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Volume 71,
Issue 1
Day of Shadows The Last Four Days of Creation-Week: Introduction The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. By way of introduction, we wish to emphasize again a principle which is basic to the understanding of Genesis 1 and which is fundamental to our Christian faith with respect to creation, namely, that there is no antithesis between faith and reason, but that the antithesis is always between faith and unbelief. This must be emphasized again and again. The Word of God is not unreasonable, that is, contrary to reasonable conception and understanding. The Christian faith is not contrary to reason. We say this because it is rather fashionable in our day to present matters as though anyone who adheres strictly to Scripture's creation-record is some kind of blind fool who flies in the face of reality and is altogether unreasonable. It has also become the fashion of the day in the church and in theology to compromise in the face of this charge and to attempt to effect a marriage of Jerusalem and Athens, of creationism and evolutionism, of alleged faith and alleged science.The result of this unholy marriage is certainly not that creation faith is upheld, but that the Word of God must be twisted and perverted until it can no longer be recognized in such theories: The attempt is made supposedly to make the church appear scientifically respectable. To make this attempt palatable to children of God who earnestly desire to hold on to the Scriptures, various subterfuges are employed. Thus, for example, ii is claimed that the important question is who created all things, not how all things were created, as though the two could ever be separated. This is done in order to make it possible to maintain that God somehow is the originator of all things, but that nevertheless there was a process of evolution, or so-called progressive creationism, by which He originated all things and brought them into being. The same attempt is made with respect to the days of creation-week. The days tie changed into periods, for example, for but one reason: to attempt to satisfy the claims of evolutionistic scientism. The sad result of all this is that even in the church today there are those who hold up strict creation faith to mockery and contempt as something foolish, unscientific, unreasonable, and out-of-date. They take the side of the enemy of the Christian faith and the enemy of the Word of God. We emphasize this, not because we have to prove that the Word of God is reasonable: this cannot be proved, but can only be pointed out. Nor do we say this because faith in the Word of God is based on human reason and must meet the test of reason: for the Word of God and its authority ark absolutely above all testing. Nor do we say this in the vain hope of convincing unbelief on its own rationalistic ground. There is but one cure for unbelief, and that is the grace of conversion. But we say this for those children of God who must constantly bear the brunt of the barbed taunts and mocking jeers of those who assault their creation-faith by this method. The devil is an excellent psychologist, you know. He knows the power of repetition. He knows that if the subtle lie is repeated often enough and by the right people, he can create doubts and wavering in the soul of any child of God, and make him begin to think within himself, "I wonder whether I am right after all." Today there is many a child of God who, impressed by the learning and the theological or scientific status or the sheer numbers of those who cast doubts on the simple creation-truth of Gods Word, is assailed by doubt and weakness of faith and becomes inclined somewhat to give up the battle. There is but one cure for such doubt: prayerfully and quietly and calmly take your Bible in hand. Read it in its simplicity and its clarity, as the Word of your God. You will find that there is nothing in the narrative of creation that is contrary to any reasonable conception and understanding of the origin of the universe. You will find nothing whatsoever that is in conflict with the reality of existing things as we know them. The difference between a believing Christian and a modem evolutionist is not that the latter offers a reasonable interpretation of the origin and beginning of things, while the former, against all reality, tries to make himself believe nonsense and foolishness. The difference is that the Christian commences with God and proceeds from the faith that God with wisdom framed all things, while the modem unbeliever starts with nothing and attempts to show by mere reason how all things from nothing developed. What is unreasonable about that Christian faith? What is reasonable about that unbelieving evolutionism? It is reasonable to start with God, and it is unreasonable to commence with nothing. For God is the sovereign reality! It is reasonable to believe in various creative acts whereby God Almighty called into existence all things and every separate creature. It is contrary to all reason, and in conflict with all experience as well, to present creatures, widely apart and distinct, as evolving from one another. It is reasonable to believe that God called into being the raw material of the universe, the chaos; that in it He called the light into being; that He created the separation of the firmament, in which the worlds float; that in it by creative power He separated the dry land and the water; that from it He called forth the entire world of vegetation, creating each plant with the power of reproducing itself after its kind. We say: all this is reasonable! There may be many things that are too deep for human mind to grasp. Indeed, we must expect this in view of the infinite perfections of the divine and the finitude of the human mind. But there is nothing nonsensical and foolish about it all. There is nothing that cannot be conceived. And all is in harmony with reality and full of wisdom. God's Creation of the Heavenly Luminaries (Gen. 1:14-19) What we have stated in the introductory paragraphs is also true with respect to the creation of the heavenly luminaries.The wisdom of the world objects that the account in Genesis is not scientific. They object because, they say, the viewpoint of Genesis is geocentric. That is, it presents the earth as being the center of the universe, while science today knows very well that this is not true. They object because Genesis makes the distinction between day and night prior to the existence of the sun. They object because Genesis puts the creation of the vegetable world before that of the heavenly lights. They object, too, because according to Genesis innumerable large worlds are called into existence in a mere day, while much more attention is paid in creation week to our little globe, the earth. These are some of the objections that the wisdom of the world has raised against the record of Genesis 1. But let us see what is scientific. Evolution has its own theories, of course, in opposition to the Word of God. In fact, it is rather peculiar how many theories have been devised with respect to the formation of the heavenly luminaries. But actually, if you have dealt