Let's turn to Genesis 1, what we've been
looking at last week.
We saw that God created the heavens and
the earth in the beginning, and then there
was the fall of Lucifer, and as a
result of which the earth, described in verse
2, became shapeless, empty and dark.
Then we read the work of the Spirit
of God and the Word of God, remaking
that destroyed earth.
And we saw that the first word that
God spoke was, let there be light.
And that is always the first word that
God speaks, let there be light.
And that God's Word is the lamp to
our feet and the light to our path,
and we read in Psalm 119, verse 130,
that the unfolding of God's Word gives light.
And we can never expect God to be
able to remake us if we don't allow
His Word to find an entry into our
hearts.
It is the Word of God entering into
our hearts that brings light.
We must remember that it's always the first
thing.
And that's why those who neglect God's Word
in their lives will remain in darkness.
There can be no remaking of our lives
apart from God's Word, and that's why it's
a very good habit for all of us
to read God's Word every day.
That's a habit that's good to pick up
from childhood, to read the Word of God
every day so that God can bring light
into our lives.
We saw also that that was a picture
of the resurrection, the first day of that
old creation.
It's similar to the first day of the
week in the new creation, where Jesus came
forth out of the darkness of the tomb,
bringing light.
Then we read in verse 4, God saw
that the light was good, and God separated
the light from the darkness.
Now the first message we read right there
in the beginning of Genesis is God making
light and seeing that the light was good.
If you turn to the first episode of
John in the New Testament, he says there
that we are proclaiming to you that eternal
life, verse 2, which was with the Father.
1 John 1, verse 2.
And verse 4, these things we write so
that our joy may be made complete.
And what is the first message he has
to give?
He says this is the message, and it's
very important to understand, the first message the
Apostle John has to give to those whom
he's writing is, this is the first message
we have heard from him and announced to
you, that God is light, and in Him
there is no darkness at all.
If we say we fellowship with Him and
we walk in darkness, we lie and do
not practice the truth.
For example, it goes on to say in
chapter 2, verse 9, the one who says
he is in the light and yet hates
his brother is in darkness, because there is
no such hatred in God.
God is light.
God hates sin, but He doesn't hate people.
God loves people.
He hates sin.
And so we see here that God is
light, and in Him there is no darkness
at all.
Having read those verses, we can come back
to Genesis chapter 1 and see what is
the spiritual symbolism here in verse 4 of
Genesis 1.
God saw that the light was good.
Jesus once said to a rich young ruler,
why do you call me good?
There is no one good but God.
It is the life of God alone which
is good.
That is light.
And God separated the light from the darkness.
Now, it is very important to see that
separation is not always brought by the devil.
Division or separation is sometimes brought by God.
And we read here that right in the
first paragraph of the Bible, God made a
separation.
There has always been a separation that God
has made from darkness to light.
God saw the light was good, and the
very next thing He did was He separated
the light from the darkness.
Now, we can say, according to God's word,
that that light is, first of all, as
we have just mentioned, God's word itself.
God's word is a lamp to our feet
and a light to our path.
We also saw in John 1, 4, that
last time, that the life of Jesus, that
is also a light.
In Him was life, and that life was
the light of men.
So we can say that that light symbolizes
two things.
First of all, the written word of God,
and secondly, the living word of God.
That is Jesus, His life.
And those are the only two lights that
we have in the world.
The written word and the life of Jesus.
And concerning both of these, God saw, God
inspected it, and saw that it was good.
He's inspected His word and found that was
good.
He inspected the life of Jesus and said
that was good.
Now, the very next thing He does, after
inspecting life and seeing that it's good, is
separating light from darkness.
What does that mean?
We can say that when men add the
traditions of the church to the written word
of God, it becomes a mixing of darkness
with light.
And what does God do?
It says there in verse 4, He separates
the light from the darkness.
When Jesus came to the earth, the Pharisees
had mingled a lot of their tradition and
the traditions of the elders that had been
handed down for many, many centuries with the
written Old Testament.
So the people there in those days had
a mixed message.
It was the word of God, light, mixed
with the darkness of human tradition.
And what did Jesus do when He came
there?
He separated the darkness from the light.
And He rebuked the Pharisees in saying, He
told them in Mark chapter 7, You have
cancelled the word of God by holding on
to your tradition.
See that verse in Mark chapter 7, Mark's
gospel chapter 7, verse 8.
Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to
the tradition of men.
When you have tradition mixed with the word
of God, the end result always is, Mark
7, verse 8, the word of God tends
to be neglected and the traditions of men
tend to be exalted.
You find that, for example, in the Roman
Catholic Church.
The word of God mixed with the traditions
of men, the end result is the traditions
of men have more importance than God's word.
And the second thing is, verse 9, you
nicely set aside the commandment of God in
order to keep your tradition.
