The Latter Days of Creation

“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: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 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. And 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, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”—Gen. 1:14-19

The chief development during the fourth epoch was the appearance of the sun, moon, and stars. It was on the fourth ‘day’ that the power of God operated to clear the atmosphere to make the sun, moon, and stars visible.

THE FOURTH “DAY”

As we have observed, verse one declares that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” indicating that the ‘heaven,’ which would include the sun, moon, and stars, had been created and in existence previous to the developments which took place in the fourth day, or era. Verse sixteen declares that God ‘made’ two great lights, ‘the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.’ While the Hebrew word here translated made (asah) is often used in the Bible to describe a work of creation, it has a much wider use which justifies the thought that what occurred on the fourth day was that the sun and moon, which had already been created, were ‘caused’ to rule the day and the night.

Here are a few examples of the broader scriptural use of this word: Referring to “strangers,” or non-Hebrews in the land, we are told that Solomon “set [asah] threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens.” (II Chron. 2:17,18) Solomon did not create these men, he merely appointed or ‘set’ them to their tasks.

Again, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set [asah].” (Prov. 22:28) The reference here is not to the creating of a landmark, but to its appointment, or establishment.

The same Hebrew word is translated ‘appointed’ in Job 14:5. The text reads, “Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou has appointed [asah] his bounds that he cannot pass.” Here the reference is to God’s appointment of the maximum time man, in his fallen, sin-cursed condition, is permitted to live.

II Chronicles 24:7 is another example. The text reads, “The sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow [asah] upon Baalim.” They did not create these ‘dedicated things of the house of the Lord,’ but ‘bestowed’ them.

These wider uses of the Hebrew word asah justify us in understanding Genesis 1:16 to mean that God caused, set, or appointed ‘two great lights’—two great lights, that is, which had previously been created—one to rule the day, and the other to rule the night. Not until this fourth epoch, or era, therefore, did time begin to be divided in units the length of which are determined by the sun. This is irrefutable proof that the creative days are not twenty-four-hour days, but long eras, or epochs, of time.

THE FIFTH “DAY”

“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. And 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. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”—vss. 20-23

The power of God continued to operate. In the fifth day, or epoch, his power, or Spirit, caused the waters to ‘bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth.’ ‘Great whales’ appeared during this era; and doubtless also it was during this time that the giant prehistoric animals were brought forth. Both fish and animals of all kinds were created ‘after his kind.’

This principle of ‘after his kind’ is God’s way of saying that in the animal kingdom, even as he stipulated concerning the vegetable kingdom, species are fixed, and that no amount of tampering by man can change them. In all the annals of history there is no recorded instance of one species, either of plant or animal life, evolving into another species. The Apostle Paul knew this, and wrote, “All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” (I Cor. 15:39) None of these can be changed.

The record of the fifth day says, concerning sea life, that the ‘waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind: and every winged fowl after his kind.’ The spawning and hatching of fish, especially the larger varieties, requires a great deal more time than twenty-four hours. The same is true in the reproduction of birds. Yet these are shown as taking place within the fifth day. We mention this because we believe it shows clearly that these creative periods were much longer than twenty-four hours.

‘God blessed them,’ the records states, ‘saying, Be fruitful, and multiply.’ In the great economy of God, all his sentient creatures receive his blessing. The capacity of the shellfish to appreciate life may be very limited; nevertheless to have life at all is a blessing. Thus, from the very beginning of God’s revelation of his designs, we note that he is benevolent, kind, and that all his works reflect, not only his wisdom and power, but also his love.

THE SIXTH “DAY”

“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. 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. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”—Gen. 1:24-26

The sixth creative day, or epoch, witnessed a further development of animal life. In this day the domestic animals were created, as well also as the ‘beast’ of the field, and the ‘creeping things.’ In verse twenty-four we read, ‘God said, Let the earth bring forth,’ which might suggest something less than an individual creation of the many species of animals and creeping things. The next verse, describing the same work, says that ‘God made the beast of the earth after his kind.’ The important consideration is that life in any form does not spring forth spontaneously. From the shellfish to man, every form of life was created by God, regardless of the methods which he may have employed.

The crowning work of the sixth day was the creation of man. Special emphasis is given to this, and more details. Indeed, it was in preparation for man that the work of all the other days of creation, including the beginning of the sixth day, was carried forward. Man was the highest order of God’s earthly creation—‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion.’

Man was created to be king of earth, and when the great design of the Creator concerning him is completed, the earth will be filled with perfect human beings, exercising their original God-given dominion (Ps. 90:3), thus they will bask in the sunshine of his love forever. Paul wrote that “we see not yet all things put under” man, but, as we continue we will discover the Scriptures abundantly testifying that ultimately man’s dominion over the earth will be restored, to the glory of God, and to the eternal joy of his human creation.—Heb. 2:8

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