The Generation of Light, Order, and the Fullness of Life through God’s Word

The Bible teaches that the universe has been created by an eternally existing, powerful God. According to the biblical account of creation in Gen 1, God created the world, but (surprisingly perhaps) he did so in stages.

The first stage of creation involved the creation of the basic content of the universe: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Resulting from this original act of creation, the earth came into existence, but its original state for a certain period of time was chaotic: “but the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep” (Gen 1:2).

The original chaotic state of the earth forces the reader to ask why. Specifically, why would God, when he created the world, initially create the earth to be formless and empty? Surely God with his infinite power could have created a world that was fully formed right from the very beginning. He could have created a world complete in every way in the blink of an eye. He could have, but he chose not to. Why then would a God of order create a world that existed in a state of some kind of disorder for a certain limited period of time? In addition, why would a God of light, the God in whom there is no darkness at all, create the earth only to cover it in darkness at least for an initial period of time?

An important clue to the answer to these questions can be found in the final clause in Gen 1:2 where we are told that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water.” The initial state of the the earth was formless, empty, and dark; but the chaotic mass was pregnant with the expectation of new life, because the Spirit of God was brooding over the water.

In effect, Genesis 1:2 gives the starting point for the subsequent six days of the ordering of creation. Over the six days of creation God would take the formless, empty, dark mass, and lighten, shape, and fill it. Genesis 1 involves, therefore, a movement from negative to positive, a movement from disorder, emptiness, and darkness (in v. 2), to light (v. 3), order (through God’s work of dividing and naming in vv. 4–10), and filling (vv. 11–31).

Therefore, on Day One, God speaks into the midst of the darkness, and creates light. God not only creates light, but he creates order through dividing and naming. He divides the light from the darkness, and calls the light day, and the darkness night.

On Day Two, God divides the water covering the earth into two layers, and the boundary between these two layers he calls heaven or sky. In doing this, God begins to give order to the original chaotic mass.

On Day Three, God makes dry land appear, and calls the water seas, and the dry land earth. God brings order to the original chaotic mass in order to make it habitable. Having created order and various spaces, God then sets about dealing with the problem of the emptiness of the original chaotic mass. And so on Day Three God also makes vegetation to begin to cover the land.

On Day Four, God continues his work of filling by filling the heavens with the sun, moon, and stars. These objects also have a role in giving light, and in ordering or dividing day from night, and in giving order to time. The sun and the moon are the timepieces in the sky that God has given us in order to be aware of, and to keep track of, time.

On Day Five, God continues the work of filling his canvas. He fills the space of sea with all sorts of fish and swimming creatures. And the great space, the expanse of sky, is filled with birds and other sorts of flying creatures.

On Day Six, God turns his attention to filling the space called earth, the land. He begins by creating all sorts of domesticable animals, creepy crawlies, and wild animals. But the pinnacle of the land creatures is humanity, male and female. And with human beings, God’s work of filling is effectively complete. That is not to say, however, that the world was full. In the beginning there were only two human beings. There was room for more filling to take place, but for all intents and purposes (apart from the human race) the world was full with all of the creatures that God had determined in his wisdom to make.

And then on Day Seven, God rested, not because he was tired, but because his work of creating was over. God started things off, creating the universe, and making Planet Earth fit for habitation. He started the work of filling the world, but handed over the rest of the work of filling the planet to the human race to achieve. The significance of God’s rest on the seventh day is that it is a promise to humanity. God has invited the human race to continue his work of building the kingdom of God on earth (Gen 1:28); and as we follow his pattern in taking the order and life-giving power of God’s word out into the whole world, so too when our work is complete, we will enter the liberation of an eternal rest, which involves enjoying the fruits of blessing in God’s kingdom forever more. God’s resting on the seventh day is therefore a promise of eventual perfection and of our enjoyment of that perfection after it has been achieved.

But how is humanity to build the kingdom of God on earth? The key to humanity’s work of building the kingdom of God on earth can be seen in the way in which God went about building the world in the first place. In particular, God brought light, order, and filling with life into the world through his word. The tenfold repetition of the expression ויאמר אלהים and God said (vv. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29) in Gen 1 deliberately emphasizes the important role of the divine word in reversing the “problem” of the formlessness, emptiness, and darkness of the original chaotic mass. Ten times God spoke … in order to bring light, order, and life into the world.

