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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Lecture on Genesis Ver.2(35) - The Creation - Third Day Part II |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Genesis 1:9-13 |
Date |
2010-05-28 |
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Scripture
Genesis 1:9-13
[11] Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so.
[12] The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
[13] There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is the 35th Lecture on Genesis.
In the last lecture, among the creation works of the 3rd day, I explained how God created the seas and the land.
I will now tell you about the creation of the vegetation on the 3rd day of the Creation.
When God created all things in the universe, He did it following the order (of Natural Law).
Let me categorize the dimensions of all things from the perspective of spirit, soul, and body.
First, that which has existence but does not respire nor move are 'non-dimensional'. They are such things as rocks, soil, and stones.
Then, those which breathe but don't move by themselves, such as plants, are "1st dimensional'.
Those things, like animals, that exist and can breathe and move freely but have only a soul without a spirit are ' 2nd dimensional.'
Human beings who can breathe, move freely, and consist of spirit, soul, and body are '3rd dimensional.'
And all the spiritual beings that belong to the spiritual realm are '4th dimensional.'
These are the categories by dimension from the viewpoint of spirit, soul, and body as God explained it.
When God manifested the works of creation, He first created the spiritual realm, which is the 4th dimension.
He created angels and cherubim.
As the time came, He began the creation works in earnest in the 1st heaven, which is this fleshly world.
He laid the foundation of the earth which is the base ground for human cultivation, and He then created all the necessary things on the earth.
During the six days of Creation, God began by creating the things of the lower dimensions first.
On the 1st Day, He laid the foundation on the earth which is non-dimensional.
On the 2nd Day, He separated the seas and the land which are also non-dimensional.
And then, He created the plants which are of the 1st dimensional.
On the 5th and 6th Days of the Creation, He created birds, fish, and animals which are 2nd dimensional.
And lastly, He created man who is 3rd dimensional.
God created things beginning with the lower dimensions following order.
However, as you can see, the order was changed on the 3rd day and the 4th day.
The plants that are 1st dimensional were created on the 3rd day, but the sun, the moon, and stars, which are non-dimensional, were created on the 4th Day.
Plants, which are higher dimensional than the sun, the moon, and stars, were created beforehand.
By human knowledge, plants can survive only when there is sunlight.
However, God created plants before He created the sun.
Moreover, waters that are necessary to plants were not ready yet in the land.
There were waters in the seas, but there were no waters in the land because it had not yet rained.
Therefore, it is quite difficult to understand with fleshly knowledge the fact that plants were created before the sun.
Every word in the Bible is true, however; it is the truth and the word of the living God.
Then, why did God create plants first before the sun?
He could have created the sun first, and then created plants later on.
But, He surely created plants first, and then later created the sun.
The reason He did this way is to show that all the things in the universe are under the power of God.
There is no sun in the heavenly kingdom, but flowers and trees have beautiful colors, give off fragrances, and yield fruit.
Revelation 21:23 says, "And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb."
In the heavenly kingdom, the light of God's glory shines over every corner, and all things survive by the power of this light.
Likewise, during the 6 days of the creation, by creating plants before the sun, He revealed that the fundamental power to maintain all things in the universe is in the hand of God the Creator.
It is all possible through the power of God for a single crump of grass to be able to sprout, and for a single wild flower to bloom.
As you may already know, the power of God the Creator by far surpasses the knowledge and ability of man.
Fleshly men cannot sense such power and divine nature of God, nor will they try to believe.
They would rather propose theories of evolution and try to explain the origin of life.
Evolutionists assume that a very simple organism was synthesized 'by chance' in the early earth, and that primeval cells came into existence through composed organisms 'by accident.'
Further, some of these primeval cells evolved into vegetable cells 'by chance' and some others into animal cells also 'by chance.'
This theory that living things came into being in the nature by accident and chance still initiates arguments.
The reason is because they propose that all things were the result of "chance' and also because there is no experimental evidence to refute it.
They just assume their theory, and their assumption is the foundation of evolutionism.
But the Bible states it very clearly.
Genesis 1:11-12 says, "Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good."
At the word of God the Father, 'the earth sprouts vegetation, plants, and fruit trees after their kind.'
BY the way, God didn't create seeds first and make them sprout.
At the word of God the Father, plants and vegetation came out from the land.
They extended their roots under the ground, trunks and branches grew up and flowers bloomed and fruit were yielded.
