There's a lot we can talk about in this section, so let's just start.
Creation
Day 1...God separated...light from dark
Day 2...God separated...the waters above from the waters below (seas). He called the space between "heaven".
Day 3...God separated...the waters under heaven (seas) from the dry land (earth).
God also filled...the land with plants.
Day 4...God filled...heavens with lights (sun, moon, stars) as vessels for the light. They were given for signs, and seasons, and days, and years.
Day 5...God filled...the seas and heaven with water creatures and birds. This includes the tanniym...the dragons.
Day 6...God filled...the land with land-based creatures and man.
We must also remember that there are two different Hebrew words used in this week of creation.
One is bara, which means to create out of nothing, or to create something that didn't exist up to that point. It is used 3 times in the first chapter of Genesis. Our English translations use the word "create" for the Hebrew bara.
Verse 1...God created all matter and energy.
Verse 21...God created living creatures. Something was new in these living creatures, something that nothing had up to that time. I call it the soul. It is a breath of life.
Verse 27...God created human life. Again there was something new here. Man has the soul, the breath of life. But he was created in God's image. Living creatures didn't have that. I call this the spirit.
The other word used in chapter 1 of Genesis is asah, which is translated "make" or "made". God made the lights, land, water, sky, plants, sun, moon, stars, etc.
Does the creation story appear in other cultures?
Yes. Emphatically yes. Not to all the detail given us in scripture, but with striking similarities. At one time I had found a website that listed 260 different creation stories in cultures worldwide. I can't find that site now, but Wikipedia has a page with a variety of stories here . Many tales include the theme of the tree of life.
The origin of the seven-day week.
God established it. In Exodus 20:8-11 He says that the reason for it is because of the pattern of creation week.
The seven-day week is almost universally observed. But it is a puzzle to those who don't believe in the Bible. They can't figure out how it started. It is easy to see that the year is connected to the sun and the month to the moon, but the week? And it's been that way since the beginning.
Not too terribly long ago, Josef Stalin tried to make a 10 day week. Work 9 days and have one day off. Call the days by numbers. It's interesting that he said the reason he wanted to make this change was that he wanted to erase all religious memories. Note that he recognized the source! Only thing was, it didn't work. People couldn't work that much. By the way, in Russia, Sunday is called Resurrection Day.
How would you describe the earth during this time? Now, that's based on the Bible.
One land mass, one area of sea.
Waters above heaven and waters below.
No rain, earth watered by a mist.
Likely: a more uniform climate? no wind? less rugged terrain? more edible vegetation?
How would you describe mankind?
Had language from the beginning.
Built cities.
Animals were tame.
Accomplished in technology. (metallurgy, animal husbandry, musical instruments, construction, boat building.
I will go on in the next post.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Biblical History of Man: From Creation to the Flood part 1
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.
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.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Competing Worldviews: Part 3
Here is a link to an article I recommend that you read.
http://creation.com/evangelicals-biblical-creation
http://creation.com/evangelicals-biblical-creation
Competing Worldviews: Part 2
What effect has this difference in worldview had on the church?
Unfortunately, the church has been content to sit back and take no stand at all. Without any biblical guidance to the contrary, the average churchgoer either accepts evolution as a fact, both scientifically and historically, or they hide behind weakly supported Bible stories. Too often they ignore the evidence, or they reject it out of fear of looking foolish. It doesn't have to be that way.
The church can stand firm on the Bible...if only we will step up and learn the facts. There is data. There is evidence. And it doesn't fit the evolutionary paradigm.
What if mankind is not ancient as science claims?
What if mankind didn't evolve slowly out of slime?
What if he didn't start out as an ignorant brute?
What if he really was created in God's image?
What if mankind really did gather in one place, build a tower, form a religion and a world government?
What if God really did confuse man's languages, forcing them to scatter across the earth?
In other words, what if the Bible really is true?
And what if the evidence confirms it?
There's another part to this picture. What if Satan is real and is actively perverting God's plan?
For that is what Satan does. He perverts. He cannot create. He uses God's designs and distorts them to fit his own plan. He really wants to make sure that God's plan isn't discovered...inventing an alternate storyline for people to "discover"...enticing them with lies that seem like the truth. And our culture gives them its attention and its praise. We must be on our guard, for the lies are subtly close to the truth.
There's only one thing that the naturalist/evolutionist can do with the facts and evidence that doesn't agree with his worldview...
Unfortunately, the church has been content to sit back and take no stand at all. Without any biblical guidance to the contrary, the average churchgoer either accepts evolution as a fact, both scientifically and historically, or they hide behind weakly supported Bible stories. Too often they ignore the evidence, or they reject it out of fear of looking foolish. It doesn't have to be that way.
