Genesis 1:3–31

Now who but an inspired man would have so written? The lower your view of Israel — an unlettered people, even rough and uncivilised — the greater the wonder. Did Egypt teach this, or Babylon? Did Greece or Rome? How did Moses come to declare the fact as he writes it? ... Any living man, judging by what everyone can see, has always regarded the sun as the great source of light. If the writing had been his, he would have spoken first of that bright orb. In other words, the work of the fourth day would more reasonably have taken the place of the first. That is what the philosophers taught for ages afterwards. But the truth is not so.

Darkness, no doubt through angelic sin, had entered His creation. As He moved with feeling over the scene, He commands, "Let there be light." This was creative power — the prerogative of God Himself. But it also says, "God saw the light, that it was good" — the first moral pronouncement of Scripture! "And God divided the light from the darkness."

A wrecked life lies hopeless in a gloom that, as far as its own efforts go, must be eternal. Over that life the Spirit of God in brooding love flashes out the knowledge of the presence of God Himself: "God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts." The light here shows nothing but itself, in which God can find pleasure: "God saw the light that it was good." He can only divide it from all that is not light, calling the one "day" and the other "night."

So God divided the light from the darkness. There was to be no compromise, no mixture, no vague twilight. For a season the darkness was to give way fully to light, and so there was a division between them. So there was evening and there was morning — a first day.

Earlier in this book we noticed that God called the light good, but said nothing like this of the darkness. In nature, darkness is a real benefit. After the toil of the day comes the rest and peace of night. But in a spiritual sense, Scripture treats darkness as a picture of evil. That is why Genesis 1:4 does not call it "good," as it calls the light good.

God did not say, "Let darkness be removed," but "Let there be light." The positive radiance of light drives out the darkness. So too, the light of God entering someone's soul drives out his moral and spiritual darkness. "God saw the light, that it was good." ... Then God divided the light from the darkness. So we know there was light before God set the sun in its place to rule over the day. In a spiritual sense this reminds us that light has entered the soul of every believer. Even so, night experiences will still come, because the fleshly nature is still in us, and its very character is darkness.

All is divine. God said, God saw, God called. His thoughts, words, and acts are presented throughout. ... How noticeable it is, too, that God gives everything its name! He calls as well as makes all things. Night and day, heaven, earth, and seas all receive their names as well as their existence from Him. What was for man's use, and to be put under man's control, is left for him to name.

We have now had five things before us that were named by God Himself. We note this because of what comes next. In the next chapter God brings to Adam the living creatures He had made on the fifth and sixth days, so that he might give them names... So God let Adam show his powers of discernment in many a smaller detail. But these five things he had to accept as named by God — Day, Night, Heaven, Earth, Seas.

Notice that the first day does not begin before the light, but with it. Otherwise it could not begin with evening, for evening implies light already there. But the light strangely comes only to fade and darken into night. Through that it reaches its morning by a kind of new birth, when (for that day, of course) the darkness is wholly past.

For a long time unbelievers took great exception to this statement of verse 5, because the sun does not appear until the fourth day. But the sun is not the only source of light.

The question is raised whether the days of Genesis 1 are literal, or figurative — vast periods of time... For ourselves, we believe it is to be understood literally. The figurative sense does occur in Scripture — "man's day," "the day of salvation." But that sense is clearly a secondary one. The literal sense is the primary... The repetition of "the evening and the morning" fits the primary meaning, and would have very little meaning in the secondary sense. Further, in verse 16 the sun is made to rule the day and the moon to rule the night, and we do not see how the primary sense can be avoided.

If the Scriptures were uninspired, we would surely have reversed the order and written that the morning and the evening were the first day. Man's mind runs naturally to morning first and then evening. We speak of the morning of life, and of the evening of life. For man, darkness follows light.

Practically, the day is not all light; "evening and morning" make it up. Yet though darkness in itself is "night," it is worth noticing something. Once light has come in, it is never simple, absolute night any more, but "evening." There are always some rays of the day. And in God's order, evening surely gives way to morning... its promise of the perfect "day" is never realised until God's work is finished and His Sabbath is reached. Then indeed there is no more evening, or morning either, but "day," without mixture or decline.

Here we have the two great symbols so widely used throughout the Word. The presence of light makes the day; its absence makes the night. So it is in the history of souls. There are "the sons of light" and "the sons of darkness." This is a very marked and solemn distinction.

The Hebrew word translated "firmament" would be better given as "expanse," as it is marked in the reference column in some editions of our Bibles. The word "firmament" comes from the Vulgate translation of the Bible in Latin by Jerome, and is unfortunate. The idea came to him from the ancients. Greek and Roman philosophies described heaven as forming a solid vault over the earth.

A solid vault is out of the question… The Scriptures really present the heavens as spread out, and the earth hung upon nothing. They nowhere support the crude idea of stars fastened like brass nails on a metal vault.

On the second day God called a "firmament," or "expanse," into being; a further division, not now of light from darkness but of waters from waters. God called this expanse, Heaven. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we should call the starry heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens… As a result of the work of the second day, an atmosphere surrounded the earth. He did it by His word, "God said … and it was so."

The New Testament tells how Paul was caught up into the third heaven… Here God made another heaven, since man was about to be made. There is the heaven of His presence. There is the heaven of the stars, planets, and other objects in space. And there is the atmospheric heaven that man and living things here below need.

The waters upon the earth are the salt, bitter waters of the ocean; while those above, though drawn from the ocean, are perfectly fresh. It is beautiful to see how these waters in vast and inconceivable volume are suspended in those "balancing clouds" which lift them above the earth and yet hold them in connection with it, ever ready to pour down in beneficent rain the treasures which they hold.

God drew man's attention to His thoughtful and almighty goodness when He separated "waters from waters." Otherwise endless mist would have filled the space above the earth, without the right mixture of gases that makes up the air every living thing needs. To the air's work, with other causes God set up, we owe clouds, rain, and evaporation. It also bends and reflects light, softening it, which adds much to the beauty and usefulness of creation. Without it a black sky would have cast a constant shadow over the earth.

Nothing new was made on the second day. God separated the waters above from the waters below, leaving the heavens free as an expanse between them. But no new substance was created, so the day is not said to be very good.

If the first day pictures God beginning His work in a soul by new birth, the second day shows a person made to look up. True blessing comes from above, and so does authority… All below may look like a watery waste with no order. Yet if the believer is refreshed by the pure water of God's word from above, in true subjection to the Lord Jesus, his life can change greatly from disorder into calm, orderly obedience.

It is now widely known — and the most competent Hebrew scholars said so long before modern science existed — that "expanse" is the real force of the original word, not "firmament." That word came to us through the Latin Vulgate, and seems to come from the Greek Septuagint... The way the word is used in this chapter itself (verses 15, 17, 20, 28) proves that it means the open, transparent sky, whatever readers may have misunderstood at any time.

From this point God begins to work again. We read not only of God creating (Gen. 1:21, 27) but of His making (Gen. 1:7, 16, 25), and finally of His forming man (Gen. 2:7). The last two words apply when the question is not producing something out of nothing. They speak of shaping matter that already exists into fresh forms of order and beauty.

On the second day God called a "firmament," or "expanse," into being. As a result a further division took place — not now of light from darkness, but of waters from waters. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we should call the stellar heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens. There immense quantities of water float above in the form of clouds, divided from the far greater quantities lying on the earth beneath. The work of the second day surrounded the earth with an atmosphere. His word accomplished it: "God said … and it was so."

