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A Look in the Book, Part 12

6/27/2017

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The Sixth Day, Part 3

Genesis 1:24-31

(24) And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. (25) And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (26) Then 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 livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (28) And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (29) And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. (30) And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. (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. (ESV)
As we continue our study of Creation Week in Genesis One, we again turn our attention to verse 26. "Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Image and likeness are often used interchangeably in the Bible (compare Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:1-3; Genesis 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; Colossians 3:10 and James 3:9). A good synonym for image or likeness is the word resemblance. Without damaging Scripture, we could paraphrase Genesis 1:26 to read, "Let Us make man to resemble Us."

Don’t misunderstand. When God created us, He did not create "little gods." That is not what image or likeness means here. We will never become equal to our Creator—not by a long shot. Genesis 1:26 indicates, however, that Jehovah God created mankind to resemble Himself. The verse says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…." To whom does the pronoun "our" refer? As noted in our last blog, "our" refers to the Trinity. Did you notice that Scripture does not say anything about God creating fish after His likeness?  God doesn't say anything in the Bible about making animals, or anything other than humans, after His likeness. According to the Scriptures, God created only humans "in His image." As the well-known Bible commentator Matthew Henry said, "Man was not made in the likeness of any creature that went before him, but in the likeness of his Creator."

God is God and humans are human. The only time God and a human perfectly blended together was when Deity became a man—the God-Man, Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:8). Jesus is the only One Who has ever been or ever will be God AND man--ALL God and ALL man. But while mankind can never be God, God did create mankind to resemble God. We resemble God in four distinct ways: A personal resemblance, a spiritual resemblance, a moral resemblance and a physical resemblance. In this blog, we will address the first resemblance or, to use the Bible term, the first likeness…   

A Personal Likeness

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The first way in which we resemble God is in a personal way. We have a personal likeness to God. Man is a personal being. For example, church-goers greet one another when we come together at church or a Bible study. We often shake hands or hug one another. It is a personal greeting. There is gladness in our hearts over seeing brothers and sisters in Christ. It is personal. God made us personal beings. God created mankind with a personal likeness to Himself and this truth is seen in at least six ways which we mention here briefly…
  • Consciousness
Man is a conscious being. We are aware of our surroundings, ourselves and each other. We are conscious of each other’s existence. We usually know, at least to some extent, what’s going on around us. We have a personal likeness to God – we're conscious beings as He has always been.

  • Volition
Man possesses a will, the ability to choose. To illustrate, if I decide to go to church on a given weekend, barring an act of God, I can go. We are allowed to make choices every day. The freedom to choose is a gift from God. Being able to choose is sometimes called will or volition. "I can do whatever I want" you may say. In most cases that is true. Haven’t you noticed this in your own life? God rarely interferes with the choices we make, even if those choices are illegal, sinful or unwise. But Ecclesiastes 11:9 warns, "…Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment." Usually, we can do what we want to do. To continue the previous church-going illustration, if I choose to NOT go to church or Bible study, I don’t have to go. And God will probably not strike me down (emphasis on probably 😊). Just like God, we have freedom to choose. It is a personal likeness to Him.  

  • Intellect
Man is an intelligent being. Intelligence has been defined as the ability to acquire knowledge and skills and to apply them to various aspects of life. Being intelligent, however, is not a thing for us to brag about. It is something for us to be thankful for. Remember, our intellect is God-given. Sadly, like the so-called atheist, we sometimes use our intellect to fight against the One who gave us our intellect. By and large, we can think what we want to think. While there are a lot of Scriptures warning us about the dangers of wrongful thinking, we are allowed to think whatever we want (see Philippians 4:8; Psalm 10:4; Psalm 139:2, 23-24; Proverbs 15:26; Romans 12:17; Matthew 9:4; Matthew 15:19; 2 Corinthians 10:5; 1 Corinthians 3:18-20). Though our intelligence does not come close to matching God’s intelligence, we have a personal likeness to our Creator in that we are intelligent beings—though probably not as intelligent as we sometimes believe (Romans 1:21-22).

  • Emotion
Man possesses emotion. We can get excited; we can laugh; we can cry; we can love; we can hate; we can grieve; we can fear. At various times we can feel sad, bad, glad or mad. These and many other expressions are marks of our emotional framework. God allows us to feel, to experience emotion. And not only experience it, but display it! Recently, my wife and I were at a softball game where one of our granddaughters was playing. When she hit a homerun, family and friends all displayed great emotion in cheering her on as she rounded the bases! Parents cheered! Grandparents cheered! Friends cheered! The coaches cheered (ours…not theirs)! The ballpark was packed with visible and audible signs of emotion! Humans have the capacity to show emotion because God gave us that capacity—and God Himself has often shown emotion! Remember the shortest verse in the Bible? It's John 11:35. "Jesus wept." How could the Son of God weep if He didn’t possess emotion? Another example of God's emotion is in the book of Exodus. God was interacting with Moses about the children of Israel in the wilderness. God got emotional. The Bible says God was angry over their sin (Exodus 32:10-12). See Matthew 21:12, Luke 15:7 and John 3:16 for other demonstrations of divine emotion. We have a personal likeness to God in that we possess emotion, just like our Creator.

  • Speech
Man possesses an ability to communicate verbally. Birds and animals can communicate with sounds (the chirp of a bird, the roar of a lion) but they cannot communicate with spoken words. Why do you think God equipped humans with voices that enable us to speak? Of course, one reason is to communicate with one another, but another reason is to tell others about the Lord’s "wonderful works to the children of men" (Psalm 107:8). I’m reminded of the words to an old song:
          "Let’s talk about Jesus. The King of Kings is He.
           The Lord of Lords supreme, throughout eternity.
           The great I AM the way, the truth, the life, the door.
           Let’s talk about Jesus more and more."
Why did God give us a voice capable of singing? One reason was to allow us to voice our praise to Him "in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord…." We can praise Him audibly or "in our hearts" (Ephesians 5:19). Psalm 147:1 encourages us to "Praise the LORD" [and then tells us why we should] "For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting." Our God-given speech reveals another personal likeness to God that we humans have.

  • Rationale
Another trait that man possesses is rationale. We have the capacity to think things through. We can organize our thoughts. We can consider or reason about various ideas and concepts. We can think in a logical manner. We are rational beings, which is a personal likeness to God. One last thing about man's rationale – it's not as great as God's! Read Isaiah 55:8-9.

​To sum up, human beings are personal beings who possess certain God-given traits: consciousness, volition, intellect, emotion, speech and rationale; just to name six. And the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit—has all of these traits, too! God is conscious that He is God and is aware of all that goes on. God has a divine will. He can do whatever He chooses (e.g., create the heavens and the earth recorded in the first chapter of Genesis). God is an emotional being, as pointed out above. He has the ability to speak with us and to us and for us and about us. The Lord is also rational—much more than humans.

God created mankind in His image, after His likeness. As stated, we resemble God in four ways. We've now seen the first resemblance, a personal likeness to God. We will take up the other resemblances in the next blog. Until then, stay in the Book!!
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A Look in the Book, Part 11

5/31/2017

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The Sixth Day, Part 2

​Genesis 1:24-31

(24) And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. (25) And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (26) Then 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 livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (28) And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (29) And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. (30) And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. (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. (ESV)
 
God created plant life on Day 3 (verse 11) and marine life and avian life on Day 5 (verse 20). As we saw in the last blog, God began Day 6 by creating animal life (verses 24-25). He will complete this day by creating human life.  
 
