Story 2: Bounding Light: The First Three Days

Genesis 1:1-13

Let’s read the first chapter of the Bible together. It is one of the most beautiful things ever written in any language, and the best part is that it is true.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Try to picture this in your mind. Everything is darkness and chaos and confusion, an abyss of nothingness. But the Spirit of the Living God began to move, hovering and gliding over the mass of chaos like the flow of wind. He moved quietly through the spaces, bringing order, forming the structure of the earth and preparing the way. He was utterly in control, crafting God’s vision of a vast creation with the skill of a master artist. He was creating the Lord’s great cosmic temple.

“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. God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness He called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day."

Close your eyes and picture that in your head. The first day of creation came with a bounding of light! God is so magnificently all-powerful that all He had to do was speak His will and light came bursting out! That must have been the best fireworks display in history! The darkness and chaos were powerless when the Words of God were uttered. The Bible says the angels watched and shouted for joy (see Job 38:1-7). The light was not a part of God, it was something separate that He created, yet it came from the perfect will of God, so it was good. The light was made to serve the Lord. With mere words, God separated the light from the dark, and then He used light and darkness to make separations of time. Light brought day, and darkness brought the night. God had created time. The Sovereign Lord’s great work of art was perfect and orderly in every way.

“And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse ‘sky.’ And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.

The LORD was creating a great, vast hall for His creatures to live in by separating the swirling waters. As He spoke, the waters shifted and turned immediately to do His perfect will. The waters below made the rolling seas, and the waters above were like a great canopy or tent that overarched the world. God was crafting the atmosphere! It was the powerful climate system that governs the weather on earth! God was the Maker and Master of it all, and so it was His right to name His craftsmanship. The LORD named the vaulted expanse the sky.

“And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground ‘land,’ and the gathered waters he called ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good.“Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation; seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the third day.

Imagine standing by and watching this with the angels. That is what the LORD is inviting us to do with these verses. We can see His mighty work in our minds as He described it through His divinely inspired author. Picture the tremendous waters that covered the whole earth. Now imagine them pulling back in huge waves as the islands and the vast continents appeared.

Wow…the land and the seas were formed. God is so majestically powerful, that all He had to do was speak and the boundaries between them were set. Then He named them because they are His, He is their Master. In fact, He still provides the energy that keeps the seas rolling. Everything in heaven and on earth belongs to Him, and He reigns over it all in perfect, holy power.

God spoke His amazing will again, and trees and plants and flowers and vines began to spring up all over the earth. Each kind of plant had its own special shape. The tall, straight pine tree with its rough bark! The wide mango tree with its broad leaves, purple tulips with their gentle petals, and the yellow brilliance of the sunflower. Each plant was wonderfully unique, and all of them bounded out of the creative mind of God. Each would make seeds that would bring new plants into the world just like them, in a never-ending cycle of growth to replenish the ground. It was pure, practical genius…in fact, it was not only practical, it was lovely. Each thing He made was meant to be a blessing of beauty and grace to the creatures of the earth.