CREATION—In the Beginning

Prologue

Many say that creationism is the antithesis of evolutionism; but the difference is much greater than a direct opposite! Just as years, decades, centuries, and millenniums have no place in a discussion of eternity, neither do the tenets of evolution have a place in the creation story! In a brief look at a college level textbook on evolution, two things in particular grasped my attention. First, the definition the book gave was, “evolution is a theory of the origin of life.” For more than one hundred and fifty years scientists have been trying without success to prove this faulted theory. So the evolution conversation is about theory—not the origin of life. Secondly, the text says, “evolution only occurs slowly and gradually.” Again, scientists still have not been able to find a chain of links to prove the evolution theory. The right inorganic chemicals and an eternity of time would not produce life! So if you wish to engage in a conversation about the origin of life, I have a creation essay for you. In the beginning, God created all creatures and all creation!

The Creation “Story”

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” GENESIS 1:1 That is a stand-alone scripture! It does not depend on additional scripture for understanding—neither is it a part of the “days” of creation; but rather it is all the “days” of creation. All creation is covered by this one statement! I am a believer in creationism and for me this first sentence in Genesis should be the beginning and ending of creation argumentation.

When God decided to create the heavens and the earth, he started with an “… earth [a place that] was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep…” GENESIS 1:2 Without form and void denote a nothingness. “… And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” GENESIS 1:2 There was nothing there except for darkness and waters! The waters covered all land.

  “‘And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.’” GENESIS 1:3 It is not amazing to me that the first creation was light! The light of God is the light that God first brought to this mass of water “…when anything is exposed to [his] light, it becomes visible.” EPHESIANS 5:13 “… And God separated the [created] light from the darkness.” GENESIS 1:4 This separation of light on this mass of water, at this time, is not the lights in the firmament of the heavens and caused by earth’s rotation. God does that on the fourth “day.” “And God saw that the light was good… God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” GENESIS 1:4-5

And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. GENESIS 1:6-8

On the second “day” God made an expanse in the midst of the waters to separate the waters from the waters. It is still all water; but now there is an expanse with no water. It has water above it and below it. God called this expanse Heaven. I find it very interesting that God took as much time creating this expanse as he did in creating livestock, creeping things, beasts, and man. This expanse is what we call our atmosphere. The ‘sphere’ part comes later. For now, it is an ‘expanse;’ but that will change on God’s really busy third day—the last day on infinite “time.”

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. GENESIS 1:9-13

On this third day the first thing that God did was to gather the waters under the heavens into one place. Then God again uses his key creation word “let” to create dry land. God called the dry land Earth and waters he called Seas. Land and seas are now in differing places. There is nothing in the creation narrative to tell us when earth became a ‘sphere’ or when God created gravity; but he did create those things too. After he saw that it was good, he created all vegetation on earth and locked the secrets of the seeds inside of itself so that then and forever after a seed produces “its kind.”

“…Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth…” GENESIS 1:11 It happened! “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind…” GENESIS 1:12 “Let the earth sprout” the first four words that God used to create vegetation has a connotation that I believe has some serious implications that creationists often overlook. For me, it means that God planted seeds, they sprouted and vegetation came forth. The next verse says, “plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed.”

That is referring to plants and trees that are mature and have produced fruit with seed. For trees this can take up to several years. We know that God can create from a seed to a sprout to tree in an instant. I do not know how long it took the first trees to mature; but I do know that the earth and creation until the fourth day was still on infinite time—God’s time. So the trees may have matured in the same time frame—from seed to mature tree—that God has determined for them today!   

Further, it is notable that there is now vegetation yielding seeds, trees bearing fruit in which there is seed. And especially noteworthy about the seeds is that “each [was] according to its kind.” This is something that should convince all evolutionists that all creation was intelligent and by design. And that most of all—since it is above the level of human abilities and intelligence to completely decipher the secrets God has hidden in a seed, then living creatures are also above man’s intelligence to understand. Man cannot create a seed in a laboratory. And the passage of a lot of time changes nothing about a seed! Neither does an inorganic chemical and an eternity of time produce a living organism.

While man has been able to alter the flora on this earth and produce ‘hybrids’ by grafting, and by changing environmental conditions. Through genome editing scientists can now change the DNA of a many organisms; but he has never been able to do anything that will allow him to plant an apple seed and get anything but an apple tree. While scientists have learned to produce hybrid seed and thus hybrid plants, the seeds from those hybrid plants may not properly germinate and if they do produce offspring, they are often sterile offspring! Man may think of himself and others as being intelligent; but those things that are truly intelligent and by design are forever locked. Man does not have a key or a clue!

