In Genesis 1:9-10 it says, And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
The Elements
Since it seems God had already created the atoms (elements) that things were to be made up of, the water God gathered together under the expanse probably already contained all the matter that would form the land or dry ground. Even now, all the elements that exist naturally on earth are found in the waters of the ocean.
In the beginning, the water covered all the ground because the earth was just a round sphere without a place for the ocean. Then God spoke and the water was gathered into one place and the dry ground appeared. Like all of the acts of creation, we don’t know exactly how this occurred but we do know that when God speaks he causes supernatural things to happen, things that are just too amazing to fully understand.
Psalm 104:5-9 paints a picture of what God did in causing the dry ground to appear. 5He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. 6You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; 8they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them.
It does seem that God must have pushed up the matter, which makes up the ground and caused the water to settle down into the basin or valley he made for it. Saying that can’t even begin to capture the magnitude of what God did or the reality of how he did it.
What Are the Seas Good For?
After God separated the land and seas, he saw that they were good. Some of the ways the seas are good are:
- Without the oceans, life wouldn’t exist on earth. 97% of the water on earth is stored in the oceans, supplying the world with the moisture needed for rain.
- The oceans also regulate the temperature on earth to keep it from getting either too hot or too cold. The immense amount of water in the ocean absorbs excess heat from the hot air in the summer and then slowly releases the heat back into the cold air in the winter.
- There are also currents or rivers in the ocean that move water around the earth. These currents carry warm water from the tropics to the cold northern and southern poles. They then transport cold water from the poles to the warm tropical areas. This helps to cool down warm places and warm up cold places.
- Besides regulating the earth’s temperature, the oceans are also an important source of food, energy and minerals.
Dry Ground
The land is also good. Without land, there would be no place for people, animals or plants to live on earth. In other words without land earth would just be a planet of water with no possibility of life for humans and all other land animals. God designed the earth as a place for people to live and so it was essential that there be dry ground. Land was the first thing God brought forth on day three of creation.
After giving the earth form and separating the dry ground from the seas, God named what he had made. He called the dry ground “land” and the water “seas”. In ancient times if you named something that meant that you had either ownership rights to it or the right to rule over it.
Psalm 24:1-2 says, The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. The earth and everything on it belongs to God. God knows how the things he made function and what their purpose is. He made it all; he both owns it and has the right to rule over it.
All created things on earth belong to the Lord so that has important implications for us. We belong to God and he has the understanding and the right to rule over us. God knows how we are to function and what our purpose is. Through God’s Word, we need to discover his plan for us and the way we are to do things. If we do so, we will function in a way that is good because it follows God’s good plan for us. Life will go well for us when we discover what God says is good and do things his way. In contrast, rejecting God and going our own way will be destructive to our families, society, and ourselves.
- Overview Questions: How did God created the dry land? What happened to the seas? Why did God call the seas good? Why did God call the land good? What does the formation of the land and the seas tell us about God?
- Thought Questions: Why does God only have to speak to have things come into being? Why can’t people do that? What do people have to have to make something? How do we know God had a plan for his creation? Why can’t we fully understand God’s plan? What can we understand about God’s plan?
- Prayer: Thank God that he designed a perfect place to put people and that he created man for a purpose which is to worship and glorify him. Thank God that he has given us the Bible so that we can know him better and understand his plan for us.
- Week’s Memory Verse: Psalm 24:1-2
Why does God have the right to rule over the earth?
God created the earth and everything in it.
1The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.