The Light of Genesis 1:3 Versus Genesis 1:14

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Good morning D____,

Thank you for your question.

You ask:

Here is that whole section of Genesis one dealing with when light first come to the earth:

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters .
Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 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.
Gen 1:7  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.
Gen 1:8  And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:9  And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [ land] appear: and it was so.
Gen 1:10  And God called the dry [ land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [ it was] good.
Gen 1:11  And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [ and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [ is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:12  And the earth brought forth grass, [ and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [ was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [ it was] good.
Gen 1:13  And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Gen 1:14  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [ he made] the stars also.
Gen 1:17  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18  And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [ it was] good.
Gen 1:19  And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

One cannot read the first two verses of Genesis without dealing with the unscriptural doctrine call ‘the gap theory.” The gap theory maintains that there were actually two creations many ages apart. The first creation was a world occupied only by dinosaurs and plants and perhaps creeping things and all the things in the sea, but there were no humans in that first creation. Gap theorists maintain that dinosaurs could not have co- existed with men, that it would have been impossible for God to have created Eve and had Adam to name all the animals all in one “evening and morning.”

To all such reasonings the scriptures ask, “do you also maintain that God cannot make seed to Abraham of stones?” But let’s just cut to the chase and ask the big question. If one insists on being able to scientifically grasp how God could have made all the beasts, including Adam and Eve, and have had Adam to name all the creatures on earth in one day, then why in the world do you believe that a virgin brought forth a child???

You say you believe that because the Bible says that is what happened? You say you believe that because God has given you faith to believe that which is scientifically unprovable? Then why do you not also believe that “in six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them?”

I cannot deal with the gap theory in this e- mail. I have written on that in several other letters which you can read on iswasandwillbe. com/ Just type the words ‘gap theory’ into the home page and you will find about nine different entries on that subject which you can read.

So I will proceed in dealing with the truth of Exo 20:11:

Exo 20:11  For [ in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [ is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

If you read those letters you will find that the word ‘was’ in verse two is a sufficient translation of the Hebrew word ‘hayah.’  God is simply being so kind as to give us the details of how He went about His creation of “the heavens and the earth.”

What He is so kind to reveal to us is that He first created darkness and then “called light out of darkness” on this earth.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness : I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

For all who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear the word ‘earth’ is actually a revelation of how God is working with mankind who is “out of the ground… dust.”

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

So the wording of Genesis does not deny that God Himself is light first. He actually tells us that he created light:

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

But we are also told that the light was not yet on “the face of the deep.” ‘The face of the deep’ is a parable of the spiritual sin and spiritual darkness into which we are born, both physically in our mother’s womb and spiritually outside the physical womb. Contrary to all that Babylon teaches, mankind was not shapen in righteousness then fell into sin. Rather Adam was deliberately “marred in the hand of the Potter.” It was all by God’s design, and it is revealed to us in Genesis. “God created the heaven and the earth, but darkness was [ first] on the face of the deep,” and later “light shines out of darkness” upon the ‘earth.’

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Psa 139:13  For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
Psa 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [ and] wonderfully made: marvellous [ are] thy works; and [ that] my soul knoweth right well.
Psa 139:15  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, [ and] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all [ my members] were written, [ which] in continuance were fashioned, when [ as yet there was] none of them.

“The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” So verses one and two are from God’s heavenly perspective while verse 1:4 is from mankind’s earthly perspective. It is no longer ‘the heavens’ but “the firmament of the heavens.” It is not just ‘light,’ it is now a “greater light and a lesser light.” In scriptural terms even the night has a certain amount of light that is reflected from the sun. It is just a “lesser light” which he calls night.

Gen 1:14  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [ he made] the stars also.
Gen 1:17  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18  And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [ it was] good.

There are now “two great lights”, and we begin to distinguish right from wrong. But the creation is not yet complete, and the son of God has not yet been completed. All of this is in preparation of the manifestation of the son of God:

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

But this first Adam is but a type and a shadow of a later Adam, and all this talk of creation is the same. It “all happened and it is all written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made [“in the Potter’s hand”] subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [ the same] in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

This statement is true for all of God’s Word. It is all for our adomonition, including the fact that the heavens and the earth were in place before God finished His work on this earth. It takes time for the light of heaven to penetrate the darkness that is on the face of the deep. When it finally does do so, there is still much work to be done as we become aware of a greater and a lesser light.

I hope this helps you to see more clearly what Christ meant when He told the Jews that His words were spirit. The spiritual application of God’s word is always primary. Whenever we allow the letter to precede the spiritual we are yet in darkness on that point:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

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