And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
On the second day God made the firmament and named it Heaven, which is the sky above the earth and the starry region of sun, moon and stars, distinct from Paradise and from God's temple with the ark. That second day closed with evening and morning as a literal plain day, one of six literal days forming the first week that God measured off as the sample for every week to the close of time and the foundation of the Sabbath. The world was thus made in only six literal days about six thousand years ago, not in vast indefinite periods of thousands or millions of years as assumed to accommodate geology, which makes the fourth commandment senseless and destroys its force. How God wrought this work was never revealed to mortals and cannot be explained from natural causes or searched out by human science, but is to be believed as revealed fact. The same creative energy of God's word that called the world into existence still imparts power to recreate the soul in God's image, and His deliberate ordering of night and day establishes regular hours for sleep and work.
Firmament Called Heaven
On the second day God generated or produced a new portion of His work by making the firmament and naming it Heaven, and at the close of the day that production was given as the work of the day, each such day being counted as a generation. That second day was a literal day just like every other day of the week, bounded by evening and morning, and it stands as part of the first six-day period in which creation was performed, measured off as the sample for the weekly cycle of seven literal days to the close of time, with the first six days given to man for labor because the same period was employed in creation and the seventh reserved for rest in commemoration of rest after the six days. This is part of the plain facts about the work of creation given in Genesis 1:1-31, to be believed as what has been revealed as fact and not as the result of natural causes, while human reasoning and the suppositions of geologists that contradict it are to be rejected. It is inconsistent to oppose the study of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation as too obscure to understand while accepting mere suppositions about creation which have not been revealed.
Heaven in this naming means the sky above the earth, showing that the word heaven is applied to something besides the New Jerusalem. That heaven of the firmament does not contain God's temple with the ark of His testament, so the heaven where the temple is opened is the New Jerusalem. Heaven is also the name for the region of the sun, moon, and stars where the heavenly lights were placed, one of four things called heaven in Scripture, distinct from Paradise, distinct from the air around the earth where birds fly, and distinct from the church of God on earth. This starry heaven is not the heaven that will be shaken and rolled together as a scroll just before Christ comes, for that shaking belongs to the air around the earth.
The Father and the Son worked together in the mighty work of creating the world, and the earth that came forth from the Creator's hand 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. The hills and mountains were regular and beautiful in shape, not high and ragged as now, and bare high rocks were never seen upon them but lay 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 trees now are, and angels beheld the wonderful and beautiful works of God and rejoiced.
God spoke and His words created His works in the natural world, and His creation is a reservoir of means made ready to employ instantly to do His pleasure, with nothing He made useless. The tares and confusion now in the world came by the curse, when the enemy sowed tares. 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.
Literal Six-Day Creation
The verse marks the close of the second day of the first week, which originated at creation and was measured off by God Himself as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time. That day was a literal day, one of the six days employed in the work of creation, matching the six days given to man for labor in each week. Its literal character makes beautiful and forcible the reason for keeping the Sabbath, that the Lord made heaven and earth in six days and rested the seventh, so man labors six days and refrains from labor on the seventh in commemoration of the Creator's rest.
The second day was a literal day consisting of evening and morning like every other day since that time. Its record is in substance the same as that given for each of the first six days, proving the Bible record in harmony with itself and with the teaching of nature. There is no need to stretch the days of creation into vast indefinite periods covering thousands or millions of years. Each day was called a generation because in it God generated, or produced, some new portion of His work. The heavens were made by the word of the Lord and stood fast when He commanded, and at the close of the second day the result of the Creator's work is given as the production of that day, the firmament named Heaven.
That second day stands as part of the first six-day period in which creation was performed, measured off as the sample for the weekly cycle of seven literal days till the close of time, with the first six days given to man for labor because the same period was employed in creation, and the seventh day reserved for rest in commemoration of rest after the six days. It was a literal, plain day, part of a first week of seven literal days. That literal week is the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, in which a week of seven literal days is commanded in commemoration of those seven days. To say the days were seven vast, indefinite periods makes indefinite and obscure what was made very plain, and charges God with commanding a literal week in memory of indefinite periods, which is unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaches His wisdom. Held even by many who profess to believe the record of creation, it is infidelity in disguise, the worst kind of infidelity.