Generally, it takes years for a fruit tree to bear fruit.
However, it was done instantly on the 3rd day of the creation.
Another record of such works like this can be found in the Bible.
Numbers 17:6-8 says, "Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers' households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods. So Moses deposited the rods before the LORD in the tent of the testimony. Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds."
Here, "the tent of the testimony" refers to the holy place inside the tabernacle which was built during the days of the wilderness.
There was no sunlight at all inside the holy place.
But Moses put the wooden rods in such a place.
In other words, he put the wooden rods inside the place where there was neither water nor sunlight.
However, on the next day, only the rod of Aaron sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.
In an environment where no plants can survive in a fleshly sense, such a wonder took place in less than a day.
It was possible because the rod of Aaron was covered by the spiritual space riding on the spiritual flow of time.
Dear brothers and sisters.
When God created plants, He made them have 'seeds' for their own.
Inside the seed is life, and thus they can flourish generation after generation.
This is how God planned for the plants as He first created them.
God even gave each of the plants the most effective ability to spread their seeds around.
Since plants take root under the ground, if they don't have a special way to propagate their seeds, they will usually spread seed near to where they had taken root
If many seeds are planted in a rather specific small area, those seeds will have to go through fierce competition as they sprout and grow.
Since the ground area is small, they will be provided a limited small amount of water and nutrients, and thus they will grow up weak.
Therefore, it is more beneficial if they can spread their seeds as far as they can, if possible.
Considering even this, God helped them spread their seeds in a most effective way.
For example, think of a dandelion.
Once its flower is gone, there are about 100 seeds left.
Its seeds are quite a bit bigger and harder than other plants' of the same size.
If a dandelion didn't have any special device, there would be about 100 seeds on t he ground where its flower bloomed.
The seeds would be densely packed in a small area, and they wouldn't have enough space to grow up when they sprout.
However, God installed a special device into the seed of a dandelion.
God attached a 'parachute'-like device to every seed.
This 'parachute-like' device is very effective to fly high in the air even in a very modest breeze.
And it allows for the seed to travel tens of kilometers.
Other than dandelions, there are many plants that are equipped with great flying devices.
There are seeds of plants that have a device which resembles a man-made glider or helicopter.
(like the maple tree and some American cacti {kack tie})
Even though their flying mechanism is very simple, but their ability is far superior to that of man-made flying objects.
The proportion of the weight of the seed and the length and width of its wings are very ideal.
If the wings are small for the weight, the seed cannot fly far away but fall down to the ground easily.
However, the seeds are given well balanced wings so that they can fly just enough distance.
God made the balance of all things perfect.
Aircraft designers study the flying mechanisms of these plants.
Here is another example. Have you ever seen the seed of a garden balsam?
The seed bag of a fully ripen garden balsam explodes when touched lightly.
Then the seeds fly away in all directions.
This is one of the ways for a seed to be spread effectively.
Seeds or fruit of some plants are spread far by being provided as food ingested by birds or animals.
Some animals don't consume all the collected fruit, but bury them in the ground.
They store their food in their own way.
However, since they bury them here and there, they don't remember all the places.
As its result, the seeds which were buried under the ground sprout and grow up there.
From the viewpoint of plants, they provide their fruit to animals as food, and have the animals work for them.
As a result, the animals plant the seeds of the plants in the ground quite well.
Symbiotic relationships are so interesting!
It is our God the Father who planned these things and created them.
From the beginning, God planned the plants so that they could spread their seeds in the most efficient and effective way.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
There is another amazing ability that God gave to plants.
It is the ability to produce nutrients making use of the sunlight and water and air.
This is so called "photosynthesis."
For example, an apple tree can produce sweet apples making used of the sunlight, water, and air.
Such things as rice, barley, sweet potato, and peanuts are where nutrients are stored, it is where their plants produce nutrients and seed making used of the sunlight, water, and air.
Since plants need the sunlight to produce nutrients, they instinctively look toward the light.
You can find that the stems of plants bend toward the light naturally.
Leaves play the role of a factory where the nutrients are produced.
The more leaves a plant has, the more nutrients it can produce.
Therefore, plants try to have as many leaves as possible.
In addition, God allowed the leaves of plants or fruit they bear to be eaten by animals as food.
That's why from insects to animals and animals to human beings, all take in plants as food.
The population of plants is so vast that they can flourish even if they are eaten by animals.
