Genesis 1:16-21

N.
Chapter 1:16 - 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.

·       Creating in threes

1)     Greater light = sun? appears so

2)     Lesser light = moon? Appears so, however note that the moon does not give off its own light but merely reflects that of the sun.  Also note, the moon is not always up in night

3)     Stars

·       The purpose of these heavenly bodies is given as (from v. 14):

·       To divide day from night and

·       give light upon the earth

·       For signs = אות 'owth

·       sign, signal

-        a distinguishing mark

-        banner

-        remembrance

-        miraculous sign

-        omen

-        warning

·       token, ensign, standard, miracle, proof

2)     Matthew 2:2 – “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and are come to worship Him.”

·       Signs of things to come and have since happened

3)     Luke 21:25 – “And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;”

4)     Joel 2:30 – “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke…”

5)     Matthew 24:29-30 – “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heavenwith power and great glory.”

·       Signs of things to come and have not yet happened

6)     Jeremiah 10:2 – Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

·       So what are we not to learn?  The way of the heathen. 

·       Does it say we are not to learn of the “signs”? No, it says be not dismayed at the signs

·       The heathen have corrupted the signs and have invented things such as daily horoscopes which we are not to partake

7)     The stars are numbered and named,  Psalm 147:4

·       Many names remain today and are used for navigation and astronomy

·       Job 38:31-32 “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?  Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? (These are named stars or constellations)

8)     Meanings of these names are mostly unknown

·       Some, such as Arcturus and Pliedes are identified in scripture

·       Josephus assures us that Biblical astronomy was invented by Adam, Seth and Enoch; Antiquities book i. II, 3.

9)     12 signs of the Zodiac, called “the stars” Gen 37:9 (eleven of which bowed to Joseph being the 12^th)

10) Referred to Greek mythology, but perverted from the original truth

11) Zodiac – degrees or steps which mark the stages of the sun’s path through the heavens, corresponding with the twelve months.

12) Before Moses we had no written Word until ~1500 BC could the hope have been preserved in these constellations?

13) Psalm 19 indicates this was the case and also may explain the sudden shift in verse 7 from Heavens to Law, representing the time before the law was given and the time after

·       For seasons = מועד mow`ed

·       appointed place, appointed time, meeting

-        appointed time

1) appointed time (general)

2) sacred season, set feast,

2)     Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”

3)     Hosea 2:9, 11 - Planting seasons, due to moon’s gravitational pull just like it affects the tides it also brings the moisture in the ground closer to the surface (Farmer’s Almanac)

4)     Polysyndeton – The repetition of the word “and” at the beginning of successive clauses, each independent, important and emphatic, with no climax at the end

·       for days and years

·       Cycles coincide with each other and had a common commencement at creation but not since

·       Most likely does not represent the 4 seasons but rather distinct “cycles” of time such as the:

o      Daily cycle

o      Lunar cycles

o      Solar cycles

o      Weekly cycles

o      Several others including planets, stars, and comets

O.    Chapter 1:17 - And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

·       Once again, this appears to be where physical light is established

·       When did the light from the stars appear visible?  Since light travels at a certain speed, visibility of these stars would appear over time.

·       Unless these stars were created back in verse 1

·       Should we separate the stars from the light they generate?

P.    Chapter 1:18 - 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.

·       Once again, God already divided light from darkness in 1:4, if it was already done why would He need to do it again?

·       What does God see as good? Those things which He created, since He did not create darkness He is not referencing darkness as being good, but the instruments in which He used to separate the darkness.

Q.    Chapter 1:19 - And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

1)     Day 4

R.     Chapter 1:20 - And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

·       What does this phrase “Let the waters bring forth abundantly” mean?

1)     Let the waters - מים mayim

·       water, waters

2)     Bring forth abundantly - שרץ sharats

·       to teem, swarm, multiply

3)     Luther says “Let the waters swarm with swarms.”        

·       Fowl may fly in open firmament gives more evidence that the firmament is the sky

·       Above = על `al,

1)     upon, in, on, over, by, for, both, beyond, through, throughout, against, beside, forth, off, from off

2)     a preposition with multiple meanings, so don’t read to much into it

S.     Chapter 1:21 – And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.

·       Creating in threes

1)     Great whales – great sea creatures

2)     Every living creature that moveth

3)     Winged fowl

·       Were all species created at this time or have new species been created since?

