God is Eternal

Genesis 1:1 reveals to us various truths about God.  Firstly, the verse tells us God is eternal.  “In the beginning” God was already there.  “Beginning” has to do with the beginning of time.  “Time” is a part of creation.  God existed before creation and time.  Psalm 90:2, written by Moses, states, “Before the mountains were born, Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” 

John 1:1 has a similar opening in describing the Lord Jesus Christ.  John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word….”  The Word or Logos refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The imperfect Greek verb translated “was” allows us to translate as follows, “In the beginning the Logos was already there.”  The logic is simple :  if the Logos was already there in the beginning, that is, before the beginning of time and the history of the world, that puts the Logos into the realm of the eternal.  So, Genesis 1:1 tells us Elohim is eternal.  And John 1:1 tells us the Logos is eternal.

 God is THE Creator

Secondly, Genesis 1:1 tells us God is the Creator : “In the beginning God created.”  God created the heavens and the earth and all they contain.  God created ex nihilo, that is, out of nothing.  There were no pre-existing materials when God created.  Pre-existing materials would mean matter is eternal.  There was absolutely nothing when God created.  You and I cannot conceive of nothing.  Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word (command) of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”  Only Adam and Eve were created from pre-existing materials.  Adam was created from the dust of the ground.  Eve was created from a rib that was taken out of Adam.  It is also important to note that the Hebrew verb, bara, translated “created”, is only used with respect to God in the Bible.  God is always the subject of bara. 

Consider a sampling of the Biblical evidence that clearly shows us that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all they contain :

Isaiah 40:28, “The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth.”

Psalm 33:6, 9, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their hosts….  For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

Psalm 89:11-12, “The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them.  The north and the south, You have created them.”

Psalm 89:47, “You have created all the sons of men.”

Psalm 96:5, “all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.”

Psalm 148:5, “He commanded and they were created.”

Isaiah 45:12, “Thus says the LORD … It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it.  I stretched out the heavens with My hand and I ordained all their hosts.”

Isaiah 45:18, “thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, But formed it to be inhabited).  I am the LORD, and there is none else.”

Jeremiah 10:12, “It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.”

Jeremiah 27:4-5, “Thus says the LORD of hosts,… I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm.”

Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!  Nothing is too difficult for You.”

Jeremiah 33:2, “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name.”  (Note carefully this statement: the Elohim who created, His name is Yahweh (LORD).)

Mark 13:19, Jesus said, “since the beginning of creation which God created.”

Acts 14:15, “God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.”

Acts 17:24, “The God who made the world and all things in it.”

Ephesians 3:9, “God who created all things.”

Revelation 4:11, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created.”

There is one more fact to be noted.  The Bible teaches us that God the Father created through God the Son.  Consider these verses : 

Hebrews 1:1-2,  “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, ² in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” 

Colossians 1:15-17, “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” 

John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

God is Sovereign

Thirdly, it is essential to note that creation sets before us a God who is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, and transcendent. Sovereignty means God is enthroned in the heavens.  (Psalm 113:5).  Sovereignty means God is the Ruler over all.  (Psalm 103:19).  Sovereignty means God does whatever He pleases and nothing can resist His will.  (Psalm 115:3; 135:5-6; Daniel 4:35).  Creation was an act of God’s sovereign free choice, will, and actions.  God created because He was pleased to do so.  Psalm 33:6, 9, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their hosts….  For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”  God spoke.  God created.  And there was absolutely no resistance.

Omnipotence means God is all or infinitely powerful.  He is the Almighty One.  God has the power to do anything He is pleased to do.  (See  Genesis 18:14;  Jeremiah 32:17, 27;  Zechariah 8:6;  Matthew 19:26;  Luke 1:37; 18:27;  Romans 4:21).  He has all power over all things at all times and in all ways.  Revelation 19:6 says, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty (the Omnipotent One), reigns.”  Omnipotence is seen in the verse noted above :  “He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”  God spoke.  He said, “Let there be … and it was so.”  The three passages in Jeremiah quoted above, 10:12; 27:4-5; 32:17, emphasize the fact that God created by His great power.

