Lesson 11
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Bible Study 1 - Genesis 1
SERIES: A WORLD IN A WEEK
LESSON 11: GENESIS 1.24-25 DAY 6 – THE CREATION OF ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL
24. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
25. “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
REVIEW AND INTRODUCTION
I do not feel I have completed what I would like to cover with you about the 6th day of creation on which we have the creation of the animals and also the creation of human beings. We will take up the creation of man and woman in the next couple of studies and then our studies in Genesis chapter 1 will conclude. However, my intention is to divide the book of Genesis into different sections and series and study the entire Book to the end. I cannot think of a better way to get a working knowledge of the Bible. This will lay a foundation upon which we can build a better understanding of other Books of the Bible as we get to them.
The Lord made all creatures great and small. He made them all. We have been looking at Genesis chapter 1, day after day after day, and seeing the creative, wonderful works of our God. When we come to the sixth day of creation, we have recorded the creation of the animals and also the creation of man - male and female.
We Have Given Our Attention To The Composition Of The Animals. We have studied a little bit about this creation of the animals. I want to point out three statements that are made in these two verses that summarize for us the composition of the animals. It says in verse 24, "And God said”. In verse 25, "And God made.” In verse 25 again, "And God saw that it was good”. There we have summarized what the Bible says about the composition of the animals.
In the Composition of the Animals We Saw There Are Similarities, We know the Bible tells us that the animals were made from the dust of the earth. The Bible also tells us in Genesis chapter 2 that man was created from the dust of the earth. That is, our chemical and physical composition. We also know that the scientists tell us that the DNA of animals is basically the same composition as the earth. We also know that the DNA of animals and of man is very, very similar. In fact, 98% of the DNA of animals and man are the same. There are similarities but it is the 2% which is different which makes all the difference in the world.
When you want to talk about the difference between man and the animals you do not look at man's chemical or physical composition, but you look for other things. You look for moral aspects. You look for spiritual aspects. The book of Ecclesiastes says, "The Lord God hath put eternity in the man's heart." There is something about man that relates to God. You will never see an animal on its knees repenting of its sin. You will never see an animal receiving Jesus Christ into its heart and its life and receiving a new birth, through a transforming experience. God has so composed man that he has more than a chemical or a physical nature. Man also has a spiritual nature and he needs to relate himself to God.
In The Composition Of The Animals We Saw There Are Significant Dissimilarities. In the first chapter of Genesis I have pointed out to you that there is a significant phrase which occurs ten times in that chapter. It is the phrase “after his kind”. It is rather interesting to me that when we come to the account of the creation of the animals, that phrase is used five times in the two verses which have to do with the creation of the animals. It is as if God has drawn a line between animal life and human life. It is as if God has underscored the truth that man is different from animals. It is as if God anticipated that there would be those who would teach that man evolved from animals, that man descended from the lower animal existence.
INTERPRETATION
As I have shown you, there have been attempts over the past 150 years or more in our civilized world to prove that man has descended from the animals. They have sought to prove in the fossil record that there would be transitional forms, that you would find an ape-like creature or a human-like creature. That you would find them moving from one form to another, gradually over a period of years. This is not at all what you find in the fossil record. In fact, scientists talk to us about what is called the Cambrian explosion. That means that during the Cambrian period you have virtually all division of animal life appearing fully formed at the same time. It is called the Cambrian explosion. Therefore, you do not find gradual evolution in the fossil record.
In the last study I discussed with you about some of the so-called ape-men. I talked about the Piltdown man and the java ape-man. I pointed out to you that most of those so-called ape-men were colossal hoaxes. God has drawn a line. God has said that the animals will reproduce after their kind. That means that you will never ever see one species of animal transforming itself or being transformed into another specie.
There is a difference between microevolution and macroevolution. Most of what some scientists refer to as evolution is really microevolution. That means you will find within species small changes. You will find differences in color. You will find differences in structure. Microevolution is small changes within species. What you will never find is macroevolution. You will never, ever see a cow become a donkey. You will never, ever see a sheep become a mule. Macroevolution has been ruled out by God when He says, "Creation of the animals is after its kind."