In other words, the next step is, because
of tradition, they reject God's word.
The tradition of the Church is more important
than God's word.
And Jesus said, verse 13, the third thing,
you invalidate the word of God by your
tradition.
They neglect it, verse 7, they set it
aside, and finally, verse 13, cancel out the
word of God altogether.
So there's a tremendous danger when you mix
human tradition with God's word.
And so what did God do?
God separated the light from the darkness.
Jesus came into the midst of that Jewish
system and he separated the word of God
from human tradition.
And now, here is, we said that God's
word is the light.
We said that the life of Jesus was
the light.
And do you know that the word of
God says there's something else which is the
light?
What's that?
That's us.
Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 5, 16,
you are the light of the world.
Now that Jesus has ascended and gone up
to heaven, and he himself is not here,
but he has left the Church as a
light.
And what is the Church to do?
The Church has to do the same thing
that Jesus did, separate human tradition from God's
word.
Because God sees the light as good, and
he doesn't want a sort of a mingling
of the light and the darkness together.
And so there has to be a separation
of the light from the darkness.
It's God who does it.
He did it in Genesis 1 himself.
He did it in the Gospels through Jesus
Christ.
And he does it today through the Church.
And through the ministries in the Church, exposing
human tradition and throwing it into the garbage
bin.
Picking up human traditions one by one and
throwing them in the garbage bin.
Picking up human traditions one after the other
and throwing them all in the garbage bin.
It's the same ministry which God began in
Genesis 1.
Because he sees the light as good, he
does not want the light mixed up with
the darkness.
And when this happens, then we find that
the Pharisees are angry.
Then the Pharisees were angry with Jesus.
And today's Pharisees are also angry with those
who separate tradition from the word of God.
And therefore, those who stand for that will
face the same fate as Jesus faced, and
that is hostility from religious rulers.
I want to turn to 2 Corinthians now.
We looked at this verse last time, 2
Corinthians 4, 6.
For God who said, Light shall shine out
of darkness.
This is quoting Genesis chapter 1.
Is the one who has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ.
The first thing it says in 2 Corinthians
4, this is a commentary on Genesis 1,
is shining into our hearts and giving us
the revelation of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
What's the next page?
We turn over to chapter 6 and verse
14.
And it says here, Do not be bound
together with unbelievers.
For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or
what fellowship has light with darkness?
Therefore, verse 17, come out from their midst
and be separate, says the Lord.
Light cannot mingle with darkness.
Therefore be separate.
This is the commentary of the New Testament
on Genesis chapter 1, verse 4.
God separated himself in Genesis 1.
He separated it through Jesus when Jesus was
on earth.
And he separates light from darkness today through
the church.
First of all, as I said, the separation
of the word of God from human tradition.
And this is why through the centuries, different
groups of Christians have pulled out of some
old religious system, some old Christian religious system,
because they found that old Christian religious system
was corrupt, mixed with tradition.
So a few of them who wanted the
pure light separated.
After some time, this group that separated got
its own tradition.
And again, this became a mingling of light
and darkness.
Another group came out of this, separating light
from darkness.
And after a few, 50, 60, 100 years,
this group has its own tradition, again mingles
darkness with light.
And so another group of wholehearted come out
of that one.
And in the history of Christianity, particularly the
last 400 years, that's happened again and again
and again, unfortunately.
But in one sense, in a good way.
It was a good thing because there's always
been a pure testimony.
Because some people dared to come out of
a mingling of light and darkness.
Because they saw right in the first page
of the Bible that God saw the light
was good, and He does not like a
mingling of light and darkness.
So they pulled out.
Whenever they found the word of God and
tradition mixed up, they pulled out.
Now, what can we learn from history?
We can learn from church history that the
greatest danger that any group faces when they
pull out of another is that after some
time, they can form certain traditions of their
own, and add it, and teach it, along
with God's word, as though this has equal
importance.
And that's why, my brothers and sisters, as
a church, we have to fight.
Fight human traditions.
It's a much greater battle to fight tradition
than to fight sin.
Because sin, everybody sees as evil.
Traditions, people don't.
For example, you try throwing Christmas out of
some churches, and you'll find opposition.
And yet, can you find a single verse
about Christmas in the entire New Testament?
No.
But you try throwing it out of some
churches, and you'll find opposition.
Tradition is powerful.
You can talk about sin, evil, adultery, and
dirty thoughts, and anger.
That's okay.
But tradition has such a power.
It's amazing.
I've seen it in almost every group under
the sun.
Tradition creeping in, and in some cases a
little bit, some cases large.
What is the battle that we must fight?
The battle that we must fight is if
we don't find it in God's Word.
We're not going to have it, even if
generations of Christians have accepted it.
We say that's got nothing to do with
God's Word.
