Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 212th episode. In this episode I’m bringing you the pilot of some Bible study content I’m creating for my church. That’s why you’ll hear me start with a preamble concerning the Bible itself before I jump into Genesis. This content is every bit as professionally produced as my normal episodes on MHB — and my intent is to continue cross-publishing them for your benefit. So without further delay I bring you: Summit Bible Study.
Hello friends and welcome to Summit Bible Study. You’re listening to the very first of what I pray will become a productive, relaxing exploration of the text. The purpose of this content is to draw you closer to Jesus by deepening your understanding of who God is and expanding your knowledge of the scriptures. I want to start at the very beginning of Genesis and we’ll just keep going for as long as we can. I’ll be using the 1995 New American Standard Bible, and I’ve chosen this translation both for its accuracy and its formal equivalence to the Hebrew and Greek texts. It is as close as we can come to a word-for-word translation in modern English. We’re going to move slowly through the text, with careful exposition aimed at teaching the scriptures verse-by-verse.
I want to say a few words about the Bible itself before we jump in. Here at Summit we believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the scriptures. This means we believe the Bible as a whole, as well as in every part, is the word of God written. We believe that the Bible is free from error in its original language. That’s why I’m choosing a formal equivalence translation for these deep studies. The scripture is not merely a collection of books presenting absolute truth — it’s also the precondition necessary for being able to recognize truth at all. In this way it’s like the Sun shining its light in the space of learning. Other books which have been determined across generations to provide useful insights into life, God, and the human condition are like the moon — their light is borrowed and reflected from the original source of light which is the Bible.
We also believe in the sufficiency of scripture — meaning that everything we need to know who God is, who we are, why we’re here, and where we’re going is found in the text. If all you had was the Bible and no other books, you’d have a perfectly sufficient source for renewing your inner person and coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ. One of the most succinct passages in scripture where it declares the truth of its own sufficiency is found in Psalm 19:7-11:
Psa 19:7-11
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.
10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.
We also believe the Bible is self-interpreting. This means deep study of a given set of verses will result in you exploring other passages throughout the Bible in the process. For example, when we get to the end of our study in Genesis you’ll have been exposed to a plethora of other passages all throughout scripture. This means the more you learn any one passage of scripture, the more you’ll learn the entire Bible. In this way the Bible is a hyper-linked text, with more than 350,000 cross references. The Holy Scripture is the light which shines into a dark place, and we can’t say how much darker the world would be without it. Like the days of creation themselves, the scripture is good in every part, and altogether very good.
Since we’re beginning in Genesis we should talk a little about the Old Testament itself. It is a collection of books recounting the acts and memorials of God and His people from the creation almost to the coming of Christ in the flesh. It spans the course of about four thousand years and presents truths, laws, devotions, and prophecies all pointing to our Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament is the culmination of the precepts and frameworks constructed in the Old Testament. The New Testament is not a second edition, it’s not a rewrite, it is the eternally foreordained final development of what’s presented in the Old Testament. This means it’s necessary to read, study, and understand the Old Testament in order to do so with the New Testament.
The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Pentateuch. These are the books of Moses. Moses the man of God was a prophet to exceed all others and he typified the Great Prophet who is our Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is commonly divided into the law, the historical books, the poetic books, the major prophets, and the minor prophets. The Pentateuch, these first five books of Moses, are what make up the law. The first book, called Genesis, presents the law given to Adam, Noah, and Abraham. The four books which follow Genesis present the law given to Israel.
Genesis is the longest of the books of Moses and its name means “origins” or “beginnings.” The book is fitly named because it records a history of origins. Within Genesis we’ll read about the creation of the world, the entrance of sin and death into it, the invention of arts, the rise of nations, and most notably the planting of the church in is most nascent form. Although we can’t be certain, we believe Moses himself wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. He may have written them in Midian or possibly in the wilderness after receiving instruction from God on Mount Sinai.
Genesis chapter one provides us the foundation upon which the rest of our beliefs depend: that God is our Creator. Despite its other mysteries, the creation account tells us with zero uncertainty that God is the One who created the heavens, the earth, and everything in them — including us. Perhaps the very first question of a good conscience is to ask, “Where is God my Maker?” Pagan philosophers across history have tried to circumvent this question with recourse to absurd assertions that the world is eternal or self-existing. Scripture says, “the world by wisdom knew not God.” And this points to humanity’s tireless, yet futile, efforts to erase Him as the Creator of all things.
