The first book of Moses called
GENESIS
The first part of Genesis focuses on the beginning and spread of sin in the world and culminates in the devastating flood in the days of Noah. The second part of the book focuses on Gods dealings with one man, Abraham, through whom God promises to bring salvation and blessing to the world. Abraham and his descendants learn first hand that it was always safe to trust the Lord in times of famine, and feasting, blessing and bondage. From Abraham… to Isaac… to Jacob… to Joseph.. God’s promises begin to come to fruition in a great nation possessing a great land. Genesis is the Greek word meaning “origin,” “source”, “generation,” or “beginning” The original Hebrew title Bereshith means “In The Beginning.”
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:1-3
Before the heavens and earth there was nothing but the self existing God, The Hebrew word used here for God is Elohim, and is plural in its meaning. This is explained in the New Testament book of John chapter one verse one, as seen referenced above. Scientist, mainly of the evolutionist theory, have throughout time used this first verse to dispute the validity of the age of the earth, according to the word of God; Saying, and rightly so, that the earth is much older than 6000 years old.(As man knows time). the problem is that the most of these scientist don’t take into account the fact that when they read scripture, they are not reading it in it’s original Hebrew language. therefore they don’t have the complete understanding of what is being written, no matter what language they are reading it in. there is much that gets lost in translating languages. If we stopped in this one verse and used it alone as the source in determining the age of the earth in comparison to the year we are now living in, then yes we would think the earth is roughly 6000 years old, but we know this to not be true because of science. Science is actually a friend of the bible. It helps to legitimize scriptures throughout in certain times. We must keep reading on into verse two, keeping in mind what was originally being written down in the Hebrew language as it is being recorded. We need to have a Strongs concordance bible to help us when we study the bible for a better understanding, at times, in our readings. I will show you, the reader, what I mean in verse two. Yes the earth is much older than 6000 years according to scripture as we read it in the English language, there is no argument here. Let us continue on to verse two and put into clarity what the bible says in verse one, and what the scientist and science says regarding the age of the earth. understand, in verse one only the Heavens and earth were created not man, any living creatures , tree and plant kind as well.
2. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The time span from verse one and verse two could well be thousands if not millions of years apart. Verse 2 states that “The earth was”
Was:(H1961): hâyâh: BDB Definition: 1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out
When we look at the Hebrew meaning of the word was, we can see how words can get lost in translation from Hebrew or Greek to English. So now that we know the real meaning, that the author (Moses) is conveying here, we can come to understand that after God created the Heavens and the earth, there was some point in time that the earth “became‘ void and without form.” This could have happened not in a day, but years and years. According to my understanding. The United church of God teaches that after God created the heavens and earth: which consisted of the Angelic beings, That Lucifer: as he was known by during this time period rebelled against God and in the process was able to deceive 1/3 of the angels, to follow him in his rebellion against God. It was during this rebellion that the earth became void and without form. The United Church of God has a bible study on Genesis, titled: Understanding Genesis 1 and 2 and God’s work of creation. The following statement comes from this study:
It’s not logical to think that God would create the earth “formless and desolate” as the Good News Translation translates Genesis 1:2. We would expect God to create everything with beauty and perfection. “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33).
In fact, Isaiah 45:18 tells us, “For the LORD is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos” (New Living Translation). The Hebrew word here translated “empty chaos” is tohu, the same word translated “without form” in Genesis 1:2.
So what happened? Long after the original creation, a violent cataclysm occurred that caused the chaos.
The event that caused the surface of the earth to be largely destroyed is explained in our booklet Creation or Evolution: Does It Really Matter What You Believe? To summarize, God created the earth with exquisite perfection, but a cataclysm brought destruction. We don’t know how many years there were between the time of God’s creation and that cataclysm, nor do we know how many years there might have been between that cataclysm and the re-creation described in Genesis 1.
Notice Psalm 104:30: “You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth.” What is described beginning with Genesis 1:3 is God’s renewal of the earth and its creatures.
So, Genesis 1 and 2 should be understood as literally true. This planet is indeed very old, but most of the flora and fauna we have today, as referred to in Genesis 1, was created about 6,000 years ago. And human beings began at that time with God’s creation of Adam and Eve.
