Genesis 1:5

Genesis 1:5 "God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day."

"God called the light Day" - God begins to name His creation. In Gen 2:19, Adam will continue in this work by naming the animals. In this way Adam is imitating God. This has been the plan of God from the beginning: That mankind would work the works of God, imitating Him perfectly. Now we, as redeemed man, have one goal: to understand what God is doing in the world and become imitators of God in those acts! A verse many of us know well is illustrative of this. Eph 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of what mankind was to be, and therefore thoroughly illustrated this concept. In John 9:4, Jesus says, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work." He also says in John 5:19 "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son does in like manner."

Of course, for you and I this is impossible without the work of the Holy Spirit. All work and toil that we attempt before God will come up empty unless we surrender fully to the Spirit, allowing Him to work in our stead. This is the secret to the victorious Christian life! If you desire this Spirit-filled life, you have but to do one thing... surrender yourself fully to the Lord. Say, "I am nothing. Come and fill me. I am finished with "religious" attempts to serve You. I deny myself and my pride."

"...Evening and morning were the first day." - Now this phrase has sparked a great debate within the church throughout the last 100 years. Some Christians believe the creation days of Genesis to be 24 hour periods, while others hold that a day is a longer period of time. Let me say that I do not believe it is the purpose of the Lord for us to get into this debate a great deal here. I will explain why I am not very dogmatic about either position and then leave it to you to decide.

First, the main arguments go like this: Those who believe the earth was created in six 24 hour days are called "young earth" theorists because they hold the actual age of the earth is from 4000- 10000 years old. Those who hold the earth was created over eons and that the "days" of Genesis are longer periods of time are called "old earth" theorists because they approximate the earth at around 4.3 billion years old. Young earth people criticize old earth people by saying they are not holding true to the literal understanding of the text. They say, "A day means a day. Don't try to argue away the natural reading of the text." Old earth people claim the young earth people are closing their eyes to the obvious evidence of science that the earth is very old. Geological features that have been calculated to take millions of years are visible on the earth. And light from distant stars that has taken millions of years of years to reach us is just now getting to our eyes. These are some of the general arguments that take place.

Now, if you know me, you know I hold to a literal understand of God's word. Of course there are figurative uses of language within the bible. When Jesus says "I am a door" for instance does not mean He is literally a door, but a figurative doorway for us to reach God. So when I tell you I don't really have a dogmatic opinion on the matter, don't brand me as a liberal. I will explain myself.

If you are new to the bible, you must know that the bible was written in Hebrew, an ancient Middle-Eastern language. The translation to English, a modern language from a totally different language root, is not always clear cut. Moreover, Hebrew is a very simple language compared to, say, Greek. There are only a few thousand words in the ancient Hebrew language, compared to millions in some other languages. Therefore, Hebrew words had to double up in their meanings. The reader of Hebrew would often know which meaning was intended by the context the word was written in. The problem is compounded by the amount of time that has gone by between then and now. Customs have been lost, and much vernacular (common words and phrases used at a certain time in a languages history. Ex: Think of the word "cool" today) has been lost. Now please understand that scholars have done a tremendous job translating the bible you have now in English. The general meaning of text and certainly the theology has been pristinely preserved for us thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit. But there are some words whose meaning we will just not be able to get perfect.

We know the word for "day" in the Hebrew certainly does mean a 24 hour period of time. (Young earthers rejoice) But it also can mean a longer period of time. (Old earthers smile) An example in English is your grandfather saying, "In my day we didn't have email!" Can the bible be taken literally with either meaning? Yes it can. If you want to argue with me, lets have a good discussion, but my conscience is not seared by allowing this as a viable option. The problem I have is when the church divides over the issue. Christ can be glorified if, in love, we use the issue as a vehicle to drive us to the word of God. But you run the name of Christ through the mud when in your pride you argue dogmatically over this issue. There are too many other important doctrines to stand for in this backwards world. The bible warns us there will be many false teachers that come in the last days. Trust me, these false teachers are not going to try to get Christians to believe in an old earth! They will try to steer them away from the deity of Jesus Christ or some other primary doctrine of the church. Debate?... sure. Be dogmatic?... No.