This opening chapter of Genesis gives us a glimpse into the natural world before the Fall. We see that at the beginning of time all things were created by a Being of infinite wisdom and power, who was Himself pre-existent before all time and all things. It’s interesting when you think about it, because scientists and philosophers have written volumes upon volumes in an effort to describe where our universe came from. This has been one of the most thought-provoking questions since the dawn of man. Meanwhile the Bible has answered it in a single verse. A single verse which opens the Holy Scriptures wherein so many other questions may be answered: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The answer was there all along. We just needed the faith to see it. Hebrews says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” As we unpack this chapter we’ll see a survey of three things. First is a general glimpse into God’s work of creation. Second is a record of each creation day and what was made on that day. Third we’ll see God conclude His creative work with an evaluation of all that He had made. So let’s begin by reading verses 1-2:
Gen 1:1-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
The first verse of Genesis is one of the most important verses in all of scripture. It is the epitome of creation. The first foundation of our Christian creed is this: that God the Father, who is Almighty, is the Maker of heaven and earth. The creation of the universe in all its grandeur implies immeasurable power. As vast and incomprehensible as our universe is: we know that God is the author of it all and therefore He is greater than all of it. God’s creation of the universe reveals the degree of His omnipotence such that we’re able to take comfort in trusting someone as powerful as Him.
In this single verse we see God generate the universe and the earth. Scripture says, “God made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, He does not dwell in temples made with hands.” If you were an observer watching the creation you might think of the world as a house with upper and lower stories. The heavens being the upper story and the earth being the lower story. Each feature of the construction reveals the wisdom of God through intelligent design. In this passage Moses is primarily concerned with the visible parts of creation — so he doesn’t mention the spiritual realm nor the angels (who are also created beings).
The invisibility of the spiritual realm does not mean it is less important than the physical realm — in fact I would argue it’s more important. Scripture says God is Spirit, and since all things are created through Him, it’s reasonable to suggest the spiritual realm subsumes the physical. This means the physical is built upon the spiritual — not the other way around. In this first chapter of Genesis we’ll see the heavens adorned with stars and planets as God makes them. These heavenly bodies are glorious to behold, but the everlasting angels who populate the spiritual realm are much more glorious.
So we see how the beauty and majesty of the spiritual realm imprints onto the beauty and majesty of the physical space we all inhabit. This is called general revelation, of which scripture says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” When we look upon the glory of God’s creation we’re able to observe some of His attributes like His eternal power and divine nature. This means no one who has observed His creation is able to truly deny having been pointed to God.
Concerning the visible world, this Genesis account shows us that God’s creations are greatly varied. He created many sorts of beings vastly different from one another in both their nature as well as their appearance. We also see inimitable beauty in God’s creation. Think of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring sunset you’ve ever seen nested against the most majestic landscape you’ve ever been to. These qualities of God’s creation reveal His own transcendental beauty. You’ll have this same sense of awe but to a greater degree when you stand in the direct presence of Jesus Christ.
I mentioned earlier that our observation of the creation reveals intelligent design. This is true at both the macro-level and the micro-level. The DNA in your body is essentially a coded language which predicates many things about you — from your appearance to your strengths and also your weaknesses. Anytime we encounter a language which has syntax we infer such language came from a mind. If you find your name written in the sand of a beach you automatically assume a person with a mind wrote it there. To infer otherwise would be nonsensical. To suggest coded language like DNA did not come from a mind is the same as suggesting your name in the sand was etched there by the random crashing of waves. The unmatched precision we find at many levels of creation shows us the kind of careful design which exceeds even fine works of art.
God’s power is revealed in His creation because every creature has life and many creatures have an aspect of nobility about them. Think about a distinguished lion as he roams throughout the subsaharan landscape. The power and authority granted to this apex predator is a shade of God’s own power and authority. In one second the sun produces 50,000 times more energy than the Earth consumes in one year. The power of the sun is a reflection of God’s own power.
When surveying the depth of intelligent design we can also recount the incalculable interdependence all things have on each other. We just mentioned the sun, without which none of the innumerable forms of life on Earth could survive. Yet even these lifeforms exist in complex ecological chains of interdependence on one another. A few small changes to God’s design can upset the delicate balance of entire ecosystems. All of life exists in a grand harmony of motions, as well as an admirable chain of connections and causes.
