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ENCOURAGEMENT TO ETERNAL FOCUS IN UNITY AND FELLOWSHIP OF THE GOSPEL

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In Six Days - The First Earth

 

5

 

         

 

Could the view of both six day creation and ancient creation both be right?

 

  • Myth: God’s time is the same as man’s time day for day

  • Myth: All creation appeared in an instant and looking old just as Adam and Eve were created mature

  • Myth: One cannot believe an ancient creation in time and God's days in Genesis

  • Myth: An ancient creation in the Kingdom of God denies the authority of God's Word

Genesis records God’s divine commands whereby the dark  creation was set in order to function apart from the Light and energy of the Glory of God the Father. In the record of this purpose in God's  Word man is told of his origin. It is clearly set forth by use of genealogies that the creation by  special act of a being in His Own image happened about 5700 years ago. Understanding the authority of God's Word there is no reason to doubt this would be true. Yet man in multiple diverse observations  finds clues that some of our universe may be much older than nearly six thousand years. This presents a dilemma for those seeking to understand the origins and details of the world. Who or what is right? Or are both right? Could it possible while the Bible says man was made on the sixth day of God's plan that the current creation was organized long before five simple previous  rotations of the earth?

Today great battle lines are drawn over this very issue of the meaning of the Genesis term "day." Smoke of salvos fired back and forth fills the air. The conflict has created many causalities both secular and religious. Emissaries from multiple interpretations infiltrate politics, education, churches and organizations. Patriotic flags fly high over seemingly unshakable fortress walls as parties of followers hurl remarks back and forth. It seems an endless war of constant chatter over the meaning of a word.

Yet as one author put it there seems that there should be a convergence of the discoveries of science and the Bible. What is observed should support unmistakably the absolutely true record of what has happened. The same evidence that "clearly demonstrates" the "divine nature and eternal power" of God should harmonize true with every fact of God's inspired Word to man. To use a cliché it should be plain as day. God does not confuse those He calls and  loves with misleading information. In fact we are told it is so clear God will use the message of what He has made to hold mankind "without excuse" in the day of judgment for not listening to His invitation in His Son. 

This division is unnecessary. It is our interpretations that are blind and filled with disharmony - not the message by the facts presented both of Bible and science. The party making and issues are really a pseudo-dichotomy or false division where both views are correct in many things - yet conjecture and incorrect application leads to misguided views. Man was created about 5700 years ago. The creation around man is more than a handful of literal days older than man. It does not compromise God's Word, authority, power, or redemptive plan to admit what many of the world clearly see.

 

Day - A Relative Measure of Time

 

Relative time theory[1] when applied to creation enables both ancient theories of origin and the Biblical six-day records of creation to be correct. Relative to God the Father’s perspective of time in heaven as seen in the theme of the first two chapters of Genesis it takes just seven days for His plan to come to completion. Relative to man’s "under the sun" view of time as seen by many scientists it must have taken much longer – perhaps billions of years still support a supernatural creation.

So how can both views of the same creation be correct? Consider the old question about the glass of water filled to the middle. Is it half-full or half-empty? You say both. How can both be right? It is a matter relative to the definition and parameters of ones perspective. In the same way the Bible teaches the current creation is both very ancient and was created in just six days. How? Because of a different operative perspective of time. As we saw in the last chapter Relative Time Creation God's Word teaches us time is relative depending on whether the view of from heaven or from earth.

As mentioned Peter knew to understand God’s creative plans past, present and future his "dear friends" needed to know God operates in a different value of time than man does. He learned this from meditation and spiritual understanding of a Psalm attributed to Moses. But these men are not alone in sharing this current truth in God’s Kingdom. As seen in Scripture others such as David and Paul understood this time difference.

So how old from man's point of view of God's Kingdom is this present creation of this age? The honest truth is no one really knows for sure. Some evidence points to recent explanations for things we see around us just as it should since God is still creating, organizing  and controlling matters of this creation. Other facts allude to long ages of perhaps billions of years for some of our universe. God does not declare for sure because the exact time from man’s perspective is not an important issue in His plans and purpose that He accomplishes in just seven days of His time.

From God’s perspective of time the entire plan of redemption takes God the Son seven days from the beginning to completion in a New Heaven and New Earth. As mentioned the specific amount of time this represents from man’s perspective is under great debate in both secular and religious circles. Christian and secular scholars disagree[2,3] with opinions that calculate a range as far as fifteen billion years to just six twenty-four hour days.

The exact age of this earth in man's perspective of time and the particular details of each creation work day is unimportant to understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven and God’s loving plan for His creation. God wants us to embrace the big picture of Genesis and see the forest rather than a few isolated trees.

As ambassadors responsible for teaching God’s message the emphasis should be on "intelligent design" and "intelligent purpose" and not the absolute concrete earthly age of the creation. It is tempting to enter the debate of the use of "days" and the implied meaning of "evening and morning." Many good scholars of Hebrew lexicons[4] and Bible study aids[5] show easily the word has multiple meanings and uses in showing the aspect of time for actions discussed. So to emphatically demand one absolute view and use in Scripture seems a little dogmatic and unnecessary. What is important is not the time it took but the fact that the one and only God did it.

Read carefully and consider what God told Job and his comforters after Elihu told his listeners how wise he was in comparison to Job and his elder friends in knowledge of the matters of God’s Kingdom.

Job 38:1-4

38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

2 "Who is this that darkens counsel

By words without knowledge?

3 "Now gird up your loins like a man,

And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? NASB (Emphasis mine)

How much of counsel is darkened because there is no proper knowledgeable witness of what has transpired in creation and God’s Kingdom? As His children sit around debating the age of the universe where God placed them how tempting it must be to God to come again and ask us the same questions. He does indirectly through this record of the Bible. This question is relevant today just as it was several thousand years ago. Where was man when God did all of this? Who can tell God anything about this world and the operation of Divine laws that make the existence possible? Not one person alive was ever a witness of God’s creative actions. No one can know for sure just what happened, how long it took in man's time and when it happened apart from general revelations in His Word and the simple understanding of evidence in study of this creation.

 

Days - A Unnecessary Stumbling Block

 

Many have trouble conceiving of a creation in the Kingdom of Heaven prior to what we see around us. As support some often use John’s inspired words calling this present creation the "first" heaven and the "first" earth. From this many deduce if this is the "first" nothing else could have existed prior to it and God was inactive for eternity past.

