Genesis 01

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:31:21utc

THE BEGINNING:

Ch. 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

The only "beginning" that is not mentioned in the first chapter of the Word of God is the beginning of God Himself. In the first sentence we are confronted with the Eternal God, Elohim. The Bible does not make any effort to explain the existence of God or give us any kind of introduction to Him for the obvious reason that no explanation is needed. Doubt about the existence of God is a modern phenomenon. The psalmist says: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' "[ 1 ] The Bible does not want to treat us as fools! Trying to proof the existence of God to a human being would be the equivalent of trying to prove to a person that he is alive. If this has to be proved, we are in serious trouble. God has no beginning because He is the beginning.

If we deny God as the origin of everything we end up with nonsense. If the universe and life on earth are the haphazard result of a cosmic accident, we as human beings have no purpose. There would be no human speech, no logic, and no meaning. And yet we behave as if our lives are based on logic and meaning because we speak.

In his book Miracles, C. S. Lewis has torn apart the assumption of the Naturalists in a delightful way. If what we say is not supposed to have meaning, we should stop talking. If we are looking for answers, we should start out by marveling at the fact that we have questions. Without God there are not only no answers, there would be no questions!

So Genesis 1:1 shows us that God is the beginning. John, speaking about Jesus Christ, says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."[ 2 ]David puts it this way: "For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light."[ 3 ]

The truth that God is the beginning, the source, the fountain, is much more than a thesis to make atheists shut up. It is a compelling reason to worship. And that is what we should do at the beginning of this study. God created the heavens and the earth, this marvelous universe, this ocean in which we float. He thought it out and brought it into existence. For over a century there has been an ongoing controversy between "faith" and "science" about the beginning of the universe and of life. Much of this is based upon an incorrect interpretation of the opening statements of the Bible. It has been argued that science contradicts the Genesis version of creation. The age of the earth and of the universe is a point in question. The Bible does not pinpoint the "beginning" in terms of "how many years ago." So if geologists say that the earth is hundreds of millions of years old, we cannot say that they contradict the teaching of the Bible. It is hard to contradict something that has not been said. The only objection we can make is against statements like Carl Sagan makes - that this universe is all there is. As if astronomy proves the non-existence of God! If a scientist denies the existence of God and bases this denial on science, he moves outside the realm of his expertise. There is no scientific proof against the existence of God. It may be said that science does not prove the existence of God, but we could say with equal reason that geology does not explain the reasons for a person's high blood pressure. If evidence would belong to the domain of science, the Christian would be more of a scientist than the atheist.

The book of Genesis says nothing more about the creation of heaven and earth than that God did it. It does not even say how. The role of the Word of God comes only into view after the universe has been brought into existence. There are other parts of the Bible that ascribe the existence of the universe to the Word of God, but they are not found in Genesis. We find that in the book of Psalms: "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth."[ 4 ]Again in John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."[ 5 ] And the author of the epistle to the Hebrews says: "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."[ 6 ]

In his book Gleanings in Genesis, Arthur Pink says about the opening statement of the Bible that it "repudiates atheism... It refutes materialism... It abolishes pantheism." He goes on to say that it informs us that God is eternal, that He is a personal being, infinite and omnipotent.

"In the beginning God…" This is the foundational truth of all real theology. It is only further on in the Bible that we learn about some things that happened before 'the foundation of the world.' In Hebrews we read that there was a covenant between God the Father and the Son. It says: "May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep..."[ 7 ] And speaking about our salvation through the blood of Christ, Peter says: "He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."[ 8 ]In Revelation Jesus is called: "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." And there is mention of "The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world."[ 9 ] So together with the blueprint of the universe, God also prepared the plan of salvation in eternity.

Vs. 2 - "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

Dr. Chalmers, a nineteenth century theologian, has pointed out that the word "was" in the above verse, should be translated "became." Strongs Definitions agrees with this, saying that the word hayah means to exist, be or become, come to pass. The word is "always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary."

