Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

The Beginning vs. the End

I love the comparison between the end and the beginning of all things. J. Sidlow Baxter in his “Explore the Book” wrote, “A comparison of Genesis to Revelation proves that this book is a completed revelation of God to man. They complement each other.”

Additionally, he wrote, “In both, we have a new beginning and a new order. In both, we have the tree of life, the river, the bride, the walk of God with man; and in both paradises we have the same moral and spiritual ideals… Mark the contrasts between the one book and the other. In Genesis, we see the first paradise closed (3:23). In Revelation we see the new paradise opened (21:5). In Genesis, we see dispossession through human sin (3:24). In Revelation we see repossession through divine grace (21:24). In Genesis we see the curse imposed (3:17). In Revelation we see the curse removed (22:3). In Genesis, we see access to the tree of life disinherited, in Adam (3:24). In Revelation we see access to the tree of life re-inherited, in Christ (22:14). In Genesis we see the beginning of sorrow and death (3:16-19). In Revelation we read, ‘there shall be no more death, neither sorrow’ (21:4). In Genesis, we are shown a garden into which defilement entered (3:6-7). In Revelation, we are shown a city of which it is written, ‘There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth’ (21:7). In Genesis, we see man’s dominion broken, in the fall of the first man, Adam (3:19). In Revelation, we see man’s dominion restored, in the rule of the new man, Christ (22:5). In Genesis, we see the evil triumph of the serpent (3:13). In Revelation we see the ultimate triumph of the Lamb (20:10, 22:3). In Genesis, we see the walk of God with man interrupted (3:8-10). In Revelation, we see the walk of God with man resumed, and a great voice says from Heaven ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He dwell with them….’ (21:3).”

Plus, I have to share this, too. He wrote, “Note the complements of the one book in the other. The Garden in Genesis gives place to the city in the apocalypse, and the one man has become the race. In Genesis we see human sin in its beginnings; in the apocalypse we see it in its full and final developments, in the Harlot, the False Prophet, the Beast, and the Dragon. In Genesis, we see sin causing physical death on earth; in the apocalypse, we see sin [bringing about the consequence of a spiritual ‘second death’ in a Lake of Fire]. In Genesis, we have the sentence passed on Satan; in the apocalypse, we have the sentence executed. In Genesis, we are given the first promise of a coming Savior and salvation; in the apocalypse, we see that promise in its final and glorious fulfillment. Genesis causes anticipation. The apocalypse effects realization. Genesis is the foundation stone of the Bible. The apocalypse is the capstone.”

Genesis 1:1 Exegesis

You cannot help but be moved in your soul, when you sit down, open your Bible and experience for yourself the power and the majesty of Genesis 1:1. Just you alone with the Word and the Word working in your when come across something so powerful in its simplicity like the words of Gen. 1:1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

What I love about this verse is that it’s not an appeal to have faith, but it’s a declaration of truth, the glorious revelation of God Himself to you, which affirms His existence, which we all know instinctively. God isn’t telling you something you didn’t know, but He affirms the truth that you always suspected. Man didn’t come from nothing. Order does not spring from chaos. We always knew instinctively In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and so God put into words that which you already knew to be true through reason.

There is out in the world men coming up with these convoluted theories on how we came into existence, and all that noise is contrasted so beautifully with the powerful simplicity of the truth: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Many commentaries, like Baxter, make the point that this is not only a declaration of Divine truth but also a repudiation of human error. To quote Baxter, “In the beginning God – denies Atheism with its doctrine of no God. In the beginning God – denies Polytheism with its doctrine of many gods. In the beginning God created – denies Fatalism with its doctrine of chance. In the beginning God created – denies Evolution with its doctrine of infinite progression. God created the heaven and the earth – denies Pantheism which makes God and the universe identical. God created the heaven and the earth – denies Materialism which asserts the eternity of matter.”

One might also try to make the case that In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth refutes most of Christianity in the sense that we now have the completed revelation, we can look back on this verse and see a two-fold purpose of God, a purpose on the Earth with Israel and a purpose in Heaven with the church today, the Body of Christ. So we have even in Gen. 1:1 a repudiation of this notion that everything in the Bible is to us and about us.

Charles Henry Macintosh wrote, “’In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.’ The first sentence in the divine canon sets us in the presence of Him who is the infinite source of all true blessedness. There is no elaborate argument in proof of the existence of God. The Holy Ghost could not enter upon anything of the kind. God reveals Himself. He makes Himself known by His works. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.’ ‘All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord.’ ‘Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty.’ None but an infidel or an atheist would seek an argument in proof of the Being of One who, by the word of His mouth, called worlds into existence, and declared Himself the All wise, the Almighty, and the everlasting God. Who but ‘God’ could ‘create’ anything. ‘Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.’ (Isa. 40: 26) ‘The gods of the heathen are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.’ In the Book of Job 38-41 we have an appeal of the very grandest description, on the part of Jehovah Himself, to the work of creation, as an unanswerable argument in proof of His infinite superiority; and this appeal, while it sets before the understanding the most vivid and convincing demonstration of God’s omnipotence, touches the heart, also, by its amazing condescension. The majesty and the love, the power and the tenderness, are all divine.”

Conclusion

When you arrive at vs. 4 in Genesis 1, Moses writes, “And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.” Here we have the two great symbols so largely employed throughout the Word – light and darkness. The presence of light, which makes the day, in contrast to the absence of light, which makes the night. The same is true for our souls. On the podcasts, we often point out 1 Cor. 15:22 and the fact that we are either in Adam or in Christ.

One can also say that we are either “the sons of light” or “the sons of darkness.”

Yet, all who have believed, all who have come to God in faith, have been effectually visited by “the dayspring from on high” — all who believed have received the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ — all who believed, whoever and wherever they may be, belong to “the sons of light, and the sons of the day.”

On the other hand, all those who are still trapped within the world’s darkness, which is directed by the prince of darkness— all those souls who have not yet received into their hearts, by faith, the offer of salvation made possible by the Sun of righteousness, if you haven’t embraced His light, you are still in darkness and blindness being cut off from His light. You are still part of “the sons of darkness,” “the sons of the night.”

I beg you to embrace the free gift of salvation made possible today by placing your faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as a complete atonement for all of your sins. If you will do that, if you will trust in what He accomplished for you at Calvary, you will become forever a son of light, a member of God’s family, a member of the Body of Christ.

Charles Henry Macintosh wrote, “You may be poor, despised, unlettered; but if, through grace, there is a link connecting you with the Son of God, ‘the light of the world,’ then you are, in very deed, a son of the day, and destined, ere long, to shine in that celestial sphere, that region of glory, of which “the slain Lamb’ will be the central sun, forever.”