Animals and humans are not the same. This is an important fact to keep in mind as we continue our study of Day Six. The concept that “animals are people too” is a growing trend in some circles of our society. Nevertheless, the biblical truth is that animals are not human and humans are not animals. They are two separate creations. Just as on Day Five, there were also two major creations on Day Six. God created animals (verses 24-25) and then God created humans (verses 26-31). Many secular scientists and their followers would have us group animals and humans together as if they are of the same kind. That is an evolutionary view. Others choose to believe what the Bible teaches. According to God’s Word, it is error to believe (or teach) that animals and humans are in the same creative category. They were created on the same day but are two distinct entities. Animals and humans do not fit in the same category simply because animals and humans are not the same.
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Biblically speaking, therefore, it would not be good for us to refer to our pet dog or pet cat as a “person.” He or she is an animal, not a human “individual.” They are pets to be sure. And God gave them to us for our enjoyment. But biologically and/or biblically, they are not people. As an example, we call a newborn dog a pup or puppy. It is incorrect to call them a “son” or “daughter” of their mother. Why? Because a dog is not a “person.” When cats are born, we call the newborns kittens. It is incorrect to call them “sons” or “daughters.” Why? Because cats are not people. This biblical truth also applies to wildlife. When bears give birth, the newborn is called a male or female cub, not a “son” or “daughter.” Sons and daughters are human relationships, not animal relationships.
 
The reader may be wondering if this is really all that big a deal. Short answer—yes. Here’s why…
 
When we refer to our household pets or to wildlife as if they are on the same relational level as people, we give an affirmative nod to evolutionary philosophies that are outside the scope of biblical teaching. According to the Scriptures, God designed and created animals and humans to be definitively different from one another. 1 Corinthians 15:39 – “For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.” ​
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Moving on in our study of Genesis 1:26: “And God said, let US make man in OUR image…” (emphasis mine). Who was God speaking to? Who is the “us” and “our” in this verse? Some believe God could have been speaking to the angels. But Scripture leaves us no record that God sought the counsel or help of angels to accomplish His creative plan. Further, there is no indication in Scripture that angels have creative powers. Based on His sovereignty, God did not need help from angels concerning creative know-how. Let’s not forget that angels are created beings and God is the One who created them!
 
So, who was God speaking to in verse 26? This may be the first direct reference to the Trinity! Was Father God speaking to the other members of the Godhead when He used those pronouns? I believe He was. Consider this for a moment. God the Father addresses God the Son and God the Holy Spirit about a given topic—and the Triune God now allows us to listen in! …Wow! What an amazing thought!
 
As we continue on in verse 26, check this out. “And God said, Let Us make man….” Have you ever wondered why humans were created last of all the creatures God created in Genesis One? At least two reasons come to mind: First, humans were created last so God would have a place suitable for them to dwell. Second, by creating mankind last, God eliminated the basis of any future thought that humans may have helped God in any way with creation.
 
As we have seen in our study of the first twenty-five verses of Genesis, Jehovah God did all the creating. It was HIS idea, HIS plan, HIS design and by HIS power. Angels, as mentioned earlier, did not do any creative work. Of course, humans had nothing to do with creation either. God did all the creating there was to do because only God can create! Check out Job 38:4. When God was pointing out Job’s attitude problem, God said, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” God was reminding Job that God created the universe and that Job had no part in it. Creating humans last prevented humans from foolishly taking credit for any part of creation week, and settling forever any future question on the matter of who should receive glory for the creation of the world and all things in it.  
 
After creating the animals, how long was it before God performed His second creative act of that sixth day? We do not know. What we do know is that the planet God created and prepared was now ready for mankind to take up residence. Still, the earth was devoid of humans. All of God’s previous creative acts had been accomplished. God was pleased with the “good” work He had done. Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” God as Creator now declares the time is right to create once again—and hints in the verse that this upcoming creation will be His greatest masterpiece.
 
To be continued…
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A Look in the Book, Part 10

5/2/2017

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The Sixth Day, Part 1

​Genesis 1:24-25

(24) And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. (25) And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (26) Then 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 livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (28) And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (29) And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. (30) And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. (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. (ESV)

After creating plant life on Day Three (verse 11), marine life and avian life on Day Five (verse 20), Jehovah God begins Day Six by creating animal life.

Genesis 1:24-25. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. (25) And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

A close look at verses 24-25 reveals that God categorized His newest creation into three broad but distinct groups. He named the three categories beasts, livestock, and creepers.

1. Beasts

God’s first category is “beasts,” referring to wild animals—the untamed, undomesticated variety. Some Bible versions correctly substitute the clearer word wildlife.  Examples of this kind are the wolf, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, tiger, crocodile, elk, mongoose, snake, squirrel, kangaroo, bear, groundhog, …the list goes on and on.
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​2. Livestock

God’s second category is “livestock.” This category would include common household pets such as dogs and cats as well as common farm animals like goats, sheep, horses, cows, pigs, chickens, and other domesticated animal species. The King James Version (KJV) uses the word cattle but the context is not talking only about cows. (Evidently, when the King James Version was translated in the 1600’s, “cattle” had the same English meaning as “livestock” does today.). Livestock is a much clearer, more accurate word.
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Before we move on to God’s third category, we should (with tongue positioned firmly in cheek) address a very difficult question, the answer to which has been the topic of much debate throughout many generations: Which came first—the chicken or the egg? Have you ever lost sleep over the answer to that question? Hopefully not. But just in case you are still struggling with which came first, the answer is…the chicken! According to Genesis 1:24-25, the biblical order is: God creates the chicken (a.k.a., hen). The chicken lays the egg. The chicken sits on the egg for a period of time. The egg hatches and a baby chick exits the eggshell. The baby chick grows up to become a chicken. This newest chicken lays their own egg…and the cycle continues. This chicken/egg question need never bother you again…ever.
Note to reader: you may want to place this question under the heading titled: “Who cares?” Your response would be totally understood. By the way, in the above illustration we are not forgetting the role of the rooster… we’re just ignoring it. 😊
3. Creepers

Okay, back to the biblical text. The third category of God’s latest creation on Day Six is “everything that creeps” (or in a word…bugs!). “Everything that creeps” is a well-named category. Insects of every kind were created. There are thousands of species of bugs (flyers as well as creepers): ants, roaches, beetles, grubs, bedbugs, ladybugs, moths, flies, dragonflies, mayflies, fireflies, gnats, bees, wasps, spiders (technically not an insect, but definitely a creeper!), mites, fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, termites, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, walking sticks, caterpillars (later in life their called butterflies), centipedes, millipedes, praying mantises, etc. As stated, not every creeper listed here is an insect, but all of them definitely fit into the creeper category.
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Colossians 1:16-17 is a great New Testament passage that clearly supports the work of a Divine Designer. “…By Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.” Read these two verses again carefully. ALL things were created by Him, through Him and for Him. God created everything we see—and even things we don’t. “By Him all things were created.” Beasts, livestock and creepers. God created and categorized them all on Day Six. But God is not finished with this day yet. Our study of Creation Week continues the next time with the creation of man and woman (Genesis 1:26-31).

[Prayer] “Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for who You are and for what You do. I pray that next time as we continue our study of the first chapter of Genesis that we won’t just read about what You did, but will also acknowledge how mighty You are—how powerful and great You are! Lord, for all You have given, the beauty and wonder of the earth You created, we are truly thankful. Amen.”
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A Look in the Book, Part 9

3/28/2017

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The Fifth Day
Genesis 1:20-23
(20) And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. (21) So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (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, the fifth day.  (ESV)

Some time ago we started a series of blogs on key verses of the Bible. We have been going verse-by-verse through the first chapter of Genesis. If we want to discover who God is and what God does and His plan for mankind, we must come to the only true place to find that information—the Word of God. And if we are not familiar with Genesis One, we will find ourselves caught up in the false teaching that is the theory of evolution. The truth of creation is still being taught and believed by many, but the false teaching of evolution is more prevalent in our society than ever before.

