| News and Views | January 1945 |
Days of Creation
“Evening and Morning”
ANCIENT Chinese history affects to begin at creation. It narrates that God embarked upon the sea in a skiff, and that He took in His hand a lump of earth which He cast into the water. That lump of earth, it is claimed, became our planet. This story, however, is so devoid of reason that it can be considered as merely the childlike imagining of a superstitious heathen philosopher who attempted to explain that which no human mind is capable of understanding.
How different is the Bible’s approach to the subject of creation! It starts with the reasonable assumption that a Creator, an intelligent First Cause, already existed. It does not attempt to explain the origin of the Creator, nor to reveal the manner in which the universe was brought into existence by Him. While many scientists lack faith in the existence of a personal Creator, attributing all the works of creation to the operation of natural law, there are many other scientists who admit their inability to explain the operation of natural law except from the standpoint that back of it is an intelligent Law-giver. And no scientist has been able to prove that this is not true. Thus the opening verse of the Bible stands unrefuted in the light of the most modern scientific knowledge.
A moment’s reflection upon the immensity and grandeur of the universe should suffice to convince us that behind all this display of intelligence and power must be the design of a great Being who not only is the Creator, but One who is worthy of our reverence and worship as God. Well did the prophet write that only the foolish say in their hearts, “there is no God.” (Psa. 14:1; 53:1) David wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.” (Psa. 19:1,2) Surely no truer statement of fact than this has ever been written!
An appreciation of the infinite power of the Creator, and of our own littleness, should make us teachable. And how marvelously is the power of God manifested in His creative works! Think for a moment of our own solar system, which is but an infinitely small part of the universe. The planets, in comparison with our sun, are as nothing. Imagine the sun’s diameter as that of a flour barrel. By comparison, Jupiter would be as a small orange, Earth and Venus as peas, while Mercury and Mars would be as mere raspberry seeds in size. The circumference of the sun is more than one hundred times that of our earth. An airplane traveling 500 miles an hour would fly around the earth at the equator in two days, but it would require 225 days to fly around the sun at the same rate of speed.
Our day and night, as all know, are the result of the earth’s rotation on its own axis, while its motion around the sun marks our year. Planets nearer the sun have shorter orbits, hence shorter years, while remote ones have longer years. The wider expanse of our solar system is apparent when we remember that a year on the planet Mercury, which is nearer to the sun, equals three of our months, while on Neptune, farthest off, a year equals 165 of our years.
The sun in our solar system, on the other hand, is but one of the fixed stars in God’s great universe. Astronomers now tell us that there are 125,000,000 of these fixed stars, or suns, and that around each of these revolves a planetary system like our own. Thus reckoned, there are within sight of scientists’ powerful telescopes 1,000,000,000 worlds! Even this is not the limit, for astronomers have not yet been able to bring the edge of the universe within the range of their powerful lenses. We would stand appalled at the great power of the Creator did not the Scriptures assure us that He is as loving and kind as He is wise and powerful.
The Creative Days
The six days of creation outlined in the first chapter of Genesis are descriptive not of the creation of the earth but of its gradual preparation for vegetable and animal life. Genesis 1: 2 explains that as originally created, it was “without form and void”—that is, its ultimate contour, as God designed it, had not been developed, and it was empty of all forms of life. There were neither mountains nor valleys, trees nor shrubs, rivers nor oceans, but the earth “was.”
A recognition of the division made in Genesis between the creation of the earth and its later preparation to be the home of man eliminates all need for controversy between science and the Bible concerning the age of the earth, or of the length of time required for its creation. It is the so-called fundamentalist viewpoint of Genesis which is in sharp conflict with the well established facts of science. This viewpoint, briefly stated is that approximately six thousand years ago the sun, moon and stars, together with our own planet earth, were created in six twenty-four hour days.
Such a view cannot be substantiated in the light of science today. But this does not mean that the Bible itself, surveyed in the light of its own revealing testimony, is not scientifically correct. If science can prove that millions of years elapsed during which this earth came into being as a shapeless, empty mass, well and good. The Scriptures neither deny nor affirm these guesses and near guesses of the scientists, but state simply that, “in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”
And what is even more important for the student of God’s Word to note is that the six days of Genesis (chapter one), during which the earth, already created, was undergoing stages of gradual preparation for human habitation, were not short periods of twenty-four hours. They were, rather, epochs of time sufficiently long enough to permit the accomplishment of the work assigned to each.
