90-213

"Creation Day 2"

Genesis 1:6-8 by

John MacArthur
All Rights Reserve !A co"y o# this $essage on cassette ta"e $ay be obtaine by calling 1-800-%%GRA&'( This is message number six in our look at Genesis chapter 1 in the study of origins. Some people have asked me, "Are you going to do the entire book of Genesis " And the ans!er is no. "thers have asked me, "#o! many messages !ill there be " And the ans!er is $ don%t kno! at this particular point. As you might imagine !e%re &ust taking !hat comes in the text. $ !as also asked tonight if $ had preached on this before, and the ans!er to that is no. This is the first time $%ve really gone verse by verse through the account of creation. "bviously $%ve studied it through the years and, of course, !riting the notes for the Study 'ible as !ell, going into it in some depth, but this is the first time for me, so $%m sharing !ith you as $ go. And that%s the richest !ay to do it actually. (o! as !e come to Genesis chapter 1, !e come to that no! very familiar verse to us, "$n the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." And that ans!ers the )uestion of origins. The heavens and the earth !hich !as the *e!ish phrase substituting for the absence of a !ord for universe by !hich they described the universe and it ans!ers the )uestion of origins, "$n the beginning God created the universe." (o! !e%ve been adding to that as !e%ve been !orking our !ay in to the text of Genesis a

little bit. And let me sum up !hat the +ord of God in Genesis teaches about origins. $t is really unmistakable, it is plain language. There is an inescapable account here in Genesis telling us about the origin of the universe. And summing it up, this is !hat it says. The eternal God at some point in the past created out of nothing !ithout preexisting material the universe as it is no! in six solar days. #e capped #is creation on the sixth day by creating man in #is o!n image, that is intelligent, !ith personality, !ith self, consciousness, and cognition, or the ability to think and reason. This creation occurred in six days, the seventh day it !as over and God rested from creating. $t occurred about -... years ago and the entire creation !as mature and aged at the instant of its creation. At the time of creation death did not exist. $n fact, no corrupting influence of any kind existed, and that%s !hy God looked at #is creation and said it is very good. There !as no death, there !as no corrupting influence. Therefore there couldn%t have been any animals dying, any plants dying. There couldn%t have been any kind of natural selection process going on. There couldn%t have been any survival of the fittest because everything survived in that perfect creation. /eath and corruption entered the creation for the first time !hen Adam and 0ve sinned and disobeyed God, then came death and then came corruption. 'ut that is described in chapter 1 and has nothing to do !ith the six days of creation. 2ater on after the 3all, the surface of the no! cursed earth !as reshaped drastically by a !orld!ide 3lood that !as so deep that it completely covered the mountains all over the face of the earth. $t !as that cataclysmic !orld 3lood that drastically reshaped the surface of the earth !hich also deposited fossil beds all over the globe. That 3lood !iped out all humanity !ith the exception of eight people

and the animals in (oah%s ark, they alone !ere the survivors. (o! that is the Genesis record of origins...creation, the 3all, the 3lood, reshaping cataclysmicly the face of the no! corrupted cursed earth. Great &udgment falls on all of humanity so that only eight survive. All of us then are the descendant of those eight...(oah, his three sons, (oah%s !ife and their !ives, that is the Genesis record. And let me say something to you that maybe you can &ust kind of file in your permanently useful file. Science is not a hermeneutic for interpreting Genesis...or for that matter for interpreting any other portion of Scripture. Science is not a hermeneutic. $t is not a principle of interpretation. The 'ible does not bo! to science. The accuracy of the Genesis text is no different than the accuracy of any other portion of Scripture. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All Scripture is God,breathed. All Scripture comes not by any private interpretation but holy men of God spoke as they !ere moved by the #oly Spirit. *esus summed it up !hen #e said, "Thy +ord is truth." The 'ible is true !hether you%re talking about revelation and eschatological prophecy or !hether you%re talking about Genesis and historic origins. The 'ible is true !hether you%re talking about the history of $srael or the history of the 4anaanites. The 'ible is true !hether you%re talking about salvation or sanctification, !hether you%re talking about the life of *esus or the theology of *esus. +hatever the 'ible says is absolutely true. And the 'ible is as true in Genesis as it is any!here else, and every!here else. 3urthermore, since origins are not repeatable, they are outside the realm of science. Since origins !ere not observable, since there !as only one there and that !as God, no one can comment on origins but God. So !hat you have in Genesis is the only and accurate first,