The waters upon the earth are the salt, bitter waters of the ocean, while those above, though drawn from the ocean, are perfectly fresh. This is a true picture of what the expanse of the atmosphere is: a separation between the waters on the earth and those in the heavens, not a hard and fast line. It can be filled with vapour, and yet in general it arches above us, making a true separation, just as Scripture describes here.

God drew man's attention to His thoughtful and almighty goodness when He separated "waters from waters." Otherwise the space above the earth would have been filled with constant vapour. It would have lacked the right mixture of gases that makes up the air, which all life on earth needs. To the workings of that air, with other causes God set in place, we owe the forming of clouds, the fall of rain and evaporation. To its power of bending and reflecting light we owe that softening of light which adds so much to the beauty and the usefulness of creation. Otherwise a black sky would have cast its constant covering over the earth.

Nothing was made the second day — that is, no new thing. The separation of waters above and below, leaving the heavens free as an expanse between, was not a new substance created, and so it is not said to be very good.

If the first day pictures God beginning His work in a soul by new birth, the second day shows that one has reason to look up and see that true blessing comes from above. And so authority comes from above too... All below may seem a watery waste with no order. Yet when a believer is refreshed by the pure water of God's word from above, in true subjection to the Lord Jesus, his life may be greatly changed from disorder into calm, orderly obedience, even when surrounded by the swelling seas of the world's confusion.

On the second day God brought a "firmament," or "expanse," into being. This made a further division — not light from darkness now, but waters from waters. God called this expanse Heaven. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we would call the starry heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens. That is where huge amounts of water float above us as clouds, divided from the far greater amounts lying on the earth below. So the work of the second day left the earth wrapped in an atmosphere. He did it by His word: "God said … and it was so."

It is now widely known — and the best Hebrew scholars said so long before modern science existed — that "expanse" is the real force of the original word, not "firmament," which reached us through the old Latin translation, the Vulgate, and seems to come from the older Greek one, the Septuagint... The way the word is used in this very chapter (vv. 15, 17, 20, 28) is proof enough that it carries the idea of the open, clear sky, whatever readers may have misunderstood at any time.

The Hebrew word is raqia, meaning 'expanse.' It covers both the sky we see when we look up and the air in which the birds fly. We read that God called the expanse 'heaven.' This is 'heaven' in a broad sense, for elsewhere we read of 'the stars of heaven,' but also of 'the birds of heaven.'

We have now had five things before us, and God Himself gave the name to each. We note this because in the next chapter God brings the living creatures He had made on the fifth and sixth days to Adam, so that he might name them... God let Adam show his skill of discernment in many a smaller detail, but these five things he had to accept as named by God — Day, Night, Heaven, Earth, Seas.

The air's workings, with other causes God set in place, give us the forming of clouds, the fall of rain, and evaporation. Because the air bends and reflects light, we get that softening of light which adds beyond measure to the beauty of creation, and just as much to its usefulness. Otherwise a black sky would have hung over the earth like a constant shroud... And if dry land had survived anywhere, it must have been a dry, barren waste with no animal life and not a blade of grass.

God made nothing on the second day — that is, nothing new. Dividing the waters above from the waters below, and leaving the heavens free as an expanse between, created no new substance, so Scripture does not call it very good.

Nothing fills these heavens as yet but "waters" — waters above as well as below — the very picture of instability... And it seems telling that on this second day there is no voice of God calling "good" what is still for good. In His providence He may be working blessing through what He cannot bless in itself.

This heaven is clearly the atmospheric heaven, and the waters above are no doubt the waters held in the clouds... the second day shows us that we have reason to look up and see that true blessing comes from above, and so authority comes from above too. "The heavens do rule" (Dan. 4:26).

First He commands the waters under the heavens to gather into one place, so that dry land can appear. People have noticed that all the seas of the world connect with each other, while the land masses do not. Moses could not have known this unless God revealed it to him. For the dry land to appear, it had to rise above the level of the water. Deep water still covers much land. Dry land takes up less than a third of this planet's surface.

Sudden, extraordinary acts brought about what God then did for man. Slow, ordinary causes played their part too. But here we learn that God laid down the great landmarks that remain to this day.

Again on the third day there was division. The waters above the expanse stayed as they were. God gathered the waters beneath into one place, and dry land appeared. Solid, fixed ground now appeared where everything had been unsettled and moving.

We may well believe His word, since by the word of God all things came into being and continue... The word of God is the authority the believer needs, and the believer is called to obey it in faith. The ground of faith is: "The Lord has said."

This gathering of the waters into their own place begins the great period of earth's history that we still live in. Except for the flood, when water covered everything for a time, the dry land has always been visible... Notice that God's work from the beginning was work of separating. He separated light from darkness. He separated the waters above the expanse from the waters beneath. And here again He separates the dry land from the waves that had covered it and hidden it.

The "third day" speaks of resurrection to the Christian heart. Here it is marked by resurrection power: the earth comes up out of the waters. What can be worked and made fruitful now rises from under the waste of sea that could never be reclaimed. The sea is not removed, but bounded and restrained; it cannot return to cover the earth. God acknowledges that the sea exists. He names it for the first time. In the new earth there will be no sea.

It was like this with the darkness, and now it is like this with the waters. God does not remove them completely. He controls them and sets their limits. The same is true of everything that causes uncertainty, unrest and barrenness in the soul. God does not remove it. He gives it limits it cannot pass, so it can never again cover the ground.

This illustrates the relation of Israel to the nations. The sea is a picture of the nations, who are out of control. Daniel 7:3 tells us of four great beasts coming up from the sea. These are not real beasts or a real sea. They stand for four great world empires that rise up among the nations.

Everything is divine. God said, God saw, God called. We see His thoughts, words, and acts all the way through. And so everything is very good. Sadly, it is when the creature begins to act that everything is spoiled. Notice too how God gives everything its name! He calls as well as makes all things. Night and day, heaven, earth, and seas all receive their names from Him as well as their existence. God left man to name what was for man's use and under man's control.

There is another division in Genesis 1 besides creation and the days, made by the words "and God saw" and "it was good." First He creates. Then He separates the elements to make order out of disorder… Then water and dry land, giving each its name; and the world so prepared He pronounces "good." That is the first division — an ordered world.

The earth was to have, for the most part, the shape God saw best fitted for His new purpose. There would be vast continents and vaster oceans, islands large and small, lakes salt and fresh, mountains and rivers, plains and valleys. Deep and sudden upheaval, not just slow erosion, often shaped those valleys. In Hebrew usage the "seas" take in all large collections of water — oceans, seas, lakes, and even rivers… here we learn that God laid down the great landmarks that remain to this day.

It has been observed that all the seas of the world are connected, while all the land is not. Moses could never have known this unless God revealed it to him. For the dry land to appear it would have to be raised up above the level of the water. Some land remains covered by great depths of water, for the dry land on this planet takes up less than one third of its surface.

The "third day" speaks to the Christian heart of resurrection. Resurrection power marks it here: the earth comes up out of the waters. What can be worked on and made fruitful is now brought up from under the hopeless waste of sea. That sea is not removed, but bounded and restrained; it cannot return to cover the earth. Its existence is indeed openly recognised; it gets its name from God for the first time; in the new earth there will be none (Revelation 21:1). Meanwhile He lays the foundations of the earth, so that it should never be moved.

