Chapter One - The Background in Genesis—Sermon I

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Let’s go to the Gospel of John, please, and let’s read a promise that is given to us here. Let’s apply that today, because we’re going to go back and look at some very basic things, beginning in the book of Genesis. And we are going to see that there is an awful lot there.

I remember making the comment sometime ago, “I wonder what it would have been like to hear a sermon by the Apostle Paul—going into the Old Testament to tell us and show this, that and the other thing that is there.

Here’s a promise that is given that the Holy Spirit will do for us. John 14:26: “But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name, that one shall teach you all things…” That’s quite a promise—isn’t it? If we have the Holy Spirit of God, which we do; and if we’re yielding to God and trying to live by every Word of God; will the Holy Spirit teach us all things—that is what we need to know for salvation? It’s not going to teach us all information in the world, obviously. It doesn’t mean that.

“…and shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you” (v 26). That can’t happen to us because we didn’t hear the words of Jesus Christ.

Here’s another promise concerning the Holy Spirit, John 16:13: “However, when that one has come, even the Spirit of the Truth, it will lead you into all Truth…” There is this special blessing that comes when we really take God at His Word, study His Word, and add precept upon precept. Here’s tremendous promise given to us. If we follow the Word of God and we do put ‘line up line; here a little, there a little,’ and put it together correctly. Here’s a promise:

“…it will lead you into all Truth… [and the Greek there means all the Truth.] …because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak. And it shall disclose to you the things to come.” This is the thing necessary for us to understand concerning how we’re going to understand the Truth. I think we’re going to understand this even more in relationship to the very beginning parts of the Bible.

Here’s something else that we add to the knowledge of the Scriptures. I think this is very, very profound; I think it’s also most comforting and understanding when Jesus gave this promise here:

Luke 24:44: “And He said to them, ‘These are the words that I spoke to you when I was yet with you… [Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance all things that He said] …that all the things which were written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (vs 44-45).

We’ve seen and we’ve experienced this from time-to-time a little bit as we’re going along step-by-step-by-step. {see booklet: Grace of God in the Bible} There’s one thing I’ve learned with writing: you have to get in it and you have to really have your mind concentrating on it and be able to know the things that are there. What I’ve been doing, I’ve been writing concerning the grace of God in the Old Testament. And it’s brought out some very interesting things and help me clarify and help me understand even the first part of the Bible even more. I guess, when we get down to it, we will have to say that you never know anything the way that you really ought to truly know it.

What I did, since we have the Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament (Genesis-Exodus) by George Ricker Berry. We checked out and, unfortunately, he did not do the whole Bible. He just did Genesis and Exodus. However, I think in there there’s quite a bit that we can learn. This is going to help us also understand more about how important the Sabbath is right at a time when people are throwing away the Sabbath. It’s almost a dichotomy that is unreal.

Let’s take the literal translation of the Hebrew. There’s something that is going to make it just a little difficult in following along, and that is that the English must be read from the right to the left, rather than from the left to the right. With the literal translation in linear form it must be done that way, because Hebrew is read from the right to left.

And we’re going to see something just little different but profound translations of different words that really mean more to us. As you look at the Interlinear translation here, you will see that there are two columns with an English translation. One is the King James Version, which is on the left -hand side and one is the Revised Version, which is on the right-hand side. Then you have the Hebrew text with the English directly below it. We’re going to go into other sections of the Bible as we’re going along, but let’s read the English from the Interlinear. You will also see that the verb in Hebrew is put before the subject.

If the Interlinear is too hard for you to follow along, then you can follow along with your own Bible. The purpose of this is because there are several sections, which are important for us to know, read and understand.

Genesis 1:1 (Int): “In the beginning when created God the heavens and the earth…” Let’s understand something that’s important: God had to be before the beginning. If God were not before ‘the beginning,’ then God would be ‘the beginning.’ As you will notice, when we’re going through here, there may be some changes in your notes in your margin of your Bible—as someone just pointed out.

There is only one real ‘the beginning’ in relationship to us—and what the Bible reveals to us. That is ‘the beginning.’ Some people have put down there a beginning trying to indicate that there was a beginning before the beginning. But you cannot have a beginning before the beginning, otherwise the beginning is not the beginning. You have one beginning and you may have subsequent renewals. You may have subsequent changes. You may have subsequent additions. But there is only one the beginning.

The reason it is justified in the minds of some by saying, ‘a beginning,’ because some people have in mind that there was ‘a beginning’ before ‘the beginning’ of the heaven and earth as we know it. However, in this particular case it is not talking about this.

Let’s look at some other Scriptures concerning “the beginning.” And John is the one who does this. Now, I’m going to go in a little more detail on this later on when I go through a very thorough word-by-word analysis of the Gospel of John, the first chapter. There are only three places in all of the Scriptures—Old Testament and New Testament— which talks about ‘in the beginning.’

In the Gospel of John we find it is not a beginning, but the beginning. This is very important for us to understand concerning the nature of God. I will give a little detail here and, at a later time, I will amplify it even more.

