The Creation Introduction:

Transcription

1 The Creation Introduction: I begin a mini-series of lessons about Genesis 1:1-2:7. I simply call this: The Creation. It will majorly be an expository study of the record God provides us through Moses, the writer. Now, as all know, I am no scholar, no scientist, no expert in any of what I am about to say, but then neither was Moses. Don t get me wrong, I am not comparing myself to Moses, one of the greatest men to ever grace the earth, but I am saying my limitations along these lines, were his, too. He by the Holy Spirit s help wrote about events that took place thousands of years before his life, about matters, that based on what we hear about him later, he is not an expert in knowing. God does not think one has to be a scientist, or biologist, or physicist to write originally what God says took place (that would be Moses) and later read and understand what He said happened at the beginning of the world (that would include you and me). I am not meaning to insult anyone s intelligence when I say even a middle aged child can read or hear read the account and understand it. A couple disclaimers, qualifiers or modifiers before we get going I will be trying to limit myself humanly explaining what we read even trying to humanly explain. I will expound on it, but I will be very careful not to go too far. This is where we can so easily get into trouble. We human beings so want to walk by sight, not faith. We want to be in complete control of ourselves and our destinies, but we can t. But we keep on trying alas, in vain. And so, as a faithful gospel preacher, I am not going to try to make humanly understandable what God says. If God says it, it is true and to be believed, whether humanly making sense of not. A second disclaimer: I am not going to spend much time talking about the false doctrines man has devised to make it humanly explained. Such as the so-called gap theory meaning a gap of millions of years between verse 1 and 2. Or the vain imagination that the 7 days of creation were eons of time, not an evening and a morning as God says.

2 Or the lie known as evolution. I do not mind talking about these, and I have in the past, and likely will again in the future, but not in these lessons. This lesson is about the truth of creation as expressed by the Holy Spirit. Since I am not a scholar, or generally even that smart what I am about to say in these sermons is heavily borrowed from those more learned than myself. But, God seems to say that is fine. Listen to what Paul tells Timothy Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. I Timothy 4: Notice how Timothy could read and then benefit others through that. I hope I can do a little of the same. Ok, let s begin Genesis means beginning. And that is just the way the first book of Moses begins.in the beginning. The entire book is a documentation of many firsts. But I wish to discuss what God inspired Moses to pen about the earliest of all beginnings the first beginning the beginning of beginnings. There can be many beginnings but this is the first beginning...the first of anything physical as opposed to spiritual. But even the spiritual is mentioned as God. He breathed into the physical body of the first man of dust and he became a spiritual being. Let us read the entire text. Genesis 1:1-2:7 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the

3 light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth. And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living

4 creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

5 Once there was nothing but God. He has always existed. He is the eternal One from which everything comes for something cannot come from nothing. At some point, God created the universe by speaking a command and the far flung universe came into existence or being. Psalm 104:2 says He stretched out the heavens like a curtain. Picture that. At first the earth was uninhabitable, but only for a few days. The entire surface of the planet was covered with water and darkness was everywhere. But, the Spirit of God was hovering above the earth ready to go to work with further mighty acts in this first stage of creation. Light, BE! Let there be light. And light came into existence. And boy was it good real good. God making it makes it good. And maybe right here at the start is a good place to comment on how futile it is to humanly, scientifically explain creation. After thousands and thousands of years, with some of the more learned astronomers and scientists giving analyzation to it, they still struggle to define light. The very first thing. The most elementary and basic of things. What is light. From Yahoo News, March Scientists first measured the distance to a quasar an incredibly bright galactic core powered by a supermassive black hole 50 years ago this Saturday, finding that it lay billions of light-years away. The discovery was a seminal one in astronomy, opening the distant, ancient universe to observation and study. But in the decades since, researchers have shed little light on the powerful engine that drives quasars, says astrophysicist Robert Antonucci of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "We have found thousands of quasars in the past 50 years, but we still don't have good physical models for how they radiate their prodigious energy," Antonucci writes in the current issue of the journal Nature, which was published online today. "Without predictive theories, we have nothing. Our best hope for understanding quasars is that extraterrestrials might drop in and explain them to us. I have an extraterrestrial name for him God.

