TITLE: IN THE BEGINNING…

TEXT: Genesis 1:1 - 2

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the water".

This was the condition of things before God said “Let there be light, (Genesis 1:3). From the two verses of Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth but somehow the earth was formless, empty and darkness covered every where. To fully understand and grasp the full meaning of the first two verses of Genesis 1 the key is the Hebrew verb translated “was” (the fourth word in verse 4). The best translation of the verb is “became” not “was”. This can be seen from the marginal reading of the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible which says the word can be rendered “became”. Let now read our text again substituting the verb “was” with “became” “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (2) Now the earth became formless and empty…” You can see the picture very vividly; God created a perfect earth and heavers, but the earth became foamless, empty and dark. The English word became is the past tense of become which is defined by the Oxford dictionary as (1) to come to be; (2) to grow to be or to begin to be. God never fashioned the earth to become without form, dark or empty. This truth is corroborated by Isaiah 45: 18 which reads; “For thus says the Lord who created the heaven, God Himself who formed the earth and made it, Who establish it and created it not worthless wastes; He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is no one else” (Amplified Bible). It is very clear that the earth became formless as a result of some action. No effect without a cause.
The narration in Genesis 1 is a story of re-creating of the earth. After creating of first earth, God entrusted Lucifer (which means light bearer) with the management of the earth to implement God purpose. The purpose was that of transforming the earth into a paradise, but Lucifer with the angelic host that was with him rebelled against God. This rebellion brought the emptiness, darkness and formless of Genesis 1:2.

The story of this rebellion though not told directly can be seen in the books of Ezekiel, Isaiah and Revelation. In Ezekiel 28:11 - 19 a prophecy was recorded about the king of Tyre. But the superficial study of that prophecy gets so complicated if it literally applied only to a human ruler. We are told in verse 13 of Ezekiel 28 that this being was in Eden, the garden of God. Verse 14 reads “You were the anointed cherub who covers,” New American Standard Version of the Bible (NAS). Verse 15 says that this being was blameless in his ways. There is no how this verse can be applied to the king of Tyre only. Now the king of Tyre was not in the Garden of Eden at any time, but Lucifer was there before Adam. Now God DID not CREATE a devil or Satan. He created Lucifer (light bearer) who by his own activities turned himself to the devil or Satan. Verse 15 said iniquity or wickedness was found in Lucifer. What then was this wickedness? The answer is found in Isaiah 14:12-17. Verses 12 and 13 reads thus “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nation! (13) For thou (Lucifer) hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north”. Lucifer refused to keep to the dominion God allotted him (i.e. his authority). See Jude 6. He wanted to be like God. This probably occurred after he had completed the beautification of earth, for verse 13 says that he said in his heat that ‘I will ascend into heaven’ (from earth). He wanted to be worship and revered like God. He wanted to be worship and revered like God. That was what brought his expulsion from heaven. Revelation 12:7-9. He wanted to exalt his throne above the stars of God and enthroned himself on mount of congregation. The stars in this context are not literal. God Almighty is enthroned upon the cherubs (cherubim). These are the four living creatures mentioned in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 Read the whole chapters.
Notice verse 22 - 25 of Ezekiel 1, God sits above the expanse; the expanse sits above the cherubim. For further study of this awesome throne read Ezekiel 10. This is the amazing throne that Lucifer wanted to ascend and sit. God expelled him from heaven, and he because of his corrupted knowledge, wisdom (those were perfect when he was created) and erroneous reasoning he wrought destruction on the earth. This occurs because he became a creature without fear of the creator. His wisdom became void of the fear of God his creator. This brought the darkness, emptiness and formlessness of Genesis 1:2.

