Genesis 1:14-19

THE FOURTH DAY

"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 heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made the 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 heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from darkness: and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day."

The heavens were created on Day 1, and this means that the sun, moon and stars were already created when this fourth day began. Thus, there is a recapitulation in Day 4 regarding the making of the sun, moon, and stars, the creation of Day 4 being the placement of them. This is a most enlightening consideration, as we shall point out in a moment. The treatment of these days as chronologically in sequence requires this understanding. Some scholars think they have the solution to the meaning of those evening and morning days in the application of them to the successive tableaux or visions by which they were revealed to the author of Genesis, instead of accepting them as a chronological blueprint of successive events in creation, but there are grave difficulties in accepting such a viewpoint.

The more reasonable interpretation, it appears to us, is that of understanding this Day 4 as a record of God's positioning celestial bodies already created on Day 1 in such a manner as to make possible the creation and sustenance of human life on earth. That such a special act of this nature is meant appears from the declaration in Genesis 1:17 that "God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth." Note that it definitely is NOT said that God made them in this statement of their utility, but that He SET them, or PLACED them. The importance of this is not offset by the fact that it is also declared here specifically that God made the sun, the moon, and the stars. This is partial recapitulation of what was revealed in Day 1, but that part must be considered parenthetical in meaning.

Based upon what the holy text says, the creative act of Day 4 was the positioning of our solar system by Divine fiat in such a manner as to provide the environment for humanity. Who could know how God did such a thing? That He did indeed do it is evident in the results. Where else in the billions of galaxies all around us in space is there another planet of suitable size, placed at suitable distance from its mother star, inclined at exactly the proper angle upon the plane of its orbit, possessing precisely the kind of satellite needed, as in the case of our moon, possessing the necessary water supply, the proper atmosphere with its delicately-balanced percentages of the component elements, performing continually the diurnal revolutions upon its own axis to give succession of day and night, and constantly moving in the annual revolutions around the sun in the plane of its own orbit, providing the seasons and marking the years? If this exceedingly complex and precise placement of the earth was not a special act of God, why is it, as far as can be determined, absolutely unique? Significantly, such things as signs, day and night, seasons, and years are categorically mentioned as the result of creation on Day 4. Therefore, we identify the placement that made all such things possible as the creative accomplishment of this day.

Of course, this is precisely the point in the sacred account that, "The average modern man parts company with Genesis."[8] He thinks it is absurd that the sun, moon, and stars came into being after the earth. And, the normal conservative answer that the sun, moon, and stars had been there all the time, obscured by the primeval mists, and that they were made visible by the creative actions of Day 4 is purely speculative and unprovable, such explanations being considered implausible by skeptics. As is always the case, skepticism and unbelief are due to ignorance. The holy record does not teach that the sun, moon, and stars were created on Day 4, but that they were SET, or PLACED, so as to achieve the necessary environment upon the earth. If God did not indeed do this, then who did? Only a fool could deny that it was done! The sacred account before us is the only intelligent answer as to the reason for our earth's existence as it is.

In the record of this day, there appears an impassable gulf separating Biblical truth from the pagan superstitions and beliefs of ancient times. In those days, men worshipped the sun, moon, and stars. "In pagan thought the divine stars controlled human destiny."[9] But in this Biblical account, the celestial bodies do not control men, they serve men. The earth, not the galaxies, appears here as the object of God's special care and providence.