Gen.
1:20-2:4: “Creation, Where The Cosmos Came From, Part 2”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study
we looked at verses 1-19 of chapter 1.
1.1.1. In that study we looked at the history of what is
called “cosmology” as well as several different cosmological theories
concerning how everything in the universe came about.
1.1.2. We discussed whether or not we have an “old earth”
or a “young earth.”
1.1.3. We looked at what “space” consists of and the
properties of both space and time, considering especially Einstein’s theory of
“General Relativity.”
1.1.4. I proposed to you a theory of “cosmology” that
I think is the most plausible for explaining how God might have created
everything that exists. The “Starlight
And Time” theory I expounded upon was created by Dr. Russell Humphrey in
the 1950s. We saw that his ideas were
centered around various scriptures and what they tell us about how God created
everything. We discussed that the Bible
is not a science text book, yet we believe that it is inspired by God and
infallible in its accuracy, therefore that we should presume that when it
speaks of things of a scientific nature that it would be accurate. Here were some of the scriptures upon which
this theory is based:
1.1.4.1.Creation occurred in a literal 6 days: Exodus 20:11, “11 “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the
sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it
holy.”
1.1.4.2.During Creation the Lord stretched out the
heavens: Isaiah 40:21-22, “21 Do you not know? Have you
not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not
understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a
curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.” Jeremiah
10:12, “12 It is He who made the earth by His power, Who
established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched
out the heavens.”
1.1.4.3.The elements were formed
out of water: 2 Peter 3:5, “5 For when they maintain this, it
escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long
ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.”
1.1.4.4.The universe is not infinite because the Lord tells us
that He counts the stars and has given a name to each of them, yet His wisdom
is infinite (the Hebrew word means countable): Psalm 147:4-5, “4 He counts the number of
the stars; He gives names to all of them. 5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His
understanding is infinite.”
1.2.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verses 20 of chapter 1 through verse 4 of
chapter 2.
1.2.1. In our first study, we discussed the background for
the book of Genesis, then in our last study we discussed the first four days of
creation (verses 1-19 of chapter 1).
Today, we are going to finish our study of the creation events. However, before we go any further I want to go
back and emphasize some things relating to what we have discussed before.
1.2.2. I previously mentioned that in the very first verse of
chapter 1 of Genesis that the name for God used was “Elohim” in the
Hebrew which is a plural noun which is used in a singular sense. The plurality of this noun acting in the
singular sense is an indicator of the Trinity.
However, I want to point out that this is the only Hebrew word that is
used for God in this entire creation account (that which goes until verse 4 of
chapter 2).
1.2.3. In each of the creations of God, the creation account
says that the Lord created each according to their “kind” and this is
most likely a word that refers to “species,” with each having its own
unique DNA structure.
1.2.4. I stated that I believe that the scripture clearly
indicates a young earth, one possibly about 6,000 years old. However, I neglected to mention that another
proof for this is the fact that there are no recorded histories of peoples that
existed prior to about 3,000 years ago.
You would think that if mankind existed long before this date that there
might have been preserved some sort of historical records of these peoples and
their dealings.
1.2.5. When we discussed the authorship of the first five
books of the Bible, we stated that all of the ancients, including those from of
the three largest religions on the earth (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)
agreed that Moses was the author of these books, including the book of
Genesis. We mentioned also that though
the book of Genesis was written by Moses that he was not alive when any of the
events in the book occurred. Therefore,
we have to surmise that the Lord had given him information, or literally
dictated his hands manually as he was writing, so that he could write these
details, in particular in relation to the creation events. However, as preparation for our study today I
want us to consider the fact that it is considered by most good Bible
commentators today that Moses most likely had previously compiled genealogies
and historical accounts which were available to him from which he wrote much of
the history of the book of Genesis. The
first compilation will be mentioned at the end of our study today. These compilations are referred to as “books”
in some places by Moses, and in each case he refers to “the generations”
of a particular era. So, taking this
from Henry M. Morris’ Genesis commentary, here are the compilations or “books”
from which it is believed that Moses was able to compile his genealogies and
historical details:
1.2.5.1.Genesis 2:4, “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.”
1.2.5.1.1.These events were most
likely mechanically dictated to Moses by the Holy Spirit.
1.2.5.2.Genesis 5:1, “1 This is the book of the generations
of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.”
