Genesis 1 Series, Part 19, Verses 16-24

God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth. The number “four” relates to universality; it is a world-wide phenomenon and everyone in the history of the earth has been witness of the sun, moon and stars. They were even created on the “fourth” day. It is something that impacts every human being on this earth. We can only live because of the sun, moon and stars. Without them, we could not live physically. Spiritually, it is also true that God’s elect “live” through the light of the Gospel and the spiritual “sun, moon and stars.”

We have read this before, but let us read Psalm 19:1-14:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

It was fitting and proper that the “sun, moon and stars” were created on the fourth day. The day when God is performing the work of some aspect of His creation is significant. Just think about how God worked for “six” days. In the Bible the number “six” points to work. The number “four” points to the universality or worldwide scope of something. As God said in Psalm 19, there is no voice or language that does not receive the communication of God or the witness that God has established in the heavens to all human beings, no matter what language they speak. It transcends language. It is the witness of the lights above in the heavens declaring the glory of God and witnessing that there is a God and Creator that made all these things and He also made mankind, as we will soon see.

But let us go on and read about the fifth day of creation. It says in Genesis 1:20-23:

And 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.

Since we were just talking about the significance of the particular day of creation, what does the number “five” point to in the Bible? The number “five” points to the atonement work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the payment for sin. It has everything to do with God’s salvation program and His grace and mercy, as He gives eternal life to those He has saved. So when we see that God created the living creatures and fowl on the fifth day, we wonder if it has any relationship to the atonement. Is there any significance to the atonement and the creation of the creatures on the fifth day? Let us look more carefully at Genesis 1:20:

And 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.

The evolutionists speak of the origin of things and we have talked about how ridiculous their theory is that something comes from “nothing.” There is a “Big Bang” that exploded and, all of a sudden, the entire universe forms. It not only forms but it falls perfectly into place. Just imagine how incredible it is that the earth formed in the precise position it did at the proper distance from the sun, as well as the sun itself and all the stars. If the earth were closer to the sun it would burn up and if it were further away it would be too cold. It is just in the right spot.

If anyone believes in evolution, you are really believing in a series of “miracles” without a God, but it is incredibly miraculous that there was “something” that came nothing. No one knows where this substance that was smaller than an electron came from and how it came to explode. But once it did explode it formed the entire universe in which everything just “fell into place” in a position that allowed life to exist. Then you have all the planets and sun, moon and stars, but there is no life, so the next “miracle” is that life developed from non-life. They will admit that water is required for life and through a series of processes water came to be and, of course, this came to pass over billions of years. If you told someone this happened over thousands of years, no one would believe it, so they say “billions” of years. Somehow adding eons of time seems to make it more believable for some people, so they throw billions of years into the equation and that will do it! In that way, “nonlife” can become “life.” What an incredible miracle that there was no life, but life developed over billions of years. So already there have been a few miracles to get to the point of some form of “life” like an amoeba or bacteria that was the initial life. Then from that form of life comes a “higher form of life,” and so on. Do you see how incredible this all is? If it just happened one time with one life form that developed into some creature, it would be a miracle. But, beyond that, it somehow manages to develop eyes that are placed in the proper place and ears that appear in their proper position and the mouth, tongue, nose and the brain and the heart and all the other organs that somehow manage to fall into perfect position as though there were a designer. (Of course, the idea of a designer is ridiculous to the evolutionists.) If there was just one living creature, it would be an astounding miracle, but we have thousands of creatures. We have cats, dogs, elephants, rabbits, foxes, deer, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and an abundance of animals that have their eyes and ears in their proper places and all their parts in their proper place. There is also the insect world and the sea creatures and just an amazing spectrum of creatures. I do not know the total number of creatures that inhabit the earth, not to mention mankind, the chief creature. Do you see how many miracles it would take for each one of these creatures to develop into the creature it is today? You can see why God’s people say that evolution is absolutely ridiculous. It is the most ridiculous thing that the mind of man has imagined and, yet, it is accepted worldwide. The people of the world think you are a fool if you do not believe it. What complete blindness and ignorance to accept something like evolution and it is only because they cannot face the alternative, which is completely unacceptable to them, that there was God the Creator.

