Important Notice:
Always check out what you read and hear for yourself, using the Bible, asking our HEAVENLY FATHER for wisdom, guidance, and understanding. Never take anyone's word alone, including this website, without first doing your own homework. As Christians, we should be listening to GOD's WORD, not what someone else has to say if it can't be documented. As it's written in 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Please note, the yellow text in our studies is Scripture, whereas the white text is our commentary.
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
GOD does not give us a specific date for when HE did this. All we know is this was in the beginning.
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.
It's important to note that this word "was" as underlined above, is "hâyâh" in the Hebrew, and it means "to be" or "to become". The word "was" implies that GOD created the earth "without form, and void", and full of "darkness", which would clearly go against what is written in Isaiah 45:18, and as we know, there are no contradictions in the Bible. Isaiah 45:18 says, "For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else." That word "vain" in that verse is "tôhûw" in the Hebrew, and is the same word used in this second verse, above, for the word "void". So as we can see (which you can too if you use a Strong's Concordance), the word "hâyâh" should have been translated into the KJV English Bible as "became", as that is what that word means in Hebrew, not "was". So as we just saw above from Scripture (Isaiah 45:18) itself, GOD did NOT create the earth void and without form, but rather it became void and without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Now how could this have happened? What would have caused this? For more information, see our study: "Three World Ages/satan's Downfall".
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
At this point GOD had not yet created the sun, the moon, or the stars to shine upon the earth, so you might be wondering what light is being mentioned here. This light mentioned here is referring to the righteousness/holiness of GOD. After satan's rebellion, darkness entered the world, and this light is the SPIRIT of GOD, which is the spirit of righteousness/holiness. Remember as Christians, CHRIST is our light. HE is the only TRUE light that we will ever need. 1 John 1:5-7 says "5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.", and Revelation 22:5 says, when referring to the eternity, "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever." JESUS even said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." When we live the way CHRIST instructed us to live, we shine HIS LIGHT in the world. See also: John 1, John 8:12, Matthew 8:12, Revelation 21:23.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
This is what sets the division between good (GOD) and evil (satan), GOD's SPIRIT from satan's spirit. After all, the whole reason we live in this flesh age now is because it's a test to see who loves GOD and who loves satan. Those who love GOD are of the light, and strive to live righteously, whereas those who don't, strive to live in sin and are of the darkness (satan); ultimately those who remain in the dark by the end of this second world age (flesh age) will take part in the lake of fire (eternal death). Just remember that GOD's will is for no one to perish but instead for all to come to repentance (see 2 Peter 3:9). Again, this is why it is so important for us to know about the three different ages of this earth and what all happened in the beginning with satan's downfall because if we can't understand that and what all took place, then we will never really understand the rest of the Bible as the end will be just like the beginning.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Compare to 1 Thessalonians 5:5.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
It should be noted that GOD did not create a new heaven and a new earth, but instead HE created a new heaven and a new earth age. In a way you could say it's rejuvenated. This being the end of the second day of this current earth age (flesh age). See also: 2 Peter 3:5-13.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Here GOD brought forth dry land. Just as this earth was already here from the first world age, so was this land also, except it had been under water from the great overthrow that occurred at the end of the first world age.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
GOD made the plants and the trees of this earth in which they could reproduce year after year. Notice the herb came first, then the seed, and the same with the fruit tree; first came the fruit tree, then the fruit.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 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's truly amazing when you think about how perfect and intelligently designed our world really is, that we can tell the exact time of a sunrise and sunset over thousands of years in advance.
15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Notice GOD made "two great lights", which proves the moon is its own light, and not some meaningless rock in infinite space that reflects the sun. Remember, GOD created the earth before he did the sun, contrary to the false, pseudoscience, they teach today, known as heliocentrism, which states the sun existed before the earth. Also, if heliocentrism was true, what would the earth have been spinning around before the sun existed? Joshua 10:13 even documents that it is the sun and moon that revolve around the earth, not the other way around, as it was the sun and moon that stood still, not the earth.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Verses 2-5 above, refer to the spiritual conditions of LIGHT and darkness, whereas here we see the physical conditions of light and darkness.
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Notice GOD created the animals after their kind before man was even created. So keep that in mind when we get in to the next chapter. Notice also in verse 21 above, that HE created every winged fowl on day 5, while beasts were created on day 6 (as we see in this verse). In Genesis 2, they both were formed at the same time, which documents Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are referring to two different Creations.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
It's important to know that "man" in this verse is "ʼâdam" in the Hebrew, and looks like this (אָדָ֛ם). By definition it can refer to man or mankind in general. As it's written here though, it says "and let them...", which documents this verse is referring to more than one person; plus it doesn't have the Hebrew particle and article attached to the word which would be used to make that word specific. So just as GOD made animals in general in the previous verses, so is HE describing the making of mankind in general here, and not the specific man, Adam, as we will see described more in the next chapter.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created (= bârâʼ in Hebrew) he them.
