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. v2

Here we have the first of the many and’s (waw). This is where the idea of a headline statement in v1 is helpful, yet needs tempering. Verse 1 is not an isolated statement. It is very much part of the unfolding story which beginning in v1 will run through to ch 2:3. So part of the work of this first day was to create the physical earth as is clear from v2. The work of creating the things in the heavens lies forward to day 4. But still lying within this 7-day envelope of “the beginning.” The description of the earth is very important.

• Without form – had no features, no hills or valleys
• Void – devoid of life
• Dark
• Covered in water.

Six days later it was transformed.

• It had hills and valleys, clad with trees, shrubs and grasses
• It was teeming with life on land, in the sea, in the air
• It had sunlight and moonlight
• It had dry land and sea

That’s what the rest of the chapter is going to detail, this amazing transformation!

We are introduced to the spirit of God which moved upon the face of the waters. Movement to and fro seems to be the picture. Ready for action. We don’t have space here to look at the amazing building blocks that God used to construct all matter – the atoms and the electrical forces (the spirit-power of God) that holds them together. Another article maybe!