Bible Study Genesis-Part 16-Signs and Seasons

The night sky does more than inspire wonder, it keeps time, guides travel, and quietly repeats patterns so faithfully that we can predict what the heavens will look like far beyond our lifetime. That simple fact pushes us back into one of the most loaded lines in the Creation account: Genesis 1:14, where God places lights in the firmament “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years.” We take this verse slowly, because this is exactly where many people dismiss Biblical Creation as myth, and we think the details are too purposeful to brush off.

We also address a question that often comes up: could the constellations be arranged to tell the story of Redemption, even tied to the zodiac? We’ll explain why that “Gospel in the stars” idea can sound compelling, why it’s easy to misuse, and why we keep coming back to a simple anchor, letting Scripture interpret Scripture instead of chasing secret codes in the sky.

From navigation by the North Star to ancient calendars like Stonehenge, we connect “signs and seasons” to real-world human life: agriculture, planning, survival, and even thriving. Then we press the bigger question that runs through the whole conversation: why is the universe so ordered, and why do we have the ability to see, record, and understand that order at all? If you care about Christian apologetics, faith and science, and what Genesis actually claims, this study will give you a lot to think about.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Scripture Matters

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Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel. God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries. We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God. We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day. The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold. And we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture. Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible. It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision. Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us. It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word. We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death. In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death. Never treat what God has said lightly. There's truly nothing more important to you. Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

Genesis And Why It’s Attacked

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All right, we are back on our weekly Bible study. It's Wednesday, and we are trying our best to get through one of the more challenging books of the Bible. It's taken us quite a while to get 14 verses. I think we're at three months now trying to get through the first 14 verses, but we really need to take our time to do this. As I've said so many times in this Bible study, when people want to attack God's word, this is where they attack it. They attack it right here in Genesis. They try to say the creation story is nothing to believe in. It's fantasy, it's no better than any of the other origin myths of history. It's not true. If you look at the details, if you actually spend some time looking at the details like we are, it's a rather fascinating, truth-filled story. So why don't we get started with it? We are going to jump right into verse 14. I'm gonna jump right back into verse 14 because that's where we left off last time. There's still lots to be talking about in verse 14. So, um, as I said, we talked about it a little bit last time, but we're not quite finished. We'll cover it and then we'll move on. Let me read it for you.

Reading Genesis 1:14 Slowly

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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 for years. Now, let me say that some speculate that this verse has a far more expansive meaning than what first meets the eye. The possibilities I'm going to tell you are interesting, but I don't want us to become too bogged down in possibilities. There are too many certainties to cover before we can get distracted by anything like that. We're trying to get through an entire Bible, and we must pick and choose wisely as to what we expand upon. As I've brought to your attention several times in this first chapter study, that the paucity of details in this creation record has sent lots of people off in several directions. As a result of the infolust that I call it, that most humans suffer from, there have arisen some pretty incredible, blank-filling theories. And I admit there are a lot, there are a lot of these, or at least a few of these, that I find intriguing. But then there are others that seem to be more fantasy than fact. As far as this verse goes, verse 14, I think it's best to stick with what God is saying, which is pretty much my advice on all the others as well. But let me say, there may be, maybe a lot more

The Gospel Written In Constellations?

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to this verse than what we're going to present here tonight. For example, and I'll only mention this and then we'll move on. There are some who believe that the stars are aligned in just such a way that when we look up at them, they tell us of all things the story of the gospel. This theory suggests that God Himself laid out the lights in the heavens in a very specific way in order to communicate to us in symbol what God has been, what his son has done, and what he will do for us. Part of this theory actually includes, believe it or not, the zodiac. And the proponents of said theory tell us that God is the one responsible for the 12 signs of the zodiac that we're all familiar with. But instead of something we can use to tell us if we're going to marry a millionaire or be a successful left-handed emporium tycoon, that these alignments depict God's plan of redemption. Now, as far-fetched as that may sound, there are actually some really interesting points made in this hypothesis. And as a matter of fact, those that put forth this theory have some decent amount of scripture to back it up. Now, let me say, in case you're wondering, I'm not convinced. I know lots of people that are, but I'm not. Though there are some compelling aspects of this theory, I just think overall this doesn't seem to be God's style. I mean, my biggest question would be why? If we have scripture, isn't that enough? And isn't something like this fraught with potential abuse? As I said, let's just study what God has to say and pray

