THE HIGHER LIGHTS BRINGING IN THE HIGHER LIFE
The light that was restored on the first day was good only for the lowest life, that is, the plant life. It was not good for the higher life forms. Life depends upon light, and the higher the light, the higher the life. The first day light was a general kind of light; hence, the light bearers needed to be recovered on the fourth day (vv. 14-19). These are the solid lights, not light in general. These bodies bear the light and give location to the light. The light bearers, or luminaries, are the sun, the moon, and the stars. These three made the light definite and solid. The general light of the first day was good for producing the lowest life, the plant life without consciousness. But God wanted something more. He wanted not only the plant life but also the animal life. For the animal life, which is a higher life, there was the need of higher light, of solid light. So on the fourth day the sun, the moon, and the stars were recovered. Although the sun, the moon, and the stars had been created before Adam, they were judged by God. In judging them, God stopped their function. This is why the universe became darkness.
On the fourth day the solid lights were recovered to give more light for the producing of higher life. First, there are the fish, which is the lowest life among the animals. Then there are the birds in the air, whose life is a little higher (vv. 20-23). Then comes the cattle life (vv. 24-25). The animal life became higher and higher on the earth.
The fish, the birds, and the cattle all reproduce their young differently, and this indicates the levels of life. In English we say that fish lay eggs, but what they lay is not like the eggs that birds lay. What fish lay are something almost like seeds. Birds, however, are higher. Birds lay eggs that have a hard shell. Furthermore, fish lay countless seedlike eggs, but birds lay a small number of eggs. This also shows that the bird life is higher. Cattle, such as oxen, cows, sheep, and goats, do not lay seedlike eggs or eggs with a shell, but have wombs from which their descendants are brought forth. They deliver their young alive at birth. They have a higher life. It is clear then that there are various levels of life. There are the vegetable life, the fish life, the bird life, and the cattle life.
The plant life came out of the shining of the general light of the first day, but the animal life came out of the shining of the higher lights, the solid lights, of the fourth day. The universe was so bright with both the general light and the solid light of the three light bearers, and the earth was full of vegetation and animals. All of these are quite beautiful. But these are not the highest life with the highest consciousness. Man has the highest created life and is full of consciousness. No animal can do mathematics or develop computers. But man continues to progress in matters like these. Moreover, Genesis 1 tells us that the plants come forth after their own kind (vv. 11-12), as do the animals (v. 21). But man’s life is not according to man’s kind. Man’s life is according to God’s kind because man was created in God’s image and after His likeness. Man bears His image. Man resembles God, man expresses God, and man will eventually represent God. Therefore, because man is after God’s kind, he is very close to God.
These are the steps, the actions, in God’s history. God produced life by brooding as the Spirit upon the waste, void, darkness, and deep water. His goal in brooding upon this devastated situation was to bring forth man. Yet for man to exist, the life in different levels is needed. The cattle, birds, and fish are needed, and the plant life is needed. Furthermore, for all this life to grow on earth, there is the need of the air of the firmament and of the rain from the heavens to water the earth. There is also the need of light, even lights, in the heavens. With these the earth can produce all the things needed by man for his existence, and man was created fully for God. In God’s restoring of the judged universe, His goal was to produce man.
(The History of God in His Union With Man, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