By the way, God gave some plants a very special ability to protect their leaves by themselves.
For example, there is a plant called "mimosa".
When touched, it folds its small leaves. When stimulated harder, it rather droops downward.
And it seems as if it were dead.
For example, when a locust sits on its leaf to eat it, it folds the leaf so that the locust cannot eat its leaf.
At night when it cannot photosynthesize, it folds its leaves to save its energy.
The leaves of a passion flower, for another example, are good food for a certain butterfly caterpillar.
This caterpillar has such a good appetite that it eats shoots as soon as they bud.
And thus, the butterfly doesn't lay its eggs on a leaf that already has eggs.
Only then can its caterpillar have enough food.
Now, on the parts of the leaf of a passion flower, there are spots that look like the eggs of the butterfly.
When the butterfly sees the spot, it is confused in thinking that the leaf already has eggs on it.
Such plants like this have self-protecting ability, and thus they don't become extinct but flourish even when parts of them are eaten by caterpillars.
Evolutionists proclaim that the plants evolved in this way according to their own needs.
But how could these plants with no brain or soul do like this by themselves?
Plants cannot think like; "Let me have spots that resemble the eggs of the butterfly to fool them."
When God the Creator created plants, God planned it to be like this, and granted them the instinctive actions.
If what evolutionists say had been true, animals and human beings should have evolved to photosynthesize.
The sunlight, water, and air for photosynthesis can be provided more than adequately.
How convenient would it be if a man had the ability to make use of these basic elements and produce nutrients?
How wonderful would it be, because a man would be able to produce nutrients just by drinking water, receiving the sunlight, and breathing in air?
He could produce all the necessary nutrients to maintain his life even without taking meals. How convenient it would be!
It would have been much better if all the living beings had been evolved under the necessity just as evolutionists proclaim.
However, from the beginning, God created plants to produce nutrients through photosynthesis, and created animals to take in the nutrients that plants produced.
It is just as Genesis 1:29-30 says, "Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so."
There is a reason God created like this.
Plants need air to photosynthesize.
Animals also need air to survive.
But what is in the air which plants need to photosynthesize and the air that animals need is completely opposite.
As carbon dioxide in the air is taken into plants, they expire oxygen through photosynthesis.
On the other hand, animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.
Due to interaction between plants and animals like this, the proportion of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air is always maintained in a certain ratio.
If animals photosynthesized just like plants do, oxygen in the air would increase, but carbon dioxide would be exhausted.
Carbon dioxide is necessary for photosynthesis; if this element is gone, all the living beings would eventually die.
Therefore, God considered all these things for the living beings to live in a well-balanced way, and He planned all things and created all things.
There are many examples to explain the God's providence of creation hidden in plants.
Well, let me provide another example. How do flowers know when it's time to bloom?
Would somebody say, "It's spring, now. Forsythia, cherry blossoms, magnolia, and azalea; it's time for you to bloom."
"Rose! You're next, so please wait. Chrysanthemum and Mexican Asters, you guys have to wait a little longer. You should bloom in fall."
Is there anyone who informs flowers like this?
Even if there is, plants cannot hear. How can flowers know the exact time and blossom their flowers?
Spring flowers bloom when the day time is longer than the time of night. And autumn flowers do vice versa.
How can plants measure the length of day and night, and blossom their flowers appropriately?
Isn't it truly amazing?
The more you come to realize, the more amazing is the ability and wisdom that are contained in plants.
Please believe that it is God the Creator who put this amazing ability into each plant.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
I have explained how God created plants on the 3rd day of His creation.
As all kinds of plants were created on the 3rd day, 'God saw that it was good.'
God was delighted in His heart as He saw all the necessary conditions for the human cultivation were set.
In obedience to God's providence of creation, plants bloom at their respective times.
And they also yield fruit as the time comes.
By instinct for their survival, plants grow up toward the sun and take roots under the ground in search of water.
God plants one seed of life into each and every man.
I said that this seed of life can wake up only by the power of God.
I also said that this seed of life can grow up only when it drinks spiritual water and eats the word of God which is the spiritual light.
Therefore, I urge all of you to fix your eyes only on God the Father just as sunflowers look at the sun all day long, and to live in the spiritual light.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit."
As said, I wish you will extend the strong root into the word of God.
Then, you will be able to easily overcome any hardships without worry.
And so, may you bear fruit without ceasing in your life, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray!
[Amen] |
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