Genesis, Chapter One

The First Day

Verse 1: In the beginning of God’s creation of the heavens and the earth.
(or) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

What are “the heavens”? הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם | haš·šā·ma·yim | shamayim: Heaven(s), sky, atmosphere

This word can be used for three things: 
1. The Atmosphere of Earth—the FIRST heaven
2. Outer Space—the SECOND heaven
3. The Spirit Realm (God’s Throne Room)—the THIRD heaven

In verse 1 it is used in the plural because of these three usages of the one word throughout the rest of the Bible. This tells me that verse 1 is saying that the Spirit Realm was created on the first day of the creation, along with the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space (the cosmos or universe). Earth, with its atmosphere, and the universe were also created on the first day. 

The Hebrew word for Earth here is הָאָֽרֶץ | hā·’ā·reṣ | (the) erets: Earth, land, ground, country, territory | It is the planet that we are on right now. 

So, this is what verse one is describing the creation of:

1. Earth (our planet)
2. Sky (atmosphere)
3. Space (universe, cosmos)
4. Spirit Realm (heaven)
5. Time
6. Matter

The Spirit Realm is where the angelic race lives. Just as humans call Earth their home, so the angels call the Spirit Realm their home. They are heaven’s natives, and we are Earth’s natives. 

Notice that it is God Who is doing the creating here. There was no “spontaneous generation”, or “big bang”, or any other deity or force that made this happen, just God. The Hebrew word Elohim is used here for God. אֱלֹהִ֑ים| ’ĕ·lō·hîm — Elohim is most commonly used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the one true God, Yahweh. Elohim is not God’s name—Yahweh is. But Elohim is in the plural. Why is it in the plural? We will find out in a little bit, so hold that thought. But know that it is NOT saying that there are other gods. Soon, in verse 3 we will see that God is actually speaking these things into existence. 

Verse 2: Now the earth was astonishingly empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water. (or) The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.

Notice that it says that the Earth was empty (void) and dark at this point. This tells us that the Lord God has made the stage, or the habitat, but not the things in it. No life yet, and no support for life. Also, there is not yet any light to see by either. God can see it because He can see anything, anywhere, anytime. So, it isn’t like He is groping in the dark, not knowing what He is doing. He can see it just fine, but if we were there, we would not (with our physical eyeballs that are made for seeing this realm). 

Notice too that we now have another element about the Creator to add to His revelation of Himself—His Spirit. Where is His Spirit? Right there in the mix—upon the creation. Later in the Bible, we learn that His Spirit is often associated with water, or air, or His people (also called “waters” at times). There is darkness mentioned now because light has not yet been created. Since God lives in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16), called His glory, this is the creation of darkness, which did not exist in his Divine realm, which is apart from this creation (Physical and Spiritual realms). See my post on the Three Realms of Existence. This means that God is using His Spirit to interact with the new creation that He is making. This is one reason why the word for God is used in the plural. He is both here (the Physical realm) and there (the Divine realm). 

Verse 3: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of the passage, I’d like to point out that He is now speaking the creation into existence. This raises the question; to whom is He speaking? He has not yet created mankind. We do not know if He has created the angels yet (since they are not mentioned), so who is He talking to?  The answer is found in both verse 2 above and in the book of Hebrews (and other places) where we read that the creation was made through the Lord, Jesus Christ. Here is a list of some verses showing Jesus as Creator:

1. John 1:1-3 | “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.”

2. Colossians 1:16-17 | “For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

3. 1 Corinthians 8:6 | “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for Whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all things came and through Whom we live.”

4. Hebrews 1:2 | “But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, Whom He appointed Heir of all things, and through Whom also He made the universe.”

5. Hebrews 1:10 (quoting Psalm 102:25 and applying it to Jesus) | “He also says, ‘In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the Earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.’”

6. John 1:10 | “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.”

I hope that this clears up Who He was talking to. And as already seen, we know that the Holy Spirit was involved as well. 

Now, back to the passage.

This is where He places light into the creation. This, again, is not the Divine Glory (light) that He lives in as already mentioned. This light is a manufactured light; made by Him. It is for this Physical realm and is a physical light. 

