The Beginning of Creation

The day is formed by the rotation of the earth on its axis. Each complete rotation constitutes a day, which for convenience is divided into twenty-four portions called "hours." If the sun were to become a body of darkness, the day would still have the same duration as now. Therefore, there were days before the sun was created. The earth began to rotate as soon as it was created; each rotation makes one day; and during the fourth rotation (the fourth day) the sun was made to be a bearer of light. The sun does not make the day; it simply governs it. Due to rotation and the fact that the Earth's surface is not flat, the planet is exposed in parts to sunlight and with different intensity; while one part experiences daytime, the other experiences nighttime. Because of this, different time zones exist simultaneously in different parts of the world. While your children are sleeping, others are wide awake — it all depends on where they are located.

What did God call the light and the darkness? Genesis 1:5. "God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were one day." 2. What do a period of darkness and a period of light together constitute? Together, they constitute one day. In divine design, the complete 24-hour cycle is composed of these two successive phases. 3. What comes first in the formation of a day? Can you explain why? Biblically, darkness (the night) comes first. The daily cycle begins with sunset and ends at the following sunset. In Genesis 1, each day of creation is summarized with the phrase: "And the evening and the morning were the first day, second day, etc." By mentioning the evening before the morning, it is established that the day begins when the light of the previous day ends." On the Second Day The second day of time began in the darkness (night) that had by then been set apart and placed within limits. And since time began in darkness, the first part of each day of time was darkness. And "God said, 'Let there be a firmament [in Hebrew, expanse] in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.'" The dry land had not yet appeared, for it was covered by water. As there was no atmosphere, thick vapors rested upon the surface of the water; but the atmosphere was now called into existence by the word of the Creator, causing those elements that make up the air we breathe to unite. The mists and vapors that had rested upon the face of the water were lifted upward. This firmament (expanse) God called Heaven (Genesis 1:6-8; Job 37:18). How does Job describe the work of this day? Job 26:8. "He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it." On the Third Day On the third day of time, God gathered the waters and made the dry land appear. The gathering of the waters God called Seas; the dry land, thus rescued from the waters, He called Earth. "And God said: 'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth'; and it was so." "And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:9-13; Psalm 136:6). On what was the earth established after the third day of creation? 2 Peter 3:5. "For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water." On the Fourth Day On the fourth day of time, "God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.'" Light had been created on the first day of the week; now on the fourth day, He caused the sun and moon to appear as bearers of light and placed light under their dominion. And to this day they continue to serve according to their ordinances. Such was the work of the fourth day, and the Great Architect, contemplating what He had made, declared it good. Questions for Discussion: 1. What were these lights to govern? Genesis 1:16. "Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also." 2. What kind of days were these days of creation — literal or symbolic? They were literal days of 24 hours. The repeated use of the phrase "and the evening and the morning" limits the period to a standard solar cycle. In Exodus 20:11, the Bible bases the human six-day workweek and one day of rest on the model of the creation week. If the days of creation were thousands of years, the Sabbath commandment would lose its practical meaning. 3. Does the sun create the day, or does it simply govern it? The sun simply governs it. Biblically, the "day" (the unit of time) was created on the first day when God separated the light from the darkness. The sun was not created until the fourth day. Therefore, the sun is an instrument for marking and "ruling over" a day that already existed by divine design. 4. What makes the day, and how could there have been days before the sun existed? What "makes" the day is the presence of light and the rotation of the earth (a cycle of light and darkness). On the first day, God said: "Let there be light." This was a direct light source from God (or a provisional source) that illuminated the earth as it rotated. For a day to exist, all that is needed is a light source on one side and a rotating planet. The sun is the current light source, but during the first three days, the light emanated directly from God's command. A Little More Science! Have you heard of the Coriolis Effect? The Coriolis effect refers to the force produced through the rotational movement of the earth in space — a force that tends to deflect the trajectory of objects moving across the earth's surface. Specifically, it deflects objects moving in the Northern Hemisphere to the right, and those moving in the Southern Hemisphere to the left. Earth's Rotation and Ocean Currents. How good is God, who took care of every detail when creating all things! Thanks to these movements in the water masses, nutrients can be available for many aquatic species to feed on, and marine ecosystems are enriched. The rotational movement of the earth affects everything that exists on it and promotes the prosperity of life. Now we can clearly see how important it is to understand how God created all things! In the ocean, the Coriolis effect, produced by the earth's rotation, causes currents that are forced by wind action to not run parallel to the wind, but instead to form an angle with it. Therefore, thanks to rotation and the Coriolis effect, there is a deflection of surface waters to the left — in other words, from the eastern coast of the Americas toward the west. This same phenomenon occurs at all eastern coastal margins around the world. If this did not happen — that is, if the earth were not spherical and there were no rotation on its axis — the surface waters of the Humboldt Current would move from south to north. The displacement of the upper layers of water offshore allows deep water to rise toward the coast over the continental shelf and up to the surface. Specifically, in some parts of the coast, between southern Chile and northern Peru, there are isolated masses of cold water at depth that move toward the coast and produce coastal upwelling of waters that are not only cold, but also rich in nutrients that fertilize the ocean surface, enabling great productivity and abundance of species.