Genesis 1:7
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
God made the firmament and divided the waters below it from the waters above it on one literal day of creation week about six thousand years ago. The Father and the Son together did that work to make the world exceedingly beautiful and perfectly ordered, dispersing the lower waters as rivers and other bodies among hills, mountains, and plains, and clothing a diversified yet regular surface with plants, flowers, and majestic trees beneath pure air. It is a plain revealed fact of the literal Mosaic record to be understood as what God did, not a vast indefinite period of evolution from chaos nor the result of natural causes that human science can explain. That six days of work followed by rest on the seventh measured off the first week as the pattern for all weeks, and grounds the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as holy, a sign and perpetual covenant memorial of the living Maker of heaven and earth. The same spoken Word that created still carries creative energy, so that every command accepted by the will brings the life of the Infinite One and recreates the soul in the image of God.
Work the Verse Records
And God made the firmament and divided the waters as the joint work of the Father and the Son in making the world exceedingly beautiful and perfectly ordered. The waters under the firmament were regularly dispersed as rivers and other bodies of water interspersed among mountains, hills, and plains, so the earth was not one extensive plain but varied scenery. Its surface was diversified yet regular and beautiful in shape, without high and ragged mountains as now. Bare high rocks were never seen upon it but lay beneath the surface answering as bones to the earth. The hills, mountains, and plains were adorned with plants and flowers and tall majestic trees many times larger and more beautiful than now, and with pure and healthful air made the earth like a noble palace over which angels beheld and rejoiced at the wonderful work.
God spoke and His words created His works, showing that the creative energy that called the world into existence is in the Word of God. This Word 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 by every word proceeding from the mouth of God, and 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, in which nothing is useless, though the curse has caused tares to be sown by the enemy, and rational beings should not cause confusion 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 humanity.
The verse records the work of one literal day of creation week, about six thousand years ago, when each day God generated or produced some new portion of His work. That day was not a vast indefinite period covering thousands or millions of years. The week was seven literal days just like every other week, with six days of work followed by rest on the seventh measuring off the first weekly cycle as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time. God chose to take six days to make heaven and earth when He could have spoken it all into existence in one day.
Just how God made the firmament and divided the waters He never revealed to mortals. His creative work is as incomprehensible as His existence. Human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of Heaven.
Trust in Creation Record
Genesis 1:7 belongs to the literal Mosaic record of creation, a plain revealed fact telling what God did in making the firmament and dividing the waters, a truth that can be understood and is learned only from the inspired record. That day was not a vast indefinite period covering thousands or millions of years, and the claim that millions of years were required for the earth to evolve from chaos comes from inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature. Geology without Bible history proves nothing about the time of creation. Relics found in the earth give evidence of a state of things differing in many respects from the present, showing much larger men, animals, and trees before the Flood and great changes in the earth at the Flood.
The work described was not the result of natural causes, and human reasoning and the suppositions of geologists must not be accepted against it. Human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of heaven, for just how God made the firmament and divided the waters He never revealed to mortals. To account for this creative work upon natural principles apart from the word of God is to enter a boundless ocean of uncertainty. It is innocent to conjecture beyond what is revealed only when suppositions do not contradict the facts of Scripture. Men attempt to explain creation from natural causes and receive human reasoning and infidel fables in opposition to plain Scripture facts while treating God's word as unreliable.
Reinterpreting the days of creation to accommodate the Bible to that supposed revelation of science creates a supposed conflict between science and revelation and undermines and destroys the force of the word of God. To say this work took a vast indefinite period makes indefinite and obscure what God made very plain. Treating the six days as six vast indefinite periods with another indefinite period of rest makes senseless the fourth commandment and destroys its force, freeing men from its claims. The week of seven literal days that men are commanded to observe commemorates that work, and to charge God with commanding men to keep seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods is unlike His dealings and impeaches His wisdom.
The record containing the verse comes fresh from the fountain of eternal truth with its purity preserved through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand. It is the most comprehensive and most instructive history men possess, whose bright rays shine into the far distant past where human research seeks vainly to penetrate. In God's word alone is found this authentic account of creation, beholding the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens, and only here is found a history of the race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. It belongs to the great facts of creation given in Genesis 1:1-31, written by inspired writers, which are pillars of the Christian faith, while the Bible that contains them is the guide of life.