Verse 4: And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated between the light and between the darkness. (or) God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. 

What does it mean that He divided or separated the light from the darkness? Well, they are both created things: light and dark. They are not the same. In this Physical realm, we know that light, when it hits something physical, it is broken or halted. This is not like His divine light (glory) that shines right through anything physical in its path, without being broken or halted. Shadows are what we see in this realm when light hits a thing that is physical. I believe that this is what is meant by separating or dividing the light. 

We also know that light chases away darkness. Where light exists, darkness cannot exist. But as soon as the light source is removed, the darkness returns. They are very much connected in this way. There will always be either one or the other in this Physical realm. Also in this realm, hinted at but not specified, is matter. Matter comes in three forms: solid, liquid, or gas. Each of these properties of matter has a different effect on light and dark. The more solid something is, the less light and the more darkness is in it. Gas allows the most light in and through it, while solids allow none or very little. Liquids vary quite a bit depending on the kid of liquid and the volume of it (or distance from the light source—which affects its strength upon the matter). Both of these elements (light and dark) are in conflict or balance with other through the entire creation. They are truly elemental to the creation. Therefore, they are present always. You cannot have a space that does not have one or the other and they are not really compatible, either. But because of shadows, we can have the basic elements of both when light is present. If no light is present, darkness rules. If light is present, light rules but darkness can creep in when light is blocked or minimized. 

Verse 4: And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night, and it was evening and it was morning, one day. (or) God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. So there was evening, and there was morning, one day. (Some versions say the first day.)

For me, it is fun to see how “day” and “night” are established before we have celestial sources of light (on a later day of the creation). This is the completion of the first day (day one) of creation and already the basic elements are in place, including time, space, and matter, plus day and night. For us now, day and night refer to the relationship with the Sun from our position on our home planet. As we turn (rotate) on this orb toward or away from the Sun, we say that we are entering either day or night. But here, God says that those two elements are basic to the creation without the presence of our Sun (the most prominent source of light for us now). If we were to be on a space station, out of the Earth’s shadow, then the space station would have its own day and night. The part of the ship that is away from the Sun (in the shadow of the station) would be called “night”, since it is the dark side. This, I hope, illustrates why He is calling darkness night and light day. But for many people this is a hard thing to wrap our minds around. Try not to let it trip you up too much though. Just know that both elements are basic to the Physical realm and they exist everywhere, even if we cannot see them. 

A quick note on the word for “day”: Does the term mean a literal 24-hour day, or could it mean a thousand years per “day” (2 Peter 3:8), or does it mean an extended, undetermined period of time? The Hebrew word used is י֥וֹם | yō·wm | yom: Day. Verse 5 is the very first usage of this word for day in the Bible. If it were to mean anything other than a literal 24-hour day, then the text (and creation) is nonsensical. For a word to be used metaphorically or allegorically, it must first have meaning for us. Since this is the very first usage of the word, it would not make sense for it to mean anything other than the literal meaning. This is because we must first understand the plain meaning of a word before it can be used as a figure of speech or representation for something else. Also, the use of the phrase, “there was evening, and there was morning” adds to the emphatic presentation of a literal day. Some people want to stretch out the creation so that some form of evolution or deep time can be inserted into the narrative. But this does not work since light is created before the Sun. And since the atmosphere is not made yet, there is no value in an atmospherically void planet for any of Earth’s life forms. You can’t have both evolution and biblical creation. 

The Second Day

Verse 5: And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, and let it be a separation between water and water.” (or) God said, “Let there be a dome in the middle of the water; let it divide the water from the water.” 

Other words used here for “expanse” or “dome” in English translations may include: vault, space, firmament, horizon, or sky (maybe more). These are all attempts, I believe, of people trying to make sense of this confusing part of the narrative. Let’s look at the Hebrew original wording and take it from there into a more scientific explanation of what the Bible is trying to get us to understand. 

Hebrew: רָקִ֖יעַ | rā·qî·a‘ | raqia: Expanse, Firmament

Before moving on, let us also look at the other key word: Midst, for where this raqia is located. 

Hebrew: בְּת֣וֹךְ | tavek: midst, middle, among— the very heart of it. 

