After Darkness, Light
Title: After Darkness, Light
Text: Genesis 1:2-5
Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church on Sunday, May 27, 2007
The medieval times or Middle Ages are often called the dark ages for a number of reasons, but spiritually speaking the world was very dark and lifeless and void, but the Sovereign Spirit of God was still at work and began to move across the darkness of the globe once again energizing and regenerating life. What didn’t previously exist was spoken into existence, God called out elect servants rescued from the dark world system of Catholicism, by the Word of God new hearts were created in a few faithful men so that “after darkness light” from God’s Scripture could be shone and the Reformation went forth and the gospel spread across the earth.
When we were in Germany a few years ago, I was able to visit the monument in the city of Worms where there is a 20 or 30 foot tall statue of Martin Luther right in the middle of the town square surrounded by pre-Reformers such as John Huss, Wyclif, Savonarola, Melancthon, and others.
In Amsterdam there is a painting done by a seventeenth-century Dutch painter titled simply “The Candlestick.” It depicts all the leading Reformers—including some voices for reform from the Middle Ages [mentioned above] gathered around a table upon which a single, shining candle burns. The painting graphically portrays the main achievement of the Reformers: the unveiling of the light of the gospel in Europe after a long eclipse and period of spiritual darkness. Post Tenebras, Lux (“After darkness, light”), the words carved in stone on the Reformation wall in Geneva, could well serve as a title to this painting.[1]
Those words also well serve as a title to this message, as they’re an allusion to God’s work in Genesis 1:2-5, as well as God’s ongoing work through the gospel. “After Darkness, Light” also were used as a title of a book with essays in honor of R.C. Sproul, which I would recommend for further reading on the great truths and distinctive teachings of the Reformation. Click here
Martin Luther wrote: ‘I recall that at the beginning of my cause Dr. Staupitz ... said to me: It pleases me that the doctrine which you preach ascribes the glory and everything to God alone and nothing to man; for to God (that is clearer than the sun) one cannot ascribe too much glory, goodness, etc. This word comforted and strengthened me greatly at the time. And it is true that the doctrine of the gospel takes all glory wisdom, righteousness, etc., from men and ascribes them to the Creator alone, who makes everything out of nothing.’[2]
Sadly, just a couple centuries after the light of the Reformation had burned brightly, Christians in Germany and Europe began to buy into secular experts and critics who on the basis of scientific enlightenment and other movements attacked Genesis and later the miracles of Scripture, and churches began to compromise the Word of God by not interpreting it literally and historically. They tried to make it more in line with the world and its dark and lifeless thinking and theories. The result was not atheism, but deism, and eventually naturalism and evolutionism and its latest dogma Darwinism, which now holds so much of the world in darkness.
The European church which began with compromises in how Scriptures like Genesis were interpreted, eventually went down a slippery slope that compromised on other doctrines, questioned inerrancy and infallibility and historicity or literal meaning of passages. Now by and large, Europe is spiritually lifeless and void and dark and in need of Genesis 1 light. While many non-Christians and secular scientists critiqued and argued against evolution and continue to, many Christians uncritically embraced evolution and happily jumped on board at the expense of biblical truth. Christianity in its never-ending quest to keep in step with cultural trends and theories, often rewrites its message to marry ideas and systems that change and are thrown out and discarded by the world. In church’s efforts to stay relevant, they become irrelevant when they undermine the life-transforming power and authority and inspiration and clarity of Scripture.
Apart from God’s Spirit moving across our waters again, America spiritually will continue to follow the history of Europe on their slippery path of compromise, and we want to make sure at least our church stands firm on the absolute truthfulness of infallible inerrant and inspired Bibles cover to cover, including in the beginning.
Martin Luther said of this book, “There is nothing more beautiful than the Book of Genesis, nothing more useful,” and he regarded the opening verses as “certainly the foundation of the whole of Scripture.” Needless to say, not everyone has approached the opening words of the Bible with such warm delight! Rather, the early verses of Genesis have become a veritable battleground where those who defend the faith have waged war with those who approach them with calculated skepticism or outright antagonism. Brief excerpts from Humanist Manifesto I and II will suffice to illustrate the point: “Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created … we begin with humans not God … we can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species … no deity will save us; we must save ourselves.”[3]
As we saw last week, the Bible begins profoundly differently than all else: “In the beginning God”
- God is the subject, the grand object of all, the center and pursuit and goal of all is His glory
- God is the Creator and the One every humanist and atheist is accountable to and they cannot ultimate suppress Him and those who try to save themselves apart from God’s grace will suffer eternal wrath from the God they now deny
What did God want to convey in Genesis 1:2-5 to the original audience in their original context? Remember the Israelites are on their way to the Promised Land and Moses received by divine revelation and inspiration the true account of origins and he writes these first 5 books and gives them to the people before they go to the promised land.
