Gen. 1:14-23
Review:
Lesson # 1: “Before Creation” Gen. 1a
Lesson # 2: “God Created” Gen. 1:1b-2
Lesson # 3: “God Formed” Gen. 1:3-13 [Day 1-3]
Day 1- Earth, Light, and Time
Day 2- Water and Sky
Day 3- Plant Life
What God formed He now fills and habitats His creation [vs. 14-31]. God had created 3 “spaces” and will now fill land, the seas, and the sky.
3. God Filled [vs. 14-31].
4. Day Four [vs. 14-19].
God spoke by divine fiat. God spoke it and it instantly happened.
The Latin word is Fiat. God created by divine fiat. Each of the creation days begin with God speaking “And God said,” [v. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, and 29].
There is a correlation between days 1-3 and days 4-6:
Day 1- light; Day 4- Luminaries
Day 2- The firmament and the waters below; Day 5- birds and fish
Day 3- dry land; Day 6- land creatures.
God created two great lights and placed them in the heavens with two mains purposes:
1. To divide the day from the night.
2. To be for signs, seasons, days, and years.
3. To give light upon the earth.
Let’s examine these:
1. Separation- Separate day from night [v. 14b].
God had already separated light from darkness [v. 4], but now placed these permanent markers.
2. Regulation- Control the signs, seasons, days, and years.
Signs means “beacons or signals.” This could be navigational signs.
We know it does not teach astrology because that is forbidden in Scripture.
The main sign was for times and seasons. They determine the length of a year, a day, or a month, and seasons.
3. Illumination- Give light upon the earth. The sun radiates light while the moon reflects light for illumination for night.
These heavenly bodies were never intended to be worshipped, but used for these 3 intended purposes.
Let’s talk about the sun and moon just a minute:
1. The Sun.
The sun is a ball of flame that measures 865,000 miles in diameter which is about 109 times the diameter of the earth.
It would take more that a million earths to fill it. The surface temperature of the sun is estimated about 10 thousand degrees Fahrenheit, with the core temperature at 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.
The earth is about 93 million miles from the sun.
The light we see at 6:00 am is light that left the sun about 5:51 am at your location.
2. The Moon.
The moon circles the earth and completes a full orbit every 27.3 days. The same side of the moon always faces the earth.
The moon controls the oceans tides by the gravitational pull. High and low tides are caused as the earth bulges slightly both toward and away from the moon and this affects the water level of the oceans.
Verse 16: “He made the stars also.”
These were for another sign: To give a visible reminder of the power and majesty of God.
Rom. 1:19-20, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. (20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”
Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.”
Psalm 8:3, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;”
5. Day Five [vs. 20-23].
On day 2 God created the firmament and now he fills it with birds and fish on day 5. God populates the seas and sky.
Psalm 104:24-25, “O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. (25) So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.”
Verse 21: God created the marine animals and the birds on the same day. Evolutionists claim that birds evolved from reptiles and took millions of years.
Notice in v. 20 that the birds did not have to learn to fly thru evolution, but God created them to fly.
Verse 22: God blesses what He made; this is the first time this is stated in Scripture.
God blessed them to reproduce abundantly. God also blessed Adam and Eve [Gen. 1:28; 5:2], the Sabbath Day [2:3], and Noah and His family [9:2].
They were created first, and then given the ability to reproduce. Evolution says they transmitted and mutated from a lesser life form and evolved.
