Genesis 1 Kenneth Sublett, Piney.com, Hohenwald, Tennessee
Genesis 1:1 in the "beginning" re'shiyth (ray-sheeth', ber'shîth ): Genesis 1:2 is interpreted to mean that the Father and Son created an UNHOLY MESS. The Holy Spirit as a third member of the God family picked up the "totally worthless thing" and made it operate according to laws. Is this blasphemy or what? The beginning place of a true relationship with God is to understand His nature. If we reject that nature then it will never be possible to have an open door into the heart and mind or Spirit of God revealed as the Mind of Christ.For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Rom 1:18
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. Rom 1: 19
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Rom 1: 20
See the Holy Spirit in creation page two
There is only one God. {persons or really personae are NOT separated}
H. Leo Boles and the Gospel Advocate
Disclaimer: Because people tend to "project" our belief on one topic to all others which come to their mind, it is important to make a statement of belief. First, the creation account is written in the form of a parable. Clearly, if we understand the almost infinite complications involved in creating a human being with the power to pass on DNA and re-create in a "natural process" we minimize God if we see Him making a mud pie or "idol" and then blowing wind in one end and having life proven by sound coming out the other as in ancient accounts.What is described as a simple trick for a child hides the fact that no man could with infinite time string together all of the "parts" required to create a reproducing human. If we don't grasp the spiritual implications then we have fallen for the trick Jesus predicted for unspiritual people in Matthew 13.
This does not mean that we believe that "mother evolution" could have done a better job than the best of modern human science. In fact, we believe that the "day journals" of the creative "days" do not speak of millions of years for each day. Rather, because God is infinite it is probable that the "infinite-looking" creation of all matter took place in zero time. To demand that He use up six literal days and then get so exhausted that He has to rest may minimize God as much as to demand that He had to use "theistic evolution" and use up billions of years. I think that the idea of God having to rest is one of His jokes on unspiritual people.
I notice that a lot of people demanding that God began at 9 O'clock in the morning, October the 23rd in 4004 B.C. (or whenever Lightfoot's joke used) have something to sell.
Click on each subject to go direct. Click on Up to return here Introduction However, there is Only One God The Spirit in Creation The Creation Parable Jesus Confirmed the Parable Nature of the Creation Job Confirmed the Parable Nature of the Creation The Meaning of Day The Parable of the Spirit Fluttering after the Flood The Parable of the Spirit Fluttering after the Flood The Parable of the Spirit at the Red Sea The Hovering of the Spirit in the Wilderness Summary Meaning of The Spirit Moved Creation out of Nothing Symbolic of our Ignorance Jeremiah and the Creation Story God Uses Natural Elements Jesus Christ was the Creative Spirit or Mind All Mankind Have God's Spirit in Them Introduction to the Holy Spirit in Creation Up
We repeat that Genesis 1:2 is often interpreted to mean that the Father and Son created an unholy mess. The Holy Spirit as a third member of the God family picked up the "totally worthless thing" and made it operate according to laws. To see the implications of this "agency" network of the God family, I have added synonyms to published quotations of H. Leo H. Leo Boles who informs most restoration movement books on the Holy Spirit as well as sermons and published Sunday School Lessons:
H. Leo Boles: Christ, the Word, is the agent (deputy, broker) through whom God created all things; the Holy Spirit gives life, enacts laws, and organizes (establish, institute, construct) the material universe.
Creation was not finished (full-fledged, done) until the third member of the Godhead functioned. (H. Leo Boles, H. Leo, The Holy Spirit, p. 37, Gospel Advocate)
We best honor God's Word when we believe what He says about Himself. Throughout the Old Testament He declares that "I was alone, I created it by myself, there was no other god beside me."
Despite dozens of Biblical claims to the contrary, semi-charismatics (or neo-trinitarians or tritheists) insist that the personal Holy Spirit, as a third family member, restored order after Father and Son created a "totally worthless thing." The clear fact is that spirit (Hebrew ruwach in Genesis) does not identify a separate person. Rather, it is the wind as a symbol or parable of God's power to defeat, restore or refine the "chaff from the wheat." In Genesis, the wind is a parable for God's power to create earth or dry ground by removing the waters from off the face of the globe to make earth which means a "fruitful place." Genesis does not speak of the creation of the "globe" we call earth in English.
According to Job, the spirit of God is just one of the "body parts" of God (the Word was God). Hands, arms, shoulders, face, breath and snorting nostrils explain His reach into the physical dimension by using human-like, anthropomorphic symbols. His "spirit" is the figure of speech to explain the wind blown from His double-edged sword or mouth to propel the word. Jesus said that His spoken words were spirit and life. By looking at the symbols of God's power we enrich our understanding of God's creative means and methods.