hand eye,!itness account of origins by the creator #imself. (o! in spite of that very clear,cut approach to the +ord of God, many people, including 4hristians, have turned to science, turned to scientists !ho speak authoritatively on Genesis. $n fact, there are theologians, many of them, 'ible commentators, pastors, !ell, kno!n popular pastors and preachers, some of !hom you !ould even kno! !ho deny the Genesis account. They flatly deny the Genesis account because they accept evolutionary science to one degree or another. $%ve said this to you all the !ay along and $%ll repeat it again !ithout going in to all the verification...science has proven nothing that negates the Genesis record. $n fact, the Genesis record is !hat ans!ers the mysteries of science. 'ut sadly 4hristians and 4hristian theologians, 'ible commentators, 4hristian college professors as !ell as pastors and teachers have denied the Genesis account, being intimidated by science. (o! there is one book, there is one book that comments on Genesis of great note...one book that $ !ould say is absolutely authoritative and it%s the only authoritative book...one true, infallible, inerrant, authoritative commentary that has been !ritten on Genesis...one unarguable divine book, one heavenly inspired commentary on Genesis that speaks !ith absolute authority, is to be unchallenged in its truthfulness. And frankly, for me this book forever settles the issue of the accuracy of Genesis. +hat book is it $t%s the (e! Testament...it%s the (e! Testament. $t !as not !ritten by any scientist and not even by a creation scientist. $t !as not !ritten by theologians or a theologian. $t !as !ritten by simple men !ho !ere given the +ord to !rite by God #imself so that the creator is the author. 5ou have in Genesis the account of the creation. 5ou have in the (e! Testament the creator%s inspired commentary

on the Genesis record. if you go to the (e! Testament you !ill find there is an affirmation there of six,day creation. There is an affirmation of divine fiat, or instantaneous creation. There is an affirmation of man being made in the image of God. An affirmation of Adam being created and then 0ve. There is an affirmation of the 3all there in very specific terms. There is an affirmation of the 3lood there in very specific terms. There is an affirmation of (oah and the surviving family of (oah. All of the Genesis record is very carefully referred to by the inspired (e! Testament. #ubert Thomas, in his 3rench book on Genesis 1 to 11 in the introduction, !rites this, "$n effect, three main points are demonstrated by reading the list !e provide. These three points confirm that the (e! Testament can in no case !hatsoever be appealed to in order to sustain any sort of evolutionary theory." #e%s absolutely right, you can%t find anything about evolution in Genesis, it%s not there. 5ou can%t find it any!here in the "ld Testament and you can%t find any!here in the (e! Testament !here commenting on Genesis somebody casts it into an evolutionary light or into the light of legend or fantasy or some kind of poetic license. And then Thomas goes on to give three reasons. "3irst, !ithout exception references to creation and especially the citations of Genesis 1 to 11 point to historical events. They are no different than the historical death of the 2ord *esus 4hrist on Golgotha. As far as the (e! Testament is concerned, creation ex nihilo...that is out of nothing...and the creation of Adam and 0ve, 4ain and Abel, (oah and the 3lood, as far as the (e! Testament is concerned there is no legend and no parable. All deal !ith persons and events of historical and universal significance." "Secondly," !rites Thomas, "!ithout exception creation is al!ays mentioned as a

uni)ue event !hich took place at a particular moment in past time." $t%s not something that%s going on all the time, as is the theory of evolution. #e further says, "4reation took place, it !as finished. 0vents occurred !hich corrupted the !orld and no! it a!aits a ne! creation !hich !ill take place in the future at a given moment." "Thirdly," Thomas says, "recitations of creation given in Genesis 1 to 1 are considered in the (e! Testament to be literally true, historical and of surpassing importance. The (e! Testament doctrine based on these citations, out of Genesis 1 to 1, !ould be !ithout any validity and even erroneous if the events of Genesis !ere not historically true. 3or example, consider the entry of sin into the !orld. $f Adam !ere not the head of the !hole human race, then *esus 4hrist, the last Adam, is not the head of the ne! creation," end )uote. #e%s referring to 6omans !here it says as in Adam all died, so in 4hrist shall all be made alive. 4learly the (e! Testament !riter under the inspiration of the #oly Spirit sa! sin and death enter the !orld through the very historic man Adam, and through his very historic act of disobedience. And so, that sort of sums up the issue for us. The (e! Testament makes no small number of references to Genesis and to creation. And it does so very naturally. it doesn%t...it doesn%t come across affected, it doesn%t come across sort of incredulous, it doesn%t come across saying, ""h $ kno! this is hard to believe and $ kno! you%re going...you%re going to really have a tough time s!allo!ing this, but this is ho! it is." $t doesn%t do that. There is no attempt to defend, no attempt to explain somebody%s incredulity, it%s simply stated as fact. (o!, for example, 7atthe! 11819, "$ !ill utter things !hich have been kept secret from the foundation of the !orld," indicating there !as a point in time !hen the !orld !as

founded. 7ark 1181:, "3or in those days shall be affliction such as !as not from the beginning of the creation !hich God created." *ohn 181, "All things !ere made by #im and !ithout #im !as not anything made that !as made." That is there alone a verse that !ould immediately cancel the creation of anything by chance by some random process...everything made !as made by God. Acts ;8<;, "2ord, Thou art God !hich has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them." That%s as comprehensive as you can say it. Acts 1;819, "That you should turn from these vanities, these idols under the living God !ho made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein," everything, the heaven, the earth, the sea and everything that inhabits all of that. 6omans 18<., "3or the invisible things of #im...that is of God...from the creation of the !orld are clearly seen." Second 4orinthians ;8-, "3or God...and !e studied this last Sunday night...!ho commanded the light to shine out of darkness." That%s exactly !hat #e did on day one, #e commanded the light to shine out of darkness. 4olossians 181-, "'y #im !ere all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, all things !ere created by #im and for #im." #ebre!s 181., "And Thou, 2ord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the !orks of Thine hands," and !e%re going to see that a little later on day t!o. #ebre!s 1181, "Through faith !e understand that the !orlds !ere framed by the +ord of God." #e spoke them into existence so that those things !hich are seen !ere not made of things !hich do appear," that%s ex nihilo, #e created things !hich are seen but they !eren%t made from anything !hich existed before. $n 7atthe! 1: *esus said, "#ave you not read that #e !hich made them at the beginning made them male and female " Again, speaking of mankind as being the direct result

