And God said, Let the waters bring
forth abundantly the moving creature, the swimming creature that hath
life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament
of heaven. And God created great whales and every living creature
that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly. after
their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind. And God
saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying,
Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters and the seas,
and let the fowl multiply in the earth. The evening and the
morning were the fifth day. We have been studying, are studying
God's creation. It begins, In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth. God does not prove himself to
man, he simply declares himself. And besides, scripture says,
the heavens declare his glory, the firmament showeth his handiwork. These things are clearly clearly
reveal His power and Godhead. He doesn't prove Himself, nor
should He. Nor should we. We get in trouble
when we try to explain the unexplainable. We reveal our ignorance. God
does not explain Himself. He just declares it. Modern man
makes an attempt to explain things, and what he does about his theories
is he just adds a few billion years to make the impossible
seem possible. We just believe what the Lord
has said by faith, but we clearly see
that heaven's firmament creation clearly reveals His eternal power,
that there is an all-wise infinitely glorious Creator revealed by
the things created. This fifth day is God's creation
of fish and fowl. Fish and fowl. Fish of every
shape, form, size, color. Fowl to fly in the air of every
shape, form, size, and color. He says abundantly. Abundantly. Let the waters bring forth abundantly
and the fowl abundantly. Nothing proves our great Creator
more than the diversity of creatures in the seas and in the skies. Many, many, many different kinds
of fish and fowl that are on the earth. Nothing proves our
Creator more than the diversity of it. And look at Psalm 104. This is good. Psalm 104. The creation story begins and
ends in God's due order. And before these first living
creatures were created, God set a table for them. Remember? He
created the plant life, the vegetation, the herbs and so forth, and the
earth and the seas, setting the table for man and beast, fish
and fowl. Psalm 104, it's a wonderful psalm,
verse 13. This whole psalm is about God's
creation. Verse 13, he watereth the hills
from his chambers, that earth is satisfied with the fruit of
thy works. He causeth the grass to grow
for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may
bring forth food out of the herb, and wine that maketh glad the
heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, bread which strengtheneth
man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full
of sap. Cedars of Lebanon, which he hath
planted, where the birds make their nests, as for the stork,
the fir tree, or her house." O Lord, how manifold, how many
are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them
all. The earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and
wide sea, wherein are things creeping or swimming innumerable,
both small and great beasts. There go the ships, and there
is that leviathan or whale whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee. that
thou mayest give them their meat in due season." You give them,
they gather, you open your hand, they're filled with good. Hide
your face, they're troubled. So my, my, how many there are
that God created. Fish and fowl. How many and how
diverse. How many different kinds. How
many different species. Fish and fowl. There couldn't
be any creature more different than fish and fowl, could there?
Fish. And these very things prove our
great Creator too, the diversity of creatures. But fish have scales
and fowl have feathers, don't they? Fish have fins and fowl
have wings. Scales and feathers are their
covering. We've looked before how that
man is the only creature on earth that is not born with a covering
and must have one all the days of his life. And that's by design. God made
it that way because Christ is our covering, our clothing. And then fish and fowl, they
have fins and wings for their locomotion. Man can't either
swim like a fish or fly like a bird, can he? Yet we fancy
ourselves to be some kind of higher creature. And actually,
we're earthbound. We're not much greater than a
worm. We're earthbound. Dumber than
an ox is what we are. And an ass, our Lord said that,
didn't He? The ox knows his owner. The ass knows his master. Crib,
creatures know their Creator. The birds wake up singing unto
Him. And man doth not know nor consider. What a fool he is. The fool, Scripture says, hath
said there is no God. Fish. How many fish are there? There are oceans and seas, lakes,
rivers, streams, ponds. They're all full. Earth is the
Lord, Scripture says, and the fullness thereof. He filled them
up with fish. Before the fall of man, fish
were not food. for man, nor beast, or each other. Nothing ate one another before
the fall of man. But they were created for God's
glory, and I have to believe for His enjoyment. And I don't think I'm becoming
too familiar when I say that much as we would enjoy, and do
enjoy, like an aquarium or something. made things for his own enjoyment.
That's what Proverbs 8 says concerning Christ who was before time, who
said of him that he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the
earth. I believe the Lord came down
and enjoyed that garden he created. Well, after the fall, though,
fish and fowl became food for man and beast, didn't it? And
each other. And in the Creator's good providence,
There is an endless supply, an endless replenishable source
of food for man and beasts in His good providence. I was watching
one of these nature programs. I love to watch them. And they
showed this three square mile swarm of shad in the ocean. Shad are fish about that long,
little silver fish that every larger fish in the ocean feeds
off of those fish. It was three square miles in
size. This swarm or school of fish. Three square miles. And as you know, like birds that
fly, fish don't even touch one another. This mass of fish. Well, they were just out there
in the middle of the ocean and here came all these other fish.