By looking at what may be an extreme position we will be better prepared to see how God's often-symbolic revelation must be prayerfully used for personal growth rather than for writing creeds to include or exclude:
H. Leo Boles: The Divine Family... suggests the close relation that exists between the members of the Godhead, and also that they constitute a family (clan, kith, lineage, race); it suggest that they are closely related, that they are akin. (relatives, same lineage, same tribe) This term expresses an interest in each other and a cooperation (teamwork, collaboration, partnership) in activities. P. 21
"In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it....In all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods." Joseph Smith, (Founder and First Prophet), History of the Church, Vol 6, pp. 308,474.
H. Leo Boles: Personality in God is the sum total of the infinite attributes resident in the inmost depth of his one divine nature;
the three persons in the Godhead are the three individualities (distinctiveness),
the three personal centers of consciousness,
the three separate (apart, divided, independent, disconnected, distinct) self-conscious and self-determining (self-deciding) persons or selves. P. 33 (self means appearance, exterior, form like humans)
"The universe is filled with vast numbers of intelligences, and we further learn that Elohim is God simply because all of these intelligences honor and sustain him as such...if He should ever do anything to violate the confidence or "sense of justice" of these intelligences, they would promptly withdraw their support, and the "power" of God would disintegrate. He would cease to be God." W. Cleon Skousen (Former BYU Professor & founder of Mormon-based National Center For Constitutional Studies), The First 2000 Years , p. 355. "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as mans," Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22. "If God possesses a form, that form is of necessity of definite proportions, and therefore of limited extension and space. It is impossible for Him to occupy at one time more than one space of such limits." James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith, page 43.
H. Leo Boles: The three are distinctly (clearly, sharply, plainly) separate beings (persons, mankind, humanity, man, mortality).
However, they are one (single, sole, solitary, unique) because they share the same purposes, intentions and desires.
The Godhead is one in the same way that a husband and wife are one (Mal 2:14-15) (H. Leo Boles in Sept. 1, 1966, p. 2, Fall Quarter, Foundations, Gospel Advocate.)
H. Leo Boles set the stage for the radical falling away of the early American Restoration Movement's view of the Spirit of God. The charismatic revival of the 60's further took tongue speaking away from the snake handlers (keep 'em cool and confused) and dressed them in city slicker clothes. The cute "urbans" usually end up ridiculing but then adopting the ideas of the "rurals."
One "fallen away" from the ancient and the Restoration Movement writer defends the "three persons" of the One God by noting that the Babylonians and all pagans had a triad of gods at the top of the pantheon. If the people at the Tower of Babel had a triad then surely we must have a similar triad.
And this is exactly why God was so clear in rejecting the 2000 year old Babylonian triad by declaring -- over and over -- that "Yahweh is the One Elohim."
However There is Only One Spirit God Up
God as Elohim defined by Movement Leaders
God as Elohim is defined by Jewish scholars:
Another symbolic use of terms literally could mean that "In the beginning, the gods created." However, elsewhere we will find abundant proof that God identified Himself as an El so that He could reveal that "Yahweh is our El." And He said: "The Els have not made" anything. In looking for three Gods in creation it is always advisable to ask what the ancient and modern Jews understood:
"We would do well to pose another question: The Torah makes use of several names to identify the Creator, the loftiest of which is the Tetragammaton (the four letter name consisting of the Hebrew letters Yud, Heh, Vav, Heh, known also as the "Shem Havayah," "The Name of Existence"). The narrative in the first chapter of Genesis, instead of using the more direct form of the Tetragammaton, uses the term Elokim. This term, in its connotation of "lordship," is often used to identify humans who possess authority, such as judges (as in Exodus 21, 6). It is frequently used to identify other, pagan gods.
"The Shem Havayah, on the other hand, is exclusively associated with the God of Judaism, Creator of Heavens and Earth. Why would the Torah choose to use the less specific Elokim over the more specific, more obvious choice, of Shem Havayah?
"The answer lies in the meaning of the term Elokim. It is derived from the word "el," that means "strength," or "force." An Elokim is a "Master of Forces."
Any individual or deity that possesses authority is a "Master (or Mistress) of Forces." When God is identified as Elokim, we are really describing Him as the ultimate "Master of Forces." (Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer in In His Image)
In the view of H. Leo H. Leo Boles, The Holy Spirit took over, cleaned up the mess and wrote laws so that it wouldn't happen again. However, Isaiah said that God did not create the earth vain and empty.
