(Mount Vernon) the Creation in Genesis — Keith Daniel

Prayer for the Holy Spirit's Illumination

Let's have a prayer, please. Can we just bow for a moment in God's presence in prayer? Our Father, we bless Thee, for Jesus the Christ, our Saviour, whose blood has cleansed and washed us and saved us from hell and damnation and judgment.

We bless Thee, for Jesus, above all things. We bless Thee, for the Holy Spirit, who shall not speak of Himself, but His whole work is to glorify Christ, to conform us into the image of Christ. And so we bless Thee, that Thy Holy Spirit, in faithfulness to Thy Word, will come and make the Word of God living tonight, though it come through the basest and weakest of men.

We bless Thee, for Thy Father's heart and compassion and longsuffering and patience with me and each one of us whom Thou has saved and held and carried in Thine arms and lifted up countless times when we didn't deserve it, and in love never given up on us.

Oh, we love Thee. Oh, we bless Thee, that Thou art our Father in heaven. We bless Thee, for every one that has come to this convention. We bless Thee, that they've come in love with Christ, longing for God to meet with them afresh.

We bless Thee, dear God, that Thou has brought us safely and that Thou would in mercy bring those who are still to come in safety along the roads unto us. Prepare all of our hearts by the Holy Ghost to create in us a thirst for God, not just to be touched by God, but to be so radically transformed that our lives will stagger this world as we go back in it.

Come, for we ask these things for Thy glory. Wash me especially in the blood afresh, the blood of God, the Son. Wash me, that I might be a vessel of meat for the Master's use, for without the blood I have nothing, nothing to show Thee as to why Thou wouldst look on such a man as me.

Oh, God, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Anoint me, annuncianize, quicken my mind and thoughts. Cleanse the atmosphere with the blood of Christ from the powers of darkness. Surround this convention and all the areas with the angels of God, with swords drawn to do war and battle against the powers of darkness Thou hast said we wrestle against and who oppose us.

Oh, our God, have mercy. Please, God, protect us under the blood now for Thy word's sake, not for my sake. In Jesus, the Christ's name, in Jesus, the Christ's name, we all unitedly agree and ask these things of Thee, our Father in heaven.

The Six Days of Creation in Genesis

Amen. In the beginning, God, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void and darkness. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved, moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day. And the darkness He called night.

And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which are under the firmament from the waters which are above the firmament.

And it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together. Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place.

And let the dry land appear. Let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth. And God called the dry land earth. And the waters called He seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass.

Let the earth bring forth grass. The herb yielding seed. And the fruit tree yielding fruit after His kind whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. It was so. And the earth brought forth grass.

And the herb yielding seed after His kind. And the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself upon the earth after His kind. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

And God said, Let there be light in the firmament of the heaven. Let there be light 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 light in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. 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.

God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature, the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

And God created great whales and every living creature which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind and every winged fowl after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let fowl multiply in the earth.

And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. The evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature. Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind.

Cattle and creeping thing and beasts of the earth after his kind. And it was so. And God made the beasts 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. God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, in the image of God.

Created he him, male and female. Created he them and God blessed them. And God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God said, Behold, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for meat.

And to every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat. And it was so. And God saw everything, everything that he had made.

The Earth's Atmosphere, Waters, and Land

And behold, it was very good. It was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day, the sixth day. In the beginning, God created, created, created the heaven and the earth. The earth, verse six.

And God said, Let there be a firmament. Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. Now, beloved, the earth is surrounded by layers of gases, each layer having its own unique composition, but mainly composed of nitrogen and oxygen and held in position, held in place by gravitational attraction.

Now, this atmosphere protects the earth from harmful radiation and absorbs the sun's energy, maintaining an average surface temperature of fourteen degrees centigrade. Verse six. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.

Verse nine. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear. Now, beloved, seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered by water. Seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered by water, submerged, submerged mainly beneath four huge oceans known as the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian and the Arctic Oceans.

The Pacific is so vast that it covers one-third of the earth's surface, one-third of the earth's surface, the Atlantic one-fifth, the Indian one-seventh. God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear.

Let the dry land. Land covers approximately thirty percent of the earth's surface, divided into seven land masses called continents known as Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australasia.

Now, the Antarctica contains ninety percent of the earth's ice. It's the earth's coldest continent. Ten percent of the earth's surface is ice and ninety percent of that is at the earth's south pole known as Antarctica.

The Antarctica is roughly the size of Europe as a continent, but it is covered by a two-kilometer thick sheet of ice, two-kilometer thick sheet of ice, reaching at its center of the continent 4 .5 kilometers in thickness.