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The importance that we need to understand is this. “In the beginning… [and it can actually read: before the beginning. I don’t want to get in too much detail with the Greek.] …was the Word...” Why did He have to be in existence before the beginning? Because He’s the Creator!

“…and the Word was with God...” This is very important from the point of view of this paper concerning ‘the thinker’ and ‘the thought.’ What they’re trying to do is eliminate two beings Who are God and say there’s only one Being who is God by saying that the Word was ‘the thought’ of God, since He was ‘the thought’ in ‘the thinker’ He was with God. But that’s not what this means at all, because when we get to the detailed study of it, we will see it is with—and the Greek is ‘pros’—which means with or toward face-to-face!

“…and the Word was God,” so that we understand the One was the One Who became Jesus Christ. All of this is to counteract and go against all the philosophical doctrines of the nature of God. When we get there it’s going to open your mind like you have never understood this before. But, I want to get it all prepared and laid out word for word so that you can see it clearly.

I’m currently reading a book by John Goodenough, which is called Light by Light. Of course, it says a lot about light here in the John 1— doesn’t it? Yes! What he’s essentially showing is the, the pagan’s concept of the nature of God. Going through that, I can see how that they were going absolutely contrary to those religions at that time, philosophies which are being resurrected and being dumped upon us today.

Now let’s notice something else v 2: “He was in the beginning with God…. [which means He had to be there] (notice what He did): …All things came into being through Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him” (vs 2-3). No such thing as creation by sub-gods. No such thing as creation by angels. No such thing as evolution. All was made by Him!

Now let’s go to 1-John 1 because we want to have it in there; we’re talking about something just a little bit different in relationship to it. We’re talking about the One Who was from the beginning. And that is after everything was created, the One Who became Jesus Christ as the Lord God of the Old Testament continually existed from the time of the creation. He existed before the creation; He existed after the creation. So that’s what he is saying here. And he’s giving us a very, very personal account of their relationship with Jesus Christ.

1. -John 1: “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our own eyes, that which we observed for ourselves and our own hands handled, concerning the Word of life; (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and are bearing witness, and are reporting to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested [revealed] to us); that which we have seen and have heard we are reporting to you in order that you also may have fellowship with us; for the fellowship—indeed, our fellowship— is with the Father and with His own Son Jesus Christ” (vs 1-3).

Now let’s go to Hebrews 1 and we find something that adds to this

• concerning the beginning
• concerning God
• concerning what He did
• concerning what Christ was

We know that in the beginning was God. And we know that the word for God is ‘Elohim’—a word which means more than one. So, there was a time when there were the two of ‘Elohim’ and then there was a time when one of Them became the Father and the other became the Son.

Hebrews 1:1: “God, Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things…” (vs 1-2). When it says that we’re going to be ‘co-heirs with Christ,’ I don’t even think that our minds can grasp the magnitude of what that is going to be. He’s the heir of all things.

“…by Whom also He made the worlds; Who, being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His person…” (v 2-3). We’re dealing with the fact that God is a person—as revealed throughout the Scriptures. That is why God wants us to have a personal relationship with Him and with Christ.

“…and upholding all things by the Word of His own power…” (v 3), or ‘by the power of His Word’ because God, when He created, when He spoke it came into existence.

“…when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having been made so much greater than any of the angels, inasmuch as He has inherited a name exceedingly superior to them. For to which of the angels did He ever say, ‘You are My Son; this day I have begotten You’?….” (vs 3-5). That’s when the Father became the Father. That’s when the Elohim who became the Father, became the Father. That’s when the Elohim who became the Son, became the Son.

Verse 5: “For to which of the angels did He ever say, ‘You are My Son; this day I have begotten You’? And again, ‘I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me’? And again, when He brought the Firstborn into the world, He said, ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’” (vs 5-6).

This is telling us about the person and the power and the work and the activity of Jesus Christ. Now let’s go back to our Hebrew Interlinear in Genesis 1. When we are talking about the beginning it is the beginning—not ‘a.’ Anything subsequent of the beginning, is an addition or renewal or whatever, but it is not a beginning.

Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning when created God the heavens and the earth.” As I mentioned, the verb comes before the subject. God here being ‘Elohim’ means more than one. That’s why He said later, ‘Let Us...’

Verse 2: “And the earth being a desolation and a waste…” How did the earth become “…a desolation and a waste…”? When He got done creating the earth He said, ‘Behold, it was very good.’ Let’s see how this came to be. Let’s first understand that these two words come from the Hebrew, ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu’—you’ve probably heard that before— which means chaos and confusion. Is God the author of confusion? No! God is not the author of confusion (1-Cor. 14:33[transcriber’s correction]).

How did it become this way? There was something before human beings, which was on this earth, that’s what happened! Let’s look at the Scriptures that help us with this, to give us understanding. Let’s see what Isaiah tells us concerning God and His creation. You will also note that the King James translation says, ‘the earth was without form and void’ (Gen. 1:2).