In view of the wide Scriptural use of the term “day,” it is strange anyone should conclude that the creative days of Genesis were only twenty-four hours in length—in fact Genesis 2:4 refers to the entire creative period as one day. The Bible speaks of “the day of temptation in the wilderness,” which was forty years long. It prophesies the coming of the “day of God’s wrath,” a period of time at this end of the age in which the selfish kingdoms of this world are set aside, preparatory to the full establishment of Messiah’s Kingdom. The Bible also refers to the “day of judgment” which is to be a thousand years long. It will be during that thousand years that Christ will reign over the earth to bestow God’s promised blessing of life upon a sin-sick and dying world.
Not only in the Bible, but outside of it as well, the term “day” often relates to a period of time longer than twenty-four hours. We speak, for example, of Washington’s day, of Lincoln’s day. It is in this sense that the term is used in Genesis. That the creative days were not twenty-four hour periods, the length of which is controlled by the relationship of the earth to the sun, is apparent from the fact that the sun was not made to rule the day until the fourth creative epoch.
Another internal evidence substantiating the fact that the time divisions of Genesis, called days, were not twenty-four hour periods, is found in the description of what occurred during those days. Concerning the fifth day, for example, we read that God “created great whales, 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.”—Genesis 1:21.
It should be observed that the fish and fowl were not merely created during the fifth day, in order to bring forth their own kind in later days, but rather, they were created and brought forth during that one “day.” This language clearly indicates a lapse of time sufficient to permit the waters in a natural way to swarm with fish, and for a plentiful supply of birds to multiply. The development during the other days similarly indicate the passing of long periods of time.
The Genesis sequence of progress from one epoch to another harmonizes with the findings of geology, which indicate that there was a slow and orderly progression in the appearance of plant and animal life. First came lichen and mosses, then grasses and herbs, while fossils of trees and other higher forms of vegetation are found for the first time in a stratum immediately above that in which feathered birds made their initial appearance.
Geological evidences clearly reveal, even as the Bible states, that the first forms of animal life upon this planet were creeping sea creatures. Their remains are found in the lowest stratum, rare and fully preserved. In the Cambrian rock stratum next above are found fossils of trilobites and other shellfish in abundance. Immediately above this appear the fossils of fish of a very low order, without backbone or skeleton, but possessing fins which enabled them to swim.
Then, in the layer next above are found fish of a higher order—vertebrates with full skeletons—similar to many of the varieties with which we are familiar today. Above these are found amphibians—frog-like or lizard-like creatures which were able to live both in the water and on the land. Then came reptiles, then birds, then mammals and finally man, who was the crowning feature of God’s earthly creation.
The Scriptural Outline
“Let there be light: and there was light.” Thus, briefly, is summed up the result of the first creative day. This result was accomplished, the Scriptures declare, by the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters. The nature and physical cause of light is as yet but imperfectly comprehended. We do know that it is a prime essential throughout nature, and, as should be expected, it was first in the divine order when the time came for the Creator to prepare the waste and empty earth for human habitation. This original light which the Creator utilized was not sunlight, because the sun did not appear until the fourth epoch. It was probably light produced in some way by electrical energy, such as the aurora borealis.
“And the evening and the morning were the first day.” As with the Hebrew lunar days, so also with these epoch days, the evening came first, which marked the beginning of a gradual accomplishment of the divine purpose, reaching its culmination in the morning of that day, or epoch. This first period, or day, of Genesis is scientifically described as azoic, or lifeless.
The work of the second day (Genesis 1:6-8) was wholly devoted to the production of an atmosphere. This was probably accomplished in a natural way, as are many of God’s wonderful works, though none the less of His devising, ordering and creating. The Scriptures state that the “firmament,” or atmosphere, which was then caused to surround the earth, separated waters which were above it from those below.
This would indicate that previous to the creation of atmosphere as it now surrounds the earth, the entire planet was virtually encased in a canopy or ring of moisture so dense that there was little difference between it and the waters which lay upon the earth’s crust. When the morning time of the second day ended, the divine intention respecting it was complete. The separation of the clouds and vapors above the earth from the surface waters by an atmosphere had been fully accomplished.
The work of the third creative day is described in Genesis 1:9-13. It was the dividing of land and water upon the earth, and the development of vegetation. Geology fully corroborates this record. It points out to us that as the earth’s crust cooled, the weight of the waters would tend to make it kink and buckle. Those parts being depressed became ocean beds, while those forced up by the buckling constituted mountain ranges.