The portrayal of God as the creator and sustainer of all life has great bearing on the fact that God was now creating Israel as a new nation among the nations. It might be helpful to compare the beginning of the Torah with the end of the Torah.
Below are among Moses’ final words to his people
Deuteronomy 31:24-30
24 It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete,
25 that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,
26 “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.
27 “For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death?
28 “Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.
Verse 24 says Moses finished writing the law / Torah, so this is while it is fresh in his mined, and notice that the heavens and earth that he wrote about God creating in Genesis 1:1 are now called to witness against those who do not glorify the God who made them – both special and general revelation indict those who rebel
29 “For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”
30 Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete:
Deuteronomy 32
1 “Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 “Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the fresh grass And as the showers on the herb.
3 “For I proclaim the name of the Lord; Ascribe greatness to our God!
Again in v. 1 the heavens and earth of Genesis 1:1 are appealed to, and he calls all to ascribe greatness to our God. That’s the most important thing I can do as a leader is to uplift and exalt and direct you to the great God of creation
4 “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.
5 “They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 “Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.
The God of perfect attributes, the One who made you and is so great and has done great things for you, this is how you repay?
7 “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.
Here he calls them to think back on Genesis and what they have learned there
8 “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 “For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 “He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
11 “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.
12 “The Lord alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.
This passage alludes to Genesis, that in a similar way God created and called out all things at the beginning of Genesis, He also created and called out a people for Himself.
In this Deuteronomy passage, the word “waste” or “wasteland” in v. 10 is the same Hebrew word tohu used in Genesis 1:2 for the earth being void
Genesis 1:1 ends with the phrase “the earth” and then v. 2 begins with the same phrase “the earth” – when a word is used back to back this is a figure of speech[4] which focuses attention on the earth rather than the heavens. The Hebrew also has an unusual word order for emphasis here (subject before verb) to further focus, and the idea could be translated, “As to the earth, it was formless and void.”[5]
The NIV has “formless and empty”
The words in the Hebrew are a rhyming wordplay; tohu and bohu
They are not real common words used like this, but we also have examples in English of rhyming wordplays that we might use to emphasize something: Hodge-podge, helter-skelter, willy-nilly
Emptiness is a good rendering, the idea is uninhabitable, lifeless, needing the potter to form and fashion and complete and decorate the primeval planet so that it can sustain life and ultimately man made in his image. The features of earth as we know it were undifferentiated, unseparated, unorganized, and uninhabited.
It’s been pointed out that ‘Deut 32:10–11 is probably a deliberate echo of Gen 1:2. Moses’ Song is describing God’s care and provision for his people during their desert sojourn, where apart from God they could not have survived (32:10–14). Tôhû wâbôhû has the same sense in Genesis 1, characterizing the earth as uninhabitable and inhospitable to human life. Despite the threatening desert, God protects and matures Israel during its troubled times. Similarly, although the earth, as it stood, could not support terrestrial life, it was no threat to God, whose “Spirit” exercised dominion over it. God’s purposes were not hindered by tôhû, for “he did not create it [earth] to be tôhû (i.e., desolate) but formed it to be inhabited” (Isa 45:18; cf. Job 26:7).’[6]
What about the Gap Theory?
Some taught that there are billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and verse 2, where there was a world created, a race before Adam, and all the creatures that are deep in the geological fossil record lived at this time. But then Lucifer fell from heaven, and there was a massive judgment on the earth so that it was formless and void, and then in verse 2 and following God recreates the earth.
This theory was held by very good men 100 years ago, but seems to have died out in the last 40-50 years, and has been refuted by creationists on all sides of the Genesis debate. In fact, books published on the various views of Genesis don’t even list this view as one of those still defended. So I’m not going to spend a lot of time dealing with it in this message, but if you’re interested in studying it further you can read the book “Unformed and Unfilled” by Weston Fields, which really dismantles the gap theory from a young earth creationist perspective.
There are some good grammatical arguments against it in the Hebrew, but let me give you just a couple broader arguments:
1. First it’s not a good idea to build your theology on the white space in-between verses. Anytime you are reading into the text something not there is a bad idea
2. Secondly, it’s not good to rewrite your theology based on theories of biased men who through analyzing incomplete evidence with their imperfect minds come up with imperfect conclusions
3. We don’t know for sure when angels were created, but Job 38 suggests they may have been around on day 3 of creation, if so that’s too late for their theory – but a bigger problem is that land and the Sun are not created till later.
