Seven Days — In the Beginning!
Introduction: The Holy Spirit directed the writing about the creation of heaven and earth by Jehovah, which all took place before any man existed to directly observe what God wanted to be revealed in His Word. We have in Genesis a description of six days of progressive creation of broad categories in an orderly manner. For every living thing in the material world, there is diversity of the subgroups in each category “after their kind” through generational reproductive processes as designed by Jehovah God.
NOTE: Bible passages are from the 1901 American Standard Version.
A — Day One: God Began Creation with the Heavens and the Earth
Genesis 1 “1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 5 And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”
Comments: In these few words about the beginning of creation we are given the major foundational elements of the vast natural realm wherein all that followed would exist as determined by the will of the LORD. The statement “in the beginning God created” eliminates the possibility of random development with no supernatural design, if the Word of God is accepted as truth. Then God said “let there be light” and there was light! God saw that the light was good and He divided the light as day, from the darkness as night. When Christ Jesus, the Living Word, came in the form of flesh to be among men, He manifested a different type of light that is restorative and eternal: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
B — Day Two: The Firmament of Heaven
Genesis 1 “6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.”
Comments: This may seem from a human perspective like a very small aspect of the overall process of creation to be described for the second day. But then, who is man to question the plans and intents of the LORD God? God spoke this, and the firmament called heaven divided waters above and below, and it was so just as it had been spoken. Isaiah 40 asks: “Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah, or being his counsellor hath taught him?” And Romans 11 echoes: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!”
C — Day Three: Land, Sea, and Plants
Genesis 1 “9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. 11 And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.”
Comments: The masses of land and great bodies of water spoken into separation by the Word of God became two major habitats for plant and animal life, suited for each environment, which God saw as good. God commanded the earth to put forth plants to bear seed for reproduction after their kind. When “evening” and “morning” are used to define the period of this third creative work, some may question how there could be evening and morning before the sun and the moon were created on the fourth day. But there is nothing too hard for Jehovah, and He knows all things — He can set a period of time even before the first creative step.
D — Day Four: The Sun, Moon, and Stars
Genesis 1 “14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. 16 And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.”
Comments: When the LORD created the sun and the moon for light upon the earth, they were assigned in the firmament of heaven within their relative variable positions. They are integral for signs, seasons, days, and for marking succession of years all around the globe. Over the centuries, man has also come to realize some of the important impact designed into the term “to rule over” the day and the night. As discoveries of many aspects of our solar system bring greater “light,” it can either bring glory to God, or it can cause the pride of man to boast in himself with no regard for the true and living God.
E — Day Five: Creatures of Sea and Air
Genesis 1 “20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.”
Comments: God created every living creature that would inhabit the water, and the winged creatures to fly in the open firmament of heaven. He blessed them to reproduce “after their kind” to fill the sea and the earth, and God saw that it was good. The reproductive process described simply as “after their kind” is a very simplified expression that is the basis for many subgroups to form while still fitting the generalized descriptive terms spoken by Jehovah. There is no basis to claim the existence of an evolutionary process spanning enormous periods of time without also denying that Jehovah God has created and sustains all that exists.
F — Day Six: Land Creatures and Man
Genesis 1 “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth. 27 And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
Comments: Two all-inclusive phrases illustrate the unlimited power of Jehovah God: “And God said,” coupled with, “it was so.” The three plural pronouns “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” have often been highlighted by many people. God created mankind male and female, God blessed them, and God spoke to them. He told them to be fruitful, to multiply, and replenish the earth, because they would have dominion over all other living creatures. God saw everything that He had made, and it was very good, and thus the sixth day closed.
G — Day Seven: God Rested from All His Finished Work
Genesis 2 “2 And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.”
Psalm 33 “6 By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 9 For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”
Comments: After the six consecutive days of the works of creation were spoken into existence by Jehovah with all of His predetermined components, Jehovah was at rest with no further need to continue His works. He blessed the seventh day that it should be hallowed (sanctified, set apart) in the cycle of every seven days, because the day of rest signified His completed works. The Psalm expresses praise in recognition that everything in the material world was brought into existence by the spoken word of Jehovah God. Jehovah brings the counsel of unbelieving nations to naught and makes the rebellious thoughts of the people to be of no effect when they fail to submit to the sovereign authority of the only God.
Reflections in Prayer
I thank you Jehovah God for providing the inspired content of the book of Genesis, with the very beginning of creation opening that book. This is foundational to belief in the triune God who will always be involved in the affairs of men, despite the failure of so many to acknowledge your unsurpassed eternal power and glory. There is nothing that exists that has not been made by Jehovah God. Throughout all Scripture, there is much to draw the believer closer to the only true God who is beyond the full comprehension even though man is made in the image of God. Help me LORD to follow the purpose you designed for me as part of mankind, and to use the additional Scriptures carefully in harmony with the outline of the beginning. Amen, and amen.
Published 22 May 2020