As we approach the twentieth verse of Genesis One, God has previously spoken into existence Light; the Sea and Sky; Land and Vegetation; and the Sun, Moon and Stars. Let’s look now at Day Five, the day God spoke fish and fowl into existence. Re-read verses 20-23 above. How many times did you find the word fish mentioned? 

Notice what the Bible says in the first portion of verse 20, “And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures…” The phrase, “swarms of living creatures” as used in the ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION(ESV) means a very large quantity, an abundance of living creatures! The same meaning applies in the KING JAMES VERSION (KJV) where the phrase “bring forth abundantly the moving creature” is used. The AMPLIFIED BIBLE (AMB) says “a swarm of living creatures.” The NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV) says, “teeming with living creatures.” The GOOD NEWS BIBLE (GNB) says “filled with many kinds of living beings.” The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (NASB) says, “swarms of living creatures.” These versions all carry the same meaning: it was a very large quantity, or abundance, of living creatures. Now fish are obviously included in verse 20, but not one of these popular versions uses the word fish! So, the answer to the question above is zero. 

On the fifth day, according to the first portion of verse 20, God created the swimmers in the sea. These underwater creatures included all varieties of fish and marine animals, including some water-dwelling mammals. On this day, God created every living thing in the sea. As we all know, not every sea creature can be classified as a fish. There are literally thousands and thousands of marine species living in the sea, possibly even some that haven’t yet been discovered. The seas are absolutely teeming with life—all created by Jehovah God. God did not list each species in the Scriptures. To do so would have been impractical. Instead, God used words like “swarms” and “teeming” and “abundantly.” Can you think of some of the sea creatures that were created in Genesis 1:20? We’ll mention a few. Whale. Lobster. Octopus. Shark. Dolphin. Starfish. Squid. Manta Ray. Crab. Shrimp. Oyster. Clam. Jellyfish. Seahorse. The list could go on and on. Interestingly, God created the whale and the seahorse on the same day. One huge, one tiny. And a myriad of other sea creatures in a variety of sizes and shapes. 

Way back in verse 11 God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation….” Plant Life! Now in verse 20 God says, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures….” Marine Life! The words marine life cover the wide spectrum of living creatures in the sea. Try to picture how it might have been the instant marine life was created. One moment the oceans and seas are empty and lifeless and the next moment they are “teeming”with marine life. God created it! How awesome is His power! How magnificent is the work of His hand! 

We have discussed the swimmers in the sea. Now let’s talk briefly about the flyers in the firmament.  Notice what the Bible says in the latter portion of verse 20, “…and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” We have already talked about the word expanse in a previous blog. It’s another word for firmament which is another word for sky. There is a definite change of topic from the early part of the verse to the latter part—from the creation of marine life to the creation of birds. Avian Life! Verse 21 reads “…and every winged bird according to its kind….” The word “winged” means extremity. A bird’s wings are extremities of the bird much like arms and legs are extremities of our human bodies. Once again, what had not existed before (birds) now suddenly exist! The same day God created marine life to swim in the sea, He also created birds to fly in the air! All of this speaks to the sovereignty and power of our Creator God. 

The entirety of verse 21 reads, “So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” This verse records the same creative event as in verse 20, but God supplies us with more detail about the event. In verses 20-21 we have the creation of fish (marine life) and fowl (avian life). Notice again how verse 21 begins: “So God created the great sea creatures…” A sea creature and a sea monster can be the same thing in my mind. A sea creature does not have to be huge to be a monster. Let me illustrate.

My wife Kathy loves to watch 1950s TV movies. Once in a while I’ll see her in the family room watching one of those old black and white monster movies. Of course, movies made in the 1950s have none of today’s technology, but she enjoys them anyway. I remember walking into the room one time and she was watching a movie that showed this giant octopus with one of its huge tentacles coming up out of the water and wrapping itself around a traffic-congested concrete bridge. The TV screen showed people screaming and running for their lives while cars were being crushed by an octopus appendage! Kathy was thoroughly enjoying it! Another movie she has seen many times, “Twenty Million Miles to Earth,” at one point depicts an elephant wrestling a large lizard-like creature from outer space. [Only in the movies, folks!] Oh, and “The Blob” starring Steve McQueen? —one of Kathy’s favorites! …But I digress. 

I have always enjoyed watching nature documentaries. If you ignore the “billions of years” lingo and other evolutionary aspects of the programs, they can be quite informational, not to mention entertaining. I remember once when I was much younger watching a short segment of a marine-life episode. Scuba divers filmed this large worm-like creature coming up from between two large rocks. It was a huge eel! The creature quickly swam straight toward the camera. It was a little scary. If I would have been where the camera guy was, I would have categorized an eel that big as a sea monster! It was a good-sized eel! God created some creatures that are just plain weird-looking to us. But they are definitely entertaining when seen in the movies or on television. “So God created the great sea creatures…”

We mentioned lobsters earlier. Admittedly, I am somewhat fearful of lobsters. I have eaten lobster meat on occasion and love the taste (who doesn’t?). But if I was in their natural habitat, I think I would be somewhat fearful (okay, deathly afraid) of them. Truthfully, the thought of experiencing what I just typed gives me the heebie-jeebies. Not long ago, Kathy and I were at Meijer shopping for groceries. We went by the meat counter and I peered into the lobster tank there. The lobsters had rubber bands around their claws (Yea!), patiently waiting for someone to buy them and take them home for dinner, or so it seemed to me. I stooped down in front of the clear plastic tank to observe them. Kathy just walked away shaking her head, embarrassed by my public fascination with them. While I was looking at them, I suddenly noticed that the lobsters appeared to be looking at me, too! Those antenna things were moving around, and their eyes moved with me as I shifted back and forth in front of the tank. It was a little disconcerting…. Sea creatures! Sea monsters! Remember, creatures don’t have to be huge to be monsters. A lobster doesn’t have to be the size of a bus to scare me. But God created lobsters and they are fascinating to watch…and such a delicacy! Thanks to their Creator, they are one of the thousands of species who swim in the sea. 

Verse 21 concludes, “…and God saw that it was good." God was pleased with what He had created. Then God did another amazing thing. He blessed them. Verse 22: “And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” God instructed the newly-formed creatures to continue to multiply; a command they instinctively still follow to this day. In verse 23, God brings to a close the fifth day of creation; a day that saw the appearance of marine life and avian life. “And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.”  Next time, we begin Day Six of the creation account in Genesis One.
Darrell Nichols is an Elder and Pastor of Education at commUNITY church in Muncie, IN.
He can be reached at darrell.nichols@beincommunity.com or on Twitter @_nichols_dimes
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A Look in the Book

1/24/2017

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Eighth in a series of studies on some key verses in the Bible

The Fourth Day

Genesis 1-14-19

(14) And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, (15) and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. (16) And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. (17) And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, (18) to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. (19) And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. (ESV)

We have been studying the first chapter of Genesis.  Here’s our outline to date:
Creation’s definition (verse 1)
Creation’s description (verse 2)
Creation’s detail (verses 3-31)
A brief review of Creation’s detail:
On Day 1, God created light (verses 3-5)
On Day 2, God created the sea and the sky (verses 6-8)
On Day 3, God created land and vegetation (verses 9-13)

We are now ready for the fourth day of creation! Day 4 opens (verse 14) with the creation of the sun, moon and stars. You will recall in an earlier blog we talked about the source of the light mentioned in verse three. That light is what radiates from God Himself. But now God creates the sun—the earth’s source for light. He has already created the earth and its vegetation and knew in His grand design that the vegetation would need sunlight. God did not create the sun, moon and stars for Himself. He created them for us—and humans have yet to arrive on the scene in Genesis! But He’s preparing for us. God is doing things “decently and in order.” This might seem a little silly perhaps, but God did not create human beings and then begin to look for a place to put them. No, of course not. There is order to what God does. There is purpose to it. There is intelligence behind it.  Order… purpose… intelligence…. Sounds like attributes of Jehovah God, doesn’t it?

