Bible Study Genesis Part 12-One Day

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We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God.

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The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold.

And we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture.

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It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision.

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All right, we are back on our Bible study.

It's Wednesday night.

You gotta know that we're going to be here every Wednesday night because we're not going to miss the opportunity to get closer to God.

We're not going to miss the opportunity to learn more about Him so that we can do something about it.

It isn't just us absorbing His Word and learning it and saying, ah, gee Wiz, that's really cool information.

We want to be able to share this word.

We want to inspire other people.

We want to live by this.

You know, every book of the Bible tells us the same thing.

It says, we must live the example that God gave us.

We must live the example of Christ.

Can we be exactly like Christ?

No.

But Christ said we have to be perfect, like our Father in heaven is perfect.

That's what we're shooting for.

That's part of what we're doing.

There's so much need in this world spiritually.

And God is trying to fill those needs, and He's using us, the church, for that.

So as I said, we are still studying the Bible.

We are still in chapter one of Genesis.

We're working our way through slowly.

It's important.

These details are important.

That's why we're taking some time doing that.

So let's go ahead and get started as I switch my screen.

Now, this week we're moving on to verse five.

It has taken us quite a while to get here, but this week we start with a new verse.

But let me go ahead and read those first few verses in order to recenter ourselves.

Genesis 1:1.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

That happened a really, really long time ago.

Verse 2, and the earth was without form.

We have said that the earth became without uh form, it became void.

That's what the original Hebrew allows us to say.

There are some scholars that say, no, that's not true.

We're sticking with it because it's not just the Hebrew that we're going with.

We're going through all of the other portions of scripture that tell us that the earth became without form and void.

So the earth became without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light, or light be, and light was.

And God saw the light that it was good.

And God divided the light from the darkness.

This is where we're picking it up tonight.

And God called the light day and the darkness he called night.

And the evening and the morning were the first day.

It should actually say the evening and the morning were one day.

Now that's important, but we'll get to that in one second.

As I said, it has taken us months to get through these first few verses because each one of them is simply bursting with truth that we have to consider.

And verse five just keeps that trend going.

Now, the first important point I want to make is that here is where we start calculating the 24-hour day.

Let me repeat, this isn't the first day, as the King James puts it.

The Hebrew says it is day one or one day.

This is one day.

Evening and morning is one day.

When it's read the evening and the morning were one day, it's giving us what I call a reference point.

One day points us to or leads us to a known quantity, a fixed amount.

If the one day were something other than 24 hours, this would be a very misleading sentence.

God told us it was one day so that we would know what he's talking about.

If he meant one day of some other length, then we would need an explanation.

If we need an explanation that's never given to us, then why bother telling us this was one day?

He says it was one day, and God is going to use that same format all the way through the creation process.

Now, John, why are you making such a big deal out of this?

Well, the reason why I'm taking the time to point this out is because lots of people don't want to accept what the Bible says about things.

And that includes people in the so-called church.

They don't want to believe what God has to say.

And the critic, the one that criticizes God's word, again, he's going to point to this section, this beginning section of the Bible, this creation section, he's going to point to this in his attempts to discredit the Bible.

The critic is going to use this narrative to insist that the Judeo-Christian religion, as I said, I don't like this word, but I have to use it.

The scoffers of the Judeo-Christian religion, those that scoff at the Judeo-Christian religion, are going to refer to this six-day creative process described in Genesis.

Yes, we're only on day one so far, but it's the six-day creation story that God's enemies are trying to highlight in their mission to characterize our belief system as being nothing more than just another invention of the superstitious mind of primitive man.

They'll say that the claim that God did all of this in six days is as ridiculous as any other of the caveman origin myths.

They'll use this account to say our God's explanation of all of the beginnings of the birth of all things is no different than, say, the Heliopolis myth of the Egyptians that claim the sun is the one responsible for all life and matter, the sun in the sky.

Or perhaps the Proto-European belief that a vast sea of chaos sounds familiar, don't you think?

That a vast sea of chaos made all things.

Or even the Mayan creation story that involves a feathered spirit who, along with another deity-like being, created mankind out of maize dough, corn dough.

You see, the world says the Bible's version of creation, just like all of the others, is too difficult to believe, too hard to accept, and therefore you shouldn't.

In fact, not only do you not have to believe it, but it's okay if you mock it.

And mock they do.

It may be sacred to you and me, but to the world, it's nothing but joke fodder.