The land speaks of what is solid and stable, in contrast to the unstable mass of the waters of the oceans. The heaving waters speak of the flesh in its unstable emptiness, whether the flesh in unbelievers or in believers. In the same way, Revelation 17:15 speaks of the waters as "peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues." There you see the flesh in all its constant turmoil and disorder. These are the waters of the seas, in contrast to the waters from above — the rain that stands for the blessing of God by His word (Isaiah 55:10-11). This separation of earth from the waters God saw to be good.

No doubt in Genesis 1 the Earth refers to the whole land surface, just as the Seas refers to the oceans that circle the globe. But what does this division between the Earth and the Seas picture? The Earth stands for the land of Israel.

Every stage is produced by His Word. Each time, God speaks. This is not simply the unfolding of what was already hidden in the earliest seed. Step by step, God puts out His power and carries out plans that are wholly His own. "We are His workmanship" — the patient, perfect work of the wisdom of God — "created in Christ Jesus."

On the third day God speaks a second time. He commands the earth to "sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind." This settles any objection that the tree could not be there until the seed was planted. If God had wanted to create the seed first, He could easily have done so. But He commanded the earth's fruit to come out before any seed went into the ground. That was just as simple for Him as doing it the other way round.

The second point is this. As soon as this chapter touches life — life of the kind that reproduces its species, whether plant, tree, fish, bird, creeping thing, or cattle — it lays down the unchanging law that governs all such reproduction in three words: "after his kind." This points us to a fact that keeps proving itself in a thousand ways. Breeding and selection may modify a species within certain limits, but nothing can alter the species.

But what did this often-repeated phrase, "After his kind," mean? The Spirit of God surely meant something very definite by it. It states plainly that each species in nature is distinct from every other. One species never blends into another. Nothing in nature changes from one species into another.

But there is a second part of His work to notice: plant life for the earth as it now is, the kingdom that stands between minerals and animals. God commanded the earth to bring out grass, plants producing seed, and fruit trees yielding fruit after their kind, with their seed in them — and Scripture says it here with great emphasis. This is the true origin of plant species for the earth of Adam. God had pronounced the dry land and the seas good; now He says the same of the beautiful clothing of the dry land and the rich supplies for man and beast — food that at first was the only food even for man.

But God also stamped the third day at creation in a remarkable way. Before that day the waters of death covered everything. On that day the waters drew back, and living, fruitful things sprang out of the dry land... And twice on this day, and on this day only, we are told that "God saw that it was good." What could that be for, except to teach us that the third day — the day of life springing out of death — was good not only in creation, but also in resurrection?

On the third day He made the grass, the plants, and the fruit trees yielding after their kind, with their seed in them (Gen. 1:11; 2:5) — the day which points us to resurrection... The Seed of promise is CHRIST... and all in that line are "after their kind"; but death, being made alive, and resurrection were needed if lasting fruitfulness was to come.

God commanded the earth to bring out grass, plants that make seed, and fruit trees that bear fruit according to their kind, with the seed inside the fruit. The verse states this with great emphasis. This is the true origin of plant species for the earth of Adam. God had already called the dry land and the seas good. Now the beautiful clothing of that dry land is good as well, with its rich supplies for man and beast — at first the only food even for man.

In Genesis 1 the formula — "according to its kind" — appears ten times. It covers plants in verse 11, sea life and birds in verse 21, and last of all the beasts of the earth, the cattle and everything that creeps on the earth in verse 25. Why "according to its kind"? It leaves room for each species. The lion does not mate with the tigress. The eagle does not pair with the goose. The wasp does not breed with the bee. Man arranges the only hybrids in creation, and they are sterile and come to nothing.

The passage quoted makes it clear that God created plant life full-grown and mature… So the tree came before the seed, not the other way round. But evolution insists on a universal law of progress from "low to high," from immaturity to maturity, from the structureless cell to the perfect organization. We are asked to accept either an unproved theory or an inspired history, and here the believer has no choice.

God created life, and He keeps it going… We can see the wisdom of what He shows us in this day. How many wise men have dreamed and thought that the sun was the source of all life! Yet the plants were formed when the sun was not yet set to do its all-important work for the earth of man.

Before that day the waters of death covered everything. On that day the waters drew back, and living, fruitful things sprang out of the dry land… Twice on this day, and on this day only, Scripture says that "God saw that it was good." What can this be for, if not to teach us that the third day — the day of life springing out of death — was good not only as creation, but also as resurrection?

The grass, the plants and the fruit tree illustrate the development of spiritual life in the child of God. The fresh green grass reminds us of the freshness of the faith of "little children"… The plant yielding seed is a picture of the energy of the "young men"… The fruit tree shows the maturity of "fathers," who know the Lord Jesus in a settled way and bear fruit for Him freely.

There is progress; from grass and plant to "trees bearing fruit in which is their seed" — another beautiful picture. The fruit carries inside itself the power to reproduce. The fruit itself is for the Master's use, and it is well to remember that. The seed is in this fruit according to its kind — love to produce love, and so on. If we want to find love, we must show it. The riper the fruit is for the Master's taste, the riper the seed is too. The best ripe fruit is the fruit that has hung in the sun most.

People ask whether the days of Genesis 1 are literal days, or figures standing for immense periods of time... For ourselves, we believe they are literal. Scripture does use "day" in a figurative sense — "man's day," "the day of salvation," and so on. But that sense is clearly a secondary one, and the literal sense is the primary one... We must have the primary meaning settled before we can reach any secondary meaning at all, and Genesis 1 deals with primary things... The repetition of "there was evening and there was morning" fits the primary meaning, and would mean very little in the secondary sense.

The earth was now to take, for the most part, the form God saw best fitted for His new purpose: vast continents and vaster oceans, islands large and small, lakes salt and fresh, mountains and rivers, plains and valleys. Those valleys were not merely worn down by slow erosion, but often broken open deeply and suddenly... In Hebrew usage the word "seas" takes in all large collections of water — oceans, seas, lakes, and even rivers... here we learn that God laid down the great landmarks which abide to this day.

How absurd to take the third day before us and identify it with the Carboniferous age, the age that laid the basis for the coal beds! What real likeness is there between coal-plants and the grass, herb and tree, so clearly meant to feed animals, and above all man?... This is plainly not provision for coal, but for the food and refreshment of man and cattle, of bird and beast... For geologic eras it is a failure; for man's world it is the simple and fitting truth. It was plant-life for Adam's earth.

This is confirmed in Genesis 1 where the formula — "after his kind" — is repeated ten times. It is applied to the vegetable kingdom in verse 11, to the marine world in verse 21, and again to the winged birds in the same verse, and finally to the beasts of the earth and cattle and everything that creeps upon the earth in verse 25. Why "after his kind"? That clearly leaves room for each species. The lion does not mate with the tigress. The eagle does not consort with the goose. The wasp does not breed with the bee.

God also put a striking mark on the third day at creation. Before that day the waters of death covered everything. On that day the waters drew back, and living, fruitful things sprang out of the dry land... On this day, and on this day only, we are told twice that "God saw that it was good." Why twice? Surely to teach us that the third day, the day of life springing out of death, was good not only as to creation, but also as to resurrection.

Then as to the fruit. There is progress; from grass and herb to "fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, on the earth" — another beautiful figure that. The fruit carries within itself the power to keep itself going. The fruit is for the Master's use, and it is well to remember that. The seed is in this fruit according to its kind — love to produce love, and so on. If we want to find love, we must show it. And the riper the fruit is for the Master's taste, the riper the seed is also; the best ripe fruit is that which has hung in the sun most.