Revelation 21:1

21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. NIV (Emphasis mine)

Does John calling this creation the "first" mean nothing existed in God’s Kingdom of Heaven prior to the theme of Genesis?

Consider the following question: A man owns his "first" car. By unknown circumstances it is wrecked and damaged needing repair. The man restores the car to some working order for his purposes. Is the restored car his "first" car or will it somehow become his "second" car? If the man writes a book about this loving restoration process does it mean his "beginning" covers every detail of the cars history even before the damage or just the loving restoration process from the damage that needed repair? If the book covers as its theme the restoration process would the "beginning" speak of the beginning of the owner or the restoration process? (Hover mouse over car)

As shown in previous chapters In Beginning and Who Turned Out the Light? the present creation is a reorganization of preexisting material in God's Kingdom for the purpose of containing fallen angels until their judgment day of eternal fire to come. Concepts of origin apply to the new organization of materials by God for His purpose and not the absolute age of everything in that organization. For example the materials for man are older than the origin of man. Man was made from "the dust of the ground" that preexisted man. My birth in 1956 does not mean none of my materials did not exist before me. My current elements and molecules were once past animals, plants, rocks, soils, bacteria, viruses and even parts of other people. One day my body will return back "to dust" and continue use in this creation. In my resurrection in Christ of my new form it will be said the first form passed away. Yet calling it first does not mean first in complete material existence but first in organizational form of my personal creation. The same is said of the current creation. This current creation was a necessary change in reorganization from light to darkness.

Lessons from both the Bible and history warn about trying to understand God’s creations, purposes and plans from earthly perspective. If not careful derived theology will hinder acceptance of truth and perhaps witness to other honest seekers of God.

Others in the past have stumbled because of incorrect earthly perspectives about God's activities and plans. In Jesus day one of the main theological reasons for the rejection of Jesus as Messiah was that Elijah had not yet come. Malachi closed out the Old Testament with the promise Elijah would come before what teachers deduced was the coming of the Messiah.

Malachi 4:5

5 "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. NIV 

The Jews stumbled over this theological deduction throughout the ministry of Jesus. It was brought up many times, even to Jesus.

Matthew 17:10

10 The disciples asked him, "Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?" NIV 

In similar fashion some deductions from theology about creation can easily conflict with truth in the world of scientific understanding[6] of God’s creation. The early Greeks such as Aristarchus of Samos three centuries before Christ knew enough to propose the earth revolved around the sun. While not widely held it was written down in a number of books.

Years later a scientist named Copernicus read these assumptions of ancient science crediting Aristarchus of Samos along with others with heliocentric theory found in his search for truth. In the 16th century Copernicus, who is now regarded as the founder of modern astronomy, made his own conclusions that over centuries changed the views of both the religious and scientific world. In 1543 he published these views in On the Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies even though he knew they conflicted with popular Christianity in his day.

In a great battle of science and religion, Martin Luther and many contemporaries making their own deductions from Scripture preached against the possibility of the earth revolving around the sun. Listen to Martin Luther’s words referring to Joshua 10:13 in his series of "Table Talks", off-hand remarks while dining one day in 1539.

People gave ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the Earth revolves, not the heaven or the firmament, the sun and the moon…this fool Copernicus wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us Joshua commanded the sun to stand still and not the earth.

Martin Luther and others evidence came from Scriptural deduction of Joshua 10:12-13 and Psalm 19:4-6. Some sources say Luther even declared the publication was "anti-Biblical and intolerable.'' Without belaboring the point the deductions of science from theology were incorrect. From man’s perspective it would appear the sun stood still in Joshua’s day with the sun stopping its revolution around the earth. Wrong assumptions from an earthly view caused these honest men to reject truth about God’s creation we readily accept today. Finally the evidence was so overwhelming the theological interpretation of the day had to change.

The same problem may exist about our theological deductions about the age of the Genesis heavens and earth in relation to the Kingdom of Heaven and the measure of the years of man. As mentioned in chapter  In Beginning God created two heavens and earth in addition to His abode in the Third Heaven occupied for eternity past. So the term heavens does not just refer just to the earth, planets, stars, and galaxies of the universe we have barely discovered. The Kingdom of Heaven includes more than the material dimension we can measure today. It includes even the domain of the second heaven of the clouds or paradise. A small oversight should be noted in most of the theological theories of creation. While the origins and age of the present earth and universe is contemplated debaters forget to address the age of the Kingdom of Heaven or the other existing creations of God. Even forgotten are remnants from ages past not visible today that do not directly involve mankind.

In Relative Time Creation theory God is viewed as infinite from everlasting to everlasting - past, present, and future. This age and creation now enjoyed as Paul shares in Romans 1:18-20 demonstrates clearly His "eternal power" in activities. Some creation theories fall short of this great message of "eternal power" proclaimed by an ancient creation. The “Old Earth -Gap Theory” of ruined creation between the first two verses of Genesis does not harmonize with the scientific record gleaned in study of the creation. There is no evidence of a change in the eternal Divine laws that govern the universe once the initiation of Genesis began by expansion of matter. One would think such would be visible in some measurable form. The “New Earth - Creation Science” mega group portrays God as young in experience and omits the proof God says He gives apart from Biblical revelation for His ability to offer "eternal life." In this large publishing machine one finds Biblical interpretation is only a highly focused admission of the “Divine nature” of a Creator in a perceived young creation of what can be seen and measured today. The hope portrayed is often the perfection of this temporary world in a supercharged earth. The “Day-Age” camp does proclaim the “eternal power” of God seen in creation and the temporary purpose God has for this universe. However God is viewed outside of the universe and time in His relationship to creation past, present and future. Time application to God in the Bible is symbolic rather than literal.

As warned in Scripture that speaks of the teaching of the last days used to deny the event of the second coming of Jesus Christ one should remember "everything" has not continued "on as it has since the beginning of creation." Man now lives on this "present" earth separated from a loving God the Father due to sin. When interpreting the Scriptures relative to all creative actions of God we should not fall into the trap of the last day scoffers believing nothing major is different. While the laws that govern this universe since its inception appear stable the Kingdom of Heaven has changed drastically from the original form of the ages past and as promised will change again when in complete fellowship with God the Father.

