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Devotions from Gospel Chapel Ministries HOME SERMONS SERMON NOTES
GOD SAID IT AND IT HAPPENED
With the help of the Lord, this study on the Book of Genesis will make applications for all ages. The first question that comes to our mind for children and adults alike is -- what is the difference between creating and making something? Men can make many things. A look around us will bring all sorts of things to mind. Suppose a man is capable of making a box, but he is locked in an empty room and will not be allowed to leave until he makes the box. Would he ever come out? No, he had no materials or tools with which to make anything. When you make something, you need the components to make it. God is called the Creator because when He created the world, he formed it from nothing. That is the difference between making and creating something.
How did God create the world and all the things in it? He created them out of nothing; He had no substance from which to make them. We need to remember the very first thing God did. GEN 1:1-2 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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." That means that when God first created the substance of earth, there was no shape or form to anything. There was dirt and water, but everything was all mixed together; there was no form.
When God works the new creation in our hearts, the first thing needed is the work of the Holy Spirit. When we are still in sin, we are like the void before the earth was formed. The Holy Spirit moves upon our hearts as He did "upon the face of the waters" to give us a new desire.
What was the next thing that happened? GEN 1:3 says, "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." God did not have a substance from which to make light. God created light; He said it, and it happened. We must understand this distinction between making and creating, or we will never really understand the whole Bible. God’s Word has so much power and so much authority that He just had to speak, "Let there be light," and light existed. GEN 1:4-5 says, "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."
The next thing created by God is described in GEN 1:6-8. "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day." The sky was formed, and the waters became a separate entity. He did it by the authority and power of His Word. He only spoke the Word, and it was done.
Then we see in verse 9, "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so." God made the water in the clouds separate from the water in the oceans. There wasn’t just water everywhere. God is so mighty, and there is so much power in His Word that when He spoke, it happened. This concept is central; it is essential to understanding the rest of the Bible. God’s Word comes with such power and authority that His command is immediately fulfilled.
"And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." GEN 1:10. God then furnished Earth with grasses, herbs, and fruit trees, each capable of reproducing themselves. In GEN 1:14, God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years." Stars, sun, moon, seasons, and time were established. In GEN 1:20-21, 24, God added the animal kingdom to the earth by the power of His Word. "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good." Verse 24 adds, "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so."
GEN 1:3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, and 26 all tell us, "God said, Let..." and it was so by speaking the Word. It is important to understand all this took place by the authority of His Word. Amen.
These on-line devotions are a ministry of Gospel Chapel located in Conrad, Montana. We also have a daily devotion. See also our sermon notes. We pray this devotion has been a blessing to those who read it. Thank you.