Recap day 2
From our last study, we discovered that day 2 basically stresses the point that was made on day one, that there are two roads to choose from, and each being/creature including those in heavens must choose one. Just by deduction alone, we can discern that this point is of very great importance since it is stated on day 1 and then repeated on day 2.
For our study today we shall be looking at day 3 of creation and what application if any can be made.
Let us pray
First look at what physically happened
As we always do, it is important to establish the interpretation before we go on to make application.
Q. So, what really happened on day 3; i.e. in the third 24 hour period of creation?
A. God created land out of the water. He names the dry land Earth, which fulfills the definition of the term used in Gen1:1, He also names the seas.
He then tells the Earth to bring forth grass and trees which can replenish themselves.
Am I right or did I miss something? Iron sharpens iron. Please tell me if I missed something
What principles are being established?
If we have not discerned this by now, division is a very important principle that God wants us to understand. Again we see it here being presented on day 3. However on this day the lesson is laid to rest. As we will soon see the other 2 previous days were just a precursor to the grand/pivotal/pinnacle lesson of separation that is taught on this day.
Why was separation necessary?
We already covered the subject and reason for the separation in the 2 previous days, however since it is revisited here, we will revisit it. This must be done if we are going to do this study and do it right.
The separation lesson
God calls forth the land from water, which is an advanced lesson of separation. He could have just said let he dry land appear. But he does something significant before he creates the Land. He separates or gathers the waters together before creating the land. This is something similar to what was done on day 2 in the creation of the firmament. He is about to make something, but before he does, he makes the space for it.
The most logical reason for separation is purpose. You don’t separate something from something unless the thing which has been separated has a specific purpose to fulfill. In other words if I have some money and take out $50 and set it aside, it means that that $50 has a significant purpose. Whether it is my emergency money, my tithe my offering my clothes money etc. it matters not. But the money has been separated for a specific purpose.
Looking back at this, the obvious question to ask is, “Why did God separate the land from the water?”
But the answer is not clear until God makes the declaration that the land should bring forth herbs, shrubs fruit trees etc that have the ability to replenish themselves.
Now question to the church, so far God usually does one thing and then that is the task for the day. On this the third day of creation however, after what he does, is described as good, He then goes on to do something else.
This tells me that what has been done brings ones lesson to a close and opens up a second lesson.
What is Bro Greenland talking about? Here we come a pivotal point. Where we need to clarify…
What is Bro Greenland talking about? Here we come a pivotal point. Where we need to clarify…
“Why did God command the Land to bring forth and not the sea?”
You know that saying “Hind sight is 20/20,” it’s true. Looking back at it now the questions to ask are obvious, but at the onset during the time I was in the process of working on this study the questions were not clear to me, at all.
Questions
I asked many questions but they were mostly dead end questions or simply questions that I had no way of finding out. Some of the questions I asked were:
Where was this place that the waters were to be gathered together and why were they to be gathered there?
Although these questions, (Why was the Earth commanded to bring forth and not the sea? What is the significance of either bringing forth?), helped me understand other things, these were not the right questions to ask either for the grand lesson of the day.
During this study we shall briefly look at what I found to be the answers to these questions.
Truth
The Holy Spirit reveals truth; that is His particular duty. However he will only reveal it to those who are sincerely seeking it. Math 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
As a result in order for the scriptures to reveal precious truth to us, (our mind must become as a little child) and learn how to ask the scripture questions. Truth can only be discerned when the correct questions are asked. Otherwise we can go on a search for truth and come up with nothing but lies and falsities, especially if the Holy Spirit is not leading.
As a rule of thumb, when doing a bible study, a search must be conducted for Christ. John14:6 I am the truth If Christ is not in the study then it is indeed a pointless study.
Let us continue
Application
It is difficult to make sense of the separation lesson being mentioned here, unless we make applications from our last studies. The creation study is a progressive study. Each day reveals some truth that is important to a truth that is to be revealed in progressive days.
