Creation of the World with Adam and Animalsby Knighthowl
1:23Genesis 1:23
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
The evening and the morning show the fifth day was a plain, literal day like the first day and like every day since, not a vast, indefinite period of thousands or millions of years. It belongs to the first week measured off as the sample and seven-day cycle for all successive weeks, one of the six days in which heaven and earth, the sea and all in them were made. Its works came into being by spoken words in the natural world, for He spoke and it was done and commanded and it stood fast, so no long time was required for the earth to evolve from chaos. To turn the six days into vast, indefinite periods destroys the force of the fourth commandment and strikes at the foundation of the Sabbath, making indefinite what was made very plain. The six-day creation followed by seventh-day rest is why the Sabbath is holy, a sign between God and His people throughout their generations, giving man six days for labor and reserving the seventh for rest in commemoration of the Creator's rest.
The Fifth Day Described
The evening and the morning show the fifth day was a plain, literal day like the first day and like every other day since that time, not a vast, indefinite period covering thousands or millions of years. It was one of seven literal days of the first week, one of six literal days in which the work of creation was accomplished. Each day is accounted a generation because in it God generated or produced some new portion of His work, and at the close of the day is given the result of that work and the productions of His work. The fifth day belongs to the first week measured off by God as the sample and seven-day cycle for all successive weeks to the close of time, just like every other day in every week.
The fifth day is part of the mighty, wondrous work of creating the world engaged in together by the Father and the Son, by which the earth came forth exceedingly beautiful. It was not one extensive plain but diversified with hills, mountains and plains interspersed with rivers and other bodies of water regularly dispersed. The hills and mountains were regular and beautiful in shape rather than high and ragged as now, with bare high rocks never seen upon them but laid 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 now, with pure and healthful air so that the earth seemed like a noble palace over which angels beheld and rejoiced.
The works of the fifth day came into being by God's spoken words in the natural world, for the heavens were made by the word of the Lord and all their host by the breath of His mouth, for He spoke and it was done and commanded and it stood fast. This is in harmony with the teaching of nature, and so no long time was required for the earth to evolve from chaos. God took six days to make the world, though He could have spoken it into existence in one day. Just how God accomplished the work of creation in six literal days has never been revealed to mortals, and His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence.
The fifth day stands as one of the six days in which the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. When the six days were finished everything God had made was very good, and on the seventh day God ended His work, rested from all His work which He had created and made, blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He had rested, and was refreshed.
Defending the Creation Record
Genesis 1:23 belongs to the authentic Mosaic record of creation, which came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth and has been kept pure by a divine hand and by the divine Mind and Hand through all ages. That record alone gives the authentic account of the creation of the world, giving light on the far distant past where human research cannot penetrate and beholding the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens. It is the only history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride.
Geology is thought to contradict the literal interpretation of that record by claiming millions of years were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos. To accommodate the Bible to this supposed revelation of science, the days of creation including the fifth day are turned into vast, indefinite periods covering thousands or even millions of years. That move comes from inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature and produces only a supposed conflict between science and revelation. Relics found in the earth that show a state of things differing in many respects from the present do not change the six literal days, for without Bible history geology can prove nothing about time, and the time of their existence can be learned only from the inspired record.
In the effort to restore harmony between science and revelation by adopting long periods, interpretations of Scripture are adopted that undermine and destroy the force of the word of God. Turning the six days into six vast, indefinite periods and the day of God's rest into another indefinite period destroys the force of the fourth commandment and makes it senseless. It strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath and makes indefinite and obscure what God made very plain. It charges God with commanding men to observe the week of seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaches His wisdom. To profess to believe the record of creation while holding that view is infidelity in disguise, the worst kind of infidelity.
