Episode Details

Prayer

Lord, we thank you for this day and for your mercies. We pray as we open your word now that you would help us to be renewed in our minds by the truth of your word. Help us to see your glory. Please forgive us for our sins. Sanctify and purify us, we pray. Please help us to fear your name. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Reading

Gen 1:20-23.

“And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23. And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.”

Meditation

Animals have always had a significant role to play in the lives of humans. They have been companions and helpers to us, they have provided food for us, as well as protection from danger. They inspire our imagination and fill us with wonder and amazement. They are a source of income for zoologists, farmers, and many more besides. They are a source of interest to birdwatchers and bug collectors, and they are also a source of creamed honey for my pantry. We might not think self-consciously about animals all that often, and we probably think even less about the relationship between animals and our faith, but the role that they play in our lives is and remains a very important one.

Perhaps most important of all, animals have a significant role to play in the revelation of scripture. Lambs, for example, were given the privilege of being a symbol to represent Christ, who is the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29). Our text on day five of creation really focuses in on animals as we see God making sea creatures and flying creatures. What benefit might we gain from meditating on this? Are the animals of day five to be essentially ignored? After all, they are not particularly spiritual or religious are they? They don’t really help us to be more pious, do they? Well, let’s begin there and ask a basic question in all of this: Why did God make the animals?

Based on what we learned on day one, we actually already know the broad answer to this question. On day one, you’ll remember, God shined light into his creation: “Let there be light”. As we know, day one wasn’t about physical light as such, for the sun, moon and stars came on day four. No, day one was really a declaration of God’s intention to let creation shine with the light of his own glory. After all, God himself is light (1 Jn 1:5) and dwells in light (Dan 2:22; 1 Tim 6:16). Thus when God says “let there be light” what he’s saying is: “Let creation shine with the light of my glory.” So God made the creation to be a reflection of his own perfection and glory. So then, when we ask: Why did God make the animals? We actually already have the answer: God made animals to glorify himself.

The next question that then follows is: How do the animals glorify God? To begin answering this, I want to point out something important that we see in verses 27 and 28. These verses shows us that the key function of animals in creation is to be under the dominion of mankind. As we’ll see on day six, Genesis 1 makes this very clear: mankind is the centre-piece of God’s creation. So then, the animals find their purpose realised in relationship to man. They were made for us! That’s how they glorify God, by fulfilling the purpose they have to play in our lives. And, more specifically, by coming under our dominion.

Another obvious question that follows on from that is: What does it mean for us to have dominion over the animals? In a physical sense, it will mean that we are called to manage and care for the animals