Sharks and all manner of big fish and had a feeding frenzy. That's what they were there for,
those shad. And when it was all over, there was not one single
shad left. Amazing. Amazing. Now that's just one small part
of a vast ocean. Just one small, three square
miles. How many square miles? What ocean are there? Water.
Two-thirds of the earth. Fish. Look at verse 21. God created
great whales. Great whales. The Lord mentions
the whale often in the Scriptures to His great glory. The glory
of the great Creator. You know, as we've talked about
diversity, you have little shrimp and then you have whales. Where's
evolution and all that? I'm not going to address that.
But the leviathan, the leviathan or the whale is mentioned many
times. Look at Job 41, the book of Job, right before the Psalms. Job 41, Job which is thought to be the oldest recorded
book in Scripture. Job lived during the time of
Abraham. This was actually written before the first five books of
Moses were recorded. But Job 41, look at verse 25. The Lord is speaking of His creation. Job 41, verse 25. God is speaking Himself. He speaks of the great whale.
He says, When He raiseth up Himself the mighty, That is, being afraid,
just tremble. And by reasons of breakings,
they purify himself. The sword of him that layeth
at him cannot hold the spear, the dark habridgen. Verse 27,
he esteemeth iron as straw, breaking iron ships, and brass as rotten
wood. His strength is amazing. Verse 31, he maketh the deep,
that is, the sea, to boil like a pot. Make it the sea like a
pot of ointment. Verse 33 and 34. Upon earth there
is not his like who is made without fear. He beholdeth all things. He's the king over all the children
of pride. Oh, my. The largest whale on
earth, the largest animal on earth is a whale, a mammal. But
the great blue whale is the largest which reaches the size of over
100 feet long, twice the length of this building, 200 tons. How many fish does it take to
feed one whale? I'll tell you, 8,000 pounds of
shrimp a day. Who feeds him? Who feeds him? So this clearly
declares our things such as this. Fowl. How many birds are there? How diverse? Job 41. Look again
here in Job 41 verse 13. I'm sorry. Job 41. Job 40. Job
40. Well, I wrote it down wrong.
I'm sorry. I wrote it down wrong. But he speaks of the fir tree. Well, we looked at
that in Psalm 104, didn't we? The fir tree being the home of
the birds and so forth. But that's Psalm 104. It says,
Lord, how manifold are thy works, and wisdom hath made them all,
for the earth is full of thy riches. And it speaks of the
stork, the fir tree being his home, the eagle, his nest far
above. Where is Christ in all this?
We have been looking at Christ as a type in all of these things. Where is Christ a type in all
this? We cannot force things to be a type of Christ. Nor should
you try. Though Christ Himself compares
Himself to an eagle, doesn't He? He compares Himself to an
eagle. He compares Himself to a mother
hen. He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered
thee as a mother hen doth gather her brood. Scripture says He
has eyes like a dove. And so on. And He gave the whale,
Vagona that is, as the one sign to prove himself, that no sign
will be given concerning the Christ except the sign of the
prophet Jonas, as he spent three days and three nights in the
belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man spend those three
nights in the belly of the earth. I know this. Where is Christ
in all this? He's the Creator. That's where
He is. Look at John chapter 1. We may not be able to see a type
of him, but he is the creator. He's the one creating these things. John chapter 1, verses 1 and
2, says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made. That was made in Colossians
chapter 1. Go over there quickly. Colossians
chapter 1. These things that were created
were created by Christ. He is the very God of the very
God, the Creator. God, our Creator. Colossians
chapter 1. Look at verse 16. Verse 15. Christ is an image
of the invisible God, the firstborn. That is the first image, the
first bodily presence of every creature, though he himself was
not created, yet he made himself a body. And by him, verse 16,
were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions,
principalities or powers, all things were created by him, speaking
of Christ, and for him. And He is before all things. And by Him, all things consist. All things consist. And while
on this earth, while on this earth, He proved Himself to be
the great Creator, the Master of the sea and skies. I love
the stories of our Lord walking, visiting His earth. And he proved
that he was the creator of these things, the master of them. One
time they were in a boat together, he and his disciples. They had
toiled all night and caught nothing. They didn't know where the fish
were. Well, he did, because they belonged to him, just like the
disciples did. He called them, called whom he
would, and they came to him, much like a shepherd does his
sheep. He proved himself to be master
of the seas, knowing the fish. He called them into the net. Later, at one time, the disciples
who had to pay their taxes just like everybody else does, and
they did not work a job and therefore did not have any money at the
time and had to pay their taxes to Caesar what was due to Caesar.
