Just getting a little wet 🌧️ "In the Beginning" Part VIII

Genesis 1:20 - 23

²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens.” ²¹ So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Today’s scripture verse starts out saying, “let the waters bring forth…”

Which is very similar to verse 11 when God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation…” but that is the fault of our English language.

Actually, these verses are not the same structure in the original Hebrew.

Giving the impression that there could be a link between marine life and the waters… like the plants that sprung forth from the ground.

Here we read that the animals are made by God. … Life, (the blood) is derived solely from God.

What it’s literally saying is, "Let the waters swarm with swarmers..."

The verb and the noun are very similar to one another and come from the same root. So, what God said is, "Let the waters swarm with swarmers, and let flyers fly,"

And God is populating the land with many kinds of living creatures…

Notice in verse 21, that this the second time we have the word “created”.

"God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves”

It is significant that we have this word used once more...

Here we’re told that they were created in the same way He created the earth, out of nothing… for animal life did not evolve from lifeless matter.

The waters did not produce the living creatures of the sea and air.  God Himself created the animals of the sea and air.  There was nothing within the waters, air, or land that could create or bring forth sea and air creatures.

Only the creative act of God was needed. No material, no matter, no substance, nothing whatsoever was used.

And God populated His creation with order, each to thrive in their proper territory.

For it is God who established their territory and it was God who gave them their dominion.

Please notice that this is the first time God blesses something in the Bible…

The word is used more than eighty times in Genesis and it usually speaks of fertility.

The whole created order blesses God and the created animals bring glory to God. And within this structure, God brings forth life and permits it to recreate.

So that once again nothing in the order of creation can be responsible for the life of another order of creation.

The blessing from God is one of the great unifying themes of Genesis. God blesses animals (1:22), He blesses mankind in (1:28), and He blesses the Sabbath (2:3).

For all aspects of biblical life receive and express God’s blessings – crops, families, and even nations (Deut. 28:1-14).

Here, God’s blessing means to be endowed with the ability to produce an abundance of offspring or new growth; in other words, …fertility.

It does not mean, to be made prosperous.

There are at least four major reasons why God created sea and air creatures:

1. To populate and give life to His creation, both the waters and the sky of the earth.

2. To help carry on the reproduction of the food chain.

3. To give variety and beauty to the earth’s water and sky; to show forth His glorious handiwork.

4. To provide companionship for mankind.

The importance of these purposes is clearly seen when we picture an earth without fish or birds.

Just imagine how empty our skies would be without the birds and winged fowl of the air…

or how empty the oceans, lakes, and rivers would be without fish or sea creatures.

God is the God of variety, diversity, and beauty.

Kind after kind, species after species, class after class were created—an infinite variety and diversity, each with its own beauty and purpose.

How clearly man could see the power of God within creation if man would just take time and look. 

Yet, God expects to be seen and praised in creation!

Now in case some of you are wondering about what the “great sea monsters” are that God created… honestly, we don’t know.

Perhaps the word is meant to point us to a whole category of monstrous sea creatures.

But my opinion is that Genesis 1:21 is not talking about some mythological monster. 

Because since the creatures were created out of nothing by God Himself and God declares them to be “good.”

It seems unlikely, that they are anything like the mythical creatures we read about of old… which personifies chaos.

Nehemiah 9:6 says, "You alone are the Lord.  You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.  You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You."