From this condition (darkness, emptiness and formlessness, God begin to create the earth and the things on it again. First he created light. On the sixth day God created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden just like he did Lucifer. Man still cut himself from by choosing knowledge. Satan Possessed serpent, (who was not a reptile then) and through serpent transmitted his false reasoning to the woman and the woman in turn to the man. (Subsequently we shall take the account of the fall of man in a more detail way). God has to undertake the pain of re-creating because his purpose for earth must be achieved. God then created man by direct action. “(S)o God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him…” Genesis 1:27 (Amplified Bible), to execute God’s purposes on the earth or in other words to populate and subdue the earth in fear and knowledge of God. The earth population would have been offspring of man equip with God’s Spirit to bring God’s Purpose into being, (Isaiah 44:2 - 5). But before mankind could reach for the Tree of Life and receive God’s Spirit, Satan deceived them. Mankind now left God no choice but to expel them from Eden.

Mankind went out of Eden without the reverential fear of God, till he was at the brink of destroying himself and the earth. God then intervened, Genesis 6:5. The most High God decided to blot out the whole system that mankind had put in place. Only one man was found righteous on earth at that time, Noah. God used the flood to destroy the system only Noah and his household were saved. He then was given the privilege of repopulating the earth,
Genesis 9:1-7

The faith of Noah was not in his offspring. Ham’s grandson, Nimrod built the Tower of Babel which was a center of false religion, witchcraft and magic etc. in fact the Tower of Babel could be described as “melting pot” of that time. There were united because all the earth was monolingual: so it came to a point that besides having cultural, language, civil, economic, government and social unity they wanted a religious unity. So this tower be came the inspiration for those things, what we may call today a common heritage. They were building the tower using tar (bitumen) for mortar and bricks. Genesis 11:1-9. Every body was doing his part and there was total coordination of the work till God came down to inspect this great project of men, verse 5, 6 and 7.He confounded the language of the people. Mankind was scattered over the face of the whole earth.

What we have in the scene today is the evidence that mankind has refuse to learn from his history and God’s History- His Bible. He has still continued in his devices without regard to God’s laws, his commandments. The time we are living in is prophesied by the prophet Daniel. This is found in the twelfth chapter of Daniel which reads thus: “But thou O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book even to the time of the end, many shall run to and for, and KNOWLEDGE SHALL INCREASED, (verse 4). This knowledge is not a positive type but a one that shall bring “perilous time” in this last days as Christ made it clear in his prophecy record in the Mathew 24: 21 - 22, “For them there will be great tribulation -affliction, distress and oppression such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now; no, and never will be (again). 22 and if those days had not been shortened, no human being would endure and survive; but for the sake of the elect (God’s chosen ones) those days shortened” (Amplified Bible). This prophecy was made by Jesus Christ who was here on earth about 2000 years ago and about 2000 years after the flood of Genesis 7. He made clear to His disciples what the earth’s condition will be this end time the last days. Human self destruction was not possible or imminent few decades ago, but now. Today Human civilization is threatened by nuclear/biological and chemical weapons, diseases, famines, etc.

It is such that many people cannot see what goodness lays ahead for the earth and it people and the entire universe. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which, shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18. Jesus Christ will intervene to usher in a time of perfect peace and security, free of nuclear or biological/chemical weapons, Isaiah 2:1-5, 11:1 -10. Whether they like it or not “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The wicked shall be destroyed, but individuals who surrender to God’s principles-his way of salvation, laws and commandments will be saved from those sorrows, distress mentioned earlier and saved by Christ’s presence which will consumed the wicked as mentioned in the Holy Bible many times and in many passages, Luke 21:18, Daniel 12:1-2, Isaiah 26:20 -21.

Christ also counseled us who believe in him to “Be always on watch, and pray that you (who believe in Christ) may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may able to stand before the Son of man Luke 21:36 (NIV). If this is you prayer you can repent of you wrong doing (sins) and receive Jesus Christ as you Lord and savior and asked him to forgive you, and transform your life to conform to his principles. Because it is only in Christ, that you can have forgiveness and redemption. Ephesians 1:7-8