of the creative act of God. Acts 1=8<-, "God has made of one blood all nations of men for to d!ell on the face of the earth and has determined the times before appointed in the bounds of their habitation." #e is the creator of all the nations of men. 3irst 4orinthians 118> and :, "3or the man is not of the !oman, but the !oman of the man, neither !as the man created for the !oman but the !oman for the man," again created. 3irst Timothy <811 and 1;, "3or Adam !as first formed, then 0ve." 6omans 981; takes us to the 3all, "(evertheless death reigned from Adam to 7oses." 6omans 981=, "'y one man%s sin, Adam%s, death reigned by one." 3irst 4orinthians 198<1, "Since by mn came death, by man...meaning 4hrist...came the resurrection from the dead." And $ remind you again of < ?eter 189 and -, ho! that ?eter refers to the 3lood and even to the preshaped !orld !hen it !as engulfed in !ater !hen he says, "'y the +ord of God the heavens !ere of old and the earth standing out of the !ater and in the !ater," and so forth as !e noted last time. 0phesians 18:, "The mystery !hich from the beginning of the !orld has been hid in God !ho created all things by *esus 4hrist." *ames 18:, "There!ith bless !e God, even the 3ather, and there!ith curse !e men !hich are made after the similitude of God." Again, God is the "ne !ho made man in #is image. 6evelation ;811, "Thou art !orthy, " 2ord, to receive glory and honor and po!er, for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and !ere created." 6evelation 1.8-, "And s!ear by #im that lives forever and ever !ho created heaven and the things that therein are and the earth and the things that therein are, and the sea and the things that therein are." 6evelation 1;8=, "+orship #im that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of !aters." 6omans 18<9, "7an !orships and serves the creature more than the creator." And so it goes. #ebre!s <81., "$t became #im for !hom are all things and by

!hom are all things." And so it goes. "ver and over and over and over in the (e! Testament the creation account is referred to. (o! as !e have been saying, evolution has been introduced really as an atheistic alternative, as a godless alternative. And evolution demands irrational faith in impotent chance. 0volution can%t happen. $t is impossible. $t has been proven by science that it can%t happen, as !e sa!, because of /(A, genetic codes information systems. 4reation is rational faith in Almighty God. 0volution is irrational faith in impotent chance. 0volution is...is really naturalism. Any sort of evolution is a form of naturalism. (aturalism believes that God exists only in the mind of non,intellectuals, only in the mind of lo!, level religious people. (aturalism says nature is all there is, that%s really all there is. And that is virtually the assumption that underlies all natural science. $t underlies all naturalistic, humanistic philosophy. $t underlies all intellectual !ork. $t underlies all morality, or better, immorality. $n other !ords, the underpinning of our entire culture is this idea of nature is all there is. $f naturalism is true, then man created God, God didn%t create man. And belief in God is nothing more than a groundless superstition, and more importantly, since it is a superstition, !e don%t have to listen to anything in the foolish 'ible, certainly not the Ten 4ommandments, the moral la!s, and so forth. So, !e aren%t interested in !hat religious people think. They%re a threat. They%re non, intellectuals. They%re...they%re more than a bother. They intrude on our moral freedoms. $n fact, !e don%t even talk about morality anymore, !e &ust talk about rights and values, don%t !e 6ights and values...and rights and values are to be decided on by every individual. ?eople don%t do !rong because of sin. +ith all...in the !ake of all this massacre up in 2ittleton, 4olorado, you haven%t heard

anybody talking about sin. ?eople don%t do !rong because of sin. They do !rong because someho! they overextended their rights. Someho! they had !arped values. They are psychologi@ed rather than theologi@ed. There is no creator, there is no moral la!, there is no moral &udge, there is no purpose for life, there is no reason for life except to get through it as happy as you can. There is no destiny. And there is no true theology. 3olks, $ !ant to take you there cause that%s the most important thing. There is in a naturalist%s !orld, the humanist%s !orld, the evolutionary !orld no true theology. So a theologian is really a useless interruption. $n fact, they !ould probably hope that theologians are so lo! on the evolutionary chain as to be unable to survive. There%s no such thing as a true theology because there%s no such thing as a true God. The issue for evolutionists is not that Genesis is not believable, it%s &ust a simple, straightfor!ard account. $t%s not that they !ant to argue about !hether Genesis is true or not, $ mean...that, they%ve already !on that battle. And that%s !hy $%m going back there. 2isten, they%ve already convinced most of the 4hristian !orld that Genesis isn%t true. They have successfully attacked !ith their relentless theories and scientific illusions and sleight of hand and misrepresentation, they have successfully attacked Genesis and got most of the evangelical 4hristian !orld to believe that Genesis is not a true account. 'ut that%s not really, they%re &ust not trying to debunk Genesis. $ mean, that in itself doesn%t gain them much ground. The real issue !ith evolutionists is that if God created man and cares so greatly about !hat he does as to identify eternal conse)uences for his behavior, that is a serious threat to their sinful pleasures. The naturalistic evolutionist hates God and loves sin. Sometime you should read ?aul *ohnson%s book, the historian%s book on The Intellectuals. 6ead...read the biographies, it%s absolutely riveting reading. The biographies of