So, the midst, is the very innermost part of the water. The word for water is mayim: Water. That means we are talking about the element water. Nothing tricky about that. Everyone knows what water is. But remember that water exists, like other elements, in three forms: solid, liquid, and gas. 

If we are to apply our 21^st century knowledge to water (H₂O), then we can begin to understand what is being communicated here. All water, regardless of state (solid, liquid, or gas), is make of two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule. When put together, these molecules make the element we call “water”. 

On this atomic level, the difference between gaseous water and liquid water is how far apart these molecules are from each other. We could say that there is more room (an expanse) between the molecules if it is in the gaseous form from when it is in the liquid form. Indeed, when the water in the atmosphere condenses (closes-in more tightly) then it becomes liquid in form. Likewise, when the liquid water experiences an expansion of the molecules, it turns to gas and floats up into the air. This is called evaporation, the change of state from liquid to gas. Gaseous water is an expanded form, when compared to the more condensed liquid form. 

Here is the skinny on this confusing verse. For most people who have lived on this planet since the creation (including most Bible scholars and the original writers), the overwhelming majority of them would not have known this detail about the fascinating element we call water. But now that we in this century know about this characteristic of the element, we can confidently say that the Creator is telling us that on this day of creation, day two, He is showing us exactly when He made water in the different forms. This, then, is the account of the creation of what we call “sky” or “the atmosphere”, which is really the expansion of the water particle into a gaseous form. 

Also, “let it divide the water from the water” could be meant as “let it differentiate, or distinguish one from the other.” And this is what it does. 
Hebrew: מַבְדִּ֔יל | maḇ·dîl | badal: To separate, divide, distinguish, set apart

Verses 7-8: And God made the expanse and it separated between the water that was below the expanse and the water that was above the expanse, and it was so. ⁸ And God called the expanse Heaven, and it was evening, and it was morning, a second day. (or) ⁷ God made the dome and divided the water under the dome from the water above the dome; that is how it was, ⁸ and God called the dome Sky. So there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

So, here the narrative continues and shows how He followed through with His command to make the separation and distinction of the forms of water. He includes the detail of liquid water being on the surface (being heavier) and the gaseous water being in the atmosphere (being lighter and buoyant in air). Indeed, many of the versions or interpretations call the expanse “Sky”. I see this as a confirmation of my interpretation of this passage. And He ends the passage with it being the second day of creation. 

The Third Day

Verses 9-10: ⁹ And God said, “Let the water that is beneath the heavens gather into one place, and let the dry land appear,” and it was so. ¹⁰ And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas, and God saw that it was good. (or) ⁹ God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear,” and that is how it was. ¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth, the gathering together of the water he called Seas, and God saw that it was good.

Here we have a very interesting (if truncated) description of the formation of the top layers of the Earth. First He says, “Let the water that is beneath the heavens gather into one place”. This is what we see, according to His laws governing water. Cohesion is the force of attraction of water to itself, where the positively charged hydrogen particles in one atom are attracted to the negatively charged oxygen particles in an adjacent atom, bringing them together. As we all know, two drops, when they touch, become one larger drop as they quickly merge together. And so, when the water was separated into gaseous and liquid states, the liquid remained on the surface in one place (together). 

But then, the narrative very quickly, without explanation of the time or process involved, very simply and abruptly says that He “let the dry land appear”. This is about the shortest way possible (I’d imagine) to describe the formation of the Crust Layer, with its Soil Layer on top (the dry ground), while keeping most of the water under the ground that appeared. I wish He had at least added “then” into the sentence, or maybe a second sentence. As in, “and then let the dry land appear”. But alas, it is what it is. And so, for nearly 6,000 years we have all been blind to this amazing composition of the Earth. And really it would have been more confusing for people to understand the story if He had told them about the subterranean waters that no one would have been able to know about since or before the Flood. This is because that Water Layer only lasted for a short period (1,656 years) in a time when no one could have known about it and then it was very abruptly and violently changed into the surficial oceans of today, leaving nearly no trace of its former state. 