It is certainly not the creation of the sun and so on. Moses does not say that. He says only that God now set the heavenly lights in place, after the plants and before the animals, for the earth that man would live in. Light had shone in another way since the first day of the great week. Now He set the light-bearers of the heavens to do their assigned work, but it is for the earth, and indeed for man. Verse 1 already implied their creation, for God did not create either heaven or earth empty. And what would heaven be without its host? … On the fourth day He gave the lights of heaven their unhindered place, to divide the day from the night.

It is only their relation to man on earth that shows the exact fitness of the phrase "the two great lights." He who created all things and inspired Moses knew the size of every body in heaven better than Newton or Laplace. But think of what helps man on earth, and Israel especially, and every creature under them. For giving light by day and night, what were all the rest compared to the sun and moon?

Scripture says the lights in the expanse of the heavens are for "signs" as well as for "seasons." People have wrongly used this passage, treating the varied positions of the sun, moon and planets as a way to foretell events. Of what, then, are they signs? Psalm 19:1-6 perhaps answers that. The huge distances between the heavenly bodies, and the wonderful regularity of their movements, are a sign of the glory of the One who created them.

We see what a sign it was to Israel when Joshua said in their hearing, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." In far different days the Lord spoke to sick Hezekiah, and gave him a sign in the shadow that went back ten steps on the dial of Ahaz. And what a sign again at the cross of the Messiah, when all was lost as far as man is concerned! Darkness covered all the land for three hours. A mere eclipse was impossible then.

No comment is needed on "seasons": man alone on earth understands and values these fitting, recurring times. The same Hebrew word means "the congregation" and "the solemn feast," as well as the season or appointed time at which they kept it. So "seasons" may have a sacred sense, but the more ordinary sense seems confirmed by what follows. Very little astronomy is needed to know how "days and years" are marked out by these lights, but only for man.

The lights set in the heavens speak very plainly of Christ and of the Church… Here Christ, revealed by the Holy Spirit, shines out for men in the word of His grace. The Church is the responsible reflector of Christ, His letter to the world… Let this scene preach to us that all true and divine light now is heavenly. To let our "light shine" is nothing else than to let men see we belong to another sphere.

The sun speaks of the Lord Jesus, "the Sun of Righteousness" (Malachi 4:2), whose brightness is so welcome, yet too dazzling for our eyes… The fourth day teaches us that we must have a proper Object outside of ourselves and of our fruitfulness. The person of the Lord Jesus is that Object. When we are blessed with the sight of His own glory, this lifts our hearts above our circumstances, and above our own spiritual state and experience.

It is certainly not the creation of the sun and the rest. The inspired historian does not say this. He says only that God now appointed the heavenly lights for the earth of Adam's day, after the plants and before the animals. Light had shone in another way since the first day of the great week. Now He set the light-bearers of the heavens to do their assigned work, but it is for the earth, and indeed for man. Their creation was implied in verse 1, for God did not create either heaven or earth empty; and what would heaven be without its host? ... The same design is repeated: they are to be lights in the expanse of the heavens. It was their effect, not their structure, that is meant.

Some have thought that light was independent of the sun, that on the first day God created the light, and that on the fourth day He created the sun. But we are not told that on the fourth day He created the sun and the moon, but that He made two great lights... What proves that they were there from the beginning, we believe, is that there was evening and morning on the first day. That shows the daily motion of the earth in relation to the sun, which gives day and night.

"He made the stars also" (v. 16, in an older translation). The record mentions this only in passing, as something of much lesser importance. Many of the stars turn out to be huge, much larger than the sun. Their number is beyond counting, and their distances range into billions of light years. Yet the sun and the moon are more important to us on earth, and God's revelation is for the benefit of human beings.

Six times in the chapter the words "And God said" have the fitting sequel, "and it was so." From the very start, the word of God shows itself powerful. It never fails of its effect. How encouraging to learn this in the first chapter of the Bible, for we may be sure it applies to every word that God has spoken. When we reach the end of the story we shall be able to say with triumph, "and it was so," about every promise He has made, every prediction He has uttered.

The sun is the great centre of light, and the centre of our system. The lesser bodies revolve around him and get their light from him. So we may rightly see him as a fitting symbol of Him who is soon to arise, with healing in His wings... The mists and shades of night are all scattered, and the whole creation seems to welcome the returning source of light.

The lights set in the heavens speak very plainly of Christ and of the Church... Christ, revealed by the Holy Spirit, shines out for people in the word of His grace. The Church is the responsible reflector of Christ, His letter to the world... Let this scene preach to us that all true and divine light now is heavenly. To let our "light shine" is nothing else than to let people see we belong to another sphere.

The moon is a fitting illustration of the church, and it guards against the tendency to exalt the church at the expense of her Head. It is a dark body with no light of its own, and its only usefulness lies in reflecting the light of the sun. Moonshine, strictly, there is none — it is the reflected light of the sun. So the only use the church can be in this world is shedding the light of Christ during the night of His absence.

Notice that the word "made" (v. 16) is not the same as "created" (v. 1). The verse does not say that sun, moon and stars were created at the time of verse 16. It says that God then appointed them as lights for the earth. The Bible is not a textbook on astronomy, yet its language is exact: it never confuses creating things with setting them in their order.

The work of the fourth day has caused difficulty for many. Years ago, under mistaken scientific ideas, people thought light (v. 3) without the sun (v. 16) was impossible. And people did not read closely what verses 14 to 18 do say, and do not say. Sun and moon were created as given us in verse 1; they were only made as "two great lights" on the fourth day.

Even here, where the subject is the heavenly bodies, the record looks at them only in view of man and this earth... On the fourth day He gave the lights of heaven their unhindered place, to divide the day from the night.

In this symbolism the stars stand for subordinate authority. So the sun is supreme, the moon derived, and the stars subordinate. They are also light-bearers, and God Himself sets them in the expanse of heaven. Keeping these features in mind helps when the same symbol is applied to the angels of the churches.

Time is tied to the "two great lights" (Gen. 1:16), which God set in the heavens "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years" (v. 14). When these disappear, time stops and eternity begins.

The stars are mentioned as though they were incidental and of much less importance. Many of them are huge, far larger than the sun, their distances run into billions of light years, and no one can count them. Yet the sun and the moon matter more to us on earth, and God's revelation is for the benefit of human beings.

Now, as the sun is a beautiful and fitting symbol of Christ, so the moon strikingly reminds us of the Church. The source of her light is hidden from view. The world does not see Him, but she sees Him; and she is responsible to reflect His beams upon a darkened world.

The moon is a good illustration of the church, guarding against the tendency to exalt the church at the expense of her Head. It is a body with no light of its own, and its only usefulness lies in reflecting the light of the sun. Strictly, there is no such thing as moonshine — it is the reflected light of the sun. So the only use the church can be in this world is to shed the light of Christ during the night of His absence.

People often mistake how a symbol is applied for what it means. Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness; but Sun does not mean Christ. The sun is only a symbol of glory and supreme government. God made the sun to rule the day (Gen. 1:16). It is a mistake to drop that general idea and take the sun to mean Christ.

This word first appears in Genesis 1:17, where we read that God set "two great lights" in the expanse. The verb here is in the middle (reflexive) voice, so the glory of the action belongs to the One who performed it.