 

Days - The Time God Orders The Separated Universe

 

One must remember time in these first thirty-one verses of Genesis is relative to God’s time in His work of creation and not man’s time. The seven days mentioned in Genesis summarize the theme of the entire process of God’s redemption from beginning to end. Appendix 5 Seven Days of Redemption displays a possible chart of this seven day plan. Thus from man’s time, proceeding much slower in in the stretching of time apart from the Father, all is still in day six with the seventh day of God’s rest to come in the "Day of the Lord" when all is redeemed at Jesus coming to earth.  Notice that the rest for God from creating is still yet future. The loving God could not rest until all the work or redemption and judgment of sin is completed. How could God rest with Satan loose in this dark world of the kingdom He so loved? His judgment would come swiftly in but one week at the appointed time- yet first He would reclaim what was lost in darkness.

The time between God and man is now relative. Even though Peter, Moses and the Psalmist speak prophetically of the Seventh day as a thousand years it does not mean every day recorded in Genesis creation is a one thousand year period. Time between God and this creation was changed being stretched by expansion in the withdrawal of God's Light in creation of two separated heavens to hold fallen angels. Once cold and dark with almost no energy God begins as Genesis records to bring energy and reorganization of the "waters" and that "not seen" referring to the dark remnants. As God brought energy and organization to the creation time slowly increased in approach toward His time. The  picture below illustrates[7] this concept seen often in nature in the perfect spiral. Time spirals from it farthest point away from God where on day one the activity away from the Father's presence was about  8 billion years. Eventually over seven days of work time regains oneness again with the Father. In application  as God gave light and increased energy in the darkness of the angelic prison day 2 is around 4 billion years. Day 3 for God's making is reduced to 2 billion years. Such changes in time harmonizes with the data seen today in attempting to measure the progression of our universe in the 24 hour spherical rotations of our earth.

 

 

Remember severance of God the Father from sin is why no one that has ever lived on this earth except Jesus Christ God’s Son has ever seen God the Father. Only God the Holy Spirit and God the Son have visited since that fateful moment in time past. In the model prayer we are taught to pray as recorded in Matthew 6:9, "Our father which art in heaven…" KJV God is understood in some sense distant from where we live today.

The Scripture, Whose theme embraces God’s use of mankind for redemption, begins with God the Spirit hovered over the ruin. God the Father, separated from sin, could not come. God the Holy Spirit hovers over the creation now overflowed with water symbolizing the remnants of a portion of heaven destroyed.

Genesis 1:2

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. NIV

God the Father now withdrawn from this material dimension of His kingdom approaches through another part of His nature. God as a Trinity is also a Spirit. This characteristic of God enables Him to exist everywhere at once and know all at the same time. God the Holy Spirit hovered over the ruined creation as a bird hovers over her nest of young depicting the great care God felt for the material creation now separated from Him.

God’s severance from sin and darkness of His kingdom resulted in the law of entropy. Apart from God’s life sustaining light energy now in the creation proceeds from order to disorder. Scripture calls it the "bondage to decay." Newton called it the Second law of Thermodynamics. Things go from order to disorder without God the Father’s presence. Nothing material in this dimension is eternal. The creation is sick apart from God. It is in pain as a woman in labor. Estranged from God every part of the creation gets more disordered. It continues to breakdown and expands losing its energy with time.

Fortunately, God the Father has not relinquished complete control of the darkness of this kingdom to Satan and accompanying angels. God has remained in power governing creation by His wisdom from a distance through the Holy Spirit and His Son. As such Jeremiah credits the stretching out of the heavens as resulting from God’s power and wisdom. God wisely withdrew from sin to protect Himself from defilement. Later God redeemed back the same creation through procreation with man and sending a Savior.

Jeremiah 10:12

12 But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. NIV (Emphasis mine)

It appears from the record of Scripture the material of Eden experienced two possible expansions from the original form of Eden. The first expansion occurred when Satan was cast to the earth and the light of Eden and the rebels was translated to darkness. The energy of God’s judgment exploded the garden of God. This event initiated the variation of time in the Kingdom of Heaven and the darkness resulting. God then determines to execute a loving plan through His nature as Spirit. The terms[8] "Spirit" and "hovering" have pictorial significance. The word "Spirit" means air, breath or wind of God referring to His invisible power that affects the universe. The word "hovering" means to relax and pictures an eagle relaxing it wings over her nest of eggs in great care. The word picture of Genesis 1:2 is that of God hovering or relaxing above the material darkness as if blowing out as a breath of air or wind as one would exhale by relaxing the diaphragm. The verb is that of continuing action. This action of Divine blowing continues even unto today to spread matter even more. One author[9] calls this pictorial work of the Spirit of God the Divine "inflationary epoch." In God’s wisdom the Spirit begins fashioning by fine tuning the universe in the narrow window required for life apart from God the Father.

It should be noted the initial scientific theories a universe the size of a mustard seed or the pupil of the eye are not holding. The present theories of general relativity and quantum theory begin to break down when one approaches the unique event of an explosive beginning from an infinitely small universe. If one starts with Eden of eternity past possessing similar attributes of time, space and matter then these theories hold constant for God’s creations from eternity past even beyond the super heated beginning calculated today. In this past Eden one can surmise God’s creation existed very similar to His creation to come in the New Heaven and New Earth when all is again one. As seen in chapter God with Us Celebration - New Heaven and New Earth time, space, and matter exist for eternity future. God’s ageless physical laws that govern His creations will continue to hold true. Even when one again in Christ the size of the redeemed creation is not that of a mustard seed. Just the New Jerusalem is a 1500 mile cube.

The remnants of this initial explosion and inflationary period are easily measured today and is called the Cosmic Background Radiation. This represents the last remaining light of Eden of eternal past in the coldness of deep dark space. The once intense focused brightness of the energy of Eden, Satan and a third of the host of heaven is now spread so thinly it is barely detectable throughout the universe. Even science today theorizes this Cosmic Background Radiation results as remaining light energy from an explosive beginning in the distant past.

From an cosmology point of view one quickly sees our universe is vastly spread out. Our own Milky Way[10] galaxy is estimated at 7,000 light years thick and 80,000 to 120,000 light years across. It takes about eight minutes for light traveling at 186,000 miles per second to get from the sun to earth. If one takes into account a photon of light seen today may have traveled from the most distant systems for about 15 billion years and the current rate of expansion then our universe then is at least 150 billion light years in diameter at this time. Thus the universe is enormously huge by the power of the hand and breath of God.

