Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (15.1)

The Book of Genesis

Genesis 1:24-31, 2:1-3 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

The Six Days of Creation (Part II)

v.24 The sixth day reveals both the culmination and goal of creation. First, God created animals for the earth after their kind.>  This means that God created in species.  The expression “kind” has been used for vegetation, both plants and trees, water creatures, air creatures, and now land animals.

v.25  The theory of evolution does not simply mean change.  True evolution is a certain kind of change.  Sir Julian Huxley, a champion of evolution, states, “Evolution is a one-way process, irreversible in time, producing apparent novelties and greater varieties, and leading to higher degree of organisation, more differentiated, more complex, but at the same time more integrated.”  This statement means that everything in the universe has been developed by this process of evolution, of development, of progress, of higher and higher levels of organisation and complexity.  However, both Biblical revelation and honest scientific investigation has refuted the existence of such a process.

In the origin of species, evolution teaches that each more developed species is evolved from a less developed species.  No one would question that change occurs and new varieties of various species may be developed.  However, these changes are quite definitely within narrow limits.  All varieties of dogs, for example, remain infertile and are still dogs!  The Mendelian laws of heredity provide for much variation on the basis of the outworking of the genetic factors present in the chromosome structure of the germ cells of each species.  But such variation always has definite limits.

Why? Because God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind.”  We are not told how many original “species” there were but we are clearly told that there were meant to be definite limits to the possible biological changes that might take place.  The same Creator, who separated light from darkness, established a fixed division to the heavens, set boundaries to the seas, has ordered limits for biological variation in reproduction.  Hence, a whale cannot evolve into horse, neither may an ape become a man because God says so!

v.26 The crowning point of creation is human life. God's command that follows is not an impersonal (third person) "Let there be ... " but rather the more personal (first person) "Let us make."  We are taught here that human life is set apart in relation to God by the Divine Plan (“Let Us make man”), by the Divine Pattern (“in Our Image”), and by the Divine Purpose (“let them have dominion”).

The plural verb “Let Us make man” harmonises with the plural “God” (“Elohim”), which although plural in form, takes a singular verb.  These plurals do not explicitly teaches the Tri-Unity of the Godhead but they do allow for its development through progressive (later) revelation.

The Divine Pattern.  The expression “in Our Image” does not refer to a physical representation for God is a Spirit (cf. Jn. 4:24).  The term figuratively describe human life as a reflection of God’s spiritual nature – humans have spiritual life, ethical and moral sensitivities, conscience, and the capacity to represent God. Man is a creature but man is a special creature.

v.27 The author has not considered gender to be an important feature to stress in his account of the creation of the other forms of life, but for humanity it is of importance.  Both man and woman are created in the image of God.  Both male and female has great capacity and responsibility by virtue of being the image of God.

v.28 The Divine Purpose.  The declaration “let them have dominion” reveals that God’s intention for man is to rule over the world under His Divine Authority.  God’s purpose for man is for them to be His representatives on earth. Only man has been given dominion in God's creation. Man eventually failed at this task but the New Testaments states that Man Jesus Christ will ultimately re-establish such dominion (Heb. 2:8-9).  Whereas the original dominion was both physical and spiritual, the Christian’s is primarily spiritual.  As Christians are being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29; 2Co. 3:18) by the working of the Holy Spirit, they would effectively represent God on earth.

Throughout the remainder of the Book of Genesis and the Pentateuch, the "blessing" remains a central theme.  The blessing itself in these verses is primarily “posterity”: “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.” Thus already the fulfillment of the blessing is tied to man's "seed" and the notion of “life” – two themes that will later dominate the narratives of the Book of Genesis.

v. 29-30 Like the animals, humans were formed from the ground, given provision of food, and blessed with fruitfulness.  But the similarities end here.

v.31  Light and order are the means, in order to life, which is the end.  Life – animal, human, intellectual, moral, spiritual, social, divine – life is the crown and consummation of all.  The Creator beholds it all, pronounces it “very good”; He is satisfied and rests.

Genesis 2:1-3

v.1 On the seventh day, God rested.  The repetition in this last section of the narrative stresses the culmination of and cessation from creation.

v.2 The key word here is the well-known “rest” (Hebrew, sabat means to rest; sabbat, “the Sabbath”).  The word actually means “cease,” more than “rest,” as it is commonly understood today.  Therefore, its does not refer to recovering from exhaustion after a tiring week of work.  Instead, it describes the enjoyment of accomplishment, the celebration of completion.

A brief survey of the entire account of creation (1:1-2:3) reveals a definite structure in the pattern of the six days of creation.  The narrative for each day typically includes the divine speech (“God said”), the statement of the fulfillment of His decree (“And it was so” or “And there was”), the divine evaluation (“it was good”), and then the concluding sequence (“the evening and the morning”).  The seventh day breaks this pattern.  There is finishing, resting, blessing and sanctifying instead of creating and evaluating.  Hence, the emphasis of the seventh day must be the perfect completion of all creation. 

Interestingly, the pattern of the 35 words in the Hebrew text (which is a multiple of 7) in 2:1-3 seems to underscore this emphasis.  The middle clauses in the original have 7 words each, and the adjective “seventh” is within each clause.  The Hebrew reader thus receives a strengthened impression that the seventh day is a celebration of completion.

v.3  On the seventh day God not only ceased from his work of creation, He sanctified the day in commemoration of it.  The nation of Israel (cf. Ex. 20:8-11) was to set apart this day to worship and serve the LORD, not simply to engage in common relaxation and entertainment.  It was their reminder that they, the entire nation, are God’s creation too.  The point therefore is that those who enjoy the Sabbath rest must be set apart to Him and must set their activities apart to Him.

The New Testament uses the concept of Sabbath rest in a spiritual sense.  When a sinner cast his entire dependence on the Person and finished work of Jesus Christ to save him from sin, death and hell, he has ceased from his own power and effort to gain eternal life.  By faith, he enters into the completed work of Christ’s atonement, and rests in Him for life everlasting (Heb 4:3).  The born-again believer must continue to live by faith.  He, in the same manner, has to cease from his own power and effort to live the Christian life so that he may enter into rest of God (Heb 4:9-11).  This rest flows from the completed work of Christ at the cross, and it is applied to our daily life and service by the Holy Spirit.  By faith, the born-again believer may access the power of God; thus ceasing from his own labours but resting in Christ for everything that pertains to life, godliness, and service.

Therefore, as God celebrated, or rejoices over the completion of His work at creation, Christians today may celebrate, or rejoice in the completion of Christ’s work at the cross – a spiritual “Sabbath” intended for life in this present age and in the age to come.