The irony, however, is that science has mesmerized us so much that we believe anything it says, though they really have no good explanation for how and why things are as they are.

They'll tell us now, don't believe anything until we can come up with a good explanation.

Don't do anything until you hear from us.

You know, you should just trust us.

So just wait over there until we're ready for you.

We'll let you know when we've come up with a good idea that we know you can accept.

Now, listen, I admit that six days seems rather difficult to grasp.

But you know what?

So does someone rising from the dead and emerging from a rock-sealed grave.

If I can believe that, and I do, then anything is possible.

In fact, if I can believe that God can save a lost soul like me, then a six-day creation process seems like a snap.

So back to scripture, Genesis 1.5 again.

And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.

Now, many have tried to change what this says, but nothing else holds water.

This is evening and morning.

And listen to me, there is nothing here that tells me that it is anything other than a 24-hour day.

And God says nothing else about the number of hours in a day throughout the rest of Scripture.

It's always evening and morning.

This is number one of the first six 24-hour days that God used to make everything.

And from what we can tell, we've been having the same kind of days ever since.

Now you may say, but John, isn't it possible that these weren't 24-hour days?

I mean, a much longer than 24-hour day might help to alleviate the concern about the creation only lasting six days.

Well, the best answer I can give you is that God has not told us that these days are any different than any of the others.

He has not told us anything different about any days.

We therefore have to accept they're all the same.

Now, I've heard all the arguments.

And to be honest, the modern man in me wants to find some so-called rational explanation, as if God's not rational.

Anyhow, the 21st century guy in me has tried to square this anomaly between what the Bible says about creation and what science says.

And well, none of these arguments make any sense.

And here is the real danger.

When we try to modify what the Bible says to fit our theories, well, that's a slippery slope that never ends.

Now, when we try to make God's methods match our preferences, hey, look, I'd much prefer creation to be millions of years than six days.

Is there anything we can do about that?

Well, why don't we change the hours of from 24 to maybe 24,000?

That's not a bad idea.

Let's do that.

When we do that, where does that end?

Nothing good ever comes from that.

If you're trying to interject changes into scripture to fit your theories, you will never be able to know the full truth.

So I'm going to stick with what God says.

Now I'm sure that I'm sure that's not going to win me any credibility points, but so be it.

And God called the light day and the darkness he called night.

And the evening and the morning were day one or one day.

Now, there are lots of things going on here.

We already talked about the six 24-hour day creation controversy.

It was six days of 24 hours each, which, by the way, is 144 hours.

Just as a side note, and this is another reason why I believe these were six 24-hour days, because of the number 144.

The number 144 is the product of 12 times 12.

This is going to sound freaky to you, and I'm not going to get too deep into it, but I want you to understand what I've said to you many times before.

And I will continue to say this, especially during these early parts of Scripture.

For some reason, numbers are important in the Bible.

Not always, but very, very often.

I don't know why.

It just seems to work out that way.

Numbers in the Bible seem to be a part of the story.

As I said, we're not going to veer off onto that tangent here, though I want to, of course, but I will say that the number 12 and the number 144 are significant biblical symbols.

6 times 24 is 144.

144 is also 12 times 12.

In the Bible, 12 is the number, listen to me, of perfect government, oftentimes referred to as divine government.

Now, 12 times 12 is 144, which seems to mean the number 12 or the perfect government, the divine government intensified.

This appears to indicate to us, because the number 144 is sitting there right in the creation story.

The number 144 is there.

This appears to indicate to us in number form that God created the earth, listen to me, solely for his own sovereign purposes.

12 times 12.

Listen, he's created this place for one reason, and he will do all he can to see that that reason comes to fulfillment.

Government intensified, perfect government intensified.

This creation belongs to him.

And by the way, six is also an important number in the Bible.

Six is the number of man.

Everyone thinks that's the devil.

It's not, it is the rule of man intensified.

That may be the number of the Antichrist, but the Antichrist is a man.

Six, six, six.

Six is the number of man.

I'm gonna say it again.

Six is the number of man.

As you will soon see, Adam, the first man, was created on which day?

The sixth day.

The current home for mankind.

God wants you to know this is mankind's home.

It was built in how many days?

Six.

Purposely.

Now let me ask you, do you think God needed six days to create this place?

He's God.

All he needed to do was think of it and it was done.

But for some reason, he decided to take six days.

And then he took the time to tell us it took six days.

