Genesis Post 6 - Days 3 and 4 (Chapter 1)

On day two, we saw that the LORD separated the waters - above and below.  Now, on day three, He continues dealing with the water and adds in something else:  land.

On day three, the LORD gathered the waters together in one place, and He caused the dry and to appear.  And God saw that it was good!  (Remember, day two was not called good by God).

I want to interject a small science moment here: It is likely that the dry land was all one continent at creation.  Any kindergardener today can look at a globe and see that the pieces had at one time fit together.  The book of Genesis will soon give us a clue on how it gets broken up.

The LORD then continues with creation on day three, with the first appearance of life!  He speaks and commands the earth to bring forth grass, and the various plants and trees that would yield seeds and fruits, each according to its kind.

And so it happened.  Apple trees beget apple trees, peach trees beget peach trees, and so forth.  The plants were ready to go, ready to reproduce, and they did not evolve from swamp scum.

And once again on day three, God saw that it was good.

In Judaism, day three is called the day of double blessing, because it completes the work of day two, which was not called good on its own.  But twice, the LORD calls day three good.

It is interesting to note that throughout history, many Jewish weddings took place on the third day, the day of double blessing. This is still very common in Israel today.  And since the Biblical day begins at sundown, that translates to Monday night on our Roman calendar.   It can seem strange to stumble onto a big, expensive wedding at a Jerusalem hotel on a Monday night.   I wonder if the wedding at Cana, the place of Yeshua's first miracle, was on the third day?

So anyway, plant life is now established on day three, but the vegetation will not grow and thrive without light. So what comes next is day four.  Since this has been a short post so far, I will just keep going today.

On day four, we see the introduction of the sun, moon, and stars.  The LORD said they are for signs, for seasons, for days, and for years.  (The narrative doesn't even mention that the sunlight is needed for the plants of the day before; I guess that's just a given).

I want to focus on the first two purposes of the heavenly lights:  signs and seasons, because days and years are pretty self-explanatory.

The word for signs is ot, which means a distinguishing mark, a miraculous sign, a remembrance, an omen, or a warning.  We are just coming off a time of blood moons and a significant solar eclipse in the last two years.  I cannot tell you exactly what they mean, but I do believe they are a sign of things that are taking place and that are soon to come.  These signs have shown up all through history, too.  Even the gospels start out with wise men who studied these things and were led to the baby Messiah.

Recent phenomena in the skies

The second purpose is seasons, which isn't the best translation, because the LORD is not talking about summer and winter here.  The word is mo'ed, which means appointed times.  It is the same term that is used for the Biblical feasts of the Lord, which are His appointed times.  These appointed times are peppered throughout the scriptures, but can be seen all together in Leviticus 23.  All of these appointed times point to Yeshua the Messiah in some way or another.

The appointed times of spring - Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Shavuot were all fulfilled to the exact detail by the first coming of the Messiah.  Given this pattern, we can fully expect that He will fulfill every detail of the fall appointed times - Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles - with His second coming.  (Did you count those?  Seven altogether).

I need to say something about the number seven, a number on which I often elaborate.  The other day, some neighbor children and their moms came over to  my house for a play date.  One of the young girls told me she had a dream about me.  She dreamed that someone was at my door, and when I went to answer it, it was the number 7!  And she said the number kept coming back;  I was getting visits from number 7 after number 7.  This girl is nine years old.  She had no way of knowing how significant I find that number to be, and that I write about it often.

Even Disney acknowledges the number seven!

Recently, I discovered that if you count up the Biblical appointed times that are listed in Leviticus 23, you will find that there are 70 of them in a given year.  Fifty two sabbaths, eight days of Passover (Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits are included in those eight days), one day of Shavuot (Pentecost), one day of Yom Teruah, one day of Yom Kippur, seven days of Sukkot (Tabernacles).  Go ahead, count them up.  70.  It's like that number 7 that came to my door in my neighbor's dream, ten times!!

The timing of His appointed times fully depends on the sun and the moon.  The twelve constellations have historically told God's story, which is why the wise men coming from the east, who were probably biblical astrologers, knew when and where to look for the Messiah. Of course, the "zodiac" was corrupted by the devil, changing the focus of God's story to man's story.  In other words, don't be reading your horoscope in the newspaper.  Rather, learn about the appointed times and their significance to the world, especially the ones that are soon to be fulfilled when the Messiah returns!

So there was evening and morning, and day four was complete.  And God saw that it was good.

And as I wrote just a couple posts ago (but it bears repeating), the sun and the moon demonstrate that sun gives off light, but the moon has no light of its own and can only reflect the light of the sun.  So it is with us: we have no light of our own, but can only reflect the light of the Son.

Shine His light today!

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