Genesis 1:2, commentary and pictures

At the beginning the earth was unformed and empty, with darkness upon the face of the deep, and the Holy Spirit brooding upon the face of the waters before God spoke light into being.
It stands at the start of six literal days in which God made heaven and earth and all that is in them about six thousand years ago, rested on the seventh day, and thereby founded the weekly cycle and the Sabbath commanded in the fourth commandment.
It is part of the authentic and reliable history of creation given in language men can comprehend, and the claim that the earth evolved from that chaos through millions of years or vast indefinite periods contradicts the plain record and destroys the force of God's word.
The Father and the Son worked together with the Spirit present to create matter itself by the Word, and that same Word still imparts life, recreates the soul in the image of God, and sustains all things; the earth came forth from His hand exceedingly beautiful and perfect, and though marred by sin with thorns and death it still bears witness to the Creator's goodness and love.
The deep is the same word rendered bottomless pit in Revelation 20:1-3, and after the second coming the earth will be brought back to that without form and void condition of chaos and darkness for a thousand years, yet the same power that caused light to shine out of darkness at the first day still brings light into spiritual darkness by the gospel.

Words and Initial Chaos

At the beginning the earth was without form and void, unformed and empty, and darkness lay upon the face of the deep while the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters before God spoke light into being. It was a condition of confusion and darkness, formless and empty and dark, with the deep covering all. The Spirit was already present and moving over the waters in that unformed, empty, dark beginning prior to the spoken light.

The word rendered moved means brooding. It shows the Holy Spirit brooding upon the face of the waters. That brooding presence marks the Spirit as present at creation from the first.

The verse describes the chaos from which the earth was evolved. Out of that chaos God called forth the earth in its beauty. The fair earth He afterward pronounced very good came forth from the Creator's hand out of this initial formless and void state.

Literal Week and Sabbath

Genesis 1:2 stands at the start of the six days in which God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them. That work was finished with the heavens and the earth and all their host complete, and on the sixth day everything He had made was pronounced very good. Then on the seventh day God ended His work, rested from all His work which He had created and made, and blessed and sanctified the seventh day, thereby proclaiming His will to all the earth.

That opening week originated at creation and was measured off by God as the first cycle and sample for successive weeks till the close of time. It consisted of seven literal days just like every other week, with six days employed in creation and the seventh used for God's rest. On each day God generated or produced some new portion of His work, so each day is accounted a generation. In those great facts originated the weekly cycle of six days for labor and the seventh for rest.

Creation in that week was about six thousand years ago in six literal days followed by a literal day of rest. It was not seven vast indefinite periods of thousands or millions of years, and not a history tens of thousands of years old. God chose to spread the making of the world over six days though He could have spoken it into existence in one day.

That literal first week is the foundation and pattern for the week of seven literal days commanded in the fourth commandment spoken from Sinai. The first six days of each week are given to man for labor because God employed the same period in creation. The seventh day is reserved as a day of rest in commemoration of His rest after performing creation in six days.

Spirit and Divine Makers

The Father and the Son worked together in the mighty, wondrous work of creating the world. The Holy Spirit was present at creation, brooding upon the face of the waters. That same Spirit is the divine Teacher without whom the testimony of nature cannot be rightly read, who alone reveals the invisible things of God perceived through the things made, even His everlasting power and divinity, who guides into all truth, makes known the deep things of God, and directs the study of God's works so that its deepest truths are discerned and His thoughts are thought after Him.

The verse means God created matter itself when He brought the world into existence, and to deny this limits the power of the Holy One of Israel. It shows the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens. It belongs to the authentic account of creation found alone in God's word, coming fresh from the fountain of eternal truth and kept pure by a divine hand through all the ages, shining into the far distant past where human research cannot penetrate and beginning the most comprehensive and instructive history men possess, a history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. Moses wrote this account under the guidance of the Spirit of God, so it is reliable history, and a correct theory of geology will never claim discoveries that cannot be reconciled with his statements, because when the Bible makes statements of facts in nature true science and the written word are in harmony and do not contradict each other.

The creative energy that called the world into existence is in the Word of God, and that same Word still imparts power and begets life. Every command is a promise which, accepted by the will and received into the soul, brings with it the life of the Infinite One, transforms the nature and recreates the soul in the image of God, and the life thus imparted is sustained in the same way, for man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. God created all things and constantly controls them, yet gave human beings a power not wholly unlike His own, a degree of control over the forces of nature. He called forth the earth in its beauty out of chaos, and human beings can likewise bring order and beauty out of confusion, so that though all things are now marred with evil, completed work brings a joy akin to God's joy when looking on the fair earth He pronounced very good.

