Heavens, Earth and Everything

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

What exactly did God create? How much of everything did He create? An impression is sometimes given, by those who want to accept long, deep timescales, that there is much in the universe, which is just going on and on, and has gone on since eternity past.

The Bible states that God created the heavens and the earth. The phrase “heavens and earth” is a special type of Hebrew construction, called a merism. We actually use a similar construction in English.

When I lived in England, we had a house with a small footprint, but three floors. If I lost something, I might say that I had searched the house high and low. In giving that phrase, I did not mean that I had searched the first floor and the third floor, but missed out the second floor. The phrase high and low includes the middle floor. In the same way, the phrase the heavens and the earth includes the highest heaven, and the lowest part of Earth, and everything in between.

The closest English word that we have to this concept is universe. God created the whole universe. He created everything that there is. There is nothing created that was and is not part of what God created. Earth is the planet, on which we stand. Heavens suggests the farthest points into space away from where we are. “Heavens and earth” is a phrase that includes these, and everything else as well.

Prayer:
Lord God, we are amazed when we consider Your greatness as Creator. Everything in the heavens and the earth has come from You, and we are thankful and full of praise.

Notes:
Kulikovsky, A.S. (2000), Unbinding the Rules: A review of John Sailhamer, Genesis Unbound, Journal of Creation 14(3):35–38 December 2000, , retrieved 02/22/2017
Image: Adobe Stock Photos, licensed to author