Scripture

Genesis 1:14-19
[14] Then God 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;
[15] and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.
[16] 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.
[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.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is the 36th Lecture on Genesis.
From tonight, I'll tell you about the Creation works of the 4th Day.
God created the sun, the moon, and stars on the 4th day.
In astronomical terminology, God created "our Galaxy" during the 4th day of the Creation.
With the exception of the earth, God created all of the celestial bodies of our galaxy on the 4th day of Creation.
I said that before God began the six days of Creation, He had already created the earth.
Then, when were the other countless galaxies created in addition to our galaxy?
Is there any evidence that the universe was not formed from a massive explosion but that God created it?
If any, what is it?
Moreover, why did God created the moon, 'the lesser light', even though it seems that the sun, the 'greater light', is more than enough for living things to survive on earth?
What kind of changes did the creation of the sun, the moon, and stars bring to the earth?
To find answers for all these questions, from tonight I will be taking you on a journey into the vast universe!
Let me show you a picture first so that you can feel the vastness of the universe.
This is the picture of the earth taken by Voyager 1 when it was traveling near Pluto in June, 1990.
Can you spot the earth in the picture? (Would you please pin-point the earth?)
This picture is also called "Pale Blue Dot."
You can see that the earth is a mere and faintly shining small dot in the vast universe.
This is the earth seen from the edge of our Solar System, at the distance of 6.4 billion kilometers.
In the space of the whole universe, our Solar System, to which the earth belongs, is a 'small dot' as well.
Seeing the earth from just the outskirts as a small dot, the earth looks so tiny.
Then, what exists outside of our Solar System?
There are galaxies.
Our galaxy to which the earth belongs is 100,000 light years in diameter, which is the distance you can travel at the speed of light for 100,000 years.
A group of 50 or fewer galaxies is called a galaxy 'group', and a collection of hundreds or thousands galaxies is called a galaxy 'cluster'.
And a group of these clusters of galaxies is called a 'super cluster.'
This is how astronomers categorized the space of the universe.
Even though I just verbally explained it, can you actually imagine how big the universe is?
Just to travel our galaxy from one end to the other, you have to travel for 100,000 years at the speed of light. But this cannot even actually be imagined, either.
So how could you ever imagine the vastness of a galaxy group or a galaxy cluster?
The space of the universe that I just explained is a part of the fleshly world, the First Heaven.
Besides this vast First Heaven, there are other heavens.
They are the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 4th heavens that belong to the spiritual realm.
God governs and reigns over all these heavens.
Originally, these heavens were one, and it was called 'the Original Heaven.'
God the Origin existed in the original space as in the form of light that contained the sound.
At one point of time, God the Origin cohered at the vertex of the spiritual realm for the human cultivation.
Due to this, 4 spaces came to exist with different brightness of spiritual light and different density of the spirit.
The closer to the vertex of the spiritual realm, the stronger the brightness of the spiritual light becomes and the denser the density of the spirit.
The original space which was originally one now became 4.
God called these 4 spaces the 1st heaven, the 2nd heaven, the 3rd heaven, and the 4th heaven respectively.
What we call 'the space" where we live is the 1st heaven.
I said the 1st heaven is too vast for a man to imagine.
Dear brothers and sisters.
This vastness of the 1st heaven, which is the 'fleshly world', is very small when compared to the spiritual realm.
Let me give you an illustration to help you understand the difference of the size between the fleshly world and the spiritual realm.
Say, you gave an ant an island which is as big as Hawaii.
The ant cannot comprehend how big the island is.
If it could rationalize, it may just think that it is too big to travel.
However, Hawaii takes only a tiny space on the surface of the earth.
Therefore, even if you tell the ant the size of the earth, the ant cannot imagine the size at all.
Here, the ant is comparable to us as human beings.
'Hawaii' is then comparable to the 1st heaven, which is the fleshly world.
Hawaii is a spot on the earth in the fleshly world; all the rest then would comparatively be the size of the spiritual world.
Then, you can imagine how vast the spiritual realm is!
Of course, the proportion of the fleshly world to the spiritual realm is not exactly the proportion of Hawaii to the earth.
I just compared them to help you understand the difference.
For human cultivation, God created the earth as a very small dot inside the fleshly world, which is also very small when compared to the spiritual realm.
And on the 4th day of the Creation, He created the sun, and other planets of the Solar system, and the moons that orbit them?.
He also created the stars of our galaxy.
Then, when were the countless stars outside of our galaxy, and the entirety of other celestial bodies created?
The answer is; they were created before the Creation.
Before the original space was divided into 4 spaces, there were countless stars.
In the empty vastness of space, God, the light that contained the sound, was not alone.
God the Origin already created countless stars before the Creation, and put them in the original space.
