So we're going to pick up where we left off last week. Last week, we looked at Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, primarily focusing on verse 1. And we're going to work through the entire creation narrative that remains in chapter 1 this morning. So we are going to move quickly through things. There will be some stuff that I will not be mentioning that we could. But for sake of time, I'm just going to move forward through this chapter. But one thing I want to remind us of this morning is when we looked at verse one, we said that verse one could be taken in a couple of different ways. And the first way is that it's just a summary of the creation narrative. And that's certainly possible. It's certainly a literary way of doing things. You have a summary in the beginning, and then you provide more detail in the subsequent information. But the second way we could take this, Scripture seems to lend itself towards this direction is that it's the first event that took place prior to day one. And we see that because the words that are used are God created the heavens and the earth. And so keep that in mind as we work through the creation narrative this morning. The way I'm going to approach this passage is we see in verses 3 through 31, 10 times we read the phrase, and God said. So if you look in your bulletin on the right hand side, you will see all 10 times that we see, and God said, and what he said, and what happened. And so that's kind of the approach we're taking with the text this morning. I'm not going to read the entire chapter up front we'll just read it each section as we go and so draw your attention now to verse 3 of chapter 1 of Genesis as we look at the first and God said and this is what we read and God said let there be light And there was light, and God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day." So it's very interesting that the very first thing that God created was light. Light is an amazing thing. And God said, when he created light, he said, it is good. So the first thing God did was he separated light from darkness. And if you think about darkness, darkness wasn't created. Darkness is simply the absence of light. Let me just illustrate kind of what I mean by this, the idea of how dark it was. When I was growing up in upstate New York, I lived in a podunk little town. And our little school took a field trip to another podunk town in the central part of the state called Culberskill. Coleskill is really nothing much to talk about, but they have an attraction that people flock to and it's called Howe's Caverns. And so you get in this elevator and you go down several stories and you walk out of the elevator into this massive series of caverns that are just absolutely gorgeous to look at. The stalagmites, the stalactites, there's actually a river flowing in there and you can take a boat ride on that river in all these caverns. It's really a remarkable sight to see. But they did something that I'll never forget. At one point we were all gathered in this big open section and they said, stand still because we're turning out the lights. And they did, they turned out the lights. That is absolute darkness. I put my hand as like everybody else did. Put your hand up to your nose. What do you see? You see nothing. It's absolute darkness. You hear the phrase, you can feel the darkness? Yeah, you felt that darkness. It was heavy. It was oppressive. That's how dark it was. This is the idea of how dark it was before God created light. But what happened when God created light? All of a sudden, darkness is dispelled. Well, when they turned on a single light in the tavern, all of a sudden, the emotions changed for people. Because all of a sudden, there was a light. And then when they turned them all on, you were back to what you were used to. This is absolute darkness, and God is separating light from darkness. But as I said before, light is very fascinating. We can measure light. We can measure light's intensity. We can measure light's speed. We have divided light into different things. We have gamma rays. We have radio waves. We refer to light in very different ways. We refer to black light, ultraviolet light, infrared. We have laser lights. And that's even more interesting because you can have a laser to point with, which is relatively harmless, or you can have a laser that literally cuts you in half. It's remarkable what light does. And just think about it. God said, let there be light. And all of this and more is in that one thing that he created called light. And he called the light day and he called the darkness night. A couple of things to think about here. First of all, He says the first day was evening to morning. So it gives you the sense at night time there's a time of rest. It's a time for your body to rejuvenate, to be prepared and ready for the next day. But the other thing I want to kind of point out here, we'll talk more about this in a little bit, this idea of light being separated from darkness. Last week, if you remember, I mentioned that marriage is found at the beginning of the Bible, it's found at the end. We have Adam and Eve, and then the marriage supper of the Lamb. We have a similar thing here. In the very beginning, God created light. He separated it from darkness. Well, when it's all said and done, God is going to separate light from darkness once again. What do I mean by that? For those who have surrendered their life to Jesus Christ, they are going to be separated from those who rejected Jesus Christ. Those who surrender to Christ will live in everlasting light. And by the way, that light that we're going to live in, we can't even imagine. Because if we were to do it in our human bodies, we would be toast. But those who have rejected Christ, they are going to be in everlasting darkness. They're going to be in hell. Think about this. Hell is a lake of fire, so you think there's going to be light, but no, it's going to be utter darkness. You are going to be alone. The person who has rejected Christ will be alone with the thoughts and all that anger that is built up. But there's also something here that's, if you're reading it carefully, you go, wait a minute. The sun and the moon haven't been created yet, but yet God said let there be light. What does that mean? Is there something wrong here? Well, I don't believe so. I think Chuck Smith and what he suggests is very good. He said this, it would appear that the sun and the stars were not actually created on the fourth day of creation but rather they became visible on the earth when the cloud was removed sufficiently to allow them to be seen. If in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth it must have