6 Back to the record provided by God God wants darkness to still be and so He does a most amazing thing he separates light and dark divides them, naming them night and day. God names them that. That is so amazing. God is huge on names. Later He will let man name the animals. More on that when we get there. But this is now the end of Day one. An evening and a morning comprises one day the first day..a first of 7 stages of creation God chose to use in the beginning of the heavens and the earth. Let us look at verse one closer "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth was written by Moses through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about 1500 B.C. In 1820 A.D. a man named Hubert Spencer gave the world five scientific principles by which man may study the unknown. They are time, force, energy, space, and matter. However, Moses, by inspiration, gave us those scientific principles in Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning - time; God - force; "created" - energy; "the heavens - space; "and the earth" - matter. All of Spencer's scientific principles are right there in Genesis 1:1. Isn t that powerful? So interesting. A breakdown all five components. In the beginning Not only does the first verse of the Bible speak of the creation of space and matter, but it also notes the beginning of time. The phrase In the beginning is the Hebrew BERESHITH. In the Greek, the words EN ARCHE are used, which are the same words used in John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word. Although it is true that the universe had a beginning, when the beginning occurred, the Word (Jesus) already WAS and involved in the creation.

7 God created time, as He does not exist in such. Peter says, one day and a thousand years are all the same to him. And so ever the existing God spoke into being time and when He did so, that marked the beginning time has a beginning and will also have an end. Time will one day be no more. There was a first day and there will be a last day. We are looking in this first lesson at the very first day six more follow in the lessons to come. In the beginning God This first occurrence of the divine name is the Hebrew ELOHIM, the name of God that stresses His majesty and omnipotence. It is this name that is used throughout the first chapter. The IM ending is the Hebrew plural ending, so that ELOHIM can mean gods as well, and is so translated in various passages referring to the gods of the heathens (e.g., Psa 96:5). However, it is clearly used here in the singular, as the mighty name of God the Creator, the first of over two thousand times where it is used in this way. Therefore, ELOHIM is a plural name with a singular meaning, a uni-plural noun, thereby suggesting the uni-plurality of the Godhead. God, the Majestic Plural, is one, yet more than one. It is most interesting to observe that the existence of God is not argued, proven, presented as anything than an undisputed truth. God must assume we will believe that that He is that He is the I AM, without convincing. Interesting. Elsewhere in the Bible we are told that He (God) has placed eternity into our hearts (Eccl. 3:11). I believe that, just like I believe this. Amen? In the beginning God Created This is the remarkable word BARA used always and only of the work of God. Only God can create that is, only God can call into existence that which previously had no existence. He calls those things which do not exist as though they did (Rom. 4:17). By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,

8 so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible (Heb. 11:3). Men can make things or form things, but they cannot CREATE things. God can also make or form things (Hebrew ASAH and YATSAR, respectively), and do so far more effectively and quickly than can man. The work of creation, however, is uniquely a work of God. The work of making and forming consists of organizing already existing materials into more complex systems, whereas the act of creation is that of speaking into existence something whose materials had no previous existence, except in the mind and power of God. The use of the word create here in Genesis 1:1 informs us that, at this point, the physical universe was spoken into existence by God. It had no existence prior to this creative act of God. God alone is infinite and eternal. He also is omnipotent, so that it was possible for Him to call the universe into existence. And though He chose to create in stages (7 days) it is actually not just stages, but seven days of creating. Creating day one, and creating some more day 2 and following. And one more thought the creating, especially as we go on with the verses to come, is exhibiting design and intelligence, and movements, and development and growth ability, and probably hundreds of other things that this small peanut mind of mine cannot even fathom. Amazing broadness of organization, order, structure, arrangement, beauty, distinction, etc. In the beginning God created the Heavens This word is the Hebrew SHAMAYIM which, like ELOHIM, is a plural noun, and so can be translated either heaven or heavens, depending on the context and/or whether it is associated with a singular or plural verb. The term does not include the stars of heaven, which were made on the fourth day of the creation week (v.

