"And
God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide
the day from the night; and let
them be for signs, and for seasons, and, for
days, and years: And let them be
for lights in the firmament of the heaven
to give light upon the earth: and
it was so. And God made two great lights;
the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night:
he made the stars also. And
God set them in the firmament of the heaven
to give light upon the earth, And
to rule over the day and over the night,
and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning
were the first day." (Gen, 1:14-19)
The evolutionists contend that it
would have been impossible for plants to survive without
the aid of the sun which heats the
earth and that the ocean would remain stagnant
without the gravity of the moon to
produce the tides, but what they do not understand
is that the light, of which God is
the father and source of (Jas. 1:17) was more than
sufficient to sustain life for the
plants for one day, simply because they do not
believe in supernatural
intervention, or even if they do believe in a Creator, they do not
believe that He necessarily
resorted entirely to supernatural means in bringing the universe
into being in the first place, but
instead insist on relying on naturalistic processes to explain the origin and
sustaining of life, but for the process of creation to begin in and of itself
requires an act of the supernatural, since naturalistic processes are
insufficient to explain a cause for life.
Even professing Christians and
others who might believe in a Creator, but not in a literal six day Creation
recognize that a supernatural act was required for the process of life to take
place, but
are unwilling to concede to the
possibility that the entire Creation process took place exactly as recorded in
the book of Genesis because they have been deceived into placing
their trust
in the claims of self-proclaimed
experts in science and professional educators rather than taking the
time examine the validity of their claims and are then in their thinking are
led to believe
that God may not have intervened by
entirely supernatural means in the creation process, and therefore do not
believe that the scriptures claim that things happened exactly as recorded,
because they have been taught to spiritualize or allegorize scriptures where
such is not warranted, thus sabotaging trust in the sufficiency of the
scriptures, and so the only explanation sensible to them is that the time
passed between the creation of plants and the sun must have been longer than
one day, as well as the time passed between each day of creation, because they
do not know the character and attributes of the God they profess to worship as
well as they think they do, because if they did, they might see how such
thinking would run contrary to what God has revealed concerning Himself, nor
have they been well informed of the flaws in attempted naturalistic
explanations to life, because the church as a whole has failed to invest in
equipping the saints with the knowledge needed to do their part in
"the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down
wicked imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:4) so that there might not be anything to
hinder the lost from repentance, for it is only be persuasion that men are led
to place their trust in the Gospel and in the authority of the scriptures, but
how can they be won if we fail to persuade because of futile attempts to
reconcile the scriptures with the doctrines and theories of men?
And how are we supposed to be the
light of Christ to the world, as we are called, (Mt. 5:14-16) when we
ourselves do not have full confidence in the trustworthiness and sufficiency of
the scriptures? Even if we conduct ourselves in manner representative of
Christ so as to keep ourselves and the faith beyond reproach and gain
respectability, if we are not prepared to answer those intellectual challenges
with which we may be confronted, we will still fail to win over souls and the
faith of some of our own members will be overthrown.
The sun, moon, and stars were
created, as it was written to be serve as signs to mark the seasons and time of
day. They were all birthed from that same light with which the creation
of our universe began and serve diverse purposes. The sun warms the
earth; its heat and light necessary for plant growth and for life to exist.
The moon's gravitational pull enables the tides which keep the oceans from
becoming stagnant and the different phases it undergoes marks the different
period of each month. For example, according to the Jewish calendar, the
new moons mark the beginning of each of their months and in ancient times, the
phases of the moon were observed in order to determine as to how close the
start and end of each month was. Up until the twentieth century, the
stars served as a navigational guide for ships and the constellations were used
by various cultures to mark the different seasons. They were never
intended by God as a means to forecast future events, an act which He has
strictly forbidden and condemns. (Deut. 18:10-12)
Individually, each Christian is
like unto a single star, and though one by itself may not produce much light in
this world ruled by the powers of darkness, collectively, the light of Christ
is manifested that much more. That is why it is written that we are not
to be in the habit of neglecting regular meetings, but are to be regular
contributors to a fellowship in one sense or another. (Heb. 10:12)
There are various types of stars the Lord has created; some large, others
small, and some burn brighter than others, but all serve a collective and single
purpose. It has been said that the story of the Gospel message is written
in the stars, but that is a different subject altogether.
But just as the stars served as a
means of navigation, so we were called by Christ to serve as instruments to
navigate the lost towards the Savior in order that they receive redemption
through Him, placing their trust in His redemptive work on their behalf.
We may all serve different roles within the body of Christ, also called the
Church, but the roles we play all serve a single purpose and that is to shine
the light of Christ in this dark world. Think about what the night is
like without the light of the moon or stars; without any source of light.
It is pitch black; an uneasy and ominous setting that makes you feel vulnerable
and causes you to jump at every sound. Now, imagine the world without
Christians. As dark as this world is, how much darker it would be without
us. There would be nothing to restrain the powers of darkness from
completely taking over the world. In fact the scriptures foretell of such
a time when the force that hinders the evil will be taken out of the way
(2 Thess. 2:6-8) and that the man of lawlessness of whom the scriptures
speak will be revealed (2 Thess. 2:3-4) who will take over this world (Dan.
7-8, Rev. 13) and at that time a strong delusion will come upon those people
who had no love for the truth that they might believe a lie. (2 Thess.
2:11-12)
There is much in the scriptures
that speak of how terrible that time yet to come will be and should give us
even greater cause to share our faith and let the light of Christ within us
shine, but in order to for the light within each and every one of us to shine
the best, there must be a contrast between us and the unbelievers, between the
church and the world. For just as there is a contrast between light and
darkness, there must also, in order for the credibility of our witness to be
strengthened, there must also be a contrast between the Church and the world.
That is why is written that we are not to be conformed to this world system,
but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Rom. 12:2) Just
as the stars and the moon stand out in the night sky, so we too must stand out
in the darkness of this world wherever we go, but if we allow ourselves to be
conformed to this world system, then what contrast is shown between us and the
world, regardless of what we may profess to believe?
And if we do not diligently equip
ourselves to "earnestly contend for the faith" when it is
challenged, (Jude 4) to test all things (1 Thess. 5:19) and search
the scriptures daily (Acts 17:11) that we might discern the truth from the
lies so that we ourselves are not led astray nor lead astray others and
learn to understand the times in which we live, how shall we be able to
convince others of the truth?
For once we accepted Christ, we
gave our allegiance to a Kingdom not of this world and now are expected to
adopt as our priorities the priorities of the Kingdom and as our standards, the
laws and customs of the Kingdom and not allow ourselves to be coerced,
pressured, or threatened into abiding by laws contrary to the scriptures, for
we now follow an authority that supersedes all others and before whom all will
bow. (Rom. 14:11, Phil. 2:10)
Therefore, we need to live no
longer as part of the world, but as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven of which
we have become, and our minds no longer influenced by the corrupted wisdom of
this world, but of the God who is the source of all knowledge, wisdom, and
instruction.
Scripture
references:
1. Genesis 1:14-19
2. James 1:17
3. 2 Corinthians 10:4
4. Matthew 5:14-16
5. Deuteronomy 18:10-12
6. Hebrews 10:12
7. 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8
8. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
9. Daniel 7-8
10. Revelation 13
11. 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
12. Romans 12:2
13. 1 Thessalonians 5:19
14. Acts 17:11
15. Romans 14:11
16. Philippians 2:10
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