25-0112a Transcript

Preacher: Scott Reynolds

(1:52) Good morning. (1:54) We started this series on beginnings last November 17th by looking at what the Bible says of the events that occur before the beginning recorded in Genesis chapter 1. (2:10) We learned about the creation of space and time, that is, the beginning of the natural world and the universe.

(2:16) We talked about God and some of his attributes, that he is self-existing. (2:22) His name, even, that is spelled Y-H-W-H, the Hebrew tetragrammaton, they call it, that we pronounce Yahweh or Jehovah, means I exist. (2:37) When Moses asked God what his name was, God responded, I am who I am, and another way of saying that is, I exist because I exist.

(2:52) God is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, and that is, he has no beginning and no end. (3:00) We saw that God is a spirit. (3:02) He is not part of the natural realm.

(3:05) He created a natural realm. (3:08) We talked about Jesus, the Word, the second person of the Godhead who spoke things into being, and about the Holy Spirit. (3:17) We learned how all three were involved in the creation process and are mentioned or described in the first three verses of Genesis chapter 1. (3:29) We learned that God created a spiritual realm and their hosts, that’s the angels, and a physical realm with its inhabitants, that’s us.

(3:40) We follow that up by looking at being saved by faith in the context of God making plans to create a spiritual and natural realm before their creation. (3:54) We noted that the spiritual realm walks by sight, that is, the angels who are created spirits who inhabit that realm see God as he is. (4:09) In contrast, the created hybrid beings who have a body, soul, and spirit, that’s us, the humans, must walk by faith.

(4:17) We only see God through revelation in his Word and through the evidences of his handiwork and his creation. (4:27) And we wondered if walking by faith versus walking by sight is why God offers the hope of salvation to humans who must walk by faith, (4:41) but he doesn’t offer the hope of salvation to angels who walk by sight in God’s presence. (4:49) So, what was created on day one? (4:54) In an article by Eric Lyons from Apologetic Press titled, What Did God Create on the First Day of Creation? (5:02) He says, oftentimes when a person is asked what God made on day one of the creation week, he responds by simply saying, God made light.

(5:15) And there it continues, the work of day one may appear at first to include only the creation of light. (5:24) However, it was not the only thing God made on day one. (5:29) So, as we go through the history of the first day, let’s try to spot what God did create on that day, in addition to light.

(5:44) So, now we’re ready to pick up with the historical creation account recorded in Genesis chapter 1. (5:51) We will be doing one day of creation separately in each subsequent sermon, one day at a time, as we go through Genesis chapter 1. (6:05) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (6:10) So, God created the heavens and the earth, and the plural heavens includes, as we will see, the heaven of heavens. (6:19) But there is a natural realm, the cosmos, the natural realm, is not all there is or ever was or ever will be.

(6:28) The cosmos had a beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (6:34) And it will end, as it says in 2 Peter 3, verse 10, (6:39) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, (6:47) and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

(6:56) But there is also a spiritual realm, and it had a beginning too. (7:02) Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 6 (7:04) You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that’s in it, the seas and all that’s in them.

(7:18) And you give life to all of them, and the heavenly host bows before you. (7:26) Notice the plural heavens, as mentioned here in Nehemiah, just like it is in Genesis 1. (7:31) Which includes the physical heaven, and that’s the space of the universe, the beginning of the space-time continuum in sci-fi genre terminology, (7:44) and includes the spiritual heaven, that is, the heaven of heavens. (7:51) The atmospheric heaven is not created until day two.

(7:57) Notice also that the heaven of heavens is created in its entirety all at once. (8:04) It says, the heaven of heavens with all their host, and all their host are the angels, and the heavenly host bows down before God. (8:15) In the evening sermon of November 17th, we noted that the spiritual realm was created before the natural realm, (8:24) and the angels, the sons of God, witnessed the creation of the natural realm.

(8:31) We understand this from God responding to Job in Job chapter 38, verses 4 through 7. (8:39) God says, (8:42) Where were you, said Job, when I laid the foundations of the earth? (8:48) Tell me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? (8:53) Surely you know. (8:55) Or who stretched the line on it? (8:57) Or what were the bases sunk? (9:00) Or who laid its cornerstone? (9:02) When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, (9:10) their existence before the creation. (9:14) The angels are watching when the earth is brought into being.

(9:20) So there is a certain amount of time between God created the heavens and the earth. (9:28) This was done all on the first day. (9:31) And like Adam, God creates the angels whole and fully functional the moment they are made.

(9:38) They are aware. (9:40) When God creates the space of the universe, the other heaven of the plural heavens on day one, (9:46) and the earth, the angels sing and shout for joy, bowing down and worshiping God. (9:59) Now the earth was formless and empty.

(10:02) Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (10:10) Notice the detail we’re getting, and verse 2 is telling us only about the earth. (10:16) We are not told about the heaven of heavens, nor here, nor of the angels.

