One thing about the Word of God is that it always offers something fresh each time we dive in. Recently I decided to launch into scripture again, walking verse-by-verse and recording my thoughts on each as I go. It's a bit rough, seeing as it's basically just a stream-of-consciousness. And occasionally for some reason I start writing like I'm King James himself, but if you get past that, you might find yourself, like me, looking a bit deeper into verses you've read a million times before. I won't pretend that all my conclusions here are completely correct, as they would need to be studied out more to determine whether or not they are faithful to the full testimony of scripture. I don't claim to be without fault and may contradict myself from time to time. I welcome your input and agreement/disagreement. The fun is in the conversation.
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
- Resolute, statement of fact. No questions, no loopholes, clarity: God created it all.
- Immediately, God is established as the ultimate authority in all of creation. God is creator/owner of everything. He is ultimate authority.
- First statement leaves no room for doubt. Any doubts about creation stem from mankind's ability to prove or disprove what God has already declared: He created it all.
- God is the first character introduced in scripture. Scripture would conclude with "you all". God in Genesis 1:1 is the character moving, working in the world. We are unable at this point to work. With the conclusion of Revelation, we are the ones who are responsible for the work of God as His body, His church.
- "the beginning" reminds us that Bible is itself a tale. A tale of this universe, the God of this universe, and the inhabitants of this universe. Everything that would follow in the narrative of scripture is predicated on this foundation. This is the first event of the tale, the narrative hook that grasps the reader, refusing to be ignored. God creates.
- There is no explanation or reasoning of God's power or right to be the creator. God feels no need to establish or explain his background or qualifications. He creates, independent of our opinions of His right to do so.
- To create God exercises a power that is already present within Him. Power belongs to God.
- 'heaven and the earth' - either (a) this phrase encapsulates/summarizes the events of creation from start to finish. One broad stroke that will then be expounded upon in following verses. This verse is the bracket in which every following verse exists. Much like God is Alpha and Omega, and every act to follow exists within His authority. Or (b) God separates heaven from earth and has yet to truly define either in the way that they ultimately will be.
- God is introduced immediately in His oneness and sovereignty. There is no committee of 'gods' active in creation. Though we know that Wisdom is active and the world is created with Christ in mind. That is the function of wisdom: God created with the plan of Christ in mind, with wisdom knowing how this whole drama would play out. Wisdom is not a demi-god just as Christ is not. God, the source of all wisdom and the beginning of knowledge, created with redemption in mind.
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.
- Verse 2 supports the idea that verse 1 is not a bracketing summation, but that God separated Heaven and Earth. Earth was without form and empty. Earth sat like a lump of clay on the wheel of the master potter, waiting to be directed, waiting for the touch of His word to separate the elements, define the contours and shapes, and set it in its rotation.
- Darkness reigned on the face of the waters. Leads to believe that the Earth is covered in water, that land emerges when God moves water into certain areas.
- Void - empty, but also useless. It is not a finished work. It is not yet a system or ecosystem. Earth is not yet in use, yet it is in formation. The plan is at work though the finished product is not yet visible.
- Darkness reigns until light is created. Light removes darkness' authority. Darkness does not chase away light or swallow it up, but light chases away darkness.
- Darkness is first, then light. Darkness is the state of things before God begins to move. God's first move is to replace darkness with light.
- The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Does this mean there was a momentary reflection of God's actual figure upon the Earth at this time? If so, God's face is revealed to the Earth, though until the end it will be hidden behind His creation. No man has seen the face of God, but the Earth has. The Earth that will be destroyed and recreated, much as we are when our spirit comes face to face with the spirit of God.
- Most likely this doesn't mean His Spirit is reflected in the water, but if so that's awesome.
- The spirit of God moved. God created, the Spirit moved... These phrases indicate that the Spirit of God is God in action. God does not have hands, it's His spirit that moves. The spirit is not independent or an extension of God but is God. The spirit of God moved means God moved. The spirit of God took action means God took action.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
- God simply says - let there be and there is.
- This is the wisdom of God at work again - God may speak something simple, yet the billions of minutiae involved are already played out in His creative mind. For Moses' base understanding, God makes it simply - let there be light and there was light. It's not to Moses to know how or why light is. God's mercy has extended us enough time to discover some of these processes, but the simplicity of faith is understanding that God put these into motion how He would, with the word from His divine mouth.
