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Studies in Genesis, Lesson III, Genesis 1:5-23
So let us read Genesis 1:1-5, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 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. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
So God divided the light from the darkness.
In this he shows us that light has no fellowship with darkness.
Darkness flees in the presence of light.
Again we are given a spiritual lesson from the physical world.
And the Apostle Paul uses this to describe the need for the separation of those who walk in the Light from those who walk in darkness in:
2 Corinthians 6:14, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And in Ephesians 5:11, And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
So by this use of light and darkness God creates the first day.
There is no reason to believe that this day was any different from the days in which we exist for everything on earth is interrelated and interdependent.
This fact demands an instantaneous creation for nothing on the earth can exist by itself.
All life needs other life to exist and calls for a creation in which all life appears in a short span of time.
Most everything eats on a daily basis and all things depend on other things to eat.
God’s six days of creation prepared for this quite efficiently.
We have said that believing that: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth is an act of faith.
That faith continues here for God is fully capable of creating all things in six days of equal time to our day.
The circuit of the earth around the sun has not changed since the creation nor has the turning of the earth in relation to the sun changed since those first creative days.
So God, only by His word, called light into existence and there was light.
It was the first day and now we are to see what will come the second day for we read in:
Genesis 1:6-8, And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
God here on the second day makes an atmospheric division creating a firmament.
A firmament is an expanse whereby the waters of the land are separated from the water vapor in the sky.
It is a division or separation of waters.
Henry Morris, a well-known Creation Scientist wrote this:
"The waters above the firmament thus probably constituted a vast blanket of water vapor above the troposphere and possibly above the stratosphere as well, in the high temperature region now known as the ionosphere, and extending far into space."
So God on the second day is making the earth into a worldwide greenhouse, which would result in essentially uniform temperatures throughout the earth from pole to pole.
Temperature variations such as we experience in our time produce strong winds, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
But in an environment such as in God’s original creation there would be no great temperature variation and therefore no significant winds and no water-rain cycle as we know it in our age.
This greenhouse environment would produce worldwide tropical-like vegetation not fed by rain but by rich evaporation and a condensation cycle displayed by a heavy daily dew or ground fog.
Findings of ancient forests and ancient life in the northern and southern poles of the earth simply confirm this truth.
Another advantage of this environment is its filtering capability, an ability to filter out ultraviolet radiation and other destructive rays coming from space.
Protection from these kinds of harmful things allowed life spans to be much greater than our time and environment allow.
God expressly in His word speaks of decreasing life spans as this protective covering was removed in the flood.
And lastly when God brought the worldwide flood upon the earth all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
God spoke and the vapor blanket surrounding the earth and the fountains of the deep provided the necessary water supply for a worldwide flood.
So now two days are past, on the first day light has been created, and on the second the waters have been divided, water on the earth separated from waters above the earth, waters called firmament.
We then go to the third day where we see God dealing with the water on the earth giving it orders to gather together in one place, thus creating dry land so that plants and vegetation have a home to grow:
So we read Genesis 1:9-13, And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
So when the third day begins we see a picture of a watery earth.
This is the same picture given to us before the first day when God said let there be light for at that time 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.
This was a time of darkness but here as we move into the third day it is a time of light and a time whereby God has taken water from the earth and made from it a firmament, which is an atmosphere.
So wonderful things are happening to an earth that was without form and void and God is the one making things happen.
He now says on the third day Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together and in doing this dry land appears.
Again we are seeing separation for separation always defines.
Lack of separation always confuses.
So now we have what God calls Seas and what God calls Earth.
That which was without form and void now has form and now has identity.
So notice the orderly God who has declared Let all things be done decently and in order.
For now He has a place to bring forth grass for without dry ground there would be no place for grass.
All of this happened before the creation of the Sun which takes place on the fourth day but God brought forth light on the first day which in itself provided sufficient nourishment to the fully grown grass.
God is light and the grass flourished in the light of God and then continued to flourish in the light of the Sun created the next day.
So life begins on this newly created Earth, life in grasses and fruit trees and herbs, life necessary to provide nourishment to that which is yet to come. All things work together for good.
There are NO OUT OF ORDER signs on God for all things follow one another according to the will of God.
No long periods of evolution whereby that which comes to be determines in itself what its next step is to be.
How ludicrous is that kind of thinking!
And we see in God’s word that He brought forth plants not as seeds but as full grown plants each in seed bearing mode in order that they would reproduce.
Again we see God bringing forth that which presents the appearance of age for from seed to mature tree demands a conclusion of age.
And these grass seeds and tree seeds and herb seeds were created to reproduce after their kind.
This is obvious to all but those who choose to be blind who always look for one kind to develop into something of another kind.
For the search for the missing link is never done for the only link between the kinds is God himself.
The heavens indeed declare the glory of God and the firmament indeed his handiwork.
This is what God brings before the searchers who decide to devote their lives to the search for something that is not there.
All is vanity saith the wise man.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
What profit is there in not believing the word of God?
None saith the wise man.
So the third day is done.
The sun has not risen nor has it set for its day is yet to come.
God looked at the earth now with light, now with form, now with seas, now with sky, now with dry land, now with grasses and fruit trees and herbs and God saw that it was good.
God did it all and He pronounced what He did as good.
We call many things good and perhaps we are right at times but not all the time.
But God’s judgments are pure.
He always knows what is good and herein has so organized His creation to result in that which is good.
God has made a place habitable for life, a place where he can bring forth a man and woman, a man and woman capable of worship.
So God now moves to the fourth day, a day of great work in the heavens. Gen 1:14-19 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. The earth and the seas and the dry land with its plants are now ready for signs and seasons, for days and for years. They are now ready for light from the sun and its reflected light from the moon. God puts in place the sun, the moon and the stars to mark and measure time and direction. God knows exactly what his creation needs and thusly He provides those needs. The creation itself as created always reaches out to His hand for its needs to be met. This is a principal with God for He is always the provider. |