It is not necessary to assume that all changes of this kind occurred in the one epoch. It is more reasonable to conclude that the third “day” merely witnessed the beginning of this work to a sufficient degree of progress to make possible the introduction of vegetation. Geology indicates that some changes in the earth’s surface are of comparatively recent date. Still further changes may occur.
As the waters drained off into the seas, vegetation sprang forth, each after its own kind, with seed in itself to reproduce its own species. This matter is so fixed by the laws of the Creator that although horticulture can and does do much to give variety, yet it cannot change the actual nature of species. The different families of vegetation will no more unite and blend than will the various animal families. This shows design, which can be accounted for only by acknowledging the existence of a supreme and intelligent Creator.
Geology agrees that vegetation preceded the higher forms of animal life, even as the Scriptures show. In this early period, vegetation was extremely rank in growth. Mosses, ferns and vines grew immensely larger and more rapidly than now, because the atmosphere was laden with carbonic and nitrogenous gases. Plants which now grow only a few inches or a few feet high, even at the equator, then attained a growth of forty to eighty feet with a diameter sometimes of two feet or more, as is demonstrated by fossil remains.
It was during this period, geologists claim, that our coal beds were formed. Plants and mosses having a great affinity for carbonic acid gas, stored up within themselves the carbon which formed coal, preparing thus our present coal deposits, while purifying the atmosphere for the animal life of the later epoch days. These vast peat bogs and moss beds in turn were covered over by sand and clay, washed over them by further upheavals and depressions of the earth’s surface. This procedure must have been repeated many times, for coal beds are found one above another with various strata of clay, sand and limestone separating them. Thus the work of the third epoch day progressed. In geology, this period is styled the carboniferous era.
Sun and Moon Appear
“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.” (Gen. 1:16) It is unnecessary to suppose that the sun and the moon were created after our earth. We may as properly lay stress on the word “rule” in this passage as on the word “made.” The thought is that God caused the sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night. The sun and the moon existed long before this, but not until the waters above and below the firmament were separated, and other changes had occurred in preparation for life upon the earth, could the light from the sun and the moon penetrate sufficiently to divide the day from the night.
Nor is it necessary to assume that the sun shone as brightly upon the earth then as now. It was discernible even though shining through heavy banks of fog and carbon-laden atmosphere. In the progressive work of preparing the earth for the higher forms of vegetation and animal life it is logical that the Scriptures should remind us at this point that the influence of the sun became necessary toward this end.
That the Bible does not attempt to give us further details is strong evidence of divine overruling in its writing. God knew that the human mind would be utterly unable to grasp the scientific processes by which the sun, or, as a matter of fact, any other part of the universe, was actually made. Were the Genesis account of creation merely the guesses of an ambitious human, he could not have restrained himself from the urge to relate many details which would have no other foundation than his own imagining.
During the fifth epoch day of Genesis, fish and birds were created. (Gen. 1:20-23) The extent to which warm oceans at that time swarmed with living creatures, from the jellyfish to the whale, may be judged by the profusion of life in the warm southern seas of the present time. Reptiles, living partly in the water and partly on the land—amphibians—belong also to this period.
There doubtless was an overlapping of the fourth epoch work into the fifth day, when continents and islands were gradually rising and subsiding. This would account for the remains of shellfish now found in the highest mountains. The immense beds of limestone in all parts of the earth are sometimes called “shellfish cemeteries,” because composed almost exclusively of conglomerate shells.
In this connection it is well to note, for whatever significance may be attached to it, that the Bible does not assert that God created separately and individually all the myriad kinds of fish and reptiles. Divine energy, called the Spirit of God, brooded over the waters, and they brought forth living creatures according to God’s design. The processes are not declared—one species may, under divinely arranged conditions, have developed into another. Or, from the same original protoplasm, different orders of creatures may have developed according to varying circumstances. No one really knows, and it is unwise to be dogmatic on this point. It is not for us to dispute that even the protoplasm of the paleozoic slime may not have come into existence through chemical action of the highly mineralized waters of those seas.
What we do hold is that all came about as a result of divine intention and arrangement, hence that all the various forms of life were created by God, whatever may have been the channels and agencies used. We claim further, on the authority of God’s Word, and verified by all scientific tests, that when the Creator’s intention concerning each species had been reached, no further change was possible. In all the ages since no changes in species of either plant or animal life have ever been produced.
