Category Archives: Morning Musings

Why the Sabbath Day?

Genesis Two….(v.1-3)               Why the Sabbath Day?

   We may wonder why God made a thing about the seventh day…He had completed creation in six days and on the seventh day He rested. What was so special about the seventh day?

   God has made time to revolve in blocks of sevens, and creation conforms to this. Have you taken notice of the periods of gestation and eggs hatching of all living things, that there are so many weeks of seven days. People have tried to make a ten day working week, but it doesn’t work. There is better work production in six days with one day off. This is the way that God has ordained it to be…six days work, one day rest for both man and beast as clearly stated in Deuteronomy 5:12-15.

   What are people to do on this seventh day? It is to be a time of rest and reflection….in Israel’s time it was clearly demonstrated by no manna falling on the seventh day….they were to sit down and think about the great things that God had done in bringing them out of Egypt, (and was still doing in giving them the promised land) Exodus 16:22-30.

   Isaiah tells us it was a time specially set aside for the Lord, to think of His things, to delight in Him, to sing His praises and not do our own thing or have our own pleasures (Isaiah 58:13-14). In the New Testament , this time was transferred to the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the day when people are to gather together to remember Him and what He has done for them (Acts 20:7).

To remember our Lord is surely no chore, As Israel remembered their deliverance before;

To keep one day for the Lord we love, To rest from our labours for the One from above.

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Man, God’s Crowning Creation….

Verses 27-31….

   The account of God creating man in this passage is spoken of as general….the next chapter gives a more specific account. Here, the human race is spoken of as male and female, created in God’s image. Let’s think of ways in which mankind is made as God is…..

Man has….1. the capacity to reason; 2. Man needs to be loved; 3. Man has choices; 4. Man seeks fellowship, and until he fellowships with God, he is unfulfilled.

God also has…1. Reasoning powers (Isaiah 1:v. 18); 2. God is love (1 John 4:19); 3. God chose us in Christ (Ephesians 1:4); 4. God fellowships with His own people (1 John 1:3). Man has emotions the same as God does….. Pleasure           (Psalm 16:11)                                       (Psalm 147:11) Anger               (Ephesians 4:31)                                   (Psalm 6:1)       Patience           (1 Timothy 6:11)                                    (Romans 15:5) Joy                   (Philippians 2:18)                                   (Galatians 5:22) Compassion      (Hebrews 10:34)                                   (Mark 1:41)

Man was made in God’s image complete, To commune with Him in fellowship sweet, Man needs to love and want friends, God desires this too, in the world without end!

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Man, God’s Crowning Creation

Genesis One….(v.24-26)           Creation Completed!

Verses 24-26….

   The air was now full of life and the waters were teeming with movement, the dry land was covered with trees, grass and flowers waiting for its inhabitants. The sixth day of creation dawned, and God said….

  “Bring forth living creatures….from animals to creeping things, large and small” and it was so!! Every creature was perfectly fitted for its natural environment….if man takes them from their natural environment they either die or else overpopulate and make a pest of themselves as possums do in countries not their native habitat.    In spite of this abundance of life on earth, there was still nothing that God could communicate with….all creation was joyful before Him and God saw that everything that He had made was good, but it was not enough..

   So God said, “Let US make man in our own image” (Psalm 8:4-8). Just as God is a three part Being (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), so man has three facets…body, soul and spirit. The body is the case, the soul has the feeling, emotions, and thinking capacity, while man’s spirit is the part of man that is God conscious and feels the need of worshipping a Greater Being. Man’s spirit is the part of man that intertwines with God’s Holy Spirit when searching sincerely for God (John 4:23-24; Romans 8:16, 26-27).

God’s plan was complete, but for one thing, Someone was needed His praises to sing, Someone to whom He’d communicate, Someone who would on Him now wait.

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The First Half…

Genesis One….(v.1-13)       

Verses 1-13….

   There is a lot more to how the world began than what the modern day scientists think. It started off with no shape of any sort and was dark and empty. We are told that the world has foundations and pillars in the constructions of this globe that we live on (Job 9:6-10)…

   Science tells us (and we see it in the eruption of volcanoes) that the centre of the earth is a boiling mass. Just as Matthew tells us that God has already prepared a kingdom for His people, there is already a place prepared for the devil and his angels. This place is popularly supposed to be the centre of the earth, but seeing the outside of the globe is going to be done away with, it could be somewhere more permanent!  (Matthew 25:34, 41; 2 Peter 3:7-13)

We wonder what the source of the original light was, the first thing that God created. The earth was already spinning as there was a clear definition of night and day. The waters above (mists and clouds) were separated from the waters beneath (seas and oceans) by the atmosphere, air and clouds on the second day (Job 38:4-12). The third day brought the dry land, oceans, seas and rivers, as well as the vegetation, and the earth was now ready to bear fruit.

God brought the earth from dark to light, God spoke and it burst into sight, The air and all the world around, Were put in place, with all  their  bounds.

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The Sun, Moon and Stars….

                                    What Came Next?                             

Genesis One, Verses 14-19….

   The next thing that God put into place was the order of the heavens….something that man has never plumbed the depth of. Outer space with its myriad of stars were all put in place by God and given names. Yet puny man dares to defy this One and downgrade His wonderful creation to evolution at the worst and Mother Nature at the best!

