Hey everybody,
Welcome back to the PvBibleAlive podcast. As you may have noticed, we’ve added an introductory song to start us off. It’s me singing with 3 of my oldest friends. I just got it put together over the weekend, so don’t be too harsh. If you want to hear the full version you can access it on Spotify, under PvBibleAlive or on our website at PvBibleAlive.com.
Well today I am starting a new series in the Bible book of Genesis, and so I probably need to clarify what we’re doing here. Simply put, we are reading and studying the Bible together.
But it’s a different kind of study than what I usually do as pastor of my church. If I were to do a study in Genesis at my church, I would divide it into a series of messages, and deliver them on a weekly basis from the pulpit. And, since there are 50 chapters in Genesis, it would probably take me 2 to 3 years to preach through the entire book. Some of my church members are probably thinking, 4 to 6 years is more likely.
And there are several reasons why it would take that long. But one of the big reasons is because, I would feel compelled to “dig deep” into the text and cover it which a lot of detail.
Well that’s not the point here. What I want to do here is closer to the daily Bible study Denise and I do together each evening. Denise is my wife of 31 years. And when we read the Bible together, we work on simply understanding “what is going on” in any particular passage. So we read a little, talk a little, read a little, talk a little.
We have an agreement, I don’t give her a sermon as we read, and she doesn’t give me one either. If, while we are reading, she or I have a comment or question, we stop reading and address it, then we go back to reading.
In that way we can read through the entire Bible in one year. Now We won’t get through the entire Bible in a year on this podcast. But it will go much quicker than if I were preaching through it.
So, if you what to get your Bible out, physically, or virtually, you can turn to the book of Genesis chapter 1 with me.
And as you do so, let me kind of Outline the book for you. The Bible book of Genesis is exactly what its name implies. The word “Genesis,” in Hebrew, the original language it was written in, is the word “Bereshit.” It comes from the first words of the book, “In the beginning.” This book is about the beginnings of everything. The book details the creation of all the world, and the expanse of the multiple universes. It tells us about the creation of humankind and animals and it narrates the beginning of a number of other things; the first marriage, the first family, the first sin, the first judgment for sin, the first murder. Other firsts that you will find in Genesis are the first city, polygamy, metalworker, musician, boat, tower, languages, city-states, and empires.
And the book draws our focus in on the beginnings of one particular people; the Jews. It tells us about their progenitor. Abraham, and his descendants who became the nation of Israel. By the time we finish Genesis, we have the nucleus of the nation of Israel, 70 people, migrating into Egypt.
So there are many “beginnings” in the book, but it also addresses some major questions about life, like;
Did this world get here by a chance, or divine creation?
What is the primary relationship that God designed for mankind?
What is the basic nature of humankind? Are we good, bad, or neutral at our core? Is there a real Satan?
Who initiated the first “religion?” Why is the world so messed up? How did languages start? Where did the world’s laws come from?
Well let’s just dive in and see how far we get with this first episode. Genesis chapter 1, verse 1 begins with
1 In the beginning God (Elohim) created (bara-1,21,27 used only of God) the heaven and the earth.
(You can summarize the one theme of the whole book of Genesis here---it’s about beginnings---and it was all started by God. “In the beginning, God.” Before the creation of the heaven and earth and the vast expanse of the multiple universes, there was God, and nothing else---then God created everything-ex-nihilo—out of nothing.
Now, this verse opens up a couple of questions: Who is God? And When did this happen?
So the first;
Who is God?
The word used for God here is Elohim, in Hebrew, —is a masculine plural noun---hold on a minute, why is the name for God plural? Doesn’t the Bible teach that there is only one God? Yes
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh (God’s name) our God, (Elohim) Yahweh is one!
So this verse says that there is only one God. But what is interesting about this verse is that It calls God by two names; Yahweh (I am) and Elohim. And Elohim is a plural noun. So while it states emphatically that God is one, it uses a plural noun to describe Him. This doesn’t mean that there is more than one god.
[ There Is No Other God ] “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.
The answer comes by using one of the principles of Bible interpretation---compare to other verses. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Vs 14 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
In John 1, Jesus is described as the creator. So, how do you reconcile that? It is reconciled in this statement. God is a trinity. God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is 3 in one. The Bible states that God the Father is God, God the Son is God, God the Holy Spirit, is God, that they are all distinct from each other, but that there is only one God. Huh? Well let me quote some statements to help clarify;
'triad', from Latin: trinus "threefold") holds that God is one God, but three coeternal consubstantial persons or hypostases—the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit—as "one God in three Divine persons".
