Slices
Prepare
Find a place to be completely still and silent for a few minutes. Then (and only then) ask God to reveal what he wants to show you as you read about the creation of everything.
Bible passage
The beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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.
3 And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he 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 – the first day.
6 And God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.’ 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault ‘sky’. And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day.
9 And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground ‘land’, and the gathered waters he called ‘seas’. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.
14 And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.’ And it was so. 16 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. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning – the fourth day.
20 And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.’ 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 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.’ 23 And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day.
24 And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. 25 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.
26 Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’
29 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. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Explore
Seven times we read that the creation was good – the seventh time it was even ‘very good’ (1:31). God can rest peacefully on day seven with the job well done. Two observations:
First, God’s rest is the real climax of the story (2:2). Humans are very important in Genesis 1, and God blesses them and gives them a commission (1:28) – though did you notice that the first blessing in the Bible is actually on the first ‘living creatures’ (fish and birds) in verse 22? There will be many chapters to come where what humans are up to is central. But here the focus is all on what God is doing, and the goal of all creation is to enter into God’s rest.
Second, the goodness of creation is good news, the first good news in fact. But let’s hear Genesis carefully. Creation is ‘(very) good’, rather than ‘perfect’. (There were different Hebrew words for these two classifications: so you had a good man, but a perfect sacrifice, for example.) Some readers imagine a perfect world in Genesis 1, but this can make it harder to explain how anything ever went wrong.
Respond
Take a lead from Genesis 1 – rejoice in God’s goodness and blessing. And ask God to show you ways of ‘resting’ in his presence today.
Deeper Bible study
‘The whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice … Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”’1
It is remarkable that the whole creation story is condensed into thirty-one verses. ‘God created the heavens and the earth … let dry ground appear … God called the dry ground “land” … And it was so’ (1:1,9,10,30). The dry ground, the land, is a minimalist description of the various layers of rocks and soil containing an abundance and variety of minerals – eg mica in Rwanda. The creation of light, sun and moon are also brief. In the sunlight, the mica on the ground in Rwanda (upon which many walk with disregard) glitters like jewels. Similarly, the sun on water can give the appearance of thousands of transitory diamonds scattered over the surface. As for the stars – they get two words in the Hebrew: ‘He also made the stars’ (v 16). That is the 1021 (1, followed by 21 zeros) stars in the observable universe (according to a quick internet search), which is roughly the same as the grains of sand on all the world’s seashores (the sand is also lumped under ‘dry ground’). Perhaps words are unnecessary: let creation speak for itself. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.’2 The longest account of creation is given to the creation of humans. ‘When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars … what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?’3 Yet, he does.
In the 34 verses that we have just read, the word ‘God’ appears 35 times (NASB). If you ever get caught up in the creation-evolution debate (to put it in crude terms) and you do not mention God once per sentence, then you have entirely missed the theological emphasis of these verses. In the beginning, GOD…!
Meditate upon something in creation which inspires wonder in you and praise God for his marvellous creation, his brilliant creative power and imagination. Thank him, too, for loving you.
1 Luke 19:37,40, NASB 2 Ps 19:1 3 Ps 8:3,4, TNIV
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 12,13; Acts 5
Pray for Scripture Union
Local mission partner Sevenoaks Area Youth Trust asks for prayer that the cold weather will not hinder their detached youth work and they will still be able to engage with young people across Sevenoaks building relationships and sharing the good news of Jesus.