Chalmers observation refers to a theory, which merits very serious consideration, which holds that the condition of the earth described in vs. 2 is not the condition in which God created it in chapter 1 verse 1. This concurs with Isaiah: "For this is what the LORD says; he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited; he says: 'I am the LORD, and there is no other.' "[ 10 ] The RSV brings out this point more clearly with: "For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), Who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): 'I am the LORD, and there is no other.' "It has been suggested that there is a huge gap between these two verses and that the event which changed the condition of the earth from what God had created in the beginning to the chaos in which we find it, is the result of the fall of Satan. Since the Bible does not specifically says this, we cannot say that this is proof; but the hypothesis answers a lot of questions. It is generally supposed that the prophecies in Isaiah and Ezekiel regarding the King of Babylon and the ruler of Tyre, are actually prophecies about the fall of Lucifer.

Isaiah writes: "You will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended! The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, Which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression. All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing. Even the pine trees and the cedars of Lebanon exult over you and say, 'Now that you have been laid low, no woodsman comes to cut us down.' The grave below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you; all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones; all those who were kings over the nations. They will all respond, they will say to you, 'You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.' All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: 'Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, The man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?' All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, You will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again."[ 11 ]

And in Ezekiel we read:"The word of the LORD came to me: 'Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ' 'In the pride of your heart you say, ''I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas. ' ' But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god. Are you wiser than Daniel? Is no secret hidden from you? By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself and amassed gold and silver in your treasuries. By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud.' Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ' 'Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god, I am going to bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations; they will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom and pierce your shining splendor. They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas. Will you then say, ' 'I am a god,' ' in the presence of those who kill you? You will be but a man, not a god, in the hands of those who slay you. You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners. I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD.' The word of the LORD came to me: 'Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ' 'You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.' "[ 12 ]

Most of the above quotations are a combination of what happened on earth and in heaven. The text simultaneously deals with what happened to Satan, who is the actual power behind the powers on earth, the human being, who sits on the throne of Babylon and Tyre, as well as the man who is still to come and who is known as the Antichrist. But it does give us some indication about what may have happened in heaven, before the story of Genesis begins. "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' "This verse can hardly refer to anything else but what happened to Lucifer."You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you," seems a perfect description of the condition of Lucifer before his fall. It does not take too much imagination to see how the fall of a sublime creature from such a position in heaven would have dragged with him that part of creation for which he was responsible. The chaos on earth could very well have been the result of this cosmic catastrophe.

If this is true the "hovering of the Spirit of God over the waters"acquires a new depth and meaning. The Holy Spirit is there to prepare the restoration of the original creation of all that was ruined when Satan fell. The Spirit broods over this chaos as a hen sitting on eggs, to stimulate the germ of life inside and to bring it to birth. Evidently the fall did not completely destroy everything. In the following verses the Word of God which will sound in order to call to life that which is dormant.

Vs. 3- "And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light."

We will find the phrase "and God said" eight times in connection with this new creation.[ 13 ]The first thing the Holy Spirit deals with is the darkness. When we read that the earth was 'formless' it probably means that there was no order. There was no logical connection between elements and no orderly arrangement. There could not be an earth that would be literally formless.

But the worst of the earth's condition was the darkness. More often than not darkness has a spiritual meaning in the Bible. It is connected with evil and demonic power. This is the first time we see the Word of God in action. "God said ... and there was..."

Next to the miracle of life, one of the greatest miracles is that of speech. In human speech, thought and emotion are expressed in sound. By God's speaking things come into being. There may have been sound or there may not have been. This is immaterial.

We realize at the same time that although our speech is derived from the Word of God, our speaking also separates us from God. Our ability to express ourselves is akin to God's revelation of Himself, but there is no comparison between what happens when we speak and the result of the Word of God. Yet our words have meaning, because we have meaning and it is this value that is derived from the value of God.

There are, of course, in the whole of creation, different levels of expression. Animals have the ability to express themselves with varying degrees of clarity. And even among humans there is a great difference in the clarity, content and depth with which we express ourselves. Some people never go farther than to mumble clichés and then there are the Shakespeares. It would be incorrect though to draw a chart of speech and to simply put God on top, because the Word of God is infinite and eternal and perfect. The first result we see of God's speaking is that light comes into being. We only know two sources of light: the light of the sun and the light we make ourselves with fire or electricity. The light of vs. 3 fits in none of these categories. We all know what light is, yet light is one of the great mysteries of creation. Obviously the light God created here is not the light of the sun because the sun is not mentioned until the fourth day of creation in vs. 14-19. We may suppose that when God created the universe our sun came into existence at the same time as our planet. But either the relationship was not established yet because of the distance being different from what it is now, or some other unknown factor caused the sun to have no direct influence upon our planet earth. The difference between the first day and the fourth day is emphasized for the purpose of showing that the light God created was not sunlight.

Maybe we should say that what we call "light" is not the real thing, but an image of reality. The Apostle John identifies light with God when he says: "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."[ 14 ] We have a tendency to suppose that John uses an image here, comparing God to light. But we turn things around when we say this. John speaks about the real light, but the light we know is only an image of that. So when God said:"Let there belight," He imparted something of Himself to the chaos of the earth.

Then there is the mystery of the separation between light and darkness. This, too, seems to have a deeper meaning. In our experience, light and darkness never mix. Evidently, at one point they did. And if the images of the realities mixed , the realities themselves could mix also. In separating the light from the darkness God drew a line between Himself and Satan; a line that could never be erased. Something of this separation we find in Jesus' story of the rich man and Lazarus. Abraham says to the rich man who is in agony in hell:"And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."[ 15 ]This kind of separation must have taken place in eternity when Lucifer fell into sin. And when Satan causes the same destruction and annihilation he tried to bring about in heaven, God draws the line anew on earth. That is why in our day we see that light and darkness do not mix

God uses the darkness to draw lines between day and night. As we read in vs. 5 "God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning; the first day." This is another mystery of creation. God does not abolish darkness. He creates light to conquer darkness. He keeps it to serve His purpose. At the first day the line is drawn, the limits are set and the game is played according to God's rules.

Once again, what we call day and night, light and darkness are only images of the real thing. The Apostle Paul draws a parallel between God's creative intervention in ch. 1 and the work of the Holy Spirit in a human soul. He says: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."[ 16 ] We find this parallel all through the week of creation. Every creation day has its spiritual counterpart in the heart of the person who is born again by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God.

The phrase"And there was evening, and there was morning; the first day" sounds strange to us. We are used to starting the day in the morning, although we count the new day to start at midnight. The Jews count the starting of the day at sunset that is 6 P.M. Vs. 5 does not really say where the day starts and where it ends. It only marks two points during the day, evening and morning.

Vs. 6- "And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.' "

Evidently, the whole planet was submerged in water. God takes two days to create order to this situation. On the second day, part of the water is drawn as a canopy of atmosphere around the globe. A thick layer of moisture and air wraps itself around our planet to create conditions that would be favorable for the appearance of life. It has been suggested that this thick layer of atmosphere which is described here was quite different from the atmosphere we know now. It may have been much thicker, thus creating a stable and uniform climate and temperature over the whole globe. It may have served as an effective filter to keep out harmful ultraviolet rays in the sunlight, which would account for the much longer life of our ancestors. It would be impossible to prove this, but it sounds quite plausible. This ideal condition could have been destroyed in the flood in Noah's days.

Vs. 9- "And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so."

The separation continues on the third day. This must have been the day the mountains were born, causing the ocean floors to rise and fall and thus drawing the water away from a large part of the planet. In C. S. Lewis's book Perelandra, the planet Venus is described with islands floating on the ocean and some parts of solid land. It is of course pure guesswork to suppose that our planet would have had large stretches of unstable land that would not have been able to support life and civilization to any extent. But it is an interesting thought. Immediately the dry ground starts to produce vegetation at God's command.

