The Miracle of Creation, part 2

Here is a fascinating fact about our incredible world, which I read from John MacArthur's sermon on this chapter:

The earth is 25 thousand miles in circumference. It weighs six septillion, five-hundred and eighty-six, six trillion tons. Hangs in empty space. Spins at a thousand miles an hour with perfect balance and that's important so that you're not just jumping every time the earth moves. At the same time that it's spinning at a thousand miles an hour, it is moving through space around the sun at a thousand miles a minute in an orbit of 580 million miles and does so at a perfect angle set to create the seasons which provide all the crops, which feed its inhabitants."
- John MacArthur, Sermon Transcript: Creation Day 5.

That is what we learned God was doing when we read the first half of this chapter last week. This time, we are going to look at the second half of Genesis chapter 1, and how God created all the living things on earth, including man and woman.

Genesis 1:20-2:3 ESV

Study Notes:
Verse 20
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens."

What is the first thing God did here in this verse? ["And God said..." He spoke.] What did God say? What were the waters to be filled with? [Living creatures that swarm in the waters.] And what did He say should be in the expanse of the heavens? [Birds that fly above the earth across the sky.]

Here we read of the first mention of life on earth. This really amazes me, because only God can make things live. These creatures were to be living creatures. They were not like the lifeless globe that God formed to be the world, or like the galaxies of stars and other planets; or like the water, the land, or even like the plants He made to grow on the earth. None of the things God made on earth before verse 20 were living. [It is possible that He had already created living angels and heavenly creatures, but Genesis 1 does not give us an account of that]. So here is the first sign of life on earth. God gave the command and the waters swarmed with swarms of living creatures.

Do you know what lives in the oceans? All kinds of living creatures: from fish to whales, crabs to sea horses. There are coral reefs, turtles, shrimp, krill, giant squid, eels, sea serpents, sponges, and countless schools of fish (some even with glowing lanterns deep in the dark of the oceans). I once saw a school of small fish swimming around the city of Pittsburgh. I was standing on the point where the three rivers meet, and I looked down into the water, and all the way around the point there were thousands of small fish swimming right up next to the wall. They were swarming, just as God commanded, and the waters of the earth are full of creatures that swarm and swim. Literally full of them! Does any one know how many different kinds of aquatic creatures there are in the earth? Does any one know how many different kinds of birds and flying creatures there are on the earth? [Nobody knows, the earth is simply full of them.]

Verses 21-23
So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves , with which the waters 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 in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Do you remember what this means when it says, "according to their kinds..."? Well, we already learned that God created plants bearing seed each according to their kinds, back in verse 11. Do you remember what is in the seed? What is needed in order to reproduce? Well, I asked if you understood what DNA was last week. All of you either have learned about it in biology or will if you go to college. DNA contains the genetic information stored within the cells of all living organisms. It is the information that gives exact instructions for every detail that makes up a living thing. So when God created each creature in the sea and in the air according to their kinds, He coded each different kind with specific information that can only reproduce more creatures of exactly the same kind. Hummingbirds produce more hummingbirds, because they have the same DNA and genetic information that gives instructions to build every part of their little bodies - from the color of their feathers to the structure of their wings, every part is built exactly as the DNA is coded for. You know what is really interesting about birds and fish? Something they both have in common? They both have an incomprehensible built-in navigation system that allows them to find their way to certain parts of the world no matter what. You know how Salmon can swim from the ocean all the way to your back yard out in the middle of nowhere, in order to get to the right breeding ground where they were born. There is a certain bird that is hatched in Alaska. As soon as it breeds and lays eggs, it begins eating like a pig. It eats and eats and eats, until it gains all this weight (about 7.5 grams... nothing to worry about, its a small bird). Once a certain time of the year comes around, it has to have all its weight gained at the right time, then it takes off along with all the other little guys. They have to weigh just the right amount of grams, or they can't make the non-stop straight flight from Alaska to Hawaii. That's right, they fly across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Hawaii without stopping. They all have to fly together or they won't make it, because when they fly in groups one gets behind the other and that saves on gas, you know :). They'll die if they don't eat enough food, or if they don't stick with the crowd. When they get to Hawaii, they all know exactly where to go and they land on the exact shore all the other birds have landed before them, even though they've never been to this place and they don't know what a map is! Their offspring do the same thing, same travel route, same time, same place. No scientist knows how they have this knowledge. Well, its easy to explain, God put it in them when He created them for His own good pleasure.

And how did God see all that He had made in the sea and in the air (end of verse 23) ? ["And God saw that it was good."] Notice again that these creatures were living. This amazes me. God created the stars and galaxies in the billions and billions. He even made other planets in the universe. Some with a blend of cosmic gases and heat, some ice cold, some desert rock and wastes, others contain cosmic storms that never seem to end, but the earth was created for life to dwell on it. It is the only one of its kind. That is very profound when you think about it. Notice how God blessed the living creatures? God's blessing was that they would multiply and fill the earth. Did they do what God said? The earth as we know it, is literally filled with creatures in the sea, in lakes, rivers and water everywhere. There are all types of birds that fly in all kinds of amazing ways, and you see them all over. They're all real, live, breathing, eating, swimming and flying creatures. Like I said, amazing! What day was all of this on? [Thursday is the fifth day.]

