The First Day, Part Three
Darrell Nichols
Genesis 1:1-5 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (3) And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (4) And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (ESV)
In our current series, we have covered Creation’s Definition (Genesis 1:1) and Creation’s Description (Genesis 1:2-5). Now we begin Creation’s Detail (Genesis 1:3-31). In earlier blogs we noted that in the beginning there was an absence of landscape, an absence of life, and an absence of light. But there was also the presence of power, the presence of perfection, and the presence of purity. We ended the last blog talking about how God separated light from darkness and named the light Day and the darkness Night.
CREATION’S DETAIL
God is light
Let’s begin with a question…. When Jehovah God created the heavens and the earth, what did He create on the very first day? You are correct if you said light. God created light on Day One and prior to that there was only darkness. Genesis 1:3 tells us: “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”
Here’s another question—and it’s a doozie! Ready? Why was it necessary for God to create light since in the book of 1 John, chapter 1, verse 5, the Bible proclaims that God IS light? It’s a good question. Let’s answer it from a biblical perspective:
First, since God is God, He can reveal His light whenever He wills (and He can hide His light when it suits Him). Psalm 115:3 reminds us, “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.” For reasons known only to Himself, Jehovah God chose not to reveal His light at that point in time.
Second, consider this: God never stops loving us, but He may stop sharing His light if it serves His divine purpose. For example, He may hide the light of truth from individuals who continually deny His existence (Psalm 14:1). God may hide His light of blessing from churches who fail to proclaim His Son Jesus Christ as Lord or to proclaim His Word as Truth (John 1:1-3; John 14:6). He may hide the light of understanding from nations who turn their backs on Him and who love and serve false gods (Psalm 33:12) or He may hide His light of spiritual discernment from those who choose to serve only themselves (2 Corinthians 4:5).
Something else to keep in mind: God loves us so much that He may step back, so to speak, and let us go our own rebellious way until we know and understand what it’s like to NOT have His glorious light in our life! Such an action on God’s part (hiding His light) can reveal His love for us. How? When we disobey and turn away from God, He may allow pain, heartache and difficulty in our lives to help us see how much we need Him! If God allowed a believer’s life to be smooth while living in sin, that would NOT be the complete, righteous love of God. Think about it…if a sinful lifestyle produced a more smooth, ultimately happier life, we’d stay longer—and go deeper—in our sin and, consequently, do much harm to ourselves and others, and be separated from the close fellowship God desires to have with us. Too many of us make a hard life harder by ignoring who God is and by disobeying what God has said. [Don’t misunderstand: pain, heartache and difficulty are not always results of personal sin—but that’s a topic for another day.] Although God is not bound by the confines of time, He nevertheless has His own pre-determined schedule. God did not choose to reveal His light until the time was right—His time, according to His purpose (Galatians 4:4). God has a master plan—a sovereign plan—that is still in effect. He is continually orchestrating His plan (Philippians 2:13).
Dear Reader, if you haven’t already done so, I invite you to come to His light right now. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Apart from God, there is no light. God is the sole owner of the light of salvation; God is the sole giver of salvation’s light. Light is not only what God provides; it is who He is! It’s an attribute of Jehovah God, part of His being, part of His character. “Jesus is the light of the world” (John 8:12). Jesus said He came “into the world as light, so that whoever believes (in Him) may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). I encourage you to stop reading this right now and confess and repent of your personal sin. Only God can forgive your sin and give you eternal life (1 John 5:11-13). He sent His beloved Son to die and pay the penalty for your sin (John 3:16). Come to Jesus, God’s Son—the true Light! Accept Him as your Savior. Do it today, right this minute. Please don’t put it off.
The word day
As we continue our study, we move now to verse 5 of Genesis 1, the Bible says, “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” What does the word day mean? The Hebrew word is “Yom.” In Genesis 1:5, the word refers to a 24-hour period. Likewise, in Genesis 8:22, day means a 24-hour period. However, Genesis 2:4 uses the Hebrew word “B’yom” for the English word day. “B’yom” refers to an unspecified period. “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day (“B’yom”) that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” That same word can also be used to mean a moment in time. Genesis 2:17 reads, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day (“B’yom”) that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This verse is not saying Adam and Eve ate the fruit for twenty-four hours. Day in this instance is referring to a moment in time. We can usually know which meaning is intended by the context of the passage. Sometimes the word is plural in the Hebrew language (“Yamim“) and actually refers to a year as used in Exodus 13:10. The important thing is that the word day in Genesis 1:5 is talking about a 24-hour period. It can refer to nothing else and still make sense. For more proof, continue reading.
The evening and the morning
At the end of verse 5, the Bible says, “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Now, what are the words “the evening and the morning” all about? This sentence is repeated several times in chapter 1. (See verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23 and 31.) Each time only one word is changed—the number of the day. Why does the verse say, “…the evening and the morning…”? Why not the morning and the evening? Don’t we call the start of the day morning? And don’t we call the end of the day evening? It would seem to us that the words should be reversed to “the morning and the evening were the first day“? For the verse to make sense to us, we need to know a little something about Jewish custom and culture. The workday is very important in Jewish culture. The traditional Jewish day ENDS at six o’clock in the evening when the workday is over. The Jewish workday BEGINS at six o’clock in the morning. The traditional Jewish night is from 6 pm to 6 am. That’s the time when they would rest from the previous day’s work.
It’s important to understand that most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew by Jewish writers (not authors; Jehovah God is the author, by divine inspiration). Since the Old Testament, according to God’s plan, is worded from the perspective of the Jewish writers, the day is described as “the evening and the morning.” This phrase makes perfect sense to Jewish believers. Sometimes Biblical phrases can be confusing to us if we do not understand the culture of those who penned the words. Taking time to learn something about Old Testament Jewish culture would help to understand why some Scripture is phrased the way it is.
The mechanics of creation
Another interesting thing about the first chapter of Genesis is what it doesn’t tell us. The chapter does not mention the mechanics of creation, meaning God does not reveal how He created. He tells us what He did—but without a lot of detail. As you read Genesis 1, you are going to have questions. And when you get to the end of Genesis 1, you will still have some of the same questions! God tells us exactly what we need to know. We talk about Hebrews chapter 11 being a faith chapter…well, so is Genesis 1! Read the chapter, then accept its truths by faith. The teaching materials for (the theory of) evolution must be gathered from sources other than the Bible. Countless hours have been spent by students of the Scriptures studying Genesis 1 in detail. Countless books have been written on the subject of Biblical creation. There is nothing in the first chapter of Genesis (or any other chapter in the Bible) that even remotely teaches or supports evolution. When God created, He CREATED. Again, the chapter does not address the mechanics of creation. It simply states in a matter-of-fact style what God did and what “God said…” Whether or not we choose to accept the Biblical narrative of creation, it is God’s Word and, therefore, it is Truth.
Many people reject creationism because they do not believe the Bible. People can choose to believe the Bible; or they can choose to reject it; or they can choose to question it or even ignore it. It is one thing to question based on a genuine desire to understand God’s Truth. But if the authority or accuracy of God’s Word is being questioned—well, that is something else entirely! Questioning the truth of God’s Word was a tactic Satan used in the Garden of Eden to deceive Eve (Genesis 3) —and sadly, our adversary, the devil, is still using that tactic today to sway the hearts and minds of many people.
As we look at Creation’s Detail in the coming blogs, we will explore each day of creation and observe the truths God provides us. And He provides us with some very interesting details. Until next time….