The Days Of Creation

Open your Bibles with me to Genesis 1. This evening I want to begin a series on Genesis 1 through 3 as I'll get occasion to preach. And as I pondered what to preach, what kind of series to start, I noticed that these chapters haven't been covered, haven't been preached on. in recent times and they're so foundational in many ways and yet also controversial and so we'll go through them focusing in on what God is revealing through them but also with an eye towards the controversies surrounding them so this evening we'll look at Genesis 1, 1 through 2, 3, focusing our attention on the creation days, the days of creation. And as I read the chapter, pay special attention to how things are ordered, how the elements are repeated here and there. So Genesis 1, hear the word of God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning the first day. And God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it, and it was so. God called the expanse sky, and there was evening, and there was morning the second day. And God said, let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear, and it was so. God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas, and God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seeds in it according to the various kinds. And it was so. The land produced vegetation, plants bearing seed according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seeds in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning the third day. And God said, Let there be light in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be light in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth. And it was so. God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good, and there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters team with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky. So God created the great sea creatures of the sea, and every living and moving thing with which the water teams according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas and let the birds increase on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning the fifth day. And God said, Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds, livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day. Thus, the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. On the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing. So on the seventh day, he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it, he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Now, I didn't include an outline in your bulletin. And if you want to put one there, we will really go over these three sections or three points. Before the days, the description of the days, and the teaching of the days. Those will be our three points. And I titled the first one, Before the Days, because we have Genesis 1, verses 1 and 2. The days start in verse 3. And as we read Genesis 1, 1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, we really need to be struck by it. We really need to meditate on it. Do we really live this way? Do we really believe this? How often do we, how often do I live as practical atheists? If there's a creator, one who made everything, that has such profound implications. And it's such a basic teaching though, but still we don't dwell on it as often as we should. There is a God, and you are not Him. He has made you. He has made me. He has made everything, and He is distinct from that creation that He has made. He existed before that creation, and He created out of nothing. And it is such a foundational thing. I enjoy Hebrews chapter 11 as it talks about faith. What is the first thing that gets mentioned there? By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. It is such a foundational thing that we find there. But as soon as we move out of verse 1, we run into some questions. How does verse 1 relate to the rest of the chapter? What is it telling us? What is its relationship? And there are really two main choices. Is it the story in short, you could say, the overview statement? God made the heavens and the earth, and now let's talk about how that happened. Or is it the first thing that happens that then we have the rest of the chapter flow out of? And both are possible. Both are options that have been advocated by good commentators. And as we look at it, I must say I lean towards the second, that it is the first thing that happens here, and then two and following flow out of it. It isn't a summary statement. It could be that, but I lean that it's the first thing. And as I say that, we find there that God creates. And then what happens? In the six days, he forms and he fills. That's what he creates. And so at the end, down in 2.1, we really have the parallel to 1.1. Thus, the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array, or that last part, and all their hosts. And so thus, the heavens and the earth were completed and everything that was in them, everything that filled them. Now, as I say that, maybe questions arise in your mind. How could verse 1 be before the six days? Don't we usually ask our kids, what did God create on each of the six days? What did he create on day one? Light. What did he create on day two? Sky and sea. what did he create on day three, the dry land, and we could go on. But yet we have to be careful of what the text says. Because in verse 2, as we'll look at in just a minute, we have mention of the earth. There was the earth, and there was all this stuff that was about it, but it's before the six days. And as we look at God's work in the six days, as it's described, we see, for example, on day two. What does it talk about? It talks about God separating the waters. It talks about him separating the waters. It doesn't say he created sky and sea. It says he separated the waters. And we can look back and we see, yes, verse two talks about waters. And if we look on day three, we find let the water under the ground be gathered so that dry ground can appear. So again, it's God forming what he had made, forming it into the shape that we see. And so we often jump maybe in our reading over verses one and two, right into the six days. But verses 1 and 2 are very important because they set the stage and they help us to see clearly what the six days are about. And so if we look at verse 2, we note that the setting is this earth. Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. We know that God created that. We were just told this wasn't an earth that was there before that God found and fixed up. It was what he had created. And yet, here verse 2 orients us for what God is going to do on the six days. It tells us, we could say, the problems that will be addressed. The things that need to be done yet. What is God going to do yet so that on that final, in 2 verse 1, it says they can be completed. He can look and say it's very good. And so we see these problems or what is still to happen. And what we see is that the earth was empty, was formless and empty. And we could also translate that as unproductive and uninhabited. And we'll contrast those two a little later. And so there was this formless and empty place, this unproductive, this uninhabited earth. And that is what God is going to form and to fill. That is what he's going to make productive and make inhabited. And it really shows us the focus. It's about life on this earth. It's about making this earth ready for life and especially for that last of his works, the creation of man. And this emptiness, this formlessness, I think is illustrated by what follows. It was dark, it was darkness, and it was over the deep. And so there was no distinctions. It was dark. It was all watery. But it wasn't an evil place. It wasn't that God wasn't there. And that's what we see at the end. This emptiness, this unproductiveness, that's not a problem for God. It's a problem for creatures. And the Spirit of God was there. This was his creation and he was there as he begins this process. So now we move into the description of the days. The description of the days. And that's what happens with verse 3. We begin the description of these creational days. And what do we find God doing there? Well, as we said, we find him forming things and we find him filling things, making things productive, making things inhabited. He's transforming that world, that earth mentioned in verse 2, into the one that he looks at and says is very good. And the days, as we read them over, you saw, you heard repeated phrases. We find many of the same, a similar pattern on each day. They all start with God speaking. And then there's usually a description of him bringing about what it is that he has spoken about. And then he maybe names it or divides things. And on most of the days we have him looking and declaring it good. And then there being evening and there being morning. And as we talk about those, most commentators would agree that at least some of these actions, they're spoken to us in terms that we can understand, meaning they're spoken to us using human figures or anthropomorphic language for the big word. And we find this often in the Bible, don't we? It talks about God's standing or God's finger. We have God speaking. Does he have a mouth? We know not to take it that way. But one that Calvin pointed out is God waiting to the end of his work and then looking at it. Did God not know it was good before then? Of course he knew it was good. But it's as him, as us, a worker, building a house. And when we're done with that, we step back and we look and we see if we've accomplished what we wanted to. what we were trying to do. And one last one, I would say, is the repeated refrain of evening and morning. How does that help us characterize what God is doing, this description of what God is doing? There's a couple ways that it could be understood. Some take it as somewhat a summary phrase. We think of a day starting at midnight. Right, kids, that's when the new day begins, at midnight. But that's a rather recent thing. That hasn't been around for very long. Instead, what we find in the Bible, at least in some texts, for example, Leviticus 23.32, is that a day, the Sabbath day in that text, it says it starts in the evening. And so you keep it evening to evening. And if you travel to Israel, don't try to go anywhere on Friday evening. Everything shuts down because as soon as the sun goes down, then it is Shabbat and nothing operates. And so some have taken this that way. That as it's describing the day, we get the summary statement that there was a day because there was an evening and there was a morning. But another way, and I think a better way to take it, is to understand it as a normal succession of time. What do we usually find? We go out, we do our activities during the day, go to work, and then we come home, and what is it? It's evening, and then we go to sleep, and then it's morning, and then we get up again for another day, another day of work. And that is the description I think we find here. A description of God going about his work during the day, and then it becoming evening, and God ceases from what he's doing, and then it becomes morning, and then we start the next day. God going out again. And I think this evening morning, this understanding of it, helps us understand the seventh day, because there's always been something odd about the seventh day. It doesn't say, and there was evening, and there was morning, the seventh day. Well, on the seventh day, what is the point? That God didn't work. That God was done with all his work. That God ceased from his labors. And so the focus is on what God did not do during that time when he normally, during the other six days, did something. We have his pattern of going out, working during the daytime, then it's evening, then it being morning, and then we come to the seventh day, and instead of going out again, he rests. He rests during that daylight time. He rests from his labors. And so, we find in at least a couple ways that we could talk about God being described here in Genesis 1 as this worker. This daily worker going about his task and then at the end of