Verse 2
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
That phrase “formless and void” can be used to describe a wasteland containing no life.
The prophet Jeremiah uses this phrase to describe the upcoming destruction of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. Listen to what he says, “I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins…” (Jeremiah 4:23-26).
Jeremiah is describing a place that uninhabited—there are no signs of life.
In verse 2, Moses is describing the earth in a state that is uninhabited and uncultivated. In fact, it is completely covered by water and that water is covered in darkness.
Image yourself in the middle of the ocean. And there are no stars or moon or sky (and no land that you can swim to) – it was just pitch black with a darkness that envelops you. That is how day 1 begins. God forms an earth that is formless and void.
But while it may be without form and uninhabited and engulfed in darkness, it is not godless. Because the end of verse 2 says: And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
This is one of those phrases we are quick to move past but it is a significant statement in this creation passage. Because here we have the active, present and intimate work of God in His creation.
Moses uses this same word “hovering” to describe God’s care for Israel. Deuteronomy 32:11 Moses says that God is “Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.”
This is a picture of an Eagle attentively caring for its young. The word hover doesn’t show indifference or aloofness. The eagle is not just hovering for no purpose.. But the hovering is an act of protecting, and guarding. It reveals an act that is intentional, personal, and intimate.
When we come back to verse 2 in Genesis 1, The Spirit of God isn’t just floating around. But as Pastor John Macarthur writes, “you have the living God superintending, brooding over, hovering over the waters being directly in charge of the entire process of creation.”
(PAUSE)
If you are a woodworker, a potter or a painter, there is that moment that you hold that unformed clay, that uncut wood, the blank canvas and you find yourself imagining with care, with excitement what this piece of wood or clay or canvas is going to be.
I think that is what we have here: the Spirit of God hovering with care over this unformed world. And I wonder if in this moment He is imagining what it is about to become. He already sees the finished work. It is going to be a magnificent place filled with beauty. A world with land, trees, mountains, rivers, lake, animals and humans. This is something that has never been created before and never seen before. It is going to be a place that declares the greatness of God.
I wonder if there is a moment where God is thinking, “the inhabitants of this world will know me because of what I have created.”
Psalm 19:1-2, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
Romans 1:20 says, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature.
But if we had been there on the beginning of day 1, it’s not the beauty of this world that we would have seen. We would have seen an earth that was formless and void. We might have said, “what’s this, God?” Why are you hovering with a sense of care and excitement and anticipation.
When God chose to create the world he could have started with an earth where land and water were already separated. He could started with a world where there was already sky and sun.
But he didn’t. He started with a dark abyss of water.
And I think one of the reasons is that we now get to see every step of creation. We get to see that God was a God of intention and purpose. We get to see that God was a God of detail and order. We get to see a God who chose to take time and was intimately involved in every aspect of the creation of the world.
He could have just snapped and it all was here. But he didn’t. And I think this tells us two interesting things about God.
- God is a God of process.
He begins with something that is formless and he begins to shape it and form it. And it requires his attention. It requires his time. It requires his personal presence and his personal touch. Like a potter being intimately connected with the clay so that the clay gets all over the potter’s hands.
And since he is a God of process, he is revealing there is purpose in the process.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are in the process of being molded into the image of Christ. God doesn’t just snap his fingers and boom, we are His final work. No, we are being molded, transformed and shaped. And it takes time. And it requires the personal presence of the Spirit of God. And in that process, God is showing us that our character and faith is being developed and matured over time as we persevere by faith through the struggles and through the trials. It is in the process that we are being sanctified and molded into the image of His son.
There is great value in the process and I think that is one of the things that is made known through the process of creation.
Verse 3
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Verse 3 begins with the phrase “And God said.” This is the means in which God brought things into existence. He spoke them into existence. And we will see this throughout the creation narrative.
God said let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters.
God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered together…
God said let the earth sprout vegetation and plants.
Creation was birthed through the Word of God.
Now Why did God speak things into existence? Why is that significant? Why does Scripture not just say, ‘God did this and God made that.”
This idea that God spoke or God commanded is a significant theme of creation and the writers of the Bible often reference it.