been that the stars and sun were created then. I think that's a good explanation and like I said I feel like Scripture tends to lean towards that second interpretation or understanding of verse one. And that the heavens and the earth were created at some point before day one. And I think Chuck Smith is touching on that. And then evening and morning were the first day. So, you know, the evening and morning is a little odd to us because we always think of the day begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. But this is, you've got to think about the Jewish calendar and how they approach stuff, that this is why we see it that way. But it's also where we begin to understand that there is an actual 24-hour period for a day. The second, and God said, we see beginning in verse six, so turn your attention there. And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse heaven, and there was evening, and there was morning, the second day. So God created this expanse, think of it as a canopy, in the middle of all the waters. So basically what he's saying here is he separated the waters of the earth from the waters of the sky. Now the English word that is used for heavens here is very difficult to define English words for, from the Hebrew word that is used. But we do get an idea of what he's saying from the context, and that is it's referring to what is above us. It's the place where the celestial lights and the birds are. And so God called that expanse heaven, and we think of that as our first heaven, the sky. And then of course, as we saw in the text, it was so. So God said it, and it happened. And then evening and morning were the second day. Then we see the third, and God said, beginning in verse 9. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called seas. And God saw that it was good. So it's very simple here. God separated the land from the waters on earth. He created the land and the continents that we see today. Now I realize there are some people who would argue that the land came up and the water surrounded it like one big large island and the continents and the divisions were caused by the flood. I'm not saying that couldn't be the case. But, you know, that's not a hill I'm going to die on to argue with you over. But we see what we see today on our planet of the division of continents. And I just kind of think that that's how it would have worked. So God separated the earth from the dry land. He called the dry land earth. He called the waters seas. And he said this was good. And then we move on to the fourth, and God said, and we see that in verses 11 through 13. And God said, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind on the earth. And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed according to its kind. And God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning the third day." So what we see God doing is He is creating plant life that are fully mature and ready to go. but they have seeds in them and so these seeds would spread and they would reproduce, if you will, through that process. And so God is creating a creation that is fully functional. here. So we have plants yielding seed, fruit trees yielding seeds, and it uses this phrase, according to its kind, this word kind, it refers to species. Typically it's used of animals, but we know that plants have various species as well. The point is that even though you have different kinds of plants, there are many different plants within one kind of plant. Like perennials, for example. There are multiple types of perennials, but they're the same kind, which is different from a fly trap plant. I can't remember the name of it, but you understand what I'm saying. And then we have the evening and the morning again was the third day. So on the third day God separated the land from the water and he created vegetation and plants and food for consumption. Then we move on to the fifth, and God said, which we see in verse 14 to 19. And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning the fourth day. So he created lights that would be in the heavens and we talked about just a moment ago that these may have been created even before day one. But we've got to notice the terminology or the lack of terminology. What's missing when I read those verses? Moses didn't say God created the sun and God created the moon. He said the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. There's a reason for that. Think about the fact that Moses is the one who wrote the book of Genesis. For when did Moses live? We didn't see Moses introduced into the narrative until Exodus. So Moses lived at the time of the Pharaoh. And God called him to get the children of Israel out of Egypt. And so Moses had to go and confront the Pharaoh and say, let my people go. But we know the story. We know about all the plagues and all of this stuff. But the Egyptians were pagan people. They worshipped pagan gods. Some of their biggest gods were the sun and the moon. So Moses wanted to make sure there was no connection here. that there are just multiple gods that are doing things. No, it's one God who created the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And again, we see this 24-hour day period happening. Again, the sun and moon are separating light from darkness. The sixth word that we see in God said is found in verse 20. And God said, let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves with which the water swarm according to their kinds and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters and the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening, and there was morning the fifth day." So God commanded the fish of the sea, and these creatures of the sea, and the birds of the air to multiply. This is what he means by blessing them, by blessing them with the ability to multiply. So we have all sorts of fish that are in the seas. We have all sorts of birds that fly in the air. But we also have great sea creatures, not just bass and trout and stuff like that. But we see whales and sharks. We see, as Job would refer to Leviathan, these massive creatures that are in the sea. And God is having them and commands them to multiply. And they are filling the oceans with all sorts of life. And again, we come back to this all according to its kind. And so there's a note in Blue Letter Bible that I thought was helpful. And so I'm gonna quote that for us this morning. Groups of living organisms belong in the same created kind if they have descended from the same ancestral gene pool. This does not preclude new species because this represents a partitioning of the original gene pool. Information is lost or conserved, not gained. A new species could