Doesn't that seem odd?

We get almost no other information about his creative process, but he does tell us how long it took him.

Six days.

And he didn't say, well, it was about a week, you know, just shy of a week.

He said specifically, six days.

Now he did this actually by counting the days off as they went by.

But nonetheless, we know it was six days because he told us that.

No, he said nothing about the type of rock he chose for the earth's core, or why he put so much nitrogen in the atmosphere, or how far the moon is from us, or why there are mountains in one place and forests in another, none of that.

But we got the number of days.

God is only going to tell us what we need to know, and he seemed to think we needed to know about the numbers.

God intentionally put a number to this creation.

It seems so peculiar when you think about it that it must be more to it.

There must be more to it than what's on the surface.

The story he's telling will involve numbers, exactly the way he did with light and dark.

Now you may be thinking, why do why go to so much trouble?

Why not just create a world and then get on with it?

Why all this clever storytelling?

Well, here's my answer.

I believe, listen to me, I believe that God knew there were going to be attacks on this narrative.

I believe that he knew that the majority of mankind would eventually doubt his account of how things were done.

So he purposely baked in certain guarantees that would make it very difficult for the serious student to disregard the purposeful nature of the message.

In other words, when we see how truly well written this actually is, how hard it is to mythologize it, that we would come to the conclusion that it can be nothing but truth.

I know I said we we wouldn't talk about that.

We spent 10 minutes at least.

Let's get back to Genesis.

Let's read it again.

And God called the light day, and he called the darkness night.

And the evening and the morning were day one, were one day.

This was a 24-hour day.

Don't ask me anything more about that because I don't know anymore.

All I know is there's no evidence in this record to indicate that it is anything other than 24 hours.

And in my opinion, all the evidence says it was 24 hours.

Okay?

What else can we learn from this verse?

Listen, I know that we've been at this for weeks now, but there's so much vital information to gather in these early verses.

Now, we may pick up speed once we emerge from these first few foundational chapters, maybe.

Anyhow, did you notice that God gave names to the light and the darkness?

Now, first of all, let me make the observation, listen to me, that only the one in charge is allowed to name things.

Lordship comes with the right to give names, and God gave names.

He's doing that right here, and he will continue to do that right up until the point he makes Adam.

And then Adam is given that right.

Now, why does Adam receive the honor to name things?

Because God gave Adam dominion over the earth.

God is saying, I name the night and the day because I'm in charge and I'm the boss.

And I get to do that.

It comes with the territory.

Now we're getting ahead of ourselves.

So God, as the Lord of all Gives names to the light and the dark.

Now, it is my opinion that not all light is called day and not all darkness is called night.

It is the light and darkness that is specific to this creative, or I should say, recreative process that He has called day and night.

And this also, in my opinion, lends some weight to my theory that the darkness or the elements, light and dark, did not originate at this moment.

They were not created at this moment, but rather a segment of light and darkness were segregated or set apart for this portion of God's creation.

Not something that I can prove, but it's still my opinion.

And by the way, it isn't really all that important.

Just kind of cool.

And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were one day.

After separating light and darkness, God further distinguishes one from another by giving them names.

Listen, let me say it again.

God wants you to know, He wants you to be sure that there is a realm of light and there is a realm of darkness, and the two cannot mix.

A rock is called a rock and a leaf is called a leaf.

If I ask you to go get that rock over by that leaf, and you wouldn't make the mistake of bringing me the leaf.

You know what a rock is by its name, and you know what a leaf is by its name.

If you got those two confused, it's because you don't care about my instructions.

Confusing a rock with a leaf is not possible unless you're trying to change the rules.

Here's the rock you asked for.

Wait, that's a leaf.

Yeah, well, I decided to change the names.

That's ludicrous.

The names are the names, and they have been given those names so you could know which one is which.

Not sure I made that any easier, but there you have it.

God made sure no one could claim that they didn't know the difference between day and night, between light and darkness, between good and evil.

Not only did he purposely divide them, but he gave them particular identities when he gave them their names.

If you mix up the light and the dark, the night and the day, it's nothing, listen to me, but pure and simple rebellion.

Now I'm just going to mention this next point without much commentary because frankly, I don't even know what to say about it.

It's more than mildly mind-blowing.

Let me read verse five again to set this up.

Now I'm trying, not trying to be overly dramatic, but this is rather intriguing.

And God called the light day.

