Genesis 1:25
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
God made the beasts of the earth, the cattle, and everything that creeps upon the earth each after its kind on that literal day of the six-day work, and saw that it was good, pronouncing the completed whole very good. It was the mighty work of the Father and the Son creating together by the spoken word, who could have spoken the world into existence in one day yet took six days to make it. Those six days with the seventh day of rest originated the week and the Sabbath as seven literal days, commemorated in the fourth commandment, and they were not vast indefinite periods of thousands or millions of years for evolution of the earth from chaos. These are plain facts of the Maker of heaven and earth to be believed as coming by divine action and not by natural causes, standing as pillars of the Christian faith amid infidelity that spiritualizes them away. The same creative energy that called the living creatures into existence is still in the Word of God to recreate the soul in the image of God, and taking six days when He could have spoken in one sets the measure for human labor and rest.
Creation Act Described
God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the earth after its kind, bringing forth a new portion of creation on that literal day as part of the six days in which He made heaven and earth. God saw that it was good, and at the close pronounced it very good. That finished six-day work led to the seventh day on which He ended His work, rested from all He had created and made, and blessed and sanctified the seventh day. Each literal day gave the productions of His work at its close, and the first week measured off as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time originated the weekly cycle.
It was the mighty, wondrous work of the Father and the Son creating the world together by the spoken word. He could have spoken the world into existence in one day, yet He took six days to make it. He created every species of animal after its own kind. Everything He made was purposeful and useful, with nothing useless, as a reservoir of means He can employ instantly to do His pleasure.
The earth as it came from the Creator's hand was holy and beautiful and perfect, 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, interspersed with rivers and other bodies of water regularly dispersed. The hills and mountains were then 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 answering as bones to the earth. 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.
Every living thing answered 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. The first and second chapters of Genesis thus set forth the beginning plan that included equal use of the mental and physical powers.
Literal Week Affirmed
This making of land animals belongs to the six days of creation in the first week, which originated the week and the Sabbath and was measured off as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time. Like every other week it consisted of seven literal days, with God generating some new portion of creation on each literal day and giving its productions at the close of each day, six days employed in the work of creation and the seventh blessed and set apart as rest. The first six days of each week are given for labor because the same period was employed in creation, and the seventh is kept from labor in commemoration of the Creator's rest.
That finished six-day work in which heaven and earth were made, pronounced good in its parts and very good at its close, led to the seventh day on which the work was ended. On that day rest was taken from all that had been created and made, and the seventh day was blessed and sanctified, thereby proclaiming the divine will to all the earth. The law given from Sinai recognizes this week and the facts on which it is based, and the fourth commandment commanding seven literal days commemorates that literal creation week, so its reason is beautiful and forcible when the days are understood as literal.
The six days were not six vast indefinite periods covering thousands or even millions of years, and the day of rest was not another indefinite period. To make them indefinite destroys the force of the fourth commandment and makes it senseless, makes obscure what was made plain, strikes at the foundation of the Sabbath, charges God with commanding seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaching His wisdom, and is infidelity in disguise even when held by professed believers. The literal Mosaic record conflicts with geology because millions of years are claimed as required for evolution of the earth from chaos, so to accommodate the Bible to science the days are assumed to have been indefinite. The world is now only about six thousand years old, not tens of thousands of years old.
Men, animals, and trees then created were vastly larger than those now living or that have existed for many generations past, many times larger than those now upon the earth. Bones of men and animals, petrified wood, and instruments of warfare found in the earth in mountains and valleys evidence a state differing in many respects from the present, and great changes took place at the Flood, so wonderful things found in the earth do not disprove seven literal days. Without Bible history geology can prove nothing and the time of relics can be learned only from the inspired record. Conjecture beyond the record may be innocent if it does not contradict Scripture, but to leave the word of God to account for creation on natural principles is to enter a boundless ocean of uncertainty, for just how creation was accomplished in six literal days has never been revealed to mortals and creative works are as incomprehensible as existence itself, with ways and thoughts not as man's. Only the species created after its own kind were preserved alive in the ark, while the confused species not created, which resulted from amalgamation, were destroyed by the Flood. Since the Flood there has been amalgamation of man and beast, seen in the almost endless varieties of animal species and in certain races of men.
