407 – The Arrangement of Heaven and Earth for Production

SEMESTER 1

407 – The Arrangement of Heaven and Earth for Production

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

COURSE:  BIBLE SURVEY I LESSON # 7
HEAVEN AND EARTH ARRANGED FOR PRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION:

1. In previous lessons we have essentially dealt with the amount of time involved in creation.
2. In this lesson we shall deal with God’s preparation and arrange­ment of them to produce His ordained effect.
3. Gen. 1:2 and Isa. 45:18 explained and harmonized, lay before us the platform for this arrangement.

i. Gen. 1:2 says the earth was without form, (no form of life existed thereon) and void (empty).
ii. But Isa. 45:18 informs us that God did not create in vain (for no purpose) but He created it to be inhabited.
iii. Gen. 1:2-10 reveals this preparation and covers the first two days and part of the third.

a) This preparation seems to involve:

I. THE CREATION OF THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH

1. May I suggest here, that this statement of Gen. 1:1 may well speak only of space and its inhabitants (the angelic order) and the earth, where man is to abide.
2. I understand this is a bold statement and I do not hold to it dog­matically, but it seems a logically necessary conclusion if the sun, moon and stars were truly made on the fourth day.
3. If you ask how the earth was held in orbit? I answer, while God is yet creating, the earth has no more need of orbit than the tree created on the third day has of the sun, which was not created until the fourth day.

II. THE CREATION OF LIGHT

1. The creation of lights (sun, moon and stars) took place on the fourth day. (Gen. 1:14-19)
2. The person teaching the Gap Theory says this is only the removing of mists so as to let these bodies, which were created in the “dateless past,” appear.
3. This claim, however, does nothing to explain the beginning of light, which did not exist in verse 2, but which came to exist in verse 3, on the 1st day, whereas sun and moon did not appear (if they indeed existed) until the fourth day.
4. The existence of light, by the command of God and the move­ment of the Spirit (without sun and moon) is no problem. (Rev. 22:5)

III. THE CREATION OF TIME

1. It is impossible for us (men) to think in any context that excludes time, except through faith in divine revelation.
2. All material involves a triune existence:

i. Dimension
ii. Space
iii. Time

3. Since all material creation will be relevant to time, it is logical that God creates time in the beginning.
4. There can be no morning or evening, or day or night, indeed no first, until there is time.
5. Thus, I conclude that in Gen. 1:3-5 we have the creation of time itself. Before this there was no change or age progression.
6. This conflicts with the theory of a “previous testing and fall of angels” (Scofield’s notes – page 3, note #3)
7. I do not apologize, however, for the theory of the pre-existence of angels conflicts with the biblical revelation of the basic reason for angels’; existence. (Heb. 1:13-14)

IV. SEPARATION OF THE WATERS

1. It seems the entire earth was covered by water on its surface and mist was all over and around it.
2. God removed some of the mist or water from around the earth, to a distance above, as we see them on a cloudy day.
3. The firmament (i.e., expanse or arch of the sky) He called heaven.

i. This is where the birds fly. (Gen. 1:20)
ii. It also is the place of the sun, moon and stars. (Gen. 1:14)

4. God then localized the water covering the earth, making dry land appear.
5. His earth is now ready for plants and subsequently animal and human habitation. (Isa. 45:18)