GENESIS
● Chapter 1
“In The Beginning”Gen 1:1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
There are seven words in the Hebrew texts:
בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ׃
The statement is clear and concise. It states that “in the beginning” (when time began) “God created” (the Eternal Supernatural Being fashioned ex nihilo) “the heaven and the earth” (all things material) into existence. If the Sacred Scripture is inspired of God and absolute in doctrine, then matter is not eternal as evolutionists believe; all matter is created.
The evolutionists and atheists may have their theories and opinions of how the Heaven and the Earth came into existence without a Creator. Common sense dictates the simple logic that creation cannot be without a Creator.
Heb 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
The Hebrew word for “beginning” also means firstfruits. In the counsel of His own will and for His own good pleasure, the Creator brought forth the Heaven and the Earth as the firstfruits of the creation of life. (Read Ephesians 1.) This life is in His Word.
Joh 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2: The same was in the beginning with God.
3: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4: In him was life; and the life was the light of men.The “in the beginning” of John 1:1 comes before the “in the beginning” of Genesis 1:1. The “Word” (Grk: Logos) is the revelation of the One True Eternal Almighty Being who stepped out of eternity into time. He said: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Rev.1:8; 22:13). He is the Author of time. But what is time? Simply, it is a point outside of
the circle of eternity. It is a transient stage. And why time? Time is a tool to serve a purpose in the Author’s own hand to fulfill a plan in His will that He had ordained. Time, in essence, is simply the Author’s reckoning tool to bring about “the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (Eph.1:9-10). In the Creator’s economy, that “which he hath purposed in himself” will be achieved through His administration of time to head up all things in Him, in the Messiah.
So “in the beginning” the WORD of God (which later was manifest in the flesh of the Son of God, Jesus Christ) came forth as was planned and purposed in His own counsel; and creation began. And God created “the heaven and the earth” — the whole Universe. The term “the heaven and the earth” used here is a Hebrew expression – a synecdoche or merism – denoting the whole Universe. Used by itself or collectively with other created things, the word “heaven” points to the “firmament, canopy, sky”, and the word “earth” points to the “dirt, land, ground”, that is, the terrestrial of this planet Earth.
Earth’s AgeHow old is the Universe? How old is the planet Earth?
Nobody really knows. Scientists can only speculate and guess. The answers vary. But of late, scientists claim that the universe is 13.798 ± 0.037 billion years old, and the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old. However, some Christians would disagree and say that the Earth is some 6000 years old. Their conclusion is based upon the dawn of mankind, that is, from the birth of Adam, as recorded in the Book of Genesis of the Bible. Nonetheless, the second verse of Genesis provides some light of information to the answer.
Gen 1:2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
This verse has three parts: i) “and the earth was without form, and void”, ii) “and darkness was upon the face of the deep”, iii) “and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”.
“And the earth was without form, and void.” Theologians take this statement to be of uncertain etymology, yet interpret it that when God created the Earth, its beginning was a confused mass of matter that had no orderliness of form. The Earth had no form and was void of life. However, in the words of the prophet Isaiah we see it written:
Isa 45:18: For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
It is clear from the words of Isaiah that the Earth was created to be inhabited, and nothing about its beginning being a mass of matter of confusion and disorder.
It is of no great importance to us how long it took the Creator to bring forth the whole universe including our planet Earth with its heaven. What is time to the Eternal Spirit when a thousand years is as a day and a day as a thousand years to Him (cf. 2Pet.3:8; Psm.90:4)? We know He brought forth all that we see in creation by the Spoken Word. He spoke the words and it was so.
“Without Form, And Void”Now, the first statement of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”, provides a factual complete picture that the creation of “the heaven and the earth” was accomplished, created, and finished in a period called “the beginning”. The second statement of Genesis stands apart from the first statement. There is a long period of time between the two statements.
The words “without form, and void” in Hebrew are “tohu va bohu”:
תּהוּtohu – from an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain: - confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness; and,
בּהוּbohu – from an unused root (meaning to be empty); a vacuity, that is, (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin: - emptiness, void.
Therefore the statement “the earth was without form, and void” should be translated as: “the earth had become waste and empty”.
But what had caused the Earth to become a waste and a ruin? The answer lies in the Fall of Lucifer, the most powerful and beautiful of all God’s angelic beings. The account of his fall is recorded in Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:2-18.