"The best linguists translate this term 'In the beginning of God's creating [or when God began to create the heavens and the earth], the earth was without form and void." (Willis, John, Living Word Commentary, p. 79)
If God did not create the earth (the dry, fruitful lands above sea level -- not the globe) vain and empty then the earth must have become that way by the life which lived then. We have Jesus and Job declaring that the creation story was put in symbolic language to hide the truth from those who hated truth and the idea of One God.
Remember that the Babylonians, whose stories were written perhaps 2000 years before Moses, thought of many gods and most of them were evil. Rather than honoring the self-evident God of creation, they honored dead heros and primarily the planets -- astrology. These "gods" really existed as long as people were controlled by their myths.
Therefore, Jeremiah used the same language of the creation story. However, He said that the Elohim (three gods) did not create anything:
Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods (elohim) that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. Jeremiah 10:11
He hath made the earth
........by his power,
he hath established the world
........ by his wisdom, and
hath stretched out the heavens
........ by his discretion. Jeremiah 10:12When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out (to and fro) the wind (spirit) from his storehouses. Jeremiah 10:13
God was not an elohim in the Babylonian sense of a family. His Power, Wisdom, thunder, Discretion and Spirit speak of His intellectual power understandable by the things He created.
While the "us" in Genesis 1:26 is not understood by anyone, God corrects any confusion over and over. He said that there were not "three gods" or "three persons" during the creation. John said that the Word Who was now Jesus was the God who created, formed and organized all things. Without Him means that there was no space between Himself as the Word and the Wind as His Spirit.
The One God was manifested or "imaged" in the flesh as Jesus Christ. However, Jesus was not triplets.
Jesus died in the flesh but was alive in the Spirit. The Word laid aside His full Deity and put on the garments of flesh. Before He died, He promised that He would come again as both Father and Son as the Comforting Spirit (Jn 14:16-18). In His Deified form, God is One God (Deuteronomy 6:4).
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God (not just the second person) was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1 Timothy 3:16
The Word was not manifest in the flesh but God (full Deity Col 2:9) was manifest in flesh. Full Deity which dwelled within Jesus put off His glory, laid it aside and took on the garments or tent of shame.
Manifest means "to make apparent" to "shine externally" or to become visible. Jesus always treated the Father as within Himself as the Son. In the same way, we might imagine that a "ghost or spirit is visible in its materialization." Yet the "invisible" being is not different from His "visible" manifestation. The flesh died but God was still alive in the Spirit.
However, the trinity may be explained in ways which confuses most of us. God sends God and God swears by God or speaks to God--just as we speak to ourselves. That is our spirit and our mind agree before we speak words.
The confusion occurs when the hundreds of clear statements about God's nature are interpreted much as the Babylonians might:
H. Leo Boles: These (three) members, (parts, components, divisions, portions) of the Godhead held a council (committee meeting) at the creation of man;
they are divine, one in substance, purpose, and design;
yet they are three distinct (different, disunited, dispersed) persons
and (distinct) function (capacity, utility) in the work of creation. H. Leo Boles, Gospel Advocate, p. 46
However, as Jesus warned, it is easy to trip up on parabolic language. God often speaks of Himself as plural. When there is no one else, He swears by Himself and He sends His own right arm as His Redeemer:
Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. Isaiah 44:6 ( 45:21, 22)
And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. Isaiah 44:7
Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. Isaiah 44:8
Beside is:
Biladey (h1107) bil-ad-ay'; constr. plur. from 1077 and 5703; not till, i. e. (as prep. or adv.) except, besides: - beside, not (in), save, without
This word is made up of two parts:
bal (h1077) bal; from 1086; prop. a failure; by impl. nothing; usually (adv.) not at all; also lest: - lest, neither, no, none (that...), not (any), nothing.
Ad (h5703) ad; from 5710; prop. a (peremptory) terminus, i. e. (by impl.) duration, in the sense of advance or perpetuity (substantially as a noun, either with or without a prep.): - eternity, ever (-lasting, - more), old, perpetually, / world without end.
The Lord and His Redeemer are not two: the "and" is not cumulative:
This is what the LORD says--your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things,
........... who alone stretched out the heavens, who
........... spread out the earth by myself Isaiah 44:24If Father, Son and Spirit all stand outside each other and are related only as a husband and wife are related then God missed dozens of opportunities to say it clearly. He did not. He always makes it clear--to combat paganism--that He is self-contained, self-sufficient within Himself.
Neo-trinitarianism developed in the nineteenth century. Before that the Trinitarian understanding was that God was three persona or manifestations but not three, co-equal, mutually derived members of the god family. They are not ranked one, two and three.