Isaiah 45:18, a very interesting, and very profound verse: “For thus says the LORD the Creator of the heavens… [we’re talking about ‘in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’] …He Himself is God, Who formed the earth and made it; He has established it. He created it not in vain…”—‘tohu’—it’s not in vain. How could it become ‘in vain’ right at the beginning after God created it, if He didn’t make it ‘in vain’ or in chaos and confusion?

“…but formed it to be inhabited. ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other’” (v 18).

Jeremiah 4—we will see another place where the expression, ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu’ is used. This will give us an understanding as to how the earth became that way. Jer. 4 is talking about the punishment coming to Jerusalem and Judah. It’s talking about the things that are happening in punishment.

Jeremiah 4:19: “My bowels, my bowels! I writhe in pain. O walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the ram’s horn, the alarm of war.” This is going to tell us how the earth became that way, and why the earth is so literally upside down.

Verse 20: “Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the banner of war and hear the sound of the ram’s horn? ‘For My people are foolish; they have not known Me; they are stupid children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.’ I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void…” (vs 20-23)—a condition subsequent to the creation. In this case, a condition subsequent to what we find of the completed creation (Gen. 1), and this is ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu’ or being a desolation and a waste. That’s what war does!

Was there war in heaven before the creation of man? That becomes very important. We want to understand something. In all the accounts that we have concerning Adam and Eve and the garden and so forth, we have four beings who are noted in the Scriptures besides all the animals in the creation. Who are those four beings?

1. God
2. Adam
3. Eve
4. the serpent—Satan the devil

He’s called ‘that old serpent, Satan the devil which deceives the whole world’ (Rev. 12:9).

Was Satan already evil by the time he met Adam and Eve? Yes! Which means he had to become evil and Satan, before Adam and Eve were created. When was that? How did that happen? Let’s go to Ezekiel 28 and we will see!

Ezekiel 28 is a very interesting chapter because it talks about the ‘prince of Tyre’; it talks about Tyre; and it talks about the king of Tyre or Tyrus. But, we want to focus in on something that is very important because this tells us some very important facts. This is very basic, fundamental. I think it’s important that we go through it because there are some people who are denying that Satan is even a being, today—even within the Church of God.

Ezekiel 28:11: “And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, lift up a lamentation over the king of Tyre…” (vs 11-12).

Verse 2: “ ‘Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre. “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, “I am a god, I sit in the seat of God…”’”’” Well, you can’t get any higher than that, can you? No! Why then does he address the king of Tyre? Because, in this case, the king of Tyre is the spirit power behind the prince, who says he’s God. And we’re going to see that this is the same spirit power that, in the book of Revelation, inspires the final beast power to say, ‘I am God.’ And all the world is going to worship him and worship the devil.

Let’s notice what it says about this king of Tyre which has to then be the one who became Satan the devil as we will see by what the Scriptures tell us here.

“…and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “You seal up the measure of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You have been in Eden the Garden of God…” ’ ” (v 12-13).

We have the four identified who were in the garden: God, Adam, Eve and the serpent. What happened after they sinned? They were put out of the Garden of Eden, and no one could enter into it!

If he was in Eden, the Garden of God, this could only be talking about the one who became Satan the devil, because no one else went into the Garden of Eden after the sin of Adam and Eve. They were cast out and cherubim were put there with flaming swords to keep the way so they couldn’t go back in there.

Notice we have something here that is important. “You have been in Eden the Garden of God…” and then it talks about all of his beauty— all of the tremendous coverings and the stones, which is a sign of regalness, royalty and exalted position.

“…The workmanship of your settings and of your sockets was prepared in you in the day that you were created” (v 13).

We saw that everything was created by Jesus Christ—correct? Nothing came into existence that He did not make! So, we have a created being. Now let’s find out a little bit more about him:

Verse 14: “You were the anointed cherub that covers…” We know that over the Ark of the Covenant were two cherubs guarding it. Here we find an additional cherub which has nothing to do with the two cherubs that are over the Ark of the Covenant, nor having anything to do with the two cherubs placed at the gate going into the Garden of Eden.

“…and I set you so; you were upon the Holy mountain of God…” (v 14). The Garden of Eden was not the Holy Mount—was it? No! This is talking about a time prior to when the earth became desolate and without form or void—or ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu.’

“…you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire…. [showing that he was right there with God. This is talking about the way you could visualize things composed of spirit.] … You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you” (vs 14-15). We don’t know how long it was, the Bible doesn’t tell us. But, something happened. And it happened over a period of time.

When I was in Grand Junction I was given this little saying by Carl Quist. So I entitled it An Old Prov erb—and this is true:

You don’t go bad in a single day,
You just sort of shuffle along.
Then lighten the load of your moral code
Till you don’t know right from wrong.

