Creation of the World with Adam and Animalsby Knighthowl
1:17Genesis 1:17
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
God set the sun, moon and stars in their order in the firmament heaven to give light upon the earth as part of bringing the heavens and the earth into being. This setting of the lights was one act within the six days in which He made all things and finished His work, resting, blessing and sanctifying the seventh day as the Sabbath in commemoration of His rest. Those were seven literal ordinary days about six thousand years ago, each day adding a new portion of the work and measuring off the first weekly cycle as the pattern for all weeks to the close of time. They were not vast indefinite periods of thousands or millions of years, for to make them indefinite makes senseless the fourth commandment which commands a literal week in commemoration of God's own first seven days. This history is the authentic account of creation preserved in purity by God alone, whose Word that set the lights still imparts power, begets life and recreates the soul in His image in all who receive it.
Lights Set in Heaven
Heaven in the verse is the firmament where the lights were set to give light upon the earth, not the place where the temple of God with the ark of His testament stands in the New Jerusalem. It is the region of the sun, moon, and stars, the starry heaven distinct from Paradise, from the air around the earth in which birds fly, and from the church of God on earth. That region of the heavenly lights is not the heaven that is to be shaken and rolled together as a scroll.
The Father and the Son were engaged together in the mighty, wondrous work they had contemplated, of creating the world. The earth came forth from the Creator's hand exceedingly beautiful, like a noble palace, with pure and healthful air. Its surface was not one extensive plain but was diversified with hills and mountains and plains, interspersed with rivers and other bodies of water regularly dispersed. The hills and mountains were regular and beautiful in shape, not high and ragged as now, with bare high rocks never seen upon them but lying beneath the surface answering as bones to the earth. The 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 now are, which angels beheld and rejoiced over as wonderful and beautiful works.
By His spoken word in creating the heavens and the earth, God set the stars in their order in the firmament and appointed the sun and the moon to do their work of giving light upon the earth. His words created His works in the natural world, placing the heavenly lights where they belong as part of a reservoir of means made ready for Him to employ instantly to do His pleasure. Nothing God made is useless, and tares and confusion did not come from His creation but from the curse, when the enemy sowed tares. Because He is the Creator who ordered these lights, He is the One to be chosen and taught by as teacher, and His wisdom is greater and certain. The opinions of worldly-wise men who are destitute of divine enlightenment and circumscribe His power by finite conceptions are not to be trusted or exalted, so there is no need to go to infidel authors.
Literal Week and Sabbath
The setting of the lights in the firmament to give light upon the earth was one act within the six days in which heaven and earth and all their host were made. That whole work was finished by the sixth day and pronounced very good, and on the seventh day the work ended in rest from all that had been created and made. That seventh day was then blessed and sanctified because of that rest, thereby proclaiming the will concerning the Sabbath to all the earth.
The week was seven literal, ordinary days about six thousand years ago, six literal days of creation followed by a literal day of rest. Each day generated or produced some new portion of the work, and the setting of the lights belonged to that daily production. Those first seven days measured off the first weekly cycle as the sample and origin for successive weeks to the close of time. Six days were given to man for labor because the same period was employed in creation, and the seventh day was blessed and set apart for man in commemoration of the Creator's rest.
The Mosaic record gives the literal history of the making of the earth, with the placing of the heavenly lights to shine upon the earth as one act of creation week. Its days are literal days, not vast indefinite periods covering thousands or millions of years claimed as necessary for evolution of the earth from chaos and assumed in order to accommodate the Bible to geology. Wonderful things found in the earth, including evidence of much larger men, animals, and trees before the Flood, do not prove tens of thousands of years, but are accounted for by the large size of life before the Flood and the great changes in the earth at the Flood.
To make the six days and the rest day vast, indefinite, obscure periods makes senseless the fourth commandment, which commands observance of a week of seven literal days in commemoration of those first seven days made very plain. Such teaching strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. To say a literal week was commanded in commemoration of indefinite periods is unlike the dealings with mortals and impeaches wisdom, and is the worst kind of infidelity, infidelity in disguise even among those who profess to believe the record of creation.
