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Post by rickymiller on Nov 30, 2008 16:16:34 GMT -5
when God made light and dark on the first day, what does He mean by this. Was he creating time . I know that on the fourth day God made the sun . thanks for your help.
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Post by Mike Miller on Dec 1, 2008 11:58:46 GMT -5
Great question! Of course, there isn't an easy answer. God created light on the first day, but it wasn't until the fourth day that God seems to make the sun, moon, and stars. So, where did the light on days 1-3 come from? Clearly, there was morning and evening on the first 3 days. And, how could the plants survive without sunlight? Here are the three most common explanations:
1) God created the sun, moon, and stars on day one, but they either did not shine, or the light was blocked initially. The problems with that explanation are that the plants needed light, light was created on day 1, and there was morning and evening. In my opinion, this is the weakest explanation.
2) The light for the first 3 days was not from the sun, moon, and stars (which were created on day 4), but it was the light of the Lord. This is the source of light we will experience for eterntity. See Revelation 22:5. This is a possibility, but it leaves the question as to whether there was no light of the Lord before that time, or if God simply did not shine His light on the earth before then.
3) This last answer is a little more complicated, but I tend to lean that direction (though not dogmatically). There are three "let there be" statements in Genesis one: verses 3, 6, and 14. However, in Hebrew, verse 14 is a different linguistic construction. Literally, a plain sense interpretation of verse 14 is "Let the lights in the expanse of the heavens be to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years . . . ." In other words, perhaps the sun, moon, and stars were created on the first day, but on the fourth day, they were given purpose. This might not make much sense to us as 21st century Americans, to the ancient Hebrew it could have been perfectly clear. This explanation would also tie in with verse 16, which is the same kind of purpose construction.
This is definitely one of those conundrums for us (but not for God), and we each have to come to our own conclusion. Sorry I can't give you a simple answer. There doesn't seem to be one.
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