I think a lot while I read scripture, and have decided to start taking notes on esword. I would like to think that any given commentary starts out that way, as an earnest desire to reflect on God - and as it develops - it becomes very systematic.

So, I figure recording my thoughts will have a twofold effect: it will bring me closer to the Lord, and it will be preserved for posterity. At that point I am free to either update it later, or to merely enjoy it for what it's worth - God giving me insights once in a blue moon. Naturally, every comment or idea on scripture will be tainted by our fallen nature. However, in almost any situation you can find at least one good thing...one diamond in the rough...in anybody's love-filled discourse on scripture.



In Genesis 1:1 we see God's claim to authorship - not only of the holy scriptures, but of all things in general. As it says in Hebrews 3:4:

For every house is builded by some man; but he who built all things is God.

Genesis 1:1 is, perhaps, one of the most summarizing of all statements any religion or philosophy has ever produced. What follows is, yes, a detailed account - insomuch as God gave us all the details we need to know in order to prove His claims. However, the whole of the chapter could just as easily begin and end with verse 1.

In the beginning - That is to say, that God had no beginning but was from everlasting to everlasting. Before time began, God was. Here, in the beginning of all things made by God, we see that God pre-existed them all.

God created - There can be no doubt in my mind that God created. God did not pause in His creation, through large lapses of time, as some suggest the word "yom" refers to. God did not use an evolutionary tool kit to gradually make what was already perfect by it's very virtue of having been made by God to work perfectly to the ultimate goal of God. Neither do I believe that this statement reflects what is commonly known as the "gap theory" (see note: Gen. 1:2). God created: it can be taken no other way but the way God wrote it. He made all things, and all things were made by Him - for His good pleasure alone, to achieve nothing but His designs.

the heaven and the earth - Again, many people use this to support a gap theory. They insist that the heaven and the earth in verse 2 were left void and covered in darkness by disrepair. In other words, Satan was created with the angels in verse one. In verse two, their fall had already occurred and hence darkness was upon the face of the deep. I don't think that we can really understand this to mean a spiritual darkness, however - as it is made clear in verse 3 that light simply did not exist yet. The heaven and the earth here, is just that. Everything in terms of the planetary bodies and the space which would later provide habitation for the luminary bodies was completed. God made all things in full maturity, as God Himself was ageless and mature. I believe this is why, later on, all things were called good. They were, at the first, good entirely. They were also complete, which is good in and of itself.


In Genesis 1:2 we see a mature earth, waiting to be filled with life, order, light, and creation in general. I think it's safe to say at this point, even though light itself had not been created, that God Himself was still light; but perhaps the scope of which God shined out in it was limited by God's own design. In other words, darkness was upon the face of the deep because God held back His glory in order to prove His dominion over the dark (albeit, symbolically for the moment). I think this is summed up in John 1:5:

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

At this point in the creation, darkness was a tangible thing - not due to any Satanic fall, but because God allowed it to exist.

And the earth was without form - That is to say, no comely form had been given to it. The planet itself was a mature, developed world - having been made as such. However, God had put no form on it that could be described as land or life.

and void - This is the general argument of the gap theorist, that void here means the planet had fallen into disrepair due to Satan's influence. I would give Satan no such credit in the creation process. The darkness existed as a result of God willing it so, not because Satan had been given any kind of authority or dominion over a host of earthbound angels. The void came from it's lack of living things, not a corrupting influence. I think trying to attribute corruption to a pre-human earth goes against God's proclamation that His creation was good. At this point in time, darkness was not an evil presence of rebellious angels...it was a substance, entirely existing because of and for God. Through it, the division of light and dark would come - the evil things naturally preferring the dark, and calling it their own when, in actuality, it was always God's and the fact that God is light is why demonic entities eventually had fellowship with the darkness where they thought they were well hidden from God's gaze.

and darkness was upon the face of the deep - It was dark by virtue of it's having no light spoken into it, it was an abyss - as Gill suggests - a mass of water and nothingness, which God used as a blank canvas to put forth "form" and "light", that is the human race in it's infancy.

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters - This is the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. All three were present at creation, and in this verse we find the Holy Spirit moving over the waters...brooding if you will...not unlike a mother hen over her nest. God does everything in an orderly manner, and nothing of God is done without the utmost care and love. I believe this is why we find God, merely moving upon the waters and later taking a full week to create, when all things could have been set in motion in verse 3 - in full completeness - without the need for a creation week. God's tender-kindness is so absolute, so perfect, that nothing God does is ever without purpose. If no meaning can be found to something, we can only conclude that the answer is to be found in Jesus Christ. This is evident in the meticulous nature with which God assembled creation, which we still cannot comprehend...which also makes John 1:5 echo resoundingly through our heads. Truthfully, we never will comprehend - nor are we meant to. Why did God brood over the unformed earth? It is for God to know, and it was with the purposeful care that God still shows us to this day.