1.2.5.2.1.These events were most
likely recorded by Noah in some sort of a book.
1.2.5.3.Genesis 6:9, “9 These are the records of the
generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah
walked with God.”
1.2.5.3.1.These events were most
likely recorded by Shem in some sort of a book.
1.2.5.4.Genesis 10:1, “1 Now these are the records of the
generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to
them after the flood.”
1.2.5.4.1.These events were most
likely recorded by Terah the father of Abraham.
1.2.5.5.Genesis 11:10, “10 These are the records of the
generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of
Arpachshad two years after the flood.”
1.2.5.5.1.These events were most
likely recorded by Terah the father of Abraham.
1.2.5.6.Genesis 11:27, “27 Now these are the records of the
generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran
became the father of Lot.”
1.2.5.6.1.These events were most
likely recorded by Abraham.
1.2.5.7.Genesis 25:12, “12 Now these are the records of the
generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid,
bore to Abraham.”
1.2.5.7.1.These events were most
likely recorded by Isaac.
1.2.5.8.Genesis 25:19, “19 Now these are the records of the
generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham became the father of Isaac.”
1.2.5.8.1.These events were mostly
likely recorded by Jacob (
1.2.5.9.Genesis 36:1, “1 Now these are the records of the
generations of Esau (that is,
1.2.5.10.Genesis 36:9, “9 These then are the records of the
generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.”
1.2.5.10.1.These events were most
likely recorded by Joseph, the son of Jacob.
1.2.5.11.Genesis 37:2, “2 These are the records of the
generations of Jacob. Joseph,
when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he
was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah,
his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their
father.”
1.2.5.11.1.These events were most likely recorded by Ephraim or
Manassah, the sons of Joseph.
1.2.6. We saw also that the first quote from the Lord in the
Bible was found in Gen. 1:3 in which He said, “Let there be light.” We know also that the scripture tells us that
God is light (1 John 1:5), that He
dwells in “unapproachable light which no man has seen or can see” (1
Tim. 6:16), and that in the new heavens and earth and the New Jerusalem that
will descend from heaven that the Lord Himself will be the light source (Rev.
21:23). Therefore, I want to spend just
a moment and discuss some of the properties of light :
1.2.6.1.Light is both a particle
stream (photons) and an electromagnetic wave, with all wave characteristics.
1.2.6.1.1.You can see kind of how
wave theory works by throwing rocks in a calm pond of water noticing how waves
emanate from the rock and the cancel and combine with each other when more
rocks are thrown into the water.
1.2.6.2.Observations of the speed
of light.:
1.2.6.2.1.If an object moving in
direction X at a velocity Z observed an object moving at the speed of light,
and a second object some distance away from the first object moving in the same
direction X at a velocity of Z2 observed that same object, it would also observe
it moving at the speed of light. This indicates that there is no parallax
measurement that can be taken of light.
1.2.6.2.2.If an object was moving
towards you at 2/3rd the speed of light and it were to fire a
missile directly at you at 2/3rd times its speed, that missile would
be coming towards you at less than the speed of light.
1.2.6.2.3.The speed of light cannot
be exceeded.
1.2.6.2.4.Because Light is an
electromagnetic wave it is affected by magnetic fields and thus can bend,
exhibits interference from other wavelengths, reflects off of certain medium,
and can be refracted into its various wavelengths (such as a prism does).
1.2.6.2.5.Photons contain all
information in the entire bandwidth of light and therefore lack locality, plus they
can be absorbed by certain medium, and they can create electrical currents and
act as an other energy force and push and move objects.
1.2.6.2.6.Chuck Missler gives the following analogous attributes
between God and light:
|
Analogous Attributes Between God And light |
|
|
God |
Light |
|
Located at infinity |
Cannot measure parallax
angle |
|
Infinite power |
Velocity limit |
|
Omnipresence |
Photons lack locality |
|
Omniscience |
Fundamental revelatory
mechanism |
1.2.7. In our past study, we
concentrated on the “Starlight And Time” theory of cosmology which
depended upon Einstein’s theory of “General Relativity” to show how that
because time varies from one gravitational field to another that God could have
created a white hole that shot matter to all parts of the universe which would
cause time from far distant stars to have passed very rapidly in comparison to
earth’s passage of time in a high gravitational zone. But there is more to the story concerning the
passage of time. Concerning time: It
is relative and varies due to mass, acceleration, gravity, as well as other
things. { Einstein’s theory of General relativity indicates that time
is affected by gravitational fields (as we saw in our last study). According to Einstein’s theory of “Special
Relativity” time varies according to acceleration and velocity. An
astronaut who travels at a high rate of speed will age more slowly than someone
on earth during that same period of time that the astronaut is gone because time
slows with greater speed and acceleration. }
1.2.8. As we continue through our
study of the book of Genesis one of the things that we are going to concentrate
upon is finding “types” that are fulfilled in the New Testament, for the
book of Genesis is full of “types.”
