Good versus Evil; the mystery of lawlessness is seen in that there is evil when a good and just God, holy and pure reigns. In dealing with the nights and days in Genesis the issues of good and bad, pain and suffering are explored, so this chapter is fairly long.
In the seven day format of creation in Genesis it records after the first six days- "And there was evening and morning…" then gives the day e.g. "one day" or "a second day" until the final use of the phrase for the sixth day. There is no night or evening mentioned for the seventh day, the Sabbath rest. It is impossible for there to be night in the seventh day, 1John1:5 states "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all." To dwell in the New Jerusalem, to come into the Sabbath rest of the people of God, is to come into God's existence. This is heaven and eternal life. There is no night there because in God there is no darkness.
The ultimate rest is to dwell in paradise which is the heavenly Jerusalem, which is to be absolutely in God's presence. 1Cor.15:28c says "when God is everything to everyone." Rev.21:22-27 speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem "And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, and its gates shall never be shut by day- and there shall be no night there; they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any who practices abomination, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." Then Rev. 22:5 states "And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign forever." The Sabbath is the paradise God has prepared for the children of God, the children of light, not for darkness therefore only day is there.
1John2:9-11 says "He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes." In the next chapter is written "Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." John3:15.
Those who continue to walk in darkness will not go to heaven, will not enter by the gates the holy city- the New Jerusalem, will not be in God's rest- the seventh day. Rev.22:15 states "Outside are the dogs (a metaphor for a type of person) and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters and anyone who loves and practices falsehood." Brackets mine.
The seventh day has no darkness or night; the wicked will not enter the seventh day as they are of the darkness and night. A common saying is "No rest for the wicked." This came from Isaiah 48:22 and 57:21 that says that there is no peace for the wicked. The Sabbath rest is a day of peace where there is no evil and wickedness.
God's work is completed on the seventh day when his people are in the seventh day. The whole purpose of creation during the six days, however long these were, is for our coming into the seventh day. The reason for the seventh day is for us. Mark 2:27-28 "And he (Jesus) said to them, 'the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath.'" Brackets mine.
On earth, day and night are reckoned by the rotation of the planet, the side of the earth that the sun is shining upon is daytime and the side that is not exposed to the sun has night. The days spoken of in Genesis do not rely upon the sun or the earth's rotation. There were already three evenings and mornings before the sun was made during the fourth day. After the sun was made the narration continues in the evening and morning sequence lay out with God making further works of creation. It seems the evening and mornings recorded in Genesis after the sun was made are not dependent upon sunset and sunrise on the earth of the sun, just as the previous days of Genesis were not. The Genesis days are not earthly days.
Light is different from darkness but when it was first present in Genesis it was with the darkness, God then separated the two from each other after God saw that the light was good. It was this separation of the two, light and darkness, which gave rise to the first day after God named the light Day and darkness Night. Physically speaking darkness is the absence of light but biblically darkness exists as a separate entity, otherwise darkness would have disappeared at the appearance of light.
John 1:4-5 "In him (the pre existent Word) was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Brackets mine.
From the bible it is seen that darkness are the forces of evil attempting to thwart God's will. Night is the reign of evil. When Jesus was arrested at the Mount of Olives Luke 22:52-53 reports "Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him. 'Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness.'"
"…and it was night" John 13:30 finishes up after Judas departs to go and betray Jesus. Why was it night? The reason it was night was that the betrayal of Jesus was happening and Satan was having his time. The earthly night is when the betrayal and arrest of Jesus was executed because those who did those things did not want to be seen and used the natural darkness as cover for their dark deeds. Jesus confirms this when he said, "...this is your hour and the power of darkness" in Luke 22:53. The greater meaning of night and darkness is shown in Jesus' words.
From the bible it is seen that the day is God's purpose established and will executed. The coming of morning is God's light broken through; "...the day shall dawn upon us from high to give light to those who in darkness and the shadow of death..." Luke 1:78b-79a.
The coming of day is about the overthrow of wickedness; Malachi 4:1-3 states "For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root or branch. But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts." God speaking to Job-(38:12-15), says "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and dyed like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken." This is God's interpretation of the dawn and the morning in the bible, when the strength of the wicked is broken- their light is darkness Mt.6:23; this is what the evenings and mornings of Genesis are all about.