Again, we have male and female created at the same time, not separately as we will see in the next chapter with the specific individual man, Adam. In the next chapter, we'll come back to this verse.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
This word "meat" is "ʼoklâh" in the Hebrew and simply means "food".
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
And so it was. Below, we'll continue with the next chapter.
GOD does not give us a specific date for when HE did this. All we know is this was in the beginning.
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.
It's important to note that this word "was" as underlined above, is "hâyâh" in the Hebrew, and it means "to be" or "to become". The word "was" implies that GOD created the earth "without form, and void", and full of "darkness", which would clearly go against what is written in Isaiah 45:18, and as we know, there are no contradictions in the Bible. Isaiah 45:18 says, "For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else." That word "vain" in that verse is "tôhûw" in the Hebrew, and is the same word used in this second verse, above, for the word "void". So as we can see (which you can too if you use a Strong's Concordance), the word "hâyâh" should have been translated into the KJV English Bible as "became", as that is what that word means in Hebrew, not "was". So as we just saw above from Scripture (Isaiah 45:18) itself, GOD did NOT create the earth void and without form, but rather it became void and without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Now how could this have happened? What would have caused this? For more information, see our study: "Three World Ages/satan's Downfall".
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
At this point GOD had not yet created the sun, the moon, or the stars to shine upon the earth, so you might be wondering what light is being mentioned here. This light mentioned here is referring to the righteousness/holiness of GOD. After satan's rebellion, darkness entered the world, and this light is the SPIRIT of GOD, which is the spirit of righteousness/holiness. Remember as Christians, CHRIST is our light. HE is the only TRUE light that we will ever need. 1 John 1:5-7 says "5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.", and Revelation 22:5 says, when referring to the eternity, "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever." JESUS even said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." When we live the way CHRIST instructed us to live, we shine HIS LIGHT in the world. See also: John 1, John 8:12, Matthew 8:12, Revelation 21:23.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
This is what sets the division between good (GOD) and evil (satan), GOD's SPIRIT from satan's spirit. After all, the whole reason we live in this flesh age now is because it's a test to see who loves GOD and who loves satan. Those who love GOD are of the light, and strive to live righteously, whereas those who don't, strive to live in sin and are of the darkness (satan); ultimately those who remain in the dark by the end of this second world age (flesh age) will take part in the lake of fire (eternal death). Just remember that GOD's will is for no one to perish but instead for all to come to repentance (see 2 Peter 3:9). Again, this is why it is so important for us to know about the three different ages of this earth and what all happened in the beginning with satan's downfall because if we can't understand that and what all took place, then we will never really understand the rest of the Bible as the end will be just like the beginning.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Compare to 1 Thessalonians 5:5.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
It should be noted that GOD did not create a new heaven and a new earth, but instead HE created a new heaven and a new earth age. In a way you could say it's rejuvenated. This being the end of the second day of this current earth age (flesh age). See also: 2 Peter 3:5-13.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Here GOD brought forth dry land. Just as this earth was already here from the first world age, so was this land also, except it had been under water from the great overthrow that occurred at the end of the first world age.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
GOD made the plants and the trees of this earth in which they could reproduce year after year. Notice the herb came first, then the seed, and the same with the fruit tree; first came the fruit tree, then the fruit.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 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's truly amazing when you think about how perfect and intelligently designed our world really is, that we can tell the exact time of a sunrise and sunset over thousands of years in advance.
15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Notice GOD made "two great lights", which proves the moon is its own light, and not some meaningless rock in infinite space that reflects the sun. Remember, GOD created the earth before he did the sun, contrary to the false, pseudoscience, they teach today, known as heliocentrism, which states the sun existed before the earth. Also, if heliocentrism was true, what would the earth have been spinning around before the sun existed? Joshua 10:13 even documents that it is the sun and moon that revolve around the earth, not the other way around, as it was the sun and moon that stood still, not the earth.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Verses 2-5 above, refer to the spiritual conditions of LIGHT and darkness, whereas here we see the physical conditions of light and darkness.
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Notice GOD created the animals after their kind before man was even created. So keep that in mind when we get in to the next chapter. Notice also in verse 21 above, that HE created every winged fowl on day 5, while beasts were created on day 6 (as we see in this verse). In Genesis 2, they both were formed at the same time, which documents Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are referring to two different Creations.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
It's important to know that "man" in this verse is "ʼâdam" in the Hebrew, and looks like this (אָדָ֛ם). By definition it can refer to man or mankind in general. As it's written here though, it says "and let them...", which documents this verse is referring to more than one person; plus it doesn't have the Hebrew particle and article attached to the word which would be used to make that word specific. So just as GOD made animals in general in the previous verses, so is HE describing the making of mankind in general here, and not the specific man, Adam, as we will see described more in the next chapter.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created (= bârâʼ in Hebrew) he them.
Again, we have male and female created at the same time, not separately as we will see in the next chapter with the specific individual man, Adam. In the next chapter, we'll come back to this verse.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
This word "meat" is "ʼoklâh" in the Hebrew and simply means "food".
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
And so it was. Below, we'll continue with the next chapter.