For land, they might argue that there was a flood (although the Bible never hints of that) but sun was on Day Four of creation. You can’t have life for ages with no Sun.
4. I believe Peter (2 Peter 3:4-7) and Jesus refute the idea. Mk 10:6 “from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female” (unless Jesus was mistaken or misleading his hearers, it seems very clear that Adam and Eve were created back at the beginning of creation, the first week, not after billions of years)
Douglas Kelly adds:
‘Even more theologically significant is the clear Biblical teaching running throughout the Old and New Testaments (as in Genesis chapter three and Romans chapter five) that death and disintegration of the entire cosmos came through Adam’s sin, for Adam was the covenant head and representative of the whole creation, not Lucifer. Although Lucifer fell before Adam, his fall did not bring death into the rest of the created order, because Adam, not Lucifer, was the representative figure (or ‘covenant head’) of the whole creation, thus taking it down with him into judgment.’[7]
The second verse of Genesis 1 describes for us the condition of the earth that God created. It was not chaos or confusion. The earth’s first form did not include the shapes of continents and mountain chains. Instead, the earth was “formless and void” (perhaps better translated as “unformed and unfilled”). Planet Earth was a globe covered with water. God had not yet created or placed any life forms on it.[8]
“Unformed” – first 3 days of creation form the earth
“Unfilled” – last 3 days of creation fill the earth with creatures
and darkness was over the surface of the deep,
Interestingly, it appears the planet was originally all water when God first created the heavens and the earth
This parallels in reverse Revelation 21 which says when there will be the “new heavens and the new earth” that there will be no more sea and there will also be no more darkness. The eternal state will be in some ways similar to Eden, but also superior.
Is it important we take Genesis 1:2 literally?
2 Peter 3:5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water,
In that passage not only is the earth’s initial watery state and formation from water treated as historical and literal fact, but the literal fact of a future judgment is just as certain in that passage.
Gen 1:2b and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
“moving” (NASB, KJV) or “hovering” (ESV, NIV, NKJV) a word used only 2 other times in OT, best parallel is Deut 32:11: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.”
The first emblem of the Holy Spirit in Scripture is that of the Spirit “moving” or literally “brooding” over the waters, much as a bird broods over her young before they are born, and both before and after they are utterly dependent upon this one for life.
Dt 32:11 “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.
In Deut 32:11, that word “hovers” is the same Hebrew word used of the Holy Spirit in Genesis 1:2 moving or hovering over the surface of the waters. The same Spirit that was sovereign over the primeval waters
Henry Morris has therefore suggested that the final phrase in Genesis 1:2 could be translated, “the Spirit of God vibrated over the face of the waters”—signifying the transmission of energy from Creator to creation, and identifying the Holy Spirit as the “Prime Mover” who sets all of creation in motion.
In his book, Creation and Change, Douglas F. Kelly writes:
‘This “brooding” of the Spirit of God over the waters is a major detail in the creation account, not a minor one. It demonstrates vividly the biblical worldview of a God whose hand and direct presence are never lifted from the elements and working of the material order. This …is the direct antithesis of any sort of philosophical Deism or theological Dualism.’
[As another put it] ‘this underscores God’s direct activity in all aspects of creation. He didn’t create a mechanism for evolution and leave the universe to develop to maturity on its own. He was directly and personally involved in every aspect of creation … And the fact that earth alone, of all known planets, seethes with life, is directly owing to the Holy Spirit’s activity described in Genesis 1:2. The entire Bible testifies that the Spirit of God is the source of all life and creation.
“By His Spirit He adorned the heavens” (Job 26:13). Job testified, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4). “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Psalm 33:6). The word translated “breath” is the same as the Hebrew word for “spirit.” David the psalmist noted the Holy Spirit’s role in the formation of all creatures: “You send forth Your Spirit, they are created” (Psalm 104:30).’[9]
Jesus was also creating (John 1, Col. 1, Heb. 1) – Trinity also alluded to in v. 26
Dt 32:12 “The Lord alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.
