Genesis 1:3,4,5
Part 3
God Divided and the Darkness
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:4)
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:5)
DARKNESS and GOD DIVIDED
  The first principle in Chapter 1 of Genesis is that GOD exists and that He communicates. The next principle we see is that God is Light and He is the Creator of all things. And the very next principle that God brings us to is that of ‘division.’ After light was first declared as being ‘good’ then, and only then did God divide the light from darkness.
 God Divides
  Division is a very important principle in Scripture. It is God who divided, and it is God who divides. Here is our first mathematical expression of separation. We understand by Scripture that the light was considered ‘good’ by God; thus, darkness must be the opposite of good. God never mentioned what He considered this to be here in Genesis 1, as the emphasis is on what and who GOD IS. The emphasis is on GOD and God alone. Chapter 1 of Genesis is not meant to be a revelation of how God created, it is a revelation on who He is.
What are some of the revelations we have seen so far in the early portion of Genesis:Â First: God exists, God communicates, God is the Creator of all things, God has set a standard of goodness, and now we see that it is God who divides.
The Darkness
Why Does God Divide and What Does God Divide From?
It is interesting to see that the word darkness is mentioned 4 times in 4 verses in Genesis 1.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:4)
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:5)
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. (Genesis 1:18)
The Number 4 and It’s Connection to the Earth or World
  Why would this be of interest? Because darkness precedes the light, and in the number 4 we have the digit that represents the earth or world. The earth and all within, meaning the whole world is tied into the number 4. The following verses are just a few of the Scriptures that point to the number 4 in it’s relationship to the earth.
And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. (Mark 13:27)
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. (Revelation 7:1)
  These are 4 angels who stand over the earth implementing God’s will and purpose, the ‘four winds of the earth,’ we could say are the disturbing influences that affect the earth and its inhabitants. Notice in Revelation 7:1, we have four corners of the earth, and the four  winds of the earth, and the four angels who perform God’s decrees over the earth.
 Darkness in the number 4 also is associated with the earth, the world, and the number of creation. The difference being that the earth is our planet, our space home; the world is what man has made out of the earth, and from the earth — his home. Everything that man touches, he ruins, he destroys, and he corrupts. Weakness is also evident in this number, because it is capable of true division.
In 4 we have the 4 . . . .
• seasons: winter, spring, summer and fall
• regions: east, west, north, and south
• division of the day: morning, noon, evening, and midnight
• great elements: earth, air, fire, and water
• limbs on the human body
• states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma
• horseman in the Book of the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ bring war, famine, pestilence and death upon the earth of rebellious man.
  Darkness is first associated with earth and the number 4, because it is spiritually in opposition against God. This principle of division, divide, and separation is that light and darkness cannot mix — not in the physical world, and not in the spiritual worlds.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ( 2 Corinthians 6:14)
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)
Jesus said, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.(John 12:46)
  Therefore, earth is revealed in number 4 not only for it being created by a Creator, but perfectly created and set for man to live and to enjoy the goodness of God. Man then quickly sets out to destroy what was given to him of a perfect environment. It is man who divides and causes division among the inhabitants of his space-home because he cannot stand to have the light shine on his deeds. Man denies the existence of God not because of any mental weakness, but because of moral depravity. The reason man wants to remove God from the world (and live in darkness) is because he is determined not to be held accountable for his actions, deeds, motives or thoughts. Man desires to remove God from the world. Man chooses to live in darkness and refuses the Light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. He prefers to dwell in a dark moral, and a dark spiritual place where he is unable to get his bearings, where there is no safe place for his soul, or a place where he cannot see to judge the depth of his sin.
Why God Divides
  Besides our first 5 verses in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, what were some of the other times when God divided and why? God first separated or divided people when He caused Adam and Eve to be removed from His garden of Eden. It was Adam’s sin that brought sin into the world, and caused a curse to fall on all creation. It was man who first corrupted his surroundings and brought death and decay into the animal and plant world.
  Then God separated or divided a murderer from the first family on earth, to wander on the earth in a lost state of mind, body, soul and spirit.
  Then God divided man by languages to stop a people united in a religious paganistic governmental rebellious front focused on their common goal of world domination.
  Then God separated a man called Abraham from a world consumed with paganism.
  Then God separated a tribe to Himself, and separated them from an evil world, and made this tribe into a nation, the nation of Israel.
  God has continually acted in the affairs of man by placing a separation between His seed and the seed of evil (the seed of Satan).
  In the New Testament, we again read of God’s plan of division and separation. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13 (how appropriate that we have the number 13) the Lord Jesus Christ talks about the separation of the wheat (the righteous) and the tares (the evil ones). In Matthew 25, the Lord speaks of the separation of the sheep (His sheep) from the goats (those of the world). The use of agricultural terms so that man could easily understand in simple terms the vastness of the spiritual world; wherein God’s plan and program has set the separation and the division of good from evil, of children of God from the children of Satan, the children of light from the children of darkness. In Revelation 16:10, we have the last mention of ‘darkness.’ The last kingdom, the kingdom of the Anti-Christ will be one of complete darkness and complete evil. We have come full circle from the first mention of darkness as being the complete opposite of light and ‘good,’ to the last mention of darkness being the complete opposite of ‘good.’ The contrast between ‘darkness’ and ‘light,’ ‘good’ and ‘evil,’ is a continuous interwoven thread of white and black in God’s tapestry. The principle of division and separation will present itself to us again many times further on in our study in the Book of Genesis. Here is a very basic example of the Law of First Mention. What is the Law of First Mention? How the first mention of a word is defined or intended, the very same meaning or intention will continue throughout the Scriptures, and will coincide with the very last mention of that word. This is what can be termed as one of the many internal evidences of the inspiration of the Word of God. The first word written and the last word written span thousands of years, and penned by men of different characters, position, and age; and yet, connected.