9 16), nor the expanse made between waters on earth and above the earth (see vs. 8) but plural the word is. The apostle Paul In II Cor. 12 references 3 heavens the third being where seemingly God is. In verse one of Genesis 1, it seems that the essential meaning of the word corresponds to our modern term space, such as when we speak of the universe as outer space. In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth In like manner the term earth refers to the component of matter in the universe. At the time of the initial creation, there were no other planets, stars, or other material bodies in the universe; nor did any of them come into being until the fourth day. The earth originally had no form to it (vs. 2); so this verse must speak essentially of the creation of basic elements of matter, which thereafter were to be organized into the structured earth and later into other material bodies. The word is the Hebrew ERETS and is often also translated either ground or land. So there you have it. A simple expounding of the text. These first few words of God, as high and lofty and almost unbelievable as they may humanly sound, are the absolute truth of what transpired with not a single uttered word falling from its meaning and intended purpose. Thus, conveying the thought from the mind of God to the lowly human minds like you and me of what transpired way back then. And might I quickly add this is all we need to know about it. Speculations can go wild, but be careful this is the truth of how things began and it is sufficient. One more time In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Let me one more time most seriously warn and advise if we cannot take God at His word along these first lines of written Scripture, then what are we going to do with Jesus? Our one and only hope of life with God when we die is all bound up in faith in a virgin birth, a sinless life of 33 years, a death, burial and resurrection and ultimate ascension into heaven, and Him speaking back down to earth from heaven in the book of Revelation. That does not make human sense. That is not

10 humanly possible. That is foolishness or is it? I am going to take God at His word about Jesus, just as I do about the creation of this universe. Day 2 (1:6-8) And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. On the second day, God created a firmament, a space or expanse between waters on the earth and waters above the earth. And He called this expanse heaven. He has already named light Day and darkness Night and now the space between waters above and beneath He has named Heaven. Maybe it is just me, but I am fascinated at God naming things. It seems to be very important to Him. And so if someone tells you religiously there is nothing in a name what you call something or even call yourselves doesn t matter, say that you disagree. God seems to care a lot about what things are named. This expanse between the waters we sometimes call it air or sky or where the clouds are and though not specifically said, implies the creation of the atmosphere in which we breathe. God is preparing the earth for habitation. Oxygen is created an ozone filtration of harmful ultraviolet rays from the soon to be created sun. Clouds may have been formed on day 2. Clouds are going to play a super significant role to the Lord. The words "cloud and cloudy" are used 156 times throughout the Bible. The rainbow, the token of the covenant, was to be seen in the clouds (Gen. 9:13-16). Clouds were used to separate Israel from their enemies (Exo. 14:19,20) and to lead them during the day through the wilderness

11 for 40 years. Jesus ascended into heaven in a cloud (Acts 1:9). He will return again at the last day in the clouds (Rev. 1:7) and we that are caught up to be with him will do so in the clouds.(i Thess. 4:13-18). Now, I could venture off into to discussing the nature of the waters above was it a thick canopy of water that stayed in place until the great flood of Noah s day when it rained for 40 days and covered the earth again. The ground originally is said to have been watered by a mist coming up from the ground (see 2:6) and rain had not yet begun. And so how long was it before rain began? Anyway, that is for another lesson. And so on this evening and morning comprising the second day of the earth s existence, God creates a second heaven a place where the birds will fly, and also in which we human beings can breathe. Day 3 (1:9-13) And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth. And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. On this third day of creation, God does more separating or maybe said more accurately, a placement of water still covering the earth into one place. It has been

