Genesis
Lesson 5 The Seven Days of Creation Part One — Days One Through Five
Of the 31,102 verses written by God in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21), God chose to speak to us about His creation of everything in only 31 of those verses. Amazing! The vast majority of the Bible isn’t about the Creation. It is about the Creator and His eternal plan for mankind, i.e., our salvation and our eternal destination—all made possible through His only son Jesus. I point this out because it’s not important how the earth came about, or how old the earth is. What is important is the recognition that God created it all out of nothing; He spoke and it came into being. As I mentioned in an earlier lesson, if you cannot accept Genesis 1:1, then the rest doesn’t matter.
I also mentioned previously that no one was there when God began creating. So, only God knows what He did and how the earth and mankind came into existence. Everything else is pure speculation and theories, at best. Our one true source is God’s Holy Word, and He would not lie—in fact, He cannot lie, or He would not be God.
Read the following verses and note what they say about God:
- Numbers 23:19 – "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"
- 1 Samuel 15:29 – "Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind."
- Hebrews 6:18 – "So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us."
- Psalm 89:35 – "Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David."
If this is true, i.e., that God cannot lie, and if it is also true that God’s Holy words are all that is contained in the Bible; then why should we doubt, speculate, or manipulate what he says to us in Genesis Chapter 1—or for that matter, in any of the Bible? God says that He created everything in six days and provides the order, period. It requires no further explanation.
Of course, not accepting that God created everything, or that he did it in six literal days, leads to all sorts of theories about Creation; from the Big Bang theory on through to the theory of evolution—all theories. Even when we consider material written from a Christian point–of–view, as in Henry M. Morris’ work on creation that was published in his famous book, The Genesis Record, is theoretical. He wasn’t there at creation either.
We aren’t going to spend time in this study examining these theories. Rather let’s simply acknowledge that most worldly theories on how the universe and mankind came into being start with something—a particle of dust, an amoeba, or something else—but no explanation is ever given for who created that original particle or amoeba, or whatever. Where did the particle of dust come from? Or the amoeba? At some point, they came into being (i.e., matter created out of nothing), and they must have been created by an outside source—but that outside creator is never addressed.
Secondly, these theories, e.g., the Big Bang, Evolution, etc. posit a universal, organized, structured, creation coming out of chaos, and life coming out of non–life—all occurring as an accident or as a random event. And from this accident or random event, all of creation occurred. No plan, just an explosion or evolutionary accident where chaos births order and life—the complete opposite of God’s approach. The Bible offers the only real plan and path for how the earth and the universe came about, all at the will of God. The rule we see at play today, in this fallen world impacted by sin, is that order degrades into chaos, and life degrades into death—not the other way around, as the evolutionists would have us believe.
Further as we prepare to study Genesis Chapter 1, let’s consider whether the earth was created in six literal days. Where they actual, specific days, or simply a figure of speech? Many believe that they are a figure of speech, i.e., that you can make a case for each day being an era or epoch of time. They often cite 2 Peter 3:8, which asserts, "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Unfortunately, this verse is taken out of context to prove their point. Peter is writing to encourage everyone and to emphasize how patient the Lord is; and that they should hold on to the promises of Jesus and the prophets until he returns. However, the followers of evolutionary creation who use this verse say that a "day" in Genesis chapter 1 can be a thousand years or more. They do this as way of using the world of science to support, or synchronize with, the Creation narrative in the Bible. But they are in error; the scriptures that God gave us do not support this position—nor is any explanation that mankind can offer going to explain Creation any better than God’s account in Genesis Chapter 1.
I apologize if any of this offends some, but this is my position; it is also the Bible’s position. God cannot lie, and God tells us in Chapter 1 that He created the heavens and the earth, and that He did it in six days, period, end of discussion. I take God’s word on its face, and I want you to be aware of my position before we study God’s Creation.
If Genesis 1:1 is not true, then nothing in the Bible is true. How can we know the truth, if God didn’t create everything? Where can we find the truth in the Bible about God’s plan and our salvation if we don’t believe Genesis 1:1? John 17:17 asserts that God’s Word is truth—all of it! You can’t compromise on Genesis 1:1. God created everything in six literal days, period. There is no room for evolution in the Creation story; so for this study, we are using literal days and trusting God’s Word, and accepting that what Genesis Chapter 1 has recorded about Creation is the truth.
As we prepare to look at the six days of creation, let’s consider if there are any other events recounted in the Bible (beyond the Creation story) for which something was created out of nothing in an instant? Is it really possible that God could create the heavens, the universe, and every living thing in just six literal days?
Consider the following verses and note what is being "created" in each of them:
- John 2:1-11
- Exodus 16:1-4
- Matthew 14:13-21
- 2 Kings 4:1-7
- Mark 10:27
Now read Genesis Chapter 1 and beside each of the six days of creation note what we are told that God created on that day. Also note how God defines a "day" in Genesis 1:5.
- Day One, Genesis 1:1-5
- Day Two, Genesis 1:6-8
- Day Three, Genesis 1:9-13
- Day Four, Genesis 1:14-19
- Day Five, Genesis 1:20-23
Throughout these first five days, the phrase "according to their kind, or kinds" dominates God’s creative plan. Again, this runs counter to the theory of evolution. We do not see monkeys slowly evolving into man; there are no half–cat/half–dog creatures. We don’t have a half–fish/half–man evolving, and so on. Each specie was created in a particular order and "kind." Dogs are dogs, eagles are eagles, and salmon are salmon—nothing is evolving into a different creature in God’s creative plan.
It is also worth noting that order implies a designer and a plan, and what is created reveals a lot about the plan and the creator/designer.
- Read Romans 1:19-20. What does creation tell us about God?
In these first five days of Creation, God begins to reveal himself to us in mighty ways. More revelation is coming on Day 6, when God creates the animals and man. We will address these events in the next lesson.
In Christ,
Wes
[2022]