What does the text say?

1:16 And God made (asahH6213) two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night

Compare:

1:7 And God made H6213 the firmament
1:25 And God made H6213 the beast of the earth
1:26 And God said, Let us make H6213 man in our image

2:18 I will make H6213 him an help meet for him

And more.

The word ‘asah means ‘make’ throughout Genesis 1

On the fourth day God made the sun and moon.

The earth was already there on the first day -- and there was light (a light not of the sun or moon) and I believe the earth was rotating.
To have a day-night cycle all that is needed is a rotating Earth and light coming from one direction.

What was the Earth orbiting around prior to the creation of the Sun and the Moon?

It would have been rotating on its axles to make day and night, (which it does every 24 hours) that doesn't require it to orbit around a sun (something that takes a whole year).

God may have had some point of gravity to hold it in its place prior to the creation of the solar system. That shouldn't be a problem for God.



Like the songs says:
"It took a miracle to put the stars in place;
It took a miracle to hang the world in space.
But when He saved my soul,
Cleansed and made me whole,
It took a miracle of love and grace!"

Deep subject brother Daryl--

Here is a report that may shed some light-

The Heaven in the Beginning.

"Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters," spoke the Lord, upon creating the earth, "and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven." Gen. 1:6-8.

In the beginning, "the Lord God had not," let us remember, "caused it to rain upon the earth" (Gen. 2:5), and water was "above the firmament" as well as "under the firmament"; and the firmament, He called "Heaven." Gen. 1:7, 8. These divided waters could not be the water in the clouds, which now serves to water the earth, for the upper waters were not in the midst of the firmament, as are the clouds, but above it.

So just as the earth was surrounded by the firmament, so also was the firmament surrounded by the water. The earth was, in other words, twice enveloped, as shown in the illustration, -- first by the firmament; then by the water.


Since both the firmament and the water were transparent, and the water formed just a thin blanket round the firmament, the sun's rays shone on the earth just as brightly then as they do now. And since, too, the rays of the sun at that time hit the water before they were cooled off by passing through the heavy sheet of atmosphere, they were hotter when they reached the water above the firmament than they are now under the firmament when they reach the earth.

Being first diffused by the water, the rays made it hot; in turn, by circulating round the firmament, the hot water warmed the earth evenly everywhere -- at the poles as well as at the equator. The only variation in temperature was incident to presence of light (day) and absence of light (night). Consequently, then, as now, the night was cooler than the day. But as this condition no longer prevails, obviously at some time a cataclysm caused

The Breakdown of Earth's Heating System.
In the beginning, the now frozen regions of the poles flourished with vegetation and abounded with animals which geologists now find preserved in the ice. Who, then, could doubt that the water "above the firmament" was the earth's heat-equalizing system?

But as soon as the water, in fulfillment of Noah's prediction, began to come down, -- in fact, even before it had any chance to descend to the lower places of the earth, -- this natural thermostatic system was quickly broken down, and the rain, as it fell on the earth, froze so suddenly in the polar regions that the animals while yet alive froze with it: they evidently had not time even to swallow their food, as is actually established by various archeological exhumations.

The earth, now being without its heat-equalizing system, is affected with intense heat whenever the sun is in such a position as to send its rays through the least thickness of atmosphere as is the case at noonday, when the sun shines straight down instead of on a slant; and with even intenser heat whenever there is a density of atmosphere, such as is caused by humidity and low altitude; whereas conditions opposite to these, bring an opposite extreme.

The fluctuating, uncomfortable atmospheric extremes brought about by the flood, are just another of the results of the curses which followed man's unbelief in divine warnings and reproofs, and his disobedience to God's commandments.

This adverse derangement of Nature's thermostat, with the resultant uncomfortable condition on earth, both of which cry out not only for a new earth, but also for a new heaven, turns our attention to

The Solar System.
Inspiration declares that the sun was created on the fourth day of the week of creation, and astronomical science has discovered that in our solar system there are besides the planet Earth eight other planets depending on the sun for light, heat, and life-giving energy. (The probability is that three more planets will be discovered, for according to Genesis 37:9 and other facts, there must needs be twelve major planets in our solar system.)

During the week of creation, consequently, God must have created not only the earth but also the entire solar system. Otherwise, the planets in existing without benefit of the sun's life-sustaining influence, would necessarily have suffered an uninhabited and altogether useless existence. Inspiration, moreover, says also that in the week of creation, God created the earth, sun, moon, and "the stars also." Gen. 1:16.

Without a sun, our solar system would have been but a planetary assemblage without a controlling unit, left to careen and hurtle headlessly through space, only to endure, at the merciless caprice of fortuitous circumstance, an unending succession of accidental collisions.