I thought that was a very nice little proverb. But it’s the same way with Satan the devil, same way with the one who was the ‘covering cherub’—right over the throne of God. “…until iniquity was found…” in him,” which shows us that there had to be a period of time. There had to be an activity by the angels. Angels do not exist just to pluck on harps. Angels are greater in power and ability than human beings.

What kind of civilization did the angels have before they fell? We don’t know! But it had to be greater than ours, because they had greater abilities.

Verse 16: “By the multitude of your merchandise…” I don’t know what it was that they were doing, but what is it that Satan is inspiring the whole world to do today? To buy and sell and trade and merchandise! Is that what he did with the angels, also? then do it illegally? do it improperly? Could very well be!

“…they have filled your midst with violence, and you have sinned….” (v 16). And sin is the transgression of the laws and commandment of God.

• Do you not suppose that there are commandments for angels that they have to obey?
• If you have righteous angels, are they not obedient angels?
• If you have disobedient angels who have become demons, then you have also apply the principle.
• If you don’t believe that there are laws and commandments for angels to follow— what is that principle?
• Where there is no law there is no sin!

So, he could not have sinned unless there was some law that he broke or commandment that he broke. And we’re going to see what that was in just a little bit here.

“…Therefore, I will cast you as profane from the mountain of God, and I will destroy you, O covering cherub, from among the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness…. [got totally sold on himself] …I will cast you to the ground; I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you. By the multitude of your iniquities, by the unrighteousness of your trade, you have profaned your sanctuaries…” (vs. 16-18).

There must have been some form of angelic worship with sanctuaries, what we might call assemblies or churches. We have to deduce that from here, because you cannot have a sanctuary unless there is some place that’s set aside to be Holy, can you?

Verse 18: “By the multitude of your iniquities, by the unrighteousness of your trade, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore I brought forth a fire from your midst; it shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth, before the eyes of all who see you.”

It carries forth right from there to the final, final punishment of Satan the devil. Rev. 12 tells us what occurred, and then we’ll go from there to the book of Jude and then to the book of Isaiah. Let’s understand something concerning fallen angels, which are called demons. There’s going to be a future war, and that future war is going to result in, again, the casting down of Satan the devil to the earth—which is just somewhere in the very near future ahead of us.

So that we can understand something with him, something about this, Revelation 12:9: “And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent… [What happened when he was cast out the first time? This is the second casting out; the first one was a ‘fall.’] …who is called the Devil and Satan, who is deceiving the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.” Those angels are called in the Gospels, demons or unclean spirits. Now, we’ve seen in the past that sin causes uncleanness: spiritual and physical.

Verse 1: “Then there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun…” This is symbolic of the whole completed work of God, with the bride of Christ. This is depicting the woman, the bride of Christ.

“…and having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried in travail, and was in pain to deliver. And another sign was seen in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon… [which we saw was Satan the devil] …having seven heads and ten horns… [we have the powers and principalities] … and seven crowns on his heads; and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth.…” (vs 1-4).

When did that happen? This first fall? Let’s go to Luke 10, and let’s see what Jesus said concerning Satan and the demons, because this is also a very revealing Scripture.

Luke 10:17: Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your name.’ And He said to them, ‘I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven” (vs 17-18). That’s what we just read in Rev. 12:3-4, “…his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven…” We know that in Rev. 1, that a star is an angel. So, this is saying—combined together— that when Satan fell “…as lightning from heaven…” he drew a third of the angels with him.

Let’s confirm that by this Scripture in the little book of Jude, what Jude wrote concerning the angels and see what he says about them. Jude 6: “And the angels who did not keep their own original domain… [they rebelled against God] …but deserted their habitation, He is holding in eternal bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”

Now, we also know that Satan had to fall before man was created, otherwise he would not show up in the Garden of Eden as Satan. So, let’s put this all together and let’s see what happened.

Let’s understand that Satan is called the god of this world. 2-Corinthians 4:3: “But if our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing; in whom the god of this world…” (vs 3-4). Jesus called him the ‘prince’ of this world or the ‘ruler’ of this world. He’s also called ‘the prince of the power of the air; that spirit that now works within the children of disobedience’ (Eph. 2). The “god of this world!”

Now let’s go to Isaiah 14, and we will put this all together and we will see when Satan was cast down; when the war took place. When there is war, what happens? We saw in Jer. 4 when there’s war there’s desolation and destruction—wasting!

Isaiah 14:12: “How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning!.…” Isn’t that what Jesus said, He saw Satan ‘fall from heaven as lightning.’ Lucifer means light-bringer. He was to be the ‘light-bringer’ in God’s plan, but he rebelled.

Now let me just mention something here that’s important. In all of the secret religions of the philosophies and also in Masonry, they worship Lucifer as the ‘light-bringer.’ And Lucifer is declared unequivocally by Albert Pike as ‘God.’ And they know what they’re worshipping. That’s why they have to have degrees, to kind of let you in on the secret step-by-step. Because, if they told a new initiate first out what they were doing, they would undoubtedly reject it. You have to be brainwashed and brought along, degree by degree. When you get to be the 33rd degree, then they know that are coming to the stream of light from Lucifer. Now, you will see that in this other paper that I gave you.

