“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:1–3).

These incomparable words open God’s written revelation to man, telling us how our Time/Space/Matter universe came to exist. No other religious writings, ancient or modern, do this. All others begin with the assumption of an eternal, self-existing universe. The truth is, however, that the eternal, self-existing, transcendent, omnipotent Triune God simply called the universe into being by His word. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made. . . . For He spake, and it was done” (Psalm 33:6,9).

The Hebrew for “God” is the uni-plural Elohim, a plural noun (as noted by the “im” ending), yet normally represented by a singular pronoun “He.” This is the first foreshadowing of the marvelous doctrine of the Trinity—only one Creator God, yet functioning as three divine Persons. It is significant that His created universe is actually a tri-universe, with each of its distinct components (“beginning” = time; “heaven” = space; “earth” = matter) comprising and pervading the whole universe. Just as the Father is the source and background of all being, so space is the background of all that happens in the physical universe. Just as the Son manifests and speaks for the Father, so matter manifests and functions in space. Just as the Spirit interprets and energizes the Son and the Father in human experience, so space and matter are interpreted and experienced in phenomena operating in time.

The Father planned the work of creation, the Son did the work (“all things were made by Him”—John 1:3), and the Spirit energized it (“the Spirit of God moved”). The Triune God created and now sustains our tri-universe! HMM