Genesis 1:14-19

Day Four: Chronology (Genesis 1:14-19)

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, 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. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day

1. Evidently we have here the account of the genesis of chronology, the measurement of time. On this day the sun, moon and stars were bidden to give light for the earth, and were appointed as timepieces, for signs, seasons, days and years.
2. This does not necessarily mean that the heavenly bodies were brought into existence at this time. It is our conviction that the various systems of suns and planets and satellites had all been passing through the same formative processes as that which had brought into existence our own planetary system. Milligan (SR, 29): There is nothing in the text that implies that they were just then created.They had doubtless existed in some state, as had the earth, from the beginning. But on the fourth day the clouds were most likely dispersed, and the atmosphere became perfectly transparent, and these luminaries then became visible from the earth; and hence this was the most suitable time that could have been selected for making them our chronometers.

3. This section obviously refers to the appearance of sun, moon and stars in the firmament, in such a way as to be plainly discernible to the naked eye of an observer upon the earth. During this entire period, the atmosphere was gradually being purified. Plants continued to grow in this humid environment, although the source of the rapidly increasing light was probably not apparent for some time; however, plant growth itself, by absorption, assisted in the complete dissipation of the enveloping vapors, so that the heavenly bodies finally appeared in full view in the firmament.

4. Note that the Divine decree was not, Let the luminaries be brought into existence; it was, rather, Let the sun, moon and stars give light upon the earth.This was necessary in order for them to be appointed as our timepieces. Note our word appointednot created. This means that these celestial luminaries which had been in process of creation from the beginning were now divinely appointed as the instruments for man's use in measuring signs (the zodiac?) and seasons, and days and years; just as the rainbow which had existed from the beginning in the relationship between the sun's rays and the rainfall, was in Noah's day divinely appointed to be the sign of His covenant that He would never again destroy man with the waters of a flood (Genesis 9:8-17); and just as the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine, which had existed from the beginning, were appointed by our Lord to be the appropriate emblems of His offering of His body and His blood on the Cross of Calvary for the redemption of mankind (1 Corinthians 11:23-33).

In order to adapt to his present environment, man has need of the sequence of day and night, of seedtime and harvest, of the times and the seasons. For practical ends, he must have norms for the measurement of space and time. However, mathematical time must be distinguished from real time. Whereas the former is measured, the latter is experienced: it is the very intensity of life, as e.g., the soldier who will say, on coming out of battle, I feel as though I have lived a lifetime in the last few hours. This experience of the intensity of living affords one at least a faint glimmer of the meaning of eternity as timelessness.

FOR MEDITATION AND SERMONIZING

The Primordial Darkness a Metaphor of the Unconverted Soul

The thick darkness of the first day of the Creation is a fit metaphor of the darkness of the unconverted soul. In the beginning the world was (1) without order.It was in a state of formlessness and emptiness. So the unconverted soul lives in a state of spiritual formlessness and emptiness, a condition which requires a special Divine arranging in order to bring harmony and beauty out of this formlessness (1 Corinthians 2:14). (2) Without light.In the beginning there was thick darkness everywhere. So the unconverted soul walks in darkness (Ephesians 4:17-19) devoid of that true spiritual light which came down from heaven to illumine the emptiness of men's hearts (John 1:4-9, 2 Corinthians 4:4-6). One may be alive to culture, to education, to science, to social problems, to political issues, but unless one is born again, born of water and the Spirit, he is spiritually dead (John 3:1-6). (3) Without life.There were no indications of life in the great deep until the Holy Spirit began to brood upon the face of the waters. So, until the human soul yields itself to the quickening impulse of the Holy Spirit, it is dead in its own trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1, Romans 3:23). Persistence in such a course leads ultimately to eternal separation from God and from the glory of his might (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10, Revelation 20:14). -(4) Yet not beyond the limits of Divine grace.As the Holy Spirit brooded over primeval darkness, so He broods today over unconverted souls, longing for the proclamation of the Word to introduce light, life, order, and beauty; by wholeheartedly responding to the Divine Word; all who thus hear and obey the Gospel are made partakers of the divine nature (Romans 10:8-10; Romans 10:17; 2 Peter 1:4).