The church can stand firm on the Bible...if only we will step up and learn the facts. There is data. There is evidence. And it doesn't fit the evolutionary paradigm.
What if mankind is not ancient as science claims?
What if mankind didn't evolve slowly out of slime?
What if he didn't start out as an ignorant brute?
What if he really was created in God's image?
What if mankind really did gather in one place, build a tower, form a religion and a world government?
What if God really did confuse man's languages, forcing them to scatter across the earth?
In other words, what if the Bible really is true?
And what if the evidence confirms it?
There's another part to this picture. What if Satan is real and is actively perverting God's plan?
For that is what Satan does. He perverts. He cannot create. He uses God's designs and distorts them to fit his own plan. He really wants to make sure that God's plan isn't discovered...inventing an alternate storyline for people to "discover"...enticing them with lies that seem like the truth. And our culture gives them its attention and its praise. We must be on our guard, for the lies are subtly close to the truth.
There's only one thing that the naturalist/evolutionist can do with the facts and evidence that doesn't agree with his worldview...
The topic of ancient man does not have to be complicated or frightening. In contrast, the truth about ancient man can be both intriguing and encouraging. With the right starting point...presuppositions based on the Word of God...ancient history comes alive with truth!
And with our biblical glasses on...we see the truth:
- The earth is young
- History is young
- Man was created intelligent
- Man's history is full of evidence for the truth of the Bible.
Thanks must be given for the outline and some content of this section to Jackson Hole Bible College and their new book The Genius of Ancient Man.
Competing Worldviews: Part 1
We've now established a timeline that is based on scripture. But this is in stark disagreement with the timeline for the history of man that is generally accepted today. Man's attempts to explain his experience on earth can be classified under two broad headings...naturalism and creationism.
In the worldview of naturalism, the universe began in a big bang 13.7 BYA (billion years ago), earth formed 4.5 BYA, earliest signs of life 3 BYA. The earliest fossils, of simple life, are 600 MYA (million years ago), the earliest precursors to man 4.4 MYA, and the earliest homo sapiens or modern man are 100,000 YA (years ago). Man entered the western hemisphere across the Bering Strait land bridge near the end of the last ice age 15,000 years ago, and the first cities were built after the ice age between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago.
To a believer in naturalism, there have been 5 major periods of ice ages, the last beginning 2.5 MYA and ending 10-11,000 years ago. Man began as a primitive being, and gradually became more advanced. He was a brutish cave man who became more civilized. He was a hunter-gatherer who learned agriculture. He had to develop tool use and language. He had to discover fire. And he learned by trial and error.
Life followed the geologic timeline...goo to simple life to sea life to land animals to man.
As Ken Ham might say, "From goo to you, by way of the zoo."
This story of life is based on EVIDENCE. There's all kinds of evidence to be found. We have towns and tools and pottery and inscriptions. There's old trees and fossils. There's geologic features like sedimentary rock layers and river and ice erosion.
As a believer in Creationism we see the same evidence. But we have a totally different story of life. Our timeframe is different than that of a naturalist. Why?
We all base our interpretation of the evidence on what we believe is true.
As a creationist we believe that God exists, that the Bible is God's word and is true in its entirety. God created everything, He is transcendent, He is rational, and has a plan for every person. Man can think and reason because God created him that way. And time is short.
A naturalist does not believe in God. He believes the Bible creation story is a myth derived from other myths, and that evolution is the method that accounts for all life. The big bang created the universe as we see it, which means matter existed eternally, and thus matter can create. Man is essentially good; it is society that is evil. And time is very long.
It is the belief system that a person already has determined that they will trust to be true that determines how they see the evidence.
- Naturalism believes that all evidence is the result of unexpalained substances that have the properties required for evolution.
- Creationism believes that all evidence is the result of design by an unexplained intelligence, that has the capability to put its designs into operation.
In the worldview of naturalism, the universe began in a big bang 13.7 BYA (billion years ago), earth formed 4.5 BYA, earliest signs of life 3 BYA. The earliest fossils, of simple life, are 600 MYA (million years ago), the earliest precursors to man 4.4 MYA, and the earliest homo sapiens or modern man are 100,000 YA (years ago). Man entered the western hemisphere across the Bering Strait land bridge near the end of the last ice age 15,000 years ago, and the first cities were built after the ice age between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago.
To a believer in naturalism, there have been 5 major periods of ice ages, the last beginning 2.5 MYA and ending 10-11,000 years ago. Man began as a primitive being, and gradually became more advanced. He was a brutish cave man who became more civilized. He was a hunter-gatherer who learned agriculture. He had to develop tool use and language. He had to discover fire. And he learned by trial and error.