What are verses 14-19 telling us? First of all, God spoke and He said, “Let there be lights…” The word is plural. He had already commanded for there to be light, but now He’s making a second command concerning light, Let there be “lights.” Then He tells us what those lights are. Verse 16 – “And God made the two great lights—the greater light [brighter] to rule the day [govern], and the lesser light [less in size and brightness] to [govern] the night—and the stars.” Jeremiah 31:35 speaks of Jehovah God giving the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night…the LORD of hosts is his name.

People who do not believe the Bible is God’s Word say things like, “Isn’t it amazing how this Big Bang thing happened? A major explosion from out of nowhere; some kind of gaseous component that didn’t mix well in space somehow, and BOOM! All the pieces from the explosion just blew out and away and where those pieces of debris stopped after reaching the end of the Bang’s momentum…well, we call those stars now.” They are unsure and/or can't explain what exactly blew up or how it even existed in order to blow up. The human explanation is that something blew up and the pieces from that massive explosion resulted in the alignment of the planets and stars, and even our sun and moon. Don’t believe that! It’s wicked unbelief. The very idea that some kind of accidental “big bang” formed the universe (and everything in it) is a blasphemous slap in the face to our Mighty Creator! It’s foolish, reckless and wicked thinking. It’s a vicious attack on the authority of God’s Word! Don’t be deceived by those who dare to deny the sovereignty of Almighty God. The “Big Bang” did not occur, if by that name you mean an accidental and unexplainable explosion in space. Such an event did not occur without Intelligent Design—Jehovah God.

Verse 17 – “And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.” So there was a purpose for those lights, and it was God’s purpose. I love the wording of scripture here, “And God set….” Some other Bible versions say, “And God placed….” Either word is correct. God placed planets! God placed stars! Our sun is a star—but far closer to us than other stars! God placed our sun where it is. God had already placed our earth where it is. And He placed that “lesser light” —our moon— where He wanted it to be. With our powerful telescopes and space exploration equipment we’re learning more about heavenly bodies all the time. Even with all these planets and heavenly bodies out there, nothing that we’re discovering goes against the teachings of Scripture. Unbelievers either ignore the Bible’s accuracy or struggle to explain it away. They don’t yet know how all this came to be, but they keep working to find a plausible “explanation” for what they discover. I often want to ask, “Have you considered Genesis, chapter one?”

Again, God placed the heavenly bodies, including the earth, where He wanted them. We are talking about a powerful, almighty God. We are talking about the One true God, who took nothing, made it something, then put it where He wanted it! Sometimes our unbelieving minds have trouble grasping that concept. But God did the creating and the placing. I am not a scientist. Most of us are not. We can't give all the scientific details and explanations of everything that is recorded in Genesis One, but we do not need to be scientists to believe God. What we should do is believe God’s Word, the Bible, having faith in what it teaches (and doesn’t teach) about God and creation.

“The truth is out there” was a well-known catchphrase used by a popular TV series from 1993 to 2002. To be perfectly honest however, the truth is already here —the Holy Bible. Human opinions, apart from the Scriptures, change often as knowledge in science is pursued, especially as it relates to matters of creation. Several years ago, I watched a 45-minute documentary on the History Channel*. To my recollection, the name of God was never mentioned! How is it possible for a documentary to be produced dealing with the origin of our planet and never one time mention its Creator, Jehovah God?! The answer is plain and simple—deliberate unbelief in a divine Creator. In spite of the documentary’s implications, our universe did not accidentally come into existence. It was created with sovereign design and purpose by the God of the Bible! Look in the Book! The Truth is IN there.

As stated previously, God made the sun, moon and stars. And in verses 14-18, He tells us why He did! We find in verses 14-18 at least five reasons why God created these heavenly bodies.

1) To separate the light (day) from the darkness (night)
The first reason God created the sun, moon and stars was to divide day from night.” Verses 14 and 18 shed light on this point (no pun intended). Verse 14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night… And again, in verse 18… to separate the light from the darkness.

2) To keep track of time
A second reason God created the “lights” was to provide a way for us to keep track of time. Verse 14 says, “…Let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” God designed a plan that would assist us in keeping track of time. (Of course, God was the one who established time, along with space and matter.) God was providing a way to measure time for those He had not yet created! Think of it… in this passage, humans do not yet exist! No Adam…yet. No Eve…yet. But God is preparing for the beginning of human existence! Providing a way to keep track of time was another benefit from God. Here are some basic facts we all know from elementary science class: 1) The earth orbits the sun once a year. 2) The moon orbits the earth once a month. 3) The earth, while orbiting the sun, is rotating a full turn every twenty-four hours on its axis. All of this can be nothing less than the work of Intelligent Design —the Creator God! We have all seen photos of the earth taken from space. The view is magnificent! Though unseen in a photo, God designed the earth to tilt slightly to one side. Again, elementary science teaches that if our earth was not tilted, half of the world’s population would not survive the heat and the other half would freeze to death. Because the earth is turned slightly on its axis, we recognize seasons—and the earth remains inhabitable! We can know days, months, years and seasons (time) because of the “lights.”

3) To give light upon the earth
The third reason we have the sun, moon and stars is to “give light upon the earth.” Notice verses 15 and 17. (15) and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth … (17) And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth. The presence of light allows vegetation to grow. As the reader undoubtedly knows, light on the earth serves other purposes too numerous to mention here.

4) To rule over the day and over the night
Another reason the sun, moon and stars are here is for them “to rule over the day and over the night.” This is stated in verses 16 and 18. (16) And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. (17) And God set them in the expanse of the heavens… (18) to rule over the day and over the night…. We have use of the sun during the day and the moon at night. Throughout most of human history, the sun, moon and stars were necessary for navigation. Even with all the technology today, it is still a pleasant thing to look up at a starry night occasionally and contemplate its beauty and its vastness. As Psalm 19:1 tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.”

5) To acknowledge the presence of stars
Here’s a fifth reason we have been given the sun, moon and stars. Please read verse 16 again and notice the last phrase. God talks about the “greater light” and the “lesser light,” and then He gives us that little phrase, “—and the stars.” The stars do not get top billing in God’s design. The sun does. The moon, which is a reflection of the sun, only gets noticed when the sun is on the other side of the earth. God mentions the two main lights and then, seemingly as an afterthought, though not really, He mentions the stars. God made the sun big enough for everyone to notice. It is a huge ball of fire. Even if we don’t see it every day, we still know it is there. The sun gets all the attention. The moon on the other hand gets most of the attention at night. It is a huge moon from our perspective. We look up into the night sky and the first thing we generally look for is the moon. And haven’t we all done this? We walk outside at night and look up and see the moon because it is the biggest thing in the sky at the time. Not as big as the sun, but at night the moon is the biggest thing to see. And then…we look at all these little pin-points; these little pin-points of light. The stars do not get a very big billing. Suppose, as an analogy, the sun, moon and stars were separate articles/stories in a newspaper; the sun would get the headline with bold one-inch high lettering and the moon would get maybe a half-inch headline. But the stars would be small and unnoticed at the bottom of the page.

