Days 1-3 of creation show God dividing and stretching out the world so that the things in Days 4-6 can be built. Can live. Can have their being.
God prepares.
Genesis 1:27 is declarative.
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27 (NIV)
Genesis 1 ends in the daylight. It ends VERY GOOD. It ends in flourishing.
Genesis tells us the beginning and the end.
If you look at Genesis 1, it’s clear that it really ends in the next chapter: Genesis 2:1-3. Go look!
Now if you read Genesis 50 (the last chapter of Genesis), it’s clear that it really ends in the next book: Exodus 1:1-7.
My theological takeaway?
The fulfillment of God’s promise may not happen in this lifetime. God told Abraham re: his descendants & the Promised Land, but it was a promise that wouldn’t be fulfilled until the book of Joshua.
God will make things right. Some now. Some later.
I think I have an answer. The focus isn’t the separation of the waters (chaos above, chaos below)… but about the “vault.”
Some bibles say “firmament,” and some say “vault,” but the image is this space created between the waters that separates the waters above from the waters below. And it’s inside this separation where God separates water from land. Inside this special place.
I often think about working against the curses of Genesis 3 & 4, and how we’re meant to shine as lights in the darkness. A part of our Christian prayer is “on earth, as it is in heaven.” And it’s a prayer to create a protected space in this life where God can be seen clearly…
This protected space is like a vault that holds back the waters of chaos & darkness. It’s space where water is gathered away from land, which represents humanity. And life flourishes on that land.
When we pray “on earth, as it is in heaven,” we’re praying for the firmament.
So why does God not say “it is good?”
Perhaps it’s because it isn’t good *yet.* It represents the good we MUST DO later, after the curse of sin. It WILL be good.
So does Genesis 1:1-3.
So does all of chapter 1.
So does the whole of Genesis.
The scriptures echo, and grows louder and clearer every time.
The book in the Bible that uses this word more than any other is Job. Job uses this word twenty three times.
He knows darkness.
But Genesis 1:2 introduces us to another word. The “ruah” of God. The “Spirit” of God. The “Breath of God” that hovers over the same dark waters.
In the darkness, God is there, too. There are no God-forsaken places. No God-forsaken people.
Let there be Light.
“Increase” is said three times. Still the fish and humans, but with this word, the birds are included. They can multiply, but not be “fruitful.”
Birds are problem in the text.
Why? I don’t know. It is a mystery.
There is only one way. Light.