On level of quantum mechanics this Divine spreading is seen as well. The solid matter we feel is 99.9999999999999% empty space[11] on the level of the smallest known parts. The small particles that make up known visible elements have great immense gaps of empty space by God’s making. Unknown forces keep these small particles great distances apart yet active in relation to each other in predictable reproducible ways.

All God’s creation possesses the attributes of time, space and matter. Just as this spreading by the breath of God affected space and matter it also spread time. Time dilation seen today with time in our universe different than time in God’s domain of heaven has its beginning with His expansion of the universe.

This handiwork of the Almighty in spreading out Eden is temporary. The Bible is clear the present state of scattering is not His permanent eternal design. The author of Hebrews writes how the material creation wears out like an old garment. This present heaven while laid out by the work of God’s hands still would perish. Even though Genesis calls God’s actions "good" they were not created as perfection to last forever.

Hebrews 1:10-11

10 He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 11 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. NIV (Emphasis mine)

The creation was an unwilling innocent victim of the sin that brought separation. The creation "not by its own choice" suffers apart from God losing energy and decomposing. It endures this fate contained from God the Father because of "the will of the one who subjected it"—the regretful willful choice of a part of His creation. Paul wrote in Romans about the creations current state and the time of liberation that comes at the end of the age when believers are fully adopted as sons.

Romans 8:19-23

19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. NIV (Emphasis mine)

Days - A Testimony of Loving Eternal Power

 

So what does God want us to know about this creation? As already mentioned Paul said in the first chapter of Romans this construction sensed all around cries forth God’s "eternal power" and "Divine nature" so that even if one leaves out the light of God’s Word he is "without excuse" before Him. For a moment consider just the creation apart from the Divine message of the Bible. What does the creation show mankind so easily as he learns more from observations and measurements around him? For one, the attribute of Divine nature. It is a mathematical impossibility for natural selection and random chance to accidentally make all the right choices to result in this universe. The window for life is just to narrow. Small changes is so many things observed would make life impossible. Only Divinity can make something as complex, diverse and functional within the limits required to sustain life. Life and existence is impossible to have occurred any other way other than intelligent design.

Consider the comparative anatomy of biology, the diversity of microbiology, the vastness of cosmology, the minute synchrony of quantum mechanics, and even basics of general science. Layer after layer of man’s acquired knowledge erupts to one conclusion. A Divine Being created the operation of the universe. It is no accident most physicians after years of education are conservatives that believe in a Divine Creator. Such faith is a natural conclusion to the evidence before them each and every day. Many other observers of complex designs in life and the supporting ecosystem deduce the same. Only a God could have done all this!!

Remember that Divine nature of intelligent design is not the only quality Paul said the creation reveals to man. The other Paul mentions is "eternal power." Man finds from his observations that the creation is ancient with vast age of about 15 billion years. As well discoveries of science show modern man is relatively young in comparison coming much later as a special creation probably around twenty to thirty thousand years ago. These ancient measurements are not found in testing the evidence of the world because God made it look old or wanted to allow blindness of those He loves and calls. The perceived age is because the creation is old. So old in fact that in God’s judgment those who found it to be old will be told they should have realized it must have been formed by an "eternal power." The scientists who claim the universe is billions of years old have discovered the exact message the Divine Creator meant for them to find. The creation pulpits a powerful sermon echoing from every corner of the realm both small and large the existence of a Divine God that does not decay from eternity past.

The messages of believers in interpretation of God’s Word to mankind and this dynamic message of the creation should harmonize in oneness to the seeking world. The descriptions shared to mankind can only come from a Divine God of eternal power. Believers should patiently and lovingly answer old age statements of agnostics with, "Yes, it is old... so old and complex the only logical explanation is a Divine God of eternal power. The random chance and natural selection of chaotic evolution just does not work to bring about such a fine intricate life supporting world." With such a message believers would agree with the Words of God at judgment of those who refuse Him and His offer through His Son Jesus Christ.

For those who have catered to the young earth explanations of the last half century to combat evolution such an admission probably strikes of a hint of heresy at the moment. Such a claim is often perceived as a challenge to their faith. At the thought the drums of war and alarm beat in the distance against such ideas. These ideas are not politically correct to use an overused cliché. Surely such writing and thoughts are contraband and godless. Such response is seen in the language used against those who believe in creative demonstration of "eternal power" in the universe.

The chart Appendix 6 - Comparison of Creation Theories shows each of these popular explanations for the current creation. As required by truth this author believes the only explanation that harmonizes and fits squarely together with all other revelation of God’s Word is Relative Time Creation Theory. It reminds me of building Lego sets with my children. With the provided parts many similar constructions can be assembled to the intended original. Yet unless one follows the instructions carefully and even looks at the picture on the box some parts are left over and the item is not a perfect copy of the original intended. The Bible gives all the pieces and the Holy Spirit guides the assembly in historical knowledge of God’s past history and creative activities. The problem with most other theories is parts are left over without address or explanation. With our imaginations we fill in the empty spots and fly our toy as if real. The result resembles the original in many aspects such as the revealing the Divine nature of the creator. However the most glaring omissions are properly portraying a God of “eternal power”, explanation for the darkness apart from the Light of His Glory, and linear time temporarily relative in God’s relationship to creation.

This is where the Genesis creation comes into importance. God begins educating Israel about the purpose of man in redemption of a creation now suffering His judgment upon sin. This book attempts to flesh out this message by expounding upon passages of God’s Word. Chapter In Beginning notes that the "beginning" refers to the theme of events that influenced an eternally active God as set forth in the chapter Everlasting to Everlasting. The chapter Who Turned Out the Light? discussed how sin in the creation preexisted man and the Genesis record penned by Moses. This chapter deals with revelation of creation from both God’s heavenly view and man’s earthly view of time shown different in the chapter Relative Time Creation. In the chapter following this one called One of Us Knowing Good and Evil discusses that God experientially knew evil in His kingdom before Adam and Eve. They made their choice to have the same "knowledge of good and evil" as God. In loving determination before the foundation of this present world He found a way to clean up a ruined mess from sin for other purposes as will be seen in the chapter God Has a Loving Plan. Man was made to have dominion over the material aspect of God’s creation in His Kingdom. By man this material creation is brought back as one in Christ to be formed as a New Heaven and New Earth where the "nations" of the heavenly host may enjoy the heavenly blessings of God forever.

