THE CREATION COMPLETED

1. THECREATIONCOMPLETED Lesson 3 for January 19, 2013

2. THEFOURTH DAY “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; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 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. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on 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. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day” (Genesis1:14-19)

3. How are the light on the first day and the sun on the fourth day related? There are several theories that make both days compatible: Sun and daylight are inseparable from our point of view, but there are other light sources, “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light” (Rev. 21:23). So the light on the first day could have come from God or other light source; the Sun was not created until the fourth day. Sun, Moon and stars could have been created by God “in the beginning”, but they took on their task on the fourth day, “to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness” (Gn. 1:18) The Sun already existed but was darkened by clouds or volcanic ashes so it was not visible or functional until the fourth day. Something similar happens nowadays with the planet Venus.

4. THEFIFTH DAY “Then God said, “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.” 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. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” So the evening and the morning were the fifth day” (Genesis 1:20-23)

5. The text explicitly states that God created “great sea creatures”, so they were great, adult animals which could be fruitful and multiply. God said that all the created animals were “good”; that is, they were well designed, good-looking, without any defect and ready to fulfill their purpose. Were the first living beings created as adult animals or as embryos or individual cells that needed to grow?

6. THESIXTH DAY “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. 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. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them… Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (Genesis 1:24-27, 31)

7. What does “according to its kind” mean? God created a great variety of species when He created the land animals. He also created different kind of beings within each species with an ability to adapt to the environment. Some specimens have changed –mostly after sin entered the world–, but none has broken the barriers God placed in each family of the animal world. There are a lot of different dogs, tigers or bears nowadays. But no tiger could ever evolve to become a bear.

8. God created the animals and gave them amazing qualities. He cares for each one of them and takes care of them. Wouldn’t He also take care of the masterpiece of His Creation, the human being? “In one of his most impressive lessons Christ says, “Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?” The great Teacher is here leading out minds to understand the parental care and love which God has for his children. He directs them to observe the birds flitting from tree to tree, or skimming upon the bosom of the lake, without a flutter of distrust or fear. God’s eye is upon these little creatures; he provides them food; he answers all their simple wants. Jesus inquires, “Are ye not much better than they?” Then why despond, or look into the future with sadness and foreboding?” E.G.W. (Pamphlet “TheSanitariumPatients at Goguac Lake”, p. 14)

9. THESEVENTH DAY “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:1-3)

10. Why did God rest on the seventh day if He is never weary? “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28) “God looked with satisfaction upon the work of His hands. All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author, and He rested, not as one weary, but aswellpleasedwith the fruits of His wisdom and goodness and the manifestations of His glory. After resting upon the seventh day, God sanctified it, or set it apart, as a day of rest for man.” E.G.W. (Patriarchs and Prophets, cp. 2, pg. 47)

11. “Followingtheexampleof the Creator, man was to rest upon this sacred day, that as he should look upon the heavens and the earth, he might reflect upon God’s great work of creation; and that as he should behold the evidences of God’s wisdom and goodness, his heart might be filled with love and reverence for his Maker” E.G.W. (Patriarchs and Prophets, cp. 2, pg. 47) Humans needed the communion with their Maker in order to understand their place in the universe. We need the Sabbath rest in order to prevent us from losing sight of God and getting caught up in materialism and overwork.

12. APPENDIX, THE LITERAL DAY Were the days in Creation literal 24-hour days as we live them nowadays? “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11) “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings” (Leviticus 23:3) There is an obvious parallelism: Six days of Creation for God  Six days of work for man. One day of rest for God  One day of rest for man. We work and rest in 24-hour days, why should that be different from the divine work and rest in the week of Creation? In order to emphasize this, God numbered the days, 1st, 2nd… 7th. Each of those consecutive days was divided in two, the dark period (night) and the light period (day) as in our current week.

13. “Like the Sabbath, the week originated at creation, and it has been preserved and brought down to us through Bible history. God Himself measured off the first week as a sample for successive weeks to the close of time. Like every other, it consisted of seven literal days. Six days were employed in the work of creation; upon the seventh, God rested, and He then blessed this day and set it apart as a day of rest for man” E.G.W. (Patriarchs and Prophets, cp. 9, pg. 111)