After seeing the composition of the animals we then saw the distinction of the animals in that they never become humans. In this study I want us to see the classification of the animals. In these two verses we have a three-fold classification given to us for the animal kingdom.
Look at verse 25 again. “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind”:
You will notice in that verse it says that “God made the beasts of the earth after his kind.” Then “God made the cattle after their kind.” Then “God made everything that creeps upon the earth after his kind.” This is not a scientific classification as we classify animals today. Nevertheless, it is God's classification of three kinds of animal creatures. We know that there are all kinds of animals in the animal kingdom. There are broad speculations about just how many kinds of animals there are. It goes all the way from 500 thousand to three million different kinds of animals in existence. If you really want to help an Atheist, one of the best things you can do is to buy him a ticket to the zoo. Let him go to the zoo and observe God's creation. All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all. That is how they all came into existence.
EXPLANATION
I want to break these classifications down and discuss them in this study.
I. CONSIDER THE ANIMALS WHICH SCARE US. “Beasts of the earth.” There we have wild animal life. The beasts of the field. Wild animal life. I could talk about many of them, but I'll just talk about a couple of them.
FIRST OF ALL, LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO THE ELEPHANT. All creatures great and small. The elephant is one of the largest animals in God's creation. Let's talk specifically about the elephant's trunk. How in the world do you think that trunk came into existence? Do you think that trunk came into existence over a period of millions of years? Do you think that once upon a time there was an elephant that did not have a trunk? That somehow that animal just began to evolve itself and accidentally, after millions of years, there was the trunk of the elephant. That trunk of the elephant is so strong that it can lift logs. Yet, it is so sensitive that it can pick up a single peanut. It is the touching organ of the elephant. Yet, this organ of the elephant is also the organ by which the elephant drinks water, by which it breathes, by which it feeds itself. Sometimes it's as long as seven feet in length. It can hold five gallons of water. It is the upper nose and it is also the upper lip of the elephant. How did that trunk come into existence? All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all. So much for the elephant.
NEXT, LET ME TALK ABOUT THE BEAR. That is another one of God's creations that scares us. Have you thought about the bear? If you have ever been up to the mountains you are warned not to feed the bears. The bears will scare you. Have you thought about the amazing ability of the bears to hibernate? In the wintertime the bears hibernate. Sometimes they hibernate for as long as seven months. During that period of time their heart rate drops rapidly. It is only about 12 beats per minute. For seven months the bear does not feed. For seven months it sustains itself on stored fat in its body. For seven months there is no necessity for the digestive system and the expulsion system of the bear to work. How did the bear develop that ability to hibernate? For seven months how does that bear's body have the ability to sustain itself and yet have no need whatsoever to expulse food from its system? Did it just come into existence accidentally? Did all of that come about some evolutionary process that does not have divine design to it? Oh, no. All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all. The animals which scare us.
II. CONSIDER THE ANIMALS THAT SURPRISE US. “The creeping things” In verse 25 it also says that “God made everything that creepeth on the earth after his kind.” Have you ever thought about those creeping things, those crawling things?
THINK ABOUT THE LIZARDS. Do you like Lizards? There are about 2500 species of Lizards. How did all of those species come into existences? Did they just accidentally come into existence? Over 2500 species of Lizards and they all came into existence accidentally? The dinosaur is a giant Lizard. A Lizard continues to grow in its lifestyle. It never gets to maturity. As long as the Lizard lives, it continues to grow. I personally believe that the dinosaurs were on the earth before the flood. I believe that because of climatic conditions and because of length of life at that time, those Lizards just kept growing and growing and growing and growing and they became dinosaurs. When you look at the fossil remains of the dinosaurs, you will discover that dinosaurs became extinct because they were drowned in water. I personally believe that when the flood came - that was the extinction of the dinosaurs.
