“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This verse has been read countless times since Moses wrote these very first words of recorded Scripture. Moses never argues for the existence of an eternal God, but simply assumes people will have faith that He exists and has always existed (Psalm 90:2). Although God is eternal, Moses explains that everything else was created by this eternal God out of nothing; in other words, God spoke into existence all created things without having any other materials. This supernatural creation occurred over a period of six literal 24 hour days. Here is a brief summary of what was created on each day.
Day 1 (Genesis 1:1-5, heavens and earth) – The heavens refers to what we understand to be outer space. God also creates the earth. The earth is created in conjunction with water but it is created dark, uninhabited, and without shape (1:2). God the Holy Spirit can also be seen participating in creation (1:2b). Even though Moses does not mention Him by name, Paul later reveals that Jesus Christ, being God, also participated in creation (Colossians 1:16). On this first day, God created light and separated it from darkness calling the light “Day” and the darkness “Night” (1:3-4). The sun and moon were not created until day 4, so it must be understood that God was the source of this light (Revelation 21:23).
Day 2 (Genesis 1:6-8, sky) God created the sky to divide the heavens (outer space) and the earth.
Day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13, dry land and plants) Water was gathered together into one place and dry land stood above the water (1:9-10). God then decorated the dry land with self-sustaining plant life (1:11-12)
Day 4 (Genesis 1:14-19, sun, moon, and stars) God created two great sources of light. The sun became the primary source of light and the moon reflects the light of the sun at night (1:15-18). The stars also provided light at night (1:16b). The sun, moon, and stars also helped mark the seasons and calendar (1:14).
Day 5 (Genesis 1:20-23, sea life and flying creatures) Both sea life and flying creatures are made with the ability to reproduce their own kind (1:22)
Day 6 (Genesis 1:24-31, land animals and man) Land animals were created (1:24-25) and then the triune God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) decided to create man in His image so that he could rule over all of creation (1:26). Man is unique in God’s creation because he was fashioned in God’s image, meaning that he possesses His communicable attributes such as intellect, emotion, will, love, and morality; therefore, man could have fellowship with God, which distinguished him from all of God’s other created things. God created male and female and commanded them to reproduce (1:28). Their reproduction would fill the earth with people, who would rule over God’s creation. God then makes it clear that man should take plants and fruit for food, making His initial creation vegetarians (1:29-30).
After these six days of creation were complete, God looked upon everything He had created and declared it “very good” (1:31).
Dear God, thank You for preserving a record of Your miraculous creation. May it cause me to continually worship You alone as the all-powerful Creator.
When man reproduced Adam and Eve….does this mean that there was incest? It seems it was the only way children could have been born…..was that brother and sister or dad and sister had to?
Tim,
Great question. It seems likely that the children of Adam and Eve married one another; in other words, Cain probably married one of his sisters (Genesis 5:4). At this point in history, God did not forbid marriage between a brother and sister; in fact, it was not until Leviticus 18:6-18 that the law spoke against it. By that time, there would have been enough people on the earth to allow marriage outside one’s immediate family.
God also commanded the two to multiply and spread across the land i believe and without marrying the brother or the sister that would not be possible. Man as a whole would have died out then and there. And since God didn’t not say incest was wrong then it wasn’t wrong. IN today’s culture is when it is wrong because there is no need for it.