The Fourth Day of Creation

The seven days of creation are one of the principal prophetic portrayals of God's plan of redemption in Christ. A person starts off "without form, and void," as it were. By the conclusion of the "sixth day" the same person is in the image of Christ and enters the Sabbath, the rest of God.

The first area of redemption, salvation, is typified by the first three days of creation.

The second area of redemption, sanctification, is revealed in the fourth day of creation, the creation of the sun, moon, and stars.

The third area of redemption, conquest, can be seen in the remaining two days of creation and in the seventh day of rest.

There is much interaction and overlap in the three aspects of redemption and there are parts of each of the types that give us insight into various aspects of redemption.

Our division of the plan of redemption into three areas, and the application to redemption of the days of creation, the journey of Israel, the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and other types, are but one way of understanding the plan of salvation. No attempt is being made to cast some rigid mold for our thinking.

The Word of God is exceedingly broad and the Holy Spirit can apply these types and shadows in an infinite variety of ways. The Spirit can and does teach different lessons from the same passage of Scripture.

Before we come to the fourth day, the day of creation, which we are employing to typify the sanctification area of redemption, several aspects of God's grace already have been applied to us. Light has been created in us and has been divided from the darkness. The expanse of Heaven has entered us and a division has been created in our personality. Our "waters" have been divided into what is soulish and what is spiritual or heavenly.

Christ entering us has enabled us to distinguish between what is animal and sinful in us and what is of God. We long to do the will of God, as Paul exclaims, but we discover a law of sin working in our members. We are wretched because of the conflict in us between our old nature and our new nature.

On the "third day" there is a beginning of vegetation and fruit appearing in us—the first signs of our new resurrection life in Christ. These are the "things that accompany salvation," of which Hebrews speaks (Hebrews 6:9).

The new Christian tries hard to please the Lord Jesus and there is some evidence of the love, joy, and peace of the life lived in the Spirit of God. There is much work to be accomplished yet but the foundation has been laid.

Now we come to the fourth day of creation. In what way does the fourth day typify the second death and resurrection, the area of sanctification?

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And 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. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 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. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19)

Prior to the fourth day the firmament of heaven was a clear blue having no sun, no moon, and no stars. What would it have looked like, had there been a human to observe the scene, to glance upward and behold an empty sky? There would have been no Glory of God, no Divine handiwork to instruct mankind concerning the majesty of the Creator.

So it is that when we first are saved there is a "heaven" in us, so to speak, but our heaven is empty.

Then God speaks and the Holy Spirit gives light to us. We now have direction, understanding, truth—a means of orienting ourselves on the face of the earth. Before this time there had been the light of conscience and of the written Word of God. Now "another Comforter" has come and we possess the light of the Holy Spirit who dwells eternally in us.

It requires a period of time in order for a Christian to develop experience in following the Spirit of God. One of the most valuable disciplines a new Christian can practice is that of reading and meditating in the Scriptures at every opportunity of the day and night, learning both the Old and New Testaments. He is not skillful yet in following the Spirit of God but he can obey the Scriptures and derive his orientation from them.

As we walk faithfully before the Lord Jesus, keeping His words, the Father will love us and Jesus and the Father will come to us and make their abode with us (John 14:23).

Peter has a word for us along this line:

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: (II Peter 1:19)

The "more sure word of prophecy" is the Scripture. We are to take heed to the Scripture, of which the first light of creation is a type (Genesis 1:3), until the "day dawn" and the "day star" arises in our heart.

First Christ is with us and then He is in us. The light of God, our personal millennium (not to be confused with the historical thousand-year Kingdom Age that is yet ahead), arises in us and the Day of the Lord is established in our personality and conduct.

And I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:28)

We may walk for a while as a new Christian with little or no apparent inner guidance. If we remain faithful to the Scriptures we soon will begin to experience the Presence of the Holy Spirit.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)

The developing of the rule of the Holy Spirit in us is one of the major works of the wilderness experience. There is a personal witness, a portion of Christ, that begins to reign in our heart. The inner revelation of truth is more powerful than the deceit of Antichrist that surrounds us on every hand. "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (I John 4:4).

The work of the fourth day is the creating of the sun, moon, and stars. The sun represents Christ, and the work of the fourth day is the creating of Christ in the Church. Notice in Revelation 12:1 that the woman, the Church, is clothed with the sun. This means that during the fourth day the Church puts on the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Glory of God.

The moon symbolizes the Church, the Wife of the Lamb, who reflects His Glory. The task of the fourth day is to bring from the earth a bride for the Son of God. The sun (Christ) rules the Day of the Lord. The moon (the Church), reflecting His Glory, rules in the absence of the sun. The moon and stars light the world during the night, the evening of the Day of the Lord.

The stars represent the saints of God who press on to the fullness of Christ. The stars are God's witnesses of every age, such as Noah, Abraham, Daniel, Peter, Paul, John.

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:3)

From Revelation 12:1 we learn that the saints who press on into God's wisdom and who "turn many to righteousness" are the crowning diadem of the Church. They will stand in their places forever as God's elders.

The first three "days" of redemption were fulfilled as follows: (1) the crucifixion of Christ; (2) the work of Christ in the heart of the earth; and (3) the resurrection of Christ. The "fourth day," the day of Pentecost, is the Church era. It is in this realm that the Church becomes clothed with the Glory of Christ, being changed into His image.

In Christ's absence the Church becomes the light of the world and the "stars" of God are developed. Daniel wrote concerning the end-time: "the people that do know their God will be strong and do exploits" (Daniel 11:32). Jesus taught us, "Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first" (Matthew 19:30).

The Spirit of God seems to be emphasizing that during the last days of time some of the strongest saints will come forth, while wickedness is coming to maturity, and bear witness of the Person and way of Christ. There have been the Elijahs, the Elishas, the Samuels, the Enochs, the Joshuas, the Daniels, of long ago. What about today?

It is our conviction that there will be brought forth, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit in our generation, believers in God who will perform the "greater works" of which Christ spoke.

The fullest development of sin yet seen on the earth is just ahead of us. At the same period of time there will arise saints of God who will more than eclipse the filth of Satan by the revelation of God's Glory in Christ. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20).

There is nothing in the Scriptures that suggests we are to look back in order to behold the Glory of God, except as we study the previous workings of God for our edification and comfort.

The contrary is true. Let us be pressing forward in faith, not looking back, being confident that the greatest days of all are at hand. God has "kept the good wine until now" (John 2:10). "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts" (Haggai 2:9).

We now are in the opening days of a revival of Christ without equal as to its unfolding of the Scriptures, its maturing of holiness and obedience, and its anointing of power for witnessing and service. A season of refreshing without parallel has come from the Presence of the Lord.

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