12 supposed that if one place means one place, then before the flood of Noah s time, there was only one ocean or sea. Regardless of that, the accomplished feat more to be emphasized is the dry land appearing. Now, wouldn t it be terrific to witness that! The whole surface of the earth being covered in water possibly miles deep being moved into a gigantic lake. Was it gradual through lifting up of mountains, or pushing down of areas like the Mariana Trench making miles deep space or both or what? Well, this I know God spoke and it happened. Maybe in a moment or in a few hours, but not more than 24 hours, as this takes place on a single day. Amazing! And may I add one more thing this would in one day give the earth an appearance of many, many years of existence. What might naturally take millions of years to accomplish, if at all, God did in a few hours of one single day. But, God is not through. All sorts of vegetation is in a moment brought into existence. Grasses, plants, herbs, fruit trees, vegetables, etc. Brought into full grown maturity in one day sprouting and developing in super speed, but each containing seed for continued growth and produce. Marvelous. The design, the uses, the growth and reproduction capability, all in one day installed. Man can hardly plant a few trees in a day God created them out of nothing, designed them, as there are so many different kinds, and planted them, and all this in one single day. And notice the order the plants needful as food for animals and humans, is created before the animal and human life that will need them. But, not only for food, but for photosynthesis purposes God created the machinery of plant life to take sunlight not only for their own growth but the usefulness of all life on earth. Isn t God s mind so amazing He seems to think of everything. Permit me to elaborate a little on the biology that ties in well with this point of creation I read that there are two immutable laws of biology on earth. Two laws

13 that never have changed or ever will. The first one is: Life can only come from life. and the second is: Like always gives rise to like. Living things do not just up and come to life. Sometimes by the naked eye it might seem to do so, but with microscopes we now can see that that is not true. Louis Pasteur even proved that microscopic creatures like algae, amoeba and bacteria come from preexisting forms of life. And as for like producing like in the text we see kind bearing after its kind. Fruit flies produce fruit flies, apple trees produce apples and apple trees and human beings produce horses. Ha! No they don t. Human beings produce human beings. Oh, they may have different appearances most all human beings do, even twins, but they are still in the likeness of human beings. There may be varieties with the kinds plant kinds, animal kinds, but like produces like. And so where did this law or reproduction get its start? Easy. God created it. And as mentioned before, all this in one day leaves the appearance of years. God accelerated the natural growth at the beginning to make the earth inhabitable. And consider the size of this operation the whole earth is covered it would seem. There is no indication that this was done in a small location near where the Garden of Eden will be created, in modern day Iraq, but this is worldwide. And so this is the creation activities of the third day and Moses says God saw it was good. Day 4 (1:14-19) And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights the greater light to rule

14 the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. On this day we see God creating the heavenly bodies that give light we would say sun, moon and stars. And though not mentioned, this would seem to be the day that also the planets were made. Also mentioned in this creative work is the establishment of signs, seasons, days and years. And this is most interesting. God is dividing day and night, creating days and nights, weeks, months and years the basic components of calendars. This for God? Oh, no way. This is for man. Stars can be for guidance, for direction and eventually used by God to lead the wise men of the East to where Jesus was located. But there will be seven days and repeat, seven days and repeat, seven days and repeat. There will be moon phases, and monthly lunar repeating. And seasons for crop growth, for planting, for reaping and for repeating each year. And though not specified, we now know that this would also be part of the tilt of the earth, the speed of the earth s rotation and it s as orbit around the sun. All created in the great mind of God perfectly placed, perfectly directed, perfectly moving all of which required huge design and power to implement to initiate, to get going. Now, let me address a question that someone might be thinking wasn t there already light created on day one? And the answer of course is YES. Well, one thing is for sure, in all our cogitations about it nothing we think or say will change or erase the words already said in the verses prior. Amen? So how might this be explained? Let me say I don t know, because God has not explained how it was done. But that it WAS done I do not for a moment disbelieve. But, may we render a guess a small limited human mind guess? Ok. God is so powerful that He did

