The more you read a book like Genesis, the more you must admit that the Bible is really a record of God’s movements; it is the history of God. You cannot say that the record in Genesis is merely a record of mankind. While it is a record of mankind, it is not primarily such. Genesis is primarily a record of God, then of man. Without God there would be no way for man to be here. God is the Initiator; He is the beginning. Then man came into existence from God. Therefore, if Genesis is a record of man, it must certainly be even more the record of God.
GOD’S INTENTION TO HAVE MAN FOR HIS EXPRESSION
In the previous chapter we saw God in eternity. That was the origin of His history. He did not come from anywhere, because He is self-existing. We have no human words to explain this. He has no parents, no genealogy, no origin (Heb. 7:3). But when He was there in eternity past, He began to move. We saw in chapter 1 that He first began to form an economy, to make an arrangement, according to His heart’s desire for His good pleasure. That was the beginning of His move. Then, in that move there was a council among the three of the Godhead—among the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—and a strong determination was made. He wanted to have mankind so that He could have an organism to express Him, represent Him, and even be one with Him. This organism would be His enlargement, His increase. The Bible shows us that eventually after God moves so much throughout all the centuries, the New Jerusalem will come forth. The New Jerusalem is God’s enlargement, as Eve was Adam’s enlargement. Since God as the very substance of the New Jerusalem is embodied in Christ the Lamb and since the New Jerusalem is called the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9), it is absolutely right to say that the New Jerusalem is the enlargement of God.
GOD ENTERING INTO TIME THROUGH CREATION
After God formed His economy and determined to create man and to have Christ, the second of the Trinity, die an all-inclusive, vicarious death, God walked out of eternity and entered into time by means of creation. Creation is a matter in time. This was God’s first step into time. Time began with God’s creation.
When God created, He created the heavens with the angels, the stars, and the heavenly bodies first. He also created the earth with all the things upon it. Then one of His creatures, the chief archangel, became rebellious, and God judged him. This angel became God’s enemy. Hence, in God’s history which exists in time, God first had an enemy due to a rebellion. Because there was a rebellion, the heavens and the earth were polluted, and God therefore judged not only Satan but also the heavens and the earth. The heavens and the earth became devastated, and the whole universe became darkness.
This is what is mentioned in Genesis 1:2. Verse 1 concerns the preadamic age, but our age begins in verse 2. Genesis 1:2 says, “But the earth became waste and emptiness, and darkness was on the surface of the deep.” The word but at the beginning of verse 2 indicates that verse 2 is an additional event. It does not mean that verse 2 is an explanation of verse 1. Verse 1 includes all the matters that we have covered in the previous chapters. Then after verse 1 more things happened: “But the earth became waste and emptiness.” Isaiah 45:18 says that God did not create the earth as a waste, but here in Genesis 1:2 we read that the earth became waste and emptiness. This indicates that after the earth was created, it was judged by God. The judgment came because of Satan’s rebellion. Genesis 1:2 also says that darkness was on the surface of the deep. The deep indicates deep water; hence, darkness was on the deep water. In the Bible darkness and death frequently go together (Job 10:21-22; Isa. 9:2; Luke 1:79). We may even say that darkness is a sign of death. This was the situation of our earth under God’s judgment. It became waste and emptiness, and darkness, implying death, was on the deep water.