That make it clear? No
How about the Baptist Faith and message
The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
Still not clear?
Well, let me say this about what I believe about God as 3 in one. And this is a principle of Bible interpretation that I return to over and over again. When I come across questions like, how can there only be one God, and that He is Father, Son, and Spirit, I draw on the “I don’t know” principle of Bible interpretation. When I am asked how that can be so, how does that work, how does that recipe come out of the oven, I respond, “I don’t know.” I just believe it, because the Bible says it, and figure God will work out the rest.
Which brings me to a 2nd principle of Bible interpretation---take the Bible at it’s Word—it is reliable, complete, and w/o error. So, if something seems difficult to understand, the problem is not on the side of the Bible, or God---it’s on our side.
So this Book of Genesis is all about the triune God, and the beginnings of our world.
Another frequent question that comes from these first words is,
How long ago did this happen? In the beginning…
Now there are only 2 interpretations that take the scripture literally. And that’s a 3rd principle of Bible interpretation I want to share with you. It is, “Take the Bible literally, unless it gives you reason not to.” I mean, there are Scripture passages that are parables, visions or hyperbole, that are clearly not meant to be taken literally. But the book of Genesis is not presented as a parable, or myth. So We take it literally.
What does “literally” mean? Well some have tried to answer the question of “how long ago was the creation of the world?” by searching Scripture for clues. One of the most famous was,
James Ussher—bishop in Ireland in the 1600’s and he searched the Scriptures and came up with a creation date of 4004 B.C.. For those of you who can do the math in your heads, that’s 4004 plus 2020, that means the world was created 6024 years ago, by Ussher’s reckoning. Well how did he come up with that? In short, he used biblical genealogies and dates, compared to world historical events. Now many have turned his name into a joke because of his 6000 year old earth determination. But Ussher was a history and language scholar and he was not alone in his quest to date the creation. No less a scholar than Isaac Newton was also attempting to make that determination.
He would be called a “young earth” creationist. That’s one way that you can take the Bible literally when considering the age of the earth. Most young earth creationists today hold to the earth being from 6 to 10,000 years old. (not million or billion)
I am a “young earth creationist.” And most of them believe the earth is young, not just because of the Bible narrative, but because there is an abundance of scientific evidence that mankind, and the earth haven’t been around for billions, or even millions of years.
We’re not going to deal with all of that here. We will have opportunities as we unfold Genesis.
The second way that some answer the question, “when was the beginning?” is called the gap theory. Let me explain
We just read verse 1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The very next words in verse 2 are
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
So, the gap theory asks the question,
What does it mean that the earth was without form and void? Tohu—formless, empty, chaos, vanity, desolation Bohu—void,
Isaiah 34:11—confusion and emptiness
So those who subscribe to the gap theory would say, “oh my goodness, it says that God created the heavens and the earth---it was all beautiful and good, but then it says in verse two that it was desolate, chaotic and empty---what happened? Somebody must have messed up God’s creation---then He had to fix it with the 6 day creation described in the rest of the chapter.”
That is the key to this way of interpreting Genesis 1:1-2. God made it wonderful in the beginning, then it “became” formless and void.
Now why would anybody interpret this this way? Because they are trying to reconcile the Bible with modern science. With the evolutionary theory. Modern science says that the earth is 4.5 to 5 billion years old. That’s a far cry from 6 to 10,000 years. The Biblical story covers a few thousand years, not millions, or billions. So, some have attempted to agree with science that the earth is 5 billion years old, but still believe the Biblical record.
So they read Genesis 1:1-2 like this; In the beginning, (billions of years ago) God created the heavens and the earth, and then disaster struck, and the earth became formless and void. Then, a few thousand years ago, God stepped in to “fix” the earth that was a disaster.
So they insert some disaster in between verse 1 and verse 2---what kind of disaster? Some people have put the fall of Satan in between those verses. Some people have stuck cavemen and dinosaurs in between these 2 verses.
Now those are 2 separate groups. Let me deal with the 2nd first. Those who put dinosaurs and cavemen in these billions of years, are deluded. You cannot place any life on earth, before the story of Adam, without destroying one of the major doctrines of Scripture. The Bible continually credits Adam, with bringing sin into the world, and the judgment for sin which is death. And it’s not only death for mankind, but a curse on creation as well.