Genesis 1:23 is part of the plain Mosaic record of the work of creation, a plain Scripture fact that gives sufficient evidence for faith and defines the living God as the maker of the heavens and the earth. In the last days men leave this plain precept to receive infidel fables, count the word of God unreliable on the merest pretense, receive human reasoning in opposition to it, and endeavor to explain the work of creation from natural causes by the suppositions of geologists. Just how God wrought in creation He has never revealed, human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of Heaven, His ways are not as human ways nor His thoughts as human thoughts, and faith must not rest on mere suppositions about what He has not revealed, for the secret things belong to the Lord while the revealed things belong to men. The world is now only about six thousand years old, not tens of thousands of years old.
The great facts of creation presented by the inspired writers, of which Genesis 1:23 gives one, are pillars of the Christian faith, handed down at cost of suffering and blood and within reach of all, to be really accepted as the guide of life with implicit confidence. They are to be believed literally rather than caviled at, spiritualized, and explained away, and to reject them wholly or in part is infidelity prevailing not only in the world but in the church, though those who do so pride themselves on wisdom, independence, talent, and learning. The verse shows the work of a literal fifth day and stands against any explanation of creation as the result of natural causes by human reasoning, even by professed Christians. It is something God has revealed and can be understood, like the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation that are to be investigated rather than dismissed as too obscure, and it shows the inconsistency of rejecting revealed prophecy as unintelligible while eagerly receiving the mere suppositions of geologists about what God has not revealed in contradiction to Moses.
Sabbath and Present Life
The six days in which heaven and earth, the sea and all in them were made were finished with everything very good, and then on the seventh day God ended His work, rested from all His work which He had created and made, blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He had rested, and was refreshed, and this six-day creation followed by seventh-day rest is why the Sabbath is holy, a sign between God and His people throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. The fifth day closes as one of those six days employed in the work of creation, part of the first week measured off by God as the sample for all successive weeks to the close of time, and it was a literal day like every other day of the week and like every other day in every week. Together with the other five working days it is the basis for giving man the first six days of each week for labor, while God reserved the seventh day for rest in commemoration of His own rest after creation. Its literal character makes beautiful and forcible the reason stated in the law given from Sinai for observing the Sabbath, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all in them and rested the seventh day, grounding man's refraining from labor on the seventh day in commemoration of the Creator's rest. At the close of that literal day was given the result of its work, because each day is accounted a generation in that every day He generated or produced some new portion of His work.
The creation account gives the reason for the institution of the Sabbath and is to be told to children on the Sabbath. It shows that the earth came from His hand holy and beautiful, with every flower, shrub and tree answering the purpose of its Creator, with everything lovely and filling the mind with thoughts of the love of God, and with every sound music in harmony with the voice of God. It shows also that sin marred God's perfect work and that thorns and thistles, sorrow and pain and death are the result of disobedience to God, yet the earth though marred with the curse of sin still reveals God's goodness and bears witness of the Creator, testifying to His forbearance and love. The record of creation preserved in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand, whose authentic account of the creation of the world is given by the Word of God alone, is to be the chief study in schools, carrying minds higher than now thought possible and training heart and mind to preserve purity by daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. Studied there it impresses on every student that education is a failure unless the understanding grasps the truths of divine revelation and the heart accepts the teachings of the gospel of Christ and comprehends the important truths that concern eternal life, it brings converse with patriarchs and prophets, and it shows 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 world was called into existence by creative energy in the Word of God, for the works of the fifth day came into being by God's spoken words in the natural world. That same creative energy is still in the Word of God, imparting power and begetting life, so that every command is a promise that, accepted by the will and received into the soul, brings with it the life of the Infinite One, transforms the nature and recreates 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 the mind and soul are built up by that upon which they feed. God's creation is a reservoir of means made ready for Him to employ instantly to do His pleasure, and nothing He made is useless, while confusion and tares were no part of that creation but came through the curse when the enemy sowed tares. Rational beings should therefore 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. God took six days to make the world, though He could have spoken it into existence in one, and His deliberate six-day pace condemns rush and hurry and overwork that expends strength that is never recovered, condemns turning night into day and day into night, and requires keeping regular hours for sleep and work, stopping when nature says stop, and preserving health and strength to do double-good, healthful labor.