We can but say in wonder and awe with the Psalmist, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful works! (Psalm 107:8)   And again, “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all!”  (Psalm 104:24)    Man never has and never will, be able to find and count all the stars in the universe…space is impenetrable! When we look up at the night sky and see all the stars there, we wonder at their complexity….all those heavenly bodies and yet they never collide or move out of their appointed places!

    Light was already in existence, but God now made it more definite with the sun and moon giving time and seasons as we know them today. They have never varied since they began, except for the two times mentioned in the Old Testament (Joshua 10:13-14, and Isaiah 38:8) and will continue until the end of time. It is amazing to see the sun move along the edge of the horizon every morning, rising in a different place each day, and with the seasons varying in their set order.    Not only that, but we know that just the right amount of sun reaches the earth for man’s existence…..any more and man would frizzle and any less they would freeze!

God has ordained the moon and sun, Given night when work is done;

The stars come out in scores galore, As man looks up, there still are more!

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                                                The First Half of Creation

Verses 1-13….

   There is a lot more to how the world began than what the modern day scientists think. It started off with no shape of any sort and was dark and empty. We are told that the world has foundations and pillars in the constructions of this globe that we live on (Job 9:6-10)…

   Science tells us (and we see it in the eruption of volcanoes) that the centre of the earth is a boiling mass. Just as Matthew tells us that God has already prepared a kingdom for His people, there is already a place prepared for the devil and his angels. This place is popularly supposed to be the centre of the earth, but seeing the outside of the globe is going to be done away with, it could be somewhere more permanent!  (Matthew 25:34, 41; 2 Peter 3:7-13) We wonder what the source of the original light was, the first thing that God created. The earth was already spinning as there was a clear definition of night and day. The waters above (mists and clouds) were separated from the waters beneath (seas and oceans) by the atmosphere, air and clouds on the second day (Job 38:4-12). The third day brought the dry land, oceans, seas and rivers, as well as the vegetation, and the earth was now ready to bear fruit.

     Then the next thing that God put into place was the order of the heavens….something that man has never plumbed the depth of. Outer space with its myriad of stars were all put in place by God and given names. Yet puny man dares to defy this One and downgrade His wonderful creation to evolution at the worst and Mother Nature at the best!     We can but say in wonder and awe with the Psalmist, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful works! (Psalm 107:8)   And again, “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all!”  (Psalm 104:24)

   Man never has and never will, be able to find and count all the stars in the universe…space is impenetrable! Light was already in existence, but God now made it more definite with the sun and moon giving time and seasons as we know them today. They have never varied since they began, except for the two times mentioned in the Old Testament (Joshua 10:13-14, and Isaiah 38:8) and will continue until the end of time. It is amazing to see the sun move along the edge of the horizon every morning, rising in a different place each day, and with the seasons varying in their set order.

   Not only that, but we know that just the right amount of sun reaches the earth for man’s existence….. any more and man would frizzle and any less and man would freeze!

God brought the earth from dark to light, God spoke and it burst into sight, The air and all the world around, Were put in place, along with every  bound. God has ordained the moon and sun, And given night when work is done; The stars come out in scores galore, As man looks up, there still are more!

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Who Actually Created the World?

Genesis One….(v.1-2)            

Verses 1-2….

   Verse one goes on to say, “God created the heaven and the earth”. Who actually did the creating? Many people think that it was God the Father that did the creating, but there are many verses that show the whole Trinity was involved in the creating business. Let’s look at them….

   Both the writer to the Hebrews and John say that the Son was involved in the creation and in fact, is still seeing to the upholding of the original creation….keeping it going if you like (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2-3). We also see that the Father and the Son do nothing without including the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:6-8). It is the Holy Spirit who reveals the Son and God’s truths to mere mortal mankind. All this was ordained and put in order before the world began.

   No wonder Paul goes on to write that man hasn’t even begun to see and hear the wonderful things that God has in store for His people…..in fact, it is beyond our comprehension while we are earth-bound. (1 Corinthians 2:7-11; Ephesians 3:9-11).

Just as a caterpillar has no comprehension of the freedom and beauty of the fluttering butterfly it will become, so man cannot take in or even imagine what lies ahead!! And this is all part of God’s eternal plan….we don’t know yet what we will become, but we DO know that when we see our Lord Jesus we will become like Him! (1 John 3:2)

God created man to be with Him, To live on earth with Him within;

To be with Him in heav’n above, To know his peace and light and love.

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God’s Books

   Last time we talked about God’s plan, and today we will look at His books. It seems that each person has a page (or two!) in God’s books…our genes, make-up, thoughts, deeds, and words are all written down in His books long before we were ever thought of, before even the foundation of the world (Psalm 139:15-16).

   Our tears and feelings as well as our words are all written down in His Book (Malachi 3:16; Matthew 12:36). What we talk about is all recorded there, and we will have to give an account of it at the Day of Judgment….we will have to go into every detail of all the idle words we have ever uttered. If it is not written in a literal book, then it will be indelibly written in our minds, and maybe that would be even worse!

   The Book of Life is the most well known of God’s books with several references to it, and this was also written up BEFORE the world began…there are also a couple of mentions of names being blotted out of it…(Revelation 3:5; 17:8b; 22:10)

   In the light of all this, how much more important is it to read and ponder the things in God’s Book, the Bible which is so freely available to us today!

God’s books were written long ago, With names and deeds all there to show,

So let’s make sure that we read, His Book today and to it heed!

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