Lesson 8

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Bible Study 1 - Genesis 1

 

SERIES:    A WORLD IN A WEEK

LESSON 8 GENESIS 1.14-19 DAY 4–THE CREATION OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES

 

 

14.       “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:” 

15.       “And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.” 

16.       “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”

17.       “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth”, 

18.       “And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.” 

19.       “And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”

 

REVIEW AND INTRODUCTION

 

As we study the days of creation given to us by divine inspiration in Genesis 1, we will notice that there is a parallel in the first three days and the last three days.  In the first three days we are given the account of how God created three very special spaces.  God created the sky - the seas - and the earth.  So on days one through three we find God forming the universe.

 

In days four through six we see that God fills these special places.  We find God forming the universe and then we find God filling the universe.  In this study we are looking at the fourth day.  On this day we have the account of God bringing into existence the heavenly bodies - the luminaries - the sun, the moon, and the stars.

 

In Genesis 1:14-19 we find a lengthy description and we find that there is a great deal of repetition in the things that are said.  The Word of God gives us a beautiful account of the sun, the moon, and the stars.

 

It says that the Lord is to put these luminaries in the firmament.  The language there is the language of appearance.  He is describing how the heavenly bodies look when we view them from the earth.  We know that

literally the sun, the moon, and the stars are not in our atmosphere.  However, when we view them from our vantage point it looks like they are in the firmament.  So here we have the language of appearance - the sun, the moon, and the stars.

 

INTERPRETATION

 

The word which is translated “lights” in verse 14 is a different word from the word translated “light” in verse 3.  In Genesis 1, verse 3 it says, "Let there be Light” (singular).  Now in verse 14 it says, "Let there be lights" (plural).  The word “lights” in verse 14 is a different word.  It really means, light holders.  It means light beacons.  Alternatively, it means light luminaries - light bearers.

 

I want you to think about these heavenly bodies, these luminaries. 

I.          THIS ACCOUNT TELLS US ABOUT THE FORMATION OF THE LUMINARIES.

Verse 14 says, "Let there be...”  This is the formation of these heavenly bodies.  You will notice that as he begins to describe the sun and the moon that he does not use the normal words you will find for the sun and the moon.  Rather he talks about the sun and uses the term "the greater lights”.

 

A.        HE MADE THE SUN.  In verse 16 he said, "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day.”  We know that is the sun.  Yet, the Scripture refers to it as “the greater light”. 

 

(Q)       Why did God refer to it as “the greater light?”

 

If God had said it was the lesser light that would not be true.  Looking from the earth, when you see the sun and the moon it would appear, that perhaps the moon would be larger.  Yet divine inspiration says to call this luminary the greater light.

 

Notice also that it does not say that it is to be the GREATEST light.  That wouldn't be correct either.  If the Scripture had said it was the greatest light in our universe we would know that would not be scientifically correct.  Yet, by divine inspiration Moses, writing from God, describes the sun and calls the sun “the greater light”.  Not the lesser light and not the greatest light, but “the greater light”.

 

If you do a little research you will find out that there are many stars that are far larger than our sun.  Think for a moment about the sun.  The sun in our universe is an immense ball of flame.  It is a tremendous thing of about 70% hydrogen. It is about 28% helium and about 2% other gases.  The sun is a massive ball of fire.  It's about 865,000 miles in diameter.  The sun is 109 times larger than our earth.  You could put well over a million earths in the capacity of the sun.

 

Based on what I have learned, let me describe it for you and give you some idea of the size of the sun verses the earth.  If the sun is a basketball, then our earth would be like a little poppy seed.  Therefore, here is this massive ball of fire - 865,000 miles in diameter.  The Bible tells us that this sun is important for the earth.  This sun is to give light on the earth.  We know that our primary source of light energy on the earth comes from the sun.  We know that the process of photosynthesis makes it possible for plants to produce carbohydrates and sugar and other nutrients from carbon dioxide.  That is another reason why I believe these days are 24-hour days.  You remember in day three the Bible tells that God brought into existence the plants.  If that had taken place over many, many millions of years before the sun came into existence, then the plants could not have that process of photosynthesis and they could not reproduce themselves.

 

Therefore, here is our sun, this massive sun.  It's 93 million miles away from the earth.  Let me describe how far that sun is in those terms.  If you boarded a jet airplane and you set out to go on a journey to the sun in that jet going 1000 mph, it would take you ten years to arrive at the sun.  God said to Moses, "Moses, tell them about the sun."

