GENESIS: THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS
Rev. Richard A. Bolland
Unit 5: The Creation Account
I. THE DAY-AGE THEORY.
A. Before examining the events of the six days of creation, it is necessary to address a commonly asked question: "Are these days to be understood as natural days or as symbolic terms for long ages?"
1. This question arises precisely because of the impact of Darwinian evolution.
2. Many sincere and competent Bible scholars have felt it mandatory to accept the geological age system and have prematurely settled on the Day-Age theory as a way to reconcile evolution with the Biblical account of creation.
B. Problems with the Day-Age Theory:
1. The order of creation events narrated in Genesis 1 is very different from the accepted order of fossils in the rocks representing the geological ages.
2. Second, the geological ages are predicated on the fossil record, and the fossils speak unequivocally of the reign of suffering and death in the world
a. The Day-Age Theory accepts as real the existence of death before sin.
b. This directly contradicts the Bible which teaches that death is a divine judgment on man's dominion because of man's sin. (Rom. 5:12)
c. Thus, the Day-Age Theory assumes that suffering and death comprise an integral part of God's work of creating and preparing the world for man; and this, in effect, pictures God as a sadistic ogre, not as the Biblical God of grace and mercy.
3. Third, The Biblical record itself makes it plan that the days of creation are literal days, not long indefinite ages. As we examine the actual wording of these verses, this will become clear.
4. Finally, the Bible student must as this question: "Suppose the writer of Genesis wished to teach his readers that all things were created in six literal days, then what words would he use to best convey this thought?"
a. Even a cursory examination of the text clearly demonstrates that Moses used language that explicitly left no doubt about the literal nature of the days.
b. If Moses has desired to convey the idea that these "days" were, in fact, long geological periods, then certainly he could have used terms that would have clarified that far better than those he selected.
C. Therefore, the only proper way to interpret Genesis 1 is not to "interpret" it at all.
1. It is far better to accept the words for what they say:
a. The days are literal 24 hour days.
b. The events described occurred as they are described.
c. The six days of creation and the days of rest comprise the first week of the earth's history, not an allegory trying to explain man's beginnings.
II. GENESIS 1:3-5 - THE CREATION OF "LIGHT"
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning -- the first day.
A. The first two verses of Genesis 1 describe the creation of the basic elements of the physical universe and its initial energizing by the Spirit of God.
1. Although the earth had been created in a formless and watery dispersion, existing in static darkness, God had a great and eternal purpose for it.
a. First, the Spirit of God imparted motion and form to the inert and shapeless elements.
b. Next would come the energy of light to dispel the darkness.
2. Verse 3 is the first record of God speaking in the Bible.
a. God speaks His Word and whatever He speaks must occur.
b. The Father is the source of all things. (v. 1)
c. The Spirit is the energizer of all things. (v. 2)
d. The Word is the revealer of all things. (v. 3)
3. Compare the following passages with Genesis 1:1-3:
a. II Corinthians 4:6
b. John 1:1, 14
c. John 8:12
d. I John 1:5
B. Please note that darkness was not removed completely.
1. As though in anticipation of future misunderstanding, God carefully defines His terms: "Day" and "Night"
2. The very first time God describes "Day" He uses the Hebrew word "yom".
C. A repeated description is initiated at the conclusion of each "day":
1. "And there was evening, and there was morning -- the first day."
2. This same formula is used at the conclusion of each of the six days; so it is obvious that the duration of each of the days, including the first, was the same.
3. Furthermore, the "day" was the "light" time, when God did His work; and the "darkness was the "night" time when God did not work.
4. Nothing new took place between the "evening" and the "morning" of each day.
5. It is clear that, beginning with the first day and continuing thereafter, there was a cyclical succession of days and nights -- periods of light and periods of darkness.
6. It is to be assumed that at this point, the earth is rotating on its axis and that there was a source of light on one side of the earth corresponding to the sun, even though the sun was not yet made (Gen. 1:16).
7. It is equally clear that the length of such days could only have been that of a normal, solar day...certainly, that is the clear intent of the text.
8. It should be noted that in the Hebrew Old Testament yom, without exception never means "period." It normally means either a day (in the 24 hour sense), or else the daylight portion of the twenty-four hours ("day" as distinct from "night"). It may be occasionally used in the sense of indefinite time, (e.g., "in the time of the Judges"), but never as a definite period of time with a specific beginning and ending. Furthermore, it is not used even in this indefinite sense except when the context clearly indicates that the literal meaning is not intended.
