Genesis 1:1—From God’s Perspective

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (1:1)

Looking down from heaven as it were, what did God see?

This is a trick question!

The ‘Big Bang’ theory postulates that all of the evidence available still supports the view that out of a void the universe was born. Scientists extrapolating back in time are led to the omega point. The omega point is the point of infinity. Infinity is more than an empty void; it is eternal nothingness. It is not possible for the finite mortal mind to conceive anything beyond this point, but there is one exception: God. God is the one human conception of a being that exists in nothingness. The human mind is capable of conceiving of such a being performing creative acts like themselves do. From idea to product, this being called God creates nature and its universe. This real logical but analogical conclusion derives from human experience. It is how human minds perceive a being in nothingness create out of nothing all that is. If it were not for real human experience of this being, God would merely exist as a mental construct projected beyond the omega point into the eternal abyss of nothingness. Like in the past, the revelation of God’s existence and care for humanity is still something humans experience is a variety of ways. Contrary to modern views, revelation is not merely something believed. It is what people experience that continues to verify and validate past revelatory experience as true and relevant today.

Returning to the question, if the universe—space and time—was created within the realm infinite nothingness and the eternal Creator was its designer and maker, God maybe saw a black empty void. Did heaven exist in which God dwelt? Some Jewish scholars believe the universe is like a compartment that is separated from the realm of God’s eternal existence. Maybe that compartment is the third heaven of ancient and modern theology, the original place of eternity. It is also possible, even likely, that that place as we morals understand it is an irrelevant misnomer to God. Even though God has accommodated human need, or at least ancient human need, for a localized Deity, God made it clear to the Israelites that He does not dwell in places of human making. A temple is not capable of containing His being. It is written, heaven my throne and earth is my footstool. (Isa. 66:1) Therefore, God is bigger than the universe. He reclines on heaven and rests His feet on earth. This either means the divine being fills the entire universe (in theology it is called omnipresence) or it means God’s nature is such place and time are not applicable, and maybe its meaning encompasses both.

I am not aware of any scripture that claims anything existed before God began to create the world, which included angels. A sage wrote, “I, wisdom dwell with prudence.... The Lord possessed me at the beginning of is way, before His works of old.” (Pro. 8:12, 22) The personification of Wisdom existing before that point is a creative, literary convention employed to describe of a personal quality of the Creator. According to the orthodox interpretation for the first chapter of John’s gospel, the son of God preexisted as co-creator of the universe. “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with the God, and the Logos was god, the same was in the beginning with the God. And the Logos was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father.” (1:1-2, 14) The potential problem with the orthodox interpretation is that the Logos, like Wisdom, is a part of God. Logos is an idea. Here it is the manifestation of a specific idea of God. The universe is the reality of an idea expressed by God. Because it was a part of God, that Logos is divine or god. As mentioned in a previous post, David Bohm’s concept of a blueprint existing in every past of nature and guiding every part to create all that exists and can exist is very similar to the meaning of Logos as co-creator. Like wisdom as co-creator, Logos as co-creator is a literary convention personifying a characteristic of a person. A counter-problem of this unorthodox view comes in verse 14, which claims the Logos became a human person. Because the person referred to is obviously Jesus of Nazareth, the orthodox interpretation is apparently correct. There are those who interpret it differently. Some regard Jesus as the embodiment of the Logos, but not as the preexisting Logos. The Logos became embodied by being created in the virgin womb by God. Before a valid decision can be made about which interpretation is the most accurate and true, the entire context of both John’s gospel, its historical and cultural context plus the rest of scripture must be consulted before a true and accurate understanding is possible, which beyond the scope of this short article. Apart from question whether or not the Logos was the eternal preexisting son of God is the right interpretation, the divine Logos is a part of who the eternal God is and did in creating the universe. Therefore, it preexisted.

The answer to the question, “what did God see when He began creating the universe,” is this: God saw himself. Like a master builder, the eternal Creator envisioned His plan. His expression of it created the original energy that housed the plan just as DNA is housed in the nucleus of a living cell. From that speck of energy, the universe exploded into existence creating a void in which to expand and develop the Creator’s ideal.

As it says in Genesis One, “God saw that it was good.” If God was pleased, it must have been awesome for other created beings—angels—to have witnessed this incredible act of God. It had to be much more impressive than a great display of fireworks, or the terrifying magnitude of a shock and awe bombing of a nation, or even the explosive glory of the birth of a star. Of course, that is if other beings existed at that time.