Genesis 1b
Genesis 1:3-5… Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Commentary
As God looked out upon His watery creation and as He “hovered” over it putting it into motion as the Prime Mover, His first words are “Let there be light.” It’s the first words of God recorded in scripture. The best translations have “and” or “then” as the first word in each verse that follows. The Hebrew reflects this, and it shows God’s systematic creation with one good thing after another. He wants light, He commands that there be light, and light appears. He simply spoke it into existence. The creation of light cannot be underestimated. Light is a very complex entity that is unexplainable. Characterized by both particles and waves, light photons are characterized by small dust particles. The energy of a photon is determined in a limited space, accessible at any given moment in a definite location, yet moving in a definable & calculable speed. Yet light also acts as a wave. Though having no beginning or end, a wave has variable frequency. Wave motion, in contrast to particle motion, involves the transfer of energy from point A to point B without the transfer of matter. Light waves have the ability to function like particles, and particle-like photons can behave like waves. Light is a form of energy related to electromagnetic radiation and includes every frequency from long wave radiation to x-rays. Squeezed between these two ends is visible light which includes the entire rainbow spectrum of colors. Even listening to the radio is an example of sound waves taking advantage of the properties of light. The reason that stars are visible to us at night is due to the fact that light waves are able to travel through a vacuum, and the speed of light through a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second. It is clear that nothing in all of physics is more mysterious than light, and yet it is the single most important source of energy and heat on earth. Without light, there is no life. The wind, the water cycle, and the ocean waves would cease if darkness prevailed. No wonder God started with light and called it “good.” He then separated the light from the dark, and even without a sun or moon there was division between the light and darkness.
The final phrase of verse five literally reads, “And there was evening, and there was morning, day one.” Notice the order with evening coming first then morning. This was the order of the Jewish day. It began at 6:00 p.m., had four “watches” of the night, and ended at 6:00 p.m. the following day. This passage clearly teaches that the “day” here, because it is attached to the number “one,” is a normal 24-hour day – even without a sun to rotate around. It isn’t an indefinite period of time lasting billions of years. It’s as if God goes out of His way to show us that in the wording of the passage is to be understood for what it says. Our work week patterns still reflect this (Ex. 20:9-11).
Food for Thought
It’s interesting to note that the writers of the Bible in every instance believed in God’s special creation. Moses, Job, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, John, Paul, and Jesus all speak of it with finality and without discussion. Moses wrote sometime around 1400 BC, and the Apostle John wrote as late as AD 90. That’s 1500 years of clear belief in the Creator God from the inspired writers of scripture. Why is it that so many today choose to discard the testimony of these men who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in favor of godless men like Charles Darwin, Carl Sagan, and Stephen J. Gould? God said it, and when He said it, light came into the dark world. Boldly pray today that He would do the same in your life.
Genesis 1:6-8… Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
8 And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a 2nd day.
Commentary
After God made light to shine on the earth and separated it from darkness, He called it a “day.” Thus ended day one of the creation. On the second day, in Gen 1:6, God is creating the “expanse.” This word comes from a Hebrew term that is synonymous with the English word space. Verse 8 clearly says that God calls it “heaven.” In other words, God simply creates the atmosphere/sky as we know it. This “expanse” is said to be in the “midst” of the waters. Since God originally began the creation with a watery matrix of elements, this can only mean that He took those waters and separated them by placing the atmosphere between the two – in the “midst.” The Bible actually speaks of three different “heavens.” Jeremiah 4:25 speaks of the atmosphere of heaven, Isaiah 13:10 speaks of outer space as the place where the stars dwell as heaven, and Hebrews 9:24 speaks of the heaven of God’s throne.
