Nuggets
- What was present was barren and lacked order and, therefore, could not sustain life.
- Darkness is more than just the absence of light.
- The Holy Spirit hung out over the deep, waiting for instructions.
In the last two devotions, we talked about God creating the heavens and earth in the beginning. We didn’t get to what creation looked like.
Well, that is because – at this point – it didn’t look like much.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Creating Everything theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the Celebrating Creation’s Story series
Before
“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters ...” (Gen. 1: 2 NLT)
Without Form and Void
What was present was barren and lacked order and, therefore, could not sustain life.
When we think of a void (sometimes translated as the deep), we think of a blank space. Boardman described this void as a nebula, a cloud of gas and dust. The gaseous state would compose a void.
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I lost track of how many sermons called this chaos. I get it. It didn’t have order.
The chaos itself could not create the order. Only God could do that.
The dark could mean that the nebula was in an inactive or unproductive state. But all that is assuming something is in the void.
I don’t think this means that Satan was already present here prior to God starting creation, but it might.
But if we hook the chaos with the darkness, I can see Satan there.
- “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6: 12 NLT).
- “to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me” (Ac. 26: 18 NLT).
- “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1: 13 NLT).
There is another way we know that Satan is chaos – because God isn’t. “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace …” (I Cor. 14: 33 NLT).
Verse 3 substantiates the belief that space did not exist. There was no structure.
Matter also did not exist because it was a void. That debunks materialism.
Boardman noted that there were 60 to 70 known elements used in creation. God created them because man cannot.
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God has the ability to create something out of nothing. He also has the ability to change things from something to something else.
But something was there. “… and darkness was covered the deep waters …” (Gen. 1: 3 NLT). Not only was something there, but it was also a huge expanse.
It is significant that the void was draped in darkness, which we’ll discuss in a minute.
Strong argued that nothing was not a substance out of which something could be made. On some days we disagree, but on other days, we want that to be the case.
What are opposing theories, according to Strong?
- Gnostics believe in dualism, that matter is self-existent, as is God. As nothing occurs without a cause, matter is under the Will of God. We dishonor God when we think anything is not under His control. Matter cannot be eternal, even though creation could occur without preexisting matter. However, we must be able to explain in our own theories of creation how that can occur. This allows for evil while bypassing the discussion of when the materials used came into existence. Because matter is evil, that limits God’s power and blessedness. Moral evil is not addressed.
- A second form of dualism identifies a good as well as an evil spirit. Matter, which also is self-existent, is merely the instrument of either intelligent being. We know, however, that Satan, as a former angel, was and will always be under God’s control.
- Another theory, emanation, has the heavens and earth evolving from God Himself. This is a belief because some think God and the universe are the same substance. But God is immutable. He does not change and evolve.
- Some feel God created the heavens and earth in eternity past. But isn’t that contradictory? How can something be created if it existed forever in the eternal past?
- Along the same vein, some feel the heavens and the earth should have been eternal since God doesn’t change. But God didn’t change because of creation. Our changes do not affect God in any way, shape, or form.
- Spontaneous generation is another theory. To me, this sounds like evolution. It says the process of creation is still occurring.
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Some may question why God created a broken, sinful world. The answer is easy.
He didn’t. God made a perfect universe.
Humankind is the one who let in sin. We’ll get to that in Genesis 3.
Strong disagreed. He thought creation was imperfect all along. He argued that a perfect world could not be created with God knowing we would sin.
How could Strong even think that? That would mean that God created sin.
Of course, God didn’t create sin, right? That would be against His nature.
What God gave us was free will. He allowed us to choose whether we would obey Him or not.
Adam and Eve chose the not.
God created everything pure — good. “Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!” (Gen. 1: 31 NLT).
But we’ll get back to whether or not God created sin.
Darkness
Darkness is more than just the absence of light.
Verses 2 and 3 have always confused me. If the sun wasn’t created until Day 4, how could there be light on Day 1?
But then the darkness was there from in the beginning, wasn’t it? “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters …” (Gen. 1: 2 NLT).
Let’s take a totally different look at this. We need to go back to the Hebrew words.
Take a look at this verse in the Orthodox Jewish Bible. “And Elohim saw the light, that it was tov (good); and Elohim divided the ohr (light) from the choshech (darkness)” (Gen. 1: 3 OJB).
Being more than just the absence of light, darkness (the Hebrew word chosek) is equated to sin. Doesn’t that make Verse 3 indicate that sin is the darkness in the void?
That may indicate that Satan has already fallen from Heaven. He would have been already cast out of Heaven to be ready to tempt Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.
• “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world” (Isa. 14: 12 NLT).