 It is alarming that the most popular modern teaching portrays God a creation rookie experimenting with untested wisdom unto lofty goals that involves man in an unfinished creation. Relative Time Creation theory pictures God as a veteran deserving praise and trust for steady firm eternal infinite actions. God shares how His beautiful Kingdom had come to ruin. His glory and sustaining presence were suddenly gone from a part of His Kingdom in a war against evil. Darkness, for the first time by His purpose, penetrated part of the Kingdom of Heaven. Sin within the Kingdom ripped the material creation from His company and pleasure. He was no longer able to fellowship with the creation that had become the present domain of Satan and his angels. His purity and holiness would not allow the slightest evil in His presence for a minute moment. After the initial explosion of Eden God continues the spread according to His creative design.

Even reading the parables of Jesus about the "kingdom of heaven" from Relative Time Creation theory perspective makes must more sense in harmony with the rest of God's Word. Jesus stories were about the bigger picture to comfort believers in spiritual understanding of the overall plan of what God is doing. These all share there were problems in the Kingdom of Heaven and God was in love actively correcting them.

 

Days - A Descriptive Summary of God's Redemptive Plan

 

The war in heaven wrought by the introduction of sin exploded the creation apart from God. The energy forces of the heavenly battle must have been tremendous. Satan and other angel’s powerful light were translated to kingdom destruction as lightening. He became then the prince of darkness and ruler of the earthly creation in this age. Heaven and earth became formless, empty and dark overflowed by water. Apart from His Light, creation experienced a variation in space and motion that slowed time in comparison to God’s time.

God loved the ruined creation so much that He prepared a plan to redeem it back to Himself. From the dark chaotic formless disarray God the Father commanded and God’s Son systematically brought order. Laws of nature were set in place to govern all creative relationships apart from God the Father. In giant leaps each Divine fiat jump started the processes needed to prepare a world and to eventually bring forth man in a creation distant from God due to sin.

Since Genesis is not a book about the creation there is no need for detail about how God created this world. With amazing accuracy just thirty-one verses generally summarize God’s formation and present order of everything in the two new heavens and earth. No mention is made of the double helix of DNA, the strong nuclear force that holds atoms together, the weak nuclear force that holds molecules together, electromagnetic forces, gravity, cell structures, organ systems or any part of a vast library of scientific knowledge that man today has only begun to understand in an elementary way. Genesis only gives a simple "highly compressed"[12] description of complex development that was necessary to get to the real theme of Moses writings - the creation of man in God’s own image so that God in procreation with man might come as flesh to redeem this portion of the eternal kingdom of His love.

In Genesis Moses was showing this new nation how through Israel all the nations of the world would be blessed - not the exact age of the universe. The Holiness of God’s Divine law demanded a substitute to redeem creation. Nothing in the dark separated creation would satisfy the requirements of God’s Divine justice. Even before this creation God’s plan was to send His Son through the nation of Israel, as the seed of Abraham, in the likeness of sinful flesh that had been made in His own image and likeness. More detail of the heavenly blessing of this plan are set forth in chapter  God Blesses With A Loving Plan.

In order for God’s Son to redeem the creation it needed much preparation for His coming and work. It began as a dark formation of water based matter as the left over remnants of God’s beautiful garden of eternity past called Eden. In God’s time even this creating was not instant as alluded to by young creation theory. It took "days" of God's time to put it all in order for His redemptive purpose. First, He replaced His Glorious Light with a substitute on the first day. Light enabled simple subatomic particles to form elements and complex building blocks of life. On the second day divisions or partitions were made in the heavens. The boundaries of land and sea were decreed followed by the vegetation and trees on day three. Heavenly substitutions of bodies of light to mark man’s time were formed on day four. Sea creatures and birds appeared on day five of God’s time. On day six the animals and man were formed according to God’s plan. He in the midst of a vast spreading of material creation planted a garden for man.

In Genesis God commands and creation responds over time following the natural laws He has set forth. Note in Scripture on day three note that "vegetation" is not a divine instant command of God where it appears magically at the instant God finishes speaking. Rather we are told God commands and "the land" is allowed to "produce" through processes governed by Divine laws of nature. 

Genesis 1:11

11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. NIV

Every plant, animal, bird, fish, insect, bacteria, virus, atom, molecule and element fulfilled a purpose in God’s itinerary. While an observer may initially deduce all happens randomly by chance the creation does not operate under a theistic evolution as others claim. Nothing is by accident or chance. Rather the greatest to smallest part fulfills the will of the Father in controlled activity. Throughout the Bible we find God telling mankind the message He is in complete control of every part of this creation. As Divine God works in and around the free choices and events of the created to do His will.

Psalms 148:1-8

Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

Praise Him in the heights!

2 Praise Him, all His angels;

Praise Him, all His hosts!

3 Praise Him, sun and moon;

Praise Him, all stars of light!

4 Praise Him, highest heavens,

And the waters that are above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of the LORD,

For He commanded and they were created.

6 He has also established them forever and ever;

He has made a decree which will not pass away.

7 Praise the LORD from the earth,

Sea monsters and all deeps;

8 Fire and hail , snow and clouds;

Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;

NASB (Emphasis mine)

 

Daniel 4:34-35

34 "But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

35 "And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,

But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth;

And no one can ward off His hand

Or say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?' NASB (Emphasis mine)

The interventions of God upon the creation may be small or large. They may take years of man’s time to occur or appear fully organized in an instant. The control of God over this universe is seen in the ability to turn water into wine, calm storms, know thoughts of others, prepare distant kingdoms over time to execute His judgment, heal disease ravaged bodies or even bring the dead back to life. Sometimes these miracles were instantaneous and others done over a period of time. He knows the choices of man and even will raise up evil opposition to highlight His power. Even so God’s Divine interventions from the beginning of this creation are the same. His methods are varied but His purpose is the same.

Some may claim that creation over billions of years lessons the power of the Almighty One God. Why would God take so long to create the essential building blocks and environment for life to exist? No one knows for God’s ways are beyond our ways and past finding out. Yet one should realize as one author[13] put it, "To that there is no full answer, although we must be clear such a process enhances rather than lessons God’s creative power...Indeed, such an intricate, patient and elegant process can truly be seen as part of the ‘heaven declaring the glory of God’ (Ps. 19:1)."