Well, they came to him and said, Lord, what are we going to do
about our taxes? And that's ironic, isn't it? Today's the day. But
he said, go down to the shore, the seashore, and cast in a hook. And I like to think, there have
been many ships that have been sunk at
sea over the years, going through storms and so forth. Lord raised
a storm some years before this and had a vessel sunk in the
ocean, which was full of gold bullion or something, and he
had a fish at the precise time go and swallow one of these coins.
He says preposterous. No. It's Jesus Christ, isn't
it? The crib. Had a fish go and swallow
one of these coins at the precise time on April the 15th and bring
to Peter. Peter cast the hook in the water,
brought up that fish. It was the exact sum of money
they owed for their taxes. Can you believe that? Well, that's
what Christ said. That's what the Scripture said.
Proving who He is. He's the Master of the Sea. Mastery over it by walking upon
it, by stilling it much like you would a barking dog. He said,
lie down, be still. The winds and the waves obey
him. What manner of man is he? No mere man at all. He's the
God-man, the Creator. He had a dove one time. That's the fish. He had a dove
one time. John the Baptist, being somewhat
unsure that he was the Christ, the Lord had a dove land on his
shoulder. The Lord told John that if whom
you see the dove landing on his shoulder, that's the Christ.
And he had a dove land on his shoulder to show John. Much like
he shows his people all things that declare his glory. Yea,
the heavens declare his glory. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Look at that. Romans chapter
1. Romans chapter 1. We quote it
quite often. We need to look at it. We need
to know where it is. Know where it is. As we began this by saying,
God does not prove Himself to man, He reveals Himself. Why
should He prove Himself? Psalm 8 says, What is man that
art mindful of him anyway? Why would He? Why should He?
Why should He prove Himself to a rebel? Why should God prove
Himself to a rebel? Like me walking through my yard,
and there's an ant colony in my yard. Mind you, in my yard,
and ants rarely look up. They have no consciousness whatsoever
of human beings, really. Don't look up. Do not look up.
And I'm walking through, and they're discussing among themselves
whether or not I exist. And if I do, what are they going
to let me do? Well, I just need to prove myself to these aunts,
don't I? I just need to prove to them. Why should I? That's what the
psalmist says. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? Son of man that he visits him. But God, in His infinite
mercy and grace and goodness and kindness, the great Creator,
in His love to His creature, did come to this earth in the
form of His Son and did reveal Himself, not to all, but to some. Scripture says He'll not cry
or cause His voice to be lifted up on the street. He's not trying
to get anybody to believe in it. God's not trying to get anyone
to believe in Him. That's why He's silent. That's
why He doesn't speak out loud. Men say, if God exists, why doesn't
He just tell everybody? He doesn't have to. Look at Romans
1. It says, verse 18, "...the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold to truth in unrighteousness." Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, or to them, clearly revealed. God
hath showed it unto them, the invisible things of him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power in God.
Man is without excuse, but as we say, a man doesn't want
a God, because if he's God, that means, if he's a creator, that
means he owns us. If he's a creator, that means
he's our judge. Well, man doesn't want an owner
or a judge, verse 21, because when they knew God, they glorified
him not as God's, neither were thankful. What does God require
of man? Just to thank him. Just to thank him. Neither were
thankful, but became vain or ridiculously foolish in their
imagination. Their foolish heart was darkened,
their understanding. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. As I said, they're still looking
into black holes. What's in a black hole? Blackness. At any rate, they changed the
glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible
man. God is so backward, man so backward,
so foolish, he's made man into God and God into a man. And birds
and four-footed beasts, men have worshipped creatures down through
the years of all sorts, shapes, forms, and sizes, and the sun,
the moon, the stars, and so forth, rather than the one who created
them. And so, wherefore, God gave them up to uncleanness through
the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their bodies between
themselves. Man became like a writhing maggot,
that's what worm means, who changed the truth of God into a lie. That is, God's Word, God's truth,
rejected it. And they worshipped and served
the creature. calling it Mother Earth and worshiping Her rather
than Him, more than the Creator who is blessed forever. And it
goes on to say how God gave them up. And the state of man is clearly
seen also, isn't it? You reject your Creator, He rejects
you. He rejects you. Clearly seen. Yea, the heavens declare His
glory. The firmament showeth his handiwork
at Psalm 19. Day unto day uttereth speech. Night unto night showeth knowledge. Day and night. There is no language,
no speech or language where the voice of wisdom, the voice of
creation is not heard. The Lion has gone throughout
all the earth, and chiefly among them all, It's that great Bridegroom
in the Sky, the Son of Righteousness, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fish and fowl. The marvelous creation of our
marvelous Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be all the glory.