LESSON 1 - CREATION

January 7, 1888.

SIDE LIGHTS. - “Great Controversy,” Vol. 1, Chaps. 2 and 8; “History of the Sabbath,” Chap. 1.

  1. What did God do in the beginning? Gen. 1:1.
  2. By what means was this accomplished? Ps. 33:6, 9.
  3. Are we to understand from these words that the matter of the earth was not in existence before he spake? Heb. 11:3.
  4. Who was the active agent in creation? Heb. 1:1, 2.
  5. Is there anything that the Son did not make? Col. 1:16, 17.
  6. Since it was by the Son that the Father created all things, what is his rightful title? John 1:1, 3.
  7. How has the Father addressed the Son? Heb. 1:8, 10.
  8. Then how should he be regarded by all creatures? Heb. 1:6.
  9. In what condition was the earth when it was first spoken into existence? Gen. 1:2.
  10. After the creation of the substance of the earth, what was the first thing done? Verse 3.
  11. What next? Verse 4.
  12. What did God call the light and the darkness? Verse 5.
  13. What do a period of darkness and a period of light together constitute? See verse 5.
  14. Which always comes first in the formation of a day? The darkness. Can you explain why?
  15. What was done on the second day? Gen. 1:6-8.
  16. How is this day’s work referred to by Job? Job 26:8.
  17. What was done on the third day? Gen. 1:9-13.
  18. What was made upon the fourth day? Verse 14.
  19. What were these lights to govern? Verse 16.
  20. Then what kind of days were these days of creation?
  21. Does the sun make the day, or simply rule the day?
  22. Tell what makes the day, and how there could be days before the sun was.

NOTES.

The day is made by the revolution of the earth on its axis. Each complete revolution makes one day, which for convenience is divided into twenty-four portions called “hours.” If the sun were to become a body of darkness, the day would still be the same length that it now is. So there were days before the sun was made to rule the day. The earth began to revolve as soon as it was created, each revolution making one day; and during the fourth revolution the sun was made for a light-bearer. The sun does not make the day; it simply rules it. The Hebrew of Gen. 1:18, literally translated, says that the great lights were set in the firmament “to rule in the day and in the night.”

WHEN the earth was created, “darkness was upon the face of the deep. “The phrase,” in the beginning,” marks the beginning of the first day of time. Consequently the first day of time began in darkness. Before the earth had completed its first revolution, God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” God saw that the light was good,” and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening [the darkness] and the morning [the light] were the first day.” The first revolution of the earth was completed just at the dividing line between light and darkness; and as the first part of that day was in the darkness which up to that time had been unbroken, so the second day began with the darkness which had then been set off and placed within bounds. And because time began in darkness, the first portion of every day of time has been darkness. Men may adopt as many standards as they please, but every day of time has begun with evening, and so it will be as long as time lasts.

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