While it must be said that not all of sciences estimates about aging of our universe are absolutely accurate, observations gleaned still support the Biblical account of the order of the current creation. God's Word gives a genealogy for man of about 5700 years from Adam to present. Secular science armed with Carbon 14 dating and estimated ages of geological layers upon the earth now move this back to 40,000 to 50,000 years expanding out of the region of the earth now known as Africa and even 90,000 years ago out of caves of Israel. The discrepancy comes because secular science fails to understand and take into account the effects of the flood of Genesis 6, the accelerated continental drift that occurred over one hundred years later to balance a wobbling earth off axis and the  slow loss of the annular ring system surrounding the earth over several hundreds of years after the flood.

Genesis 2:4-7

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth; and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. NASB (Emphasis mine)

 

Genesis 6:13

13 Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. NASB

 

Genesis 7:1-4

1Then the Lord said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household; for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. 2 You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; 3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." NASB (Emphasis mine)

 

Genesis 7:10-12

10 And it came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. 12 And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. NASB (Emphasis mine)

 

Genesis 11:1-9

11 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 And they said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth. NASB

(Emphasis mine)

 

Genesis 10:21-26

21 And also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram. 23 And the sons of Aram were Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash. 24 And Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber. 25 And two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. NASB (Emphasis mine)

So what is a simple explanation for Carbon 14 dating methods and the effects of the aforementioned events upon it? Solar radiation converts Nitrogen 14 to Carbon 14 in the atmosphere. This combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide which is taken up in plants. As living things eat plants this Carbon 14 isotope achieves a steady state level with that of the rest of the planet. Upon death Carbon 14 is no longer maintaining levels but decreases over time due to the fact that Carbon 14 is an unstable isotope that slowly changes back to Nitrogen 14. The amount of time for the concentration to reduce by one half is 5770 years. Thus by simple calculations using ratios of the initial planetary concentration if known compared with the current concentration one can estimate the age of the tested material at time of death. 

The key to accuracy is the concentration of Carbon 14 at the time of death and the accuracy of measurements in current samples. The Annular Vapor Ring System of the earth described in Genesis reduced the amount of the isotope Carbon 14 in living things. Modern science makes a gross equation error in forgetting that an Annular Ring System would reduce those levels of Carbon 14 at the time of death thus reducing the calculated age for things that died prior to the flood and several hundred years after the flood until solar radiation exposure to the whole atmosphere increased Carbon 14 to our current levels. Such a reduction would reduce the age of modern man to Biblical explanations. God's Word is always right. 

 

 

Man after the flood actually saw these changes and they are contained in the  most ancient thoughts recorded in ancient recorded legends we often call Mythology. A little over a century  after the language confusion of the scattering of mankind in the days of the Tower of Babel accelerated continental drift spread mankind apart.  The resulting peoples while distant from one another all told historical stories of past experiences over generations. Subsequently these stories all evolved over time being combined with polytheistic thought and superstition. The powerful changing forces of nature observed were believed to be gods themselves receiving names. People began describing these earthly changes in terms of daily human experience due to a lack of understanding. We still do the same today describing natural occurrences in our world with imaginary people such as Jack Frost, Old Man Winter, The Sand Man, Mother Nature, The Tooth Fairy, or the Grim Reaper. Only in the last few hundred years we have learned not to credit powerful unexplained phenomenon to gods. Our oldest records[14] from the Kojiki of the Japanese, the Vadas of ancient India, the mysteries of Egypt, ancient Greek and Roman legend and word root meanings as well as Scandinavian thought all share the same natural global changes in observations that are credited to the rise and fall of gods described in human experiences.

But even if one discounts our  historical documents of human experience recorded in legends of scattered peoples science still supports a Creative Designer explanation. While secular scientific genetic analysis[15] previously revealed all mankind appeared around 20,000 to 30,000 years ago with more recent estimates of 40,000 to 90,000 years [16]  it still supports that man came from a single pair that appears in the creation almost instantly.  Science also proves the impossibility of evolution from other less organized species.

So why was a similar being like Neanderthal  made? If one believes in Dinosaurs it is time also to accept the evidence of Neanderthal and other older species of hominids being discovered. It is just like moving from the sun revolving around the earth to the earth revolving around the sun. Evidence finally gets so great it cannot be refuted. The current knowledge base is far from that suggested in anti-evolution publications of the past such as Big Daddy?  This old anti-evolution tract circulated since the 1960s makes many false assumptions about the message and findings of present day Science.

The genetic analysis[17] of Neanderthal reveals progression from common progenitor pairs about 1.5 million years ago that again does not come from other contributors.  Remember this time is probably less due to lower pre-Genesis flood levels of Carbon 14. They appear at a particular point. Genetic analysis and skeletal morphology[18] of Neanderthal man in comparison to modern man finds there is no way the two distinct creations are related. Neanderthal is a separate mammal that did not show organized behavior of possession of an eternal spirit by burying their dead or other acts reflecting thoughts upon an afterlife.

Scientific research is also finding Neanderthal and modern man as two distinct members of the same species that overlapped each other in time and geographical ranges on the earth. Thus logically  the descendants of Adam and Eve were living in close proximity together up until the flood of Genesis. When one begins to ponder on this potential cultural interaction with modern humans this brings possible new light on why Neanderthal was not brought onto the ark with Dinosaurs  and many other living creatures in evidence today. Remember the Dinosaurs were not extinct for as long as thought due to error in Carbon 14 dating and overlapped time with modern man. In fact modern man as descendants of Adam and Eve are but one of many similar species that God created over time in preparing the earth for His redemptive plan. The difference was an eternal spirit in God's image, yet modern man was still "flesh" that served a temporary purpose according to God in Genesis 6:3.

It is possible that the "Nephilim"[19] (KJV "giants") prior to the flood of Genesis referred to these other species of man and not as often conjectured cohabitation with angels or the descendants of Seth with those of Cain. The word means a bully or tyrant. It does not mean necessarily tall as inferred by the King James translators use of the word "giant."  Perhaps the fleshly wickedness that God ended in disapproval was interbreeding between the existing species of that day in wanton violation of His Kingdom laws and commands. Such children from cohabitation with Neanderthal would give great physical advantage over the children of the more frail modern man in a planet "filled with violence." God's protection of Noah in the arc preserved what is still seen today as a pure genetic line from Adam. The Genesis flood is the reason science can find no genetic contribution of Neanderthal to present day humans.