arise when a population is isolated and inbreeding occurs. By this definition, a new species is not a new kind, but a further partitioning of an existing kind. So that's kind of how we define what is after its kind. And again we see God saying, it was good. And then evening and morning were the fifth day. Now we come to the seventh, and God said, we see that in verse 24. And God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, livestock and creeping things, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So what we see here is that the land-dwelling animals are broken up into three broad categories. Livestock, think of those as like sheep, goats, cattle, maybe even camels and horses. The creeping things, rats, mice, lizards, spiders, those type of things. And then beasts, these are larger game animals, predatory animals, like lions and gazelles and so on and so forth. But we also have domesticated animals, cats, dogs, gerbils, that kind of thing. It's hard to say really where to stick them, but we do have these domesticated animals. But the emphasis, though, is that they are created after their kind. So when they procreate, a dog is not going to have a cat. A dog is going to have another dog. So you see what is being communicated here when it says after its kind is going to recreate something of its nature. The eighth, and God said, is found in verse 26. Then 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 birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female. And God blessed them, the beginning part of verse 28. So what we see here is kind of the summary version of God creating mankind. He goes in more detail in chapter 2, which we'll not look at today. But what we see is God saying, let us make man in our image. So we notice again the pluralness of the name of God, Elohim, indicating to us that the Trinity is working together in creation. But we also see it when he says, let us make man in our image. Again, terms that are plural. Now let's think about the image of God. What does that mean exactly? The best way I can think of to explain it is when we take a picture of somebody. That image, that picture is an exact representation of who you took the picture of. That image is not that person. but it is like that person. So we are like God in many ways, but we are not God, because God was never created. God has always existed. God created us, but he created us in his image. Well, there's various views on this phrase, the image of God. Some scholars pick up on and highlight the ancient Near East view, which is this idea that the king and the ruler of the people were a representation of a deity. They would say that the king ruled on behalf of that deity. When we look further on in the chapter, or in verse 26 I should say, we see a link of the image of God with dominion. So there's this idea of authority and rule that man may be thought to be of as a vice-regent. Other scholars pick up on this pattern of the male and female, which is talking about relationships and how humanity expresses God's image in those relationships, particularly in relationships that function well within community. So the first thing, obviously, we should think of is marriage, but also within the broader context of society. But there's a traditional view, a view that you've probably heard before, and that is that man has capacities that set mankind apart from every other creature and created thing. Which is true, because if you think about this, Animals do not have the ability to reason. Everything they do is instinctive. That's how they were created. They were created to be instinctive, but they don't reason, they don't think about stuff. They just react. But man, on the other hand, we have the ability to reason. We have morality. We have language. We have the capacity for relationships that are governed by love and commitment, which is different than animals. We know animals have relationships, but they don't have it based on love and commitment. But we do, as humans. Humans are also very creative or artistic in so many different ways. Now I'll admit in some of the artistic creations today it's disturbing, but generally speaking people are pretty creative. Look at technology and the things that we enjoy today. They were because people were creative in their thinking. And they were able to use that artistic ability to create some of the machinery and such that we're able to use today. So what can we learn from these observations? Well, the first thing is that mankind does represent God as someone who has been given the ability to rule and to have order. We can see that we have established meaning for having productive relationships, particularly with one another. Again, speaking of the marriage relationship first, but also in our friendships, but also within all of creation itself. And so this idea of image and dignity applies both to the male and the female. It's a unique view in the context of the ancient Near East. It's a contrast to that unique view of the context within the ancient Near East. Because in their view, women were property. What did women do? Well, basically it boiled down to three things. Cook, clean, and have children. What an existence, right? You see, God doesn't see it that way. God sees men and women as equal, but they have different roles. We're not going to take time to go into those different roles, but look at Ephesians. It'll tell you very clearly the role of the man and the role of the woman. And it does not mean one is less than the other. They're both equal. They just have different roles to fulfill. And so God made both male and female in His image. But we also notice that God created man and woman last. He didn't create them first. I wonder why that was? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that there is no way by creating man last that there could ever be someone stand up and say, well, I helped God do that. Not once. Man was created last. The word man in the Hebrew is Adam. So that's where we get the name Adam from. That's free, just in case you wanted to know. But that's how God created man last. But he also said, as we read in the beginning of verse 28, and God blessed them. This is the second time that God said he blessed something. He blessed the animals so they could procreate. He blessed man. He wanted them to procreate. He wanted them to populate the earth. He wanted Adam and Eve to care for the garden. He wanted them to rule over the animals. He wanted them to multiply and subdue them. So again, we see this is about marriage, relationships, about having children and growing the humankind to fill the earth, to subdue the earth. God could have populated the earth himself. He could have just created multiple Adams and multiple Eves, you know, just given different names, but he didn't. He wanted Adam and Eve to be that source, that original foundation as John Calvin put it. That one source for all of humanity to come from. Why? Because it's continuity. You know, if we were to trace our human DNA as far back as we could, it would go to Adam and Eve. God wanted it that way. There's that harmony between all men. But again, as we mentioned, the marriage relationship is so important because it is the expansion of the human race that flows out of marriage. It's not through promiscuity. John Calvin wrote, quote, God intends the human race to be multiplied by generation indeed, but not as in brute animals, by promiscuous intercourse. For he has joined the man to his wife that they might produce a divine, that is, a legitimate seed. When society, like ours has done, totally rejects this idea of the nuclear family, it undermines the entire institution of the family. And we see that. The broken family that just permeates our society has proven to be detrimental on so many levels. There are studies that show that children who grow up in a traditional nuclear family, one mom, one dad, they have a stronger and higher percentage chance of being successful and being normal, if you will, than those who grow up in families that are two or three moms or two or three dads, you know, in this whole broken relationship. There are exceptions on both of those, I grant you that. But generally speaking, the majority of those who grow up in that nuclear family do better than those who do not. Then this brings us to the 10th, and God said, as we see in verse 29. And God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with its seed and its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breadth of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day. So God has given to Adam and Eve all of His creation. And He wants them to care for it. He wants them to enjoy it. He wants them to use it. He created everything for them. And as I said earlier, when you look at the creation narrative, when God created, He created everything fully functional, ready to go. There was not this long period of time where things had to find their way as the evolutionary people will tell you. No, they were created, they were created as mature plants, mature animals and then they grew out from that after their own kind as it has said on many occasions. Then we see that God saw that it was very good. We have noticed that God said it was good after several things that he created. But here he says it was very good. Because God saw everything that he had made. So he's looking at everything from the vantage point that only God can look at creation. And he says this is very good. This was what he intended. This was what he wanted it to be. It was perfect. There was nothing left to create. It was exactly what he wanted. And so, when we read the word, behold, he's drawing the reader's attention to say, hey, look at creation from my view. In my view, everything is very good. There's a lot wrong in our world today. There's no doubt about that. It's because of the false, because Adam and Eve sinned. But there was a point in time before Adam and Eve fell that they were living in a perfect environment. Everything was perfect. They were perfect. But unfortunately, as we will learn in chapter 3, They were tempted and they gave in to it. And that's what changed for all of creation. And we deal with that today as we live in this world. But as we conclude this morning, I want to go back and conclude where we began. In that first creation that God made, he said, let there be light. And he separated light from darkness. And we explained about that. God began with light because He is light. First John 1.5 we read, this is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. But we also know Jesus Christ is light. He said of Himself in John 8.12, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. We also know that the gospel message that is proclaimed is also light. The gospel is the light. Dennis spoke on John 3.16 here a few weeks ago, and picking up there, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment. Light has come into the world, and people love darkness rather than light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." So what we see here is the gospel is light, but we also see that God is going to judge the unrighteous. We see this in Romans chapter 1 beginning in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them, for his invisible attributes Namely, His eternal power and divine nature had been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that had been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. You see, creation is not just an account that shows us God's power and His glory, although creation does that very well. But creation is also a message of redemption. Because God knew that man would sin. God knew that that sin would cause all of His creation to be affected very negatively. But He already had redemption in mind from before the foundation of the world. You see, we are all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. We see that in Romans 3.23. The wages of sin is death. We see that in Romans 6.23. But God loved us so much that He gave Himself, that is, His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the perfect sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. He shed His blood for the remission of our sins. All we have to do is believe on Him for salvation. And so as I said earlier, when we talked about light being separated from darkness, when it's all said and done, when the closed parenthesis is put on this thing we call time, and we are once again in eternity, there's only two neighborhoods, if I can put it that way. You have the neighborhood of light, which is where God is, it's where the believers will go, Or you have the neighborhood of darkness is where Satan is, where unbelievers will go. And we will spend our eternity in one of those two places. And so I ask you, do you know which place you're going to be when you die? As Dennis pointed out earlier, there are many people who went to bed last night thinking, I'm not going to die today. But yet when they opened their eyes, they found themselves in one of those two places. So I ask you again, do you know where you're going to be? And if the answer is, I don't know, come see me, come see Andrew, come see Pat after the service, and let us help you understand what needs to happen. If you do know the answer, that you're gonna be in glory, hallelujah. I look forward to seeing you there at some point. Let's pray this morning.