From the highest peak, from the highest peak on land, which is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, 29 ,028 feet above sea level, 29 ,028 feet above sea level, reaching down to the lowest spot on earth beneath the seas on the seabed known as the Mariana Trench.

God's Abundant Life in the Created Order

West of the Philippines, 35 ,800 feet below sea level, to the lowest basin on land, 400 meters below sea level at the Dead Sea in Jordan in Israel. Oh, verse six, and God said, God said, let there be a firmament, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.

Verse nine, and God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together onto one place and let the dry land appear, let the dry land appear. Verse 11, and God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind.

There are approximately 250 ,000 species of vegetation on the earth. They say the species of the species make it 350 ,000 species, but I would say uniquely a species 250 ,000. Isn't that precious? Not just one to look over and say beauty.

In one word, God created 250 ,000 species of vegetation and plant. Oh, hallelujah. And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth.

Verse 14, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven. Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven. Let there be lights, lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night.

The Sun, Moon, Stars, and the Greatness of God

Verse 16, 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. Oh, beloved, this universe is beyond all human comprehension.

It baffles the scientists. You want to know why? God takes you at your best, human, and makes you baffled at his greatness. Oh, unable to comprehend, let alone act authoritative because you've got a telescope now.

Oh, no. This universe is beyond all human comprehension. There's an unknown amount of galaxies, unknown. They can't find the end of the next galaxy until they find another one. Galaxies, each containing a vast amount of stars similar to our sun in our galaxy.

In our galaxy, the solar system, our sun is 109 times the size of the earth. 109 times the size of our earth. It is a huge ball of gas, mainly composed of hydrogen, infusing helium to create energy and light and heat reaching into our galaxy, into all parts of our galaxy.

It's beyond comprehension that God could have this sun created around our sun called the solar system. There are nine planets orbiting, I suppose you could call it, but each having its own unique orbit that doesn't make sense in many ways.

But it's amazing the orbit of these all around what we call our galaxy, our solar system, that which revolves around our sun in their own unique orbits. They say there's a tenth planet now. I believe them.

XANA, X-A-N-A, discovered about two years ago, they call it XANA. But that's now making it ten planets, and they'll probably discover more as they get a little bit more wisdom how to look deeper into God's universe.

But of these planets, there is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Saturn is 1 ,300 times the size of our earth. Now that's beyond comprehension. 1 ,300 times the size of our earth.

That's nothing, by the way, just to divert for a moment. They found in further galaxies, and this is no exaggeration, they found that there's a planet they called, a star, sorry, they called Antares, A-N-T-A-R-E-S.

It is 64 million times the size of our sun. They don't doubt it, nor do I. Why should I? God can do anything, and he did. This is nothing. 64 million times the size of our sun. They found in a further galaxy, a star they call Hercules, which is 100 million times the size of Antares.

They're still trying to work out how that's possible, how to even comprehend it, let alone put it down in writing. Oh, God is great. His greatness has to be beyond all comprehension, because otherwise, if we can explain God, but he's not God.

He has to be beyond all human comprehension. He has to leave men baffled, but enthralled, because they can't deny this is, it must be a creator. It must be a creator. Oh, in our galaxy, in our solar system, going around with these ten planets orbiting, there's also comets, such as the famous Halley's Comet.

Every 76 years, its orbit, which takes 76 years in the solar system, it comes the closest to the Earth. 1986 was the last time it happened. And you see this amazing ice, this ball of ice, shooting across space.

Amazing. Comets. There's comets. There's asteroids. These huge mountains of rock, a few hundred kilometers in width, just shooting through space, mainly found between Mars and Jupiter, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

These huge mountains of rocks. Oh, God is beyond comprehension of what he did in one word. In one word. And man tries to put him in a box. How could you? How could your mind try? Oh, beloved. Beloved, it's precious to see God's hand in everything he lets man just catch a glimpse of, to see the greatness of our God, the sovereignty, the awe of a creator such as ours.

God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven. Verse 14, verse 16, and God made two great lights. The greater light to rule the day, that's the sun. The lesser light to rule the night, that's our moon, a quarter the size of the Earth's diameter.

There are 61 moons in the solar system, our galaxy, the Milky Way. Many of these planets have a number of moons. We have one, but there's 61 altogether in our solar system. Verse 24. And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

There are 24 ,000 known species of fish. Of course, there's so many living things in the sea, but a fish is something with a backbone and a skeleton, otherwise it's not a fish. 24 ,000 species of fish known to man.

God said, in one word, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. There's 9 ,000 species of birds, known living species of birds.

9 ,000 approximately. Verse 24. Verse 24, and God said, God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature. Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind. Cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after his kind.

