> [!Scripture] >**20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." >21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. >22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." >23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.** <img src="https://audio.mhbbible.com/media%3Agenesis%201%2020-23.jpg" alt="Genesis 1:20-23" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"> > [!success] Audio Commentary > <audio controls src="https://audio.mhbbible.com/Genesis%201%2020-23.ogg"></audio> ## Brief Observations - **Day 5 marks a leap in complexity and excellence** — After the majestic but simpler works of the first four days (light, firmament, land/sea/vegetation, heavenly lights), God creates living beings: sea creatures and birds. Living things are like jewels set in the crown of creation, resting on the precise physical constants He established earlier. This progression teaches us to pursue excellence in our own works—press forward so the end of our race produces our best efforts. + **We should not fear poor beginnings in mastery** — God’s creation didn’t start at peak performance; His most advanced designs built progressively on prior work. When we begin a craft badly (as everyone does), we shouldn’t resent the process or think the system is rigged against us. Diligent practice and repetition lead to mastery—even God’s flawless work unfolded step by step. - **God creates fish and birds from the waters by His word alone** — Scripture says the waters “bring forth” abundantly moving creatures and fowl that fly. This isn’t about natural causes (birds don’t emerge from water via biology). It demonstrates God’s first-cause power: He creates and sustains life independent of secondary mechanisms like evolution or photosynthesis. He needs no preconditions—His command alone brings life ex nihilo. + **Beware the willful ignorance of scoffers** — Peter warns in 2 Peter 3 that in the last days, people walking after their lusts will scoff at creation and God’s sustaining word, claiming “all things continue as they were from the beginning.” Their skepticism isn’t superior knowledge—it’s rooted in sinful desires. We must guard our hearts against faithless doubt that questions God’s miracles to accommodate secular narratives. - **Diversity appears “after their kind” from the start** — God creates sea creatures and birds each according to their own kind, with built-in genetic variety right at the beginning. This directly counters slow, gradual macroevolution. The fossil record’s Cambrian Explosion shows virtually all major animal body plans (phyla) appearing suddenly, without transitional precursors—hard evidence that life burst forth in diversity by God’s command, not billions of years of incremental change. + **Even the smallest creatures reveal God’s wisdom** — We tend to glorify large animals (whales are named specifically for their size, strength, and dominance—perhaps the leviathan of Job), but insects like ants display divine intelligence every bit as profoundly. Close examination of any creature, great or small, points to the Creator’s unmatched design. - **God blesses them: “Be fruitful and multiply”** — Before the Fall introduced death, God foreordains procreation and abundance. Life is fleeting—like a delicate flame that could extinguish at any moment—so God blesses fertility to continue the chain despite vulnerability. His works stand as long as He wills; nothing halts what He sets in motion. + **Fertility and multiplication are God’s providential blessing** — From abundant crops and livestock to the gift of children, all flourishing traces back to this command. Job reminds us: ask the beasts, birds, earth, and fish—they all declare “the hand of the Lord has done this.” In whose hand is the life of every living thing. - **Nature is a school for worship** — When we’re outdoors, we should open our eyes to these creatures. Let the birds, fish, insects, and whales teach us God’s wisdom, power, and goodness. Contemplating them positions our hearts to stand in awe, praise Him, and worship the One whose creative word still upholds every breath of life. ## Full Commentary Across the first four days of creation we saw God create majestic yet simple things. The complexity of His creations gradually increased with each day. In the first two Bible studies we admired the mathematical precision of the physical constant of the universe. It’s a work of art of the highest order. But even more complex are the living beings He creates which depend on this precision. They are like jewels embedded in the crown of His design. This gradual increase in excellence teaches us that across the span of our lives we should endeavor to make our own works more excellent. We should press into advancement so that the works we accomplish at the end of our race might be our best works. When you begin any kind of work you’re going to do it badly at first. It takes diligent practice and repetition to achieve mastery. As Christians we should not be afraid of these first stages of poor performance. It’s not that God’s performance was poor during the first stages of creation, but there’s a reason why His most advanced designs came at the end and rested upon His previous work. Expecting to start out at the top of our own craft is dispiriting and causes inappropriately founded resentment. You may begin to think the system is biased against you when in reality the most impressive works are built one step at a time — even when God Himself builds them. God creates the fish and the birds on the same day, and depending on which translation you use you’ll read that both were brought forth by the waters. Birds emerging from the water doesn’t make sense when we evaluate it using only second and