Belief and Daily Life
Genesis 1:25 stands among the plain Scripture facts of the Mosaic record of the Maker of heaven and earth, including the living creatures, revealed to be believed as coming by divine action and not by natural causes. That record gives sufficient evidence upon which to base faith, leaving man without excuse, for just how God wrought in creation He has never revealed and human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of Heaven, whose ways and thoughts are not as man's. It belongs to the great facts of creation that stand as pillars of the Christian faith. Yet amid alarming infidelity prevailing not in the world merely but in the church, its testimony is practically rejected wholly or in part by much of the professedly Christian world. The Bible that contains it was handed down at the cost of suffering and blood and is within the reach of all, yet is little valued and accepted by few as the guide of life. Placing implicit confidence in it is regarded by thousands who pride themselves on wisdom and independence as evidence of weakness, while caviling at the Scriptures and spiritualizing and explaining away their most important truths is regarded as proof of superior talent and learning.
Human reasoning must not be accepted against it, even by professed Christians, including the suppositions of geologists that contradict Moses and dispute the Mosaic record. To call the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation too obscure to investigate and understand, while eagerly receiving such geological suppositions, is inconsistent, because what God has revealed should be accepted rather than mere suppositions about what He has not revealed. In the last days men led to rebel against God's government turn from plain precepts to infidel fables, call God's word unreliable, and endeavor to explain creation from natural causes by human reasoning. God designed that men, beasts, and trees many times larger than those now upon the earth, buried at the time of the Flood, should be discovered in the earth to establish faith in inspired history and lead men to exalt Him. But men by vain reasoning make a wrong use of them and turn benefit into curse as did the people before the Flood.
The verse is part of the only authentic account of the creation of the world, found in the Word of God alone, the most comprehensive and instructive history men possess. It came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth and has been kept pure and preserved in its purity through all ages by the divine Mind and Hand. Its light shines into the far distant past where human research seeks vainly to penetrate, showing the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens, and giving the history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. It is to be the chief study in schools to carry the minds of students higher than is now thought possible. It trains heart and mind to preserve purity by daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth, and trains the mind to grasp truths of divine revelation that concern eternal life. In it students hold converse with patriarchs and prophets and learn what redemption cost the One who was equal with the Father from the beginning, who sacrificed His life that a people might stand before Him redeemed from every common earthly thing and renewed in the image of God.
The creative energy that called the world and its living creatures into existence is in the Word of God. That Word still imparts power and begets life. 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 that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and mind and soul are built up by that upon which they feed.
Sin marred God's perfect work when the earth came from His hand holy and beautiful and perfect, and thorns and thistles, sorrow and pain and death are all the result of disobedience to God. Disorder and harmful things now in nature came afterward when the curse allowed the enemy to sow tares, for nothing in that original creation was useless but everything He made was purposeful and useful. Though marred with the curse of sin, the earth still reveals God's goodness, forbearance and love, with green fields, lofty trees, glad sunshine, clouds, dew, solemn stillness of night, glory of starry heavens, moon in its beauty, rain and light all bearing witness of the Creator. Parents are to describe this creation to their children in the fields and groves on the Sabbath as the reason for the institution of the Sabbath. Rational beings alone should not cause confusion in the world, but should live to God and honor Him, since God and Saviour is all-wise and all-sufficient and came to this world so His perfection might be revealed in them.
God took six days to make the world when He could have spoken it into existence in one, and this sets the measure for human work. God does not lead to day-and-night extremes that spend strength beyond recovery and end in breakdown and helplessness. Regular hours for sleep and work must be kept, night must not be turned into day, labor must stop when nature says stop, and powers must be preserved so healthful work can continue with strength in reserve.