Finished Beautiful Earth

Before it was formed the earth was unfinished, but when finished it came forth from the Creator's hand exceedingly beautiful, like a noble palace. In that state it was holy and beautiful and perfect, with every flower and shrub and tree answering the purpose of its Creator.

Its surface was not one extensive plain but was diversified with hills and mountains and plains, with rivers and other bodies of water regularly dispersed among them. The hills and mountains were not high and ragged as now but regular and beautiful in shape. No bare high rocks were seen upon them, for the rocks lay beneath the surface answering as bones to the earth. The hills and mountains and plains were adorned with plants and flowers and tall majestic trees of every description, many times larger and much more beautiful than trees now are, and the air was pure and healthful.

Everything upon which the eye rested was lovely and filled the mind with thoughts of the love of God, and every sound was music in harmony with the voice of God. Angels beheld those wonderful works of God and rejoiced. Sin afterward marred that perfect work, and thorns and thistles with sorrow and pain and death are all the result of disobedience to God. Yet though marred with the curse, the earth still reveals God's goodness and bears witness of the Creator, testifying to His forbearance and love in green fields and lofty trees, in glad sunshine and clouds and dew, in the solemn stillness of night and the glory of the starry heavens and the beauty of the moon, and in every drop of rain and every ray of light.

Coming Desolation Prophecy

The word rendered deep in the description of the beginning earth is the same word rendered bottomless pit in Revelation 20:1-3. That identity of language proves that the bottomless pit is the earth in a state of confusion and darkness. At the beginning the earth was unformed and empty, without form and void, with darkness over the face of the deep.

Prophecy teaches that after the second coming and the destruction of the wicked the earth will be brought back partially at least to that beginning condition. It will again be without form and void with darkness upon the deep, reduced to chaos and desolation. That desolate condition will continue for a thousand years. Through that thousand years the ruined earth will be the banishment place of Satan, with no people left for him to deceive.

Light Out of Darkness

The earth at the beginning was unformed and empty and dark, with the Spirit of God moving over the waters before light was spoken into being.
That scene shows the power to cause light to shine out of darkness by the spoken word, as the heavens and the earth came out of darkness at the dawn of the first day by the call of infinite power.
Light rose upon the dark world while the morning stars and all the sons of God sang together and shouted for joy.
As light was brought to the dark earth, the word brings light into spiritual darkness, calling His people to shine when darkness covers the world.

That first creation of physical light is the pattern for what is done in the darkest period of this earth's history before Christ comes, when midnight spiritual darkness from error and deception covers the world and the churches.
Out of that night of trial and persecution light is shined by the word, with a call to shine with glory.
That rising light is a symbol of the gospel light to be proclaimed in the earth by Christ's disciples, dispelling superstition, error, and tradition by its bright beams, ushering in truth and righteousness, and bringing back to allegiance those disobedient to the law of God.
As order and beauty were brought out of nature's chaos and darkness, the same divine power can subdue a rebellious human heart and bring a person's life into harmony with the will.

True Record Against Error

Genesis 1:2 belongs to the authentic, reliable history of creation and the origin of the earth found alone in God's word. It is given in language the human family can comprehend, coming fresh from the fountain of eternal truth and kept pure by a divine hand and divine Mind through all the ages. It shines into the far distant past where human research cannot penetrate, showing the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens. It begins the most comprehensive and instructive history men possess, a history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. Without this true account people are left to fables and conjectures, false theories and unreliable human conjectures, superstition and falsehood, and the enfeebling of the intellect that is the sure result of entertaining error.

Moses wrote this account under the guidance of the Spirit of God, so it is reliable history and the literal Mosaic record of Genesis 1:1-31. A correct theory of geology will never claim discoveries that cannot be reconciled with his statements. When the Bible makes statements of facts in nature, true science and the written word are in harmony and do not contradict each other.

Just how God did the work of creation He has never revealed to mortals, and His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence. Secret things belong to God, and the exact way He wrought cannot be searched out by human science or explained from natural causes, for His ways and thoughts are not as men's. Yet sufficient evidence has been given on which to base faith.

The verse gives the true time when the earth was first populated and how old the earth is, and alone gives the time of things found in the earth. Relics found in the earth do give evidence of a state of things differing in many respects from the present, but large bones of men and animals, instruments of warfare, petrified trees, and the burial of men, beasts and trees far larger than now living do not prove a race before the creation record or long ages before creation. They are remains of the much larger men, animals and trees living before the flood, buried when the antediluvians perished in the days of Noah amid great changes in the earth at the flood, and preserved to establish faith in inspired history.