And particularly, God's Word is revealed to us
in the New Testament, which is in advance
from the Old Testament.
Because the Word of God says, the old
is passed away, the new has come.
Hebrews chapter 8.
And particularly, the Word of God in the
New Testament.
We need to ask concerning everything we believe
and stand for, do you have a foundation
for that in the New Testament?
If not, be careful that it is not
some tradition.
Maybe a good tradition, but a little bit
of darkness mingling with the light.
There are so many things like this we
have to fight for if we want to
stand pure.
And the second thing is, this light, as
I said, is not only the God's Word,
it is the light of Jesus.
And there again, we can find mixture where
it may not be the matter of tradition.
It may be the pure Word of God,
and yet, even though we hold the pure
New Testament, yet, there can be the mingling
of worldliness with the life of Jesus.
That also is darkness.
So we can say, just like the light
is two things, God's Word, and the life
of Jesus, darkness also is two things, the
traditions of men, and worldliness.
Both are equally dangerous.
Sometimes we can take a strong stand against
the traditions of men.
Say, I'll have nothing of that in my
life.
And yet, worldliness can come flooding into our
lives, into our homes, and that has brought
just as much darkness as a bunch of
parasitical traditions.
So we need to always keep this in
mind, that God is always separating the light
from the darkness.
He began in Genesis 1, and He won't
stop until Revelation 21, where we read about
the new Jerusalem, crystal clear as light, and
all the darkness has passed away.
But all the way up till then, God's
separating the light from the darkness.
Do you know the meaning of sanctification?
Sanctification is a very big word, but all
it means is setting apart.
What is God setting apart?
Light from darkness.
This is sanctification.
God sanctifies me means God is increasingly setting
me apart from the darkness in my flesh,
from the darkness of traditions that have got
mingled up in my thinking along with God's
word.
You see, when we become Christians, we are
born again, we've got a whole lot of
God's word and traditions mingled up in our
thinking, and God accepts us like that.
He loves us, He accepts us with this
mixture of light and darkness.
All of us have been accepted as a
mixture of light and darkness.
And then God begins the work, this work
of Genesis 1-4, of separating the light
from the darkness.
Separating the light from the darkness.
In other words, He tells us, why do
you hold on so tightly to that?
Do you find something in the New Testament
for that?
No.
Get rid of it then.
And you discover that you've got to get
rid of another tradition that you've hung on
to for so many years, that your fathers
taught you, that your forefathers taught you, and
you're keen about sanctification, and God separates you
from one tradition after another.
And then, also God begins to speak to
you about worldliness.
About certain things which other people may not
consider darkness, but which God considers darkness.
What is the definition of darkness?
We saw that in 1 John chapter 1.
God is light.
And in Him, there is no darkness at
all.
So we can say darkness is anything that
is not compatible or agreeing with the life
of God.
Anything that does not agree with the divine
nature, that is darkness.
According to 1 John 1-5.
In Him, there is no darkness at all.
That's the definition of darkness.
Anything that cannot get along with God's life,
with the divine nature.
Anything that's contrary to the divine nature, that's
darkness.
And God is all the time cleansing out
from our lives the things that are contrary
to life.
This is sanctification.
And this is the work we must allow
God to do, and do, and do, and
do, continuously, till the day Jesus comes back.
And it must never stop.
God saw that the light was good, and
God separated the light from the darkness.
Now I want to show you another illustration
of this in John's Gospel chapter 9.
In John's Gospel chapter 9, we read of
a man who was in darkness and who
came into the light.
And that was a blind man.
It says in John 9-1, he was
blind from birth.
And you know what blindness means?
I saw an advertisement in an optician's office
once.
Shut your eyes to find out what blindness
means.
That's what blindness is.
You shut your eyes, and you understand blindness.
Everything becomes dark.
Blindness is darkness.
And then when Jesus opened this man's eyes,
he got light.
And what could he testify after that?
Verse 25.
In the last part he says, One thing
I know.
Whereas I was blind, now I see.
Once I was in darkness, now I have
light.
And then the Pharisees were very disturbed by
this.
The Pharisees were arguing with him.
The whole section is dealing with the Pharisees
arguing with him.
And the next thing the Pharisees did was,
verse 34, they put him out of their
church.
That's what happens when a man gets light,
he gets thrown out of the church he
belongs to.
Why?
Because all the other people in that church
are in darkness.
You see, if you are born again, and
your eyes are opened in the midst of
a church where everybody else is in darkness,
and you dare to open your mouth like
this blind man and testify, Once I was
blind, all these years I was sitting in
this church, I was blind, but now I
see.
Then the leaders of the church will throw
you out.
Whether it is if you get light on
being born again and preach that, or whether
it is when you get light on water
baptism and preach that, or whether it is
when you get light on the baptism in
the Holy Spirit, or Christ manifest in the
flesh, or victory over sins, or the body
of Christ, or anything.