Indeed, for me, knowing what I now know, I think that what really tripped me up on this was in verse 10 He merely says that “the gathering together of the water he called Seas”. While this matches exactly what happened and is true, it does nothing for us in explaining the complexity of the way He actually did it. He has allowed us to have the idea for nearly six thousand years that there was only the one “gathering” of the water, when later He showed one of us (yours truly and at least one other) how there were actually two gatherings of the waters, only hinted at by the somewhat cryptic and very truncated description of this part of the creation.  

I can only know this because the Lord gave me (and one other person) a vision of what the world looked like before Noah’s Flood, which occurred 1,656 years after the creation week. Even with this in-depth understanding that He gave me, I still found it a bit difficult to fully understand this passage. Please allow me a minute to explain further. 

When the Lord made the world, He made it in layers. Here they are, according to the vision that He gave to me in February of 2023:

1. Atmosphere; 2. Soil Layer; 3. Crust Bedrock Layer; 4. Water Layer; 5. Mantle

Inside the Mantle is the Core, which consists of an Outer Core and an Inner Core. 

We know that there was water on the surface (as well as water in the Water Layer—the overwhelming majority of it). In fact, verse 10 says so (“the gathering of the waters He called seas”), which means above ground. But the Bible also clearly says that there was water in the Fountains of the Great Deep, which are clearly underground.

Genesis 7:11 “When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky.”

That makes TWO places where the water existed just before Noah’s Flood occurred, so you can see how I was confused when I read it was all (seemingly) in ONE place at the creation. Okay, so all I was able to come up with for solving this apparent dilemma in my head is that the water was initially above the surface (when created and separated into the two states—gas and liquid) and then the land was made with the Crust Bedrock trapping a huge reservoir underground and a fair amount of water remaining above ground as seas, lakes, and rivers.  

And so, all I could come up with to let the Bible be true and not in conflict with itself is that it is very quickly describing a two-step process: 
     Step 1, put the liquid water (under the sky) in one place, covering the planet. 
     Step 2, bring the dry land out from it to be on top of it, trapping most of the water underground. In this process, the land had some water on top of it as “seas” (of course, rivers and lakes would have been present too), while the bulk of the water remained in the subterranean Water Layer, which is the “underground waters”. Confusing? I guess. Plausible? Sure. True? Of course. 

Peter mentions this in his second letter, when he writes, “They [scoffers] deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.”

When God gave me the vision of the pre-flood world, it included a Water Layer that existed under the Crust Bedrock, which was under the Soil Layer. Today, and since the Flood, we don’t have this condition. We have oceans that are gathered into one place. But let God be true and every man a liar. I am not lying when I say that God showed me a different composition of the Earth than what we have today. Before my vision, this verse would have been pretty straightforward with regard to the surficial oceans, while leaving the accounts of the subterranean waters an enigma. But I know that the vision is true (as confirmed by the Bible, other people, and the world as we see it). I know that there was a huge Water Layer under the ground. This is also confirmed by both verse 10 and Peter’s letter. But as I have explained, this should not be a problem if we just let the narrative of Genesis 1 be in a two-step revelation.  God put the liquid water on the surface, below the atmosphere, and then brought the Crust Bedrock out from under that, creating the deep underground Water Layer. It was at first in one place (above ground) and then separated into the two places we are told of in the Bible: above ground and below ground, “surrounding” the newly made land.   

Honestly, with full respect for the Bible’s truthfulness, I wish that the separation of the two states of water (sky and sea), and the water being gathered to one place on the surface, had been told in the account of the second day, and the account of the creation of the land, with the separation of the liquid waters, on the third day. If He had done that, I could explain the vision much more easily. Oh well. What He gave is true, but just a bit confusing now that the whole story is told. I hope that you have been able to grasp this attempt at an explanation of the formation of the two states of water and the two placements of water (above and below ground). 

Verses 11:13: ¹¹ God said, “Let the earth put forth grass, seed-producing plants, and fruit trees, each yielding its own kind of seed-bearing fruit, on the earth”; and that is how it was. ¹² The earth brought forth grass, plants each yielding its own kind of seed, and trees each producing its own kind of seed-bearing fruit; and God saw that it was good. ¹³ So there was evening, and there was morning, a third day. (or) ¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so. ¹² The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

Here we see that God is placing flora upon His new planet. All of the plant life, with its splendor and variety, is placed on the Earth on this third day of the creation. 

