Genesis 1 continued

By now the routine was quite clear to the watching angels. At the beginning of each day Jesus spoke a few words and a multitude of things happened. So many things that it would take an eternity to examine them all, and even longer to know how they worked, but they were being invited to try.

They also realized that they were being treated to a display of how the universe had come into existence. They began to comprehend how the Father, Son and Spirit worked together to produce and maintain the system they lived in. They began to see the difference between Creator and creature, between Parent and child. Not capable of producing life, they began to appreciate its gift just as do teenage human children as they mature.

So it was with renewed interest that they watched and listened to Him on the fourth day.

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Genesis 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: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth": and it was so.

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

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

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Now that the earth was complete and ready for its inhabitants, there was a necessity for a power supply which could be seen. So Jesus set in place two great burning furnaces to supply the energy required for the continuation of the system He had produced. Notice that He did not set one great light and a reflector, which is what we have today. He set "two" great lights. That way there was no absence of light during the night such as we have today, but simply a diminishing of light as the sun disappeared below the horizon and the moon blazed alone for its orbit. The two spheres were so positioned and guided that they did not appear in the sky together as they sometimes do now. In God’s "very good" universe everything has its time and place.

The solar and lunar planets had already been made in the original creation, along with the "stars" which are "suns" for other planetary systems. (This is why the statement about the stars has been put in brackets, for it is really an aside making the comparison to show us that our sun is a star and made in the same way.) The effect of the words of Jesus was to start up a nuclear reaction on both planets which warmed the whole solar system of nine planets, with added heat and light for the planet "earth".

The moon was only one seventh of the brightness of the sun so there came a "cooler " and a "dimmer" period every twelve hours. Genesis 3:8. We are told about this fact in a verse where the Spirit describes the conditions which will prevail in the new world.

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Isaiah 30:26

Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of His people, and heals the stroke of their wound.

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Now the reason for the thick band of clouds became evident. The powerful rays of the heating planets were diffused by the clouds into different angles as they entered the atmosphere. The effect of this was distribute them evenly over the whole of the earth’s surface. Because of this there were no great differences in temperature at either the equator or the poles. The whole world was fit to be lived in.

Scientists have found the bodies of mammoths in frozen Siberia with traces of the grasses they were eating when they died still in their mouths, and the plants are what are considered to be from the temperate zone of today’s world. Something very dramatic and sudden has changed the original world into what we know today.

With the advent of these two lights came the ability to measure time and later, to keep track of the seasons. Both God and the devil have also used them for signs, for Lucifer was not slow to figure out how to twist their properties to his own advantage. In fact, Lucifer uses the sun as the major symbol in his religions.

But these power planets were originally there to focus the interest of its future inhabitants in the right direction. Behind them they were to see the power of Jesus Christ and live "by faith" in it. Sinless beings need symbols to remind them that a Creator God is still caring for them when they cannot see His direct involvement. It is written of Jesus:-

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Hebrews 1:1-4

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.

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Revelation 12:12

Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.

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In the spiritual view of the events of that fourth day, Jesus is known as the "Sun of Righteousness" in the words of the Bible, and we are His reflectors.

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Malachi 4:2

But to you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

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It is He who supplies all the power of Christianity, and it is He who upholds all His "children".

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Isaiah 9:6

For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name(s) shall be called "Wonderful", "Counsellor", "The mighty God", "The everlasting Father", "The Prince of Peace."

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Not only as a Father is He pictured, but also as a Husband.

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Isaiah 54:5

For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; "The God of the whole earth" shall He be called.

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Another of His titles is "The LORD our Righteousness", and like any good Husband, He gives this name to His wife also for she shares His goodness.

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Jeremiah 23:5-6

"Behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

Jeremiah 33:15-16

In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith SHE SHALL BE CALLED,

The LORD our righteousness.

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But the day will come when Christians will no longer just "reflect" the glory of their Redeemer, but will shine forth as the angels in their brightness, as God intended from the beginning.

See you next week,

Ron