Creation - Day Three - Earth and Seas

And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let 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 various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed 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. ~Genesis 1:9-13

After the process of separating the waters from the waters and the water from the sky, God used the third day of creation to separate the land and the seas. Next He commanded the earth to bring forth vegetation. Again, as with all the other days of creation, God spoke and the elements obeyed. And once again, the result was good and pleasing, worthy of God's divine approval. Let's dig a little deeper; first, by reading about this day of creation from God's perspective.

"Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no father; here is where your proud waves halt?'" ~Job 38:8-11

Water Gathered To One Place The image here is of a heaping up of the waters and containing them by creating a boundary (Psalms 33:7; 95:5; 104:7-9; 136:6; Proverbs 8:29; Jeremiah 5:22). I can't help but think of the exodus from Egypt where the waters of the Red Sea stood up on both sides to provide dry ground for the Israelites to cross over (Exodus 14:21-22).



If you've ever been caught in an undertow, you're aware of the power of waves. On a college band trip, we visited the north shore of Oahu. We happened to be there on a day when they weren't allowing surfers out because a storm at sea was causing a dangerous undertow. The water literally stood up at times and then crashed against large lava rocks, which were affectionately named by locals as "the meat-grinder." 



But waves are no match for the voice of the One who spoke them into being. Remember what the disciples said about Jesus calming the storm? "...Even the winds and the waves obey Him..." (Matthew 8:27)



God Names the Earth and Waters God once more names the distinct parts of His creation as He did on day one and two. He names the "land" (or Earth in some translations) and the "seas." As mentioned before, this shows His Lordship and Sovereignty. So far He has named day, night, and sky. After naming the lands and the sea, God doesn't specifically name any of the rest of His creation, but gives that privilege to Adam (Genesis 2:19).



And God Saw That It Was Good As I meditated on this verse, I thought of the closest possible parallel we humans have with the awe and wonder of God's creation--the small part we play in bringing new life into the earth. The first time I looked at my babies after they were born, I felt powerful love, pride, pleasure, satisfaction, and delight well up inside me. I have no doubt that God must have experienced the same thing, and declared His work to be "good"--not only His stamp of approval or inspection sticker, but His joy and delight.



Produce While this isn't earth-shattering, as a writer I love the imagery the New Living Translation uses. Instead of "produce," which sounds rather clinical, the NLT uses "burst forth." If you've viewed fruit trees in the spring, this is exactly what happens (though I'm sure it happened on a much grander scale at creation). One day you have blossoms and seemingly overnight, the fruit appears to have "burst forth."



If you've ever watched a nature show where they speed up a film of plant life, this "bursting forth" is exactly what seems to happen.



According To Their Kinds Again, I'm overwhelmed by the order in God's creation. He created them to produce according to their kinds.



As my family and I celebrated our weekly Sabbath feast and partook of an abundance of foods, I thought about the variety we find in plants available for us to eat--and all we had were mixed vegetables, potatoes, pineapple, strawberries, bananas, oranges, carrots, celery, olives and pickles! That might sound like a lot--and it is--but that's just a thimble-full of the vegetation God has created around the world.



To overlook the importance of seed-bearing plants and fruit trees is to neglect a very crucial part of God's creation. With this one act comes the promise of continuing life and food.



Seed-Bearing Plants and Fruit-Bearing Trees As a gardener (from a long line of farmers and gardeners), I see so many correlations between plant life and our lives--from the merely physical to the spiritual and inner life of mankind. Jesus used plants as the focus of many teachings (mustard seed, wheat that must die to produce, wheat and tares, God clothing the lilies of the field, etc.) On this third day of creation, God distinguishes between the plants (literally, small plants) and the trees, which of course were larger. But both plants and trees produced their own seed, which guaranteed a constant provision of food. The picture is of a loving Creator creating in advance for the remainder of His creation all they would need to be sustained. (See also Psalm 104:14)



Day The Hebrew word for day is "yom," and is the fifth most frequently used word in the Old Testament (according to the Holman Bible Dictionary). There are pretty strong disagreements among Bible scholars about whether these "days" were literal twenty-four hour time periods or simply a set period of time that could have involved hundreds or even thousands of years. 



First of all, I think it's important to remember that God is not constrained by time as we humans are. Instead, He is separate from time and can see all of it at once. Here are a few quotes of various study guides that I used:



"Every time in the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) the word "day" used with a number means an actual solar day or 24 hours." (This came from a note I had written in the margin of my Bible; sorry, I don't have the source of the quote.)



"If the days of creation are regulated by the recurring interchange of light and darkness, they must be regarded not as periods of time of incalculable duration, of years or thousands of years, but as simple earthly days." (Unger Bible Dictionary)



My humble opinion is that it could have happened either way. Our God is all-powerful and more than capable of bringing all of creation together in six literal days. However, there are several places in the Bible where a number is used in a more figurative sense, as in "...with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8) and the "time, times, and half a time" used in Daniel 7:25.



So I see this disagreement as a senseless argument that only brings division to the body of Christ, and therefore a subject to be avoided.



Application/Questions

1. What especially produces a sense of awe and gratitude in you from this passage of study?



2. Have you ever stepped back from something that you had a part it and viewed it with delight and joy? What? How do you think that compares with what God felt at  the end of each day of creation?





3. Have you ever been at a place where you were overwhelmed with the magnitude or variety in God's creation? Please feel free to share the experience and how it affected you in the comments below.



Closing Thoughts

The following quote from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible seemed like an apt way to end today's study:



"The earth was emptiness, but by a word spoken, it became full of God's riches, and His they are still. Though the use of them is allowed to man, they are from God, and to His service and honour they must be used. The earth, at His command, brings forth grass, herbs, and fruits. God must have the glory of all the benefit we receive from the produce of the earth."



Dear Father,



Thank You seems so inadequate to express our gratitude for providing for our sustenance before human life ever came to be. And what variety! More than just giving us enough to get by, You provide in abundance. Lord, open our eyes to see Your abundance--Your love--which is demonstrated all around us on a daily basis. And may our response be one of gratitude and praise, of giving back to You the life You created for your pleasure.



Amen