Night and day, light and darkness in Genesis when Genesis is weighed with other scripture are simply not, and not simply an earthly time frame which God worked to in his creating. God does not work to time, time works to God. Day and Night, darkness and light are great fronts of battle in a war that goes deeper than quantum physics and higher than cosmic space which was began in an age before time, at the time before the first day came to be. It is the War behind all wars. Earth is like a chessboard acting as deciding venue. Elihu tells Job in Job26:10, "He has described a circle upon the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness." Unlike a normal chessboard though, the pieces are given the option to be either light or dark pieces. To choose dark is to be Satan's expendable pawn, to choose light is to be as precious as the King to God, even if serving as a pawn. Time, or at least Planck's time, came to be at the separation of light and darkness; and will end there. It is said the physical world is built upon the spiritual world, that the spiritual realm is more real than the physical. Paul says in 2Cor.4:18 "because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." Time is a physical quality that is passing away, what passes away is dead. Before the creation of the first day on earth there was the spiritual creation, what is seen is built on what is unseen. The use of days in Genesis for God's work of creating is an analogy using what is known in human experience to describe that which is not experienced in the natural realm.
Stephen Hawking in his book A Brief History of Time on page 116 tells how in 1981 he attended a conference on cosmology organized by the Jesuits in the Vatican. After the conference the participants were granted an audience with the Pope who said it was alright to study the evolution (of the universe) after the Big Bang but should not inquire into the Big Bang itself because that was the moment of creation and therefore the work of God.
Stephen wrote he felt like Galileo who was thought of as heretical by the Catholic Church for supporting the Copernican theory that the earth and planets orbited the sun, not the sun orbited the earth. Stephen was glad the Pope did not know Stephen had just done a talk on the possibility of time and space being finite but having no boundaries.
Stephen says in his book, pages 46-47 about the big bang model "Many people do not like the idea that time had a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention. (The Catholic Church on the other hand, seized on the big bang model and in 1951 officially pronounced it to be in accordance with the bible.)"
God certainly did create creation out of nothing. The Hebrew word for create used in Genesis is only ever used of God; a different word is used for people's creativeness. God also creates some of creation out of what is already created, human beings are made out of dust and ashes but are so much more than dust and ashes and it was God's command to the earth in Genesis chapter one to bring forth animal life.
Assuming the big bang model of the universe is correct, there are other models, we can say the big bang was the start of time and space. However to say the big bang was the moment of creation when creation began is incorrect because space/time or the big bang may have arisen from that which God already had made. There is that of creation which is outside of space and time. Certainly the big bang would be the work of God but so too is the creating of mankind and this moment of creation took place well after the big bang. Using the Pope's logic, to study people is to inquire into the work of God and thus would be a trespass like inquiry into the big bang. Even if time and space has no boundaries does not mean it could not have been created, God is not part of the furniture of the world. A simple allegory would be drawing a circle, once drawn the circle does not have an end or beginning point.
A scientifically primitive people may explain thunder as God speaking, or the gods fighting etc. They plug the gap in their knowledge with the concept of God, called God of the gaps syndrome. Similarly because our existence is in time and space we have the tendency to assume the beginning of creation being at the moment that time began. It is not necessarily so. We see that there were an existence of something before there was time, that is the first day, and before there was (physical) light- that the earth was without form and void-which may well be because space and matter was not, yet. To take the example of the primitive people thinking thunder was the voice of God a step further if someone was to attempt to investigate the thunder then he or she would be told not to as it's the realm of God. Obviously it is wrong to operate from superstition. (This is not to say scientists should have free rein and reign to research how they will, there are many atrocities done in scientific research and applied technology, so often science has been evilly applied both knowingly and ignorantly).
Theologians and philosophers have said evil is a lack of good in some way. The darkness upon the face of the deep in Genesis lacks good, a lack of form, as the earth was void a lack of fullness, a lack of light, an as yet uncreated-ness in creation. Before God commanded light to shine out of darkness Gen.1:3 the Spirit of God was moving over the waters Gen.1:2. After light shone God saw it as good in verse four. The darkness remaining after the light shone is that of the waters which resisted the action of God's Spirit. These waters are those who refused to shine the light of Christ, the true light in the world. Evil is not just a lack of good but a refusal of good. Evil is not just a lack of choosing good, but the wanton choice for evil; Lucifer the anointed cherub, created perfect but instead of bringing light chose to become the darkness. Before the working of the Holy Spirit those in darkness were bad, after resisting the Spirit and disobeying God's command to shine those in darkness became wickedly evil. By this fact that which persisted in evil refusing the Spirit and not becoming of the light is irreconcilable, they have committed the eternal sin and blasphemed the Holy Spirit (Mt.12:3l). Genesis chapter one does not record God creating darkness but God names the darkness. Naming expresses the essence and defines the role of something so therefore darkness called Night is under the sovereignty of God. John 1:5 states "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not over come it." Romans 14:9 say that Jesus is Lord of both the living and the dead.