I believe that He placed each tree, bush, and every other plant just where He wanted it to be, making various biomes of different kinds and splendor across the entire globe. But don’t think of the globe as we see it now, with its deep oceans, broken continents, deserts, and islands. Think of a lush planet that is all one continuous landscape, unbroken by huge oceans or seas. The deep and vast oceans of today were not yet formed; that happened at the Flood in Noah’s day. And don’t imagine towering mountains like those in the Americas, Europe and Asia, such as the Rockies, Andes, Alps, and Himalayas. Neither think of plunging canyons carved into the landscape, such as: The Grand Canyon in the USA, The Colca Canyon in Peru, Fish River Canyon in Namibia, The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet and China, The Verdon Gorge in France, or the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park in Australia with the MacKenzie Falls Gorge and The Grampians Gorge.

All of those features were created during the Great Flood that reshaped the world. And whatever flora is found in or around these canyons were deposited after the Flood as well. The same is true with the soaring mountains that all have fossils of sea creatures on their peaks (take THAT, geologic column). 

No, the world, when the vast array of flora was planted by the Creator, was very different, with mild, gentle slopes and hills, lakes and seas of fresh water, no more than 200 or 400 meters (or a thousand feet) deep. 

The rivers of today were not there either. And the rivers mentioned in Genesis, chapter two are not here. Those rivers, branching off from a single, unnamed river that came from Eden, are all gone now and did not survive the Flood. 

Genesis 2:¹⁰ A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided into four streams. ¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon; it winds throughout the land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. ¹³ The name of the second river is Gichon; it winds throughout the land of Kush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is Tigris; it is the one that flows toward the east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 

It would seem that Noah, or one of his family, gave familiar names to the two rivers that they followed southward from their landing site in modern day Turkey. Those rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, form the boundaries of the land called Mesopotamia. The term comes from the ancient Greek words “mesos”, meaning “middle”, and “potamos”, meaning “river(s)”. This is where they settled after the Great Flood and began rebuilding the human civilization. If you want more information on this, read my book, This Broken Planet [Earth’s beginning and end, and its unseen Water layer] available to read for free on my website: https://GaryTheGospelGuy.com/books-by-gary-wentz/this-broken-planet-online/ Not only do I not charge for access to it, but I don’t even demand your email. 

Notice that the plants are created in “kinds’, with fruit or seed producing the same “kind” of plant. This does not follow the modern taxonomy taught in schools today. Neither does it allow for the evolutionary framework that is pushed in those institutions. No, all plants as we see them today are very much like they were when created, because the DNA of those plants does not allow for very much variation. And it certainly does not allow for one kind of plant to change into another kind. Yes, many forms of flora have been lost over the centuries since the creation, and yes, many have had some small changes allowed for the survival of the species after the Flood, but again, they all are as they were created by the Creator, by and large. 

Today, that vast menagerie of the original plants only exists as fossil fuels (coal, oil, or natural gases) or fascinating fossil imprints in the mud-turned-to-rock that captured and cooked them in the Flood. That event was very rapid and destroyed literally all land life, plus most of the sea life from the creation. Only a few plants and seeds survived to repopulate the flora of Earth. And, of course, Noah, his family, and the animals on the Ark survived. They also must have had seeds and young plants as well. 

The Fourth Day

Verses 14-19: ¹⁴ God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to divide the day from the night; let them be for signs, seasons, days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the dome of the sky to give light to the earth”; and that is how it was. ¹⁶ God made the two great lights — the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night — and the stars. ¹⁷ God put them in the dome of the sky to give light to the earth, ¹⁸ 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 So there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day. (or) ¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years. ¹⁵ And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well. ¹⁷ God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, ¹⁸ to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

Isn’t this interesting? Light was created on the first day, and now lights in the sky are created on the fourth day! Right away, this tells us that we don’t need to wait millions of light years for distant starlight to reach our planet where we can see it to mark seasons, time, or to be for signs to us—the light was already created on day one. That means that the light already existed between here and there (wherever what we are seeing in the sky is). All He had to do on the fourth day was make the connections for us. 

