Let us begin, at the beginning, with the first sentence,
the first ten English words, the first categorical statement
in the Word of God.
This first sentence in God's Word is the great dividing
wall
between all of man's vain (stupid) words and theories
and philosophies which precede it,
and the wisdom of our Father contained in the words which
follow it.
It is, therefore, the perfect opening statement to the perfect Word of God.
It is the "gate" through which we must pass, else that which follows cannot be absorbed.
Ladies and gentlemen, the first words of truth and wisdom:
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Does it say "when" God created the heaven and earth?
No, it doesn't.
Does it say that the earth is only 6,000 years old?
No, it doesn't.
Does it say that He created the earth only?
No, it says He created both the heaven and the earth.
In Proverbs chapter eight we see that "wisdom" was with our Father before He created the heaven and the earth.
The subject is wisdom:
Proverbs 8:22-30
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. [23] I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. [24] When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. [25] Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: [26] While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. [27] When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: [28] When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: [29] When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: [30] Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
He created it perfect, as He always does, and He created it to be inhabited.
Ladies and gentlemen, the second words of truth and wisdom:
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Uh, oh! We have a big problem here understanding the first two verses of the Bible! At first glance it reads like He created a chaotic mess and that is just what most people think they are reading.
But open your ears and listen to Him:
Isaiah 45:18
For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
It is the Creator God of Genesis 1:1.
This is extremely important because He says that He did
not create the earth in "vain",
but He formed it to be inhabited, and it was habitable.
The word "vain" used here is the Hebrew word "tohu"
and it means desolation, utter waste.
God did not create the earth as a desolation, a wasteland.
We just documented it.
Do you believe it?
It certainly makes sense, for even man doesn't create things "tohu".
Now let us return to Genesis 1 and read verse 2 again.
[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. That could have been millions or billions or trillions of years ago.
But in verse two, something must have happened because the earth became "tohu va bohu".
The beautiful earth that our Father made to be inhabited was destroyed.
And guess what?
You can see evidence of it everywhere, in the geological layers of the earth's crust,
in the fossils pressed between the rocks, in the bones of the dinosaurs,
in the tilt of the earth's axis, etc., etc., etc.But, why are their no human bones?
Because, In the first earth age we were spirit beings with spiritual bodies.
Peter's three heaven and earth ages:
2 Peter 3:5-7
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. This was of old, in the beginning, before Adam, before the flood of Noah.
Those who don't believe it are ignorant, according to Peter!
[6] Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:And the earth became without form, and void, "tohu va bohu". It perished!
(The Greek word for perish is apollumi, to destroy fully)!
And darkness was upon the face of the deep (water). The earth was overflowed with water and it perished!
But isn't this passage talking about the flood of Noah?
No, it is not.
The flood of Noah belongs to the next verse,
the heaven and earth age which are NOW, the age of flesh man.Noah's flood occurred about 2348 B.C.
[7] But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.And there will yet be another heaven and earth age, the third and final one. So Peter declares that there are three heaven and earth ages:2 Peter 3:13
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
1) The world that then was, which perished,
2) the heaven and earth which is now, and
3) the new heaven and new earth age to come.But why did God destroy the first heaven and earth age?
That answer is simple.
Because of the rebellion of one whose name is Satan,
who we learn in Revelation 12 drew one third of the sons of God away from Him and into his own camp.Yes, Satan, one of God's children just like you and me; although very high ranking - Read on:
Ezekiel tells us what happened to this one?
Ezekiel 28:12-19
Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.Tyrus means "rock", the false rock, Satan. [13] Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. [14] Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.Satan was one of the two archangels given charge to protect, i.e. cover, the throne of God. But he wanted to sit on the throne and be the one in charge, i.e. be like God.
[15] Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.This should answer the question "where did the devil come from"? He was a free-will son of God, created by Him, perfect and beautiful.
(Note: Satan does not run around in a little red suit toting a pitch fork.)
Continuing with Satan's fall:
[16] By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.[17] Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.[18] Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Satan has been judged to die the second death, i.e. to perish in the lake of fire. That is why he is called the son of perdition, the son who will perish.
