Some Musings on Genesis 1:1: In the Beginning

(Have you ever stopped to think about how much God may be trying to tell you in a single verse? As a writing exercise I decided to let my mind wander and ponder where Genesis 1:1 might lead me. Below is the result.)

Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

There was a time whenever everything started. God was before that. It was not an accident, it was an intentional, deliberate act of will. God is creative; He makes things. There was a time when everything NOW was not here, it didn't exist; none of it did, before God. We can't find a time when God wasn't there. God is unfathomable, too big for us to comprehend.

In this verse we are told that He made two things -- the heavens and the earth. Separate yet connected. The heavens include the stars, planets, asteroids, atmosphere (physical things), as well as the spirit realm which we can't see; where the angels and demons reside. Heaven, the place. God is everywhere, we aren't, so we need a place. When God was making the heavens and the earth was He making them because He was going to create creatures which needed a "place"? The angels needed a place, too -- they could survive in the heavens. They are not omnipresent like God, even if they can transfer from place to place in a thought, like some believe. Perhaps the angels were created during the heavens creation. We know God created the angels, too, so they must have been created "in the beginning" too. Or did their beginning happen before ours, the physical beginning? Perhaps Genesis is concerned in only describing our beginning and not theirs. But the truth of the Bible would be the angels' truth, too.

The earth includes the physical world, the rocks, water, air, atoms, etc. What we can see, feel, taste. We can't see the spirit realm, all we know about it is what God tells us through the scripture and through what he has revealed to individuals. (ie. life after death, angelic encounters, etc.) We can't comprehend it, so we must attempt to describe it with physical and mental terms. I find it interesting that "heavens" is plural and earth is singular. Does that mean there are different levels of heaven, but only one earth? With telescopes, etc. we can see the physically aspects of the heavens. The seen & the unseen. Why only two realms? Why not three? Or four? Is it simply that our minds can only comprehend two, that we were created that way?

Did God create other worlds? Perhaps other "earths" for other beings who "need a place"? But since we are physically limited we can only study this one and what happened on it and how it relates to the heavens and the Creator, not speculate about other worlds. We know God created this one, "the" earth and must use this as our perspective. God is very large and this earth is very small.

Blessings!

Source
Women's Devotional Bible. New International Version