Now, beloved, there's approximately one million species of animals that are on record. One million unique species of animals known to man. One million. There's 4 ,215, 4 ,250 species of mammals, known species, living species today.

There is 6 ,000 species of reptiles. There is 950 ,000 species of insects. 950 ,000 in one word. In one word, you can argue against it till doomsday and say it's not possible, or you can say God can do anything beyond our comprehension and believe it without any doubt, which I do with all my heart.

Humanity Made in the Image of God

God is so great. God is so great. Hallelujah. Oh. Verse 26, and God said, let us make. I love that verse. Obviously, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the triune God. The Trinity is from verse 1 right through the Bible, by the way.

Elohim. In the beginning, God, Elohim, plural. They still can't work out why God put the word plural. It's not singular. It has to be more than one. And the Spirit of God, two verses later, capital S.

The second person of the, the third person of the Trinity. Let us, verse 26, make man. Oh, in our image, that to me is beyond comprehension, but I believe it. After our likeness, when we shall see him, John says, we shall be like him.

We shall see him face to face. I believe that. I can't comprehend it, but I believe it. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

God said, let us make man. For all this, man was now made. For all this, for this, he made. Don't doubt it for me and you, to love God, to live in awe of every petal, of the fact of life in vegetation.

There was nothing God didn't make to make you and me love him and live in awe and reverence of him and worship for fear. Oh, God created man in his own image. Psalm 19, verse 1, the heavens declare the glory of God.

Don't they? The heavens declare to the world, there's a God. Oh, you're a fool if you can't see it. Forgive me, I can't say you're a fool, but God says, the heavens declare to you and me there has to be God.

This couldn't have happened by mistake or by spasms and sparks, you know. Oh, goodness me. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth, showeth his handiwork. Psalm 14, verse 1, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.

Romans 1, verse 20, for the invisible things of him, the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

So that they are without excuse, Paul says, you have no excuse, sir. You will be judged with such judgment that you allowed it to reach from some intellectual persuasion to your heart. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

God forbid the day will come that I can't say what God says, but it might come soon and loud and clear to you all. No matter what your persuasion right now, please consider what God says about you if you can't see his handiwork.

Psalm 8, verse 3, when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him?

New Creation Through the Light of God's Word

O wonder of wonders, beloved, this God of all creation is mindful of me. He thinks about me, he has thoughts of me, he thinks of me and would visit me, he would meet with me, God said. It's beyond comprehension.

Just as God looked upon this planet, beloved, just as God looked upon this earth when it was without form and void and darkness, was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said, let there be light.

And there was light, so with me. God looked upon me in my darkened estate, in my lost estate, when I was lost and without hope or knowledge of what it's all about, confusion and spiritual darkness, I had no idea what it was all for.

Just as God looked upon me, void, meaningless of my life, lost in spiritual darkness pervading my whole being, God in compassion by the Holy Spirit moved upon me, upon my darkened estate and God cried upon my heart, let there be light.

And there was light, beloved. There was light. Hallelujah. Oh, listen to God's account of my Genesis chapter one. At least I believe, I embrace it that way, no matter how many doctrinal geniuses might tell me, look, this was about Israel, but listen, this was not history.

Everything was written for me and you, for God's ramus to reach and say what it's all about in his heart. Nothing was history. It's the living Word of God. Now listen to God's Genesis of me in Ezekiel 16 verse four.

And as for thy nativity in the day thou wast born, none I pitied thee to do any of these unto thee. But thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born.

And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live, live. Yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live. God moved upon my darkened estate and God reached out and cried out, let there be light to this darkened heart.

And there was light. God saw me lost and God reached out and embraced my life and made me his own and I was born again by the Spirit of God, spiritually, not physically. Now, that left me in my darkened estate, but now I had to become God's creation.

If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation is the literal word, not creature. All things have passed away, all things have become new. And all things are of God, if you're really saved. Nothing from me apart from my yielding to his known will and word.

Oh, beloved, it took a miracle to put the stars in space. It took a miracle to hang this world in place. But when he saved my soul, cleansed it and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. Just as God's word, spoken word, as he spoke, light was given where there was darkness.

Just as God's spoken word brought light, light that pervaded the darkness, so God's written word brought light to my heart. It's as powerful as the word that was spoken in the creation to create light now to darkened hearts.

The letter killeth, but the Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters and said, let there be light. This Spirit gives life to the letter that killeth. The Spirit giveth light.

The written word now reaching out to me by the Holy Spirit's revelation and illumination to my heart through it brings light to darkness spiritually, brings life. Let there be light. He called us to come out of darkness into his marvelous light, and I did.