Genesis 1 has great bearing on the 10 commandments written in stone by the finger of God Himself. “I AM the LORD your God … you shall have no other gods before me … you shall not make any images of me … for in six days the Lord your God made …” (this v. 11 single-handedly refutes the gap theory and other modern reinterpretations of Genesis 1 that say God couldn’t mean six days – Ex. 20:11 was written in stone by God’s own finger)
Another impact that the Israelites should have had when reading Genesis 1 is that the Word of God has authority, it has power. “God said … and it was.” That same God who commands, not suggests, has commands for you that must be obeyed.
Will you join the heavens in glorifying God, or will you disobey and diminish God and thus be subject to the wrath of an awesome and holy Creator who you are accountable to? As Moses’ successor would say “Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord of Genesis 1, even if the world will mock me a narrow-minded Bible thumping fundamentalist naïve whatever
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
This is the phrase we get divine fiat from: “let there be”
It is significant that the first time God speaks in Scripture, light appears. According to Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of thy Word giveth light”
Why light first?
Of all God’s creation, the thing that most clearly reveals and most closely approximates His glory is light … Created light represents His glory more nearly than any other aspect of creation. Like Him, it illuminates and makes known all else. Without light, all creation would remain cold and dark. So it is fitting that light was created on day one.[10]
Perhaps nothing in all of physics is more fascinating or more mysterious than light. Light is the single most important source of energy and heat on earth. Without light, life on earth would be impossible. Virtually all the earthly mechanisms we depend upon for the transfer of energy are derived, ultimately, from light. Wind, the water cycle, and ocean waves would all cease if the earth were to remain in utter darkness for very long. The earth would quickly turn cold and all life would cease. That’s why light was the vital starting point in the process of creation.[11]
More significantly, Jesus Himself, the centerpiece of all Scripture, is revealed this way in John 1 in a parallel passage
Question: How could there be light before the sun and light-bearers in verses 14-19 were created on Day Four?
- It probably came from God Himself. God is revealed as the Father of all lights (James 1:17), God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (John 1:5) and God wears light as a garment (Ps. 104:2; Hab. 3:3–4).
- In John 1 right after it says all things were created through Jesus, it says in Jesus was “the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness” and then later in John 8, Jesus is called the light of the world
- The eternal city will enjoy endless light without the help of the sun or moon (Rev. 22:5), so why couldn’t there be light at the beginning of time before the luminaries were made? Remember there are parallels between paradise lost and the eternal state, and here’s another
- ‘God has the capability of creating light out of His own power and energy, without having to rely upon a sun. God placed the source of the light so that part of the world would be in light and part in darkness. This gave the earth its first real day of two parts, night and day. Genesis 1 teaches that light comes from God and that we must worship God rather than the sun. The ancient world in which Moses lived had many sunworshipping peoples (including the Egyptians among whom Moses was raised and schooled). God created light before the sun so that we might understand that light is the gift of God, not a gift from the sun.’[12]
Remember the original audience is the Israelites who had followed the burning light of God’s Shekinah at night. Also when they were in Egypt, Exodus 10 tells us that God sent a plague of darkness upon all the Egyptians, but the Israelites had light in their houses.
God separates, 5x in Gen. 1, and this becomes a theme throughout the Torah of a set-apart holy God who calls on the original audience to be set apart from their culture as well
4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
The verb “saw” in this passage carries the meaning “reflected on,” “surveyed,” “concluded,” “noted.” It is a description of reflection of the mind – it is God’s opinion. (NET Bible Notes)
The idea of separation is critical to this chapter. God separated light from darkness, upper water from lower water, day from night, etc. The verb is important to the Law in general.
In Leviticus God separates between clean and unclean, holy and profane (Lev 10:10, 11:47 and 20:24); in Exodus God separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (Exod 26:33). There is a preference for the light over the darkness, just as there will be a preference for the upper waters, the rain water which is conducive to life, over the sea water. (NET Bible Notes)
From the beginning God made divisions. He later divided the holy from the profane, the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, and Israel from the nations.[13]
Israel would know that God is Light—and that the Truth and the Way are with Him. In the darkness of Egypt (Ex. 10:21-24) they had light; and in the deliverance they followed His light (Ex. 13:21).[14]
5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.
And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
What does the word “day” mean in Genesis 1? We’ll talk about that more next time, but it’s always good to see how the word is used by God, what does God call it, how does God define it. If you just read verse 5, you see that God calls the time of light day as opposed to night, and the morning and evening cycle can also be referred to as day. It appears that the earth is already rotating on its axis and the laws of the universe are in place, and a complete revolution equals one day, day one, or “the first day”
Are verses 3-5 intended to convey literal truth?