Darkness was upon the face of the deep until God said, Let there be light. A beautiful symbol of the appearance of the true Light who lighteth the world. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not (John 1:4-5; John 14:5). When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the world of men was enshrouded in spiritual darkness (Romans 1:18-32). Judaism had become hopelessly encrusted with sheer formalism and traditionalism. So-called natural: religion had failed. Current philosophies did not assuage the pessimism in men's souls. Stoicism, Hedonism, Libertinism, Epicureanism, Cynicism, and the other isms, had served their day and been found wanting. The whole World was under condemnation, lost, in danger of perishing (John 3:16-17). Then cometh Jesusthe world's hope, the Light and life of mankind, and the only Light and Life of mankind.

Light as a Metaphor of the Gospel

1. Light and the Gospel are analogous, as regards (1) their source, God; (2) their nature, which is, in each case, to shine, to illumine, to dispel darkness; (3) their effect.Light simply shines: it does not have to be advertised. What would you think of a man who would put a sign on a lighthouse, reading This is a lighthouse? What would humanity do without light? What would the world be without the Gospel?

2. God's gift of light resembles His gift of the Gospel, in that (1) both are pure, (2) both are free, (3) both are universal, (4) both are gentle, (5) both are pervasive, (6) both are indispensable, (7) both are transcendent, (8) both are satisfying.

3. It is the will of God: (1) that all men shall have the light of salvation. God despises both physical and moral darkness. To dissipate moral darkness, He sent His Son, His Spirit, His Church, His ministers, etc. (2) That His Church shall be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3). God does not expect the world to be spiritually enlightened by literary, philosophical, cultural, or social service societies; nor by clubs, lodges, or secular schools; nor by the social gospel, eugenics, fraternalism, or any other human instrumentality in itself. God expects the world to be spiritually enlightened by His Church, and only by His Church, which is the habitation of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). As Christ was the Incarnation of the Father, so the Church is the Incarnation of the Son (Ephesians 1:23). There is no substitute for the Church of the living God. (3) That the whole worldall peoplesshall be illumined by the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ. The twofold mission of the Church is that of preserving the Truth of God and proclaiming it unto all the nations (Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 60:19; Hebrews 2:14; 1 Timothy 3:15; Matthew 28:18-20; Matthew 24:14).

Have you the light of Divine grace in your heart? Can you truly sing,

The light of the world is Jesus?

Once I was blind, but now I see

Is your soul so flooded with Gospel light that you can peacefully wait for the morning (Psalms 130:6)? Are you letting your light shine before men? Are you truly a living epistle of Christ?

In the beginning, God

God createdGod saidGod sawGod calledGod madeGod setGod blessedalways there is God. Godthe explanation of all things; without Him, there is no ultimate explanation of anything.
Joseph Parker (PBG): I claim no finality; I scorn no other man's thinking; I had a universe given me to account for. One man told me that it was to be accounted for by chance, and I feltthat he was a fool. I had human life given me to account for, in all zones and climes, in all ages and seas and lands. I studied it. One man told me it was to be accounted for by the law of averages, and I felt that he was a fool. I had the Bible to account for. I read it straight through, and I was told by one man that it happened to come together just as it is, that there is no purpose in it, no organic spiritual genius and unity, and that it was a gathering up of fragments that have no mutual relation; and as I read the thing, as it got into me and made my blood tingle, I felt that he, too, was a fool. Then I came to this revelation, In the beginning, GodGod, not a name only, but. a character, a spirit, a life, a reality: God is light, God is love, God is Savior, God blessed forevermore, King of kings and Lord of lords, and I felt that the answer was grand enough to be true!

The Word-Power of God

Man's besetting sin has ever been that of rejecting the Word of God. But search the Bible from cover to cover, and you will find that nothing so displeases God as lack of confidence in, and disrespect for, His Word. For example, Saul and the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15).