Here’s the application: Sometimes God uses His people in ways that, as they serve Him, make them noticeable to everyone—center stage, if you will. Sometimes God uses those who are noticed by only a few as they serve Him but they’re not as visible as some—yet certainly more visible than others. And then sometimes…God makes the stars. These are servants of God who never seem to get noticed. They never seem to get mentioned or thanked properly. We tend to put these servants in the no-name category of others, like saying “the sun, the moon…and others.”

No one sees their little lights much. They are rarely pointed out in a public gathering. They are there…but seldom acknowledged. They don’t win the awards. They don’t make a big deal about the limelight they seem to never be in. Attention is not what motivates them. They have no desire to be the sun. They may not even have a desire to be the moon. Being the sun or moon are not at the top of their priority list. They want only to serve. For God’s glory. These little pin-points of light whose only concern is that their Creator is pleased with what they are doing with the light He has given them. They may be, when they get there, some of the biggest stars in heaven!

In a local church setting, they're the nursery workers. They're the custodians. They're the ones who keep the grass cut in the summer and the snow removed from the parking lot and walkways in the winter. They're the ones who pray faithfully each week for their pastors and other leaders in the church. They're the stars, and they shine their little light faithfully and without complaint. Almost as an afterthought do these words appear in the verse, “--And the stars.”  

God uses all who want to be used. And it doesn’t matter whether your light is as bright as the sun or the secondary light of the moon or a little point of light shining in a huge universe, God knows where you are and He loves you! God has stars of His own…godly servants who do not live for themselves but are “your servants for Jesus sake” [2 Corinthians 4:5]. Remember, He made the stars too!

Verse 18 concludes with, And God saw that it was good. God liked what He saw. Verse 19 – And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

*The documentary on the History Channel was one episode in a series called, “The Universe.” The episode was entitled “How was the Earth Formed? Subtitled: The Birth of the Earth.” The video “Solar System History: How was the Earth Formed?” is now available on YouTube. If you choose to view the episode, please remember that the program was obviously written and produced by those who neither believe in the existence or relevance of God nor the accuracy of His Word. I would suggest that if you view the program, you first read Genesis 1 in its entirety. Then read Genesis 1 again afterwards to cleanse your mind of the documentary’s false teaching and pseudo-scholarship.
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A Look in the Book, Part 7

12/15/2016

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Seventh in a series of studies on some key verses in the Bible

The Third Day 

Genesis 1:9-13 
​

(9) And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. (10) God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. (11) And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. (12) The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (13) And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.  (ESV)
We have been studying the first chapter of Genesis through this series of blogs.  The following outline has been our guide for the study thus far: 
Creation’s definition (verse 1) 
Creation’s description (verse 2) 
Creation’s detail (verses 3-31) 

Last time, we pointed out that on Days 1-4 God created an environment suitable for habitation, and on Days 5-6 God created the inhabitants for that environment. We also discussed the creation of the sky and the dividing of the waters into an upper portion (above the sky) and a lower portion (that which remained below the sky). We then talked briefly about the possible reasons for dividing the waters.

We are gradually working our way through the Creation week and God continues to demonstrate His creative power. He is creating things out of nothing. Things that were not—now are! Someone put it like this, “God, by His spoken Word, threw NOTHING NOWHERE and it became SOMETHING EVERYWHERE.” That is what Genesis chapter one is all about. To review briefly:
  • On Day 1 God created light (verses 3-5)
  • On Day 2 God created the sea and the sky (verses 6-8)
  • On Day 3, God now reveals the land and creates vegetation (verses 9-13)

Verse 9: And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. Earlier in the chapter, at the beginning of creation, there was no landscape.  The earth was covered in water. God with His almighty power now shifts the waters on the earth causing the “dry land” to appear. The land was already there, but buried beneath the waves. God shifted the waters and the dry land appeared. Think about the awesomeness of what God did! He adjusted oceans and seas, allowing the land to come into view. God willed the dry land to appear. All in preparation for what He would create later!

I love the last four words of verse 9: And it was so. These words are very significant! They are found six times in chapter one [seven times, if you count the inferred “and it was so” in verse three where God said “Let there be light, and there was light.”] “And it was so” is a reminder to us that God is in charge of everything. His will is supreme. That’s what is meant by the word sovereign which is often used to describe Him. God wanted the world to have light—and it was so. God wanted to divide the waters above the sky from below the sky—and it was so. God wanted the dry land to appear—and it was so. There are many other examples in Scripture of God’s sovereignty. A New Testament example is Jesus calming a severe storm. “Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?" (Matthew 8:23-27). For more examples, read carefully the following Scriptures that declare the sovereignty of God: 

Job 42:1-2 – Then Job answered the LORD and said, I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 
Psalm 33:8-11 – Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him! For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. 
Psalm 115:3 – Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases. 
Psalm 135:6 – Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. 
Proverbs 19:21 – Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.Proverbs 21:30 – No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD. 
Isaiah 14:24, 26-27 – The LORD of hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand… This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? 
Isaiah 46:9-11 – …I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose…I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. 
Lamentations 3:37 – Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 
Daniel 4:34-35 – …I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand or say to Him, "What have you done?" 
Luke 18:27 – [Jesus] said, What is impossible with man is possible with God. 
Acts 17:24-25 – The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 
Ephesians 1:11 – In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
Okay, back to Genesis 1. Notice verse 10. God called the dry land Earth and the waters that were gathered together He called Seas. God named this planet and the waters that covered it, too. Here’s something else that is quite interesting! And God saw that it was good. God approved of His own handiwork. Why was it important to God that His work please Himself? God doesn’t need land for Himself, yet He was satisfied with His own handiwork. Why? Could it be because He knew His handiwork would meet the needs of His greatest (yet-to-be) creations—and the sustenance those creations would require? I’m leaning toward “Yep!” 

In the next verses, God grows vegetation. His purpose was not just to beautify the earth, though that is a huge benefit of His work; Rather, His primary purpose was to supply varieties of food for a variety of coming creations. Don’t miss the significance of what God is doing here! God arranges the waters to provide land upon which to live. Then God grows vegetation on that land as a source of food. On the third day, God provided land and vegetation. This is an amazing passage! Notice verses 11-12. And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. (12) The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Please allow me to paraphrase in eleven words what God said in these two verses: “Let the earth bring forth plant life, and it was so.” Verses 11-12 can be grouped into a single created category called plant life. 

God details the creation of plant life with the phrase “according to its kind.” The word kind (or kinds) appears ten times in Genesis 1 and each time means “species” (some believe kind means “genus” which is the category above “species” in the biological identity chain). According to its kind simply means that nothing of one kind can give birth to another (or different) kind. For example, trees produce other trees. Trees do not produce dandelions. They are both plants, but not the same species. If the species is a tree, for example, the sub-species might be an oak or lemon or pecan or orange tree. When an orange tree produces fruit, what does it produce? —Oranges! Why? Because it’s an orange tree! Orange trees do not produce apples. Why not? Because in Genesis 1 God decreed that fruit would bring forth according to its kind. It is true that scientists and researchers often experiment with hybrid fruits and vegetables. I do not believe it is inherently wrong to do so. We can fiddle with nature all we want—or all that God will allow—but it is still wise for us not to interfere to a great degree with God’s design. I read one time about an experiment conducted on a cat with a rabbit, and the result was called a “cabbit.” While that may sometimes be genetically possible, I believe it is not wise—and certainly not normal or natural. What God created defines the natural state. It is God’s plan for a cat to be a cat and a rabbit to be a rabbit, allowing for variations of color and other features within each species. When God created on Day 3, plant life was His purpose.
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There is at least one other point to address in verses 11-12 before we move on. I call attention to the words, … trees bearing fruit in which is their seed… This wording refers to trees that produce fruit containing its own seed within the fruit itself. Can you think of fruit that contains seed within itself? How about the apple—the apple core contains seed in itself. Another example? Watermelon—contains seed in itself. Someone might say, “Well, what about seedless watermelons and seedless grapes?” Even after undergoing man-made changes, so-called seedless fruits still need seeds to reproduce. What’s another fruit that has its seed within itself? An orange! It contains seed in itself. Pecans are another example (and other nut varieties). The seed is inside the shell. My wife bought me some pistachios recently. They didn’t last long because, well…they're really good! To eat one, you have to pull apart the shell to find the nut (seed) inside. How about a peach? The peach has a huge seed in its core! These are all good examples of fruits and nuts whose seed is in itself. The next time you eat a piece of fruit and you see the seed within the fruit, let it remind you of God’s handiwork! Because the seed within itself was part of God’s creative design! GOD designed it! And He tells us about it in Genesis 1. If we allow ourselves to, we can see God all around us. (I am not saying God IS everything around us. That teaching is foreign to the Word of God). What I'm saying is that the evidence of God’s creative fingerprint can be seen everywhere we look. 