Now, He didn’t phrase it this way in the narrative, but He gave us minds capable of logic to figure this out. I mean, if we can suppose or surmise the speed of light, then we can certainly understand this concept, yes? This means that we don’t need to have billions of years of imaginary history (that never occurred) to make sense of the creation beyond our planet. We don’t need to have such a nonsensical framework, that fits with nothing in our observable world, to try to determine a fairytale timeline. We can just take the Creator at His word. And when we add up the clues of the Creator’s timeline given in his Word, we know that the world is just about 6,000 years old today, with another 1,000 to go. 

Obviously, verse 16 is partly describing the Sun and Moon. We know today that the Moon is actually not a genuine source of light in the strictest sense, but that it merely reflects the light given off by the Sun. We also know that those points of light in the night sky are not all the same at all. Just as the Bible tells us elsewhere, each one varies in its splendor. 

1 Corinthians 15:⁴¹ The sun has one degree of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

How did Paul know this in the first century AD/CE? God told him. This is just one more example of why the Bible is trustworthy, whether we understand it or not. Today, we know that some lights are planets, others are distant stars, and others are clusters and other magnificent displays of heavenly splendor for us to view. Paul may not have fully understood the complexity and variety of what he was describing (just as we may not now), but he was faithful in writing what he knew God was telling him. 

When you look up at the night sky and see its wonderful splendor and complexity and array of dazzling effects, know that it was put there for you to appreciate and understand that it was all put there on the same day—the fourth day of creation—just 6,000 years ago. 

As a quick note, it is possible that some of the moving objects—meteors, comets, asteroids, and the like—may have been sent into the cosmos at the explosion of our home planet in the year of the creation (anno mundi) 1656. If you want to learn more about that explosion, I cover it in the same book referred to above (This Broken Planet). 

The Fifth Day

Verses 20-23: ²⁰ God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open dome of the sky.” ²¹ God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that creeps, so that the water swarmed with all kinds of them, and there was every kind of winged bird; and God saw that it was good. ²² Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the water of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ So there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day. (or) ²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good.²² Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

From Plesiosaurs to Plankton, and Pterodactyls to Pelicans, we know that the seas and skies received a menagerie of airborne and seaborne life of all kinds, from one pole to the other. We also know that the chicken came before the egg. This abundance and variety of life all came to its new home on the very same day. Imagine the color and spectacle of these wonderful creatures hitting the scene together. 

But don’t think of the deep, cold, salty oceans of today; think of shallow, freshwater seas, lakes, and rivers dotted about the lush, green planet, freshly planted to receive them and give them nourishment. 

Sadly, we don’t have many of the birds and sea life that He made on that day anymore. Many of them died out in the flood and shortly thereafter. Fluffy dodos, terrifying archaeopteryx, and others are with us no more. I only hope that when the Lord comes back to His planet He will restore them all to us. Or if not on this world, maybe on the next one that He will make in about a thousand years from now. We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.  

Just like the plant life, notice that the birds and fish and the rest of these creatures are all made according to their own special kinds. And just as God does not allow plants to change from one kind into another, so these are locked-in to their special traits and design. 

Did birds turn into dino’s? Ha, ha, not on your life! Did the reptilian dinosaurs have feathers? LOL, that’s a good one! No way, José. So far, all life forms are formed to breed and reproduce according to their specific kinds. The funny idea of living things turning into other kinds of living things is flatly rejected by the narrative of God’s creative acts. He made them as they are now, or in some cases, very close to it. Yes, variety can emerge in various kinds; in fact, the finches onboard Noah’s Ark may have already had all of the variety that Darwin saw on the Galapagos Islands, without a single one changing in the years between disembarkation of the Ark and Darwin’s trek to the islands. God gave His creatures variety and the ability to vary even more, but always within limits set by Him that we can discern in the DNA of all life. 

The Sixth and Final Day

Verses 24-25: ²⁴ God said, “Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature — each kind of livestock, crawling animal and wild beast”; and that is how it was. ²⁵ God made each kind of wild beast, each kind of livestock and every kind of animal that crawls along the ground; and God saw that it was good.

