"In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1 KJV).

"Beginning" here means the beginning of time and shows that the universe had a definite origin.  The Old Testament never tries to prove that God exists.  The opening sentence of the Bible is presented as a statement of truth to be received with unquestioned faith.  His existence is to be accepted as a fact to be believed. God called all things into being by the spoken word of His power.  He spoke and worlds were formed. "By faith -- by believing God -- we know that the world and the stars -- in fact, all things -- were made at God's command; and that they were all made from things that can't be seen." (Hebrews ll:3 NLB).

"In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1 KJV).  "Heavens and earth" means the whole universe and we cannot but believe that these creations were perfect and beautiful in every way.  They had to reflect the handiwork of their creator and on the morning of its creation must have been vastly different from the conditions described in Genesis 1:2 KJV, "And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."  Some terrible catastrophe must have happened between these two verses.

Some believe that this catastrophe may have been connected with the rebellion and punishment of Satan.  They purpose that the earth was created and designed to be the habitation of God's first sinless angelic creatures.  The sinless earth was evidently the place where sin began when Satan and his angels revolted against God.  They believe that Satan was created as the most beautiful of all the angels and his pride caused him to elevate himself above God.

Because of Satan's actions God sentenced him and his followers to be removed from the earth and gave him a place to rule called hell.  In hell he would be eternally separated from God.  This revolt by Satan and his angels caused God to destroy the earth that he had created for them to inhabit and leave it in utter ruin-"without form and void". 

Regardless of the reason, there seems to have been some kind of catastrophic disturbance that completely destroyed the earth and left a chaotic mass of wasteness and emptiness covered by darkness.

However, the Spirit of God was brooding over the waters, showing that God had not utterly forsaken and forgotten the earth, ruined by the sin of former angelic inhabitants. It is from this condition that God begins to refashion the earth and shaping it as we know it today. 

What is found in the remainder of Genesis 1 refers not to the original creation but to the restoration of that which had fallen into ruins. We do not know what interval of time elapsed between Genesis 1:1 and the time the earth "became" a ruin.  However this unknown interval between the first two verses is wide enough to provide for all the prehistoric ages which may have elapsed.

There are three basic questions that must be answered when we consider the subject of creation:

WHO created the universe?

WHEN was it created?

HOW was it created?

Only the first of these questions is answered in the biblical account of creation.  It is the ringing affirmation "God created the Heavens and the earth".  When and how this was accomplished are questions that will be discussed until the end of time.  As far as the Christian is concerned, it matters very little whether this occurred four thousand or four billion years ago.  The important thing is to believe that "in the beginning God created".  (Genesis 1:3 thru 2:4).

You will note that God spoke and creation took place.  Also, you will notice that the phrase "and it was good" follows each of Gods created works.  We believe that God did His work in six twenty-four hour periods called days.  These periods of time could be billions of years and as long as we attribute the work to God nothing really changes.  However, for this study we will stick with a day being a twenty four hour period.

Day 1. Genesis 1:3-5 KJV, "And God said let there be light and there was light."   God separated the light and darkness and called them day and night.

Day 2. Genesis 1:6-8 KJV, "And God said, Let there be firmament".... and the Heavens appeared.

Day 3. Genesis 1:9-13 KJV, "And God said, Let the waters under the Heavens be collected in one place, and let the dry land appear"... and the land appeared.  He called the land, Earth and the waters, Seas. Then He created sea and plant life.

Day 4. Genesis 1:14-19 KJV, "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the Heaven to divide the day from the night" and He allowed the Sun, the Moon and the Stars to shine through the mist and haze that covered the earth.

Day 5. Genesis 1:20-23 KJV, "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly and swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly over the earth in the open expanse of the Heavens." .... and the Sea life and Birds appeared.

Day 6. Genesis 1:24-31 KJV,  "And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: ..and it was so.  And God saw that they were good and He approved them." After each day's creation, God looked at the things He created and the Scriptures tell us that He was pleased.

At this point I believe God sat back and looked at His handiwork with great pleasure.   However, there was no one with whom God could share this beautiful creation.  Neither was there anyone to rule over the land and all of the living creatures.  So "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beast, and over all the earth and over every thing that creeps upon the earth.  .... So God created man in His own image."  (Genesis 2:7 KJV).

He placed man in a garden and provided for His every need.  God loved the man that He created in His own image and wanted man to return that love and enjoy this lovely creation with Him.  God realized that man would need a helpmate and someone with whom he could share this beautiful paradise.  So God created woman. (Genesis 2:18-25).  He took a rib from man and from it fashioned the woman and breathed breath into her. The institution of marriage was instituted when God gave Adam a mate to form a holy union and they become one flesh.  (Ephesians 5:31-33).

At the end of the sixth day, God sat back and looked over all of his creations and was very pleased and approved of all that He had created.  "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good and He approved it completely." (Genesis 1:31 KJV).

Day 7. Genesis 2:1-3 KJV, "And on the seventh day God ended His work...and He rested ...And God blessed the seventh day, set it apart as His own".  Thus giving us the sabbath day.

The Old Testament Sabbath was honored on the seventh day (Exodus 20:9- 11).  In the New Testament, the Sabbath was celebrated on the first day of the week because that was the day that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the tomb where He was buried. 

Christians celebrated this event by coming together on the first day of the week for worship.  Today we still follow that example of worshiping on Sunday, which is our sabbath.

Man chose to disobey God and was punished and forced to leave the Garden of Eden. 

This was the Fall of Man.  Chapter 3