Lesson for June 10, 2020
Knowing the Bible
Lesson 4
Creation of the Heavens and Earth – cont’d
Genesis 1:14-31
Verses 14-19
“Then 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; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light]to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.”
Up to this point in creation, there is one light source, the sun and it concentrated over the entire earth. But God was preparing the earth for mankind’s habitation and therefore He had to break up the concentration of the light of the sun (and heat) or mankind would be burn up. The sun’s concentrated light is the Hebrew word “or.” But now we have the Hebrew word “maor” which means the light is distributed into luminous bodies. The word actually comes to mean light bearers. “Let there be different things to hold the light” is perhaps a better translation. Only in this way would light be beneficial to both mankind, animal life and plant life. The earth was beginning to take shape for Adam and Eve. The concentration of light which was used to melt the ice pack must now be distributed to many light sources. “Maor” therefore refers to our solar system being created by God.
The sun is a light bearer, the only star in our system, and it provides brighter light for the day. It is the only created star in our system at this time. The rest of the universe was already in existence. Basically, light by night will come from planets. The word for signs is connected with stars and used for the discerning of times. Stars have been used for the discerning of times for many centuries. (Matthew 2:2; 24:29; Luke 21:25; Jeremiah 10:2; Joel 2:30) And seasons is related to the divisions of the year according to weather changes. For days and years relates to the rotation of the earth as the sole standard for determining time.
And God made is the Hebrew word “asah” meaning to manufacture something out of something. The light was already in existence therefore He manufactured the solar system out of a concentrated body of light. “Asah” is used because the material out of which the solar system was manufactured was already in concentrated form.
The word for two great lights means two categories of light. So, God manufactured out of light the two great categories of light bearers. One category is the sun, which is a star. The other category is the moon which reflects the light from the sun. The stars also provide light at night. The light and the darkness give mankind a 24-hour day with a certain amount of daylight and a certain amount of darkness with light in it. This division will continue throughout human history.
Verses 20-23
“Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.” The creation of aquatic and bird life came next on the fifth day of creation. So, we see the creation of fish of all types, birds, any winged animal, whales and other sea creatures. Notice that these creatures were created after their own kind. There was no transmutation of one species to another.
Verses 24-25
“Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.” The creation of animal life came next on the sixth day. God then created cattle and all other hoofed animals, breasts of the earth would include every category mammal and creeping things would include all kind of bugs, etc. Again, these animals were created after their own kind. There was no transmutation of one species to another.
Verses 26-31
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
Here we have a brief summary of the creation of mankind. In chapter 2 in have a detailed description of the creation of mankind.The words in Our image does not mean that we look like God. Here is how we are made in the image of God: a) mankind has self-consciousness: God is aware of His own existence. So, when mankind was made in the image of God, they were made self-conscious, they were aware of being alive (I am or I exist) b) mankind has moral reasoning power (I ought to do this or I ought to do that); c) mankind has self-determination (I will) meaning mankind has volition, free will which is independent of divine sovereignty. God was also providing food for Adam and Eve in the form of plant life, animal life, birds, and fruit trees. God is the creator of our original parents, Adam and Eve. In their cases, God created biological life and soul life simultaneously, creating human life. God still creates human life, by creating the soul of mankind and giving it to biological life at birth. Man is not a product of some evolutionary chain that began with an amoeba. Man did not evolve from monkeys. God created the first human beings and continues to be the Creator of human life. On the seventh day, God rested from His labor, which simply means the creative work of restoring the earth for habitation by mankind was completed.
It should be a great encouragement to each of us as believers in Christ to know that the God of the Universe wants to have a personal relationship with us. The same God that planned, designed and created every living thing is concerned about you and your life. He knows the number of hairs on your head and He knows what you’re experiencing right now. He has also designed a wonderful plan for your life. This plan begins when you by faith accept Christ’s payment for your sin. Afterwards, God’s plan for you is to consistently learn, believe and apply His Word. This is how we learn to execute the Christian Way of Life. We call this plan, the Protocol Plan of God.
