Creation: The Work of God

Posted 8/13/13 by Donald Barnhouse
Image previewCreation: The Work of God

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1)

There are many beginnings described in the Word.  This verse refers to the beginning of the material universe.  The gospel of John goes back much farther into the eternity when there was not yet a material creation.  A music teacher may tell a child to go back to the beginning, and it may be the beginning of a phrase, a measure, a page, a movement, a sonata.  God is the God of new beginnings.  There is no peace for the mind apart from the knowledge that back of all that is around us…the stars and sun, the earth and all that is in it… our own bodies there is the mind and will of God. When we know that He created all these things, we can know that He has an eternal  purpose - even though the universe is marked by the eroding signs of judgment upon sin, we can be sure that our God who began His work will also finish it.  “When I begin, I shall also make an end” (I Samuel 3:12).

If God does not move, there can be nothing but death.  The Hebrew word for “move” comes from a primitive root that means “to brood.”  It is beautifully translated elsewhere - the word that is translated “moved” in Genesis is “flutter” in Deuteronomy 32:11.  The heart may be an abyss of sin, but the Lord flutters over it, brooding with desire to have light penetrate it.

When we read, “And God said ...’, we have the going forth of the Word - Christ.  Count the number of times in this first chapter of the Bible in which we read that “God said...”  That is the Word in action, that is why we read, “All things were made by him [Christ] and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).  “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.... For he spoke, and it was done;
he commanded, and it stood fast (Psalm 33:6, 9).  God is sovereign, and the absolute efficacy and finality of the outgoing Word is sufficient evidence for this divine sovereignty.

So through His sovereign will and powerful Word, the Lord created.  It is this same will and Word that brings about the new creation in Christ.  Rejoice in this gracious work.

Further Reading: Job 39 gives a glimpse into the activity of God during creation.