Purposeful, Good, and Orderly Creation

Genesis 1:14-25 

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then 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. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 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. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, 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 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

God created lights in the heavens to separate night from day, and to track time through seasons and years.  These would suffice by themselves for millennia until written calendars would define the seasons and years better, but still based on God’s created order in the beginning; there is nothing new under the sun.  In fact, He created the sun and moon to rule the night and day, as well as the stars for our wonderment.  By putting these just high enough in the sky, the fourth day was done and the stage set for all to follow.  He created many living things in the water and air and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply.  The fifth day was also a good finish from morning to evening.  Then Cod began to fill the earth He had so meticulously prepared with the animals (of which man is not, despite efforts of man to so categorize himself and deny God’s handiwork).  These animals and creeping things of all types were another good thing of His creation in God’s eyes.  What this tells us above all else is that God’s creation has purpose and order, is self-sustaining, and is good as made by His design.  God does not make useless or purposeless things; all He made is necessary and part of the bigger design picture for what was to come, as we will see in the next verses.