IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED

Victor M. Eskew

 

            Almost everyone is familiar with the words that title this article.  Most could finish the verse as well.  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).  This verse is the foundational verse of the entire sixty-six books of the Bible.  If this verse is not true, then nothing that follows can be trusted.  This is why Satan has attacked it with all of the forces he can muster.  It has been several thousand years since these words were penned, and they live on.  If the world continues another million years, these words will stand.  They are truth.  Neither Satan, nor man, can alter the truth they contain.  In this article, let’s focus on three words found in our title.

            First, let’s look at the word “beginning.”  Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote:  “In the beginning.”  God affirms that everything that exists in heaven and on earth had a beginning.  Did you know that science did not always make this affirmation.  Since 1927, the scientific community has settled on the “Big Bang Theory.”  Prior to this many taught what is know as the “Steady State Theory.”  This theory states that the Universe is eternal.  It proclaims “the density of matter in the expanding universe remains unchanged due to a continuous creation of matter”(Wikipedia. “Steady State Theory”).  In 1922, a Russian mathematician named Alexander Friedmann proposed a theory.  It said that the universe is expanding.  In 1927, Georges Lemaitre noted that an expanding universe could be traced back in time to an originating single point.  Since those concepts were introduced to the scientific community, most have affirmed the Big Bang Theory.  It states that about 13.8 billion years ago there was an explosion of singularity that has now evolved into the present state of affairs in the universe as we know them.  The Bible has taught that the universe had a beginning long before science came to a consensus on the matter.  God was there.  He was responsible for the beginning.

            Second, let’s consider the word “God.”  “In the beginning God.”  In order for something to exist, something had to have always existed.  Something had to be the “uncaused first cause” of all that exists.  Science refers to this as “a singularity.”  This singularity is a ball of mass that had the possibility of becoming infinite.  That mass exploded, science tells us, and over 13.8 billion years became what we know today as the universe.  When we ask the question:  “Where did this mass come from?”  there is no answer to that question.  This is why it is referred to as the “uncaused” first cause.  Scripture rejects the idea of a singularity.  Instead it accepts the idea of an individual, a divine being called “God” as the cause of all things.  Science asks:  “Where did God come from?”  We answer as they do:  “He has always existed.”  He is the “uncaused” first cause. 

            Science has an uncaused first cause, a singularity.  Bible believers have an uncaused first cause, God.  The question now is:  “Which belief is more plausible?”  Bible believers affirm that God is a more plausible explanation.  Life exists.  Order exists.  Design exists.  Emotions exist.  Consciousness exists.  The conscience exists.  Where did all of these things originate?  Did they come from lifeless matter?  Or, did they come from a God who is living and intelligent?  Many in the scientific community believe they came from a singularity.  As of this date, however, man has not been able to bring forth life, consciousness, emotions, or conscience from non-life.  However, science would rather stick to their theory than believe in God.  They know that if God exists, then there is a being who is superior to man with whom they have to do.  They do not want to deal with God.

            Third, let’s consider the word “created.”  “In the beginning God created.”  The word created manifests the marvelous power of God.  The fact that He brought into existence all things from absolute nothing manifests His deity.  God created.  How?  He merely spoke and things were brought into existence.  “And God said, Let there be light:  and there was light” (Gen. 1:3).  The psalmist wrote about God’s creative power in Psalm 33.  “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth”(v. 6).  In verse 9, he writes:  “For he spake and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”  The scientific explanation of the existence of all things is evolution.  Evolution teaches descent through modification.  All of the earth is related.  Whatever composed the singularity changed, evolved, adapted, mutated, gave rise to life, and over billions and billions of years formed the heavens and the earth and all that them is.  This used to be rightly taught as a theory.  Now it is taught as scientific fact.  The fact is that science has rejected facts and embraced their religion, evolution.

 

            “In the beginning God created.”  As we look into our world and see the design, the beauty, the order, the power, and the vastness, the words of Genesis 1:1 ring true.  There is a being known as God who brought all of this into existence.  He created man with the ability to see it, comprehend it, study it, and appreciate it.  We are literally “wowed” with all that God has done.  From the depths of the oceans to the farthest stars in the sky, we are convinced that “in the beginning God created.”  From the beauty of a rose to the preciousness of a newborn child, we are convinced that “in the beginning God created.”  From a sunrise in the morning to the body’s ability to heal itself, we are convinced that “in the beginning God created.”  Yes, dear reader, “in the beginning God created!