In the booklet: Creation or Evolution, on pg. 67, from the United Church of God website, you can find this explanation:
The time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 is an unspecified period that could encompass-an untold span of years, accounting for the deep time that geologists and other scientist have discovered in the last two centuries. So the Bible itself solves the enigma. We do not need to artificially lengthen the seven 24-hour creation days to resolve the problem. The Reese Chronological Bible, for instance, begins Genesis with the account of John 1:1,then goes to Psalm 90:2, then goes to Genesis1:1, and next, to the verses in the Bible describing the angelic rebellion. Only afterward s does it continue to Genesis 1:2, which mentions the devastation left from that uprising. Then, starting in verse 3, we have the commencement of the week-long renewal of the earth. Culminating with the creation of Adam and Eve, the week described here occurred about 6,000 years ago.
“The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” God’s Spirit, suspended in the air, moving to and fro across the waters in anticipation of what He was going to do.
3. Then God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. v.14 4. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 2 Cor. 4:6
The light God saw was created on the first day when He created the Heavens and the earth. the Heavens that were created consisted of everything in the celestial universe; the stars and planets (including the sun and moon), the galaxies, and nebulas, etc. etc. When God created the Heavens He had not yet set them in motion or defined them as to their purpose or place in his overall plan of creation.
5. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Rev. 22:5
It is here that we now see an actual time mentioned in the bible, This is where we begin our recorded history to what we now know as 6,000 years of recorded history. Verse’s 1-5 records the first day creation. God did two things. First he created the heavens and the earth, next He brought forth the light from out of the heavens and “there was light.” In verse five God named the light day, and the darkness He called night. He then describes the evening and the morning as the first day. The United Church of God’s Bible guide; lesson 3 “Understanding Genesis chapter 1 and 2” and God’s work of creation defines the creation of a day this way:
Genesis 1:5 defines a day as consisting of a daylight portion and a dark portion. It also defines a day as being composed of an evening and a morning. (Stating “evening” before “morning” is consistent with the rest of the Bible, which defines a day as beginning with sundown.
This then tells us that a new day begins at sunset and not at 12:00 am. So, when we celebrate the Sabbath (which we will see later is celebrated on Saturday and not Sunday), We start our Sabbath rest at sunset on Friday evening. If we are to worship God in the proper way, then we must do it on His timetable and not that of man’s. Speaking of his timetable; it is here where we see God revealing the existence of days and nights, and how they are determined (Sunset to sunrise).
6. Then God said “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 2Pet. 3:5
firmament: (H759): âqı̂ya‛ BDB Definition: 1) extended surface (solid), expanse, firmament
1a) expanse (flat as base, support)
1b) firmament (of vault of heaven supporting waters above)
The firmament that is spoken of here is what we know as the sky. What is meant here by dividing the waters from the waters is that God is dividing the waters above the sky from the waters which are on the earth.
7. Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. Ps. 19:1
8. And God called the firmament heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
On the second day God called the firmament/sky that we see with the naked eye. In verse one of Genesis we read that God created the Heavens and earth, and as I commented on in verse three; He had not defined the purpose of the Heavens or their place in His creation of them. Here God is defining and naming the sky (as we call it), but God defined and calls the sky Heaven, a part of the three Heavens the scriptures speak about throughout the bible Gen. 1:1, Exo. 9:23, 1 Sam. 2:10, 2 Cor. 12:2, I could go on but I believe this is enough. At this point in time there is no dry land. The earth was strictly a sphere of water. The dry land does not appear until the third day. As we see; the Evening and the morning were the second day, not the morning and the evening. In Gods timeline, the evening comes before the morning or day (If you will). this is why all of God’s Sabbath s begin at sunset the night before, and ends at sunset after the day.
9. Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and the dry land appear”; and it was so. Ps. 95:5
10. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Jer. 5:22
11. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. vv. 29,30 12. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to it’s kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
When God gathered the waters from the earth and the dry land appeared He called the dry land earth, the earth was basically barren, nothing but the dust. There was no life in or on it. It wasn’t until God spoke that all things came into being. His Word made all things, there was nothing that was made that was not made by and thru God’s Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We know His Word as our Lord and savior Jesus Christ (John 1: 1-18), I find it interesting that the herbs, and the trees that yields seed according to it’s kind are described by God as those whose seed is in itself, the same could be said of man. Throughout the old Testament God promises Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that thru their seed all nations of the earth will be blessed ( Gen. 22: 15-18, 26: 1-4, 28: 10-14). throughout the bible God uses fruits as a metaphor when describing Jesus Christ, and the people of the earth (His elect), as first fruits unto Him, those who bear the fruits of the Spirit of God (Gal. 5: 22-25), in the Old Testament the Nation of Israel were to make certain offerings of the first fruits of their Harvest to God Those offerings whose seed is in itself ( Exo. 23:16, 19, Rom. 16:5,). Jesus Christ being the first of the first fruits to God, and we of the body of Christ are the first-fruits to follow our Lord at our appointed time, to be His, betrothed to Him and Him alone. blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb ( Rev. 19:9 ).