When we get light, the people who don't
have that light get disturbed by the fact
we get light.
Then, of course, there are some people who,
when they get light, are like the parents
of this blind man.
They were more diplomatic.
When the Pharisees asked them, Is this your
son?
He said, Yes, he is our son, but
we don't know how his eyes were opened.
They said in verse 21, and in verse
22 it says, Because they were afraid of
the Jews.
But this man was not afraid.
He spoke the truth, and he got thrown
out.
Now the interesting thing I want you to
see is this.
What's the next verse?
After it says the Pharisees threw him out.
See the next verse.
Verse 35.
Jesus heard it.
He always hears it when somebody gets thrown
out of somewhere.
And came to him.
He always comes to the person who gets
thrown out of somewhere.
And what did Jesus do?
He gave him more light.
He says, Now you only got your physical
eyes open.
Now I'll get your spiritual eyes open.
Do you know the son of man?
He says, Who is he Lord?
He didn't even know who Jesus was.
And he says, The one talking to you.
And it says he fell down, verse 38,
and worshipped him.
He got more light.
And he said, Lord I believe.
That's always what happens.
I get light, and I get thrown out.
And Jesus hears it, comes to me, gives
me more light.
And when I stand up for that more
light, I get thrown out of some other
group, and Jesus hears it, comes back to
me, gives me more light.
Wonderful.
To have light.
God saw the light was good, and separated
the light from the darkness.
We can say that God allowed these Pharisees
to throw this man out, so that he
wouldn't rot away in that synagogue.
God had something better for him.
And that's the thing that God does for
many of us.
When we get light, God allows some people
in mercy to throw us out of their
wretched system, so that we don't rot away
in that system.
It's God who is doing that.
He may use Pharisees to do it.
He may use bishops to do it.
He may use priests to do it.
He may use pastors to do it.
He can use anybody.
But it is God doing the same old
business that he did in Genesis 1-4,
of seeing that this light is good.
I must separate this light from the darkness.
The fellow doesn't have enough discernment to get
out himself.
Alright, I'll get the other fellows to kick
him out.
And that's God doing it, separating the light
from the darkness.
It started in Genesis 1.
It's been going on for centuries.
It's gone on all the time.
And it's going on even today.
So we see that God is doing that
work, even today.
And we praise the Lord when he does
it in our lives too.
Verse 5, God called the light day, and
the darkness he called night.
He gave two different names.
We read in 1 Thessalonians 5-5, You
are children of the day, not children of
the night or of darkness.
You are children of the light, not of
darkness.
1 John 3, John says, In this is
manifest the children of God and the children
of the devil.
Do you know that in the world, although
all are human beings created by God, some
are children of God and some are children
of the devil?
That's what John the Apostle said.
That's what Jesus said in John 8-44
to the Pharisees.
He says, You people who are religious rulers,
you are children of the devil.
Jesus said that to people.
You are children of the devil in John
8-44.
And John the Apostle said the same thing.
God calls people by different names.
That's what we see here too.
He called the light day, and he called
the darkness night.
There are children of the day, and there
are children of the night.
For example, the people who, who are the
people who love the night?
Normal human beings are not people who are
waiting for the night.
Who are the people who wait for the
night?
The thieves, the adulterers, the fornicators, the evil
people, because they want darkness to cover what
they are doing.
Who are the children of the night?
Those who love to do things that are
wrong, in secret.
Those who tell lies, don't want other people
to know about it.
Those who write false accounts, and cheat the
government, and cheat other people.
They can call themselves Christians, but God calls
them children of darkness, children of the devil.
He's given different names.
This is day, this is night.
And even today, let's not be deceived.
Whatever we may call ourselves, whatever other people
may call ourselves, and whatever other people may
think we are, God has given different names,
to day and night.
And the important thing, my brothers and sisters,
is what God calls you.
Not what you call yourself, or what other
people call you.
A lot of people who think themselves to
be children of God, whom God calls children
of the devil.
A lot of people whom other people call
children of the God, whom God calls children
of the devil.
Now we see here, further, in verse 5.
And there was evening, and there was morning,
one day.
That was 24 hours.
And it began with the evening, that means,
that's how it has been in the Jewish
system.
The day begins at 6 p.m. and
finishes at 6 p.m., the evening first,
and then the morning.
That's what we see here.
There was evening, and there was morning, one
day.
Now, it's quite likely, that the earth was
created many thousands and thousands, and probably even
millions of years ago, I don't know.
Because we don't know when Genesis 1-1
took place.
In the beginning, God created heaven and the
earth, could have been millions of years ago.
But, when it comes to this remaking on
the first day, that's clearly 24 hours.
And there were 6 days of 24 hours
each, in which God completed that work.
And then He created Adam.