Protocol is strict adherence to precisely correct procedure. In the case of the believer, protocol is strict adherence to the commands from God using the correct procedure for carrying out those commands. These commands and the precisely correct procedures are found in only one place, the Word of God. By learning and applying the truth found in the Bible, a believer can fulfill God’s purpose, plan and will. When this truth is presented from the Word of God in a systematic manner it allows any believer to grow spiritually (regardless of I.Q.) by following God’s plan. (II Timothy 2:15; II Peter 3:18)
The analogy of God resting is the Faith-Rest Technique. The principle of Faith-Rest is from God, who is perfect. Therefore, the Faith-Rest Technique is perfect. No human deed or work can be added to a perfect provision from God. The believer must cease from human good and enter into a rest where he does no work. The Holy Spirit does the work. The requirement, therefore, for the believer is faith, not human works. Faith is the absence of any human merit, which means, that in and of itself, faith has no value or worth. The value or worth is in the object of our faith. The object of faith for the believer should always be God and His Word.
Faith-Rest is knowing, believing and applying the promises, the principles and the doctrines of the Word of God. (Isaiah 33:6) There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible for the believer. These promises do us no good unless we mix them with faith and apply them to our situation. (Hebrews 4:2) Claiming these promises eliminates mental attitude sins such as fear, worry and anxiety, which cut off Divine Viewpoint Thinking. Faith-Rest will restore Divine Viewpoint Thinking and stabilize the believer in times of pressure and adversity. Faith–Rest results in a relaxed mental attitude. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Faith-Rest mechanics mean you have made a resolve – a decision as to future action. This means that you have predetermined in your mind what course of action you will take when a problem arises. The Faith-Rest Technique is a versatile technique for overcoming any difficult situation, any problem or any disaster. By faith the believer applies doctrine logically while resting in the promises of God. By reaching a doctrinal rationale the believer is re-explaining to himself the basic concepts of doctrine that pertain to his relationship with God. This will be necessary in a crisis because emotion will normally take over and suppress proper thinking. You must take deliberate steps to reestablish the control of the Holy Spirit in your soul.
The best illustration of the Faith-Rest Technique is Romans 8:28-35. We can easily follow the progression from claiming a promise, to application, to reaching a conclusion. Romans 8:28 says, “We know that God works all things together for good for those who love Him, for those who are the called ones according to a predetermined plan.” This is the Biblical promise to those who are maturing in their faith (executing God’s plan for their life). This promise is guaranteed by God. When a believer claims this promise, it can reduce a very complicated situation into a very simple one. When we claim this promise, that God is working all things for our good, fear is brought under control because we are now thinking, not emoting.
Once thinking is resumed, we can move on to step two, application. A doctrinal rationale can be any doctrinal truth that you have learned and stored in your memory. In our passage the doctrinal rationale is a series of five related doctrines.
- Foreknowledge – God’s awareness of all the assets that He prepared for the believer in eternity-past. This assures us that God was thinking about each of us in eternity -past.
- Predestination – God predesigned a plan for us in eternity-past. That plan calls for us to be set apart unto God in time and in eternity.
- Election – God chose each Church Age believer to be spiritual royalty. Since Jesus Christ was elected, we share in His election because of our union with Him.
- Justification – God declares the believer to be righteous. God actually imputes His righteousness to each believer, setting up the potential for divine blessing in time and in eternity.
- Glorification – God will give each believer a glorified body and eternal rewards based on execution of His plan in time.
Here is how the Faith-Rest Technique works:
A believer claims a promise. A promise is a guarantee from God that expresses His essence (sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability and veracity). When you lay hold of one of these promises you are able to bring emotion under control, which allows you to think. Before, you were in a state of panic, but now you have peace. This, however, is only the beginning of the drill. Now you must begin to think. (Romans 8:28 – God is working all things together for my good, if I am an advancing believer.)
A believer applies doctrinal rationale. The application of Bible doctrine requires the believer to recall certain doctrines that have been stored in his soul. A rationale is the rational basis for something or an explanation of reasons or principles. It is at this time that the believer explains again to himself the doctrine which is pertinent to the situation. (Romans 8:29-30 – God has a pre-designed plan for my life.)
A believer reaches a doctrinal conclusion. This means that the believer is able to take control of the situation. By asking and answering certain questions pertaining to his spiritual life, the believer takes control and evaluates the circumstances. He can now make good decisions from a position of strength and take action using the good judgment and the wisdom from Bible doctrine stored in his soul. (Romans 8:31-35 – If God is for me, who can be against me or separate me from the love of Christ? Therefore, I can take control using the power of the Holy Spirit to enable me.)
Utilization of this technique restores the most important ability God has given us: thinking. This technique does not need to be a mechanical, “step one, two, three,” but can be if the situation demands it. The key is to restore the doctrinal thinking process by using the Faith-Rest Technique.