What Does ‘The Land Produced Vegetation’ Mean?

　　“The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:12).

　　Have you ever watched a house being built from scratch? The process seems to be the same every time. Here in Colorado, first, the basement gets dug — and then the actual structural construction begins with the basement walls.

　　Say, versus a concrete slab floor, in California, a basement is a type of foundation wall that is built by placing wooden forms on top of spread footings. Then, the builder will pour wet concrete into those wooden forms, typically six to ten inches thick.

　　Once the concrete has cured and the forms removed, the house is ready for the next step, and the wood framing is set up — called the rough framing, which includes the basis for the interior and exterior walls, and of course, the floor.

　　The house itself begins to take shape. At that point, the house is ready for rough plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and insulation. Then — the drywall.

　　Once the drywall is installed, the house begins to resemble a home. The owners can visualize themselves living there and begin to plan how they will use every inch. They realize the home has been designed to their family's needs and tastes, so seeing it all come together is rewarding.

　　The thing is, from start to finish, each step is critically dependent on the step before. The framing would be useless without a solid foundation on which to build.

　　And the plumbing and electrical depend on having the framing in place in order to run the pipes and wiring necessary to supply power and water. And without the framed walls, drywall or plaster would have no support and thus would not exist.

　　And so, it was with all creation. Each step is interdependent on what had gone before. “And God saw that it was good.”

　　

The Order of Creation

If you’ve ever wondered about God’s purpose for the order of creation; why he took the steps he did when he did, we need simply look at each stage, each day, as a building block.

　　One brick of creation adds to the other. Building in order the ingredients that rely upon the prior — and each dependent on the other for survival.

　　In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:1).

　　First came the heavens and the earth — the base structure of all things and all existence. The foundation upon which all else will be constructed. The heavens and the earth — without form and without light. Empty. In other words, just a dark, floating ball in the heavens. And then the next step.

　　And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day (vv. 3-5).

　　Ah…light. We all take daylight a bit for granted, don’t we? And yet, most life on the planet is dependent on the process of photosynthesis (more on this later) — carried out by plants, algae, and even bacteria.

　　These all capture energy from sunlight and produce O2, which, of course, is what humans breathe. Light is a source of food generation for all living organisms on Earth, and almost all depend on light as a source of energy.

　　So, we had the foundation and the framing — what would be next?

　　And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the second day.

　　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(vv. 6-10).

　　The water and the sky, and just as the flooring on the house, land to live on.

　　Every living thing on the planet needs water to survive. On the other hand, many need water to survive but don’t — can’t — live in the water, while others can’t live on the land.

　　God gave us both. Without water, no life would exist as we know it. And life certainly exists wherever there is water.

　　Of course, the work of day three was twofold yet quite closely connected. Step one was to gather the water in one place and the land in another to provide a living space.

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　　And that brings us to the rest of Day 3.

　　

Day 3 of Creation — Vegetation

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the third day(vv. 11-13).

　　The NLT states it this way:

　　The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

　　Prior to day three, the earth was nothing but bare, barren soil. Then, life. Not just any life, but life that reproduced — plants bearing seeds and trees bearing fruit with seeds in it, thus creating not just for the day, but the next generation of plants and trees, as well.

　　What is so critically important is the role vegetation plays in the natural life of every other living thing on the planet. Plants capture energy from the sunlight to produce oxygen and chemical energy stored in a type of sugar called glucose.

　　Plants take in carbon dioxide and water from the air and from the soil. Then, within the plant itself, the water is oxidized, and ultimately, the plant releases oxygen back into the air we humans breathe.

　　This process is called photosynthesis. And yet, this amazing process is described in just a few words in Genesis 1:11-12.

　　In his letter to the Romans — who lived in a society ruled by multiple “gods” — Paul described it this way:

　　For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse(Romans 1:20).

　　People are without excuse.

　　

Be Fruitful and Multiply

In other words, God built reproduction into his creation from the very start. He built sustenance for each living thing he created. He created the world all at once and not over and over again. A world that could sustain itself indefinitely until his return.

　　He created light, water, and plants and created them in the precise order necessary to sustain all existence, particularly human existence. Without any of those, humans do not exist.

　　By a spoken Word, our world became full of God’s glorious riches. The earth, at his magnificent command, brought forth all vegetation — grass, herbs, vegetables, fruit, and trees. In his spoken word, the basis for life as we know it came to be.

　　In a single moment, God brought forth living things from barren land. Certainly, they were not — could not — have evolved from the dead matter that was the earth.

　　By the close of the third day — light, air, earth, and water had been prepared and precisely adjusted to breed all of the necessities for reproductive life.

　　At the end of the first chapter of Genesis, God commanded Adam and Eve, his crowning achievement (Genesis 1:27-31).

　　The ESV version says to “be fruitful and multiply.” This would certainly not have been possible had God not first set in place all that was necessary for this to happen.

　　Had God not created the earth, and the light, and the sky, and the water — and the vegetation, the beginning of all living things.

　　And it was very good indeed.

　　For further reading:

　　What Happened on the 7 Days of Creation?

　　How Is God’s Majesty Seen in Creation?

　　What Is the Creation Story in the Bible?