How the world began


Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.


The Bible starts off by telling us what God did, but it does not first introduce Him to us by telling us where He came from. When reading through the Bible we do discover more about God. It tells us that He is an everlasting God, having no beginning nor end.

In the text we have just read, He refers to Himself as God. This is a word that means He is the only Being that is above all other beings. There is only one God.

He also often refers to Himself according to what He does and here we see Him creating everything, so we can call Him our Creator God.

He tells us that He created everything that is above us (the starry heavens) and that which is around and under us (the earth). This includes everything that we can see, hear, taste, smell and feel.

(He of course also created the unseen things like heaven where He Lives and spirit creatures like the angels.)

Then He describes what the earth was like when He started working on it. It was without a fixed form – one can say that it was like dough which a woman is forming to become a loaf of bread. It was also covered with water, enveloped in darkness and empty.

So, no plant or animal life could exist on it. But the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters for He had great plans for this earth.


Genesis 1:3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good. 11 God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so. 12The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” 21 God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. 25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.


The first thing which God created, was light so that all the other things He was going to make could be seen. He did not create the darkness for it was already there when He started working. He separated the light from darkness and let the darkness follow regularly after the light. In this way He created day and night.

Also note how He created everything in an intelligent way. His works followed logically on one another.

Next, he created an atmosphere so that His creatures would have air to breathe. The air caused the clouds to rise high above the earth so that his creatures would be able to see around them and would not be moving inside a cloud all the time.

Then he caused the surface of the earth to rise in some places and sink down elsewhere. This caused the water that was all over the earth to gather in the lower places, opening up vast continents of dry ground.

The earth was now ready for vegetation to grow on it and the Lord created grass, seed bearing plants (grain) and trees. Suddenly the earth was beginning to look like a huge beautiful garden, cultivated by a wise gardener. There were green plants and colourful flowers.

The days and nights would provide periods of activity and periods of rest for God’s animals, but He also wanted some of His plants to have periods for growth and fruit bearing and periods of rest, so he created the sun moon and stars. These assisted in providing light, but also created the four seasons we know today, namely summer, autumn, winter and spring.

At this stage the earth was ready to receive living beings and so, on the fifth day, God created multitudes of fish in the sea and birds in the sky.

Then, on the sixth day, He created all the other living creatures for now there was plant food for the multitude of animal species He had in mind. So, He then created everything from a mouse to an elephant.


Why does God give us all this information? Well He knows that we are not like the animals that are quite content if they have food, water and safety. They are not interested in knowing more about the world they live in.

But we are intelligent, inquisitive beings and want to know where we come from. That is something which only He can tell us for no-one else was present when He created everything including us, of which we will read in the next chapter.

What is also particularly important, is that we can get to know much about God by looking at the things He created.

We see His power and majesty in the waves of the sea, the power of the wind, the pouring rain, the enormous mountains and the size, heat and light of the sun and in the galaxies of stars.

We see His creativity in the multitude of trees, bushes, flowers, fish, animals, and birds that He created, one totally different from the other.

In the kinds of food He provided for every being He created, we see His love. He did not make and then leave them to die of hunger and thirst. Before He even created them, He made sure that they will not need anything.

So, when looking at His creation we must conclude that He is powerful, intelligent and loving.

We also must admit that every grain of sand, every drop of water, every plant, fish and animal belong to Him, for He created them all – He is the sole owner.

He found the earth without form, empty of life and in darkness and developed into something so incredibly beautiful.

He really is a great God.







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