I fully believe that God set the sun and the moon at this time to be for signs and seasons and years, and to make day and night. But the account looks at them here only in what they do for the earth, and only as lights. God made the two great lights, and God gave them as such. There is no creation of the bodies here. What we have is the setting up of how they appear and work, and their purpose. So when he speaks of the stars, he only reminds us that God had made them too. Instead of men worshipping them, God had distributed them to all men under heaven.

The Hebrew word is raqia, meaning 'expanse.' It stands for the sky we see when we look up, and also for the air in which the birds fly. We read that God called the expanse 'heaven.' This is 'heaven' in a broad sense. Elsewhere we read of 'the stars of heaven,' but also of 'the birds of heaven.'

God gave sun and moon to rule over the day and over the night. They were His creatures and gifts for man's use, dividing between the light and the darkness. "And God saw that it was good" — not as if they had just been created, but in the assigned work He gave them to do.

We see the wisdom and kindness of our faithful Creator in these lights above us, and we enjoy them and give thanks for them. Life would be impossible without them. They bring order, method, variety and guidance into our lives. Anyone who wants to live well and long must not ignore "the signs and seasons and days and years" for which these lights were made. The shipmaster steers his ship safely if he can take his bearings by the lights in the sky. Many a fine ship has been lost because her crew steered by dead reckoning.

The fourth day of creation showed that earth was to be ruled from heaven, and that the authorities were to have their place there.

As the sun is a beautiful and fitting symbol of Christ, so the moon strikingly reminds us of the church. The source of her light is hidden from view. The world does not see Him, but she sees Him; and she is responsible to reflect His beams upon a darkened world. The world has no other way to learn anything of Christ except through the church. "You," says the inspired apostle, "are our letter … known and read by all."

Let this scene preach to us that all true and divine light now is heavenly. To let our "light shine" is nothing else than to let people see that we belong to another sphere, and that we are not of the world, even as Christ was not. It is to let them see our faces brightened with the joy of what He is. Our hearts are satisfied with Himself, and so independent of the broken cisterns from which they try to draw refreshment.

The work of the fourth day has caused difficulty for many. Partly because years ago, under mistaken scientific ideas, light (v. 3) without the sun (v. 16) was thought impossible. Partly because people did not carefully notice what verses 14 to 18 actually say, and do not say. Sun and moon were created as given to us in verse 1; they were only made as "two great lights" on the fourth day. Further, they were set in relation to the earth — or the earth to them, as the case may be — so that they ruled over the day and over the night. In this way they divided the light from the darkness.

God gave sun and moon to rule over the day and over the night. They were His creatures and gifts for man's use, dividing between the light and the darkness. "And God saw that it was good" — not as if they had just been created, but in the assigned work He gave them to do.

All that God made was good. This is said five times (in verses 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25) about matter, whether living or not. These are important statements, because the ordered scene of creation was so soon invaded by evil. It proves that the evil was an invasion from outside and not produced from within. All as it left God's hand was perfect and undefiled.

Then again, they were to rule, one over the day and one over the night. From the outset God placed the earth under the rule and control of heaven, even in the working of lifeless matter. So these heavenly bodies become a sign that "Heaven rules" (Dan. 4:26), and a faint prophecy of "the kingdom of heaven," which we read of in the Gospel of Matthew. Sadly, fallen man soon twisted all this. He began to worship these lights as though they were creator and not creature, and so changed God's truth into a lie. Romans 1:25 refers to this, we believe.

Now, as the sun is a beautiful and fitting symbol of Christ, so the moon strikingly reminds us of the church. The source of her light is hidden from view. The world does not see Him, but she sees Him; and she is responsible to reflect His beams on a darkened world. The world has no other way of learning anything of Christ except through the church. "You yourselves are our letter ... known and read by all," says the inspired apostle. And again, "You show that you are a letter from Christ." (2 Cor. 3:2-3.)

His is a full, unchanging, underived light; hers a reflected, unsteady one. Yet it is said, "The moon to govern the night," just as it is, "The sun to rule the day." "You are the light of the world," just as "I am the light of the world." But Christ is absent, and it is now night — although, thank God, "the night is far spent, the day is at hand."

But here we are on ground that has its dangers. The Roman Catholic system exalted the church at the expense of her Head, and this tendency is clearly seen in quarters where it was least expected. The moon is a fitting illustration of the church, and it guards against this tendency. It is a dark body with no light of its own. Its only usefulness lies in reflecting the light of the sun. Strictly speaking there is no such thing as moonlight — it is the reflected light of the sun. So the only use the church can be in this world is shedding the light of Christ during the night of His absence.

It is certainly not the creation of the sun and the rest. The inspired historian does not say that, but only that God now appointed the heavenly lights, after the plants and before the animals, for the earth of Adam's day. Light had shone in another way since the first day of that great week. Now He set the light-bearers of the heavens to do their assigned work, but it is for the earth, and indeed for man.

Suppose this happened an age before Adam — thousands, millions of years. What sense would there be in light-bearers "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years"? ... We see what a sign it was to Israel when Joshua said in their hearing, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." In far different days the Lord spoke to sick Hezekiah, and gave him a sign in the shadow that went back ten steps on the dial of Ahaz. And what a sign again at the cross of the Messiah, where everything was lost as far as man is concerned! There darkness covered the whole land for three hours.

The stars only come in as an aside. God made them too, even if blind man turned them into gods. But God gave sun and moon to rule over the day and over the night. They were His creatures and gifts for man's use, dividing between the light and the darkness. "And God saw that it was good" — not as though they had just been created, but good in the work He gave them to do. "And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day." No one can honestly deny it: that day's work must give us the ordinary alternation of night and day. The same daily turning followed for the fifth and sixth days, as for every day since, including the seventh. If so, consistency surely requires the same for the three days before.

As to the day, evening and morning: God called the light created out of darkness "day". But there was no morning then. So evening comes first — the disappearance of light. ... Genesis does not count the night, except by implication. It was the original state — absence of light — not a creation. God's works are in the light. If darkness came on, light appeared again — the dawn — there was morning. Evening is named first because it closed the day that the incoming light had just created, or ordered.

The great light of the day is the source of heat and light to the earth. Its light is its own. It never changes, and it is as constant as the day it brings. It clearly shows us the Heavenly One, back in the glory He came from. The lesser light rules the night, and its light is borrowed from His. At its best it is cold and dull by comparison. It also changes — full-faced or shrunken, depending on whether it fully faces Him or is turned away from Him. How easily we read that too.

Of what are they typical? The answer is Christ and the church. The sun and the moon do not shine at one and the same time. The sun shines by day. The moon by night. That is the present relation between Christ and His church. Our Lord, in His earthly life, was the light of men, but wicked men led by religious rulers crucified Him. While He is absent, the church is to shine for Him in this world.

In verse 21 we get the word "created" for the second time. It appeared in verse 1, the original creation of the heaven and the earth. The intervening verses have told us what God made out of His original creation. Why does the word occur again here? We believe it is because here God commanded the waters to bring forth "the moving creature that has life." Plants show nutrition, growth and reproduction. Here we see a completely different order of life: creatures that can feel and move by their own will. Indeed the word translated "creature" in verses 20 and 21 really means "soul." So on this fifth day God brought in a higher form of life, a life that involves soul. That is why this was creation in the full sense.

