Whole Bible Commentary: gen 1

Day 1- light

Opening song: Jesus the light of the world (track or display on screen) or 348 the church has one foundation

Closing song: The Lord is my light (515)

Scripture reading job 38:1

38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

38:2 Who [is] this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

38:3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

38:5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

38:6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

Let there be light part 1

I pray that as we dig deep today the words I speak will be only the words of the Holy Spirit. May he illuminate your minds to the extent that you may be able to receive what He has to tell you today.

Let us pray

Turn with me to John 3:11-13.

3:11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you [of] heavenly things?

3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven.

In this discourse between Nicodemus and Christ, Christ makes a statement that seems a bit out of place in verse 12.

If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you [of] heavenly things?

What in the world did Christ mean by this? Was he really saying that there was abundant evidence in the word of God about heavenly things but Nicodemus’ mind was not quite ready to receive them? If this was what he was saying then where were these heavenly things made mention of and what were they about?

With these thoughts in the back of my mind I set out in search of those “heavenly things” spoken of by Christ. At the beginning of my study, I must confess I found nothing, but I didn’t give up I just prayed a little harder and searched a little more. It was not until I had completed a study on the “Sabbath Truth” which is the 7^th part of this series that I realized that I had scratched the surface of the heavenly things that God wanted us to know about. It was then the door of truth was flung open for me about some of the symbolism of the events that took place during that first week of creation.

“What really took place during creation week?”; you may or may not be asking.

If you pay close attention to our scripture reading taken from Job it seems that God is asking the man Job some pretty strange questions.

I am here to tell you that these questions are not at all strange and it was possible for Job to produce the correct answers to these questions. What is Bro Greenland saying?

I’m saying that Genesis chapter 1 is a complete summary of the life of man. If I am privileged enough to get this pulpit 6 more times I shall complete the study of the entire chapter and each creation day revealing to you, how and why it is that I am able to make this claim.

Today I shall be dealing with day 1 of creation. So that I do not leave anybody behind or anybody walks away today with any misconceptions, I will start with what we know and then move on to what has been revealed to me. Some of these things are things which you may have known already. But for me I have never heard them presented in this way. I hope this study will be as interesting to you as it was to me, when I discovered these truths.

To begin proper let us turn back to our scripture text in Job. This sets the foundation of the study that we shall be doing today.

(job 38:6)-Explained

For seasoned Adventist it is not uncommon to hear that “the plan of salvation was laid down as a part of the foundation of the Earth”, however not many of us know how to explain this that we have adopted as dear.

Through our study today we will understand just a few of the principles that were laid down on day 1, and by doing this we shall have a little better understanding and be better able to explain how was it that the plan of salvation was laid down as a part of the foundation of the Earth.

In Job 38:6 we find God asking Job this very question and asking him to explain it.

“38:6 Whereupon are the foundations of the Earth fastened? or who laid the corner stone of it?”

I don’t want any of you here today to say that Bro Greenland is deep. It is the Holy Spirit and Him Alone that must be praised for revealing what I am about to show you today.

Now the answer to the question “to what was the foundation of the Earth fastened?” the answer quite simply is “The plan of salvation was the anchor to which the Earth was fastened.”

But now let us go on to discover how it was that the Earth was fastened to it? As promised we will first look at what we know happened on day 1 and then go to make applications.

It is important for me to make this one point. There is only one interpretation for scripture, but there are many applications. So what I am going to share with you today does not change the fact that God created the world in 6 literal days each made up of 24 hrs. However what I will show today should deepen your understanding of the wisdom and comprehensiveness of the knowledge of God.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way let us turn to our text of study Gen 1:1-5. Read with me

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth

1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

1:4 And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

O.k. what do we know?

Gen 1:1 is a study by itself and I shall not talk about this verse today but I shall incorporate it as a part of my study for day 2.

Although we will study verse 1 later, let me briefly say what this verse does. A part from titling chapter 1, this verse immediately introduces the realm where what is to be discussed in the rest of the book takes place. It takes place between Heaven and Earth.