13. So the evening and the morning were the third day.
Thus on the third day life was created. Not of the flesh kind, but in the plant and tree kind, that yields seed according to their own kind.
14. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; v.3
15. “and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on earth”; and it was so.
16. The God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. Ps. 8:3 Rev. 21:23
17. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on earth, Jer. 31:35; 33:25
18. and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. v.3-5
19. So the evening and the day were the fourth day.
The two lights described in vs. 14-18 are a description of the creation of the moon and the sun. Vs. 16 supports this hypothesis. The sun is to rule the day while the moon will rule the night. God says that we are to use these lights “as signs and seasons, and for days and years.” we are starting to see the creation of Gods calendar taking place. The way I see it we are now in the fourth day of the year 0001ac (after creation). There are various ways in which man uses this calendar. We use it to determine when to plant our crops, to know when winter, summer, fall or autumn are approaching. The signs and seasons spoken of here are for God’s Holy days. the Hebrew for “seasons” is mo ed, or mo adah, depending on the context in which the word is used. When we look up this strongs and or BDB definition (H4150) we see that it is defined as appointed times, assembly, and even a sacred season, set feast or appointed season. These sacred feast are the festivals of the Lord; the holy days He proclaimed to the Hebrews during their exodus from Egypt. You can find His proclamation in the Book of Leviticus chapter 23, and also in Deuteronomy chapter 16 (Lev. 23, Deut. 16: 1-17https://biblia.com/books/kjv1900/Dt16.1-17), On the fourth day God created the moon, sun and stars.
20. Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens. Ps. 8:8
21. So God created sea creatures, and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Lev. 11:9-19; Ps. 104:25-27
22. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth. 8:17
23. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
On the fifth day God created all living things that are in the sea and that fly over the earth. This is the first time in the bible where we see God giving a blessing. The Webster dictionary defines blessed this way:
BLESS’ED, pp. Made happy or prosperous; extolled; pronounced happy.
In my opinion I look at this joyous occasion this way: God is so overjoyed in what he had just created that He wanted to do it over and over, etc. etc. The way he decides to perform this over and over is to let his creations share in his happiness and perform this miraculous feat on their own. I am sitting here right now, and thinking what the angels must have thought when they see what God had just done. Talk about the WOW! Factor, There must have been singing and dancing and celebration in the heavens on that day. I told this to my Pastor, and he embellished on this in this way, “While the Angels were so amazed at what He had done that you can just Imagine God looking over to them and saying ‘you haven’t seen nothing yet, wait till you see what I do next”. 🙂
24. Then God said, “;Let the earth bring fourth the living creature according to it’s kind: Cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to it’s kind”; and it was so.
God is not satisfied with just the birds of the air or the fish of the sea So He keeps on going. This time He creates the Cattle, creeping things and beast of the field. Why does God list cattle as separate from the beast? I looked up the definitions of the two and found these definitions in the Webster dictionary:
first cattle: In its primary sense, the word includes camels, horses, asses, all the varieties of domesticated horned beasts or the bovine genus, sheep of all kinds and goats, and perhaps swine
Beasts are described in this manner: Any four footed animal, which may be used for labor, food or sport; distinguished from fowls, insects, fishes and man; as beasts of burden, beasts of the chase, beasts of the forest. It is usually applied to large animals.
I have therefore come to this conclusion that Cattle are for domestic purposes and beasts, with the exception of man are what we consider wild animals of the forest or jungle. According to the strong concordance definition of creeping:
creeping(H7431): is described this way: remeś: reh’-mes From H7430; a reptile or any other rapidly moving animal: – that creepeth, creeping (moving) thing.
In the Webster dictionary you see creeping defined this way:
CREEPING, ppr. Moving on the belly, or close to the surface of the earth or other body; moving slowly, secretly, or silently; moving insensibly; stealing along.
So put this together and you see that the creeping things are not only snakes and such but also include the insect world.
25. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Lev. 11:2-8, 20-23, 29-43
Again I can only imagine what is was like for God and all the hosts of heaven to see, for the first time what He had just done. To see the Dolphins and the whales heaving themselves out of the deep blue and then crashing back into the waves, The Birds like the eagle soaring through the sky, and all the animals grazing in the grass with one another running through the field and playing with each other with no worry in the world. Remember, sin had not yet entered the world and the animal kingdom was in perfect harmony with one another. I don’t think words can describe the JOY! in God’s heart. We as mankind can look forward to the promise, that one day we to will be able to share in this Joy with Him, in His coming kingdom. (Isa 11:6-9). It brings tears of joy to me when I think of this coming kingdom of God. I look forward to it with great anticipation.
