What does Genesis 1:1 teach about how God created heaven and earth?
Genesis 1:1 teaches that in the beginning God called heaven and earth out of nothing. It declares God as the Creator who brought the heavens and the earth into existence apart from any pre-existing material. The verse establishes that creation originated by God's own act.
Les teaches that Genesis 1:1 declares that in the beginning God called heaven and earth out of nothing. He connects this to John 1:1, where the Word was in the beginning, was with God, and was God. Les points out that John 1:14 says the Word was made flesh, and since the Father and the Spirit never became flesh, this identifies the Son, Christ. In Colossians 1, Paul writes of the Son as the image and the one in whom we have redemption through His blood. So the creation of heaven and earth out of nothing is tied to the Word, God the Son.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
More Questions
Why does Genesis 1:1 mention both heaven and earth?
Way back in Genesis 1:1, before Israel or Abraham is mentioned, God gives a clue that throughout all His dealings with the human race He is going to constantly divide things between heaven and earth.
What happened between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2?
Les teaches that something terrible happened between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, causing an interruption, and that God had to destroy it with a flood.