Lesson 7
TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE WEBSITE BIBLE STUDIES!
(www.growingtogetherinchristslove.org)
Bible Study 1 - Genesis 1
SERIES: A WORLD IN A WEEK
LESSON 7 Genesis 1.9-13 Day 3 – FROM SHINING SEAS TO SINKING SEEDS
In Genesis 1:9-13 we have, in one simple paragraph, the gathering of the seas, the appearing of the earth, and the scattering of the seed on one day – the 3rd day.
9 “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
This is just one simple paragraph and yet men have written thousands and thousands of books to try to explain what is revealed in this one simple paragraph.
INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW
As we have been studying the days of creation, I have tried to underscore to you that we can find nothing here which is a contradiction by any true known fact of science. There is nothing here that is inconsistent with what we know to be true in the realm of science. It is true, however, that there are some things that we find in these verses which contradict some of the theories of science.
I would like to remind you that the earliest scientists took their impudence or impertinence from the Christian faith. It was from the Christian faith that modern science was born. In the Bible God commands man to subdue the earth, to conquer the earth, and to have dominion or control of it. Because of this command from God, godly men came to understand that to study God's creation was to study the work of God Himself. Therefore most of the early scientists were creationists. By that I mean that most of the early scientists believed in creation by God. There was no contradiction between believing in a personal, divine creator and believing in the facts of science at the same time. God is the author and originator of science and we will see some of that before this study is concluded.
As we move through these studies we will see that there were godly men of ages past who founded many of the key areas of science. However, when the theory of Darwin came along in the 1800’s with his theory of evolution, there was a shift in the scientific community.
As I have explained to you before, evolution is the theory that tries to explain the existence of creation without the necessity of a creator. It is the view that all higher forms of life gradually evolved, sometimes over millions or billions of years, from lower forms of life. In other words, the theory of evolution would say that amino acids gradually developed into fish. Fish gradually developed into amphibians. Those amphibians gradually developed into reptiles. Those reptiles gradually developed into birds. Those birds gradually evolved into mammals. Those mammals gradually evolved into man. That is the theory of evolution. It is the attempt to explain the existence of the creation without the need for a creator.
I'm going to try to demonstrate to you in this study and in some of the studies that will follow, that there is nothing inconsistent in the scientific community between believing that there is a God who created everything and any known true fact of science.
On day three the Bible tells us that God covered this magnificent earth of ours with luscious grass and He overflowed our earth with a millennia of flowers and fruits. He positioned it in a setting of stunning blue seas. In this narrative which we are given here in verses 9 through 13 of day three, we have three very important areas of science that are covered. There is oceanography. There is topography. There is botany.
I. LET'S LOOK FIRST OF ALL AT OCEANOGRAPHY AND THINK ABOUT THE GATHERING OF THE SEAS. Notice the specific terminology in verse 9. "And God said; Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place."
INTERPRETATION
In a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, the word that is used here for “gathered together” is the word “synagogue.” In the Bible we are told that there were “synagogues”. The “synagogue” was where people gathered together. Therefore, the word here is that “the waters were gathered together” or “the waters were synagogued,” if you please.
Notice that it says the waters were “gathered together unto one place.” That is not exactly what you would expect to read. However, keep in mind that Moses was writing this centuries before the age of modern science. Keep in mind that Moses was taught and trained in an atmosphere which did not believe in divine creation, as you and I understand it. Yet, when he wrote about the seas he says, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that all of the waters are to be “gathered together in one place.” I know that is not the way it would seem to be to us today. Yet we know that is exactly the way it was and that is exactly true scientifically. We know now that all of the waters, all of the oceans, are gathered together. We know that they are all connected. God revealed that to Moses and He has placed it in our Bible.
EXPLANATION
A. CONSIDER THE BENEFICIAL ASPECTS OF THE SEAS. In Psalm 104:6-9 I want to point out something to you. It says here in Genesis 1 that all of the waters were “gathered together in one place.” However, Psalm 104:6-9, talking about the Lord, it says this:"Thou coverest it with the deep, as with a garment: The waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou has set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth." Do you see how scripture is interpreted correctly when the text is taken in context and is backed up by other scripture of the same context? There is no room for error. There is no place for scientific contradictions. When God gathered together the seas He set a boundary on them. He put them in one place and said, “You cannot cover the earth again.”
In Job 38:8-11 the Lord is talking to Job and says, “Job you don't know as much as you think you know.” God is talking about His work of creation. "… who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it has issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it. And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?"