WHAT ABOUT THE CHAMELEON? Have you thought about the ability of that Chameleon to change its color? I have seen Chameleons change their color almost before my very eyes. When an enemy approaches, when a predator comes after the Chameleon, if that Chameleon is on a green leaf, miraculously, stunningly that Chameleon changes its color and becomes green and you can hardly see it. How in the world did that Chameleon get the ability to change its color? The evolutionist says to me, "Preacher, once upon a time a billion years ago there was a Chameleon and it was being chased by another animal. After a billion years, that Chameleon learned to change its colors." GIVE ME A BREAK! I have news for you! If that first Chameleon couldn't do it instantly, he would be a dead Chameleon and what about the rest of them? All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all.
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE BOMBARDIER BEETLE LATELY? It is found in the deserts of New Mexico. Very amazing little crawling creatures are the Bombardier Beetles. The Bombardier Beetles manufacture two different kinds of chemicals in two different stomachs. Both of these chemicals in and of themselves are harmless. Nevertheless, when a predator gets after the Bombardier Beetle, they produce these two chemicals and combine them and they become the temperature of boiling water. When combined they become a lethal spray and the Bombardier Beetle can shoot a predator five consecutive times with that boiling, poisonous water and destroy their enemy. How did the Bombardier Beetle develop the ability to produce those two chemicals? How did it know to put the two chemicals together and spray them at the enemy? All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all.
I JUST WANT TO THROW IN THE PLATYPUS. The platypus is God's joke on the evolutionist. The platypus just drives the evolutionist out of his skull. When you look at the Platypus you wonder what in the world is that. Is that Platypus a beast or a bird? It has fur like a bear. It has a bill like a duck. It gives milk like a cow. It lays eggs like a bird. It has teeth like a beaver. It has a tail like a raccoon. Tell me, Mr. Evolutionist, what does the Platypus come from, a beast, or a bird? All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all.
“God made the beasts of the earth after his kind” - THE ANIMALS WHICH SCARE US.
“God made everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind” - THE ANIMALS THAT SURPRISE US.
Then right there in the middle the Bible says, ‘God made cattle after their kind."
III. CONSIDER THE ANIMALS WHICH SERVE US. Have you ever thought about the animals serve us? Here the reference is to livestock. Domesticated animal life. So uniquely God has created animals to serve humanity.
TAKE A LOOK AT THE COW. Mr. Cow is an amazing animal which serves us. Here is a brown cow that eats green grass and gives white mile and yellow butter. I don't understand how he does it, but I like milk and I love butter. Think about the stomach of the cow. You have one stomach. The cow has four stomachs. Let's talk about the digestive process of the cow. How did all of this come about? How is it that cow has four stomachs? The evolutionist says, "Oh, a billion years ago there was a cow with just one stomach, but he ate too much so he had to have another stomach. Then a million years later, there was another cow and it had two stomachs and he ate too much so he needed three stomachs. Then another million years after that another cow came along and he was a real glutton and he had to have four stomachs." Is that how it came about? Let me ready you some things about the four stomachs of the cow. The cow eats grass and hay and it goes into stomach number one - the rumen. That is a huge stomach - about fifty gallons of containment. That grass and hay ferments for a day or two and then it converts itself into simple sugars and from there the food is carried into the second stomach - the reticulum. That second stomach is where the grass and hay is mixed with digestive enzymes and with more fermentation bacteria. It rolls the fodder into little balls and infuses them with enzymes of fiber and then regurgitates them and then the cow chews them a little bit more. In fact, the cow normally eats about six hours a day and chews its cud about eight hours a day. Then that cow swallows that cud into the third stomach - the omasum. The omasum takes the excess liquid and absorbs it into the cow's system where it is broken down and now thoroughly refined food passes into the fourth stomach - the abomasums. There it is transferred into nutrients which pass into the cow's blood system and provides vital nutrients for milk production. What an amazing food is milk! I have known people who lived on nothing but milk for a solid year and doubled their weight. I am referring to babies, of course. Milk is an amazing thing. What an amazing food is milk. In addition to milk, there is also the meat. In addition to that there is the skin which can be used for leather. There are the bones which can be ground up for fertilizer. There are the horns which can be used for gelatin. God made the cows to serve man.