From our last study we established that the water represents peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. (rev 17:15).
Consequently the fact that the Land is introduced as the divisor here is significant. This means that the land is the median or connector between these peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
The principle has been established in the other two days; but it has been here revisited.
Jesus is again being introduced as mediator between two type of beings.
Do we see it? He was previously introduced as the mediator between the nation of darkness and the nation of light on day 1. On day 2, He is introduced again as the mediator between the waters which represent different types of beings and on day 3 is being introduced as the mediator between two types of waters representing two types of creatures/beings..
Do we see it? He was previously introduced as the mediator between the nation of darkness and the nation of light on day 1. On day 2, He is introduced again as the mediator between the waters which represent different types of beings and on day 3 is being introduced as the mediator between two types of waters representing two types of creatures/beings..
Nations/Beings
I know that some of you might have questions about this.
So I am going to spend a little time clearing this up.
I pray that the Holy Spirit may open your understanding, so that you may see things as I have seen them.
Who are these beings?
Let me first start out by saying that at the completion of the creation (pre-sin) of the Earth there were two groups of beings. We can confirm this by looking at
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
As diverse in rank and form as these other beings were that pre-dated Man, they were simply symbolized by one object, ‘water’ on day 1, 2 and 3 of creation, or as Job puts it as ‘Stars’.
I know that some of you might be saying that I have misapplied rev 17:15, so I will use another text that proves that these heavenly beings have been referred to as nations before in Scripture.
Turn with me to
Ezekiel 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Context tells us that the ‘nations’ here mentioned are not human beings. Since human beings were not yet created at the time of Lucifer’s fall.
I hope this is clear. There are other texts which can be used justify this but since this is not the focus of our study I hope you will accept this by faith if it is not clear.
The two groups become 4
After sin these two groups would become four.
All did not chose the same side. AS light is opposed to darkness, so it was that some from the two groups chose opposing side.
Now you would have Son/Man fighting against Son/Man and Star/angel against Star/Angel.
The fact that these groups were against each other was by design. How do we know this? When we read Gen 3:15 we are told that it was God who put the war/enmity/hatred that existed between the seeds.
If Christ represents the connector/mediator between the waters, then he officiates between the two groups of angels first. So the matter is settled in heaven first. (Rev 12:12) At a later time, he acts as the mediator for man and man.
Christ is the answer to all the problems, both in heaven and on Earth. Eph 3:8-11
8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery,which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(eph1:10)
10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
A different type of being
Now that we understand this, we can now look at a secondary application of the Land. i.e. The land does not only act as a median/divisor alone. Since the land was taken out of the water, it therefore follows that this is something totally different from what has been the norm.
Do you notice that separation takes place at different stages? In other words, the separation on day 1 is different from the separation on day 2 which is different from that on day 1 and 3. This is deliberate. All these separations were pointing to the creation of a new order of beings.
Application
The creation of this new being is now being made manifest as we consider that the land is given instructions to bring forth.
Now is made manifest our scripture in Rom 1:20. God is revealing something about himself and about his style of government.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
We have already established that the water represents the other angelic beings (24 elders, 4 beasts etc), and they were not given instructions to do what the land is now given; i.e. to bring forth, in such a way that they could replenish themselves.
We often hear that man is a special creature, here is one indication in scripture that tels us why they are different. The Earth/land represented a new being (man), and the seas represented the other heavenly beings. Here we see the implication that the other created beings no matter how majestic, were not allowed to procreate.
We are told that Lucifer could not blow breath, or create right? Here is the implication of that.
The being, Man, that God was about to create was to be a being of an entirely different nature, they were going to have significantly different inherent features. This being/man was going to have seed in itself and could, therefore, reproduce itself perpetually, or until a number deemed by God was met.
Remember the land was not unlimited. Although it was large there was a limit to it.
Indulge me for a little
This is a side note, but I think it is worth mentioning. In my estimation, this is why we should not partake of seedless fruits. BY doing this we are going against nature and partaking of something that God did no ordain; thereby tampering with the prophecy that was ordained at creation.