Why Humans Can See The Heavens

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that he leads us to his truth and no one else's. So, in summary, verse 14, as written, is telling us that God set the lights in the skies, the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. Now that's the only thing I can say for sure, and that's the only thing you can say for sure. He placed them where they are, and he gave us access to them. He gave us access to them. Now that part is important to your understanding. He not only set them where they are, but he made it possible for us to see them. Begs the same question we've been asking throughout this book. Why? Why did God make it so we can see the heavens? Now you may think that's a silly question to ask, but if you realize that there's no other planet that we know of that has the same viewing platform that we do, the question takes on a more legitimate tone. I mean, why us and not them? Listen, you must realize that the earth has just the right atmosphere, and we have just the right intelligence with the just the right level of curiosity that makes observing God's universe possible. It's like I said before. When was the last time you saw a squirrel with a telescope? They don't care. We do care. Why do we care? And when we look out there, why do we perceive it? Why does it make a difference to us? No other place and no other living creature has such a perfect tool set to wonder, discover, and learn as we do. Again, I ask, why? Well, there are lots of opinions, but as usual, the only one that matters is God's.

Signs And Seasons Mean Order

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Now, some people will say, aha, signs. See, God put them up there for signs. You're reading into the word too much. Now, archaeology has shown us that as far back as one can even imagine, mankind has been able to precisely, for the most part, see the most common, and actually some of the not so common celestial events would occur. We would know when those would occur. As far back as we can tell, mankind has known when those things were going to happen. Now, this isn't some supernatural, predictive, prophetic ability. It's just that the same thing happens in the heavens over and over. And when things happen in the sky, things very often correspondingly happen on the earth. Now, for a long time, mankind didn't know why one thing led to another. And actually, it didn't appear to be all that important, since the why question seemed to generate far less interest than the when and the what. When and what put food on the table. The why doesn't. And besides, when and what were very easy to determine since when and what were imminently predictable. And that's because God created it. And he created it for that very reason. He gave it those patterns for a reason. It was his intention that it be predictable. Our God is a God of order. The devil is the one who brings chaos. When God puts himself fully in charge, you can count on things having purpose, meaning, and structure. God's universe is harmonious and uniform when we leave it alone, when the devil leaves it alone. God's creation is a system. The same thing happened today that happened every other day on this date for a very long time. You see, the heavens change very little. There are few more consistent forces in our experience than the movement of the sun, moon, and stars. And if something happens enough times in the exact same way and you're paying attention, then eventually you're going to be able to know something's gonna happen before it happens, simply because it has always happened that way at that time. We know, for example, what time the sun sets tomorrow. We know what stars will be shining and where in the sky we'll be able to find them. In fact, we know those things for the night after and the next night and the next, on and on it goes, to the point that we know what the sky will look like 10,000 years from Thursday night. You've heard of Halley's Comet. Some people say Halley's. You've heard of Halley's Comet? Of course you have.

