Lecture on Genesis(39)
Scripture
Genesis 1:20-23
[20] Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens."
[21] God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
[22] God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
[23] There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is the 39th Lecture on Genesis.
I'm going to tell you about the creation works of the 5th day.
With what kind of heart are you listening to the creation works of God the Almighty?
A grown-up man and a child have great difference in their knowledge and wisdom.
Say, there are a man who has a doctoral degree in biology and a first grade elementary school student. Don't you think their knowledge about living things is very different?
Then, how much different the knowledge and wisdom are between God the Creator and a man who is a mere creature?
The difference is too much to compare with the difference between a doctor and an elementary school student.
1 Corinthians 1:25 says, "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
Isaiah 55:8-9 also says, ""For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts."
Within the boundary of men's knowledge there is a limit to the understanding of the creation works of God.
It is like the difficulties an elementary school student feels as he reads a specialty publication in biology.
However, let's suppose that this elementary school student uses all this knowledge as he tries to explain this specialty book on biology.
When he explains the figures in the book with his thoughts, the explanation will not be correct.
The explanation of the child would appear amusing to the professor.
Unfortunately, this is what's happening. Many people think and understand like this little child and what they say is like this little child in real life.
For example, they collected pieces of knowledge and came up with an hypotheses about the origin of life.
They should have believed that God created all things, but they didn't like the idea of putting God in their hearts, and created absurd theories.
God the Creator cannot but feel sorry for such people.
If you read "Job" in the Bible, you can find a process how a man named Job broke his self righteousness and frameworks, and how he came to have a reverent fear of God from the depths of his heart.
Especially in Job Chapters 38 to 41 is found the word of God spoken by God Himself to Job to help Job realize the truth.
God talked with Job about the amazing works of Creation which cannot be understood with the knowledge and wisdom of men.
Through the creatures of His own creation such as mountain goats, the wild donkeys, the ostriches, horses, the hawk, Behemoth, and leviathan, God tried to help Job realize the limits and ignorance of human beings.
As Job listened to these words of God, he finally knelt down before God.
He realized how foolish he had been when he tried to argue with God the Almighty with the insignificant amount of knowledge he possessed.
Job 42:1-3 said, "Then Job answered the LORD and said, "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."
I hope that there is not a single person among you who would shield himself from the wisdom and counsel of these words.
You should not judge the creation works of God within the frameworks of your own knowledge.
You are becoming truly wise as you reestablish your knowledge with the word of God as the standard.
This Genesis Lectures are given by God who accomplished the creation works.
Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you may "put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of God who created you" as written in Colossians 3:10.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
God created living creatures in the waters and birds on the 5th day of Creation.
Genesis 1:20 says, "Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures..."
Now, what do these "waters" refer to?
I said that there were signs that appeared on earth as the sun was created on the 4th day of Creation.
These "signs" can be categorized into two; atmospheric phenomena and geological movement.
As a result of these, waters could be found in the dry land as well.
It was possible because the seawaters were evaporated by the heat of the sunlight and rose to form clouds and these clouds brought rain to fall many parts of the earth.
Additionally, due to geological movements, mountains and valleys were formed. The rain from the sky formed streams as it flowed along the valleys.
At that time there wasn't a sufficient amount of water to form great rivers, but many brooks and streams came to exist.
Also, the water that was absorbed by the land and held under the land became underground water. Both small and big areas of pooling water also came into being in the land's depressions.
Not only in the seas but also in the land, many different kinds of 'waters' came to exist in various forms, and thus the Bible called them 'waters.'
By the way, God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures."
As waters existed not only in the seas but also in the land, living things could finally multiply in the waters.
Psalm 104:10-13 says, "He sends forth springs in the valleys; They flow between the mountains; They give drink to every beast of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; They lift up their voices among the branches. He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works."
Since there were God-given waters in the land, many animals could live by them, and all the living things could have overflowing vitality.
As you can see, waters are most important for living things to survive.
This earth where you and I live is a model fashioned after the kingdom of heaven; there is the river of the water of life in Heaven.
This water of life originates from the throne of God and flows from New Jerusalem throughout the entire heavenly kingdom.
All the things of Heaven can also become full of energy thanks to the water of life that originated from the throne of God.
When creating the earth, God let this water of life flow into the earth and made it the source of waters.
In addition, as He created the living things on earth, He made them unable to survive without water.
God made all the living things to be provided with the essential elements for their survival from the waters.
