The book of Genesis says that God made light on the first day of creation. Yet, a few verses later, we are told that God made the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day. Is this not a contradiction?
There is no contradiction in the Genesis account. Genesis 1:1 tells us that God created the universe. Then, in the next verse, we are told that the earth was “without form, and void,” meaning that the planet’s environment was not suitable for life. The land that would later provide a place for human and animal life to flourish was completely covered with water, and the atmosphere did not allow light to reach the surface of the planet. We are not told how long this condition lasted; nor are we told whether the earth was created in such condition or became that way. The term translated was in “was without form” can also mean became, so it is possible that the earth became a watery wilderness unsuitable for life at some point—perhaps billions of years—after the heavens and the earth were created.
Since the heavens and the earth were created in the beginning, we may logically assume that the sun, moon, and stars existed during the time the earth was covered with water and darkness, and may have existed billions of years before the earth became that way. The lifeless condition may have been due to a collision with a huge asteroid, or possibly several asteroids, resulting in massive flooding and global darkness due to billions of tons of debris being hurled into the atmosphere.
Genesis 1:3 states, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” This verse does not say that God created light on the first day. It simply tells us that God caused light to shine where darkness had previously been. In other words, the atmosphere was transformed from opaque to translucent. Light could now reach the planet’s surface.
On the fourth day of creation, “God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth’; and it was so” (verses 14,15). Since the sun, moon, and stars were created in the beginning, we may logically assume that this passage refers to yet another atmospheric change, allowing the lights of the firmament to be clearly visible from the earth. The translucent atmosphere now becomes transparent.
Verse 16 tells us that “God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.” This verse does not necessarily mean that God made these lights on the fourth day; rather, it emphasizes that it was God who made them. The great luminaries that rule the day and night were worshiped by primitive societies, but the Genesis account informs us that the great lights have a Maker—and only He is to be worshiped.
On the fourth day, God caused the translucent atmosphere to become transparent, thus enabling the heavenly bodies to serve as indicators and regulators for the division of time, and to provide additional light for the earth. God had the arrival of a new species in view when He made all these changes. This new creature would have the capacity to recognize the relationship between the heavenly bodies and the earth’s seasonal cycle, and would have mental abilities far greater than any other creature. We read of him in Genesis 1:26–28:
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”