Life followed the geologic timeline...goo to simple life to sea life to land animals to man.
As Ken Ham might say, "From goo to you, by way of the zoo."
This story of life is based on EVIDENCE. There's all kinds of evidence to be found. We have towns and tools and pottery and inscriptions. There's old trees and fossils. There's geologic features like sedimentary rock layers and river and ice erosion.
As a believer in Creationism we see the same evidence. But we have a totally different story of life. Our timeframe is different than that of a naturalist. Why?
We all base our interpretation of the evidence on what we believe is true.
As a creationist we believe that God exists, that the Bible is God's word and is true in its entirety. God created everything, He is transcendent, He is rational, and has a plan for every person. Man can think and reason because God created him that way. And time is short.
A naturalist does not believe in God. He believes the Bible creation story is a myth derived from other myths, and that evolution is the method that accounts for all life. The big bang created the universe as we see it, which means matter existed eternally, and thus matter can create. Man is essentially good; it is society that is evil. And time is very long.
It is the belief system that a person already has determined that they will trust to be true that determines how they see the evidence.
Biblical Chronology: The Kings and Beyond part 2
In looking at the established dates BC for biblical events, we must recognize one thing. This secular chronology is subject to error and subject to revision. At this point any choices of dates to be correlated with biblical history must be those having the greatest support.
Two well-established dates of biblical events are the dates of the fall of Samaria to Assyria in 722 BC, and the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC. These are considered to be firm dates in history.
Less firmly established, but no less important to our timeline is the date of Solomon's death and the division of the kingdom. There are several choices of dates for this division, all of them with scholarly support. They range from 975 BC to 922 BC, with 931/930 BC being the most widely accepted date.
My choice in the issue has been to use these dates and correlate them to the biblical chronology we have established to this point. My reasons are complex, but in the long run, there are only very minor differences from one interpretation to another. Using these dates helps keep confusion to a minimum when studying history outside the Bible.
So, using these three dates, we can correlate the timeline we have already completed to dates BC.
If Solomon's death occurred in 931 BC, then his 40 year reign began in 971 BC and he began the temple in 967 BC. 967 BC corresponds to 3208 years after creation, and the remaining dates can be filled in to our charts.
Date of Jacob's birth.......................................................2168 AM 2007 BC
Date Jacob entered Egypt at age 130............................2298 AM 1877 BC
Date of Exodus...............................................................2728 AM 1447 BC
Date Temple was begun in Solomon's 4th year..............3208 AM 967 BC
Date Solomon began his reign........................................3204 AM 971 BC
Date of Solomon's death and accession of Rehoboam...3244 AM 931 BC
You'll notice that each of these combinations adds up to 4175, which then is considered our date of creation.
This differs from Ussher's date by 171 years. 215 years longer because we considered the time in Egypt differently, and 44 years shorter because we used a different date for the division of the kingdom. It is only these two dates that give us differences from that timeline.
We can also date other events from scripture:
Creation..........................4175 BC
Flood...............................2519 BC
Tower of Babel.............c 2200 BC
Entry into Egypt..............1877 BC
Exodus............................1447 BC
Entry into Canaan...........1407 BC
David becomes King.......1011 BC
Solomon becomes King....971 BC
Temple begun..................967 BC
Division of kingdom..........931/930 BC
Fall of Samaria................722 BC
Fall of Jerusalem..............586 BC
Book of Ezra....................538-457 BC
Book of Esther.................483-473 BC
Ezra returns.................... 458 BC
Nehemiah returns............445 BC
Book of Nehemiah............445-415 BC
Birth of Christ...................5BC
Then our final chronology looks like this:
Two well-established dates of biblical events are the dates of the fall of Samaria to Assyria in 722 BC, and the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC. These are considered to be firm dates in history.
Less firmly established, but no less important to our timeline is the date of Solomon's death and the division of the kingdom. There are several choices of dates for this division, all of them with scholarly support. They range from 975 BC to 922 BC, with 931/930 BC being the most widely accepted date.
My choice in the issue has been to use these dates and correlate them to the biblical chronology we have established to this point. My reasons are complex, but in the long run, there are only very minor differences from one interpretation to another. Using these dates helps keep confusion to a minimum when studying history outside the Bible.
So, using these three dates, we can correlate the timeline we have already completed to dates BC.
If Solomon's death occurred in 931 BC, then his 40 year reign began in 971 BC and he began the temple in 967 BC. 967 BC corresponds to 3208 years after creation, and the remaining dates can be filled in to our charts.