And we know from the ages given to
us in the book of Genesis, which we
have all the way down, till our present
time, that it's about 6,000 years now,
since God made Adam.
It was about 6,000 years ago, that
that first day, on this earth, took place
of remaking.
Though the earth and the heavens themselves, may
have been created even millions of years ago.
Genesis 1, and verse 6.
Now, what did we see?
What did we see in the first day?
Let's just recapitulate.
We saw a principle of resurrection, light coming
out of darkness in the first day.
We saw the principle of separation, we saw
the principle of God naming light and darkness
separately, of separating good from evil.
All this is an application for us because
we read in Hebrews 5.14 about those
who exercise their senses to discern between good
and evil.
What is discerning between good and evil?
That's the same old thing of God separating
light from darkness.
This is sanctification, to discern between good and
evil.
Those are the mature, who are always separating
human traditions from God's work, worldliness from the
life of Jesus.
That's maturity.
So we find that all there in a
nutshell in the very first day.
Now the second day, God said, let there
be an expanse, or a firmament, in the
midst of the waters.
The whole thing was covered with waters, we
don't know to what great height.
And this is an interesting thing.
Can you imagine the earth, this sphere, called
the planet earth, covered with water, maybe to
many kilometers high, many, many kilometers high of
water, covering the whole globe, not a sight
of earth anywhere.
And then God says, I'm going to make
a separation in the middle of the waters.
Some of the waters are going to pull
out.
There'll still be waters underneath, but some of
the top part of the waters, a few
kilometers of water are going to pull out,
and between those few kilometers of water and
this waters circling the earth will be what
we call the heaven.
That's what we read in verse 6.
Let there be a firmament.
Later on we read in verse 8 that
he called that expanse heaven.
The heaven means the sky that we see,
all of space, that we can see.
God created it by pulling the waters up
above the heavens.
And he separated the waters, verse 7, which
were below the expanse from the waters which
were above the expanse.
Waters above the heavens.
The waters below the heavens we know are
the seas on earth.
And what's in between he called heaven.
And the evening and morning were the first
day.
We can learn a little lesson from this.
We don't want to speculate what this waters
above the heavens are.
I'm not interested in knowing that.
But again I see something here.
What did we see in the first day?
Verse 4, God separated.
What did we read in verse 7?
God made the expanse and separated.
There was a separation again.
This principle of separation comes again and again
and again in the first page of the
Bible.
He separated, we can say, the heavenly from
the earthly.
Those are heavenly.
These are earthly.
So that's the second lesson we learn on
the second day.
That God separates the heavenly from the earthly.
The heavenly minded from the earthly minded.
God is doing that even today.
And sanctification is to separate us from earthly
mindedness to heavenly mindedness.
For example, what does it mean in practical
terms?
To look at things from heaven's standpoint.
To look at money from heaven's standpoint.
To look at honor from heaven's standpoint.
To look at people from heaven's standpoint.
To separate the heavenly from the earthly.
That's the second thing we can say, we
see here.
So, putting the two days together, if you
want a spiritual lesson, it's like this.
We can say the first day is the
separation of that which is satanic and sinful
from our lives.
And the second day is the separation of
that which is soulish and human from that
which is spiritual.
You see how all this is pictured way
back there in the first page of the
Bible.
God wants to separate us not only from
evil, but also from that which is human
and soulish.
That which is earthly.
And that's what we see here.
He separated that which is above the heaven
from that which is below the heaven.
There's just one point I want you to
notice here.
At the end of every day, we find
it says that God saw it was good.
Notice the first day, verse 4, God saw
it was good.
The end of the third day, in verse
12, God saw it was good.
And the end of the fourth day, verse
18, God saw it was good.
And the end of the fifth day, verse
21, God saw it was good.
And the end of the sixth day, verse
31, God saw it was very good.
Have you noticed that one day is left
out?
Have you noticed that at the end of
the second day, God never said it was
good?
We don't want to speculate again what the
reason for that is.
But I just want to mention one thing.
That the second day is dealing with heaven.
And we know from the New Testament that
there are three heavens.
The first heaven is what we see, space.
The third heaven, we read in 2 Corinthians
12, is paradise, the immediate presence of God.
And in between the first heaven and the
third heaven must be the second heaven.
We read in Ephesians 6.12, the dwelling
place of evil spirits.
When Satan was cast out of the third
heaven, he ended up in the second heaven.
We considered that in our last study.
So in the second heaven, Satan was there.
Perhaps this was the reason why when considering
the heavens, God did not say that it
was good.
Because all the other days, He did say
it was good.
That's just something significant.
We see something of the exactness of God's
word there.
Verse 9, And then God said, Let the
waters below the heavens be gathered into one
place.
Or we can say, be separated into one
place.
Again, separation.