Created and set in motion together, though, by the Hand that sustains them, all the planets safely follow the sun as it sweeps through space at the tremendous velocity of 400,000,000 miles a year.

Our heaven and earth, therefore, being a unit in the solar system, then both their passing away and their being renewed necessarily involve the entire system. Not only our heaven, consequently, but also

The Heavens Need to be Renewed.
Each one of the planets in our solar system being surrounded by its own firmament or heaven, there are, consequently, as many heavens (firmaments) as there are planets in the system. To these planetary "heavens" apply the following scriptures:

"For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black." Jer. 4:28. "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree." Isa. 34:4.

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Pet. 3:10.

"They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed." Ps. 102:26.

"For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain." Isa. 66:22.

As a result of sin on earth, causing all creation to groan (Rom. 8:22), the whole solar family has suffered. The foregoing scriptures show that not only the earth, but also the heavens, have waxed old under the curse of sin; that sin is a contagious disease with far-reaching results; that "whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it" (1 Cor. 12:26); that God is to make an absolute riddance of sin and consequently that He will make void not only the earth, but also the entire solar system; and that while making the earth new, He will make new the solar system also!

"What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time." Nah. 1:9. "And He said unto me Write: for these words are true and faithful." Rev. 21 :5.

"Behold," He says further, speaking in view of the day that He will execute "an utter end," "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Mal. 4:5. Hence Jesus' words: "Elias truly shall first come, and
Shall "Restore All Things."
Matt. 17:11.

Though lost through sin, all created in the beginning will be restored in "the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:21. Having created the sea before the beginning of sin, then to do away with it after the extinction of sin, as some teach that He is to do, would certainly not be His restoring "all things," but rather His doing away with them, and would imply that in the beginning He made a mistake in creating the sea thus belying His pronouncement "that it was good." Gen. 1:10.

Since, moreover, the serpent, not the sea, caused Adam and Eve to sin (Gen. 3:1-7), and since the serpent is to be in the kingdom restored (Isa. 65:25), why, then should God do away with the sea?

"God is jealous," declares the prophet Nahum in his vision of the time of the end "and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies.

The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger?

His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. But with an overrunning flood
He will make an utter end of the place thereof and darkness shall pursue His enemies. What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time." Nah. 1:2-9. (Tract 9, p.22-29)

What does the text say? It says, "to rule". Granted, God did make the lights at some point in the past. But the lights were not ruling before. Now they are.

Ge 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights 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:

Sounds to me the day wasn't divided from the night until God said let them to divide.


I think that is a very good question. Did God's laws of physics not come into play until after the earth was created? Of which the laws would have came after all the other worlds were created? It would make sense that at some point, when He created the universe ,that those laws were put into place. To think He somehow exempted them only for earth would not make sense.

So did the earth have day and night before God came onto the scene? That is, what was the light before then?

Sounds like you are saying the polar regions did not experience the flood.

What does the text say?

1:16 And God made (asahH6213) two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night


The text says that God made two great lights.
Those two lights were to rule the day and the night.

Kland wrote: Sounds to me the day wasn't divided from the night until God said let them to divide.

And when did God say that?

He said that on the FIRST day:

1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.


There may very well have been an important lesson in this.
The ONE who rules over everything is God.
Christ says: "I am the light of the world".

Nations looked to the sun and moon as "divine" rulers. But no, God is the ruler, the sun and moon are only created objects put in place BY GOD to continue the "day, night" sequence at God's command.

Also I'm not at all sure the universe, or our solar system, is the same now as it was! God's creation is perfect, but there are a lot of imperfect things going on out there. There are a lot of questions concerning the solar system and the universe that are totally unanswered. Like why are their all those asteroids out there? An exploded planet? Why did it explode?

There are many things that we don't know.

God could have taken a planet from Orion; after all the Great Orion Nebula is now touted as the birth place of new planets and systems. God could have taken a planet and decided to make it human friendly and make a special solar system just for it. We don't know. -- and I'm not saying that's what happened because I don't know.


But one thing we do know and I believe it's important not to rationalize away that which is revealed to us in scripture,
scripture says --
IN SIX DAYS, each specifically numbered and mentioned as having a morning and evening, God created our little part of the universe.

Scripture is very explicit on that account.
It is the bases for the seven day week which rests on no other foundation except that it was established at creation, it is the bases of the seventh day Sabbath set in place as the memorial of God's creation --


There is no problem in believing that there was day and night prior to the sun being created for

all that is needed to have day and night is
a rotating earth
a fixed source of light.

I was saying GLL was suggesting the polar regions did not experience the flood.

You said, It could have happened that way if the flood was caused by a sudden tilting of earth's axis.

?

So Daryl, how are those studies with the JW's coming? Have you started yet?

Haven't started yet.