This lesson begins the second part of our study. In the first, we developed a biblical chronology for the world and mankind. We also looked at the conflict between that chronology and the generally accepted timeline prevalent in our world today. The worldviews are in stark disagreement.
This section looks at the history of man in the early part of the Old Testament. We will cover only the time to the Tower of Babel and the beginning of civilizations in this section.
The third section looks at history of man (and the world) that isn't recorded in scripture, but which we will place in its correct context in the biblical chronology. Be prepared for a starkly different view of man's history in this section! I find it definitely exciting! But I've been told that I'm a bit strange that way. Ah, well.
Let's first get a closer look at creation...just to set the stage for where we are going.
In the beginning, God... When was that? Only God is eternal, so it is reasonable to think that "the beginning" refers to TIME. This is the beginning of time. It didn't exist before. Think about that.
What did God do in the beginning? He created the heavens and the earth. Now, He didn't create those at once, so what happened? Let's look at the Hebrew words.
Heavens: Shamayim in Hebrew. Means "stretched out space". God even had to create somewhere to put everything He was going to create.
Earth: Erets in Hebrew. Means dirt. Simple enough. But it has the connotation of being the stuff from which everything was made.
So, at this point we have TIME. We have SPACE. We have MATTER. Only one thing is missing in order to have the building blocks for everything that exists. Atoms are made up of space and matter. Nothing more. But there is now matter but no form. It is not organized. And earth is truly void of what is necessary for life.
Then God says, "Let there be light!" I have to put an exclamation point there. I want one in my Bible too. Because this is truly a great exclamation! And light is much, much more than the small amount of color that we "see". It involves the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from short wave gamma rays to very long wave radio waves. It is ENERGY. In the instant that matter was energized, basic elements took on specific form. Particles were now in motion, and operating in time.
In these few verses, God's first creative act logically defines the basis of ALL physical reality:
TIME...SPACE...MATTER...and ENERGY.
And at the same time, all the physical laws that govern all forms of matter were initiated.
One of the great mysteries of creation is the amount of energy "locked up" in the atom. Man has been able to release some of that energy for use in atomic power plants and atom bombs, but think of the total amount of energy required to put together all the physical matter in the universe. It boggles my mind!
For the lack of clear evidence, some materialist thinkers have theorized that there must be an invisible thing they call "gluons" to hold it all together. It seems a miracle of "science" that the structure of every atom in the universe doesn't fly apart.
What does the Bible say?
"...all things were created by Him [Jesus] and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist [or hold together]." Colossians 1:16-17
I can't take God's act of creation for granted any more.
Thanks to Dennis Petersen for his lesson on this subject, from Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation. It has been the inspiration behind this part of this lesson.
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