Verse 13 closes the door on this day of creation with the words, “And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.” We have discussed similar verses in earlier blogs. No need to expound on them again here. 

Hey, next time…Day Four!
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A Look in the Book, Part 6

11/15/2016

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Sixth in a series of studies on some key verses in the Bible

The Second Day

​Genesis 1:6-8

(6) And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." (7) And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. (8) And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
CREATION’S DETAIL

Before we delve into verses 6-8 of the first chapter of Genesis, here is something else very interesting about the creation record. On Days 1, 2, 3 and 4, God created an environment in which the creatures yet to be created (Days 5-6) would live. God gave us the events of creation in proper order. God prepared everything that would sustain life, then He created life! Again, Days 1-4 tell us of the environment that God created. Days 5-6 tell us of the inhabitants God placed into that environment. Reminds us of the New Testament verse in 1 Corinthians 14. Verse 40 says, “All things should be done decently and in order.” That’s God’s way.

Although verse six begins the second day, we are not told this until the end of verse eight. As we noted in the previous blog, the creative work of each day ends with the phrase, “…And there was evening and there was morning….” Therefore, verse five completes the first day and verse six starts the next day which is then completed in verse eight. On Day 1, God created light (verses 3-5). On Day 2 (verses 6-8), God creates the sea and the sky. Let’s take a look in the Book.

Verse six – “And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” What in the world does that mean!? To get the whole picture in perspective, please read verses seven and eight. “And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.” No matter how many times you read those three verses (6-8), parts of them may continue to be confusing. This is one of those passages where God does not give us all of the detail we might think we need. But He gives us what He wants us to know. 

Again, verse six reads, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” You recall in verse two that the whole earth was covered with water. And now in this verse He is dividing all of that water into two parts. He is dividing some of earth’s water from the rest of earth’s water. How is He dividing it? Why is He dividing it? The answers are in verse seven.

“And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were UNDER the expanse from the waters that were ABOVE the expanse. And it was so.” (EMPHASIS MINE.) The reader should not be picturing here a horizontal separation. Rather, the separation is vertical. God seems to have separated the water below the expanse and placed some of it above the expanse. Did He separate it by half? We do not know the answer. God chose not to reveal that to us.
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Today, we do not call it an “expanse.” No one goes outside and looks up and says, “Wow, what a pretty blue expanse.” No, we say, “Look at the pretty blue sky.” The expanse is what we now call the sky; a sky which was created by God; a sky which is part of God’s handiwork [Psalm 19:1]; a sky that didn’t suddenly appear through a series of haphazard, indeterminate events. The sky is a creation of the LORD God Almighty! Rejoice in His handiwork!

Let’s summarize verses six and seven this way: God divided the existing water around the globe into two parts, and He placed one part above the sky and left the remaining part below the sky. “And it was so.” 

Now on to verse eight, “And God called the expanse Heaven.” The word “heaven” here does not refer to the abode of God, though the word is capitalized. It is referring to the atmosphere above and surrounding the earth. The waters below the sky were divided from the waters above the sky. The waters above the sky did not have to be in the same form as the waters below the sky. Water comes in several forms. Water can be liquid. The ocean is a liquid form of water. Water can be frozen. We call it ice. Vapor is another form of water. Examples of water vapor include clouds, steam and fog. Regardless of the form, it is still water. I believe that God, in His perfect wisdom and divine will, placed a large vapor canopy above the sky (expanse). The canopy was not visible to the inhabitants of earth at the time. Adam did not look up and wonder what the water above the sky was for. He couldn’t see it. But it was there, above the sky, in the upper troposphere. The following information might shed some light on where this vapor canopy was located:
The earth’s surface is measured from sea level to six miles up. 
    The world’s tallest mountain is Mt. Everest in the Himalayas towering about six miles up. 

Above the earth’s surface is the troposphere, which is six to twelve miles up. 
    The troposphere is where about 80% of weather occurs. 

Above the troposphere is the stratosphere, which is about thirteen to thirty miles up. 
    The stratosphere contains about 90% of our ozone layer. 

Above the stratosphere is the mesosphere, which is thirty to fifty miles up. 
    The mesosphere is what protects the earth from meteor showers. 
    It’s the coldest area of the earth, a whopping 120 degrees below zero!

Above the mesosphere is the thermosphere, which is 220-500 miles up. 
    The thermosphere is the location of the International Space Station. 

Above the thermosphere is the exosphere, which is above 500 miles up. 
    The exosphere is considered to be outer or deep space.
Source: en.wikipedia.org – accessed 11.8.16
So what’s the point? Simply this, from the end of Genesis 1:8 until the time of the flood in Genesis 7:11, the vapor canopy we have been referring to remained in place above the troposphere, awaiting the purpose of God. The Bible revealed God’s purpose in Genesis, chapter seven, verse eleven. That verse says that God opened “the windows of the heavens” and poured out rain upon the earth. The flood was not a shower. The flood was a deluge. It was fierce and powerful. It was devastating; like emptying millions of gallons of water upon the earth continually for a period of forty days and forty nights. Was God, in His perfect foreknowledge, preparing in Genesis 1 for a great world-wide judgment of mankind’s sin before mankind was ever created? It would appear so. Some have suggested that the vapor canopy also served as an effective barrier from the sun’s radiation, allowing mankind to live longer than we do today. A speculation that may have some merit. (A strong hypothesis promoted by some is the marked increase of sin in the world, another possible reason for mankind’s gradually diminishing life span.)

Isn’t the Bible amazing? The more we learn about Scripture, the more Scripture we want to learn! Be sure to set aside time today to look in the Book! ​​
Father, help us to understand Your Word.
​Help us to believe it. Help us to live by it.
Lord, there are passages in the Scriptures where we can learn about Your power and Your wisdom.
We can learn from the Bible about the way You do things and how organized You are and how
You know precisely what You are doing and that You do what You do in the right order.
Help us to know and realize that You do the same in our lives.
You do Your work, and You touch our lives.
Help us to focus on You as You focus on and love us, always doing what is best for us, dear Father.
May we continue to know You better and to live our lives ever closer to You.
In the name of Your Son, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Darrell Nichols is an Elder and Pastor of Education at commUNITY church in Muncie, IN.
He can be reached at darrell.nichols@beincommunity.com or on Twitter @_nichols_dimes
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A LOOK IN THE BOOK

10/11/2016

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A LOOK IN THE BOOK
with Pastor Darrell
Fifth in a series of key verses in the Bible

Genesis 1:5

(1) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (3) And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (4) And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (ESV)

[Note to Reader: Sometimes our outline overlaps Bible verses when moving from one point to the next. While it’s true that some verses have overlapped, it’s also true that no verses have been overlooked.]