And the evening and the morning were the first day.
  Isn’t this interesting that God uses the words the evening and the morning were the first day, instead of the way we describe day, we would say, ‘morning to evening.’ We prefer to see our day as beginning with daylight, when actually our day begins at 12:01 AM, in the blackness of the night. God sees where man truly dwells, for man begins and ends his day in darkness; even in this, man is in denial of his true state. The Jewish time is set according to Genesis 1; evening begins their measurement of time in the day, it goes from sundown to sundown; and that is where Israel is living now. They are living in the sundown still waiting for their Messiah. They too, as the Gentiles live in their denial of God, the Jewish nation are also existing in the place of denial of their rejected Messiah. There is much in the simple wording of And the evening and the morning were the first day.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (2 Peter 1:19)
And I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:28)
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, [and] the bright and morning star. (Revelation 22:16)
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)
♦
Let’s go back for a quick timeline where there is no timeline.
Eternity — no time — before the beginning — without timeÂ
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.(Genesis 1:1)
Eternity — no time — without time — before timeÂ
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
Eternity — no time — without time — before time
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)
Eternity — no time — without time — before timeÂ
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:4)
Time Begins
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:5)
 Time begins in eternity. (Time and space exist in eternity as a parenthesis in a single paragraph in God’s Book of Record). What am I trying to indicate through the statements and spaces above is simply that we cannot and should not attempt to put the element of time into an area where there was no time — millions of years — trillions of years — unknown time, time without measure. My own thoughts on the matter is still a very simple one, since God created Adam with apparent age why would He not create, and why could He not create all things with apparent age?
  The time is set, and now time begins. God really doesn’t care about your curiosity of the how of His creation, or the how of His creatorial power. Do you want to know why God doesn’t care about your curiosity — you really believe that you or anyone else has the mental capacity to understand His creation. Scientists can only discover what is already there, and they have enough trouble trying to understand what they can measure. Imagine how much beyond them are the things that cannot be measured or seen by the instruments of earth. The universe has such a vast beauty and balance beyond measurement, and beyond the realm of the mind; and our smallness of spirit and mind keeps us from enjoying what God has given to us to see Him in all things. Remove Him, and we remove the only understanding, the only enjoyment, and the only cohesiveness of thought that can reveal who and what God is. We totally miss His voice, and therefore, we totally miss His message. If the very beginning premise is that God does not exist, and every thought and motive and every continuing premise is built on this erroneous premise, then man is much like the poor baby skunk with his head caught in a paper cup running around blindly and frantically in circles.
The First Day and Days in Scriptures
The word ‘day’ has several usages in Scripture. It is a period of 24 hours. It is also something distinctive as ‘Day of Atonement.’ It is also a period of time which may be long or sort as ‘day of judgment.’ A day can also mean an age or dispensation as ‘day of salvation,’ ‘man’s day,’ and ‘day of the Lord.’ (Example: Today is the ‘day of salvation,’ today is also ‘man’s day,’ and tomorrow may be the ‘day of the Lord,’ ‘the day of God,’ and ‘the day of judgment.’ The exact meaning of the word ‘day’ must be decided by the context and by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Here in Genesis this ‘day’ is a period of 24 hours as we read And the evening and the morning were the first day.
 Let’s remain on the ‘first day.’ It is at this point in Genesis 1:5 that we have light, day, darkness, night, evening and morning and ‘the first day.’ Everything that occurs in Genesis 1:5 occurred on the first day. The very first, the very beginning of time, the very happening of the importance of the first day expands the heart to see the grandeur of God’ care and preparation for His big picture. The ‘big picture’ is the term that men use to get minds off the smaller picture of the immediate problem or the self and get the mind on to a picture beyond themselves — to see the bigness of the real issue. And God’s big picture is His plan for man, His plan for His kingdom, His plan in His revelation of Himself to man, and His plan of redemption; not the smaller stage of creation, nor the smaller revealing of a vast universe, but the true and big picture of Himself. Man searches the skies and the universe looking and hoping for life, any life, any alien life, ‘Is anything or anyone out there?’ we call. God is there! The universe screams with His voice, earth and all nature echo His voice. God is there! ‘I am here,’ He says, ‘I am the GREAT I AM! Hear ye me.’
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. (Jeremiah 22:29)
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. (Deuteronomy 32:1)
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. (Isaiah 1:2)
Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. (Isaiah 34:1)
  The first day of time is set for man to dwell in, space and time will now become the dwelling place for man. God’s care for man has been set in the very first day, and what does the last mention of ‘day’ teach us about God and His plan. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. (Revelation 21:25) In another creation, in another time and space frame, or you could call it another dimension, whatever it is — it is! God has prepared another place for the dwelling of man, a place without night, no darkness, no sin, no evil, where all righteousness dwells. The Lord Jesus Christ said, as recorded in the Gospel of John 14:2, In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Another place, another creation, a realm in which man will never corrupt again; a place of Truth, Righteousness, and Peace, because God and His Christ will be the total and complete center of light and life of all existence.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also. (John 14:3)
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof. (Revelation 21:23)
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. (Revelation 21:24)
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)
© Copyright 2015, Mary Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJB)