"In the beginning God...." ―Genesis
1:1a
Suggested Reading: Genesis 1:14-19
Genesis 1 teaches us several major
truths about God. First, it teaches God's priority over creation and His
independence of it. "In the beginning God" tells us that God existed before the
cosmos existed. Jesus confirmed this by speaking of the glory He had with the
Father before the world began (John 17:5).
God
did not create the world because He needed man or the world. He is altogether
self-sufficient; He has need of nothing outside of Himself.
Has
the Holy Spirit taught you that God does not need you? God doesn't need helpers
or defenders. He doesn't even need worshipers. He doesn't need you and me at
all.
Second,
God is eternal. The psalmist says, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or
ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to
everlasting, thou art God" (Ps. 90:2) and "The heavens are the work of thy
hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure" (Ps. 102:25b-26a).
Third,
God is infinitely gracious. God created the universe in all its glory, and man
as the crown of it, because He was pleased in His condescending grace in Christ
to share His joy with people like us. Creation is therefore an expression of
the grace of God. It is a work of grace just as redemption is. We are
introduced to God's graciousness here because this is what God is like all the
way through Scripture.
Similarly,
in the new creation in Christ, God persists in loving His rebel creatures, not
because He has any need of us, but because He longs to share His joy, holiness,
righteousness, and beauty with us. He is truly a God of grace.
Finally,
God is beautiful and orderly. Study the beautiful parallels between the first
and fourth days of creation, the second and fifth, and the third and sixth. How
much more beautiful God's method of creation is than man's evolutionary theory!