Chapter 2 shows that birds were made out of the earth; but Genesis 1:20, critics say, means that birds were made out of the waters. Genesis 1 says nothing of the sort. It agrees perfectly with Genesis 2:19. The objection shows the danger of reasoning from a mistake that has crept into a translation, instead of from Scripture itself. This verse does not teach that the waters were to bring forth birds, though our English version makes it look that way. It reads, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature, and let birds fly about the earth in the open expanse of heaven." The point is that the birds fly in that sphere. The verse never says the waters gave birth to them.

Nothing really is said or intended about the waters bringing forth birds: the latter are spoken of in a distinct clause... The true rendering is, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly, etc. and let birds fly, etc." There is no discrepancy in this case to be reconciled.

The waters now teem with life, and birds fly in the air... It is beautiful to see God's goodness at work in all this! He first creates a setting where His creatures can live. Plant life, for instance, needs dry land to grow on. So God first brings the dry land up out of the waters. Animals need plant food, so He supplies plenty of it before He brings these creatures into being.

The first blessing of creation was when God made the creatures that filled the waters and the air of Adam's world. They were the first to enjoy animal life in that world. God takes pleasure in blessing His creatures. Their life is lowly, yet it can still enjoy the fruits of His goodness. He blesses them above all with a view to their reproducing and multiplying within their own sphere.

Animals have living souls as part of their creation. About them God said, "Let the waters bring forth," or, "Let the earth bring forth." But God formed man of the dust of the ground, and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living creature." So man was unlike every other creature in two ways. God created him in His own image, and he "became a living soul" because God breathed into him.

He felt that he was in the presence of the One whose voice said ages before, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures" (Gen. 1:20). He realized that God had come down from heaven to earth. His sinful condition rose up before him — his unfitness to stay in the divine presence. So he fell at Jesus' knees saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

In verse 21 we get the word "created" for the second time. It appeared in verse 1, the original creation of the heaven and the earth. The intervening verses have told us what God made out of His original creation. Why does the word occur again here? We believe it is because here God commanded the waters to bring forth "living creatures that move." In the vegetable kingdom we see nutrition, growth and reproduction. Here we see an entirely different order of things: creatures with the power to feel and to move by their own will. Indeed the word translated "creature" in verses 20 and 21 is really "soul."

God had created the heavens and the earth before. Now He creates animate life, another order of creation entirely. So Scripture does not use the word when God brought in the animals on the sixth day. It uses it again when we are told, "God created man in His own image" (v. 27), for man is a completely different order of creation. There is a link between sea creatures, birds and animals, but none of these have any such link with mankind.

The word tannin, used in Genesis 1:21, Job 7:12 and Ezekiel 32:2, refers to any sea monsters, without defining any particular one. … The Hebrew word tannin is also translated in the Authorised Version 'dragon,' 'sea monster,' and 'serpent.'

Moses clearly separated fish, which are cold-blooded animals, from the warm-blooded creatures of the sea. Those creatures nurse their young, and they must come to the surface of the sea to breathe. … What could Moses know of such things? … And yet Moses made no mistakes in his narrative.

A correct translation here, as the reader can see, destroys the error that commentators, both Jewish and Christian, have tried to explain. The sense is not that the waters produced the birds. It is that God made them fly in the open expanse of the heavens. Compare Genesis 2:19, which plainly teaches that God formed the birds out of the ground, just as He formed the beast of the field.

In Genesis 1 the formula — "after his kind" — is repeated ten times. It covers the plants in verse 11, the sea life and the winged birds in verse 21, and the beasts, the cattle and everything that creeps on the earth in verse 25. Why "after his kind"? That leaves room for each species. The lion does not mate with the tigress. The eagle does not consort with the goose. The wasp does not breed with the bee.

The clear intention was to impress on all who heed the written word that the fifth day's work covered the whole circle of water animals, as well as all the bird life known to mankind… If the inspired writer speaks of what concerns man in daily life, this agrees with the blessing God spoke: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." Verses 26 and 28 confirm it strongly, for there God gives man dominion over the fish of the sea, no less than over the birds of the air.

The waters of turmoil, distress and unrest — that is, our experiences of deep trial — will bring forth abundant blessing in a way only God can do. … The power and grace of God produces some of our greatest blessing through our greatest trouble and sorrow. The birds flying in the heavens teach us that by faith our spirit may rise high above the level of our circumstances.

This is the second benediction of creation. The first was when God made the creatures that peopled the waters and the air of Adam's world, the first to enjoy animal life in that world. God takes pleasure in blessing His creatures, whose life, though lowly, can still enjoy the fruits of His goodness. He blesses them above all with a view to their reproducing and multiplying within their sphere. Here, a second time, He blessed mankind, male and female. In verse 22 we have only "saying," but here "God said to them, Be fruitful."

Sadly, we have to hear the voice of cursing as well as the voice of blessing, because God must give expression to what He hates. So as soon as man falls away from Him we hear the curse pronounced. It is as clear and as strong as the blessing ever was: "Cursed," God says, "is the ground because of you" (Gen. 3:17)... Blessing, however, is the first thing we read of.

Then we first get the imperative used. They now exist through creative power. So He commands them, through reproduction, to "be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the seas." And He declares that "the birds shall multiply" — again a future tense, not a present.

The fifth day brings another change of scene... But now even here the power of God is working; the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and birds fly in the open expanse of the heavens. It is still progress in the great creative plan, and life reaches new and higher forms than before. It is not now grass and herb, but the "living soul," and God blesses them, and bids them multiply.

See how beautifully God's goodness works in all this! He first creates a place where His creatures can live. For instance, plant life needs dry land to grow on. That, therefore, is first brought up out of the waters. Animals need plant food, and He first supplies it in abundance before He brings these creatures into being. God's whole work, as we have already said, is always a prophecy of the good things to come.

If, on the other hand, the inspired writer speaks of what concerns man in practice, that agrees with God's spoken blessing: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." Verses 26 and 28 confirm it strikingly. There God gives man dominion over the fish of the sea, no less than over the birds of the air, and beast and cattle and all that creep on the earth.

In Revelation 17:15 we have seen that the waters John saw in his vision stood for peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. Does it not seem that the peopling of the seas is symbolic of God's gracious work among the Gentiles through the Gospel? The Old Testament testimony kept very largely to the children of Israel... The great feature of the New Testament is, however, the Gospel of God going out world-wide to the very ends of the earth.

Why the repetition of "there was evening and there was morning" (vv. 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31)? All plain enough if an ordinary day is meant — remember, the Jewish day began at 6 p.m. On the larger scale it would only say that the period had a beginning and an ending — an obvious fact, not worth mentioning, much less repeating.

Next the day is counted from the evening and the morning. That statement is of great importance for other parts of Scripture. The Spirit of God never forgets it, but modern readers almost always let it slip. That forgetfulness has been a great source of the difficulties that burden efforts to line up the Gospel accounts... People have found such puzzles, for instance, over our Lord's keeping of the Passover compared with the Jews', and over the crucifixion. The reason is that they forget that the evening and the morning made up the first day, the second day, or any other.

The fifth day brings another change of scene. We might have thought we had left the barren waste of waters behind for good. Yet here we come back to it. But now even here the power of God is working; the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and birds fly in the open expanse of heaven. It is still progress in the great creative plan, and life reaches new and higher forms than before. It is not now grass and herb, but the "living soul," and God blesses them, and bids them multiply.

This chapter uses the word "created" for the second time (v. 21). God had created the heavens and the earth before. Now He creates animate life — a wholly different order of creation.

