Genesis 1:3-31

Notes compiled with my BSF group

Genesis 1:3–31


GOD BRINGS LIGHT INTO OUR LIVES

Genesis 1:3–5
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Psalm 18:28
God turns spiritual darkness into light.

Psalm 36:9
In God’s light we see light. That is, through God, we gain clarity of all things.

Psalm 119:105, 130
God’s Word is a light for our path. God’s Word gives us understanding.

John 1:4–8
God’s light is life. It defeats darkness. This life, this light, is Jesus.

John 3:19–21
Evil dwells in the dark. Through God, there is light. There is understanding. There is hope. There is redemption. However, those who love darkness, those who love things of this world, they are called earth-dwellers and will choose to stay in the dark so that they can continue to live selfishly according to their own will, so that they can continue to enjoy life in sin.

John 8:12
Jesus is the light of this world. Whoever follows Him will leave darkness.

2 Corinthians 4:4–6
Those who are spiritually blinded cannot see the light of the Gospel or the glory of Christ. God’s light is our way out of darkness. When we allow God’s light to shine in our hearts, we receive knowledge of His glory and of Christ.

1 Peter 2:9
We are called out of darkness to enter into God’s light.

1 John 1:7–10
When we choose to walk with God, we walk in the light with Him. We will be bonded as brothers and sisters through the blood of Jesus, and we will be clean. If, however, we refuse to admit our sin, we deceive ourselves, we call God a liar, we refuse the Truth, and the Truth has no place in our lives. 

God cannot save us if we do not want to be saved. God cannot save us if we choose to keep walking in the dark. God gave us free will so that we may choose. He does not force Himself upon us. Therefore, in order to walk in His light, we must first ask Him to come in. We must first admit that we need help. We seek His face and admit our sin and ask Him to take us out of darkness. And once we take this first step, He will do the rest. He will cleanse and purify us from all unrighteousness. He will bring us peace, because we will walk in the light with Him.


GOD'S LIGHT SEPARATES US FROM SPIRITUAL DARKNESS

Matthew 6:22–23
2 Corinthians 6:14–17
Ephesians 5:8, 11–12
Philippians 2:15
1 John 1:5–7
Revelation 21:23–27
God’s light separates us from spiritual darkness by allowing us to SEE our inadequacies. What are blind spots? Blind spots are things that we cannot readily see about ourselves. We often need other people to point them out to us so that we can change and be better. This is what God’s light does for us.

When we refuse to accept advice from people, we often end up being the only person who thinks we are amazing, while other people think we’re the worst kind of person to be around. The same thing happens when we refuse to accept God’s guidance, to accept God’s light. Without Light, we will never be able to see our spiritual blind spot. We will remain in the dark. We may think we are spiritually awesome, when in reality, we continue to head down the wrong path. The only way to know if something is "dirty" is to shine light on it.


LIGHT OF GENESIS 1:3 vs. GENESIS 1:14
The lights on the fourth day refer to the sun, the moon, and the stars The sun governs the day. The moon governs the night. The sun, moon, and stars give light on earth to govern both the day and the light, to separate light from darkness (Genesis 1:14-18).

How are these lights different from the light of Genesis 1:3? 

This is advanced teaching, and I am not completely what the difference is. Hence, read on with a HUGE grain of salt!

Many scholars believe the fall of Satan took place between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. That is, when God first made the world and the angels, everything was perfect. With their free will, however, Satan and 1/3 of the angels rebelled against God, introducing darkness and void (Genesis 1:2). To separate good from evil, God allowed His light to shine through the darkness.

Again, the above is my understanding, and I have not yet found solid evidence to support my theory. So, take it with a grain of salt.


GOD'S CREATIONS POINT US TO HIS GLORY

Psalm 8:3–4
God made the moon and the stars. What is man in comparison to God? Why does God care so much for us?

Psalm 19:1–6
The heavens declare the glory of God and the knowledge of God.

Jeremiah 8:7
Even animals know and follow the guidance of God. Yet, what about us? We have been given authority over all living things, but we behave like we do not know any better. The Israelites have turned their back on God, and today, so many of us choose to live in darkness.

Matthew 2:2
Stars point to Jesus. Jesus is the King of Jews.

Acts 2:19–20
Revelation 8:12
God is in charge of the sun, moon, and stars. He gave them light. He can take that light away just as easily.


THEORY OF EVOLUTION IS A THEORY--NOT FACT

Genesis 1:20–25
God filled the earth with water and land, creatures of the sea, birds, and living creatures on land. That is, according to the Bible, God created ALL living things. Nothing was left to chance, aka evolution.

As I stressed in my previous Genesis note, any theory, at the end of the day, is still just a theory. It is not the truth--Otherwise, we wouldn't call it a theory!

