Welcome back! This series is “Deeper Creation,” We’re taking a deeper look at Genesis 1 and 2 to see how the Creation story gets told throughout the Bible!
Last week, we looked deeper at the 3rd day of creation. We discussed the importance of remembering what life means when God separated the waters to create land and seas. We also discussed the everlasting production of provision that God installed through the plants and trees and how the choice to eat from which tree can be overwhelming at times.
This week, we move into the 4th day of creation. We’ll talk about three critical things shown throughout the Bible: God’s timing, beautiful lights, and celestial bodies. We’ll talk about God’s timing in the creation of our days. As shown in the Psalms, we’ll reflect on the beauty of the sun, moon, and stars. Then, we’ll wrap up by talking about how our resurrected bodies will be like celestial bodies in God’s eyes, according to Paul. Let’s start with reading our focus scripture. Hear what Genesis 1:14-19 says:
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 the lights in the sky to the light the earth,
18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.
The remainder of this message may feel all over the place, mainly because I feel all over the place as I write this. The focus may feel insignificant in understanding the sun, moon, and stars, but I will have some life-connecting purposes for them. They may also need to be more fluid because these three points could be three separate short messages, but I’m hoping the theme will tie this all together.
I’m saying all this because you may have this feeling at the end of the message. I’m praying that God guides my fingers and thoughts so that you have a well-thought-out and divinely inspired message. Let’s begin!
God’s Timing
Psalm 74 comes from Asaph (one of David’s chief musicians) or one of his descendants after the fall of Jerusalem. It’s a plea for God to help his people defend God’s plan and remember what God promised them. Hear what Asaph says in Psalm 74:12-17:
12 You, O God, are my king from ages past, bringing salvation to the earth.
13 You split the sea by your strength and smashed the heads of the sea monsters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan and let the desert animals eat him.
15 You caused the springs and streams to gush forth, and you dried up rivers that never run dry.
16 Both day and night belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun.
17 You set the boundaries of the earth, and you made both summer and winter.
We’re going to pay attention to verses 16 and 17 here. Asaph names the different parts of the Day 4 creation story here, remembering God’s power over the days and nights. There’s a remembrance based on this that God has boundaries over time, naming the seasons the earth has.
From his perspective, he wants God to save his people as soon as possible. Because it’s not happening when he wants, he’s feeling impatient and hopeless. He may also feel God has abandoned him, his family, and the Israelite nation.
When God doesn’t move as fast as we want, don’t we have the same or a very similar response? It’s easy for us to have the same mindset, but consider that what might be slow to us is good timing for God. God might be using this extra time to prepare us for the blessing and promise he’s bringing. The preparation can look different from person to person and situation to situation, but I remember God doesn’t do anything for wrong reasons. There is always some form of glory that shines in what God does.
When God feels silent to us, it feels hopeless and lonely. It feels like we have no support anymore. Yet, I remember a TikTok I saw and loved because the quote was on par: “If God seems quiet, no one shouts when they’re right next to you. (@__ai.love__)” Remember that in those hopeless moments is when God remains the closest to you.
Psalm 74 teaches us how to reconnect with God if we feel distant from him. We must start by reading scripture to remind us of God’s great acts throughout the Bible. Asaph does this in his remembrance of the creation story. Then, we need to review what God has done for each of us. This process serves as a reminder that God is at work in history and your life.
We serve a God that has timed out the days, weeks, months, years, seasons, and more. God’s timing exists for a reason, one we may not understand. When you feel like you aren’t moving as fast as you’d like, remember that God’s timing moves when needed. Lean into your faith in God’s teaching and how he prepares you for the blessings and promises He gave to humanity through the Bible.
Beautiful Lights
Psalm 8 is a David-written psalm. He shares his delight in the greatness of God, naming that the greatness of God assures the worth of humankind. God, the Creator, cares for the most valuable creation – us. Listen to what David says in Psalm 8:3-4:
3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers – the moon and the stars you set in place –
4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?
David looks at the beauty of God’s work in creating the moon and the stars and even the placement of the stars. He sees all that, is in awe of how humans came to be, and ponders why God would even care about them.
David’s comparing himself, or humanity, to the greatness of God. When we look at creation and review the creation story, we can often feel small by comparison. Think about it. We went from the creation of light and dark to the creation of skies and earth, to the creation of land, seas, and vegetation, to the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. Those are big things to comprehend compared to us.