third-order natural causes — but neither does plants growing before the sun exists. God is doing it this way not to give us a biology lesson — rather to demonstrate that the power of His first cause and His ability to sustain what He’s created is entirely independent of these second-order natural causes. In Peter’s second epistle to the believers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, he warned them that in the last days dubious attitudes would emerge concerning the truth of God’s creation account. Peter reminded them, “That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” The willful blindness of the scoffers which Peter addresses in these verses is targeted directly at God’s power as the Prime Mover and Ultimate Sustainer. The scoffers are doubting anything in the creation story which appears in conflict with their own understanding of natural science. But their doubt isn’t coming from some higher form of knowledge which invalidates the creation account — Peter says this attitude is the consequence of them walking after their own lusts. So as Christians, when we read about God’s creative miracles, we need to guard ourselves against the kind of faithless skepticism which may be originating in our sinful flesh. When God says, “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.” He’s not saying the waters themselves had productive power. God is the one who created the fish in the waters out of nothing, and God is the one who created the birds who flew out of the waters and into the sky. God’s command is what let them be brought into being. During this day God also created many of the insects we are familiar with. Some of them insects of flight, some ground insects, and some who live in and around the waters. As human beings we have a bias towards large things, and so we often see the larger mammals as more majestic than insects. But close examination of insects like ants reveals the wisdom of God every bit as much as we see in the more glorified animals. In this moment of creation we observe delineation between the different sorts of birds and the different sorts of fish. Scripture says God created each of them after their own kind. So from the very first act of creation there was genetic variety among the sea creatures and birds. You might wonder why it’s necessary to mention that — but there’s actually powerful polemic evidence in the fossil record which stands against the secular story of molecules-to-man evolution. This evidence is called the Cambrian Explosion. The Cambrian Explosion refers to a part of the fossil record wherein virtually all body-plans or “kinds” of animals appear all at once. The Cambrian Explosion is hard evidence contradicting the secularist narrative of billions of years of slow evolution moving one transitional form into another until we end up with the complexity and variety of life we see today. God spoke and a diversity of animals appeared immediately. When scripture describes God creating the sea creatures, it makes specific mention of whales. We mentioned human bias towards large animals, and indeed this bias is not entirely without cause. The whales are mentioned by name in this passage because their size, strength, and dominance exceeded that of other sea creatures. The whales revealed the power and greatness of their Creator. Some interpreters believe whales are the same creatures referred to in Job when God mentions “the leviathan.” When you reflect on the intelligent design of so much of God’s creation, especially the animals which have the spark of life, the most logical reaction is to praise and worship God. The diversity of body plans, sizes, and instincts found across the animal kingdom makes the story of macroevolution untenable and the story of creation inescapable. After creating this multiplicity of life, we see God bless them and command them to be fruitful and multiply. While death did not enter the creation until the Fall of Man, this blessing for life and procreation is a foreordination of what would become necessary in God’s perfect plan. Part of the reason for this command is that life is a fleeting thing. From the moment we’re born we begin progressing towards our inevitable deaths. We should not view our lives as having the strength and immovability of a stone — rather we should view them as delicate and vulnerable as a flame which at any moment could be extinguished. Our God-given desire for procreation is the Lord’s way of continuing the chain of life despite this vulnerability. It’s part of God’s character to bless His own works and the works God does shall stand for as long as He determines it. Nothing or no one can put a stop to what God has set in motion unless He first wills it to stop. The animals were generated by the creative power of God, and from that moment forward they were preserved by the providential power of God. Fertility and procreation are a direct consequence of God’s blessing. This is something we should remember when our crops and livestock multiply abundantly. We should also remember His blessing when we have children — and we should understand that children are a gift from God. Job testifies to the blessing of God’s providence in Job chapter 12 when he rebukes his accusers by challenging them, “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. “Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. “Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?” As Christians, when we do any kind of activity outside in nature, it benefits us to open our eyes and pay attention to all of these living creatures. It’s good for our spirit to contemplate the wisdom, power, and goodness of God who created them. It positions our hearts to worship and to stand in awe of Him.