the people !ho shaped !estern society, they !ere perverse to put it mildly in their o!n personal lives. The naturalist hates God and loves sin. The theistic evolutionist !ho !ants to bring evolution and impose it on Genesis and kind of marry it up !ith God, he !ill say he loves God and he !ill say he hates sin, but he actually loves God a little and his academic reputation a lot. (o! let me tell you something, and $%m not blo!ing my o!n horn, it &ust so happens that it does refer to me. The governing discipline in the !orld, the governing discipline in the !orld, the governing discipline in the matter of life on this planet, the most important realm of thought, the most important arena of understanding is not science. /id you hear that (o! you !ould think it !as. 5ou !ould think it !as. That%s !hat our !hole society goes back to all the time. And !hat do !e do $ pick up three maga@ines this afternoon to read then, (e!s!eek, Time maga@ine...one of them had some kind of a missing link on the cover. The other one promised on the pages on the inside to sho! the difference in the brain makeup of a criminal from a normal person, and it had some kind of photographs of some medical analysis of brain patterns. Then the discussion is all about the processes of evolution that lead to or a!ay from that kind of behavior. 2isten, the )ueen of sciences in our !orld today, the )ueen of science, $ mean, in the sense of kno!ledge is naturalistic science. They%re supposed to have all the ans!ers for everything and the fact is they don%t. The governing discipline in the matter of life in the universe at every single point is not science. The governing discipline is theology. The only !ay you !ill ever understand the universe, the only !ay you !ill ever understand the history of man, the only !ay you !ill ever understand behavior and !hy people do !hat they do, the only !ay you !ill ever understand the flo! of

life and !here !e came from and !here !e%re going is !hen you understand a true theology...the only !ay you%ll ever understand it. +e cannot then allo! our theology to vacate its throne at the beginning of the 'ible and take a footstool !hile science ascends the throne. Science and every other discipline, every other realm or arena or sphere or paradigm of human thought bo!s to the king of all disciplines and the king of all disciplines is a true theology and a true theology is a theology that comes from the +ord of God. Theologians aren%t respected today. That%s tragic. And in some measure they%re not respected because they%ve &ettisoned their position. Theologians aren%t respected !ho hold their ground because they%re the enemy...there%s a concerted effort to paint them as non,intellectuals, people !ho are bound up in superstition and fantasy. 'ut every one of you as a 4hristian, and $ am going to elevate you, you don%t even have to take any classes, $%m going to do this to you &ust...you are all theologians. And $ !ant you to understand !hat $ mean by that. 5ou understand theology. 5ou may not understand every nuance of theology. 5ou may not be able to tell the difference bet!een sublapsarianism, infralapsarianism and a 2abrador retriever. 5ou may...$ &ust thre! that in. 5ou may not be able to explain the doctrine of the emu@ioA B or every aspect of kenosis. 5ou may not kno! all the terminology, you may not kno! all of the ins and outs of every theological concept. 'ut let me tell you something, folks, you are all theologians because you kno! the true and living God and you kno! the means by !hich #e is kno!n. And furthermore, you kno! the +ord of the living God !hich is the substance of all truth in theology. Give evolution the throne and you make the 'ible the servant of man and you court disaster. 'ut the )ueen of sciences today is natural...naturalism. 0verything goes back to it, and naturalism is defined in evolutionary

terms. So !hat rules our !hole society is evolution. $t%s even gotten into theology to the point no!, $ am reading a number of different resources lately !here the !riter is saying, "God #imself is also evolving." "h yeah...this is God in process of becoming !hat #e !ould like to become. So even God has been s!ept up and God is &ust another little piece of the evolutionary process. Give evolution the throne and it takes over everything. Give it the throne in the first fe! verses of the first book of the first page of the 'ible and you%ve abdicated at the very outset. And in a !orld that evolves, it%s very hard to have any fixed points. That%s !hy educators today are relativists. They%re basically relativists on everything. 5ou kno!, you hear all this about !e%ve got problems in the schools, and you%ve heard it lately, !ell !hat are !e going to do ...!hat are !e going to do ...!e can%t have kids going shooting up the schools, !hat are !e going to do about this +e%ve got to teach them some standards. +e%ve got to teach them some standards. So, $ have a great solution. *ust take into every single school the very finest 'ible teachers in a given community and let them have the kids every day for a !eek and &ust let them teach the +ord of God to them. That%s the standard. That%s the absolute standard. 3at chance. That isn%t going to happen. And until it happens, things are going to get !orse cause there are no ans!ers. +hat they%re talking about...and !hen the educators get into this and they say !e need help, !e%ve got to do something, they use this phrase, "Calues clarification." Calues again...!hat is values clarification mean +ell they...it basically, you kno!, they%ve got it do!n to you !ork hard and you don%t hurt people. 7oral reasoning !hich means $ have all the freedoms to do !hatever $ !ant but my freedom stops !here your nose begins. $f $ !ant to go out and beat my head against the

