Was the heaven and the earth made or created? We will find out!
Up to this point in the series, I have been trying to convince you that we need to be careful about what we assume to be correct and now that becomes important.
I asked the question was the heaven and the earth created or made and that is a very important question. It matters in regards to understanding the first week of creation. There are two words used in the first chapters of Genesis and they are created (bara’) and made (a saw). Some who would like us to believe these two words are synonymous and that is because they have an agenda that needs these words to be this way. The fact is they are not. Don’t believe me! There are Hebrew scholars that will tell you this. Plus check it out for yourself. You can do this by going to BibleHub.com and doing a word search. I read the King James Bible and it is careful to use created or made when appropriate. I don’t want to spend a long time proving this but I think chapter two verse three makes it clear.
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Hebrew Create / Bara’: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/1254.htm
Hebrew Made / Asah: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6213.htm
You see the Bible wants to make it clear that God both created and made the heaven and the earth. In this very first act of God, He creates the heaven and the earth. The Hebrew word bara’ translated create has the idea of starting from nothing or as we say starting from scratch. In this case, there was nothing and then God created something. The only other thing that God creates in the creation story is souls. God creates both the souls of animals and men. Souls are not made from something they are created.
When someone creates something out of their own ambition and desire they want it to turn out right. They also take a sense of accomplishment in their work. This is no different for God as the story reveals. It is important to realize that we are God’s creation and as His creation, we have a purpose and we are loved. God could have just thrown His art in the garbage can, but He didn’t because he loves it. Check out John 3:16.
So if we just read what we have read without interjecting our opinions into the text we see that we now have both a heaven and an earth. In the Beginning, God did not create the earth and then the heaven he created both. After this initial act of creation our attention is focused on the earth were we find it without form and void.
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.
Genesis 1:2
The act of bara’ creates something that is unfinished. It then needs to be made into something or to be made to do something and here is where the narrative will go.
But there is something interesting here. If the act of creating brings forth something unfinished and God creates the soul, what does this say about the soul? It says it is a blank slate that needs to be made into something. Each of us when we were born had unfinished souls, blank slates for which a work is to be done. This is a powerful truth for parents that bring children into the world. God entrusts parents with a soul. This is a major lesson in itself, but for now, we need to consider that God wants to work with us to make our soul as beautiful as He did with the garden of Eden.
So the few things I want us to come away with from this lesson is that God creates and makes things. And at the very start, God created a heaven and an earth. He also loves that which He created. Last is that the initial act of creation needs work done to it and because we have a created soul we need to have it finished. That is the task of this life, to work with God at becoming a beautiful soul.