Genesis 1:6-13 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

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1 1 Creation Series #4 Days 2-3 Genesis 1:6-13 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. We continue our study of creation here in Genesis Chapter 1. We are looking today at days 2 and 3 of God's creation. Suppose you are riding in your neighborhood and you come past a lot which has been vacant for a period of time. On this particular day, as you pass by, you observe that activity is going on there. Equipment has been moved in and a grading process is taking place. You come back on successive days and you discover that men are now moving in and beginning to dig. As you come back on successive days you find they are pouring cement into the ditches that have been dug. As you continue to go by that lot, you will discover that other activity is going on. You find, for instance, that they have laid a slab of cement over that land which has been prepared. Very soon you discover that framers are coming in and they are beginning to put up wooden frames. As you continue to go by there, day by day, you watch the progress and you see what is taking place. Bricklayers move in and lay the brick. On the inside, you see men beginning to put up Sheetrock. You see a roof over that structure. As you continue to go you observe all this kind of activity and a variety of systems being placed in. Electrical systems are placed in. Air conditioning and heating systems are being placed in. It becomes very apparent to you that something is going on there which is preparatory in nature. Something is happening, on what was once a vacant lot, which was designed and built for an occupant. Very soon you have come to believe that someone is going to be moving in. When you begin to read the account of creation given to us in Genesis chapter one, that is exactly what you find. As you begin to go through the successive days of creation, you discover that God is making preparation. Vs. 2 is like the vacant lot form void. Between vs. 1-2, Satan s fall from Heaven. 1/3 follow him. These are demons today. God is designing and building a universe in a particular way and it is designed for inhabitance. Someone is going to live here. As best we can discover there is no other planet in the entire universe that is uniquely designed for the existence of man. Everywhere we turn, we discover that all the systems are specifically designed for the existence and occupation of man. That's what we find when we read through these opening verses of the book of Genesis. On day one we have the creation of light. God said, "Let there be light and there was light." Life cannot exist without light. If there was no light, life as we know it, could not exist. But there is another essential that has to be in the universe if there is going to be life. That is the existence of air. God has designed us with lungs. God has designed with the necessity to breath. So there has to be air. That's what we find when we read the second day's account. The Bible says that God said, "Let there be a firmament." And God made a firmament and He called it sky or heaven.

2 2 The word, heaven, is used in at least three different ways in the Bible. 1. In II Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul talks about a vision which he had and he said he was caught up into the third heaven. He calls that third heaven, paradise. One of these days, if you know Jesus, you and I are going to live forever and forever in the third heaven. 2. Then the Bible uses the word, heaven, to refer to the stellar heaven. I think that's primarily what we have in Genesis 1, verse 1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The stellar heaven is where space is. Where the sun, moon, and stars are. 3. Then there is the atmospheric heaven. That's the heaven of air. The heaven where the ability to breathe is designed into the universe. That seems to be what God is giving to us in this second day. Keep in mind that Moses is the human author of these verses. Moses was trained in the wisdom of ancient Egypt. There were many theories about the existence and the origin of man in those days. Those theories would be very, very primitive if you compare them to what we find today. Yet, when you read about Moses, you don't have a hint of the ancient cosmologies or the ancient theories about the origin of the universe. There is not one error in the words that Moses wrote about the existence of the universe. Where did Moses get his information? How did Moses find out what he gave us in Genesis? Moses found out from God. The Bible tells us that God inspired men, by the Holy Spirit, to write the things that are in our Bible. God gave to Moses divine inspiration and God revealed to Moses the existence of the universe and all the systems that make it possible for man to exist. All of mankind is governed by one of four sources of authority: #1. Personal Opinion- Well, I ll just tell you what I think and for the next hour you hear a person s opinion. They are governed by their own opinion. That s all that matters. #2. Peer Pressure- Young people are not the only ones affected and influenced by peer pressure. So are adults. It doesn t really matter what is right or wrong or what is the best choice. I m going to choose whatever will help me fit in with the group I want to run with. #3. An Institution- What does my church or organization say about it? What does your church believe? My church believes what I believe. Well then, what do you believe? I believe what my church believes. #4. Scripture/The Bible- Which is where the born again Christian should stand. The Bible is: #1. A Library- A collection of 66 books that are all composed into one. #2. A Landscape- That views the panorama of God s relationship with man. #3. A Letter- Addressed to mankind by the God of the Universe. #4. A Listening Post- Where we can go to hear the voice of God. #5. A Law- That tutors and teaches us the way of righteousness. #6. A Light- That gives guidance in the midst of the perplexities of life.