15 not need the sun, moon and stars to produce light and then to divide into day and night for three days He just did it on His own. But, then on Day 4 He invented a natural provision for the earth to have this. He could have kept being the one to produce it miraculously, but He then made it to be done by the sun primarily, but aided by the moon and the stars. We see God creating things full grown by creation, but then creating a procreation through seed both for plants and animals and later humans. In the case Of Jesus He will insert Himself miraculously back into the process with impregnating Mary, but otherwise it is a natural procreative process. And so, He created light and separated it and darkness and upheld it for two days after the first day and then made it natural. That s my two cents guess. Permit me to talk about stars for a few more moments Stars are lights, lights that give off energy, even as our sun is a star and provides the energy we need for life on the earth. God created the stars in such a large number, and at such a large distance from us that we cannot see them with the naked eye, nor count them. And with the distance being so great, and with light traveling only 186,000 miles per second, it would take millions of years for the first light emitted from them to reach earth, so that Adam and Eve never got a chance to see the light of stars? That isn t necessary. God could miraculously stretch out the light streams already happening from day 4. And so Adam may see the stars on day 6. There is a sense in which the light stream being given off is pointing us to where it is located in the sky. You follow me? Listen to these verses about stars creation on Day 4 Psalms 8:3-4 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

16 Psalm 147:4 He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Scientists today believe there are possibly a 100 billion galaxies or groupings of stars, but that the number could double to 200 billion with the improvements of telescopes. And within each of these galaxies are possibly a hundred billion stars in each one of them. If we multiply 100 billion galaxies times 100 billion stars in each galaxy we get 1 to the 22nd power or 1 with 22 zeroes after it or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000, I read the number was guessed to be 10 to the power of 25 or worded ten million billion billion! The bible says in Hebrews 11:12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. God says counting stars is like counting the grains of sand by the seashore. Good luck with that. And God created each one and named them. Once again see how our Creator loves to name things. As mentioned earlier in the first installment of these lectures, when speaking about light and scientists inability to well explain what light is I mentioned quasars you may recall. Scientists do not know what these created energy sources are in space. They just know they are objects or energy and that they are far, far away. Scientists sometimes refer to them as black holes this is human speculation because no one has ever seen a black hole. The black holes do not let even light escape, so no one can see them. A word about planets those in our solar system you know, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Mars and the others, too. And besides, there are the many moons of many of the planets. Saturn has the most 18 of them! Our solar system is like a big complex machine that runs extremely orderly. The planets positions are known exactly. Even the orbit speed of a comet can be predicted to the day because of its

17 orderly precision in circling the sun. For instance, Halley s comet appears every 75 years 1910, 1985 and next in Astronomers can tell us to the exact minute, on a particular day, in a specific year, when the sun will rise on the horizon and when it will disappear at sunset. They can also tell us exactly when the tide of the ocean will be at its highest and lowest, as affected by the moon and gravity on any day of the year you might want to know. Scientists have hypothetically speculated ways that scientifically explained these planets could just happen to be without design and all have failed the test. And if they have all failed the various scientific tests, then they must not exist. But, they do! They do exist! And only one explanation fits they were designed and placed by One who is intelligent, orderly and dependable. Amen? And a word about seasons and tilt of the earth s axis. The axis of rotation of the earth is not straight up and down, in relation to the sun, but is tilted at 23.5 degrees. This is important not only in producing seasons for the comfortableness of change, but for food production. If not for the tilt, food could only grow in a very small area of the earth. This tilt enables places far north or far south of the equator to grow crops in summer time. So there you have it. Day 4. Day 5 (1:20-23) And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill

18 the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. With such a few words and little description God expresses how He created creatures that live in water. From the smallest sponges, jelly fish, and starfish to big fish swordfish, sharks, mackerals, etc. And also mammals that are sea dwellers, such as whales, dolphins, etc. And of course in between there are all those fish some beautiful, some a bit ugly and bizarre looking. And there are eels, octopi, stingrays, and the like s? I read somewhere that there are 34,000 species, but that there are many subdivisions of that. For example, I read there are a couple hundred breeds of goldfish many looking very different. And though not mentioned in the text, God had to provide these water dwelling animals with food plankton, algae, etc. That is a lot to get done in 24 hours! Fish of all kinds created in a day a 24 hour day! Amazing. Most of us take all day just to clean out our fish tank. Ha! But, I have yet to mention what the Holy Spirit calls, the great sea creatures what are they? The Hebrew literally means stretched out creatures. I m not sure what more that says, but unusually mentioned in the text, makes me think unusually large or impressive in some way. These would include whales of course, but the bible mentions another elsewhere in the Bible Leviathan. Psalm 104:24-26 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.

19 Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Job 41 Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hands on him; remember the battle you will not do it again! Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him. No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me? Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame. Who can strip off his outer garment? Who would come near him with a bridle? Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror. His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated. His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth. In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him. The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable. His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone. When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves. Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten

20 wood. The arrow cannot make him flee; for him sling stones are turned to stubble. Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins. His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire. He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment. Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired. On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear. He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride. What a creature! A sea dragon! Fire coming out his mouth and smoke from his nostrils. More impressive than a whale. And whales are impressive. And this was in Job s day.approximately years ago. People fantasize about the Loch Ness monster but this is no fantasy. This is for real. And it is recorded in biblical history, not left to dinosaur imaginations. What happened to them? Somehow went extinct, just as have other animals. And let s not forget all those birds whether eagles, geese, storks or chickens, pigeons, parakeets. The sheer size of the project is mind blowing. We cannot even come close to imagining how big a feat this was that was accomplished in 24 hours. Made out of nothing full grown. Which came first the chicken or the egg? Easy. The chicken two of them at the least, maybe more. At Noah s flood God had one pair of the unclean animals, but seven pairs of the clean animals. How many were at creation? Just two of each? Maybe. Maybe more. Maybe it is just me, but I am fascinated at God speaking to the animals or at least expressing His will about them He says to them, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the waters and the air. And may I say they perfectly follow His will along those lines. It is man who comes along later and can use his freewill to refuse. Water creatures are told to fill the waters in the seas and I know they did. But, when

21 God told man to do a similar thing to fill the earth but at the tower of Babel they refused. Sad. And so this concludes the 5th Day a good day very good day. Day 6 (1:24-31) And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. All sorts of animals are created on this 6th day. Giraffes, antelopes, bears cows, horses, sheep ants, grasshoppers and worms. And last but not least, man. The

22 reasoning of God that is first mentioned for making man like an animal, but different is to rule over all the other animals fish, birds and cattle in fact over all the earth he is given dominion. Man was made male and female, as were the animals, but we have yet to hear exactly how that was done that comes later in chapter 2. He is also told to eat plant life of the ground and fruit from trees for food, just as the animals. Did God hold off on man eating animals until there were enough to withstand the loss of life? Or was it healthier to be a vegetarian? God does not say. We do know that eating meat is acceptable to the Lord and commanded to be so. And God himself kills the first animals to make coats for Adam and Eve after they sinned. Moses who is writing this in hindsight looking back from many centuries before says God made the animals according to their kinds. These animals, or at least many of them, would have been greatly known by those of Moses day. In later writings of Moses, when speaking about which animals God would permit them to eat and those He would not, we see many listed. And so, by inspiration He says God made these animals after their kind. No evolution that crosses over kinds. But, over and over He says after their kind after their kind. This is a vast distribution of kinds from the original day made. And so man is animalistic, but unlike all the others, he is said to be made in God s image. And notice it is OUR image. As mentioned before in this series, the name of God here, Elohim, is a plural word and God is a plural being. Three persons in the Godhead. The Father, the Word, and the Spirit. And so from the beginning, man is placed above the animals. He is not evolving from among them, nor is he a kind of primitive caveman hardly a step above the animals No! He is on day one made in an image greatly elevated and told to rule over the animals (and later we see him naming them..a unique ability and