2 Corinthians 4:6 (NASB95)
6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
The gospel itself is based on the historical fact of creation and is epitomized in the real pattern of “after darkness, light” – it’s as if God did it this way to illustrate His ongoing working
5:17 “if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation”
Ephesians 5:8-14 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
14 For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”
Douglas Kelly writes:
The analogy between the two creations is fascinating. Only someone so great as the mighty Creator God could speak light into the darkness of the primeval earth in the first creation. Only He – the Almighty Word, the uncreated Light – is able to speak light into the dark human soul of the smallest child or greatest king, and thus bring it into a new birth … And in both cases, the instrument of transforming enlightenment is his spoken word, which never ‘returns to him void’ (Isa. 55:11). His ‘fiat’ command … always finds fulfillment.[15]
The statement “God saw that it was good” or equivalent appears 7x in this chapter, which of course to the Hebrews represented completeness. All was perfectly good, very good
Here we see the doctrine of the Goodness of God.God is the measure of all goodness and virtue. Creation is good because its Creator is by definition good, every good and perfect gift is from the Father, He makes all things work together for good, and God Himself is the standard of goodness and beauty, not something outside Himself.
The church Father Novatian effectively captures this point in his 3rd century De Trinitae:
‘What could you possibly say then that would be worthy of Him? He is more sublime than all sublimity, higher than all heights, deeper than all depth, clearer than all light, brighter than all brilliance, more splendid than all splendour, stronger than all strength, mightier than all might, more beautiful than all beauty, truer than all truth, more enduring than all endurance, greater than all majesty, more powerful than all power, richer than all riches, wiser than all wisdom, kinder than all kindness, better than all goodness, juster than all justice, more merciful than all mercy. Every kind of virtue must of necessity be less than He, who is the God and source of all virtue.’[16]
The Puritan George Swinnock wrote: ‘On the townhouse of Geneva is written, upon a marble table in letters of gold, Post tenebras, lux—After darkness, light. In remembrance of, and thankfulness for, their deliverance from the pride, power, tyranny, and abominations of the pope, anno 1535. I doubt not but we in these parts of the world have as much cause to set up a monument of praise and thanks to the blessed God, for bestowing upon us the light of his glorious gospel, and freeing us from the power of that man of pride, who exalteth himself above all that is called God.
Reader, is it not a privilege for thee to sit by the fire of the word, when many poor souls are freezing in the cold? for thee to walk in the light of the word, when many sit in darkness and the shadow of death? for thee to be clothed out of the rich wardrobe of the word, when many have their nakedness appearing to their eternal shame? Nay, what an advantage hast thou, that when thousands and millions have none to give them bread, but starve and famish, thou hast a table fairly spread, and fully furnished with all sorts of food, both for necessity and delight! Yea, and if sickness hinder thee from coming down to dine or sup with thy brethren and sisters, upon that day of exceedings, the Lord's-day, thy God is so tender of thee, that he sendeth thee somewhat up to thy chamber (alloweth thee his Bible and blessing at home) for thy nourishment and comfort: "O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and his wonderful works to the children of men."’[17]
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[1]“Post Tenebrax Lux: Martin Luther” by Michael Haykin. Reformation and Revival Journal (1999 Vol 8/1, p. 35).
[2]Haykin, 45.
[3]Briscoe, D. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1987). Vol. 1: The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 1 : Genesis. Formerly The Communicator's Commentary. The Preacher's Commentary series (23). Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc.
[4]Anadiplosis, cf. Barrick and Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, by Bullinger.
[5]MacArthur, J. (2001). The battle for the beginning : The Bible on creation and the fall of Adam (74). Nashville, TN: W Pub. Group.
[6]Mathews, K. A. (2001, c1995). Vol. 1A: Genesis 1-11:26 (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (131). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. Matthews also discusses Jer 4:23 and Isa 34:11.
[7] Douglas Kelly. Creation and Change. Scotland: Mentor Books, 97.
[8] Bill Barrick, “Cutting It Straight,” 1. Shepherd’s Conference 2006 Notes, available online at www.shepherdsconference.org
[9]MacArthur, John. The battle for the beginning : The Bible on creation and the fall of Adam (77). Nashville, TN: W Pub. Group, 2001.
[10]MacArthur, 73.
[11]MacArthur, 83.
[12] Barrick, 3.
[13]Tom Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible (Ge 1:5).
[14]Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (1:29). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[15] D. Kelly, 86-87.
[16] Cited by D. Kelly, p. 88
[17] Works of George Swinnock, Vol. 1, p. 165-66.