God set the boundaries of the seas. God set the boundaries of the waters. You would expect then that when the Bible says that all of the waters are in one place - meaning they are all connected together - that He would use the term “Sea” – singular. However, in verse 10 it says, “the gathering together of the waters called He Seas…” – plural.
You have to keep in mind that in Moses day they only knew of one Sea and that was the Mediterranean Sea. Yet, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses talks about “Seas” – plural.
(Q) Where did Moses get that?
(Q) How did Moses understand this scientific fact about the Seas?
We know that all of the Seas are gathered together in one. Though all of them have one bed, they are all connected. We also know that each body of water, each sea, each ocean, has its own distinct basin. They are chemically different. Therefore, fish that would go from one ocean to the other, have to become acclimated, or they cannot survive. God revealed to Moses that there would be one place for all of the waters and yet there would be plurality – there would be “Seas.”
It is rather fascinating and interesting to notice the things the Bible has to say about the Seas. There are statements in the Bible which were not understood when they were written, but as modern science has discovered more and more about the seas, we find them to be accurate.
Here are some examples of what I mean.
In Psalm 33:7 it talks about the storehouses in the sea. "He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the depth in storehouses." We know that there are storehouses – treasure houses, so to speak, in the seas.
In Job 38:16 it talks about the springs of the seas. "Hast thou entered into the springs of the seas; or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?" We know today that there are springs in the seas.
In Jonah 2:6 it talks about the mountains in the seas. When Jonah was cast overboard he went down into the Mediterranean Sea and Jonah said, "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains." When Jonah wrote that, people didn't have any idea that there are mountains in the seas, but now we know there are. We know that there are huge mountains. Some of the tallest mountains on the earth are located in the depths of the seas.
(Q) How did Jonah know that?
(Q) How did the Psalmist know that?
B. CONSIDER THE BENEFICIAL ASSETS OF THE SEA. The Bible says, “and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.” There is food to be gathered in the seas. There are the fish, shrimp, and other kinds of food of the sea. We know also that there are healing properties in the seas like iodine, salt, and many other beneficial things for mankind.
One thing most of us are familiar with is the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream draws its name from the Gulf of Mexico because that is where it originates. However, the Gulf Stream comes from the Gulf of Mexico to the tip of Florida and moves up the eastern side of the United States coastline. It is the largest river in the world. Oceanographers tell us it is 1500 feet deep. It is 50 miles wide. It is 4000 miles in length. It moves up from the coast of Florida all the way to Iceland. It is at a temperature of 84 degrees, yet when it gets to Iceland it doesn't lose its temperature at all. When it gets to Iceland it goes eastward and moves all the way to the British Isles and provides warmth for the British Isles. That is a tremendous benefit of the Gulf Stream.
I want to share a brief history lesson. I said that many of the early scientists were devout Christians. There was a man named Matthew Maury who was the father of modern oceanography. There is a stature of him in Richmond, Virginia where you will find him seated and in one hand he has the maps of the oceans of the world and in the other hand he has a copy of the Word of God. He was a devout Christian.
On an occasion, Mr. Maury was ill and his oldest son was reading from the Word of God to him from Psalm 8:5 and following. This is a marvelous Psalm about man and the significance of man. "For thou hast made him (man) a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field. The fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea.
When his son read that, Mr. Maury said – “read that again.” His son read, "Through the paths of the sea." Mr. Maury, who was a devout Christian and a believer in the Bible said, "If the Bible says there are paths in the sea, then they must be there. If they are there, I will find them." In time Mr. Maury discovered that there are indeed paths in the sea. Those paths in the sea are used now by ocean liners. Shipping companies save literally thousands and thousands of dollars because they use those paths of the sea.
God knew what he was talking about when He wrote these things in the Bible. The Bible says that God said let the waters be gathered together. The Bible says that it was so. This was not some process of nature that took place accidentally or naturally. This came from the divine decree of God Himself. God said it and it was so. Like the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus spoke it and it was so by divine decree.
I. THAT IS A LOOK AT OCEANOGRAPHY – THE GATHERING OF THE SEAS.
II. LET'S LOOK NEXT AT TOPOGRAPHY AND THINK ABOUT THE APPEARING OF THE EARTH. He says in verse 9 that God said, “let the dry land appear: and it was so.” Then in verse 10, “And God called the dry land Earth”.