The Fall Of LuciferJohn the beloved apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, in the Book of Revelation, that Lucifer dragged a third of the angelic beings with him in his rebellion against the Creator (Rev.12:4). What great defiance! What self-deception for Lucifer to think that he could lift himself up to sit in the seat of God (Ezek.28:2), and for those angels to choose to leave their “first estate” (of place and rule) to side with Lucifer. For their rebellious act, the Almighty cast them down from their heavenly positions and shackled them into darkness that they could not see the light of truth as they await the day of judgment (2Pet.2:4; Jude 1:6). The fall and judgment of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth as an example of God’s wrath against those who break His code of life. The cities were filled with carnal men and women who gave themselves to unnatural sexual desires. These people had left their principles and the natural order that God had set, and God chained them and cast them down in a cloud of gloom till judgment fire was sent down from heaven (Jude 1:7). Today, who knows how many sinners are in chains and living in darkness because of their reprobate evil and wicked mind, choosing to leave their “first estate” and thus, awaiting God’s wrath.
Now, the gap between the first two verses of Genesis spans a great length of time. We cannot tell how long the Earth had been in existence until it became “wasted and empty”. It was a period that does not concern mankind but Lucifer and all the angelic beings. All of God’s angels were put on this Earth to be tested. God did not create the angels as mechanical beings serving Him. Like mankind, the angels are free agents of choice and were created in God’s own image and likeness.
The Earth in the days of Lucifer was filled with dinosaurs, and man-like creatures which are commonly called prehistorical men. It matters not to us what names paleontologists gave to each of them. It is a theological error to believe that the angels were tested in God’s Heaven (which is “the third heaven” – 2Cor.12:2) and those who fell were then cast down to Earth. The Heaven of God is God’s throne and abode, and the Earth is his footstool and work place. Hence, sin can never find a beginning in God’s Heaven. For those who think that sin originated in God’s Heaven they need to reexamine the status of the Holy God. Most theologians have taken two verses of Scripture, Job 1:6 and 2:1, and erroneously interpreted them to be events that took place in “the third heaven” with the “sons of God” being the angels, and that Satan came also into the very Presence of God. However, the truth is that the events took place on Earth and that the “sons of God” were not angels (be they holy angels or fallen angels) but the worshippers of God in the days of Job. Moreover, the term “sons of God” speaks of a relationship with a “Father” and the ability to procreate (and be a father). These “sons of God” gathered to worship and it was in such an assembly of worshippers that Satan entered and through one, or more of them, accused Job. God’s angels are His servants, not His sons, and they have no power to procreate (Mat.22:30; Mar.12:25). Some theologians cite Jude 1:6 and Genesis 6:4 in an attempt to forcibly prove that angels can procreate.
Lucifer had his “Garden of Eden”, which is his kingdom on Earth, and it certainly was not the same as the one God gave to Adam, as proven from the words of Ezekiel 28:13-15. Lucifer fell from his estate, his heavenly position, as a great archangel of God when he sought to ascend into the Heaven of God and to put himself in a position above all the angelic beings, such that he be even as God. He had said in his heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isa.14:13-14). [Note: If Lucifer sought to “ascend into heaven”, which is “above the heights of the clouds”, he could not have been in heaven, and certainly he could not have fallen from the Heaven of God.] His being cut down to the ground by God caused him to become rebellious. With a raging, murderous attitude he turned against God by worming his way into the spirits of some of the gigantic animals and causing them to kill one another. Hence, he became Satan, the adversary of God.
Lucifer’s Kingdom JudgedSatan was a murderer from the beginning (Joh.8:44) and not just when he had Cain kill Abel in the days after the Fall of Mankind. As Lucifer had defiled his own kingdom, God had to judge his kingdom and bring it to an end. Anyone who defiles what God gives will face His wrath. (Read Lamentations 2:1-22; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.)
With the destruction of lives and the environment, the air was fouled by the decomposition of animals and plants. God had to call it to a halt by ‘switching off’ the sun, “and darkness
was upon the face of the deep”. As light gave way to darkness, waters upon the land, lakes and seas turned into ice. Every droplet of water in the air turned to crystals and piled up on the Earth. Everything was frozen solid. As the planet Earth was left in that chaotic and wasted state for a vastly long period of time, the movement and the pressure of the ice and earth layers caused many trees and plants to become petrified, and many carcasses of the various creatures, of the air, land and sea, big and small, to later become fossilized under layers of rocks. [Note: According to some scientists, the Earth experienced a cataclysmic change some 65 million years ago. An asteroid or giant meteor hit the Earth with a great force causing clouds of dust to rise and blotted out the sunlight. Thus, life gradually died out.]