it, after it's all done, resting from it on that seventh day. And what is the work that he's doing? What is it that he's going about? And here again we find an order. The six days are divided, we could say, into two groups of three in a couple ways. And the first is maybe the easiest. As we read through, we see God doing one thing, right? One work on day one, and then one work on day two. And then we come to day three, and what do we find? That he says, let the waters be gathered together so that dry land appears. But that's not the end of it. He does another thing. He says, let the land produce vegetation. So we have this pattern of one work, one work, and then two works. Then as we read the second set of days, the second three days, we see it repeated again in that. We have one work on day four, the lights, one work on day five, the birds and the fish. And then we get to the sixth day. And there again, we find God first making the land animals and then him doing a second work. Let us make man in our image. So we have at least that parallel, that there is something in the amount of the works that God does. But we also see that we have two sets of days in what is made on those days, that they align with each other. Because on day one, we have the light. And what do we find on day four, the first of that second set of three? We have the lights. And on day two, we have sky and sea. And on day five, we find birds and fish. And on day three, we have the dry land and the land plants. And on day six, we have the land animals and man. And so we see that there's this organization, the way they're put together. And we could ask, why these divisions? Why would God tell us it in this way? Why have these two sets of three? What are they about? And this is where verse 2 is so helpful. Verse 2 set us up to expect this. What was the problem? The earth was formless and empty or unproductive and uninhabited. And that is what we find in these two sets of three. Because what does God do on the first three days? Well, we find him giving the world its present form, especially as he divides things. That's one of the words you see a lot there, him dividing. He gives form to time on day one. He separates day and night. And it's so interesting to see. He said, let there be light. And then what does he name light? He doesn't name light light. He names it day. He names it day. It's a period. It's a period of light. It's about time. He is separating and organizing time. And then on days two and three, we find him dividing the physical world. As he divides the waters above and the waters below. And as he groups the waters together and makes dry land appear. And so he does all of this forming. But the real focus, you could almost say, is the vegetation. That's this added one. We've had one thing created each day, and then on day three we have two. There's this vegetation. What is that about? What does that show us? Well, that's where I think the idea of not form, but unproductiveness is really what this first three is about, what this first problem or what God wanted to still complete in this world. The world wasn't productive. But now, with God forming and fashioning, what do we have? We have a productive world. A world filled with vegetation that is growing, that is springing forth from the ground. Well, what do we find on the last three days? Well, now God is making it inhabited. He's filling it. He's making it filled with those things that fill their proper realms. And so we see in Genesis 1.14, day 4, let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years. What is he filling? Well, again, he's filling in many ways time. He's putting out these markers. It's all about ordering time. That's how we know weeks. Well, that's how we know cycles of the moon and cycles of the sun as we go through various seasons. It's because of what he put there to fill time. That's what shows us. That's what, you know, again, it shows the man-centered, the man-focused element of this text. God is making this world for us. And what does he do on days five and six? He fills again. He creates the birds and the fish. He creates the land animals and He creates mankind. And what does He tell them to do? Be fruitful. Multiply. Fill the earth. That's what it's about. And as we saw, vegetation in many ways is the climax of the first three. The creation of mankind is the climax of the second three and really the whole week. And we'll look more at that later. We'll focus on that. Created in God's image. Mankind created in God's image to rule. And so we find at the end here, God looks at it and he says, it is very good. He has changed this world from empty or uninhabited to a place that is now filled and inhabited. It was unproductive and formless, and now it is productive and formed. But the days don't end there. We often do when we look at them. We forget about that seventh day. We somewhat ignore it because we like days where stuff happens, not where stuff doesn't happen. We sometimes pass right over it. But if we do that, we really miss the climax. We really miss the crescendo at the end. We miss the main point of these creation days. Because the creation days show us God as this worker doing what? Working towards a goal. Working towards this goal of making his world productive, inhabited. And when he finishes, when he judges it very good, then he enters into his reward. His labors end and he has rest. He comes to the end of his goal and he enters this blessed Sabbath rest. His labor wasn't in vain. He completed it, and his six days of work ended in the reward of the seventh day. And so now as we turn to the teaching of the days, we could say that we see in the creation days much of what we could find in verse 1. God is this all-powerful, wise creator who made all things. He alone is God. The sun and the moon that others' nations worshipped, they're not gods. The sea creatures that some feared, they're not gods. Instead, God made them. He made them all. And he didn't even struggle doing it, did he? He can control even that raging sea by his