It identifies the all important title of God i.e. “Creator” which is further developed in this book. (I know there will be some objection so let me say this, Yes God has other titles but this is the most important of them all. This we know because it is first mentioned).

What do verses 2-5 tell us?

On the first day God made light by speaking it into being

He divided the light from the darkness and named them both day and night respectively

and this marked the first 24 hr period that we know as a “Day”.

For the most part this is all the thought and recognition that the first day of the week gets although there is lots of information to be had from the first day. (did I miss anything?)

On the surface this does not seem to be very insightful, but this is so only for surface readers. Our understanding will begin to deepen when we learn to ask the bible questions, and allow the bible to answer those questions for us.

Isaih1:18-come let us reason together

It is important to ask questions when you read the scripture. ,

“why did this happen at this time?

What was the purpose behind this event?

Where did this come from?

How did it happen?

When did it happen?

If you do not ask questions your understanding will never deepen and precious truth hidden on the pages of the bible will forever elude you.

Why is it hidden? matth 13:10-17

Only those who are my sheep will understand….when they have enquired, then the Holy Spirit will teach them (John 10:26)

Now as it relates to our study text what are the questions we should ask? Let us look at verse 2.

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

QUESTIONS

Q1. Why was the earth without shape and void

Q2. why was there darkness upon the face of the deep.

Q3. Why was the Spirit documented and not the Word or the Father to be moving over the face of the waters.

Q4. Where did the water come from

Nothing in scripture is written by chance

Before we proceed we know that nothing in scripture is written by chance or coincidence. If this book is the word of God, which it is, then all the statements in it must be vey deliberate and also very true.

Do you believe this church?

Let us look at a scripture that makes this very point.

John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

If everything were to be recorded the bible would be too big to carry and read. So then the stories notes etc that have been made in the bible have a very special significance.

Are you with me still?

Now its time to start making our applications.

Application

We have already looked at the physical aspect of the verses so let us now go on to look at the symbolic applications by answering the questions we have just mentioned.

ANSWERS

Q. “Why was the earth without shape and void?”

R. This is easiest to answer in my mind. Any of you want to attempt to answer this question. At this time the earth only existed in the mind of God, and there was not a physical figure, shape (nothing) to refer to as the Earth. As a matter fact the scripture is extremely emphatic on this point. Void without form

Hebrew word for the word deep:

8415 t^ehowm { teh-home’} or t^ehom { teh-home’}

from 1949; TWOT - 2495a; n f/m

AV - deep 20, depth 15, deep places 1; 36

GK - 9333 { !whoT]

1) deep, depths, deep places, abyss, the deep, sea

1a) deep (of subterranean waters)

1b) deep, sea, abysses (of sea)

1c) primeval ocean, deep

1d) deep, depth (of river)

1e) abyss, Sheol[1]

which is the exact Greek translation of the word found in revelation 9 referring to the bottomless pit. Now as students of the bible we know that the bottomless pit refers to a desolate place, where life is missing. In genesis the scripture is being overly emphatic about the nothingness of the earth. I hope you get this point that there was nothing there.

Q2. why was there darkness upon the face of the deep.

In verse 2 we are introduced to two things that pre-date the earth. These two things are not called into being during any part of the 6 day cycle established at creation. What are these two things? Any of you want to tell me what they are?

They are: darkness and water.

Before the scripture records that God even opens his mouth darkness and water is already mentioned.

Now-Where was this water flowing from?

In Rev 22:1 we are given a hint about where the water comes from. Let us read it together.

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.

Clearly we see here that water flows from the throne of God, and who could have put it there but God Himself?

Also in Ezekiel 47:1-9 the same point is made about water and where they came from

Psalm 46:4

Isa 8:6 ????