“…How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into the heavens… [this had to happen before the creation of man] …I will exalt my throne above the stars of God… [stars being angels, ‘above the angels of God’—get the advantage] …I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north’” (vs 12-13) —which is the Mt. of God where the central government of God the Father and Jesus Christ is located, wherever that is in the universe. I’m convinced that it’s a whole lot closer to the earth than maybe we have imagined.

Verse 14: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds…”

• Where are clouds? Clouds are on the earth!
• What do you need to make clouds? You need water!
• Where’s the only place that they truly have found any amount of water where there can be clouds, in as far as our whole solar system is concerned? That’s the earth!

They think that on Mars they can detect some things where there used to be water—possible. So, I just through this in the mix, as just a thought, it makes you wonder, was there something on Mars before it was desolated in its present condition? Could be!

Everyone is anxious to find out what is on Mars. Some people have said that there are some temple-looking buildings or something on Mars, but the United States government is holding back the information on that. I do not know. You can read that in the Enquire or Star, whichever you prefer.

“…‘I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…’ ” (v 13). Could that refer to literal stars? Yes! It could refer to angels. It could refer to both and still have the same meaning.

“ ‘…I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High’” (vs 13-14). Now, that’s an impossibility. Why? Well, we have a lesson from Paul, ‘Shall the thing created—which it was—be greater than the Creator?’ No! or ‘Shall the thing created say to the Creator, What are you making?’ That’s what he’s doing by this statement: “…I will be like the Most High.”

Verse 15: “Yet, you shall be brought down to the grave, to the sides of the pit.” That’s what’s going to happen.

What we are dealing with in Gen. 1 is that after God created the heavens and the earth, in the beginning something happened, and the word was can be translated became, or it’s state of being became a desolation and a waste (Gen. 1:2). So then, what we are dealing with here, which is true, when we are looking at the earth in this condition, what does God do from that time forward? He renews the surface of the earth, or recreates it—doesn’t He? Yes!

When Christ returns, is He going to make a new heaven and a new earth? Yes, He is! Because all the stars are, again, be out of whack—are they not? The earth is going to be all suffering from the wars and desolation and plagues—is it not? Yes!

He’s going to have to make a new heaven and new earth. How? By renewing the one that is here! It talks about that during the Millennium one of the things we will be doing is helping the people rebuild the waste places, which is the result of war. Now, notice what else happened here.

Genesis 1:2 (Int): “And the earth being a desolation and a waste, and darkness being upon the face of the abyss…” Who is the prince of darkness? Satan the devil! So, we have dual meaning here.

1. The light of God was not shinning, because Christ is the Light (John 1)
2. Satan is the prince of darkness So we have:

• symbolic: the spiritual quality of the absence of light and darkness
• literal darkness: that it was dark, maybe a thick darkness like it was in Egypt during the plagues

“…and darkness being upon the face of the abyss… [the great deep] …and the Spirit of God hovering upon the face of the waters” (v 2).

What is one way to get rid of radiation? You bury it in water, and you keep it there a long time. We do not know how old the earth literally is. It could be many hundreds of millions of years old as we reckon time—could even be billions of years old. When you look at the geographical strata what do you see? You see two floods! You see the killing of the warm-blooded animals in the flood of Noah; and you see the killing of the dinosaurs in a different strata in a different time; and that is always buried way down low with the so-called ‘primitive rocks.’

I will have to say that most of the things that they test, they don’t test the literal thing. I found out this concerning the testing. They go to Africa like Professor Leeky and he’s walking along the ground and sees part of a skull there. And he picks up this part of the skull and he says, ‘I wonder how old this is? Well, we’ll take it in and do a scientific testing.’ What they do, they go and get some of the dirt and they test the dirt for the age, not the skull.

If you understand the error in that, then you’ll understand why most of these things are wrong with the carbon dating and even the argon carbon dating, though the dating is correct. The age of the soil maybe totally different than the age of the bone which is found in the soil. We have a member who used to live in Utah where the Dinosaur National Park where the dinosaur bones are right in the limestone. So, when you test the stone…

Let’s look at it this way: You could take a calf, it died, you bury it, it’s left there—say, maybe 50 years. Someone comes back and does an archeological excavation. They find these bones, they want to know how old the bones are, how long has it been there? Well, if they take the bones and test the bones, they will get an accurate test. But, if they take the soil in which the calf was buried and test the soil, they’re not going to get an accurate result because the soil was there long before the calf was buried in it. So, that’s why you find this great divergence.

How long it was that the angels were here in peace and harmony before sin, we don’t know. But, God then had to renew the face of the earth— which is what He did here. So, we have the spiritual darkness and we have the physical darkness and now God is going to do something about it.

