Genesis 1:1–10

The opening sentence of the Bible sets us in the presence of God, the infinite source of all true blessedness. There is no elaborate argument in proof of the existence of God. The Holy Spirit would never take up such a task. God reveals Himself. He makes Himself known by His works.

For the believer this is a simple yet deep truth: everything that exists had a beginning. If God says it, the believer sees that nothing else can be true. Every effect must have a cause. But at its best, reasoning can go no further than this: it can say, "There must be a First Cause." It can never say, "There is one." God alone can say that, and He does.

A creation that always existed, matter that always existed — this is untrue and impossible. It contradicts thought itself, even without the word of God to teach us. God has all power, and He creates if He pleases. That is the whole truth of it… So creation was free to God, not something He had to do. It came when He pleased and as He pleased. And He was pleased to create. Creation exists.

In grammar, "dual" means two, so "plural" means three or more. Yet the verb "created" beside this plural name is singular! Why this apparent breach of grammar? The reason seems clear. At the very start of what we learn about God, we get a hint of a truth revealed openly later: He is a Trinity in Unity — three Persons, yet one God.

Take the plural form of the word and its link with singular verbs. Would it not be closer to the truth to say this? We cannot call it a revelation of the Trinity. Yet it is still a way of speaking that shows the Holy Spirit, the third Person, had the Trinity in mind. He used words whose full force we could only grasp once God had revealed that truth.

God created, as Genesis 1:1 tells us. But where Scripture sets the Persons apart, as it does here, it credits creation not to the Father but to the Son. The Son — whom we know as our Lord Jesus — was the mighty One at work in those scenes of creation, splendid beyond anything we can imagine.

There is a vast difference between "In the beginning God created" and "in the beginning was." The first tells us when created things started. The second points to Him who already existed when everything else began.

Take the six days however you like. On sound principles of reading, no one can deny two things. The first day begins with light. And the first two verses stand apart from the work of the six days, both in what they describe and in how they say it… "In the beginning" carries its own meaning. It is not tied to "the days" at all, except as the revealed start of God's creation.

In our human nature there is a thirst to know where things came from. God gave us that thirst, and God answers it. He does so in the first sentence of His own revelation to mankind… Some may ask and argue over how God could create so vast a universe. Faith believes what the word of God says.

Now who but an inspired man would have so written? The lower your view of Israel — an unlettered people, even rough and uncivilised — the greater the wonder. Did Egypt teach this, or Babylon? Did Greece or Rome? How did Moses come to declare the fact as he writes it? ... Any living man, judging by what everyone can see, has always regarded the sun as the great source of light. If the writing had been his, he would have spoken first of that bright orb. In other words, the work of the fourth day would more reasonably have taken the place of the first. That is what the philosophers taught for ages afterwards. But the truth is not so.

Darkness, no doubt through angelic sin, had entered His creation. As He moved with feeling over the scene, He commands, "Let there be light." This was creative power — the prerogative of God Himself. But it also says, "God saw the light, that it was good" — the first moral pronouncement of Scripture! "And God divided the light from the darkness."

A wrecked life lies hopeless in a gloom that, as far as its own efforts go, must be eternal. Over that life the Spirit of God in brooding love flashes out the knowledge of the presence of God Himself: "God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts." The light here shows nothing but itself, in which God can find pleasure: "God saw the light that it was good." He can only divide it from all that is not light, calling the one "day" and the other "night."

So God divided the light from the darkness. There was to be no compromise, no mixture, no vague twilight. For a season the darkness was to give way fully to light, and so there was a division between them. So there was evening and there was morning — a first day.

Earlier in this book we noticed that God called the light good, but said nothing like this of the darkness. In nature, darkness is a real benefit. After the toil of the day comes the rest and peace of night. But in a spiritual sense, Scripture treats darkness as a picture of evil. That is why Genesis 1:4 does not call it "good," as it calls the light good.

God did not say, "Let darkness be removed," but "Let there be light." The positive radiance of light drives out the darkness. So too, the light of God entering someone's soul drives out his moral and spiritual darkness. "God saw the light, that it was good." ... Then God divided the light from the darkness. So we know there was light before God set the sun in its place to rule over the day. In a spiritual sense this reminds us that light has entered the soul of every believer. Even so, night experiences will still come, because the fleshly nature is still in us, and its very character is darkness.