!all, and if $ !ant to go out and behave in a certain fashion, that%s fine. 'ut $ cannot take a !eapon and shoot you because no! $%ve invaded your space. So $ have to learn to reason morally and kno! that my freedoms have some moral limitation and the limitation is !here by society%s standards $%ve stepped over some line that effects you. 'y the !ay, it gets very, very fu@@y and the society is so fu@@y on it they don%t kno! !hat to do about it, they%re letting people produce video games, television programs, music, movies that cross the line by miles in creating evil influences in the lives of young people that are as deadly as if somebody put a gun to their head and fired it. There is no hope for a society !here naturalistic evolution is the )ueen of the sciences, !here everything has to ans!er to that. Students are supposed to be given values clarification by teachers !ho don%t have any moral standards. They%re supposed to be taught moral reasoning by people !ho don%t have any absolutes. And then they%re told they need to forge their life style...no authority, no sin, no fixed divine la!, no shame, no guilt, no set conse)uences. 'ut there%s one thing in our society that they%re not relativistic about, do you kno! !hat it is 0volution. That is the one dominating absolute in our society. $f you say you don%t believe in evolution, you literally are vie!ed as a moron, somebody !ho doesn%t have all his marbles, somebody !ho is bereft of normal reasoning ability. There%s a s!eeping relativity until it comes to the one fixed absolute that makes the relative system !ork and that is evolution. 5ou see, if you come and say..."+ell, you kno!, $ don%t believe in evolution, $ believe in divine creation by God," the !hole relativistic house of cards collapses cause you have to have randomness, free choice, free expression, you can%t have fixed absolutes, you can%t have the la! giver and a la! and a &udge and all of that. So the one absolute that perseveres in the

midst of this relativity is the absolute of evolution. That is they are absolutely convinced beyond any argument that everything that exists today is a result of chance and random processes. As one !riter said, and $%ll never forget the statement, the universe as !e kno! it is &ust one of those things that happens from time to time. 'ut contrary to all of that, theology is the )ueen of science. Theology is !hat is the most important realm of thought. Theology is the controlling element in all of human understanding. And an un!avering faith in the accuracy and truthfulness of the 'ible is at the heart of all sound theology. And it starts !ith believing the Genesis account. That is critical to a 4hristian !orld vie!. As $ told you a fe! !eeks ago, the 7aster%s 4ollege participates in the 4hristian 4ollege 4oalition, 11. 4hristian colleges of !hich five or six affirm the Genesis account. So !e have a hundred 4hristian colleges that do not have a 4hristian !orld vie!. +hat is a 4hristian college +ell, $ get exercised about that but let%s go to the text. $%m trying to do t!o things in these messages, give you some...some rational thought, a little philosophical thought, some scientific stuff before !e slide into the text, but let%s go to the text. 2et%s look at day one. "$n the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth !as formless and void, desolate and uninhabited...remember, that%s !hat !e told you that means...it !as desolate and uninhabited, it hadn%t yet been shaped or inhabited by any living thing. And it !as completely engulfed !ith darkness. The earth...it says...!as covered !ith the deep, covered !ith the !ater...says the darkness !as over the surface of the deep, !hich is an "ld Testament !ord for the ocean, and the Spirit of God !as moving over the surface of the !aters." So !hat you had, day one, is God creates time, space and matter. Those are the elements...time, space and matter. God creates

them out of nothing. And you have this tohu and bohu, this unformed, unshaped and uninhabited mass of these elements. And this earth that #e has..the elements are mixed perhaps like so much mud, as it !ere, not sorted out, and it%s covered !ith !ater completely and then surrounded by darkness. And then on day one, verse 1, "God said, %2et there be light,% and there !as light." So God created light. "Sa! the light that it !as good, separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, the darkness #e called night, and there !as evening and there !as morning, one day." So, on the first day God created the essential elements of time, space and matter. God then added light. #e fixed the lightDdark cycle in the permanent dayDnight continuum of <; hours solar days. That%s !hy it says in verse 9 there !as evening and there !as morning. And somebody says, "+ell, the sun hasn%t been created, or the moon." That%s fine. God could still cycle the light any !ay #e !anted until #e attached that light to the heavenly bodies, !hich #e does, as !e%ll see later on. So, basically the first day the elements are created and they%re left in a shapeless and uninhabited form and surrounded by darkness and then light is created and there%s a mingling of light and darkness in the normal <;,hour cycle and that%s day one. 2et%s go to day t!o. God continued to shape those elements into a habitable environment for the life that #e !ould create. And then God said in verse -, "2et there be an expanse in the midst of the !aters, and let it separate the !aters from the !aters. And God made the expanse and separated the !aters !hich !ere belo! the expanse from the !aters !hich !ere above the expanse and it !as so. And God called the expanse heaven and there !as evening and there !as morning, a second day."