The clear intention was to impress, on all who heed the written word, that the fifth day's work covered the whole circle of water animals and all the bird life known to mankind... Verses 26 and 28 confirm this strongly. There God gives man dominion over the fish of the sea, no less than over birds of the air, and beast and cattle and all that creep on the earth. The only detail, in fact, sets out the origin of what was put under man's rule.

The period that will follow the Church's time on earth is that brief but troubled time which fills so much of the book of Revelation. Out of this fearful time of trouble, the faith of Israel will reach a clearness and energy perhaps not known even in Israel's best days. It will be found in the feeble remnant that turns in penitence to God. Out of that turmoil will rise a spiritual life such as Israel never had before: a life which, in the birds flying in the open expanse of heaven, suggests a liberty and a power that promise well for the glories of the coming age.

We have seen in Revelation 17:15 that the waters John saw in his vision stood for peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. Does it not seem that the peopling of the seas pictures God's gracious work among the Gentiles through the gospel? The Old Testament testimony went mainly to the children of Israel... The great feature of the New Testament is the gospel going out worldwide to the very ends of the earth.

In the first six days we read of the evening and the morning. On the seventh day there is no mention of this, for time is not counted in eternity.

In verse 20 God spoke of the sea creatures that have life — and the Hebrew word behind "creature" there is "nephesh," soul. Verse 21 uses the same word again: every living creature that moves is a living soul. Verse 24 says it once more of the land: "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds." So by His word God made them living souls on the earth.

It is not out of place to name "cattle" first in verse 24. These are the animals that can be tamed, even if they were not tamed yet, and they suit the use of man. "Creeping thing" comes next, in its more literal sense. "Moving," used earlier, described more fully how the creatures of the waters act, so it took in not only serpents and the like but insect life. "Animal of earth" means the wild beast.

We notice too that both verse 24 and verse 25 keep the "beast of the earth" separate from the "cattle." We gather from this that at the first, before sin came in, God designed certain animals for the upkeep and benefit of the man He was about to create. After sin came in, the beasts developed their wild and savage nature, while the cattle stayed fairly tame and useful to man.

Notice that each creature is "after his kind." God made the plants and the sea animals the same way on the earlier days. This establishes that species are fixed... One thing is certain: "after his kind" stamps each class of plant and animal life with its own identity. So this Scripture gives evolution no support. Yet we must be careful. In turning away from that extreme theory of unbelief, we must not fall into the opposite error of making endless classes.

The lion does not mate with the tigress. The eagle does not pair with the goose. The wasp does not breed with the bee. The only hybrids in creation are of man's arrangement and they are sterile, and come to nothing.

The creation of man was not a mass movement, as the creation of the lower creatures was. Verse 24 describes a mass movement. It takes in the whole of living things on earth, yet there is one great exception — MAN... "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." There is no mass movement here. A single individual was in view.

The animals came out of the earth at His will. He had said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds," and it was so. It was not like that with man. God takes solemn counsel about creating him, and decides to make man in His image, after His likeness.

We can compare God's work up to this point to an architect who designs and builds a palace for a royal person to live in. So God prepared all the beautiful world around: sun, moon, stars, clouds, non-living matter, plant life, animal life, with their countless astounding wonders. All of it was ready for this moment of supreme importance, when God created man — a creature He could have fellowship with.

In the early part of the sixth day God filled the earth with living souls — beast and cattle and also creeping things. Notice that God made them. It does not say that He created them. They looked very different from the creatures of the waters and the air, yet they were still only "living souls." So the word created appears only when God first created "soul" as something distinct from matter.

Bringing in the herbivores, the reptiles, and the carnivores here is straining after a scientific gloss… Naming "cattle" first in verse 24 is no anachronism. These are the animals that can be tamed, even if not yet tamed, and they suit the use of man. "Creeping thing" follows in its more literal sense… "Animal of earth" means the wild beast. All of them are terms in constant use where man lives and reigns.

Notice too that both verse 24 and verse 25 keep the "beast of the earth" separate from the "cattle." We gather from this that at the first, before sin came in, God designed certain animals to support and benefit the man He was about to create. After sin came in, the beasts developed their wild and savage nature, while the cattle stayed tame and useful to man.

Notice that each creature is "after his kind." This establishes the fixity of species. Scripture does not say what those species were, or how far variety might later develop inside them. In many animal species that variety is so great it is scarcely believable. One thing is certain: "after his kind" stamps its own mark on each class of plant and animal life. So evolution finds no encouragement from this Scripture. Yet in reacting against the extreme of unbelieving theory, we must be careful not to fall into the opposite extreme of making endless classes. A common unity underlies all animal creation. Each class is specially fitted for the work it has to do. Just as plainly, though, barriers that cannot be crossed separate the classes from one another.

Why "after his kind"? That clearly leaves room for each species. The lion does not mate with the tigress. The eagle does not consort with the goose. The wasp does not breed with the bee. The only hybrids in creation are of man's arrangement, and they are sterile, and come to nothing.

As to the life we have by nature, God's word formed the beasts out of the ground. There the ordinary creation ended, and God pronounced the beasts good (Gen. 1:25). And then God proceeds in solemn consultation to form man as His image, as lord of all He had created, and in His likeness.

Acts 10:1-15 and verse 28 show that all these animals are typical of mankind. Domesticated animals would speak of the cultured and refined classes of men. Creeping things speak of the more despised classes, in places of lowly humiliation. The beasts of the earth remind us of men in their wild, rebellious state — a third class even more common than the other two. But this work of God on the sixth day was only a preparation for a more important work the same day.

God has finished creation as creation. Now He begins to take counsel, in the most solemn way, saying that He will make man in His image and give him rule. So the creation is complete as the setting and the scene. Then God makes man in His own image and sets him over it all. Man stands entirely alone. Everything is finished, and then he is given rule over it.

One thing set man apart from every other creature. God took counsel about him before He made him. What was coming was not a new animal. It was a moral being with wonderful gifts and possibilities.

That God should say, "Let US," is worthy of note. Elohim is, as we have said, a plural Name. The Old Testament does not reveal the three Persons in the Godhead. But now that God has revealed Them, we can see that the language of our chapter, given by God, fits that truth. In verse 26 it is "Our image". In verse 27 it is "His image". There is no clash here, because the eternal "Three in One" is the One speaking.

Think of the plural form of the word and how it goes with singular verbs. Would it not be close to the truth to say this? We cannot treat it as a revelation of the Trinity. Yet it is a way of speaking that shows the Spirit had that truth in mind. He is the third Person there, and He used words whose full force we could only grasp once that teaching had been revealed.

"Image" represents. "Likeness" resembles. An image does not have to look like the thing or person it stands for. The coin they showed the Lord Jesus in Matthew 22:20 may not have carried a "likeness" of Caesar, but it did carry an "image" of him. Man is made in the "image" of God. So God places him in this world to represent Him to the lower creatures, in rule and in blessing. That word is about man's position. "Likeness" points to his moral being. He can enter into relationships and carry responsibilities.

Scripture never says the Son is in the likeness of the invisible God. He is God. To call Him like God might suggest He is not truly God. Still, the Son is "the image of the invisible God". In His own Person He represents God in His character and moral attributes, before the whole universe.

This is man as the head of creation… He was to represent God here below. Besides that, he was to be like God. He was to have a mind, a spirit able to know God, with no evil in him at all.

God creates the man and the woman. Then He gives them rule "over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth". Move on to Genesis 3, and there Satan has come in. He has gained this headship for himself through the man who had fallen.

