Genesis One - Day 4 New Flip Book - Animated - Model

Chapter Ten 152

Genesis Chapter One - Creation Day Four

Verses 14 - 19 (God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky)

‫ויאמר אלהים יהי מארת ברקיע השמים להבדיל בין היום ובין הלילה והיו לאתת ולמועדים ויעש אלהים את שני‬
‫המארת הגדלים את המאור הגדל לממשלת היום ואת המאור הקטן ולימים לממשלת ויתן אתם אלהים ברקיע‬
‫השמים להאיר על הארץ׃ הלילה ואת הכוכבים׃ והיו למאורת ברקיע ולמשל ביום ובלילה ולהבדיל בין האור ובין‬
‫החשך וירא אלהים כי טוב׃ השמים להאיר על הארץ ויהי ערב ויהי בקר יום רביעי׃ ויהי כן׃ ושנים׃‬
And God (Eloheim) said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day
from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be
for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. God made the
two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night;
He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the
earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and
God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

~ Genesis 1:14-19 ESV

Nowhere does the expression "timing is everything" come more into play as on Creation
Day 4. In this Genesis 1 passage we see the first instance of time and seasons. God declared
the lights (sun, moon and stars) to be used as the compass to measure the seasons. He said
that the greater light (the sun) would rule the day and that the lesser light (the moon and the
stars) would rule the night. God perfectly synchronized the Earth’s 365.25 day orbit in
accordance to the sun’s gravity and the regular six hour changes in ocean tides according to
the moon’s gravity. God said it and it happened and from that moment forward we humans

have relied upon His perfect timing.

153 Creation Day 4
God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky

As a seeker of scientific truth, I find it a fascinating that the earth rotates in
perfect time, minute by minute, day by day, year after year, century after
century, for untold millions of years. We can set our clocks and know
exactly, to the minute, when the sun will rise and when it will set. We've
been doing this for centuries now, and the earth's rotation never winds
down nor alters its' time in any way proving this one simple fact:
Our Creator is a God of perfect order. From the moment God spoke
"Let there be light", all creation flows harmoniously as God intended.

God's God's

Perfect Timing Perfect Timing

Just like with the birth of a newborn baby, it develops inside of its mother's
womb as a separate individual, yet it remains fully attached to its mother until
the umbilical cord is cut. In the same way when God spoke “Let there be light”
during the first three days of the creation process, Earth was being formed as a
perfect home within a vast cosmos for both plant and animal life, and ultimately

for God's greatest creation, man, to both live and thrive.

Creation Day 4 154

God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky

During the first three days of creation, excess greenhouse gases, such as methane
and carbon dioxide present in early earth’s atmosphere, made the sky completely
overcast much like a rainy day. The light and heat from the sun had not yet
evaporated enough of the clouds and mist surrounding the earth to be visible upon
earth's surface; not enough light to regulate day and night, seasons and years.

Genesis 1:14 marked the exact moment during the six day creation process when God
(Eloheim) commanded a full blast of light to be distributed upon the earth's surface. The
thick clouds of condensed water vapor and gases encircling the earth were made to
evaporate so that the sun, moon, and stars become fully visible. They could now carry

out their work upon earth.

God's

Perfect Timing
The source and Creator of the light was still God, but from now on there would
be light–bearing bodies in day and night sky that would perpetually shine their

light on the earth's surface at the proper intervals and seasons.

Creation Day 4
God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky

According to Genesis 1:16 -19, the moon and sun are the real "stars" of
Creation Day 4. Let's read these verses one more time to get at better
understanding of the important role God assigned to each of them.
16. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser
light to govern the night. 17. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give
light on the earth, 18. and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light
from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19. There was evening and there was
morning, a fourth day. ~ Genesis 1:14-19 ESV
The Hebrew word for made - recorded in Genesis 1:16 - is"asah" ‫ ָע ָש ׂה‬, which means
"to do" or "to appoint. " The sun and moon were not "created" (bara ‫ ) ָּב ָ֣רא‬on
Creation Day 4. God appointed the sun and moon with the specific tasks of governing
the day and night sky by separating the light from the darkness. The movements of the
moon and sun in the earth's sky establishes the daily routine of day and night.

God also appointed the sun and moon as signs in the heavens to designate
appointed seasons, days, and years. The Hebrew word "signs" in Genesis 1:14 is
"owth" ‫ אוֹת‬which means "pledge" or "assurance." As inhabitants of Earth, we
witness the daily and seasonal effects of the sun and moon with the confident

assurance that "For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under
heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest."

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 NLT

Creation Day 4
God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky

One thing we must always remember. God is the Creator of the universe. Imagine
the chaos it would create for life on earth if time was inconsistent and
seasons were random. On Creation Day Four, God made the following
adjustments to the timing and orbital paths of the sun, earth and moon in
preparation for a creating a sustainable environment for animal life on

Creation Day Five:
• the tilt of earth's rotational axis - 23.5 degrees
• the speed of the earth's daily 360 degree rotation - 24 hours,
• the earth's yearly 360 degree revolution around the sun - 365.24 days,
• the moon's monthly 360 degree orbit around the earth - 28 days

Creation Day 4
God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky

The North Star, also known as Polaris, is known to stay fixed in our
sky. It marks the location of the sky’s north pole, the point around
which the whole sky turns. That’s why you can always use Polaris to
find the direction north.
But the North Star does move. If you took its picture, you’d find
that it makes its own little circle around the exact point of the north
celestial pole every day. That’s because the North Star is really offset
a little – by about three-quarters of a degree – from celestial north.
Where does this movement – or in Polaris’ case, lack of movement
– come from? Earth spins under the sky once a day. Earth’s spin
causes the sun in the daytime – and the stars at night – to rise in the
east and set in the west. But the North Star is a special case. Because
it lies almost exactly above Earth’s northern axis, it’s like the hub of
a wheel. It doesn’t rise or set. Instead, it appears to stay put in the
northern sky.
The tilt of the Earth's spin axis with respect to the plane of its orbit
about the sun (the ecliptic plane) is important for a habitable Earth.
The Earth's spin axis is tilted 23.5° with respect to the ecliptic, giving
moderate seasons and preventing temperature extremes anywhere
on the planet.

Creation Day 4: 154

God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky

Creation Day 4
God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky

155 Creation Day 4:
God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky

As you go to sleep tonight, you don’t have to wonder if the sun will rise
tomorrow. The Creator has promised, “While the earth remains, seed-time and
harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not
cease” (Genesis 8:22).