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*Scripture verses covered in this section's commentary are noted in italics

Genesis 1:14-19 meaning

Verses covered in this passage:

  • Genesis 1:14
  • Genesis 1:15
  • Genesis 1:16
  • Genesis 1:17
  • Genesis 1:18
  • Genesis 1:19

God creates the sun, moon, and stars, on the fourth day of creation. The sun, moon, and stars provide the daily and seasonal cycles and the calculation of time.

We have another separation, the day from the night.

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). Eventually, God’s redemptive work will accumulate in the age to come when there will be no darkness. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever (Revelation 22:5).

The greater light is the sun, and the lesser light is the moon. They govern over the day and night. The Bible says the heavens proclaim the glory of God and the skies display his craftsmanship (Psalm 19:1). In Romans, Paul explains, For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20). God’s incredible creation clearly displays his eternal power and divine nature.

Biblical Text

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.




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