In our current series, we have covered Creation’s Definition (Genesis 1:1) and Creation’s Description (Genesis 1:2-5). Now we begin Creation’s Detail (Genesis 1:3-31). In previous blogs we noted that in the beginning there was an absence of landscape, an absence of life, and an absence of light. Also in the beginning there was the presence of power, the presence of perfection, and the presence of purity. We ended the last blog talking about how God separated the light from the darkness and named the light Day and the darkness Night.

CREATION’S DETAIL


God is light

Let’s begin with a question….
What did God create on the first day? If you said light, you are correct. God created light on Day One and prior to that there was only darkness. Genesis 1:3 tells us: “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”

Here’s another question—and it’s a doozy! Why was it necessary for God to create light since 1 John 1:5 proclaims that God IS light? It’s a good question. Let’s answer it this way:

First, since God is God, He can reveal His light whenever He wills (and He can hide His light when it’s His will to do so). Psalm 115:3 reminds us, “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.” For reasons known only to Himself, God chose not to reveal His light at that time.

Second, consider this: God never hides His love from us, but He may hide His light if it suits His purpose. For example, He may hide His light from individuals who continually deny His existence. He may hide His light from churches who fail to proclaim His Word as Truth. He may hide His light from nations who turn their backs on Him and who love and serve false gods or themselves. Here’s something else to keep in mind. God loves us so much that He may step back—so to speak—and let us go our own rebellious way to show us what it is like to NOT have His light in our life.

Today, such an action on God’s part (hiding His light) can reveal His love for us. How? When we disobey and turn away from God, He may allow pain, heartache and difficulty in our lives to help us see how much we need Him! If God allowed a believer’s life to be smooth while living in sin, that would NOT be the complete, righteous love of God. Think about it...if a sinful lifestyle produced a smoother, ultimately happier life, we might decide to stay longer (and deeper) in our sin and consequently (1) cause much harm to ourselves and others, and (2) be separated from the close fellowship He desires to have with us. Too many of us make a hard life harder by ignoring who God is and by disobeying what God has said. (Please don’t misunderstand, not all pain, heartache and difficulty are results of personal sin—but that’s a topic for another day.) Although God is not bound by the confines of time, He nevertheless has His own pre-determined schedule. God did not choose to reveal His light until the time was right—His time, according to His purpose (See Galatians 4:4). God has a master plan that is still in effect. He continually orchestrates His plan (See Philippians 2:13).
[If you haven’t already done so, let me invite you, dear reader, to come to His light right now. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Apart from God, there is no light. God is the possessor of light; God is the source of light; and God is the giver of light. It’s not only what He provides, light is who God is! It is an attribute of Jehovah God, part of His being, part of His makeup. “Jesus is the light of the world” (John 8:12). Jesus said He came “into the world as light, so that whoever believes in (Him) may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). I encourage you to stop right now and confess your sin to God. Only He can forgive your sin and give you eternal life (1 John 5:11-13). Come to the Light that is Jesus, God’s Son! Accept Him as your Lord and Savior.]
The word day

As we continue in our study, we move now to verse 5 of Genesis 1, the Bible says, “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” What does the word day mean? The Hebrew word is “Yom.” In Genesis 1:5, the word refers to a 24-hour period. Likewise, in Genesis 8:22 day means a 24-hour period. However, Genesis 2:4 uses the Hebrew word “B’yom” for the English word day. “B’yom” refers to an unspecified period. “These are the generations of the heavens and the
earth when they were created, in the day (“B’yom”) that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” That same word can also be used to mean a moment in time. Genesis 2:17 reads, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day (“B’yom”) that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This verse is not saying Adam and Eve ate the fruit for twenty-four hours. Day in this instance is referring to a moment in time. We can usually know which meaning is intended by the context of the passage. Sometimes the word is plural in the Hebrew language (“Yamim”) and actually refers to a year as used in Exodus 13:10. The important thing is that the word day in Genesis 1:5 is talking about a 24-hour period. It can refer to nothing else and still make sense. For more proof, continue reading.

Picture
The evening and the morning

At the end of verse 5, the Bible says, “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Now, what are the words “the evening and the morning” all about? This sentence is repeated several times in chapter 1. (See verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23 and 31.) Each time only one word is changed—the number of the day. Why does the verse say, “…the evening and the morning…”? Why not the morning and the evening? Don’t we call the start of the day morning? And don’t we call the end of the day evening? To our way of thinking, shouldn’t the words be reversed to “the morning and the evening were the first day”? For the verse to make sense to us, we need to know a little something about Jewish culture.

The workday is very important in Jewish culture. The traditional Jewish day ends at six o’clock in the evening when the workday is over. The Jewish workday begins again at six o’clock in the morning. The traditional Jewish night is from 6 pm to 6 am. That’s the time they rested from the previous day’s work.

It’s important to understand that most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew by Jewish writers (not authors, God is the author). Since the Old Testament is worded from the perspective of the Jewish writers (an arrangement which God allowed, if not ordained), the day is described as “the evening and the morning.” This phrase would make perfect sense to a Jewish believer. Sometimes Biblical phrases can be confusing to us if we do not understand the culture of those who penned the words of Scripture. Taking time to learn something about Old Testament Jewish culture would help to understand why some Scripture is phrased the way it is.

The mechanics of creation

Another interesting thing about the first chapter of Genesis is what it doesn’t tell us. The chapter does not mention the mechanics of creation, meaning God does not reveal how He created. He tells us what He did—but without a lot of detail. As you read Genesis 1, you are going to have questions. And when you get to the end of Genesis 1, you will still have some of the same questions! God tells us exactly what we need to know. We talk about Hebrews chapter 11 being a faith chapter…well, so is Genesis 1! Read the chapter, then accept its truths

by faith. The teaching materials for the (theory) of evolution must be gathered from sources other than the Bible. Countless hours have been spent by students of the Scriptures studying Genesis 1 in detail. Countless books have been written on the subject of Biblical creation. There is nothing in the first chapter of Genesis (or any other chapter in the Bible) that even remotely teaches or supports evolution. When God created, He CREATED. Again, the chapter does not address the mechanics of creation. It simply states matter-of-factly what God did and what “God said...” Whether or not we accept the Biblical narrative of creation, it is God’s Word and, therefore, it is the truth.

Many people reject Biblical creation because they do not believe the Bible. People can choose to believe the Bible; or they can choose to reject it; or they can choose to question it. It is one thing to question based on a genuine desire to understand God’s Truth. But if the authority or accuracy of God’s Word is being questioned—well, that is something else altogether! Questioning the truth of God’s Word was a tactic Satan used in the Garden of Eden to deceive Eve (Genesis 3) —and sadly, he is still using that tactic today to sway the hearts and minds of many people.

As we look at Creation’s Detail in the coming blogs, we will explore each day of creation and observe the truths God provides us. He provides very interesting details. Until next time, continue to look in the book!

Darrell Nichols is an Elder and Pastor of Education at commUNITY church in Muncie, IN.
He can be reached at darrell.nichols@beincommunity.com or on Twitter @_nichols_dimes

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The First Day, Part Two

8/30/2016

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A LOOK IN THE BOOK
with Pastor Darrell
Fourth in a series of studies on some key verses in the Bible
Genesis 1:3-5
 (1) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (3) And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (4) And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (ESV)
Picture

CREATION’S DESCRIPTION (continued) 
In our last blog, we studied Genesis 1, verse 2, and saw three things that were absent:
An absence of landscape 
An absence of life 
An absence of light 
In today’s blog, we will examine Genesis 1, verses 3-5 and discover three things that were present. 