Date of Jacob's birth.......................................................2168 AM 2007 BC
Date Jacob entered Egypt at age 130............................2298 AM 1877 BC
Date of Exodus...............................................................2728 AM 1447 BC
Date Temple was begun in Solomon's 4th year..............3208 AM 967 BC
Date Solomon began his reign........................................3204 AM 971 BC
Date of Solomon's death and accession of Rehoboam...3244 AM 931 BC
You'll notice that each of these combinations adds up to 4175, which then is considered our date of creation.
This differs from Ussher's date by 171 years. 215 years longer because we considered the time in Egypt differently, and 44 years shorter because we used a different date for the division of the kingdom. It is only these two dates that give us differences from that timeline.
We can also date other events from scripture:
Creation..........................4175 BC
Flood...............................2519 BC
Tower of Babel.............c 2200 BC
Entry into Egypt..............1877 BC
Exodus............................1447 BC
Entry into Canaan...........1407 BC
David becomes King.......1011 BC
Solomon becomes King....971 BC
Temple begun..................967 BC
Division of kingdom..........931/930 BC
Fall of Samaria................722 BC
Fall of Jerusalem..............586 BC
Book of Ezra....................538-457 BC
Book of Esther.................483-473 BC
Ezra returns.................... 458 BC
Nehemiah returns............445 BC
Book of Nehemiah............445-415 BC
Birth of Christ...................5BC
Then our final chronology looks like this:
Biblical Chronology: The Kings and Beyond part 1
Now we are at a point where we need to make some choices. We have some scriptures in the prophets which seem to be giving us some chronological information. We also have archaeological research giving us some relatively firm dates for events contained in the Bible. Lets take a look at both.
First the scriptures (please read these for yourself):
Ezekiel 4:1-7
Ezekiel is instructed to illustrate the iniquity of Israel and Judah:
Jeremiah 25:12
After 70 years, God will punish Babylon.
Jeremiah 29:10
When 70 years are completed for Babylon, God will bring the exiles back to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:20-33
From the exile to the return is 70 years...to fulfill all the Sabbath years not kept.
In the 1st year of Cyrus (Persian)...he issues a decree allowing the Jews to return and rebuild.
Daniel 9:1, 24-27
In the 1st year of Darius (Mede), and after reading the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning the completion of the desolation for Jerusalem, Daniel prays about the future of the Jews. Gabriel is sent to him with a revelation.
I have to admit that interpreting these passages is extremely difficult. It may even be that God does not have a chronology in mind for these times. If He does, then they are definitely hard to understand!
Studying what Bible commentators have to say just increases the confusion. I have found nearly as many interpretations as I have found commentators. And I ended up with more questions about these passages than have been answered.
Regardless of that, the time frame that these many commentators are looking at based on these passages is pretty much the same as the generally accepted dates BC that we will look at next.
First the scriptures (please read these for yourself):
Ezekiel 4:1-7
Ezekiel is instructed to illustrate the iniquity of Israel and Judah:
- by laying on his left side for 390 days...to illustrate 390 years of iniquity for Israel. amd
- by laying on his right side for 40 days...to illustrate 40 years of iniquity for Judah.
Jeremiah 25:12
After 70 years, God will punish Babylon.
Jeremiah 29:10
When 70 years are completed for Babylon, God will bring the exiles back to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:20-33
From the exile to the return is 70 years...to fulfill all the Sabbath years not kept.
In the 1st year of Cyrus (Persian)...he issues a decree allowing the Jews to return and rebuild.
Daniel 9:1, 24-27
In the 1st year of Darius (Mede), and after reading the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning the completion of the desolation for Jerusalem, Daniel prays about the future of the Jews. Gabriel is sent to him with a revelation.
- Seventy sevens are decreed for the Jews and Jerusalem to accomplish 6 things.
- From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah will be 7 sevens and 62 sevens.
- After this time, Messiah will be cut off and the city and sanctuary will be destroyed.
- He (who?) will make a covenant for one seven but in the middle of the seven he will put a stop to sacrifices, then comes abominations, desolation, and destruction for the one who makes the desolation.
I have to admit that interpreting these passages is extremely difficult. It may even be that God does not have a chronology in mind for these times. If He does, then they are definitely hard to understand!
Studying what Bible commentators have to say just increases the confusion. I have found nearly as many interpretations as I have found commentators. And I ended up with more questions about these passages than have been answered.
Regardless of that, the time frame that these many commentators are looking at based on these passages is pretty much the same as the generally accepted dates BC that we will look at next.
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