The many, who theorize that the planet Earth is a ‘young Earth’ of 6000 years old, believe that fossils were created by the great deluge of water which came upon the Earth about 1656 years later when God destroyed all lives on Earth, saving only Noah, his family and the animals in the ark. Such theorists should consider how the fossils could possibly be the remains of a pre-flood world. Also, if the dinosaurs were created in the days of Adam and they were in the ark of Noah, how is it that the dinosaurs died out after they left the ark onto dry land? It is assumed that food was scarce for all the animals and hence the dinosaurs were the first to perish due to their large size. Such an assumption is foolish. Not all dinosaurs were big. Some were small like the turkey and yet the bigger animals such as the elephants, hippopotamuses and the rhinoceros survived. Indeed it is strange that God would save all kinds of dinosaurs by gathering them into the ark to simply have them die out after they left the ark because He could not provide them with enough greens after the Flood. Furthermore, the Scripture clearly states that all animals “whose nostrils were the breath of life” that were not in the ark perished during the Flood. But how is it that some marine creatures, such as the orthoceras, trilobites and ammonites that had no nostrils did not survive the flood, perished and became fossilized? Did they really perish during the Flood and become fossilized in a watery Earth? Or, were they fossilized in the frozen chaotic and wasted state of the Earth eons before the Earth was recreated and Adam walked on it?
By rejecting the time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, the truth of several mysteries will be missed. Examine carefully the following passages of scriptures written by Apostle Peter and Prophet Jeremiah respectively:
2Pe 3:5 (ASV): For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God;
6: by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7: but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.Peter tells us that there are people who are ignorant of these facts – that the heavens were created by the Word of God a very long time ago, and that the Earth was compacted out of the water it was in. That same Earth later perished under a deluge (in Noah’s day). By the same Word, the present heaven and Earth have been reserved for fire and are being kept for the day when ungodly people will be judged and destroyed.
Jer 4:23: I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24: I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25: I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26: I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
27: For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.In describing the condition of the land of Judea, Jeremiah’s prophetic words talked about the beginning when the Creator doomed the Earth into a chaotic and waste state. His prophetic words were similar to his predecessor, Prophet Moses — that the Earth “was without form, and void”, and that the heavens and the Earth had no light (cf. Gen.1:2). Jeremiah then stated what the Lord said, “The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.” As the Spirit of God moved and brought back life to the Earth, so did He to the land of Judea.
Once again, it is clear from the mouth of Isaiah that the LORD, who created the heavens, founded the Earth for habitation (cf. Isa.45:18). God created all things for His own good pleasure. It was eons before Mankind (Adam) appeared, about 6000 years ago. The Earth back then was inhabited by many creatures that no longer exist today. As Lucifer turned against His Creator, he brought chaos upon the Earth by getting the living creatures to ‘war’ amongst themselves. With every battle, vegetation around the raging creatures was destroyed. The decomposition of the dead animals and the destruction of vegetation polluted the Earth. Hence, the Lord God had to bring an end to that epoch by ‘switching off’ the sun, the light of our solar system. As the energy of the sun powered down, the Earth plunged into darkness. Its atmospheric waters froze and all living things perished. The Earth was left alone for an unknown period of time, “without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep”. The Earth was frozen, dark, wasted and empty of life.
Re-Creation“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Now, the Spirit of Life of the LORD moved upon the surface of the great waste of the frozen deep. God moves to bring life back to the Earth.
Before we proceed, we need to understand the usage of the words “let”, “create” and “make” as these words are used in the rest of the chapter and also in chapter 2.
“Let” is a word that declares or announces. When God says “let” it speaks of His intention to do something, or to bring forth something into existence/manifestation —
by way of creating something out of nothing or by making something out of something that already existed. The words “create”
and “make” in Hebrew are בּרא bara and
עשׂה asah respectively. To “create” is to bring into existence something out of nothing, whereas to “make” is to bring something into existence out of something, or with reference to something already in existence.
