-4-
How Big is God (part III)
Genesis 1:14-19
Genesis 1:14 ¶ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
15 “and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 Then 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.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
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.
19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
The large ball of matter that God has called 'Earth', was literally hung in space. It was not rotating, nor was it going anywhere. God let his light shine upon it and caused it to begin rotating. He lifted much of the water covering it … up above the atmosphere (which he evidently also created).
The waters above the atmosphere … above the 'firmament' … served a number of purposes. Very likely the firmament of water above the earth is the explanation for more abundant vegetation, larger creatures, longer lifespans and a moderate climate over the entire earth.
Because I am not God I cannot give a multiplicity of other effects this canopy of water would have had on the planet.
But there was another reason for the water. We will talk more about it when we study about the flood and Noah's ark.
God Creates the Universe
Let there be lights in the firmament … in the atmosphere? We know that the lights that He is about to create are far beyond our atmosphere. So when God says, In the firmament, He means one of two things.
I, personally, hold to the last meaning
Verse 14 mentions two of the purposes that these lights served:
Here is a definition that 'pops' up when you google, 'definition universe' :
u·ni·verse ˈyo͞onəˌvərs/ noun
An expanding universe is supposed to be proof of a big bang. Proponents of this view note that the rate of expansion is 'just right'. In other words … suppose the explosion was a bit smaller. All the matter would have gone outward for a while, stopped going outward .. and then started falling inward right away. Life on earth would never have evolved. Or suppose that the bang was too big. The particles and pieces of molten rock would have gone too far … escaped all gravitational pull and just kept going outward infinitely into space. No orbits would ever have been formed. The pieces would just move outward forever. But they say the blast was just right … and at a certain point in time the earth was just far enough away to sustain life. Some creationists say that is when God did the six days of creation. Does this sound logical? Is there anything wrong with that kind of thinking?
Yes, simply this … It places the claims of 'science' over that Bible. The bible says the earth was created before the stars. The big bang creationist must take the view that the stars and universe were created billions of years before life came to earth. Basically, the Genesis account becomes a myth for them.
Genesis is part of the Bible. If it contains myth … what else is myth? Can we really trust any of it? Taking the ‘science’ view is taking a huge risk regarding the trustworthiness of scripture.
And God called it 'Good'. This was day four.
God speaks again and says, …“Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” (verse 20)
God created every variety (kind) of sea creature and bird that has ever existed. Did He create just two of each kind and command them to multiply? Possibly. But He may have created quite an abundance of them all at once. In verse 22 He commands them to fill the earth and sea.
How Many Marine Species Are There?
According to Emily Tripp, November 18, 2012 in Marine Life wrote:
A unique study conducted by 270 taxonomists from 32 countries has determined that there are about one million species in the ocean. … we only know about 1/3 of the species in existence
In verse 21 the KJV mentions whales.
21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
The largest known sea creature today is the blue whale. It grows to over 100 feet long and up to 150 tons. It can consume up to 6 tons of Krill in one day.
But the word 'whales' in the King James is translated (accurately) as 'sea creatures', as other translations render it.
Job mentions a sea creature:
1) leviathan, sea monster, dragon
1a) large aquatic animal
1b) perhaps the extinct dinosaur, plesiosaurus, exact meaning unknown
Some think this to be a crocodile but from the description in Job 41:1-34 this is patently absurd. It appears to be a large fire breathing animal of some sort. Just as the bombardier beetle has an explosion producing mechanism, so the great sea dragon may have an explosive producing mechanism to enable it to be a real fire breathing dragon.
Look at God’s description of this creature.
Job 41:1 ¶ "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words?
4 Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life?
5 Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?
6 Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
9 Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering.
10 No-one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me?
11 ¶ Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12 "I will not fail to speak of his limbs, his strength and his graceful form.
13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle?
14 Who dares open the doors of his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth?
15 His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.
1717 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.
18 His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck; dismay goes before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
24 His chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.
25 When he rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before his thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
27 Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make him flee; slingstones are like chaff to him.
29 A club seems to him but a piece of straw; he laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing-sledge.
31 He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature without fear.
34 He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud."
Leviathan! … not yet extinct in Job's time, which was after the great flood.
God created everything in the sea … and all species of birds.
Then God (Elohim) blessed them and said, 22 “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
That was the fifth day.
24 ¶ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
Genesis mentions the creation of land creatures by category;
I tend to agree that cattle means livestock and likely takes in all of the animals that God was going to call 'clean' when He was giving the law to Moses and Israel.