The North Star And Navigation

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That's why it's called the North Star. And it's an ideal aid to navigation because it's always there. For centuries, sea captains have used the North Star to help them to get to where they're going. Listen, modern electronic navigation equipment is not much more than 100 years old. And yet humans have been traveling the seas for thousands of years. Well, how did they do that without GPS and Lorent and radar and all those things? Well, go back far enough and you'll discover that they were navigating by the stars. And the North Star was one of the most important. Now, most of you know all of this already, but did you also know that the North Star wasn't always Polaris? As little as 5,000 years ago, the North Star was Thuban, otherwise known as Alpha Draconis. In another 12,000 years, the North Star will be Vega. Imagine knowing exactly what's going to happen in 12,000 years from now. But we do. We know all of this because I'll say it again: mankind has been watching the heavens for a long time. And by now we know what's going to happen up there with precision. Doesn't that amaze you? You know, I'm sorry, but those that doubt the truth of God's hand in the universe have a really difficult time explaining this stuff away. But they they do try, and their efforts have yielded some well humorous results. Again, no time for specifics. But everyone agrees that the movements of the heavens are predictable. Now, again, the question is why? Why is it so reliable? And why is it even possible that we can see, record, and predict these movements? Something else to think about. What is the point of giving us a front row seat to the heavens? Well, here's the point. 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, for seasons and for days and for years. God put the lights in the firmament in such a way that allows them to be for us signs and for seasons and for days and for years. Where the celestial bodies are in the heavens is very important to our time and space reckoning. And reckoning time and space is very important to mankind and always has been. Of course, you've heard of Stonehenge, right? And of course, you've heard that, although scientists still can't say for

Stonehenge And The Need For Calendars

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sure what its ultimate purpose is, they do know it was built in such a way that highlights and keeps track of at least the movement of the sun. Somehow those ancient cavemen knew exactly when the summer solstice was, and Stonehenge was there to determine on any given day how far away the summer solstice was. It is at least a calendar. Now, what's remarkable is that it is a calendar that must have taken centuries to build. I heard around 15 centuries and requiring a workforce that must have numbered in the thousands. In other words, those prehistoric people put a lot of effort into being aware of what day it was. Why? And listen, Stonehenge is not one of a kind. It's pretty special, but it's not the only one, not even close. All over the world, there are similar ancient and some actually not so ancient calendars scattered all over the landscape. Calendars which are based solely on the movement of the heavenlies, which, by the way, is all calendars. That's how all calendars work, on the movement of the heavenlies. Few things are more important to the survival of human life than knowing what season, what day, and what time it is. And the first person to know how important that is to us is God. In fact, he knew how important it was before we even were created. That's why I'm telling you, this place, this creation, everything we've read was meant to be preparing for the arrival of mankind. Otherwise, why put the stars in the firmament for days and for seasons and time and years? Why? God doesn't need that. The first person to be aware that seasons and days and years are going to be important to the flourishing of mankind was God. And by the way, God hardly makes mention of the importance of the survival of mankind. Instead, in his word, he focuses on and plans for, listen to me, the prosperity of mankind. He didn't create us to eke out a subsistence. And listen, I'm not a prosperity preacher, you know that. But the record cannot be denied. God did not expect this to be a place of suffering. He wants us to thrive. Well, why is it a place of suffering? Sin. We're not talking about that yet. God wants us to thrive because listen to me, only a thriving species can be fruitful and multiply. If we're not thriving, we won't be fruitful and multiply. Back to the matter at hand. 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. And listen, God illuminated all of these objects, He turned. Put into space for a reason. Why make them luminous except so that we can see them? Now ask a scientist why we can see the stars, and he won't have an answer. He'll try to tell you how we can see the stars, but remind him that's not the question. I want to know why we can see the stars. What is the point of being able to see light reflecting off the heavenly bodies? Why are you beating this to death, John? Because I want you to understand there is a reason that the creation story is in the book in this manner. We don't have all the details, but we have the details that count. We can see those stars. God made them lit up for a reason. Our eyes are specifically designed to process light as information. In fact, that's all they do. And in a related matter, the stars shine in the heavens. But why? Well, the Bible has an answer for that: to let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. That's information that's fed to our brains. The light from those objects reach our eyes, and our eyes pass on the information to our brains so we can interpret the signs, the seasons, the days, and the years so that we can thrive. This isn't random. There's nothing accidental in the universe. Our ability to see and process the movement of the heavens has a purpose. The heavens were designed that way, and we were designed to interpret it. So let me summarize as if I need to. All of the lights God set up there move in a very predictable pattern. Predictable only because they've done the same thing for centuries. Over and over, the pattern repeats itself. And when things like that happen, you can project off into the future. And so by design, by God's design, mankind uses these precise, predictable movements to help him not only to survive, but to thrive. And this has