And then, the original space was divided into 4 spaces.
Those stars which were in the first heaven by that time are the stars outside of our galaxy now.
Therefore, there were countless stars already in the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 4th heavens.
Even before the 1st heaven was created, countless stars already existed, and God created the earth, the sun, the moon, and stars in a certain part of the 1st heaven.
The universe was not formed from 'Big Bang' just as scientists propose.
Scientists who propose the Big Bang theory have grounds in their own way.
As scientific technology developed, they came to know that the universe is not stagnant, but that it keeps expanding.
As they observed other galaxies from the earth, other galaxies were found to keep receding from the earth.
Based on this fact, scientists proposed a theory.
Since the universe is currently expanding, it may have been expanding in the past as well.
As we trace back to remote time, the universe must have been much smaller than now.
At a certain time point in the past, the universe must have been as small as a speck.
For some reason, there was a big bang in such a small universe, and it continued to expand to become a universe as it is now."
This is the famous "Big Bang Theory."
As this Big Bang theory was established, many scientists received Nobel prizes in this field.
When examined based on the given fact only, the Big Bang theory seems to be well established theory with firm evidence.
However, the Big Bang theory is still incomplete.
Since it was first proposed, it has been corrected many times, and it can be corrected any time depending on the result of future observation.
Besides, no matter how highly scientific technology develops, there is one thing that man can never explain.
It is the very first moment of the massive explosion; it cannot be explained with the Big Bang theory.
The Big Bang theory doesn't explain the very initial Big bang; it rather explains some time after the moment of the initial massive explosion.
In other words, scientists can make theoretical explanation about the aftereffect of the big bang in their own way by using mathematics and physics.
If the Big Bang theory were true, however, it should be able to explain not the aftereffect of the big bang, but the moment of the big bang itself.
So far, not a single scientist has ever succeeded in explaining the moment of the big bang.
Moreover, scientists agree that it is the field that no future scientific technology will be able to explain.
It is because there is a limit to what can be explained with the fleshly knowledge.
No fleshly theory can explain the work of God's Creation.
Now, you may have a question.
It is a fact that the universe is expanding based on the scientific observation, but why is that?
Why did God created the universe of the 1st heaven as an expanding space, not as a stagnant space?
The reason is to make a purifying action take place through the expanding of this fleshly space.
The seas that are two thirds of the earth is indeed stagnant water in a big vessel called 'earth.'
It may decay as time goes by, but why don't the sea waters decay?
First, it is due to salt contained in the sea waters.
Another important reason is that the sea waters keep moving due to the ebb and flow and thus they don't decay.
By the same token, the 1st heaven should not stagnate, but it should keep on moving.
If you stay quite long in a place where ventilation is bad, the air becomes stuffy.
To the eyes of God, who governs all the heavens, the 1st heaven is comparably a small space.
Therefore, by making this space keep expanding, God made it possible for it to be able to purify itself.
By the way, once the human cultivation is over, the 1st heaven will be closed.
For this, Revelation 21:1 says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea."
Here, "the first heaven and the first earth" refers to the space of the 1st heaven where we live.
Once the human cultivation is over, and the Final Judgment comes to an end, the 1st heaven is no longer necessary.
However, the 1st heaven, a fleshly space was divided from the original space, so it doesn't become completely extinct.
God just closes the gate to the 1st heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Tonight's scripture mentions "the expanse of the heavens" a couple of times.
God let the great lights, which are the sun and the moon, be in the 'expanse of the heavens,' and God also created stars and let them be in the 'expanse of the heavens.'
Why did God call it 'the expanse of the heavens,' not just 'heaven' or 'expanse'?
It is to show that the sun, the moon, stars are not close to the earth, but they are far from the earth.
Today, you know how far the sun, the moon, and stars are from the earth thanks to the highly developed science.
However, the ancient people didn't how far the sun, the moon, and stars were, and how big they were.
If God called it just 'heaven' or 'expanse,' people might think they are floating in the sky at a close distance.
By mentioning that they are in the 'expanse of the heavens,' God revealed that they are not in the sky in a close distance, but they are placed in a different space.
When this verse mentioned, the 'expanse of the heavens' it refers to the space of the universe that is far beyond the atmosphere of the earth.
God put the precise meanings even in a single word, and recorded it in the Bible.
There is one more you should pray extra close attention to.
It is the explanation about the size of the sun and the moon.
God calls the sun, "the greater light," and the moon "the lesser light."
When seen from the earth, the size of the sun and of the moon is almost identical.
When it is in 'full moon', the moon looks even bigger than the sun.
If a child who is short of knowledge is asked which of the two is bigger, the sun or the moon, then the child will answer according to how it is seen.
It was the same to the ancient people who lived in the days of not-so developed science.