1)     Every year we see science discovering a “new” species.  The fact that it is newly discovered does not make the species new.

2)     No evidence of new species evolving its all speculative

3)     Example of Coelacanths:

This was a fish that was thought to have gone extinct over 65M years ago and was the main argument for evolution as it had many features of land creatures such as paired lobe fins that extend away from its body like legs and move in an alternating pattern, like a trotting horse. Other unique characteristics include a hinged joint in the skull which allows the fish to widen its mouth for large prey; an oil-filled tube, called a notochord, which serves as a backbone; thick scales common only to extinct fish, and an electrosensory rostral organ in its snout likely used to detect prey.

In 1938 a living coelacath was found off of the coast of Africa.  Did this disuade the evolutionists? Of course not they just changed their argument.  If you allow common sense to take over you see that if the fish that was fossilized 65M years ago is identical to the living species today no evolution took place, the fish didn’t sprout legs and walk away its still swimming off of the African coast!

·       Did God create one of every species or multiple pairs within a species?

1)     No definitive proof either way, but it does say that the waters “teemed or swarmed” with life.

2)     If God would have only created one pair of every species it seems likely that many species would have immediately went extinct due to the death of either the male or female

3)     Was death a possibility at this time?

·       Creature = נפש nephesh, soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion, soul, does this mean animals have a soul? Not necessarily…nothing more than “That which breathes”

·       Same basic philosophy holds true, after his kind

Genesis 1:7-15

E.    Chapter 1:7 - 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.

1)     Made = עשה `asah – occurs 7 times in Chapter 1, means to do, fashion, accomplish, make

·       Indicates that it was more than just moving water, it was something he MADE.

·       What was it that he made? The life-preserving atmosphere 21% Oxygen, 78% Nitrogen, .9% Argon, .03% Carbon Dioxide

2)     The atmosphere consists of five layers (5 is the number of grace), held around the planet by the force of gravity. As you move upwards through the layers, atmospheric pressure decreases rapidly with height and the air temperature also changes. It is these, more complicated, changes in temperature which are used to divide the atmosphere into the layers described below.

·       Exosphere - Above a height of about 500km is the exosphere, a layer where the atmosphere merges into space. Satellites are stationed in this area, 500km to 1000km from Earth. Sometimes considered part of outer space since there is no clear boundary

·       Thermosphere - The thermosphere is the fourth layer in the atmosphere, between 80km and 110km above the Earth. Space shuttles fly in this area and it is also where the aurora lights are found (also known as the “Northern Lights”. Auroras are wispy curtains of light caused when the sun strikes gases in the atmosphere above the Poles. Can reach temperatures of 1500 °C

·       Ionosphere - Technically, the ionosphere is not another atmospheric layer. The ionosphere represents less than 0.1% of the total mass of the Earth's atmosphere. The upper atmosphere is ionized by solar radiation. The aurora lights (also known as the “Northern Lights”) are wispy curtains of light above the Poles and occur here as a result of the sun’s energy causing ionization in molecules. 

·       Mesosphere - Beyond the stratosphere the air is very thin and cold. This area is known as the mesosphere, and is found between 50km and 80km above the Earth’s surface.

·       Stratosphere - The stratosphere is the second layer of air above the Earth’s surface and extends to a height of 50km. It is here that we find the ozone layer. The ozone layer absorbs much of the sun’s harmful radiation that would otherwise be dangerous to plant and animal life.

·       Troposphere - The troposphere is the layer closest to the Earth, approximately 11km high. Weather occurs only in the troposphere because it is this layer that contains most of the water vapor. Weather is the way water changes in the air, and so without water there would be no clouds, rain, snow or other weather features.

3)     under = the deep which covered the face of the earth (at least until day 3)

4)     above = upon, so what is strange is that we know nearly all water vapor exist in the lowest layer or the Troposphere, yet God says the waters upon the firmament

·       Does this mean we have a different set-up today?

5)     If the world were represented by a baseball, all 5 layers of the atmosphere would represent the white covering.  Therefore, its a very small, yet extremely important part of the earth.

