The Week of Creation

Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-3

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Introduction: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” is the basis of all we are and all we believe. Since we came from God, He is the only source for the truth about ourselves and about the purpose of life. We came from God. In order to have eternal life and a reason for living, we must return to God.

I. THE TRINITY IN CREATION

A. The Father (v.1; Exodus 20:11)

B. The Spirit ((v.2; Job 26:13; Psalm 104:30)

C. The Son (v.3)

1. The Word of God – “And God said” (John 1:1-3; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16-17)

2. The Light of the World (John 1:7-9; 8:12)

D. Working Together (Genesis 1:26; 1Corinthians 8:6; see also Genesis 11:6-8; Isaiah 6:8)

II. THE DAYS OF CREATION

A. First Day (1:3-5)

1. The creation of light (v.3; Isaiah 45:7)

2. The division between light and darkness (v.4)

3. The naming of Day and Night (v.5)

B. Second Day (1:6-8)

1. The making of a firmament (v.6)

2. The division of the waters from the waters (v.7)

3. The naming of the firmament Heaven (v.8)

C. Third Day (1:9-13)

1. The gathering of the waters on earth (v.9)

2. The naming of the Earth and Seas (v.10)

3. The creation of vegetation (v.11-13)

a. Grass

b. Herbs

c. Trees

D. Fourth Day (1:14-19)

1. The need for lights in the firmament (v.14-15)

a. To divide day and night

b. For signs, seasons, days and years

2. The creation of the lights (v.16-19)

a. The greater light – the sun

b. The lesser light – the moon

c. The stars

E. Fifth Day (1:20-23)

1. The creation of fish and fowl (v.20-21)

2. The blessing to be fruitful (v.22-23)

F. Sixth Day (1:24-31)

1. The creation of land animals (v.24-25)

a. Cattle

b. Creeping things

c. Beasts of the earth

2. The creation of man (v.26-31)

a. Created in the image of God (v.26-27)

b. Blessed to be fruitful (v.28)

c. Given every green herb for meat (v.29-30)

d. Everything was very good (v.31)

G. Seventh Day (2:1-3)

1. Creation was finished (v.1)

2. God rested from His work (v.2)

3. God blessed the seventh day (v.3)

Conclusion: Just as God is the source of His creation, so creation can bring us back to God (Romans 1:20). What can we learn about God by looking at creation? What do we owe to God because He is our Creator?

COMMENTARY:

1:3 – We are told that “God said” exactly ten (10) times in Genesis One. These ten sayings of God might be called the first Ten Commandments. See if your students can find all ten of them.

1:3-4 – Light was created three days before the natural sources of light like the sun were created (v.14-16). God, of course, knows that light exists apart from its natural sources. He knows the way light dwells (Job 38:19) and understands the difference between the light and the sun (Psalm 74:16).

1:5 – Notice that when something is given a name in scripture, that name is initially capitalized. See “Day” and “Night”. What else is named in this chapter?

1:6-8 – Of the 17 times the word firmament is used in the Bible, over half (or 9) of the times are found in Genesis One. Firmament means an expanse or expansion of space. It refers to the heavens that include our atmosphere and outer space. (See also Psalm 19:1; Daniel 12:3.)

1:6-8 – The second day is a day of division. It divides God’s Heaven from Earth. It is the only one of the six days in which God never says or saw that it was good. Even today, the Jews consider Monday a bad day to plan a major event. Can you find the two different days when God saw that His creation was good two times on the same day?

1:11-12 – The key to life is that its “seed is in itself” and this makes it able to bring forth “after his kind.” How does this effect the laws of nature? What are some spiritual applications of this principle?

1:11 – Much of God’s creation is marked by the number three. This makes sense since God Himself is a trinity. There are three kinds of vegetation: grass, herbs and trees. There are three kinds of lights in the sky: the sun, the moon and the stars (v.16). There are three kinds of animals: fish, fowl and land animals. There are three kinds of land animals: cattle, creeping things and beasts (v.24). There are three basic colors and three states of matter (solid, liquid and gas). What other threes can you think of in creation?

1:14 – God tells us that our lights in the sky were given to determine signs and seasons. How many of our units of time are determined by heavenly events? What are some of the units of time that are manmade?

1:20 – The Bible teaches that there are three heavens. Paul calls God’s dwelling place the “third heaven” (2Corinthians 12:2). Amos speaks of God building “his stories in the heavens” (Amos 9:6). Perhaps this is the reason Noah’s ark had three stories (Genesis 6:16) and the tabernacle had three sections: the courtyard, the holy place and the holy of holies. Now, back to the three heavens. The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven where the birds fly and is called in our text the “open firmament of heaven.” The second heaven is the starry heaven that we call outer space and is called here the “firmament of the heaven” (v.14). The third heaven is where God dwells and here simply called “heaven” (v.1).

1:29-30 – Evidently, both man and animal initially ate only vegetation. Only after the flood did they begin to eat flesh (Genesis 9:2-3). Eating of vegetation only will happen again in the future kingdom (Isaiah 11:7). However, those who now teach that meat-eating is wrong are teaching false doctrine (1Timothy 4:3-5).

2:2-3 – God does not get tired or weary (Isaiah 40:28). Therefore, when the Bible says He rested, it does not mean He had to take a nap or any such thing. It simply means that He ceased from the work of creating that He had been doing for six days. To be in a state of rest means to not be working at the time. His work of creation was at rest.

MEMORY VERSES:

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