Genesis 1:14
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
God Himself spoke the sun, moon and stars into the starry heaven to divide day from night and to serve for signs and seasons and days and years, setting the sun to mark day and night, ordering the stars in the firmament, and appointing sun and moon to give light and warmth and make vegetation flourish. This was done in one plain literal day about six thousand years ago as part of the six working days in which heaven and earth and all their host were made and called very good, followed by His rest and blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day, with that first week measured off as the sample for every week to the close of time. To stretch that day into thousands or millions of years to accommodate geology and evolution makes obscure what was made very plain, strikes at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and destroys the force of the command to keep seven literal days in commemoration of that week. Just how God did this work in six literal days when He could have spoken it all into existence in one day has never been revealed to mortals and cannot be explained from natural causes, for His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence. Though sin has marred that holy and beautiful work, the sunshine and moon and glory of the starry heavens still bear witness to the Creator and reveal His goodness and forbearance and love, so He is to be chosen and taught by as Teacher rather than worldly-wise men destitute of divine enlightenment, and His creative Word still accepted by the will brings the life of the Infinite One to transform the nature and recreate the soul in God's image.
Lights in Creation Week
The Father and the Son were engaged together in contemplating and then performing the mighty and wondrous work of creating the world. The earth that came forth from the Creator's hand was exceedingly beautiful, like a noble palace furnished with pure and healthful air. Its surface was not one extensive plain but was diversified with hills, mountains and plains, regular and beautiful in shape, not high and ragged as now, with no bare high rocks seen upon them, the rocks lying beneath the surface as bones to the earth. The waters, including rivers and other bodies, were regularly dispersed, while hills, mountains and very beautiful plains were adorned with plants and flowers and tall, majestic trees of every description, many times larger and much more beautiful than trees are now. Angels beheld these wonderful and beautiful works and rejoiced.
Heaven in the verse means the starry region of the sun, moon and stars. That starry heaven is distinct from Paradise, distinct from the air around the earth where birds fly, and distinct from the church on earth. That starry heaven is not the heaven to be shaken and rolled together as a scroll. The heaven to be shaken is the air around the earth, to be shaken by the seventh vial and by the voice of God as the last literal sign just before the sign of the Son of man appears in heaven.
God Himself spoke and made the lights to divide the day from the night, to be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. He placed the sun in the heavens to mark the periods of day and night, set the stars in their order in the firmament, and appointed the sun and the moon to do their work. The beams of the sun give the earth light and warmth and cause vegetation to flourish. Just how God wrought that work He has never revealed to men.
The lights with all creation form a reservoir of means made ready for instant employment to do His pleasure. Nothing He made is useless. Confusion did not come from Him, but the curse caused tares to be sown by the enemy, and rational beings alone cause confusion.
This work was accomplished in six literal days, not in six vast indefinite periods. Just how God accomplished it in six literal days has never been revealed to mortals, and His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence. It cannot be explained from natural causes, and human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of heaven, for His ways are not as human ways and His thoughts are not as human thoughts. What is revealed belongs to men for faith, while secret things belong to the Lord, and God has given sufficient evidence so that men are left without excuse when they count His word unreliable and receive human reasoning and infidel fables in opposition to plain Scripture facts. The time of past conditions shown by relics in the earth, such as bones of much larger men and animals, instruments of warfare, and petrified wood, can be learned only from the inspired record, for without Bible history geology can prove nothing, though the relics do give evidence of a state of things differing in many respects from the present. That difference is explained by the greater size of men, animals and trees before the flood and by the great changes that took place in the earth at the flood. Conjecturing beyond the inspired record is innocent only when suppositions do not contradict the facts of Scripture, but to leave the word of God in order to account for His creative works upon natural principles puts men upon a boundless ocean of uncertainty.
God took six days to make the world when He could have spoken it into existence in one day.
Sabbath and Scriptural Authority
Genesis 1:14 belongs to the six days in which heaven and earth and all their host were made and finished, with everything seen as very good and the evening and the morning marking the sixth day. On the seventh day the work was ended, with rest from all that had been created and made, blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day, and refreshing. By this the divine will was proclaimed to all the earth, making six-day creation the reason to keep the Sabbaths holy as a perpetual covenant and a sign forever that the people are sanctified, with death and cutting off for defiling work on the day of rest. That first week originated at creation as the sample measured off for every successive week to the close of time, six literal days like every other week for labor because the same period was employed in creation, each day a generation producing a new portion, and the seventh day for rest in commemoration of rest after six days of work.