 

B.        HE MADE THE MOON.  In verse 16 he says, "and the lesser light.”  He is now referring to the moon.  This lesser light is to rule over the night.  The moon is somewhat different than the sun.  The sun radiates light.  The moon does not radiate light; the moon reflects the light.  The light we get from the moon is light that has been reflected to the surface of the earth by the moon from the sun.  The moon is about a fourth the size of the earth.  It's about 240,000 miles away.  In our lifetime man has been able to go to the moon.

 

I will never forget the first time that man arrived on the moon.  The excitement there was in this country on a Sunday night!  They were going to televise the first pictures of a man walking on the moon.  The astronauts were able to go 240,000 miles from this earth to the moon.  They found that the moon is covered with a dusty substance and they discovered that material is titanium.  It turns out that titanium is the most natural and the best reflector known to man.

 

Therefore, God said let there be a lesser light - the moon - and let it bring light and rule over the night.  Therefore, the moon reflects the light of the sun and the moon gives its light in the nighttime.  How important is this moon to our earth!  We know that the Bible tells us many things about the moon.  We know that science teaches us a great deal about the moon also.  We know that the moon is important in the tides.  The moon is 240,000 miles away yet it influences the very tides of the sea. 

 

God created the sun – “the greater light”.  If He had called the moon “the greater light”, that would have been incorrect.  In those days the Greeks believed that the moon was the greater light.  They believed because it looked bigger in the sky that it was greater.  Yet, Moses, under inspiration of God’s Spirit, says that the sun is “the greater light” and the moon is “the lesser light”.  Moses did not get that as result of his academic training.  He didn't hear that when he went to the university of Heliopolis in Egypt and was trained in all of the wisdom of his day.  It did not come by human reason; it came by divine revelation. 

 

(Q)       Moses, where did you get that information? 

(Q)       Moses, how could you write that the sun is the greater light and the moon is the lesser light? 

 

Therefore, there is the greater light - the sun.  God created it.

There is the lesser light - the moon.  God created it.

 

C.        HE MADE THE STARS.  Look at the end of verse 16.  "He made the stars also.”  There he tells us about the creation of all of the multitude of stars.  How many stars are there in our universe?  By the naked eye we can see 3-5 thousand stars.  Back in 1921 astronomers estimated that there were about 300 billion stars.  Of course, today we have the Hubble telescope and other means.  Astronomers have completely given up even trying to estimate the number of stars.

 

Sir James Jeans, the eminent astronomer made this statement one day.  He estimated that there were more stars in existence in our universe than all of the grains of sand on all of the seashores on all of the earth.  The stars are innumerable in number.  "He made the stars also."

 

Listen to what the Bible says about the stars and our great God.  In Psalm 147: 4 it says, "He tells the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.”  That means that God knows exactly how many stars there are.  Not only that, but the Bible teaches here that God has given a name to every one of the stars. 

(Q)       How large is the number of the stars! 

(Q)       How big are the stars!

 

For instance, scientists have estimated that the star “AN TARES” is so large you could put 65 million of our suns in that one star alone. Then there is the star they call “ALPHA CENTAURI”.  They estimate that it is 4.35 light years away from the earth.  How far is that?  A light year is 165,000 miles per second time the number of seconds in a year.  Yet this star is 4.35 light years away.  The distance of the stars!

 

In the book of Job there is a remarkable statement God gave to Job.  Some believe that rather than Genesis, Job may have been the first book given by inspiration.  Job 22:12 says this: "Is not God in the height of heaven?  Behold the height of the stars how high they are."  There is a question.  (Q)        How high are the stars? 

(Q)       How far away are the stars?

 

 It is mind-boggling when you think about the number of the stars and when you think about the distance of the stars.  They go on and on and on and on.  They are beyond the ability of man to number.  Yet, the Scriptures say about the stars – “He made the stars also”.  In five words - the brevity of the words!  It makes you breathless.  Think about all these billions and billions of stars and yet it's as if it was just an afterthought.  It's as if God said to Moses, "Write down - He made the stars also.”  He just dismisses those billions of stars with five words.

 

(Q)       Why do you think God uses such economy of language to describe the stars? 