In other words, God put into waters a power that can maintain life.
It is the same in a spiritual sense.
Just as no living thing can survive without water, a man with spirit, soul, and body should be provided with spiritual water to survive.
The spiritual water refers to the Word of God which enables you to receive eternal life.
That's why, in John 4:14, Jesus said, "...but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
Here, "a well of water springing up to eternal life" is generally referred to as "water of eternal life."
The word of God became flesh and came to this earth; this is our Jesus.
Therefore, the words that Jesus spoke were all the Word of Life.
Human beings cannot live an eternal life without this Word of Life and without drinking the water of eternal life.
Without it, after this momentary life on earth, they will fall down to Hell, which is eternal death.
2 Timothy 3:15 mentions that "the sacred writings (the word of God) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
Since people have spirit, they can attain this eternal life only when they are provided with the spiritual water, which is the word of God.
No matter how many things of the world a person may possess, he will feel empty in his heart when he has no word of God in him.
No matter how high his position becomes in the world, without the word of God he will still feel only a vanity in his heart.
No matter how much knowledge he has stored up in the world, he will still have unanswered questions in his heart without the word of God.
The source of all the problems of men lies with the fact that they don't have the spiritual water, the word of God.
As a being with spirit, men were created from the beginning to survive only when provided with the spiritual water.
Therefore, you should search for the solutions of every problem in the word of God.
I hope you will long for the word of God just as a deer pans for water, and that you will make bread of it.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
In Genesis 1:20, God said, "Let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens."
"The open expanse of the heavens" refers to the physical sky, the atmosphere, which is visible to your eyes.
Thanks to the works of creation on the 4th day, the atmosphere had become stable.
God made the atmosphere adequate for living things to breathe, and then He created birds after their kind.
And now, God said to fish in Genesis 1:22. "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas."
You can find here that there were already many seas as the living creatures were created.
As God let the waters gather and the dry land appear, there was one sea and one body of dry land.
The seas were formed around the North Pole, and the dry land was intact in the South Pole area.
However, after the sun, the moon, and stars were created on the 4th day, the earth began to move by itself and signs began to appear.
Then, the land which was originally one crustal surface began to divide and split into several pieces due to the dynamic actions of the compound forces of plate tectonics.
On the 5th day of the Creation, the seas were already divided into many seas.
To have multiple seas, the land should first be divided into many pieces.
But this work of creation took place in such a short period of time between the 4th and 5th day of the Creation.
The land which was originally one was split into many pieces; some of them came apart from the land and became big islands.
Due to this, multiple seas came into existence.
Scientists say this work took place over a period of tens of millions of years.
However, God said much of this work took place over a period between the 4th and 5th day of the Creation.
It is possible for this work to take place in such a short period of time when riding on the spiritual time flow in the spiritual space which is surrounded by the original light.
By the way, the look of the lands and seas of the 5th day was not the same with that of today.
Just the basic framework was prepared to form the current 5 oceans and 6 continents.
During the 6 days of creation, God established the basic framework on which the best environment could be made for the human beings.
The basic frame changed unnoticeably little by little over a very long period of time and came to have the look of today.
That's why the living things were not greatly affected by it.
If the land had been split or moved greatly after the work of creation was finished, what would have happen to the living things on them?
It would have been difficult for them to survive the rapid changes in the environment.
For example, penguins live in a cold Polar Region.
Most monkeys live in a tropical areas near equator.
Each animal has a niche and needs a proper climate and environment to live.
It is the same with the living creatures that live in the seas.
You can confirm it from the fact that different kinds of fish are caught according to the different temperatures of the sea waters.
Likewise, all the animals and plants have their own proper environment where they live.
And the basic frame of the lands and seas which provide the proper living environment for living thing was already finished before the creation work of the 5th day.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Genesis 1:21 says, "God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good."
God first created the proper living environment for the living things, and He created the animals after their kind in each living environment.
In other words, God gave the ability to survive in a given environment to each and every animal.
The animals that God created in the beginning didn't have evil.
It is because they were created at His word in His power.
And thus, there was no such a thing that a stronger animal preying on a weaker one.
They didn't fight, bite, or kill each other.
According to the law that God established, they didn't harm each other, but stayed in peace.
It was the same with the animals on earth which were created on the 6th day.
Among things that creep on the ground, the birds that fly in the air, and the fish in the waters, there were none that preyed on others.
In other words, there was no carnivorous (or predatory) animal.
