I. Genesis 1:3-31 The Heavens and the Earth which are now (II Peter 3:7)
First of all let’s take a step back and take a deep breath. One thing that all Christians should be able to agree on is that no matter how He did it, GOD created everything. GOD is the only one who can speak creation out of nothing and life into creation by His Word. GOD is the author and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Think about that statement, GOD as the author.
How many of you have ever read a “choose your own adventure” book? These books were a big thing when I was a kid. GOD is so amazing and complex He has 6 Billion choose your own adventure books going on right now simultaneously, and over the course of human history as estimated by the US Census bureau, 112 Billion people have lived on this planet. Think about that for a minute, you are one soul in 112 billion that have the privilege of having God write your story. I always thought it was cool when characters from one show would make an appearance in another, like Laverne and Shirley on Happy Days. God writes 112 separate stories and each of them have a chance to make a special appearance in another of those 112 stories. What are you doing with your “special appearances”? Are you the hero, the villain or just an extra?
Now, all 112 billion of these stories make a special appearance in HIS story, ALL of them. HIS story is eternity, HE is THE character and HE includes us in HIS story. HIS story is amazingly complex, yet at the same time so very simple. He is an active participant in HIS own book, the book of LIFE.
Let’s all close our eyes for a minute and think about the state of the earth as the Spirit of God was moving. Focus on the darkness you see when your eyes are closed, this is how it was in the beginning. Block out all the sounds that you hear and think about the intense darkness so thick you can cut it.
A. Chapter 1:3 – And God said, “Let there be light:” and there was light.
1) GOD said
2) What is Light? Lets talk about light
· Some questions to think about:
1. Begs the question, Did God create darkness?
2. He never said let there be darkness, so where did darkness come from?
3. If God is light and God is omnipresent how does darkness exist?
· Should we assume from this verse that darkness existed before light? How can that be since we know God is eternal and God IS Light?
o I John 1:5 – This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that GOD IS LIGHT, and in Him is no darkness at all.
· This would lead one to recognize that if God is light then where did darkness come from if God is everywhere?
· God is the original source of Light or Energy and all matter. See the similarities between the vastness of the universe and the smallest particles within it? Everything is consistent and in order, perfect order as Deut. 32:4 says “He is the Rock, His work is perfect: For all His ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity Just and right is He.”
· We know that God spoke everything into existence from nothing
· What differentiates matter? The number of protons contained in an atom
· God uses numbers and energy to create and differentiate matter, for example:
· Man is made up of water and carbon or Hydrogen 27 parts, Oxygen 54 parts and Carbon 19 parts.
· So carbon is the third most present element by number of atoms, but 2nd most in terms of mass.
· Carbon has an atomic number of 6 meaning 6 protons.
· In Biblical numerology 6 is the number of man.
· Carbon also also has an atomic weight of 12 and all other atomic weights are determined by 1/12 of the weight of Carbon therefore carbon is very close to a perfect number 12.
- In numerology 12 is a perfect number, signifying perfection of government, or of governmental perfection. It is found as a multiple in all that has to do with rule.
- Revelation 22:5 – (speaking of eternity) And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
- So at the commencement of eternity there is no night, why? Why is night present now?
- There is no need of the Sun, is this the way it was in the beginning?
- Should we assume here that darkness will no longer exist? Since darkness and night are used interchangeably throughout scripture, this appears to be correct.
B. Chapter 1:4 - And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
1) Light was good
· Note: good = טוב towb and is translated in the KJV as follows: good 361, better 72, well 20, goodness 16, goodly 9, best 8, merry 7, fair 7, prosperity 6, precious 4, fine 3, wealth 3, beautiful 2, fairer 2, favour 2, glad 2, misc 35.
2) What about darkness? Is darkness good or evil?’ READ I Thess. 5:1-5
· I Thessalonians 5:4-5 – “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief (speaking of the Lord’s Day in 5:2). Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night nor of darkness.”
· This verse implies that darkness is not good, and not a desirable thing
· Who then are children of the darkness? I Thess. 5:6-7
3) Was this spatial in nature? Dimensional perhaps? Is this possibly the separation of the spiritual world from the physical?
4) We know today that the division of day and night or light and dark is due to the position of the face earth with relation to the sun.
- Where the source of light was, was it stationary, how was night and day separated?
- What does it mean to divide Light and Dark, Aren’t they mutually exclusive?
C. Chapter 1:5 - And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
1) Day 1
2) Same word in Hebrew for both references to “Day”, first instances
3) What is a “Day”?
- From man’s perspective a day is an approximate 24 hour period on Earth based on 1 complete revolution on the earth’s axis. Note: the sun was not created until the 4th “day” of creation.
- From God’s perspective a day could be a number of things since God is omnipresent it would depend on His reference point and what is the central point within His universe. If His reference point is on mercury or Jupiter a day is different than 24 hours and depends on the rotation speed on the planets axis (some planets have a rotation speed that is similar to their orbit speed so the light from the star is always on the same side). Since God is in the act of “creating” the earth He is outside the earth should we really be limiting these “days” to earth days?
- Does the Bible tell us where the central point or the reference point is? Why do we assume it’s the sun and the earth? What if the central point is not the sun but something else that our solar system is revolving about?
- Since we know the earth rotates around the sun and the sun is the center of our solar system that is combined with several other solar systems that make up our galaxy which is part of several galaxies that make up the universe. What if all galaxies are rotating around a center somewhere and that center is the reference point God is using? What would a day to God be then? In II Peter He says a day is 1000 years and 1000 years is a day, is this what He means?
· The first “day” came before the creation of the sun, so a man’s day as we know it now could not have been the same “day” referenced in Genesis. In fact the 1st three days came and went before the sun was created. So this then begs the questions 1) What is an evening? And what is a morning? What rose in the morning if the sun is not yet created? Was it God Himself? With respect to the creation story of Genesis chapter 1.
- According to modern science, the earth's day has increased in length over time. The original length of one day, when the Earth was new about 4.5 billion years ago, was about six hours as determined by computer simulation. It was 21.9 hours 620 million years ago as recorded alternating layers in sandstone. This phenomenon is due to tides raised by the Moon which slow Earth's rotation. Because of the way the second is defined, the mean length of a day is now about 86,400.002 seconds, and is increasing by about 1.7 milliseconds per century (an average over the last 2,700 years).
- The Sun not yet created (not until Day 4 Genesis 1:14
4) Likewise what is night?
- Scientists define darkness as the absence of light, but is this really accurate?
- We know that Light = God, but we also have a universe that is 92% full of “Dark Matter”
- This is before night as we know it?
D. Chapter 1:6 - And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
1) Firmament = expanse
2) Let’s examine this in light of our understanding of other existing planets:
· Some of the larger planets are mostly gaseous with a solid core
· Leupold states: “Apparently, before the firmament existed, the earth waters on the surface and the cloud waters as we now know them were contiguous without an intervening clear air space.”
· Could the earth have been similar to Jupiter?
3) We know clouds are made up entirely of water, but is God talking about clouds or a water canopy above the sky?
No comments:
Post a Comment