First Day: LightGen 1:3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4: And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5: And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.As the Spirit of Life moved upon the great waste of the deep, He breathed and declared, “Let there be light”
and light appeared. God said that the light was good. This light is not the light of the sun. Sunlight was brought back only on the fourth day as God made that great light to shine again. Science cannot isolate the source from which this light comes, nor comprehend it, so it is simply called cosmic light. The source of the light comes from the very WORD of LIFE itself for God is LIGHT. Wherever the Almighty moves to do good, LIGHT would emerge. The declaration of His LIGHT always brings goodness, both physical and spiritual.
Let me interject a thought here. Jesus THE CHRIST said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (Joh.6:63b). THE CHRIST is the anointed Spoken Word of Yahweh, the Creative Word, the Source of life, the Original Seed. He is life. He is also the Light — “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (Joh.1:4). Note that LIGHT came forth from the Spirit of LIFE. There cannot be life without light, both physical and spiritual. The Almighty Spirit is Light and He dwells in Light (cf. 1Joh.1:5).
The Apostle Paul wrote: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Cor.4:6). Truly, light must shine out of darkness as light is the foremost essential in bringing life back to the Earth. When Yahweh works He works in the light and never in the dark (cf. Joh.9:4; 1Joh.1:5-7). Light illuminates. It reveals what lies in the dark. As there is an undeniable division between light and darkness, when light comes darkness must flee. Darkness is made to flee and separate itself from light. Light produces warm and brings life. Darkness drags in the cold and brings death. Light and Darkness are oppose one to the other. God made that division.
“And God called the light Day (which is the hot part of the day), and the darkness he called Night (which is the cold – adverse – part of the day). And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
“The Evening And The Morning”Many Christians have difficulty believing that God took only six literal ‘24-hour’ days to re-create the present “heaven and earth” that we live in. They have limited the power of God in what He can do and how He wants to do it.
The Jews begin their day with the sun setting, that is, the evening time, after which comes the night. After 12 hours the sun rises to bring light and warmth. The break of day is the morning time and it also lasts for 12 hours. This is Yahweh’s reckoning of night and day – “night day” or “evening morning” – not day and night, as one natural day of 24 hours. Of the two words, “evening” is placed first for the reason that the Earth was in darkness until the light came upon the Earth to give a “morning”. A “night and day” to Prophet Daniel is called an “evening morning” (Dan.8:26) and to
Apostle Paul, a “night day” (2Cor.11:25). Notice that Daniel used the same phrasal words in Hebrew that Moses used, and so did Paul who used the Greek equivalent. Ancient nations, including the Romans, were known to follow such reckoning of time. However, in the 16th Century, Pope Gregory XIII changed it to begin at midnight, resulting in a change in the usage of time in all nations up till now. Only followers of certain religious groups, like Judaism, Islamism and Bahaism still follow the old usage of time.
Now, “the evening and the morning” were 12 hours of space each, but today’s evening or morning might be less or more than twelve hours depending on the season of the year. This is because the Earth is tilted at 23.5 degrees at its axis after the Great Deluge in the days of Noah which caused 71% of the Earth surface to be covered with water, the greater area being in the southern hemisphere. Prior to the deluge the Earth was spinning smoothly on a perpendicular axis to the sun. This is a fact proven by the very words of Scripture – “the evening and the morning” – 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light, both together one natural day, consisting of 24 hours. Also, the Earth was revolving around the sun 360 days a year (a day for a degree in a circle). However, the rotation of the Earth today on its tilted axis causes the Earth to wobble. The wobbling slows down the Earth on its path around the sun, adding approximately 5.25 days to every revolution.
Back in the era before the Flood a fountain of water clouded the Earth. “Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains” (Psa.104:6). “When I made the cloud the garment thereof…” (Job 38:9a). Earth’s climatic condition was ideal and stable all the year round because the aqueous shell, the garment of water that shrouded it, made the Earth a ‘greenhouse’. There was no extreme hot and cold climate. That was its original state until the days of Noah when “all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen.7:11b-12). Consequently, the Earth was completely inundated with water. It took 1 year and 10 days for the water to subside and partially return to where it came from. The rest of it remained on the Earth till this day. The thick layer of aqueous shell is no more. All that remains of it are the ‘bits and pieces’ of torn garment of clouds floating about in the heaven above us. However, in his prophetic vision on the Isle of Patmos the Apostle John wrote: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” (Rev.21:1). John saw the dissolution of our present “heaven and earth” by fire (2Pet.3:7) and in its place stood “a new heaven and a new earth”. When the Almighty dissolves the Earth by fire the heat will ‘sizzle’ the water upwards to where it will stand above all the mountains to form the garment of water that once shrouded the Earth with a heavenly ‘greenhouse’ condition. All the great oceans and seas of water will be gone. The new Earth will have more land surface than water as it was in the original creation. The Earth’s rotation will be back on a perpendicular axis to the sun with an annual revolution of 360 days around it.