On this doctrine rests the entire doctrine of salvation,
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
So, if you place, cavemen and dinosaurs on the earth before Adam, for millions of years, then you have millions of years of death, before the first sin enters the world by Adam.
That’s a huge problem. And so, in my opinion, that pushes the Biblical text too far to be a reasonable interpretation of Scripture.
Now, that group of people place cavemen and dinosaurs before Adam. A second group simply says that the earth is 4 to 5 billion years old, but mankind is only a few thousand years old. That explains the supposed age of the rocks on earth. But it still leaves a big problem with dating fossils, and early man. We’ll get to that later.
But there’s a bigger problem with inserting billions of years between verse one and two of Genesis 1. Let me tell you the bigger problem. The bigger problem is that the book of Genesis doesn’t say any of that. There is only a blank space between verse one and two. And you and I have no authority to write new verses in the Bible.
That’s a 4th principle of Bible interpretation---if it ain’t in there, it ain’t in there. It bothers me when people start adding opinion to the Bible.
Now, it does not say in verse one how long ago God made the heavens and the earth, so I don’t have a huge quarrel with those who think the heavens and earth are very old. But I do have a huge quarrel with those who try and put the fallen angels, and dinosaurs, and Neanderthal man, and whatever, between verse 1 and 2. It’s not written in the Bible that way, so don’t speak for God by inserting it there.
So let’s move on…
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The original state of the earth was land and water. And the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, was active in the creation.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Hold it, light comes from the Sun, moon and stars. But in the creation, God chooses to make light before He makes the sun, moon and stars. Now that tells me something. God doesn’t need a burning ball of gas to make light---He is light.
[ Fellowship with Him and One Another ] 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.
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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.
Now, interestingly, science uses the speed of light to say that the universe is very old. Here’s how they do so. They say, “light travels at 299 792 458 m / s.” The Hubble telescope found the farthest known star 9 billion light years away---so logically---if we can see the light from that star—then 9 billion years, at least, must have gone by, because that’s how long it takes for the light to get to us.
But here’s the deal, if I am going to believe there is a God, If there is a God. A God who can just create the world by just speaking it into existence, why would I think That He is limited by the speed of light? What are you saying, that God created those distant stars, and then said, “okay, now I have to wait 9 billion years for the light to reach earth, then I can make living creatures on the earth who can look at those stars. Put it another way, if God can make a burning ball of gas, out of nothing, whose light can travel billions of miles, can’t He also make the light from that star get to earth more quickly?
And that’s exactly what Genesis 1:3 says, God said, “let there be light.” He created light before He created the sun moon and stars.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
This is interesting. God divided, separated. What did that look like? Did God kind of squish together the darkness in a big old ball on His right hand, and the light in a big ball on His left, “wait there til I’m ready for you?” No, as we read the creation account we can imagine what it means. We have days and nights, those days and nights are separated by the laws of nature.
Later it says that God separated some other things---firmament and waters from waters. Atmospheric waters from oceanic waters---bounded by scientific laws
Land and sea---he doesn’t form a great big ball of water, and another ball of earth—you guys stay separate---he is setting in motion the laws of nature---there are laws that govern how water and earth react---water seeks homeostasis—if it’s not acted on by an external force—it finds it’s level---it doesn’t defy gravity and crawl over the side of a glass.
So what? After God created light and dark---He sets the rules for how they will work in the universe He created---He decided how fast light would travel through space. He decided how light would dissipate.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Now, just a note on the word “Day.” This is another way some try to merge the Biblical account of creation with the Theory of evolution. They say, God took 6 days to create the world, but maybe His days are like 750 million years long. By the way, that was not just some arbitrary number I came up with. It is 4.5 billion, (the age that some scientists claim for the earth) divided by 6, the number of days of the creation. So are God’s days longer? Not if we are to believe the Bible
Yom—day---more specifically it says, an evening and a morning—this is a day of a normal length. Some People say, “Well we can believe in billions of years for the age of the earth because we don’t know how long God’s days of creation were---
Maybe God’s days were millions of years long, I have no problem with God doing whatever He chooses to do, but it doesn’t describe these days as being millions of years long; it says, it was an evening and a morning, the first day.
And by the way—the same word –yom- for day is used here and throughout the Hebrew OT. It doesn’t use a different word for day when it describes the days of creation than it does in the rest of the Old testament when it is talking about normal 24 hour days.