There are those who speak of the mere Word as if it were of no importance. But words are always important, because they communicate ideas. Words are the media of intelligent intercourse among persons. So the Word of God is the revelation of the Mind and Will of God. God's Spirit-Power, Will-Power, Word-Power, are equally all-powerful. (Cf. Luke 1:37; Matthew 24:35; Matthew 12:36-37; Matthew 7:24-27; Mark 8:38.) This Power is the sovereign Power in the cosmos, as evidenced by the following facts: 1. The worlds (ages) were framed by the word of God (Hebrews 11:3). The formula, And God said, occurs ten consecutive times in the first chapter of Genesis, and in each case that which God ordained came to pass. John 1:1-3; John 1:14; Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9; Psalms 148:1-6; Colossians 1:15-17. The Logos was the executive Agent of the Godhead in the Creation of the universe. 2. The cosmos is sustained, in its processes by the same Word-Power.This is the Power that maintains the order which human science discovers and describes both in the physical and in the moral realm. Hebrews 1:1-3, 2 Peter 3:7. 2 Peter 3:3. Biblical miracles were performed by the use of the same Word-Power.The rod of Moses was an emblem of this Power. But Moses failed to sanctify God's Word in the sight of the Israelites by smiting the rock instead of speaking to it, as God had commanded (Numbers 20:7-13). Note Joshua's command addressed to the sun and the moon (Joshua 10:12). 4. This Word, Logos, became incarnate in the person of Jesus of Jesus of Nazareth.John 17:5; John 17:24; John 8:58; John 1:1-3; John 1:14; Colossians 1:15-17. Jesus was the Logos inwardly in that He is from all eternity in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18). He is the Logos outwardly in that He is the complete revelation of God to man (John 14:9-12; John 16:13-15). The Babe in the Bethlehem manger was God's Power clothed in flesh and blood. 5. Jesus wrought mighty works (miracles) by the same Word-Power.Acts 2:22; Matthew 14:19; Matthew 8:26-27; Matthew 8:3; John 4:50; Matthew 8:32, Mark 1:25; Luke 7:14, John 11:43. Matthew 8:8only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. Jesus gave no treatments, absent or present; He had only to speak the Word and the miracle was wrought. 6. When Jesus returned to the Father, this Word-Power was dispatched to the Apostles at Pentecost through the agency of the Holy Spirit.Luke 24:49; John 14:16-17; John 14:26; John 15:26-27; John 16:7-15; John 20:22-23; Acts 1:1-8; Acts 2:1-4. Note the effect of the preached Word on the multitude (Acts 2:37). 7. The Word-Power of God, since the first proclamation on the Day of Pentecost, is embodied in the Gospel.Psalms 19:7it converts the soul. Isaiah 2:3, Micah 4:2this Word to go forth from Jerusalem. Acts 2:4this it did on the first Pentecost after the Resurrection. Luke 24:47the Gospel to be proclaimed first at Jerusalem. Romans 1:16the Gospel, not just a power, nor one of the powers, but the Power of God unto salvation to all who accept and obey it. 8. By the same Word Power, the Apostles performed miracles, Acts 3:6; Acts 9:34; Acts 9:40; Acts 13:8-12. Acts 13:9. The Word, written or spoken, makes believers.Acts 2:14-37; Acts 8:5-12; Acts 8:30-35; Acts 9:6; Acts 22:10; Acts 11:14; Acts 10:34-43; Acts 16:14-15; Acts 16:32; Acts 18:8; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 10:8-11; Romans 10:17. Conclusion: Division in Christendom arises from two causes, namely, refusal to accept and obey the laws of God, and the making of laws by men where God has not made any. The Word is irresistible by material things: when it is spoken, nature obeys. Man alone has the power to resist the Word (Romans 13:1-2) and the power to neglect it (Hebrews 2:1-4). Note the ultimate destiny of all who ignore, neglect, or resist the Word (2 Thessalonians 1:8, 1 Peter 4:17). Let us obey the Gospel of Christ (Hebrews 5:9) and so enjoy the fulfilment of the precious and exceeding great promises of God (2 Peter 1:4, Hebrews 5:9, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:23).