Separation and Filling

It is easy to read a Bible passage and find something you missed before.  The creation account in Genesis chapter 1 is one of those stories that you know, yet are amazed when you find even more.

Creation happened in six days.  In the Bible, the number six tends to represent something that is incomplete (that is why there was one day of rest, making it a complete week).  The number three tends to represent God and the things of heaven, and it also finds its way into the creation story.

Day 1 - God separated darkness and light

Day 2 - God separated the skies and the seas

Day 3 - God separated the land and the water

There were three separations on the first three days.  You may be more familiar with the "Let there be..." phrase found in the creation story, but the separations are also a key.  His work is not just to separate, though; God hints and what the next three days will be like at the end of day three - he fills the land with vegetation and life.

Day 4 - God filled creation with lights

Day 5 - God filled the sky with birds and the sea with fish

Day 6 - God filled the land with animals

Now God moves into the work of filling.  Day one was about light, and now day four was about filling in the lights to carry out that work.  Day two was about the skies and seas, and now day five was about filling them with birds and fish.  Day four was about land, and now day six was about filling the land with wild and domesticated animals.  Yet again, God hints that there is something more than just animals he is creating.  Special emphasis is put on his creation of man and woman, signaling what is to come.

Separation and filling.  That is how fields are planted - separating the dirt and filling it with seed that grows.  That is how new muscle is formed - tearing muscle tissue and then letting the muscles rebuild in a stronger way.  That is how we can live a new life - separation from the sin that entangles us and filling with God's Holy Spirit.