All right, let%s &ump in and see !hat happened here. /ay one, God separated light from darkness. /ay t!o, God separated heaven from earth. That%s !hat the expanse is referring to. /ay three, as !e shall see, God separated !ater on earth from dry land. So day one, day t!o, day three, series of separations. 'efore God can create life #e has to separate light from darkness, and create the continuum of light and dark in the <;,hour solar day. #e has to separate the heaven from the earth, !hich #e does on day t!o. Then #e has to separate the !ater that is no! completely engulfing on day one and t!o, #e has to separate that from the dry land so there%s a place for the fish in the sea and the land life on dry land. Thus the universe is made ready for life in the first three days...a very reasonable approach...light from dark, heaven from earth, dry land from !ater. 2et%s look at it then in more particulars. Cerse -, "Then God said," and again $ remind you that creation !as simply by the +ord of God. #e spoke things into existence. As day t!o began, !hen the da!ning of the day came, the universe !as light and dark, the earth !as an undifferentiated mass of elements completely engulfed in !ater. 'ut then God said, "2et there be an expanse in the midst of the !aters and let it separate from the !aters from the !aters." This is )uite interesting. "n day one the earth !as covered all !ith !ater. "n day t!o God separated that !ater in to t!o places. That%s !hat it%s saying here. #e put an expanse in bet!een and some !ater !as above and some remained on the earth. So you have the !ater that !as still on the earth and no! some !ater that%s separated and taken above. That%s exactly !hat it is saying. And in bet!een those t!o elements of !ater there is an expanse. (o! the !ord "expanse" is the #ebre! !ord raqia. $t means, interesting !ord, it means expanse. $t means spread out thinness. And

looking in the "ld Testament to find its usage, in 0xodus 1:81 !hen they !ere making things for the !orship of God in the tabernacle, it says they got gold and they hammered out...they hammered out sheets of gold. They flattened it out and spread it out and hammered it into thinness. They use the same verb as the verb expanse. The picture is of a thin area that God &ust cuts right through the !aters that surround the earth. All the !ay around the earth is this !ater and God &ust cuts as if you !ould go in there !ith a knife and &ust cut all the !ay through that sphere of the undifferentiated mass of elements of the earth, separating it into t!o parts. There%s still the part that%s spherical and the !ater surrounding it, but no! there%s !ater above it, separated by this expanse. 0xpanse is intended to convey the idea of space...space. 2ook at verse >. God called this expanse !hat #eaven. $t%s !hat !e understand as heaven. $t%s !hat !e understand as the space above us. #eaven is shamayim and it literally means the sky, or the skies. $t refers to the universe and the space above us. So there !as no heaven, there !as no space as !e kno! until the second day and God &ust cut all the !ay around that sphere and released some of that !ater and sent it up, creating bet!een the !aters above and !ater belo! space. The *e!ish !riter 4asudoA B says, "3rom this !e may infer that immediately after its formation the firmament occupied of its o!n accord the place appointed for it by the !ill of God !hich is the sight of the heavens as !e kno! it." 2iterally created space. "Thus as soon as the firmament !as established in the midst of the layer of !ater, it began to rise, arching like a vault." That%s very graphic. God cuts that !ater and then it &ust begins to rise and it begins to expand until its going further and further, creating in bet!een space. 4asudo says, "$n its course...in the course it expands arching like a vault, in the course of its up!ard expansion it lifted at the same time the

upper !aters resting on top of it." $t &ust took them right up. "This marked a considerable advance in the marshalling of the components of the universe. Above no! stands the vault of heaven, surrounded by the upper !aters. 'eneath stretches the expanse of lo!er !aters, that is the !aters of the vast sea !hich still covers all the heavy undifferentiated matter on the earth. The universe..he !rites..is beginning to take shape." (o! that%s a very reasonable account !ritten by 7oses. At the, if you go back into ancient literature you read some other legends that developed in the 7esopotamian mythology that are kind of interesting to compare !ith this. ?agan stories, there%s a lot of them, to try to explain creation, none of them teaches evolution. 'ut, for example, the legends of 7esopotamia say that after the god 7arduk, and by the !ay, you can name him a lot of different names depending on !hat the nation you belong to or !hat version you !ant, but the god 7arduk had van)uished TiamotA B, the goddess of the !orld ocean, depicted as a great and mighty sea monster, as !ell as the other monsters and monstrosities that she had created to aid her in her combat. And after he had slain his chief enemy !ith his !eapons, he cut her carcass hori@ontally and divided her into t!o halves !hich lay one on top of the other and out of the upper half he formed a heaven and out of the lo!er half he made the earth, !hich included the sea. 5ou can read that !hole story in the 'abylonian account of creation. And it says actually in the text, translated, he split her like a fish into t!o parts, the one half of her he set up and laid there !ith the beams of the heavens. #e pulled do!n a bar and stationed a !atch !hich refers to the earth belo!. $n summary then the 'abylonian priestly myth !hich the Greeks also follo!ed says that the upper part of the universe and the earth here is the result of the cutting in half of the body of Tiamot, or Tomtu, TomteA B, a lot of