We are specially going to look for “types” of Christ in the
book.
1.2.9. In our study today, we are going to conclude the fifth
and sixth days of creation in which God created all of the animals, creeping
things, creatures of the oceans, and man himself.
1.2.10.We will see that on the seventh day that God rested
from His creative works, and what we can imply from this.
2.
VS 1:20-23 - “20
Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and
let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” 21 God created the great sea monsters and every
living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and
every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the
earth.” 23 There was evening and
there was morning, a fifth day.” - God creates
the fish and living creatures of the sea, the birds of the air, great sea
monsters, and every living creature that moves, and the fifth day passes
2.1.
In our previous
study, I stated that I did not accept the “Mature Creation” theory of
creation, which is the idea that everything in the universe was created to look
as if it was old. This theory would
state that the light from stars that has traveled billions of years to the
earth just appeared to be old because God miraculously created it to look that
way. This theory also states that
everything on the earth that appears to look old was created to look aged. I stated that I thought that God would not do
this because He is not a stealthy God, He has created physical laws which
govern the ways things act in the universe, and because this would discourage
scientific observation and study because the scientist would always wonder if
what he was seeing was really just a farce.
Well, now I am going to back track a little and explain that certain
aspects involving how God created everything would require us to assume that a
certain amount of a mature creation had occurred :
2.1.1. On the third day of creation we saw that God caused
the flowers, plants, vegetation, and trees to be planted (each with its own
genetic DNA code which defines its species), however these elements most likely
could not have grown unless the Lord had first created top soil and sand (those
things that are normally created through the process of erosion). So, the Lord could have created this matured
aspect of the soil before He planted these seeds which grew up in a day all
over the world. However, I suppose it
would be possible for the seeds themselves which would be sprouting all over
the earth at that time could have created the top soil and sand as they grew.
2.1.2. When it comes now to this fifth day of creation, it
appears that the Lord had to create all of the animals and creatures mentioned
here in their full adult stage. The
process of growth of animals involves eating, sleeping, excreting, and physical
exertion and there would be no natural way that these creatures could have
grown according to any natural sort of law during this one day of creation.
2.1.3. Both Adam and Eve were created as full size adults in
a mature creation sense.
2.2.
Interestingly,
one of the types of creatures that we are told is created on this day is called
the ‘great
sea monsters,’ and this word in the
Hebrew (pronounces “taneen”) can mean a “dragon, sea monster, or
dinosaur.” This verse has caused
many to wonder if the Bible is plainly telling us that the Lord created the
dinosaurs on this fifth day of creation.
2.2.1. One of the caveats involved in accepting a 6,000 year
old creation has to do with the fact that you then have dinosaurs living at the
same time as humans. However, that is
not as far fetched of a possibility as many think. First of all, there are cave dweller
hieroglyphics all over the world that seem to depict dinosaurs and even
dinosaurs being hunted by men. The
2.2.2. There also are a few places in scripture that seem to
refer to a dinosaur existing upon the earth alongside mankind, including these in
the book of Job that refer to creatures called “behemoth” and “leviathan”
:
2.2.2.1.Behemoth: Job 40:15-24, “15 “Behold now, Behemoth,
which I made as well as you; He eats grass like an ox. 16 “Behold now, his strength in his loins And his
power in the muscles of his belly. 17 “He bends his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs
are knit together. 18 “His bones are tubes of
bronze; His limbs are like bars of iron. 19 “He is the first of the ways of God; Let his maker
bring near his sword. 20 “Surely the mountains
bring him food, And all the beasts of the field play there. 21 “Under the lotus plants he lies down, In the
covert of the reeds and the marsh. 22 “The lotus plants cover him with shade; The willows of
the brook surround him. 23 “If a river rages, he is
not alarmed; He is confident, though the
2.2.2.1.1.Some Bible translations translate
this creature to be a hippopotamus or elephant because of some of the
characteristics mentioned here, however these animals do not have a tail that
is as strong as “cedar” tree, as perhaps a Brachiosaurus might have had
(they were ten times the size of a modern day elephant).
