Read Genesis 1:20-23- 20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

What do you notice? We see that God created living creatures in the water and birds to fly in the air. Depending on your translation, we also see a phrase, great creatures of the sea or sea monsters. This is the word tannin (tan-neen), which is translated whales, marine or land monster, sea-serpent, sea monster.

I understand that this may be strange, especially the way some of our English translations try to tame the meaning. This is a parallel to other creation stories (Babylonian, Egyptian, Canaanite). But the Lexham Bible Dictionary states it plainly. “The bible writers regularly use the sea, serpents, and various sea monsters to represent forces of cosmic chaos that must be held in check by the power of Yahweh.” Simply put, taneen were the ancient mascots of Chaos.

With them in the creation story, God has dominion and power over the sea and all that is in it. If you want to jot down Psalm 74:13-15, 104:26.

Back to the pattern of days. Day two we see God created or formed the “dome”, separated the waters from the waters. Day five we see him fill the waters below and the waters above with living sea creatures and birds of the air.

Ok, day six, but we are only going to look at the first part of what is created in day six. We will leave humanity until next week. Genesis 1:24-25- 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Very simple, day six Yahweh created land creatures of its various kinds. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this section because I want to get to the application piece. But notice the pattern? Day three he formed by gathering and separating the water and the land. Day six he filled the land with land creatures.

Let me put the pattern together for you Day one- light, darkness, Day four- sun, moon, stars Day two- sky, water, Day five- birds fish, Day three- land, Day six- animals and humans. Forming and filling.

A sequence is laid out in a literary way, not necessarily a chronological way. I think it can also demonstrate the care with which God prepares the cosmos for its inhabitants. We see a God of order, separating and gathering, forming and filling.

Let me summarize what we’ve been talking about for the last two weeks, as we maybe see creation in a new light. With His powerful word, our God, Creator-King forms and fills all of creation.