Why is Genesis 1:1 Awesome?
Photo by Denis Degioanni on Unsplash
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1 ESV
It’s handy that Genesis 1:1 is so easy to find, because it’s one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It says much in such a short sentence. Let’s consider this excellent verse.
When?
“In the beginning”
The beginning of what?
The physical universe. Time itself. Everything in creation. The Bible takes us back all the way to the moment when time began, 00:00 on the clock. That tells us that the universe is not eternal - there was a point when it did not exist. (If I can use the word “when” to describe before time.)
It only took scientists until the 20th century to catch up with the Torah, and in 1927 Father Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Catholic priest and professor of astrophysics, proposed the Theory of the Primeval Atom, which came to be known as the Big Bang Theory. This theory says that the universe had an actual beginning - an idea that flew in the face of accepted science and angered many Atheists. It didn’t take long for physicists and astronomers to find evidence for Lemaître’s theory, and it's now widely accepted. It took only a few thousand years from Moses penning the book of Genesis for there to be good evidence of this moment of creation (besides the clue that the universe exists).
Who?
“God”
Not you or me. Not chance. Not the laws of nature (as though a law could create anything). God. He is the hero of the Bible story, the universe, and each of our individual lives. He is the center around which everything else orbits and finds its significance.
The Bible, of course, goes on to flesh out who God is. He is everywhere-present. All-powerful. All-knowing. Eternal. Unchanging. Holy (entirely good). Loving. Compassionate. Just. Wrathful. Patient.
In the New Testament, God is revealed even more completely in Jesus of Nazareth (the Son of God) and the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God). God is triune: three persons in one being. It’s a paradox and a mystery too beautiful for words.
God didn’t have to do anything. He didn’t and doesn’t need us. But everything He did in the Bible and still does today is a manifestation of His character, an overflow of His love and creative power.
Did what?
“created”
God made everything from nothing, or ex nihilo, as theologians like to say. He spoke creation into existence. He didn’t need to work up a sweat or exert Himself. He didn’t need to stand at an enormous whiteboard and work out the math of physics. He didn’t need to contract with angels or come up with blueprints. He didn’t need to ask for help. He is so intelligent and powerful that He can create the universe by the power of His words. The Bible begins with God taking action, and then it’s God’s action all the way through. (Humans have active roles as well, but our part is making messes of things, which God then fixes. We are much less impressive.)
What did He create?
“the heavens and the earth.”
God created the Earth: Atoms. Amoebas. Elephants. Mountains. Water. Squirrels. Oceans. Trees. Molecules. Lightning. Mice. Hurricanes. Zebras. God’s intelligence and creative power are seen in the things He has made, and His creation gives Him glory. That one being could create this incredible planet Earth is mind-numbingly impressive. It is awesome - if you don’t believe me, watch a few episodes of the Planet Earth or Blue Planet documentaries. The God who made all of this is worthy of worship.
He also created the heavens. When Genesis was written, to Moses the heavens were a big expanse filled with clouds and stars and the sun and moon. Pretty huge. Now that we know more, these words are even more impressive. God created billions and billions of stars. Probably billions and billions of planets. Galaxies. Black holes. Asteroids. Perhaps aliens. “Dark matter” (whatever that is). The laws of physics, which have to be incredibly precise in many different ways for our universe even to exist. It would take millions of years, traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) to reach things that we can see with our eyes. When I study space and astronomy (in my amateur way), I am in a constant state of wonder and worship.
Implied in the creating of everything, God created us. We humans think we’ve done much - climbed mountains, painted chapels, penned plays, composed symphonies, built cities, produced Sharknado movies, built civilization. But we are only using power and knowledge and creativity imparted to us by our Maker. He is the creator, and we are co-creators or sub-creators. And since He made us good and then we choose to fall into sin, He can really take credit for all of our goodness and not the awful things we do.
Conclusion
In ten words, the first sentence of the Bible tells us much. We know right off the bat that God is the hero, that He’s powerful enough to create everything, and that He has been around since before the very beginning. This sets the stage for the story to come, the great story, the Gospel Story, good news for every man, woman, and child. And for people like me, who love God’s creation and eagerly await its redemption, Genesis 1:1 reminds me of why I live with hope: God created it, He knows what He’s doing, and His plans always work out right.