It's almost as though God is only interested
in separation.
You see, it's so interesting to see this,
because a lot of people today have the
idea that when you ask some believers to
separate out from other Christians, they think that
you're an agent of the devil.
Only the devil brings separation, brother.
Only the devil brings division.
Well, I say, turn to the first page
of the Bible, and every day you find
God separating.
He's separating, He's separating, He's separating.
All the time He's separating.
He separated the light from the darkness.
He separated the waters above the heavens from
the waters below the heavens.
And then He separated the dry land from
the earth.
That's what we see here in verse 9.
Separation, separation, separation.
And God said, let the waters below the
heavens be gathered into one place, and let
the dry land be separated from the waters,
appear.
And the dry land God called earth.
And the gathering of the waters He called
seas.
And God saw that it was good.
He saw that the separation is good.
We can also say that this is also
a picture of resurrection.
The earth coming up out of the waters
is a picture of resurrection.
And so we find that this separation, resurrection
principle is there right in the very first
page of Scripture.
Let the earth come up out of the
seas.
The seas are a picture of judgment, a
picture of God's judgment on the earth, a
picture of separation from God.
And that's why you, it's a very interesting
thing, when you come, have you noticed this,
that when you come to the new creation
in Revelation 21, verse 1, have you noticed
this?
Revelation 21, verse 1.
And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there is
no longer any sea.
Do you know that in the new earth
there won't be any seas?
There won't be any seas.
No, those seas are a picture of God's
judgment, and out of that judgment the dry
land appeared, a picture of resurrection.
And we see further, and the earth brought
forth vegetation, verse 12, plants yielding seed after
their kind, Genesis 1, 12, trees bearing fruit
with seed in them after their kind, and
God saw that it was good.
What do you learn from the seed?
We learn from the seed what Jesus said
about the seed.
Except a seed falls into the ground and
dies, it abides alone.
Again, death and resurrection.
When God created those trees, He put into
it seeds that would have to die in
order to grow up to be a tree
again.
I just want you to notice this, that
this principle of separation and death and resurrection
is there right from the first page of
Scripture.
And that is why in the church we
proclaim separation from human tradition, separation from worldliness,
and dying and being raised up constantly.
Because that is what the Bible is all
about right from the very first page.
Verse 13, And there was evening and there
was morning a third day.
Verse 14, And then God said, Let there
be light in the expanse of the heavens.
Again, we find the word to separate.
You never seem to get away from this
word.
To separate the night from the day.
It's almost as though God is laboring the
point to emphasize separation, separation, separation.
God is light, there is no darkness in
Him.
Separation, separation, separation.
God saw and He separated them day from
the night and He set light in the
expanse of the heavens and let them be
for signs for seasons, for days and for
years.
And let them be for lights in the
expanse of the heavens to give light on
the earth and for so.
And God made two great lights.
The greater light, we know that is the
sun to govern the day.
And the lesser light to govern the night.
We know that's the moon.
And we can say the sun and the
moon are a picture of Christ and the
church.
And it's a very beautiful picture of Christ
and the church because the sun has light
in itself like Jesus Christ and the moon
does not have light in itself but reflects
the light of the sun just like the
church.
And just like God has placed the sun
to give light, He's also placed the moon
to give light.
Jesus said, I am the light of the
world and He told the church, you are
the light of the world.
And the other thing we see here is
the principle of rulership and authority.
The sun was made to rule the day
and was sixteen.
And the moon was made to rule the
night.
Jesus Christ has been called to rule and
the church has also been called to rule
in a lesser way but also to rule.
He made the stars also.
And God placed them in the expanse of
the heavens to give light on the earth.
A picture of Christ and the church.
Authority and separation again.
And now verse 18 to govern the day
and the night to separate the light again
the word separate very interesting to see the
emphasis to separate the light from the darkness.
The moon was placed to separate the light
from the darkness.
The sun was placed to separate the light
from the darkness.
Jesus Christ came to separate the light from
the darkness.
The church has been placed to separate the
light from the darkness.
And God saw that it was good.
The separation of light from the darkness.
God saw that it was good.
The sun and the moon they were good.
And the evening and morning is the fourth
day.
Then God said let the waters teem with
swarms of living creatures and let birds fly
above the earth in the open expanse of
the heavens.
And that's how all the fish and the
great sea monsters and the whales and all
were created.
And here we find that word created.
Till now it was made, made, made, made,
made.
We found created only in the first verse.
In the beginning God created.
But now we find that word again.
God created the great sea monsters and every
living creature that moves with which the waters
swarmed after that kind every winged bird.
God saw that it was good.
Which possibly means that in that pre-Adamic
world that we read in Genesis 1 there
were no fish in all likelihood.
But there were probably animals in that prehistoric
earth.
Because when it comes to the animals it
doesn't say God created them.