9. What is exceptionally clear is that Genesis was trying to guard in every way possible against any of its readers deriving the notion of non literal days from the text.
D. Although not mentioned in the creation account, it is probable that another act of creation took place on the first day...the creation of the angelic host.
1. Sometime prior to the third day of creation, a multitude of angels had been created, since they were present when the "foundations of the earth" were laid. (Job 38:4-7)
2. This point in time is probably a reference to the establishment of solid land surfaces on the earth.
3. It was impossible for the angels to have existed prior to the creation of the physical universe as their very purpose is to minister to the "heirs of salvation" (Hebrews 1:14).
4. Angels are called the "host of heaven," and could not have been created before the existence of heaven.
E. After the first day, the earth was no longer without form, but it was still void of life.
1. Now it must be prepared to be the home for mankind - This is the end of creation!
2. The Creator has an end in sight and is not "playing it by ear" as He proceeds.
3. Therefore, God prepares the earth as a place uniquely suitable for man to dwell.
F. The initial creation of a human suitable place is the provision of an atmosphere and a hydrosphere:
1. So far as science has been able to tell, the earth is alone in this respect.
2. Read Isaiah 40:12, 22
III. GENESIS 1:6-8 -- THE SEPARATION OF THE FIRMAMENTS.
And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning -- the second day.
A. On the first day the earth was still of dominantly watery aspect.
1. Other materials were probably in solution or suspension, presumably with the water in the liquid state.
2. Some of the waters were to be separated from the greater mass of waters, however, and placed high above the rotating globe, with a great new space separating them from the waters below.
a. The lower waters would provide the water base for living flesh and for earth processes, and the upper waters would provide a sort of protective canopy for earth's inhabitants, with the space between providing an atmospheric reservoir to maintain the breath of life.
b. The tremendous power to effect such a separation is once again the spoken Word of God.
B. The "waters above the expanse" thus probably constituted a vast blanket of water vapor above the troposphere and possibly above the ionosphere, and extending into space.
1. This expanse could not be the same as the present condition of clouds floating in the sky which are a part of the atmosphere, because they are said to be "above" the expanse which is the atmosphere.
2. Furthermore, we know from Scripture that there was no rain on the earth in those days, (Genesis 2:5), nor was there any rainbows (Genesis 9:13), both of which must have been present if these upper water represented only our present condition of clouds in the atmosphere which constitutes our current hydrologic economy.
a. Interestingly, the presence of an antediluvian water canopy over the earth has appeared in many ancient writings and in some modern writings.
b. Others have described it as an orbiting "shell" of ice or liquid water while some think of it as dense banks of clouds blanketing the earth, possibly analogous to the cloud cover around the planet Venus.
c. Certainly, this upper water canopy would have to be transparent in order for the heavenly bodies to "give light on the earth and to be for signs and seasons, and for days and years" (Genesis 1:14, 15).
d. Water vapor, even in vast amounts, is invisible, whereas clouds, fog, and so forth, are composed of minute droplets of liquid water and are therefore opaque.
e. Such a vapor canopy could more easily be maintained aloft and would serve to more effectively as a marvelous sustainer of vigorous life conditions on the earth.
3. Such a water vapor canopy would:
a. have the ability both to transmit incoming solar radiation and to retain and disperse must of the radiation reflected from the earth's surface and would serve as a global greenhouse, maintaining an essentially uniformly pleasant warm temperature all over the world.
b. maintain nearly uniform temperatures, which would inhibit great air-mass movements...windstorms would be unknown.
c. inhibit rainfall since no global air circulation or hydrologic cycle of the current kind would exist except directly over the bodies of water.
d. With no global air circulation, and therefore no turbulence or dust particles transported to the upper atmosphere, the water vapor in the canopy would have been stable and not precipitate itself.
e. The planet would have been maintained not only at uniform temperatures but also at comfortable uniform humidities by means of local evaporation and condensation (Like dew, or ground fog) in each day-night cycle.
f. The combination of warm temperature and adequate moisture everywhere would be conducive later to extensive stands of lush vegetation all over the world, with no barren deserts or ice caps.