(10:21) The only spirit we know at this point is from this verse, the Spirit of God. (10:28) The first mention of an angel in the Bible is none other than the angel of the Lord in Genesis 16, 7, (10:38) with his encounter with Hagar. (10:41) Verse 2 tells us the earth had no form and was empty, with no features.

(10:47) Was it a blob with no shape, or just featureless? (10:52) Land does not appear until the third day. (10:55) We do know there is water covering the earth. (11:00) And we are told later in the Bible that God formed the earth, Isaiah 45, 18.

(11:06) If it was a blob, it soon becomes a sphere because of gravity. (11:13) God instituting his laws of nature on the first day, and using them, perhaps, to bring shape to the earth. (11:24) Grok says, which is an AI, (11:29) In the universe, nearly all moons, planets, and stars are observed to be spherical due to the forces of gravity, (11:38) which pulls mass into a shape, typically resulting in a sphere, or an oblique spheroid, in the case of rapid rotation.

(11:48) And the earth is generally described as an oblique spheroid. (11:54) And this means it is mostly spherical, but slightly flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator due to its rotation. (12:06) The difference between the diameter of the earth at its poles and at the equator is 28 kilometers, or 17.4 miles.

(12:17) It’s shorter at the poles and bulges at the equator due to the rotation of the earth. (12:28) Verse 2 also says that darkness was over the surface of the deep, (12:32) and the deep here is defined at the end of the sentence as the waters. (12:38) The earth was created as a water planet with no atmosphere.

(12:43) What are the implications of this? And we’ll talk more about that, and that won’t be until this evening. (12:51) The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, was hovering over the waters. (12:55) The Spirit personally is interacting with the physical realm, particularly hovering over the surface of the earth.

(13:06) Now, as I imagine this, I don’t see the Holy Spirit as a wispy cloud over a small section of water, as one might perceive it. (13:19) I see, perhaps, a global cloud that envelops the entire planet, as if he’s caressing the surface, molding it into shape, (13:27) giving it form, and perhaps even protecting it from the newly implemented laws of nature on that day, first day. (13:39) It is interesting that while Jesus spoke things into being, we have here the Spirit in person, (13:49) taking a hands-on approach to the creation of the earth.

(13:54) Before we continue, did you remember to take note of all the things God created on the first day, in addition to light? (14:07) There was a heaven of heavens, the spiritual realm, and its host, and that’s all the angels. That’s on day one. (14:16) Then, the heaven that is the space of our universe, it’s here when God creates this, that darkness is created, I believe, and we’ll see that God creates darkness.

(14:32) The earth is created on day one, so the earth is also the product of creation on day one. (14:42) And while the earth is covered with deep water, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a core of the earth, the foundation that God laid, as he told Job, (14:51) where were you when I laid the foundation of the world? (14:56) And water also is present, because that’s what the Holy Spirit is hovering over. (15:05) So water was created also on the first day, and all this before the creation of light.

(15:18) And God said, let there be light, and there was light. (15:24) We won’t know until we get to day four that the light here is not the sun. (15:33) What was the light? (15:35) Well, God is light, 1 John 1, 5, and in him is no darkness at all.

(15:41) And after the resurrection, when we are all raised, there will be no sun there. (15:47) He will be the light source, as Revelation 22, 5 says. (15:53) And there will be no longer any night, and they will not have need of a light or a lamp, nor the light of the sun, (16:02) because the Lord God will illuminate them, and they will reign forever and ever.

(16:08) But God did create darkness. (16:11) Isaiah 45, 7 says, God is the one forming light and creating darkness. (16:19) So the implication of this is that since darkness is created, it did not exist before God created it.

(16:26) It was only light, which would be God, who is light. (16:31) And to go one step further, I imagine when God created the heaven of heavens, the spiritual heaven, (16:38) and all its host, he didn’t have to say, let there be light, because he is the light. (16:45) So the angels were created in the heaven of heavens, illuminated by God himself.

(16:52) They didn’t know darkness until, and I’m guessing that it’s not until, he creates the heaven, (17:00) that is the physical universe, and that he creates darkness, (17:05) and perhaps he then supplies the light as he creates the earth, and until four days later. (17:14) And when you think about it, most of the universe, even today, (17:21) when you look up at the night sky, most of the universe, even today, is void of visible light. (17:29) As Grok tells me, in terms of what we can see with our eyes, the universe appears mostly dark.

(17:36) Only about 5,000th of 1% of the universe volume is illuminated by stars at any given time. (17:50) 5,000th of 1%. (17:53) The vast spaces between galaxies, clusters, and even within galaxies themselves are dark, (18:00) filled with interstellar medium that doesn’t emit light in the visible spectrum.