But he just made them as we read
in verse 25.
He made the beast but he created the
fish.
Notice that distinction.
That there would have been probably prehistoric animals
who got buried under the flood of Lucifer.
I mean I wouldn't be surprised if there
were dinosaurs in that earth that was before
the time of Adam.
It's quite likely.
But they all got buried and destroyed in
that Luciferian flood.
But then when it came to the sea
monsters they were created 6,000 years ago.
Every living creature that moves with which the
water is swarmed after their kind.
The principle of fruitfulness.
And every winged bird after its kind and
God saw that it was good.
And it's a very interesting word here.
I was very happy to see it.
And God blessed them.
God blesses animals.
You know that?
If you've got an animal at home that's
sick you can pray for it.
It says here, God blesses the animals.
He blesses the winged birds and the fish.
And He said, Be fruitful and multiply and
fill the waters and the seas and let
birds multiply on the earth.
And there was evening and there was morning,
a fifth day.
And then, God said, five days are over
and now there's something very interesting.
I don't know whether you all know that,
that God created animals and man on the
same day.
Did you know that?
Animals were created on the sixth day.
Man was also created on the sixth day.
To teach man a lesson.
If you don't live by the Spirit you'll
end up as an animal.
And that's what happened to man all over
the face of the earth.
Because they have not lived by the witness
of the Spirit, they have ended up like
animals.
We can say there's one characteristic of animals.
They are only occupied with earthly things.
No animal, no animal will kneel down and
pray.
You can, you'll never find an animal interest
in things like that.
What's the animal interest in?
Food.
And when a man is interested in food,
that's a big thing in his life.
What's the difference between him and an animal?
It's just like a dog running after a
bone.
Sex.
Animals are interested.
Men.
Sleep.
These are the things animals are interested in.
And when the men are interested in these
things, take care of our little ones, my
family, take care of my family, feed them,
nurture them.
Animals do that.
In fact, animals, many animals do a better
job than many human beings.
These are not the marks of a man
of God.
Never forget, God made animals and man on
the same day so that man will never
forget he can descend to the level of
an animal in no time.
It's just a few hours that separate him
from the animal.
Not even one day.
On the sixth day, God said, Let the
earth bring forth living creatures after their kind,
and creeping things and beasts of the earth
after their kind, and it was so.
And God made the beasts of the earth
after their kind, and the cattle after their
kind, everything that creeps on the ground after
its kind.
And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, On the same day, after
He had made the animals, maybe He made
the animals in the evening, and in the
morning, after the night was over, the second
part of the sixth day, it was evening
and morning, you see, He makes man.
Let us make man in our image.
Now, comes the difference.
When it comes to man, He doesn't just
say, Let man be made.
There is a discussion in the Trinity.
And you find this word, Us.
Not let me.
Showing us that God is plural, not singular.
More than one person in the Godhead.
Let us.
There is a discussion going on in the
Trinity.
A council before man is made.
Showing the importance of man now.
Now God is coming to the crowning part
of His creation.
Let us make man in our image.
In the image of God.
According to our likeness.
Notice the emphasis there.
Our image, our likeness.
And let them rule.
What do we see here?
First of all, God created man so that
he might be like God.
And when I don't make that the number
one ambition in my life, I descend to
the level of an animal.
When I don't make Christ likeness the number
one goal in my life, I must remember
that I was made on the same day
as the animals.
Very easy to descend to that level.
But between the animals and me.
What do we read there?
Between the creation of the animals in verse...
Sorry, not the creation.
Between the making of the animals in verse
25.
And again that word created.
Verse 27.
God created man.
Again, something created.
Never created before.
Creation means for the first time.
The body was made from the dust.
We know that.
But the man, that living soul inside was
created.
We can say the house in which the
man lived was not created.
That was made from the dust of the
earth.
But the man himself who lived in that
house was created.
And between the making of the animals in
verse 25 and the creation of man in
verse 27.
What do we read?
There is just one verse here.
And it is very important to see this.
Because this is what makes the difference between
man and the animals.
It is only when we have revelation on
this verse and are gripped by it that
we understand how God has made us different
from the animals.
What is that?
The animals were made in verse 25.
Verse 27.
God created man.
But between them we read this verse.
God said, let us make man in our
image.
It is that likeness to God in our
spirit that makes us different from the animals.
And unless we see this, we will not
make this the primary thing in our Christian
life.
Are you gripped by the fact, my brothers
and sisters, that the primary thing in the
Christian life is not evangelism, it is not
speaking in tongues, it is not doing this,
that and the other for God, but it
is transformation into God's likeness, into the likeness
of Christ.
Unless I see this as the primary thing,
it is easy to descend to the level
of the animals even though I may be
doing so many other good things.
If I think education and sport and all
these things are the main things in life,
it is easy to descend to the level
of the animals.