Man is in the image of God, now as always, fallen or not. But sin cost him the likeness of God. When the question is the guilt of taking a man's life, the reason given is that God made him in His own image. This, it is plain, was never lost; it abides, whatever man's state.

God created Adam in His own image and set him to rule over the works of His hands. Adam stood at the centre of a vast system placed under him. He was, the apostle says, a picture of the One who was to come. The rule of the Second Adam reaches much further than the rule of the first. He created all things Himself, so He is to inherit all He has created.

To be true to the image, there must be moral likeness. For us that means a new creation. So Colossians 3:10 says we "have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator".

God did not create man as He had done in every previous case, by a simple order from His lips. The creation of man was the subject of divine counsel. "Let us make man," etc. Notice here that man was to be, and was, made in the image and likeness of God. This is his first great difference from everything God had created before. The second is that he was to rule over all of it.

How the Bible uses the word, in both the Old and New Testaments, seems to show that "image" represents, while "likeness" resembles… In the New Testament, the coin our Lord asked for had the image and inscription of Caesar on its face. It might have been a poor likeness, but it was an unmistakable image of the Roman emperor. It expressed his authority and represented his claim.

God made man, then, to represent Him to the lower creation that He put under him. But he was also made after the likeness of God; that is, he was really like God in certain important respects. Not in all respects of course, for God is infinitely holy and man was merely innocent. Still, man was God's "offspring" (Acts 17:28-29). He is a spirit being, though dressed in a body of flesh and blood. So he has intelligence and a moral sense, and these reflect what exists on an infinite scale in God Himself.

How far this is from the brute finally evolving into man, a theory suggested by Satan to brutalise the race! Here is the simple yet wonderful truth. No one brought God down to the human level; God created man, and man alone, after a divine pattern.

Man is no longer in the likeness of God, but he is always in the image of God. For man, now as ever, fallen or not, is in the image of God; but the likeness of God was lost through sin. Seth therefore was born in Adam's own likeness, not in God's. He was like Adam fallen, not only his representative.

The fall has not cost man either the image or the likeness of God (Gen. 9:6; James 3:9).

The murderer does more than meddle with man and injure him to the worst degree. By killing a man he also defaces God's image, and God sentences him to die. Murder seizes what belongs to God, and no man has that right.

Verse 27 says that man is twofold… the few words here show us how closely Scripture ties male and female together. The word "man" covers both, and jointly they were to have the dominion.

Christ brings out God's glory in these things, and He shows how it was at the beginning. God did not make one man and two women, but "male and female he created them." So from the very forming of man, God's mind was clear.

God created man in His own image and likeness. But no one could call Christ, "who is God over all, blessed forever," the likeness of God, since He is God. But He can be the image of God, for "image" is what represents another, and Christ did this for God perfectly.

To be true to the image, there must be moral likeness. For us that means a new creation. So Col. 3:10 says the new self "is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator."

"To every beast of the earth I have given every green plant for food." This would imply that animals were not carnivorous. There is a difference between cattle and beasts; but in that statement the cattle are left out; the "beasts" are what we call wild beasts. It is perfectly within God's power to have restricted them for the time, or to have changed them.

Man still has his distinctive place in God's commission and plan; but it is in the state of innocence. After the fall came corruption and violence. Animal food was not permitted to man till after the flood. Herbs and fruit were given at first to man, and to the subject creation every green plant. Death was not in the Adamic earth till sin. True, Romans 5:12-21 goes no further than the human race, fallen under death through sin. But Romans 8:19-22 looks at "all the creation" as ruined through the fall of its head.

So I conclude that death was not in the creation of which man was the head until his fall. But scripture says nothing about what may have happened between the creation of the heavens and the earth and the forming of the present world out of chaos... So geologists may find as many fossil giants and sea reptiles as they please. They do not touch the statements of scripture one way or another, because scripture makes none about it. Death entered only into the creation connected with man, and by man's sin. Scripture states that, though it does not deal with what it meant for the beasts. Genesis 1:30 confirms it, for it gives the green grass to the beasts of the earth.

Scripture states plainly that herbs were given for food to the beasts of the field. This was not written out of ignorance, for lions were eating men in Moses' time. Moses wrote it with the deliberate intention of claiming a revelation, and so he contradicts the whole existing order of facts about animals... He declares that at first they were given the green plant for food. Scripture gives us to understand they ate that in the ark... It is a direct contradiction of universal experience, and claims to be a revelation. To say that it cannot be true is absurd.

The beast also is, and has, a living soul. Genesis 1:30 describes every beast of the earth, every bird of the air and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth as "everything in which there is a living soul." "Likeness" to God cannot be said of such a one as this, for God is not "soul," but "spirit," and the "Father of spirits." So man stands alone in relationship to God, because he has not only soul but also spirit.

God now first gave every moving thing that lives to be food for man (Genesis 9:3), as freely as He had first given green plants to beast and bird and reptile (Genesis 1:30). But He put a marked restriction on the blood... It was the life, and this God reserved for Himself.

Creation at large will be restored. No longer will the strong prey upon the weak. Even the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the lion will eat straw like the ox (Isaiah 11:6-7)... When the sons of God are revealed, that will be the signal for the complete deliverance of all from the bondage of corruption (Romans 8:19-21).

With the creation of man, God's work had reached its high point. Up to now we have read the same words four times over: "And God saw that it was good." That covered all the rebuilding and creating, apart from the creation of man. But on the sixth day God surveys the whole scene, including man and woman in their ordered place with dominion over it all. Then we read, "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was VERY good."

Take note of this, for it destroys at one blow the whole system of error wrongly called "Christian Science." One of its most basic teachings is the idea that matter is evil and only spirit is good. The truth is the exact opposite, for when evil entered it came in by way of spirit, not matter.

Here experience must fail us. Only the Bible could give us the truth about the first condition of man and the creatures around him. But once it is revealed, it proves itself at once. It is the only state we can imagine in which the Creator could have placed creation and its head in a way that fits His own goodness. That is the force and moral beauty of His final survey in the last verse. With the one exception of the second day, He had called each thing "good"; now, as a whole, it was good in the highest degree in His eyes.

It is illogical, and unbelieving too, to assume that the present state is the normal one, or that God made men sinful, vain, proud and selfish… Clearly the state of the world is offensive to God, and it has been so as far back as man's records reach. This is a fact, Bible or no Bible.

This led to creation rest, with its two marks. First, God was satisfied with all that He had made, as we read, "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Second, He stopped all His creation work completely, as it is written, "he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done." (Gen. 1:31; Gen. 2:2).

Sin broke God's Sabbath, His rest in creation. From then on the verdict He had just pronounced had to change from "very good" to very bad. Man, the masterpiece, fell, and dragged down with him the creation God had placed him over. The beautiful work of God's hand was spoiled, as it were, in a moment.

It pleased God to make that first creation dependent on its head, the first Adam. He listened to a voice which he ought not to have listened to; sin came in by him, and by sin death, and now the whole creation groans in bondage. (Rom. 5 and Rom. 8)

Sin has marred the fair creation, so that now the whole creation groans and suffers pain. But the saints in heaven share the mind of the Lord, and they can see that all the evil will be dealt with in judgment. Then God can take pleasure in His creation once again, just as He did long ago, when the creation work was finished: "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31).

He declared the work of His hand to be very good, but in the anguish of His soul He will find satisfaction. The first creation, for all its beauty, was quickly marred by sin.