What Does the Bible Say About Genesis 1:1-2?
Posted on Nov 29, 2011 in David L Cooper | 0 comments
By David L. Cooper
”In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was waste and
void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:1-2).
The assumption which lies back of Genesis 1:1 is that the one true and living God is assumed, by the writer of Genesis, to be in existence; for he tells that back in that part of eternity which is called “in the beginning,” God put forth an act, the result of which was the coming into existence of the material heavens and the earth. Hence our writer assumed God’s existence. The Bible nowhere attempts to prove that God does exist.
God has His own witnesses to attest the fact of His creative activity. Concerning these silent observations, the Psalmist has beautifully spoken:
1 The heavens declare the glory of God’ and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language; their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to
run his course.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and
there is nothing hid from the heat thereof (Ps. 19:1-6).
Only the fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Only the man who is brutish and who is perverted in his thinking and does not want to believe in God will ever deny the existence of a Supreme Being, in whom we live and move and have our being. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works; there is none that doeth good” (Ps. 14:1). As a small child, I would look up into the heavens by day and by night, and could see and recognize the fact that there must be some great mighty powerful being who is controlling the movements of the heavenly bodies, as well as those of the earth. Though I could have very little conception of Him and of His relationship to the world, I was convinced that there was a being who was standing back of the material universe and was causing it to run.
Genesis 1:1 is against atheism in that it undoubtedly assumes the existence of a Supreme Being. It is against materialism because the necessary inference is that there is a Spiritual Being who is the foundation and basis of the material universe—the Creator of all things. It is against Pantheism, because it differentiates God from the material universe. It is also against the philosophical doctrine of idealism, because it affirms the doctrine of God’s creating the material universe.
As to our knowing how God created the universe, we are not told in the Scriptures. As to when He brought the universe into existence, we are not told. The methods which He employed, and the agencies, if any, we do not know, because no information on that point is given.
It is sufficient for us to believe and to accept with unqualified confidence the statement that “in the beginning,” that is, in eternity of the past, God put forth a creative act, which resulted in the bringing into existence of the material universe.
In the second verse of the Bible we are told in our common translation that “the earth was without form and void.” A better and a more literal translation of these words would be “and the earth became a desolation and a waste.” We are told by Isaiah, in chapter 45:18, that God did not create the earth a waste: “For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else.”
But in Genesis 1:2 we are told that it was a waste. If it was not a waste when God created it, and then it was a waste, evidently it was reduced to a state of desolation and waste. From this conclusion there is no escape. This passage presupposes that there was some devastating catastrophe that struck this earth and reduced it to a condition of wasteness and desolation. When it was thus wrecked, the entire earth was submerged in water. Darkness was brooding upon the face of the deep.
As to who wrecked the earth and what means were employed in bringing about this disaster, the Scriptures do not hint; but, whenever we study the Bible carefully and learn from it about Satan, his character, and his attitude toward God, immediately the suspicion falls upon him, that he is the one who wrecked the earth. We may be certain from many passages of the
Scriptures that Satan, who was at first the anointed cherub that covereth, has sworn eternal vengeance against God and against all who are in fellowship with God and who are opposed to every phase of evil. He is the cause of every evil, calamity, and disaster that occurs in the universe. He is also the moving spirit behind all wars and conflicts. He will continue to play his role until God puts him in his place, in the lake of fire, where he will be forever and ever, together with all who willingly follow his guidance.
According to the first chapter of Genesis, God took six days in which he was repairing the wreckage that was wrought by this original catastrophe. It is very interesting to follow the account as set forth in Genesis, chapter 1.