If it were to show the brightness of the sun and the moon was different, God would say the sun was the brighter light, and the moon was the lesser bright light.
However, God called the sun, "the greater light," and the moon "the lesser light."
To allow for people to understand not only the brightness of the sun and the moon, but also the apparent size of them at the various times of the day, God used this precise explanation.
Now, how much bigger is the sun than the moon?
In volume, the sun is about 1.3 million times bigger than the earth, and the moon is one-fiftieth (1/50) of the earth.
Therefore, the sun is 65 million times bigger than the moon.
Though the size difference between the sun and the moon is so great, they look the same in size because the moon is much closer to the earth than the sun.
Genesis 1:14 says, "Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night."
It means that, on the 4th day of the Creation, God created the sun and the moon so that they can separate the day from the night.
However, God already separated the light from the darkness, and called the light day, and the darkness night.
And thus, the day was separated from the night already from the 1st day of Creation.
But then, what is the reason that God created the sun and the moon on the 4th day of the Creation, and said "Let them separate the day from the night"?
When God said "Let there be light" on the 1st day of the Creation, the original light surrounded the earth.
During the day as the light surrounded the earth, God manifested the works of the Creation.
And He withdrew the light for the length of the day, and gave the rest of the time to the forces of the darkness.
From the 1st day to the 3rd day of the Creation, when God surrounded the earth with the original light, it was the day, and when God withdrew the light, it was the night.
Therefore, for the 3 days, even though the earth didn't rotate, there were days and nights.
However, after God created the sun, the moon, and stars on the 4th day of the Creation, the earth began rotation and revolution.
As the earth rotates, the surface of the earth that faces the sun becomes the day, and the other part becomes the night.
The day and night now automatically began to change.
Before then, God governs the changes of the day and night, but now, God let the sun, the moon, and stars manage it.
Let me explain it with this example.
Someone made a robot, but this robot couldn't move by itself.
He had to lift an arm of this robot to make the arm be lifted, and he had to move its feet for every step.
Only when the master of the robot made the movement-mechanism of the robot, could the robot move.
Then, he put clockwork inside the robot; he made the robot move by itself as he winds up the clock.
Then, without even touching it, the robot could move by itself.
It is the same with the earth.
Until the 3rd day of the Creation, the earth was held by the power of God in the space, and the day and night changed by God.
But then, as the sun, the moon, and stars were created on the 4th day, according to the law that God set up, the earth began to operate by itself.
Here is one more example. A watch has the hour hand, the minute hand, and the second hand.
Without a battery, if you make the second hand progress manually every second, the hour hand and the minute hand will also move together with it.
And the watch can be operated in this way.
If you put battery into the watch, the hands of the watch can move automatically and it tells you the time.
From the 1st day till the 3rd day of the Creation, (we can say that) God Himself 'moved the hands of the watch' manually, but from the 4th day, the hands began to move automatically.
IF you disassemble a watch, you can find that all the big and small saw-toothed wheels work together to move the hands and tells the precise time.
By the same token, God planned so that the earth, the sun, the moon, and stars could operate automatically in harmony.
God created them with all things taken into consideration, such as the distance between each object, and the strength of their pulling and pushing,
If the sun or the moon were a little bigger or smaller than today, no living things could survive on earth.
The same is also true if the distance between each of them were closer or farther.
You may find it more absurd and groundless that, due to the big bang, the sun and the moon and stars came to have the size they have today by accident and that they were came into the positions of today due to the big bang by accident (as a matter of chance).
There are countless evidences that God the Creator, with the highest-degree of wisdom and knowledge, planned and created all things from the beginning.
I will explain the evidences of God's creation contained in the sun, the moon, and stars in the next lecture.
I will also tell you about the duties that God gave to the sun, the moon, and stars in the next lecture.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Tonight, I explained some of the Creation works of the 4th Day.
The earth that we put our feet on is a very tiny planet in the fleshly space of the 1st heaven.
It may be compared to one speck among the countless grains of sand of a beach.
If you compare the size of the earth to the size of the entire spiritual realm, you may even safely ignore its existence.
If you can understand the vastness of the universe that God created, you cannot but respect and fear God.
Psalm 8:3-4 says, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?"
God the Father always thinks of human beings who live in the tiny little earth of the vast universe, and He gives them advice of love in various ways.
Among the countless celestial bodies of the vast universe, He pays the very special attention only to this earth.
Why is that?
That is because the true children of God are being born on this earth.
Through the human cultivation, the true children who can understand the deep heart of God the Father, who can fear God from their innermost heart, who can share true love with God forever and ever are being born on the earth.
I hope that you can feel the deep love of God in the Creation works that God managed.
May you love God from your innermost heart, and also receive back and enjoy His love, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray!

[Amen]