Omniscience means God has all or infinite wisdom and knowledge.  It means that God knows everything past, present, and future.  God knows everything even to the minutest detail.  God knows everything that is possible but which will not take place.

Jeremiah 10:12 speaks of God’s wisdom in creating.

Psalm 104:24 says, “O LORD, how many are Your works!  In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions.” 

Proverbs 3:19-20 says,

“The Lord by wisdom founded the earth,
By understanding He established the heavens.
By His knowledge the deeps were broken up
And the skies drip with dew.”

Transcendence means the God who created the heavens and the earth is not a part of His creation.  The sovereign God is above and over His creation.  Psalm 113:4 says, “The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.”  There is the most fundamental and radical distinction between the Creator and His creation, between the Creator and His creatures, between the Creator and man.  Creation is not a reflection of the divine nature.  Creation is the product of God’s sovereign will.  This duality between the Creator and the creation is an established Biblical fact.   “Everything is God and God is everything” is not the teaching of the Bible.  “Everything is God and God is everything” is pantheism.  Transcendence also means God is both unknown and unknowable.  Yet, as we have seen, God continually seeks to reveal Himself to His creation. The unknown seeks to be known.

The Lovingkindess of God

One final point: Creation reveals to us the lovingkindness of the LORD.  Psalm 136:1-9 says, as the psalmist worships God,

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
² Give thanks to the God of gods,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
⁴ To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
⁵ To Him who made the heavens with skill,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
⁶ To Him who spread out the earth above the waters,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
⁷ To Him who made the great lights,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting:
⁸ The sun to rule by day,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
⁹ The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Vs.5, “skill” is a combination of wisdom, insight, and understanding.

The LORD God (Yahweh Elohim) who revealed Himself to us in the Bible is the one and only true and living God.  Is the LORD your God?

Genesis 1:1  reveals to us various truths about God.  Firstly, the verse tells us  God is eternal.  “In the beginning” God was already there.  “Beginning” has to do with the beginning of time.  “Time” is a part of creation.  God existed before creation and time.  Psalm 90:2,  written by Moses,  says,  “Before the mountains were born,  Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,  Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” 

John 1:1  has a similar opening in describing the Lord Jesus Christ.  John wrote,  “In the beginning was the Word….”  The Word or Logos refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The imperfect Greek verb translated  “was”  allows us to translate as follows,  “In the beginning the Logos was already there.”  The logic is simple  :  if the Logos was already there in the beginning, that is, before the beginning of time and the history of the world, that puts the Logos into the realm of the eternal.  So, Genesis 1:1  tells us Elohim is eternal.  And John 1:1 tells us the Logos is eternal.

Secondly,  Genesis 1:1  tells us God is the Creator.  We read,  “In the beginning God created.”  God created the heavens and the earth and all they contain.  God created ex nihilo  :  out of nothing.  There were no pre-existing materials when God created.  Pre-existing materials would mean matter is eternal.  There was absolutely nothing when God created.  You and I cannot conceive of nothing.  Hebrews 11:3  says,  “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word (command) of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”  Only Adam and Eve were created from pre-existing materials.  Adam was created from the dust of the ground.  Eve was created from a rib that was taken out of Adam.  I want you to note also that the Hebrew verb,  bara, translated  “created”  is used only of God in the Bible.  Consider with me a sampling of the Biblical evidence that clearly shows us that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all they contain.

 Isaiah 40:28,  “The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth.”

Psalm 33:6, 9,  “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,  And by the breath of His mouth all their hosts….  For He spoke, and it was done;  He commanded, and it stood fast.”

Psalm 89:11-12,  “The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;  The world and all it contains, You have founded them.  The north and the south, You have created them.”

Psalm 89:47,  “You have created all the sons of men.”

Psalm 96:5,  “all the gods of the peoples are idols,  But the LORD made the heavens.”

Psalm 148:5,  “He commanded and they were created.”

Isaiah 45:12,  “Thus says the LORD …  It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it.  I stretched out the heavens with My hand and I ordained all their hosts.”

