Creation Scenes
Genesis 1:11-31; Genesis 2:1-2
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
In Genesis 1:11 and Genesis 1:12, we find the story of God's command to the earth to bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit. In all of this there is a wonderful depth of meaning affecting our spiritual lives.
1. The call of God to us is for fruitfulness. Whether it be in the natural earth or in the lives of saints, the great heart of God desires fruit.
We remember how Christ said on one occasion, "I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman." Then He said that every branch that did not bear fruit was taken away, and that every branch that bore fruit He purged it that it might bring forth more fruit. For this cause the Lord invites us to abide in Him, that we may become fruit-bearers; lest, otherwise we be cast forth as a branch, and be withered. Our Lord does not only want fruit, and more fruit, but He wants much fruit. It is herein that His Father is glorified.
When we think of the fruitful Christian we are liable to think of the Christian who is active in the varied "branches of Christian service. Fruit-bearing, however, carries with it a deeper significance. Preeminently, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. These are the things which bring glory to our Lord.
2. The deeper meaning of "after its kind." God said, "The herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind." Later on when God created the fish and the fowl and the beast of the earth, in each instance, they were commanded to bring forth after their kind. This was God's command, and it has been an irrevocable law, since God spake.
Every effort of man to change God's creative fiat has utterly failed. Species may be developed, and correlated species may be merged, but distinctive species cannot be altered. Seed sown, always brings forth the same kind of herb, or fruit, as the plant from which the seed is grown. The same thing is true in animal life kind begets its kind. How foolish of men to lift themselves up against God, and to imagine that they can undo or make void His eternal decree!
3. The deeper meaning of "Whose seed is in itself." Here is another irrevocable law a law that establishes the omnisciency of God. God only hath inherent life. Life only can beget life, and as we have already said, God placed in each variety of life which He created, the power to beget a life after its own kind.
How wonderful that in every grain of wheat there lies hidden a power to beget other grains of wheat! Nobody can dissect the wheat and point out the life-giving germ, and yet it is there. Men of the world may fabricate something that imitates, to the human eye, a grain of wheat, or of corn, or a portion of fruit, but all the scholarship of earth, and all the scientific minds of the ages, have never been able to implant into anything the power to propagate itself.
I. THE TWO GREAT LIGHTS (Genesis 1:14-18)
God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven." God was not at all dependent upon the sun and the moon and the stars to give light to the earth, for when God's Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, God said, "Let there be light: and there was light." However, the placing of lights in the firmament of heaven was for the dividing of day, from night; and also for signs, and for seasons; for days, and for years. Herein is the wisdom of God marvelously manifested.
1. The objective of the two great lights. We might imagine that the sun and the moon were exclusively for light, and heat, but not so. The heavenly bodies are for signs by which man may guide his course by day and by night. They are for seasons, Summer, and Autumn, and Fall, and Winter. These were arranged by the sun moving to the north, or to the south of the equator. They were for days, because the sun rises each morning and sets each night. They were for years, both solar and lunar.
In all of the above, we see the eternal accuracy of the Almighty. The sun, and the moon, and the stars, all move with such minute exactness that we can truly say, "With God there is not a shadow of a turning."
2. The spiritual significance of the two great lights. The greater light was to give light by day, the lesser light was to rule the night. Jesus Christ Himself is the greater light. Our God is a sun. When He came to earth He was a light that shone in the darkness. How striking are the words, "The people that sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up."
When Christ died, darkness was upon the face of the earth. The Sun of Righteousness had gone down. The age in which we are now living is Scripturally called the age of this darkness. It is night. The world, however, is not left in total eclipse. There is the lesser light which rules the night; that lesser light is the Church. We are luminaries shining in the night.
It is said that the moonlight is a reflected light. We know that the light of the Church is reflected. It is He who shines into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
II. THE FISH AND BIRDS AND BEASTS (Genesis 1:24-25)
When we consider the earth bringing forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, creeping thing, and the beast of the earth, we think, perhaps, of two things.
1. The heart of God providing for man's need. Over this animal kingdom, God placed man in authority, giving him dominion. All created animal life was given to serve man, and all created vegetable life was given man for meat.
Until this good hour, God provides for every human necessity. Did not Christ say, "Take no thought * * what ye shall eat"? God has known that we had need of these things, and He has provided for us.
2. The heart of God providing for the beasts and the fowls. None of these can sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns. Yet, God has provided for them. To every living creature upon the earth, God gave the green herb for meat. Likewise, gave He to every fowl of the air. Not this alone, but God hath beautifully clothed the grass of the field, and the lily of the valley.
God is thoughtful of all things which He created. To Jonah, He said, "Should I not spare Nineveh, that great city?" and then He gave as His plea, not only the "little ones" who were there, but also, the "much cattle."
It was God who sent out the wild ass free, and loosed its bands. It was He who made the wilderness his dwelling and the range of the mountains his pasture.
The Lord loves nature, loves it as it was before it was made subject to the curse for man's sake; loves it as it is in its present groanings and travailings; and, thank God, the time is soon coming when under Divine deliverance the earth shall be restored and blest and all nature, putting on its new dress, shall shout for joy.
III. THE CREATION OF MAN (Genesis 1:26-30)
1. God's supreme creation. When God created man, He created him in His own image. Man was made in God's image in various senses. We believe that he was also made physically in the image that Christ was destined to bear, when He came forth from the Father, made of a woman. There is a verse which says, "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly." When Christ comes again, and the saints are raised and raptured God will change these mortal and corruptible bodies into the likeness of Christ's resurrection body. Thus, twice shall we be made like Him, once as He was in His natural body, and yet again as He is in His Heavenly body.