The Generation of the World through the Word of God

A key message of Gen 1, therefore, is simply that it is the word of God that brings light, order, and life into existence. God created the world in stages as a lesson for the human race in order to help us appreciate the way in which God’s word is the unifying structure of the universe and the key to life in the universe. Genesis 1 tells not only that God is the Creator of the cosmos, but that God the Creator is the God who acts through the power of his Spirit and word to transform darkness into light, chaos into order, and the absence of life into life. The rest of the story of the Bible is concerned to record the development of the kingdom of God on earth in tandem with the historical response of humanity to the word of God. Obedience to the word of God builds the kingdom of God, bringing light, order, and the fullness of life to the world; whereas disobedience to the word of God brings about a reversion to the default state of the world, the state of formlessness, emptiness, and darkness of the original chaotic mass.

The Theology of Genesis 1

Genesis 1 has been the primary biblical battleground in the contentious debate over views of creation and evolution among Christians for many decades now, but in all of this the important theology of Gen 1 has frequently been overlooked.

Genesis 1:1 talks about the initial creation of the cosmos by God, but it is interesting from the perspective of the original Hebrew that Gen 1:2 contains three disjunctive clauses. These disjunctive clauses add information that is circumstantial to the main action of the narrative, which skips from v. 1, over v. 2, to resume in v. 3. At the same time, however, there is an element of contrast implied in these clauses. The following translation seeks to bring out something of the sense of the disjunctive nature of these clauses:

(1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, (2) but the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, but the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water.

If the disjunctive nature of the first clause in Gen 1:2 is taken as conveying an element of contrast, then this is significant. It prompts us to ask the question: Why would God, when he created the world, initially create Planet Earth to be formless and empty? Surely God with his infinite power could have created a world that was fully formed right from the very beginning, but he chose not to; and the disjunctive clause at the beginning of Gen 1:2 is there to help us see how surprising this is. Why would a God of order create a world that existed in a state of disorder for a certain period of time? What is God trying to teach us?

A similar thing applies to the second clause in Gen 1:2. Like with the first clause in v. 2, the disjunctive nature of the second clause contrasts with the expectation of perfection that one might ordinarily have in relation to God’s creation of the cosmos in v. 1. God created the cosmos, but Planet Earth was covered in darkness. The disjunctive nature of the second clause in Gen 1:2 prompts us to see how surprising this is. Why would a God of light, the God in whom there is no darkness, create the earth only to cover it in darkness?

Formless, empty, covered in darkness; but the chaotic mass was pregnant with the expectation of new life, because the Spirit of God was brooding over the water. The disjunctive nature of the third clause in Gen 1:2 arguably signals contrast with the preceding two clauses just as much as it presents information that is circumstantial to the main action of the narrative. Things might look bleak, but the Spirit of God is always present offering the hope of new life:

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you (Ps 139:7–12).

In the midst of the chaos and darkness of the world, the Spirit of God is present; and “it is the Spirit who gives life” (John 6:63).

What we have in Gen 1 is a movement from disorder, emptiness, and darkness, to light (v. 3), and order (through dividing and naming in vv. 4–10), and filling (vv. 11–31). And significantly, how does God bring about this order and the fullness of life? And God said (vv. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29). Through the ten words of God, order and life is brought into the world. To the implied orthodox Hebrew reader, the message of Gen 1 at this point is crystal clear: it is the word of God that brings order and life. The whole of human society must be founded upon and directed by the word of God the Creator. To do otherwise is to revert back to the disorder, emptiness, and darkness of the original chaotic mass.

The theology of Gen 1 is not only that God is the Creator of the cosmos, but that he is the God who acts through the power of his Spirit and word to transform chaos into order, to transform the emptiness of non-life into the fullness of life, and darkness into light. The theology of Gen 1 is more than just the time frame of creation. In fact, the six day structure of Gen 1 should prompt us to ask why God took his time! Why take his time leisurely over six days rather than complete everything in the blink of an eye? Why start off with just one measly person, then two, in a small garden? Why not the whole earth full with ten billion people right from the start? Is such not possible for a God who created the cosmos ex nihilo? All of this signals that God has chosen to start off small, and to move progressively in time to bring about the full fruition of his purposes.

In sum, the six days of the ordering of the initial chaotic mass and filling it is a statement of the kind of God that God would prove to be. Even the very way in which God created the world was a dramatic proclamation concerning his intentions in history. This means that God actually had us in mind when he created the world! He deliberately created the world in the way that he did in order to teach us about himself and about his plan for the subsequent history of the world, and we miss the point of Gen 1 if we fail to see this. God created the world the way he did because he wants us to see that he is a God who moves in human history from small to big, from disorder to order, from darkness to light, from death to life. The theology of Gen 1 is a theology of the gradual growth of the kingdom of God on earth through the power of God’s word and Spirit. When we have understood this, then we have no reason ever to lose hope, no matter how dark the world around us may seem to be. The theology of the cross and resurrection has been foreshadowed from the very beginning.