The Bible Gateway website recently added Warren Wiersbe’s BE Bible Study Series commentary series to its free commentaries. I’ve always appreciated his easy to understand and apply commentaries and was very excited to see this available online.
As I started reading his commentary on Genesis, he begins it in such an interesting way, I just had to share part of it with you.
One important thing to remember as you read this is that God did not create the world ,was then surprised at man’s sin, and scrambled to come up with a solution. The solution was decided before creation.
Though that is a difficult concept to wrap our minds around, it should give us confidence in the sovereign eternal control of our loving God. There is no problem in life or eternity with God does not have a solution for. Our challenge is to trust him in time.
Following is the excerpt, go to for the rest of the commentary: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201&version=NIV
Selection below from: Warren Wiersbe’s BE Bible Study Series From the Bible Gateway
Genesis 1:1
In spite of its name “Genesis,” which means “beginning,” and in spite of its position as the first book in the Bible, the book of Genesis isn’t the beginning of everything. Genesis 1:1 reminds us, “In the beginning God.” So, before we study the basics that are laid down in Genesis 1–11, let’s acquaint ourselves with what God did before what’s recorded in Genesis. After that, we’ll examine what He did that’s recorded in Genesis, and finally, what occurred after Genesis. This will give us the kind of broad overview we need to study the rest of God’s revelation in the Bible.
Before Genesis: Redemption Planned
What was happening before God spoke the universe into existence? That may seem like an impractical hypothetical question, like “How many angels can stand on the point of a pin?” but it isn’t. After all, God doesn’t act arbitrarily, and the fact that He created something suggests that He must have had some magnificent purposes in mind. What, then, was the situation before Genesis 1:1, and what does it teach us about God and ourselves?
God existed in sublime glory. God is eternal; He has neither beginning nor ending. Therefore, He is totally self-sufficient and needs nothing more than Himself in order to exist or to act. “God has a voluntary relation to everything He has made,” wrote A. W. Tozer, “but He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself.” God needs nothing, neither the material universe nor the human race, and yet He created both.
If you want something to boggle your mind, meditate on the concept of the eternal, that which has neither beginning nor ending. As creatures of time, you and I can easily focus on the transient things around us, but it’s difficult if not impossible to conceive of that which is eternal. Contemplating the nature and character of the triune God who always was, always is, and always will be, and who never changes, is a task that overwhelms us. “In the beginning God.”
. . . . . .
The divine Trinity planned redemption. The wonderful plan of redemption wasn’t a divine afterthought, for God’s people were chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4; see Rev. 17:8) and given by the Father to the Son both to belong to His kingdom (Matt. 25:34) and to share His glory (John 17:2, 6, 9, 11-12, 24). The sacrificial death of the Son wasn’t an accident, it was an appointment (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28), for He was “slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).
In the counsels of eternity, the Godhead determined to create a world that would include humans made in the image of God. The Father was involved in creation (Gen. 1:1; 2 Kings 19:15; Acts 4:24), but so were the Son (John 1:1-3, 10; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2) and the Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:2; Ps. 104:30). God didn’t create a world because He needed anything but that He might share His love with creatures who, unlike the angels, are made in the image of God and can respond willingly to His love.
The Godhead determined that the Son would come to earth and die for the sins of the world, and Jesus came to do the Father’s will (John 10:17-18; Heb. 10:7). The words Jesus spoke were from the Father (John 14:24), and the works He did were commissioned by the Father (John 5:17-21, 36; Acts 2:22) and empowered by the Spirit (Acts 10:38). The Son glorifies the Father (John 14:13; 17:1, 4) and the Spirit glorifies the Son (John 16:13-14). The Persons of the Holy Trinity work together to accomplish the divine will.
According to Ephesians 1:3-14, the plan of salvation is Trinitarian: We are chosen by the Father (vv. 3-6), purchased by the Son (vv. 7-12), and sealed by the Spirit (vv. 13-14), and all of this is to the praise of God’s glory (vv. 6, 12, 14). The Father has given authority to the Son to give eternal life to those He has given to the Son (John 17:1-3). All of this was planned before there was ever a world!