Darkness

But what can we say about the darkness? Isn’t God light? If God was there shouldn’t the darkness have been dispelled? Well we know that it was created because he said so. Isa 45:7, we also know for what purpose the darkness was created

Darkness is the punishment of the wicked

Matth 8:12 vs 22:13 vs 25:30

8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth

Originally for the devil and his angels 2 peter 2:4 & Jude 1:6

The fact that God comes where it is dark tells me that he visited the very place of the banished/fallen angels. Right now my mind tells me that he had a lesson to teach and it could only be taught by going into the dark.

God has always been revealing himself to His creation. God is the only one who knows everything so He is constantly teaching and leading his creation into higher levels of understanding of who He is- This is borne out firstly in gen1:26 when God says “Let us make man in our image”

By breaking down his character upon this new creature He would illuminate the minds of the rest of beings as to who He was/is… Everything was going well until somehow along the way there developed a misunderstanding in celestial heaven and now God is forced to step up the game or do something different.

Before I proceed let me set your mind at ease. Cause some of you might be thinking that this is Bro Greenlands words. Let us turn to

His ways are past finding out Rom 11:33

The Cherubims throughout eternity continually find out new things about God that they declare Holy! Holy! Holy! Always before him as they contemplate his character.

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

You see what is being explained…..His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

God is constantly revealing himself, Which brings up another text John 14:8-9 with Philips question

14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Show us the Father?

The revelation of God to his creatures: Sometimes they get it and sometimes they don’t. As a result there are many ways that God is working to reveal Himself.

Let us get back o n track

The absence of Light is darkness.

We know that the darkness was created by God and he created the boundaries for light and darkness. By Him also was created the boundaries for what is good and what is evil. This is what the text in Isa45:7 speaks about.

What is being described in this text is the same thing that occurred in gen 1:4 Here is saying that He is the one that draws the line. God created the light, and because he did not destroy darkness He clearly outlined where light ends and where darkness begins.

But

What application then should we make for the darkness?

The darkness here symbolizes the lack of understanding that His un-fallen creatures had of Him. Remember our text in Romans let us look at it again.

Rom 1:20 For the invisible (why were they invisible-because they did not know them) things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Let us look at another text that make this very same application

Jer 4:22 For my people [is] foolish, they have not known me; they [are] sottish children, and they have none understanding: they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, [it was] without form, and void; and the heavens, and they [had] no light.

4:24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

4:25 I beheld, and, lo, [there was] no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled

Here is another text that brings out the same idea. This one most of us know. First of all John deliberately starts the chapter as a back drop to Genesis one and when speaking about the darkness he says:

john 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name [was] John.

1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all [men] through him might believe.

1:8 He was not that Light, but [was sent] to bear witness of that Light.

1:9 [That] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

Isaiah 9:2

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the world was in darkness and the light came into it, revealing the things which could not previously be seen or understood.

Are we together still? Do we need one more text?1 cor 4:5,

2 Cor4:6

4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Let us now turn our bibles to

John 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

11:10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him

So up until this point we can say that his creatures were only stumbling around in the knowledge of his glory and power etc.

His ways are past finding out Rom 11:33

The Cherubims throughout eternity continually find out new things about God that they declare Holy! Holy! Holy! Always before him as they contemplate his character.

Job 4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

How was the darkness created?

We understand that God set the boundaries for good and for evil but, how did un-fallen creation become contaminated with ignorance/darkness?

To answer this question it is needful for us to look briefly at the origin of sin. Let us turn to

Ezekiel 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Because of the multitude of the merchandise you sinned!!!!!!!!!!

At a glance it is not clear what is being said here but we are not of them that read the scripture with glances. We ask questions….I ask questions. So what does merchandise mean?

Merchandise

Merchandise is a commercial term, so in Eze 28:16 we are told that Lucifer is trying to sell something. What is he trying to sell? (his lies about God and His law)

Remnants of the idea is still left, what do people say when they know something is false (I don’t buy that……you can’t sell me that one)

John8:44- Lucifer the father of lies

In order to be considered a liar (or a seller) there must be someone to lie (sell) to. In order for Lucifer to extend His rebellion he had to have followers.

