GENESIS 1:9-10
Day Three of Creation
Part 1
Before looking at day three of creation, let’s look at another act of creation (not mentioned in Genesis 1), that most likely took place sometime prior to the third day of creation (the creation of the angels).
According to Job 38:4-7 angels were present when the solid land surfaces of the earth were laid. And the Lord answered Job, where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
It is not possible that the angels existed before the creation of the physical universe itself, since their realm of operation is in this universe and they were sent as ministering spirits to serve those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14).
1:9-10 And God said, Let the waters be gathered from under the sky into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas. And God saw that it was good.
After the conclusion of day two, the earth is still deserted and not yet ready for life forms. The earth’s exterior is still covered with water. But by the end of day three there will not only be dry land, but also fully mature seed producing plants and trees able to generate other plants and trees after their kind.
Genesis 1 is describing the creative work of the all-wise, all-powerful, sovereign God who does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. Daniel 4:35
As God says in Isaiah 46:9-11 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
As the Psalmist says in Psalm 135:6 The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
Jesus in answering the disciples question, “Who can be saved?” said, with man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27).
If we allow the laws of science to set limits on the creative power of God, we might as well rule out miracles altogether, including the resurrection of Christ. In that case, our faith is worthless, and we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17).
It is God who places limits on science not science on God. It is science that is subservient to God, and, for that reason, our understanding of science should never influence what we believe about the person and work of God.
As Christians, we believe in the immeasurable, inexhaustible, miracle working power of God. Therefore it should not test our faith when we read that dry land and plant life rose up out of the sea in a day’s time fully mature and fully functional at the word of the Almighty Creator. After all, is anything too hard for God?
And God said, Let the waters be gathered from under the sky into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas. And God saw that it was good.
The repeated phrase “and God said” emphasizes the fact that everything comes into being by the command of God. God simply speaks it into existence.
The light had been divided from the darkness on the first day, the waters above the firmament divided from the waters below the firmament on the second day, and now the dry land is divided from the lower waters on the third day.
After the firmament was created, the earth was still completely immersed in water. Beneath the water was solid matter, but it was still hidden under the face of the deep (under the surface of a global ocean).
Once again we see that the energizing agent in creation was the Word of God. Let the dry land appear and it was so. At the command of God it is immediately and instantaneously created.
By the Word of God, rock and earth, still in its unformed condition and buried under a global ocean, started to move to the surface of the water, and was instantly turned into dry land ready to sustain plant life. It was a stunning act of creation.
Job 38:8-11 and Psalms 104:5-9 describe what God did on day three of creation and confirms the fact that God made it happen instantaneously. These passages of Scripture affirm that water covered the entire earth at the very beginning, and in a direct act of sovereign creation, God separated the land from the sea.
Job 38:8-11 Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt‘?
Psalm 104:5-9 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.
Scripture gives a consistent account of how the land arose from the sea and how its boundaries were set. The action is always attributed directly to God. He did it just as it is described in Genesis 1:9-10. There is no reason to try to explain it in natural terms to fit man’s reasoning. It was a creative miracle brought into existence by the Word of God, period!
As He did on days one and two, God named what He had made. And god called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called seas. Earth, sea, and heaven are now ready for life. Thus God says that what He saw was good.