Genesis 6:1-13

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 And the Lord said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

13 Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. NASB

(Emphasis mine)

Other examples abound revealing careful creative design over long periods of time. The fossil record shows thousands of extinct species of plant and animal that fulfilled their time on the earth and then disappeared. Many of these now the fossil fuels required by modern man for energy today. My computer that I type on at present and the heat in my home is provided by the burning of coal converted to electrical energy some twenty five miles away. Yet even though it appears God worked over a very long time in some matters note that all of the fossils that represent the twenty-four phylum appear at once.

Many simple conclusions can be made from observations in every field of Science. Cosmology data suggest our special atmosphere is perfectly matched for life by the presence of our moon and millions of meteors that contribute and maintain the essential balance of the thin atmosphere each year. The distance of the earth from our sun and other large and dangerous areas of the universe was no accident. These few things mentioned are but a sample of discoveries of finely tuned creative results that enable the life modern man lives today that could fill book after book. The earth and universe were Divinely prepared for the creation of man. At the smallest to largest level Divine adjustments to assemble an habitable ecosystem are constantly made even from the beginning of Genesis 1:1. God at the right moment and time masterfully injects, maintains or withdraws needed species, necessary material, or governs specific events to prepare the world for man and His coming as flesh into the world by man. More will be said of this necessary but temporary form of flesh in chapter Word Made Flesh.

God even inspects the results of each commanding intervention into the creation. While everything formed was "good"[20] it still lacked God’s light energy and eternal duration from the beginning. Creation still suffered "from its bondage to decay" because the Father was not present. Even the spirit possessing man was not eternal perfection having to depend on the breakdown of other parts of the creation for energy to sustain life. He had to eat of trees of the garden. In the perfection of eternity nothing ever breaks down, wears out or survives by absorbing the energy of other parts of the creation. More of this truth is discussed in chapter With What Body Do They Come? and God With Us Celebration - The New Heaven and The New Earth. God’s evaluation as good simply refers to the fulfillment of His purpose. While a temporary situation from the beginning the creation satisfied His design and plan of redemption. Nowhere are we told everything was "perfect" without decay already in progress or having eternal life and being as new earth creation theory often claims.

This temporary domain operates differently than the eternal. Even before the sin of Adam and Eve in this world the trees God made for man needed nutrients to bring forth fruit. No doubt bacteria, fungi, heat and light efficiently decayed other parts of the creation for the trees to grow. This growth required the death and decomposition of other parts of creation. The building blocks of the trees had to come from the breakdown of other sources of the creation. Much of the vast energy resources we utilize today God made for today’s use over millions of year of decay. Man was designed to survive in very narrow intricate balance of a controlled decay of creation even before the sin in the garden God prepared. This decaying creation groans to return to God the Father’s life sustaining Light and energy of the eternal. All function and existence is not as it was before Satan’s fall.

The creation in Genesis is far from perfection like the New Heaven and the New Earth to come. There is no "paradise lost." Nothing in Scripture alludes to a return to anything like the existence Adam and Eve experienced in the garden prepared by God prior to the sin of man. Such is the last days philosophy of the scoffers where heaven is viewed as a supercharged perfection of this world. The Bible shares how in the creations imperfection of separation, God decided to manage His house in good stewardship over this season of time to His advantage for a great loving plan. Within the full framework of creation’s time of this age, God the Father would gather it all back together as one by Christ. In God the Father’s will, He would send His Son and continually draw the creation to Himself by God the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:10

10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment-to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. NIV

The goal of this book is that you prayerfully in spiritual understanding from God consider Relative Time Creation Theory that our God may be seen for Who He really is - steady, eternal, dependable, purposed, proven, faithful. He as Sovereign is in complete control whereby He works in and around all decisions and events to fulfill His will. Creation was not a knee jerk rapid hip shot turned bad by an unproven inexperienced new rookie. Over just seven days - six days of creating and a day of rest - He makes the present heavens and earth and completes His plan of judgment upon sin. Sin in His Kingdom necessitated this venture as seen next in chapter Like Us Knowing Good and Evil. By it He provides a way to save all that will come to Himself through Jesus Christ sent into the world.

 

Chapter 4       Chapter 6   Chapter Time Link Map

 

Endnotes

[1] Relative Time Creation is to be distinguished from other theories of origin as seen in Appendix 6 Comparison of Creation Theories Chart. Gap theory developed in the 19th century. In Gap theory time is constant with a gap in time to explain the earth’s apparent age theologically and scientifically. New earth creation denies this gap still holding to constant equal time between God the Father and creation. It is varied little from Day-Age Theory mainly by the addition of material creation events prior to Genesis 1:1 of Eden past and application of time in all God's relationships with creation past, present and future. Presently time is relative to perspectives of divided heaven and earth.

[2] Hagopian, David G. The G3N3S1S Debate three views on the days of creation (Crux Pres, 2001)

[3]  Ross, Hugh. A Matter of Days Resolving A Creation Controversy (Navpress, 2004)
[4] Day: yowm OT:3117 yowm —
day, time, year
a) a day (as opposed to night)
b) a day (24 hour period)
1) as defined by evening and morning in Gen 1
2) as a division of time; a working day, a day's journey
c) days, lifetime (plural)
d) time, period (general)
e) year
f) temporal references
1) today
2) yesterday
3) tomorrow
The Online Bible Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon,1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research

[5] DAY: yom OT:3117, "daylight; day; time; moment; year." This word also appears in Ugaritic, extrabiblical Hebrew or Canaanite (e. g., the Siloam inscription), Akkadian, Phoenician, and Arabic. It also appears in post-biblical Hebrew. Attested at every era of biblical Hebrew, yom occurs about 2,304 times.

Yom has several meanings. The word represents the period of "daylight" as contrasted with nighttime: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" Gen 8:22. The word denotes a period of twenty-four hours: "And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day..." Gen 39:10. Yom can also signify a period of time of unspecified duration: "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" Gen 2:3. In this verse, "day" refers to the entire period of God's resting from creating this universe. This "day" began after He completed the creative acts of the seventh day and extends at least to the return of Christ. Compare Gen 2:4: "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day [beyom] that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens...." Here "day" refers to the entire period envisioned in the first six days of creation. Another nuance appears in Gen 2:17, where the word represents a "point of time" or "a moment": "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day [beyom] that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Finally, when used in the plural, the word may represent "year": "Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year [yamim]" Ex 13:10.