These things are all alright, but if I
don't make Christ's likeness the primary thing, the
primary goal of my life, then I shall
descend to the level of the animals.
It is possible to engage in evangelism and
be an animal as far as our behavior
is concerned.
It is possible to speak in tongues and
be an animal as far as our behavior
is concerned.
No, God intends that sanctification, transformation into Christ's
likeness should be the primary thing in our
life.
And we see here, God said in verse
26, let us make man in our image.
Notice us, the Trinity there, our image, and
God has made man, God himself is plural,
and man is plural in being man and
woman.
God said let us make man, but he
made man and woman, according to his likeness.
And then he said, let them rule.
Let us make man in our likeness and
let them rule.
There are two things that God desired for
man.
One, that he should reflect likeness of God,
and the other, that he should rule as
a king on behalf of God in the
sphere in which God had given him authority.
There are two things that God desires for
us.
To become like him and to have authority
in our life.
And Jesus has come to redeem us from
the pit into which Adam fell and to
bring us back to the original purpose that
God had for man, and we see here
what that is.
To be like him and to have authority,
to rule.
And the measure in which we can rule
and have authority is dependent on the measure
in which we have the likeness of God
in us.
These two things are related.
They are proportionate to each other.
I have authority in proportion as I have
likeness to Christ in my character.
Jesus had authority over everything.
Everything was under his feet because he was
perfectly like his father.
And in the measure in which I've become
like Christ, in that measure I will also
have things under my feet.
But we see something here.
That this is God's desire that we might
have everything under our feet.
Turn to Hebrews in chapter 2 and see
what we read there.
Hebrews chapter 2 we read speaking about Jesus
thou hast made him a little low while
lower than the angels, that's man.
And yet, verse 8, Hebrews 2.8, thou
hast put all things in subjection under his
feet.
This was God's original purpose for Adam.
For in subjecting all things to him he
left nothing out that was not subject to
him.
But now, we do not yet see all
things subjected to him.
No.
We see man not yet having all the
authority that God intended him to have.
But we do see him, that is Jesus,
who has been made for a little while
lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of
the suffering of death.
And everything is under his feet.
And we are to be members of his
body in the church.
And everything is to be under our feet.
It's wonderful to see this.
Do you know, my brothers and sisters, that
it's God's desire that not only you should
have his likeness, but having his likeness, that
you should rule.
That you should rule over your circumstances.
That you should never allow your circumstances to
get on top of you and depress you
and crush you and make you miserable and
full of self-pity and gloomy.
No, it is God's will that you rule
over your circumstances.
It's God's will that you rule over sin.
It's God's will that you rule over fear.
It is not the will of God that
you should be a slave.
Do you know that, brothers and sisters?
It's not God's will that you should be
a slave.
That you should be a slave to sin,
or to people's opinions, or to fear, or
to any dirty habit.
No, see what we read here.
God said, let us make man and let
them rule, man and woman.
God wants us to rule and to have
authority over everything, by faith, overcoming.
This is God's will.
We see that way back in Genesis chapter
1 itself.
And we read, God created man in his
own image.
In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them.
There is a partnership there.
We shall think about it more as we
come to chapter 2.
That the image of God could not be
reflected by a man alone, but by a
man plus a woman.
It's good for husbands and wives to recognize
that.
And God blessed them.
And God said to them, be fruitful.
God wants us to be fruitful.
In our days, spiritually, and multiply to have
spiritual seed.
Fill the earth and subdue it.
Again, subdue means to rule over and to
crush and put under your feet.
Rule over the fish of the sea, over
the birds of the sky, over every living
thing that moves on the earth.
And then, God said, Behold, I've given you
every plant yielding seed that is on the
surface of all the earth.
God made man a vegetarian in the beginning.
He became a non-vegetarian only in the
days of Noah.
And every tree which is fruit yielding seed,
it shall be food for you and to
every beast of the earth, to every bird
of the sky, and to everything that moves
on the earth which has life, I've given
every green plant for food.
And it was so.
And God saw that all that he had
made, and behold, it was very good.
And there was evening and there was morning,
the sixth day.
I just want to mention one thing here
in relation to verse 29, that when God
sorry, verse 28, when God said, Be fruitful,
that was obviously through Adam and Eve coming
together as husband and wife.
And that teaches us that there is nothing
wrong in the sexual function that God has
given to man.
That is perfectly good.
It was created by God, blessed by God,
before sin ever came to the earth.
And it's very important for us to see
it, because there's so much of perversion and
wrong understanding of this in the world today.
And at the end of it all, including
all these things we considered, it says here
that God saw it was very good.
Up to the fifth day it was good,
but when God finally created man, that is,
man and woman in His image, it was
very good.
And there was evening and there was morning,
verse 31, and the sixth day.