Genesis 1:4

Gen 1:4-5 "And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. So the evening and morning were the first day."

"And God saw the light, that it was good..." - More anthropomorphic language. Did a God who can see all things specifically need to turn His attention to the light? No. But it certainly helps us to understand these concepts.

The light is considered "good" by God. In what way was the light "good"? Was it simply beautiful to look upon or did it have other qualities that made it "good"?

Using scripture to understand scripture, we can determine that there are three ways light is "good". The light is "good" in that it is:

1. Pleasant to the eye
2. Of high moral quality
3. Innocent

Pleasant to the eye - The Hebrew word for "good" is tobe - meaning "Good, pleasant, agreeable." This word has many different uses in Hebraic literature, but is always generally associated with the English word "good." Heaven is described as a place where there is no night (Rev 22:5). In stark contrast, Jesus describes the conditions of hell as "outer darkness." (Mt 8:12, 22; 22:13; 25:30)

Of High Moral Quality - Some might ask, "But how can light have moral attributes? Is it not morally neutral?" When viewed in scripture, it seems light is special in that symbolically (and possibly metaphysically), it contains moral attributes. Consider these verse and decide for yourself:

• John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
• 1 Thes 5:4-5 "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness."

I would argue that the word of God sees light as more than simply symbolic in its "goodness". There are attributes of light that seem to contain good on a metaphysical level. For instance, amongst humankind, there is a higher level of depression and suicide where there is less light. Most crime is commited at night. Does our human behavior reflect this metaphysical quality of light? I believe it does.

Innocent - The light was "good" in that it, like the rest of creation was innocent at its birth. However, this changed at the fall of man. Now, again, you may ask, "How can a created entity with no moral choice be regarded as in need of redemption?" I would be right with you in thinking this was simply preposterous, if it weren't for the book of Romans.

Let me first allow Paul, the human author of Romans, to explain the fall of man (which we will cover in Genesis chapter 3).

Rom 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned -" (Italics mine) (Note: If it seems like that verse ended too abruptly, it did. Paul is explaining some very deep theological concepts very quickly, jumping from thought to thought. This is very typical of the book of Romans. It is filled with incredible theology, but seems to jump from concept to concept very quickly.)

The concept Paul is speaking about here is that through Adam's sin (Genesis 3), sin spread to all humanity. But how does this apply to non-human creation? Keep following:

Rom 8:19 "For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs until now." (Italics mine)

Now, lets break down this interesting verse and see how it relates to us in Genesis. To do so, I am going to spoil the story... so if you have not read Genesis yet, read the next few chapters first, then come back to this blog. Here is what happened in a nutshell:

• Man (Adam) was given dominion over the whole world. It was not only his priviledge, it was his responsibility. (Gen 2:15, 18)
• Man (Adam and Eve) sinned. (Gen 3) This brought death into the world. (Gen 2:17; Rom 5:12)
• Creation, which was given over to man, suffered man's fate. (Gen 3:17, 18) Death came upon creation. This is why creation dies. (Note: All creation "dies" even though it all animate or "alive." Geological formations erode, planets and stars "die". But does light "die"? Yes it does! What "kills" it are called black holes!)
• Creation, like man, will be restored when God makes an end of sin and death at Christ's second coming.

Matthew Henry - "Light is the great beauty and blessing of the universe. Like the first-born, it does, of all visible beings, most resemble its great Parent in purity and power, brightness and beneficence; it is of great affinity with a spirit, and is next to it; though by it we see other things, and are sure that it is, yet we know not its nature, nor can describe what it is, or by what way the light is parted..."

"...And God divided the light from the darkness."

This verse sets some great precedents for the rest of scripture:

1. God is the great "Divider" of light (good) and darkness (evil).
2. As followers of God, we are to be in the light, and have no fellowship with darkness.
3. Light (good) and darkness (evil) will only co-exist until Christ returns.

1. God is the great "Divider" of light and darkness.

Jesus Christ is the dividing point between heaven and hell, salvation and damnation, and God's children and the children of darkness. There are two types of people in this world: Those who have received by faith the gift that Jesus has offered the world, and those who have not. Consider Jesus' teaching about how He comes to divide:

Mt 10:34-39 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father; a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."

