Genesis 1:14-15 (NKJV)
When we studied Genesis 1:3-5 we learned that the world was in complete darkness and God made light. While scientists have theories about creation, we don’t know with certainty how long each day lasted. In my mind, that doesn’t matter. Whether God created light in one day or one day represents a million years is of no consequence theologically. What does matter theologically is that God created.
In addition to how long it took, it doesn’t really matter how God’s ACT of creating looked. Once again, in my mind God created. It doesn’t matter how. What does matter is that God created.
On day one when God created light and separated the light from the dark, that was an essential element (part) of creation. According to the attached reference below, “per the "Big Bang Theory," (it) actually supports this order of light, then stars. According to that model, the universe was filled with photons—light particles—long before there were stars or planets.” (https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/1/Genesis-1-14.html).
Some scientists agree that it was important that there was an order of creating light, then stars (as far as timing.) While this is just one theory and reference, it does back up the order of creation.
In Genesis 1:14-15, “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.”
On day one, God created light and separated it from dark. This referred light in general.
On day four God created in the firmament, lesser lights and two greater lights.
So, why the repetition? Theologians have done studies that help us understand why there are repeating patterns in the first six days. Creation days 1, 2, and 3 correspond to creation days 4, 5, and 6. On day one God created light, general light, and on day 4 God specifically created lights when he created stars in the sky and then the sun and the moon. In today’s scripture we read in Genesis 1:14-15, God created the lesser lights, or the stars.(https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/1/Genesis-1-14.html)
We know today that the stars are a greater distance away from earth than the two greater lights, the Sun and the Moon. Once again, the order seems to make sense. The lesser lights as they appear to us from earth are far far away from earth. We know today the stars are not actually lesser or smaller, they ‘look’ lesser or smaller to earth because they are a greater distance away from earth.
I have not studied astronomy, but I am intrigued that God created patterns with the stars. I have friends who are practical astronomers who study those star patterns and understand the seasons and the timing of the star patterns in various locations. I am fascinated by how God created the lights to guide us.
“As our Earth whirls through space around the sun, its motions cause night and day, the four seasons and the passage of the years. If we were to synchronize our clocks using the motions of the stars as a reference, we would discover that the Earth completes a single turn on its axis not in 24 hours, but actually four minutes shy of that oft-quoted figure: 23 hours 56 minutes. As a result, the stars appear to rise, cross the sky, and set four minutes earlier each night. This amounts to a whole hour earlier in 15 days and two hours earlier in 30 days. A little quick arithmetic shows that with a difference of two hours per month, that in one year the cycle will come full circle (12 months times two hours equals 24 hours), since each star completes a full circle around the sky during the course of one year” (https://www.space.com/10821-night-sky-changing-seasons.html).
The intricate placement, the patterns and constellations, the ever-changing movement, the seasonal changes, and the impact on earth were all set in motion on day four.
The lesser lights have specific movement and time that impact the seasons (as I understand it) by the movement of the stars.
The Sun and Moon also have specific time and movement that has its own nuances (which we will cover in the next lesson).
For our purposes as we consider the lesser lights we begin to understand why God created this specific order: lights, lesser lights, then specific lights.
Whether you are an astronomer, a serious star gazer, or like me, fascinated that God created the stars with great care and order to impact the seasons and time, we can all be thankful for the order and plan in our universe!
God truly created miracle after miracle! He created a great universe AND He created you!
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: consider the stars
Spend time throughout your day thinking about the miracle of the stars. Remember that God created the stars with a specific plan in mind for the universe, the earth, and you. Know that YOU are more important to God than all the elements He created. After all, He created them with you in mind. Thank God for the stars. Thank God for creating you.
In Jesus, Deborah
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