God spoke and He made the heavens and the earth and He positioned the earth in the precise place it needed to be in relation to the sun in order for life to be sustained. God placed the “sun” as a picture of Himself as the Light of the world, and so forth. Then God formed the earth and the waters and divided the waters from the land and then He began to create the creatures. The waters brought forth abundantly the moving creatures and the fowl. It does not mean that they developed on their own. There was the brilliant intelligence of God behind the creation of these creatures. God is the master designer. He is a tremendous Creator and He has incredible power, might and ability. God spoke and said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly.”

At first there were seas when God divided the waters and caused the dry land to appear and He set the sea with bounds. There was water, but no life. It was a “dead” sea, in other words. There was only water and then God said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life,” and in an instant, fish appeared and sea creatures. God mentioned the whales and they were there from that fifth day, so a huge sea creature began to swim in the seas. We know today that the sea is full of myriads of wonderful and beautiful creatures. If you have ever seen a nature video where they go down into the depths of the see, you will see all kinds of fish in different colors, sizes and shapes and so many different faces. There are also lobster and crab and sea horses. For much of history man had no ability to see many of these creatures because they were in the depths of the sea, but with cameras they are able to show us the wonderful assortment of creatures that God created. We can see creatures that have never been seen before because they were at tremendous depths and, yet, God created them even though man did not see them. The world was created by God for His pleasure and for His glory and these creatures do glorify God in their design.

We know that is what God did on the fifth day. Later when God brings the flood of waters to destroy the earth, He destroyed the creatures with the breath of life upon the land. Of course, the flood did not destroy all the sea creatures. Some of them would have perished, but most of the sea creatures would have survived the flood, so they have been in existence since the fifth day of creation in the year 11,013BC. From the point when God said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.”

Notice that God said to let the “waters” bring forth. We understand that He is addressing the fact that He is creating the sea creatures, but it sounds like He is saying that the waters are producing the creatures. There is a reason God presents it that way, if we look at Isaiah 35:5-7:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

The “waters” bring life. Where water goes, life comes and God uses the water as a picture of the Gospel. It is a picture of the Word of God that would go forth in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, because there is no Gospel but God’s Gospel. It is the Gospel that was available in the day of salvation because God took it upon Himself to die in the Person of the Lord Jesus for the sins of His elect. Therefore, the water became available to bring life. It says in Isaiah 55:1:

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters…

The word “waters” is the same word as we found in Genesis, chapter 1. Here, God is picturing someone that is thirsty and receives a cool drink of water, another type and figure of the Gospel.

In Ezekiel, chapter 47 we find a very interesting passage and I think you will see how it relates to our verses in Genesis, chapter 1. It says in Ezekiel 47:1-9:

Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

Here, we find that God gives an illustration of waters coming forth from the house of God or coming forth from God Himself. Wherever the water comes, it causes things to live. There is life. Notice that it makes reference to a great multitude of fish, just as we read in John, chapter 21 of the “great catch of fish” numbering 153, pointing to all those God would save. The fish represent God’s elect, as Jesus told His disciples: “I will make you fishers of men.” Fish are sea creatures and the sea creatures are a type and figure of God’s elect.

One other thing I would like to point out about Ezekiel, chapter 49 is that it says, “And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live", and the word translated as “moveth” is Strong’s #8317 and it is the word translated “abundantly” in our verse in Genesis 1, verse 20: “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.” We can see the connection through the use of this word. God is indicating that the waters will bring forth an abundance of living creatures; that is, as the waters of the Gospel flow forth into the world, it brings forth life or living creatures. God’s elect will become saved as a result of hearing the Word of God they will be brought forth abundantly, as we learned that God saved the great multitude in the little season of the Great Tribulation. Over the course of earth’s history since creation, God has saved tens of millions of people, perhaps as many as 200 million people, so God’s salvation program has been an abundant salvation. The Lord Jesus said in John 10:10:

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

This is true for each one of us that has become saved. We received eternal life and an abundance of life, especially in comparison to the pittance of man’s typical lifespan of 70 or 80 years. There is no comparison, is there? We cannot compare eternal life to 70 or 80 years or even 100 years. It is nothing compared to eternal life without end. It truly would be like comparing a drop of water to the Atlantic Ocean. That is the comparison between life in this world and eternal, abundant life. It also relates to the number of people God saved because He saved abundantly.