Tag: Genesis 1

Sea of Terror

Posted on by jovial_cynic
To the ancient Hebrew mind, Genesis 1:21 does not describe peaceful waters filled with whales and fish.

It is filled with sea monsters, dragons, serpents, and wriggling swarming things.

It is a place of terror.

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:23

This isn’t just assumptions about history. The word “great sea creatures” is LITERALLY the Hebrew word for “dragons, sea monsters, serpents.”

Sad in the Beginning

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 1:2 begins with a profoundly sad state of things. It shows the world, but I think that for many of us who have “deconstructed” and felt broken off from heaven, we feel like the earth that’s shown in this verse.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:2 (NIV)

But God is there. And the next verse is blessed hope.

Evening and Morning

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Perhaps God instructed Israel start their day with the evening instead of the following morning because we must remember the proper order of things: it was dark first, but we remember that God brought the light.

God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning–the first day.

Genesis 1:5 (NIV)

Hope for the Hopeless

Posted on by jovial_cynic
A story of hope makes sense only to those who first know the story of hopelessness.

“I will fix this” is a message for those who know brokenness.

Light makes sense in the context of darkness.

But this is not the same as “first, know you are a sinner.”

Genesis 1, which sets up the proper order of things, doesn’t blame the creation for its own darkness, or the land for its barrenness.

It simply acknowledges that it is. And then God fixes it: Light and Life.

Joseph’s Dreams

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Have you ever noticed that Joseph’s two dreams of Genesis 37 point us back to the story of creation? They tell us to look back at Day 3 and Day 4 of the creation accounts. The creation account is not just the past. It is the present. It is the future. As it is with all of God’s words.

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning.
Genesis 1:11-13 (NIV)

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
Genesis 1:14

Theology Summarized

Posted on by jovial_cynic

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:1-3 (NIV)

Genesis 1:1-3 is the foundation of my entire theology: There is darkness, but God brings light into it and drives the darkness out of us. In as much as we are the light of the world, bearing His image, God drives out the darkness through us.

Kinds

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Of the plants and animals, God identifies them in this manner:

v11 “according to their kinds.”
v12: “according to their kinds,” twice.
v21: “according to their kinds,” twice.
v24: “according to their kinds,” twice.
v25: “according to their kinds,” three times.

But of us, His beloved and cherished creation, God identifies us this way:

v26: “IN OUR IMAGE, OUR LIKENESS.”
v27 “IN HIS IMAGE, THE IMAGE OF GOD.”