Second Day: FirmamentGen 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.
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.With the light in place, the Spirit of God then made a firmament for the Earth by dividing the waters of the deep, lifting a portion of the
waters above the firmament and leaving the rest under it. This expanse between waters He called “heaven” — the space from the surface of the Earth to the highest height, where birds could fly and man could still breathe. The large amount of water above the firmament was as an aqueous shell, which shrouded the Earth as a ‘greenhouse’ that resulted in an even temperature around the Earth. [Note: This “heaven” is commonly known as the “first heaven”. The “second” is the starry heaven, the vast expanse above the Earth’s atmosphere. The “third” is the realm of God’s Divine Majesty which the apostle Paul wrote of in 2Cor.12:1-4.]
As God proclaimed it, so the heaven between the waters was made. “And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
Third Day: Seas, Land, And VegetationGen 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.
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.Under the heaven (that is, the “first heaven”) that was made laid the matters of the Earth so compressed and mixed with water (which had been left in a chaotic state for eons since the Fall of Lucifer) that God had to gather the waters together into a network (or system) of water source. Large bodies of waters are called Seas and the waters are channeled to one another through the rivers on the surface of the Earth or springs and fountains in the bowels of it. When the waters are so gathered together, the dry land, called earth, appeared. As God declared, so they were, “and God saw that it was good.” [Note: It is not true that the planet Earth was Pangaea, a supercontinent, surrounded by a single ocean. The planet Earth was “Pangaea” in the form of one big mass of earth with its land surface spotted with water pockets (lakes and seas). There were no oceans of waters. The oceans came about after the Great Deluge in Noah's days.]
After that the Lord God spoke for the earth to bring forth vegetation. God made the seeds of all those plants that were buried in the earth for eons to germinate. So the earth brought forth tender sprouts, herbs bearing seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit, each kind containing its own seed according to God’s spoken words.
“And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
Fourth Day: Heavenly BodiesGen 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:
15: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
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.
17: And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
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.
19: And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.The “heaven” mentioned here is not the “first heaven” that was created for the Earth on the second day (vv.6-8, 9). Notice carefully that this is not the “firmament in the midst of the waters” (that is, it is not the firmament between the waters) that is called the “heaven”, but the “firmament of the heaven” which is the vast expanse above the Earth’s atmosphere. In this heaven (“second heaven”) God made two great lights, the sun and the moon. Remember that the sun was ‘switched off’ in the judgment of Lucifer after he sinned. In doing so, God caused Lucifer’s Edenic kingdom to plunge into darkness. Now, in this fourth day of His creation
work, God made the sun to light up again. He flipped on the ‘switch’ of the sun and nuclear fusion begun. The sun released energy of light onto the Earth. The sun is the greater light and it dominates the day. With the sun lit, God made the moon to reflect light onto the Earth. The moonlight is the lesser light and it dominates the night. God also made the stars to light up and set them in their fixed positions in the heaven, and together with the two great lights, shine light upon the Earth day and night, dividing the light from the darkness. “And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
Truly, “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork”, so sang King David in Psalm 19:1.
Fifth Day: Animal Life Of Sea And AirGen 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.
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.
22: And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23: And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.As the Lord God commanded, “Let the waters bring forth…”, the waters that were gathered into one place through a system of seas, rivers, subterranean springs and fountains brought forth an abundance of creatures — from the tiniest of moving creatures that crawl, and those that swarm in pockets of waters, to fishes in the rivers, to great whales in the seas. There were also an abundance of winged fowls which live on waters, and those that fly in the heaven between the firmaments. All these creatures and winged fowls were linked to the waters and the open firmament in the midst of the waters. They were commanded to be fruitful and multiply after their kind to fill the waters and the heaven of the Earth respectively.
“And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”
Sixth Day: Animal Life of EarthGen 1:24: And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25: And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.As the sixth day began, God called the earth to bring forth living creatures each after its own kind — the creepers (or gliders), such as snakes and lizards, and even insects that crawl on lands and trees; the livestock, such as sheep and horses; and the beasts, such as lions and elephants, and the talking serpents. “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field,…” (Gen.2:19). God made them all from the dust of the ground and He saw that it was good.
