Morning Light: Genesis 1 – In the Beginning – Reclaiming Your Personal Genesis

Today: In the Beginning – Reclaiming Your Personal Genesis. In Genesis 1, we see creation taking place as God’s Spirit moves upon the waters. Why didn’t God merely snap His fingers and form the universe? The answer to that question will impact your understanding of God’s dealings in your life.
[Gen 1:1-31 KJV] 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
In Genesis chapter 1, we see the seven days of God’s process. In God, there is process and outcome. As believers, we seek the Father and make our petitions known. Having prayed, we often expect immediate results or at least results that require nothing more of us. We want God to do it all. What we often fail to understand is that God is a God of process as well as outcome. Five times in the gospels when Jesus was dealing with the sick, he commanded them “take up your bed and walk…” This was a demand made BEFORE the healing, or miracle took place (see Matt. 9:6; Mark 2:9; Mark 2:11; John 5:8; John 5:11). Do you realize what this means? Before blind eyes were opened, or crippled limbs restored, Jesus made a demand upon those who looked to him for a miracle.
We don’t like demands being made upon us by God or by anyone else. We want God to show up with a big dollop of Holy Ghost whip cream, dropping it into our lives, and everything then gets better without much if any requirement on us. If that worked and worked consistently, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation – but it doesn’t. God does indeed promise us miraculous outcome and breakthrough – but He also requires that we cooperate with His process if we are to make it to our blessing place. Remember the words of Paul in Gal. 5:25:
[Gal 5:25 KJV] 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
To walk means to progress by steps. That indicates a process, and in studying how God created the earth, there is much to learn about His process so we CAN cooperate with Him.
In Genesis 1, we see the seven days of God’s process. You might be under pressure and cry out to God as the martyrs under the throne, “how long Oh, God?” The answer is always the same. Seven days. Seven days from chaos to creation. Seven days from God moving upon the face of your deep and bringing you into His Sabbath rest. In the seven days of God’s process, we see that God 1.) Moves upon the chaos and speaks; 2.) He then divides things above from things beneath, 3.) On the third day, seedtime and harvest are established. 4.) He then establishes order and rule; 5.) He then multiplies and brings fruitfulness, 6.) He then brings forth His image in us His own creation; 7.) and enters into rest.
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. 26 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
In verse 11, God establishes seedtime and harvest, a principle that influences far more than what merely shows up in the produce section of our local grocer. The law of sowing and reaping affects every area of our lives and relationships. It touches on the area of finances and reaches deeply into the themes of God’s judgment and the end of the age. In Galatians 6:7, Paul declares:
[Gal 6:7 KJV] 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Why didn’t God just snap His fingers and create the universe? The seven days of God’s creation of the earth were not necessary for Him to create but are necessary for us to understand something of His nature. God could have created with a word, and all the world and man would have sprung into existence. The third day in God, when seedtime is established echoes down through eternity speaking to us of the resurrection of Jesus Himself when He came out of the grave on the third day.
In verse 22, we see on the fifth day that God blesses creation saying be fruitful and multiply. This expresses the heart of God toward you. God’s plan for us is life and life more abundantly. Jesus declares in the gospel of John that there is no other agenda from heaven than God’s highest and best blessing for our lives not only in heaven after death, but right now in our everyday life:
[Jhn 10:10 KJV] 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
This blessing and multiplication begins on the 5th day, and 5 is the number of grace. God’s grace is about blessing and increase and multiplication and blessing. Blessing, multiplication, fullness, and fruitfulness were the environment God prepared to bring man into. God has given man dominion, and He wants man to walk in authority over a fully fruitful, blessed and multiplying environment of complete provision and blessing.
In verse 26, God determines in counsel with Himself to bring forth man in His image. He speaks in the plural “let us” because as God is three in one. Man also being in the image of God is also three in one. Man is spirit, soul, and body. This has been refuted doctrinally by many and rejected by various sects of Christianity, but the testimony of scripture is clear, is found in the words of St. Paul:
[1Th 5:23 KJV] 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus, man is created as male and female, even though they are not yet two distinct beings. Some Jewish sources maintain that man and woman were originally created attached back-to-back without the ability to have a face to face interaction. Whatever man was in his original state, he was not fully masculine and not fully feminine. He was one nature, one flesh, and one bone, as Adam declares after Eve is drawn out of him and presented to him from the Father as his companion.
Man, then is given dominion in verse 28 over all creation. Man was the original principality and power over all the earth. In Luke 4:6, Satan himself confirms that he only became the prince of the power of the air when these things were delivered to him. That word deliver means “surrendered.” God never surrendered anything to Satan, but Adam did. What was lost in the fall Jesus restores in His work of redemption.
[Eph 2:2 KJV] 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
The scripture does not record Satan becoming the prince of the power of the air by any legitimate means. Satan ascended only because of man’s sin. Adam and Eve were the original rulers of the earth, empowered by the word of God in Gen. 1:28 but they abdicated their place and allowed Satan to take it however impermanently until Jesus came to undo the folly of Eden by His act of obedience upon the cross. Thus what Adam perpetrated by disobedience in the garden of Eden, Jesus overthrew by obedience in the garden of Gethsemane.