Bible Study - Genesis 1:1,2

Genesis 1:1, 2 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”

 

This shows the creation and the power of the Almighty God. Before all these were made, there was the word of God. John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made”. This word is Jesus Christ. John 1:14 – “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”.

God created the heavens and the earth. Heavens is plural. That means it is not only one heaven, you can expect different types of heaven. In the book of Psalm 102:25 it says, “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands”. There are people who have asked me whether there is only one heaven or not? That time I started thinking about it and then when I read Genesis 1:1, I wanted to explore more, since each and every word in the Bible has meaning. So according to studies from sources and the verses, there are 3 heavens. 

God is in the 3^rd heaven, since in 1^st and 2^nd heaven described in the Bible, you can’t find God. Of course the Spirit of God is there everywhere. God is seated in the Heaven and we can find it in Psalm 2:4 “The one enthroned in heaven laughs”. Now in which heaven God is seated? Definitely he will be seated at the highest one. 1 Kings 8:27 say, “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven cannot contain you”. This heaven is termed as “Paradise” where Paul was taken according to 2 Corinthians 12: 2 – “I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the 3^rd heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know – God knows”.

The 2^nd heaven is referred to the outer space. It is where the sun, moon and the stars reside. The Bible mentions about this in Mathew 24: 29, Deuteronomy 17: 3 and Jeremiah 8: 2 are some. “They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshipped”. God created all the objects in this heaven. Scientists are exploring new objects in this heaven every day. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” – Psalm 19:1. Just a word of God, still now heavenly objects are being created. How powerful is God’s word? Same God loves you and me.

The 1^st heaven is the atmosphere around the earth, which is the immediate sky. In Genesis 1:14 (KJV) it says, “And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs; and for seasons, and for days, and years”. It consists of the clouds and the atmosphere, until we come to the stars. In describing the rain that brought the flood on Noah’s time in Genesis 7:11, it says, “On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened”. Again it is mentioned to confirm the 1^st heaven in Genesis 7:19 – “They (water) rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered”.

There is the worldly finding from NASA as the world came from a “Big Bang”. According the Bible teachers, yes it has come a billion years ago. It was created by the word of God. That word of God is the Big Bang. The proof is, the bible mentions about how the world ends. The world’s end is mentioned in Revelation 16: 17-21 “The 7^th angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, it’s done. Then there came flashes of lightning, rumbling, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into 3 parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every Island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people.” If God can end the world with a Bang, he is the one who made the world with a Bang. According to the NASA findings, the age of the world is more than millions of years. Bible scholars have found out through the scriptures that, yes the world was formed millions of years. Even the earth was formed millions of years back. Then what was the earth for? You can find in the next verse – Genesis 1:2.

2^nd verse explains about darkness covering the earth. Scholars teaches us that this was the time when Lucifer, the Satan rebelled against God and was thrown out of the heaven. They further teach us that initially Earth was made to put Satan inside it. Earth was made for the fallen Angel. “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee” – Ezekiel 28: 18. That is the reason why Satan told Jesus to bow before him to get everything as it is his property. “The devil took him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. All this I give you he said, if you will bow down and worship me” – Mathew 4: 8, 9. 

Just the first 2 verse of Bible contains an encyclopaedia of things to study. This proves how great our God is. This great powerful God, left his glory, came to the Earth and became as an ultimate sacrifice for our sin to make us free. How do you respond to it? Would you say yes to Lord?

Prayer

Loving Heavenly Father, Lord you created the heavens and the earth by a word. You are the creator of everything. Thank you Lord for blessing me with the salvation and forgiving my sins. Thank you for dying for me on the cross, leaving your Heavenly greatness. Please cast out all the diseases and curses from me and my family and help me to be your vessel to bring your Kingdom on this earth. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Keep Quiet

You can see around the world some people who do not stop talking. They talk about any topics and anything and are good in their social skills. They attract people towards them. So for them, it will be like inside a jail if they are in a quiet place for some time. For me, I appreciate those people since I don’t have a social skill to have a communication to anyone and everyone. 

I have seen the teenagers talking on the phone to their classmates or friends. Even in adults I have noticed this talking in phone for long hours. I use to wonder what they are talking about this much time. Are they talking about the International peace treaty or anything related to nuclear problems? To tell in simple words, you can’t describe what they talk because that will be so filthy and evil lustful, and they describe it as flirting. A way of Adultery which is described in the Bible.

It is same in the case of a person who talks too much. Most of the things he talks will be gossip. As God clearly warns about Adultery and Gossiping. 

“A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much” – Proverbs 20: 19

Instead of talking and spending time with people and gossiping, God wants his children to spend time with him. God wants us to do our duty, be quiet and love everyone. Loving everyone doesn’t means to be with them all the time. When you walk with God, the change you will have in your life speaks about you. You will be quiet, doesn’t mean you won’t talk, but you talk when needed, not disturbing others. More of your time you spend with God and the time you spend with men, you listen to them, talk to them without any gossip (Be careful in what you talk).

“The tongue has the power of life and death” – Proverbs 18: 21.

I have seen Pastors and Evangelists who spend more time with God than man, who are very powerful in their ministry. For being powerful in a spiritual life, you need to have the power of the Holy Spirit, which you get only when you spend time with God.

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet lie: You should mind you own business and work with your hands” – 1 Thessalonians 4: 11.

When you stop the simple gossip talk, you will have time to think about what you talk, control it and be a role model to others. 

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” – James 1: 19.