There are also parts of the creation which pose seemingly insurmountable mysteries. We can’t really know what it’s like to travel the vast expanse of the universe. We can’t step into a black hole to examine and experience what it feels like. Even the nature of time itself remains largely opaque to us. Each of these facets of God’s creation contain secrets which cannot be fathomed or accounted for. Our inability to comprehensively apprehend the creation is representative of our inability to comprehensively apprehend God. There are mysteries about God which sit outside our capacity to understand.
All of these created attributes work together to reveal the eternal power and Godhead of the great Creator. Proper evaluation of God’s creation gives us plentiful reasons to praise Him and honor Him. As Christians we have a duty to abide in the earthly limitations of our mortal frames, while fostering a faith curious enough to search out the immeasurable expanse of heavenly glory.
The most common Hebrew word for God is Elohim. This word indicates power and plurality. The first part of the word, El, signifies strong God and this is a clear description of God’s almighty power as Creator. God is the only Being or force which can bring all things out of nothing. The physical law of conservation of matter and energy proves that something cannot come from nothing by any observable force within our universe. God Himself stands apart from His creation as being able to do so. God is not subject to the laws of nature because He is the architect of them. The plurality of Elohim points to the three divine Persons of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Idolaters throughout history have held the doctrine of the Trinity in severe contention. To suggest that God has a Son is punishable by death in Islamic traditions. For the polytheistic pagans, a plural word used for God undoubtedly hardened them in their idolatry. But for Christians it simply confirms our belief in a triune God. The Trinity, while vaguely intimated in the Old Testament, is revealed with clarity in the New Testament. In this opening passage of Genesis we see God the Father and we also see the Spirit of God moving over the surface of the waters. In Proverbs, as well as all throughout the New Testament we see the Son of God, the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father as being alongside the Father at the creation. Jesus is eternal and was present in the Godhead at the time of creation. Indeed John’s gospel tells us, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
In this passage we observe that God created everything, ex nihilo, which means out of nothing. There was no pre-existent matter or material from which creation was formed. Once the physical constant was in place, it’s true that God produced fish from the waters and beasts and humans from the earth. But before the first stages of creation there was nothing at all of our known universe. This is why we talk about God like He is the Source of all things and upholds all things. He is the origin without which nothing could exist.
This is very hard for us to imagine, but scripture indicates time itself also began at the first point of creation. The clock was first set in motion with the production of the spatial material we now use to measure it. This means God Himself is infinite and has always inhabited eternity. God Himself sits outside of time. God’s relationship to time is largely impossible for us to understand because we’ve never existed outside of our current relationship to it. Words without knowledge darken counsel, and so there’s little point in speaking of such things as “sooner” or “later” when it comes to eternity. It simply doesn’t make sense to ask how long God has existed in eternity.
What’s clear is that all of creation was brought into being at the beginning of time itself. This was done according to the eternal counsels of God which have always existed in Him. Some Jewish traditions teach only seven things were created by God before the world in Genesis. These were the law, repentance, paradise, Hell, the throne of glory, the house of the sanctuary, and the name of the Messiah. This last one I find exceptionally important because it tells us God’s design of redemption existed before the Fall of man — and that tells us redemption was always part of God’s perfect design. His redemptive work is not merely a reaction to some flaw in humanity. Jesus Christ’s role as the divine Mediator and the Savior of man was predestined before the creation. John’s gospel summarizes this doctrine nicely in a single verse when it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
In addition to God’s attributes being revealed in His creation, Paul tells us general revelation deprives all men of any excuse for denying God because the fact of existence itself guarantees all such claims are nonsensical. An atheist is forced to look at creation and the created order and suppose it all came from nothing — despite the fact that zero things in nature are able to spontaneously create themselves from nothing. The reason atheists can’t see what’s so self-evidently obvious is because Satan has blinded their minds to it. God sits apart from all other spirits, all other forces, and all other people in His authority as Creator. He is the Owner and Possessor of heaven and earth because He is the Creator of it.