2.2.2.2.Leviathon: Job 41, “1 “Can you draw out Leviathan
with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord? 2 “Can you put a rope in his nose Or pierce his jaw
with a hook? 3 “Will he make many
supplications to you, Or will he speak to you soft words? 4 “Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take
him for a servant forever? 5 “Will you play with him
as with a bird, Or will you bind him for your maidens? 6 “Will the traders bargain over him? Will they
divide him among the merchants? 7
“Can you fill his skin with harpoons, Or his head with fishing spears? 8 “Lay your hand on him; Remember the battle; you
will not do it again! 9 “Behold, your expectation
is false; Will you be laid low even at the sight of him? 10 “No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him;
Who then is he that can stand before Me?
11 “Who has given to Me that
I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine. 12 “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, Or his
mighty strength, or his orderly frame. 13 “Who can strip off his outer armor? Who can come
within his double mail? 14 “Who can open the doors
of his face? Around his teeth there is terror. 15 “His strong scales are his pride,
Shut up as with a tight seal. 16 “One is so near to another That no air can come between
them. 17 “They are joined one to
another; They clasp each other and cannot be separated. 18 “His sneezes flash forth light, And his eyes are
like the eyelids of the morning. 19 “Out of his mouth go burning torches;
2.2.2.2.1.Some Bible translations translate this animal to be an
alligator or a crocodile, however these creatures are not “sea creatures”
as the leviathan in scripture, nor do they have armor that is impenetrable by
arrows and spears as the text states.
2.2.2.2.2.In verses 18-21 notice also that this creature
breathes out fire just as the many dragon legends depict, and other than the
Bombardier Beetle who uses fire to scare away predators there are no creatures
on the earth I am aware of that breathe out fire. Some people think that the same mechanism may
have been functional with some of the dinosaurs. We talked a couple of studies back about how
this beetle has two chemicals in its tail that when combined combust into
flames at about 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
The chemicals have an inhibitor mixed in with them that keep the beetle
from exploding if the chemicals should combine.
The beetle squirts these two chemicals together and then squirts and
anti-inhibitor which causes the chemicals to explode, thwarting away an attack
by a predator.
2.2.2.2.3.See also Psalm 104:25,26, Psalms 74:14, and Isaiah 27:1.
2.2.3. Though most dinosaurs were buried in the fossil layers
under the ocean during the great flood of the book of Genesis, it is believed
that these creatures were taken with Noah on the ark which the Lord commanded
him to build before the flood.
3.
VS 1:24-25 - “24
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their
kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and
it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the
earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that
creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.” - God brought forth living creatures after
their kind, cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind,
and God saw that it was good
3.1.
This account of
God creating probably refers to His creation not just of ‘cattle’ but of
all of the range and farm animals animals that are upon the earth, such as ‘cattle.’
3.2.
Note also that
snakes and insects appear to have been created on this day, those creeping
things upon the earth.
4.
VS 1:26-28 - “26
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and
over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His
own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them; and God
said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and
rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every
living thing that moves on the earth.”” - God says
‘Let Us make man in our image’ and likeness and let him rule over all of the
creatures, and God created them male and female
4.1.
Notice here that
the Hebrew word used for ‘man’ is the word pronounced “Adam,” the
name that God will choose for the first man.
4.2.
It was mentioned
previously that the Hebrew word for “God” that is used throughout this
creation account in the book of Genesis is the word “Elohim” which is a
plural noun with a singular use or action.
This fact is very important in this verse for notice the other plural
here when the Lord announces the creation of mankind, saying, “Let us.” This is a perfectly clear intimation of the
nature of the Trinity. God could not
have been speaking to angels at this time for mankind is not created in the
image of angels. He could only be
speaking of the internal dialog between the three persons of the godhead, the
Triune God.
4.3.
The ways in which
the “image of God” of God is observed in mankind are numerous. We are in God’s image because:
4.3.1. Of all of the animals upon the earth we have “consciousness”
and can think of ourselves apart from our environment.
