THE FIFTH DAY (The Year of the World 18,128 B.C.)

“And God said: Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures [living souls], and let winged things wing above the earth in the open expanse of heaven. And God created the great monsters, and every living creature that glided swiftly, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged thing after its kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let winged things multiply in the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, the Fifth Day.’’ (Gen 1: 20–23)

How the warm oceans of the earth swarmed with living creatures, from the jellyfish to the whale, may be judged by the profusion of life in the warm southern seas at the present time. Reptiles, living partly in the water and partly on the land (amphibious) belong also to this period, during which present continents and islands were gradually rising and again subsiding, at one time deluged by larger or smaller rings coming down, and at another washed by tidal waves. No wonder the remains of shellfish, etc., are found in the highest mountains. And no wonder the immense beds of limestone in all parts of the world are sometimes called “shellfish cemeteries,” because composed almost exclusively of conglomerate shells. What a swarming there must have been when those untellable trillions of little creatures were born and, dying dropped one by one their little shells! We read that–God blessed them in multiplying. Yes, even so lowly an existence and for so brief a time is a favor, a blessing.

All glory and honor to our loving Father who grants his favor even to the lowliest of creatures, Amen

“Scientists have found fossils of whales and other marine animals in mountain sediments in the Andes, indicating that the South American mountain chain rose very rapidly from the sea. The rare assemblage of fossils, recovered on an expedition by the American Museum of Natural History to a remote plateau in southern Chile, is expected not only to illuminate an obscure epoch of animal evolution but also to document the rise of the Andes Mountains in the past 15 million years.

Among the fossils the scientists reported bringing back were the bones of whales and other marine animals found at altitudes of more than 5,000 feet. When these animals died from 15 million to 20 million years ago (?), their carcasses settled to the ocean floor and were embedded in submarine sediments. But since then, the violent up-thrusting of the Andean chain has carried the sediments to the tops of mountains. In geological terms, the time the fossils took to rise from ocean floor to mountain top was relatively brief (Actually a lot briefer than they could imagine, in other words the process was accomplished in thousands of years not millions).”

Although it is possible that many of these marine fossils could have been deposited high into the mountains following the flood of Noah’s day nevertheless for the most part we are inclined to believe as stated in the article that these marine fossils arrived there following the rise of the Andes. It’s only natural that the remains of shells and other sea life would have washed up along the coastline over the centuries and then following several deluges in which the sea bed was depressed the mountains would rise carrying with them the remains of these dead sea creatures.

(Whale fossils high in Andes show how mountains rose from sea, by Malcolm W. Browne Article Published: March 12, 1987 in The New York Times)

Our great God is depicted here as one who delights in creating — bringing forth multitudinous varieties of life under the widest possible range of conditions. Biologists identify some 9,000 species of fish, 6,000 of reptiles, 9,000 of birds and 700,000 species of insects, not to mention a wide variety of modern plants brought forth in this epoch. Each displays contrasts in size, shape, texture, color and structure; and all are part of the breathtakingly beautiful environment, which the Divine Architect planned for the enjoyment of his highest earthly creation — man himself.

Let us not contend for more than the Scripture record demands. The Bible does not assert that God created separately and individually the myriad kinds of fish and reptiles; but merely that divine influence, or spirit, brooded, and by divine purpose the sea brought forth its creatures of various kinds. Thus it may be that a measure of evolution took place in the brining forth of these various creatures, however even this under divine supervision. The processes are not declared, no man knows, and it is unwise to be dogmatic.

It is not for us to dispute that even the protoplasm of the Paleozoic slime may not have come into existence through chemical action of the highly mineralized waters of those seas. What we do claim is that all came about as results of divine intention and arrangement, and, hence, were divine creations; whatever were the channels and agencies. And we claim that this is shown by the facts of nature no less than by the words of Genesis; that however the creatures of the sea were produced, they were brought to the condition in which each is, of its own kind–where the lines of species cannot be overridden. This is God’s work, by whatever means brought about.

“We note also, there must have been time within this “day” to permit the arrival of successive generations of the various animals, and while these were practically all egg-laying, it still required time considerably in excess of twenty-four hours to produce even one generation, not to speak of “filling the waters of the seas,” and producing merely one generation would hardly be “multiplying in the earth.” Hence the context indicated that the writer did not have in mind a literal 24-hour day, but rather “an indefinite period of time.”