Man Created
The sixth creative day spans the period of time during which the higher forms of the brute creation were brought forth, and at its very close man was created. (Gen. 1:24-31) By the beginning, or evening, of the sixth day, conditions on the earth were becoming more settled. The earth’s crust was thicker by hundreds of feet of sand, clay, coal, and various other minerals. The earth’s surface was sufficiently above the sea, and well enough drained by mountain ranges and valleys to be ready for the lower animals. These the Scriptures divide into three general kinds; first, earth reptiles, cold-blooded breathing lizards, snakes, etc.; second, beasts of the earth, or wild beasts; third, domestic animals especially suited to be companions for man, and referred to here as cattle.
By this time the air was purified. The rank vegetation of the carboniferous period had absorbed from the air the excessive hydrocarbons which, previous to this time, would have destroyed breathing fowl and animals. We may reasonably assume that it was just at the close of the sixth epoch day that God created man. His creation was the last of this period. It was in preparation for man, whom God appointed king of earth, that the work of the creative epochs had been carried forward.
In the Image of God
In describing the creation of man the Scriptures use a very different expression from that employed to explain the previous creative processes. It is not, “Let the earth bring forth,” as in the case of the lower animals; but, “Let Us make man in Our image, and after Our likeness.” Whatever may be said in favor of a possible limited evolutionary process in the creation of the lower animals, this language permits of no such interpretation concerning the creation of man. The detailed statement of Genesis 2:7 makes this fact even more positive. There we read, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Not only is man said to have been created in the image of God, but he was fitted to rule over the beasts of the field. He was endowed with the gift of speech and was able to reason rather than to be guided merely by instinct. He was given ability to discern between right and wrong, and a conscience to guide him. Man was also given a capacity to enjoy harmony of sound, as in music. Gorillas and monkeys have no music in their souls, nor do they have voices capable of producing harmonious sounds.
Man was also endowed with a faculty for worship, which, perhaps, more than any other one thing, separates him from the lower animals. This was one of the qualities which reflected in him the image of God. He was so constituted as naturally to reverence and desire to serve his Creator. That man should be thus created is surely a marvelous manifestation of divine wisdom. If we could imagine the human race endowed, as it is, with intelligence and yet utterly devoid of any sense of moral responsibility toward a higher power, the tragic chaos and horrible suffering that would result is readily discernible.
Obedience Necessary
The harmonious functioning of God’s great universe of inanimate worlds is due to obedience to divine law—blind obedience, to be sure, but obedience nevertheless. Should we expect that man, the highest order of God’s earthly creatures, could fulfill the purpose of his creation without obeying the laws of God? But the fact that man was created in the image of God and given the ability to obey or disobey, lifts his obedience out of the mechanical into the intelligent and voluntary.
To render intelligent and voluntary obedience to divine law, it was necessary that man be endowed with the desire and ability to recognize the need and advantages of obedience. Such recognition is possible only through belief and conviction that the Creator, as God, is worthy of being obeyed, and to such a fall extent that one’s whole being belongs to Him and should be devoted to the doing of His will. This is real, true worship, the faculty for and proper use of which will yet result in the entire human race living happily upon this earth forever.
Man Is Fallen
Man today is fallen! When Darwinism was first foisted upon a credulous public as a theory of creation alleged to be more scientifically correct than that recorded in the book of Genesis, it was not so easy to refute the claim that the human race was evolving into a higher, more perfect state of existence. But in the light of more recent discoveries in the field of archaeology, scientists are admitting that every scrap of evidence thus far uncovered by the pick and shovel of the archaeologists tends to prove that man today is less perfect, less advanced mentally and physically, than he was at the time evolutionists would have us believe he was but a scant step removed from an anthropoid ape.
We now know that the earliest inhabitants of Mesopotamia—the generally accepted “cradle of civilization”—as well as the earliest known people of Egypt, Crete, and Asia Minor, actually had a civilization which far exceeded that of Europe as late as three or four centuries ago; and indeed compared most favorably with ours of the present day. Earliest historical man was not the primitive “caveman” brute concerning which the fictionists have written so many imaginative stories. Cavemen did finally appear in the world, and indeed savage cannibals; but they came about as a result of retrogression—the antithesis of evolution. The evidence of this is so clear that such a noted scientist as the late Prof. John Arthur Thomson of Aberdeen, a leading evolutionist, frankly admits that,
“Modern research is leading us away from the picture of primitive man as brutish, dull, lascivious and bellicose. There is more justification for regarding primitive man as clever, kindly, generous and inventive.”
