Before continuing this study, read Genesis 1:1-31.

Gen 1:1 (NIV) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."
7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.
8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so.
10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.
12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.
16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,
18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."
21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."
23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.
25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

1CN Gen. 1:1 The four most important words in all history are found at the beginning of the Bible: "In the beginning God . . . ." God is at the center of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and the entire book is about His relationships with man—His crowning creation.

2CN Gen. 1:2-5 We often say that God created light on the first day. But "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5) The very presence of God in the area of space where He intended to create our world brought light. But there is more here than merely the presence of God. There is the absence of light for a period of time as well. He called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And then He called the entire cycle the "first day." It was the beginning of a cycle that still continues to this day. So, on the first day God not only created light, He created time, for time is the collection of days and nights from the first day until the present—and for all eternity.

3CN Gen. 1:6-8 It appears that the earth was covered entirely by water at this point. During the hours of the second day, God caused a separation to occur between the oceans and the clouds. Great forces were at work, drawing moisture into the air and forming the atmosphere in which we live and move. Without the atmosphere we would roast in the daytime and freeze at night. So the air that we breathe also insulates the earth from the extremes of space. God planned it that way and on the second day, that was His work.

4CN Gen. 1:9-13 Again, monumental forces were at work. Whole continents rose up out of the boundless oceans, mountain chains appeared, islands, peninsulas, isthmuses. Such a massive displacement of water and earth in such a short period of time would normally create great heat because of the friction involved. But God knew how to do it all smoothly and effortlessly without the volcanism that we'd expect.

But God didn't stop with bringing up the dry land from the ocean bottoms: He painted the land with every kinds of flowers and trees and grass, causing vivid hues to appear wherever He desired. Our Heavenly Father is a Master Artist, a Super-Genius, able to design and perform works that dazzle human minds. Men of science still study the intricacies of nature, and a great deal of what they study was created on the third day.

By the end of the day the earth was one vast garden with every imaginable kind of tree and fern and plant. The breezes blew softly through the trees, and murmured through the valleys. But besides the sighing of the breeze, and the crashing of the surf, all was quiet on Planet Earth.

5CN Gen 1:14-19 It's interesting that God didn't create the Sun until the fourth day. All those plants that He made on the third day had to have the light and heat of the Sun to survive. Some have thought that the days of Creation were long periods of time, perhaps many thousands or millions of years. But without the Sun, all those plants would not have been able to live. Here is evidence that the days of Creation were in fact, 24-hour periods.

On the fourth day God also created the Moon, and probably the other planets of our solar system. These too are needed to balance the movements of the Sun and the Earth. The Moon's gravity controls the tides of the oceans, making it possible for all the seashore animals and plants to survive.

The statement "He made the stars also," (KJV) seems to be merely a statement of fact. It does not necessarily mean that God made the stars on the fourth day, although He certainly has the power to do all of that in one 24-hour period. But God's goal during this seven-day period seems to have been to create our world and make it habitable. So it would seem reasonable that Moses merely mentions the stars here in connection with the creation of the great celestial orb we call the Sun.

6CN Gen. 1:19-23 During this 24-hour period God created everything that lives in the sea—from the great whales and giant squid, to the swarming fish, the shrimp, down to the smallest one-celled animals that teem throughout their watery paradise. The waters of the ocean became alive at the spoken Word of God, and every kind of animal began to enjoy the habitat God had created for them. And yet there was room for many more, so God commanded all these sea creatures to "be fruitful and multiply."

On the same day, God called forth all the winged creatures—the sparrows, butterflies, swans, bees, gnats, eagles, and every other flying animal. Suddenly the air was filled with the sounds of flapping wings, chirping, cawing, cackling—all the sounds that birds make in their daily lives. The songs which the birds made at that time were not for the purpose of warning others to stay away from their nests, for there was no fear, no "crime" in the animal world. Their songs were songs of joy at the new life God had given them. Here again, there was plenty of room for more, and God told them to increase in number, just as He had done with the sea creatures.

7CN Gen 1:24, 25 As the days of the week progress we see that God seems to accomplish more and more—at least in the minutiae of creation. On this day God spoke into existence all the creepy-crawly things—which caused no terror to others then. He continued to create the amphibious creatures—the frog, the turtle, the toad and others. He spoke, and snakes began to move about—there is evidence that some of them had wings and could fly. Larger animals began to wander through the forests and the meadows until the whole Earth enjoyed the deer, the bear, the lions, the tigers and all sorts of animals—many of which no longer survive.