Verse 3: “And God said…” We note that ‘by His Word, He commands.’ This is going to be so profound when we come to the creation of Adam and Eve. This also tells us our relationship and our destiny with God that God intended from the very beginning of the creation of Adam and Eve. So He commanded:

“…‘Let light be’ and light was…. [light came into being] …And saw God the light that it was good, and divided God between the light and between the darkness. And called God to the light day… [or assigned to it the name ‘day’] …and to the darkness He called night; and the evening and the morning was, day one” (vs 3-5)—in the recreation of the earth for human existence. He already began with an earth that was in ‘chaos and confusion’—a wasteland and desolation, as a result of the war with Satan and his angels, who fell and became demons.

Let’s also notice something here that’s important: when there was night and when there was day we have on half of the earth it is night, half of the earth it is day continuously at all times!

But, when it says “…the evening and the morning were day one” the evening ended the darkness where God was when He created and called into existence the light and separated it. And the evening ended the darkness. Just like when we go through—and that follows the pattern all the way through the Bible—when you come to evening or sunset, it ends that day. This first evening ended the darkness because it was light just enough where God was so that it was evening; and then morning was day one.

Verse 6: “And said God, ‘Let be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be dividing between waters to waters. And made God the expanse, and He divided between the waters which were from under to the expanse and between the waters which were to the expanse; and it was so. And called God to the expanse heavens; and evening was and morning was, a day second” (vs 6-8).

Some people think that the waters above had to do with perhaps an envelope of water or some sort of water-covering above the earth. I do not know whether that speculation has any validity or not. Some people have said well maybe there was a ring of water around the earth. And if there was a ring of water around the earth, it had to then end up being frozen, because once you get out of the temperature it’s going to freeze. Possible! This doesn’t tell us exactly.

Verse 6 (KJV): “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so” (vs 6-7).

• Could this also refer to clouds?
• Are clouds full of water? Yes!
• You know they are when it rains—right?
• Do they contain lots and lots and lots of water? Yes, they do!

Especially when you get caught in some horrendous rain you wonder when it’s going to stop.

I would have to surmise from what is here that what He was doing was separating the waters from the oceans, which became the oceans, from the water which He wanted to have in the clouds. Now, whether there was a ring of water or a disc of frozen water around the earth, I do not know. It doesn’t tell us. We have to leave that in the realm of speculation.

Verse 8 (Int): “…and evening was and morning was a day second. And said God, ‘Let be collected the waters from under the heavens unto place one, and let be seen the dry land earth’”. …” (vs 8-9).

Now, sometimes you have rearrange the words as you’re reading, because it’s a little awkward with the literal translation. But, it’s good to have a literal translation though.

There is some evidence geologically speaking that there was one major continent on the earth at one time and the seas all around it. Could be. This seems to lend some credence to that. And then they say that the earth was moved around and formed the continents as we have them now.

When you look at some of these continents, you can see that it makes sense. Some of them, which are close by, you can see the difference. Like in the English Channel, you have the white cliffs of Dover on one side and then you have the white cliffs, but not as much, on the other side, and you can tell that it was ripped apart and separated. However, I do not believe any of these things were gradual. I think they happened BAM! and it happened—not a gradual thing.

When you look at the mountains that didn’t happen just a little—it went BAM! and it happened all at once. We can talk about that a little bit later. So, there was the dry land.

Verse 10: “And called God to the dry land earth, and to the collection of the waters He called the seas; and saw God that it was good. And said God, ‘Let cause to spring forth the earth grass, herb seeding seed, and tree of fruit making fruit after its kind…’ ” (v 10-11).

We’re beginning to get a lesson here, as He’s teaching us, that it’s after its kind. I think that if we ever do get to the point of Noah’s Flood, I think it’s telling us that the whole earth was corrupted. I think the animals were, the vegetables were, everything that man set his hand to do was corrupted. Just like today. Everything is becoming hybrid and cross-genetics.

Men have thought of and conceived quite a few things. If you have potatoes now that you cut open and they never turn black, you know that they have inserted a gene from a moth into that potato to keep it from turning black. They have done that, yes! They’ve done that with genetics. I know some may not believe it. That’s what they say. What else they can do I don’t know. It’s “after its kind.”

“…and tree making fruit after in which is its seed in it after its kind. And saw God that it was good. And evening was and morning was, a day third” (vs 12-13).

Each one of these things in their sequence. I want you to understand that God is speaking or commanding all of these things into existence. Now, if you want to know the power of the Word of God, and if you want to know what God can do, here’s part of it. He can command and it exists!

Verse 14: “And said God, ‘Let be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and between the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years.’”

This also let’s us know that since there was light and day, and we’re up to the third day, the question becomes: Did God wait until the fourth day to create the moon and the sun? No! I think He set them back in the proper orbit that they needed to be, because I believe that they were knocked out of orbit when there was a war; the war between Satan and his demons and God and the angels.

What does God use? God uses the things that He has made! When you look at the moon, look at it very carefully. I think you will see that the majority of those things are not really volcanoes, but craters from different elements—rocks or parts of the universe—hitting it.

