In the first chapter of Genesis it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and that the earth was without form and void (see verses 1-2). Previously, we read in Isaiah chapter 14 that an angel who had desired to be like the Most High was cast down to earth. So right after the verse that says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” the text continues with, “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.” (verses 2) Then it says, “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good” (verses 3-4). On the first day of the creation, God said, “Let there be light,” God saw that the light was good. However there is no reference to the darkness after God distinguished the light from the darkness. (see verses 4-5)
When it came to the fourth day of the creation, God clearly showed Moses—who recorded Genesis—the relationship between the sun, the moon and the earth of the fourth day. Bible says that “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.” (verses 17-18). At that time God was pleased with the visible light and darkness. On this fourth day of the creation, as God was forming an environment that could sustain life, the Bible says God saw that it was good.
Of course there must also have been some physical phenomenon on the first day, but when we consider the words, “God saw the light, that it was good,” we can see this refers to more than just the phenomena of visible light and darkness. When we examine what occurs later in the course of the creation and the events that unfold later in history, we can see that something began to happen on the first day.
The history of mankind is designated to start with darkness and gradually come closer to the light. This is also the case for life. We were born in sin and live our lives carrying the burden of our sin, but God wants all of us to be born again at some point through the words of the Bible. The days are referred to using the expression, “So the evening and the morning.”
In the Jewish calendar a day starts in the evening. When Jesus was dying on the cross, evening suddenly covered the land of Israel. Then when the day dawned, Jesus rose from the dead.
On the first day, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. I am sure this “light” here also includes sunlight and the many kinds of lights in the entire universe. Yet, we can also clearly see the plan of God hidden behind this. We can imagine the Spirit of God who was hovering over the face of the waters, penetrating the waters and wielding the power of life.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 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 the morning were the first day. Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Thus 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. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. (Genesis 1:1-8)
After God said, “Let there be light,” addressing the earth which was without form and void, the waters were divided from the waters. God created the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. The waters above the firmament poured down in their entirety at the time of Noah’s flood.
The environment before the flood must have been completely different from the one we live in today. Today, we see individual clouds in the sky, but before the flood a single membrane surrounded the earth. It would not have been the same as the sky on a cloudy day today; the membrane of the waters above the firmament would have had various functions depending on the rotation of the earth. It must have regulated the direction and intensity of the wind, and the sunlight that shines today directly on man must have been filtered by the water.
As a result, the people who lived before the flood lived a very long time. The majority lived for over nine hundred years. How long is a period of nine hundred years? Nine hundred years ago, the Crusades took place in Europe and in the Middle East. The country of Mexico did not exist at that time. People lived in that land, but the country itself had not yet been established. Before the flood, an ecosystem was maintained that allowed people to lead such extremely long lives. The person who lived the longest in the Bible was Methuselah who lived for 969 years.
Yet the Bible says the time will come when man will be able to live for over a thousand years. It also says that we are given the opportunity to live beyond a thousand years and into eternity. How is this possible? It seems completely impossible in the world in which we live now. Yet, when the plan of the Creator of the heavens and the earth has been accomplished we, too, will be given such a blessing.
Now, during the age of the Church, the Bible does not require us to live for a thousand years, but to take hold of eternal life. All Christians who are born again have been promised a body that will live over a thousand years; an immortal body that will not change or decay. In regard to this, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life” (John 5:39). We can find the answers to this in the Bible.
Let’s think about the second day of the creation again.
Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” (Genesis 1:6)
First it says, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters,” but here it says, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.” The immense power of the God’s word, which was able to divide the waters from the waters, was alive and active on this earth. As the fallen angel was cast down to the earth, he was separated from God’s eternal paradise. Similarly, on the earth, the waters below the firmament were separated from the waters above the firmament and an empty space called the firmament was formed.
On this second day, however, there is no mention that God was pleased. Let’s turn to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1.
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.
“You who were dead” refers to those who are living in trespasses and sins which are blocking them from the grace that comes from God. And it says that “He made [them] alive.”
“Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” (1 Peter 1:10-11)
Through verses such as these, God is saying that He has made alive those who have discovered who Jesus is and what He has done, those who have solved the problem of their trespasses and sins, and those in whose hearts this truth has been accomplished.
In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 2:2)
This verse is addressed to everyone born in this world. “The air” is referring to the air we breathe, the atmosphere. An enormous amount of water that had been covering the entire earth poured down and the firmament appeared between the waters. It says the waters under the firmament were divided from the waters above the firmament. This is also an image of Satan being cast down to the earth, which happened much earlier. In Ephesians, it says, “the prince of the power of the air.” These words refer to Satan who was cast down to the earth and is ravaging our spirits as we live and breathe. That is not to say that Satan lives only within the atmosphere.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
We attempt to take hold of eternal life through the Bible, but this is not a matter of flesh and blood; it is something that goes far beyond that, a matter of the spirit. It is a battle against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. In this case, “heavenly places” is a reference to the heavens which include the atmosphere, the universe and the third heaven where God is.
In the book of Job, we read an account of how Satan appeared before God after walking back and forth on the earth and he complained about Job. This is an image of the way in which Satan, having been cast out of God’s world ravages our spirits and finds fault with us before God.
This image of Satan is set before us on this earth on the second day of the creation. This is why it does not say God is pleased on the second day. This does not mean that Satan came into existence on that day; Satan existed before that.
On the second day, the waters were divided from the waters and order was beginning to be established. Then we move on to the third day of the creation.
Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. (Genesis 1:9-13)
This passage describes what occurred on the land. God once more carried out the work of dividing as He said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” He then commanded the earth to “bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself.” He was showing us the first sprouting of life. At first the earth was without form and void, then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, and then the waters were divided from the waters. Next, the water was separated from the land, the dry land appeared, and on that land life began to grow.
When God showed Moses about the fourth da
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