command. We also see here a pattern that these creation days are a model, a pattern laid out for God's image bearer, man. A pattern of what our work is like, what man's work was to be like. Man was created to work, but he was created to work towards a goal. A goal with a reward at the end. He was created to not have vanity in his labors, but to progress in his labors. For them to be fruitful, so that they could be judged very good. And then he would get the reward, rest, blessed rest, Sabbath rest, heaven itself. And that pattern of his life and his work as a whole was imprinted on his normal time as a constant reminder that that is what he's doing. That is what he's about as his labors take the form of six days of work and one of rest. But we also, as we read this, we see that our world isn't exactly like this world. We see that something's wrong. It's very similar, but it's not very good. There are many things that are good. And yet we don't have to look far and we see the effects of sin. How this world displays God's wrath and judgment on sin. And we know we certainly haven't entered that Sabbath rest yet. And so this passage, as we read it, exposes the sin and misery that we have in our lives and our need for a Savior, one who can bear the wrath of God against our sins. But not only that, one who can work, one who can earn for us that blessed Sabbath rest of heaven. And we know, as we read on in the Bible, that it was the very God who we read about here. This all-powerful Creator who became man, our Lord Jesus Christ. And he fulfilled this pattern for us as he earned that rest that we now look forward to in him. Now, this probably wouldn't be a bad place to stop. But we really need to discuss together some of the controversies of this chapter. It's helpful if we look at that because it really relates to the teaching of this chapter. What does Genesis 1 teach us? What do the creation days teach us? And so how are we to understand these days of creation? Does Genesis 1 teach that in six 24-hour days God made the earth? The one we saw formless and void in verse 2 into what we saw in 2.1, formed and filled. Is that what we're to get from it? Or is it possible to reach other conclusions? The days as longer periods of time, or the days as in some ways figurative. Now I know that this is a matter of controversy. I enter it with not a little fear and trepidation. And on a lighter note, I know because my first date with my wife, maybe it shows more about us than anything, was to discuss the days of creation and to talk it out with each other. But as we think about this issue, it's helpful for us to think and remind ourselves of a few points. And I think the first thing is that there are issues in the Bible, there are issues about the Bible on which Bible-believing Christians can differ. We can differ on them and still be faithful to God's Word. They're still important. There is only one right answer. But yet, we can bear with each other. We can differ on them. But on the other side, there are those issues where we cannot. And to give an obvious example of one we cannot, any who say that Jesus' resurrection was just a spiritual resurrection, not a physical resurrection. We know that that destroys the very heart of the Christian faith. But on the other side, one that I'm sure you're very exercised about, in Genesis 6 verse 2 it says, The sons of God saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. I think we can disagree exactly who the sons of God are there. There's been a number of answers given. It's rather difficult. Are they angels? Are they kings who claim to be divine? Or maybe they're the sons of Seth? Well, we could discuss that. But that's part of what we need real wisdom in, is in discerning these essential issues from these other ones in which we can disagree amongst each other as brothers. And I would say that the creation days is one of those. But we'll get, as we move on in this series, as we come to Adam and Eve, there's another issue there, the historicity of Adam and Eve. And we'll see that I think that's one that we cannot disagree on. And so we need to be careful. As we debate these things, sometimes we need to ask ourselves, Are we defending the Bible or are we defending our interpretation of a passage? Is this an issue where variance destroys the very heart of our Christian faith or is it one that we can differ on? We can still be passionate in our discussions, but we need to know what are we talking about. Now the second thing I'd like to think about is as we talk about God's word and we talk about various opinions on a text, we may not think of it, but there is no default position. There is no neutral interpretation. Every interpretation is making a claim that this is what God teaches in this passage. God teaches this. And thus, every time we claim an interpretation, we must be careful. That what we say, what we're claiming, is what the Bible is claiming. That is what we need to be careful on that. And so in that, we often need to acknowledge the Bible doesn't answer many of the questions we want to know the answers to. And so we have to remain silent on that. We also have to know that if we say that the six days are 24-hour days, we're making a claim. That's not a neutral statement. That's not a default position, you could say. That is instead claiming that that is what God means to communicate in this passage. And the last thing, and what really flows out of these, is that when reading the Bible, we really need a certain amount of humility. One of the great effects of the Reformation was that it put the Bible back in the hands of everybody. It wasn't just for priests and popes to interpret. But that doesn't mean that all the Bible is easy to understand. Often I wish it were easier. I wouldn't have to read so many books. But it's not always easy. And so Genesis 6 too. The sons of God marrying the daughters of men. It's a tough text. We have to study it. We have to really look at it. We have to look at what's there. And I'm sure you have looked at a passage before, read