We have an unusual thing in our solar system. I may stand corrected on this at a later date— but, I do believe, if my memory serves me correctly, there is an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Now, they know, from what they’ve been able to see, looking out into the heavens, that these are really just chunks of junk rock. That’s all they are.

God, in cleaning up the universe around us, just took all of those and put them into that orbit. Now, when “stars fall from heaven” as we look at stars from heaven, is that going to be God sending a lot of those meteoroids back down to the earth and when they hit our atmosphere they’re burning up. I do not know, could very well be. But, everywhere you look in our solar system, there are signs of chaos and confusion and war. In the earth, though it’s re-created for man’s habitation, in Mars in particular, and with the asteroid belt that is there.

Some of the other planets, we would have to say we don’t know if there was any habitation on them. I would have to doubt that there would be just looking at the way that they are now. Then He set them for times, for seasons, for years.

Verse 15: “‘And let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. And made God the two luminaries great, the luminary greater ruling for the day and the luminary smaller for ruling the night; and the stars. And put them God in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule in the day and in the night, and to divide between the light and between the darkness. And saw God that it was good” (vs 15-18).

Here’s another reason why the Holy Days are to be kept: they are part of the creation of God based upon seasons. Verse 19: “And the evening was and morning was a day fourth. And said God, ‘Let swarm the waters with swarms soul of life…’ ” (vs 19-20).

Verse 20 (KJV): “…‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature’….” Swarming is a good word—when you see some of these pictures of the schools of fish and so forth—a good word.

“ ‘…and fowl let fly upon the earth, upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.’ And created God the monsters-sea great, and all the souls of life that creep, with which swarmed the waters after their kinds, and every fowl wing after its kind; and saw God that it was good. And blessed them God, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth.’ And evening was and morning was a day five” (vs 20-23).

Again God is commanding this creation by the Word of His power. They’re coming into existence. So therefore, let’s understand something, when God told Moses—or anyone who was to write the Scriptures—‘Write this and put it in a book,’ you know, it has power to it. That’s why the Word of God is a living word.

Verse 24: “And said God, ‘Let cause to go forth the earth soul of life after its kind, cattle and creeper, and beast of the earth after its kind…. [you find a breakdown of the animals as God would see it] …and it was so. And made God the beasts of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after its kind, and every creeper of the ground after its kind.’ And saw God that it was good” (vs 24-25). Again, God did it by speaking.

Let’s see what happened here beginning with man. Then we’ll go to Gen. 2 because there’s some very interesting things concerning man.

Verse 26: “And said God, ‘Let Us…’” Carl Franklin was writing in his paper The Two Jehovahs of the Pentateuch, he’s showing that grammatically in the syntax in the Hebrew—which means the way that it’s written and the meaning behind the words—this is not God talking to angels. This is not God talking to a council in heaven. This is one of Elohim saying to the other of Elohim:

“…‘Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…’” (v 26). It’s interesting, he didn’t say any of the cattle or any of the birds or any other thing was after the likeness of God—they were after their own created kind.

What is true concerning an image is very important. An image is made in the likeness of something that is other than the image. In other words, in this case being God. God is the reality from which the image was patterned. After His image, after His likeness. Supreme creation as far as the physical things are concerned. So much so supreme that He said:

“ ‘…and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heavens and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeper that creeps upon the earth.’ And created God the man…” (vs 26-27). Notice He didn’t speak—did He? God created! In the other cases, God created and made by speaking.

“…in His image , in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.… [We will see that it was a special creation, and that’s why it’s recorded this way for us.] …And blessed them God, and said to them God: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every beast that creeps upon the earth.’ And said God: ‘Behold, I have given to you every herb seeding seed… [the seed within itself] …which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed, to you it shall be for food…” (vs 28- 29).

There are those who say that, at this time they did not eat any meat. We don’t know whether that is exactly so. He didn’t say they couldn’t eat of any of the animals here at this point, but He was describing what kind of, of vegetation or fruits that they could eat—and that was with its seed within itself.

Today we have oranges with no seeds. They can’t quite get away with it, because it pops up with a seed every once in a while. Have they come to a hybridize a seedless watermelon, yet? I’m sure, in the scheme of things, God intended that there be certain things that man could do with plants and animals that are lawful and legal and proper. But, I’m also sure that we’re entering a time where there are a lot of things that human beings are doing to plants and animals that are not lawful. And, I think we are reducing the seed reservoir, in particularly for wheat, because everyone is trying to have great abundance of wheat and rice, and they are getting into the hybridized production of those that I heard of in one, one show that I saw, that they are down to just maybe a dozen genesis seeds of wheat. I don’t know what it is for rice, but I do remember the wheat.

What they’re doing in the potato, they’re going to South America to try and get new genetic strains from the potatoes down there—because we’ve pretty well destroyed the genetic strains that we have up here. They’re subject to all kinds of weakness and sickness and disease. You can’t outdo God’s way! When God made this, this was tremendous, this was great!