The King James “whales” is better translated “monsters,” which allows for great land animals as well as sea creatures. This fifth day was the Reptilian Age, the age of the dinosaurs, meaning “terrible lizards,” and although the ring and canopy theory does not require millions of years, the various strata laid down during this period indicate a lapse of time of several thousands of years (specifically 7000 years).

As stated in the King James Version we read the word “whales” in place of the word “sea-monsters.” The Hebrew word used here could likewise imply “land and marine monsters,” and what better description could we use for the giant saurians, lizards, of the Reptilian Age? The translators of the King James Version, had never heard of a dinosaur, never knew they had even existed, much less know of their habits and habitats. The largest monster of which they knew was a whale, hence the translation. But whales are mammals and did not make their appearance on the earthly scene until the next age or “yom.” Again, this passage insists upon the operation of the law of the fixity of species.

Two of the better translations of this verse are found in the following versions,

“And God prepareth the great monsters, and every living creature that is creeping, which the waters have teamed with, after their kind, and every fowl with wing, after its kind, and God seeth that it is good.” Gen 1:21 Young’s Literal Translation

“And God created the great dragons and every living soul that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their nature and every winged fowl after its nature; and God saw that it was good.” Gen 1:21 Jubilee Bible 2000 Version

They were of great variety in size, some reaching 40 tons in weight. One of the largest and longest animals ever found to walk on earth was the Diplodocus, — 16 feet tall and 85 feet from head to tip of tail! Since that time fossil remains have been found suggesting even lager behemoths once walked the earth, such as the (Titanosaur) Argentinosaurus and the Mamenchissaurus the largest of which may have reached 35 m (115 ft.) in length and possibly weighed 50 to 75 tons.

Modern birds and plants now also appeared in all their color, beauty and high degree of specialization. Every flowering plant has its own special seed and pollen and an extraordinary intricacy of design. Their sudden arrival on the scene, as with the various reptilian species, without any gradual development in preceding fossil ages, remains an unsolved puzzle to the evolutionist.

This day, or epoch, corresponds very well to the Reptilian age or what geology designates as the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, evening and morning–Day Five– 35,000 years from the commencement of the work of ordering the earth as man’s home and kingdom.

But questions still remain, why? Why Dinosaurs? What was their purpose? If all God’s works are perfect, why create such creatures only to do away with them after a short time?

Despite our misgivings concerning this issue we can be assured that God is to wise to err, that he who knew the end from the beginning knew exactly what he was doing and as such we are satisfied. Nevertheless we can still speculate.

First let us allow our evolutionist friends attempt to answer our questions.

Why Dinosaurs, what was their purpose?

There was no purpose, “They’re the result of random chance and accumulated change.”

Dinosaurs existed because they fit well within their ecological niches; that is to say they were perfectly adaptable to the environment in which they appeared.

“Everything alive today is the result of random mutations that happened to benefit everything that came before us.”

“Evolution has no necessities and no plan to reach some end destination that requires a specific path.”

“Evolution is a completely random process.”

“If you want to bring God into it and why he might have made them, my answer when a kid at Sunday school asked about dinosaurs was that they are God’s way of making birds.”

“What they contributed to the future were birds. Birds *are* dinosaurs.”

So then are dinosaurs simply a result of random chance? What saith the Lord who created all things?

 “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Acts 15:18

If one takes the time to ponder the situation it seems only right that the Lord should introduce dinosaurs at this particular time in the creation process, for by this time vegetation, trees, plants, and scrubs having run rank for well over 14,000 years would most likely by this time covered the entire land surface of the world, this in accordance with the divine intention would have speedily aided in purifying the atmosphere in preparation for oxygen breathing animals. Now however the time had come to “mow the lawn” to cut back on the foliage which had over taken the earth, and what better way to accomplish this task then to introduce some of the largest vegetarians (herbivores) ever known to walk the face of the earth.

But what of the carnivores do not the Scriptures imply that prior to the flood both man and beasts were all vegetarians?

