The Book of Genesis
Part 4
As we pursue a careful study of the first chapter of Genesis we are arrested by the three expressions which are so frequently used, “God said,” “God called,” and “God saw.” The first one, “God said,” intimates His Divine power, “Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spake, and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast” (Psa. 33:8-9). The second statement, “God called,” reveals His Divine wisdom, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out… For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom. 11:33-36). The last of these, “God saw,” suggests that His Divine will had been accomplished. “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him” (1 Cor. 8:6). God in His sovereign will, supreme wisdom, and infinite power, is the source of all things in creation and in redemption.
THE FOURTH DAY: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament… 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” (chap. 1:14-19).
It is most interesting to notice that on this, the fourth day, God stated the purpose of His work, and this is fourfold.
Separation: “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night.” As God divided the day from the night in nature, so He separates light from darkness in the moral universe, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers… What communion hath light with darkness” (2 Cor. 6:14). Those who are, as we have seen in our studies, an heavenly people must learn to walk in the light of heaven.
Distinction: The heavenly light bearers were placed in the heavens in order that men learn through their functions to distinguish between night and day, and between seasons and years. Basically, these luminaries are the source of our meteorological knowledge. It is not only necessary that the child of God walk in the light of heaven, but that through that light he learn to approve things that are excellent, “In all discernment that ye may try the things that differ” (Phil. 1:9-10, R. V.).
Illumination: “Let them be for lights… to give light upon the earth” (chap. 1:15). In the first place this speaks to us of our blessed Lord Jesus, and more particularly when we think of the sun. As the sun shines from the heavens down upon the earth, so our Lord Jesus “the Dayspring from on high hath visited us” (Luke 1:78). While He was here, He said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Man, however, sought to extinguish that light, for “men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil” (John 3:19). What a night of sorrow resulted from man’s disobedience! Thank God this sad night will end in a glorious day for this benighted world, “Unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:2). Christ shall usher in the thousand years of peace and righteousness for which this poor world now groans. For the Church during the Eternal state there lies the joy and blessedness of fellowship with the Lord forever, “The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:23).
The moon and the stars that shine during the night suggest other thoughts: the moon, the Church; and the stars, the individual believers. The moon, we are told, derives all her light from the sun; her majesty is reflected glory. The Church in herself has no life, light, or glory, but these she receives from Christ, “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory (from the glory of the terrestrial to the glory of the celestial, 1 Cor. 15:40), even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).
The stars fulfiling His will teach us our function in this present age, “A crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights (luminaries) in the world; Holding forth the Word of life” (Phil 2:15-16).
Order: “God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night” (chap. 1:18). The astronomical relationship between the sun, moon, planets, and our earth was then fixed, as was the alternation of day and night, of seasons and years. “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33). He exhorts, “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).