For example, when God sent Noah into the Ark—it rained for 40 days and nights, when God revealed the 10 commandments, the 4th commandment said, honor the Sabbath day---one 24 hour day a week---a day of rest--- and that day of rest is based on the day of rest God took in creation.
And the 4th day of creation, God created the sun, moon and stars, for signs and seasons and days and years. So on the 4th day, God made a huge astronomical clock to regulate time for humanity.
So I say all of that to say, God’s 6 days of creation, and His one day of rest can only reasonably be interpreted as literal 24 hour days.
So let’s go on with the text.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament (expanse) in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven (sky). And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Again God divided. The firmament, or expanse, or sky, separates the gathered waters in the seas below, from the waters gathered in clouds above.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
After his kind, after his kind, plants, birds, animals---this speaks of how God created everything that reproduces, to do so with a reliable consistency.
And it is amazing how consistent that reproduction is. Every plant is encoded with the blueprint for reproducing more plants like itself. So much so, that you can look at fossils of plant leaves, and identify exactly what plant the leaves came from. Why? Because they look just like those same plant leaves today; palm tree, rose leaf, sycamore, Ginkgo, maple leaf, fern leaf.
Evolutionary theory teaches that all of life began from a single celled organism and then mutated, changed, and evolved to the higher organisms we have today. But Genesis teaches that God made it good the first time, and built into each creature safeguards against radical changes. In other words, evolution teaches that a fish evolved into a lizard, then to a dinosaur, then to a bird. Genesis teaches that God made fish, and when fish had babies—they were still fish. Lizards did not become dinosaurs, lizards laid eggs and when they hatched, they were lizards. Dinosaurs were created as dinosaurs, and stayed dinosaurs until they went extinct. Birds beget birds, apple trees grew apples, peach trees grew peaches.
And guess what, if you look at the animals and life we have today, and look at the fossil record, that’s exactly what you find---
And God made it that way for our protection. Because our survival has not depended on adaptation, it has depended on consistency.
Continuing
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And 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 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon 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.
Some of the greatest testimony to the wonder of God’s creation is found in the heaven’s. And there is also great evidence there that God made it all, and not that long ago.
Now, I’m not going to pretend to be a scientist. But I’ve read and seen a number of arguments for a young earth based in the universe as a great big clock. For example, if the universe is 4 and a half billion years old, you would expect certain things.
Evidence 2 Astronomy: Recession of the Moon
The gravitational pull of the moon creates a “tidal bulge” on earth that causes the moon to spiral outwards very slowly. Because of this effect, the moon would have been closer to the earth in the past. Based on gravitational forces and the current rate of recession, we can calculate how much the moon has moved away over time.
If the earth is only 6,000 years old, there’s no problem, because in that time the moon would have only moved about 800 feet (250 m). But most astronomy books teach that the moon is over four billion years old, which poses a major dilemma—less than 1.5 billion years ago the moon would have been touching the earth!
And the sun and stars have similar attributes that contradict the idea that they have been around for 4.5 billion.
If we get down to brass tacks here, modern evolutionary scientists try to portray creationists, especially young earth creationist as though they are members of the flat earth society. But I can guarantee that those who I have read and seen were very intelligent and reasonable individuals who were looking at evidence and trying to draw reasonable conclusions. And those conclusions bear out the truth of the Bible’s creation account.
Back to the text…
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales,
KJV---whales—should be great sea creatures, or even sea monsters. Later in the KJV a form of this word is translated dragons.
So here it says that God created great sea dragons.
Now here is where some people will think I’ve gone off the deep end. The KJV called them whales because that was the biggest sea creature that they were aware of in 1611. The largest whale today is the blue whale at 98 ft. But there were other massive sea creatures. The Megalodon shark—60 ft, 40 ft supercroc,sarcosuchus, 85-foot ichthyosaur—giant porpoise, and the plesiosaur—think loch ness monster,
And, if we want to take the Bible seriously, we have to believe the record of Scripture, that God created all creatures during this 6 day creation week. So sea dinosaurs would have been created on the 5th day of creation, and land dinosaurs would have been created on the six day, the same day that man was created.
But you say, dinosaurs and humans didn’t live at the same time. Well that gets back to the creation vs evolution argument. I believe that they were both created by God during this 6 day week. And to bolster that argument, let me read you a passage of scripture from one of the oldest written bible books—job, in fact, one of the oldest books period.
