When Did Time Begin? "In the beginning God..." The "beginning?" When was that? Only God himself  is eternal so it is reasonable to think "the beginning" refers to the beginning of TIME, a dimension like a window in the midst of eternity. What did He do? He "created the heavens and the earth" but what does that mean? The stars weren't made until the fourth day, so what happened?

It's sort of like when you begin a construction project. What do you start with? Basic materials, of course, like lumber, nails and paint. But what raw materials did God provide first? ATOMS? What are they? The building blocks of all physical reality, atoms are composed essentially of three things:

NOTICE the words of Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning [right at the start]  GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS."  Look it up, and you'll find the original Hebrew word for heavens there is SHAMAYIM. It simply means stretched out space!  Think ! God even had to make the empty space in which to put everything.  Then what?  "God created...the earth."  The original word there for earth is ERETS (Hebrew for "earth") which simply means the dirt or MATTER from which everything else is made, but it was not . yet as we see it today. So what was the condition of these RAW MATERIALS in the beginning? God says they were...

"without form and void."  Think ! When you take the blocks and build something. THEN you have "form." Before that the MATTER was without form. The physical structure of matter had apparently not yet been organized and the earth was truly empty (void) of the things that were necessary for life. Also we read that "the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Was this H,0 water? Since there was not yet "form" in created matter, it might be more correct to call it "fluid." Beginning with Genesis 1:3 we see God developing a logical sequence of creative acts to change the "without form and void" condition of the earth.  Try to imagine formlessness.....

 

 

Try to imagine formlessness

And then, in that same creative instant, God Said:

"Let There Be Light!"

Light includes the entire electromagnetic spectrum,
not just the narrow band of color we "see."  From short
wave gamma rays, to long radio waves, electromagnetic
radiation includes a vast range of frequencies spanning
at least 75 octaves.  Visible light occupies only one 
octave of this range.  So what do we now have?

energy

Is this not the third aspect of all physical things?
At the instant that matter was energized, basic elements
took on specific form.  Particles were now in motion
and operating in TIME.

Think!  When physical matter ceases to be, time
shall be no more.  In a very simple, yet profoundly
scientific way, the Genesis account of God's first creative
act logically defines the basis of all physical reality:

Space, Matter & Energy

But there's more!  Electromagnetic energy is at the heart
of all physical matter.  Atoms are held together by complex
electric and magnetic forces, providing form and
structure to the universe.  All chemical elements took
form when God said "Let there be light!" He initiated the
physical laws that govern all forms of matter.

One of the mysteries of creation is the amount of 
energy "locked up" in the atoms.  Man has been able to
release some of the energy for use in atomic power
plants and atom bombs, but think of the total amount
of energy required to put together all the physical
matter in the universe.  For lack of clear evidence, some
materialistic thinkers have theorized that there must be
an invisible thing they call "gluons" to hold it all together.
It seems a miracle of "science" that the structure of
every atom in the universe doesn't fly apart.

Scientist once used the "Cloud Model" to depict the atom.  Now
they realize the atom is far more complex than they first
imagined.  The simplified "Planetary Model" was popular for
most of the 20th century.  The recently developed" Lucas
Model" has no orbiting electrons, permitting the atom to remain
stable with electric and electromagnetic forces in equilibrium.

What Does the Bible Say?

"...all things were created by
 Him (Jesus) and for Him;
And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist
(or hold together)."
Colossians 1:16,17

 

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