Gordon Talbot in his book A study of the Book of Genesis suggests that there may have been seed preserved in the ground, left over from the first creation. Whether this is true or is not important. It is on the third day that we find the first sign of life on earth in the form of plant life. This suggests that the earth must have been warm enough to sustain life, in spite of the fact that the sun has not entered the picture yet. It may have been heat that radiated in moderation from the core of the planet. Actually, the fact that the planet was initially covered with water and not with ice would prove that the absence of the sun had not caused a major freeze; such as would be the case now, if all of a sudden the sun would disappear.

The emphasis in this section is upon seed. In vs.11 and 12 the word 'seed' is mentioned four times. The seed guarantees the continuation of the species and obviously it creates conditions in which animal life can sustain itself. All this makes the impression that the Creator is preparing a house for His other creatures.

Besides food for the hungry, there is also a preparation for the emotional and aesthetic needs of man. Without trees, human and animal life would eventually have exhausted the oxygen supply of the world. All breathing animals, man included, inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide as a waste product. Trees do the opposite. They absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. We need one another. That is why it is important that the ecological balance be preserved.

But man has other and deeper needs than those of his body. Animals may too, but we do not know enough about them to make definite statements along this line. David does more than use an image of his spiritual relationship with God when he says: "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul."[ 17 ]There is nothing more rejuvenating and emotionally uplifting than to walk through the forest and smell the leaves or to stretch out in the meadow and see our reflection in the quiet waters. Our Creator placed us in a world of color and beauty. What is more beautiful than a tree? What matches the color and smell of a rose? In the same way as an expectant mother prepares the crib for her baby to be born, so our heavenly Father prepared this place for us to live. In spite of the mess we have made of it, there is still an enormous amount of beauty to enjoy. What must it have been like when God first saw it and pronounced it good.

Verses 14-19: "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, And let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.' And it was so. God made two great lights; the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, To govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning; the fourth day."

As we said before, it would be hard to understand how the earth could have existed by itself without other heavenly bodies. It would have been like a single atom without a molecule. It seems more reasonable to suppose that when God created heaven and earth, as vs. 1 states, this included the whole solar system and all the other constellations, at least in their basic form. The creation of the fourth day seems to establish a new relationship between heavenly bodies that were already in existence.

A possibility would be that, if the theory about the catastrophe that took place between the verses 1 and 2, is correct, the earth would have been thrown out of her original orbit. This would certainly account for the chaos in vs.2. The act of creation on the fourth day would then exist either in the re-establishing the orbit or creating a new relationship with other stars and planets. The way this is described is as if a human being was standing on the earth and telling what he sees happen before his eyes without fully understanding what he sees. It could very well be that God showed these events by way of a revelation as a replay, either to Moses or to Adam, who orally would have passed on what he saw to his children. A lack of understanding of the facts by the author of Genesis does not necessarily imply that the facts he records are not true or incorrect.

There had been a separation between light and darkness in vs. 4. At that point, God Himself introduced the concepts of 'day' and 'night.' But probably the day and night then were of a different nature than what we know now. The speed, rotation, orbit and direction of the axis of the earth is also established because at this point the seasons and the calendar are introduced. We should rule out the possibility that the author backtracks in his account, as he does in the report about the creation of man, in the verses 26 and 27 and then in ch. 2:7, since we are given a neatly marked sequence of days here. It would not make sense to call days one, two, three and so on and then place day four before day one. Moses may have been a poet but he was not a fool.

We mentioned before the probability that the atmosphere created on day two was much thicker than the one we know now. It must have been thin enough to let the light of the sun, moon and stars shine through but thick enough to create a greenhouse effect which would keep a steady humidity and temperature over the whole of the globe. It is also possible that moon was in a different orbit so that there would be moonlight every night, instead of the new moon and full moon we know now.

In his book Worlds in Collision, Emanuel Veliskovsky proposes the theory that the rotation of the earth was drastically changed and maybe reversed by the appearance of the planet Venus into our solar system. Venus came in as a comet, the tail of which swept over the earth, causing a serious disturbance of earth orbit and rotation. He quotes the book of Joshua,[ 18 ]and also some ancient South American Indian traditions which say that, for one day and one night, the sun never came up. Veliskovsky's theories are very controversial in the world of science, but they have ever been rebuffed.

Verses 20-23: "And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.' And there was evening, and there was morning; the fifth day."

The fifth day brings the beginning of biological life. Plant life had been introduced on the third day (vs.11-13). As we mentioned, there was a possibility that the seed which produced the grass and the trees had been left in the ground from the first creation. It would have been impossible for animal life to survive the great catastrophe. So the fifth day is the day of life. It begins in the water and rises up to the sky. On the second day God separated water from water: the ocean below and the firmament above. It is in these two layers that life makes its first appearance. It starts in the water and then it takes wings. Evolutionists would agree with this sequence, but they have no explanation for the appearance of plant life as separated from animal life.

The remarkable feature of the fifth day is the abundance of life. God did not only create life in the water, but He ordered the water to be teeming with living creatures. This reminds us of Jesus' words in John: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."[ 19 ]Abundance is typical of God's gift of life.

We know very little of the secrets of the ocean. In a certain way water is our enemy. We cannot live in water. In creating creatures that live in water on the fifth day God created life in the middle of death. Life is victorious and abundant. The creation of birds is a kind of victory also. Wings defy the law of gravity and in many cases this is for us the law of death also. The flight of a bird symbolizes victory for us. To fly through the air is a form of victory. Here is abundance also. Even as I am writing these words, my fine feathered friends outside testify to the fact that there are many. The fifth day is the first day of blessing. So far we only read that God pronounced what He created good,[ 20 ]but now we read:"God blessed them." There can only be a blessing when there is similarity between the one who blesses and the ones that are blessed. The lives of fish and birds do not express the image of God the way human life does but there is something divine in it. There also seems to be a relationship between the blessing and fruitfulness.

The blessing is fruitfulness. Sin has made overpopulation a problem and a curse, but in God's economy this was not so. The whole of creation glorifies God: the majesty of the whale and the color of the coral reef and the song of the bird. The French composer Olivier Messian incorporates a lot of "bird song" in his music. Birds excel in color and coloratura. It has been remarked that all the animal sounds we know presently are in a minor key. I doubt that this would have been so before the fall. Albert Schweitzer was right in his "Reference for Life."[ 21 ]God created the life of the fish and the birds, and we should stand in awe before it. Where Schweitzer was wrong was that he did not take sin into account. There is ambiguity in our relationship with all the animal life God created; and as Christians in a fallen world, we can only be pragmatic in our approach to it.

After bringing the fish and birds into existence by the power of His spoken Word, God speaks to them and orders them to "be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth." God has put the sex urge in every living being on this planet. One commentary says that for the animals this meant an obeying of instinct. Human desire at this point barely rises above instinct. But let's not run ahead.

Verses 24-31: "And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kinds.' And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.' Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground; everything that has breath of life in it; I give every green plant for food.' And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning; the sixth day."

When the sixth day breaks upon us our planet is alive. There is color and sound and movement. From our perspective, and probably from God's also, the sixth day is the crowning achievement. There is also an important change in the mode of creation. In vs. 11 we read "Let the land produce vegetation."We mentioned the possibility that the seed had been left over in the ground from a previous creation. When vs. 20 states: "And God said: 'Let the water teem with living creatures' it sounds as if the water is indicated as habitat, not necessarily as the source of life. But vs.22 says: "And God said: 'Let the land produce living creatures.' " Here it seems that God used the earth as building material for the making of animals. It is true that animals are not created "ex nihilo." This is an undeniable fact, as far as the creation of man is concerned in vs. 26 and 27. The animal world is described as from a post-fall perspective. "Livestock, creatures that move along the ground and wild animals" were probably not differentiated as such before sin came. If, under the reign of the Messiah, "the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat (and) the calf and the lion will feed together with the yearling,"[ 22 ]we may suppose that this is similar to the pre-fall conditions. Wild animals will not have been wild in the sense that they ate other animals. The term livestock speaks of agriculture, of man using animals for his own benefit. But man was not there yet to milk a cow or use the animal. The dog's best friend was not born yet! It does not say here how the land produced the animals. Whether it was a spontaneous formation or whether God formed animals out of the dust of the ground, like He made Adam, we are not told. We only learn that animals were made "according to their kind." This would seem to exclude that one animal evolved from the other.

In the creation of man we can distinguish three parts:

The plan
The execution of the plan

The blessing.

1. The plan

For the first time we read that God conferred with Himself. All the other acts of creation were done by executive order. The creation of man is done after consultation. This shows in the first place how important the act is. It is also the first time we read of the plurality of God. "Let us make man" indicates that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were equally involved in the process. This was true for the whole of creation, but here it is repeated in connection with one item of the whole: the creation of man. In vs. 1-3 we read how God (the Father) created, the Spirit hovered and the Word was heard. All three Persons are concentrating upon this last act of creation.

This Council of the Holy Trinity may have been a war council also. If we cling to the hypothesis that the creation of the verses 3-31 was a re-creation of that which was destroyed in the fall of Lucifer, the creation of man takes on greater significance. We will get back to this later in connection with the word "subdue" in vs. 28 and ch. 3:15. The enemy was at bay, and God's new creation needed to be protected against Satan's intrusion. This seems to have been part of the mandate given to man. So man had to be a being that was superior to the rest of creation. He needed moral and spiritual insight. He needed to be equipped to rule over his fellow creatures: the fish, the birds and all the other land animals.

So the Council of the Holy Trinity comes to the decision to create man in the image and likeness of God. Man was to be modeled after the character of God to make him a spiritual being with moral insight. This feature may refer to "the image" of God. In the "likeness" God may have anticipated the Incarnation and modeled Adam to the body that would be given to Jesus Christ. God is Spirit and as such He has no discernable physical attributes. But spiritual attributes can be expressed in physical forms. In the same way as a piece of stone can be made into a masterpiece by a Michaelangelo or a Rodin, so can the human body express a vast array of spiritual and emotional realities. And we should not forget that the human body we know now is preliminary to the spiritual body which we will become in the resurrection.

An interesting twist in God's decision to make man is the switch in vs. 26 from singular to plural. In the same breath God says: "Let us make man and let them rule." The next verse makes clear what is meant with the plural. Man, as an expression of God's character, is not a single individual. Man, created in the image of God is both male and female, husband and wife.

In the biblical sense of the word, man stands for man and woman. This makes the new vogue to call a male a man and a woman a person ridiculous. Of course the "them" stands also for the offspring of Adam and Eve. When God created Adam, He created all of mankind. The Apostle Paul explains this to the audience at the Areopagus in Acts: "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."[ 23 ]The very economical way in which God went about this is amazing. He imparted His image to one single being and the result was first another individual, a woman, and then millions upon millions of people. The plan was perfect. It could not have been done more efficiently.

God's plan was for man to rule. The fish, the birds, the livestock and all the other creatures were put under mans' dominion. At this point there is no indication as to what mans' relation to other spiritual beings would be. It is only later in the Bible that we find out that man ranks higher, in the hierarchy of created beings than angels, who are in many respect superior to him. In Hebrews we learn that angels are the servants of men who are saved from their sin. "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"[ 24 ]

God does not tell man who he is. He remains a mystery to himself. It looks as if God expects us to find out for ourselves. Or maybe better, He wants us to seek fellowship with Him so He can tell us.