Sixth Day: ManGen 1:26: And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.On the sixth day, before God took His Sabbath on the seventh day, He brought forth His final creation — Man. Man was God’s masterpiece, a creature that was birthed in His own image and likeness.
Notice the differences in the creation of sea, air and land creatures, and man. Observe how the words expressed their creation. For the
creatures of the sea and air, the Lord God said, “Let the waters bring forth”, and for those of the land, “Let the earth bring forth”. These peculiar expressions tell us that all the creatures of the sea, air and land were a direct one time creation from the elements of water, air and earth. They were birthed directly from these elements. However, the creation of man was not so for the expression of God to the angelic beings was purely, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. Yet, the verse following that proclamation stated: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” This shows an indisputable fact that God first created man in His own image and some time later made him after His own likeness (see Gen.2:7). But what is the image of God? And, what is His likeness?
“In Our Image, After Our Likeness”The words “image” and “likeness” in Genesis 1:26 have different meanings. In His economy, God certainly does not use superfluous words or vain repetitions as man does. “Image” in Hebrew is tselem which means: a shadow, representation of substance, shade, resemblance, phantom, illusion. On the other hand, “likeness” in Hebrew is demuth. It means: shape, resemblance, similitude, similarity of features between spiritual and moral, or spiritual and physical.
God created the angels and man distinctively different from the other creatures. Remember that the angels were created way back in eons of time. They were created in God’s image and likeness (to be His servants), and hence the expression of God’s words, “Let us…” in Genesis 1:26. The “Let us…” also incorporated the Logos, for the Spirit and the Word are One (cf. Prov.3:19; Heb.11:3).
Man was first created a spirit being in the spirit realm. He was created both male and female in the spirit form. The image of God is, therefore, that spiritual side of God. God, being a Spirit, is neuter gender, yet in attributes He is both male and female; so are the angels. However, God and the angels are always portrayed in the masculine gender throughout the whole Bible. Masculinity links to strength and security. On the other hand, femininity is link to nurturance and sweetness. The feminine nature of God is clearly manifested in those creations which are normally affiliated with femininity, for instance, plants and flowers. In essence, God is the Life-giving source in Whom all forms of life have their origin. God is “Father” over all creations, especially over man.
Adam was first created a living spirit in the image of God in the spiritual sphere. He was a MAN and a SON OF GOD. Being a spirit and having no definite physical shape, he was yet to be made in the likeness of God. When was that likeness manifested? We will come to that later in Genesis chapter 2.
Gen 1:28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Here we see the commandment “be fruitful, and multiply” given to the Man right after he was created just as it was given to all the creatures that came into existence before him. Remember that the Man was created in the image of God, a spirit being. He was a son of God. He was male and female, not man and woman. The physical part of the Man came later when a physical body of dust was made for him, and subsequently, a Woman was formed out of him and for him. Therefore the commandment was given to the Man while he was in the spirit image of God, to be fruitful in bringing forth spiritual children, and not physical children per se. God dealt with him primarily in his standing as a spiritual being, a son of God. Man might fill the Earth with children, but children who are not spiritual fruits are worthless to God. When the man, Adam, sinned, his fruitfulness was tainted, and his fruit became corrupt.
Notice that the commandment also shows that the Man was given power to have dominion over every living creature upon the Earth. The Man was given the title deed to subdue the Earth.
FoodGen 1:29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30: And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.All creatures were originally herbivores. The Creator had provided all kinds of vegetables, herbs, plants, roots, and legume for food to the Man and to all living creatures that fly, crawl, glide and move upon the Earth.
Gen 1:31: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
As the sixth day of creation drew to a close, God saw that all His creation over the past six days were “very good”, that is, He found them “fitting”, “suitable”, or “pleasant”.
God’s creation is indeed very good as all created things are chained or linked one to another. The Biblical order of creation shows the scala naturae, the chain of being, of our heaven and earth, beginning with the minerals or the earth as the lowest rung of the ladder. Moving upward with increasing levels of intelligence and with various divisions, God created the microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, birds, reptiles, animals and finally man. Each creation is unique. A creature does not evolve into another kind of creature, such as, a mouse into a squirrel, or a monkey into a man. And, as all living things are of the earth, they are dependent on it for life.
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