All is divine. God said, God saw, God called. His thoughts, words, and acts are presented throughout. ... How noticeable it is, too, that God gives everything its name! He calls as well as makes all things. Night and day, heaven, earth, and seas all receive their names as well as their existence from Him. What was for man's use, and to be put under man's control, is left for him to name.

We have now had five things before us that were named by God Himself. We note this because of what comes next. In the next chapter God brings to Adam the living creatures He had made on the fifth and sixth days, so that he might give them names... So God let Adam show his powers of discernment in many a smaller detail. But these five things he had to accept as named by God — Day, Night, Heaven, Earth, Seas.

Notice that the first day does not begin before the light, but with it. Otherwise it could not begin with evening, for evening implies light already there. But the light strangely comes only to fade and darken into night. Through that it reaches its morning by a kind of new birth, when (for that day, of course) the darkness is wholly past.

For a long time unbelievers took great exception to this statement of verse 5, because the sun does not appear until the fourth day. But the sun is not the only source of light.

The question is raised whether the days of Genesis 1 are literal, or figurative — vast periods of time... For ourselves, we believe it is to be understood literally. The figurative sense does occur in Scripture — "man's day," "the day of salvation." But that sense is clearly a secondary one. The literal sense is the primary... The repetition of "the evening and the morning" fits the primary meaning, and would have very little meaning in the secondary sense. Further, in verse 16 the sun is made to rule the day and the moon to rule the night, and we do not see how the primary sense can be avoided.

If the Scriptures were uninspired, we would surely have reversed the order and written that the morning and the evening were the first day. Man's mind runs naturally to morning first and then evening. We speak of the morning of life, and of the evening of life. For man, darkness follows light.

Practically, the day is not all light; "evening and morning" make it up. Yet though darkness in itself is "night," it is worth noticing something. Once light has come in, it is never simple, absolute night any more, but "evening." There are always some rays of the day. And in God's order, evening surely gives way to morning... its promise of the perfect "day" is never realised until God's work is finished and His Sabbath is reached. Then indeed there is no more evening, or morning either, but "day," without mixture or decline.

Here we have the two great symbols so widely used throughout the Word. The presence of light makes the day; its absence makes the night. So it is in the history of souls. There are "the sons of light" and "the sons of darkness." This is a very marked and solemn distinction.

The Hebrew word translated "firmament" would be better given as "expanse," as it is marked in the reference column in some editions of our Bibles. The word "firmament" comes from the Vulgate translation of the Bible in Latin by Jerome, and is unfortunate. The idea came to him from the ancients. Greek and Roman philosophies described heaven as forming a solid vault over the earth.

A solid vault is out of the question… The Scriptures really present the heavens as spread out, and the earth hung upon nothing. They nowhere support the crude idea of stars fastened like brass nails on a metal vault.

On the second day God called a "firmament," or "expanse," into being; a further division, not now of light from darkness but of waters from waters. God called this expanse, Heaven. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we should call the starry heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens… As a result of the work of the second day, an atmosphere surrounded the earth. He did it by His word, "God said … and it was so."

The New Testament tells how Paul was caught up into the third heaven… Here God made another heaven, since man was about to be made. There is the heaven of His presence. There is the heaven of the stars, planets, and other objects in space. And there is the atmospheric heaven that man and living things here below need.

The waters upon the earth are the salt, bitter waters of the ocean; while those above, though drawn from the ocean, are perfectly fresh. It is beautiful to see how these waters in vast and inconceivable volume are suspended in those "balancing clouds" which lift them above the earth and yet hold them in connection with it, ever ready to pour down in beneficent rain the treasures which they hold.

God drew man's attention to His thoughtful and almighty goodness when He separated "waters from waters." Otherwise endless mist would have filled the space above the earth, without the right mixture of gases that makes up the air every living thing needs. To the air's work, with other causes God set up, we owe clouds, rain, and evaporation. It also bends and reflects light, softening it, which adds much to the beauty and usefulness of creation. Without it a black sky would have cast a constant shadow over the earth.

Nothing new was made on the second day. God separated the waters above from the waters below, leaving the heavens free as an expanse between them. But no new substance was created, so the day is not said to be very good.

If the first day pictures God beginning His work in a soul by new birth, the second day shows a person made to look up. True blessing comes from above, and so does authority… All below may look like a watery waste with no order. Yet if the believer is refreshed by the pure water of God's word from above, in true subjection to the Lord Jesus, his life can change greatly from disorder into calm, orderly obedience.

