Brief Thoughts On Genesis 1
1. "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (1:2) — The contrast in verse two is that of life and death, order and confusion. Without the God of Life and order, and without the Spirit of Life that fills every corner of the universe, gives life and animation, and governs and directs the universe, there will be death, desolation, confusion, and inertia. God can give spiritual life to one and mould his life in service to Him just as He gave life to the physical world and moulded it from a desolated condition if we first yield ourselves to God and His word and lifegiving influence and power.
2. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (1:3) — Whenever God speaks, things will begin to happen and take shape in reality in fulfillment of His decrees and laws. Faith in His word in our lives can accomplish great things in us if we believe and obey the word of God and cast away fears and doubts. Faith and positive and confident thinking will accomplish good things in our lives, but the opposite will bring evil things. What is in the mind will eventually become real in life in some way and in due time via the attracting of the things and situations pictured clearly, strongly, and frequently. This should cause us to control our thinking so as to control our behavior and life, and to choose wisely our thoughts by avoiding bad thoughts that harm us and thinking on good thoughts that benefit us.
3. "Let there be light" — God is also the source of light as well as life, both physical and spiritual light. Light is designed to produce illumination, guidance, and awareness of where one is, what he is doing, and where he is going and has been, and of dangers and pitfalls. This is particularly true in one's life. We should be thankful for the light of the word of God to guide us and illuminate our paths.
4. "And God saw the light that it was good" (1:4a) — Everything that God does is for the good and benefit of His creatures. He does not make mistakes via the blind "trial-error" method, not knowing if this or that is good or bad for the creature. On the contrary, He unerringly creates things and provides all that is good and beneficial for His creatures in that He has all knowledge, power, and wisdom and has infinite goodness and love. God can do this for us and our lives just as He did when He created the earth if we but yield to Him.
5. "And God divided the light from the darkness" (1:4b) — Light and darkness are two different and opposite things, and should always be separated from each other. Darkness is the absence of light, and this separation can only be accomplished when light enters and shines in darkness. The Christian is to be a light of the world that is in the darkness of sin, and should always separate from the darkness of sin so as to effectively shine and illuminate and guide others.
6. "After his kind" (1:11, 12, 21, 24, and 25) — Like always produces or begets like, and what is sown will be eventually reaped. Apple seeds always produces apples via the precise laws of God. The gospel of Christ will always produce Christians via the precise spiritual laws of God. Any violation of this law will produce freaks and unnatural things. Therefore, let us not mix our human ideas with the word of God because that would produce something other than what God had in mind.
7. "Be fruitful, and multiply" (1:22 and 28) — Tt is the will of God that His creatures grow, develop, and become fruitful. There are unlimited potentialities for growth and development in all of us lust as in the simplest animal. This is particularly time in spiritual things and in being a Christian wherein God wants a Christian to become fruitful in service to Him.
8. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (1:26a) — Man is in the image or likeness of God, not in his physical characteristics, but in his spiritual characteristics. This includes the moral, mental and spiritual parts of Man; and the powers to choose reason, know, feel, and act. But this also includes responsibility for what one thinks, says and does because of this freedom to choose courses of actions. This logically makes teaching and revelation, the giving of laws and a judgment day possible, reasonable, and essential. This elevates and separates man above and from the animals guided by blind instincts, and gives Him the chance to choose whether to obey or disobey God, with the accompanying responsibility for one's choices. This should cause one to choose wisely his thoughts, words, and deeds in view of the judgment, goodness, and wrath of God.
9. "Let them have dominion' — Man was given the right and the duty to study and control the forces of Nature so as to benefit himself and create civilizations and places fit to live in. The greatest thing, however, a person can and should control is himself: his thoughts, words and deeds. If this is done, there will be more constructive developments in his life, the lives of others, and the world in general. The author trusts and hopes that these brief thoughts have helped the reader in his own meditations and study of the word of God so as to be a better person able to serve God better and acceptably in increased faith and obedience.