God’s authority as the Creator of all things is cited throughout scripture as a reason to have faith in Him. All things are possible with God. God is the only Being who is both worthy of our praise while also being highly exalted above any praise we could possibly offer. In Nehemiah chapter 9 we see the Levites praise God by saying, “”Arise, bless the LORD your God forever and ever! O may Your glorious name be blessed And exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.”
Part of God’s sovereignty as Creator also means there’s nothing we can offer Him which He needs or will benefit from. In Paul’s sermon at Mars Hill we read, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.” Despite the reality that God needs nothing from us, He is perfectly justified in requiring us to submit glory, honor, and power to Him by means of our praise and worship. In the fourth chapter of Revelation we read about a scene in Heaven where there are living creatures surrounding God’s throne and worshipping Him as the Creator. They say, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
The first two verses of Genesis give us a look at creation in its most nascent form. We see the embryo from which God will produce the planet as we know it. The first stage of Earth’s development is called formless and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep. I think of this like a water planet. It was called Earth even though dry land had not yet appeared and wouldn’t appear until the third day of creation. It was like a formless, chaotic state of pre-creation. The Hebrew phrase used to describe creation at this moment is Tohu wa-bohu which means “formless and void” and can also mean “confusion and emptiness.” With each passing day God would introduce more order to the system until everything began to take shape.
What’s fascinating about the stages of creation is that God certainly could have spoken a perfect world, fully furnished with life and ecosystems, out of nothing with a single word. He didn’t need to do it in stages. I think one of the reasons He chose to do it in stages across six days was to show us the ordinary methods of His providence and grace. Consider how the earth was formless and void and how this state of precosmogonic chaos had nothing desirable to be seen. Something that is only shapeless potential is useless because it hasn’t developed its uses yet. There were no inhabitants, no landscapes, not even any features by which to distinguish one direction from another. Earth in its first stage was merely a rough draft of things to come. It was a foreshadow of future actuality.
This same principle holds true concerning the Law as found in the scriptures. The Law points to good things which wait for us in the future — it is a foreshadow of those good and actual things. The Law by itself is useless insofar as if you depend on the Law for meaning, purpose, transformation and salvation you’ll discover that it comes up empty. The Law only means anything because of Jesus Christ and His work of redemption. Hebrews describes the emptiness of the law in chapter 10:1 when it says, “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.” This doctrine is not deriding the value of scripture — far from it — it’s simply reminding us that all scripture is only authoritative because all scripture is God-breathed. Its source of authority is in God and God is the one who preserves it.
In the next few Bible studies we’ll learn about the Fall of Man and how the sin of man quite nearly reduces God’s created order back into confusion and chaos. Jeremiah describes the consequences of God’s wrath in his lament for Judah and you’ll be interested in how similar this description aligns with the pre-created Tohu wa-Bohu. Jeremiah said, “I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; And to the heavens, and they had no light.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 heavens had fled.I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were pulled down Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.” Scripture says creation groans under the weight of man’s transgressions and longs for redemption.
I love God’s creation and I think there is true, awe-inspiring beauty to behold in this life. But if we get a glimpse of Heaven by comparison, it’s hard to look past the confusion and emptiness still present in this fallen world. Too often evil runs the day and tragedy rips apart everything we hold dear. And if you attempt to live in this world fully separated from God, you discover that despite the appearance of endless beauty, none of it is able to satisfy the eternity which God has placed in your heart.
In the first stages of creation where the Earth is formless and void, the entire project is covered in thick darkness. It is a total absence of light. In this case there was nothing of interest to be seen and so the light would not have missed. There’s a spiritual lesson to be learned here — a terrible trap which must be avoided. When you’re separated from God, your unregenerate, graceless soul can feel like it’s covered in thick darkness. This is the natural condition of man: a chaotic miasma of evil, self-deception, and darkness. Your lack of meaning and purpose can begin to feel like a formless chaos — similar to the pre-created material we’ve discussed in this passage. The trap is when you start to believe this formless chaos is all there really is. If you believe this firmly enough you’ll stop longing for light. You’ll become settled with darkness because you’ll believe there’s nothing of substance to be revealed by the light anyway. This is a description of the nihilism which awaits all of us who reject God’s purpose for our lives.
The spiritual lesson teaches us that if God is powerful and wise enough to generate order from chaos on a global scale — how much more can He transform your own dark and chaotic life into something ordered. If He can create entire worlds imprinted with His beauty and splendor — how much more can He reveal His beauty and splendor through your own life?
