The First Day of Creation

Genesis 1  •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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THE scene in which God began to work is described in Genesis 1:22And the earth was 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. (Genesis 1:2) by three words — confusion, emptiness, darkness. Then God comes into the scene, and His first day’s work is:
1. God said — Let there be Light, and there was light.
2. God saw — the Light that it was good.
3. God divided — between the light and the darkness.
4. God called — the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Tracing these symbols through the Old Testament we find—
1. Light. — Exodus 10:2323They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. (Exodus 10:23): “The children of Israel had light in their dwellings.” Exodus 13:2121And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: (Exodus 13:21): “A pillar of fire to give them light.” Exodus 25:3737And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. (Exodus 25:37): “They shall light the lamps thereof that they may give light over against it.” These are the three remarkable ways in which light is brought in before the historical books begin. Then the Book of Samuel begins by showing the lamp of God going out, 1 Samuel 3:33And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; (1 Samuel 3:3), and closes with the One who is to be as the light of the morning, 2 Samuel 23:44And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. (2 Samuel 23:4), while a lamp is to be kept for David, Psalms 132:1717There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. (Psalm 132:17). All through the historical books light is connected with the morning, “the morning light” occurs in 1 Samuel 14:36, 25:22,34,36; 2 Samuel 17:2222Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan. (2 Samuel 17:22); 2 Kings 7:99Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household. (2 Kings 7:9). Then come the books specially dealing with light and darkness, and which contain more passages relating to light and darkness than all the rest of the Old Testament together. These are Job, Psalms, and Isaiah.
Job has a lot to say about the difference between light and darkness, as seen in God’s ways and man’s experience, but God’s question to him is, “Where is the way to where light dwelleth?” (Job 38:1919Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof, (Job 38:19)), and he is brought to see himself in God’s light, “Now mine eye seeth Thee” (ch. 42:5).
Psalms has for its keynote Numbers 6:2525The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: (Numbers 6:25), quoted six times, viz., Psalms 31:16, 67:1, 80:3,7,19, 119:135, also “the light of Thy countenance,” Psalms 4:6, 44:3, 89:15. Light depends here upon the relation of the soul to Jehovah. “In Thy light we shall see light,” Psalms 36:99For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. (Psalm 36:9). Job is the discovery of self in the light of God, Psalms is the heart finding light only in the enjoyment of God, and so God’s ways are seen in the light of His countenance.
Then Isaiah gives the dispensational side, the light comes after darkness, Isaiah 60:11Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:1), when the glory of the Lord is revealed. But Isaiah 45:77I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7) goes into the counsels of God, and shows what is only found here, “I form the light, and create darkness.” The word “form” is that used of the potter, and points to the plan or design of Him who forms; while “create” is the word used in Genesis 1:11In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1), and speaks of the sovereign will and power of Him who creates. So light is shown to be linked with God’s purposes of grace and glory, while darkness gives no escape from responsibility to Him by whom and for whom are all things. “The day is Thine, the night also is Thine,” Psalms 74:1616The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. (Psalm 74:16). “If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me; for the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee,” Psa. 139:1414I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. (Psalm 139:14)
Then the prophetic record closes with the wonderful word, “at evening time it shall be light,” Zechariah 14:77But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. (Zechariah 14:7). Thus, indeed, God’s day begins with evening; the passover lamb and the evening sacrifice are ever in God’s thoughts, and the thought of faith turns thither in the time of darkness, 1 Kings 18:3636And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. (1 Kings 18:36); Ezra 9:4,54Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. 5And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, (Ezra 9:4‑5) Psa. 141:22Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (Psalm 141:2); Daniel 9:2121Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. (Daniel 9:21).
The New Testament goes back to the binning, and we learn why God brought in light first. “God is Light,” but that is to be seen in Jesus. “The life was the light of men.” True, darkness comprehended it not, showing the meaning of “God divided” the light from the darkness; it is not separation, but difference of nature. Man may put light for darkness and darkness for light, Isaiah 5:2020Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20); but light and darkness can have no concord, 2 Corinthians 6:1414Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14), because they are already eternally different in nature. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all,” 1 John 1:55This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5). But the result of God’s commanding the light to shine out of darkness is that light has shined in our hearts, 2 Corinthians 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6), and we are now “light in the Lord,” Ephesians 5:88For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (Ephesians 5:8); we have a nature that is of God, this is developed fully in the First Epistle of John. But we are also “lights,” Philippians 2:1515That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Philippians 2:15), and there is responsibility to shine.
But just as the prophetic history in the Old Testament closes with the failure of everything depending on man’s responsibility, and shows all resting upon Christ, so again the prophetic record in the New Testament closes with the failure of the Church, the last light set up in the world, Revelation 2 and 3, and shows all secured in Christ, the only faithful witness, and the book of God ends in eternal day, no night there, “the Lamb is the light thereof.” God begins and ends with Christ.
B. S. ED.