From Eden to Calvary: Jesus Christ, The Last Adam

FROM EDEN TO CALVARY

BY ALLEN LINN

From Eden to Calvary: Jesus Christ, The Last Adam

Copyright © 2011 by Allen Linn

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Published by Carpenter’s Son Publishing, Franklin, Tennessee

Published in association with Larry Carpenter of Christian Book Services, LLC

www.christianbookservices.com

Edited by: David D. Troutman

Cover and Interior Layout Design: Suzanne Lawing

Printed in the United States of America

978-0-9835571-9-7

All rights reserved.

CHAPTER ONE

THE BEGINNING AND MEANING OF ALL THINGS GOD

Before anything else existed, God was there. The Eternal One, without beginning, He created time, space and matter. He is the cause of all causes, Himself uncaused.

God had no origin, He has always existed. Only He is self-existent. All else exists through Him.

We are created and are creatures of time; everything we know had a beginning. The concept of origin can only apply to created things and separates God from all else. Our minds cannot grasp the concept of the Uncreated and Eternal; because our minds themselves are created, our minds are uncomfortable outside the realm of the familiar.

He is independent of space, time, and matter. He is the source of all life. Life can only come from life. If we could go back eventually we would come to the original source of life and this source must be eternal or there could be no life now. God’s self-existence is stated in Exodus 3:14 in His words to Moses, ‘’I Am who I Am;’’ God alone owes his existence to no one.

As the self-existent One God possesses all things and we possess nothing except for what He gives us. This applies to everything from our natural physical lives, to the spiritual benefits through Christ.

God is Eternal: from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. (Psalm 90:2) When we try to conceive of eternity, our minds race backwards and forwards in time; but God is not a creature of time, as we are, and we must think in terms of time.

God is Infinite and Omnipresent. These are closely related. Infinite means that God is not limited by time or space. Omnipresent means that He is present in all His fullness everywhere in time and space.

God is Transcendent. In Isaiah 57:15 God is called The high and lofty One Who inhabits eternity,’’ God is infinitely exalted above His created universe. This verse does not refer to God being high and lofty in physical distance, but rather to Quality of Being. God is not merely the highest in an ascending order of beings from the lowest insect to the highest archangel. That is pre-eminence, but transcendence is far more.

God is not only infinitely above all creatures, He is infinitely APART from them. He is as high above the highest archangel as He is above the gnat. The gulf between the archangel and the gnat is finite, while the gulf between them both and God is infinite. Everything else is created, He alone is uncreated. There are ultimately only two categories: That which is God and that which is not God.

God is Sovereign. This simply means that God is free to do as He pleases always. God alone is independent of everything. He is absolutely Sovereign because He is absolutely free, all-powerful and all knowing, no one can compel Him or hinder Him, His power is absolute.

God is Omnipotent (Almighty). Omni means unlimited, potent means power. God has unlimited power. All power is His; there is no power that is not His. Since He has all power, no one else can possess power that He did not give to them. The power that He gives to others, He still possesses. It all flows out from Him and returns to Him. There is no limit to His power, His potency is absolute. While He delegates power, He does not relinquish it. He gives but does not give away. What He gives still remains His.

Since His power is unlimited He can do anything as easily as anything else. All He does is without effort. If the doctrine of One God were not clearly stated in scripture, we would be forced to that conclusion by the doctrine of God’s omnipotence. If God has all the power, then no other being can possess power that he does not give to them, thus He alone is God and there can be no other.

God is All-knowing. He has always known everything past, present and future with perfect and unerring understanding. Psalm147:5 declares: his understanding is infinite. He sees everything perfectly, the end from the beginning. He sees every detail in relation to all other details, and is able to bring about His predestined goals. He never has to guess, is never surprised or caught off guard. He never makes a mistake.

