Creating “the form” and filling “the void.”

Genesis 1:1-2 makes a peculiar statement.  It says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep;”.  Have you ever considered how God created the "form” and filled the "void?”

Let’s look at each of these words, 'form" and "void."

Taking a close look at the first chapter of Genesis we can see that the Holy Spirit provides an ingenious literary structure.  The six days of creation are divided into two sets of three days.

1. In the first three days, God created forms;
2. In the second three days God filled the forms.

There also must be noted a deliberate correspondence between days one and four; two and five; three and six.  Now, let's look at all of this more carefully.

Creating the Form
In the first three days God created “form.” What is "form"?

• Time:  On the first day, God separated light from darkness, creating day and night, and thus time.
• Space:  On the second day, God created sea and sky, thus He was marking divisions of space.
• Life:  On the third day, God created the dry land and filled it with all vegetation, which was the beginning of biological life.

Filling the Void
In the second three days God “filled” the void in the following way:

• “Rulers” of time:  “Time” is given Order.  There is a rule and cycle to time.  On the fourth day, God created the stars, the sun, and the moon to “rule” or give order and method to the day and night and to mark the seasons and days and years.  This “filled” time in this way to help us know that “time” has purpose and meaning.
• “Rulers” of space:  On the first day, God created sea creatures and birds to fill the sea and sky.  Life occupies space.
• “Rulers” of life:  On the sixth day, God created the animals and humans to fill the dry land.

In the six days God laid a sure and lasting foundation.  He established in this His Natural Law which remains firm and absolute to this very day.  This is God's "Divine Design" that is the fabric of His unshakeable faithfulness to His covenantal promises to us and all creation.

As believers we stand upon this sure and lasting foundation.  We build our life and help build society upon God’s sure and lasting foundation.  This is the very DNA of creation.

God rested on the Seventh Day, and made this Day holy.  The Seventh Day, or Sabbath, becomes the doorway to the Eighth Day.  With the Eighth Day a New Day has dawned, which is the Day of Christ's Resurrection.

The seventh day completes the first creation. The eighth day begins the new creation.  God amazing work of creation and all of its mystery, including all that we yet to know about reaches culmination in the greater work of Christ’s Redemption. The first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ.  Redemption even surpasses the beauty of the first creation!