• “‘Yes,’ he told them, ‘I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!’” (Lk. 10: 18 NLT).
• “This great dragon — the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world — was thrown down to the earth with all his angels” (Rev. 12: 9 NLT).
• “For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment” (II Pet. 2: 4 NLT).
God looked at this darkness and determined He was going to do something about it. He was going to transform the shapeless, dark void into a lovely world.
That may explain at what Isaiah said. “I [God] form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7 KJV).
Ooo, baby! God created sin?????
Yep, what is Newton’s Third Law of Motion? For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. (Remember, physical laws were not applicable until creation was completed.)
But back to what we said before. God is pure. He is not a dictator. Instead, He allows us free will.
In other words, God created the opportunity to sin when He allowed a choice. Satan was the first we know of to choose to sin against God.
Matthews helped us understand. He wrote,
“You have seen, then, an exact representation of the fallen state of man, and what the Word and Spirit of God, and these only, can do for him. The whole soul and body of man without these is without form, and void: his heart is a misshapen, hideous, and disordered mass of empty, unprofitable, and good-for-nothing matter; and, when the Holy Spirit of God enters it, He finds it lifeless, dark, and barren, and, like the unrestrained and troubled waters, all ruinous and in wild disorder, as in chaos.”
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- Sin is referred to as the fallen state of man because humankind has fallen short of the laws and commandments God has designed.
- Only through faith in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, through the instruction of the Holy Spirit, can we approach God to be forgiven of our sins.
- We remain condemned if we do not ABCD.
Satan did not accept that goodness. He accepted the opposite and equal reaction – sin.
Waiting
“... And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Gen. 1: 2 NLT)
The Holy Spirit hung out over the deep, waiting for instructions.
God didn’t want to create anything and put it into that barren wasteland that was there when He began creating. He is more gracious than that.
Think about it. God knew He was going to create humankind – and He knew we would disobey Him. Yet, the creation that He made was to be perfect, so He needed a perfect place for it to inhabit.
So, God had the Holy Spirit waiting to carry out His instructions.
The King James Version translated hovered as moved. The Holy Spirit didn’t go from Point A to Point B and back with a tour through Point C as the scenic route.
The Holy Spirit was probably at parade rest, not marching.
When the orders came, did the Holy Spirit create the universe? Job’s friend Elihu thought that as did the Psalmist. “For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33: 4 NLT).
I don’t think the Holy Spirit did it on His own.
God Himself was in charge of creating the universe. The Holy Spirit may have done the work after God raised His arm and spoke.
But it was God’s instructions, not the Spirit’s own.
What the Holy Spirit brought through God’s direction was order to the chaos.
What that tells me is that God not only created the heavens and earth and everything that is in them, He also created the conditions in which they could be created.
We generally think of the Holy Spirit performing tasks that culminate in our salvation and sanctification. That He does.
But the work the Holy Spirit performed in the formless void mirrors what He does in our hearts. Davies explained it this way. He wrote, “And it is only when the Spirit of God begins to move upon the stagnant waters of [our] cold and damp indifference, that light breaks in upon [our] mind[s].”
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The Holy Spirit regenerates us through purification at the time of our conversion.
It is logical that light be the first thing created. But what kind of light – illumination or the absence of darkness?
Making the Connections
Ooo, baby. A dark void is a very good description of the state we are in when we haven’t confessed Jesus as Savior and Redeemer.
- “So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth” (I Jn. 1: 6 NLT).
- “But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness” (I Jn. 2: 11 NLT).
- “Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him” (Eph. 4: 18 NLT).
- “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused” (Rom. 1: 21 NLT).
- “But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core” (Ps. 82: 5 NLT).
- “Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt. 25: 30 NLT).
- “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light” (Eph. 5: 8 NLT).
- “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (I Pet. 2: 9 NLT).
- “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” (Col.1: 13 NLT).
- “The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy” (Rom. 13: 12-13 NLT).
But even after we are converted, we still struggle with the darkness. The Biblical Illustrator put it this way. In An Emblem of Unrenewed Man, it was written, “This is but a faint image of the turmoil, struggle, and strife that go on continually in the heart of a man who is under the dominion of ‘lusts and passions that war against the soul.’”
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We can’t ignore the darkness within us. Working out our salvation is the process through which God cuts out that darkness from within us.
How Do We Apply This?
- Use the material universe to discipline ourselves to grow spiritually.
- Don’t think God can do nothing with our void and dark character.
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Father God. Whether You created sin itself or just created the opportunity to sin by giving us free will, forgive us, Lord, for disobeying You. Flood us with Your Light and remove the darkness. Amen.
What do you think?
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