3 3 #7. A Lifeline- A rope to which a drowning sinner may be pulled to eternal safety through Jesus Christ. I. The Formation of the Atmosphere Verse 6 says, "And God said, let there be a firmament." In verse 7 it says, "And God made the firmament." I want to give you a definition for the word, firmament. The Hebrew word is the word, raga. It is a word that literally means to stretch out -- to hammer out. It is used in the tabernacle when it talks about the garments of the high priest. It talks about those threads of gold put in the garment. The word that was used to beat out that gold is this Hebrew word. It means to spread out thin. It means to stretch out. So you take the word meaning and apply it to the context and the word means here -- air spaces or an expanse. Probably the best translation for the word is the word -- atmosphere. "And God said let there be an atmosphere. And God made the atmosphere." That is the definition of the word God uses here. It tells us a little bit about the location of the atmosphere. It says it is to be in the midst of the waters. We do know, in the original creation, that the world in its original state was covered in water. II Peter 3:5 says this: "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water." The picture there is of an earth that was covered in water. There in the midst of the water, there in that space, there in that atmosphere is this air. Of course, we know a great deal today about the atmosphere. We know that there are about four layers to our atmosphere. -The top layer is the exosphere. -The next layer is the mesosphere. -The third layer is the stratosphere. That's where the ozone layer is. -The layer closest to the earth is the troposphere. That's where weather is. We have the science of meteorology which talks about what goes on with the weather. At this particular time, before the flood, there had been no rain on the earth. Look at Genesis 2, verse 5. In the middle of the verse it says, "For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth." So at this point in time, there is no weather. There is an intention here. I said to you that God is getting ready for an occupant. Somebody is getting ready to move into this earth. God has a purpose for this atmosphere. There are several passages in the Bible that talk about this air, this atmosphere. There are many beautiful poetic descriptions of the atmosphere. In the book of Exodus, it is compared to a clear sapphire pavement. In the book of Job, it is compared to a beautiful glass. Isaiah compares it to a curtain or veil.

4 4 In Isaiah 40, verse 22 it says, "That stretched out the heavens as a curtain." This is very interesting. Also, it says this. "He spreads them out as a tent to dwell in." Isn't that an interesting picture? God stretched out the atmosphere as a tent to dwell in. The picture is the idea of a massive water vapor canopy. It is the idea of the whole earth being circled about by an atmosphere of air to make it possible for man to exist. There are some scientists who believe in the canopy theory. They believe in the original creation -- that the atmosphere was like a canopy. They point out that the atmosphere is a protective layer around the earth. We know that because of the atmosphere, ultraviolet radiation is somewhat minimized so that man can exist. If there were no atmosphere, ultraviolet rays would destroy man. It was also believed that there was an ideal climate. That there was perfect humidity and beautiful temperature. It is also believed that this created healthy conditions for the existence of man on the earth. Have you ever read in the Old Testament, in the early years, about how people lived such long, long lives? Some creation scientists believe this was possible because of the water vapor canopy and this made it possible for people to live long years. God has given us this layer, this firmament, this atmosphere, the elements which make it possible for you and me to breathe. God has created the air. God has created our lungs. When you look at the capacity of the human lungs and what is necessary for it to breathe and when you look at the constitution of the air in our atmosphere, you discover that both of them are ideally suited for one another. Why is that true? Is all that just a colossal accident? First of all, the Word gives us on day 1, the formation of the atmosphere. The second thing we are told -- II. The Separation of the Atmosphere Verse 6 says that God said, "Let it (atmosphere) divide the waters from the waters." Earth circled in water, covered with water. Now, God says -- let there be a separation. This is the second separation in the creation account. The first separation is given to us in the 4th verse where God separated light from darkness. The second separation God divides the waters from the waters. Scientists know that there are two massive bodies of waters. We have the waters UNDER the atmosphere and we have the waters ABOVE the atmosphere. Let's talk just a moment or two on the waters below the atmosphere. That refers to the oceans, the seas, the rivers, and the streams -- all of the waters below. Those massive bodies of water. We think about those massive bodies of water and we know, according to science, the waters below are transported to the waters above. How do the waters below get to the waters above? We know this is possible because of the law of evaporation. It's a rather astounding thing to read what the Bible says about this. Listen to Ecclesiastes 1, verse 7. "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full, unto the place from which the waters come, thither they return again."