Its day was one plain literal day about six thousand years ago, not tens of thousands of years ago, and not a vast indefinite period of thousands or millions of years assumed to accommodate geology and evolution from chaos. The six days together with the rest day were not seven indefinite periods, for the days are literal like the days of every other week. To stretch the day into a long age makes obscure what was made very plain, strikes at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and makes senseless and destroys the force of the command to observe seven literal days in commemoration of that week. Such a course charges the Commander with requiring a week of seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaches His wisdom. The law given from Sinai recognizes this week and points back to the six days of making heaven and earth, the sea and all in them, and rest on the seventh day, as the reason for keeping the Sabbath, a reason beautiful and forcible precisely because the days are literal.
The verse is part of the Mosaic record of plain Scripture facts to be accepted as stated in its literal sense, in opposition to human reasoning from natural causes and to suppositions contradicting it. It belongs to the authentic account of creation found in God's Word alone, fresh from the fountain of eternal truth and preserved in purity through all ages by the divine Mind and Hand. Its bright rays shine into the far distant past where human research seeks vainly to penetrate, beholding the power that laid earth's foundation and stretched out the heavens, and furnishing a history of the race unsullied by human prejudice or pride. The supposed conflict of geology with that record comes from inferences erroneously drawn from observed facts, and the interpretations adopted to restore harmony undermine and destroy the force of the Word. Without Bible history geology can prove nothing about relics such as bones of much larger men and animals, instruments of warfare, and petrified wood, though they evidence a state differing in many respects from the present, explained by greater size of men, animals and trees before the flood and by great changes at the flood; conjecturing beyond the inspired record is innocent only when suppositions do not contradict Scripture, while accounting for creative works upon natural principles apart from the Word puts men upon a boundless ocean of uncertainty.
The verse states one of the great facts of creation standing with the fall, the atonement and the perpetuity of the law as pillars of faith. It belongs to the holy Word handed down at the cost of suffering and blood, to be accepted with implicit confidence as the guide of life. To cavil at it, spiritualize it and explain away its most important truths from pride in wisdom and independence is infidelity, a practical rejection wholly or in part of truth and its Author, prevailing to an alarming extent not in the world merely but in the church, taught by ministers to their people and by professors and teachers to their students.
Divine Teacher and Daily Life
Because God as Creator ordered these lights, setting the stars in their order in the firmament and appointing the sun and the moon to do their work, He is the one to choose as teacher and to be taught by. The opinions of worldly-wise men destitute of divine enlightenment are not to be trusted or exalted or praised or glorified. There is no need to go to infidel authors for wisdom about His plans and ways.
The creation record to which this dividing of day from night belongs shows that His plan in the beginning included equal use of the mental and physical powers. By dividing day from night He set regular hours for work and for sleep. By deliberately taking six days to make the world when He could have spoken it into existence in one day, He taught the same lesson of measured labor and rest. Turning night into day and day into night by working day and night without rest is poor policy, and regular hours for sleep and work must be preserved without overwork and exhaustion.
These lights were made as part of His great work when the earth came holy and beautiful from His hand, in the glad sunshine and the moon in its beauty and the glory of the starry heavens. Though sin marred that perfect work, they still bear witness of the Creator and reveal His goodness. Every ray of light shed on the unthankful world testifies to His forbearance and love. Parents should point children to them on Sabbath afternoons in the fields and groves to explain the reason for the institution of the Sabbath.
The Word that alone gives this authentic account of the creation of the world, preserved in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand, is to be the chief study in schools. It is given to carry the minds of students higher and to train the understanding to grasp the truths of divine revelation concerning eternal life. Heart and mind are trained to preserve purity by receiving daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. There converse is held with patriarchs and prophets. There is learned what redemption cost the One who was equal with the Father from the beginning and sacrificed His life that a people might stand before Him redeemed from every common, earthly thing and renewed in the image of God.
The same creative energy of the Word that called the world into existence still imparts power and begets life now. Every command is a promise, and accepted by the will and received into the soul it brings with it the life of the Infinite One. It transforms the nature and recreates the soul in the image of God. The life thus imparted is sustained by every word proceeding from the mouth of God.