Lesson 1 · July 2, 1898
Creation Week
(.)
- 1.Who is the first person mentioned in the Bible? What is He there represented as doing? At what time? . Note 1.
- 2.In what condition was the earth? In what was the earth shrouded? What moved upon the waters? .
- 3.What was God's first command, and what was the result? . Note 2.
- 4.Who saw the light, and what did He say of it? Could the light and darkness dwell together? .
- 5.What did He call the light? What the darkness? What constituted the first day? . What has constituted every day since then? Note 3.
- 6.What was God's second command? What was the result? .
- 7.On what day was this work done? .
- 8.What was God's third command? With what result? .
- 9.What was the dry land called? What was the gathering together of the waters called? What was the character of this work? .
- 10.What was God's fourth command? What was the result? What is said in reference to this work? .
- 11.What day of creation week is now past? .
- 12.What command was given on the fourth day? .
- 13.Where were these lights placed, and for what purpose were they made? to 18.
- 14.What other lights did God make? . Note 4.
- 15.On what day did God place the lights in the firmament? .
Notes
Readings.
Chapter on "The Literal Week" in "Christian Education," pp. 190-197; also in . "The Gospel in Creation," pp. 13-124.
1. The first verse of the Bible reveals God as Creator; the last, as Redeemer; and both, like every verse between the two, reveal Him as He is, a God of love. To fallen man the Gospel in creation becomes the Gospel of salvation. But lost man may not see God in the book of nature either as Creator or as Redeemer; therefore, God in His mercy and love has given him the book of Revelation. But even here man sees only in part. In are revealed the deep things of God in mysteries. "In the beginning"—who can tell just when?—"God"—who can find Him out unto perfection?—"created"—who can explain the secret of the process?—"the heaven and the earth"—who has comprehended their range or their glory? But this is the Christian's God. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all;" and yet "clouds and darkness are round about Him." By hiding He reveals Himself. His works and His manner of working are mysteries. He has robed all nature in garments which man can not fully rend: "Lo, these are but the outskirts of His ways; and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! but the thunder of His power who can understand?" , R. V. In this connection read "God in Nature," by Mrs. E. G. White, as recorded in General Conference Bulletin for 1897, No. 5, pp. 73, 74; or in "Special Testimonies on Education," pp. 56-62.
2. It is not beyond the power of faith to see that when He who is the light of the whole universe, in whom there is no darkness at all, who dwelleth in the light unapproachable, and in whose presence the sun is ashamed, was present, and said, "Let there be light, and there was light," that it should exist even before the sun was made on the fourth day. It is not hard for the child of trust to believe that He who now uses the sun to cause the "grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man," should by His own light cause the grass, herbs, and trees to spring forth in a single day, carpeting the whole earth with living green, lofty trees and magnificent flowers.
3. The infinite power of Him who upholds all the numberless worlds in limitless space, may not be called in question by finite man. To the Christian it is not a thing incredible that God should make this world and our solar system in just six days of twenty-four hours each, and in just the order named in the Mosaic record. On the contrary, it is just what we would expect of Him, that He should do a definite work in a definite time. For "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing," and the nations are to Him "as the small dust of the balance." It is in perfect harmony with His manner of working when upon the earth, in the healing of diseases and in the performance of the miracles of bread and wine, and of stilling the waves of the sea. It is just what we would expect of Him who takes note of the fall of the sparrow as well as the fall of the world. Our earth, compared with the universe of worlds, is, as it were, but a grain of sand upon the seashore. God has not revealed to us the process of creation further than that "He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast;" and this is enough so that by faith we may understand.
4. The expression "the stars also," calls attention to the fact that God made the stars as well as the sun and the moon. The names of the planets which revolve around our sun, in the order of their distances from it, are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Additional Study.
1. Christ was with the Father before the world was. ; .
2. Christ made the worlds. ; ; ; ; ; .
3. He upholds all things. ; ; ; .
4. How the earth was made. ; ; .
5. How did the Lord heal the diseases of the people when He was on the earth? , R. V.
6. All things were made for Him. ; ; .
7. Therefore the earth is His. .
8. The earth was made to be inhabited. .
9. He gave it to man. .
10. By what does Satan claim it?—By usurpation.
11. Compare the beginning of creation as recorded in the first verses of Genesis with the record in . Why should Christ be called the Word?
Bible texts in this lesson
Genesis 1:1-19 · Genesis 1:1 · Genesis 1:2 · Genesis 1:3 · Genesis 1:4 · Genesis 1:5 · Genesis 1:6 · Genesis 1:7 · Genesis 1:8 · Genesis 1:9 · Genesis 1:10 · Genesis 1:11 · Genesis 1:12 · Genesis 1:13 · Genesis 1:14 · Genesis 1:16 · Genesis 1:19 · Job 26:14 · John 17:5 · John 1:1 · John 1:2 · Proverbs 8:22-30 · Hebrews 1:2 · John 1:3 · John 1:10 · Ephesians 3:9 · Acts 17:24 · Acts 17:25 · Nehemiah 9:6 · Colossians 1:16 · Matthew 28:18 · Colossians 1:17 · Psalms 51:12 · Psalms 33:6-9 · Jeremiah 51:15 · Jeremiah 32:17 · Psalms 104:24 · Luke 6:19 · Proverbs 16:4 · Revelation 4:11 · Psalms 95:5 · Psalms 24:1 · Isaiah 45:18 · Psalms 115:16 · John 1:1-3
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