5 5 That is a description of evaporation. Look at Psalm 135, verse 6 and 7. "Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth: in the seas and in all deep places. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasures." There is a scientifically accurate statement of the principles of evaporation. The sun turns water into vapor. The vapor rises to the sky. Then that vapor, those minute molecules of water, condense and cool and become clouds. Then the clouds send rain. That is an astonishing thing. When Moses wrote those words, man had no idea that this was true. Yet, today, you and I know scientifically that this is exactly what we find. We discover that in our atmosphere there is a veritable ocean of water. They estimate that there are 54 trillion, 460 billion tons of water in the atmosphere. It is all in the form of vapor. The mechanical engineering alone is mind boggling when you think about that concept of those waters in the atmosphere. I want to mention several things about that water in the atmosphere. Let's talk about clouds. Did you know the Bible says things about the clouds? As I indicted to you those water molecules cool and condense and come together to form clouds. There are three basic kinds of clouds. There are the cumulus clouds. These are those big fluffy clouds -- the ones that are constantly changing their shapes. They just roll around in the sky. Then there are the cirrus clouds. Those are the faint clouds -- the feather-like clouds. Those are the clouds that are fast moving in the sky. Then there are the nimbus clouds. Those are the low-lying and the dark clouds. When you see those nimbus clouds hovering down near, you know that rain is coming very soon. The Bible talks about the clouds. Let me read you a verse of Scripture about the clouds. Job 37, verse 16 says this, "Doest thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wonderful works of him which is perfect knowledge." The balancing of the clouds -- that didn't come out of a science book. That came out of the Bible. Yet, we know that is exactly true. The clouds are balanced. What keeps the clouds from falling to the earth below? We know that it is the warm air going up and the pull of gravity coming down. God keeps the clouds in perfect balance. We know that the laws of navigation for the waters above are amazingly similar to the laws of navigation for the waters below. If you want to travel in the waters below, you get in a pressurized submarine. Your body is uniquely designed to exist on the earth as you presently exist. Your body is so constructed that it can maintain a certain pressure level. The average human body can hold about 14 tons of pressure. The same thing is true if you go into the waters above. You get into a pressurized plane. The laws of navigation are basically the same whether you are in the waters above or whether you are in the waters below.

6 6 God created the atmosphere for the existence of man. III. The Designation of the Atmosphere Verse 8 says, "And God called the firmament heaven (sky), and evening and morning were the first day." God designated this atmosphere -- sky. I think about the beauty of the sky. Listen to what God says in the scripture about the beauty of the sky in Daniel 12, verse 3 "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." Psalm 19, verse 1, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork." Oh, how beautiful is the sky! Every time you look at the beautiful blue sky, every time you see those clouds in the sky, it is a message to you of the Lord and the creation of God. The beauty of it! Think how God has made this sky like a tent to dwell in as the Scripture told us. The evolutionists have tried to discuss the origin of the universe and come up with various theories about how life began. One of the theories for the origin of the universe is that life originated in the atmosphere. Our high school kids and maybe the middle schoolers will run into this -- the Uri Miller experiment. Look in your Science books and see if they mention that experiment. This experiment sought to simulate the atmospheric conditions of the original earth. They were trying to build a theory that life came into existence in the atmosphere. Most scientists today believe that the experiment failed to simulate the conditions in the original atmosphere that we know to be true today. They are looking for some way to explain the existence of the universe. So they come up with a theory that out there in the atmosphere, lightning struck. Out of that strike of lightning, life came into existence. We know this violates one of the fundamental laws of biology -- the law of biogenesis. Bio is the Greek word, bios, from which we get the word, biology. Genesis is the word we use for the book of Genesis which means beginning. Biogenesis -- the beginning of life. What is the law of biogenesis? It says that life can only come from life. Life cannot come from non-life. That there is no such thing as spontaneous generation. That is, life coming from non-life. There was a man about 150 years ago who proved that to be true. His name was Louis Pasteur. If you drank any milk this morning, chances are you drank pasteurized milk. We get the name from Louis Pasteur. He is the scientist who proved that there is no such thing as spontaneous generation. In his day they would see rotten meat and suddenly there would be maggots on that rotten meat. They believed those maggots just miraculously came into existence out of non-life. Or they would see cheese in a corner of a room and the next thing you know they would see rats around it.