Another important truth about God as revealed in these first verses of Genesis is that He is the Prime Mover. This means He is the beginning of all things which exist. Scripture says the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. You might think of the pre-created material as similar to Ezekiel’s vision of the valley full of dead and dry bones. In Ezekiel’s vision God breathes the spirit of life onto the bones of the slain and they come back to life. Without this first gift of life none of us would exist. The power of God as Prime Mover should encourage us because the same God who creates everything from nothing is the same God who redeems glory from brokenness. Is the redemption of your life too difficult of a project for the Creator God who needs nothing at all as a starting point?
Scripture compares Jesus to a hen who gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm them and cherish them. This is the same kind of embrace we see from the prophet Elijah when he resurrects the dead child. God’s description as Prime Mover shows us He is the author of all life. God’s role as the author of all life similarly proves He is the ultimate sustainer of all life. God is the source of a constant river of life without which we would all become dry bones. The bones of ourselves would be equally dead as the bones of our ancestors if not for God to quicken us all to life. Job describes death as, “The land of utter gloom as darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order, And which shines as the darkness.” With exactly the same power that God created the world from orderless darkness, so He is able to resurrect our bodies from death. He is able to restore us from this land of utter gloom into the glorious light of His eternal presence. Let’s read verses 3-5:
Gen 1:3-5
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
These verses expand on God’s work which He did on the very first day of creation. The first element of the created order which God brings into being is light itself. This light is given for us because Scripture teaches that God doesn’t need it. Psalm 139:12 says, “Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.” Scripture considers the role of light as fundamental to our walk with Jesus. Light reveals God’s works to us and allows us to see His glory in the creation. Light also facilitates our kingdom work. When Jesus is speaking to His disciples in John 9:4 He says, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” As Christians we must live in the light if we expect to accomplish anything meaningful for the kingdom of God.
Scripture also teaches that, “He who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” Unrepentant sinners do their works in darkness because they’re deceived into believing they can conceal the work from God’s omnipresent gaze. Many times they also want to conceal the sins from the judgment of their peers. The righteous desire the light so that their works may be revealed to the glory of God the Father. Light is often used as analogous to truth because it’s only by light that all other things may be seen. This is why we say things like, “Let’s shed some light on the situation.” When we’re talking about revealing truth in a matter.
Scripture says, “That God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” So you see how the scripture draws a close association between light, God, and the spirit of truth. God is the divine source of all light and the light itself leads us to Him. The light is also qualified as good and it’s used in scripture to denote God’s goodness. James says, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
In scripture light also denotes knowledge and knowledge concerns one’s mind. Most Christians get this wrong — but the pathway to having a “heart” for Jesus runs through the mind. The first piece of order God creates in the midst of the precosmogonic chaos in Genesis is light. Paul says transformation begins with the renewing of our mind. Ephesians connects the enlightenment of the eyes of our hearts to knowledge of God.
2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Light always comes first. Your mind must come first, then your heart will follow. American evangelicals want the heart without the mind and this is why they can’t find it. In the view of scripture, light, knowledge and mind are deeply interconnected. If these don’t come first then following our hearts is a dangerous enterprise because our hearts remain desperately wicked according to Jeremiah’s evaluation.
There may be some supernatural element at play when the Spirit of God converts a soul, and I’m certainly not going to restrict God’s power to human comprehension of nature — but I think we make a mistake if we trivialize the power of God opening the door to our hearts simply by enlightening our understanding. One major difference between conversion and corruption is that God seeks to reveal Himself to you while Satan seeks to conceal himself from you. Satan’s work to darken the soul is most effective when we don’t notice it happening. That’s why sins are often tempting at first consideration. All sins are forged in deception and their corrupting effects are not readily apparent or else we wouldn’t be enticed by them. The serpent didn’t tell Eve the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would cause the fall of man, he told her it would make her like God.
We see in these verses that the light was made by the word of God’s power. God’s word was, “Let there be light.” The results were immediate, permanent, and done exactly according to His specifications. God’s word is so powerful that He merely speaks and a world is formed. Jesus Christ is called the Word of God, He is the eternal Word, and by His wisdom light was created. Light itself is sourced within Jesus. Jesus is called the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. By God’s grace sinners can be made beacons of divine light which shine into the world. The power of scripture is such that it imparts the spirit of wisdom and revelation. It gives us the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. It opens our understanding and remediates the confusion of ignorance and error.
