, and death before verse 2. So, it’s also known as the Ruin and Reconstruction theory or Pre-Adamic Cataclysm Theory.

It was first proposed by Scottish Theologian, Thomas Chalmers and popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible.

It has done tremendous damage, opening the door for evolution.

It’s not only ridiculous when you consider the clear writing of the text, but it’s also theological suicide, undermining the veracity of the Word of God.

Either it’s what God said or it’s not.

For instance, if there were death before Adam — as they suggest the dinosaurs and the fossils demonstrate this, then why did Christ come to die?

It also puts Satan’s rebellion and fall before creation in verse 2. So, when God declares everything He created as — Very Good, Satan’s rebellion is now considered good?

What does the text say?

The Grammatical Structure

First, there is a grammatical structure.

The Hebrew conjunction Veh which is translated “and” or “then,” begins every verse from verse 2 of chapter 1 to verse 3 of chapter 2. This indicates a continuity of every statement from 1:1 — 2:3.

For example.

“And the earth was formless and void...” — Verse 2

“Then God said...” — verse 3