As further evidence that scientists are now being forced to repudiate the Darwinian myth that earliest historical man was a low-browed brute from which we have gradually evolved, let us quote from the collaborated works of Professors Albert Sheppard and John Seybold Morris. In Vol. 1 of their Outline of History, pages 28 and 29, they say:
“When we open the first page of authentic history we find man in possession of almost all the fundamental inventions. He had learned the art not only of using tools, but also of making them. … In drawing, painting, and sculpture he had developed a very respectable ability in response to his instinctive desire to express his love of the beautiful. … Such a picture as these earliest records present to us differs in no great essential from life lived today on great areas of the world’s surface. How all these inventions and discoveries came about we have no certain knowledge.”
The Bible Is True
Having examined the brief outline of creation as presented in the first chapter of Genesis, we have established that it agrees with the latest findings of scientists to a remarkable degree. Its detailed story of the creation of man is also scientifically correct. It declares that God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and it is a fact well known to scientists that every chemical element found in the human body is native in “mother earth.”
We have found scientists, even avowed evolutionists, testifying against their own theories, telling us that the earliest known facts now being unearthed reveal that man was nearer perfection ages ago than he is today. Thus the Bible is proved to be true; for it declares that at the close of the sixth creative day God made man in His own image, endowed him with the ability to know right from wrong, and gave him a law by which he was to be governed.
In passing, we wish to correct an erroneous theory concerning the Genesis account of creation which is becoming quite popular among some groups. The theory is that the first and second chapters of Genesis contain accounts of two separate creations so far as man is concerned; that the first chapter tells of the creation of the spiritual man, in the image of God, whereas the second chapter relates the creation of the carnal, sinful man. The Bible reveals clearly that this theory is erroneous.
It should be noted that God provided “every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed,” as food for the man and woman described in the first chapter of Genesis. Material food of this description would not seem to be necessary for a purely spiritual man. On the other hand, the man described in the second chapter is not said to be wicked or carnal by nature. The fact that he was given a law and endowed with ability to keep that law indicates that he was just like the man of the first chapter; namely, created in the image of God and fully capable of obeying divine law. Besides, whenever the New Testament writers refer to the origin of the human race they mention only one man, not two. They affirm that his name was Adam, that he fell into sin and is redeemed from sin and its effects through the “last Adam,” who is “the Lord from heaven.”—I Corinthians 15:45-47
The first chapter of Genesis is what we have found it to be, merely a brief outline of the manner in which conditions upon this earth were gradually developed to the point where it was suitable for human habitation. This chapter closes with a statement concerning the creation of that great being for whom the earth had been created as a home. The second chapter does not describe the creation of another man, but gives us some of the details concerning the manner in which the man of the first chapter was made.
The entire Bible, as a matter of fact, is concerned with this man and his offspring. Genesis not only tells us how he was made, but also relates the story of his disobedience to divine law and the subsequent penalty of death pronounced upon him. The remainder of the Bible outlines the divine method whereby fallen man is to be recovered and the whole earth filled with the progeny of Adam, all of whom will enjoy everlasting life and happiness conditional upon having learned willingly and joyfully to obey the Creator’s laws.
It will be a surprise to some when we assert that the creation of man, described in Genesis as occurring in the close of the sixth creative day was only the beginning of what God had purposed concerning him. Of the lower forms of animal life the Creator said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,” and then the statement, “It was so.” To man God gave the commission to multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it, but there is no statement to the effect that “it was so.” Nor do we read that “the evening and the morning were the seventh day.”
Why this difference when it comes to man and the seventh day? Genesis 2:2 declares that God “ended” His work on the seventh day. This indicates that man’s creation was at the turning point between the sixth and seventh creative days, if not actually in the very early beginning of the seventh. Thus there was no time remaining in the sixth day for the earth to be filled with the offspring of Adam, hence it could not be said on this day that “it was so.”
That the Scriptures do not say, “the evening and the morning were the seventh day,” is strong circumstantial evidence that at no time previous to the completion of the inspired record of Genesis had the seventh day or epoch come to an end. This strongly suggests the thought that not until the close of the seventh day or epoch will the divine purpose for perfect man to fill the earth be realized. Not until then will the record of the seventh day be completed as was the record of the other days with the statements, “And it was so,” and, “the evening and the morning were the seventh day.”
Freedom of Choice
While we marvel at the immensity of the universe and the orderly arrangement of all its parts, we should not overlook the fact that divine law operates to control all things which have been made. Back of nature’s laws is nature’s Lawgiver, and the whole universe is held, together and functions because of obedience to His laws. But this is a blind, mechanical obedience imposed by the mighty power of God and correlated as between the myriads of created things by the Creator’s wisdom.
