And God said, "Let the water
teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the
expanse of the sky."
So God created the great
creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water
teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its
kind. And God saw that it was good. 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. And there was evening, and there was morning - the
fifth day.
V. THE FIFTH DAY
The fifth day's work is the peopling of the sea and air. Animate life is
now added to inanimate. The waters swarm with life, and the air with winged
tribes,
which wake the woods and vales with melody. Thus, too, is it within, when
on us
the fifth day dawns. Now higher forms of life appear everywhere; each new
form yet more revealing in the creature that which hitherto had only been
treasured up in the mind of God for it. For we must never forget, that
all this
wondrous work, which step by step thus produced in us, is only the developing
in the creature of that which had been in Christ, the Wisdom of God, from
everlasting. For God will stamp Himself upon us. His will is that His fulness
should be revealed in us; that as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we
now may bear the image of the heavenly. We have seen how several glories
-
light, a heaven, fruits, and lights - once hid in Him, by Him are wrought
in us.
Each of these was a precious gift, and worthy of the Lord, transforming
the
creature from its natural state of ruin to light and fair order. But now
come
higher blessings, forms of life unknown before, multiplying first in the
air and
waters, then upon the dry land.
We have seen what the waters and the heaven are within - the former the
desires, the latter the understanding. With the waters until now little
has been
done save to bound them. Desires are checked in us, but this is all. Now
new
life moves in them, the varied fish and fowl, all figuring some of the
countless
forms of Christ's Spirit. For such is Christ's fulness, THAT NO ONE TYPE
CAN EXPRESS IT; and His will is that of this fulness should we be filled
also;
"to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we might be filled
with all fulness of God." The light, or a heaven, or the seed, or sun and
moon,
each was but some manifestation in the creature of what had been in Him.
So
the turtle and the eagle, now created, are but types of some fresh gift
or grace
of Christ's spirit; "diversities of gifts, but the same spirit; differences
of
administration, but the same Lord." For just as in nature matter is one
in all its
forms, so in the new creation is the Spirit one in all its transformations.
The
revelation only widens as the work proceeds. In due time the lion and ox
and
man are seen also; each a yet further expression of something in God's
Mind,
which by His Word through grace is wrought in us.
But the forms and natures of the creatures made this day, like the light
and
fruits, will best explain themselves. The dove is the well-known figure
of meek
innocence. So at Christ's baptism, the Spirit "like a dove" came and abode
on
Him. The eagle's lofty flight and keen vision represent but another form
of the
same Divine Spirit. He who says, "I bare you upon eagles' wings", gives
us
also to "mount up with wings as eagles"; for "of His fulness we all receive,
and
grace answering to His grace". The other fowls of heaven, as the law shews
us,
both the clean and the unclean, each taught their own lesson; expressing
in the
difference of their lives and natures those faculties and emotions which
give a
form to life. SINCE THE FALL, THESE EMOTIONS ARE MOSTLY EVIL.
Hence, in Scripture, birds are generally a type of evil spirits.
The dragon and the whale too are used
as evil. But they are only evil because fallen. In themselves, they simply
represent certain forms of life, good if dependent, evil
if independent. Just as Satan, once an angel, is now a devil, and all his
light and
knowledge are accursed; so the powers of the understanding, figured by
the
birds, are good, and through self-will only become evil. I know the eagle-eye
which loves to gaze on light, and the soaring thought which delights to
mount
upward, and the searching spirit which finds pleasure in fathoming great
deeps -
"for the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" - MAY
ALL
BE MISUSED THROUGH SELF, AND SO BE SPOILT; for I know no good
gift of God which may not become a curse to us. But the faculty as given
by the
Lord is good, and the thoughts or emotions which are formed to soar upward,
or
to dive into that depth which yet remains in us, may all tell forth the
Lord's
glory. Therefore, "the dragons and the beasts, and creeping things, and
flying
fowl", as much as "sun and moon, and heaven, and fruitful trees", are called
to
praise Him. As formed upon the fifth day they speak His praise, "saying,
Glory
to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever".
The details here would open an endless field; for the natures of these
creatures
vary, yet cannot be misunderstood. We have seen the dove and eagle, but
others preach also, exhorting us to look for like powers to be created
in us;
some to sing by day, as the thrush; and some, like the nightingale, to
wake the
dark hours; some with clarion, like the cock, to foretell the morning,
and bid the
sleepers arise to greet the day; some, like vultures, far-seeing, to seek
their
meat from far; some, like the swallow, to live as pilgrims here; some,
like
cranes, to fly in ranks, and know the seasons, and watch while others sleep
around; some to care for the aged, as the stork; or, like the turtle, once
widowed never so to pair again. Each tells its own story of what God can
work,
and the rich profusion of form in which the same life may shew itself.
And these
increase.
Some heavenly gifts, as the lights of
the fourth day, can never multiply. They may rise and set, and bring round
springs and winters; but they do not increase by generation. But when the
fifth day comes, the forms of heavenly life then given may increase greatly.
For God has said, "Be fruitful and multiply". And just as the fruits formed
upon the third day, "whose seed is in themselves", reproduce themselves
and grow rapidly, so do the graces of the fifth day spread wondrously.
And when this has come, THE IMAGE OF GOD IS NEAR, WHEN THE WORK SHALL CEASE,
FOR ALL IS "VERY GOOD".
.....Andrew Jukes