The Heaven and the Earth

Faith in God begins with a sense of wonder at His creations. Why are there stars, and trees, and a vast ocean, and living things? Where did all of these wondrous things come from? The Old Testament answers that question in the opening verse of its opening book:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

That truth was important to Nephi. He said, “The Lord hath created the earth that it should be inhabited; and he hath created his children that they should possess it” (1 Nephi 17:36). He attributed his brothers’ intransigence to their failure to understand “that God who had created them” (1 Nephi 2:12).

It was important to King Benjamin, who urged his people to link their faith in God with the Creation:

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth.

Mosiah 4:9; see also Mosiah 3:8; Mosiah 5:15

It was important to Ammon and his brother Aaron, both of whom began their preaching to kings with an account of the Creation:

Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?

And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.

And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels.

And king Lamoni said: Is it above the earth?

And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning

Alma 18:28-32; see also Alma 18:36; Alma 22:12-13

It was important to Alma, who countered Korihor’s militant atheism by appealing to the evidence of nature:

I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true. … All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

Alma 30:41, 44

It was important to Jesus, who introduced Himself to Lehi’s descendants by saying:

Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.

3 Nephi 9:15

It was important to Moroni, who wanted his readers to believe that the Creator of all things can work miracles in their lives (Mormon 9:11).

This week, we’ll consider how the Creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 shaped the theology of Book of Mormon authors. In particular, we’ll consider four categories of order that God established from the beginning of our mortal experience: the natural world, humanity, marriage, and recurring patterns of time.