it, and the first time you read it, you took it one way. And then as you reflected on it, as you had more study, as somebody else talked to you about it, you understood that you misunderstood it the first time, that you needed to look at it more carefully. And so we need to acknowledge our limits in that, And we need to learn as a church. We interpret the Bible as a church. And it's not only the church now, it's the church throughout the ages. And so we have to look back at church history, gaining from their insights, but also often learning from their errors and their mistakes. So, how are we to interpret the days of creation? Well, the first point is, again, as I said, I think this is an issue where Bible-believing Christians can differ. That doesn't mean all are right, right? There's only one right answer. But it is something where those who take this as God's inerrant word, they can come to different conclusions. And we can bear with each other in that. And yet it's a very important issue. And so it's worthy of our time looking at it. It's worthy of discussion. And so as part of that discussion, I think it best to take the days as an analogy for us. God's image bearers. What does that mean? Well, as we talked about, God is depicted often in the Bible in human terms. We have him, as we said, having a finger, a standing. And we said that we see at least some of these ways in the creation days. We see God depicted as this daily worker, as this one going out, going about his work, coming in at the end of the day. And so it's revealed in that way to show us not a window into God's week, but to show us what our labors are to be like, how we are to structure our time. And so as we think of the images that we had there, him going out, him surveying his work, looking at it, judging it very good, We can see that it's told in images that come from that of a daily worker, of a man going out and working. And here's where I think Exodus 31 verse 17 is helpful. In Exodus 31, Moses is pressing on Israel, the need to keep the Sabbath. The need to keep this day that God has set apart. And as he does that, we see verse 17. It will be a sign, meaning the Sabbath, will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth. And on the seventh day he rested from his work and was refreshed. And as we hear that, as it talks about, it uses this verb there of someone being out of breath and needing to take a break and be revived. As we read it, we know, was God tired from creating? Was he really out of breath at the end of the six days? Did he need to catch his breath? We know not. We know instead it's an analogy for us. It's showing us how we need to image God in that. And so this text really helps us. Exodus 31, 17, as it reflects on these creation days, it helps us to see this image even clearer. And it's of God as this worker, This one going out, who's doing his work, forming and filling and then coming at the end of this week, needing a break, resting, and then being refreshed. And so, we're not really to ask, what did God do on the eighth day? That's not the question for it. What did he do after he finished resting on the seventh? We don't have an eighth day. We don't have one there because that's not what the seven days are. They're not just a peak into a week in the life of God, but instead they're a model for us. And while the issues aren't quite all the same, I think comparing this in some ways with Job. Job chapter 38 is helpful. In Job chapter 38, Job has finally come before the Lord. And the Lord presses him. Presses him by asking if he really knows about his creational work. So Job 38 verses 4 through 11. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know. Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set? Or who laid its cornerstone? While the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy. Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb? When I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness. When I set limits for it and set its doors and bars in place. When I said this far you may come and no farther. Here is where your proud waves halt. As we read that text, does it mean that God used a line in creating? Does it mean that there is a cornerstone to the earth? As we read it, we see that God is using images. He's using images of a building as he talks about his creation here. And so we know there are limits. There are limits on how we can push these details. And so is it the same? Could it be the same with the creation days? I would argue yes. And one final parallel, I think, can help us as we think about this. And that's the tabernacle. The Bible talks about the tabernacle and what is it modeled after. It's modeled after the heavenly tabernacle or even heaven itself. And yet, we know that when we go to heaven, we probably won't see there a goat-haired building or even a physical building at all. We know there's limits. It's a model of it, and yet we don't push its details. And so the same thing I would offer with the creation days. They're the tabernacle version of God's creational work. They are the way that God has chosen to reveal to us His power and creation for our benefit. We have to be careful not to misunderstand it, not to misapply His revelation. And so as we conclude, let us remember that Genesis 1 shows us our awesome God, who is this powerful Creator, creating the world out of nothing. This God who loved us so much that He came into this world after we, His creatures, had marred it with our sin. He came into this world to redeem us. Let us hold fast to that Gospel. Let us hold fast to His Word. And let us pray for His Spirit to guide us as we look at it, as we interpret it. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word. And we ask that you will continue to rebuke us, instruct us, train us, comfort us through it, as you have said you will. And may we rightly divide it, may we rightly apply it, may we guard its gospel. We pray for your grace in this as we, your church, struggle in this task. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.