God did not create evil and nor did evil always exist but God has mastery over evil, is Lord over death. Satan is the instigator of evil and god of the dead. Satan is a false god. The dead are those who do not come into the light but worship any false god.
After the first day comes other nights in Genesis. The beings of darkness by right of their order in creation occupy offices in creation. These beings sought to reign in creation but God's will was accomplished and day was. These dignitaries, dignitaries by way of position not by their nature, are doomed to pass away from these very positions of appointment. In a little while God will shake the heavens and the earth so that which is unshakeable, eternal, will remain and that which is shakable, namely evil which is not in accord with God's eternal will, will pass away, Rom26:26-28. In so far as its God's will these offices of creation will remain, however those who occupy them having become evil as to their own choice will be removed from office to have others take their place, In Acts 1:20 Peter states "For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it'; and 'His office let another take.'" And in 1John 2:17 "And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."
Eph.6:12 "For we are not contending with flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." A contemporary saying is "There is low life in high places".
Some of what the first three chapters of Ephesians says is that our Lord Jesus Christ sits at God's right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, above every name that is named, not only in this age but in the age to come. God has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the Church his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And that we in spite of being dead through our sins have been made alive together with Christ out of God's great grace and mercy having saved us by grace through faith and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God through the Church is making his manifold wisdom known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.
The birth of Esau and Jacob serves as an analogy, they are twins and Esau was born first then Jacob was holding Esau by the heel. The birthright was by rights Esau but to show God's free election it became Jacob's. The meaning of Jacob's name is, He supplants, literally He takes by the heel. Jacob came into the birthright by supplanting Esau out of it. It is in Christ that the Church is supplanting those in the heavenly places that were there first. The promise to Israel of coming into the Promised Land and dispossessing the original inhabitants because of their sin, see Gen. 15:16, so that Israel dwells in houses they did not build and eat grapes and drink wine from the vineyards they did plant also speaks of the Church coming into this heavenly rule. For a little while we were lower than the angels but our heritage in Christ is so much higher, see Heb.2. The ascendancy of Jesus and the defeat of the works and powers of darkness has been accomplished by God at the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. Death is defeated because Jesus now lives after having died once and for all and is alive for-ever-more. Ephesians speaks in the present tense of Jesus already sitting at the right hand of God in the heavenly places and of the members of the church already raised up with Jesus sitting with him in the heavenly places. Upon becoming a Christian and thus a member of the Church is when a person first starts their heavenly existence. Hebrews chapter two speaking of all things put in subjection to Jesus says in the latter part of verse eight "…we do not yet see all things in subjection to him".
When Jesus was on the cross he took all sin and sickness upon himself then died and descended into Hades, (and preached to the spirits there), then came to life again on the third day. Salvation was wrought at the cross. A person is saved when they accept Jesus as savior and receive his spirit. Salvation will be at the return of Jesus to collect his church. The last enemy to be destroyed is death yet death was overcome when Jesus rose again. There is a past, present and future for the one working of God giving a certain complexity to it. On one hand those in the Church have began to reign with Jesus, on the other we will come to reign when taken up by Jesus. When transient time gives way to the everlasting. The victory has been got in Jesus and in another way we are waiting for it. The powers of darkness have been vanquished at the cross and will be vanquished at the end of time. When the dew of light comes upon the land of the shades- that is the resurrection see Is.26:l9 That evil has its time of reign called night is in accord with God's planning but not in accord with his ultimate plan. Revelation thirteen five talks about the beast from the sea, (the sea is all tongues, nations, clans of people), being allowed to exercise authority. Revelation thirteen, verse seven speaks about how this beast was allowed to make war on the saints and conquer them. "Allowed to," in the sense of not being prevented from this course of action, rather than being guiltless in doing this. God makes sport of the Leviathan (Ps.104:26).
God is not "into evil" but will tolerate it for a season. In Mt.13:24-30 is the parable of the weeds and wheat, verses 36-43 is the explanation. In this parable the weeds, i.e. evil, is tolerated for a while. God in his growing the good may use a strategy of stability- Evolutionary Stable Strategy, (ESS)! Ecclesiastes 5:8-9 speaks of the advantage of having order and stability even though the land's officials are corrupt. There is prosperity to be had and not absolute anarchy.