The divine purpose in the creation of man is just as dependent upon obedience to God’s law as is His design for the stars. But man is not a machine. He was created in the image of God, with ability to think, to reason, to choose one course or another. Not only was he competent to exercise a choice, but he was given freedom to use that ability. And God, with all His power, will not overstep man’s liberty of choice; yet the divine purpose concerning man is to be fully accomplished, not through coercion, but through education based largely upon experience.
Viewed thus, we see that the entire seventh day of creation is set aside to complete God’s purpose as it pertains to man. And what is the method by which that purpose is being accomplished? The Bible shows it to be the testing of the entire race representatively in the first man Adam, then the redemption and restoration of the same race through Christ. As each generation of Adam’s dying children has come upon the scene it has experienced its baptism of tears and has passed on into the sleep of death. Finally, this process of bringing forth the human race will have reached the point where sufficient children have been born to fill the earth comfortably.
Then will come the closing scenes of the seventh creative day, the last thousand years of which will be devoted to the restoration of the dead race. The people will not only be awakened from the sleep of death, but will also be given an opportunity individually to experience good, in contrast to the evil they experienced before they fell asleep in death.
Thus they will know good from evil. They will have learned the terrible consequence of disobedience to divine law, and will have learned the glorious results of obedience. Then they will be in a position to choose intelligently what course to take. There is little doubt that the vast majority will choose to obey, and it will be a willing, enthusiastic choice. This final choice of obedience on the part of the human race will result in the same order and harmony among the children of men as the obedience of the stars brings to our solar system.
The training of man up to this point of intelligent, freewill choice to obey the divine law may be properly considered as a part of the creative process pertaining to him. When Adam was first created God pronounced him “very good.” (Gen. 1:31) But not until he had been tested, and had experienced evil, could he enthusiastically fulfill the divine purpose in his creation. This thought also applies to Adam’s entire race.
The Scriptures indicate that already more than six thousand years have been required for this educational program, and there is still another thousand years yet to come—the thousand years of Christ’s Kingdom. There is every evidence now that we are living in the early dawn of the last thousand years of the seventh creative day, or epoch. It will be during this last thousand years that God’s will shall be established in the hearts of the human race in answer to the Christian’s prayer, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” When the divine will or law is thus established as the ruling principle in the lives of men, the work of the seventh day will be completed. The earth will be filled with a perfect and happy race, enjoying God’s favor and blessings of eternal life.
God’s Rest Day
Not only do the Scriptures tell us that God ended His creative work on the seventh day or epoch, but that He also rested on this day. We can’t conceive of God becoming weary and needing rest. In fact, the Scriptures declare that He does not—“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?” (Isa. 40:28) God’s “rest” on the seventh creative day must, therefore, have some other significance than that of recuperating from weariness.
Hebrews 4:10 reads, “For he that is entered into His [God’s] rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” The obvious point of this text is that a Christian ceases from all endeavors to attain life through his own efforts and accepts instead, the provision of life which has been made for him through Christ. And this is God’s provision; for He gave His Son to be man’s Redeemer with the promise that “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”—John 3:16
In Isaiah 45:18 we read that God created the earth not in vain, but formed it to be inhabited. Plainly it was not the Creator’s purpose that the earth be inhabited by a dying race, but by a living one. Death came upon the race through disobedience to divine law, but this did not thwart the divine purpose in the creation of man. God ceased His own active participation in the creative plan and commissioned His beloved Son to carry it through to completion. Thus, just as we depend upon Jesus for life, so Jehovah depends upon Him to provide life, that is, to carry forward to a glorious “morning” of perfection the Creator’s plan to have this planet filled with human beings in His image, worthy of living forever.
When Jesus was on earth His enemies condemned and persecuted Him because He healed the sick on the Sabbath day. He pointed out to them that works of mercy on the Sabbath day were allowed under the law given to the Israelites by God. Concerning this type of work, Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” (John 5:17) While the task of restoring the human race was assigned to Jesus by the Creator, never the less He is still interested and responsible for the undertaking. Regarding this, Jesus said, “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” (John 14:11) This, however, is not out of harmony with the declaration that God rested on the seventh day. His work on behalf of man, which is being accomplished through Jesus, is a work of mercy. His whole plan for the recovery of the human race reflects His love and mercy. It is, therefore, a typical work of mercy.