A healthy way to pull ourselves back to reality is to realize how small we are. I know this sounds odd and harsh. It’s not to diminish or avoid how we feel during our anguish or to say that what we feel isn’t valid. Not at all. The idea is to look at everything God can do and recognize that our anguish isn’t bigger than God. We can get lost in self-deprecating thoughts and actions; recognizing ourselves as small can help overcome that. We aren’t to stay there. God doesn’t want us to stay there.
We’re to be humble before God. We’re to recognize that we can’t do life without God. God created all the stars, planets, sun, and moon and delicately placed each celestial body in the place that fits his purpose. What would God do for us if God could do that? God provides for our needs, listens to our prayers, and loves us unconditionally. What more could we ask for in our human forms?
Let’s continue this thought process with another Psalm that David wrote. Hear what he says in Psalm 19:1-6
1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or words; their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.
5 It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding. It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
6 The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat.
David reflects in Psalm 19 on how God’s creation and his Word reveal his greatness. It continues the same theme David wrote about earlier in Psalm 8.
David reminds us of how beautiful the displays of God’s craftsmanship surround us. Think of your feelings when you see a colorful sunrise or sunset on the horizon. Or when the stars paint a beautiful picture across the night sky. Images like that can show evidence of God’s existence, power, love, and care.
When we read Genesis 1 and 2 and look closely at God’s design, intricacy, orderliness, and life-giving environment of our world, we can see how personally involved God was. Jesus’s part of the creation story is crucial because he was a part of the same process and showed us how to utilize its entire purpose and promise in our everyday lives.
Take some time today to look at God’s handiwork around you in nature, the sky, or your life. Thank him for the beautiful scene painted before you and the truth it reveals about God. The God that delicately and beautifully created the sun, moon, and stars is the same God that delicately and beautifully created you!
Celestial Bodies
Let’s go to the New Testament and hear from the Apostle Paul. We pick things up in 1 Corinthians 15 as Paul shares his instructions about the Resurrection of Christ. Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth to identify problems, offer solutions, and teach the believers how to live for Christ in a corrupt world. Paul addresses the divisions and disorders in the church and answers their questions about marriage, freedom, public worship, and resurrection.
Paul opens the letter by discussing the three most essential points about Christianity:
- Christ died for our sins
- Jesus was buried
- Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.
Paul says that there will be some people that doubt these points but have hope that these things are true. Paul acknowledges this through his conversion and testimony.
Then the conversation shifts to talk about the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection affirms the truth of Jesus. Jesus is our connection to God; because he conquered death, we have an eternal home for him. Paul reminds the church that Jesus will conquer all evil and death. Christians know that life will continue beyond our earthly death and that our life prepares us for our heavenly entry. Now, let me share with you 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 and hear Paul talk about how our resurrected bodies will be:
35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?”
36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first.
37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.
38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed.
39 Similarly there are different kinds of flesh – one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
40 There are also bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies.
41 The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.
42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.
43 Our bodies are buried in the brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.
44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies.
Lots of information to take in there, but we’ll pay attention to verses 40 and 41. When we’re resurrected, our bodies will be made perfect in all ways through Christ. Our earthly bodies and our heavenly bodies are two different forms of bodies. The sun, moon, and stars have specific bodies. The earth has a specific body. What am I trying to say here?
Each thing gets created according to the purpose and promises of God. Things, in the beginning, are broken and weak, but through God, they are glorious and strong. Our resurrected bodies will be spiritual in the end. God created everything out of a spiritual purpose. Humans have their assignment from God in Genesis and Jesus in the Gospels. It’s an assignment designed explicitly for our bodies, not the sun or the stars, but ourselves. We’ll talk more about that in a couple of weeks, but a good take-home point is remembering that your body is unique to you. No one else has the specific body you’re living in right now.
We’ll wrap that up here. I told you this message would be all over the place, but I hope you can glean something about the significance of the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. We discussed how God’s timing might not align with ours, but his timing exists for good. We talked about the beauty and majesty God created on this day and how we can remember that in times of anguish. We then talked about the different bodies of the universe we see and have and that each body is unique to God’s purpose.
Next week, we look at Day 5 and connect the flying and water creatures to the rest of the Bible. It’ll be a fun time! Until then, stay blessed!
Discover more from Bible Study Vibes
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.