Genesis 1:20
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
God the Father and the Son worked together in speaking the command that made the waters bring forth abundantly the moving living creatures and made fowl to fly in the open firmament of heaven. That production was one literal day's new work in six literal days in which heaven and earth and all that is in them were made about six thousand years ago. It belongs to the literal, plain, factual Mosaic record, the authentic account of creation found in God's word alone and kept pure by the divine Mind and Hand. The six literal days of that first week, measured like every week since, originated the week and the Sabbath, giving man six days for labor and reserving the seventh as holy rest in commemoration of the Creator's rest. The creative energy that called those living creatures into existence is still in the Word of God, so that every divine command imparts power and begets life, transforms the nature, and recreates the soul in the image of God.
Day's Work Described
The Father and the Son worked together in the mighty creation of the world they had planned. By His spoken command the waters were made to bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life, and fowl to fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. That bringing forth was one literal day's production, in which God generated a new portion of His work as part of six literal days of making heaven and earth and all that is in them about six thousand years ago.
He could have spoken the world into existence in one day but chose to take six days. When the earth came forth from the Creator it was exceedingly beautiful like a noble palace, with pure and healthful air. Its surface was not one extensive plain but was diversified with hills, mountains and plains, with rivers and other bodies of water regularly dispersed among them. The hills and mountains were not high and ragged as now but regular and beautiful in shape, with no bare high rocks seen upon them, the rocks lying beneath the surface 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, and angels beheld the wonderful and beautiful works and rejoiced. Everything He had made, including what the waters brought forth and the fowl of the air, was finished with the heavens and the earth and all the host of them, and God saw it as very good. On the seventh day God ended His work, rested from all His work which He created and made, and blessed and sanctified the seventh day.
Literal Record Defended
Genesis 1:20 belongs to the literal, plain, factual Mosaic record, the authentic account of the creation of the world found in God's word alone. That record has been kept in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand, coming fresh from the fountain of eternal truth. It is the most comprehensive and most instructive history possessed by men, unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. There the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens is beheld, and light shines into the far distant past where human research cannot penetrate.
The days of creation are literal days, not vast, indefinite periods covering thousands or even millions of years, and the rest day of God was not another indefinite period. The claim that millions of years were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos comes from inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature. To accommodate the Bible to science by stretching the creation days undermines and destroys the force of the word of God.
The sea life and birds brought forth at God's command, like men, land animals and trees, were much larger before the flood than they are now. Large bones, petrified wood, instruments of warfare and other relics found in mountains and valleys do not prove a race of beings living long before creation, but show that original size and the great changes the flood made in the earth. Geology alone cannot prove when those creatures lived; their time is learned only from the Bible record. Just how God made living things in the creation week was never revealed to mortals, remains as incomprehensible as His existence, cannot be searched out by human science or explained from natural causes, and stands as a revealed act rather than the result of natural causes.
Human reasoning and the suppositions of geologists that contradict this record are to be rejected, and it is inconsistent to treat what God has revealed as too difficult to understand while accepting mere suppositions about what He has not revealed. The verse gives part of the great facts of creation presented by the inspired writers, which are pillars of the Christian faith and the guide of life, yet they are but little valued and practically rejected, wholly or in part, by a large share of the professedly Christian world amid alarming infidelity not only in the world but in the church. Thousands who pride themselves on wisdom and independence regard implicit confidence in the Bible as weakness, and regard caviling at the Scriptures and spiritualizing and explaining away its most important truths as proof of superior talent and learning.
The plain work of creation defines the living God as maker of the heavens and the earth, and God has given sufficient evidence for faith in the Mosaic record. Things buried in the earth at the flood, including men, beasts, and trees larger than those now living, were designed to establish faith in inspired history. In the last days men will count God's word unreliable on the merest pretense, receive human reasoning and infidel fables in opposition to plain Scripture facts, and by vain reasoning turn what God gave as a benefit into a curse, leaving them without excuse.
Sabbath and Daily Life
The six literal days of the first week, including the day when the waters were commanded to bring forth living creatures and fowl to fly in the firmament, originated the week and the Sabbath and measured off the first weekly cycle as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time, just like every other week. Each day God generated a new portion of His work, and the great facts of those first seven days stand as the pattern for every week after. The six days employed in creation are given to man for labor, while the seventh day is reserved as holy rest in commemoration of the Creator's rest. On the seventh day God ended His work, rested from all His work which He created and made, and blessed and sanctified the seventh day, thus proclaiming to all the earth that six days are for work and the seventh is holy rest, everything He had made, including what the waters brought forth and the fowl of the air, being finished with the heavens and the earth and all the host of them and seen as very good.
The law given from Sinai points back to this six-day making of heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is as the reason for laboring six days and refraining from labor on the seventh, and that reason is beautiful and forcible because the days are literal. To make the events of the first week indefinite makes senseless and obscure what God made plain and strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which commands men to observe a week of seven literal days in commemoration of creation. God made this very plain, that the bringing forth of moving creatures in the waters and fowl in the firmament was accomplished in a literal day as part of six literal days of work followed by a literal seventh day. Charging God with commanding men to observe seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods is unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaches His wisdom, and among many who profess to believe the record it is infidelity in disguise, the worst kind of infidelity.
The great work of creation, including the bringing forth of sea life and birds, is to be described to children on the Sabbath as the reason for its institution, best taught while walking with them in fields and groves amid the beautiful things of nature. When the earth came from God's hand it was holy and beautiful, with every flower, shrub and tree answering its Creator's purpose, everything lovely and filling the mind with thoughts of God's love, and every sound music in harmony with God's voice. Sin marred God's perfect work, with thorns and thistles, sorrow and pain and death as the result of disobedience, and tares and confusion did not come from His creation but from the curse when the enemy sowed tares. Though marred by the curse the earth still reveals God's goodness and bears witness to the Creator, with green fields, lofty trees, glad sunshine, clouds, dew, solemn stillness of night, glory of starry heavens, beauty of the moon, every drop of rain and every ray of light testifying to His forbearance and love.
The creative energy that called the world into existence is in the Word of God, so the command that brought forth living creatures imparts power and begets life, and every command is a promise that, accepted by the will and received into the soul, brings with it the life of the Infinite One. That imparted life transforms the nature and recreates the soul in the image of God, and the life thus imparted is sustained by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The record of creation is to be the chief study in schools, carrying minds higher than now thought possible and training heart and mind to keep purity by daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth, giving converse with patriarchs and prophets and showing what redemption cost the One who was equal with the Father from the beginning and sacrificed His life so that a people might stand before Him freed from every common earthly thing and renewed in the image of God. Without grasping with the understanding and accepting with the heart these truths of divine revelation in the gospel of Christ, education is a failure.
God could have spoken the world into existence in one day but chose to take six days, and this unhurried pace condemns rush, hurry and overwork that turns night into day and day into night. It teaches keeping regular hours for sleep and work, stopping when nature says stop, and preserving health and strength as duty rather than expending strength in extremes that break down the body. All God created by His spoken words is a reservoir of means made ready for Him to employ instantly to do His pleasure, and nothing He made is useless. Rational beings alone should not cause confusion in the world but should live to God and honor Him, for God and Saviour is all-wise and all-sufficient and came to this world that His perfection might be revealed in human beings.