g. A vapor canopy would also be highly effective in filtering out ultraviolet radiations, cosmic rays, and other destructive energies from outer space. These are known to be the source of both somatic and genetic mutations, which decrease the viability of the individual and the species, respectively. Thus, the canopy would contribute to human and animal health and longevity.
h. Some have objected to the idea of a heavy vapor canopy because of the great increase in atmospheric pressure which it would cause at the earth's surface. Rather than being a problem, however, this effect would contribute still further to health and longevity. Modern biomedical research is increasingly proving that such "hyperbaric"pressures are very effective in combating disease and in promoting good health generally. There should be no problem in organisms living under high external pressures, provided their internal pressures had time to adjust correspondingly.
i. Later, when needed, these upper waters would provide the reservoir from which God would send the great Flood, to save the godly remnant from the hopelessly corrupt population of that day. (NOTE: the content of water vapor in the present atmosphere, if all precipitated, would cover the earth only to a depth of about one inch.)
IV. GENESIS 1:9-10 -- THE SEPARATION OF THE LAND AND WATER.
"And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground, "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good."
A. At this point the waters under the sky still constituted a shoreless ocean in which all other material elements were randomly dissolved or suspended.
1. The division process begun during the first two days continues:
a. Act 1: Separation of light from darkness.
b. Act 2: Separation of water from water.
c. Act 3: Separation of water from dry ground.
2. Through the power of the Word of God, the elements in solution and suspension undergo and tremendous and rapid change and rearrangement.
a. Tremendous movement of water over newly formed masses of earth must have created a network of channels and reservoirs which would permit the draining of water off of the surfaces of the dry ground.
b. In a sense, this is the first great flood with much formation of land masses taking place, and doing so quickly.
B. Connect this act of Creation with Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
1. This is the same Creator doing what He has done before.
2. He acts, at the Sea of Galilee, in the same fashion...He speaks and the Word has its effect!
V. GENESIS 1:11-13 -- THE CREATION OF TREES, HERBS AND GRASS.
"Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with the seed in it, according to their various kinds.' And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and morning -- the third day."
A. In the separation of the water from the dry ground, God also created it in such a way as to make it ready to become a fertile place for plant growth.
1. The ecosystems needed to sustain plant life were created in a "ready-to-use" fashion.
2. The "program" was integrated into the living things that were created so that the on-going process of reproduction was established.
3. Here is the original vegetation classification system covering all the growing plants: Trees, herbs and grass. (KJV)
a. Our modern plant classification system is entirely arbitrary and man-made.
b. God's classification is obvious, natural, and intended to cover all types of plants.
1.) "Grass" is intended to include all types of spreading, ground-covering vegetation.
2.) "Herbs" included all bushes and shrubs.
3.) "Trees" includes all large woody plants, including even fruit-bearing trees.
B. Please Note: All of these plants were created in mature form with the ability to reproduce themselves.
1. Thus, these plants, although only an instant old, had the full appearance and function of grown plants having the appearance of age.
a. This is not a divine deception.
b. The processes operating during creation are not the same processes now in operation in the world.
c. The assumption that since we know how the processes work now, means that these same processes have always operated in precisely the same way is a false assumption.
2. In verse 11 is the first use of the terms, "Seed" and "Kind".
a. Implanted into each created organism was a "seed," programmed to enable the continuing replication of that type of organism.
b. Everything we learn of DNA structure is strengthened by a knowledge of Biblical creation:
1.) Each type or kind of organism has its own, unique structure of the DNA and can only specify the reproduction of that same kind.
2.) While there is great variation within kind, DNA structure precludes the evolution of new kinds!
3. It is no coincidence that the phrase, "after their kind", occurs ten times in the first chapter of Genesis.
a. Exactly what corresponds to the modern Linneaen classification system would be a matter of conjecture, but clearly, this phrase indicates that "kinds" must reproduce after themselves and not after some other kind.
b. Again, it extremely important to remember that variation within kinds is not prohibited and does occur, but is always limited to that "species" or "genus"
c. Read I Corinthians 15:37-41 and note the continuing teaching on this matter.
4. NOTE: The order of Creation clearly says that complex forms of vegetation were created before any animal life of any kind.
a. According to the theory of evolution, the marine animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates, evolved hundreds of millions of years before the evolution of fruit trees and other higher plants.
b. Of course, many plants require pollination by insects, but they are not created until the sixth day...This argues against the days being long geological periods of time.
