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One of the things we learn as we study the accounts of creation in Genesis is
that because the world is God ordered we have hope as we live for his glory.
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On the third day of creation after God commanded the waters under the heavens
to be gathered together in one place and the dry ground to appear, God
commanded the earth to sprout produce.
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This produce God tells us in verse 30 is to be food for every beast of the
earth, and every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the
earth, everything that has the breath of life.
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What do we find as we look upon the
produce that God created?
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First, We find that the Earth's produce
comes in three categories: vegetation or grass; herbs or plants yielding seed;
and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed.
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Second, we also find that each reproduces
according to its kind.
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Unlike assumptions of naturalists, the Bible tells us that the earth did not
produce its produce automatically, rather God ordered and it was so.
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Rocks and dirt are incapable of producing anything so complex and wondrously
beautiful as grass, herbs and trees.
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While dirt or rather rocks can grow, e.g., crystals, stalactites, and
stalagmites, however, they cannot reproduce.
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"Rocks don't rock – they sit still for a very long time. Plants rock! They
sway to the wind, they move in relationship to the sun." They can even
respond to noise and other changes in the atmosphere (Morris, Beginnings,
77-78).
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Jesus said, "Consider the lilies,
how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of these" (Luke 12:27, ESV).
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Now for the second thing we find regarding the Earth's produce: each reproduces according to its kind.
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Each according to its kind is mentioned first in verse 11 and is repeated a
total of 10 times in Genesis 1.
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God used this phrase to describe plant
reproduction on day three, then flying and water creatures on day five, and
land creatures on day six.
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God also used the phrase again seven times of the animals at the time of the
great flood of Noah's day and 13 times more in Leviticus and Deuteronomy for defining
the types of animals for sacrifice and for eating (Morris, Beginnings, 78).
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All the plants which God made on the third day contained seed, and every plant
that reproduced seed was to be "according to its kind" as also were
living creatures he created.
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Through his word, God gives us a rough but common sense understanding of basic
reproduction in plants of various types as well as animals.
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The information contained in the seed guarantees that apples produce apples
rather than oranges and roses produce roses rather than pansies or lilies.
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While we cannot be 100% certain of what the Hebrew word for kind means, because
the Bible applies the term to everything from grass to insects to all the
beasts of the earth...
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However, we can be certain that since the seed reproduces "according to
its kind" that there is no evidence of a common ancestor for all living
things as the evolutionary story goes.
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Every plant and every animal reproduces only according to its kind.
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As Jesus said, "Each tree is known
by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns bushes, nor are grapes
picked from a bramble bush" (Luke 6:44, ESV).
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No amount of evolutionary spin can change what God ordered.
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The world is God ordered, so let's live to give him glory.
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What can be observed and what can be known is that the God ordered processes of
plant and animal reproduction keep things stable.
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However, because of sin and the curse, these things are also in bondage to
decay, disease, and death.
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Plants and living creatures adapt to their environments but this ability to
adapt falls within God ordained boundaries "according to its kind."
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Now before we go ahead to consider the fifth and sixth days of creation, we
need to ask one more question.
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From God's point of view, are grasses,
herbs and trees living things?
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We have already noted, their purpose is for food.
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As God said, "everything that has
the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."
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Modern science views plants as living things, but the Bible does not.
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Neither does God describe the plants he made on the third day as living things,
nor do the Scriptures ever equate eating plants with killing. (Remember, death
only enters the picture after the Fall, Adam and Eve's sin.)
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That concept comes from atheism, humanism, materialism and the evolutionary favouritism
connected with them.
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If plants, according to the Bible, are
not alive, then what is life?
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First, only God can create life.
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The Hebrew word for create, bara,
occurs 54 times in the Hebrew Scriptures.
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Four times it's used figuratively, twice of the power of God's judgment and
twice in Joshua of the people of Israel cleaning up and clearing area to live
during the conquest.
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The remaining 50 times bara is used
is of the all-powerful Creator who creates something out of nothing "using
power and processes we know nothing about" (Morris, Beginnings, 114).
