Genesis 1

            God created the heaven and the earth. It wasn’t a big bang. It wasn’t a random act of the universe or “mother nature”. It wasn’t evolution. It wasn’t aliens. It was God. The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the One who has always been, who is, and who always will be. Before the heaven and the earth, God had created the whole universe. The stars, the galaxies, the nebulas, all the heavenly bodies – they were in place long before God spoke this one, tiny planet and its solar system into existence.
            (Psalm 102:25, Isaiah 40:21, John 1:1-3, Hebrews 1:10)
 
         There was no gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. The plain reading of the text makes it clear that verse 1 describes the final, finished product and verses 2 – 31 describe the process and the order of events whereby God created that final, finished heaven and earth. Strong’s concordance of the Hebrew word for “replenish” states that it is “to fill” or “be full”. This verb has a wide application and many forms throughout the Old Testament, but the primary meaning here in Genesis 1:22, when God commands the fish to “…fill the waters in the seas…” and, in verse 28, commands Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth…”, He is telling his creation to fill the earth for the first time. This is not a reference to a former, completed planet earth that was already populated by mankind and then destroyed by Lucifer’s fall.
            There is no gap between verses 1 and 2.
 
            All 3 persons of the trinity were present at the beginning of creation. Verse 2: “…And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Verse 26: “…Let us make man in our image…” (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-17)
 
          God saw that it was good. Every single element of creation – light, dark, sun, moon, stars, the sea, dry land, plants, animals, mankind – was good. God declared it so. God does not create anything that is not good, pure, just and perfect. For He is all of those things. (James 1:13)
 
           The order of creation:
         Day 1: Light (2 Corinthians 4:6, Hebrews 11:3); day and night (Job 37:18, Psalm 19:2, 33:6, 74:16, 104:20, 136:5, Jeremiah 10:12, John 1:4-5) Notice that light was created before the sun, moon and stars.
          Day 2: The firmament (sky) (Job 38:8-11, Psalm 19:1, Proverbs 8:27-29, 2 Peter 3:5)
      Day 3: Dry land and seas. Then grass, trees, and other vegetation. (Job 26:10, Psalm 24:1-2, 33:7, 95:5, 104:6-9, Jeremiah 5:22)
         Day 4: Sun, moon and stars (Deuteronomy 4:19, 17:3, Psalm 8:3, 74:16, 104:19, 136:5-9, Isaiah 40:26)
          Day 5: The fish and the birds (Genesis 8:17, Psalm 104:25-28)
          Day 6: The rest of the animal kingdom and then man (Genesis 9:1-7, Leviticus 26:9, Psalm 8:6-8, 100:3, Ecclesiastes 7:29, Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:6-8, Ephesians 4:24, 1 Timothy 4:4, James 3:9)
          Day 7: God rested
 
         The earth was created in literally six, 24-hour days. This is scientific fact. It’s not a metaphorical description, or allegorical, and it wasn’t a period of thousands or millions of years. It was six literal days. Period. Everything that was created in this first week was fully formed and complete. The trees were fully grown and already bearing fruit. The land animals, fish, and birds were all fully formed adults, not eggs or infants, and Adam and Eve were a mature, complete adult man and woman. The age of the earth and the universe beyond it is less than 10,000 years old. We know this because of Genesis 1. God created everything in our physical realm fully formed, complete and perfect. And He called it “very good”. (v.31)
          Notice that God commanded the sea and the earth to “bring forth” the animals that would populate those regions, but in verse 26 He says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Mankind is the only inhabitant of the earth that was made in the image and likeness of God. Doctrinal footnote in my Thomas Nelson KJV Study Bible: “The terms image and likeness are used synonymously and refer primarily to man’s spiritual resemblance (rationally and morally) to his Maker. God placed a great chasm between man and the beast, for only man has the capacity for eternal life, fellowship, moral discernment, self-consciousness, speech, and worship. Even after the Fall, man has retained the image of God Genesis 9:6, James 3:9), though it has been marred.”
 
           God commanded Adam and Eve to have dominion over the earth and all that is in it. (v.28) Because the world was perfect, and because Adam and Eve were perfect, the only food they required for sustenance was the fruit of the trees and the herbs of the field. (v.29) Mankind was a vegetarian. There was no need to eat meat, for there was no death yet in this perfect paradise that God had created. Man and beast lived in perfect harmony, and man communed with God in perfect union.