Humanity, over time has tried to explain the origin of everything through science, religion, culture etc. As a result, numerous theories and philosophies have been put forth trying to explain the source. The Christian theory of creation is laid down in general terms in the book of Genesis and throughout the entire Bible. A deeper scrutiny into the scriptures reveals the impeccable truth about the beginning which puts to rest the debate and addresses the various departure points between Christianity and other human efforts, especially science, seeking to explain the source.
Though our understanding of the scriptures may differ, God’s Word is absolute and hence remains the perfect immutable truth and reference point. God’s complete word is the aggregate of all scriptures which interpret and give life to each other. No way then that parts of the whole can be contradictory and yet make a perfect whole. What seems contradictory is that which does not reinforce our beliefs. We tend to bypass portions of scriptures that we do not understand to avoid controversies and stick to our own established and pre-perceived doctrines. In most cases, we interpret scriptures in line with our own pre-determined doctrines and inclinations. The Word of God is above all doctrines and therefore, the order should be Word first then doctrine, not the reverse. Nevertheless, salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and saviour.
James 1:5 NKJV
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”
Through empiricism and rationalism, science moves methodically from the known to the unknown. It involves the study of matter from the visible to the invisible in both directions: from the smallest- microcosmic to the largest -macrocosmic. The observation of matter in relation to other objects including both time and space reveals a complex algorithm in which physical laws and others combine to dictate the environment in which we live and the universe at large. Everything in the universe is a formula or a code connected to another through a law that governs their interactions. A look around us reveals formulas and equations in objects and laws of their interactions with others, intelligently working in tandem to produce the environment. Chemical equations of substances, physical laws which define motion, gravity, etc., immaterial laws, laws of logic, and morality all define human interactions with the environment.
All these laws and equations exist within a larger universal law which is the anchor that gives each individual law relevance. As scientists continue with their quest in the physical world, could it be that their efforts are just but a reverse engineering of what the Bible has already declared? Christians hold that the universe was spoken into existence. Therefore, in God’s divine speech; word, all the laws that form the universe exist and hold together. God’s divine speech set the laws of the universe in motion. Everything is bound by God’s word. Scientific discoveries are just part of what was set in motion by God’s divine speech. The totality of it is God’s word. God’s word is absolute and cannot be changed by science. There is nothing that science can discover that exists outside God’s word. Outside God’s word, there’s no existence. Science is a part study of God’s word as there are other elements of existence through God’s word that science has found no means to explain eg the spiritual realm, abstract matter, morality, logic etc.
John 1:1-3 NKJV
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
Hebrews 11:3 NKJV
“By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
Everything starts with and follows the divine speech ie the Word of God. It is in The Word, through the Word, and by the Word that the manifestable laws of the universe exist. Jesus being the personification of God’s word is the core of all existence in the universe. Using the law of cause and effects, science exists in the realm of the effects and only studies other effects. The realm of the cause is through Jesus who is the core and cause of all effects.
John 1:10 NKJV
“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”
John 1:14 NKJV
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”
Hebrews 1:1-2 NKJV
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.”
1 Colossians 1:15-16 NKJV
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And he is above all things, and in Him all things consist.”
The creation sequence in the book of Genesis elicits several debates among them being the age of the universe. Many Christians believe that the universe is around six thousand years old while scientific studies suggest billions of years. The right interpretation of the scriptures should be able to reconcile real scientific discoveries with the realm of the cause.
Genesis 1:1 NKJV
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:2 NKJV
“The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
The first verse of Genesis is a general statement of God’s creative work in the very beginning. The second verse is a description of the state of affairs at a certain point in time. It portrays a state of creation that is outrightly out of God’s intended order, will, and perfection, and in need of fixing. The Word of God is the epitome of perfection and him being the firstborn of all creation, it would follow that the beginning was perfectly perfect. Claiming Genesis chapter one verse two to be the initial creation point would be suggesting an imperfect beginning. It would be suggesting a chaotic beginning. The word of God in whom everything exists was complete in perfection at inception with all the elements in perfect balance. He was the source of the light for the creation and thus him being first, no creation happened in darkness.