It was Jesus' free offering of himself allowing evil men to condemn him that wrought salvation, see John 19:30 & Ps.22:31. At anytime Jesus chose he could have finished with the ordeal, the trial, and the cross but for his love for us he underwent this time of darkness. Darkness is allowed its time to bring creation, and us, to the next stage in the upward call of God. For those who love God even evil works for good, see Rom.8:28. It is not that we suffer or are afflicted with evil; it is how we respond to it and handle it. "Take heed do not turn to iniquity for this you have chosen rather than affliction." Job 36:21 and "...let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside." Job 36:18. Yet we are turned aside so easily, it is only in God's strength that we are able to stand.
God works through the evil to spite the evil even. In Isaiah there are some evil tidings for the earth. Isaiah 24:1-6, 19-20, "Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master: as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled; for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers, the world languishes and withers; the heavens languish together with the earth. The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statues, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched and few men are left. …The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man, it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavily upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again."
In Revelation 11:18 talks of it being the time "…for destroying the destroyers of the earth." Does this mean God will destroy himself as Is. 24:1 says that it is the Lord who will lay waste the earth, twisting its surface and making it desolate so that its inhabitants are scattered? Revelation eleven eighteen does not mean God will destroy himself. Isaiah in chapter twenty four goes onto say the earth was destroyed by its inhabitants, having transgressed laws, violated the statues and broken the covenant. Micah 7:13 states "But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings." The earth is destroyed and the inhabitants of the earth are guilty of it. God did not destroy the earth as such; the earth was allowed to be destroyed by men participating in the spirit of evil. God destroyed the earth insofar as setting in place the laws of nature and giving man dominion in the earth under responsibility to till and keep it. If people acted irresponsibly then there ensued consequences. Today man has the power to make the apocalypse true even though at the time of Isaiah they did not. Certainly the partial destruction on the earth from human activity has occurred: and we know better. It is often heard from people words like "Why does God allow this to happen?" or "If there is a God why is there so much bad in the world?" and "Where is the God of Justice?" God invested man with authority on earth; God will not immediately abolish this post because man does not walk in God's ways. Man has used his power for wrong, this is why although God is good, omnipotent and abhors evil, evil is still present on earth.
From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God pays no attention to their prayer. But God made them and gave them songs in the night, he taught them more than the beasts of the field and made them wiser than the birds of the air. It is because of the pride of evil men that God does not answer. Refer to chapters 24 & 34 in Job. The pride of evil men; look at the story of the Good Samaritan. A man on a journey was attacked by robbers and left for dead. A priest passed by and ignored him and likewise a Levite. It was not till a Samaritan came, a despised race, that the man was rescued and treated. God's help came through then but could not it have been sooner? Potential help passed by twice but because of the individuals help did not happen. In the scenario evil came to occur because of evil men, (the robbers), and then an evil continued because of apathetic men. "…when good men do nothing…" are the good men who do nothing really good men?
The heart is deceitful above all things; I knew a man who had Munchausen's syndrome, he could walk of course but used a wheelchair. Sometimes he would lay on the side of the road acting unconscious next to his chair waiting for a Good Samaritan to happen along. Jesus advised to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, Mt.10:16, and not to let our love grow cold but endure, Mt.24:12&13. And there are those who go about masquerading that they are doing God's will but are using God's word or religion for their own will. Surely this is a form of witchcraft.
Collectively speaking humankind is reaping a just harvest for their actions although individually it may happen to the righteous according to the deeds of the wicked, and to the wicked according to the deeds of the righteous. God provided the earth inhabitable and to be inhabited, see Is.45:18. God did not make the earth evil but the inhabitants of the earth caused it to become so for their choice for evil. Far be it from God to wrap us in a straitjacket and lock us in a padded cell; though metaphorically he wraps us in swaddling cloth and confines us in a stable to release us when grown more. God has provided power and choice and knows what destiny each will choose. For those who choose good God provides, and those who choose destruction God also makes provision. God did not create evil but even the reign of darkness is in accord with God's plan and spirit. To God the darkness is as bright as day and he knows what is in the darkness Ps 139:12. In the sense that God will take vengeance and punishes his enemies God creates evil, Is.45:7, "I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the Lord, who do all these things." Compare also Deuteronomy 32, especially verses 39 and on.
