Creation—how did God do it?
by Russell M. Grigg, M.Sc.(Hons)
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The first chapters of Genesis leave us in no doubt whatsoever about how God created
the universe. On the six successive days of creation, God spoke and what He said
happened. That is to say, the means that God used to create the universe and all
things in it was His Word.
The occasions of his speaking, from Genesis chapter 1,
verses 3–26 (NIV), are as follows:
Day 1. And God said, ‘Let there be light’
(verse 3).
Day 2. And God said, ‘Let there be an
expanse between the waters to separate water from water’ (verse
6).
Day 3. And God said, ‘Let the water under
the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear’ (verse
9). Then God said, ‘Let the land produce
vegetation: seedbearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in
it, according to their various kinds’ (verse 11).
Day 4. And God said, ‘Let there be lights
in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve
as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse
of the sky to give light on the earth’ (verses 14–15).
Day 5. And God said, ‘Let the water teem
with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the
sky’ (verse 20).
Day 6. And God said, ‘Let the land produce
living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along
the ground, wild animals, each according to its kind’ (verse 24).
Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our
image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the creatures that move along the
ground’ (verse 26).
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There are three other times mentioned in Genesis chapter 1 when God spoke (verses
22, 28, and 29). In the first two of these God addressed Himself to His
created beings and commanded them to be fruitful and increase in number, and in
the last one God specified the food for humans, birds and animals. Possibly God
spoke through the mechanism of instinct when He was addressing the animals, and
audibly when He was addressing man, so that man would hear what these instructions
were.
On the other eight times of creation when God spoke, what He said did not need to
be audible. In fact, on the eighth occasion (‘Let us make
man in our image …’) God appears to have been speaking to
Himself (or to the other members of the Trinity).1 On this occasion (and
therefore on the other seven times as well) God’s ‘speaking’ was
equivalent to God’s ‘decreeing’ or God’s ‘willing’.
In other words, the Word of God and the will of God are here synonymous. God willed
the creation to take place, which occurred in eight separate stages spread over
six successive days. These stages are marked for us in Genesis chapter 1 by eight
separate ‘words’ from God (introduced each time by the formula ‘And/Then
God said …’), but in essence they are the putting forth of God’s
will on each occasion to accomplish His purpose, with no other reason or cause than
that He desired it to happen.
All of this means that God did not use any evolutionary processes to bring about
creation. In the first place, creation, by definition, has to be instantaneous—it
cannot be a process. In the second place, the idea, called theistic evolution, that
the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God would use a method of random copying
mistakes to form His creatures not only makes a lie of what God Himself has stated,
but reduces God to the level of man’s ingenuity. Creation was a series of
specific and immediate acts of God, brought about solely by His Word or His will.
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The significance of this for man is overwhelming, and highlights the reason why
there is so much emphasis by man today on the godless theory of evolution. Evolution
seeks to do away with God as Creator, but the target of the evolutionary philosophy
is much wider than this. It is to do away with God as moral Lawgiver, and God as
the ultimate Judge of all the earth.
The reason for this is that the creation of man and the world by God established
for all time God’s right to set the rules by which man should live. The creation
shows not only that God has the right to pronounce His laws for holy living, but
also that God has the authority to set the penalty for those people who choose not
to obey His laws.
A law without a penalty is little more than a suggestion, and a suggestion is something
we can follow or not follow as we choose.
A law without a penalty is little more than a suggestion, and a suggestion is something
we can follow or not follow as we choose. For example, if there were no fine for
failing to put money in a parking meter, how many people would comply? Similarly,
God’s laws for holy living would be little more than suggestions, if there
were no time of reckoning. The Apostle Paul, in fact, says that if there is to be
no resurrection, with all that that implies,2 we may as well ‘eat
and drink, for tomorrow we die’.3
So what does all this have to do with God’s having created the world by the
exercise of His will expressed by His Word? Just this: scoffers (who the Bible says
do two things, namely, scoff and follow their own evil desires or passions)4,
would do well to note that God does not intend that the world should go on as it
is forever. The Bible states: ‘By the same word the present
heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men.’5 This earth, which God
took the trouble to create, and then pronounced to be ‘very good’,6
has been marked by Him for destruction, like a new motor car that serves its owner’s
purpose for a while and then becomes obsolete, the earth is going to be ‘melted
down’7 and superseded, because it too will be obsolete for God’s
future purpose.
Image NASA
But the question may well be asked: how can we be sure this is going to happen?
Well, this is where faith comes in. Not blind, unreasoning, unreasonable faith.
But quiet confidence based on what God says He is going to do, and on what God did
and how He did it at creation. The Apostle Peter invokes the Flood as proof of creation,
and makes the point that it is the same Word of God that produced the heavens and
the earth that is reserving them for judgment.8 All of which is to say,
the demonstration of God’s power at the beginning of the age is adequate proof
that He is well able to do all the things He has said He is going to do at the end
of the age.
Whether it be the creation of a new heaven and a new earth to supersede the present
heaven and the present earth,9 the resurrection of the just and the unjust,10 or the holding of a final great judgment,11 God has only
to say the word—exercise His will—and they will all come to pass.
We are told in the Bible that the Judge at the final great judgment will be the
Lord Jesus Christ—the Word of God incarnate, through whom ‘all
things were made’ and without whom ‘was not
anything made that was made’.12
That the Creator and the Judge of all the earth should be one and the same is perhaps
not really surprising. What is surprising is that the Creator/Judge is also the
One who on the Cross ‘died for our sins’,13
‘redeemed us from the curse of the Law’,14
restored us to peace with God,15 by taking the penalty due to us for
our rebellion against God upon Himself,16 and saved us from condemnation.17
How do we know?
We have His word for it!
References and notes
- The Bible states that both God the Holy Spirit and God the Son were present at creation.
Genesis 1:2 says ‘…the Spirit of God was hovering
over the waters’. The New Testament affirms in several places that
all things were made by God through Jesus Christ—see
John 1:3,
Colossians 1:16,
Hebrews 1:2. In
John 1:1 Jesus is called the Word (Greek: logos). This is of
particular significance when we realize that everything that came into being on
each day of creation was created through the Word of God. Return to text.
-
Acts 17:31;
24:15. Return to text. Return to text.
-
1 Corinthians 15:32. Return to text.
-
2 Peter 3:3. Return to text.
-
2 Peter 3:7. Return to text.
-
Genesis 1:31. Return to text.
-
2 Peter 3:12. Return to text.
-
2 Peter 3:7. Return to text.
-
2 Peter 3:13;
Revelation 21:1. Return to text.
-
Acts 24:15;
Revelation 21:13. Return to text.
-
Revelation 20:11–13. Return to text.
-
Acts 17:31;
John 1:3. Return to text.
-
1 Corinthians 15:3. Return to text.
-
Galatians 3:13. Return to text.
-
Romans 5:1. Return to text.
-
Isaiah 53:5. Return to text.
-
Romans 8:1. Return to text.
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