It is now widely known — and the most competent Hebrew scholars said so long before modern science existed — that "expanse" is the real force of the original word, not "firmament." That word came to us through the Latin Vulgate, and seems to come from the Greek Septuagint... The way the word is used in this chapter itself (verses 15, 17, 20, 28) proves that it means the open, transparent sky, whatever readers may have misunderstood at any time.

From this point God begins to work again. We read not only of God creating (Gen. 1:21, 27) but of His making (Gen. 1:7, 16, 25), and finally of His forming man (Gen. 2:7). The last two words apply when the question is not producing something out of nothing. They speak of shaping matter that already exists into fresh forms of order and beauty.

On the second day God called a "firmament," or "expanse," into being. As a result a further division took place — not now of light from darkness, but of waters from waters. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we should call the stellar heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens. There immense quantities of water float above in the form of clouds, divided from the far greater quantities lying on the earth beneath. The work of the second day surrounded the earth with an atmosphere. His word accomplished it: "God said … and it was so."

The waters upon the earth are the salt, bitter waters of the ocean, while those above, though drawn from the ocean, are perfectly fresh. This is a true picture of what the expanse of the atmosphere is: a separation between the waters on the earth and those in the heavens, not a hard and fast line. It can be filled with vapour, and yet in general it arches above us, making a true separation, just as Scripture describes here.

God drew man's attention to His thoughtful and almighty goodness when He separated "waters from waters." Otherwise the space above the earth would have been filled with constant vapour. It would have lacked the right mixture of gases that makes up the air, which all life on earth needs. To the workings of that air, with other causes God set in place, we owe the forming of clouds, the fall of rain and evaporation. To its power of bending and reflecting light we owe that softening of light which adds so much to the beauty and the usefulness of creation. Otherwise a black sky would have cast its constant covering over the earth.

Nothing was made the second day — that is, no new thing. The separation of waters above and below, leaving the heavens free as an expanse between, was not a new substance created, and so it is not said to be very good.

If the first day pictures God beginning His work in a soul by new birth, the second day shows that one has reason to look up and see that true blessing comes from above. And so authority comes from above too... All below may seem a watery waste with no order. Yet when a believer is refreshed by the pure water of God's word from above, in true subjection to the Lord Jesus, his life may be greatly changed from disorder into calm, orderly obedience, even when surrounded by the swelling seas of the world's confusion.

On the second day God brought a "firmament," or "expanse," into being. This made a further division — not light from darkness now, but waters from waters. God called this expanse Heaven. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we would call the starry heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens. That is where huge amounts of water float above us as clouds, divided from the far greater amounts lying on the earth below. So the work of the second day left the earth wrapped in an atmosphere. He did it by His word: "God said … and it was so."

It is now widely known — and the best Hebrew scholars said so long before modern science existed — that "expanse" is the real force of the original word, not "firmament," which reached us through the old Latin translation, the Vulgate, and seems to come from the older Greek one, the Septuagint... The way the word is used in this very chapter (vv. 15, 17, 20, 28) is proof enough that it carries the idea of the open, clear sky, whatever readers may have misunderstood at any time.

The Hebrew word is raqia, meaning 'expanse.' It covers both the sky we see when we look up and the air in which the birds fly. We read that God called the expanse 'heaven.' This is 'heaven' in a broad sense, for elsewhere we read of 'the stars of heaven,' but also of 'the birds of heaven.'

We have now had five things before us, and God Himself gave the name to each. We note this because in the next chapter God brings the living creatures He had made on the fifth and sixth days to Adam, so that he might name them... God let Adam show his skill of discernment in many a smaller detail, but these five things he had to accept as named by God — Day, Night, Heaven, Earth, Seas.

The air's workings, with other causes God set in place, give us the forming of clouds, the fall of rain, and evaporation. Because the air bends and reflects light, we get that softening of light which adds beyond measure to the beauty of creation, and just as much to its usefulness. Otherwise a black sky would have hung over the earth like a constant shroud... And if dry land had survived anywhere, it must have been a dry, barren waste with no animal life and not a blade of grass.

God made nothing on the second day — that is, nothing new. Dividing the waters above from the waters below, and leaving the heavens free as an expanse between, created no new substance, so Scripture does not call it very good.

Nothing fills these heavens as yet but "waters" — waters above as well as below — the very picture of instability... And it seems telling that on this second day there is no voice of God calling "good" what is still for good. In His providence He may be working blessing through what He cannot bless in itself.

This heaven is clearly the atmospheric heaven, and the waters above are no doubt the waters held in the clouds... the second day shows us that we have reason to look up and see that true blessing comes from above, and so authority comes from above too. "The heavens do rule" (Dan. 4:26).