Now we come to animals that live on the Soil Layer. They might play, hunt, and feed in the water, but their primary home is on land. Even beavers and otters that spend most of their days in the water are in this category. The other water mammals, like whales, dolphins, or other animals, like sea turtles, were created on the fifth day with the fish and birds. 

These animals created on day six are the same kinds that joined Noah and his family on the Ark when God warned him about the Flood. These animals would have had no chance of surviving that catastrophic judgment. These animals include: Insects; Snakes; small and large Mammals (wild and domestic); Reptiles; Amphibians; Dinosaurs of all kinds; and anything else that lives on land. (Of course, not in this category but also on the Ark were the birds, already created the day before.)

But like the other life forms, these are all made after their very specific kinds. They all show the creative genius of the Creator. None of these kinds changed into other kinds. They were all made on the same day, adding to the display of living earthlings. Sadly, many of these animals are now extinct from the harsh conditions of the post-flood world. 

Verses 26-27: ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves; and let them rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the animals, and over all the earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created humankind in his own image;
in the image of God he created him:
male and female he created them.

Unlike the other creatures, He didn’t make people of all kinds to fill the Earth. He only made a single mating pair of people. He made one man and one woman. They were both fully grown and capable of procreation. They are the only creatures of God’s that are for fellowship with Him. They are the only creatures who are told to rule over the rest of the life on Earth. They are the only ones said to be made in the Creator’s image. 

What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Well, there may be more to this than I can tell. But from what I can see there are a few points to make note of:

1. God is shown to be a Triune Being: Father, Son, and Spirit. 
   People have a triple nature as well: Soul, body, and spirit. 
2. God has high functioning sentience.
   People also are mentally higher than the other creatures that are known here. 
3. God is creative—including the various arts: writing, music, construction, and so on. 
   People are also creative, but not with the supreme abilities He displays. 
4. Language and complex communication skills. 
5. Mathematics, logic and other higher contemplative skills.

None of the other creatures have the abilities that we have—not even close. We were made to be a special race, with the ability to commune with Him in ways that the other animals may not even notice, much less emulate. When God came into His creation, He came as one of us. Clearly, we are made for a closer union with the Creator than any other being on Earth. 

Verses 28-31: ²⁸ God blessed them: God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth.” ²⁹ Then God said, “Here! Throughout the whole earth I am giving you as food every seed-bearing plant and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. ³⁰ And to every wild animal, bird in the air and creature crawling on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I am giving as food every kind of green plant.” And that is how it was. ³¹ God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. So there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.

And so it has been for about six thousand years now. We rule, we multiply, we eat, drink, and sleep. But the most important aspect of our being is that we have a choice: we can either accept the Creator as our God, or we can reject Him. That is a personal choice that every single person is faced with. 

What have you done with this choice? Have you accepted him as He is? Or do you try to tell Him to meet your specifications and requirements for fellowship? Will you allow Him to be above you, or will you try to rule over Him? That is the choice set before each and every one of us, as individuals. 

I’d like to challenge you to take a closer look at His Word, the Bible, in light of what I have shared here and what others have brought to the table. If you allow those who try to ignore or even rule over Him by taking Him out of the picture of creation, believing in tales made up by men (or demons), then you run the risk of hurting His infinite feelings (another way that we are made in His image) and offending Him beyond His patience or tolerance. 

I also invite you to read the book that He helped me write after receiving a vision from Him about the composition of the pre-flood world. In it we can see how the Flood of Noah was not just forty days and nights of rain, covering the tallest mountains of the world. No, no, no, it was a whole lot more than that. It actually all makes perfect sense and matches completely the world as we can observe and describe it today through science. The book, again, is called This Broken Planet [Earth’s beginning and end, and its unseen Water Layer]. I have already shared a few insights from that work here, but I highly recommend that you read it for yourself and see what else He showed me about that very impactful vision. It will not cost you a penny to read. I don’t even demand your email in return. No strings or spam attached; just the message from God (and me) to you. 

Be well as you go through this world of wonder, created by the One Who loves you more than you could possibly know. 

In Him and His love,

Gary