Then Came the Morning
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 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. – Genesis 1:3-5
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. – Psalm 65:8, NIV
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. – Lamentations 3:22-23, NIV
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. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:1-5, NIV
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. – 2 Corinthians 4:6, NIV
“The first step in remedying the dark earth was God’s command to bring forth light…This first of three separations effectively diminishes the enveloping darkness but leaves a remnant of each “evening” of earth’s primal darkness. G. von Rad suggests that this serves as a reminder of what the earth once was before the life-giving word of God; but each morning’s new light, which again conquers our anxious nights, represents God’s first creation. The incessant “mornings” are evidence of God’s loving-kindness and faithfulness.” – Kenneth A. Matthews
Much has been made of the ‘days’ of Genesis 1. Most of the recent discussion is around how ‘easy’ it is to interpret the days as well, anything but days. All of these text acrobatics are performed with an eye to ‘helping’ the Bible’s account of origns make sense of what humans have so far ‘settled’ with our fallible methods and severely limited observations. The trouble comes of course when methods improve and observations become sharper. Molecules to man evolution seemed somewhat plausible in the 1890’s but, seems increasingly unlikely the more we learn about the matter of matter, things like DNA. Life, as it turns out, is far more complex and beautiful than we had once imagined and what separates amoeba from animals is far more insurmountable than anyone had fully understood. Even so, the primary reason why we must not compromise the plain meaning of Genesis 1 must rest on our theology more than our scientific apologetic. Why? Precisely because, without the text of Genesis 1 meaning what it would surely have meant to the original (and until 200 years ago or so) reader, we’ve a severely compromised Bible.
First off, we have a Bible which purports to be God’s self-disclosure to humanity of His redemptive work. But, we are quickly made to understand that simple, straightforward concepts like ‘day’ are far more complex than they first appear to be. Which then makes one honestly wonder, “What else can I not trust that I read in this book?” What other words which seem straightforward in meaning are in fact, not meant to mean what they mean? In other words, it would be like a person sending you a picture promising to reveal themself to you and then, sending you a completely distorted image. You would, rightly, feel like they are deceiving you (because they are). How can that be God’s way of beginning with us? I am not trying to oversimplify, I know as should you that there are many things about the God we serve which are beyond human comprehension. Even so, if the premise of self-disclosure is only pretense, our approach to the Bible and what we can ‘know’ becomes tentative at best.
A second theological reason for accepting the ‘days’ of Genesis 1 as days is tied to redemption. The Bible is clear that the sin of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3) brings death to the once only alive creation and, in particular, to humanity. In Romans 5 (as one example) the argument of Paul is that in one man, Adam, death came to all humankind. But, (praise be to God!) there is a second Adam, Jesus, who brings life to all. (see Romans 5:15-21) If we give away the days of Genesis 1, it is hard to argue that there is in anyway a representative ‘human’ or that death comes after that ‘human’s’ sin. So, either sin is that which results in death and separation from God or, death is just an evolutionary imperative. You can only have one or the other of these positions. Any splitting the difference or mixing of those two positions is a logical fallacy which defeats itself.
Third (and final for the purpose of this blog, though there are many others), theologically, the rhythms of creation and especially this idea of “there was evening and there was morning, the ___ day” is vital. Each sunrise is a testimony to God’s faithful love and His good work in the created order. He brings light to the darkness, an echo of His first creative act. He brings light to the darkness, an echo of His Son’s redemptive work. He brings light to the darkness, an echo of what His Spirit does in the lives of each son and daughter born anew. To give away the days of Genesis 1 is a great loss and an unnecessary one. For a lot more resources on the topics of creation and science, I would recommend the Answers In Genesis (AiG) website. While there are some matters on which AiG and I don’t agree (mostly in approach), they have a lot of helpful information and experts to back up their work.
Questions for further discussion/life application:
When in your story has God brought light into your darkness? Order into your chaos? Life/fruitfulness into your dead/barrenness?
Where in your life are you asking God to bring light into your darkness? Order into your chaos? Life/fruitfulness into your dead/barrenness?
What have been the means by which God has done the work of re-creating you/your life?
Blog Bonuses:
Morning Has Broken/Sing Hallelujah; Steven Curtis Chapman
All Creatures of Our God and King (Christian and Missionary Alliance Style)