7 7 They believed things just came into existence by spontaneous generation. He found out something else. He found out that the maggots came because when the meat rotted, flies came and lit on those pieces of meat. They deposited eggs and the eggs became maggots. So, Louis Pasteur proved there was no such thing as life coming from non-life. There are only two basic views about the existence of life. You either believe that life came into existence by spontaneous generation, which we know is scientifically impossible. Or you believe it came into existence by creation, which the Bible teaches. The atmosphere did not originate life; the atmosphere just simply facilitated life. It makes it possible for you and me to live on this earth. Think about the air that we breathe. It is a combination of nitrogen and oxygen. We know that there is a very delicate balance between those two chemicals. Earth's atmosphere is about 78% nitrogen. It is about 21% oxygen. The chemical formula is roughly N4O -- about four parts of nitrogen and about one part oxygen -- 78% and 21%. What are percentages? Why don't we just move the percentages around a little bit? Instead of making it 4-1, let's just make them even. Let's have the same amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere and the same amount of oxygen. Now, you have NO, which is nitrate oxide, which is impossible to breathe. Let's move the balance a little more and make it NO2 -- just one part of nitrogen and 2 parts of oxygen. Now you have gunpowder. You can't breathe gunpowder. I'm trying to say to you that when God said let there be an atmosphere and when God made an atmosphere, God put it all together to make it possible for you and me to exist on this earth. It says in Psalm 115, verse 16, "Even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth hath He given to the children of men." Listen to Psalm 68, verse 4, "Sing unto God, sing praises to His name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name, and rejoice before him." Psalm 148, verse 4, "Praise him, ye heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens." The Bible says that God created the atmosphere, that God controls the atmosphere, that God claims the atmosphere. God uniquely gave us this atmosphere. You need water and you need air. The same thing is true spiritually. You need water. Jesus said I will give you some water to drink and you'll never get thirsty again. If you take a drink of this water you will have eternal life. You need air to breathe, but you also need the breath of God to be saved. The Bible says that God breathed into man the breath of life and that moment man began to breathe. The same thing is true when Christ comes into your life. The Holy Spirit breathes new life into your heart. The divine atmosphere of God begins to move into your very existence. That's what it means to be saved. I look up at that beautiful sky and I remember that the Bible says one of the days the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the Lord is coming in the sky. The Bible says He is coming on the clouds in the sky. One of these days you and are going to take a space trip up through the atmosphere,

8 8 through the sky, above the sky into heaven itself where God is and forever and forever and forever we are going to live with God. Day Three Genesis 1: 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. On Day 3, we have, in one simple paragraph, the gathering of the seas, the appearing of the earth, and the scattering of the seed. When Darwin came along in the 1800s with his theory of evolution, there was a shift in the scientific community. Evolution is the theory that tries to explain the existence of creation without the necessity of a creator. It is the view that all higher forms of life gradually evolved, sometimes over millions or billions of years, from lower forms of life. In other words, the theory of evolution would say that amino acids gradually developed into fish. -And that fish gradually developed into amphibians. -And those amphibians gradually developed into reptiles. -And those reptiles gradually developed into birds. -And that birds gradually evolved into mammals. -And those mammals gradually evolved into man. That is the theory of evolution. It is the attempt to explain the existence of the creation without the need for a creator. So, the theory of evolution contradicts at several points what the Bible has to say about creation. On day three the Bible tells us that God covered this wonderful earth of ours with luscious grass and He filled our earth with millennia of flowers and fruit. He set it in a setting of beautiful blue seas.

9 9 In this description which we are given here in verses 9 through 13 of day three, we have three very important areas of science that are covered. Let's look, first of all, at I. oceanography Notice the specific terminology in verse 9. "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place." In the Greek translation of the Old Testament which is known as the Septuagint, the word that is used here for gathered together is the word - synagogue. In the Bible, we are told that there were synagogues. That was where people gathered together. So, the word here is that the waters were gathered together - the waters were synagogued. We know now that all of the waters, all of the oceans, are gathered together. We know that they are all connected. How did Moses know that? God told Moses that. God revealed that to Moses and He has placed it in our Bible. Turn to Psalm 104. I want to point out something to you here. It says here (in Genesis) that all the waters were gathered together in one place. In Psalm 104, verse 6-9 it says this talking about the Lord: "Thou coverest it with the deep, as with a garment: The waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou has set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth." When God gathered together the seas He set a boundary on them. He put them in one place and said, "You cannot cover the earth again. Turn to the book of Job 38, verses 8 through 11. This is the Lord talking to Job. The Lord is trying to say to Job - Job you don't know as much as you think you know. God is taking about His work of creation. "Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it has issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it. And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?" God set the boundaries of the seas. God set the boundaries of the waters. You would expect then that when the Bible says that all of the waters are in one place - that they are all connected together-that he would use the term SEA.