Isaiah 45:18 NLT
“For the LORD is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the LORD,” he says, and there is no other.”
There is no way the first thoughts of an omniscient God would be chaos and then mitigation. His first thoughts and expression of them would be his perfect will. The beginning was his perfect will and in perfect order. What are the implications of Genesis 1:2? Scripture interprets scripture.
2 Peter 3:5-7 NKJV
“For this, they wilfully forget: that by the word of God, the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
The above verses are misinterpreted by many to mean Noah’s flood. Let’s see what other scriptures have to say.
Jeremiah 4:23-25 NKJV
I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form and void; And the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and the hills moved back and forth. I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, By his fierce anger.”
The above verses in the book of Jeremiah describe the same state of creation as described in Genesis 1:2. The image painted is one of apocalyptic events, which includes but is not limited to a flood that renders the earth chaotic and uninhabitable. If such is the case, then most certainly Genesis 1:2 onwards are efforts by God to restore order to a previously perfectly created earth thrown into chaos by the apocalyptic events.
Psalms 104:5-8 NKJV
“You laid the foundations of the earth so that it should not be moved forever, you covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke, they fled; at the voice of your thunder, they hastened away. They went up over the mountains; they went down into the valleys, To the place which you founded for them.”
Adoption of this approach to creation raises several questions which I hope to address using the scriptures. Going by Jeremiah 4:23-25 would be to imply a pre-adamic civilization that perishes in the apocalyptic events that happened. To avoid any contradictions, it is important to state that humankind in the image and likeness of God started with Adam. The first question then would be, who were the former inhabitants of the earth that perished?
Genesis 6:4 NKJV
“There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the Sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
When the above verse talks of the Nephilim (giants) in “those days” and also “afterward”, which is the time of reference? Many interpret this verse to mean before and after Noah’s flood. But this verse is way before Noah’s flood referencing the past and not the future. The time of reference is before and after the creation of the Adamic human race. The indication is that the pre-Adamic Nephilim race survived the catastrophic apocalyptic events and dwelt on Earth alongside the Adamic race. This Nephilim race seem also to have survived the Noah flood and continued to dwell on Earth. There is scriptural evidence of giants after Noah’s flood.
1 Chronicles 20:4 NKJV
“Now it happened afterward that war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines, at which time Sibbechai the Hushatite Killed Sippai, who was one of the sons of the giant.”
1 Chronicles 20:6 NKJV
“ Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, with twenty four fingers and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot; and he was born to the giant.”
Numbers 13:32 NIV
“And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Deuteronomy 9:1-2 NIV
“ Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 2 The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?
Deuteronomy 3:11 NKJV
“For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the [a]giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.
The second question would be, when did the fall of Lucifer and other like-minded angels happen? Was it before or after the creation of Adam? Even as we seek answers to these questions, we cannot ignore what the Bible says about the attributes of Lucifer, his character, and his dominion, and the circumstances surrounding his fall.
Isaiah 14:12-15 NKJV
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.
Ezekiel: 28:12-19 NKJV
“Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was [a]lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. “You defiled your sanctuaries
By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.”
From the scriptures, it is noticeable the perfection with which Lucifer had been created by God. In the very beginning, everything including Lucifer himself was perfect! No way then Genesis 1:2 would be the initial beginning. Worth noting also are the reasons for his fall. In addition to his obvious rebellion to God, his interactions with the nations were standout reasons for his fall. The fall having happened before Adam, therefore, indicates that there were nations, peoples or civilizations existing then, whom he corrupted.
Luke 10:18 NKJV
And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Revelation 12:7-9 NKJV
“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they [a]did not prevail, nor was a place found for [b]them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Before the fight in heaven as illustrated in Revelation 12:7-9, there’s a mystery woman and a child whom the dragon fights and seeks to devour.