Beasts would include all others, even dinosaurs. In verse 25 the list is in a different order. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
On the third day God had created the grass of the fields.
On Day six He made the animals that would feed on the grass.
The 'cattle' are mentioned separately. Not only to show a distinction between wild and domesticated. The cattle type of mammals would be used for sacrifices at a later time.
For personal use these were divided between clean and unclean. Statements are made that the life of the flesh is in the blood. For this reason we do not eat (drink) blood. It was to be viewed as sacred.
The early church had to resolve an issue which developed over an historical-cultural difference between Jews and non-Jews coming into the same church. The early Jewish Christians had been programmed to not eat blood. Not so with the gentile Christians. Those with Jewish/biblical backgrounds found this blood eating to be repulsive and just … wrong! After the conference was over the bottom line was this:
Ac 15:20 "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
Jehovah's witnesses refuse to take blood transfusions because, in their understanding, this is the same as eating blood. This is based on the scripture which states, the life of all flesh is in the blood …
There is a scripture that sums up the importance of a literal command and ties it to a spiritual fulfillment.
John 6:53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
The shedding of blood is a term used in place of the word death. Death did not exist before 'the fall', that is, before Adam and Eve sinned.
But one might argue, … Just a minute! Adam was told to eat ‘of the fruit’ of the garden. As he would eat from a 'living' tree … would he not be killing actual cells? Could he not have 'accidentally' stepped on an ant? That would be death for sure wouldn't it?
Nothing is mentioned about plant blood. Or insect blood. In one sense, plants and insects are not said to 'have life'. And physical death of mammals did not occur before the fall. Physical death of plants, or the individual cells of plants occurred as the animals would eat them. Physical death of fruit or the cells comprising it, occurred when Adam ate it. But this was not called death.
Adam died both spiritually and physically when he sinned. Much more about this will be looked at when we get to that chapter.
On the sixth day God created livestock, And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.
God also created humans on the sixth day … but that is for the next study.
15 “and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 Then 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.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
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.
19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
The large ball of matter that God has called 'Earth', was literally hung in space. It was not rotating, nor was it going anywhere. God let his light shine upon it and caused it to begin rotating. He lifted much of the water covering it … up above the atmosphere (which he evidently also created).
The waters above the atmosphere … above the 'firmament' … served a number of purposes. Very likely the firmament of water above the earth is the explanation for more abundant vegetation, larger creatures, longer lifespans and a moderate climate over the entire earth.
Because I am not God I cannot give a multiplicity of other effects this canopy of water would have had on the planet.
But there was another reason for the water. We will talk more about it when we study about the flood and Noah's ark.
God Creates the Universe
Let there be lights in the firmament … in the atmosphere? We know that the lights that He is about to create are far beyond our atmosphere. So when God says, In the firmament, He means one of two things.
- He may be speaking of the second heaven (outer space) and including it in the firmament. In which I can see where some bible commentators believe that the water from earth was sent to the outer edge of the universe.
- Or He may be using the phrase 'in the firmament' from the viewpoint of someone standing on earth and looking up, seeing stars 'in the sky'. Technically there are no stars in the sky … they are far beyond the sky. But from man's viewpoint, all of these bodies that God is creating are 'in the sky'.
I, personally, hold to the last meaning
Verse 14 mentions two of the purposes that these lights served:
- lights to rule the day and lights to rule the night
- Lights to mark off signs, seasons, days and years.
Here is a definition that 'pops' up when you google, 'definition universe' :
u·ni·verse ˈyo͞onəˌvərs/ noun
- all existing matter and space considered as a whole; the cosmos. The universe is believed to be at least 10 billion light years in diameter and contains a vast number of galaxies; it has been expanding since its creation in the Big Bang about 13 billion years ago.
An expanding universe is supposed to be proof of a big bang. Proponents of this view note that the rate of expansion is 'just right'. In other words … suppose the explosion was a bit smaller. All the matter would have gone outward for a while, stopped going outward .. and then started falling inward right away. Life on earth would never have evolved. Or suppose that the bang was too big. The particles and pieces of molten rock would have gone too far … escaped all gravitational pull and just kept going outward infinitely into space. No orbits would ever have been formed. The pieces would just move outward forever. But they say the blast was just right … and at a certain point in time the earth was just far enough away to sustain life. Some creationists say that is when God did the six days of creation. Does this sound logical? Is there anything wrong with that kind of thinking?
Yes, simply this … It places the claims of 'science' over that Bible. The bible says the earth was created before the stars. The big bang creationist must take the view that the stars and universe were created billions of years before life came to earth. Basically, the Genesis account becomes a myth for them.