10 10 But look at verse 10 in Genesis 10. It says that God called the gathering together of the waters - SEAS. Plural. Keep in mind that in Moses day they knew of only one sea - the Mediterranean Sea. Yet, under inspiration, Moses talks about seas - plural. God revealed it to him. We know that all the seas are gathered together in one. They are all connected. We also know that each body of water, each sea, each ocean, has its own distinct basin. They are chemically different. Fish that would go from one ocean to the other, have to become acclimated or they cannot survive. It is rather fascinating and interesting to notice the things the Bible has to say about the seas. Statements in the Bible which were not understood when they were written, but as modern science has discovered more and more about the seas, we find them to be accurate. You might want to jot down these verses. Psalm 33, verse 7. It talks about the storehouses in the sea. "He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the depth in storehouses." We know that there are storehouses - treasure houses, so to speak, in the seas. Listen to what Jonah said. When Jonah was cast overboard he went down into the Mediterranean Sea. Jonah 2, verse 6 says this. "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains." When Jonah wrote that, people didn't have any idea that there are mountains in the seas, but we know there are now. We know that there are huge mountains. Some of the tallest mountains on the earth are located in the depths of the seas. How did Jonah know that? God told him. How did the Psalmist know that? God told him. The Bible says when God gathered the seas together - God saw it and saw that it was good. We know about the good aspect of the seas. We know about the beneficial aspects of the seas. There is food to be gathered in the seas. The fish for food. Shrimp and other kinds of food. We know also, that there are healing properties in the seas. Iodine we get out of the sea. We get salt from the sea. Many beneficial things for mankind we find in the sea. In Florida is the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream draws its name from the Gulf of Mexico where it originates. But the Gulf Stream comes down from the tip of Florida and moves up the eastern side of the coast. It is the largest river in the world. It is 1500 feet deep. It is 50 miles wide. It is 4000 miles in length. It moves all the way up the coast of Florida, all the way up to Iceland. It is 84 degrees. Yet, when it gets to Iceland it doesn t lose its temperature at all. When it gets to Iceland it goes eastward and moves all the way to British Isles and provides warmth for the British Isles. Oh, the benefits of the Gulf Stream. So, there is Oceanography, then we see: II. Topography He says in verse 9 that God said -let the dry land appear and it was so. In verse 10 God called the dry land earth. Figuratively, I can almost imagine it's as if the Lord God took the earth in His hand like He would take a sponge and squeeze the water out of the sponge and the dry land began to appear.

11 11 Have you ever thought about how beneficial is this earth? Everything that man would ever need, God has stored on the earth. There is iron, there is ore, there is oil, there is gold, and there are precious stones all stored in the pantry of the earth. Not only the pantry, but also the shelves of the pantry. One shelf is the granite. We make massive buildings out of granite. Another shelf is the marble. We build statues and floors out of marble. "And God saw that it was good." So, God said let the dry land and the earth appear; and it was so. How did Moses know that? God told it to him! III. BOTANY Verse 11 says, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed." There we have a statement concerning the science of botany. You will notice here that God has programmed these living things to be able to reproduce. He has placed in them the DNA molecule. Three divisions are given: grass, herb, and fruit trees. We think about grass and how God has covered this earth with beautiful luscious green grass. The herb is the reference to the bushes and the vegetables. He says that in these vegetables there are seed. He talks about the fruit tree and the fruit tree yielding fruit. Vegetables - seed on the inside. Fruit trees - seed on the outside. God just said - let there be grass and there it was. God said - let there be fruit trees and there they were - full-grown, with the appearance of age. It was not some gradual process, but instantaneous existence. Instantaneous creation. There we have the plant life. Have you ever thought about how wonderful the plant life is that God has given to us? Think about how God has constructed plant life. They have roots and the roots might be compared to the mouth of the plant. The roots get the food for the plant. Regardless of what may be in the mixture of the soil, that particular plant or tree draws from the soil the exact nutrients that are essential for the life of that particular plant. The roots are the mouth of the plant. The leaves are the lungs of the plant. From the air, each individual plant pulls out of the atmosphere with its lungs that which is essential to the life of that particular plant. Think about the fertilization and reproduction of that plant. Think about how those seed are carried around. Some seeds are like a parachute. Take the Dandelion. The Dandelion seed is like a parachute. It just comes floating down. Other seeds are like glue. They attach like glue, such as beggar lice. Have you ever been out in a field and come