VI. GENESIS 1:14-19 -- THE CREATION OF SUN, MOON, AND STARS.
"And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.' And it was so. God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and morning -- the fourth day."
A. Get the sequence:
1. On the first day -- God energized the entire universe creating mass itself and the elements that comprise mass.
2. On the second day -- He made the primeval hydrosphere and atmosphere for the terrestrial sphere.
3. On the third day -- He made the earth's lithosphere and plant biosphere.
4. On the fourth day -- He made the astrosphere of the stars, and planets which surround and illuminate the terrestrial sphere.
B. On the first day, God created intrinsic light, then on the fourth day, the generators of light.
1. Remember that the purpose of the light in BOTH cases was to separate the light from the darkness thus indicating that the duration of light and darkness both before and after the creation of Sun and Moon was identical.
a. It was as though the light that the earth received was given as if they were coming from the Sun and the Moon, even before they were created.
b. This means that the light given both before and after the fourth day reflects the fact that the earth was already rotating on its axis thus bringing about the much repeated cycle of morning and evening.
2. If the concept of light without generators sounds contradictory or strange, it is no more difficult for God to create light waves than for Him to create bodies which generate such light waves...He IS light!
3. REMEMBER AN OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE: All created things were made with an apparent, but non-existent history...Trees had growth rings, rocks of various kinds appeared to be formed from different forces, (i.e., igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary), adult forms of all kinds were the norm.
C. The lights, (sun, moon and stars), are set in the expanse of the heavens.
1. This is not the same "expanse" above which the vapor barrier was placed.
a. As we have noted before, the term "expanse" can refer to any particular region of space as determined by the context of the passage.
b. The Hebrew word translated, "expanse" is also translated "heavens" in verse 1...Context is critical.
2. The stars immediately gave light on the earth from the moment of their creation.
a. They did not have to wait millions and millions of years for their light to reach across the universe to shine on the earth.
b. This too is a mark of the "Apparent History Principle"...The light trails of the stars were created at the same time as the stars complete with the "history" we now observe when novas, supernovas in space.
c. This makes all of God's creation logical, consistent and easily explained from the text of Genesis itself.
D. The purpose for the sun, moon and stars. (vv. 15-18)
1. The Sun and Moon are to give light on the earth in the cycle of day and night.
2. These bodies and the stars are to enable the coming human race to mark the days and the seasons.
3. These functions indicate that the heavenly bodies are place for the express purpose of being used by man.
a. The earth is not merely a "speck" of matter on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy at the edge of the universe!
b. The rest of the universe exists for the purpose of assisting the earth!
4. That the light received is for marking of the seasons indicates one of two things:
a. That there were already seasons...ala Southern California seasons.
b. That they were given to make the seasons which the post-flood world would experience.
VII. GENESIS 1:20-23 -- GOD CREATES SEA LIFE AND BIRD LIFE.
And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky,' So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.' And there was evening and morning -- the fifth day."
A. Now that the lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere are in place and completely able to sustain animal life, it is created.
1. The introduction of animal life does not begin with a blob of protoplasm that happens to occur in some isolated mud puddle, but rather the waters abundantly teem with sea creatures and the skies are filled with bird life.
a. The Hebrew word nephesh, which we translate "life" makes its first appearance here.
b. All kinds of sea animals -- vertebrate, invertebrate and reptile are instantly created in their adult forms.
2. In the same phrase, God calls into being the bird creatures of the sky.
a. It is fair and logical to assume that at the point of creation, both bird life and sea life existed in numbers able to sustain themselves and to carry out reproduction.
b. Now God is doing something quite new...He has created creatures with a sense of consciousness which man too, would have.
B. Enter the dinosaurs.
1. The Hebrew word tannin, means great sea creatures, (not whales as KJV says).
a. This word is most frequently translated in the Bible as "dragon".
b. This term embraces all large sea-creatures, including the monsters of the past that are now mostly extinct.
c. The frequent references to dragons in the Bible and in the early records and traditions of most of the nations of antiquity, certainly cannot be shrugged off as mere fairy tales.
2. Most probably, these tannin, reflect memories of dinosaurs handed down from ancestors who encountered them before they became extinct.