 

The book of Genesis is a fascinating book and when we finish studying these days of creation we will probably move right on through Genesis more quickly.  However, when we get to the closing chapters of the book of Genesis we will discover that there are 14 chapters taken up with a man named Joseph.  The last 4th of the book of Genesis is given to the life and the time of this man, Joseph. Why does Genesis give us 14 chapters about one man, Joseph, and dismisses billions and billions of stars with five words?  The reason is because God is more interested in people than He is in planets.  God is more interested in making saints than He is in making stars.  God is more interested in redemption than He is in creation.

 

The formation of the luminaries.

I.          THIS ACCOUNT TELLS US ABOUT THE FORMATION OF THE LUMINARIES.  In verses 14 and 15 he says, "let there be.” 

The formation of the luminaries.

II.        THIS ACCOUNT TELLS US ABOUT THE FUNCTION OF THE LUMINARIES.   Now he says, "And let them be for.”

 

(Q)       What are they for? 

(Q)       Why do we have the sun? 

(Q)       Why do we have the moon? 

(Q)       Why do we have the stars?

 

Verse 14 says that they are to divide the day from the night.  We know that's pretty obvious.  Then it says, "Let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years.”  There you have the function of the sun, the moon, and the stars.  That is what they are for.

 

A.        THEY ARE FOR SIGNS.  They are for signals, and they are for beacons.  We know this is true that they do have special purposes.  They are involved in navigation.  We know that the stars are used for navigational purposes. 

 

By the way, there is no evidence that the stars influence human life.  One of the first perversions of fallen man was the perversion of astrology.  The Egyptians, in particular, were interested in the heavenly bodies.  They ascribe to the heavenly bodies divine existence.  They said the heavenly bodies were inhabited by gods.  Therefore, they not only began to admire the heavenly bodies; they began to worship the heavenly bodies.  They ascribed deity to these different stars and the sun and the moon.  Each of the heavenly bodies had a god identified with it.

 

Yet, we discover that not only did they begin to admire the creation; they began to worship the creation.  In Romans 1:25 the Bible say that they began to “worship the creation rather than the creator”.  So they developed what they called astrology - the idea that the position of the heavenly bodies can influence people's lives on the earth.

 

When you study the Bible you will discover that it is specifically forbidden for people to try to find direction from the stars. Astrology is preposterous, if you really want to know the truth. Astrology is absolutely self-contradictory. You can read the guidance of these astrologers and astrological charts and all that mumbo-jumbo.  There is absolutely nothing to it.  You are not to worship the stars; you are to worship the Savior.  You do not get your direction from the stars; you get your direction from the Scriptures. They are for signs; they are not deity.

 

B.        THEY WERE FOR SEASONS.  We know that the seasons are determined by the sun and the moon and the stars-- fall, winter, spring and summer.  Our twenty-four hour day is determined by the rotation of the earth on its axis.  We know that a month is determined by the orbiting of the moon around the earth.  We know that a year is determined by the rotation of the earth around the sun.  IT IS ALL FOR SIGNS.  IT IS ALL FOR SEASON.  IT IS FOR DAYS AND YEARS.  The Jewish people in particular were given special days that they were to worship. Much of it was determined by agricultural seasons of the years.  God has a function; God has a purpose.  The purpose is to give light on the earth; give light in the day; give light in the night.

 

Evolution would have you believe that all of this is some kind of colossal accident.  All of this just happened to be.  These billions and billions of stars and this magnificent moon and this glorious sun - somehow all of this just came into existence by accident.

 

I would like to read you something I got from C.S. Lewis.  I hope you are familiar with the writings of C.S. Lewis.  He made a rather interesting paragraph I would like to share with you.  He said, "If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident.  The whole evolution of man was an accident, too.  If so, then all our present thoughts are accident.  The accidental by-product of the movement of atoms.  This holds for the thoughts of the materialist and astronomers as well as for anyone else's.  However, if their thoughts are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true?  I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give a correct account for all other accidents."

 

I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it is not an accident.  I'm here to tell you that the heavenly bodies did not come into existences by some colossal accident.  I'm also here to tell you that life did not accidentally come to this earth being transported by some heavenly body.

 

One theorist determined that the way life got on the earth is that a germ rode a meteor from another planet. He said this germ just accidentally got on a meteor and the meteor came and bumped against the earth and the germ fell off.  That was the beginning of life in the universe.