The evening and the morning show the fifth day was a plain, literal day like the first day and like every day since, not a vast, indefinite period of thousands or millions of years. It belongs to the first week measured off as the sample and seven-day cycle for all successive weeks, one of the six days in which heaven and earth, the sea and all in them were made. Its works came into being by spoken words in the natural world, for He spoke and it was done and commanded and it stood fast, so no long time was required for the earth to evolve from chaos. To turn the six days into vast, indefinite periods destroys the force of the fourth commandment and strikes at the foundation of the Sabbath, making indefinite what was made very plain. The six-day creation followed by seventh-day rest is why the Sabbath is holy, a sign between God and His people throughout their generations, giving man six days for labor and reserving the seventh for rest in commemoration of the Creator's rest.
The Fifth Day Described
The evening and the morning show the fifth day was a plain, literal day like the first day and like every other day since that time, not a vast, indefinite period covering thousands or millions of years. It was one of seven literal days of the first week, one of six literal days in which the work of creation was accomplished. Each day is accounted a generation because in it God generated or produced some new portion of His work, and at the close of the day is given the result of that work and the productions of His work. The fifth day belongs to the first week measured off by God as the sample and seven-day cycle for all successive weeks to the close of time, just like every other day in every week.
The fifth day is part of the mighty, wondrous work of creating the world engaged in together by the Father and the Son, by which the earth came forth exceedingly beautiful. It was not one extensive plain but diversified with hills, mountains and plains interspersed with rivers and other bodies of water regularly dispersed. The hills and mountains were regular and beautiful in shape rather than high and ragged as now, with bare high rocks never seen upon them but laid 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 now, with pure and healthful air so that the earth seemed like a noble palace over which angels beheld and rejoiced.
The works of the fifth day came into being by God's spoken words in the natural world, for the heavens were made by the word of the Lord and all their host by the breath of His mouth, for He spoke and it was done and commanded and it stood fast. This is in harmony with the teaching of nature, and so no long time was required for the earth to evolve from chaos. God took six days to make the world, though He could have spoken it into existence in one day. Just how God accomplished the work of creation in six literal days has never been revealed to mortals, and His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence.
The fifth day stands as one of the six days in which the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. When the six days were finished everything God had made was very good, and on the seventh day God ended His work, rested from all His work which He had created and made, blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He had rested, and was refreshed.
Defending the Creation Record
Genesis 1:23 belongs to the authentic Mosaic record of creation, which came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth and has been kept pure by a divine hand and by the divine Mind and Hand through all ages. That record alone gives the authentic account of the creation of the world, giving light on the far distant past where human research cannot penetrate and beholding the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens. It is the only history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride.
Geology is thought to contradict the literal interpretation of that record by claiming millions of years were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos. To accommodate the Bible to this supposed revelation of science, the days of creation including the fifth day are turned into vast, indefinite periods covering thousands or even millions of years. That move comes from inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature and produces only a supposed conflict between science and revelation. Relics found in the earth that show a state of things differing in many respects from the present do not change the six literal days, for without Bible history geology can prove nothing about time, and the time of their existence can be learned only from the inspired record.
In the effort to restore harmony between science and revelation by adopting long periods, interpretations of Scripture are adopted that undermine and destroy the force of the word of God. Turning the six days into six vast, indefinite periods and the day of God's rest into another indefinite period destroys the force of the fourth commandment and makes it senseless. It strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath and makes indefinite and obscure what God made very plain. It charges God with commanding men to observe the week of seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaches His wisdom. To profess to believe the record of creation while holding that view is infidelity in disguise, the worst kind of infidelity.
