And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. – Genesis 1:3-13
Summary of Genesis 1:3-13
On the first day, God created light, by speaking the words Let there be light. Interestingly, light existed before the sun, moon and stars were created.
On the second day, God made an atmospheric division on Earth, separating water and sky (water vapour). With that, we get water-rain cycles, which enables rain and weather. This allows vegetation and life.
On the third day, God divided land from seas and created plants and vegetation. Full-grown plants with bearing seeds were created, not seeds, and God saw that it was good. Interestingly, plants were also made before the sun.
Questions
What did God create and name on the first through third days? On the first day, God created light. On the second day, God divided the water and the sky. On the third day, God divided land from seas and created plants and vegetation.
What are the possible ways to define “day”? Which one seems most plausible to you? (See Exodus 20:11; 2 Peter 3:8 and other Scriptures you may know for help.) Many argue whether it is an Earth day or a period of time. For me, I would go for “a period of time”, because time is relative. The duration of a day on Earth depends on how fast the Earth rotates, and it depends on where you are standing to experience one Sun-Moon cycle. Since the sun was not made until the fourth day, experiencing day and night as we know it is not possible. Since God is light, with the Lord a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8), and time is relative, a “day” is not the “24-hours” day as we know it now.
What phrases are repeated? God saw that it was good. God definitely knows what is good, and I’m sure God’s standard is pretty high. So the light was good, separating land and water was good, having vegetation was good. It’s good because it enabled humans can live on Earth. And it was so. There are many arguments about how Earth and the universe started, by chance, by statistics and probabilities. But from the scriptures, the beginning of life, the creation of Earth, light and all the physics were directly created by God.
What do you learn about God and creation from these verses? God spoke and created the universe out of nothing, and it was perfect.
God created the heavens and the earth