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 once more on Calvary.
And He must be still, as we must be, to
reflect on the enormous beauty of it all.
