GENESIS ONE: by Clarence Larken  


 

From: RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD
By Clarence Larkin, 1920, pages 15-18

3. THE PRESENT EARTH

The six days' work as described in gen. 1:1-31 is not a description of how God made the "Original Earth," but how He restored it from its "formless and void" condition to its present state. He began by reversing the process He took to make it uninhabitable. He said "Let there be Light," Gen. 1: 2-5. The light was not sunlight, that did not appear until the "Fourth Day." It was doubtless "Electric Light," the incandescence of which dispelled the gloom and generated enough heat to melt the icy covering of the earth and form water. Thus the earth passed out of the "Night" of its history into the morning of its "Resurrection Day."
The "Second Day's" work was the Readjustment of the "Atmosphere" to the needs of the present earth. Gen.1:6-8. It is worthy of note that God does not say of this Day's work that it was GOOD, as He did of the work of the other days. This may not be without signifi cance, for we read in Eph. 2:2 of the "Powers of the AIR" over whom Satan is the Prince, and it may have been that as soon as the atmosphere of the earth again became habitable the "Powers of Evil" swarmed into it. Eph. 6:12.
The work of the "Third Day" was twofold, the emer gence of the land from the sea, and the reappearance of vegetable life. Gen.1:9-13. This was not a new crea tion, but a RESURRECTION. The earth rises up from its “Watery Grave," and seeds, and the roots of plants and herbs and trees that were in the earth sprang into life as they do in the spring of the year after the winter is over. This reveals the fact that the Pre-Adamite Earth was clothed with verdure, and covered with plants and trees like those of the Present Earth.
The work of the "Fourth Day" was the re-appearance of the Sun, Moon, and Stars. Gen.1:14-19. They were not created on the "Fourth Day." They had shone on the Pre-Adamite Earth, but the cloudy atmosphere of the restored earth hid them from view until the "Fourth Day," when the clouds broke away and permitted them to shine on the earth, and from that time they were ap pointed to mark the days, months, and years, of the Present Earth.
The work of the "Fifth Day" was the CREATION of fish and fowl. Gen.1:20-23. Here is the first time we come across the word "CREATE" since we read of the
original creation of the earth in verse one. This shows that all animal life was destroyed in the catastrophe that overtook the Pre-Adamite Earth. The fish and fowl that were created on the "Fifth Day" were the same that we have today. The fossil remains of huge marine animals and gigantic birds belong to the Pre-Adamite Earth.
The creative work of the "Sixth Day" was twofold, that of land animals and of man. Gen. 1:24-28.
These land animals were doubtless the same kind as we have today. The fact that they were created,
"AFTER THEIR KIND,"
which is 5 times repeated, shows that they were not "evolved" from one common species. That all the differ ent species of animals were created "separately" is proven from the fact that when species are crossed their off spring are sterile. The crossing of the jackass and a mare is the mule, and a mule is a hybrid and is sterile. If the "Evolutionary Theory" of the development of ani mal and vegetable life was true, we should expect to find evidence to that effect in fossil remains of the interme diate links, and we should also see "evolutionary pro cesses" at work now whereby higher orders of animal and plant life are coming into being. But we see nothing of the kind. Animal and plant life exists today in the same form that it has existed in the knowledge of man. The birds build their nests and raise their young as they always did. The beaver builds his dam, and the bee constructs his honeycomb as they have always done. Man alone has the faculty of improving his mode of con struction. This is seen in the development of farming instruments from the crude plow and winnowing fan to the complex plow and cultivator, and the combined reaper, binder, and thresher. But here we can trace the various steps by the obsolete specimens of farming im plements. This is not true in the animal and vegetable kingdoms for there we find no intermediary links. If the Evolutionary Theory is correct, it should apply to man as well as animals, and we should see by the cross ing of the best specimens of the human race the evolution of a SUPERMAN, but the history of the race disproves this.
That man was CREATED (Bara) A MAN shows that he has not descended from an "ape." Man was made in the "IMAGE OF GOD," not in the image of an ape, and was not formed from a brute but of the "Dust of the Earth." While Adam and Eve were not both fashioned in the same way, Eve being "builded" from a rib taken out of Adam (Gen. 2: 21-23), they were not evolved from some lower creature, but were both direct creations of God, "male and female CREATED He them." Gen. 1: 27.
On the "Seventh Day" of the "Restoration Week" God rested. Gen.2:2-3. He rested because His work was finished. That is the only justifiable reason for rest ing. He rested because His work was not only finished but was GOOD. There could be no reflection on it. But when God's perfect work was marred by sin, by the "Fall of Man," His "Sabbath Rest" was broken, and He had to resume work for the purpose of the redemption of man that he might become a "NEW CREATION" in Christ Jesus. 2 Cor. 5:17.


 

 
 

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