What am I talking about?
Something you should know about God and scripture. A lot of the stories in scriptures are types.
Let me make mention of a major one.
When Moses struck the rock a second time, it was a sin, not only because God had told him to speak to the Rock, but because Jesus represented the Rock, and He/Jesus would not be stricken down twice.
In the same way that Moses having struck the rock twice messed with the prophecy that Christ the rock was only to be smitten once. We by partaking of seedless fruit messes with the prophecy that man was to bring forth.
Again this is just my take on it.
A different order of beings
We know that Man was created in the image and likeness of God, but we often have a hard time explaining this.
Gen1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
In more ways than one, was this new creature (man) supposed to reflect His creator. Yes, he wold bear the image and likeness of his creator and have a dominion to rule, just like his God did, but he would also have life within himself.
By these attributes, this creature would display the character and behavioral traits of God like no other being could.
Had man not sinned and totally benefitted from the special education that he was to receive in the garden, man would even have the mind of God (think like His creator).
This is hinted at in Gen2:19.
19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
We are told that in naming those animals Adam gave the very names that God Himself had thought to give them. Adam had begun to reflect the likeness of his creator by think like Him. Adam was to receive all his education directly from God and by this, his thoughts would reflect the thoughts of God. He would have had been trained to think like God. Because he would have been in total subjection to the divine will of God, he would have been trained to emit not only the Glory of God but, even his thoughts would have been trained to emit the thoughts of God.
This is what (eph3:19) is talking about.
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Praise the Lord Jesus, the second Adam accomplished this while on Earth even though sin had had a run of about 4000 years.
Disclaimer
I am not saying that the man was thinking on the level of God, neither was he suppose to receive worship or possessed omnipotence, omnipresence or omniscience; but within the atmosphere that he was placed he was operating like God. Therefore explaining what things were not clear to the angels.
Rom 1:20, 1 Cor 4:9
A calling out
The fact that God separates this creature for a special purpose is not only found in the beginning, as you can imagine we can see the exact application further on in scripture. We see the calling out of Noah amidst his generation; the calling out of Abraham from his, the calling out of Israel as a nation out of Egypt and many, many more.
What we know
Before the redemption process man was created as a being that enjoyed open communion with the heavenly beings. (job 38) However, after the redemption process, we are drawn back to God to a position higher than we were before.
Slide –text
To make this point more forcefully we have to go to Gal 4:1-7 & Hebrews 1:5-9
Gal 4:1-7
4 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Hebrews 1:5-9
1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
1:8 But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom.
1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Slide –text
Hebrews 2:5-11
2:5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
2:6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
2:8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing [that is] not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
2:10 For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
2:11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified [are] all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Slide –text
Gal 4:7
4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Appeal
I don’t know about you but to see that all this was laid down as a part of the foundation of the Earth is not only mind-boggling, but it is also so reassuring. This tells me that to save man was not an afterthought. God had it in mind l-o-n-g before and he has revealed to us the very way in which he was going to do it.
Why should we reject or neglect to give enough attention to a plan that was so meticulously put together for us?
Slide –text
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession.
4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.
4:16 Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Now that we understand this, we can now look at a secondary application of the Land. i.e. The land does not only act as a median/divisor alone. Since the land was taken out of the water, it therefore follows that this is something totally different from what has been the norm.
Do you notice that separation takes place at different stages? In other words, the separation on day 1 is different from the separation on day 2 which is different from that on day 1 and 3. This is deliberate. All these separations were pointing to the creation of a new order of beings.
Application
The creation of this new being is now being made manifest as we consider that the land is given instructions to bring forth.
Now is made manifest our scripture in Rom 1:20. God is revealing something about himself and about his style of government.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
We have already established that the water represents the other angelic beings (24 elders, 4 beasts etc), and they were not given instructions to do what the land is now given; i.e. to bring forth, in such a way that they could replenish themselves.