with one, you have dealt with all of them. Let us take one of these theories for a moment, present it simply, and analyze it. It runs, with variations, as follows: the various heavenly bodies had their origin in an extremely hot, fiery mist or gaseous cloud. We may ask at once: whence did such a fiery mist arise? But they do not tell you—because they cannot. Then this fiery mist began to cool off unevenly, and as it did so, it lost its balance and began to whirl. If you ask how it came about that this cooling off process set in, while that gaseous cloud had been there to begin with for a longtime, there is no answer. If you inquire as to why it cooled off unevenly and began to whirl and rotate, and even continued to rotate, with perpetual motion, once it was started, the only answer that can be furnished is that it just happened that way. Moreover, the theory is that as this fiery mist cooled off and began to rotate, there were large portions thrown off into space, and these, in turn, cooled off and began to rotate and revolve, and thus all the heavenly luminaries of our solar system were formed with the sun at their center, inclusive of the earth and its moon. This same process supposedly took place in other galaxies in the far reaches of space. Of course, it must be added that this required an astronomical number of years! Certainly, from the point of view of reasonableness, we are not ready to exchange this science, so called, for the narrative of revelation! Yet even theistic evolutionism attempts the vain compromise of trying to patch up this foolishness with the injection of some religion! Nor are the objections raised by unbelieving science at all valid. As to the alleged geocentric viewpoint of the creation narrative, let us note that there is absolutely nothing in the entire narrative—nor anywhere in the Scriptures—that makes the earth locally and physically the center of the universe. We may well remember that the entire narrative is written from the viewpoint of one who takes his position on the earth, and that, too, without a telescope. Thus it is, too, that the language of Holy Writ is not the technical language of the astronomer, but the same everyday language which we speak today. No more than anyone today views the setting sun and declares, "Well, the earth has made another half turn," no more do the Scriptures speak such language. On the other hand, we must indeed remember that the Bible presents the earth as the center of creation from the viewpoint of its significance and its history. The earth was destined to be the home of the highest creature. This is true not merely in view of the fact that the earth is created as the home of man. But it is to be in history the home of the Son of God in the flesh, the King of all, in whom ultimately all things in heaven and on earth are to be united. Further, as to the objection about the priority of day and night, the answer of the Scriptures is very simple. The light was created before the light-bearers; and God Himself brought about the alternation of day and night, very likely through the concentration of that light. That same prior creation of the light, on the first day, is the answer to the objection that the world of plants was created before the sun. That vegetable world thrived in the light that God had already created. Finally, as to the creation of innumerable worlds in one day, we may certainly point out, in the first place, that there is no objection whatsoever to the facts of size and distance which the science of astronomy teaches us—in so far as these facts are accurate and verifiable. We are told that the sun is almost 93 million miles away from our earth and that it is many, many times the size of our earth. We are told, in fact, that the earth is but an infinitesimally small speck in comparison with many of the heavenly bodies. Thus there are many facts about the universe which astronomy has discovered. In fact, men have by no means uncovered all the mysteries of the firmament. To all such data there is no objection on the part of the Christian whatsoever. On the contrary, to faith this simply emphasizes the power and wisdom of our God; and it lends new meaning to such testimony of the Scriptures, "For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him" (Ps. 103:11). Nor do these facts contradict the truth that the heavenly lights were called into existence in one day. Let alone the fact that their material was called into existence on the first day and that the waters above, to which the heavenly luminaries belong, were separated on the second day, so that what took place on the fourth day was that by God's created Word the light that was originally created was dispersed and concentrated in various light-bearers, we may point out that the very data about the size and number of the heavenly bodies serve only to underscore for faith the greatness of the work of the Almighty on the fourth day, when He said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens." In answer to the question what was created on the fourth day, the Scriptures inform us in Genesis 1:16 of the creation of sun, moon, and stars: "And 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." Hence, God created, in the first place, those light-centers which possess and radiate their own light, such as our sun and some of the stars. In the second place, He created those lights which merely reflect the light of these light-centers, such as the moon and the planets and other stars. All of these are included in the creative work of the fourth day. The creation of the fourth day, therefore, constitutes a marvel of beauty and order. Nothing in all the universe stands still. Everything moves. All the great lights in all the expanse of the heavens move constantly. There is our own earth in its constant rotation and its incessant journeying. There are the planets that revolve, like our earth, about the sun. There are the mysterious, long-tailed comets, which in their long journeys make known to us their presence only occasionally. There are the myriads of stars in their constellations. And all these creatures have their place and keep their paths according to the ordinance of Him who called them all by name. The more that little man is able to probe into the far reaches of the universe with his eye and to discover these works of God's hand and their marvelous arrangement and order, the more amazing becomes the mighty work of God that was formed on the fourth day and is still maintained from moment to moment by the Word of His power. Small wonder that with the psalmist of Psalm 8 we are taught to exclaim: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (vv. 3, 4). Or consider the silent, yet powerful speech of this work of God as it is articulated in the 19th Psalm: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof" (vv. 1-6). Or heed the injunction of Psalm 136: "O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever; To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever... To him that made great lights... the sun to rule by day... the moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever." |
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