I posted the other day on the Figures Of Speech and aside from misunderstandings resulting from those, one of the biggest issues in reading the Scriptures is folks forgetting how to read....Meaning, read the Bible just as you would anything else and follow the subject and object and then there will be no misunderstanding it. God's simplicity is as great as is His Truth.
There is much debate over "the beginning" and how it all came about, how old the earth is if you believe one way or the other, etc. The truly great thing about taking the Word back to the original languages and reading with understanding the subject and object of everything written...and not taking anything out of context...is that God's Word absolutely aligns with true and validated science without the need for "making" anything fit where it doesn't, or inventing science that isn't science (theory that hasn't been proven isn't science, it's a belief system). Evolution is just as much a belief system as those who believe in God the Creator and Creationism. The confusion for those on both sides of these belief systems lies in the misunderstanding of those first two simply stated verses in Genesis. No need for conflict, just understanding....
Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
Let me get this part out of the way and then we will delve into the w-h-a-t of it all. There are three earth and heaven ages: that which was in the beginning and was destroyed, that which is now in the present, and that which is yet to come in the eternity. The earth/heaven age that was, that first age, is what is spoken of in those first two verses. The earth/heaven age that is now, that second age, is what is covered in the rest of Genesis on the recreation of the earth. The earth/heaven age that is to come, that third and final age, is what is covered in the Scriptures of prophecy about the eternity after the Millennium and Judgment Day.
Peter, Jeremiah, and Proverbs all also speak of the 1st Earth Age. Note that the flood mentioned in II Peter 3:5-6 is not Noah's flood as God did not destroy the whole earth during that flood, just the wicked population (more on that in a future post). What is spoken of in II Peter 3:5-13 is the total destruction of that 1st Earth Age as well as the end of the 2nd Earth Age and the beginning of the new 3rd Earth Age to come.
II Peter 3:5-13 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Jeremiah 4:22-26 For My people is foolish, they have not known Me: they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
In this verse, just as in the verses above in Genesis, it is speaking of that 1st Earth Age. Jeremiah goes on in that chapter discussing God's anger and the total destruction of that first age. The word in Genesis 1:2 "was" should have been translated properly as "became" and "without form" as "waste" from the Manuscripts and would therefore read: the earth BECAME WASTE, and void. The earth that then was became nothing and then God decided to rebuild it, hence the subsequent chapters on just that. In Jeremiah 4:23 the words "without form, and void" is the very same from Genesis and in the Hebrew is tohu va-bohu. The earth that then was became void and without form, everything about that age was destroyed (unlike Noah's flood....again another post discussion). [For there to be something that "became void and without form", then logic dictates there was something prior to be voided.] God destroyed that first age as a result of Satan's fall (the katabole) and chose to rebuild the second age for His children to have free will choice without prior knowledge of that first age (more on this in a later post). It is the choices we make in this second age that determine our time in the third age.
Hebrews 12:25-29 See that ye refuse not Him That speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him That spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him That speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised saying, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven."
God shook the earth once (Satan's fall and the end of the 1st Earth Age) and He will shake it again (just prior to the 3rd Earth Age). Some resulting science from the destruction of the 1st Earth Age: Magnetic north (pole) is 90 miles off from true north. I believe that the Continental Drift theory can be proven with the shaking of the earth at that time as well as the sudden destruction and fossilization of the dinosaurs. The scientific, determined age of this earth in opposition to the age of this 2nd Earth Age from its creation in Genesis 1:3-31 are resolved in the knowledge of a 1st Earth Age which in its destruction has also provided our fossil fuels, etc.
The next posts in this "in the beginning" series of studies will cover Satan's overthrow, the 6th and 8th day man, the seedline to Christ and how Satan tried to impede it, Noah's flood, and probably more.....stay tuned!
There is much debate over "the beginning" and how it all came about, how old the earth is if you believe one way or the other, etc. The truly great thing about taking the Word back to the original languages and reading with understanding the subject and object of everything written...and not taking anything out of context...is that God's Word absolutely aligns with true and validated science without the need for "making" anything fit where it doesn't, or inventing science that isn't science (theory that hasn't been proven isn't science, it's a belief system). Evolution is just as much a belief system as those who believe in God the Creator and Creationism. The confusion for those on both sides of these belief systems lies in the misunderstanding of those first two simply stated verses in Genesis. No need for conflict, just understanding....
Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
Let me get this part out of the way and then we will delve into the w-h-a-t of it all. There are three earth and heaven ages: that which was in the beginning and was destroyed, that which is now in the present, and that which is yet to come in the eternity. The earth/heaven age that was, that first age, is what is spoken of in those first two verses. The earth/heaven age that is now, that second age, is what is covered in the rest of Genesis on the recreation of the earth. The earth/heaven age that is to come, that third and final age, is what is covered in the Scriptures of prophecy about the eternity after the Millennium and Judgment Day.
Peter, Jeremiah, and Proverbs all also speak of the 1st Earth Age. Note that the flood mentioned in II Peter 3:5-6 is not Noah's flood as God did not destroy the whole earth during that flood, just the wicked population (more on that in a future post). What is spoken of in II Peter 3:5-13 is the total destruction of that 1st Earth Age as well as the end of the 2nd Earth Age and the beginning of the new 3rd Earth Age to come.
II Peter 3:5-13 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Jeremiah 4:22-26 For My people is foolish, they have not known Me: they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
In this verse, just as in the verses above in Genesis, it is speaking of that 1st Earth Age. Jeremiah goes on in that chapter discussing God's anger and the total destruction of that first age. The word in Genesis 1:2 "was" should have been translated properly as "became" and "without form" as "waste" from the Manuscripts and would therefore read: the earth BECAME WASTE, and void. The earth that then was became nothing and then God decided to rebuild it, hence the subsequent chapters on just that. In Jeremiah 4:23 the words "without form, and void" is the very same from Genesis and in the Hebrew is tohu va-bohu. The earth that then was became void and without form, everything about that age was destroyed (unlike Noah's flood....again another post discussion). [For there to be something that "became void and without form", then logic dictates there was something prior to be voided.] God destroyed that first age as a result of Satan's fall (the katabole) and chose to rebuild the second age for His children to have free will choice without prior knowledge of that first age (more on this in a later post). It is the choices we make in this second age that determine our time in the third age.
Hebrews 12:25-29 See that ye refuse not Him That speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him That spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him That speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised saying, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven."
God shook the earth once (Satan's fall and the end of the 1st Earth Age) and He will shake it again (just prior to the 3rd Earth Age). Some resulting science from the destruction of the 1st Earth Age: Magnetic north (pole) is 90 miles off from true north. I believe that the Continental Drift theory can be proven with the shaking of the earth at that time as well as the sudden destruction and fossilization of the dinosaurs. The scientific, determined age of this earth in opposition to the age of this 2nd Earth Age from its creation in Genesis 1:3-31 are resolved in the knowledge of a 1st Earth Age which in its destruction has also provided our fossil fuels, etc.
The next posts in this "in the beginning" series of studies will cover Satan's overthrow, the 6th and 8th day man, the seedline to Christ and how Satan tried to impede it, Noah's flood, and probably more.....stay tuned!
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