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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:1-31
Genesis 1, strictly speaking, is not a record of creation. This is an improper concept. Genesis 1 is a record of life. When I was young, I was taught that verse 1 was the subject of this entire chapter. However, verse 2 begins with the conjunction but. This conjunction proves that verse 1 is not the subject but just the beginning of the record. Verse 1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Verse 2 continues, “But the earth became waste and emptiness, and darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters.” The Hebrew word for became is the same word used in Genesis 19:26, which says that Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt. Lot’s wife was a woman, but she became something else. The earth was originally created by God in a good form, but it became without form; it became waste and emptiness. Isaiah 45:18 tells us that God did not create the earth “waste.” This is the same Hebrew word as in Genesis 1:2. God did not create the earth waste, but it became waste. This was due to the rebellion of Satan, which is recorded in Isaiah 14 (vv. 9-14) and Ezekiel 28 (vv. 12-18). Due to Satan’s rebellion, the whole universe was judged by God, and through that judgment the earth became waste and emptiness.
In Genesis 1:2 there are four words describing the desolation of the earth under God’s judgment: waste, emptiness, darkness, and deep. The earth became waste and emptiness, and darkness was on the surface of the deep. On the surface of the earth was the deep, and on the surface of the deep was darkness. This tells us that there was no life, but death. The earth becoming waste and emptiness with darkness on the surface of the deep is a picture of death.
With this background of death, the Scripture continues, “The Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters” (v. 2). The word for brood is the same word as hovers in Deuteronomy 32:11. This verse says that God is like an eagle who spreads his wings and hovers over his young. The Spirit of God was brooding, stretching out His wings, over the death situation for the purpose of producing life. The brooding of a hen over eggs is to produce some living things. In the Bible the Spirit of God is first mentioned as the brooding Spirit. This brooding of the Spirit indicates that Genesis 1 is not merely a record of God’s creation but a record of life. The Spirit of God was brooding over the death waters for the producing of life.
Genesis 1:3 says, “God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” Light comes in to produce life. Where darkness is, there is death. Where light is, there is life. In Genesis 1 light came in mainly for life, not for creation. Genesis 1 is not mainly a record of creation but a record of life. Verse 4 says, “God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.” The separation of the light from the darkness is for producing life. When we were saved, the divine light came into us, and that light did a separating, or dividing, work. The things of light were separated from the things of darkness. Light comes in for life, and this light divides, or separates, the positive things from the negative things. Verse 5 says, “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” Today we reckon our days from the morning until the evening, but the Bible reckons a day from the evening until the morning. The biblical way is better than the human way. The human way goes down from morning to evening, but the biblical way goes up from evening to morning. There was the evening, but now there is the morning. There was darkness, but now there is light. There was death, but now there is life.
Verses 6 through 8 record what happened on the second day: “God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven.” The expanse is a space full of air, separating the waters beneath from the waters above for the producing of life. First, the light was separated from the darkness, and then the air separated the waters beneath from the waters above. Formerly, the waters beneath and the waters above were one, but the air came in to separate these waters, not for creation but for producing life.
On the third day there was a third step of separation. All the waters were gathered together into one place, and the dry land appeared (v. 9). All the waters had to be gathered together so that the land might come out of the death waters. The first step of separation was to separate light from darkness. The second step was to separate the waters under the expanse from the waters above the expanse. Then the third step was to separate the land from the waters under the expanse. Light, air, and land are for the producing of life. After these three steps of separation, different forms of life came out of the land. Verse 11 mentions grass, herbs, and trees. In the vegetable life, grass is the lowest form, and the trees are the highest. The grass, the herbs, and the trees are different kinds of plant or vegetable life, the life without consciousness.
There was the need of some higher life with consciousness. As a result, the higher light was needed. Without the higher light, there cannot be the higher life. Thus, on the fourth day the light became more solid, more substantial. There were two great light-bearers: the greater to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night (v. 16). In addition to these two great light-bearers, there are the stars. On the fourth day the light became intensified. This fourth-day light is for the higher life.