C. The command to reproduce is given.
1. Like the vegetation before them, these animals are enabled to reproduce within the limitations of their kinds
2. Please note the contradiction between the order of creation and that of the theory of evolution:
a. Evolution insists that marine organisms evolved first, then land plants, and later birds.
b. The Biblical account says that first there was vegetation, and then simultaneously marine life and birds.
VIII. GENESIS 1:24-25 -- GOD CREATES LAND-BASED LIFE.
"And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.' And it was so. God mad the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good."
A. On this final day of creative work, God brings forth the highest order of His creatures -- land based animals and finally human beings.
1. Notice that God classifies these creatures not according to their own characteristics, but according to the animal's relationship to man's interest.
a. Livestock -- all domesticable animals
b. Wildlife -- large and small mammals, the now extinct dinosaurs and other reptiles.
c. Creatures that move along the ground -- Insects, smaller reptiles and probably most amphibians.
2. Please note that all three categories were created/made simutaneously.
a. Evolutionists would claim that the order would be: insects, amphibians, the reptiles, then all mammals.
b. There is no evolutionary struggle among these creatures, because "God saw that it was good".
c. Struggle and death are not a part of God's plan for his creatures.
B. Here something we will see again occurs:
1. These creatures are made by God from the ground. (v. 24)
2. It is from the elements which God had created that these creatures are formed and -- after the fall -- it is to the ground that they shall return.
3. As with the sea and air creatures, each of these animals has the nephesh or "soul" principle -- the ability to have consciousness, unlike the plants.
4. At this point, the world is now fully prepared for that which has been God's purpose in all of His creative activity...the creation of mankind.
C. God did not need five billion years to prepare for mankind...In fact, He did not need the six days that He took! His reasons for six days are:
1. To stress the orderly and logical relationships between the different components of the creation.
2. To provide a divine pattern for man's six-day work week.
a. Six days would be needed to sustain life in every divine calling.
b. A day of rest is set aside for special fellowship and worship of God and as a needed good for man to recuperate from his work.
IX. GENESIS 1:26-27 -- GOD CREATES MAN AND WOMAN IN HIS IMAGE.
"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
A. Here God is speaking to Himself!
1. With His, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." He is stressing that God is the uni-plural God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit once again.
2. These "Intra-God" exchanges occur in other places as well:
a. Psalm 2:2
b. Isaiah 48:16
c. Psalm 45:7
d. Psalm 110:1
e. Matthew 11:27
f. John 8:42
g. John 17:24, et. al.
B. Like the animals before him, man is formed from the existing elements which God had created.
1. It is from the ground that Adam is taken. (Gen. 2:7)
2. It is from Adam, that Eve is taken. (Gen. 2:22) (Recycled ground?)
C. Mankind is created in the image of God.
1. Man is NOT simply the most complex animal on the food chain, but a unique creature who resembles God who made him.
2. The image of God consists of those aspects of man which are like God:
a. An eternal spirit that will not die at earthly death.
b. An ethical, moral, spiritual being with an awareness of the Almighty God.
c. This image of God is shared also with the angels, (good and evil).
d. Unlike the animals, who cease to exist at death, man lives forever. (Eccls. 3:21)
e. There is also something unique about the human body that reflects the image of God.
1.) When God or the angels appear to men, the spirit-being which is God - takes on the form of a human being.
2.) Like God, man is able to think abstractly and understand beauty.
3.) In God's time, His only Son was made in the likeness of men.
D. Mankind is made and paired male and female.
1. The words, "male" and "female", coming at this critical juncture, have far-reaching implications given emphasis by Jesus when he couples male and female in Mark 10:6-7.
2. To define humanity as bisexual is to make each partner the complement of the other.
3. As will be more clearly seen in chapter two, this is the institution of marriage as God has instituted and ordained it to be and cannot be defined away by the whim of man nor can any perversion of it, (homosexuality), be an equal replacement for it.
D. Mankind is given dominion over the created world.
1. The rest of creation is his to care for and to use...not abuse.
2. Our animal rights friends reject this truth and in so doing, reduce humanity to an animal level ignoring the image of God they have received from Him or they ascribe to animals that which only man has received from God.
X. GENESIS 1:28-30 -- GOD'S INSTRUCTIONS TO MANKIND.
"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.' Then God said, 'I give you every see-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground -- everything that has the breath of life in it -- I give every green plant for food. And it was so."