How the work of creation was accomplished in six literal days has never been revealed to mortals and is as incomprehensible as existence itself. It cannot be accounted for upon natural principles, nor can human science search out the secrets of the God of heaven. Its time is learned only from the inspired record, so that geology without Bible history proves nothing about it.
The plain Scripture facts of what has been revealed about the work of creation, including this act, are to be received by faith on sufficient evidence given and accepted as written. They are not to be explained as the result of natural causes by human reasoning, even by professed Christians, nor replaced by the suppositions of geologists about what has not been revealed. In the last days true faith will be almost destitute as men count the Word unreliable on the merest pretense and receive human reasoning though it opposes plain Scripture, trying to explain creation from natural causes and to dispute the Mosaic record. It is inconsistent to oppose investigation of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation as too obscure to be understood while eagerly receiving those suppositions in contradiction of this record, rejecting what has been revealed in favor of mere suppositions about what has not been revealed. The special work to cause rebellion against government and to obscure plain law centers hatred on the fourth precept because it defines the living God as maker of the heavens and the earth, and those who yield turn from plain precepts to infidel fables.
The world was made in six days though there was power to speak it into existence in one day.
Trustworthy Word for Life
This setting of lights to shine upon the earth belongs to the most comprehensive and most instructive history possessed by men, the authentic account of creation found in God's Word alone. It came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, and its purity has been preserved through all the ages by the divine Mind and Hand. Its bright rays shine into the far distant past where human research seeks vainly to penetrate, and in it is beheld the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens. In it alone is found the history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride.
The great facts of creation presented here, including this ordering of the lights, are pillars of the Christian faith and part of God's holy Word to be accepted with implicit confidence as the guide of life. That account is practically rejected, wholly or in part, by a large share of the professedly Christian world, in the church as well as in the world, with many ministers, professors, and teachers leading in caviling at the Scriptures and spiritualizing and explaining away their most important truths, which is infidelity, while pride in wisdom and independence treats full confidence in the Bible as weakness. Because God created the heavens and the earth and set the stars in their order in the firmament and appointed the sun and the moon to do their work of giving light upon the earth, He with His greater and certain wisdom is the One to be chosen as teacher and taught by, instead of trusting and exalting the opinions of worldly-wise men who are destitute of divine enlightenment and circumscribe His power by finite conceptions, so there is no need to go to infidel authors.
The creative energy in the Word that called the world into existence and set these lights imparts power and begets life, and every command in it is a promise that accepted by the will and received into the soul brings the life of the Infinite One, transforming the nature and recreating the soul in the image of God. The life thus imparted is sustained in the same way, for man lives by every word proceeding from the mouth of God, and mind and soul are built up by what they feed upon as each person chooses the topics that occupy thought and shape character. This Word is to be the chief study in schools, to carry the minds of students higher than now thought possible and to train heart and mind to preserve purity and to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life by receiving daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. Education is a failure unless the understanding grasps the truths of divine revelation and the heart accepts the teachings of the gospel, instead of accepting common ideas and letting time and attention be absorbed in commonplace trivial matters that dwarf and enfeeble the mind and destroy the power of growth. Here students hold converse with patriarchs and prophets and learn 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.
When the earth came from God's hand holy and beautiful, everything answered the purpose of its Creator and was lovely and filled the mind with thoughts of His love. The sunshine, the glory of the starry heavens, the moon in its beauty, and every ray of light shed on the earth bore witness of the Creator then, and they still bear witness and reveal goodness, forbearance, and love even though sin has marred the perfect work and brought the curse. Parents should point children to these lights in the fields and groves on the Sabbath as the most sacred and precious season, to tell them the reason for the institution of the Sabbath and to teach them the way of salvation. God's taking six days to make the world when He could have spoken it into existence in one teaches preservation of regular hours for sleep and work, stopping labor when nature says stop and not leading to extremes of working day and night until breakdown. Turning night into day and day into night is poor policy never to be departed from except in life and death, since overstraining snaps the machinery and spends strength that is never recovered.
