# 24 2022 Dev. Genesis 1:1. The Beginning! Read chapter one first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”
A little history. We have finished the new Testament and are close to finishing the Psalms. Week by week it has taken five years. You many see all of our post at heavenhigh.org. We hope and pray these devotionals are and continue to be a blessing,
Intro: Today we begin at the beginning. A lot can be unpacked from the first sentence of scripture, perhaps a whole book. But we will give only a short introduction: whatever people perceive the scriptures to be it is first and foremost an account of God’s relationship with His people. That first sentence also confronts us with decisions: will we accept this as the Word of God? Will we accept God’s Word by a function of our faith? The world, of course, accepts non of this and even many theological commentators do not accept the first eleven chapters as historical, not to mention the evolution issue. Today, even the most secular scientist admits creation has intelligent design, of course it has, followers of Jesus know that. The first three chapters of Genesis corresponds with the last three chapters of Revelation.
Day one, “darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters”. The Spirit, the Breath of God, is the the source of all life on earth. ‘’’And God said let there be light,’ and there was light.” What kind of light? God does not need the sun or moon, “there will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light (Rev. 22:5).” And God saw that the light was good.
Day two, “God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from the water… God called the vault ‘sky’. And there was evening, and morning- the second day.”
Day three, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear… then God said. ‘Let the land produce vegetation:’ and the land produced, plants, trees and fruit. “And God saw that it was good.”
Day four, “God said, ‘let there be light in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night,” and so it was, “God made two great lights-the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night…and God saw that it was good”
Day five, “God said, ‘let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky…God blessed them and said, ‘be fruitful and increase on the earth.” God’s intention is to have abundance on the earth, forests, grass lands, birds and fish in the sea, a world of plenty for His people.
Day six, “God said. ‘let the land produce living creatures according to their kind: livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And so it was so. “God said, ‘let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish… birds, over the livestock and all the wild animals…’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” We see God’s glory in His creation, and we share in that glory by the blessing to increase and fill the earth. That is only possible in the family unit that God has created, male and female, God blesses procreation as He does through out His creation. Any other relationship is on the wrong side of God’s created order.
“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” God is good all of the time. Since the fall, not all is good, but in Christ God’s goodness to mankind is restored, He has restored good in the followers of Jesus. Thanks be to God!
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