12 12 back with beggar lice all over you. It has glue on it and it attaches itself that way. That's how it carries its process of fertilization. We know that the bees carry some seed from one plant to another plant. They used to think that the bees were attracted by the color of the plant. Then, lo and behold, they found out that the bee was colorblind. What causes that bee to go over and get that pollen and transport it where it ought to be? I'll tell you how it happens. God says to the bee, "Little, bee, go right over there." And the bee goes. That's how it happens. The plants have seeds and they reproduce themselves. It says three times in verse 11 this little phrase, "after his kind." Verse 12 - "after his kind." Verse 12 again - "after his kind." You will find that ten times in the Genesis account of creation, that little phrase occurs - after his kind. That is the rough equivalent of saying - after its family - after its phylum - after its species. In that statement in the Word of God, God has drawn a line which evolution cannot cross. It has become the uncrossable bridge for evolution. God, in that statement, decreed that living things reproduce ONLY after their kind. In other words, plants only reproduce other plants like themselves. This is going to get a little bit technical so put on your thinking cap. Any students might want to jot this down because it's important for you. There is what we call microevolution and then there is macroevolution. Microevolution means that there can be change within species. We see it occur all the time. There is no question about it. We know that it occurs. It is a fact of science. You can take a rose and it can experience microevolution. There can be change with its species. You have a red rose, a white rose, a pink rose. But they are still roses, whatever color they may be. That's micro-evolution. That is, change within a species. Macroevolution means that there can be change from one species to another species. That is the bedrock of the evolutionary theory. It is their view that one species becomes another species. I want to say to our young people - it has never been demonstrated scientifically that one species has become another species. You are going to hear contrary to that. They are going to tell you that your preacher is just an old dummy. Though a rose may become different colors; it is still a rose. But never, never, in science, have you ever found a rose becoming an orange. It never has occurred and it never will. That is the uncrossable bridge. That is the line beyond which evolution cannot go. I'm going to tell you why. It is right here in this passage. "Seed after its kind." Let's bring it up to date. In 1996, a man named Michael Behee wrote a book entitled Darwin's Black Box. He was a professor at LeHigh University. He taught Microbiology. He demonstrated that the human cell is so complex and so pre-programmed that it is absolutely impossible for any human cell to be anything other what has already been programmed in the DNA. In the DNA molecule, in all living cells, you have chromosomes and you have genes. Those are the written instructions for everything that has to do with life. There is a DNA molecule in the plants. There is a DNA molecule in trees. Programmed in those molecules is the size, shape and structure - everything about it.

13 13 No change can occur unless it has already been preprogrammed in the DNA molecule. As far as I am concerned, it is totally convincing to me. It is scientifically impossible for there to be random change from form of life, one phylum, one species of life to another. "After his kind." That's what God said. The trees reproduce after their kind. An oak tree never becomes a magnolia tree. An orange never becomes an apple. They reproduce after their kind. It is always that way. Let me wrap it up by saying this. There are spiritual lessons to be found in all of this information. The Bible tells us that Jesus was the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the world, God determined that His Son Jesus would die on the cross for our sins. God knew that we would be a sinner and would need a Savior. Everything in the world of nature is a spiritual lesson about the Lord Jesus Christ. Take the ocean waters. It reminds us that Jesus is the water of life. It reminds us that if you will come to Jesus, the water of life, He will take your sin and cast them into the depths of the sea and remember them no more. That's good news! The earth reminds us that Jesus Christ is the ROCK of Ages - the rock upon which you build your life. Plant life reminds us that Jesus is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. All creation is a testimony to our Lord Jesus. "After its kind." That is not only true physically, but it is also true spiritually. Spiritually, everything reproduces "after its kind." When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, the Bible says in Romans 5, verse 12, "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; so death passed upon all men because all are sinners." That means that when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, we became genetically predisposed to sin. It means we are born with a sinful nature. It simply means that Adam could only reproduce spiritually after his kind. Adam was a sinner and he produced other sinners. You go right on down the line and when you get right down to you and me - we are all born sinners. We are all born after our kind. You can cultivate him, you can educate him, and you can motivate him. But you will never turn a sinner into a saint by natural processes. It takes a supernatural work of God. It takes a new birth. When a person comes to know Christ as their Savior they are born again and God produces after HIS kind. When you are born again you get the nature of God. You become a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes a miracle to be saved. Let's bow our heads in prayer.