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. GENESIS 1:14-19

“… Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens…” GENESIS 1:14 “And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.” GENESIS 1:16 Thus God created the sun and the moon and stars to give light to the earth. I believe that until this point in time God was the light on his creation and that the night referred to was gross darkness—absent of all light; but now he uses a greater light to rule by day and the lesser light for the night. There will be no more gross darkness on earth until he decides to use it as a plague!

“…And to separate the light from the darkness…” GENESIS 1:18 He creates rotation of the earth. It separates the two lights to create “days.” “…And let them [those days] be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.” GENESIS 1:14 He causes the earth to travel in an orbit around the sun to cause “seasons” and to be for “years.” God’s creation of Light, an expanse, [Heaven] land and seas, vegetation, and lights in the expanse of the heavens are now on God’s creation of solar time! Days and seasons—months and years are set—weeks come later—when God decides to rest on that last day! Six days of work—then the Sabbath—a week!

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. GENESIS 1:20-23

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” GENESIS 1:20 So God created all the creatures in the waters and all birds that fly above the earth. They did not ‘sprout’ or come from eggs! They were created as we know them. So the question that evolutionists struggle with—which came first, the chicken or the egg—has a simple answer—the chicken. Then he told them, “…Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” GENESIS 1:22 Most of these creatures lay eggs to reproduce the species. That creative thing happened in the command to be “fruitful and multiply!”

God has another really busy day planned for the sixth day, especially since he is now on solar time—or is he still on infinite time. God creates livestock, creeping things, beasts, and man on the last day of creation. Then he gives man dominion over all of his creation that is on the earth and in the seas.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. GENESIS 1:24-25

God finishes his creation except for man. Livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth according to their kind were created. GENESIS 1:24 And God saw that it was good. GENESIS 1:25 Everything that God created he saw as good!

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” GENESIS 1:26 Some creationist that defend the creation narrative in Genesis chapter one find God’s declarative to make man in “our” image as having great tension—discordance! If you accept that God is creator and that God does not need any help in creating, and I do accept those statements, then this statement could be a disconcerting statement! Some may even discount this statement; but to doubt Jesus’ part in the creation narrative is to doubt or limit his deity!

While all Christians accept the deity of Jesus Christ and his part in the redemption narrative, I also accept that Jesus Christ “… was in the beginning with God. [And that] All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” JOHN 1:2-3

There is scriptural witness to prove that Jesus Christ existed before the foundation of the world. And that he was there for the “days” of creation. He was there “…when he [God] drew a circle on the face of the deep.” PROVERBS 8:27 This sounds to me like He was there when God selected the place in the universe for His creation. He was there “before the beginning of the earth”—there “when he established the heavens”—there “before he made the earth”—there “when he assigned to the sea its limit”—Jesus Christ was there for the creation of the world!

The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. PROVERBS 8:22-31

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” GENESIS 1:26-27

I believe man was created with the physical image of Jesus Christ and a spiritual likeness of God; for “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” COLOSSIANS 1:15 And He was present at creation. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” COLOSSIANS 1:16 Now, “God is spirit… JOHN 4:24 …who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see…” I TIMOTHY 6:16 “He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” HEBREWS 1:3 So man was created in the physical image of Jesus and his spiritual “image” and “likeness” was the “imprint of his [God’s] nature.” The same imprint that was the nature of Jesus.

what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, PSALM 8:4-6

Man was “made him a little lower than the heavenly beings” and given “dominion over the works of your  [God’s] hands.” Man was the only creature that God “…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.” GENESIS 2:7 “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. GENESIS 2:8 “The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field…” GENESIS 2:20 Then God made Adam a helper fit for him. GENESIS 2:18 But she was not formed from the dust of the earth .

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. GENESIS 2:21-22

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. GENESIS 1:28-31

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. GENESIS 2:1-3

On the seventh day God finished his work. He rested on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. This began the cycle of the seven “days” week. Then after the exodus keeping the Sabbath day Holy was a commandment of God.

There is too much intelligence and too much design for creation to “just happen.” It is puzzling to me why so many accept the “theory of evolution.” First, man cannot duplicate any living organism or any seed in his elaborate laboratory. Secondly, when man “creates” an inanimate object, it does not just happen. No canvas left on an easel for long periods of time ever produced a work of art. And no pile of iron ore ever produced an automobile. It took the intelligence that God has allowed man to have to design and create both the work of art and the automobile. Living things, all animate life, certainly required a higher intelligence and design than those objects made by man. This paragraph is not a facetious work; rather I submit to you, the reader, that the explanations of the “theory of evolution” are factitious works of scientists.

The scripture used in this essay is from the ESV version unless otherwise noted!

Written by Mallard E. Guy Jr.

In Summer of 2024

Last edited September 16, 2024