What does Genesis 1:25 mean?

In Genesis chapter 1, God uses three days of creation to prepare the earth. On these first days He creates light, the sea and skies, and then dry land and plants. On the second three days, He fills those environments with the sun and moon, air and sea life, and land animals.

In the previous verse, God commanded the creation of all the different kinds of animals and creeping things that would fill the land of the earth. Now in this verse, He executes that command, creating what He decreed must be created. Interestingly, God phrases this command as "let the earth bring forth" these living creatures (Genesis 1:24). In literal terms, this would imply the land animals being produced by the earth itself—making this phrase part of the ancient debate over how God chose to accomplish His creation.

Once again, God recognizes what He had made as good. God did not create anything that He decided was not up to His own standards. All that He made He called good. In fact, God's original creation of the universe, before being corrupted by sin, was completely good in every way. Nothing bad or corrupt had yet entered the world.