The creation week was only seven literal days and the world is now only about six thousand years old. The six days of creation were not six vast, indefinite periods, and the day of rest was not another indefinite period. Infidel geologists reject the Bible record and claim the world is very much older, having existed tens of thousands of years, because of evidences from the earth itself, and many who profess to believe the record are at a loss to account for wonderful things found in the earth on the ground of seven literal days. Those who adopt the indefinite-periods view to free themselves from difficulties thrown in their way make senseless the fourth commandment of the holy law, destroy its force, and feel freedom from its claims upon them. The Mosaic record to which the verse belongs is said by geology to be contradicted by the claim that millions of years were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos. In order to accommodate the Bible to that supposed revelation of science the day is assumed to have been a vast, indefinite period covering thousands or even millions of years. That assumption rests on inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature, creates a supposed conflict between science and revelation, and in the effort to restore harmony undermines and destroys the force of the word of God.
God did the work of creation, including calling the firmament Heaven on the second day, in six literal days. Just how He wrought in that work has not been revealed to men, and His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence. It cannot be explained from natural causes, and human science cannot search out the secrets of it. What God has revealed is to be believed as fact, and human reasoning and suppositions contradicting what was revealed are to be rejected. The inspired history alone tells when bones of men and animals, instruments of warfare, petrified wood, and other relics found in mountains and valleys existed, giving evidence of a pre-flood state differing in many respects from the present with larger men, animals, and trees and great changes at the flood. Without that Bible history geology can prove nothing, and seeking to account for creation on natural principles apart from the word of God leaves men on a boundless ocean of uncertainty.
The verse is one of the six days in which heaven and earth were made. That six-day work was finished and pronounced very good, and was followed by ending the work and resting on the seventh day, and blessing and sanctifying the seventh day, thus proclaiming to all the earth that the Sabbath be kept as a holy sign and perpetual covenant. The second day is one part of the six days taken to make the world, though there was power to speak it all into existence in one day. The verse belongs to the great facts of creation in Genesis 1:1-31 which are pillars of the Christian faith and are now practically rejected, either wholly or in part, by a large share of the professedly Christian world.
Study and Obedience
The verse belongs to the authentic account of creation found alone in God's word, which came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth and has been kept pure through all ages. It is part of the most comprehensive and most instructive history possessed by men, whose light shines into the far distant past where human research seeks in vain to penetrate. It beholds the power that stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth, and gives with the rest of creation the only history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. That record, preserved in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand, is to be the chief study in schools, carrying the minds of students higher than now thought possible. It trains heart and mind to preserve purity by receiving daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth, and trains the mind to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life. It impresses that education fails unless the understanding grasps the truths of divine revelation and the heart accepts the gospel of Christ. Study of it brings converse with patriarchs and prophets, and teaches 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.
God's great work of creation, to which the verse belongs, is the reason for the institution of the Sabbath and is to be described to children on Sabbath walks in the fields and groves. When the earth came from His hand it was holy and beautiful, with every flower, shrub and tree answering the purpose of its Creator, everything lovely filling the mind with thoughts of the love of God, and every sound music in harmony with the voice of God. Sin marred that 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 and bears witness to the Creator in the green fields, lofty trees, glad sunshine, clouds, dew, solemn stillness of the night, glory of the starry heavens and beauty of the moon. Every drop of rain and every ray of light testifies to His forbearance and love.
The verse shows the creative energy of God's word calling the world into existence, and that same energy is in the word of God still, imparting power and begetting life. Wisdom gives life to those who have it, the words of Christ are spirit and life, and eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. 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 mind and soul are built up by what they feed on. Everyone may choose the topics that occupy thought and shape character, for God has written the great things of His law and promises to answer those who call and to show great and mighty things they do not know. The verse marks the evening and morning of the second day in the six days God took to make the world, though He could have spoken the world into existence in one, deliberately making night and day distinct with regular order. That six-day order establishes regular hours for sleep and for work, shows God does not lead to working day and night without rest, and condemns turning night into day and day into night and overstraining to exhaustion and breakdown.
