We read that the earth was without form and void, that is, it was in a chaotic state. Darkness brooded over the dreary scene of desolation. Nature lay twisted and broken. Every sign of life was gone. Then God intervened. He would not allow the beautiful earth He had created to be wrecked for all time. So we read, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:22And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)). It is ever thus. We are shut up to God. He is the great Creator, and now He is the only One capable of reconstructing a destroyed and dead world. And God said, "Let there be light: and there was light " (Gen. 1:33And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)). The brooding darkness was dispelled by the omnipotent word. The rays of the sun, created, surely, as described in verse one of our Chapter, was bidden to illuminate the scene. That the sun was already created is proved by the words,
This surely points to the diurnal movement of the earth revolving round the sun. This clearly means a day of twenty-four hours. To try to make out that " the evening and the morning " were vast stretches of time involves too many difficulties. One cannot fit into the narrative the idea of millions of years of night, followed by millions of years of day. The reason why the period theory is pressed, is we believe that scientists are unwilling to admit the power of God. They will not allow that He is the Sustainer and Controller, as well as the Creator of nature.
If God could create a world in a million of years, He can equally do so in a moment of time. Bring God in, and all difficulty vanishes. Indeed the Apostle Peter tells us, "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day " (2 Peter 3:88But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8)). Geologists may demand millions of years for certain results to be produced. God can perform in one day what we deem, in our feeble and very partial knowledge and wrong conceptions, should take millions of years to bring about. One thousand years may seem a long time to us. Generation after generation comes and goes. Dynasty after dynasty rises and vanishes. To God it is but a brief day.
God would not have called for the light unless there were to be eyes to profit by it. Light and sight go together, the one useless without the other. We conclude then that at the very beginning of the Divine activities, God had the end in view, even the blessing of man.
God saw the light that it was good. He divided the light from the darkness, calling the light Day, and the darkness Night.
It is significant that God speaks of the Day first and then of the Night. He calls the light good, not the darkness. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:55This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)). The Day is before Him. We shall see that in detail when we come to the seventh day. But with man it is Evening first, and then the Morning. There is the struggle between darkness and light, and before the light the darkness pales, and the evening passes, and the morning comes. Man ever waits for the day to come.