The Father’s Love
Creation of Heaven and Earth
The universe is in perfect order, and everything is according to its kind. This is no accident. God, who exists in eternity and has always existed, is the Creator of man and all things in the universe (Exod. 3:14; Isa. 42:5). The Bible begins with the answer to mankind’s eternal mystery: "Where did the universe and everything come from? How is life so wonderful?" Time and space are a microcosm of the universe and a fragment of eternity. God, our loving Heavenly Father, chooses to manifest His great love and creation through human beings.
God is Spirit, though not visible to the naked eye, “because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Rom. 1:19-20)
God made the earth and the heavens by ‘wisdom’ (Prov. 3:19). God is the source of wisdom. King Solomon, the wisest of men, praised God's ‘Spirit of Wisdom’ that filled the earth at the time of God's creation – “While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.” (Prov. 8:26-31)
God created all things out of love and created man in His own image and likeness so that the glory of God might be manifested through him. God gave man the authority to have dominion over the whole earth (Gen. 1:26; Ps. 115:16). This shows the great love of God the Father for man, who has set him above all things and given him glory, honour and power (Ps. 8:3-6). God desires that the human beings He has created would be like Himself, possessing and manifesting God's glory, nature, and eternal divinity, and representing God in the government of His great creation on earth.
God’s Creation
Each thing according to its kind
The opening chapter of the Bible, Genesis, tells us that God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th day. We see that God accomplished His marvellous work of creation with only the “word” of His mouth. As King David said, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” (Ps. 33:6), for whatever God ordains is done, and whatever He says comes into being (Ps. 33:9)!
Day 1: Creating ‘Light, Day and Night’
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light…; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. (Gen. 1:1-5)
Day 2: Creating ‘Sky’
Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”… and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. (Gen. 1:6-8)
Day 3: Creating ‘Earth, Sea and Plants’
Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas... Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth” ; and it was so…So the evening and the morning were the third day. (Gen. 1:9-13)
Day 4: Creating the ‘Sun, Moon and Stars’
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also... So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. (Gen. 1:14-19)
Day 5: Creating ‘Fish and Birds’
Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind…So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. (Gen. 1:20-23)
Day 6: Creating ‘Animals and Man’
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so…Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”…and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Gen. 1:24-31)
Day 7: Shabbat
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Gen. 2:1-3)
God created the universe with His ‘Word’, because His Word has power and authority (Luke 1:37; Heb. 4:12). The Bible is the Word of God, recording the origin of all things in the universe and the wisdom, power and love of the Almighty Creator. Just a few examples will give you a glimpse:
Ancient civilisations believed that the Earth was flat and stationary. The Bible told us thousands of years ago that ‘the Earth is a Circle’ (Isa. 40:22), ‘the Earth Suspended in Space’ (Job 26:7), and ‘the Earth Rotates’ (Ps. 19:5-6). It was not until the 17th century when Newton discovered gravity and modern astronomy confirmed this. ‘The Earth Wind System’ (Eccl. 1:6), ‘the Water Cycle’ (Eccl. 1:7; 11:3; Ps. 135:7), and ‘Air Pressure’ (Ps. 62:9; Job 28:24-26) were all discovered in the 17th century. The 19th century also saw the discovery of the ‘Electromagnetic Waves’ (Job 38:35) and the ‘Second Law of Thermodynamics’, which confirms that the heavens and the earth will all grow old like a garment (Ps. 102:26; Isa. 51:6). But all of these were foretold in the Bible thousands of years before scientists knew it.
The Bible tells us that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Prov. 9:10), Matthew Maury believed in the actual truth of the Bible, and when he learned that the Bible mentioned ‘Sea Paths’ (Ps. 8:8), he went to look for them. As a result, he discovered the existence of ocean currents, established sea lanes, and became the father of oceanography. As Jesus Himself said: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Matt. 24:35)
Man is created in the image of God, and our words have authority in the invisible spiritual world too. We must be responsible for our words (Matt. 12:36). God told us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Prov. 18:21), and that “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” (Prov. 15:4)
Creating Man in His Own Image
The Book of Genesis tells us that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1), and "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Gen. 1:27). God formed the first man from “the dust of the ground”, and breathed into his nostrils the “the breath of life“, making him a "living soul" named Adam (Gen. 2:7, KJV). Adam was called "the son of God" (Luke 3:38). Therefore, human beings were originally created as children of God, spiritual, holy and sinless, enjoying eternal life.
God saw that it was not good for Adam to live alone, so he made Adam fall asleep, took one of his ribs and formed a woman to be Adam's companion to help him (Gen. 2:18, 21-22). Therefore, woman is bone of man’s bones and flesh of man’s flesh (Gen. 2:23). Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living creatures (Gen. 3:20).
God created the world and made male and female in His own image to show His love and glory, so that His people could know Him, love Him and manifest His glory. The heavens speak of God's glory (Ps. 19:1). However, as we will see later, the people whom God exalted and held most dear were tempted by the devil to turn away from God and to worship and serve God’s creation, “and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” (Rom. 1:23)
Adam was a type of Jesus (Rom. 5:14), as the Bible says: “The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit… The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” (1 Cor. 15:45-49). God's amazing grace and glory are fully manifested and fulfilled in the redemption of the Lord Jesus on the cross.