So now there are the waters on the earth, the atmosphere in the middle, and “the waters which were above the expanse.” These waters cannot be clouds for they are said to be “above” the atmosphere, and it is clear that there was no rain on the earth in those days because the earth was watered by a mist that rose up from the ground (Gen 2:5-6). Many have proposed a transparent vapor canopy that surrounded the earth like a shell. This canopy allowed for a uniform temperature throughout the earth, even at the poles (which would explain how many fossils and dinosaur bones have been found in these ice-capped regions. Some have been found with meat in their teeth and plants in their stomachs, giving further evidence that they were once able to live there and eat the lush plant life there). Serving as a global greenhouse under the vapor canopy, the earth would have been a uniform pleasant temperature, windstorms and torrential rains would have been unheard of, lush vegetation (with no deserts or ice-caps) would have been all over the planet, there would have been no harmful radiation from the sun, human and animal health would have been greatly prolonged (Methuselah lived to be 969 years old!), and the great hyperbaric pressures under the canopy would have been very effective in combating disease and maintaining stupendous health. Furthermore, since it is clear that the entire earth was flooded over the tops of the highest mountains during Noah’s day, the vapor canopy would have greatly contributed to that. The fact that the clouds over the earth could only drop an inch of rain all over the planet if they all emptied means that the vapor canopy would have had to be over the earth in order to flood the earth (though the fountains of the deep also contributed to the worldwide flood in Gen 7:11).
Following this day where the atmosphere was created in the midst of the waters above and below, God called it a “day.” There was evening and morning, the second day.
Food for Thought
The sky we look up at is certainly beautiful. We only see a fraction of what’s actually before us however. The sky we see today is vastly different than the one people saw before the great flood of Noah’s day. Psalm 148:4, 6 speaks of this sky being restored and actually praising the name of God during the yet future millennial reign of Christ on the earth. Look out at the expanse today and remember your Creator. Remember also the fact that God’s plan through the ages is not finished. He will restore what man has corrupted. That gives us hope for the future.
Genesis 1:9-11… Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so.
Commentary
At the end of the second day, after creating the sky in verses 6-8, there is no word that God thought it was good. In fact, the second day is the only day of the creation that omits this phrase. It might be an indicator of the incompleteness of God’s work in moving toward making it inhabitable. At any rate, God now begins work on this third day on the waters “below the heavens.” At this stage the earth is one large ocean without a beach. God tells the waters to be gathered to one place so that dry land can appear. God said it, “and it was so.” Renowned creation scientist Dr. H.M. Morris says in regard to the earth springing up out of the watery mass: “Dissolved elements precipitated and combined with others to form the vast complex of minerals and rocks making up the solid earth – its crust, its mantle, and its core.” At this point the solid earth emerged out of the watery matrix, and a plethora of rivers and reservoirs opened up to drink the waters flowing off of the rising crust. It all happened at God’s command.
When the waters are “gathered into one place” the implication is that there is no separation of seas the way we know them today. There is one large land mass (Pangaea) and one ocean – a common idea held by geologists prior to continental drift. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, uses the word sunagogen to denote a synagogue – another word for “a gathering place.” It is likely that the continental separation observed by geologists today occurred after the great Flood of Noah’s day. In relation to the “seas” in verse 10, however, it is possible that the initial creation did involve more than one continent because of the plural use of “seas.” This may be an indicator that the “gathering place” of the seas was actually several different basins that though separate are also unified. Whatever it was, this is indeed a special creation – miracles of creation that only the Creator God can perform. They are unexplainable because they are miraculous to those who read the account, and even the Creator God calls it “good.”
The emergence of dry land from the sea at God’s command is taught elsewhere in scripture. Zechariah 12:1 says, “The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth…” Isaiah 48:13 says of God, “My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.” Job 38:4 asks, “Where were you, Job, when I laid the earth’s foundation?” And Psalm 102:25 says, “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” The Bible is replete proclaiming God’s creation.
The final phrase is nature obeying the voice of the Creator… “and it was so.”
Food for Thought
Genesis 1:9-11 is just another step in God’s perfect creation. It’s another step towards His preparing the earth for the pinnacle of His creation: mankind. It’s as if God is meticulously forming a beautiful and perfect environment for him. Look at the precision and the wonderful handiwork. Thank God today for this beautiful blue planet. Take a look around at God’s creation. Put your problems on the back burner, and look at what God created for you: the trees, the plants, the flowers, and all of their reproduction attests to God’s love for us. Don’t miss it!
Genesis 1:12-13… And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Commentary
In verses 9-11 God called the dry land into existence out of the ocean, and He added lush vegetation to that dry land. Verse 12 shows that following God’s command the earth brought forth vegetation, plants, and fruit – all after their kind. Forty-eight hours prior to this the earth was nothing but a watery mass. Now it has light, a sky, and dry land filled with green roughage. Notice that God made the trees and the plants in a state of maturity. In other words, He called them into being without their having grown from a seed to a tree/plant. They were created with age, for if you had chain saw and were able to cut a tree down, it would have rings signifying age. Both the vegetation and fruit trees are fully mature with the ability to procreate after its kind (some promote an earth billions of years old, but God created it with the appearance of age).
The phrase “after their kind” is a phrase that is used 13 times in Genesis – eight of which are in relation to God’s creation of life, whether plants, trees, or animals. Beginning in verse 11 in speaking of plants and trees, verse 12 uses it twice more. It’s as if God is making sure that the reader understands His perfect plan, namely, that each creation of God is to stay within its own species, or “kind.” The individual creations of God were to produce after their own kind. This relates well to the modern day understanding of DNA. Each type of organism has its own unique structure of DNA, and this is the specificity of reproduction within that kind. Now within each kind there are all sorts of variations. Each individual (trees, plants, animals, and humans) can and will have unique traits, but this is to the exclusion of new species as a result of breeding apple trees with orange trees and humans with animals. There are many varieties within each kind of organism, but there are no new kinds. In other words, horizontal changes (i.e., breeding various dogs) occur within a species, but there are no vertical changes (i.e., cats breeding with dogs). Evolution teaches that fishes, humans, and trees all have a common ancestor. Genesis, however, teaches that each one produces after its own kind, and there is absolutely no fossil evidence to the contrary and certainly nothing observable in the present that contradicts this. The idea of common ancestry from an amoeba in the “primordial soup” after the Big Bang not only flies in the face of common sense but against the clear teaching of the Bible as well. In fact, evolution’s teachings (all life evolves from one common ancestor) is flatly refuted in this Genesis passage. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:38-39: “But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.”
After another 24-hour day of creating, “there was evening and morning” – the third day. God looked out over the lush planet and proclaimed it “good.”
Food for Thought
It’s interesting to note that plants were actually the first life forms on earth, not animal life. Evolutionists claim that marine animals, invertebrates & vertebrates lived millions of years before fruit trees and higher forms of plant life, but Genesis says otherwise. It should also be noted, in refutation that the “days” of creation are long periods of time, that many forms of plant life require insects for pollination, but insects weren’t even created until the sixth day. These days of creation are certainly 24-hour days. God creates, then proclaims it good. He is the Creator God, and in Him alone there is hope. In vile doctrines to the contrary, there is no hope.
Old Earth concept of the “day”…
§ The “day of the Lord”
§ 2 Pet. 3:8… “With the Lord a day is as a thousand years; a thousand years as a day.”
§ 1 Cor. 15:4… “the day of your gladness”
§ The days of creation are long periods of time lining up with the geologic time scale.
However…
§ God called the light “day” and the night “darkness”… “evening, morning, one day.”
§ Peter was affirming God’s timelessness; Genesis shows that creation occurred in time.
§ When day is modified by a number it always refers to a 24-hour period.
§ Many have said that Augustine didn’t believe it, but he believed in occurred in a second.
§ “In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day” (Ex. 20:11)
Gen 1:3-5… Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
§ Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12)
§ Matthew 5:14 says that God’s children are the “light of the world”
§ God is called the “Father of lights” (James 1:17) – all true light flows from Him.
§ “In Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5)
§ “Light dwells with Him” (Daniel 2:22)
§ “He dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16).
§ Without light the creation would remain cold and dark
The Concept of Light
§ Not fully understood by science/physics
§ Characterized by particles and waves
§ Light photons behave like tiny specks of dust but with no volume
§ The energy of the photon is concentrated in a finite space, existing at any given moment in a specific location, yet moving in a definable measurable speed.