The theory of evolution is a THEORY! It is called a theory because it has NOT been proven to be correct. In fact, theories can be prove WRONG. Many theories in the past have been proven WRONG. Here's a famous example: People used to believe the sun revolved around Earth. Copernicus and Galileo both proposed that it's actually the opposite, that Earth revolves around the sun. Their theory was so controversial at the time that they were forced to hide their findings. However, modern day technology can PROVE that they were right. An old theory has been proven WRONG by FACTS. This is the ONLY way a theory can either be proven right or wrong: WITH FACTS.

Coming back to the theory of evolution, we have no technology right now to prove it right or wrong with facts. This is why this theory is still just a theory. It is not right. It is not wrong. It is just a theory. It is not a fact. Therefore, to the people who think evolution is the answer to how we all came about, I'd like to say, "Please understand what theories mean. And please, please, please, don't believe in things not substantiated with FACTS." Honestly, I don't know how much clearer I can get: Theory is just another word for "opinions," except these opinions are held by scientists. Opinions are not facts. Are we good?

What is the theory of evolution? This theory states that we all came from goo. That billions of years ago, somehow, simple life was able to form, simple life-forms like a brainless cell. And from that cell, other life-forms evolved. And ultimately, those life forms became monkeys, which then became us.

The above is an over-simplified statement, but that's the gist of the theory.

There are many problems with this theory. For one, scientists have not been able to prove how that first cell came into being. DNA, RNA, proteins -- These are all basic molecules of life. And these are not simple molecules. These are so complex, scientists have been studying them for decades and still haven't figured much of anything out. (Yes, we have made great breakthroughs. Can you imagine how much more information we still do not understand if I said these breakthroughs are only the tip of the iceberg?) And yet, evolutionary biologists wave their hands and say that by chance, all these complex processes just all happen to occur at the right place, at the right time, under all the right conditions.

Am I the only person who has a problem with this hand-waving? The same people who think it is preposterous to believe God created the world happily embrace the impossibility that this world came about just because a series of complex events all happened at the right place, at the right time, under all the right conditions? I say "impossibility" because if these people would use the SAME logic and criteria that they conclude that God is an impossibility, they would see that biological statistics would conclude this theory to be "statistically insignificant," aka a scientific conclusion that means "not important," or "impossible" in layman terms.

In fact, let me make a bold statement right here: It take more faith to believe in the theory of evolution than God.

I also want to point out a common misunderstanding. Many people think that Darwin promoted the theory of evolution. Uh, no. He did not. He promoted the theory of speciation. Simply put, speciation talks about how the same animal--say, a bird--can develop different characteristics (aka, "speciation") if given different living conditions. Darwin does not say that this bird can then go on to become a whole different animal. This bird is a bird is a bird is a bird. It may develop into a different kind of bird with a completely different set of characteristics, but the darn bird is still a bird. Darwin's theory is about speciation. Darwin's theory is NOT about evolution, nor should it be used as the basis of evolution! (Unfortunately, evolutionary biologists do. But hey, that's the nature of science, and I'm okay with that. But if they're going to go down this road, then at least remember that the whole basis of the theory is based on yet another theory. That is, the scientific assumption behind the theory of evolution is NOT a fact. And as I have mentioned in my previous post, if the assumption is not based on facts, then it can be wrong. And if it can be wrong, then the assumption itself is not a fact, and the theory itself is not a fact until that assumption can be proven to be a fact. I digress, but I hope you get my point here. Scientific conclusions are ALWAYS based on assumptions. To determine whether those conclusions are sound, we must ALWAYS understand what those assumptions are!)

Bottom line, there is very little scientific data that support the theory of evolution. There is a lot of scientific speculation and experimental models to test those speculations. But people, no matter how we spin it, this theory is not backed by FACTS.

And so, I will make my bold statements again: There are more scientific data that support that God created all animals than there are that support the theory of evolution. If we are true Truth seekers, then let us seek facts.

As science and technology advance, we have been able to prove the words of the Bible to be true more than we have been able to prove anything else. Today, it takes more faith to believe that evolution is true than it takes to believe in God.

To those who mock Christians about being so stupid that we're willing to believe in anything, ahem, let us sit down over a pot of coffee, and allow me to point out all the FACTS. And while we're at it, why don't you show me your facts, too?

To Christians who do not know how to defend our positions when faced with these mockeries, I encourage us all to studying the Bible. Match the fulfillment of prophecies with historical, archaeological, and scientific evidence. Discover the facts that support Biblical scriptures. This is an incredible journey, because not only do we have the faith that God is almighty, we will also have the FACTS to back it all up!


GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS IMAGE

Genesis 1:26–28
- Man is made in God’s image.
- Man is made in God’s likeness.
- Man rules over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
- Man is blessed by God and commanded to be fruitful and increase in number.
- Man is given control also of every seed-bearing plant earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.

Note that God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). God is referring to the Trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 1:26–27
Psalm 139:13–16
Acts 17:26–28
We are made in the image of God. We are made to resemble God. We are not like all the other animals. We are special. We are unique. WE ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD! And God has a plan for us. I’m very excited, and I want to be a part of God’s plan. I want to discover what He has in mind for me, and I am eager to accomplish His will!