Genesis 1:1-5

Good morning, all!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  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. 

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.  God saw the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night."  And there was evening and morning - the first day.

There is so much in just these first verses.  First, according to Courson, the Hebrew phrase for "formless and empty" is tohuw va bohuw, a phrase used again in Isaiah 45:18 when Isaiah says that God created the heaven and the earth not in vain - not  " tohuw va bohuw."  So Courson says, "If Isaiah says God did not create the earth without form and void, but Genesis 1 says the earth was without form and void, what's going on?"  Then he says that many commentators believe that an event took place between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2  which is described in Isaiah 14 and Ezekial 28:  the time when Lucifer launched a rebellion against God and was kicked out of heaven along with one-third of the angels who fell with him.  It was at this point that he became "the god of this world."  (2 Cor 4:4).  So, there was darkness over the earth and God said, "Let there be light."  Courson says the Hebrew literally reads, "Light be!  And light was."  

Courson's point that he leads to here is that our lives were just like this before we encountered Christ:  formless and empty.  And even as the Spirit of God hovered over the earth, that same Holy Spirit began to do a work in your life and began to draw you to the light.  You saw the light and the darkness in your life was dispelled!  I like that analogy!  Notice that it says in verse 5, "And there was evening and morning - the first day."  Courson points out that even today Jewish people reckon their day from evening to morning - going from darkness to light!  

Also note that the Trinity is completely present here at creation.  It says that the Spirit was hovering, and in John 1:1 we are told, "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."  Colossians 1:16, 17 says, "For in him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."  And in Revelation 4:11 the 24 elders bow before Jesus and say,  “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things,  and by your will they were created and have their being.”  Jesus is not a created being, He is the Creator God.  

So, even as the first act of creation involved bringing light into the darkness, this is the first thing God does with us when we are born again.  We come out of the darkness into the light!  And it IS good!!!