The Beginning Genesis 1:1-31; 2:7-9

Some people think the world began by accident.

But the book of Genesis in the Bible tells us that God created the heavens and the earth.

The word “create” means to cause something to be The word “create” means to cause something to be. It’s making something that was not here before, something that didn’t exist!

In the very beginning, what did God start with? Nothing! There was only darkness.

Imagine nothing but darkness— no movement, no sounds, no colors, no light.

Then God spoke. His voice boomed out through the empty darkness…

“LET THERE BE LIGHT!” And there was light!

God separated the light from the darkness and called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

But the world wasn’t finished yet. There was more God wanted to do!

The second day God said, “Let there be a firmament (or sky) in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

The sky was more than the blue sky above us; God stretched layers of gases and water around the earth to make an atmosphere humans could live in.

So now there was light and sky and an atmosphere surrounding the earth. But every BIT of the planet itself was WATER. There was MUCH MORE God wanted to do!

So on the third day God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.”

When the water gathered into seas… mountains and hills and islands appeared! There was still a LOT of water—and it made rivers and lakes and creeks.

Genesis 1:11 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”

Genesis 1:12 “And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind…”

Genesis 1:12 “…and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13. And the evening and the morning were the third day.”

Genesis 1:16 tells us what God did on the fourth day. “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”

And God looked at the beautiful planet and saw how good it was And God looked at the beautiful planet and saw how good it was. It was JUST RIGHT.

It was a beautiful, perfect planet, except that it was EMPTY It was a beautiful, perfect planet, except that it was EMPTY! There was no sound or movement in all those lakes and seas, forests and fields and prairies.

What do you think was missing? It was totally silent. What do you think was missing? What do you think the world would be like without birds or fish or animals?

So on the fifth day, God created fish and sea life in the rivers and oceans below and all kinds of birds to fly in the sky above.

And on the sixth day God created animals And on the sixth day God created animals. God said, “Let there be all kinds of animals—big ones…

…and little ones and all sizes in between …and little ones and all sizes in between. And let them roam all over the earth.” And roam all over the earth they did—walruses and wallabies, iguanas and ibexes!

Genesis 1:27 tell us what else God did on the sixth day. Now this was all very wonderful—but there was something else God wanted to create. Genesis 1:27 tell us what else God did on the sixth day.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him…”

“…male and female created he them.”

The first people, Adam and Eve, were different from everything else God had created. God lovingly created people to care for all that He had created.

More than that, God created people to love Him and to be loved by Him.

The Bible tells us that people were created in the image of God—that is, people are like God in some important ways.

We are different from animals because we are able to choose between right and wrong, to read and write and make new things ourselves.

Nothing else God created can do these things in the same way.

Best of all, people would be able to talk with God and know Him Best of all, people would be able to talk with God and know Him. Day and night people could pray and know that God would hear them.

That’s what made people the most amazing part of all God’s wonderful creation— they could know God!

God was happy with His creation. And what about the seventh day? On the seventh day God rested from the work of creating the world. God was happy with His creation.

The world was off to a perfect start! He said it was VERY GOOD. The world was off to a perfect start!

God made everything in our universe! He made every animal, star and water drop.

He gave us all the good things we need to help us live, from things to eat and drink to the thing that help us stay warm enough and cool enough. All of the things God made are His good gifts to us, He provides all we need.

Psalm 23:1 tells us that God is like a shepherd who takes care of his sheep.

God is always watching out for us. He gives us everything we need.

When you see a thank-you card, remember that the most important person to thank is our great God. He gives us EVERYTHING!

Connecting Kids To

“In the beginning” opens the Book of Genesis. The phrase, “In the beginning” opens the Book of Genesis.

It also opens the Book of John in the New Testament.

John says that the Word made all things. The Bible says, without Him nothing was made that has been made.

“the Word became flesh.” Earth’s great Creator came as a human, Jesus! But then it tells us the “the Word became flesh.” Earth’s great Creator came as a human, Jesus!

He died to take the punishment for our sins so that we could live with him forever—

because He loves us!