Alone means that God is separated from the pagan gods. There were tens of thousands of els but there was only One Jehovah:
bad (h905) bad; from 909; prop. separation; by impl. a part of the body, branch of a tree, bar for carrying; fig. chief of a city; espec. (with prep. pref.) as adv., apart, only, besides: - alone, apart, bar, besides, branch, by self, of each alike, except, only, part, staff, strength.
God was alone just as Adam was alone before Eve was created:
The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18
Adam was not triplets acting as a family or committee. Adam and Eve as two totally separate persons became one flesh emotionally and sexually. However, because God had not created lesser gods He was still alone. If the members of the God family are related as Adam and Eve are related then it is correct, as many claim, that the Son proceeds from the Father perhaps like a rib.
God is the Caller or Word, He spreads the Word and He sets in order for Himself. Everything physical is really a parable or picture of the true spiritual nature:
And I (God) will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. Isaiah 45:3
I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: Isaiah 45:5
That they may know from the rising of the sun (east), and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. Is.45:6
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Isaiah 45:7
None in Isaiah 45:6 is:
Ayin (h369) ah'-yin; as if from a prim. root mean. to be nothing or not exist; a non-entity; gen. used as a neg. particle: - else, except, fail, [father-] less, be gone, in [-curable], neither, never, no where, none, nor (any, thing), not, nothing, to nought, past, unsearchable, well-nigh, without.
Declare what is to be, present it--let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Isaiah 45:21
The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Psalm 2:4NIV
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Psalm 18:2
God is the motive power (body with "arms and legs") and He is life and mind (the intellectual power) and He is Spirit (has a Divine mental attitude as pure or holy Spirit). However, as God created Adam in His own image and not as triplets, God is contained within Himself and is not a committee of relatives.
A Jewish source speaks of the anthropomorphic ways God is described like a human who has body, soul or life and spirit. This leads many to assume that God has a body which would look like us if we could see Him. We just don't know:
"That is, man was created in the image of God (and other heavenly beings). Thus we see that God has a figure form, a head, etc. An anthropologist or a philosopher might say that man was not created in the image of God but vice versa, but this concept - not necessarily modern - is not attested to in the Bible, and even contradicts it.
"It is not surprising, therefore, that the prophet said ( Isaiah 48:13): 'my hand laid the foundation of the earth',
........... since by hand man creates new artifacts.This concept continues, if God has a hand and a body, He has also a bow, as it is written (Genesis 9:13): 'I set my bow in the cloud'. Therefore, one who has a bow has also arrows and a sword (Deuteronomy 32:42), especially when 'The Lord is a man of war' (Exodus 15:3). Not only do the hands of God make war, but they also write as is written that the Tablets of the Covenant were 'written with the finger of God' (Deut 9:10). We also find that God has feet (Exododus 24:10), and He stands (Exodus 17:6), or sits (Psalm 2:4), on His throne (Isa 66:1). It goes without saying that God has a face (Deuteronomy 31:17), eyes (Proverbs 15:3), a nose (Numbers 11:33), and a back (Exodus 33:23). However, according to an ancient belief it was forbidden to see God (Exodus 33:20): 'for man shall not see me and live'. The Hand of God
The Nature of the Spirit in Creation Up
While there are many passages which show that the creative process in Genesis 1:1 was a recreative or forming and establishing of a "globe" which had become chaotic and the dry land or earth was covered with water so that mankind could not live on it. In all of the other remembrances of this process the sky or clouds were so crushing against the see that no life could exist until a space was created by lifting the firmament up.
However, for now we will look at some of the views about the process and some passages which seem to support a recent re-creation. Genesis begins:
IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind (spirit), and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth,
The Lord, The God of hosts, is his name. Amos 4:13
Josephus and others describe the common view of his time by writing:
> "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But when the earth did not come into sight, but was covered with thick darkness, and a wind moved upon its surface, God commanded that there should be light: and when that was made, he considered the whole mass, and separated the light and the darkness; and the name he gave to one was Night, and the other he called Day: and he named the beginning of light, and the time of rest, The Evening and The Morning, and this was indeed the first day. Josephus Genesis 1:1
> "the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors. Genesis 1:2LIV
Note: or "The earth became." a shapeless, chaotic mass, or "shapeless and void." over the dark vapors, or "over the cloud of darkness," or "over the darkness and waters," or "over the dark gaseous mass." There is not one correct way to translate these words.
> "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:2NIV Note: Or possibly 'became'
> "The best linguists translate this term 'In the beginning of God's creating [or when God began to create the heavens and the earth], the earth was without form and void." (Willis, John, Living Word Commentary, p. 79)
> "God in the beginning created the substance of the heavens and the substance of the earth. Adam Clark
> "In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth
the earth had existed waste and void, and darkness is on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters. Robert Young.
