Genesis 1:2

Genesis 1:2

We should be sure we understand both Nature and Scripture before we pronounce certainly on their agreement or disagreement, and it can hardly be said that either is quite understood. To attempt to reconcile all the expressions in this chapter with the details of science is a mistake. It has certain true things to declare, facts of nature which have a religious bearing, and are a needed introduction to the revelation which follows; and these facts it presents in the poetic form natural to the East, and most suited to impress all kinds of readers. The "six days" are fit stages in a poetical account of the great evolution, even as a play acted in a few hours represents the events of years. Three great lessons are impressed in this chapter: (1) that God is the Maker of heaven and earth; (2) that by means of His operation on dead and formless matter the order and beauty of the varied and living world were produced; (3) that the change was gradual. The Spirit of God brought order and development to the material world. We cannot see the Intelligence, the Mind which directs the works of nature; but it is equally true that we cannot see them in the works of man. It is truer to say that the Invisible Mind, the unseen Spirit of God, moved upon the formless earth and brought it to its present ordered form, than to say it happened so. The Spirit of God moved, i.e.,brooded as a bird over her young. This indicates the quiet, untiring ways in which God works in the heavens and the earth. The Spirit of God must bring order and development (1) to the spiritual world, (2) to the individual soul. The Spirit of God must move or brood upon the worse than darkness of sinful and godless hearts.

T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons,p. 1.

References: Genesis 1:2 R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains,p. 88; Sermons for the Christian Seasons,2nd Series, vol. ii., p. 593; R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons,p. 237; Bishop H. Browne, OldTestament Outlines,p. 2; A. P. Stanley, Good Words(1875), p. 273; B. Waugh, Sunday Magazine(1887), p. 63.Genesis 1:3 A. P. Stanley, Church Sermons,vol. i., p. 171 (see also Old Testament Outlines,p. 3); B. Waugh, Sunday Magazine(1887), p. 61.Genesis 1:4. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxi., No. 1252; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning,p. 5; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,pp. 5, 192; Parker, Pulpit Notes,p. 148; Christian World Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 113.