Creation - Man in the Garden of Eden - The Fall. (GENESIS 1-3) Part 2

The first verse in the book of Genesis simply states the
general fact, that "In the beginning" - whenever that may have been - "God created the heaven and the earth." Then, in the second verse, we find earth described as it was at the close of the last great
revolution, preceding the present state of things: "And the earth was without form and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep." An almost indefinite space of time, and many changes, may
therefore have intervened between the creation of heaven and earth, as mentioned in ver. 1, and the
chaotic state of our earth, as described in ver. 2. As for the exact date of the first creation, it may be
safely affirmed that we have not yet the knowledge sufficient to arrive at any really trustworthy
conclusion.

It is of far greater importance for us, however, to know that God "created all things by Jesus
Christ;" (Ephesians 3:9) and further, that "all things were created by Him, and for Him," (Colossians
1:16) and that "of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things." (Romans 11:36. See also 1
Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 1:2; John 1:3) This gives not only unity to all creation, but places it in living
connection with our Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time we should also always bear in mind, that it is
"through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are
seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:3)
Everything as it proceeded from the hand of God was "very good,"* that is, perfect to answer the
purpose for which it had been destined. "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had
made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the
seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and
made." It is upon this original institution of the Sabbath as a day of holy rest that our observance of the
Lord's day is finally based, the change in the precise day - from the seventh to the first of the week -
having been occasioned by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which not only the first, but also
the new creation was finally completed. (See Isaiah 65:17)
* It is noteworthy that in Genesis 1 we always read, "And the evening and the morning were the first
day," or second, or third day, etc. Hence the Jews calculate the day from evening to evening, that is, from
the first appearance of the stars in the evening to the first appearance of stars next evening, and not, as we
do, from midnight to midnight.