- God said is the same as the Spirit moved. The word of God = the Spirit in action. When we preach the word of God it is the Spirit in action, revealing truth to our hearts, guiding us into further knowledge of God. The word of God read and studied, is the Spirit active in our lives and hearts.
- His words = His power.
- With words God declares His intentions, and His authority causes them to happen. If you have authority, your words command things to be. Without authority words are useless. God lacks nothing in authority, and so every process immediately persists and light comes in to being.
- The initial state of everything is darkness and God decides light is needed. Light illuminates, but also brings vitamins and nutrients and is necessary for the processes of life that would immediately follow.
- God speaks light into existence not just for the sake of having light, but also that every future thing dependent on the presence of that light would be able to come into being. The light cannot know what must come after it, it only knows that is, and it is simply because God has spoken it to be.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
- God observed the light. God sees in a moment every process bringing light into existence and declares it efficient and operating perfectly. Again, the wisdom of God displayed in knowing how things must be in order for His creation to function.
- God first insures that light is good (working correctly) before moving forward with creation. One element at a time, one action produces the need for another action in the process of creation. What must proceed proceeds, what must follow follows. Everything God does is with order and timeliness, according to His wisdom.
- Light is divided from darkness. The two cannot share the same space. In creation is reflected the ultimate state of what will be created - a world of people divided into light or darkness. God must make this division in creation in order for His creation to function. This division must be made in God's ultimate creation - man, in order for God's purpose (a people who will worship Him) to be fulfilled. This division is necessary and cannot be escaped. Just as Christ is in His mind, the ultimate state of man is in His mind. The one does not exist without the other. In separating darkness from light God is performing the ultimate object lesson: God sees the light, God chooses it and banishes darkness to whatever space light does not occupy. A reflection of eternal joy and eternal punishment is found in the first 4 verses of Genesis.
- This division of light from dark is really a picture of the entire work of God throughout scripture and eternity itself. God creates, then God chooses: honoring one and banishing another. God does not say that light and darkness were both good. He observes light and chooses it, much like he chose Abel's sacrifice and rejects Cain's. There is not value to light and darkness, much as every road does not lead to Heaven. There is one chosen by God, and one rejected.
- God saw the light - here is God, even in creation occupying the seat that is only rightfully His - Judge. The light appears before God and is deemed good. It may complete its created purpose.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
- God first accepts light, so that there is no need to re-do what has been done. Then he gives it a name.
- God is the only one with authority to name things here, then imparts that same authority to Adam in the Garden with the animals. Whatever authority man has is only given by God, and only authority that He Himself has already put to use.
- God calls the light Day and the darkness Night. This is the first time God gives any indication or value to darkness. Its only value is in its separation from light.
- God declares one time period from another, as God separates the annals of history from others - time of the world, time of Israel, time of the church, etc. Only He has the authority to do so.
- God must divide day and night before determining what other functions of nature must follow.
- God in His wisdom knows that day is the condition in which part of the planet is under the light of the Sun. God knows that day in one part is night in the other. We can only operate in what time we are in. God sees the beginning from the ending. God sees the day that we stand before His throne in white robes, worshipping just as clearly as the day we struggle on our way to work.
- God gives us our first division of time. Though He exists beyond time, He knows that we must operate within understandable systems and divisions and so gives us what we need in order to calculate and order our lives. He is without the need for order, as He is the source of order and wisdom.
- Evening and morning were the first day - It seems, if taken plainly, to refer to one solitary day. But we know to God a day is one thousand years, a time not specific but just given to exaggeration. Similar to 7x70 statement of Christ concerning forgiveness. The point there is not to indicate a specific amount of opportunities to offer forgiveness, but to make the point that it should be done as often as needed. At face value it may be only a day. But I believe it simply means as much time as God needed to complete that action. The two days in scripture that God affects time (Hezekiah - degress; Joshua - sun stand still), are not called more than one day, though time is clearly suspended as needed for God's will to be accomplished. We limit God if we apply our understanding of time to the works of His hands. In this very verse He declares Himself to be the ultimate authority in terms of what time actually is. How can we then attempt to control Him with the divisions He has Himself just created?
- At this point sun and moon are not yet created so one day isn't defined as science would come to define it later