Didn't I tell you chapter one of Genesis was going to be amazing?

Did I not tell you this?

And God called the light day in the darkness, he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.

Here, God creates, he designates day and night.

When he called the light day, day was created.

When he called darkness night, night was created.

Now, here's what's so interesting about this.

God created day and night before he even created the sun.

Now we think day and night are a matter of when the sun rises and falls, but as usual, God sees things differently.

Day and night, listen, have nothing to do with the sun and the moon in God's mind.

What's your point, John?

Well, I'm not sure I have one except to say, isn't that freaky?

Doesn't that make this story of the creative process even more interesting?

Doesn't this lead you to believe that everything we take for granted shouldn't be?

Let me say it one more time so it sinks in.

God made day and night before he made the sun and the moon.

And you want to hear something even more mind-blowing?

God made day and night three days before he made the sun and the moon.

Day and night were created on day one, sun and moon, day four.

What did those three days, those three intervening days, look like without a sun and a moon?

I love studying God's word, don't you?

Now here's one more thing, and then we'll move on.

Most of the religions that were around when ancient Israel was just being put together to worship the sun.

Everything rose and fell with the sun.

God says, it isn't the sun, it's me.

I decide when day and night starts, not the sun.

I decide who lives and dies, not the sun.

This entire creative process is God telling us who's the boss.

Now, the important the other important thing to notice here is that obviously God is getting ready to place a rational being into this creation.

Otherwise, naming things has no purpose.

And if I teach you nothing else, I want you to know that everything God does has a purpose.

Before this point in the recreative process, naming wasn't necessary because there was only God and He has no use for names.

He knows what is what without names.

It's clear, therefore, that God is preparing his creation for someone else.

Isn't that kind of exciting?

Here God calls light day and darkness night.

He's beginning the naming process, completely unnecessary, unless someone else is coming who is going to know the difference between the two.

One more thing, and then we'll move on.

I know I keep saying that.

And God called the light day and the darkness, he called night, and the evening and the morning were one day, says first day should be one day.

Not only does God give names for light and darkness, but he also establishes the boundaries of a full day, evening and morning.

Now, if I were to ask you what time your day starts, most of you would say, you know, sometime around 7 or 8 a.m., I guess.

You know, you set your alarm, you get the kids their breakfast and then off to school, and then you yourself head to the office.

That's how most of us would describe the beginning of our day.

That's one way.

Today is September 21st.

Yesterday was September 20th.

Well, when did we go from the 20th to the 21st?

Now that's, I know, one of the most ridiculous questions I can ask.

We all know that when the clock strikes midnight, the calendar changes and a new day begins.

The discussion of when a day commences involves one of those two scenarios that we've already discussed.

Now, officially, the morning comes, followed by the afternoon, the night, right up until 1159.

I'll put it this way again.

That is our official day.

That's how we officially reckon our days.

That is the way we view it in our world.

Well, does it surprise you that that's not the way God views things?

To him, the evening and the morning constitute a day.

Now, why am I pointing this out?

Is this really all that big of a deal?

Well, in the grand scheme of things, I guess not.

But if you're going to follow things on God's calendar, then to avoid confusion, you should be aware of how he does things because he does this all the way through the entire Bible, evening and morning.

Now, most people who strictly observe the Jewish holidays already know how God reckons the beginning of the day.

Rosh Hashanah, as you know, as you all know, is coming up this weekend.

Well, if you didn't know and you decided to Google it, then you would see that the Jewish festival, you would see on the Google returned results list that the Jewish festival actually starts at sundown on Sunday and finishes on Monday at sundown.

Sundown to sundown, evening to morning or an entire day, evening up to the other evening.

That's how God does things.

Each of God's feasts or festivals worked that way, as you're going to see, because he prescribed that in Scripture.

And by the way, this isn't just a holiday thing.

On the Hebrew calendar, every day begins at sunset and ends at the next sunset.

Now, the point I want to make as it relates to verse 5 of Genesis 1 is that the way God has arranged things, the day begins not at midnight, not when your alarm goes off, but rather at sunset on what we would today consider the day before.

Now, there is a lot more we could talk about with respect to the layout of the day and the calendar.

And we'll all we'll get to that because now we have to keep on moving.

Now, verse 6 starts another very important section, and I think it's best that we don't mix the discussion of it with verse 5.

So let's pick up verse 6 next time.

We hope this study has blessed you.

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It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners.

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