THE BOOK OF GENESIS

DAY ONE

TEXT: Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

We’re going to take our time with this first verse in Genesis. Day one of creation begins with, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” 

Did you know that this was the first miracle of Jesus, the Son of God? In Colossians 1:16 we read, “For by Him (Jesus) all things were created, in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.” The first miracle of Jesus was the creation! 

“In the beginning God created . . .” If this first verse in God’s Word isn’t true, then none of the rest of the Bible is true. Little wonder then, why this verse is so attacked by Satan, the liar and deceiver! Without question, this is one of the most important revelations in the Bible. If we believe this verse in the Bible, then we won’t have any trouble in believing all of the other verses in Genesis, (the first book) to Revelation (the last book).  

THREE TRUTHS FROM GENESIS 1:1

1. FOUNDATIONS ARE IMPORTANT

I know that we have already touched on this in a previous lesson, but I want to revisit again tonight because foundations are so important to our faith. 

Before builders construct the floor, the walls and the roof, they first lay the foundation. Very simply, without a foundation, the house would collapse. 

As we study the first 11 chapters of Genesis, we learn that the first verse in Genesis is foundational to the first chapter, and the first chapter is foundational to the first 11 chapters, and the first 11 chapters are foundational to the rest of the book of Genesis, and Genesis is foundational to the rest of the Bible. So Genesis 1-11 is foundational to all Christian doctrine and to the Christian world view. 

Therefore, if the foundational first verse in the Bible is not true, then the rest of the Bible isn’t true either. 

Psalm 11:3 says, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? For instance, if God is not the foundation of everything—if there is no God, then trust in Jesus and the Bible would be completely meaningless. That is why the first verse in the Bible tells us there is a God—not just any God, but the one true God! 

2. THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING

The first verse in the Bible tells us that the universe was brought into existence—it was created by God. 

The means that before the universe was made, there was no universe, no earth, no time, and in fact, not even any space! If you’re like me, then you can’t even imagine that there is no space. How would we try and describe this? We might say that there was nothing. However, I think that most people would still think that nothing would mean an empty black place. But the universe was not even a place before creation—it wasn’t black—but it just wasn’t! 

How about this? There was not even nothing, (but there was God, and we will learn about this is the next point or point number three). We can’t even think what NOT EVEN NOTHING would be like! Right? 

Not even nothing couldn’t be black—because that would be something! This is impossible to understand because we are created beings—we were created by God. This means God must be so much more powerful than us, so there are going to be many things we will not understand. This should make us realize more and more just how big and powerful God is! 

If God made the universe, what did it make it from? The word “created” used in this first verse really means that God brought into existence materials that had no previous existence to make everything that now exist. God made the universe from materials that He created from NOT EVEN NOTHING! 

In the New Testament book of Hebrews, 11:3 we read, “By faith we understand that the universe (this means everything) was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” This also teaches us that the things that we see now were made from materials that previously did not exist, but God brough them into existence! It helps us to begin to understand just how powerful God is! 

In Psalm 33:9, we are told about how God does things, “For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. How does God do things? He just commands it to happen—and it happens. How did He make the universe? He just spoke it into existence! Look at the following verses in Genesis chapter 1:3, 6 ,9, 14, 20, 24 and 26. They all start with “And God said (verse 26 begins with “then God said). He just spoke and then it happened—things came into existence. He spoke, and suddenly from not even nothing there was something! Only God can do this! 

In Mark 4:39, we are told the account of how Jesus, God’s Son, was on a boat with His disciples and a great storm arose. He spoke to the wind and the sea, and they obeyed Him! “And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”

When the disciples saw this, they said, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” In other words, who is this who can just speak to the wind and the sea and they obey Him? Well, the answer is that this is the Creator! This was no ordinary man. Colossians 1:16 says that “all things were created through Him and for Him. Is it any wonder then that the wind and sea obeyed Him—He made them! 

If things were made by Him, it then means that we were made by Him. Actually as we will learn a little later, God made our first parents and designed them to have children, and their children to have children, and so on. God did not make us directly from dust like He did Adam, but we are all children of Adam. So we can certainly say that God made us. 

Psalm 139:13-14 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, and I know that full well.” 

Acts 17:26 “From one man He made every nation of men. . .”

Before God spoke the universe into existence, we did not exist, except God knew we would exist. For instance, in Jeremiah 1:5 God said this about Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” God in eternity knew each one of us just as He knew Jeremiah, before we came into existence! Again, this gives us a glimpse of just how great God really is! 

Now we do exist, and we think and reason, and make decisions. And yet our first parents were made from dust that originally did not exist, but which God spoke into existence! How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and we all will see how great, how great, is our God! 

And what did God first create? He created time (in the beginning); He created space (He created the heavens); He created matter (and the earth). Now point three:

3. GOD HAD NO BEGINNING! 

The Bible tells us that time, space, and matter (the universe) had a beginning, but God was just there! How could this be? If God made time, then God had to exist before time. We know that time can be measured. For instance, we measure time with our watches by measuring minutes or hours. Each time we have a birthday, we know that a whole year of time has passed by. As time goes on, we get older—everything that exits gets older. But if God made time and exists outside of time, then He does not age. Maybe we find this hard (really impossible) to completely understand because we were created, just as time was created. The One who created us, along with everything else, is infinite in His understanding! He is omniscient, all knowing! We can’t understand everything about God, but He helps us to understand as much as we can, as much as which is humanly possible.

When God sent Moses to Pharaoh to set the Israelites free, Moses wanted to know who he should say is the One who sent him. In Genesis 3:14 we read, “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you.” God said His name was “I Am.” Now that might sound like a strange name, but do we know what that means? We were born (had a beginning) which is why we existed in the past and we exist now, and we will continue to exist in our body until we die. Of course our spirit does not cease to exist when we die. If we are a Christian, a new creation in Christ by being born again by the Spirit of God, the Bible teaches that when we leave our body, we will go to be with the Lord forever! As I have said many times, for the believer in Christ the best is yet to come! 

We were born, are existing now, and will be existing forever, either with God, or sadly apart from God, if we have not committed our lives to Christ. 

We all as created beings had a beginning. But God simply exists. He is I am. Not I was or will be, but I Am! He just was always there. He doesn’t age, because with God there is no time. He made time so He could make us. That is why His name is ‘I AM!’

In Psalm 90:2 we read, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. God exists in eternity—He didn’t have a beginning! 

I know that you have questions, like “Who made God?” And we will answer that question next week. But for now, just try and focus on the reality that God, the great I Am, who created the time, space and matter universe, lives in a dimension outside of that dimension and is so much greater than what we know! SELAH