Rev 21:27 And there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles, or any making an abomination or a lie; but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Rev 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
26. Then God said, “Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27. So God created man in his own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 5:1-3;9:6; Matt 19:4
God saves his best work for last: He recreated himself, But we also find that there is another with God like him. vs. 26 says let “US” make man in “OUR” own image. This is plural meaning there was another person with God during all His creation. We know him as our Lord Jesus Christ. (John 1:1-3, 14)
28. Then God blessed them, and God said,” Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 9:7; Ps. 8:6-8
So God was so happy with His creation that he blessed the man and woman, and told them to pro-create and keep on pro-creating (not to stop with just one child or two or three). As we see latter on in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve had many children. Why did God want Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply? It’s very simple, God wanted children. Jesus is the first Son, being the only begotten of God: (John 1:14), He created Adam and Eve because He wanted a family. Shouldn’t this be the dream of every man and woman? When God created man in His own image He was ecstatic! Just like all parents are when they see their newborn for the first time. God created us, and as such He is our father, and we should honor and obey our Father in all things. Our father in heaven commands it:
Exo 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
In today’s society, in the era of abortion, one can just imagine how sad this makes our father in heaven. We are breaking a few of his commandments by committing this horrible atrocity: first we are not honoring our father which is in heaven, secondly we are committing an act of murder, and we are saying to God “I know what’s best for me, Don’t tell me how to live my life, I reject your ways”.(emphasis added throughout). This God hates, For we are God’s children and should act accordingly, for our God is holy and He wants us to be holy also. Remember we were made in his image and we defile that image by performing abortions. (Deut 12: 29-31). The other thing that I get out of this verse is the fact that God puts man in charge of the earth and all things that are on the earth. We are to subdue and have dominion over all things. Man did not evolve into this superior being that put us above all things, as the evolutionist would like for us to believe. God gave us this superiority. Unfortunately, as we will see shortly, man did not keep his dominion over the earth for very long.
29. And God said, “See I have giving you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food. vv. 10,12
30. “Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, 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 created every herb that yields seed and every fruit tree that yields fruit for man and beast, bird and creeping things that have life for food:
Food: (H402): אכלה: ‘ôklâh
BDB Definition:
1) food
1a) food, eating
1b) object of devouring, consuming
1b1) by wild beasts (figurative)
1b2) in fire
1b3) of judgment (figurative)
In my opinion the word food can also be interpreted to mean for consumption, not only for the purpose of avoiding starvation but also for medicinal purposes. Most medicines that we use today are derived from some sort of properties, that are in the plants found throughout the world. Not known by man back at creation. But it is well known now is that a strict vegetarian diet is good for the body and mind. It has been proven that vegetarians live a longer and healthier diet than that of non vegetarians. People like the Seventh day Adventist take to heart verse 29 and are strict vegetarians. They believe, and I must say that I tend to lean this way myself, That God did not intend for man to eat animals for meat. I have talked with a minister of the Seventh Day Adventist church, as well as an elder of my church. Both churches have Valid points,but After reading about the flood I have come to the conclusion. that it wasn’t until after the flood that God gives man permission to now start eating animals as well as plants and fruits for meat ( Gen. 9:3), even though this verse says that God gave Noah all living things for food, In my opinion Noah was aware of the difference between clean and unclean meats, so God felt that he didn’t need to explain to him that unclean meats were forbidden. Way after the time of Noah, during the exodus out of Egypt the Hebrews were given specific laws on what is considered clean and unclean meats (Lev 11: 1-47). Since God and Jesus Christ both (who are one), declare they are the same today, yesterday, and always, He cannot change (Malachi 3:6, Heb. 13:8), As we know I must also say that this subject has weighed heavy on me for some time. It was when I read the book of Revelation and the story of the flood that I started to come to the conclusion that God did not intend for us to eat animals in the beginning and we will not be eating meats in God’s Kingdom. This is just one man’s humble opinion.
Rev.22:1 And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of its street, and of the river, from here and from there, was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit according to one month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
These are the verses in the book of Revelation that I first questioned God’s intention as far as what we will be eating in the kingdom but I never thought too deeply about this until now.
On the sixth day God created all the creeping things, the cattle, and the beast of the field. God also created man and woman in the image of God Himself. And He blessed all living things to be fruitful and multiply.