> "When God began to form the universe,
........... the world was void and vacant. Moffat> "When God began to create the heavens and the earth
........... the earth was a desolate waste with darkness covering the abyss
........... and a temptuous wind raging over the surface of the waters. Meek> "Now as the earth lay there, a waste and empty--
........... and darkness.... Procksch> "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters..... Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." Note: A wide variety of scholarly opinion has been expressed about this use of the plural in God's speech, unique to Genesis. Some think it reflects an earlier polytheism (an argument rejected by most scholars because of the otherwise insistent monotheism of the narrative), as an exalted "royal" use of the pronoun (but no other examples are known from this culture), as addressing the angels (previously unmentioned in the story ), or even--in the Middle Ages--as the members of the Trinity speaking among themselves (a fanciful interpretation flatly rejected by Jews as incorporating a uniquely Christian belief). No general agreement exists on this question. (Reading About the World, Volume 1, edited by Paul Brians, Mary Gallwey, Douglas Hughes, Michael Myers Michael Neville, Roger Schlesinger, Alice Spitzer, and Susan Swan and published by American Heritage Custom Publishing.)
The things which we can see or feel were made or framed. They were put together by God from invisible matter. The earth was a watery chaos and the clouds masked the face (that which turns) of the dry land or earth. Therefore, it was not fit for human habitation. The Genesis account is of God drying off parts of the "globe" to create earth which is defined as the dry land. The earth is not the globe. He has also "buckled" the crust to form "pillars" to move dry ground above the waters.
Genesis is written as a parable to hide the truth of God from the "crowds" from the foundation of the world which is defined as the age and also the dry land.
As Jesus explained many parables and Paul was guided into all truth he explained the creation parable as a framing operation:
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews 11:3
While all things were created by Christ as the Word, they were not all created out of nothing in all cases. Framed is from the Greek:
Ginomai (g1096) ghin'-om-ahee; a to cause to be ("gen"erate), i.e. (reflex.) to become (come into being), arise, be assembled, be brought to pass, be finished, be published, be showed
God used the wind (spirit) and water as His agents to make the earth or a section of land stand out of water. As the winds blew the waters over the earth it involved a "birthing" process. The resulting waters and other forces buckled the earth and caused dry ground to emerge above the surface of the waters. Peter wrote:
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: 2 Peter 3:5KJV
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. 2 Peter 3:8
God does not need time to create. However, He does use time to reveal because we cannot understand God speaking and a thing just existing. To think that God needs a full day to create a man totally misses the point and even belittles God. Peter used terms which means one thousand years is zero time with God. Perfection (1000 years) comes in a comparable time (1 day) because we don't understand zero time.
John defends the idea that God reveals just a token of His power because it is infinite. Therefore, one day or "day journal" or "chronicle" must stand for an infinite power at work:
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: John 20:30
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. John 20:31
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. John 21:25
Peter also defends the "parable" idea. He did not say that one day equals a thousand years. By the use of the word as he showed that God does not count time as we do.
Paul agreed with Jesus that the truth was hidden from the foundation of the world:
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 1 Corinthians 2:7
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart (thoughts or feeling) of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth (finds and belches out) all things, yea, the deep (profound) things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10
The heavens include the sky, air, stars, horizon, mid air, places above or higher. It includes everything including the billions of stars in billions of galaxies which are above the surface of the earth. God both created, made and formed even the huge mass of galaxies by his Logos or Word spoken by projecting spirit or breath from His Mouth:
By the word (dabar is same as logos) of the LORD (Jehovah is I Am not We are) the heavens were made, and
all their host by the breath (h7307 spirit) of his mouth (means of blowing wind or double-edged sword). Psalm 33:6
He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Psalm 33:7
Except for the brief creative account in Genesis 1:1, the other accounts speak of a two step process. God created the entire universe. Then, to make earth or dry land for mankind to live upon He put the seas together separated from the dry ground. To the Psalmist the earth seemed to float upon the water.
Jeremiah used identical language to describe a spiritual re-creative process when the nation became void and empty in a spiritual sense. The Psalmist gives another creative process which shows that God, the Potter, made mankind a heart or intellect not given to the animal kingdom:
The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. Psalm 33:13
From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. Psalm 33:14
He fashioneth their hearts (feeling, understanding and intellect) alike; he considereth all their works. Psalm 33:15
God "squeezed" the hearts of all mankind in exactly the same way He "squeezed" Adam's body into shape like making an idol on a potter's wheel.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7
Neshamah (h5397) nesh-aw-maw'; fr. 5395; a puff, i. e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concr.) an animal: - blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.
