Wednesday, August 2, 2017

The Origin of the Universe in Chiastic Form


Day 1 (1:2 – 5)

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.[1]

Day 1 of the creation week is the very beginning of all things. It is where God determined to express His creativity in a physical universe. It is interesting to note that the term universe is comprised of two root words: uni (one) and verse (spoken sentence). When working together the term universe means “single spoken sentence” which is exactly how Genesis 1 unfolds. God’s architectural blueprint for Day 1 reveals a chiastic parallelism:

                        A. Space and time.

                                    B. Heaven (God’s throne).

                                                C. The angelic beings (the hosts of Heaven).

                                    B. Earth (God’s footstool).

                        A. Light and motion.

At the very beginning of creation we see that God has set up and established His throne forever. Everything begins and remains with God on the throne. This gives us great security and freedom because we know that God is in control and orchestrating the events of each day in the Genesis account. This first week represents every week of our lives and gives us reason to trust in the sovereign hand of God in every circumstance that comes our way.




[1] Gen. 1:2-5; ESV, 1

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