We often hear that man is a special creature, here is one indication in scripture that tels us why they are different. The Earth/land represented a new being (man), and the seas represented the other heavenly beings. Here we see the implication that the other created beings no matter how majestic, were not allowed to procreate.
We are told that Lucifer could not blow breath, or create right? Here is the implication of that.
The being, Man, that God was about to create was to be a being of an entirely different nature, they were going to have significantly different inherent features. This being/man was going to have seed in itself and could, therefore, reproduce itself perpetually, or until a number deemed by God was met.
Remember the land was not unlimited. Although it was large there was a limit to it.
Indulge me for a little
This is a side note, but I think it is worth mentioning. In my estimation, this is why we should not partake of seedless fruits. BY doing this we are going against nature and partaking of something that God did no ordain; thereby tampering with the prophecy that was ordained at creation.
What am I talking about?
Something you should know about God and scripture. A lot of the stories in scriptures are types.
Let me make mention of a major one.
When Moses struck the rock a second time, it was a sin, not only because God had told him to speak to the Rock, but because Jesus represented the Rock, and He/Jesus would not be stricken down twice.
In the same way that Moses having struck the rock twice messed with the prophecy that Christ the rock was only to be smitten once. We by partaking of seedless fruit messes with the prophecy that man was to bring forth.
Again this is just my take on it.
A different order of beings
We know that Man was created in the image and likeness of God, but we often have a hard time explaining this.
Gen1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
In more ways than one, was this new creature (man) supposed to reflect His creator. Yes, he wold bear the image and likeness of his creator and have a dominion to rule, just like his God did, but he would also have life within himself.
By these attributes, this creature would display the character and behavioral traits of God like no other being could.
Had man not sinned and totally benefitted from the special education that he was to receive in the garden, man would even have the mind of God (think like His creator).
This is hinted at in Gen2:19.
19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
We are told that in naming those animals Adam gave the very names that God Himself had thought to give them. Adam had begun to reflect the likeness of his creator by think like Him. Adam was to receive all his education directly from God and by this, his thoughts would reflect the thoughts of God. He would have had been trained to think like God. Because he would have been in total subjection to the divine will of God, he would have been trained to emit not only the Glory of God but, even his thoughts would have been trained to emit the thoughts of God.
This is what (eph3:19) is talking about.
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Praise the Lord Jesus, the second Adam accomplished this while on Earth even though sin had had a run of about 4000 years.
Disclaimer
I am not saying that the man was thinking on the level of God, neither was he suppose to receive worship or possessed omnipotence, omnipresence or omniscience; but within the atmosphere that he was placed he was operating like God. Therefore explaining what things were not clear to the angels.
Rom 1:20, 1 Cor 4:9
A calling out
The fact that God separates this creature for a special purpose is not only found in the beginning, as you can imagine we can see the exact application further on in scripture. We see the calling out of Noah amidst his generation; the calling out of Abraham from his, the calling out of Israel as a nation out of Egypt and many, many more.
What we know
Before the redemption process man was created as a being that enjoyed open communion with the heavenly beings. (job 38) However, after the redemption process, we are drawn back to God to a position higher than we were before.
Slide –text
To make this point more forcefully we have to go to Gal 4:1-7 & Hebrews 1:5-9
Gal 4:1-7
4 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Hebrews 1:5-9
1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
1:8 But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom.
1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Slide –text
Hebrews 2:5-11
2:5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
2:6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
2:8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing [that is] not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
2:10 For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
2:11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified [are] all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Slide –text
Gal 4:7
4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Appeal
I don’t know about you but to see that all this was laid down as a part of the foundation of the Earth is not only mind-boggling, but it is also so reassuring. This tells me that to save man was not an afterthought. God had it in mind l-o-n-g before and he has revealed to us the very way in which he was going to do it.
Why should we reject or neglect to give enough attention to a plan that was so meticulously put together for us?
Slide –text
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession.
4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.
4:16 Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
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