In Heaven, we shall be like Him in a marvelous manner. We shall know as we are known; we shall be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. We shall be made higher than the angels.
2. God's preparation for His creation of man. Observe that it was after God had created all things for man's provision and comfort that He afterward created man. Man opened his eyes upon an earth fully equipped for his every temporal need. Nothing was lacking. It was a wonderful Garden of Eden which man beheld when he first lifted up his eyes.
No fond mother ever made such preparation for the expected advent of an offspring, as God made for the coming of Adam and Eve. God crammed earth with every conceivable blessing, all for man's happiness and contentment.
3. Man's dominion. God placed all things in subjection to man. Man was therefore the climax of creation. Supreme in his position and dominion, even as he was superior in the personality, with which he was Divinely endowed.
When sin entered the world, man lost his full dominion. He holds no more than a semblance of, his former glory. However, all that was lost in the sin of the first Adam, will be more than regained in the full and complete redemptive work of the Last Adam.
We see not yet all things put under His feet, but we see Christ exalted to the Father's right hand, and we soon shall see His supremacy fully established, and all thing's made subject to Him.
IV. THE COMPLETED TASK AND REST (Genesis 2:1-2)
The seventh day marked God's rest. As the six days passed, God, in review of each day's work could say, "It is good." With the creation completed, God rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had created and made.
1. That day of rest was soon broken by the advent of sin. Jesus Christ said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." When Satan entered in, the world which was so glorious and perfect was spoiled. God at once set about to recover man's lost estate. Not in a day was this to be accomplished. However, in the Garden when God pronounced the curse, He also pronounced the cure. He proclaimed that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. When Christ died upon the Cross, He cried, "It is finished," So did He complete the task that the Father had given Him to do.
With His work accomplished Christ went up to the Father's right hand and sat down. The far-reaching results of Christ's substitutionary sacrifice remains to be told, and to be seen, in the ages to come when Christ shall have put down all things under His feet, having redeemed all men who come to the Father through Him.
2. That first day of rest was prophetic of future rest. When Israel was saved out of Egypt God made known unto them His holy Sabbath Day, because they had obtained rest from their enemies, the Egyptians, The Sabbath, therefore, was given unto Israel for a sign between God and them, throughout all of their generations. Both they and the stranger that was in their gates were commanded to keep His Sabbath.
The Sabbath Day, however, had more than a backward look for Israel. The time is coming when Israel shall no longer, say, The Lord liveth who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, but, The Lord liveth who brought us out of all lands whither He hath driven them. Out of the land of the North, out of Russia, and Russian Poland, shall they come back home once more. They shall also come from the South, and from the East, and from the West, and from all nations whither they have been scattered. In that day shall Israel keep her Sabbaths, for "There remaineth therefore a rest (Sabbath keeping) to the people of God."
When Israel went into apostasy, the nation, wearied of the bondage of Sabbath keeping, said, "When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?" It was gone in the day that the sun went down at noon, and the earth was darkened even in the clear day (Amos 8:5; Amos 8:9).
V. SHOULD CHRISTIANS KEEP THE SEVENTH DAY? (Colossians 2:16-17)
1. There is a need for one day of rest in seven. The Sabbath was made for man, because man needs rest. This is also true of land and beast all need one day's rest.
2. The Jewish Sabbath was the seventh day. It was given to Israel as a command, and is grouped among the Ten Commandments. All of those Commandments were given to Israel and not to the nations round and about. A casual reading of Exodus 20:1-17 will show this. Under Grace, and to the Church, all of the Ten Commandments in one form or another (with the exception of the fourth) is restated. The fourth never is given to the Church.
3. The Epistles plainly state this: "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" (Romans 14:5-6).
The Epistles also say, "How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you" (Galatians 4:9-11).
The Sabbath Day was never changed to the first day of the week. The Sabbath was given to Israel as a memorial. The First Day of the week was early set aside as a memorial day of the Lord's resurrection. It was then that the saints came together to break bread; it was then that they laid by them in store as the Lord had prospered them.
AN ILLUSTRATION
How wonderful is God in His creation!
"When God would reveal to man the perfection of the minutest detail of His creation not even visible to the naked eye, He furnished him with ability to produce the microscope. With this the silky substance on the wing of the butterfly was found in reality to be beautiful feathers. Nothing new had taken place so far as the butterfly was concerned but an almost unbelievable fact was revealed to humanity concerning God's creation.
"When God would reveal His infinite power in the creation of things so vast as to baffle man with their immensity, He gave him wisdom to put on the market the telescope; and things never before dreamed of in human history were revealed. As we consider the vast dimensions of the sun, and its course of travel, how our little earth fades away into nothingness. Yet no change took place in the universe with the discovery of the telescope, rather another of His secrets was revealed.
"Excavations have been made in every land by all men of all ages, but when God found it necessary to prove the Divine authority of His Word to those who would not accept the Bible as final, without further evidence, things began to be unearthed that had escaped all the pick-axes and spades throughout the centuries. What priceless treasures have been discovered through archæological research! And yet there they lay buried deeply in the ground for thousands of years. One only wonders why men are not all on their faces before Him who is infinite in power, wisdom, and majesty. It seems at every fresh manifestation we would sink to our knees in deep humiliation mingled with adoration, acknowledging Him as the One who alone is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.