Light As Information By Design

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persisted to our very day. Thank God we can see them, and thank God they move the same way all of the time. I'm beating this to death to counter to the worldview promoted by science that everything, everything in the universe happened and is happening by accident. They want you to believe that a random set of fortuitous events came together rather by chance, and everything we seen around us, that everything we see around us came into being. Now, of course, that only explains part of our reality. So they have to go further and say that everything is maintained due to other random, unguided circumstances and forces. Are you buying that? If you're buying that, I'm asking you why. You know, every time I hear a scientist talk, I feel like they're avoiding the question. I didn't ask you about that. Tell me about this. I would love to hear, I don't know, but that doesn't happen very often. You know, here in Pennsylvania, as the sun starts to retreat to the southern sky like it does this time of year, certain parts of our house, which were well lit most of the day, have only a limited amount of sunshine for only a limited amount of time. And that's been the case since we moved in. Now, when that happens, Catherine knows it's gonna happen. So she moves our houseplants around so that they can continue to get life-sustaining light from old Saul up there. Then as the spring returns and the sun begins to spend more time on this side of the earth, we know what's going to happen. So we plant our tomatoes so that we can be thoroughly disappointed at the end of the growing season. We can predict that too. If you want to catch a glimpse of your favorite meteor shower, you know precisely, and I mean precisely, what day and time to dust off your binoculars and exactly where to lay out your blanket. How is it that we are such fools to believe that random forces are responsible for such perfect order? When has chaos ever created order?

Order Versus The Accident Story

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Never. You know, today we like to think that we're the most intelligent, well-informed human beings in all of human history. And in our arrogance, we often look back on the past with pity. We think those poor ignorant savages, they must have been terrified by the world around them. Thank whatever, us, I guess, thank us that now we're so much better equipped to deal with our surroundings. Science has been our savior, praise science. You know, I actually believe if it were possible to send some of our most accomplished physicists back in time to caveman days so that they could discuss our current view of the way things are, they'd be laughed at. You're from the Earth? Couldn't be. Things don't happen like that. We know better than that. As far back as possible, humans have acknowledged that there's something behind what's going on. And it's only within, at best, the past 300 years that we've completely fallen into the foolish notion that the universe exists and continues to exist all by accident. And we think we're smart when we say things like that. I mean, it's even hard to articulate because it's so ludicrous. 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, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. We've more or less covered all of this. Of course, we could stay here quite a bit longer, but we have to keep moving. Verse 17, and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good. It was now good. It was chaos before, and now it's good. Verse 19, and the evening and the morning were the fourth day. We're at day four of

Day Four And A Sense Of Purpose

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the recreation process. 96 hours in, and one thing is certain. Two things are certain. Number one, God is powerful. Number two, there is a palpable sense that he's building up to something. Yes, I know I've said this before, several times before, but isn't it becoming increasingly clear that God is up to something? It's unmistakable. There seems to be some purpose, some intention in God's actions. Listen, God isn't sitting down in the living room of eternity and dumping out his cosmic Legos and randomly slapping, snapping together shapes and patterns. The things he's doing seem to have something behind them. Now, of course, we're looking back now with a knowing eye, but I'm not sure if we wouldn't nonetheless still see God's actions as purposeful, even if we didn't already know the rest of the story. He's not given us a lot of details, but we can definitely see this is going somewhere. Next week we'll see if the focus starts to sharpen even more. Can't wait. See you then.

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We hope this study has blessed you. God's

Closing And How To Support

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word is a great treasure, and it's our belief that a thorough, purposeful study of it will bring all of God's children to an understanding of his eternal plan of redemption. It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners. Please join us again soon. New content is being added all the time, so make sure you check back often. For more information on Chapel Ministries, including our YouTube channel and podcasts, please visit www.chapelontheweb.com. And if God has laid it upon your heart to share materially with us, we encourage you to follow the links to our secure giving page. Please note, Chapel Ministries is not an IRS registered nonprofit organization, and your donations to this program are not tax deductible. It's our hope that you do not rely on taxing authorities to decide for you who is worthy of your generosity.