Then God Said Let There Be. . . . and it was so!

Gen. 1:14-23 NLT      

   14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day. 

   20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day. 

   24  Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” 

   27  So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

The power of God to create something out of nothingness is the stuff of debate across the last two millenia.  But create is exactly what Genesis explains to us that God did. God imagined and then spoke space, galaxies, solar systems, suns, planets, oceans, continents, mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, and all manner of living creatures that populate those places. And we are only beginning to grasp a tiny part of the mind of God as we look at the sciences. The conclusion from scientific inquiry is not a naturalistic explanation of creation-- that would be impossible to honestly conclude. The complexity of geology and of life itself cannot be without intelligent design and initiation.

Notice that God created the places and then populated them with creatures. Notice that those creatures reproduced but only within specie. The text repeatedly used the phrase "produce offspring of the same kind." Only after this did God create humanity and the purpose was to rule over the planet and its animal life. They were made by God for humanity.

All the other forms of life God created within its kind from an original design. Humanity, however, God modeled after Himself. He imagined man with the image of Himself in mind, and then willed mankind into being in two genders. You and I have at our core, the image of God. Whether we choose to permit that core to flourish and grow through faith in Jesus Christ, is our choice. When we choose that we choose eternal life. When we resist that choice we choose death and eternal torment. I can't imagine why some people insist on choosing the latter.

Let's pray for some we know right now that have not yet chosen life and ask God to show them the way to life. Perhaps we can be a vehicle for helping them to find life.

Your servant in Christ
Dan
drdanelliott@gmail.com