Obedience Developed
We have noted the upward, progressional sequence of the creative work during the six days or epochs, and it is but natural to expect that the work of the seventh should be more marvelous than that of its predecessors. The work of the first six days related largely to the creation of material things and earthly beings, while that of the seventh is characterized chiefly by the fact that it represents a development of mind and conscience through a process of education of human beings already created.
Back of every material thing, and responsible for it, is thought. Our automobile represents the thoughts of its designer, and responsible for the universe are the thoughts of God. The mechanical obedience of the stars to divine law is the result of God’s thoughts which designed the magnetic currents which enforce His law. In the mind of the Creator was the thought to have this earth filled with a race of beings which would obey His law by intelligent choice to do so. These human beings were to be created in His image. They were to have the ability to think matters out for themselves and to reach definite, satisfactory conclusions.
But how could the Creator be sure that beings endowed with these powers would reach decisions in keeping with His will unless He arbitrarily controlled their thinking? He knew that this could be accomplished by giving them knowledge—not merely informing them of good and evil, but allowing them to learn by experience that His laws are right, and just, and good. God foreknew that for a whole race to be thus educated would require the entire period of the seventh creative day, or epoch. Hence, after creating the first perfect pair and giving them His law, He rested, while His beloved Son, His appointed representative, was empowered to carry out the divine plan of education through the trial, redemption, and restoration of the fallen race.
The Seventh-Day Plan
Concerning the six creative days the Scriptures inform us that it was the Spirit or power of God which operated to accomplish the divine intention concerning them. The same is true of the seventh day. The difference is that during the other six days it was largely the mechanical power of God, while during the seventh day the principal objective is attained by the power or influence of God’s thoughts which reflect His will. During the seventh creative day the thoughts of God are executed through His Son, Christ Jesus.
The sum total of God’s thoughts pertaining to the creation of the human race may properly be called the divine plan. Because that plan involves redemption and also recovery from death, it is a plan of salvation. Thus, after assuring us that the earth was not created in vain, but to be inhabited, God declares, “Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” (Isa. 45:22) God then outlines the conditions upon which salvation from death can be obtained, saying, “I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”—Isaiah 45:22,23
Here we have emphasized the thought of obedience to God, and that the earth is to be inhabited by those who have learned to bow the knee in absolute fidelity to Him. It is also made plain that this eventuates by way of salvation—being saved, or recovered, from death. While God declares that it is His Word which will accomplish His intention, the Apostle Paul, quoting from this passage, shows that it will be through Christ.—Phil. 2:10,11
Only a few verses in the first chapter of Genesis are devoted to the work of the first six days of creation, but the entire Bible, beginning with the second chapter, is devoted to the work of the seventh creative day. In it is outlined the whole plan of God as it is being executed by Jesus. Throughout that plan, and as a background of its every phase, is the expression of divine law. Certain members of the fallen race are invited to co-operate in the plan, but only upon the condition of absolute surrender of their wills to do the will of God.
God declares that His word has gone forth in righteousness. That is true. Every requirement of His is righteous, and designed to instill in those who obey, not only the principle of obedience, but also the glorious qualities of character possessed by the Infinite One whom they obey. This leads the obedient ones to the viewpoint of love in contrast with selfishness. They learn that the secret of true happiness is that of obedience to divine law, and that true obedience leads to selflessness in that the glory of God and the well-being of others come before their own interests.
The Bible Harmonious
The Scriptural outline of God’s plan for the seventh creative day is consistent and harmonious from first to last. In the opening chapters we are told of the original creation of man, his disobedience to divine law, and the consequent loss of his life. In the closing chapters we are told of man’s recovery upon the basis of obedience to God’s law, as symbolized by the open books of Revelation 20:12. Following a reassuring promise that there shall then be no more death, we read, “He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make [create] all things new.”—Rev. 21:4,5
Yes, that will be the completion of the work of the seventh creative day. From one standpoint it will be a recreation. It is described by Jesus as “regeneration” (Matt. 19:28), and by Peter as “restitution.” (Acts 3:19-23) But it will, nevertheless, be the completion of the original plans of creation as indicated by the statement that the Lord will “make” all things new.
As the material earth was, and continues to be brought to a state suitable for the habitation of man by a series of upheavals, deluges, tidal waves, etc., so God’s design for the human race created in His image to enjoy life everlasting, is accomplished by a long series of experiences, including the permission of evil, suffering and death.