[19] All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.Satan will cease to exist, which is what happens when something or someone perishes. It's gone, forever and ever!
But judgment for the rest of God's children has been postponed until after the millennium,
at the great white throne judgment, until God's plan of salvation,
of restoring His sons (whosoever will) to Him, is complete.So, our Father chose not to judge His other children (us) at the time of Satan's rebellion
but chose rather to destroy the "earth age that then was"
and create a new heaven and a new earth, which are now, just as Peter explained.The Creator shook this old planet (or perhaps smote it with a meteor)
and knocked it off of its true axis and out of its true orbit.That is why there's a magnetic declination where magnetic north and true north are as much as 80 km apart.
And since the earth now "wobbles" it produces the "jet stream" which determines patterns of weather and storms.
In the "world that then was" the entire earth was as a tropical garden. That is evidenced by the recent discovery of Mastodons in the artic regions, frozen solid in their tracks, with buttercups still in their mouths.
That global destruction, that "tohu va bohu" of Gen. 1:2, wiped out all living things,
and destroyed to utter ruin all the cities and habitable places of that earth age.It is the age to which all "Fossils" and "Remains" belong.
The geological evidence of a worldwide catastrophe are everywhere, and then some.
Listen to our Father describe the destruction Himself.
Jeremiah 4:22-27
For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.Dr. Moffat translates the first part of this verse
"It is because my people are stupid, and know me not;".Look up the word "sottish", it means "stupid".
Hey, He tells it like it is!
[23] I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.Here it is, the same "without form, and void", "tohu va bohu". And even the heavens had no light, which is why he later commanded "let there be light".
There was light in the days of Noah, but not at this destruction.
The earth was violently shaken.[24] I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.[25] I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.This couldn't possibly be the flood of Noah, for there were at least 8 people alive then. This says there was NO MAN and NO BIRDS.
[26] I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.That's right! There were cities in the world that then was, and they certainly became "lost".
And you and I and all of God's children were there in that "world that then was".
Do you remember the mysteries that Paul taught,
how in Ephesians 1:4 he tells us that God's elect were chosen before the "katabole",
the overthrow of Satan, before the foundation of this earth age?
And out of the total darkness now covering the earth:
Genesis 1:3
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
This "light" would divide the darkness,
and so there would be that choice in this world age,
to choose light or to choose darkness.
The choice is ours.
John 8:12
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
The earth created in the beginning (Gen 1:1), perished (Gen 1:2).Our Father destroyed it when He overthrew Satan at his rebellion
and reduced it to the state of "tohu va bohu", utterly void and desolate.The physical (Scientific) evidence of this destruction is overwhelming,
the spiritual (Biblical) evidence is conclusive.There is no conflict between true science and God's Word.
There never was and there never will be!
This foundational knowledge is essential to the true understanding of the entirety of God's Word.
It is one of the main reasons that many who claim to be instructors and teachers of the Bible
struggle to explain what should be simple verses and simple passages.For if you don't understand what happened in the beginning,
if you start out with a "mental declination" and are off track just 80 km before you begin,
by the time you should have reached your destination of understanding,
you will have passed by the major benchmarks of truth
and be totally "lost" in the land of confusion, which is the state of Babylon.
We human beings now have flesh and blood bodies during this earth age.And now we come to the first day of this earth age.
The creation, then, which begins in Genesis 1 vs. 3,
is the creation of the earth age which is now, the former having passed away.Our Father will once again prepare an habitable place for His children,
only this time each child will "pass through" this earth age, in a flesh body,
entering in from the womb of woman, and born innocent
(which means they will have no prior knowledge of what happened in the "world that was",
i.e. their "hard disk" or "hard head", whichever you prefer,
will be newly formatted and contain no data.)They can then have an opportunity to make up their own minds
as to who they will follow, the "light" or the "darkness".It is documented in the New Testament, by the apostle Paul, that we should all die, and therefore live, in the flesh (only one time, of course) :
Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:We will discover in this great Book of Genesis,
written by Moses the prophet and lawgiver,
that some of God's sons disobeyed this decree, and boy are they in trouble!What a fascinating story that is, for their actions caused the flood of Noah.
