The Creation of the World

(this lesson put together by R. J. Coover)

Greetings. This is just a little study to see if we TRULY believe the Scriptures. Have your copy of the Word handy. Read Genesis 1:1. Do we believe this? Another question would be, "Do we believe the Psalms?" Read Psalm 24:1-2. If you are still not convinced, read John 1:3. The word "Him" here, is referring to Yahshua. How do we explain that? In Genesis and Psalms, It tells us that Yahweh made the world; in John, It tells us that Yahshua made the world. There is an answer right in the book of John. John 10:30 - "I and My Father are One." Turn back to Genesis. As you will notice, after Yahweh finished creating plants, animals, etc., in Genesis 1:26 It says, "And Yahweh said, 'Let Us make man in Our Image, after Our Likeness:...' " Who was He talking to? I think it is safe to say that He was talking to Yahshua. There our Saviour is, in the Torah.

Do we truly believe the account of creation? Read verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31. They speak of "first day", "fifth day", etc. According to the Torah, Yahweh created the world in one literal week.

Let us look at the pattern of things here. Read verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31 again. Notice "the evening and the morning" pattern. Scripturally, the new day starts at sundown. Evening comes first.

Speaking of the pattern of things, let us read Genesis 2:1-3. On what day did our Elohim rest? The seventh. Would it have made sense for Him to rest on the first day, before He started His Work, and then to work from Day 2 through Day 7? I do not think so.

Read Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1. Do these verses tell us that Yahshua rose on the first of the week? No. They tell us that his friends came to his grave on the first of the week. It would be logical to conclude that He rose on the Sabbath, and thus was not there when they came around early morning on the first of the week.

Read John 20:19. Were the disciples gathered for a "service"? No. They were gathered together... "for fear of the Jews".

Something interesting to notice is what the days of the week were called. Look at Genesis 1:23 for an example. "And the evening and the morning were Thursday." No! Of course it doesn't say that! Break "Thursday" into two parts. Thurs day. Add an apostrophe. Thur's day. The day of Thur, or Thor, the god of thunder. That is the origin of the the title "Thursday". The other days of the week and many of the months, have similar kinds of names. We would be much better to says "fifth month", "second day", etc. See Luke 24:1 for another example.

No let us talk a bit about the creation of mankind. Notice how the male was made in Genesis 2:7 - out of the dust. Notice how the female was formed in Genesis 2:22 - out of a rib. This world teaches us that men and women are equal. However, we know that this is not true. Yahweh even made them diferent!

Marriage was instituted in the Torah. See Genesis 2:24. Yahshua used the Torah. In Matthew 19:4-5, He refers to Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24. Marriage is a joining of two people, a "becoming one". Husbands and wives are supposed to be very close. See Genesis 2:23.

Our last verse for today will be Genesis 2:25. Here dwells no sin. The devil has not yet corrupted mankind. Picture it! Two people, a perfect man and woman, dwelling together in a beautiful garden. Paradise. Heavenly. Perfect.

The Creation - by James Weldon Johnson
(copied from "Of Places Literature" by "A Beka Book")  This poem is an expression of the creation account as a black preacher might retell it. ....

And [Yahweh] stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said:
I'm lonely —
I'll make me a world.
And as far as the eye of [Yahweh] could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.
Then [Yahweh] smiled,
And the light broke,
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And [Yahweh] said: That's good!
Then [Yahweh] reached out and took the light in His hands,
And [Yahweh] rolled the light in His hands
Until He made the sun;
And He set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
[Yahweh] gathered it up in a shining ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world;
And [Yahweh] said: That's good!
Then [Yahweh] Himself stepped down —
And the sun was on His right hand,
And the moon was on His left;
The stars were clustered about His head,
And the earth was under His feet.
And [Yahweh] walked, and where He trod
His footsteps hollowed the valleys out
And bulged the mountains up.
Then He stopped and saw
That the earth was hot and barren.
So [Yahweh] stepped over to the edge of the world
And He spat out the seven seas —
He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed —
He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled —
And the waters above the earth came down.
Then the green grass sprouted,
And the little red flowers blossomed,
The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
the lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
And the rivers ran down in the sea;
And [Yahweh] smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around His shoulder.
Then [Yahweh] raised His arm and waved His hand,
Over the sea and over the land,
And He said: Bring forth! Bring forth!
And quicker than [Yahweh] could drop His hand,
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And [Yahweh] said: That's good!
Then [Yahweh] walked around,
And [Yahweh] looked around
On all that He had made.
He looked at his sun,
And He looked at His moon,
And He looked at His little stars;
He looked on His world
With all its living things,
And [Yahweh] said: I'm lonely still.
Then [Yahweh] sat down —
On the side of a hill where He could think;
By a deep, wide river He sat down;
With His head in His hands,
[Yahweh] thought and thought,
Till He thought: I'll make me a man!
Up from the bed of the river
[Yahweh] scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled Him down;
And there the great [Elohim] Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of His hand;
This great [Yahweh],
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till He shaped it in His Own Image;
Then into it He blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.

Meet The Author
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), born in Jacksonville, Florida, was a poet and lawyer. He was the first Black admitted to the Florida bar since reconstruction days and was a spokesman for his race. He edited The Book of Negro Poetry and made several collections of spirituals. He is probably best known for [Yahweh's] Trombones, a collection of seven free-verse sermons from which the preceding selection was taken.