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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:1—2:3
The Bible reveals God, and it is the revelation of God. This revealed God is life, and life is the goal of everything that He does. Hence, we should take life as the central line when we read the Bible. For this reason these chapters will not focus on interpretation or doctrines. Instead, we will consider the line of life in the Bible according to the essence of the Bible. If we read the Bible according to the line of life, we will see that the whole Bible reveals Christ as life. The first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, concerns the need for Christ to be life, and the second part of the Bible, the New Testament, concerns Christ being life.
Genesis 1:1 through 2:3 is a record of God’s creation of the universe. Apparently, this portion reveals the existence of the universe and the origin of everything in it. This record of creation, however, is but a background, a footnote, that reveals God’s desire and purpose. Hence, when we read the record of God’s creation, we must not stop with the facts in Genesis but rather refer to the whole Bible in order to gain a thorough understanding of creation. In the first three chapters of this book we will first consider the process of God’s creation. Then we will consider God’s desire and purpose according to the spiritual significance of the process of creation.
Many Bible scholars acknowledge that the record of God’s creation in Genesis 1:1 through 2:3 should be divided into two sections. In other words, the universe came into being through a two-step process, which includes God’s original creation and His restoring and further creation.
Genesis is very brief concerning God’s original creation. It only says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (1:1). However, we can see more concerning creation from other books of the Bible. We need to consider five points concerning God’s original creation.
God’s creation was not a sudden thought. The first sentence in the Bible is very brief, but Ephesians 1:5 and 9 reveal that God’s creation came out of His good pleasure, His desire. In eternity past God had a desire, a good pleasure, to gain a universe in which He would accomplish His purpose. Such a desire and good pleasure became His motive for creating the universe.
God was not aimless when He created the universe; He had a purpose. Colossians reveals that all things were created in the Son of God’s love, Christ: “All things have been created through Him and unto Him. And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him;...that He Himself might have the first place in all things” (1:16-18). This shows that God’s purpose for creating the universe is to glorify His Son. Verse 9 of chapter 2 says, “In Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, the Son’s being glorified is the Father’s being expressed. Hence, the purpose of God’s creation is to glorify His Son. When the Son of God is glorified, God is expressed.
God had a motive and a purpose for creation, and He also had a basis for creation. Revelation 4:11 says that all things were and were created because of God’s will. Based on His will, God planned creation. Hence, God created all things based on His will and plan. God had many considerations before He created the universe. He did not create the universe in haste. He had a motive, a purpose, and a basis for His creation.
The Hebrew word for created in Genesis 1:1 is bara, and it means to bring something into existence out of nothing. God’s original creation was brought into existence out of nothing. How did God create the universe? What was the means by which the universe was created? Hebrews 11:3 says, “The universe has been framed by the word of God.” John 1:1-3 also says that all things came into being through the Word. God spoke, and it was; He commanded, and it stood (Psa. 33:9). God created the universe out of nothing by means of His word. God’s word is mighty.
The Word of God is the Son of God. The Son of God is the Word who was in the beginning (John 1:1-2, 14). The Word of God is the manifested Son of God. For this reason Colossians 1:15-16 says that all things were created in and through the Son of God. Hence, the means of God’s creation is the Son of God (Heb. 1:2) and also the word of God (11:3; John 1:1-3). Christ is the Son of God and the Word of God (vv. 1, 18; Rev. 19:13).
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The heavens include heaven, celestial phenomena, and the angels living in heaven. The earth includes the creatures that live on the earth. According to Job 38:4-7, the morning stars and the angels existed before God created the earth. Hence, God created first the heavens and then the earth. When God created the earth, He measured it, stretching a measuring line over it; He made the earth in good order and exceedingly beautiful and delightful. When God created the earth, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God—the angels (1:6; 2:1)—shouted for joy because the earth was beautiful.
The universe that God created had no shadow of sin or trace of chaos; it was altogether bright and beautiful. This shows the radiance and beauty of the Creator. Although the Bible provides very little description of the condition of the earth when it was created, Job 38:7 shows a glimpse of a joyful and harmonious scene: “The morning stars sang together / And all the sons of God shouted for joy.”
The joyful and harmonious condition of God’s original creation did not last. At a certain point the greatest tragedy in the universe took place—Satan rebelled and was corrupted. Genesis 1:2 says, “The earth became waste and emptiness, and darkness was on the surface of the deep.” The earth that God created was neither waste nor emptiness, and darkness was not on the surface of the deep (Isa. 45:18); the earth became such later. The earth became waste and emptiness with darkness on the surface of the deep because Satan rebelled and was corrupted.
According to the revelation in the Bible, after God created the heavens and the earth, Satan was appointed to rule the world (Luke 4:5-6; John 12:31; 14:30; Eph. 2:2). Satan was called the Daystar, son of the dawn (Isa. 14:12). He was one of the first angels (the sons of God—Job 38:7 cf. 1:6) created by God at the dawn of the universe, and he was the anointed cherub who covered the Ark (Ezek. 28:12-14). Satan was appointed by God to be an archangel; thus, there are angels under him (Rev. 12:7; Matt. 25:41). He must have been given a very high position because he was even higher than Michael the archangel (Jude 9).
Because of the pride in his heart, the God-appointed archangel exalted himself to be equal with God, rebelling against God and becoming God’s adversary, Satan (Isa. 14:13-14; Zech. 3:1-2; Rev. 12:9; 20:2). Therefore, he was judged by God (Isa. 14:15; Ezek. 28:16-19).
Satan took the lead to rebel against and overthrow God’s sovereignty. Some of the angels, who were set under Satan by God to help him rule the preadamic world, followed Satan to rebel. Hence, when God judged Satan, He also judged the angels under him (Rev. 12:4, 9). These rebellious angels became the rulers and the authorities of the air and the officers in Satan’s kingdom to rule the world of this darkness together with him (Eph. 1:21; 2:2; 6:12; Col. 1:13).
Furthermore, there were creatures living in the preadamic world. When Satan rebelled, they followed him and rebelled. As a result, they too were judged by God and became demons (Mark 1:32, 34, 39; Luke 4:33), ministers of Satan running about the earth in order to fulfill Satan’s evil will.
Because Satan, the fallen angels, and the creatures living in the preadamic world rebelled against God, the heavens and the earth, which they ruled and in which they dwelled, were defiled (Col. 1:20, footnote 5; Heb. 9:23, footnote 1). Hence, the heavens and the earth were also judged when God judged Satan, the fallen angels, and the creatures. The original situation of order, beauty, and light disappeared. Job 9:5-7 says that when God judged in anger, He commanded the sun not to rise, and He sealed up the stars. As a result, the sun and the stars did not shine, and the earth was enveloped in darkness and submerged under deep waters; the earth became waste and emptiness, with darkness on the surface of the deep (Gen. 1:2).
Jeremiah 4:23, Isaiah 34:11, and 2 Peter 3:6 reveal that the earth’s becoming waste and emptiness with darkness on the surface of the deep was the result of God’s judgment. This indicates that God judged the preadamic world by flooding it with water. God’s original creation was destroyed by God’s judgment.