In verse 3, God provided what was desperately needed—light. Darkness completely enveloped the earth prior to this. In His perfect wisdom, God knew that a world in continuous darkness was not a good thing. So in verse 3, “…God said, Let there be light…” and He waited…and He waited…and He waited some more…until light finally appeared! ☺ No, that is NOT the way it happened. “God said, Let there be light, AND THERE WAS LIGHT.” The light was immediate. The light was instantaneous. The light was miraculous. The light was the work of the divine Originator and Creator, Jehovah God! 

The Presence of Power
The word “light” in verse 3 refers to illumination. To illuminate something means to supply or brighten with light. The creation of light in this verse demonstrates the presence of power. “God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” THAT IS POWER—power that only God possesses! If it’s even possible, let’s try to illustrate just how powerful God’s power is.

When you enter a room that is dark, you simply flip a switch on the wall and the lights come on. That’s not really using your power though, that’s using electrical power! What if, however, you entered the room and caused the lights to come on (illuminate) just by SPEAKING? Could you (without fancy gizmos and other technology, e.g., motion detectors) illuminate the room using only the power of your spoken word? Of course not. No mere human is able to provide light simply by speaking light into existence, but that is exactly what God Almighty did! Jehovah God is a great and mighty God, isn’t He?

​The Presence of Perfection
Now look please at verse 4. “And God saw the light, that it was good.” According to the Creator, it is good that we have light. God looked at what He created and was pleased that there was light. First, there was a need, then
He supplied it by speaking it into existence. He proclaimed the result to be “good.” The word “good” in this verse means pleasing. In other words, God was pleased with the light. It was perfect.

We see here the presence of perfection. God created the universe (“the heavens and the earth” – verse 1) and it was a dark universe. Then God created light and earth became illuminated. Question: Where did the light come from? It couldn’t be from the sun because in verse 4 it had not yet been created (verse 16). So, where did the light come from? [EDISON?! Who said Edison? ☺] No, the light came from God. There is no other reasonable explanation. No other conclusion is a valid one. God created the light. He is the Source of the light! The Bible teaches us that the light of the world is Jesus, the Son of God—the second member of the Trinity. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). God provided His own light to illuminate the world! Perfectly.

The word “good” is found in Genesis 1 seven times. In addition to verse 4, He pronounced His works of creation “good” in verses 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25. And the last verse in the chapter (31) tells us that God looked at His entire creative work—the big picture—and called it “VERY good.” He liked what He saw. Considering the words of Scripture here, it seems to have been important to God that His creation be pleasing. Why was that important? Because He knew for whom He was creating it. He wasn’t creating it for Himself. Think about it…God did not need a place to live. He was creating all the things mentioned in this chapter for all of us, for all of mankind.

The Presence of Purity
The next word I want us to notice is the word “separated.” That’s an unusual word to be found in a creation chapter, isn’t it? In the middle of His creative work, God chose to do some dividing. The word “separated” can sometimes conjure up negative thoughts or feelings. Isn’t it sad when homes divide because of sin and end in divorce? It can also be a little sad when a son or daughter leaves home and goes off to college or the military. Entering college or the military is generally considered a good thing, but there is still an element of sadness to it. From a parent’s perspective, the thought may be that the family is dividing. 

Early in Genesis, God begins dividing. When God separates, it is a positive thing and not a negative thing. In verse 4, God divides the light from the darkness. “And God separated the light from the darkness.” He wanted to establish a distinction between light and darkness. He wanted there to be a clear difference between light and darkness. In Genesis 1, God began His divine practice of separation by dividing light from darkness. In verse 5 the Bible says, “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.” The term Day came from God. The term Night came from God. Why did God divide—separate—these two entities? In part, to demonstrate the presence of purity. God’s holiness requires a separation of light from darkness. A personal study on the divisions and separations in the Bible would be time well spent. As you study the Scripture, you’ll see how God separates the holy from the unholy; the wheat from the chaff; the sheep from the goats; the good from the evil; and so on. God literally divided the light from the darkness in Genesis 1, and the principle of separating “light” from “darkness” is clearly seen throughout the Scriptures.

In our next blog, we will examine the last sentence of the verse which says, “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."
Darrell Nichols is an Elder and Pastor of Education at commUNITY church in Muncie, IN.
He can be reached at darrell.nichols@beincommunity.com or on Twitter @_nichols_dimes
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The First Day, Part One

6/21/2016

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A LOOK IN THE BOOK
With Darrell Nichols
Third in a series of studies on some key verses in the Bible
Genesis 1:2

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.​

CREATION’S DESCRIPTION
There is an abundance of descriptive words in the second verse of Genesis, chapter one. Additionally, there are at least three things absent in the verse that we might normally think should be there. Let’s take a quick look at what is absent?

An absence of landscape
First, there is the absence of landscape. “The earth was without form…” Notice the words, “without form.” The whole earth was covered in water at this time. A world entirely covered with water means there is no landscape, only a watery surface stretching all the way to the horizon. With the absence of land, “without form” clearly becomes a good descriptive phrase.

An absence of life
“The earth was without form and void.” The next descriptive word is “void.” What does ‘void” mean? The word is a reference to something being empty. The world was empty—empty of life. Imagine yourself on a small boat somewhere far from land, so far from land that all you see in any direction is water. As you look at the watery surface around you, imagine there being no life of any kind above or below the surface. (Technically, not even you would be there, but we’re just trying to illustrate a point!) Not only is there an absence of human life. There is no life of any kind! Completely empty. Totally void. That’s how Genesis 1:2 describes how the earth was at that time. But something else is missing in describing this segment of creation.
Picture
An absence of light 
“And darkness was over the face of the deep.” The next word is darkness, which is simply an absence of light. As described in the Scriptures, early earth was a dark place. Totally void of light. Had you and I been there, we would not have been able to see our hands in front of our faces. We could not have seen each other! It was pitch black. Complete and utter darkness. Have you noticed there is nothing in this verse about darkness being created? Darkness does not have to be created. Again, darkness is simply an absence of light. There is no light, therefore, it is dark! Picture being inside a closed bank vault. If someone turns off the lights for only a second, the inside of the vault becomes pitch black! When the lights are turned back on, the darkness instantly dissolves. Here’s a deep thought—consider it carefully. Without at least a little bit of light, the place where you are reading this blog would be totally and completely dark. It’d be dark everywhere…except where light is! Why? Because darkness is the absence of light, and light absorbs the darkness. Darkness and light can never co-exist. (So much more could be said on the topic of light vs. darkness, but we must move on.)

In conclusion
To wrap up our quick study of verse two, let’s break down its final few statements.
“And darkness was over the face of the deep.” What does “over the face of the deep” mean? The word “deep,” as used here, is a large and “deep” body of water, like an ocean. Now notice what God was doing.
“And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” In Genesis 1:2, the words “deep” and “waters” refer to the same thing. In Hebrew, the words are synonymous. That is, they mean the same. They are two different words in English also. And again, both have the same meaning.
“The Spirit of God was hovering over…” The “Spirit of God,” of course, is the third member of the Trinity. He is God the Holy Spirit. He is described as hovering over the waters, which connotes being totally in charge. He is in control of all that is happening—the source of all that is happening!
In another upcoming blog, we will check out what’s absent in verse two but present in verse three. We’ll see a need in one verse be provided in the next verse. We’ll get to it.
Keep looking up!
Darrell Nichols is an Elder and Pastor of Education at commUNITY church in Muncie, IN.
He can be reached at darrell.nichols@beincommunity.com or on Twitter @_nichols_dimes
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