God set the sun, moon and stars in their order in the firmament heaven to give light upon the earth as part of bringing the heavens and the earth into being. This setting of the lights was one act within the six days in which He made all things and finished His work, resting, blessing and sanctifying the seventh day as the Sabbath in commemoration of His rest. Those were seven literal ordinary days about six thousand years ago, each day adding a new portion of the work and measuring off the first weekly cycle as the pattern for all weeks to the close of time. They were not vast indefinite periods of thousands or millions of years, for to make them indefinite makes senseless the fourth commandment which commands a literal week in commemoration of God's own first seven days. This history is the authentic account of creation preserved in purity by God alone, whose Word that set the lights still imparts power, begets life and recreates the soul in His image in all who receive it.
Lights Set in Heaven
Heaven in the verse is the firmament where the lights were set to give light upon the earth, not the place where the temple of God with the ark of His testament stands in the New Jerusalem. It is the region of the sun, moon, and stars, the starry heaven distinct from Paradise, from the air around the earth in which birds fly, and from the church of God on earth. That region of the heavenly lights is not the heaven that is to be shaken and rolled together as a scroll.
The Father and the Son were engaged together in the mighty, wondrous work they had contemplated, of creating the world. The earth came forth from the Creator's hand exceedingly beautiful, like a noble palace, with pure and healthful air. Its surface was not one extensive plain but was diversified with hills and mountains and plains, interspersed with rivers and other bodies of water regularly dispersed. The hills and mountains were regular and beautiful in shape, not high and ragged as now, with bare high rocks never seen upon them but lying beneath the surface answering as bones to the earth. The 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 now are, which angels beheld and rejoiced over as wonderful and beautiful works.
By His spoken word in creating the heavens and the earth, God set the stars in their order in the firmament and appointed the sun and the moon to do their work of giving light upon the earth. His words created His works in the natural world, placing the heavenly lights where they belong as part of a reservoir of means made ready for Him to employ instantly to do His pleasure. Nothing God made is useless, and tares and confusion did not come from His creation but from the curse, when the enemy sowed tares. Because He is the Creator who ordered these lights, He is the One to be chosen and taught by as teacher, and His wisdom is greater and certain. The opinions of worldly-wise men who are destitute of divine enlightenment and circumscribe His power by finite conceptions are not to be trusted or exalted, so there is no need to go to infidel authors.
Literal Week and Sabbath
The setting of the lights in the firmament to give light upon the earth was one act within the six days in which heaven and earth and all their host were made. That whole work was finished by the sixth day and pronounced very good, and on the seventh day the work ended in rest from all that had been created and made. That seventh day was then blessed and sanctified because of that rest, thereby proclaiming the will concerning the Sabbath to all the earth.
The week was seven literal, ordinary days about six thousand years ago, six literal days of creation followed by a literal day of rest. Each day generated or produced some new portion of the work, and the setting of the lights belonged to that daily production. Those first seven days measured off the first weekly cycle as the sample and origin for successive weeks to the close of time. Six days were given to man for labor because the same period was employed in creation, and the seventh day was blessed and set apart for man in commemoration of the Creator's rest.
The Mosaic record gives the literal history of the making of the earth, with the placing of the heavenly lights to shine upon the earth as one act of creation week. Its days are literal days, not vast indefinite periods covering thousands or millions of years claimed as necessary for evolution of the earth from chaos and assumed in order to accommodate the Bible to geology. Wonderful things found in the earth, including evidence of much larger men, animals, and trees before the Flood, do not prove tens of thousands of years, but are accounted for by the large size of life before the Flood and the great changes in the earth at the Flood.
To make the six days and the rest day vast, indefinite, obscure periods makes senseless the fourth commandment, which commands observance of a week of seven literal days in commemoration of those first seven days made very plain. Such teaching strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. To say a literal week was commanded in commemoration of indefinite periods is unlike the dealings with mortals and impeaches wisdom, and is the worst kind of infidelity, infidelity in disguise even among those who profess to believe the record of creation.
