Theme: ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night.’
(Key verses: Gen 1:14-19)
The book of Genesis (especially the first two chapters) is for some a very basic and broad description of the physical creation with no personal application. The literal application of these creation days is true, but for those whom God has given eyes to see the deeper spiritual meaning, they also give fundamental details about our own lives as all the Scriptures do (Matt 4:4). A proper understanding of these foundational themes in the book of Genesis will ultimately reveal God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ even as His work is displayed in the generations of the first man Adam from the beginning:
1Cor 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
If we cannot see the first man Adam and his application in our lives in the proper light, the “Lord’s day” has not come as yet in our lives – that “day” is the day of judgement when we can hear His great voice behind us and see how God ordered things from the beginning:
Rev 1:10-11 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
In the physical days of creation recorded in Genesis 1 and 2 God is revealing to us His precious thoughts of how he is bringing all in the generations of the first Adam to be in Jesus, the last Adam. This Psalm of David reflects on all in the first man Adam:
Psa 139:15-17 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
From the first day of the physical creation God was busy “fashioning” every day of every person, even in the physical symbols of creating the emptiness and darkness first on day one, before He called the “great light” to be visible (Gen 1:2-5):
Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Mat 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
The valley of the shadow of death is the first man Adam’s first “region” or division before the light is revealed. Jesus, the perfect Light, was there before the physical creation and all “in…unperfect…Adam” will be conformed to be in that light (“in Christ”) eventually (Jn 1:9; Rom 8:29; 1Cor 15:22). On day two this division is emphasized in the firmament in the separation of the waters (life) under the firmament from the waters (life) above the firmament (Gen 1:6-8). Jesus confirms this division. Earthy life was never meant to fulfill us, but the heavenly life gives everlasting life!
Joh 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said unto her (the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob), Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
From the beginning it is clear that these divisions are part and parcel of God’s plan. God creates and causes all divisions, even on the earth, for His purpose:
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I [Jesus] am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
The natural man wants unity at all cost, even when the truth is to be compromised. But light and darkness can never be at peace with each other. On day three the theme of divisions on the earth is further developed when the seas and land are separated, the latter being higher or loftier than the seas (Gen 1:9-13; Pro 30:13). But those who dwell in this loftier position (heaven) are not close to the true heavens where God’s people are seated with Christ (Eph 2:6). The true “heavenly” or spiritual waters of God’s righteousness and salvation are not available to any creature in the sea or on the land before the flood or judgement comes:
Isa 45:8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
Isa 26:9 With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
On the forth creation day God made the lights in the firmament and again the theme of division is noted. The appearance of the objects in the firmament links intimately with the division created on day one when the earthly order of the night (darkness first) and then day (light) which was set in motion:
Gen 1:14-19 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.
Darkness is associated spiritually with the dominion or law of sin in the “members” (Ps 51:5; 2Cor 5:21; Rom 7:17-24; Rom 8:3). The light links with those who reckon themselves, through the faith of Jesus Christ, as dead unto sin and not under the dominion of sin. This light is only available under the law of the spirit (Rom 8:1-2):
Rom 6:11-14 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
1Th 5:4-8 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
The lights in both the night and the day are there for “signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” which means something completely different for them who live in the night and day respectively. Mankind always uses physical things, including the sun, moon, stars, and planets as instruments for worship (also known as “idols of the heart” spiritually) and to give direction, measure time and the age of things:
Deu 17:3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
Celebrating physical seasons, days, years and things is a form of worship which reflects on the hidden spiritual condition of the heart (Gal 4:8-11). It is all part of the night and subject to the power of God. He is using these things as necessary “stumbling blocks” for those who are not part of the elect of God. God uses physical signs (or idols in the heaven/heart) to deceive those who are under their power (“drunken”) and to keep them sleeping until the time is right for them to receive the light (spirit) of “the day”:
Act 1:7-8 And he [Jesus] said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses (martyr) unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Eze 14:3-4 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? 4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
The moon and stars “rule” those who live in the darkness (the flesh with its carnal mind). Spiritually this relates to our time under “the power (or seat) of Satan” (Acts 26:18; 2Th 2:9) when he and his ministers (his “stars”) appear as light:
2Cor 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Adam and Eve was in spiritual darkness from the beginning as again proven by the way they could not discern the spirit of the serpent, Satan (Rev 12:9; rev 20:2), as he was “transformed” and sent by God to be a convincing lying spirit (1Ki 22:22-23):
Gen 3:4-6 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Adam (and Eve) could not see or resist this strong delusion sent by God because they were made fleshly and naked from the hand of the Potter (Jer 18:4; Rom 8:20):
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The “lesser light” convinces us of our own righteousness (own apparel) when we walk in the night thinking we have the light (Matt 6:23; Isa 64:6):
Pro 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
Joh 11:10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
The moon actually does not have any light (“it shineth not”). It connects also spiritually where Satan’s “seat” is, namely Babylon, the mother of harlots (Rev 17:5). This also is the time when we “take hold” or use the name of Jesus (Matt 7:22-23) when we eat our own bread (false doctrines) and wear our own apparel (self-righteousness) when we do not want the reproach of being associated with the Truth:
Job 25:4-5 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? 5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
Job 25:4-5 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? 5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
Rev 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr (witness), who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
The other heavenly light, the sun, rules the day after the darkness. This “day” is also called “the day of the Lord” when the greater light is showing and teaching us the righteousness of God, even Jesus the “Sun of righteousness”:
Pro 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Mal 4:1-3 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
Act 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
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