What happened on each of the days of Creation?
Before the six days begin, Genesis opens with a statement that stands apart from the daily work: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). The original creation of matter is thus distinguished from the six days of arranging and furnishing the earth for man. J. N. Darby draws the distinction clearly:
J. N. Darby"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." What may have taken place between that time and the moment when the earth (for it only is then spoken of) was without form and void, is left in entire obscurity. Darkness was then upon the face of the deep, but the darkness is only spoken of as resting on the face of the deep.
Day One — Light
On the first day, God said, "Let there be light," calling light into existence where darkness had covered the deep. William Kelly points out how remarkable this is:
William KellyOn the first day light is. ... A most remarkable fact it is that the inspired historian should have named it. No one would have done so naturally. It is plain, had Moses merely formed a probable opinion as men do, that no one would have introduced the mention of light, apart from, and before all distinct notice of, the heavenly orbs.
F. W. Grant reads the first day as a picture of God's work in the new birth — light shining into darkness:
F. W. GrantThe Word of God acts in conjunction with the Spirit, and man is brought into the presence of God, who is light, — a light by which we are discovered to ourselves. All that we become sensible of is ruin — a lost condition, — and yet here, in repentance, true judgment of ourselves before God, the first step in fellowship with Him is found.
Day Two — The Expanse (Firmament)
On the second day God made the expanse — the firmament or atmosphere — dividing the waters above from the waters below. J. N. Darby describes this simply as "the expanse as a scene of heavenly power over the earth."
F. W. Grant comments:
F. W. GrantIn the expanse of the second day, again, we have not the absolute heavens of the beginning, but the earth-heavens, — although through these alone the higher ones are seen. The expanse is the effect of the atmosphere when in its normal condition, lifting by evaporation the clouds from the waters beneath, that, purged of their saltness, they may become the fertilizing "bottles of heaven."
Day Three — Dry Land and Vegetation
On the third day, God gathered the waters together so that dry land appeared, and then caused the earth to bring forth grass, herbs, and fruit trees. J. N. Darby writes that God "divided what was formed and orderly, on the one hand, from the moving powerful but shapeless mass of waters, on the other, and then ornamented the ordered habitable scene with beauty and fruitfulness on the third."
William Kelly notes both the provision and the precision:
William KellyThirdly the dry land appears, and the earth bringing forth grass, and herb, and fruit-tree. There is the provision of God, not merely for the need of man, but for His own glory; and this in the smallest things as in the greatest.
Day Four — Sun, Moon, and Stars
On the fourth day, God set the two great lights — the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night — and the stars also. William Kelly highlights the care of the language:
William KellyOn the fourth day we hear of lights in the firmament. The utmost possible care appears in the statement. They are not said to be created then; but God made two great lights (it is no question of their mass, but of their capacity as light bearers,) for the Adamic earth — the stars also.
R. Robertson draws a beautiful application:
R. RobertsonFrom Him we receive the warmth of the love of God and the light of His revelation and rule. ... The moon derives light from the sun, so the assembly derives from Christ to be the exponent of His life and character, whilst He is hidden from view.
Day Five — Sea Creatures and Birds
On the fifth day, God caused the waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and birds to fly above the earth. William Kelly underlines the significance:
William KellyThen we find the waters caused to bring forth abundantly "the moving creature that has life." Vegetable life was before, animal life now — a very weighty truth, and of the greatest moment too. Life is not the matter out of which animals were formed; nor is it true that matter produces life. God produces life, whether it be for the fish that people the sea, for the birds of the air, or for the beasts, cattle, or reptiles, on the dry land.
Day Six — Land Animals and Man
The sixth day falls into two great acts. First, God caused the earth to bring forth living creatures — cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the earth. Then came the climax of creation: man, made by divine counsel. William Kelly writes:
manBut here comes a striking difference. God speaks with the peculiar appropriateness which suits the new occasion. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." It is man as the head of creation. ... There was to be a mind in him, a spirit capable of the knowledge of God with the absence of all evil.
The Bible Treasury article on Genesis 1–3 brings out the contrast with all that preceded:
Bible TreasuryWhen man, however, was to be created, it was not, as in each previous case, by a simple fiat of God's lips: the creation of man was the subject of divine counsels. "Let us make man," etc. Observe here that man was to be, and was, made in the image and likeness of God. This is his first great distinction from what had been previously created. For the second, he was to have dominion over all.
J. N. Darby observes that man did not spring from matter like the animals but received something directly from God:
J. N. DarbyGod formed man out of the dust, and when formed breathed from Himself into his nostrils the breath of life, and thus man became a living soul in immediate connection with God Himself. ... It is not said "Let the earth bring forth"; but "Let us make."
Day Seven — God's Rest
On the seventh day, God rested from all His work and blessed and sanctified that day. The Bible Treasury article notes:
Bible TreasuryHow touching the testimony of God's complacency in the, as yet, unsullied creation! He rested on the seventh day: surely not in any such sense as that in which we use the word rest, as contrasted with fatigue, but simply as contrasted with the six days' work. "The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them;" "and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it," as that on which He could with delight survey the completed work. How beautiful a type of that eternal rest He is yet to have in the redeemed creation!
F. W. Grant concludes:
F. W. GrantThe seventh, as the day of God's rest, is surely typical of that full rest, which is necessarily God's, into which the saints shall enter. It is called a "sabbatism," a Sabbath-keeping: "There remaineth therefore a sabbatism to the people of God." (Heb. 4:9.) Here, what we call "dispensations" end; for their work is done.
R. Robertson observes that on the seventh day "evening and morning" is not mentioned — "having the eternal day in view when the kingdom will be given up to the Father and the tabernacle of God will be with men, and God shall be all in all!"
The seven days form a majestic progression. Out of chaos and darkness God brings light (Day 1), then an atmosphere separating the waters (Day 2), then dry land with its vegetation (Day 3) — preparing the stage. The stage is then furnished with heavenly luminaries to govern it (Day 4), living creatures in sea and sky (Day 5), and finally land animals and man himself, the crown and head of creation, made uniquely in the image and likeness of God (Day 6). The seventh day is God's rest — not from weariness, but from a completed work in which He could take delight. What is especially striking, as these writers emphasize, is the evident progress from generals to particulars, from the inanimate to the animate, from lower to higher forms of life, and above all, the unique dignity of man — who alone was the subject of divine counsel, who alone received the breath of life directly from God, and who alone was made in God's image to rule over all.