What is the Truth about Creation (part three)

Genesis 1:2 “And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Once again, the word “and” is key here, and again it best reads consecutive action. First the earth was without form. See the picture above for a planet forming over time. And then it was void or empty. Many scientists believe the earth was once like Jupiter or Saturn – a gaseous giant with an atmosphere of vapor and cloud.

Appropriately, the verb tense used in this verse is the past perfect, for a completed action.

It is not clear to me if “And darkness was on the face of the deep” indicates a concurrent or consecutive action. It seems likely, looking at what science has to say, that the sun and the other planets were being formed at the same time. When was there light in the system? It is about to come forth in the next verse. It is possible though, that there was some light that did not reach the surface of the deep. That is, it seems there were clouds and vapors piled right on top of the oceans, which in turn covered what would eventually arise as dry land, and this could be indicating that no light reached the surface of the oceans.

Here we get to another amazing choice of words. “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Who or what is the Spirit of God? In the Acts of the Apostles, it is described as a mighty wind with tongues of fire. I believe it is the Power of the Presence of God.

The verb here is the key word. “Moved” also means “hovered” and has the connotation of a mother bird hovering over its young. How would you describe a single-cell organism to someone who has no concept of a microscope?

And how did life come from inanimate matter? This is another example of science offering no explanation. We have been able to form proteins from inanimate matter, but proteins are not self-replicating. A single-cell cyanobacterium is the only form of life that could not possibly have evolved from something else.

It is here that “Let there be light” comes in. I believe this marks the beginning of life on earth, the first single-cell bacteria. Light is necessary for plant life. Plant life is necessary for what comes after: the formation of our atmosphere.