GENESIS CHAPTER 1

CREATION # 6

The Fourth Day

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

I.   Divided into two parts.

A.     Verses 14, 15 - the command to create

B.     Verses 16, 17, 18, 19 - the acting on that command

II.   Creation of:

A.     Sun - Greater light

B.     Moon - Lesser light

C.     Stars

D.     None of these are to be worshipped, as the heathen do - Sun and Moon worshippers - Stars are worshipped through the Zodiac Deut. 17:3

III.   Purpose - Verse 14

A.     Divide day from night

1.      Before the fourth day, God made light without the sun and made the day-night interval without a physical measuring device.

2.      Now God has made a physical device and turned the source of light, heat, and measurement over to it.  God still retains control of these lights:

a.       Joshua 20:9 - God commanded the sun to stand still for about a whole day.

b.      II Kings 20:9 - Sun going backward 10 degrees in days of Hezekiah.

3.      Verse 15 - These are lights made for the benefit of the earth only.  This is the only place God made for man to dwell.

4.      Verse 16 - Greater light - (sun) - rules day - one source of light and heat.  Lesser light - (moon) - rules night - one reflector of light of sun.

B.     Signs

1.      Never for signs of Zodiac or fortune telling (planting your garden).

2.      Always to let us know a certain thing is true.

a.       Acts 28:13 - Men can get their bearings at sea.

b.      Matt. 16:3, 4 - Signs in determining the weather.

c.       Ps. 8 and 19 - signs that there is a God.

d.      Matt. 2:2 - star of Christ in the east.

e.       Signs of the end of the world.  Matt. 24:3, 24, 30; Luke 21:5, 11, 15; Rev. 15:1

C.     Seasons - Remember the lesson on the varying ages of men?

1.      Probably the seasons before the flood not as dramatic in temperature change as we have now.

2.      Think the earth shifted on its axis and caused the varying temperature changes we have now.

D.     Days - the time it takes the earth to make one complete revolution of its axis.

E.      Years - one complete revolution of the earth around the sun (From vernal equinox to vernal equinox)  (The fact of days and years as measured by God is important for without this measurement, we'd be unable to determine the length of time of prophetic events.)