Verses 24-25
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 the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

This is another day. The day before this, God had already made living creatures in the waters and the birds of the air. What types of living creatures are mentioned here, and where do they live? ["Let the earth bring forth... livestock... and creeping things... and beasts of the earth according to their kinds."]. God made living creatures to occupy every sphere of the planet earth - fish and creatures in the sea, flying birds and creatures in the air, and finally, living creatures on the earth (on land). Again, "each according to their kinds." This would include every type of giant dinosaur to all the tiny insects. They all reproduce after their kinds (according to the precoded DNA information structure within each kind of animal... no evolution supported here). Evolution says they change from one kind (i.e. a fish) into a completely different kind (i.e. an amphibian, then a lizard, then a mammal and so on). That is not at all what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that God created them according to each kind from the beginning. Did you know that science can prove this is true? No one has ever been able to find an animal that changed kinds, they only change traits within their kinds when genes get mixed around after breeding. No lizard has the ability to grow feathers and become a bird. That does not happen, and it is not possible, since there is no built-in genetic info (DNA) to make it happen. However, you can get a variety of dogs from Great Danes to Chihuahuas, from wolves to poodles, but they are all within the dog family.

Again, God said it. It came to be, and now the whole earth is populated with every kind of land animal, beast and creeping thing (which includes insects, lizards and even animals that crawl low to the ground.

How did God see what He had made this time? [v25, "And God saw that it was good."] As we read these miracles of creation, do you get the idea that everything God does is good? :)

Verses 26-27
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 he created them.

Who is being created in verse 26? What did God say He created man like? Notice how God referred to Himself when He said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." This is a clear reference to the plural (or triune) nature of God - that He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit - One God, yet three. The Trinity is a mystery. We have a hard time grasping the idea that God is one, not many, and that God is clearly Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is a very deep mystery to us in many ways. (God is hard for us to explain outside of what the Bible says about Him).

There are a number of ways in which God created man after His own image and in His own likeness. (First of all, we should note who created man. Since God created man, then man is a creature, a creation of God. We are creatures, which means we are created beings, we are not self-existent. Only God is because He is. We are because God made us who we are. We did not exist from all eternity, but came into being by the power of God when He made living land creatures on day six. You may say, "We already know God made us." That's good, but we need to remind ourselves often, so that we give glory to God and not to ourselves for who we are).

What are some ways God made us in His image and different from everything else He created? [We have the abilities to speak, communicate, skills in building, constructing, making complex tools and instruments, the ability to think rationally, logically, and meaningfully, and so on.] What did God give man dominion over? [God gave man dominion over every living thing on earth, and even over all the earth.] This is one way that God made man in His own image and likeness. He gave man the authority and responsibility to rule over God's creation on earth. He gave no other creature this responsibility and authority, and the reason He gave it to man to have dominion, is because man is made in God's image - that is, to reflect God's governing and ruling glory. We were originally created for the glory of God - to reflect His glory in caring for all that is in the earth.

In verse 27, how did God make mankind? What two people does it say He created? [Male and female.] So we see from the very beginning that God created man to be male and female. This is the relationship that we were created to have. This is where we get the definition for marriage. It is a man and a woman, not a man and many women, not a man and a man or a woman with a woman, not a woman with many men (those are all unnatural relationships) - no, it is one man with one woman. God designed marriage. The government did not invent marriage, God did. The government does not have the right to redefine what God has created to be good. Sexual sin violates the way God created us. You were made to be with one mate of the opposite sex for life, and if you try to go against that, you mess with the way God designed you to be. Again, we've all sinned horribly in this area, and we really need to turn from the way we think about it back to God's original design.

Verse 28
And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

What did God do for them? What did He say to them? [God blessed them. God blessed them as His creatures, which He had made for His own glory, and He blessed them in their relationship to each other as husband and wife. He also blessed them by telling them to multiply and fill the earth and to have complete rule and dominion over all of it.]

Verses 29-30
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 seed in 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 breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.

What did God give as food? And who did He say could have this food? [Every green plant was given for food to every living thing with the breath of life in them.] Notice, that God created us to be dependent. Do you know what the word dependent means? Dependent means to rely on something or someone else for aid, support or to have needs met. God created all living things to be dependent on food for life, and He provided that food in every green plant. Now, there are a huge variety of plants in the world, so right here God has provided a vast source of nutrition as well as a variety of taste. But not only that, why were they able to have plants and fruit as food? [The answer is because God gave it to them.]

Verse 31
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.

Now how did God describe all that He had made? ["It was very good."] What day did all the creation of every land creature, as well as man and woman take place? [Day six, which is Friday.]

Okay, let's end by looking at the first 3 verses of Genesis chapter 2:
Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

That ends the brief story of when God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, as verse 1 had said. Next time, we want to look closer at the creation of man and woman in chapter 2. This will all set us up for a big fall in chapter 3 when Adam and Eve listened to the serpent and sinned against God. Then, going back to Romans chapter 5, we will see clearly that this is the reason death is in the world, it is the result of one man's sin. And that leads us to the fascinating miracle of the birth of Christ who came to be the Savior of mankind. Jesus truly is the Lord of all the earth. He became a man, in order to save mankind from our own sin. He died on the cross, taking our fallen-ness on Himself, and He freely gives His perfection to all who come to Him as their resurrected and living High Priest, Prophet and King.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus made all things. John 1:1-3 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." And Colossians 1:15-16 says about Jesus, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him."