Placing implicit confidence in them is strength. Yet they are practically rejected wholly or in part by a large share of the professedly Christian world. Many receive human reasoning and infidel fables in opposition to plain Scripture facts while treating God's word as unreliable. It is regarded as wisdom and independence and superior talent and learning to cavil at them and to spiritualize and explain away their most important truths. God has given sufficient evidence on which to base faith, leaving man without excuse, yet because of this course in the last days the earth will be almost destitute of true faith.
The pure authentic account of the creation of the world is divine revelation and eternal truth to be made the chief study, especially in schools, to carry minds higher than now thought possible. In it converse is held with patriarchs and prophets. In it is learned 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. Training heart and mind upon this Word preserves purity by daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth and trains the mind to comprehend important truths concerning eternal life. Education is failure unless the understanding grasps its truths and the heart accepts the gospel of Christ, while accepting common ideas and absorbing time with commonplace trivial matters dwarfs and enfeebles the mind and loses power of growth.
Sabbath Memorial and Life
Genesis 1:7 is one of the acts by which God made heaven and earth in six days, and when that work and all the host of heaven and earth were finished He saw everything He had made as very good. He then ended His work, rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had created and made, and blessed and sanctified the seventh day. By this He proclaimed to all the earth that the Sabbath grounded in creation is holy, a sign between Him and His people throughout their generations and a perpetual covenant, kept because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.
The six days of work followed by rest on the seventh measured off the first week as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time. The week originated at creation and consisted of seven literal days, like every other week, with six days employed in the work of creation and the seventh blessed and set apart as a day of rest for man. Each day God generated or produced some new portion of His work, and together His working and resting originated the weekly cycle of six days for labor and the seventh for rest in commemoration of creation. The first six days of each week are given to man for labor because God employed the same period in creation, and on the seventh man is to refrain from labor in commemoration of the Creator's rest. This is what God pointed back to in the law given from Sinai as the reason for observing the week and keeping the Sabbath holy.
The Sabbath of the fourth commandment rests on that foundation of seven literal days. That creative work defines Him as the living God, the Maker of the heavens and the earth named in the commandment. The work of Genesis 1:7 was accomplished in one literal day as part of seven literal days about six thousand years ago, which God made very plain, not in a vast indefinite period. To say it took a vast indefinite period makes indefinite and obscure what God made plain and strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath. It charges God with commanding men to keep seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike His dealings and impeaches His wisdom, and treating the six days as six vast indefinite periods with another indefinite period of rest makes senseless the fourth commandment and destroys its force, freeing men from its claims.
God could have spoken the world into existence in one day, yet He took six days to make it, and His taking six days sets the pattern for human work. Men are to keep regular hours for sleep and work and to stop when nature says stop. They are not to turn night into day and day into night, nor to overwork day and night to exhaustion and breakdown. They are to preserve their powers and keep strength in reserve for steady, healthful labor.
The great work of creation that includes Genesis 1:7 gives the reason for the institution of the Sabbath and is to be described to children on Sabbath afternoons while walking with parents in the 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 the purpose of its Creator, everything lovely and filling the mind with thoughts of the love of God, and every sound music in harmony with the voice of God. Sin marred God's perfect work, and thorns and thistles, sorrow and pain and death are all the result of disobedience to God. Though marred with the curse of sin, the earth still reveals God's goodness, with green fields, lofty trees, glad sunshine, clouds, dew, solemn stillness of night, glory of starry heavens, and moon in its beauty all bearing witness of the Creator, and not a drop of rain falling and not a ray of light shed on the unthankful world without testifying to the forbearance and love of God.
God's creation is a reservoir of means made ready for Him to employ instantly to do His pleasure, and nothing in it is useless. The curse has caused tares to be sown by the enemy. Rational beings 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 humanity.
The creative energy that called the world into existence is in the Word of God, and this Word imparts power and begets life. Every command of that creating Word 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 by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and mind and soul are built up by that upon which they feed.