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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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