Isaiah 45:18,  “thus says the LORD, who created the heavens  (He is the God who formed the earth and made it,  He established it and did not create it a waste place,  But formed it to be inhabited).  I am the LORD, and there is none else.”

Jeremiah 10:12,  “It is He who made the earth by His power,  Who established the world by His wisdom;  And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.”

Jeremiah 27:4-5,  “Thus says the LORD of hosts, … I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm.”

Jeremiah 32:17,  “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!  Nothing is too difficult for You.”

Jeremiah 33:2,  “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name.”  (Note carefully this statement : the Elohim who created, His name is Yahweh (LORD).)

Mark 13:19,  Jesus said,  “since the beginning of creation which God created.”

Acts 14:15,  “God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.”

Acts 17:24,  “The God who made the world and all things in it.”

Ephesians 3:9,  “God who created all things.”

Revelation 4:11,  “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created.”

There is one more fact to be noted.  The Bible teaches us that God the father created through God the Son.  Consider these verses : 

Hebrews 1:1-2,  “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, ² in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” 

Colossians 1:15-17,  “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” 

John 1:1-3,  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

In the third place I want you to note that creation sets before us a God who is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, and transcendent. Sovereignty means God is enthroned in the heavens.  (Psalm 113:5).  Sovereignty means God is the Ruler over all.  (Psalm 103:19).  Sovereignty means God does whatever He pleases and nothing can resist His will.  (Psalm 115:3;  135:5-6;  Daniel 4:35).  Creation was an act of God’s sovereign free choice, will, and actions.  God created because He was pleased to do so.  Psalm 33:6, 9,  “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,  And by the breath of His mouth all their hosts….  For He spoke, and it was done;  He commanded, and it stood fast.”  God spoke.  God created.  And there was absolutely no resistance.

Omnipotence means God is all or infinitely powerful.  He is the Almighty One.  God has the power to do anything He is pleased to do.  He has all power over all things at all times and in all ways.  Revelation 19:6  says,  “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty (the Omnipotent One), reigns.”  Omnipotence is seen in the above verse  :  “He spoke, and it was done;  He commanded, and it stood fast.”  God spoke.  He said,  “Let there be … and it was so.”  The three passages in Jeremiah quoted above, 10:12; 27:4-5; 32:17, emphasize the fact that God created by His great power.

Omniscience means God has all or infinite wisdom and knowledge.  It means that God knows everything past, present, and future.  God knows everything even to the minutest detail.  God knows everything that is possible but which will not take place. Jeremiah 10:12 speaks of God’s wisdom in creating.  Psalm 104:24  says,  “O LORD, how many are Your works!  In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions.”  Proverbs 3:19-20 says,

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth,
By understanding He established the heavens.
By His knowledge the deeps were broken up
And the skies drip with dew.

Transcendence means the God who created the heavens and the earth is not a part of His creation.  The sovereign God is above and over His creation.  Psalm 113:4  says,  “The LORD is high above all nations;  His glory is above the heavens.”  There is the most fundamental and radical distinction between the Creator and His creation, between the Creator and His creatures, between the Creator and man.  Creation is not a reflection of the divine nature.  Creation is the product of God’s sovereign will.  This duality between the Creator and the creation is an established Biblical fact.   “Everything is God and God is everything”  is not the teaching of the Bible.  “Everything is God and God is everything”  is pantheism.  Transcendence also means God is both unknown and unknowable.  Yet, as we have seen, God continually seeks to reveal Himself to His creation. The unknown seeks to be known.

One final point.  Creation reveals to us the lovingkindness of the LORD.  Psalm 136:1-9  says, as the psalmist worships God,

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
² Give thanks to the God of gods,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
⁴ To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
⁵ To Him who made the heavens with skill,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
⁶ To Him who spread out the earth above the waters,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
⁷ To Him who made the great lights,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting:
⁸ The sun to rule by day,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
⁹ The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Vs.5,  “skill”  is a combination of wisdom, insight, and understanding.