A. Having created them man and woman, God pronounced a blessing on them and gave them their basic instructions and commission.
1. While it seems clear that man pairs of the animals, birds and fish were created, there was created only one human pair, Adam and Eve.
2. It seems clear that the ability to reproduce seems tied to a male and female of each kind - at least among the animals with a sense of consciousness.
B. The first command given to the man and woman is to "...be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth..."
1. QUESTION: Has this command been accomplished or not?
2. Has this command been rescinded anywhere in the Scriptures?
3. Can the earth support the current number of people now living on it? What about a greater population?
4. Will the earth's population grow beyond God's ability to sustain the life that's there?
5. Will Christ return before the world is destroyed?
6. Is it possible that sin in the world could limit the growth of humanity so that the earth is able to sustain and support its population?
a. Remember the "Black Plague" in Europe in the Middle Ages?
b. Remember AIDS?
c. Consider the Ebola Virus?
C. The second command given is to "...subdue (the earth) and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground"
1. This is the primeval authorization for humankinds involvement in science and technology.
a. To subdue and rule requires understanding over the created world.
b. "Technology" = is the implementation of man's knowledge of the creation so that effective ordering and development of the earth and its resources can be optimized for the greatest good of all of earth's inhabitants.
2. Included in this effort are such fields of human service as: engineering, agriculture, medicine, and a host of other practical technologies.
3. This twofold commission to subdue and have dominion embraces all productive human activities: Science and technology, research and development, theory and application, study and practice and all embraced.
4. Mankind is, therefore, established as God's steward over the created world and all things therein.
5. The problem is, of course, that man has failed in his stewardship.
a. Instead of using the earth for good, under God, we have denied God and abused his stewardship.
b. The fall, however, did not release humanity from the responsibility of subduing and having dominion.
D. The provision of food for the inhabitants of the earth.
1. Man and animals had work to do and therefore needed repeated energy to accomplish what they were to do.
a. Genesis 2:15 indicates that man was to work in and care for the Garden of Eden.
b. Animals too, needed a renewing of energy for the maintaining of life.
2. What was provided: Fruit, grasses and vegetables...NO MEAT!
a. Both human and animals, (birds and fish), were to eat something other than one another.
b. Carnivorous animal's desire for meat must have come about either after the fall or possibly after the flood.
c. Carnivores, even today, will revert to vegetarian diets when meat is not available.
3. Man was not permitted to eat meat until after the flood. (Gen. 9:3)
4. We also know that, when Christ returns, there will no longer be predation or struggle between animals and man. (Isaiah 11:6-9, Hosea 2:18).
XI. GENESIS 1:31 - 2:4a -- GOD COMPLETES HIS CREATIVE WORK.
"And God saw all that he had made and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning --the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."
A. The fossil record is a record of death, disorder and decay.
1. What becomes very clear, when compared with the Genesis account, is that the fossils occurred after the fall, or the appearance -- separated from the reality of death, (apparent age principle), was created into the fully formed earth.
2. God declares that his now completed creation is "very" good -- literally, "exceedingly good".
B. The present processes of the universe are, without exception, processes of conservation and disintegration, as formulated in the first two universal laws of thermodynamics.
1. The processes of the creation period, were processes of innovation and integration, (creating and making), which are exactly opposite.
2. Science can deal only with present processes.
C. It should be clear to all who are not willfully ignorant that universal processes of conservation and disintegration could never produce a universe requiring almost infinite processes of innovation and integration for its production.
1. Only way to really know anything about this creation period, (other than the fact that there must have been such a period, to produce the universe, a fact certainly required by the implications of the first two Laws of Thermodynamics), is by divine revelation.
2. That is exactly what we have in Genesis:
a. How long creation took
b. What the various events and divisions were
c. What the order of development was
d. The relations of the various components
e. And all the other data which man could never be able to determine for himself through his own scientific observations.
D. With the completion of the six days of Creation, came the seventh day of rest.
1. God did not rest because He was exhausted from the effort.
2. God rested to draw a permanent connection between the Creator, His creation and the people for whom He had made the earth...humanity.
3. Now comes the pattern for this world...Six days we work and on the seventh day we set aside the day for holy things to honor the Creator.
4. Soon the Creator will begin His work of Redemption!
