everything in the universe is energy, matter is an evolved state of energy. cuz you have atoms, then particles, then energy. nothing is solid there is only the illusion that it is. it is possible for energy to create itself according to the uncertainity principle. energy can neither created nor destroyed by an external force, it can only be alerted according to the law of thermodynamics.
so imagine that in the beginning there was nothing. then suddenly a bright light, a small point of energy that expanded from a sub-atomic particle to the size of our sun within a short amount of time. eventually it would explode out into space and would cool creating atoms, from these atoms would come the material universe.