§ Light ALSO behaves as a wave, which is not a finite entity.
§ A wave exists in no finite space, has variable frequency, and like a circle has no end.
§ Wave motion, unlike particle motion, is able to transfer energy without matter.
§ A light wave is simply a deformation of electric and magnetic fields.
§ Light waves can behave like particles, and particle-like photons like waves.
§ Light is a form of energy – electromagnetic radiation – which cannot create itself (needs a Prime Mover). It includes microwaves, short waves, infrared, etc.
§ The different light colors are varying wavelengths in the spectrum.
§ Listening to the radio is a signal that takes advantage of light properties.
§ Light waves CAN travel through a vacuum (bell in plexiglass can be seen, not heard)
§ Light beams couldn’t be seen in the air unless they hit tiny particles, but in space light cannot be seen unless it hits an object.
§ Light travels at 186, 282 miles per second.
§ Light is the single most important source of energy and heat on the planet. No life could exist apart from light. This is why it is God’s first creation.
§ Light is the energy that permeates the cosmos. If a small canister was turned into a vacuum and frozen to absolute zero so that even the radiation was taken out, there would still be massive energy in that canister. No one knows why, and it points to the Creator… “Let there be light.”
Gen 1:6-8… Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7 And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a 2nd day.
§ “Expanse” is synonymous with space. Verse 8 clearly says that God calls it “heaven.”
§ Three “heavens” in the Bible: Jer. 4:25 speaks of the atmosphere of heaven, Isaiah 13:10 as outer space where the stars dwell, and Hebrews 9:24 speaks of the heaven of God’s throne.
§ “Waters above the expanse.” Not clouds b/c they’re “above” the atmosphere; no rain on the earth; watered by a mist that rose up from the ground (Gen 2:5-6).
§ Transparent vapor canopy surrounding the earth like a shell.
§ allowed for a uniform temperature throughout the earth, even at the poles
§ Earth a uniform pleasant temperature w/no windstorms or torrential rains; lush veg. all over.
§ No harmful radiation from the sun, human and animal health greatly prolonged
§ Great hyperbaric pressures effective in combating disease and maintaining good health.
§ Only one inch of rain to cover the whole earth (also fountains of the deep in Gen 7:11).
Gen 1:9-10… Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
§ The second day is only one that omits “it was good.” Indicates incompleteness of God’s work.
§ One large ocean without a beach.
§ Dr. Morris says “Dissolved elements precipitated and combined with others to form the vast complex of minerals and rocks making up the solid earth – its crust, its mantle, and its core.” “At this point the solid earth emerged out of the watery matrix, and a plethora of rivers and reservoirs opened up to drink the waters flowing off of the rising crust.”
§ “Gathered into one place” is that there is no separation of seas the way we know them today.
§ One large land mass (Pangaea) and one ocean –prior to continental drift.
§ The Septuagint uses the word sunagogen to denote “a gathering place.”
§ It is possible that the initial creation did involve more than one continent because of “seas”
§ The emergence of dry land from the sea at God’s command is taught elsewhere in scripture. Zech. 12:1: “The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth…” Isaiah 48:13: “My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.” Job 38:4 asks, “Where were you, Job, when I laid the earth’s foundation?” Psalm 102:25 says, “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.”
Gen 1:11-13… Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
§ Notice that God made the trees and the plants in a state of maturity.
§ After their kind. used 11 times in Genesis – 8 of which are in relation to God’s creation of life. This relates to the modern day understanding of DNA. Each type of organism has its own unique structure of DNA, and this is the specificity of reproduction within that kind. Variations exist but only horizontal. Evolution teaches that fishes, humans, and trees all have a common ancestor. Genesis, however, teaches that each one produces after its own kind, and there is absolutely no fossil evidence to the contrary and certainly nothing observable in the present that contradicts this.
§ Common ancestry after Big Bang flies in the face of common sense and the Bible.
§ Evolution’s teachings (all life evolves from one common ancestor) is flatly refuted here.
§ The Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:38-39: “But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.”