INTERPRETATION
We've already read about the creation of the earth in verse 1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Nevertheless, evidently, in its original condition, the earth was covered in water. Now, God has separated the water from the earth. He has gathered together the water and called the waters “Seas”. Now He takes the dry earth as his next work. Figuratively thinking, I can almost imagine it's as if the Lord God took the earth in His hand like He would take a sponge and squeeze the water out and the dry land began to appear. I could go on for pages about this but I want to move quickly to what I feel is the main emphasis.
EXPLANATION
However, have you ever thought about how beneficial is this earth? Everything that man would ever need, God has stored in its pantry. There is iron, there is ore, there is oil, there is gold, and there are precious stones all stored in the pantry of the earth.
In God’s pantry there are also shelves full of benefits. On one shelf is the granite. We make massive buildings out of granite. On another shelf is the marble. We build statues and floors out of marble. "And God saw that it was good." God has given to us in the good earth, everything that is necessary for man's provisions.
“And God said “…let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; …: and God saw that it was good.”
III. LET'S LOOK FINALLY AT BOTANY AND THINK ABOUT THE SCATTERING OF THE SEED. Verse 11 says, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
INTERPRETATION AND EXPLANATION
A. THINK ABOUT HOW GOD HAS CREATED PLANT LIFE. Here we have a statement concerning the science of botany. You will notice here that God has programmed these living things to be able to reproduce. There are three divisions given here: the grass, the herb, and the fruit tree, and He has placed in them the DNA molecule.
-
CONSIDER THE GRASS. We think about grass and how God has covered this earth with beautiful luscious green grass. Have you ever thought about how wonderful it is that God made the grass green? I am glad God made grass green. I cannot imagine it any other color.
I think the psychology of color is a very interesting subject to study because God in a very unique way made it all possible through His divine plan. It is just amazing to see how God uses such a majestic paint stroke from His magnificent throne room in heaven to exhibit His most stunning piece of artwork humanity has ever seen in the kaleidoscope colored rainbow. It is exceptionally interesting to study what color is calculated to do.
While observations of color are somewhat subjective, there are some color effects that have universal meaning. Colors in the red area of the color spectrum are known as warm colors and include red, orange, and yellow. These warm colors evoke emotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort to feelings of anger and hostility. Colors on the blue side of the spectrum are known as cool colors and include blue, purple, and green. These colors are often portrayed as calm, but can also call to mind feelings of sadness or indifference. However, research has demonstrated in many cases that the mood-altering effects of color may only be provisional. A blue room may initially cause feelings of calm, but the effect dissipates after the passing of a short period of time.
Nevertheless, the presented research has found that color can impact people in a variety of astonishing ways. One study found that warm-colored placebo pills were reported as more effective than cool-colored placebo pills. Subjective evidence has suggested that installing blue-colored streetlights can lead to a reduction of crime in those areas. The temperature of the environment might play a role in color preference. People who are warm tend to list cool colors as their favorites, while people who are cold prefer warmer colors. More recently, researchers exposed that the color red causes people to react with greater speed and force, something that might prove useful during athletic activities. One study that looked at historical data found that sports teams dressed in mostly black uniforms are more probable to receive penalties and that students were more expected to associate negative qualities with a player wearing a black uniform. Research has shown that 71 U.S. college students were presented with a participant number colored either red, green or black prior to taking a five-minute test. The results revealed that students who were presented with the red number before taking the test scored more than 20 percent lower than those presented with the green and black numbers.
However, the use of colors is not something that started with our modern age. Several ancient cultures, including the Egyptians and Chinese, practiced “chromotherapy,” or the use of colors to heal. “Chromotherapy” is sometimes referred to as light therapy or “colourology” and is still used today as a holistic or alternative treatment. Red was used to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation. Yellow was thought to stimulate the nerves and purify the body. Orange was used to heal the lungs and to increase energy levels. Blue was believed to soothe illnesses and treat pain. Indigo shades were thought to alleviate skin problems.
Color is a powerful communication tool and can be used to indicate action, influence mood, and induce physiological reaction. Certain colors have been associated with inflated blood pressure, improved metabolism, and increased eyestrain.
Often in prisons they paint the walls a certain color because it has an effect upon people. Colors have psychological messages and certain impacts upon people. Have you ever thought how things would be if God had covered this earth with grass that was red. Green grass is the most smoothing color in the spectrum. Therefore, when God got ready to put a blanket of vegetation on the earth, He covered the earth with beautiful grass.