23 responsibility, I might add.) and also to subdue the whole earth. Man is over the earth God ordained. What does it mean made in God s image? One way is that man has a spirit that goes up to God when the body dies. God is spirit and so is man. Man has a high degree of intelligence, will and consciousness abilities to worship God. Man is not automatically programmed to connect with God, but he has that potential ability. Day 7 (2:1-4) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. This day may be the most important of all, though not initially thought so at a causal reading. Why even mention that God stopped working and a whole day devoted to it. We know it is not because he was worn out or tired or needing sleep. And so why make a deal about it? One thing is that it ended forever the creative process. This is the completed work of God. It is finished. It came to a rest it stopped. The word rest can be used this way. We may describe something rolling as finally coming to a rest at such and such spot. God s creative work came to a halt on the seventh day. Another thought is that Moses in writing this is highlighting how this connects with their commandment to rest or stop working on the sabbath day one of the ten commandments showing even God memorialized it at the beginning. And

24 another idea is that God was looking down through human history and sees an eternal rest or sabbath that awaits the people of God in Christ and in heaven at last. Hebrews 4:1-11 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, As I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter my rest, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And again in this passage he said, They shall not enter my rest. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, Today, saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. The Garden Of Eden I was driving through South Africa one day near the southern coast, when I came across this sign. I had always wondered what had happened to the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve were driven out. Well, now I knew. God moved it to South Africa. Ha! I mentioned this to a receptionist at our hotel in Mackinac Island a couple days ago. She was from Capetown and she recognized it, too. And laughed. Ok, let s get serious.

25 Genesis 2:15-23 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Then the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him. So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. We can only speculate as to why God wanted to place Adam in a confined area. We know as stated in 1:28 that God s original intention is for man to not be confined to one location, but to cover the earth, and so possibly this garden was a temporary place from the beginning. Anyway, some thing we DO know is that the garden was east of where Moses was when he is writing this (see verse 8) and with the rivers named, we can pinpoint it fairly accurately. It is in modern day Iraq or Kuwait (not South Africa, ha!). Truthfully, we do not know what God did with it after Adam and Eve were banished from it. Or for how did it stay guarded by Cheribim with flaming sword before disappearing. And how large was the garden? Fascinating questions, but with no definitive answer. God formed man (male) Adam differently that the mammals it seems. It says in 1:7 God formed or shaped the man out of dust. This is interesting to say the least.

26 God molding or forming what the body should look like. In the animal beings there are all sorts of shapes and sizes, but man is uniquely it seems formed formed out of the soil. Were all the other animals formed the same way, or just materialized out of nothing? My humble opinion is man was formed differently in this way. And it might be of interest to note that he is still doing in the mother s womb when a newborn is created. Psalm 139 says, God forms us in our mother s womb, knitting us in secret. This is too wonderful for me. How about you? But, I am not done. God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, resulting in him becoming a living being. The word spirit and breath can sometimes be the same, and we see God depicted as providing both for man his air breathed through lungs animating his physical body and also providing a soul or being that transcends death when the body returns to the dust from which it came, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it we are told in Ecclesiastes 12. God created man in an extraordinary kind of way. And then there is woman. Animals were made male and female it would seems, and Adam and Eve were, too. See 1:27. But, just as with Adam, God sees fit to create the first female differently that the other animals and differently that He did Adam. He could have made Eve just as He did Adam, but no. And why? Well, one thing seems for certain, the man needed more than a sexual companion. An arrangement, just as for the animals of procreation being able to be fruitful and multiply. I says that for two reasons. 1. Because of how God chose to do it taking from out of the man a part of him to then form a female. A woman. 2. It says the reason is the avoidance of loneliness. God usually says what made is good. But, now he says it is not good that the man be alone. I do not think this to be an afterthought of God s A whoops moment. Didn t see that. Let s correct this right