“…to every beast of the earth, and to all of the fowl of heavens and to every creeper upon the earth, in which is a soul of life, I have given every greenness of herb for food;’ and it was so. And saw God all which He had made…” (vs 29-31)—or the soul of them, which is a living soul, as it were, the soul of life.

And, it’s true. We also have something here that’s important, and let’s understand something, which is true—absolutely, profoundly true— concerning all flesh, concerning human beings.

Isaiah 40:6: “A voice says, ‘Cry!’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry? “All flesh is grass, and all the beauty of it is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the Word of our God shall stand forever”’” (vs 6-8).

It is actually literally true. We are all grass! Even if you eat a steak, guess where that

came from? Grass! Some kind of vegetation. You eat a chicken, where did that come from? Grass and worms and a few other things.

People even smoke it. Yes! There are various kinds of grass: you have tobacco and then you have marijuana and you have other things. It’s amazing what people do. Sometimes all you can do is just shake your head as how great that our creation is, of our bodies and everything. Because what mankind does to itself, and still survives, is really just something else.

Genesis 1:31: “And saw God all which He had made, and behold, it was good.…” The Hebrew there for good means gracious or beautiful. In a sense, the whole creation of God was an act of grace by giving and providing all of these things rightly.

“…it was good. And evening was and morning was a day sixth” (v 31). I want you to look at the Hebrew lettering for “day six.” We can’t understand what they are, but we can see similarities and differences between that. I just call you attention to that.

Genesis 2:1 (Int): “And were finished the heavens and the earth and all their host. And finished God in the day seventh…” (vs 1-2). I want you to look at the way the Hebrew seventh is spelled there. Just look at the letters and compare that with sixth. You see the only difference between the two is a middle letter. Do you see that? Letters are the same, but there’s a different letter in the middle. I want you to notice at the end, on the left-hand side of the Hebrew lettering, which is seventh, there is a little ‘a’—that means there’s a footnote.

Now, go down to the bottom and look where it says ‘a’—it says ‘the sixth’ not ‘seventh.’ This helps us understand something. It shows here, as read by the ‘sm’—which is the Samaritan version, the ‘G’ and the ‘S’—an intentional change. This is one of these changes that were made, because God ended His work on the sixth day and rested the seventh. He didn’t end His work on the seventh day.

What have we always had to say of that verse. That means He ended His work just before the seventh day began. Which may or may not be exactly true. But, if it is, God ended His work on the sixth day, what, He’s following is His own laws, isn’t He? ‘Six days shall you labor and do all your work’—correct?

I thought this was really a very meaningful understanding of what was going on here. God finished His work in the sixth day—#6.

“…His work which He had made; and He rested… [both cases in] …in the day seventh from all His work which He had made” (v 2). That helps clarify a lot—doesn’t it?

One day I was in busy doing some things and all of a sudden the fax went, here was this page faxed to me from Carl, noting these things. And here I had the Interlinear and hadn’t had a chance to get in and study it yet, and here is a very profound, meaningful understanding concerning that— that should be sixth day when God ended His work.

In other words, God Himself also prepared for the Sabbath—correct? Yes! Let’s understand something: When God created the day and night, He started the cycle. Therefore, when it came to the seventh day, He made that day Holy vs creating it Holy. God created time and the days, and then He made the seventh day Holy.

Made is a little less than created. Created is bringing it into its initial existence. Then made is maybe using the same thing only doing something else with the same thing, which He did here in relationship to a day. Remember, Jesus said, ‘The Sabbath was made for man.’ He did not say created.

He said ‘made.’ Time had already been created, but then God made this section of time Holy—the seventh day.

Well, we’ll get into that a little more in part 2, because there is an awful lot here concerning the Sabbath. Then we will get into the relationship between God and man and what God really intended is revealed, and how He created man and woman.

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

1. ) John 14:26
2. ) John 16:13
3. ) Luke 24:44-45
4. ) Genesis 1:1
5. ) John 1:1-3
6. ) 1 John 1:1-3
7. ) Hebrews 1:1-6
8. ) Genesis 1:1-2
9. ) Isaiah 45:18
10. ) Jeremiah 4:19-23
11. ) Ezekiel 28:11-12, 2, 12-18
12. ) Revelation 12:9, 1-4
13. ) Luke 10:17-18
14. ) Jude 6
15. ) 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
16. ) Isaiah 14:12-14, 13-15
17. ) Genesis 1:2-31
18. ) Isaiah 40:6-8
19. ) Genesis 1:31
20. ) Genesis 2:1-2

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• 1 Corinthians 14:33
• Revelation 1
• Ephesians 2
• John 1

Also Referenced: Books:

• The Grace of God in the Bible by Fred R. Coulter
• Interlinear Hebrew-English of the Old Testament (Genesis-Exodus) by George Ricker Barry
• Light by Light by John Goodenough
• The Two Jehovahs of the Pentateuch by Carl Franklin

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