Let's break this passage down to understand Christ's role as "Divider."

He starts out with a puzzling statement: "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth." Critics would say He is making a contradictory statement to several other biblical concepts and statements by Jesus. For instance, in Isaiah 9:6 Jesus is prophesied as being the "Prince of Peace." In Luke19:42, Jesus says, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for peace!" Jesus is calling out to the Jews to receive Him as their king that they may have peace. Certainly there are many other verses where Jesus is described as giving peace.

So then, what does Jesus mean by peace in this verse? Is there a "bad" peace, meaning one that Christians are not supposed to have, in the bible?

Let's tackle the second question first. The short answer is "Yes, there is a 'bad' peace." Very often in the old testament, false prophets would be proclaiming peace to the nation of Israel when God was about to punish them for their greivous sin. For example:

• Jer 6:14 "They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying, 'Peace, Peace!' When there is no peace."

God's goal was repentance for His people. If they would not repent, God's judgement was coming. They needed to act, but these false prophets were "healing" the people by saying, "Don't worry about it! You are ok, I am ok." There are times when the Lord does not want us at peace because He wants us to feel the weight of our sin and run to our Savior. This is not a true peace at all, but the sin of complacency!

Now, for the first question asked. In Matthew 10:34, Jesus is speaking about the false peace of complacency within a family containing believers and unbelievers. As a believer in such a family, there is a very strong urge to not look any different than the people around you. But Jesus rejects this as a viable Christian lifestyle. He says, in effect, "By your very nature you will divide your family when I enter your heart. You need to embrace it. You must love them, but you cannot deny you are inherently different from them." He goes on to say that if we love our family so much that we will not live for Jesus within the family, then we are not worthy of Him. This is a harsh statement. I must honestly say I don't know what it means exactly. But it is meant to take us out of complacency and to live completely sold out lives.

In the passage, Christ is clearly saying he is a "Divider" of families. The reason is that as the gospel message is shared, some will receive it with gladness, others will outright reject it. It is Jesus Christ Himself who is the dividing point. Peter puts it best:

• 1 Pet 2:7-8 "Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed."

How difficult and sad it is when a believer lives in a family that refuses to receive Jesus Christ. Some of the most fervent prayers come from the longing of the believer to see the family that he or she loves more than any other to come to Jesus. There is certainly going to be turmoil, but stand strong in the love of Christ and He will see you through!

2. As followers of God, we are to be in the light, and have no fellowship with darkness.

The fact that the Lord divided the light and the darkness is a foreshadowing of the world to come. Today, in the world around us, there is a light and darkness to the world. If you are a Christian, you have chosen the "light" of Jesus Christ and refused the darkness. The difficulty is that this is a life-long battle. I would like to look at some verses that speak to us about the light and darkness in the world and what we should do about it.

• John 8:12 "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world." He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
• 2 Corinthians 6:14 "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?"
• 1 Thess 5:5-8 "You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation."
• 1 John 1:5-7 "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowshipwith one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

3. Light (good) and darkness (evil) will only co-exist until Christ returns.

It was already stated earlier that God's division of light and dark is a foreshadowing of the world to come. God created a sinless world, but as we shall see in a few chapters, it does not stay that way. The wonderful news from the word of God is that though we currently live in a world beset by a conflict of good and evil, the Lord will overcome it in the end.

• Rev 22:5 "There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever."

Lord come quickly and bring this to reality!

Andrew Murray - "I know I am speaking in vain to anyone who is pretty well contented with himself. Anyone who says, "I am an earnest Christian; I am doing my best. I am not what I ought to be, but I do fairly well." If there is anyone who thinks that way I do not have much hope in them taking this critical step. But if there is one who says, "I do feel sinful, I do feel wretched; I cannot live this low kind of life any longer. I have denied my Lord Jesus too often already by many things I have done-- but now no longer. I have tried hard but have failed. I now see the root of it all. Self has been seeking to conquer its own evil works and has just been getting stronger all the time." Come, by beloved friend, and bring self and lay it at the feet of Jesus. Cast it into His very bosom and believe now that the Son of God is coming into you to be a new self, to be your very life, because He will live in you by His Holy Spirit."