On the second day God made the firmament and named it Heaven, which is the sky above the earth and the starry region of sun, moon and stars, distinct from Paradise and from God's temple with the ark.
That second day closed with evening and morning as a literal plain day, one of six literal days forming the first week that God measured off as the sample for every week to the close of time and the foundation of the Sabbath.
The world was thus made in only six literal days about six thousand years ago, not in vast indefinite periods of thousands or millions of years as assumed to accommodate geology, which makes the fourth commandment senseless and destroys its force.
How God wrought this work was never revealed to mortals and cannot be explained from natural causes or searched out by human science, but is to be believed as revealed fact.
The same creative energy of God's word that called the world into existence still imparts power to recreate the soul in God's image, and His deliberate ordering of night and day establishes regular hours for sleep and work.
Firmament Called Heaven
On the second day God generated or produced a new portion of His work by making the firmament and naming it Heaven, and at the close of the day that production was given as the work of the day, each such day being counted as a generation. That second day was a literal day just like every other day of the week, bounded by evening and morning, and it stands as part of the first six-day period in which creation was performed, measured off as the sample for the weekly cycle of seven literal days to the close of time, with the first six days given to man for labor because the same period was employed in creation and the seventh reserved for rest in commemoration of rest after the six days. This is part of the plain facts about the work of creation given in Genesis 1:1-31, to be believed as what has been revealed as fact and not as the result of natural causes, while human reasoning and the suppositions of geologists that contradict it are to be rejected. It is inconsistent to oppose the study of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation as too obscure to understand while accepting mere suppositions about creation which have not been revealed.
Heaven in this naming means the sky above the earth, showing that the word heaven is applied to something besides the New Jerusalem. That heaven of the firmament does not contain God's temple with the ark of His testament, so the heaven where the temple is opened is the New Jerusalem. Heaven is also the name for the region of the sun, moon, and stars where the heavenly lights were placed, one of four things called heaven in Scripture, distinct from Paradise, distinct from the air around the earth where birds fly, and distinct from the church of God on earth. This starry heaven is not the heaven that will be shaken and rolled together as a scroll just before Christ comes, for that shaking belongs to the air around the earth.
The Father and the Son worked together in the mighty work of creating the world, and the earth that came forth from the Creator's hand 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. The hills and mountains were regular and beautiful in shape, not high and ragged as now, and bare high rocks were never seen upon them but lay 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 trees now are, and angels beheld the wonderful and beautiful works of God and rejoiced.
God spoke and His words created His works in the natural world, and His creation is a reservoir of means made ready to employ instantly to do His pleasure, with nothing He made useless. The tares and confusion now in the world came by the curse, when the enemy sowed tares. 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.
Literal Six-Day Creation
The verse marks the close of the second day of the first week, which originated at creation and was measured off by God Himself as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time. That day was a literal day, one of the six days employed in the work of creation, matching the six days given to man for labor in each week. Its literal character makes beautiful and forcible the reason for keeping the Sabbath, that the Lord made heaven and earth in six days and rested the seventh, so man labors six days and refrains from labor on the seventh in commemoration of the Creator's rest.
The second day was a literal day consisting of evening and morning like every other day since that time. Its record is in substance the same as that given for each of the first six days, proving the Bible record in harmony with itself and with the teaching of nature. There is no need to stretch the days of creation into vast indefinite periods covering thousands or millions of years. Each day was called a generation because in it God generated, or produced, some new portion of His work. The heavens were made by the word of the Lord and stood fast when He commanded, and at the close of the second day the result of the Creator's work is given as the production of that day, the firmament named Heaven.
That second day stands as part of the first six-day period in which creation was performed, measured off as the sample for the weekly cycle of seven literal days till the close of time, with the first six days given to man for labor because the same period was employed in creation, and the seventh day reserved for rest in commemoration of rest after the six days. It was a literal, plain day, part of a first week of seven literal days. That literal week is the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, in which a week of seven literal days is commanded in commemoration of those seven days. To say the days were seven vast, indefinite periods makes indefinite and obscure what was made very plain, and charges God with commanding a literal week in memory of indefinite periods, which is unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaches His wisdom. Held even by many who profess to believe the record of creation, it is infidelity in disguise, the worst kind of infidelity.