(18:08) So, why wait until the fourth day to create the sun, moon, and stars? (18:15) Well, whether this is a reason or not, (18:17) waiting to create the sun, moon, and stars until four days after creating the earth (18:23) sure makes it difficult, if not impossible, to fit it in with modern cosmological theories. (18:31) The stars did not come first. (18:36) And as we’ll see in the next verse, the light source must be directional.

(18:41) It cannot be an all-accompanying light, as I imagine God is. (18:46) So, whatever light God supplied must have shown in one direction, like our sun does. (18:56) Verses 4 and 5. (18:59) God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

(19:05) God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. (19:09) And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day. (19:16) Okay, this is interesting.

(19:18) God separating the light from darkness tells us that the light source is in one direction. (19:26) Half the earth is illuminated, and the other half is not, just like today. (19:31) God calls the light day, and the darkness night.

(19:34) Now, the last sentence tells us that the earth is in motion, just like today. (19:43) There was evening, and there was morning, the first day. (19:49) So, what causes day and night? (19:53) The rotation of the earth.

(19:56) The earth is spinning on day one. (20:02) Also, and this is important for when we get to day four, (20:07) because the light source for the earth changes on the fourth day, (20:11) it goes from whatever it is, the first three days, to the sun. (20:22) Some think that the length of day would be different than the previous three days.

(20:28) This is not so. (20:30) It is not the light source that determines how long a day is on a planet. (20:39) It is the rotation of the planet that determines the length of day.

(20:46) According to Grok, there’s the length of day, one rotation on its axis, (20:52) for each planet in our solar system listed in earth hours. (21:00) And notice, they all have the same light source, our sun. (21:07) Eight different planets.

(21:10) Mercury. (21:12) The length of day on Mercury is 1,408 hours. (21:19) That’s 58 days in 16 hours.

(21:25) Venus. (21:27) The length of day on Venus is approximately 5,832 hours. (21:34) That’s 243 days, and no hours.

(21:39) It’s exactly 243 earth days. (21:45) Venus rotates slowly and in the opposite direction of the other planets. (21:51) Earth’s day is exactly 24 hours.

(21:56) Mars is roughly 24.6 hours. (22:01) It’s very close to the earth’s length of day. (22:06) Jupiter, the largest planet, you would think would be slow.

(22:13) It’s 9.9 hours. (22:16) The smallest planets are really slow. (22:20) The biggest planet is 9.9 hours, making it the fastest rotator in the solar system.

(22:28) It has the shortest day. (22:31) 9.9 hours. (22:32) Saturn, approximately 10.7 hours.

(22:36) Another huge planet is also very fast. (22:40) Uranus is 17.2 hours, and Neptune roughly 16.1 hours. (22:47) So, we have proof beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s not the light source.

(22:54) They all have the sun as its light source. (22:57) It’s not the light source that determines the length of day on the planet. (23:04) It’s how fast they rotate on their axis.

(23:08) That determines the length of day. (23:11) So, God saw that the light was good. (23:14) In Genesis 1, God mentioned six times that what he saw, what he had created, was good.

(23:24) The seventh mention at the end of his created work, in chapter 1, verse 31, it says, (23:30) God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good, and there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. (23:41) Every day, except the second day, receives a mention of, it was good. (23:47) Nothing’s mentioned for the second day, I don’t know why.

(23:50) That’s when the atmosphere, the second heaven, is made. (23:54) The third day gets two mentions, and the sixth day gets, and it was good, and it also got, it was very good. (24:04) So, there you are, the first day of creation.

(24:07) And as I ponder these verses, it seems to me that the first thing God made when he creates the physical realm of the space of the universe is darkness. (24:21) That the creation of the spiritual realm and that of the physical realm are different makes sense. (24:30) The spiritual realm is created first.

(24:33) It will be where God inhabits, and it is immersed in his light. (24:38) There is no darkness, ever. (24:41) And in that realm, the angels walk by sight.

(24:46) When God creates the physical realm, where he wants man to inhabit, to walk by faith, (24:53) God must shield it from his all-encompassing light. (24:56) So he creates darkness. (25:00) We’re told that, in that verse.

(25:03) God creates darkness. (25:05) And he creates the physical realm, the universe and the earth, in that darkness. (25:11) And on the first day, when he says, let there be light, he provides, perhaps, a sliver of supernatural light to break through the darkness until he makes the natural lights on day four. (25:25) The sun, moon, and stars. (25:29) The moon is considered a light, though it’s reflective. (25:34) But it’s the second brightest light we have in the sky.

(25:38) More than any of the stars. (25:43) And we are shielded from the fullness of his light so that we can have a hope of salvation through faith. (25:54) What do you think? (25:56) That’s my sermon.

(25:58) We are extending the invitation now for anyone who’s subject to it. (26:05) Stand while we sing. (26:07) Amen.