F.    Chapter 1:8 - And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

1)     Day 2

2)     Called = קרא qara' to call, call out, recite, read, cry out, proclaim

3)     We know God already created heaven in 1:1, multiple meanings for the same word?

·       heaven, heavens, sky (here)

1)     visible heavens, sky

2)     as abode of the stars

·        as the visible universe, the sky, atmosphere, etc

1)     Heaven (as the abode of God) (verse 1)

4)     Evening and morning passed on day 2 without God’s stamp of approval proclaiming that it was good, thus signifying the work had not yet been completed

G.    Chapter 1:9 - 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.

1)     Prior to this verse it appears the entire earth was covered in water corresponding to II Peter 3:6

2)     God commands the waters to move allowing the dry land to appear.

·       If the entire earth is covered in water it seems difficult to picture water moving to “one place”

·       Since the day before God separated the waters, it is likely that a good portion was removed from “under the firmament” allowing the seas to pool.

3)     Not chaotic as some scientists might suggest, but orderly as they “involve organization rather than disruption” (Leupold)

4)     According to Leupold , the translators mistakenly copied מקום maqowm – meaning PLACE instead of the correct מקוה miqveh - meaning COLLECTION; therefore the text should read “the collection of waters” (minimal change to the meaning)

5)     Where else in scripture do we see God commanding the “waters”?

·       Job 38:11 – And said, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.”

·       Exodus 14:21 – And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

·       Joshua 4:23 - For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:

·       II Kings 2:14 - And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where [is] the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

·       Job 37:10 - By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.

·       Matthew 8:26 - And He said unto them, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

·       Mark 4:39 – And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, “Peace, be still.”  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

H.    Chapter 1:10 - And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.

1)     Note: God’s approval was not given at the end of the second day, but it is rendered here before the 3^rd day is complete.

2)     The separation of waters was not finished in day 2 and remained in process and is finished in the middle of day 3

I.     Chapter 1:11 - 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.

1)     Leupold identifies three orders that “may not coincide with botanical distinctions as science now makes them.  But, assuredly, they are seen to be a general and a very appropriate type of division as far as man’s use of them is concerned, and in some ways the distinctions made are seen to be very apt.  The lines of demarcation drawn at creation are just as sharp now as they were then.” Creation in Threes:

·       Grass - Fresh, green

·       Herbs - Yielding seed (more prominent feature)

·       Trees - Bearing fruit

2)     Plants came first, and then came seed and fruit.

J.     Chapter 1:12 - 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.

1)     God approves His work a second time in day 3 to indicate completion

2)     After his kind – Occurs 10 times in chapter 1

3)     This is where evolutionists have no answer

·       How do Christians who believe evolution reconcile this? They can’t these are mutually exclusive concepts

·       Very simple refutation of man’s prideful delusion

·       Recommended book…“Darwin’s Black Box” Michael J. Behe

·       Deut. 32:4  “He is the Rock, His work is perfect…”:

·       If His work is perfect when created would there be a need for it to evolve into something better? Of course not!

4)     Apparently, whatever “light” was present at that time was sufficient for plants to photosynthesize

Creation vs. Evolution – High Level

-        Everything in Genesis Chapter 1 is ascribed to אלהים 'Elohiym (and therefore perfect according to Deut. 32:4) through His:

·       Creating

·       Making

·       Acting

·       Moving

·       Speaking

-        Man’s work is but rags, worthless or nothing and thus imperfect; therefore, in order to perfect man’s work there is a natural process of evolution as evidenced by advances in technology over time.

·       Eccl. 2:11 - Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.

-        Evolution is the most prominent of several man made theories to explain all things created by God

-        Secular scientists will all admit (when cornered) that none of these theories explains everything, but evolution explains more than the others

-        God’s Word claims to explain everything

-        What then is the purpose of Evolutionary theory?

·       Contradiction of God’s Word

·       Denial of Scripture

·       Base conclusions on human assumptions vs. God’s declaration

·       Stay tuned, more to come in v. 21…

K.    Chapter 1:13 - And the evening and the morning were the third day.

1)     Day 3

2)     Here we have the first life of the new creation brought forth on the 3^rd day, after the destruction of the 1^st earth age.  Amazing the parallel between this and the future death and resurrection of our Lord Christ Jesus on the 3^rd day.