Revelation 12:1-2 NKJV
“Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.”
Revelation 12:3-5 NKJV
“And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.”
While there are varying interpretations of the above verses, many avoid the verses altogether for fear of controversy. The first guide to proper interpretation is the period when these events are happening. This is the period during the fall of Lucifer and his lieutenants and thus should be before Adam. Who then is the Woman with the explicitly divine child? Let’s dive further into the scriptures.
Genesis 3:15 NKJV
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
This verse is the critical curse issued to the proverbial serpent after deceiving man. Clearly, it is pitting Satan against an authority objectified as a woman, while emphasizing on the authority’s masculine nature in its ability to bring forth seed. Throughout the Bible except in this verse, seed is attributed to the male creation.
Luke 1:34-35 NKJV
“Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
The person objectified by the woman with the divine child in Revelation 12:3-5, and the person referenced to as the woman with the seed in Genesis 3:15, is the same person whose seed is carried by Mary in Luke 1:34-35. That person is the Holy Spirit. The enmity declared in Genesis 3:15 between the serpent and the woman is enmity between the devil and the Holy Spirit extended to their respective seeds. A believer is born again of the Spirit thus becoming an adopted seed of the woman.
Let’s now go back to the events of Revelation 12:3-5 that happened before Adam. It can be concluded that just as the way Jesus, is the personification of God’s Word, the Woman in these verses is the personification of the Spirit of God; the Holy Spirit. The same way the personification of God’s word was physically in the world after Adam, the personification of the Spirit of God was physically in the world before Adam. This is the person the fallen dragon wages war against.
Revelation 12:13-17 NKJV
“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Indeed, the Spirit through David talked of this flood.
Psalms 69:1-3 NKJV
“Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God.”
Psalms 69:13-15 NKJV
“But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, Hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, And let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, And out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, Nor let the deep swallow me up; And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.”
The situation described in Revelation 12:13-17 is talked about by the Holy Spirit through David in a number of his psalms.
Psalms 124:4-7 NKJV
“Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; Then the swollen waters Would have gone over our soul.” Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped.”
Psalms 86:16 NKJV
“Oh, turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant, And save the son of your maidservant.”
Notice in the above verse that the prayer is for a woman and a son. The end of it is well captured in the verses below when the Holy Spirit spoke through David.
2 Samuel 22:5-25 NKJV
“When the waves of death surrounded me, The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry entered His ears. “Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry. Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet. He rode upon a cherub, and flew; And He was seen upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness canopies around Him, Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him Coals of fire were kindled. “The Lord thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice. He sent out arrows and scattered them;
Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, The foundations of the world were uncovered, At the rebuke of the Lord, At the blast of the breath of His nostrils. “He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me; For they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me. “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me; And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in His eyes.
Psalms 29:10 NKJV
“The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood, And the LORD sits as King forever.”
The above occurrences take us back to the situation in the second verse of Genesis chapter one where after the apocalyptic events which included a flood, the earth is in need of fixing.
Genesis 1:2 NKJV
“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
In this verse, there’s an end and a new beginning as illustrated in the foregoing. Depending on how many of our years are equivalent to God’s one day, while also putting into consideration that the cosmos as we know it was created on God’s fourth day, The earth and the universe could be billions of years old. Archaeological discoveries of fossils way older than Adam could be in agreement with the scriptures. The Word of God being the cause of all existence can not contradict the creation. Real and honest discoveries in the creation can only confirm the Word of God. It is in the Word of God that everything finds its individual identity and relevance to the whole. Jesus as the Word personified is thus the cause and core of all existence in whom everything consists.
John 14:6 NKJV
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Amen.
God so many answers of subjects that I had queries on eg who did Cain marry at the city of nod. The leviathan story too.. I feel at a better place to wind up reading the old testament for the second time.