 

Not only is that laughable; but it doesn't solve the problem of where everything came from.  It just puts the problem on another planet.  Where did that germ of life come from that was on that planet out yonder somewhere?  Evolution is the most preposterous invention ever brought up by the warped minds of man. You are not some nut if you don't believe in evolution.  You are not an ignoramus because you do not believe in the theories of evolution.

 

I'm dealing with the heavenly bodies - the sun, the moon, and the stars. The formation of the luminaries.

I.          THIS ACCOUNT TELLS US ABOUT THE FORMATION OF THE LUMINARIES.  In verses 14 and 15 he says, "let there be.” 

II.        THIS ACCOUNT TELLS US ABOUT THE FUNCTION OF THE LUMINARIES.  Now he says, "And let them be for.”

III.       THIS ACCOUNT TELLS US ABOUT THE REVELATION OF THE LUMINARIES.   What are these heavenly bodies intended to reveal?

 

A.        GOD’S LOVE IS REVEALED.  In Psalm 19 I want to show you the revelation of these heavenly bodies.  He begins in verse 1 by saying, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament showeth his handiwork.  Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge."  He is saying that every day when men see the sun, God is speaking a message.  God is revealing Himself.  When it says "night unto night shows knowledge" it means that every time the moon comes out God is revealing Himself.

 

B.        GOD’S MERCY IS REVEALED.  He says in verse 3, "There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.”  He is saying that there is no place on this earth that when a man or woman sees the sun, they do not know that there is a God.  There is no place on this earth that when the moon comes out that a man or woman seeing it does not know that there is a God.

 

He says in verse 4, "Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the ends of the earth.”  These heavenly bodies have a message of revelation.  "In them (heavenly bodies) he set the tabernacle for a sun.  Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber."  That's the rising of the sun in the morning.  "And rejoices as a strong man to run a race.”  That's the sun going across the sky during the day.  Then he says in verse 6, "His going forth is from the end of the heaven and, and his circuit unto the ends of it: there is nothing hid from the thereof."  Every time a person feels the Warmth of the sun on their body, God is declaring Himself to him and saying – “I really exist.  I created you just like I created the sun, the moon, and the stars.  I claim you as my own, just like I claim the sun, the moon, and the stars.”  God has revealed Himself in the stars.

 

C.        GOD’S GRACE IS REVEALED.  There is something in Psalm 8 that I just want to lay on your heart.  Verse 1 says "O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth: who hast set thy glory above the heavens.  Out of the mouths of babes and suckling’s hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.  When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, and the stars, which thou hast ordained.  What is man, that thou art mindful of him?  And the son of man, that thou visited Him?"

 

The psalmist goes out one night and he sees the stars up there.  He thinks about their number.  He thinks about their distance.  He thinks about the unbelievable complexity of all of them cooperating in harmony together.  He looks at this vast creation and then he looks at himself.  He says “What is man?  How insignificant I am.  How small.  Lord, why would you think about me?”

 

When you really understand this universe of ours and how big it is and how intricate it is, you will come to understand that you and I and this earth are just one tiny speck in the universe.  That's all this earth is.  Just one tiny speck.  Yet, out of all the universe, God focused His attention on this one tiny speck.  Out of all of the universe, it was on this one tiny speck that God chose to allow you to be born.  One tiny speck!  It was to this one tiny speck that God sent His own Son the Lord Jesus Christ to die on an old rugged cross outside the city of Jerusalem.  On this one tiny speck, the God who created this universe sent His own Son to die on that cross for you and for me.

 

If you had been the only person who had ever been born on this earth and if you had been the only person who sinned and needed a Savior, the God of this universe would have sent His Son, Jesus, to this one tiny speck.

 

In Luke 15 Jesus told the parables.  He told about the parable of the man who had 100 sheep.  There was one sheep that was lost.  He left all of the sheep that were in the fold and went out to find that one lost sheep.  God created you and loves you so very much that He sent His own Son into this special world He created for you to inhabit.  He loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son that WHOSOEVER (you and me, insignificant though we be) believeth in Him should not perish.  God sent His own Son that you and I might be forgiven of our sins and might know Christ as our personal Savior.

 

The Creation of The Heavenly Bodies – the sun, the moon, and the stars!  All of that reveals to us a God of love, a God of infinite mercy, and a God of infinite grace.

 

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!