We have seen the construction of the universe in verse 1, the convulsion of the earth in verse 2, and now we come to the construction of the earth in six days (vv. 3–31).

I believe what we have here is this development.

There are several things here that I would like to call to your attention.

In Exodus 20:11, it reads “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is. . . .” There is nothing in that verse about creating.

It says “made”; God is taking that which is already formed and in these six days He is not “creating” but He is recreating.

He is working with matter which already exists, out of the matter which He had called into existence probably billions of years before.

God created life and put it on the earth, and for the earth He created mankind.

That is the creature we are interested in because you and I happen to be one of those creatures.

This makes the Genesis record intensely important for us today.



DAY ONE—LIGHT



God said, Let there be light; He willed it, and at once there was light.

Oh, the power of the word of God!

And in the new creation, the first thing that is wrought in the soul is light: the blessed Spirit works upon the will and affections by enlightening the understanding.

Those who by sin were darkness, by grace become light in the Lord.

Darkness would have been always upon fallen man, if the Son of God had not come and given us understanding.

The light which God willed, He approved of.

God divided the light from the darkness; for what fellowship has light with darkness?

In heaven there is perfect light, and no darkness at all; in hell, utter darkness, and no gleam of light.

The day and the night are the Lord's; let us use both to His honor, by working for Him every day, and resting in Him every night, meditating in His law both day and night.



Our Scripture will be coming from

Genesis 1:3-8 KJV

[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

[4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

[5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

[6] And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

[7] And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

[8] And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.



Genesis 1:3
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Neither here nor in vv. 14-18 is an original creative act implied.

A different word is used.

The sense is made to appear, made visible.

The sun and moon were created "in the beginning.” The light came from the sun, of course, but the vapor diffused the light.

Later the sun appeared in an unclouded sky.

Creation begins!

The phrase And God said occurs at the beginning of each day of creation, and here it serves to separate Genesis 1:3 and following from 1:1, 2.

Let there be is a command or desire for something to take place.

Presumably those hearing this command are the inhabitants of Heaven, the abode of God.

The first thing created is light.

Since the sun, moon, and stars are not created until the fourth day, some think that the light referred to here may be what scientists call energy.

Perhaps this light-as-energy, if that is what it is, is a new creation out of nothing.

Or perhaps matter that God previously created is now turned into energy, a concept absent from the ancient mind.

Addressing such an issue is not the aim of the book of Genesis.

The stress, rather, is that light stands in positive contrast to darkness (next verse).

Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

God acts in and on His creation, and His light pushes back the darkness.

The word good describes the value of the light.

It may also include the excellence of figurative ideas associated with light.

The Scripture may be using the acts of creation to teach a spiritual lesson in addition to the material events of creation.

If that’s the case, then the lesson is that there is a difference between good and evil just as clearly as there is a difference between physical light and darkness.

Foolish, sinful humans will later blur those distinctions.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).

Genesis 1:5
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

From the perspective of the ancient world, naming brings things into existence; unnamed things do not exist.

Modern, scientific ideas about the nature of light are not in view.

Just as darkness is merely the absence of light, and light is the creation of God, so also Day and Night are portrayed as impersonal creations rather than as rival gods or the forces used by other gods.

In naming light and darkness, God exercises His authority and power as Creator.

The meaning of day has been interpreted in various ways to calculate the age of the earth.

The word day in some contexts refers to the part of a 24-hour period that has light (Exodus 13:21).

In other contexts it refers to entire 24-hour periods of time (Genesis 7:10).

In still other contexts, day refers to a longer period of time (Genesis 2:4).

The proposal that the phrase the evening and the morning naturally suggests a 24-hour day is met with the observation that the sun—the rising and setting of which establish evening and morning—is not created until the fourth day.

One commentator has identified 20 creation accounts in the Bible.

In so doing, he notes that the main emphasis across these is “the who” of creation—namely God.

Secondarily, the Bible writers address “the how” of creation.

Of least importance to them is “the when.”

The goal of the authors is not to
describe the age of the earth, but rather to describe the orderliness of creation and the lordship of the Creator over all that exists.

The word "day” is used in Scripture in four ways:

(1) that part of the solar day of twenty-four hours which is light;

(2) a period of twenty-four hours;

(3) a time set apart for some distinctive purpose, as ”day of atonement”; and

(4) a longer period of time, during which certain revealed purposes of God are to be accomplished.

The use of "evening" and ”morning” may be held to limit "day" to the solar day; but the frequent parabolic use of natural phenomena may warrant the conclusion that it simply means that each creative day was a period of time marked off by a beginning and ending.

In any event the sun did not become a measure of time before the fourth day.



THE CONCEPT OF TIME

The Natural Day was from sunrise to sunset.
The Natural Night was from sunset to sunrise.
The Civil Day was, at least in later times in Israel, from sunset one evening to sunset the next: for ”the evening and the morning were the first day."

Night (ancient)
First watch (Lam. 2:19) until about midnight.
Middle watch (Jud. 7:19) including midnight (Ex. 11:4) until 3 A.M.
Morning watch (Ex. 14:24) 3 A.M until 6 A.M.

Night (New Testament)
First watch, evening = 6 to 9 P.M.
Second watch, midnight = 9 to 12 P.M.
Third watch, cock-crow = 12 to 3 A.M.
Fourth watch, morning = 3 to 6 A.M.

Day (ancient)
Morning: until about 10 A.M.
Heat of the day: until about 2 P.M.
Day's decline: until about 6 P.M.
Evening or cool of the day: after 6 P.M.

Day (New Testament)
Third hour = 6 to 9 A.M.
Sixth hour = 9 to 12 midday
Ninth hour = 12 to 3 P.M.
Twelfth hour = 3 to 6 P.

DAY TWO—AIR SPACES

The earth was emptiness, but by a word spoken, it became full of God's riches, and His they are still.

Though the use of them is allowed to man, they are from God, and to His service and honor they must be used.

The earth, at His command, brings forth grass, herbs, and fruits.

God must have the glory of all the benefit we receive from the produce of the earth.

If we have, through grace, an interest in Him who is the Fountain, we may rejoice in Him when the streams of temporal mercies are dried up.

What does that mean?

Well, God first divided the waters perpendicularly.

Genesis 1:6
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

“God said, Let there be a firmament”—the Hebrew word for firmament is raqia, meaning air spaces. “Let it divide the waters from the waters.”

There is water above us and water beneath us.

The word firmament refers to the bowl-like dome, an expanse - a beating out as a plate of metal: a