Our Purposeful God the Father and Creator

Genesis 1:1-13

God the Father and Creator is a man of purpose who has a plan for all of His creation. He wasted no time in “beginning” (meaning of Genesis) His work – the creation of the world to accomplish His purpose of redeeming mankind. Remember, He is omniscient and knew man would fall from grace. He began His work, creating the heavens and the earth (v.1). The earth was dark, formless and empty, and “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (v.2). “The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, who exercises the power of the Father and the Son in the work of Creation and redemption” (Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary). How beautiful it is to know that the Spirit of God was actively involved in creation! He continues His divine work, speaking light into existence (v.3). Seeing that it was good, He separated the light, calling it Day, from the darkness, calling it Night (v.4). And there was evening and there was morning – hence, the first day (v.5).

God does all things in decency, in order, and certainly with purpose. Verses 6-8 make up God’s work of the second day: He spoke a firmament (a dome or canopy) He called Heaven in the midst of the waters to divide the waters from the waters (v.6). He divided the waters under the firmament from the waters above the firmament (v.7).

Verses 9-13 make up the third day of God’s creative work: the land, the sea, and vegetation. He spoke and it was so that the waters under the heaven were gathered together into one place. The dry land He called Earth; the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good (v.9-10). Then He spoke, commanding the earth to bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree. It was so, and God saw that it was good (v.11-12).

Throughout this act of creation, Almighty God purposefully and effectively demonstrated the power of His spoken word in Creation and initiated the move from chaos to order. In like manner He can speak with the same authority today and bring back order to this confused world.