What Does Genesis 1:1 Mean?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1(NASB)

Verse of the Day

The earth was created to be beautiful, with great structure and design, and it was spoken into being for a specific and wonderful purpose; for the glory of God. The earth is a profound mystery that was conceived in the heart of the eternal God. It reflects amazing precision, breath-taking complexity, and delicate intricacies.

The heights and depths of His creative abilities and the mysterious purpose behind His creation can never be fathomed by the mere mind of man, nor his intellectual scrutiny. Foolish theories on the origin of the universe abound, which only give rise to man's innate rebellious nature. Nothing can bridge the gap from nothingness to something, from an inanimate object to a self-conscious living being with an eternal soul, a free-will to make choices between good and evil, and a conscience to guide those decisions.

The world was spoken into being by the WORD of the Almighty; the eternally wise God: "Who is to be praised forever, amen." The earth was spoken into being by the wisdom of the Almighty Creator through the eternal WORD of God. The first four words of the Bible states its origin: "In the beginning GOD..." It was the beginning of everything; time, matter, space, and universal laws. It was the start of the principles that govern life. And despite man's desire to exclude God from His creation, it is a statement of fact that the eternal, almighty, omniscient God, created the heavens and the earth by the might of His power.

While verse 1 is an announcement of God's creative act, the following verses expand this, by detailing the process of forming the heavens and filling the earth. The process of creation took place over six spectacular days until God was well-satisfied with His creative work and declared it to be very good. God's majestic act of creation is so simple that even a child can understand. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens, and the earth, and everything in it.

Innumerable kinds of incredible creatures and brightly coloured birds of the air flocked forth from the earth. Multitudes of fish came forth in great abundance from the fruitful waters of the seas, and the hand of God fashioned and formed man in the image and likeness of his great Creator. Man was charged to take dominion over the entire earth and vast oceans, as God's anointed representative ruler.

The world was spoken into being, out of NOTHING. Man was fashioned from the dust of the earth and God breathed life into His creation, and it was so. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out! 

However, it was not only the visible creation in heaven and earth that was brought into being, as stated by that first verse in the 'Book of Beginnings'. God's creative act was the genesis of everything that we know and understand, in the structure of life, and the process of living.

When God created the heavens and the earth, He laid the foundations for order and complexity, from the atmosphere on earth to the hydrosphere in the heavens. From God's initial creative act, came life and light, marriage and families, languages and peoples, governments and sovereignty, culture and civilisations, science and music, and everything upon which life is founded.

"The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God,'" despite the declaration of His mighty power from the heavens above and the powerful testimony of the earth beneath. His eternal power and divine nature is clearly seen throughout the amazing precision, breath-taking complexity, and delicate intricacies of His creation. But evidence of God is also announced through the inner conscience of man, and together with the written Word of God, clear testimony is given to every man of the undeniable truth that: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," by the power of His Word.

Oh, the mystery of His spoken WORD, the power of His written WORD, the wonder of His living WORD, and the grace of the Incarnate WORD - our Lord Jesus Christ.

He truly is an amazing God.

My Prayer

Loving Father, as I see Your great wisdom reflected in Your wonderful creation, I want to praise You with my whole being. Thank you for the creative Word of God Who not only spoke the world into being from nothing but died for me so that I could have life – everlasting life and life more abundantly. Thank You, in Jesus' name, AMEN.

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