The word for spirit in the Old Testament either speak of God Himself or the intellectual skills which He gives to mankind. Spirit means "the spirit of a rational being" or wind, breath, or blast of air. In Greek, spirit means "the mental disposition" of a person's own mind.
Therefore, the scriptures are right in saying that
- the heavens were of old
- and at some time the earth stood out of the waters.
These, including the "globe" or our chaotic planet were part of the original creation. When He caused the rock crust of our planet to be folded like wet clay what "stood up" or projected above the waters (out of water and by water) God called that dry spot the earth. Before this time, what became earth was waste and empty.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:10
God then caused the earth to bring forth plants which contained seed which, in turn, brought forth identical plants:
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Genesis 1:11
After the original creation of the universe God used different words to describe the natural laws. The plants were not "created out of nothing in an instant" but were allowed to grow. That which He created sprouted, produced and reproduced according to the genetic code He wrote in them. All of this happened in a "day." Bring forth is from:
Dasha (h1876) daw-shaw'; a prim. root; to sprout: - bring forth, spring.
Moses used a word to describe a natural process which continued:
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Joel 2:22
Out of the existing kosmos or world which had become chaotic and unfit for human habitation, God's spirit or fire, wind and water as His agents brought forth sections of dry ground out of the waters and in the waters. Science agrees that the dry land "stood up" out of the covering waters to stand on "pillars" or folds of rock. The land which the Son created was dry land and not the globe:
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation (erect a basis) of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: Hebrews 1:10
Ge (g1093) ghay; contr. from a prim. word; soil; by extens. a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (includ. the occupants in each application): - country, earth (-ly), ground, land, world.
This word is used to speak of a certain region and does not speak of the kosmos or complete "globe" which we now call earth:
Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young childs life. Matthew 2:20
If all of the land removed to their original flat place, the entire globe would be covered with water. The rain of the flood and "breaking up the fountains of the deep" speak of a great catastrophe and not just a rain storm:
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 2 Peter 3:6
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day (age or period) of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 2 Peter 3:7
Creation involves--
Ktizo (g2936) ktid'-zo; prob. akin to 2932 (through the idea of the proprietorship of the manufacturer); to fabricate, i.e. found (form originally): - create, Creator, make.
However, framed in Heb 11:3 is--
Katartizo (g2675) kat-ar-tid'-zo; from 2596 and a der. of 739; to complete thoroughly, i.e. repair (lit. or fig.) or adjust: - fit, frame, mend, (make) perfectly join together, pre-pare, restore.
Artios (g739) ar'-tee-os; from 737; fresh, i.e. (by impl.) complete: - perfect.
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:17
Jewish views are an important source of insight:
"Genesis 1:1 notes In the beginning... Others translate this, "In the beginning of God's creation of heaven and earth, the earth was without form and empty..." (Rashi). Still others combine the first three verses: "In the beginning of God's creation....when the earth was without form and empty....God said, "Let there be light." (Bereshith Rabbah).
"Genesis 1:2 God's spirit Others read "God's wind."
"Genesis 1:26 Let us God was speaking to all the forces of creation that He had brought into existence (cf. Targum Yonathan; Ramban).
Now that all the ingredients of creation had essentially been completed, all would participate in the creation of man, the crown of creation.
Others interpret "we" in the majestic sense, and translate the verse, "I will make man in My image" (Emunoth veDeyoth 2:9; Ibn Ezra).
"with our image and likeness Man is thus a microcosm of all the forces of creation. A major part of the Kabbalah deals with explaining exactly how this is so (see Nefesh HaChaim 1:1). Moreover, of all creation, only man resembles God in having free will (Maimonides, Yad, Teshuvah 5:1). Others explain "image" and "likeness" here to refer to a sort of conceptual archetype, model, or blueprint that God had previously made for man (Rashi). This "model" is seen as the primeval man" (Adam Kadmon).
In other words, Adam didn't "look" like God. Rather, God "imaged" Adam in His Mind and He came into being by His word. In the same way, we can never create a bookshelf unless we first "make in in our own mind."
Tri-theists see the earth as created as a totally worthless thing so that the Holy Spirit as a spiritual being could clean up the mess:
Tohu (h8414) to'-hoo; from an unused root mean. to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i. e. desert; fig. a worthless thing; adv. in vain: - confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, thing of nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.