First He commands the waters under the heavens to gather into one place, so that dry land can appear. People have noticed that all the seas of the world connect with each other, while the land masses do not. Moses could not have known this unless God revealed it to him. For the dry land to appear, it had to rise above the level of the water. Deep water still covers much land. Dry land takes up less than a third of this planet's surface.

Sudden, extraordinary acts brought about what God then did for man. Slow, ordinary causes played their part too. But here we learn that God laid down the great landmarks that remain to this day.

Again on the third day there was division. The waters above the expanse stayed as they were. God gathered the waters beneath into one place, and dry land appeared. Solid, fixed ground now appeared where everything had been unsettled and moving.

We may well believe His word, since by the word of God all things came into being and continue... The word of God is the authority the believer needs, and the believer is called to obey it in faith. The ground of faith is: "The Lord has said."

This gathering of the waters into their own place begins the great period of earth's history that we still live in. Except for the flood, when water covered everything for a time, the dry land has always been visible... Notice that God's work from the beginning was work of separating. He separated light from darkness. He separated the waters above the expanse from the waters beneath. And here again He separates the dry land from the waves that had covered it and hidden it.

The "third day" speaks of resurrection to the Christian heart. Here it is marked by resurrection power: the earth comes up out of the waters. What can be worked and made fruitful now rises from under the waste of sea that could never be reclaimed. The sea is not removed, but bounded and restrained; it cannot return to cover the earth. God acknowledges that the sea exists. He names it for the first time. In the new earth there will be no sea.

It was like this with the darkness, and now it is like this with the waters. God does not remove them completely. He controls them and sets their limits. The same is true of everything that causes uncertainty, unrest and barrenness in the soul. God does not remove it. He gives it limits it cannot pass, so it can never again cover the ground.

This illustrates the relation of Israel to the nations. The sea is a picture of the nations, who are out of control. Daniel 7:3 tells us of four great beasts coming up from the sea. These are not real beasts or a real sea. They stand for four great world empires that rise up among the nations.

Everything is divine. God said, God saw, God called. We see His thoughts, words, and acts all the way through. And so everything is very good. Sadly, it is when the creature begins to act that everything is spoiled. Notice too how God gives everything its name! He calls as well as makes all things. Night and day, heaven, earth, and seas all receive their names from Him as well as their existence. God left man to name what was for man's use and under man's control.

There is another division in Genesis 1 besides creation and the days, made by the words "and God saw" and "it was good." First He creates. Then He separates the elements to make order out of disorder… Then water and dry land, giving each its name; and the world so prepared He pronounces "good." That is the first division — an ordered world.

The earth was to have, for the most part, the shape God saw best fitted for His new purpose. There would be vast continents and vaster oceans, islands large and small, lakes salt and fresh, mountains and rivers, plains and valleys. Deep and sudden upheaval, not just slow erosion, often shaped those valleys. In Hebrew usage the "seas" take in all large collections of water — oceans, seas, lakes, and even rivers… here we learn that God laid down the great landmarks that remain to this day.

It has been observed that all the seas of the world are connected, while all the land is not. Moses could never have known this unless God revealed it to him. For the dry land to appear it would have to be raised up above the level of the water. Some land remains covered by great depths of water, for the dry land on this planet takes up less than one third of its surface.

The "third day" speaks to the Christian heart of resurrection. Resurrection power marks it here: the earth comes up out of the waters. What can be worked on and made fruitful is now brought up from under the hopeless waste of sea. That sea is not removed, but bounded and restrained; it cannot return to cover the earth. Its existence is indeed openly recognised; it gets its name from God for the first time; in the new earth there will be none (Revelation 21:1). Meanwhile He lays the foundations of the earth, so that it should never be moved.

The land speaks of what is solid and stable, in contrast to the unstable mass of the waters of the oceans. The heaving waters speak of the flesh in its unstable emptiness, whether the flesh in unbelievers or in believers. In the same way, Revelation 17:15 speaks of the waters as "peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues." There you see the flesh in all its constant turmoil and disorder. These are the waters of the seas, in contrast to the waters from above — the rain that stands for the blessing of God by His word (Isaiah 55:10-11). This separation of earth from the waters God saw to be good.

No doubt in Genesis 1 the Earth refers to the whole land surface, just as the Seas refers to the oceans that circle the globe. But what does this division between the Earth and the Seas picture? The Earth stands for the land of Israel.