Having looked at “God created” [vs. 1-2], we now move to the second section in our outline, how “God formed” His creation.
In the first 3 days God made the uninhabited earth productive. The last 3 days He filled the uninhabited earth.
2. God Formed [vs. 3-13]. Day 1-3.
1. Day One [vs. 1-5].
Verse 3: God spoke light into existence out of the darkness [v. 2]. The Hebrew says, “Light be.” Nobody can tell us what light is but we do know what light does.
The Latin word is Fiat. Each of the creation days begin with God speaking “And God said,” [v. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, and 29]
Q- How can there be light before the sun and moon were created on the fourth day [v. 16].
The light came from God himself who is light.
John 1:4-5, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
The New Jerusalem will enjoy light with no sun or moon.
Rev. 22:5, “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”
It is probably here that the earth’s axis began. Light is a form of energy with gravity, electro-magnetic fields, and nuclear force.
Verse 4: God spoke light into existence then separated the light from darkness. Darkness was not a creation like light but the absence of light [v. 2].
The first day of creation, God set forth the principle of separation. Light from darkness, and the day from night [v. 14], but later separated the waters above from the waters below [vs. 6-8], and land from the waters [vs. 9-10].
Verse 5: Note than word “day.”
The Hebrew word is “Yom.” It refers to a 24 hour period [evening and morning.]
Q- Did God create in six literal 24 hour days or are these ages of long periods of time. Are these Solar Days or Ages?
Actually there are two popular views:
(1) The literal solar-day view in which the days of Creation are understood to be solar days (which we now calibrate as twenty-four hours).
(2) The day-age view that understands the days to be long ages. This view, of course, accommodates the geologic ages easily.
The Bible teaches six literal 24 hour days: Why?
1. The qualifying phrase “evening and morning” attached to each of the six days of Creation supports the meaning of the days as twenty-four-hour periods.
Proponents of the day-age idea reply that evening and morning is a figure of speech for beginning and ending.
Each “evening” saw the completion of the work of that age, which was followed by the “morning” of renewed activity.
But evening and morning, each occurring more than 100 times in the Old Testament, are never used to mean anything other than a literal evening and literal morning, ending or beginning a solar day. Notice the phrase in Dan. 8:26 referring to solar days.
2. Moses believed it to be literal 24 hour days. Ex. 20:11; Ex. 31:17 state that God made everything in six days. In both these passages, these are the words God spoke directly to Moses.
3. When the numerical adjective is used before day [Yom] it means 24 hour days.
Sometimes a day can mean a longer period of time such as “the day of the Lord,” the “day of judgment.”
2. Day Two [vs. 6-8].
God put an expanse between the waters that surrounded the earth and called it heaven or the sky or expanse.
The lower waters became water bodies on and under the earth. The upper water was vital in the flood.
Gen. 7:11-12; 9:11-15
The atmosphere was now inhabitable with air.
3. Day Three [vs. 9-13].
Verses 9-10: God made the earth and the seas.
Here we have the first mention of being good. Probably because it was now ready for man.
Many believe the water was in one place and the dry land also in a large continent later broken up in the flood [Gen. 7:11].
Psalm 104:5-9
Verses 11-15: Plant life created.
God created plants and trees with the seeds in them. Full grown and producing with the appearance of age. Adam was an adult and trees had rings.
“After its kind” or “species” with no mention of evolution yet. Evidently, God created several kinds of plants and trees already preprogrammed with DNA and genetic information.
Next week- God fills [1:14-31; 2:7].