On the fifth day there was the higher life with consciousness — the animal life in the death waters and the life that could fly in the air (vv. 20-21). The life that is able to move in the air is a transcendent life and is higher than the life in the death waters.
On the sixth day the earth brought forth all the living creatures. These creatures are mainly of three categories: the cattle, the creeping things, and the animals (v. 24). On the sixth day God made the highest life forms among the animal life. Also on the sixth day there was the highest life, the human life. First there was the plant life, then the animal life, and finally the human life. The human life not only possesses consciousness but also possesses the image of God, the likeness of God, and is entrusted with the authority of God (v. 26). The highest created life is the human life. Eventually, in Genesis 2:9 the highest life is revealed, and that life is the divine life.
In God’s restoration and further creation in the universe, everything that God called into being was declared to be “good.” On the first day “God saw that the light was good” (1:4). On the third day the dry land appeared, and out from the dry land came the plant life. God also saw that this was good. The land coming out of the death waters was a type of Christ in resurrection. Just as the land appeared on the third day, Christ was resurrected from the death waters on the third day, and all the aspects of life came out of this resurrected Christ. On the fourth day the sun, moon, and stars became visible, and God saw that this was good. On the fifth day the animal life came into being. God not only said that this was good, but He also blessed the animals that they might be fruitful and multiply. Eventually, in the last verse of Genesis 1, “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.” With all the other created items, God only saw that they were good. By the end of Genesis 1, God said “very good” because man was there. Man is a very good item in God’s creation because man is the center of God’s creation. God said “very good” because by that time He had a man to fulfill His purpose by life and in life.
Genesis 1 reveals that the higher light always comes in for the higher life. On the first day God said, “Let there be light.” Then on the fourth day there was the intensified light. Finally, on the seventh day there was the biggest light, God Himself. The starting light was for the unconscious life, the bigger light was for the conscious life, and the biggest light was for the divine life. Genesis 1 is such a record of life.
We have also pointed out that there were four steps of separation in Genesis 1: the light was separated from the darkness, the waters under the expanse were separated from the waters above the expanse, the land was separated from the death waters, and on the fourth day the day was separated from the night. Before the fourth day, the days were not so solid. On the fourth day God made the greater light-bearer to rule the day and the lesser light-bearer to rule the night. Then the day was solidly separated from the night.
The human life came in after the fourth day, after all the four steps of separation. After these steps of separation were completed, God was able to make man in His image and according to His likeness. The human life, which has the image and likeness of God, is the highest created life. God created man according to His likeness. All the other lives are according to their kind. The human life, however, is not according to the human kind but according to God’s kind.
God created all things according to the order of life. The plant life, the animal life, the human life, and the divine life are the four levels of life in Genesis 1 and 2. These levels of life are mentioned in order from the lowest to the highest. The different types of plant life and animal life are also mentioned according to degree, from the lowest to the highest. The lowest level in the plant life is the grass. Then there are the herbs and the trees. In the animal life first there are the fish, and then there are the birds. The human life is a wonderful life because this life resembles God. This is the God-like life, the life according to God’s kind, with God’s image, with God’s likeness, and committed and entrusted with the divine authority to become God’s representative on this earth. The human life is the highest among all the created lives. It is only lower than the uncreated life, the divine life.
After such a study we can realize that God’s intention in Genesis 1 was to show us that His heart’s desire is in the matter of life. Eventually, in Genesis 2 the tree of life is presented to the created man. The record of Genesis 1 and 2 leads us to this one point of life. God’s intention is that man would take Him in as the divine life. The record of God’s creation is so simple because God did not mainly pay attention to all the items and aspects of His creation. That was not God’s intention. God focuses on one thing — the matter of life. God’s intention from the very beginning was for man to receive Him as the divine life in order that man might become God’s expression in this universe.