There are several other special nuances of yom when it is used with various prepositions. First, when used with ke ("as," "like"), it can connote "first": "And Jacob said, Sell me this day [first] thy birthright" Gen 25:31. It may also mean "one day," or "about this day": "And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business..." Gen 39:11. On Joseph's lips, the phrase connotes "this present result" (literally, "as it is this day"): "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" Gen 50:20. Adonijah used this same phrase to represent "today": "Let king Solomon swear unto me today that he will not slay his servant..." 1 Kings 1:51. Yet another nuance appears in 1 Sam 9:13: "Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him." When used with the definite article ha, the noun may mean "today" (as it does in Gen 4:14) or refer to some particular "day" 1 Sam 1:4 and the "daytime" Neh 4:16.

The first biblical occurrence of yom is found in Gen 1:5: "And God called the light day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." The second use introduces one of the most debated occurrences of the word, which is the duration of the days of creation. Perhaps the most frequently heard explanations are that these "days" are 24 hours long, indefinitely long (i. e., eras of time), or logical rather than temporal categories (i. e., they depict theological categories rather than periods of time).

The "day of the Lord" is used to denote both the end of the age (eschatologically) or some occurrence during the present age (non-escha- tologically). It may be a day of either judgment or blessing, or both (cf. Isa 2).

It is noteworthy that Hebrew people did not divide the period of daylight into regular hourly periods, whereas nighttime was divided into three watches Ex 14:24; Judg 7:19. The beginning of a "day" is sometimes said to be dusk Est 4:16 and sometimes dawn Deut 28:66-67. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

[6] Hayward, Allen. Creation and Evolution: Rethinking the Evidence from Science and the Bible (Bethany House Publishers), 1995,.p.70

[7] Schroeder, Gerald. The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom (Broadway, 1997), p. 61.

[8] Spirit OT:7307 ruwach (roo'-akh); from OT:7306; wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions):

KJV - air, anger, blast, breath, cool, courage, mind, quarter, side, spirit ([-ual]), tempest, vain, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).

hovered rachaph (raw-khaf'); a primitive root; to brood; by implication, to be relaxed: KJV - flutter, move, shake.

Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary,1994, 2003, Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.

[9] Schroeder, Gerald. Genesis And The Big Bang (Bantam, 1992), p. 94

[10] Image: NASA, Galaxy M83, similar size and shape to the Milky Way

[11] Schroeder, Gerald. The Hidden Face of God (Touchtone, 2001), p. 40

[12] Schroeder, Gerald. The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom (Broadway, 1997), p. 32.

[13] Jeeves, Malcolm A. & R. J. Berry. Science, Life, and Christian Belief A Survey of Contemporary Issues ( Baker,1988), p. 91

[14] Winslow, Alexander. The Deluge Its Cause and Effects. (Squires Publishing, Devon, Great Britain), p.19-33.

[15] Ross, Hugh. The Genesis Question (Navpress, 2001), p.107-115

[16] History of Our Family Tree. History World. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?paragraphid=ccu#ccu

"Another discovery supporting the 'out of Africa' theory is the date given by new technology to human remains found in the 1930s in caves at Skhul and Qafzeh, in modern Israel. They are of anatomically modern people, similar to ourselves, but they are now known to have lived about 90,000 years ago.
Modern humans spread through Asia (and even reach Australia) by 50,000 years ago, and appear in western Europe 35,000 years ago. The people of Skhul and Qafzeh live, much earlier, in the first habitable region on the land route from Africa. This does seem to cast them as ancestral figures on a long and slow second journey out of Africa."

[17] Green, Richard E. et. al. "Analysis of one million pairs of Neanderthal DNA" Nature Vol 444/ November 16, 2006.

[18] Wilford, John N. "Fully Assembled at Last, Neanderthal Strides Onstage" The New York Times. December 31, 2002. 

[19] Nephilim OT:5303 lyp!n= nephiyl (nef-eel'); or nephil (nef-eel'); from OT:5307; properly, a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant:

KJV - giant. Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators

[20] GOOD tob OT:2896, "good; favorable; festive; pleasing,; pleasant; well; better; right; best." This word appears in Akkadian, Aramaic, Arabic, Ugaritic, and Old South Arabic. Occurring in all periods of biblical Hebrew, it appears about 559 times. This adjective denotes "good" in every sense of that word. For example, tob is used in the sense "pleasant" or "delightful": (from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright (c)1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Meditation and Discussion Questions

Today’s Date:

1. Does the Apostle John calling this the first heaven and earth mean nothing could have existed before this one? Why? 

 

 

2. What conditions keep man from seeing God the Father today?

 

3. What part of God’s Divine nature comes to the darkness apart from the Father initially?

 

4. What does the picture given in Genesis 1:2 reveal about the activity of the Holy Spirit upon the early universe?


5. What evidence can man see today that suggests the universe is vastly spread out? 


6. Did this spreading of space and matter include time?

 

7. Is the Divinely tuned inflationary activity of God upon the universe permanent? Why?


8. What Divine attributes about Himself does God want us to discover as we look at the creation?

 

9. Which creation theory includes both Divine nature and eternal power in harmony of the Bible?

 

10. Does God always create or work instantly?

 

11. Does work patiently over time lesson God’s power or enhance it? Explain.

 

12. Does God’s evaluation of "good" mean everything was perfect to last forever?

 

13. How old is man from Bible genealogy and how can previous states of the earth in the Annular Vapor Ring system described in Genesis change Carbon 14 dating to agree with Biblical accounts?

 

 

14. Given the mounting evidence of Neanderthal with more near complete skeletal specimens and documented diverse genetic makeup different than modern man is there enough evidence to start convincing Biblical followers to change from recent creation to ancient creation just as over the last several hundred years changes were made to accept the earth revolving around the sun and the existence of Dinosaurs?

 

15. What distinguishes Relative Time Creation Theory from other creation popular Christian theories such as "Creation Science Theory ," "Gap-Theory," and "Day-Age Theory"?

 

 

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