-
CONSIDER THE HERB AND THE FRUIT TREE. The herb is the reference to the bushes, plants, and the vegetables. Inside these bushes, plants and vegetables there are seeds. He talks about the fruit tree and the fruit tree yielding fruit. The fruit of these fruit trees have seeds on the inside. Evidently, according to the reading of the passage, all of this was done with all of them full-grown. It was not that God planted a seed for the herb or a tree and then that herb or tree had a long period of arduous emerging and maturing before it shaped fruit. God just said “Let there be grass” and there it was. God said “Let there be bushes, plants and vegetables or herbs” and there they were. God said “Let there be fruit trees” and there they were - full-grown, with the appearance of age and maturity. It was not some gradual ongoing process. It was an instantaneous on the spot existence. It was an instantaneous dynamic creation. There we have the creation of plant life.
B. THINK ABOUT HOW GOD HAS CONSTRUCTED PLANT LIFE. They have roots and the roots might be compared to the mouth of the plant. The roots get the food from the plant. Regardless of what may be in the mixture of the soil, that particular plant or tree draws from the soil exactly the nutrients that are essential for the life of that particular plant. The roots are the mouth of the plant. The leaves are the lungs of the plant. From the air, each individual plant pulls out of the atmosphere with its lungs that which is essential to the life of that particular plant.
Think about the fertilization and reproduction of that plant. Think about how those seed are carried around. Some seeds are like a parachute. The Dandelion seed is like a parachute. It just comes floating down. The seeds of a Poplar tree are like a helicopter as they spin their way to their destination. Other seeds are like glue. They attach like glue, such as beggar lice. Have you ever been out in a field and come back with beggar lice all over you. It has glue on it and it attaches itself that way. That's how it carries its process of fertilization.
Other seeds are transported by other means. We know that the bees carry some seed from one plant to another plant. They used to think that the bees were attracted by the color of the plant. Then, lo and behold, they found out that the bee was colorblind. What causes that bee to go over and get that pollen and transport it where it ought to be? I'll tell you how it happens. God says to the bee, "Little, bee, go right over there." The little bee goes exactly where God sends him. You say, “Pastor, you are just making everything sound too simple.” Folks, it wasn’t God that made little things like that complicated. It is simple minded people who make the simple things of God complicated. God spoke and it was! God speaks and it happens! That is good enough for me!
The plants have seeds and they reproduce themselves. It says three times in verses 11 and 12 this little phrase, "after his kind." You will find that little phrase “after his kind” used ten times in the Genesis account of creation. That is the rough equivalent of saying, “after its family” or “after its classification” or “after its species.” In that statement in the Word of God, God has drawn a line which evolution cannot cross. It has become the uncrossable bridge for evolution. In that statement, God decreed that living things reproduce ONLY after their kind. In other words, plants only reproduce other plants like themselves. There is nothing but one plant becoming another plant just like itself.
This is going to seem a little bit technical so put on your thinking cap. There is what they call microevolution and then there is macroevolution.
Microevolution means that there can be change within species. We see that occur all the time. There is no question about it. We know that it occurs. It is a fact of science. You can take a rose and it can experience microevolution. There can be change with its species. You have a red rose, a white rose, a pink rose. Nevertheless, they are still roses, whatever color they may be. That's microevolution. That is, change within a species.
Macroevolution means that there can be change from one species to another species. That is the bedrock of the evolutionary theory. It is their view that one species becomes another species. I want to say emphatically, that it has never been demonstrated scientifically that one species has ever become another species. You are going to hear contrary to that and some of these overly big minded educated scientist are going to tell you that this Pastor is just an old dummy. I am well aware of my limitations and I may be a “nitwit,” but there are other scientists who are qualified and well studied, with a wide range of degrees, who do not believe it has ever been demonstrated scientifically where one species became another species. Therefore, until God shows me differently, I am simply saying now that God has drawn a line right here.
Though a rose may become different colors; it is still a rose. But never, never, never, in science, has anyone ever found a rose becoming an orange or anything other than a rose. It never has occurred and it never will occur. That is the uncrossable bridge. That is the line beyond which evolution cannot go. I'm going to tell you why. It is right here in this passage. "Seed after its kind."
What we understand and know at this time is that there is programmed within every cell of human life a DNA molecule. An interesting thing happened in history. At the very time that Darwin was developing his theory of evolution which would say that one species would become another species, there was an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel who was performing experiments which would serve as the basis for the modern science of genetics. I believe in my own mind that if Darwin could have had the benefit of the ultimate results of Mendel's studies in genetics he would never have put forward his view of evolution.
