Genesis 1:21
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
God Himself spoke into being the great creatures of the sea and every winged bird after its kind, a direct creation that cannot be accounted for by natural causes. This was the work of the fifth day of a creation week of six literal days about six thousand years ago, when a new portion was brought forth each day though the whole world could have been spoken into existence in one day. Coming from His hand the earth with its sea life and birds was holy, beautiful and very good, with everything answering its purpose and filling the mind with thoughts of divine love. The days must be literal because the fourth commandment enjoins a week of seven literal days in commemoration of them, and to make them vast indefinite periods to accommodate geology destroys the force of the commandment and strikes at the foundation of the Sabbath. That same creative energy that called the living creatures into existence is in the Word of God, which when received transforms the nature and recreates the soul in the image of God.
Fifth-Day Creation Work
The Father and the Son together contemplated and then performed the mighty work of making the world, bringing the earth from the Creator's hand exceedingly beautiful like a noble palace. Its surface was diversified with regular beautiful hills, mountains and plains rather than one extensive plain, with bare high rocks hidden beneath the surface and waters regularly dispersed in rivers and other bodies of water. Hills, mountains and plains were adorned with plants and flowers and tall majestic trees of every description, many times larger and much more beautiful than those now seen, while the air was pure and healthful, and angels beheld these wonderful works and rejoiced over them.
God Himself directly created the great sea creatures and every winged fowl after its kind by speaking, and this bringing forth of sea life and birds cannot be explained from natural causes. His spoken words created His works in the natural world, and creation was His direct work rather than the result of natural causes. Though He could have spoken the whole world into existence in one day, He performed the work in six literal days, generating or producing some new portion each day whose productions are given at its close.
That creation week occurred about six thousand years ago in seven literal days just like every other week, not in six vast indefinite periods with another indefinite period of rest. The creatures then made included very large, powerful animals larger than men and animals now living, even as men and trees were also much larger before the Flood. Large bones of men and animals, instruments of warfare, and petrified wood found in mountains and valleys do not prove a race living tens of thousands of years before creation or a superior pre-creation race, but show how large men, animals and trees were and how great the changes in the earth were at the Flood.
When the earth with its sea life and birds came from His hand it was holy and beautiful and with all else He had made very good at the close of the sixth day, everything answering its Creator's purpose. Everything upon which the eye rested was lovely and filled the mind with thoughts of divine love, and every sound was music in harmony with the divine voice. Just how God accomplished this creation has never been revealed to mortals, human science cannot search out the secrets of heaven, and His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence.
Literal Week Vindicated
Genesis 1:21 belongs to the literal Mosaic record of creation, the most comprehensive and most instructive history possessed by men, which came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth with its purity preserved through all ages by a divine hand and Mind. In that record alone is found the authentic account of creation, beholding the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens, and only there is found a history of the race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. It is divine revelation and eternal truth that the understanding must grasp and the heart must accept.
The days of that record must be literal because the fourth commandment commands men to observe a week of seven literal days in commemoration of them, and to make the days indefinite destroys the force of the commandment. God Himself measured off that first week as a sample for successive weeks to the close of time, and like every other week preserved through Bible history it consisted of seven literal days. Six days were employed in the work of creation, and upon the seventh God rested and then blessed that day and set it apart as a day of rest for man, so that the first six days of each week are given to man for labor because God employed the same period of the first week in creation, and on the seventh man is to refrain from labor in commemoration of the Creator's rest.
To treat those days as vast, indefinite periods covering thousands or even millions of years, in order to accommodate the Bible to geology's claim that millions of years were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos, creates only a supposed conflict between science and revelation coming from inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature. Interpretations that accommodate Scripture in this way undermine and destroy the force of the word of God. Saying this creation required indefinite periods strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. It charges God with commanding men to observe a week of seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaches His wisdom, and it is the worst kind of infidelity, even when held by many who profess to believe the record of creation, and so is infidelity in disguise.
Large bones of men and animals, instruments of warfare, and petrified wood found in mountains and valleys do not prove that the world existed tens of thousands of years before creation or was populated long before by a superior race, but show how large men, animals, and trees were before the Flood and how great the changes in the earth were at the Flood. The time of this direct creation is learned only from the inspired record, which geology without Bible history cannot explain or date. God has given sufficient evidence in creation upon which to base faith, for the work of bringing forth sea life and birds cannot be explained from natural causes, just how God wrought has never been revealed, and human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of heaven.
Suppositions of geologists and human reasoning that dispute and contradict these plain Scripture facts of the Mosaic record, showing that God Himself directly created sea life and birds and not by natural causes, must be rejected even when accepted by professed Christians. Seeking to account for this creating work upon natural principles leads to boundless uncertainty, though conjecturing beyond the Bible about these relics may be innocent if it does not contradict Scripture. It is inconsistent to declare what God has revealed in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation too obscure to be understood while eagerly receiving mere suppositions about what He has not revealed in creation.
Genesis 1:21 presents one of the great facts of creation as given by the inspired writers, to be accepted with implicit confidence as a pillar of the Christian faith and the guide of life. Its most important truths are not to be caviled at, spiritualized, or explained away. To reject it wholly or in part is to reject truth and its Author.
Sabbath Memorial and Life
With heaven and earth and all their host finished, the work of the six days including the sea life and birds was very good at the close of the sixth day. On the seventh day God ended His work, rested from all He had created and made, and blessed and sanctified the seventh day. This proclaimed His will to all the earth, that the Sabbath is holy, a sign and perpetual covenant, because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He rested.
God Himself measured off that first week as a sample and first cycle for successive weeks to the close of time, so the weekly cycle of seven literal days originated in the first seven days. Like every other week it consisted of seven literal days, with six days employed in the work of creation and the seventh blessed and set apart, each day generating a new portion whose productions are given at its close. The first six days of each week are given to man for labor because God employed the same period of the first week in the work of creation. On the seventh day man is to refrain from labor, for God reserved it as a day of rest in commemoration of His rest after performing the work of creation in six days.
This great work of creation is to be described to children outdoors on Sabbath afternoon as the reason for the institution of the Sabbath. The record is divine revelation and eternal truth to be made the chief study in schools, carrying the mind higher to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life. It trains heart and mind to preserve purity by daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth, brings converse with patriarchs and prophets, and gives knowledge of 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. Without grasping with the understanding and accepting with the heart, education is a failure.
The creative energy that called the world and its living creatures into existence is in the Word of God, which imparts power and begets life. 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, 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 that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The mind and soul are built up by that upon which they feed, and every person can choose the topics that shall occupy the thoughts and shape the character. Creation is a reservoir of means made ready for instant employment to do the divine pleasure, and nothing made is useless, with tares coming through the curse sown by the enemy. Rational beings alone cause confusion in the world, and they should live to God and honor Him as all-wise and all-sufficient, revealed in humanity through coming to this world.
Taking six days to make the world when one would suffice models measured labor rather than extremes of working day and night and turning night into day until strength breaks down beyond recovery. It preserves regular hours for sleep and work, doing well what can be done without exhaustion, stopping when nature says stop, and letting the rest go undone rather than overstraining until the machinery snaps. Sin afterward marred that perfect work, bringing thorns and thistles, sorrow and pain and death. Yet the earth though marred still bears witness to the goodness and forbearance and love of the Creator.