TAKE A LOOK AT THE SHEEP. Think about how the sheep can provide food. Think about how the sheep can be used in medical research. Think about how the wool of the sheep can be used to make clothing either to warm our bodies in the wintertime or to cool our bodies in the summertime. God gave us the sheep. How did all of that come about? The evolutionist says it came about by a colossal, incredible accident. The Bible says God created the cattle of the field.
I reject evolution for two basic reasons. Number one, I reject it because I do not believe it is correct scientifically. Even more serious reason why I reject evolution I believe it is deadly morally and spiritually.
APPLICATION
When Charles Darwin came out with his theory of evolution, two men picked it up. One of those men was Frederick Nietzsche, an Atheist from Germany. Another man that picked it up was Karl Marx, an Atheist from Russia. Both of these men latched on to the theory of evolution because the theory of evolution gives a philosophy to explain the existence of things without the necessity of a divine creator. Therefore, Nietzsche applied it to philosophy in Germany and the result was German militarism. Karl Marx applied it politically and sociologically and the result was Russian communism. We know the result of the atheistic characteristics of evolution in German and in Russia. The results of the evolutionary theory have produced most of damnable, negative results in every field of learning whether it be philosophy or whether it be psychology. The view that man came into existences accidentally, without the creative work of an eternal God, is absolutely devastating to any meaning and purpose in human existence.
One of the characters of Brothers Karamazov said this, "IF God does not exist, then everything is permissible.” If you teach a generation of young people that they just came into existence accidentally, you teach young people that they are not different than the animals, why should we be surprised if they live their lives on the level of the animals? Why should we be surprised if they commit sexual immorality in the back of cars? Why should we be surprised if they grow up believing that there is nothing wrong with exterminating human life in the womb of its own mother? Why should we ever wonder that young people will live on the level of animal if you tell them they came from the animals? I'm here to tell you that the Bible teaches that you are not an accident. All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all!
The Bible says, "All we like sheep are gone astray." The Bible compares us to sheep. What do you know about sheep? It's not a real compliment when the Bible compares us to sheep. The sheep is about the dumbest animal you will ever encounter. You have never seen a sheep get a PhD degree. They are dumb. They get lost easily. That's why the Bible says all we like sheep have gone astray. We are not sheep, but we are like sheep. We tend to go astray. Just like every sheep needs a shepherd. Every person needs a Savior. God created you with a built-in need for God. God created you with the need to be forgiven of your sins and to have a personal Savior. The good news is two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world and He was known as the Good Shepherd. That Good Shepherd came into the world and one day He went out to a cross. On that cross, He died for the sins of the world and the Bible declared, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin."
You are not an animal. You are a person. Everyone needs a Savior. The Creator God has provided for everyone that Savior and His name is Jesus Christ the Son of God.
If you were not created by God, if you were not special, if God did not love you, God would not have made that possible. All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all and loves them all! HE LOVES YOU!
To find more help in receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Savior please go to the Bible Study Title Page “ETERNAL LIFE”. Please send me an email and respond to me about any decision for Christ you make so that I may pray for you. Feel free to send me any questions, comments, or responses you may have as well. For those who are already Christians I invite you to also please let me know of any decisions you make in your Christian life for Jesus. Feel free to send me any questions, comments, or responses you may have and let me know if the Bible Studies are helping you. [rfdenning1951@gmail.com]
ALWAYS REMEMBER!
The support of your local Church ministry and the ministry of your Pastor should be the first priority of your Christian life and your service to the Lord. Be faithful to prayerfully prepare and attend Sunday School and Worship Service this Sunday and participate in worship as your Pastor preaches the Word. Do not forget to give the Lord at least your TITHE through your local church from your gross income – that is your first fruits. Any other other giving is an offering to a ministry unto the Lord. Honor the Lord in all you do and with all that you have. Always remember that everything you have and all you are belongs to the Lord. It is on loan to you – so manage it well! There will be an audit one day! Make sure the Books Balance!