However, the Father and Son did not create the earth vain and empty:
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 1 Timothy 4:4
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his (Israel's) Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. Isaiah 45:11
I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host (mass of persons or things) have I commanded. Isaiah 45:12
For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. Isaiah 45:18
Isaiah and Peter agree in saying that the creative process involved the heavens which could involve the universe. Then God made (asah) the earth. He accomplished, advanced, brought forth or restored the solid mass to cause the dry ground (earth) to stand up:
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: 2 Peter 3:5KJVTherefore, the "earth" God created was not the "globe" He created "in the beginning." The earth became void and empty and God restored it:
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. Jeremiah 4:23
........... I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. Jeremiah 4:24
........... ........... I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. Jeremiah 4:25When God formed the earth he squeezed it into shape like a potter making a clay vessel. This certainly explains the plastic nature of the land mass as the earth or dry ground popped up like toothpaste out of a squeezed tube. This symbolism was also used to describe making man like a little clay figurine. Then God made the earth or advanced it to a higher level. When He established the earth He made it stand errect or perpendicular. Science knows that if none of the land was standing up in a perpendicular way there could be no dry ground or earth.
By allowing God to create the dry ground or earth and the sky by "lifting" it up when and how He wished we get a much more glorious understanding of God whose creative power is from everlasting to everlasting.
Jehovah, Who is our Elohim, is presented as the One True God Who made all of those things the pagan, Babylonian gods were credited with. However, God would be less than God if He shared the creative credit:
THE heavens declare (keep a tally or record) the glory (expansiveness) of God; and the firmament (visible arch) sheweth his handiwork (occupation). Psalm 19:1
This means more than the evidence of God seen in things which can't come into existence by accident. Rather, as science knows and tries to understand, the universe has kept a record of the expansive nature of God reaching out into billions of stars in billions of galaxies.
For since the creation of the world (tended or taken care of world order) God's invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:20
While the heavens speak to us and tell us how ancient God and majestic God is, the heavens are not persons. The heavens also roar, proclaim and sing but they are not persons. In exactly the same way, the wind or spirit of God comes out of God's storehouse, hovers and makes great physical changes on the face of the earth, but the wind or spirit is not another person:
Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods (elohim or three eloah) that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. Jeremiah 10:11
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. Jeremiah 10:12
When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out (to and fro) the wind (spirit) from his storehouses. Jeremiah 10:13
In all of the examples of God recreating out of vain and empty conditions a people Who ignored His Word, the creative force of God is His breath, His words, or the wind.
To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Isaiah 40:25
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host (mass of people or things) by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Isaiah 40:26
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Isaiah 40:27
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. Isaiah 40:28
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. Isaiah 41:4
The Creation Parable Up
To say that the creation account is a parable is not to say that it is a myth. "Parable" simply means a "superior form of speech." God uses ordinary words but they define physical things which we can understand to define spiritual things. The parable is a mystery or a hidden language to hide God's power source from evil people who do not love the truth and would use it for their own enrichment and honor.
Frederick A. Filby, professor of Chemistry and author of Creation Revealed. wrote:
"The sciences which probe most deeply into the ultimate facts of matter and life are probably astro- and modern physics and biochemistry. But these sciences are written, not so much in language as in symbols. It takes many pages of symbols to discuss the nature of a single atom of hydrogen. It has been estimated that to give a complete account of the position of the group and bonds in a single virus of molecular weight 300 million would take a 200 page book. If the scientific description of a single hydrogen atom, or of a virus too small to be seen without a microscope, takes a book, what hope is there of ever giving a scientific account of the creation of man and the universe?
"Yet Genesis 1...uses only 76 different root words. If Genesis 1 were written in absolute scientific language to give an account of creation, there is no man alive, nor ever has there been, who could understand it.
"The answer is...Genesis 1...the most amazing composition in all the world's literature, using only 76 different word forms fundamental to all mankind, arranged in a wonderful poetical pattern, yet free from any highly colored figures of speech.
There are many parallel accounts of literal or spiritual creation or recreation. In the other accounts it is clear that God used the wind and fire as the "angels" or spirit agents of various creative or destructive forces in the physical world. For instance, the use of Elohim as the "us" in creation is figurative language. There were up to ten thousand els or elohim in the Babylonian pantheon--
But as for us, the Lord (Jehovah) is our God (Elohim), and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business: 2 Chronicles 13:10
The three-fold work of the One God is explained by the Psalmist as a poem or song. Parables were written as a superior but figurative way to teach those who cared to hear from God. Unfortunately, many of these hymns (speaking to self or one another) were put to tunes to be sung with musical instruments often for entertainment. The parable-like or "superior speech" of the creation story shows that God speaks the word by blowing spirit from His mouth.
By the (1) word (dabar is same as logos) of the (2) LORD (Jehovah is I Am not We are) the heavens were made, and all their host by the (3) breath (h7307 spirit) of his mouth (means of blowing wind or double-edged sword). Psalm 33:6
He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; he put the deeps in storehouses. Psalm 33:7
Let all the earth fear the LORD, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! Psalm 33:8
........... For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood forth. Psalm 33:9Karen Armstrong, in A History of God, says that "God had His word and wisdom with Him. Because we are created in His image, we have our mind or spirit, word and wisdom, breath or wind with us:
IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
The same was in the beginning with God. John 1:2
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. Without is from Choris (g5565) which means that there was no one at a space from Him. He was by Himself) John 1:3
In him was life; and the life was the light of men. John 1:4
O Lord, how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. Ps.104:24
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. Jer 10:12
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. Jer 1:15
The words He spoke were the spirit, life and light of men:
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
The Jews never understood Jehovah as three or more els. Tritheism suggests that Father and Son created the earth as a totally worthless thing. The Holy Spirit person then brought law, light and order. However, Isaiah records God's own message:
I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: Isaiah 45:5
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. Isaiah 45:6
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Isaiah 45:7
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. Isaiah 45:8
The Israelites, like us, could not understand the symbolic language of creation because God knew that they would use the secret knowledge to form workshops, gather everyone around, write books and have the elite reveal the secrets for a price or for their own glory. Until they turned to the Lord they would never understand. God told them why:
HEAR ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. Isaiah 48:1
- I have declared the former things from the beginning;
- and they went forth out of my mouth,
- and I shewed them;
- I did them suddenly, and
- they came to pass. Isaiah 48:3
- Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew,
- and thy brow brass; Isaiah 48:4
- I have even from the beginning declared it to thee;
- before it came to pass
- I shewed it thee:
- Lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them;
- and my graven image, and
- my molten image, hath commanded them. Isaiah 48:5
Even though the mercenary clergy heard and taught the prophecy they never understood. Only after the prophecy was fulfilled would the common people believe in God and not the clergy. Click Here to read Alexander Hislop.
The greatest proof for Deity is fulfilled prophecy. If I know the full truth of God's plans and prophecies then, perhaps, I can pretend to predict them and you will believe that I am God. However, God delights in fooling fools. The biggest fools were those who had a god for every occasion. The Babylonians had three at the top who died or were murdered by the next crew. The only way that Yahweh could prove that He was the only elohim was through prophecy:
They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them. Isaiah 48:7
Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb. Isaiah 48:8
Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Isaiah 48:12
The First and Last, the Alpha and Omega is Jesus Christ whose name is Jehovah-Saves:
And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; Revelation 2:8
In the next verses God's hands are anthropomorphic. As a Spirit, God does not have body parts as we do. God and His hand and His right hand created the heavens and earth. However, when my hand does something it is me doing it by my reach into another area.
Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. Isaiah 48:13
Of Messiah:
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. Is.59:16
The Lord God and His Spirit sent the Lord God. In a similar way, because we are made in God's image, my self and my spirit tell my body to get up and go. However, God makes it clear that the God and His Spirit which sent the Lord God is the Lord God and not separated into people:
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I (Jehovah) have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Isaiah 48:16
Thus saith the (1) Lord, thy (2) Redeemer, the (3) Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. Isaiah 48:17
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. Jer 51:15
When he uttereth (h5414 nathan) his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Jer 51:16
Ruwach (h7307) roo'-akh, roo'-akh; from 7306; wind; by resemblance breath, i. e. a sensible (or even violent exhalation; fig. life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extens. a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being including its expression and functions: - air, anger, blast, breath, * cool, courage, mind, * quarter, * side, spirit ([-ual]), tempest, * vain, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).
Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. Jer 51:17
Jesus Confirmed the Parable Nature of the Creation Up
Not of everyone but of the Jewish religious leadership:
And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. John 8:23
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. John 8:42
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. John 8:43
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
........... When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. John 8:45
........... He that is of God heareth Gods words:
........... ........... ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. John 8:47Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. John 13:26
And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. John 13:27
For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. John 13:29
The word "sop" is used only of Judas. It is:
Psomion (g5596) pso-mee'-on; dim. from a der. of the base of 5597; a crumb or morsel (as if rubbed off), i.e. a mouthful: - sop.
Psocho (g5597) pso'-kho; prol. from the same base as 5567; to triturate, i.e. (by anal.) to rub out (kernels from husks with the fingers or hand): - rub.
Psallo (g5567) psal'-lo; prob. strengthened from psaoÑ , (to rub or touch the surface; comp. 5597); to twitch or twang, i.e. to play on a stringed instrument (celebrate the divine worship with music and accompanying odes): - make melody, sing (psalms)
In his discussion w