different names. And that%s &ust...$ &ust tell you that to sho! you ho! bi@arre and silly those legends are. 'ut !hat the 'ible says is completely reasonable. God took the !aters !ay up...!ay up. 2eft some still engulfing the earth and in bet!een created the separator bet!een the !aters !hich !as the expanse !e call heaven, space...the vast space of the universe. Go to verse =, and verse = basically reiterates, "And God made the expanse and separated the !aters !hich !ere belo! the expanse from the !aters !hich !ere above the expanse and it !as so." And again he repeats the same thing again, &ust to be sure you get it. There%s an expanse and God separated it. The !aters !ent up, some of the !aters stayed belo!, #e created space in bet!een. *ust a couple of footnotes here. $t%s important to understand that this is all creative. That is to say it is all creative po!er going on here of proportions that are &ust absolutely beyond our capacity to understand. And $ !ant you...$ say that in reference to verse = because the !ord used there, God made the expanse. And some people have said...+ell this isn%t create, this isn%t the !ord bara, this is another !ord asah in #ebre!, does it signify some different activity /oes it signify that this...do !e need to make a distinction here A lot of times 'ible teachers !ill make distinctions that they shouldn%t make because all languages have synonyms and even !ords that have shades of variation can be used in a synonym fashion. And the )uestion here is...does the !ord "made" change the actual action of God And the ans!er is no. $t does not signify any different activity on God%s part than creating out of nothing. $n fact, over in chapter < verse 1 the verse ends, God rested the seventh day, blessed it and sanctified it. 6ested from all #is !ork !hich God had created and made. And there you have those t!o !ords bara and asah and basically presented as synonyms. And $ think that%s a !onderful note that the Spirit of

God has placed there so !e !ouldn%t !orry about !hether there !as some distinction. The !ord bara is the defining !ord. And here in this context it means to create something out of nothing, or to put it another !ay, to do something that transcends normal ability, to do something that can%t be done. That%s bara in this text. And made is &ust a synonym to use another !ord referring to the same thing. (o! bara can be used simply for something normal. $t%s used in $saiah 9;81-, "'ehold, $ have created the smith !ho blo!s the fire and coals and brings out a !eapon." God...9=81: of $saiah, says, "4reating the praise of the lips." Those things are more normal. They don%t necessarily speak of the same po!er of creation exhibited in Genesis. So bara doesn%t al!ays mean creating in the sense of ex nihilo, divine fiat creation, but in this context that is distinctively !hat it means. And the !ord "made" is &ust another !ord to affirm the same thing. +e could say it is a synonym. And by the !ay, in 0xodus, for you scholars, 0xodus 1;81., asah is used as a synonym for bara in 0xodus 1;81.. So $ see them used in synonym fashion. +e could say it this !ay...in the Genesis context this !ord asah is used to specify the kind of bara, the kind of creation of !hich the verse speaks. God is creating and in this creating #e makes something that never existed. #e is creating but in the creating, as verse 1 indicates, the broad picture, #e is making things expressed by the use of the other !ord. So in verse = #e made the expanse. $t !as still creation, but it !as a component of creation, it !as the making of something that never before existed. (o!, $%m going to hurry and finish...the separation of !ater above the sky and belo! has led to much discussion, folks...much discussion. The )uestion is, !hat is this !ater And, you kno!, $ have to confess to you, $ don%t kno!...$ don%t kno!. $t could be that

clear out at the end of infinite space there is !ater. +e kno! that there is !ater in the air, that !e kno!, !e feel the rain. There may be some other feature that !e don%t kno! about !ay at the other...at the very end of the limitless vault of heavenly space, $ don%t kno!. There are many !ho believe that there is in this creation there !as created around the earth a canopy, a canopy of !ater. This is the vie! of +hitecomb and 7orris, that the !aters above the expanse, the !aters above heaven !ere like a vapor that &ust engulfed the !hole earth and created a kind of a hot house environment. And that%s...they suggest !hy animals lived so long and plants lived so long. 5ou had animals living long enough to become dinosaurs, you had people living long enough to become like 7ethuselah, :.. plus years old because they !ere shielded from ultra,violet light because of this !ater canopy. And then at the flood, that canopy burst loose and dro!ned the earth, along !ith the tectonic cataclysm that occurred underneath the earth that broke up the basic elements of the earth and created the post,flood environment. 'ut !e can%t kno! that for certain. The suggestions are made that this vapor !as a !ater vapor canopy up over the earth. There%s nothing in here about that. So, folks, you can%t be dogmatic about it. $t seems a reasonable explanation. And the suggestion has been made that !ater vapor has the ability to transmit incoming solar radiation and to retain and to disperse much of the radiation reflected from the earth%s surface, so it !ould serve as a global greenhouse, maintaining a uniformly pleasant !arm temperatures around the !orld. They say that !ith nearly uniform temperatures, great air mass movements !ould be inhibited, !ind storms !ould be unkno!n. +ith no global air circulation the hydrological cycle of the present !orld could not be implemented, there could be no rain except directly over the bodies of !ater from !hich it might have evaporated. +ith no global air circulation because it%s all protected