The creation week was only seven literal days and the world is now only about six thousand years old. The six days of creation were not six vast, indefinite periods, and the day of rest was not another indefinite period. Infidel geologists reject the Bible record and claim the world is very much older, having existed tens of thousands of years, because of evidences from the earth itself, and many who profess to believe the record are at a loss to account for wonderful things found in the earth on the ground of seven literal days. Those who adopt the indefinite-periods view to free themselves from difficulties thrown in their way make senseless the fourth commandment of the holy law, destroy its force, and feel freedom from its claims upon them. The Mosaic record to which the verse belongs is said by geology to be contradicted by the claim that millions of years were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos. In order to accommodate the Bible to that supposed revelation of science the day is assumed to have been a vast, indefinite period covering thousands or even millions of years. That assumption rests on inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature, creates a supposed conflict between science and revelation, and in the effort to restore harmony undermines and destroys the force of the word of God.
God did the work of creation, including calling the firmament Heaven on the second day, in six literal days. Just how He wrought in that work has not been revealed to men, and His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence. It cannot be explained from natural causes, and human science cannot search out the secrets of it. What God has revealed is to be believed as fact, and human reasoning and suppositions contradicting what was revealed are to be rejected. The inspired history alone tells when bones of men and animals, instruments of warfare, petrified wood, and other relics found in mountains and valleys existed, giving evidence of a pre-flood state differing in many respects from the present with larger men, animals, and trees and great changes at the flood. Without that Bible history geology can prove nothing, and seeking to account for creation on natural principles apart from the word of God leaves men on a boundless ocean of uncertainty.
The verse is one of the six days in which heaven and earth were made. That six-day work was finished and pronounced very good, and was followed by ending the work and resting on the seventh day, and blessing and sanctifying the seventh day, thus proclaiming to all the earth that the Sabbath be kept as a holy sign and perpetual covenant. The second day is one part of the six days taken to make the world, though there was power to speak it all into existence in one day. The verse belongs to the great facts of creation in Genesis 1:1-31 which are pillars of the Christian faith and are now practically rejected, either wholly or in part, by a large share of the professedly Christian world.
Study and Obedience
The verse belongs to the authentic account of creation found alone in God's word, which came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth and has been kept pure through all ages. It is part of the most comprehensive and most instructive history possessed by men, whose light shines into the far distant past where human research seeks in vain to penetrate. It beholds the power that stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth, and gives with the rest of creation the only history of the human race unsullied by human prejudice or human pride. That record, preserved in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand, is to be the chief study in schools, carrying the minds of students higher than now thought possible. It trains heart and mind to preserve purity by receiving daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth, and trains the mind to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life. It impresses that education fails unless the understanding grasps the truths of divine revelation and the heart accepts the gospel of Christ. Study of it brings converse with patriarchs and prophets, and teaches 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.
God's great work of creation, to which the verse belongs, is the reason for the institution of the Sabbath and is to be described to children on Sabbath walks in the fields and groves. When the earth came from His hand it was holy and beautiful, with every flower, shrub and tree answering the purpose of its Creator, everything lovely filling the mind with thoughts of the love of God, and every sound music in harmony with the voice of God. Sin marred that 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 and bears witness to the Creator in the green fields, lofty trees, glad sunshine, clouds, dew, solemn stillness of the night, glory of the starry heavens and beauty of the moon. Every drop of rain and every ray of light testifies to His forbearance and love.
The verse shows the creative energy of God's word calling the world into existence, and that same energy is in the word of God still, imparting power and begetting life. Wisdom gives life to those who have it, the words of Christ are spirit and life, and eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. 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 mind and soul are built up by what they feed on. Everyone may choose the topics that occupy thought and shape character, for God has written the great things of His law and promises to answer those who call and to show great and mighty things they do not know. The verse marks the evening and morning of the second day in the six days God took to make the world, though He could have spoken the world into existence in one, deliberately making night and day distinct with regular order. That six-day order establishes regular hours for sleep and for work, shows God does not lead to working day and night without rest, and condemns turning night into day and day into night and overstraining to exhaustion and breakdown.