8CN Gen 1:26-29 Listen as the Creators discuss among Themselves—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—what They plan to do. (We will discuss the members of the Godhead in study guide 14.) They will make a created being like Themselves, to look like Them, to be able to have similar moral characteristics like Them. This being would be free to make decisions, to love, and to interact with each other as well as with their Creator. What a wonderful idea! God decided to create the human race.

9CN Gen 2:7 I can just see the Creator bending low over an area of clay that He has made. He's working with it. He constructs tubes, and sacks, and organs of various kinds. There's a liver, a couple of kidneys, reproductive organs, heart, lungs, brain and bones of various sizes and shapes. He arranges them in the order He wants them to have, connects the tubes, and then fastens them all in place by means of muscle fibers. He connects the bones with ligaments and then covers the entire organism with skin. The form on the ground bears a striking resemblance to the Creator Himself. But it just lies there, motionless.

Look, the Creator is bending even lower now. He's touching His lips to the lips of the creature He's just made. The Creator kisses man—He "breathes into His nostrils the breath of life, and man becomes a living soul."

But God wants an entire planet filled with people, and he has only made a man.

10CN Gen 2:18, 21-25 It's possible that God led Adam on a tour of a part of the planet, showing him the flora and fauna, right after creating him. If this is the case, as the order of the verses indicates, Adam would have noticed that all the animals came in pairs—a male and a female of each kind.

But God's decision to make a female human did not arise from any desire on Adam's part. God already knew what He planned to do, and His plan included families of humans. And families necessitated that there be women—wives, mothers, sisters, aunts. God had all this planned in advance, because when He first discussed making man He spoke of man in the plural—"let them rule . . . ." (Gen. 1:26)

Actually, Moses spends more time describing the creation of woman than he had spent telling about the manufacture of the man. Woman: made to correspond to man, made from man's rib, made to be a companion and partner and lover and friend. God had only joy in mind for His new pair.

11CN Gen. 1:31 All during the week God examined each part of His work and saw that He had done a faithful work. Each day, beginning with day #2, God made a pronouncement at the end of each major part of His work: "And God saw that it was good." (vss. 9, 12, 18, 21, 25)

But at the end of the sixth day, when the entire ecosystem had been completed, when the animals, the birds, the sea creatures, the insects, and His two people were all in place in the absolute perfection that only God could make—only then did God make His final assessment: "Gen 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."

12CN Gen 2:2, 3 God was finished making the world. There was nothing left to do. Everything was in order. But God lingered, and in lingering He did something that would light Him down in honor for all eternity: He created a place in time so that He could be with the people He had created.

God did three things on the seventh day:

•  He rested from His work. He had spent vast amounts of energy during the past six days creating the world. But even though He wasn't the least bit tired from all that work, He rested—He stopped working.

•  He blessed the day. At the end of the sixth day God had blessed the entire planet by saying that it was "very good." But now He placed His blessing on a day, an evening and a morning (even though the seventh day is not described like that). He set aside a 24-hour period of time upon which He placed His divine beatitude. No other period of time has ever been blessed like that.

•  He made the day holy. You would think that anything God touched would be holy, and it probably would. But He did something to the seventh day of creation that was different than He had done with any of the other days of the week. He made the day holy: sanctified; set apart for a holy purpose. God wanted the seventh day to be treated differently than the other six days of the week. God made the Sabbath.

13CN Ex. 20:11 God set the seventh day apart from the other six working days in order to remind us of His creative power. Just think. In the time that it took for the past six days to go by, God was able to create everything we can see in our solar system! That fills me with awe—the kind of awe that leads to worship. We worship God because He made the Earth in six 24-hour days. We worship God because He created us. And we worship God on the day He set aside for that purpose. He made the seventh day holy. Nothing I can do will add to or take away from it's holiness. (We will study the seventh day, the Sabbath, in Study Guide 20.)

14CN Rev. 22:1-5 God's plan was interrupted by sin, but His goal is to have a perfect world, filled with perfect, plants and animals and birds, and inhabited by people who love Him and each other with perfect love.

      •  Rev 21:3-7 And I heard a loud voice from the throne
         saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will
         live with them. They will be his people, and God himself
         will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every
         tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
         mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has
         passed away. . . . He who overcomes will inherit all this,
         and I will be his God and he will be my son.