by this canopy, there !ould be no turbulence, no dust particles transported in the upper atmosphere. The !ater vapor in the canopy !ould have been stable and not precipitate itself. 3urther, the planet !ould have been maintained not only at uniform temperature, but at comfortable uniform humidities by means of daily local evaporation and condensation like de! or ground fog. The combination further of !arm temperature, ade)uate moisture every!here !ould be conducive to extensive stands of lush vegetation over the !orld, no barren deserts and no ice caps. A vapor canopy !ould be effective in filtering out ultra,violet radiation, cosmic rays, other destructive energies and it goes on and on and on. And then at the 3lood !hen God !anted to dro!n the earth, #e &ust broke that thing loose and it plunged to earth and !e !ere all exposed to the ultra,violet life and life !as shortened up and people &ust lived -. years after that. is that really the !ay it !as +ell it doesn%t say that in Genesis. The text of Genesis doesn%t specify a canopy, but it does say there !ere !aters above and !aters belo!. There have been scientists, good creation scientists !ho have said this canopy doesn%t fly. 6obert +hitela!A B and +alter 'ro!n summari@ed the difficulties like this. The heat problem, a large vapor or ice canopy !ould so increase heat that it !ould roast all living things if you have no movement of air and you &ust have this heat. The light problem, they suggest, starlight !hich God said !ould be for signs and seasons could scarcely have been seen and sunlight could not have reached through !ith sufficient heat to support tropical plants. The pressure problem, a vapor canopy holding more than ;. feet !ater !ould increase such high pressure at its base that its

temperature !ould exceed <<. degrees fahrenheit. The support problem neither vapor, li)uid, nor ice canopy could have physically survived for the many centuries bet!een creation and the 3lood...a couple of thousand years. $t !ould condense, evaporate or vapori@e, it !ouldn%t &ust stay there. And then the ultraviolet problem, a canopy surrounding the atmosphere !ould not have been protected from ultraviolet light !hich !ould have disassociated !ater into hydrogen and oxygen, thus immediately destroying the canopy....and on and on and on. 2ook, $%m not going to get in to this argument. $ haven%t got any idea. All $ kno! is there !as !ater here and !ater up there. That%s all $ kno!. (o! the canopy makes sense...there%s a canopy...there !as one up there some!here, there !as !ater up there some!here, obviously it didn%t do !hat all those...maybe it didn%t...maybe it !asn%t !ater like the first group of scientists said it !as, and maybe it !asn%t doing !hat the second group of scientists thought it !ould do if it !as up there. 'ut it !as up there. (o! you say...that%s a pretty simple non, scientific explanation. +ell $%m a theologian, that%s !hat the 'ible says, it doesn%t give an explanation of science. it &ust says !ater !ent up and some !ater stayed here. +e could safely say this, the resolution may be as simple as this, God creating the kind of canopy, the kind of vault in the universe, the kind of !ater in the atmosphere that !as controlled so as not to produce the ill effects that +hitela! and 'ro!n mentioned. +e do kno! this, there !as !ater up there and at the 3lood !ater came pouring do!n, according to Genesis =, and dro!ned the entire earth. So, bet!een the !aters God created space. 2ook at this note, this is really interesting. Cerse =, end of the verse, "And it !as so." $s that redundant $s that redundant #e said in

verse -, "2et there be an expanse in the midst of the !aters," verse =, "And God made the expanse," and !hy does #e add, "And it !as so," is that &ust a redundant sort of editorial comment (o, it serves a very necessary purpose, very critical statement. There is no such comment in verse 1. God said, "2et there be light, and there !as light"...it doesn%t say, "And it !as so." $%ll tell you !hy. That little phrase used here in verse :, verse 11, and verse 19 and verse <; is used to affirm something that is fixed, something that doesn%t change, something that has remained for all time. 5ou can%t say that after verse 1, "2et there be light and there !as light," cause there%s light and darkness, light and darkness, light and darkness, it%s not fixed. 'ut !hen you say God created the heavens, that%s fixed. "And it !as so" lends itself to the understanding of the firm and fixed and unchanging nature of that element of creation. And verse >, "God called the expanse heaven." And by the !ay, #e doesn%t say it !as good yet. #e didn%t say it on day one, #e didn%t say it on day t!o. #e !on%t say it until verse 1. !hen the earth is habitable, then #e%ll say it !as good...only after it !as finally shaped into its habitable condition. And verse > ends, "God calls the expanse heaven and there !as evening and there !as morning, the second day." #e did it in a day...created the firmament, the expanse, the heavens, the sky. +e%re ready for day three. Some!here in here, &ust plant this thought, the angels !ere created. /o you kno! !here Stay tuned. $ !as going to tell you tonight but $ don%t have any time. $ !ould &ust like to close !ith a little praise, if $ could, ?salm 1.; probably is as good as any, listen to this, ?salm 1.;, "'less the 2ord, " my soul, " 2ord, my God, Thou art very great. Thou art clothed !ith splendor and ma&esty, covering Thyself !ith light as !ith a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. #e

lays the beams of #is upper chambers in the !aters. #e makes the clouds #is chariot. #e !alks upon the !ings of the !ind. #e makes the !inds #is messengers, flaming fire #is ministers." (o! if there !as !ind at the time of the creation, then maybe +hitecomb and 7orris are !rong after all...or least they%ve overstated the effect of the canopy. 'ut here is...here is the psalmist%s praiseful recollection of God stretching out heaven, of God taking the !ater to the upper chambers and he praises God saying, "'less the 2ord, " my soul." And in verse 9 he says, "#e established the earth upon its foundation so that it !ill not totter forever and ever. Thou dost cover it !ith the deep as !ith a garment." 5ou can see all the creation allusions here affirming !hat happened. And !e%re going to see more in that ?salm as God separates the land from the sea and creates the springs and the valleys and the animals. $t%s a tremendous, tremendous text. E 1::= Grace to 5ou