Habakkuk (1:12&13) struggling with why evil is allowed to oppress good says; "Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment; and you, O Rock, have established them for chastisement. You who are of purer eyes than to behold evil and can not look on wrong, why do you look on faithless men, and are silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?" It is hard to fathom why evil is allowed to hold sway except to realize it in the light of eternity, God used an evil nation (Babylon) to judge and execute chastisement upon his people. God allows an evil man to destroy a righteous man to prove the good and the evil, the good is shown good and evil shown as evil. God sees the good purpose to his work, the righteous destroyed by the wicked have resurrection to eternal good, the wicked will inherit eternal suffering. It may be the evil man will have a change of heart upon seeing the righteous remain faithful, undergoing unjustified persecution, many opposing the gospel have been converted to the gospel by this witnessing. "Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12. Of course it is always difficult to undergo suffering; it would not be suffering otherwise.
Here is a compilation from some verses in Ezekiel, "…Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and destroy your high places…According to their way I will do to them, and according to their own judgments I will judge them…Because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your filthiness, you will be cleansed no more till I have satisfied my fury upon you. I the Lord have spoken; it shall come to pass, I will do it; I will not go back, I will not I will not spare, I will not repent; according to your ways and doings I will judge you…and they shall know that I am the Lord; I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them." Ez.6:3&10, 7:27, 24:13&14.
Great wrath came from the Lord, just as he called and they would not hear, so they called and he would not hear, (see Zech7:8-14). God the Righteous Judge would have cleansed his people Israel but they refused it, so just as they refused to repent he refused to, just as they did not spare their children but sacrificed them to idols God did not spare them, and it was justice. God is Just.
God tells Ezekiel in chapter14 Ezekiel will be consoled upon seeing the ways and doings of the survivors and realize the judgment was not done without cause. Some people find it hard to reconcile the "harsh God of the Old Testament" with the "loving kind God of the New Testament." In Jeremiah God talking of the same coming destruction of Jerusalem and deportation to Babylon as Ezekiel says, "Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it to gloom and makes it deep darkness. But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock has been taken captive." Jer.13:15-17. God of the Old Testament is God of the New. God would much prefer to have people repent than be destroyed but God is not going to hold his hands out forever to a contrary and difficult people. God's spirit does not abide in man forever; man dies then faces judgment. For those believing and baptized into Jesus already have undergone the life, death and resurrection of Christ's perfect life, have passed from judgment into mercy.
In the New Testament, Rev.14:6-7, an angel proclaims to every nation, tribe, tongue and people; "Fear God and give him the glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water." Rev.9:20-21 records "The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot either see or hear or walk; nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality or their thefts." It is not God's will that anyone should be destroyed and go to hell. It is the person's own refusal to repent and choice for evil; ultimately it is their will that will see them in hell. People on their death bed have turned to God in their heart, repented and been saved from hell. Often people knowing that God is good and gracious suppose that they can repent at a later stage and accept the salvation Jesus wrought. In actual fact it is doubly hard for a true repentance, they have already hardened their hearts to repent. These people have already rejected requital and God is likely to requite them according to their own ways, but God may perhaps grant that they come to repentance and know the truth. However there is a time for judgment and God's grace and mercy is unto repenting not abuse; it is futile to rely on it not having taken hold of it before judgment time.
Often it can not be seen what good will be wrought through the evils that are seen but God is bigger than all of this; Christians walk by faith not by sight 2Cor.5:7, so our sight is set on what we do not see, for our hearts are illuminated by the light of Christ. Some things are only perceived in hindsight and others will only be able to be perceived in the sight from the other side. As Joseph, (Jacob's son), said to his brothers years after they had sold him into slavery "As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good..." Gen.50:20. Without condoning wrong God will take evil in his stride. We are told in Gods word to overcome evil with good and to make the most of the time because the days are evil, see Romans 12:21 and Ephesians 5:16. God's plan and spirit encompasses the Night, the reign of darkness, but ultimately there will only be the Day, the reign of light.
In the second creation account the evil entities of darkness have their expression in the Garden of Eden even though it was a type of paradise for Adam and Eve. There is the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of which Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat, there is the serpent, one of the wild beasts more cunning than any other wild beast. The serpent showed its evil intent inciting subtle rebellion in Adam and Eve so as to cause their death. By virtue of the offices held the forces of darkness had their existence in the world in the tree of knowledge and the serpent. Sin was already present in creation before man but with Adam's transgression...
To adamantly cling onto the interpretation of the days and nights in Genesis as natural human days impoverishes what can be gained from Genesis. To do so the reader remains in the dark on the matter. To realize that the usage of days in Genesis is speaking in pictures and by consulting with the rest of the scriptures brings to light the deep significance of them making so much the richer what is gained from these scriptures.