These upheavals of human experience, like tidal waves of sorrow, have been necessary in order that the minds of the people might be trained to think properly, and thus intelligently to decide that the only key to genuine and everlasting joy is obedience to divine law. For six thousand years the Spirit of God has been brooding over the hearts and minds of men by means of the experiences divine wisdom has seen fit to permit. Thus they have been prepared—when under the righteous administration of Christ’s Kingdom which will operate in the earth during the final thousand years of the seventh creative day—to make that final choice of obedience which will result in everlasting life. With few exceptions, the people have not as yet realized the meaning of the experiences through which they have passed, and will not understand until enlightened during the morning hours of this final creative epoch.
As with the other creative days, the seventh also began with an “evening”—dark and obscure—so dark that the prophet refers to it as “night,” saying that while weeping “may endure for a night,” “joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) Yes, thank God, there is to be a morning, the completion of the seventh creative day, which will find man fully enlightened concerning the meaning of the long night of weeping through which he has passed.
Just as the buckling and twisting of the earth’s crust during the third creative day would seem to have no meaning until it was discerned that land and oceans were thereby separated; so the long night of weeping through which the human race has passed will be understood only in the light of the morning sunshine, when the divine purpose for the seventh creative day is clearly understood.
Meanwhile, and partly in order that the world may later have an additional example of loving obedience to divine law and its glorious results, Jesus makes the supreme sacrifice of His life to open the way for restoration, or recreation. As a further part of the seventh-day plan, the church of Christ joins Him in His sacrifice. True Christians suffer and die with Jesus, inspired with the hope of living and co-operating with Him in giving life to the remainder of mankind.—Romans 6:3-5; I Corinthians 15:29
Death came through Adam and life comes through Christ upon the basis of His sacrificial death. Modern critics have scorned the idea of a substitutional sacrifice as being necessary to salvation, but only the lack of careful thought could cause anyone to take this viewpoint. The human mind which, even in its fallen condition, contains some remnant of the original Godlikeness, considers that the greatest example of true nobility of character and of genuine love is willingness to lay down one’s life for another. We glorify those who give their lives for their country. We sing the praises of one who is willing to dive into the ocean to save a friend at the risk of his own life. We honor those who unselfishly use their time and strength for the betterment of the human race in the fields of science and medicine. Why then, should we shy away from the greatest exhibition of love of all time and call it bloody and revolting?
Yes, to give one’s life for another exhibits the Godlike quality of love. In the divine plan, the Creator gave His Son the opportunity of dying sacrificially, not to save one person alone, but in saving the one to save the whole race. Jesus accepted that opportunity, voluntarily taking upon Himself the penalty of death which fell upon Adam. In the scales of divine justice, love thus balances the account, making it possible for all who have died because of Adamic sin to be restored to life through Christ.
And so, in the “morning” of the seventh creative day, when the darksome shade of the previous “evening” time shall be dispelled, the world will learn that God, their Creator, loves them, and that He gave His Son to die for them. They will learn, also, that the Son willingly sacrificed His life because He too loved them. They will then understand why Jesus died for them, and will learn therefrom another very important lesson in the advantages of obedience to divine law and the benefits of divine love.
Of that time the prophet declares that the knowledge of the glory of God shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9; Hab. 2:14) When Adam was created he knew something of the glory of God, but he did not possess the depth of knowledge that all mankind will obtain during the “morning” of the seventh creative day. That ocean-deep knowledge of God’s glory will enable all individuals of the human race to decide more wisely than did Adam. Then awakened from the sleep of death, Adam himself will be better equipped to face the issue of obedience or disobedience.
Peter declares (Acts 3:23) that it will then come to pass that those who will not hear, or obey, will be destroyed from among the people. And the reverse is true. Those who do obey will not be destroyed, but will continue to live forever. Jesus establishes this fact even more convincingly, declaring that those who then obey divine law shall obtain everlasting life, and also that they shall inherit the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.—Matthew 25:34,46
Then the divine purpose concerning man will be fully accomplished. Not one man alone, but the whole race created in Adam will be in the image of God and be kings of the earth. The earth will have been “subdued” as God directed, and will be a veritable garden like the sample prepared for man in Eden. If there should be a minority who, in the light of full knowledge, choose to disobey God’s law, they will be destroyed, for the earth will be inhabited only by the obedient. These will be free from sickness and death. All tears will have been wiped away, and unbounded joy will spring forth everywhere. Then it can be recorded in the eternal record book of God’s creative works, that,
“The evening and the morning were the seventh day.”