3)     We also see the parallels of this new creation being brought forth from the waters and the gift of baptism.  When we are baptized we are washed of our original sin and are a new creation that is declared by God as being good.

·       II Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things become new.

L.    Chapter 1:14 - 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:

·       Wasn’t night and day already divided in 1:4?

·       Is this the same thing or something different?

·       More of an indication of a spiritual/physical dimensional distinction?

M.       Chapter 1:15 - And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

·       Is there a difference between this “light” and the “light” spoken of in verse 3? 

·       Wouldn’t that light have given light upon the earth?

·       Not if it was in a different dimension, if we are speaking of the difference between physical light and spiritual light

·       Is God establishing a precedent where His Word is made manifest in the spiritual dimension before manifestation in the physical?

Genesis 1:3-6

            I.     Genesis 1:3-31 The Heavens and the Earth which are now (II Peter 3:7)

First of all let’s take a step back and take a deep breath.  One thing that all Christians should be able to agree on is that no matter how He did it, GOD created everything.  GOD is the only one who can speak creation out of nothing and life into creation by His Word.  GOD is the author and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).  Think about that statement, GOD as the author. 

How many of you have ever read a “choose your own adventure” book?  These books were a big thing when I was a kid.  GOD is so amazing and complex He has 6 Billion choose your own adventure books going on right now simultaneously, and over the course of human history as estimated by the US Census bureau, 112 Billion people have lived on this planet.  Think about that for a minute, you are one soul in 112 billion that have the privilege of having God write your story.  I always thought it was cool when characters from one show would make an appearance in another, like Laverne and Shirley on Happy Days.  God writes 112 separate stories and each of them have a chance to make a special appearance in another of those 112 stories.  What are you doing with your “special appearances”?  Are you the hero, the villain or just an extra?

Now, all 112 billion of these stories make a special appearance in HIS story, ALL of them.  HIS story is eternity, HE is THE character and HE includes us in HIS story.  HIS story is amazingly complex, yet at the same time so very simple.  He is an active participant in HIS own book, the book of LIFE.

Let’s all close our eyes for a minute and think about the state of the earth as the Spirit of God was moving.  Focus on the darkness you see when your eyes are closed, this is how it was in the beginning.  Block out all the sounds that you hear and think about the intense darkness so thick you can cut it.

A.    Chapter 1:3 – And God said, “Let there be light:” and there was light.

1)     GOD said

2)     What is Light? Lets talk about light

·       Some questions to think about:

1.     Begs the question, Did God create darkness? 

 

2.     He never said let there be darkness, so where did darkness come from?

3.     If God is light and God is omnipresent how does darkness exist? 

·       Should we assume from this verse that darkness existed before light?  How can that be since we know God is eternal and God IS Light? 

o      I John 1:5 – This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that GOD IS LIGHT, and in Him is no darkness at all.

·       This would lead one to recognize that if God is light then where did darkness come from if God is everywhere?

·       God is the original source of Light or Energy and all matter.  See the similarities between the vastness of the universe and the smallest particles within it?  Everything is consistent and in order, perfect order as Deut. 32:4 says “He is the Rock, His work is perfect: For all His ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity Just and right is He.”

·       We know that God spoke everything into existence from nothing

·       What differentiates matter? The number of protons contained in an atom

·       God uses numbers and energy to create and differentiate matter, for example:

·       Man is made up of water and carbon or Hydrogen 27 parts, Oxygen 54 parts and Carbon 19 parts.  

·       So carbon is the third most present element by number of atoms, but 2^nd most in terms of mass.

·       Carbon has an atomic number of 6 meaning 6 protons.

·       In Biblical numerology 6 is the number of man. 

·       Carbon also also has an atomic weight of 12 and all other atomic weights are determined by 1/12 of the weight of Carbon therefore carbon is very close to a perfect number 12.

-        In numerology 12 is a perfect number, signifying perfection of government, or of governmental perfection. It is found as a multiple in all that has to do with rule.