The thematic parallel between conversion and creation is now in plain view. At creation, by the power of His spoken Word, God called forth light out of darkness. At a person’s conversion, the word of God as given in the holy scriptures, calls forth light out of the darkness of a lost soul. This parallel is why in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Scripture says Jesus came to give us understanding so that in Him we may know the true God and eternal life. Without Jesus, darkness would cover fallen man forever.
Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes that light is pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun. Proverbs tells us bright eyes gladden the heart and good news puts fat on the bones. When God called forth light out of darkness on the first day of creation He saw that it was good. This meant the light came forth precisely how He designed it and was profitable to His good purpose for it. It’s by light that we’re able to see the beauty of God in His creation — without the light all of these things would be hidden from us.
As a Christian it’s useful to keep in mind that God is pleased with the work of His own hands. We see this evidently in the creation account, but it applies to your own sanctification as well. If the Spirit of God is resident in you and is making you more like Jesus, you can be certain you are being transformed into the highest order of goodness. Scripture says God sees not as man sees, so we know His judgment is primarily reliable as an objective standard of goodness. Entire libraries of books have been written concerning the question of how to live a good life — and the resounding, unimpeachable answer according to scripture is to live a life like Jesus. To live like Jesus is to live your best possible life.
In verse 4 of this opening passage in Genesis we read that God separated the light from the darkness. Thematically scripture associates light with holiness and dark with sinfulness. Paul gives the Corinthian church injunction against associating with sinners when he says, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” So again we see echoes of this separation between the light and darkness of the created order repeated concerning the light and darkness of man’s soul.
But that’s not the only lesson to be learned from God separating the light from the darkness. We also see that He used this separation to divide time as well. The light is for the day and the darkness is for the night. Throughout our mortal lives we are helplessly bound to this intermixture of light and darkness. We need the light of day to get our work done and go about our business, we need the dark of night to find repose and restoration in sleep. The light has its uses and so does the darkness. Scripture describes Heaven as being a perfect place where there is perpetual light and no darkness. Hell is often described as being a place of total darkness with no light.
At the present moment we live among the mixture of those two. We see hellish influences and heinous crimes amidst unspeakable beauty and the awe-inspiring revelation of God. In this life we learn to expect variability in the providence of God. Sometimes we get joy, other times we get sorrow. We experience seasons of peace and we also experience seasons of trouble. To be Christlike means to walk courageously through both light and darkness and to keep the faith that He has overcome the world.
Scripture says both the day and the night belong to God — and it’s by this authority He named the light day and the darkness He named night. God exists outside of time and He Himself is sovereign over time. There will come a day when even time itself will cease as we know it and be consumed by eternity. For the present moment we’re able to integrate the regularity of day and night into our worship of God by being diligent to serve Him during the day and to rest in Him during the night. Throughout both day and night we immerse ourselves in His word and meditate on His scriptures.
We finish this Bible study by observing verse 5 conclude the first day of creation, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” It’s notable that the scriptures speak of the evening preceding the morning. Throughout the Biblical stories we see God use darkness to add contrast to the shining of light. When Jesus died on the cross scripture says darkness fell over the land for three hours. Jesus is the Light of the world so it’s logical to expect darkness to cover the Earth for a time after His death. Perhaps the three hours signify the three days He would be in the tomb before the Resurrection — but what’s more important here is that the light of the gospel was preceded by a time of darkness. God brings light out of darkness just like we’ve been talking about in creation as well as in man’s soul.
Day one of creation was the both the first day of the world and the first day of the week. God’s famous utterance, “Let there be light” happened on day one of the world. Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the world, is Resurrected on the first day of the week — and this is because His Resurrection on that early morning marks the first day of a new creation. That’s really the principal lesson we should take from this maiden voyage into studying the Bible together: that the entire corpus of scripture points to our Lord Jesus Christ. Even the very first verses at the beginning. As we continue this journey together I want to you to remember that Bible study — from Genesis to Revelation — is a worthy investment of our time and our attention because it is by God’s word that we may know Him. Thank you all for listening, and I’ll see you in the next one.
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