The claim that millions of years were required for the evolution of the earth from that chaos, or that the world was created in an indefinite period of time, contradicts the literal record. Assuming the days were vast, indefinite periods covering thousands or even millions of years in order to accommodate the Bible to science undermines and destroys the force of the word of God. This indefinite-time teaching is one of Satan's falsehoods, for God did not leave the account indefinite to be handled according to human theories.

To stretch the days into six vast indefinite periods plus another indefinite period makes indefinite and obscure what God made very plain. It charges God with commanding men to observe a week of seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike His method of dealing with His creatures and impeaches His wisdom. It makes senseless the fourth commandment and destroys its force and frees men from its claims, striking directly at the foundation of the Sabbath. Holding this view to answer geologists who claim from things in the earth that the world has existed tens of thousands of years is the worst kind of infidelity, infidelity in disguise in its most insidious and dangerous form even when held and taught by those who profess to believe the record.

Creation was God's work and not the result of natural causes, so human reasoning and the suppositions of geologists that contradict what God has revealed must be rejected. It is inconsistent to declare what God has revealed in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation too obscure to understand while eagerly accepting human suppositions about what God has not revealed.

Those great facts of creation as presented by the inspired writers are pillars of the Christian faith and part of God's holy Word given as the guide of life. Yet they are practically rejected either wholly or in part by a large share of the professedly Christian world, with professed wisdom and learning used to cavil at the Scriptures and to spiritualize and explain away their most important truths. The plain fact of God's work of creation of the heavens and the earth by the living God defined in the fourth commandment is what Satan specially hates and seeks to obscure with rebellion, infidel fables and geological suppositions. So in the last days true faith is almost destitute as God's word is counted unreliable on the merest pretense while human reasoning opposed to plain fact is received, and by vain reasoning men turn the flood burial designed as a benefit into a curse as did the people before the flood.

Study Work and Heart

Only by the aid of that same Spirit who brooded upon the face of the waters in the beginning can the testimony of science be rightly interpreted, its deepest truths discerned, and God's thoughts thought after Him in the study of His works. The word rendered moved means brooding, and that same brooding Spirit is the divine Teacher without whom the testimony of nature cannot be rightly read. He alone reveals the invisible things of God perceived through the things made, even His everlasting power and divinity, guides into all truth, makes known the deep things of God, and directs the study of God's works.

The record of creation in Genesis 1:1-31 gives the authentic account of the creation of the world, preserved in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand and found in the Word of God alone. It is to be the chief study in schools, carrying the minds of students higher than is now thought possible and training heart and mind to preserve purity by receiving daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. It trains the mind to grasp the truths of divine revelation and the important truths that concern eternal life. In this record converse is held with patriarchs and prophets, and what redemption cost is learned — what it cost the One who was equal with the Father from the beginning and sacrificed His life that a people might stand before Him redeemed from every common, earthly thing and renewed in the image of God.

The Holy Spirit broods as a heavenly Guest over youth during school hours as He brooded over the creation and over the dark earth, and He broods over dark and cold hearts. Where He is welcomed He brings light, opens all understanding, and gives wisdom and knowledge in every line of study to be employed to the glory of God. There He convinces of sin, softens hearts hardened by long estrangement from God, and reveals the great love with which God has loved them as His heritage. Educators need this higher education before they are qualified to teach and guide youth. Where hearts are cold and dark and have no desire for His presence, the light of God is withdrawn.

As God called forth the earth in its beauty out of chaos, human beings, given a power not wholly unlike His own and a degree of control over the forces of nature, can likewise bring order and beauty out of confusion. Though all things are now marred with evil, completed work brings a joy akin to God's joy when looking on the fair earth He pronounced very good. God's deliberate use of time in taking six days to make the world when He could have spoken it into existence in one sets a pattern against overwork, rushing, turning night into day and day into night, and straining to exhaustion. It teaches regular hours for sleep and work, stopping when nature says stop, and preserving health and strength instead of working day and night until breakdown.

The first and second chapters of Genesis show the Lord's plan in the beginning for equal taxation of the mental and physical powers, with exercise of muscles and reason in physical labor combined with exercise of the mind in study. This is seen in the finished heavens and earth, the rest and blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day, the forming of man from dust and planting of the garden in Eden, and the putting of man in the garden to dress it and to keep it. Parents are to describe this great work of creation to children on the Sabbath, in pleasant weather walking with them in fields and groves amid nature.