-        Revelation 22:5 – (speaking of eternity) And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

-        So at the commencement of eternity there is no night, why? Why is night present now?

-        There is no need of the Sun, is this the way it was in the beginning?

-        Should we assume here that darkness will no longer exist? Since darkness and night are used interchangeably throughout scripture, this appears to be correct.

B.    Chapter 1:4 - And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

1)     Light was good

·       Note: good =  טוב towb and is translated in the KJV as follows: good 361, better 72, well 20, goodness 16, goodly 9, best 8, merry 7, fair 7, prosperity 6, precious 4, fine 3, wealth 3, beautiful 2, fairer 2, favour 2, glad 2, misc 35.

2)     What about darkness? Is darkness good or evil?’ READ I Thess. 5:1-5

·       I Thessalonians 5:4-5 – “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief (speaking of the Lord’s Day in 5:2).  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night nor of darkness.”

·       This verse implies that darkness is not good, and not a desirable thing

·       Who then are children of the darkness? I Thess. 5:6-7

3)     Was this spatial in nature? Dimensional perhaps? Is this possibly the separation of the spiritual world from the physical?

4)     We know today that the division of day and night or light and dark is due to the position of the face earth with relation to the sun.      

-        Where the source of light was, was it stationary, how was night and day separated?

-        What does it mean to divide Light and Dark, Aren’t they mutually exclusive?

C.    Chapter 1:5 - And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

1)     Day 1

2)     Same word in Hebrew for both references to “Day”, first instances

3)     What is a “Day”?

-     From man’s perspective a day is an approximate 24 hour period on Earth based on 1 complete revolution on the earth’s axis.  Note: the sun was not created until the 4^th “day” of creation.

-     From God’s perspective a day could be a number of things since God is omnipresent it would depend on His reference point and what is the central point within His universe.  If His reference point is on mercury or Jupiter a day is different than 24 hours and depends on the rotation speed on the planets axis (some planets have a rotation speed that is similar to their orbit speed so the light from the star is always on the same side).  Since God is in the act of “creating” the earth He is outside the earth should we really be limiting these “days” to earth days? 

-     Does the Bible tell us where the central point or the reference point is? Why do we assume it’s the sun and the earth? What if the central point is not the sun but something else that our solar system is revolving about?

-     Since we know the earth rotates around the sun and the sun is the center of our solar system that is combined with several other solar systems that make up our galaxy which is part of several galaxies that make up the universe.  What if all galaxies are rotating around a center somewhere and that center is the reference point God is using?  What would a day to God be then?  In II Peter He says a day is 1000 years and 1000 years is a day, is this what He means?

·       The first “day” came before the creation of the sun, so a man’s day as we know it now could not have been the same “day” referenced in Genesis.  In fact the 1^st three days came and went before the sun was created. So this then begs the questions 1) What is an evening? And what is a morning? What rose in the morning if the sun is not yet created?  Was it God Himself? With respect to the creation story of Genesis chapter 1.

-     According to modern science, the earth's day has increased in length over time. The original length of one day, when the Earth was new about 4.5 billion years ago, was about six hours as determined by computer simulation. It was 21.9 hours 620 million years ago as recorded alternating layers in sandstone. This phenomenon is due to tides raised by the Moon which slow Earth's rotation. Because of the way the second is defined, the mean length of a day is now about 86,400.002 seconds, and is increasing by about 1.7 milliseconds per century (an average over the last 2,700 years).

-        The Sun not yet created (not until Day 4 Genesis 1:14

4)     Likewise what is night?

-        Scientists define darkness as the absence of light, but is this really accurate?

-        We know that Light = God, but we also have a universe that is 92% full of “Dark Matter”

- This is before night as we know it?

D.    Chapter 1:6 - And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

1)     Firmament = expanse

2)     Let’s examine this in light of our understanding of other existing planets:

·       Some of the larger planets are mostly gaseous with a solid core

·       Leupold states: “Apparently, before the firmament existed, the earth waters on the surface and the cloud waters as we now know them were contiguous without an intervening clear air space.”

·       Could the earth have been similar to Jupiter?

3)     We know clouds are made up entirely of water, but is God talking about clouds or a water canopy above the sky?