Genesis 1:23 is part of the plain Mosaic record of the work of creation, a plain Scripture fact that gives sufficient evidence for faith and defines the living God as the maker of the heavens and the earth. In the last days men leave this plain precept to receive infidel fables, count the word of God unreliable on the merest pretense, receive human reasoning in opposition to it, and endeavor to explain the work of creation from natural causes by the suppositions of geologists. Just how God wrought in creation He has never revealed, human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of Heaven, His ways are not as human ways nor His thoughts as human thoughts, and faith must not rest on mere suppositions about what He has not revealed, for the secret things belong to the Lord while the revealed things belong to men. The world is now only about six thousand years old, not tens of thousands of years old.
The great facts of creation presented by the inspired writers, of which Genesis 1:23 gives one, are pillars of the Christian faith, handed down at cost of suffering and blood and within reach of all, to be really accepted as the guide of life with implicit confidence. They are to be believed literally rather than caviled at, spiritualized, and explained away, and to reject them wholly or in part is infidelity prevailing not only in the world but in the church, though those who do so pride themselves on wisdom, independence, talent, and learning. The verse shows the work of a literal fifth day and stands against any explanation of creation as the result of natural causes by human reasoning, even by professed Christians. It is something God has revealed and can be understood, like the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation that are to be investigated rather than dismissed as too obscure, and it shows the inconsistency of rejecting revealed prophecy as unintelligible while eagerly receiving the mere suppositions of geologists about what God has not revealed in contradiction to Moses.
Sabbath and Present Life
The six days in which heaven and earth, the sea and all in them were made were finished with everything very good, and then on the seventh day God ended His work, rested from all His work which He had created and made, blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He had rested, and was refreshed, and this six-day creation followed by seventh-day rest is why the Sabbath is holy, a sign between God and His people throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. The fifth day closes as one of those six days employed in the work of creation, part of the first week measured off by God as the sample for all successive weeks to the close of time, and it was a literal day like every other day of the week and like every other day in every week. Together with the other five working days it is the basis for giving man the first six days of each week for labor, while God reserved the seventh day for rest in commemoration of His own rest after creation. Its literal character makes beautiful and forcible the reason stated in the law given from Sinai for observing the Sabbath, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all in them and rested the seventh day, grounding man's refraining from labor on the seventh day in commemoration of the Creator's rest. At the close of that literal day was given the result of its work, because each day is accounted a generation in that every day He generated or produced some new portion of His work.
The creation account gives the reason for the institution of the Sabbath and is to be told to children on the Sabbath. It shows that the earth came from His hand holy and beautiful, with every flower, shrub and tree answering the purpose of its Creator, with everything lovely and filling the mind with thoughts of the love of God, and with every sound music in harmony with the voice of God. It shows also that sin marred God's perfect work and that thorns and thistles, sorrow and pain and death are the result of disobedience to God, yet the earth though marred with the curse of sin still reveals God's goodness and bears witness of the Creator, testifying to His forbearance and love. The record of creation preserved in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand, whose authentic account of the creation of the world is given by the Word of God alone, is to be the chief study in schools, carrying minds higher than now thought possible and training heart and mind to preserve purity by daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. Studied there it impresses on every student that education is a failure unless the understanding grasps the truths of divine revelation and the heart accepts the teachings of the gospel of Christ and comprehends the important truths that concern eternal life, it brings converse with patriarchs and prophets, and it shows 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 world was called into existence by creative energy in the Word of God, for the works of the fifth day came into being by God's spoken words in the natural world. That same creative energy is still in the Word of God, imparting power and begetting life, so that every command is a promise that, accepted by the will and received into the soul, brings with it the life of the Infinite One, transforms the nature and recreates 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 the mind and soul are built up by that upon which they feed. God's creation is a reservoir of means made ready for Him to employ instantly to do His pleasure, and nothing He made is useless, while confusion and tares were no part of that creation but came through the curse when the enemy sowed tares. Rational beings should therefore 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. God took six days to make the world, though He could have spoken it into existence in one, and His deliberate six-day pace condemns rush and hurry and overwork that expends strength that is never recovered, condemns turning night into day and day into night, and requires keeping regular hours for sleep and work, stopping when nature says stop, and preserving health and strength to do double-good, healthful labor.