4.3.2. We have a spirit within us that is unlike the spirit
that is in animals for when we die our spirit goes back to God whereas their’s
goes back to the earth: Ecclesiastes
3:21, “21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes
upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?” Ecclesiastes
12:7, “7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will
return to God who gave it.”
4.3.3. We can see, hear, smell, touch, and speak just as the
Lord does.
4.3.4. We are “free moral agents” and as such have “free
will” and can choose to do whatever we want to do with our lives at any
given point.
4.3.5. We can think and reason, plan and assess, and
communicate in sophisticated ways.
4.3.6. We are creative beings.
4.3.7. We have emotions and make facial expressions.
4.3.8. We have short and long term memories that for the most
part are pretty good.
4.3.9. We can choose to love or even hate, just as we desire.
4.3.10.We can understand God’s thoughts through His Spirit
and we can worship Him.
4.4.
God’s plan for
mankind includes to have dominance over all of the rest of creation, to subdue
it. This a military term here that is
translated ‘rule’ over all of creation.
4.5.
Though God
created many of every other species upon the earth when He created, He only
created one man and one female human species.
Therefore, God commanded Adam and Eve to ‘ be fruitful and multiply.’
4.6.
We always pray to
God as our “Father” and we are even taught by Jesus in His prayer to do so,
but notice that it is both ‘male’ and ‘female’ that were made in
the “image of God.” This means
that the nature of God has in some sense both a ‘male´ and a ‘female’
aspect or at least that God completely understands both sexes. This is something that “only” God
could do!
4.7.
Notice also that
man was the last of God’s creative works, and that each of His works were more
sophisticated. Mankind was part of God’s
mind and plan from all eternity, not an after thought. Therefore, it is very important that you
realize that what you do in your life has great importance in God’s plans and
purposes, as well as great consequences.
4.8.
It has been said
that in some respect God must relate to the nature of mankind because whenever
He has appeared to man it has been in the form of a man, including even Jesus
Christ. The supremacy of mankind in
God’s plans is also seen in the fact that God created man to have supremacy and
dominance over every other creature upon
the earth.
5.
VS 1:29-31 - “29
Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is
on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed;
it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the
earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth
which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
31 God saw all that He had
made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was
morning, the sixth day.” - The Lord
said that every plant that bears seed and every fruit is given to be food for
mankind and the beasts and the birds, and the sixth day of creation passed
5.1.
God gave all of
the plants, trees and food for all of His creatures to eat.
5.2.
Before the fall
into sin of mankind in the garden of Eden, all of the animals upon the earth
were herbivores. It was not until after
the fall that many animals began to have a taste for blood and eat meat.
6.
VS 2:1-3 - “1
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He
had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which
God had created and made.” - God rested
from His works on the seventh day and blessed and sanctified the seventh day
because on this day He rested from all of the His work
6.1.
Chapter one
should have included the text all of the way through verse 4 of chapter 2
because that verse concludes the week of God’s creation.
6.2.
God did not need
to rest from creation because He was tired from all of the work He had
performed creating everything. Rather,
God rested on the seventh day to enjoy His creation and to create a day of rest
for mankind each day of the week so that men would not work every day but have
a day in which to rest from earthly labors in order to worship and acknowledge
God in all of their life.
6.3.
In the book of
Hebrews in the New Testament, the author of that book makes an allegorical
application of these verses as he discusses the fact that there is a “Sabbath
rest” for those who believe in Jesus Christ and His finished work which He
completed when He created salvation from all of our sins upon
6.4.
The church began to assemble on Sundays, creating what
has been called “The Christian Sabbath,” because this was the day that
the Lord rose from the dead and the Lord appeared to His disciples on this day
and then a week later again on Sunday.
7.
VS 2:4 - “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.”
- Moses tells us that this is now the
account (or “generations” of the heavens and the earth when God created
them)
7.1.
This word
translated ‘account’ in this verse is the word used each other time in
the book of Genesis to indicate “generations” (this is how the KJV
translates this word) and thus Moses is telling us that this is the account of
the first “generations,” that is, those of the heavens and the earth.
8.
CONCLUSIONS:
8.1.
We need to
recognize that everything that we have comes to us from God.
8.2.
You are not an afterthought
but rather are central in God’s plans and purposes. What you do in your life really matters and
it has great consequences.