Ruling over the animal world is the first task given to man. This, in itself, should be deeply satisfying and rewarding. Man was to be the animals' guide for behavior. I still see something of this in my dog's guilty looks; it is as is he is asking me if he did something wrong. But our ultimate task will be infinitely higher. In the book of Revelations Jesus says: "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne."[ 25 ] This thought is far beyond me. I understand why David says in the Psalms "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"[ 26 ]The fact is that He is mindful and He does care!

2. The execution of the plan.

Vs.27 sounds like a poem: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." The word "created" occurs four times in this chapter. Three times in this verse alone. It is as if Moses cannot overcome his amazement when he ponders this crowning act of God's creation. He must have realized that he was part of this mystery himself.

The first sentence: "So God created man in His own image" puts the emphasis on God's act of creation. This is the third time the word 'created' is used in this chapter. (vs.1 and 21 are the other two instances.) In the first two cases it clearly means that God called something into existence out of nothing. But man was not created 'ex nihilo,' at least not in the physical sense of the word.

The word is used here to indicate the spiritual aspect of God's making of Adam. God imparted His image to what otherwise would have been an animal. We can discuss later whether man is the product of evolution or not. But we have to state here that man is the product of a revolution as far as his spirituality is concerned. The change from an animal without God's image to a man bearing God's image was instantaneous.

It will take us all of eternity to find out what it means that God created man in His own image. We have to know God in order to know what His image is. A modern fad is to talk about our self-image being poor or good. We can only have a poor self-image if we deny the fact that we are created in God's image. It is sin, our separation from God, that started this preoccupation about self-image. When Adam separated himself from God he found out that he was naked. Since we were created in God's image, it is of vital importance for us to know Him.

"God created man in His image." This puts the emphasis on the original, God. "In the image of God created He him," puts the stress on the image, the copy, man. God did not make a clone. He made a picture of Himself. The picture and the original have a lot in common, but they are not the same. A picture or portrait may represent a living person of flesh and blood, but the image is paper and chemicals or canvas and paint. God made a living picture of Himself, but this does not mean that man is God. A picture never says everything. There is quite a difference between the creation of man and the Incarnation. God created Adam in His image, but in Jesus Christ, the Word became flesh. Jesus Christ is not a picture of God, He is God. It is true that Paul says: "He is the image of the invisible God,"[ 27 ]but further on we read: "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him."[ 28 ] The writer to the Hebrews puts it this ways: "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." [ 29 ]It is hard to grasp that we will be like Him, as the Apostle John states in his First Epistle.[ 30 ]When God created man according to His image and likeness, this was just the beginning.

"Male and female created He them."It is true that God made man initially as male only, but on the day of creation, the female was included in Adam. We shall see in the next chapter how God developed Eve out of Adam. But the point is that a man alone is only part of the image. The complete image is male and female.

There is a strong suggestion in this verse that not just the male and female character express the image of God, but the unity of the two gives the more complete expression. After all Adam and Eve were a married couple. Human sexuality is part of the image, but the image goes much further; marriage is more than becoming "one flesh."

Incidentally, this verse is the first and foremost argument against homosexuality. God expresses His character in the unity of male and female.

3. The blessing.

God blessed them, says vs. 28. The blessing is composed of two parts: fruitfulness and authority. "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.' "

We know that fruitfulness and multiplication is the result of physical unity. So the first thing God blesses in man is his marriage relationship. This poses all kinds of questions in connection with marriages without children and singleness and celibacy. In modern times the problem of overpopulation should be mentioned.

There are all kinds of reasons why married couples would not have children. The physical inability to have children was, in biblical times, always seen as a shameful thing. It was always blamed on the women. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, says in Luke's Gospel: " 'The Lord has done this for me,' she said. 'In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.' "In modern times the criteria have changed. In some families the bearing of children has been the undoing of the mother. The physical burden can be too heavy. Obviously there is place for planning and consultation between spouses. But if we lose sight of the basic command of the Lord to be fruitful, and we decided for reasons of comfort to remain childless, we will have to give account of this at the day of judgement. The Lord may be less kind and understanding than we anticipate.

