In the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on
the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the
waters.
God said, “Let there be light,” and
there was light. God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided
the light from the darkness. God called the light “day”, and the darkness
he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.
God said, “Let there be an expanse in
the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” God
made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the
waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse
“sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
God said, “Let the waters under the sky
be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so. God
called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called
“seas”. God saw that it was good. God said, “Let the earth yield grass,
herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with
their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so. The earth yielded grass,
herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds
in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening
and there was morning, a third day.
God said, “Let there be lights in the
expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs
to mark seasons, days, and years; and let them be for lights in the
expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so. God made
the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light
to rule the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of
the sky to give light to the earth, and to rule over the day and over the
night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
God said, “Let the waters abound with
living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the
sky.” God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that
moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird
after its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be
fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply
on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
God said, “Let the earth produce living
creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the
earth after their kind;” and it was so. God made the animals of the earth
after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that
creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
God said, “Let’s make man in our image,
after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in his
own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and
subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky,
and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God said, “Behold, I have given you
every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every
tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. To every
animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that
creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for
food;” and it was so.
God saw everything that he had made,
and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth
day.
The heavens, the earth, and all their
vast array were finished. On the seventh day God finished his work which
he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had
done. God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in
it from all his work of creation which he had done.
Genesis 1;2:1-3
Some extraordinary themes reveal themselves
in the first Creation story:
God brings order from Chaos, represented
by the distinguishing of things from one another and, even more evocatively, the watery Deep. In a few chapters, God will teach
Noah how to survive the return of Chaos when floodwaters engulf the world, and carefully lock the door of the ark behind him. Moses
will command the waters of the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to escape the
Egyptians, pursuing them to return them to slavery. Elijah will divide the Jordan river as he faces the chaos of the
end of his earthly life and his apprentice, Elisha, will
divide it again to begin his own ministry. Jesus will calm turbulent waters, walk on
them, and teach Peter that he can walk on them too.
The earth and everything that emerges
from it is Good, and God blesses it.
God is ancient and sovereign. He created an abundant, nurturing universe heartrending
in its beauty, mystery and majesty.
God made us in His image. From the very beginning, He intended us to be
His children – a message he would underline with earthquakes, thunder and lightning
at Mount Sinai and again in Bethlehem and on Calvary.
Image: El Rio de Luz, Frederic Edwin Church (1877)