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This word is used on days one, five, and six of creation and not on days two,
three, or four.
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When the New Testament talks about creative power of God, it stresses two
things:
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A. God's Power to bring eternal life where there was before only death;
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And B. that all will worship and confess that God alone is Creator (Morris,
beginnings, 114).
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Only God can create life.
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Second, life is unique.
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The Bible uses terms for life that are never
applied to grass, herbs, or trees.
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There are two key Hebrew terms used 763 times in the Old Testament for life and
they are never used of produce (grass, herbs, trees) because plants are food.
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As complex and as beautiful as plants are their purpose is for food to sustain
and maintain living creatures and human beings.
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They are not alive as the Bible defines life.
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Third, life moves independently.
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While plants are rooted to the ground, living creatures are described four
times in Genesis 1 as moving or creeping.
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According to the Bible, living things move about independently.
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Fourth, life is in the blood (Leviticus
17:11).
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Most of the sacrificial system of the law under the Mosaic covenant required
blood sacrifice, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
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The good news of Jesus Christ rests on the foundation of his shed blood on a
cross for the forgiveness of sins. Again, without the shedding of blood there
is no forgiveness.
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Jesus died because it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to
remove sin.
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After the great flood, God told Noah not to eat blood (Genesis 9:4).
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Leviticus 17:14 states that blood sustains life and therefore the children of
Israel were commanded not to eat it.
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Deuteronomy 12:23 repeats the command to not eat blood.
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A moving creature is alive if it has blood; life is in the blood.
- Fifth, life has heart and
soul.
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The Hebrew word nephesh occurs 753
times in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament.
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It's used to describe self-awareness, refers to emotional aspects of life, and
the deepest parts which respond and cause us to keep commitments.
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E.g., Psalm 35:9, "My soul will
rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation."
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Hosea 4:8, "They eat up the sin of my people; they set their heart on their iniquity.
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However, it's translated, it never refers to plants.
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Sixth, life has breath or spirit.
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The Hebrew term ruwach occurs 389
times in the Old Testament.
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In Genesis 1 it's used in verse 30 of the creatures to which God has given
every green plant for food.
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It's used in the lead up to the flood describing God's intention to destroy
everything that is on Earth, i.e., all flesh in which is the breath of life (Genesis 6:17); and of
the animals that would be saved, Genesis 7:15; and again in verse 22 of the destruction
of those who remained behind.
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The term is also used figuratively referring to the human spirit in the Psalms,
Proverbs, and Prophets.
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Lastly, it's used when referring to the mind, as God said through the prophet,
"For I know the things that come into your mind." (Ezekiel 11:5)
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Life is breath or spirit. Life has heart and soul. Life is in the blood. Life
moves independently. Life is unique. Only God can create life.
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The world is God ordered, so let's live to give him glory.
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It's on days five and six of creation week that we are introduced to life.
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This life did not develop over vast periods of deep time, rather God said, "Let the waters swarm... Let birds
fly... Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds… And
it was so."
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Any kind of imposed random purposelessness falls terribly short of explaining
the incredible diversity of living creatures which swim the waters, fly through
the air, and walk the earth.
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The Bible makes it plain that God made produce to reproduce according to its
kind for the sustenance of all living creatures, and that God created all
living creatures to reproduce according to its kind.
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God's word makes it obvious that the power to adapt does not come from natural
selection because nature doesn't do the selecting, rather God ordered each
plant and living creature with the power to adapt from the beginning.
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All plants and animals reproduce according to their own kind as God ordered.
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The world is God ordered, so let's live to give him glory.
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As the apostle Paul wrote, "For what
can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For
his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things
that have been made. So they are without excuse" (Romans 1:19-20, ESV).
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That the world is God ordered is obvious.
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We can see it in everything God made; his power can be seen wherever we look,
so we have no excuse for not knowing God.
- The world is God ordered, so
let's live to give him glory.
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