Land Appears, Plants Made

God is purposeful and organized in all He does.  After creating the firmament, He makes the next thing necessary for His plan–dry land.

Genesis 1:9-10  And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.  10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

The words “one place” do not necessarily mean that there was one body of water since “seas” later in the verse is plural.  The idea is that the land and seas would be distinct from each other.  Each would have its place in the world.

Now that there is dry land, God brings plant life into being.

Genesis 1:11-13 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.  12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.  13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Three general types of plants are mentioned: grass, herb, and tree.  From the original Hebrew, “grass” (deshe) is a general term meaning vegetation.  “Herb” (`eseb) usually refers to green plants.  “Tree” (`etes) means a plant with a stalk which can include trees, flax, wheat, and other varieties.

Verse 11 is the first time the phrase “after his kind” is used.  This introduces two key principles of biology.  First, life begets life (biogenesis).  You cannot get life from non-life (spontaneous generation).  This was proven by Louis Pasteur.  Second, living organisms reproduce after their kind.  Apple trees produce apple trees.  Wheat produces wheat.  The Bible upholds these two biological principles.  Naturalism and macro-evolution goes against them.

Naturalists believe that life came from non-life because they do not believe in the supernatural and therefore have no mechanism for life to exist except from naturalistic means.  Evolutionists believe that one kind of creature can turn into another kind of creature.  Therefore, they believe that reproduction can and must occur outside of a kind for organisms to evolve.  However, the Bible confirms what we can observe and test with the scientific method. Naturalistic and evolutionary beliefs require faith in a view of the past which cannot be tested and for which they have no record.  The Bible is the record of how things came into being and can be trusted because it came to us from the Creator Who was there.