The beginning began with God. "In the beginning God…" (Gen. 1: 1). Beloved, life begets life and design implies a designer. It is unthinkable to even imagine that man and the universe just happened! "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Ibid.). The Bible purports to be of God (2 Tim. 3: 16, 17, 2 Pet. 1: 21, see "The Bible," accessed from home page). The Bible has stood the test of time, being subjected to every internal and external test to determine its authenticity. The Bible says God created the heaven and the earth!

     The "gradation" and nature of creation. Creation is divided into six days (Gen. 1: 3-31). These days are evidently twenty-four hour periods (vs. 5, "evening and the morning were the first day"). On the first day of creation "light" was created and divided from darkness. Notice, "God divided the light from the darkness" (vss. 3, 4). God made the firmament and divided the waters…and God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day" (vss. 7, 8). Separation of water and land, grass, herb yielding seed, etc. occurred on the third day (vss. 9-13). The perfection of God's creation is seen in the expression: "God saw that it was good" (vs. 12). The sun, moon, and stars were created by God on the fourth day (vs. 19). Fish, fowl, etc. were created by God on the fifth day (vss. 20-23). On the sixth day, cattle, creeping things, etc. were created (vss. 24, 25).

     The climax of God's creation is seen in verses 26-28: "And God said, let us make man in our image…." To man God assigned dominion over creation (vs. 26). God created man "male and female created he them " (vs. 27). As in the other cases of creation, God decreed that man should multiply (vs. 28). All of this - creation of formless heaven and earth to man - was created by God in the six day period (vs. 31). Regarding the totality of His creation God said, "it is very good" (vs. 31).

     The Genesis' account of creation is not isolated or independent from the remainder of the Bible. Many other writers, inspired men, including Jesus allude to and affirm the Genesis' account (Matt. 19: 4-6, I Cor. 11: 7-12).

     Some observations regarding the Genesis' account of creation. The material universe was created from nothingness. God was in "the beginning." God did not put certain laws into motion and inject certain basic substances and chemicals and allow a natural process to develop the world. God "spoke it into actual existence (vs. 3, etc. also see "Theistic Evolution" in Archives). All of God's creation was created mature. By this I mean the living things had reproductive capabilities and man and woman were physically mature. In this vein, God also created the two essential genders in order for there to be reproduction. Man did not simply evolve and "thousands" of years later woman happened to evolve! After God's initial and miraculous creation (no natural laws or evolutionary processes), God then put into place natural laws, such as reproduction, etc. It is also apparent that man, as created by God, is different from all the rest of creation. Only to man did God say, "let us make man in our image, after our likeness…" (vss. 26). Woman was expressly made by God for man (2: 18 ff) and is "the glory of the man" (I Cor. 11: 7). Therefore, man and woman are vastly different anatomically, emotionally, and psychologically. We need to also appreciate God made woman for man - not another man! (See Leviticus 18: 22).

     Upon still closer examination of the Genesis' account of creation we see multiple forces, if you will, being operative in the creation. "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," for instance (vs. 2). Also, God (Elohim, vs. 1) is plural. Paul later taught that Jesus Christ did the actual creating (Col. 1: 16, Jn. 1: 3). All divine entities comprising the Godhead, therefore, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are seen in Genesis one (see "The Godhead" in this section). The Father did the providing, Jesus (the word) did the actual creating, and the Holy Spirit did the organizing. The same truth is seen regarding spiritual creation (Jn. 3: 16, chs. 14-16).