Genesis 1: 14 - 25

 

¹⁴ And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.’ And it was so. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning – the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.’ ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² 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.’ ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. ²⁵ 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.

 
God Fills the World.

On Days 1 to 3, God addressed the formless world by giving it form. On Days 4 to 6, God addressed the empty world by filling it! The two sets of three days match:

• On Day 1 God created light and darkness, and on Day 4 he made the great lights in the sky: sun, moon and stars.
• On Day 2 God separated the water above and below the sky, and on Day 5 he filled the water and the sky with fish and birds respectively.
• On Day 3 God separated the land from the sea, and on Day 6 he made all the animals that live on the land.
• Also on Day 3 God made the vegetation, and also on Day 6 he gave the vegetation to humans and animals for food (v. 29 - 30, which we will read tomorrow).

Of course, our reading today finishes before the climax of creation, namely the creation of human beings which also took place on Day 6. Human beings are what God made the world and the universe for. He set the stage, got everything ready, and then placed mankind in the beautiful world that he had made for them. We will look in more detail at that part of the story over the next couple of days.

Again, on each of the six days of creation, when the end of the day came, God looked at what he had made and saw that it was good, and, as I said yesterday, that analysis of creation remains true even today, even despite the damage that mankind has done to it.

Briefly, when we stop at Genesis 1: 25 we see the world with no people in it. Conservationists might comment how lovely it would have been – no human beings acting with selfishness and cruelty and destroying the world. But, of course, the human beings weren’t doing that initially anyway. As we shall see tomorrow, the human beings were created to be the pinnacle of creation. We were created to have a perfect relationship with God, with one another and with the rest of creation. And when Jesus came to live for us, die for us and to rise again, it was part of the glorious plan of salvation of mankind and salvation of creation. Jesus came to restore the perfect balance, and the true relationship between God and man. That mission is part complete, and will come to perfection when Jesus comes again and restores all things.

 

Prayer

Once again, Father, we thank you for the beauty of creation. You made everything and set the stage ready for your people. We thank you that made us to have a relationship with you, and even when we spoilt that relationship with sin, we thank you for sending your Son to mend the broken relationship. Amen.