The First Third Day

 

“Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.  And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  So the evening and the morning were the third day.”

When we hear mention of “the third day” we often think of the day when Jesus was resurrected from the grave, and rose to life eternal.  This was the day in which death was overcome, and through Jesus we are able to have eternal life, a life without end.

But the very first “third day” was also about life.  On the first day the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, created light, and divided it from darkness calling them Day and Night.  On the second day God created Heaven, which “divide the waters from the waters”, meaning those here and those above.  Then on the third day, God gathered the waters under the heavens (small “h” meaning skies, not the place of Heaven), and created dry land, which He called Earth, and the waters He called Seas.

But the earth was barren, just a ball of dirt and water.  Even at this early stage of creation God craved life on earth. He said in Genesis 1:11, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.  And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  So the evening and the morning were the third day.”

There’s a message here regarding our own life, which was not yet created.  The herb and fruit that were created were such that “yields seed”, “whose seed is in itself”, and “whose seed is in itself according to its kind”.  God planned life and reproduction on the third day of food sources.  Yet we were not yet created, nor were the animals. 

God spent the next two days making the animals of the sea and land, and then on the sixth day created man.  He, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, said in Genesis 1:26, “Let US make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

And once man was created, God spoke to him and said “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.  Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”. 

Earth was created for man to rule over, from the ground up.  Life was created from the third day, with seed within each plant and creature to reproduce its own kind.  God loves life!  And He purposefully prepared earth for us before creating us to rule over it.

The third day of the New Testament, the day Jesus, often called “the seed of David” and “the Son of Man”, arose from the grave.  From the ground, the grave itself where he was buried, Jesus was brought to life, but this time it was to eternal life.  Jesus tells us that He goes to prepare a place for us so that when He comes again, He will gather us to Himself (John 14:2-4).  He is preparing a place for us to give us more life – a Heavenly place.  And in that place, we will once again have dominion as we reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12, Romans 5:17).

The third day of the New Testament was planned to be a day of life even from the beginning of time.  Life is our precious gift from God, given through Jesus Christ, one “whose seed is in itself, on the earth”, to create more from Him by later giving us through salvation His Holy Spirit.