Hebrews 11:3 says, “we understand that the universe was created by the word of God,
Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Psalm 148:5 says, “Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created.”
When God’s creation is mentioned, the fact that he spoke it into existence is emphasized.
Here are two reason why I believe it is emphasized:
1. God did not need anything outside of him to create. One writer said, “It is not simply that Elohim created; it is the fact that He required no intermediary means to create. What God’s mind conceived, God simply spoke into existence. God’s power in the ‘Genesis 1 record of creation’ is total and absolute.”
When we emphasis that all things were made through the word of God, we emphasize that all things were made through God and God alone. He didn’t use the process of evolution. He didn’t use other “creators”. He spoke and it was established.
2. The other reason why it is important that God spoke is because who Scripture says created all things. And you may say, “Well, we know who created all things. God did. “In the beginning God created…” While that is true, that statement does not give us the full understanding of what it means that God created.
It is not until we come to the New Testament that the full picture is given.
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom (God) appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Hebrews chapter 1 tells us that it is through the Son that all things were created.
Colossians 1:15-16 says, “(Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Again, It is through Christ that all things were created.
And in John 1:1 the Son of God, the creator of all things, is given a name. John 1 begins “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”
The word “Word” here in John 1 comes from the Greek word logos which literal means “a spoken word.” Isn’t that an intriguing way to describe the Son of God, the one who created all things. He is the Spoken Word.
And then we come back to Genesis chapter 1 and the way God created was how? He spoke. And when he spoke, the Son of God created. Later, the Word would become flesh. And Jesus would come as Emmanuel, God with us. He would come as the image of the invisible God. And he would speak the words of God. Through Jesus, God is revealed. And Jesus himself would say, “if you have seen me, you seen the Father.”
The mind of God, the truth of God, the love of God was made known through the son. And so when God created this physical world it was done through one who would reveal God in a physical way.
And so verse 3 says, ‘And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”
So what is this light? I don’t think it is sunlight. Because God didn’t create the sun until day four of creation. When God said let there be light I believe this is the beginning of what know as our very understanding of light.
A simple definition of light is “is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye.”
If you light a match in a dark room, you see and experience this thing called light.
And of course, from our understanding, light needs to have a source. A fire, flashlight, a sun. What is the source of this light in verse 3? We are not told. But we are told of the author and creator of that light.
And then says in verse 3, “And God saw that the light was good.” This is the first time we see God affirming his creation. He didn’t affirm the earth that was formless and void and covered with water. And it doesn’t mean that formless earth was imperfect or didn’t meet his standards. But that wasn’t the finished product. But now He is starting to put things into place.
And as He does, He is going to give a value to them. This is good. This is right. This is how it should be. This reflects and reveals my glory. And the first thing He calls good is this thing called light that will be used to reveal things, make known things.
In fact, God is going to use this physical light to help us understand the glory of God. One of the purposes of the Son of God is that he comes as light
John 1:9 says, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
Jesus came to make known, he to reveal so that we may see and know God
Verse 4
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
This is an interesting statement because the very essence of light is that it removes the darkness. How can light and darkness exist without them automatically being separate. The definition of darkness is the absence of light. They don’t need to separate.
I don’t think God is actually separating light from darkness. I don’t think that is what this statement means. But rather I believe this statement is about the earth being a place that will experience both light and darkness.
And so when it says, “God separated the light from the darkness” what I believe we are seeing here is God putting the earth in motion. God is now beginning its daily rotation
And so there is a light (and Scripture doesn’t say what the source is). And that light is shining on parts of the earth. And as the earth rotates, those parts that were in the light will now move into the darkness and experience darkness. I believe that is the separation that is being spoken of here. And I say that because of what verse 5 says.
Verse 5
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
The earth is now experiencing times in which there is light and times in which there is darkness. And God calls the light day and the darkness night.
A similar statement about separating light and darkness is made in verse 18 when God created the sun and the moon and again the separation is referring to when the earth experiences day and night.
And so now that the earth is rotating, experiencing day and night, God is able to complete the first day. There was morning and evening on that first day. The first day experienced a sunrise and sunset as the earth rotates.