I yielded, believing, and I faith in the word of God. For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God brought light and salvation, eternal life to my heart. Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

Christ the Word and Light of the World

The darkened spiritual darkness he's talking of. Listen to John. Listen to this amazing John. John 1 verse 1. In the beginning. That's wonderful that he uses those words. You think he wasn't thinking of Genesis 1?

In the beginning was the word. Capital W. That's a person. And the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God. His name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe.

He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, was the light of every man that comes into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on his name were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word, capital W, was made flesh. Hallelujah. And dwelt among us. He beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Great is the mystery of godliness.

God was manifest in the flesh. Hallelujah. To save my soul and yours. And that amazing revelation to the Word of God wrought faith, wrought light. As I read from this book, as I heard it being preached, the written word being illuminated, that he was wounded for my transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The satisfaction of our peace was upon him with his stripes. We are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Hallelujah. Everlasting life through Christ. But wait now, beloved.

Sanctification as God's Continuing Work

Just as God did not finish his work on this earth when God came in the void and chaotic state of the world, when it was without form or void, and God moved upon the darkness, and God wrought light, and God brought order from the chaos of that moment by his Holy Spirit.

Just as God did that, you must take note, that wasn't the end. God went on clothing. Clothing in tenderness. Clothing in love. Bringing out beauty and perfection and all that's beyond comprehension. Just as God went on to perfect this earth, so when God came and lightened my heart, when God came and wrought light and salvation, and I was born of God, that was just the beginning.

That wasn't the end. God has to go on to perfect me. And he will perfect that which he began a work in, God says. He will conform me more and more into the image of Christ. It doesn't all happen in one moment though.

That's why Peter says in 2 Peter 1 verse 4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. You see it's the Holy Spirit again, the Word, that continues to clothe us, that continues to perfect us as we apply, as we yield to light that God gives more and more.

For the path of the justice is a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. It isn't all just in one moment. More comes through God's Word. God's Holy Spirit, revolution, revelation coming through this Holy Book.

Oh, just as God wrought perfection all on and on, next, next, mighty, beyond comprehension change in the perfection of the earth, so in my heart, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Now that's a wonderful testimony, but that's not the end, that's just the beginning. Because the next verse says, and beside this, beside being made a partaker of the divine nature and escaping the corruption that you are partakers of the divine nature, that's just the beginning.

Beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, that means self-control, and to temperance patience, that means steadfast, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if ye do these things ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Don't think it ends there friend, when God saves you at the beginning of what he expects you to let his word do, as faith brings more light and you yield to it, and become more and more by the word and the spirit of God through his word, conformed into the image of Christ to perfection.

For this is what is in his heart before the foundation of the world, in spite of what he knew evil would do to bring men back if they of their own free will would respond to his sovereign grace. Work that out, to those of you that know what I'm saying, but praise the Lord it's true.

The Passing Away of Creation and the Coming Judgment

Then there's something strange to consider about the earth. There's a time this earth will pass away, God says. The whole universe, in one amazing moment of a word from God who created it all, God will let every single thing be devoured in the most terrifying, awesome language the Bible can give.

That we can catch a glimpse and fear what's coming, and it could happen tonight. Well don't you think that's possible? Oh beloved, listen, just as this earth must cease, must be destroyed, so you and I are going to be.

This mortal must put on immortality, it has to be, we don't live forever on this earth, thank God. As beautiful as it is, the fall has made it that there has to be, oh we cannot endure this for eternity, please don't let that be so.

Thank God this mortal must be destroyed, to put on immortality, Corinthians tells me. Just as the earth, Revelation 21 verse 1, John says, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, 2 Peter 3 verse 10, but the day of the Lord will be as a thief in the night.

No one knows the moment, not even the angels, God the Father. The day in which the heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall melt with fire and heat, the earth also, and the works therein shall be burned up.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? God asks you and me. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?

Oh, because you and I, brother, like the earth, like the heavens must be destroyed, must leave this mortal to put on immortality, we must. The whole creation groans and travails, Paul tells us in Romans, longing for the redemption of the body.

Shall they all set the prisoners of the earth free, God says. That's all we are until God delivers us. We also, within ourselves, grow within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is the redemption of the body through Christ.

There's a moment of deliverance from this earth. There's a moment this earth will be delivered from all the devil did, and the universe will be devoured, and the elements shall melt, and we, beloved, must be godly, conscious that this is coming.

This is coming soon. This is coming soon. When he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Now that's beyond my understanding doctrinally.

There's something in us. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation, that means living and godliness. Oh, beloved, beloved, your whole being cries out, cries out, let me be in all holiness, godly living, godly living in conversation, when thou disappear.