Genesis is part of the Bible. If it contains myth … what else is myth? Can we really trust any of it? Taking the ‘science’ view is taking a huge risk regarding the trustworthiness of scripture.
And God called it 'Good'. This was day four.
God speaks again and says, …“Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” (verse 20)
God created every variety (kind) of sea creature and bird that has ever existed. Did He create just two of each kind and command them to multiply? Possibly. But He may have created quite an abundance of them all at once. In verse 22 He commands them to fill the earth and sea.
How Many Marine Species Are There?
According to Emily Tripp, November 18, 2012 in Marine Life wrote:
A unique study conducted by 270 taxonomists from 32 countries has determined that there are about one million species in the ocean. … we only know about 1/3 of the species in existence
In verse 21 the KJV mentions whales.
21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
The largest known sea creature today is the blue whale. It grows to over 100 feet long and up to 150 tons. It can consume up to 6 tons of Krill in one day.
But the word 'whales' in the King James is translated (accurately) as 'sea creatures', as other translations render it.
Job mentions a sea creature:
1) leviathan, sea monster, dragon
1a) large aquatic animal
1b) perhaps the extinct dinosaur, plesiosaurus, exact meaning unknown
Some think this to be a crocodile but from the description in Job 41:1-34 this is patently absurd. It appears to be a large fire breathing animal of some sort. Just as the bombardier beetle has an explosion producing mechanism, so the great sea dragon may have an explosive producing mechanism to enable it to be a real fire breathing dragon.
Look at God’s description of this creature.
Job 41:1 ¶ "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words?
4 Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life?
5 Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?
6 Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
9 Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering.
10 No-one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me?
11 ¶ Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12 "I will not fail to speak of his limbs, his strength and his graceful form.
13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle?
14 Who dares open the doors of his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth?
15 His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.
1717 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.
18 His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck; dismay goes before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
24 His chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.
25 When he rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before his thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
27 Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make him flee; slingstones are like chaff to him.
29 A club seems to him but a piece of straw; he laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing-sledge.
31 He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature without fear.
34 He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud."
Leviathan! … not yet extinct in Job's time, which was after the great flood.
God created everything in the sea … and all species of birds.
Then God (Elohim) blessed them and said, 22 “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
That was the fifth day.
24 ¶ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
Genesis mentions the creation of land creatures by category;
- cattle
- creeping things
- beasts
I tend to agree that cattle means livestock and likely takes in all of the animals that God was going to call 'clean' when He was giving the law to Moses and Israel.
Beasts would include all others, even dinosaurs. In verse 25 the list is in a different order. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
On the third day God had created the grass of the fields.
On Day six He made the animals that would feed on the grass.
The 'cattle' are mentioned separately. Not only to show a distinction between wild and domesticated. The cattle type of mammals would be used for sacrifices at a later time.
For personal use these were divided between clean and unclean. Statements are made that the life of the flesh is in the blood. For this reason we do not eat (drink) blood. It was to be viewed as sacred.
The early church had to resolve an issue which developed over an historical-cultural difference between Jews and non-Jews coming into the same church. The early Jewish Christians had been programmed to not eat blood. Not so with the gentile Christians. Those with Jewish/biblical backgrounds found this blood eating to be repulsive and just … wrong! After the conference was over the bottom line was this:
Ac 15:20 "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
Jehovah's witnesses refuse to take blood transfusions because, in their understanding, this is the same as eating blood. This is based on the scripture which states, the life of all flesh is in the blood …
There is a scripture that sums up the importance of a literal command and ties it to a spiritual fulfillment.
John 6:53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
The shedding of blood is a term used in place of the word death. Death did not exist before 'the fall', that is, before Adam and Eve sinned.
But one might argue, … Just a minute! Adam was told to eat ‘of the fruit’ of the garden. As he would eat from a 'living' tree … would he not be killing actual cells? Could he not have 'accidentally' stepped on an ant? That would be death for sure wouldn't it?
Nothing is mentioned about plant blood. Or insect blood. In one sense, plants and insects are not said to 'have life'. And physical death of mammals did not occur before the fall. Physical death of plants, or the individual cells of plants occurred as the animals would eat them. Physical death of fruit or the cells comprising it, occurred when Adam ate it. But this was not called death.
Adam died both spiritually and physically when he sinned. Much more about this will be looked at when we get to that chapter.
On the sixth day God created livestock, And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.
God also created humans on the sixth day … but that is for the next study.