'''CHAPTER TWO: GOD RECREATES THE EARTH'''
CHAPTER TWO
GOD RECREATES THE EARTH
For many years (perhaps millions), Satan the devil and his demons roamed a darkened, lifeless earth, which was covered with water and poisonous gases (Genesis 1:2). Then one day, after years of careful planning, God decided it was time to recreate the face of the earth.
He knew that the conditions and surroundings had to be just right, so that it could support physical life.
On the first day, God, using the tremendous power of His Holy Spirit, cleared away the poisonous smoke, vapours, gases and clouds that filled the sky. This allowed some sunlight to shine upon earth for the first time in many years (Gen 1:3-5).
On the second day, God cleared away a layer of water and replaced it with healthy, fresh air and clean clouds, which swirled in the sky (Gen 1:8). This is known today as the atmosphere (the Bible refers to it as the first heaven).
On the third day, the Creator pushed back the waters into sections of oceans, seas and lakes across the earth. This cleared the way for dry land to appear and prosper with plant-life. God also formed sections made up of mountains, hills, plains, valleys, islands and continents (Gen 1:9-10). Then He created grass, plants, trees and other vegetation (Gen1:11-13).
On the fourth day, God swept away the last layer of dust and gases.
This allowed the stars to twinkle and shine down from the blackness of space into the night sky. God calls this space the second heaven (Gen 1:14). His throne is in the third heaven (Acts 7:49).
On the fifth day, He created fish, whales and other creatures of the sea (Genesis 1:20-21). He also created birds to fly through the sky (Gen 1:21-23). With the waters and sky populated with life, God was now ready to create man.
God Creates Man From Dust
On the sixth day of the week, God created animals of every kind: Horses, cows, lions, deer, elephants, reptiles, insects and many more—anything that walked, crawled or moved about the earth (Genesis 1:24-25). Each animal was made after its own kind. This is why horses give birth to baby horses (foals); cows give birth to baby cows (calves); lions give birth to baby lions (cubs).
Likewise, God created man after His own kind. Like a piece of clay, man was sculpted into the same image and likeness as his Creator (Gen 1:26-27). Just as you have hair, eyes, a nose, a mouth, arms and legs like your parents, God created human beings to look like Him.
However, God is Spirit (John 4:24). Man is flesh and blood, created from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). God lives forever. He can never die. But humans are temporary, physical; eventually, all human beings die. After God formed and shaped the first man, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Man then became a soul—a living, breathing being, just like animals.
Animal Brain Versus Human Mind
Human beings and animals have temporary, physical lives. Both must rely upon food, drink and fresh, clean air in order to survive. But there are two major differences between humans and animals.
First, humans were made to look like the God kind. Animals were made to look like the animal kind.
Second, animals live by instinct. Like a computer, God programmed animals to automatically know how to survive. Through instinct, a colt automatically knows how to walk almost as soon as it is born. Through instinct, a calf automatically knows exactly where and how to get milk—from its mother. Through instinct, birds automatically know how to build nests.
But God did not give humans instinct. Instead, He gives each person a human spirit (Job 32:8). This means that we must learn to walk, speak, build things, and so forth. We do not automatically know how to do these things.
However, the human spirit empowers the brain to become a mind.
This is why man can build and design towering skyscrapers, produce beautiful works of art, and create wonderful, awe-inspiring music. Animals cannot do these things. Man can produce powerful, super-fast computers of all shapes and sizes. He can build spacecrafts that can visit other planets—and even take people to the moon and back. He can create vast libraries of books that record thousands of years of human history.
Animals can do none of these things. The human mind is greater, higher and better than the animal brain.
And yet the human mind is far, far lower than God’s mind!
The First Marriage
God named the first man Adam and placed him in the beautiful Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8). He then instructed Adam to tend the garden and keep it lush and green (Gen 2:15). God also brought before the man every animal that moved on the earth or flew in the sky so that Adam would name them (Gen 2:19-20).
As the animals came to Adam, he noticed that each kind was male and female. Seeing this, Adam began to feel lonely. He was the only human being on the face of the earth. But the Creator did not intend for Adam to live alone. He said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper” (Gen 2:18). God knew that without a helper or companion, Adam was physically incomplete.
So God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He then took one of his ribs and created a woman from it (Genesis 2:18-22).
Later, Adam called her “Eve,” which means “life,” “living” or “life giver,” because she would become the mother of every man, woman and child who has ever lived (Gen 3:20).
Then, God performed the first wedding—Adam and Eve became husband and wife (Genesis 2:22-24). God intended for married couples to work together as a team and to walk in complete agreement, the way God and the Word agree. God made the man to be the head of his wife and family. And God made the wife to be head of the children and to manage the household. The Creator intended that the man look to his wife as a helper and for advice. The woman was made to look to her husband for leadership, guidance and authority. Together, as they produce children and build families, husbands and wives physically complete each other.
Peace in the Garden of Eden
Adam and Eve did not need to fear the animals that roamed the earth.
Unlike today, animals back then did not eat meat, nor did they attack and hurt each other. They all lived together in peace. Lions, bears and other large animals walked freely without attacking others.
One day soon, man and animals will live in peace and harmony again. This will happen when God sets up His kingdom on the earth.
At that time, all will live according to His ways (Isaiah 11:6-9).
God instructed Adam and Eve to have a family and fill the earth with children. He also gave them the responsibility of ruling and taking care of the animals, water creatures, birds and plants (Genesis 1:28-30). Adam’s job was to till the ground and spread the supreme beauty and lushness of the Garden of Eden around the world until it filled the whole earth (2:4-6).
God Creates the Sabbath
God recreated the earth, and then created plants, animals and humans, in six days. On the seventh day, the Creator decided to rest from His work (Genesis 2:2-3).
God was not tired. The Eternal is always filled with energy (Isaiah 40:28; Psalm 121:4). He rested on the seventh day of the week in order to set an example for us (Genesis 2:1-3). God gave the first six days of the week for people to work and create things—just as God worked and recreated the earth. But the seventh day is special. It is holy—set apart for a special purpose. God called that day His Sabbath (Exodus 16:26). It is a day of rest, a holy time set apart from all work so that people can have more time to seek and worship God. The first six days of the week belong to man. But the seventh day—the Sabbath—belongs to God (Exodus 20:8-11). Once God established the Sabbath day, the Creation Week was finished.