Genesis 1:3

Gen 1:3 "Then God said, "Let there be light"' and there was light."

Creation is in perfect submission to its creator.


"Then God said..." - Did God need to speak to creation to create it? Why couldn't he have simply thought creation into existence? There are two reasons why this exact expression is used here:

1. Anthropomorphic - The phrase is figurative language used to describe something God is doing on a human level. The greatest scientists and thinkers in the world would not be able to comprehend the proceses involved with God creating the world out of nothing. Is 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are My ways your ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Nevertheless, God has given us some means to unserstand Him by describing His incomprehensible acts with language we can understand.



2. Theological - This means the expression "God said" is teaching us something about who God is. Think about it this way:

In this illustration, God, represented by the circle, is acting through his words to create. Now, consider this verse, speaking about Jesus Christ: Col 1:16 "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." (Italics mine)


So Paul understood it this way:
Therefore, it could be said: "Jesus is God's Word." John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

So the bible specifically says God speaks creation into existence because His words are actually Christ creating the world.

Now here is Jesus in the third verse of the bible. To recap:

1. God (the Father) - Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God..."
2. Holy Spirit - Genesis 1:2 "And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."
3. Jesus - Genesis 1:3 "Then God said..."

There, in the first three verses of the bible, is the Triune God!

Andrew Murray - "If you do not deny self utterly you will find yourself denying Jesus every day. You will tell the world, "I have nothing to do with Jesus just now; I am pleasing myself."

Genesis 1:2

Gen 1:2 "The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

"Without Form and Void" - A Hebrew phrase used only one other time in the bible. Jer 4:23 "I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void." God uses this phrase in an interesting way in Jeremiah. Certainly the context in Jeremiah is Israel's sin and the coming judgement of God upon the land. Jeremiah describes the destruction he prophetically sees in Israel's future. There are a few possibilites for describing this prophetic destruction with the phrase "Without form and void."

1. The destruction was so complete that the land would look like it did prior to the creation of the world.
2. The phrase has a moral connotation to it, describing not just a physical destruction, but a moral depravity of the land.

However complete the destruction of the land of Israel during the Babylonian invasion, this phrase seems unlikely to simply describe the extent of destruction. Rather, it is very possible there is a moral connection to this phrase. In Gen 1:2, we have a description of a dark "world" which has yet to experience the light of God. The figurative uses of "light" and "dark" do not need to be described, because they have the same connotation across culture and language. Could it be then that Israel was to experience a moral destruction and "darkness" consistent with the dark, formless earth prior to God's creative action bringing order to the chaos.

"...Darkness was over the face of the deep..." - Contrasted with the work God is about to perform... Gen 1:3 "Let there be light."

"deep" - Heb: tehom. Deep, deep ocean, etc. Liberal scholars have attempted to syncretize the bible with the Mesopotamian creation story Enuma Elish. They claim the word tehom has a connection with the Mesoptamian god "Tiamat". I bring it up here to illustrate some of the attempts scholars have made to descredit the word of God. I do not believe inspiration of scripture even needs to be defended from this ridiculous theory.

"...And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

"Spirit of God" - The third person in the Trinity is in view here. This is significant because we have seen God the Father, credited in the overall act of creation in Gen 1:1. Now, in the second verse of the bible, is the Spirit. Will the Son appear in our text? Keep reading... let's explore the next few verses together! Now this brings up a very good question posed by someone who commented on this blog:

Q: How was the Holy Spirit viewed by Israel in the Old Testament?

A: To answer this question is not an easy task. In fact, I must begin with the disappointment that there is no way to positively answer the question. When attempting to reconstruct the collective mind of a people who lived long ago, we can make a hardy attempt, but in the end, it will only be conjecture.

With that said, let's break down the issue and discuss how we will attempt to bring light to it.

We will want to concern ourselves with three main groups and attempt to understand their frame of mind:

1. The Old Testament writers.
2. The subsequent, Jewish commentators on the Old Testament.
3. The people living during the Old Testament, (Ancient Israelites).