Here's where I'm headed. The science of genetics which Mendel began says that there can be no change whatsoever that occurs in human life which has not already been programmed and provided for in the cell structure of that particular life. That's what genetics teaches us.
After doing some research let me bring it up to date. In the last few years, a man named Michael Behee wrote a book entitled “Darwin's Black Box.” He is a professor at LeHigh University and he teaches Microbiology. He has demonstrated that the human cell is so complex and so preprogrammed that it is absolutely impossible for any human cell to be anything other than what has already been programmed in the DNA. In the DNA molecule, in all living cells, you have chromosomes and you have genes. Those are the written instructions for everything that has to do with life.
There is a DNA molecule in the plants. There is a DNA molecule in trees. Programmed in those molecules is the size, shape and structure and everything else about it. No change can occur unless it has already been preprogrammed in the DNA molecule. As far as I am concerned it is totally convincing to me. It is scientifically impossible for there to be unsystematic change from one form of life, one classification of life, or one species of life to another.
So what we have here are two scientific facts which directly contradict evolution. One is biogenesis – “life only comes from life.” There has never been demonstrated anywhere that life comes from non-life. The second fact is the fixity of the species – "After his kind." That is what God said. The trees reproduce after their kind. An oak tree never becomes a magnolia tree. An orange never becomes an apple. They reproduce after their kind. It is always that way.
APPLICATION
Let me wrap it up by saying this. There are spiritual lessons to be found in all of this information. The Bible tells us that Jesus was the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the world, God determined that His Son Jesus would die on the cross for our sins. God knew that we would be a sinner and would need a Savior. Everything in the world of nature is a spiritual lesson about the Lord Jesus Christ.
TAKE THE OCEAN WATERS. The ocean waters remind us that Jesus is the WATER of life. They remind us that if you will come to Jesus, who is the water of life, that He will take your sin and cast them into the depths of the sea and remember them no more. That's good news!
TAKE THE EARTH. The earth reminds us that Jesus Christ is the ROCK OF AGES, the rock upon which we are to build our life.
TAKE THE PLANT LIFE. Plant life reminds us that Jesus is the ROSE OF SHARON and the LILY OF THE VALLEY. One day he was broken for us.
TAKE THE HEAVENS. The heavens reminds us that Jesus is the BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR! He is risen and shines brightly as the beacon of Hope for those who believe. All creation is a testimony to our Lord Jesus.
"After its kind." That is not only true physically, but it is also true spiritually. Spiritually, everything reproduces "after its kind." When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, the Bible says in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; so death passed upon all men because all are sinners."
That means that when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, we became genetically predisposed to sin. That means we are born with a sinful nature. Adam could only reproduce spiritually after his kind. Adam was a sinner and he could only produced other sinners. You go right on down the line and when you get right down to you and me, we are all born sinners because we came from the line of Adam. We are all born after our kind.
I have news for you; a sinner is a sinner is a sinner. You can cultivate a sinner, you can educate him, and you can motivate him. Nevertheless, you will never turn a sinner into a saint by natural processes. It takes a supernatural work of God. It takes a new birth.
When a person comes to know Christ as their Savior they are born again and God produces after HIS KIND. When you are born again you get the nature of God. You become a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes a miracle to be saved.
If you are saved is it not wonderful to know that by the blood of Jesus you have been reproduced (Born Again) “after His kind”? Join me in thanking God for His marvelous creation “after His kind”!
To find more help in receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Savior please go to the Bible Study Title Page “ETERNAL LIFE”. Please send me an email and respond to me about any decision for Christ you make so that I may pray for you. Feel free to send me any questions, comments, or responses you may have as well. For those who are already Christians I invite you to also please let me know of any decisions you make in your Christian life for Jesus. Feel free to send me any questions, comments, or responses you may have and let me know if the Bible Studies are helping you. [ rfdenning1951@gmail.com]
ALWAYS REMEMBER!
The support of your local Church ministry and the ministry of your Pastor should be the first priority of your Christian life and your service to the Lord. Be faithful to prayerfully prepare and attend Sunday School and Worship Service this Sunday and participate in worship as your Pastor preaches the Word. Do not forget to give the Lord at least your TITHE through your local church from your gross income – that is your first fruits. Any other other giving is an offering to a ministry unto the Lord. Honor the Lord in all you do and with all that you have. Always remember that everything you have and all you are belongs to the Lord. It is on loan to you – so manage it well! There will be an audit one day! Make sure the Books Balance!