BY that time, all the animals could be provided with necessary nutrients from just the plants and water available.
However, as this land became stained with evil, some of the animals also changed through the evil.
Most of these animal came to prefer a meat diet. They became predatory carnivores.
By the way, once the Millennium begins after the 7 Year Great Tribulation the entire living environment on Earth will be recovered back to the state of the days of the Creation.
And animals will also become gentle without evil.
Isaiah 11:6-9 mentions about this.
It says, "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea."
This word is about the Millennium Kingdom, but when God created the animals in the beginning, they were like this.
When God created the earth in the beginning, there was no evil, and thus it was truly a peaceful and beautiful place.
Dear brothers and sisters.
The majority of animals that God created have a unique instinct in common.
That is the "Homing instinct."
The homing instinct is the inherent ability of an animal to navigate towards an original location which is either a home territory, or a breeding area.
For example, in a house in a rural area, swallows come in spring, nest under the eaves, breed, lay eggs, and the chicks grow and leave.
The next year, the young swallows return to the house where they were born.
Swallows are migratory birds that come north to Korea for the summer, and they leave in fall for the winter.
On the other hand, wild geese come to Korea for the winter, and go back north for the summer.
There was once an experiment with migratory birds.
They put the eggs of a migratory bird hundreds of kilometers from their mother bird's nesting site.
However, the birds which hatched from these eggs also flew in the same direction when the time came.
People confirmed that migratory birds don't learn the migratory route of travel from their parents but they know it instinctively.
There are some fish which have this homing instinct. An example of such a fish is a salmon.
Generally, salmon hatch in a river and go to the ocean and grow up. And then, they swim back to the river where they were born.
3 to 6 years after they go into the ocean, they fully grow, then they swim back to the river where they were born to lay eggs.
In a case of some salmons of the Atlantic Ocean, they repeat the process of traveling back to the river from the ocean a couple of times.
When a way to the ocean is blocked, some of them adapt themselves to the fresh water as well.
Except for some of these special cases, most salmons migrate back to the place where they were born and die there.
How can salmons travel back to the precise spot in the river where they were born after living in the gigantic ocean for years?
Why do they go up-stream against the strong current to find the place where they were born?
There is research that when homing rate was greatly decreased when the smell of the river was artificially changed or their sense of smell was paralyzed.
If it is true, it is amazing that salmon don't forget but remember the smell of the river where they were born even after living in the ocean for years.
This homing instinct of salmons or migratory birds is not the result of evolution, but God gave it to them.
Now, God also gave this homing instinct to human beings.
Thanks to the "seed of life" that God plants into every man, everyone has a heart that longs for "the eternal place."
The seed of life is a little portion of the original light that God gives, and thus, this seed of life seeks for God and longs for the heavenly kingdom.
As this seed of life awakens to be guided by the Holy Spirit, we can precisely go back home like salmon.
However, the souls from whom the seed of life doesn't wake up will be incited by the enemy devil and Satan, and eventually fall down to Hell.
Hebrews 11:16 says, "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them."
A mere creature like a salmon can overcome the rough journey of going up-stream of a river to go back home; what about the children of God like you?
You can diligently march on toward New Jerusalem where God the Father who is the origin of your spirit, can't you?
If you don't give up on yourself, but receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit along the way, you can surely reach New Jerusalem.
Just like salmon which powerfully migrate up-stream in the river, I pray in the name of the Lord that you may ride on the flow of the spirit and move along with joy and happiness to the place where God the Father dwells.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
I explained a part of the works that took place on the 5th of the Creation.
As the atmosphere and waters became stable to build a good environment for the survival of living things through the creation works on the 4th Day, God created birds in the air and fish in the waters.
God put His power and divine nature into them and created them after their kind so that they could survive in the given environments.
The Bible, whose author is God the Creator, clearly mentions that they were created "after their kind,' but evolutionists don't believe this work of creation.
In the next lecture, I will show you logically how contradictory their claim is, and how groundless their theories are.
I will also explain what "the great sea monsters" are in Genesis 1:21, and why God has it recorded and separated from other fish.
Dear brothers and sisters,
The God who manifested such amazing works of creation in the beginning is our Spiritual Father.
Since He created us, He becomes our physical Father as well.
I hope you will have the spiritual pride that 'God the Creator is your Father' through these Genesis Lectures.
I pray in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ that being worthy of a child of such Father, may you quickly become His true child who is good and able with no form of evil,
[Amen!!!]