How the work of creation was accomplished in six literal days has never been revealed to mortals and is as incomprehensible as existence itself. It cannot be accounted for upon natural principles, nor can human science search out the secrets of the God of heaven. Its time is learned only from the inspired record, so that geology without Bible history proves nothing about it.
The plain Scripture facts of what has been revealed about the work of creation, including this act, are to be received by faith on sufficient evidence given and accepted as written. They are not to be explained as the result of natural causes by human reasoning, even by professed Christians, nor replaced by the suppositions of geologists about what has not been revealed. In the last days true faith will be almost destitute as men count the Word unreliable on the merest pretense and receive human reasoning though it opposes plain Scripture, trying to explain creation from natural causes and to dispute the Mosaic record. It is inconsistent to oppose investigation of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation as too obscure to be understood while eagerly receiving those suppositions in contradiction of this record, rejecting what has been revealed in favor of mere suppositions about what has not been revealed. The special work to cause rebellion against government and to obscure plain law centers hatred on the fourth precept because it defines the living God as maker of the heavens and the earth, and those who yield turn from plain precepts to infidel fables.
The world was made in six days though there was power to speak it into existence in one day.
Trustworthy Word for Life
This setting of lights to shine upon the earth belongs to the most comprehensive and most instructive history possessed by men, the authentic account of creation found in God's Word alone. It came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, and its purity has been preserved through all the ages by the divine Mind and Hand. Its bright rays shine into the far distant past where human research seeks vainly to penetrate, and in it is beheld the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens. In it alone is found the history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride.
The great facts of creation presented here, including this ordering of the lights, are pillars of the Christian faith and part of God's holy Word to be accepted with implicit confidence as the guide of life. That account is practically rejected, wholly or in part, by a large share of the professedly Christian world, in the church as well as in the world, with many ministers, professors, and teachers leading in caviling at the Scriptures and spiritualizing and explaining away their most important truths, which is infidelity, while pride in wisdom and independence treats full confidence in the Bible as weakness. Because God created the heavens and the earth and set the stars in their order in the firmament and appointed the sun and the moon to do their work of giving light upon the earth, He with His greater and certain wisdom is the One to be chosen as teacher and taught by, instead of trusting and exalting the opinions of worldly-wise men who are destitute of divine enlightenment and circumscribe His power by finite conceptions, so there is no need to go to infidel authors.
The creative energy in the Word that called the world into existence and set these lights imparts power and begets life, and every command in it is a promise that accepted by the will and received into the soul brings the life of the Infinite One, transforming the nature and recreating the soul in the image of God. The life thus imparted is sustained in the same way, for man lives by every word proceeding from the mouth of God, and mind and soul are built up by what they feed upon as each person chooses the topics that occupy thought and shape character. This Word is to be the chief study in schools, to carry the minds of students higher than now thought possible and to train heart and mind to preserve purity and to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life by receiving daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. Education is a failure unless the understanding grasps the truths of divine revelation and the heart accepts the teachings of the gospel, instead of accepting common ideas and letting time and attention be absorbed in commonplace trivial matters that dwarf and enfeeble the mind and destroy the power of growth. Here students hold converse with patriarchs and prophets and learn 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.
When the earth came from God's hand holy and beautiful, everything answered the purpose of its Creator and was lovely and filled the mind with thoughts of His love. The sunshine, the glory of the starry heavens, the moon in its beauty, and every ray of light shed on the earth bore witness of the Creator then, and they still bear witness and reveal goodness, forbearance, and love even though sin has marred the perfect work and brought the curse. Parents should point children to these lights in the fields and groves on the Sabbath as the most sacred and precious season, to tell them the reason for the institution of the Sabbath and to teach them the way of salvation. God's taking six days to make the world when He could have spoken it into existence in one teaches preservation of regular hours for sleep and work, stopping labor when nature says stop and not leading to extremes of working day and night until breakdown. Turning night into day and day into night is poor policy never to be departed from except in life and death, since overstraining snaps the machinery and spends strength that is never recovered.