#3 Let us begin by saying that #3 is silent. They would have been hopefully swayed by the writers of the Old Testament, who in turn wrote with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But that is like saying "Christians today believe and follow what the bible says about the Holy Spirit." Certainly, there is a percentage today of those who understand some deep things about the Spirit, but for the most part, the church today is ignorant of the word of God regarding the Holy Spirit. How could we say, then, that the common Israelite understood what the word of God was saying about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament? Therefore, #3 is silent and we have no other sources from them.

#2 What did the Rabbis say about the Holy Spirit after the Old Testament was written? (Now, you may ask, "Was there anyone commenting on the Old Testament during the time it was written?" The answer is, if there was, we don't have it today.) The works of the rabbis come in several sources; the most notable being the Talmud. Let us take a look at what the rabbis had to say about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Get ready to dig in to some linguistics for this one!

We will divide #2 into two separate sections. One (a) will discuss the word "Spirit" in Hebrew and how the rabbis viewed it. The other (b) will be concerned with the "Spirit of God" or "Spirit of the Lord". The rabbis viewed these as distinct and separate.

(a) As a general principal, most rabbi's believed, and still do, that the Hebrew word for "Spirit" - Ru-ach - simply meant "breath." This breath is what is required for living beings to be created. So, in Gen 1:2, the "breath" of was present for the work of creating life that was about to take place. Therefore, the Spirit of God is not a personal Being and member of the Trinity. Rather, it is a created force used in giving life to God's creation. According to the rabbis, each person has ru-ach in them. When the ru-ach leaves, they die.

The rabbis also had to come to grips with the fact that sometimes the word ru-ach was used as more than simply a life-giving force. For instance, the ru-ach came upon Samson and gave him incredible strength (Jdg 14:6). In my studies so far, I have come across no explanation for this by the rabbis. They simply say it is sometimes life-giving, and sometimes power-giving.

In conslusion, one rabbi wrote in the Talmud, (Hag. 12a, b) "The Spirit was among the ten things that were created on the first day." The overall view is of this ru-ach being a created force rather than uncreated and eternal God.

(b) The terms "Spirit of God" or "Spirit of the Lord" (Ru-ach Elohim or Ru-ach Yahweh) were believed to be separate than simply ru-ach on most instances. In the Talmud, they changed these terms to Shekinah, which can be translated "presence." They believed Ru-ach Elohim or Ru-ach Yahweh were phrases which referred to the physical manifestation of God on earth. For instance, the Shekinah is the presence of God which dwelt in the Holy of Holies in the temple.

(Section #2 is from http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ Search: "Holy Spirit")

#1 The Old Testament writers, whether they knew it or not, portrayed a completely different understanding of the Holy Spirit. I would like to study the Shema, a famous text that was used frequently during Israelite worship:

Deut 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" (Italics mine)

As a quick note, the Shema is so called because it is the first word in the phrase, translated "Hear." But what I would like us to see is the final clause, "The Lord is one.!" The Hebrew for the word "one" is Echad. This word surely means "one", but it is a bit more complicated than that. The word describes compound unity, in other words, when two things become one. For instance, in Gen2:24 it says, "And they shall be one [achad] flesh." This verse is describing that the man and woman are to be united into one in God's eyes. Though they are distinctly two, they are one before the Lord. Therefore, the word achad describes compound unity. There is a different Hebrew word that describes singular unity. It is the word yachad. It is fascinating that yachad is not the word used in Deut 6:4.

The plurality of God is further emphasized by the fact that one of the names for God here is Elohim. See The post for Gen 1:1 for further on that word.

(Section #1 is partially from "Living Water" by Chuck Smith, pages 25 and 26)

Andrew Murray - Self-will rules in the life of every natural man. He says, "I do what I like and I have a right to do what I like." But I find that among Christians there are hundreds who, if you should ask, "Did you ever understand that when you became a Christian it was on the condition that you promise never to seek your own will?" would tell you they never understood that. But that is just what Christ demands. You are to do nothing but what God wills. You are to give up your will; self is to have no say in your life. That is the whole secret of salvation.