It is the book of Job. In chapter 40, there is a description of an animal that sounds an awful lot like a herb eating dinosaur.
Job 40: 15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
Early Bible interpreter thought this described an elephant, but I don’t think elephants move their tails like a cedar tree.
18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.
Chapter 41 sounds like a carnivorous dinosaur.
41 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
Before Bible interpreters were not acquainted with dinosaurs, they thought this was describing a crocodile. But this creature is much larger.
2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
6 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?
8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
12 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.
13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?
14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
15 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
16 One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
18 By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
Hold on, smoke coming out of his mouth? That’s a fire-breathing dragon! That’s mythology. No, I think God is describing this creature as man had seen it. And more than one man had gone out into the woods on an early morning, in the cool of the day, and either ran across a dinosaur sleeping, or walking by, and saw smoke coming out of its mouth. And what was the smoke, it was condensation occurring because the warm air leaving the lungs on a cold morning. But with a dinosaur, the “cloud of smoke” would have been much larger. That would explain how dragons were mistakenly supposed to be able to breath fire.
21 His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
22 In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
25 When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.
When a crocodile raises himself up, the mighty are afraid?
26 The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
27 He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
29 Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
30 Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.
31 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
A crocodile makes the deep boil like a pot?
32 He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
34 He beholdeth all high things: (a crocodile?) he is a king over all the children of pride.
There are 27 occurrances of the word for dragon, monster, etc---here in job behemoth—leviathan---at least you would have to conclude that Job was familiar with some large reptilian creatures---now some discount this as mythology---Just like today we imagine dragons which are mythological creatures. Now I’m not going into great detail here---but another truth we may glean from scripture is that mythology sometimes had a basis in some reality in the historic past. In other words, men came up with stories of dragons because in the ancient world people encountered “dragons” dinosaurs.
continuing
and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. (3 classifications—domesticated or clean, like cows, sheep—unclean beasts—bugs)
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
A word about it being good. Good, means-favorable, better, beautiful, handsome, well, festive, merry, pleasing---it means that God looked over the land, the water, the atmosphere, the birds, the fish, the dinosaurs, the bugs that He had made and it was beautiful, efficient, and it was pleasing to Him. By the way, this is a completely different viewpoint than the evolutionary one.
In evolution, the beginnings of life are very primitive, and basic. God created life advanced and complex.
When God finished His creation—it wasn’t incomplete---it didn’t need evolving to a higher creature. It was already there. Which is what we see in creation today---the animals are beautiful, complete, efficient---even after the fall. It’s fascinating to see things like a hummingbird fly, or a dolphin jet through the water. I think it’s telling that nature shows about any animal talk about how efficient the animal is. Whether we are referring to its camouflage coloring, or some means of building a nest, those shows tell you how wondrous the natural world is. That’s because God’s created them to be complete, they don’t need further evolving.
Let me conclude today with an example of that. When God created the world, He put all the parts in place for a very intricate and elaborate machine. Take for example, the honey bee. Today people are becoming alarmed about the declining bee population. Because of pesticides, etc. the number of honey bees is going down dramatically. Now why are they worried about this? Because honey bees pollinate flowers, and those flowers lead to the growing foods that we depend on. In other words, no bees, no pollination, no plant foods, which could lead to worldwide starvation.
God’s creation is balanced. In fact, not only do we have to have honeybees, they have to have their hairy legs. When they enter the flower to retrieve its nectar, the flowers pollen sticks in the hair on the bees legs. Then the bee goes to another flower to retrieve nectar, and some of that pollen drops off in the 2nd flower. That’s how pollination takes place.
So we have a symbiotic relationship between bees, flowers, plants, animals, and people. They are interdependent. Yet evolutionists have to propose that the flowering plants and the hairy legged bees, evolved precisely at the same time. If they didn’t evolve at the same time, neither would survive without the other.
It’s a spectacular world that God created and we give Him glory for it. Well that’s about all the time we have for this podcast. We will continue next time with verse 26 of chapter 1, the height of God’s creation, human beings.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, what a wonder you are. We marvel at the world around us. Even in its fallen state, it is beautiful, intricate, precise, and majestic. If this is how it is now, we have to wonder what creation was like in its perfect state. And we wonder what the new heavens and earth will be like. Lord, thank you for teaching us out of your Word. Guide us into Truth. In Jesus name I pray, amen