The choice is between light and darkness. Let us begin, therefore, as the manuscripts declare the perfect work of our Father.
He had just decreed the "Light" to divide the darkness,
to divide "truth" from "judgment".Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.[5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
The plan of salvation is simple. He loves His children dearly.
Will they love Him?
The choice is between light and darkness, it is black and white,
and for every negative there is a positive.[6] And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.God spoke and it happened, supernaturally, unlike the receding waters in Noah's time. [7] And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.[8] And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.[9] 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.We see in this earth age both dry land and sea. In the earth age to come (Rev 21:1)
He dries up the seas and the earth is restored to its former glory, and then some.[11] 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.The law of biogenesis states that life can only come from life and that each species reproduces after its own kind. Is it an absolute law? They tried to teach me in college that all things are "relative".
But "momma didn't raise no fool".
I said, "You take all the corn seeds in the world and plant them.
I know some won't grow, and some will grow deformed,
and some will be taller than others, and some will bear more fruit than others.But I will guarantee you that you won't grow a watermelon from a corn seed.
So much for your relativity. Good day."
[13] And the evening and the morning were the third day.Genesis 1:14
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:Never forget to look up at night, when the sky is clear, and behold the heavenly bodies, for they declare His glory. Why did God place the stars in the heavens?
To divide the day from the night, yes,
but also to be for signs and for seasons and for navigation and for reckoning time.
[15] And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.[16] And 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.
Let us now continue with day five.
Five is the number of grace in Biblical numerics.
The earth is now ready to sustain life; the waters, the
ground,
and the sun and moon are all prepared and in place.
Genesis 1:20
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.[21] And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
[22] And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.[23] And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Six is the number of man.
[24] And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.[25] And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
In the manuscripts it is not preceded by the definite
article 'eth
and so it does not refer to a specific person, i.e.
the word adam means human being or mankind, and
no gender is implied.
This is an extremely important point to understand in order that you may fully comprehend the events in the next few chapters.
If you have a Companion Bible it will document it for you.
And so God said, let "us" make mankind in "our" image.
The words "us" and "our" refer back to Elohim, which is
to say God
and the host of heaven, or God and the angels.
It does not say that man just looks like God, does it?
Keep that in mind as we continue.
I ask you now to draw upon that which has been discussed in the previous two lessons.
Remember in the "world that then was" that Satan rebelled
and drew one third
of God's children away from Him (Rev 12).
God sentenced Satan to death at that time, but rather
than sentence everyone else,
He destroyed that earth age and instituted the plan of
salvation, for this earth age.
He did not destroy His children.
Now I ask you, where did you come from?
Where were you before you entered your mother's womb?
You came from God.
You were with God, of course!
And when your flesh dies, it gets buried six feet underground,
or cremated (ashes to ashes or dust to dust,
it doesn't matter, you're done with it) and you "return"
to Him.
This is simple. Ecclesiastes tells us what happens when we die, when the silver cord is severed:
Eccles. 12:6-7Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
[7] Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Do you also remember that we discussed
about how simple
and easy many scriptures and passages
would be to explain if those who taught weren't
"willingly ignorant" of the "world
that was" and the events that transpired there?
Knowing what we've just learned,
could you now explain how it is
that God named the prophet Jeremiah
before he entered his mother's
womb?
Of course, he was with Him. God knew him. He says so.
Can you understand how our Father could say He hated (which means to love less by comparison) Esau and loved Jacob, while they were still in their mother's belly (Rom 9:13)? Of course, He knew how disrespectful Esau was from before.Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
And finally, can you now understand what the apostle Paul means in Ephesians 1:4 when he says that God's elect were chosen before the foundation of this world, meaning the "katabole" or "overthrow"? Of course, they stood against Satan and earned the right to have God interfere in their lives and use them as He will. Our Father knows all of His children, the good and the rebellious.
The third earth age