Ah! Yes a very astute observation,

The scriptural account is that prior to the flood neither man nor beast were carnivorous (flesh eaters).

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. AND to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.” Gen 1:29, 30

The notable exception here is the living creatures which dwell within the sea.

Accordingly both man and beast alike were vegetarians up until the flood, and then something dramatic occurred which brought about a change in all this, for following the departure of Noah and his sons from the Ark the LORD forthwith exclaimed,

“And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moves upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” Gen 9:2, 3

We understand the reason for the addition of meat as a food source, was that conditions had so changed after the flood as not only to shorten life, but also to greatly impair human (AND animal) strength, making necessary the nerve strength obtainable from animal food.

“The fact that for beast and for fowl the Lord originally provided the same vegetarian diet, is in perfect accord with some of the prophetic statements which seem to imply that under the new conditions of the Kingdom even the lower animals will return to a vegetarian diet, viz.

“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain (the very microbes of disease and pestilence shall be restrained), saith the LORD.” Isa 65:25

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox… they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” (Isa 11:6, 7)

Thus we learn that those animals which at present are carnivorous (flesh-eaters) are not now in their original condition, but have been sharers with mankind in the results of the catastrophe which came upon our earth following the flood; likewise that they will be sharers with man, their king, in the great uplift (“restoration of all things” Acts 3:19-21), which will come to him and to all nature when God’s Kingdom, in the hands of the Sons of God, shall be established, and shall bless the groaning creation.” (Rom 8:19-22) R 2837

Does this imply that dinosaurs were subject to the same restraints? No we can’t say for sure as stated there is some speculation that the great “monsters” mentioned as created on the fifth day Gen 1:21 refer not only to sea monsters but to land monsters as well and as such could allow for an “exception” to the rule in the case of dinosaurs as possibly they too are classified with the rest of the living creatures which dwell or came forth from the sea, to which as stated nothing was said that they were under the same restraints as that of the rest of the creation prior to the flood, of course this is only conjecture on our part, as always it is best not to go beyond what is written. If the Lord does not specifically state the facts then we can reasonably conclude that it is not of prime importance, and so whether one chooses to believe one way or another is not of any importance, in the end it’s up to the individual.

Perhaps meat eaters were introduced in order to keep the population of this particular species under control, otherwise they could have very well have eaten their way out of house and home (perhaps this was the true reason for their demise, the lack of food). In the end it seems apparent that these creatures were of divine intention, design with a specific purpose in mind one which when accomplished their presence would no longer be required and so they were removed from the surface of the earth. Nevertheless as was said in regards to the lowly shell fish so too in regards to these great creatures, we read that–God blessed them in multiplying, and even though they remained upon the earth for but a short time (short in the overall scheme of things) nevertheless life in any form and for any amount of time is a blessing.

Now as to the assertion that birds are dinosaurs, we tend to disagree, the Scriptures are pretty clear,

“So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Here a distinction is made between the sea creatures and every living thing that moves (presumably those things which came forth from the sea to dwell upon the earth), each according to its kind, and every winged bird likewise according to its kind.

Sea creatures are one kind and every winged bird another kind. Though birds may share some similarities with dinosaurs (specifically in their bone structure) that does not imply that they are of the same kind no more than the fact that apes and humans share similarities prove that they are one in the same kind.

A popular article often referred to, to contradict the thought of fixity of species is that involving the sockeye salmon introduced into Lake Washington, between 1937 and 1945 in a study it had been shown that these had split into two reproductively isolated populations (i.e., two separate species) in fewer than 13 generations (a maximum of 56 years). Andrew P. Hendry et al., “Rapid Evolution of Reproductive Isolation in the Wild: Evidence from Introduced Salmon,” Science 290 (2000): 516–518, this however does not imply a change of “kind”, these two so-called new species were still of the same kind or genera (genus: a class, group, or kind with common attributes, believed to share the same ancestry), i.e. they were still FISH, they did not evolve into another “kind”, into birds, animals or what have you.

The same applies to reptiles although they may consist of many species within their genus they are nevertheless still of one kind and cannot evolve into another kind. The Lord has set boundaries which cannot be crossed.

We will continue with the Sixth Day of Creation with our next post.