Chapter 4: His Creation—The Physical World

When God had created heaven and its hosts, He also created the material world—the physical world, the known and the unknown universe. This is the second part of the first verse of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” In His divine wisdom, God chose not to reveal to us how He created the whole universe. He gives us only brief details about the original creation of the earth, and far more detail about how it was prepared for human life. We will look at this closely in the coming chapters.

Several passages affirm that the universe was created by God without describing the mechanism. Consider a few of them. “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). The Word framed the worlds; the visible came from the invisible.⁵⁹ This is what theologians call creation ex nihilo—“out of nothing.” God did not fashion the universe out of pre-existing material, nor out of Himself; He spoke, and it was: “For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:9).⁶⁰

“Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; he calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power; not one is missing” (Isaiah 40:26). “He counts the number of the stars; he calls them all by name” (Psalm 147:4). He created the universe—the stars, the planets—and each is given a name; not one is missing or forgotten. It is a beautiful thing.⁶¹

God Himself gave brief detail on how He originally created the earth when He put to Job one of the hardest questions a human being can be asked: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4–7). As we saw in the previous chapter, the heavenly creatures already existed when God created the earth, and they shouted for joy as it was being made. They loved it.

Notice the language of those questions. The earth has a foundation; it was not merely spoken into being, but measurements were taken, lines were stretched upon it, the foundation was fastened, and the cornerstone was laid. This is the work of a Creator, an inventor, a designer, a master builder. And He set this work in the void: “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7). He hung the earth upon nothing—a remarkable statement in the ancient world, where the earth was usually imagined to rest on pillars or a great sea.⁶²

Let us remember that the details given to Job concern the very first creation of the earth—the act of Genesis 1:1. God created the earth perfect, not in vain or chaos, but to be inhabited, as the prophet Isaiah declares: “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” (Isaiah 45:18).

To appreciate the creation of the earth in Genesis 1:1—and as it is illuminated by the questions put to Job—it helps to read the rest of the creation narrative carefully. When we examine the account of the six days, we notice something striking: there is no record of God creating dry land, water, or darkness during those six days. These elements appear to be already present when the six days begin.

This suggests that the earth was not an empty void when God began His six days of work; rather, it lay in a formless, unordered state—covered with water and darkness—awaiting His creative touch. There is a long and respected tradition within evangelical and Pentecostal interpretation—often called the “gap” or “restoration” reading—that understands Genesis 1:1 as the original, perfect creation, and the six days as God’s re-ordering of an earth that had fallen into the formless and void condition of verse 2. This is the reading followed in this book; honesty requires me to add that other faithful interpreters understand verse 2 to describe the initial, unformed state of the one creation rather than a later ruin. Either way, the same glorious truth stands: God brings order out of formlessness and beauty out of emptiness.⁶³

It is worth pausing on Isaiah’s wording. The prophet says God did not create the earth in vain—and the Hebrew word there (tohu) is the very word rendered “without form” in Genesis 1:2. On the restoration reading, this is significant: God did not create the earth in the tohu state in which Genesis 1:2 finds it; He formed it to be inhabited. Understanding this deepens our appreciation for the purposeful way God orchestrated His work. Day by day—speaking light, separating the waters, forming the land—He was bringing order, beauty, and life. This showcases not only His sovereignty but His power to bring order from disorder. We will examine this in detail in chapter six.⁶⁴

God created the universe and the earth so good and so beautiful that the angels loved it and shouted for joy. The earth was filled with living creatures. It was beautiful.

So God created the earth, with mountains and valleys, oceans and rivers. It teemed with living creatures—animals, the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air. And God made His own garden on the earth, the garden of God called Eden. We should distinguish this from the garden in which Adam and Eve later lived, for Scripture says God planted a garden eastward in Eden (Genesis 2:8); the garden Adam tended lay to the east of Eden, the garden of God.⁶⁵

In the garden of God, the living creatures enjoyed His presence. And the cherub later called Lucifer was also in Eden before his fall, as Ezekiel describes: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezekiel 28:13–14). We will consider Lucifer and his rebellion in detail in the chapters to come.⁶⁶

The originally created earth, then, had a garden and living creatures, and everything was perfect and beautiful for a span of time. Scripture does not tell us how long—whether days, or thousands, or millions of years; we simply are not told, and we should be content not to know what God has not revealed.

Yahweh chose to reveal and manifest Himself as the Word, and the Word, in the beginning, created the heaven and its living creatures and the earth with its living creatures. In doing so He unveiled His attributes: that He is the Creator, that He is God, glorious, wonderful, beautiful, and perfect—and that His creation is beautiful and perfect, declaring His praise.

“O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:9).