I know from experience that there can be compensations in childless homes. After the death of my parents, I was taken into the home of a family who had no children of their own. They had adopted one girl. They became a blessing to me that a family with children could never have been. But according to vs. 28, it is God's plan for married couples to have children. For any disobeying of this command, we will be held responsible.

A person does have the liberty not to marry. Jesus seems to give this option when there are other compelling reasons, such as the Kingdom of Heaven. He says: "For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."[ 31 ]

We should never forget that the marriage bond is a wonderful expression of the fellowship and unity with God. The church is, after all, called the bride of Christ. But the oneness between husband and wife is an image of the real thing, not the reality itself. That is why single people can lead fully satisfied lives. We do not always need the picture to express the reality of full fellowship with God. If God withholds marriage from us, we should seek if He did not have in mind to introduce us to the real thing immediately, without going through the preliminaries. If we are not interested in reality, but just want the shadow, we will miss even the beauty of the picture.

The verses 29 and 30 make clear that man was originally meant to be a vegetarian and that all animals were herbivores. It is not until sin comes into this creation that man starts to eat meat. The reason for this was of course that eating meat is connected with death and without sin there is no death, so no animal could be killed. After the flood God says to Noah: "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."[ 32 ] God gives man everything, but at what a price! There is presently no virtue in being a vegetarian. There is nothing against vegetarianism, but it is impossible to maintain that the Bible teaches vegetarianism. In many instances vegetarians deny the reality of sin. Mahatma Gandhi did this, as do many Hindus. It is also wide spread among Seventh Day Adventists. Hitler was a vegetarian! There is virtue in being sensitive to the fact that the killing of animals is a calamity, but it is a calamity God wants us to live with. We may even enjoy some of the results of it, such as a chicken dinner or a good steak. But in the millennium this will end. In spite of what my daughter Viviane hopes, there will be no Arby's Roast Beef sandwiches in heaven.

Sin must also have made a fundamental change in the behavior of certain animals. Those animals that prey on others must have developed this habit and grown the equipment necessary to kill after man fell into sin. The lion and the lamb no longer lie down together. The picture that Isaiah paints will only become a reality when sin is removed from this planet and the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD. "They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." [ 33 ]

At the end of the creation God pronounces His judgment upon everything He made. In Vs. 31 we read: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning; the sixth day." That means that this creation was a true expression of God's perfect character. It was not imperfect man who gave his opinion but the eternal, holy God, who gave the highest grade to what He saw.

[ 1 ] Ps. 14:1

[ 2 ] John 1:1

[ 3 ] Ps. 36:9

[ 4 ] Ps 33:6

[ 5 ] John 1:1-3

[ 6 ] Heb. 1:3

[ 7 ] Heb. 13:20

[ 8 ] I Pet. 1:20

[ 9 ] Rev.17:8

[ 10 ] Isa. 45:18

[ 11 ] Isa. 14:4-20

[ 12 ] Ezek. 28:1-19

[ 13 ] Vs.3,6,9,11,14,20,24 and 26

[ 14 ] I John 1:5

[ 15 ] Luke 16:26

[ 16 ] II Cor.4:6

[ 17 ] Ps. 23:2,3

[ 18 ] Josh.10:12-14

[ 19 ] John 10:10[ b ]

[ 20 ] Vs.3,9,12,19 and 21

[ 21 ] "Erfurcht vor dem Leben."

[ 22 ] Isaiah 11:6

[ 23 ] Acts 17:26

[ 24 ] Heb. 1:14

[ 25 ] Rev.3:21

[ 26 ] Ps. 8:4

[ 27 ] Col.1:15

[ 28 ] in vs.19

[ 29 ] Heb. 1:3

[ 30 ] I John 3:2

[ 31 ] Matt. 19:12

[ 32 ] Gen.9:3

[ 33 ] Isa.11:5-9