The Fifth Day of Creation: The Advancement of Life

Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

– Genesis 1:20-23, NASB

While the third day brought life to the dry land, that life was very simple. Plants have no notable consciousness, motor skills, or even instinct. It wasn’t until the fifth day that God populated the oceans and the expanse of heaven with a kind of higher-order life: fish and birds. While these two types of animal life are still very simple, they are certainly of a higher level consciousness than plant life. This shows us that life is developing and advancing further than it was before. This advancement of life corresponds with the advancement of our experience of Christ within us as Life. As Christ grows in us throughout our Christian life, our experience of the power of His Life also develops.

We see one experience of this power on the fifth day based on where the creatures live. Fish are placed in the waters which are below the surface of the earth while the birds are given the right to fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens. In other words, we see life can exist in these two realms: the waters below, and the expanse above. In order to understand the significance of this day as a stage in our Christian life, we must understand the significance behind these two realms.

Fish live in water, which represents death (Rom. 6:4), so fish signify a life that overcomes death. If we have the experience of the fifth day, death has no way to affect us. Even when we are surrounded by an environment of death, we can overcome it. No matter how dead things around us become, we are alive and reign in life (Rom. 5:17). We can still serve and supply others. We are a living expression of the Lord. The life within us has grown to the extent that death cannot hold us.

– Titus Chu. A Sketch of Genesis. p11

Water in the Bible can represent death, as God judged the earth in Noah’s age with a flood (Gen. 7:17-24), and it is also by baptism with water that we as believers identify with the death of Christ (Rom. 6:4).

As Christ’s Life within you grows, you discover its power to overcome death. Everything around you may be dead, fallen to sin and to the vanity of the world, yet you don’t succumb. Why? Because you have a developed, strengthened inner life which death cannot hold. You have the Life of Christ.

God also created the birds on the fifth day. Birds signify heavenly transcendence. We are heavenly people who live a transcendent life. Many things in our environment try to pull us down. If we allow them, they will bring us despair and discourage us from pursuing the Lord. At such a time, we can still rise up and declare, “My Lord is here! He is so rich to me! The church is so full of hope!” We can rise above everything and live before the Lord buoyantly.

– Titus Chu. A Sketch of Genesis. p11

Here we see that not only can Christ’s life enable us to survive like a fish in the fallen situation, but also we can transcend it like a bird. A fish is surrounded by the waters of death, but does not succumb to them; a bird flies above them, out of reach of the things of the earth. By this Life we can not only survive, but even be given wings like an eagle to go above and beyond the things which bring death (Isa 40:31). 

Wow! What a powerful Life we have within! Using the comments, share your stories of how you experienced Christ’s Life in your own environment.