Satan is trying to sell his ideas about the Law of God

God’s law is restrictive-no freedom

If you disobey he will destroy you

God is a tyrant

As a matter of fact that is the identical thing you hear today about the law of God. But our greatest assurance of freedom comes from the obedience of God’s Law. Imagine living in a world that there is no lying, stealing, adultery, everybody loves and respects God etc.

You would have a perfect happy world.

Let us go back to our term merchandise.

We are looking at the occurrence of the same word in other bible passages. What was used is a Greek/Hebrew concordance so the words are not interpreted the same in English in these verses, however we need to get an understanding about the idea this word depicts.

7404 r^ekullah { rek-ool-law’} Ezekiel 28:16

pass part of 7402; TWOT - 2165a; n f

AV - merchandise 2, traffick 2; 4

GK - 8219 { hL;kur]

1) merchandise, traffic, trade[2]

Lev19:16; talebearer

19:16 Thou shalt not go up and down [as] a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I [am] the LORD.

7400 rakiyl { raw-keel’}

from 7402 a scandal-monger (as travelling about); TWOT - 2165b; n m

AV - slander 2, talebearer 2, talebearer + 1980 1, carry tales 1; 6

GK - 8215 { lykir;

1) slander, slanderer, tale bearer, informer[3]

Ezekiel 22:9-slander (defame character)

⁹In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

7400 rakiyl { raw-keel’}

from 7402 a scandal-monger (as travelling about); TWOT - 2165b; n m

AV - slander 2, talebearer 2, talebearer + 1980 1, carry tales 1; 6

GK - 8215 { lykir;

1) slander, slanderer, tale bearer, informer[4]

So in Ezekiel 28:16 we understand that Lucifer was slandering God. By launching an attack against the Law of God Lucifer had launched attack against God’s character. Rev 12:7-9 war in heaven.

Tying the ends together

Why was there darkness? Lucifer had gone about spreading lies in heaven that had darkened the understanding of the angels and the un-fallen beings in heaven. So what does God do about this? He leads his creation to light,

Question 3- Why was the Spirit and not the Word/Father moving over the face of the waters.

1 cor 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

The character of God is that which has been defamed, so it is He (the spirit) who needs to set the record straight.

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will show you things to come

He is the guide of truth, not the father not the son. He was simply fulfilling His God appointed position……Thus the reason why only ‘The Spirit’ is documented as moving over the face of the waters.

vs 3—and God said let there be light.

Then comes the point of revelation! The Holy Spirit has led the way and now God declares let there be light. The Father initiates the thought, The Holy spirit leads out to make preparation and then the Word accomplishes it.

For the benefit of those who were listening He allowed His thoughts to become audible, then for the benefit of those who needed saving He allowed the audible Word to become flesh – in whom we are saved. Glory to God in the Highest.

Jesus Christ now steps in as the mediator between light and darkness, and this was before sin entered the world.

Col 1:12-13

1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son:

1 Thes 5:1-10

5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober.

5:7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

In the context that I have just put it we now understand why there was darkness in the beginning of the history of the earth.

Wanting to enlighten His creatures God said “let there be light” Because this was the only way that their understanding was going to be deepened. God would not allow darkness or ignorance to reign so he said Let there be light.

But this testimony could only be understood through the aid of the divine Teacher. Only by the aid of that Spirit who in the beginning "was brooding upon the face of the waters;" of that Word by whom "all things were made;" of that "true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," could the deep truths of God be discerned. {Ed 134.4}

Appeal

Vs -4 And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Although God’s light displaced the darkness, he did not totally destroy it, as in the case of the holy city (rev 21:25 & 22:5) because there was still more to reveal. God does not do anything partially, but fully and completely.

Adam and Eve had yet to chose to be children of the light or darkness….as did every other created being.

The two roads of darkness and light still exist for us to choose one, however there is coming a day when darkness andDay 1- light