In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The first sentence of the Bible — and everything that follows starts here.
The episode in a glance.
- 01'In the beginning' — time itself starts with God.
- 02'God created' — he is the maker, not part of what's made.
- 03'The heavens and the earth' — everything physical and spiritual.
- 04This verse answers the question 'why is there something?'
Read along.
Genesis 1:1 — 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' Ten words. Three of them are 'and.' And yet this sentence launches the entire Bible.
'In the beginning' means before anything else, there was God. Not a vacuum. Not chaos. God. Time itself begins here. That means God is not inside time the way we are. He made it.
'God created' — the verb is active. He didn't find the world. He made it. That makes him the owner, the author, and the one who gets to define what it's for.
'The heavens and the earth' is ancient Hebrew for 'everything.' Physical stuff. Spiritual stuff. Visible and invisible. All of it comes from God, exists because of God, and moves toward God's purposes.
Every other question in the Bible — who are we, why do we suffer, how are we saved — rests on this foundation. There is a Creator. He made everything. And he made it on purpose.