Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;“
Genesis 1:14

This is when God begins to finish the expanse He started on the second day. Here is when God populates it with the stars and other celestial bodies (moons, planets, asteroids, and comets, etc) – taking the pregnant potential of the expanse and birthing it into practical usage. This is the beginning of the fourth day. LIGHT came forth on day one, vegetation and trees fed by that Light on day three, but here on day four is the beginning of PHYSICAL light sources, photosynthesis, and the orbits of celestial bodies – including the Earth around the sun and its own rotation (with the natural night/day cycle).

The celestial bodies are created for our benefit and in our service. They are NOT rulers OR guides to us. They are mere signposts to assist us in marking time and events. They are not in themselves a source of wisdom, but a clock and a billboard (Jeremiah 10:2-3; 2 Kings 20:8-9). They are TOOLS (such as for navigation) by which we fulfill the command to fill the Earth (Genesis 1:28). Putting trust in the signs of the heavens for guidance (instead of confirmation) both in the present and the future is DAMAGING to human thinking. It weakens our reliance and trust in God. It produces vain things in our hearts which chokes out our trust in His Word (Matthew 13:22). We do not learn of our futures from inanimate objects. Nor do we worship objects of His creation.

There are those that look at these verses and point to the PURPOSE and POSITION of the celestial bodies as what is the focus here. The idea is that they came into being when light was created, but it was only here that they were placed into their positions and given their purpose. I personally don’t see it that way, but it is a solid piece of reasoning. We have a tendency to view creation through the lens of our CURRENT experience. But God isn’t limited by our physics or scientific observations. He could create both a rock with no age and a rock a billion years old in the same moment, side by side. Also, we have only experienced a FALLEN creation, not a creation functioning as it was meant and designed to. Entropy and death didn’t EXIST. There is danger in assuming the way things function NOW is the way they functioned prior to the Fall. So, I have no problem taking the verses as they read (light on day one, suns on day 4), but also no problem with it the other way. Either way God both creates them and sets them into their place and purpose.

‘to mark seasons’ – this is the origin of timekeeping cycles of the Earth (Psalm 104:19): seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter. These are the cycles God pledges to Noah will continue until the end of fallen creation (Genesis 8:22). If we are experiencing them, the end is not yet upon us. Conversely, if we are experiencing them, there is still time to sow and expect a harvest (to be FRUITFUL).

‘days and years’ – This shows us that time is a natural process. It relies on the celestial bodies and their cyclical movements in set increments. Without them, time is an abstract concept with no set meaning. Perhaps this is the reason why God’s concept of time and ours differ so much. Ours is tied to a natural process, where His is not (Isaiah 9:6, 46:10; 2 Peter 3:8-9).

Up to this point of creation, there may not have been an observable, precise point dividing night and day. But with the sun, moon, and rotation/orbit of the Earth; there were visible sunsets and sunrises with stars signalling the arrival/conclusion of dusk/dawn.

The setting of the celestial bodies in consistent orbits observable from Earth enabled the determination of dates and the setting of these dates as a legal instrument on documents and contracts (covenants).