God is Immutable (does not change). I Am the Lord, I do not change. (Malachi 3:6) We change all the time and live in a world of constant change. We may be happy in the morning and irritable at night. We may have changed at 40 from the person we were at 20. God is perfect and his perfection never changes. He is always the same in all His perfection. If He loves us now, He will always love us. When He makes a promise He always keeps it. This gives stability to our lives. Without this we would never know if He had changed his mind about a given thing. He loved me yesterday, but does He still love me today? There could never be any assurance. But we can be sure of all His promises because they are as unchangeable as God himself. What God is He always has been and always will be.

God is Holy. Holy, Holy, Holy, is the lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:3) Sinful humanity can have no real concept of God’s holiness. It is truly unique, it is incomprehensible and unapproachable. When the best of men are approached by God in the scriptures they collapse and melt within themselves in His presence. They are filled with a mysterious fear of the created in the presence of the Uncreated. Holy is not merely how He acts but what He is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard, He IS the standard. Because God is holy, holiness is the necessary moral condition for the well-being of the universe. Whatever is holy is healthy, whatever is evil is diseased. Sin is a disease that can end only in death.

God’s first concern for His creation is for its moral well-being. While God’s holiness is unique and without degrees, there is a relative holiness which He shares with humankind and angels. God shares his holiness with fallen humanity imparted to them through Jesus Christ. This was His first step in his redemption of the human race, to provide righteousness and holiness through Christ. He first must deal with the cause of sin, and then He will deal with the effects of sin. Both of these are remedied in Christ. Today God’s people can rejoice in the fact that they have been saved from sin’s penalty, while they look forward to the time when God will remove all the effects of sin.

God is rational and has emotions. God is a Person and has personality. He feels, thinks, loves, He sympathizes, He’s faithful, just, gracious, and merciful. That God is rational is shown in His creation which is an intelligible system. This rationality has a fundamental correspondence between the universe and the human mind He created. This is why the pioneers of science were Christians. Science is the rational mind responding to a rational universe, otherwise science would not be possible.

He reveals Himself to the writers of scripture in an intimate and personal relationship to the world. Human actions arouse His emotions of joy or sorrow. Mankind may grieve or please Him. The Scriptures abound with imagery of Him and His people in a husband and bride relationship, or as a father and his children. He woos His people to respond to Him in love. The love He wants from us is genuine, not as spoiled children who want His gifts more than Himself.

God is Just---Righteous. Justice and righteousness are both translated from the same Greek word. Just and righteous are words that describe the way God is. God is not bound by rules or laws that He must follow as are human judges. When God is just or righteous He is simply acting like Himself in a given situation. Everything in all creation is good or evil to the degree that it conforms, or fails to conform, to the unchanging nature of God.

God is Love . For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son. (John 3:16) Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins

(I John 4:10) It is the nature of love that it cannot lie dormant but must express itself. God commended ‘His love for us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:18) The depth of love one has for the object of his love is revealed by what he is willing to give for their sake. That God’s love is infinite is revealed by His willingness to give the greatest gift that even God can give. The Lord Jesus said of Himself: greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

(John 15:13) We can also learn much about God’s love through His other attributes: because He is eternal His love will never end; because He is infinite His love can have no limits; because He is holy, His love is holy and pure and seeks the best for the objects of His love; because He is incomprehensible His love is beyond our comprehension. God’s love seeks the good of His sinful creatures whatever the cost, His love however, is not bestowed upon us because we are good or loveable, for we are not; but for the sole reason that it is God’s nature to love His creatures. The reason is found in God Himself. As self-sufficient and sovereign as He is, God is emotionally identified with mankind and has bound His heart to us forever. Though He has all things, He longs for our love and will not be satisfied until He has it. This is why He had to create man with free will. God does not want a heaven full of robots who love Him merely because they were programmed to do so. As they face the storms and trials of life, the children of God can rest in the knowledge that God’s love seeks their welfare, His wisdom has planned for it, and His power will achieve it.

Goodness, Mercy, Grace. These are manifestations of God’s love, because He is good, His attitude toward His creation is friendliness and goodwill. The cause of this goodness is never man’s merit, but simply because God is good. God’s holiness demands judgment for our sins, while His love carries out this judgment on himself, in His Son. This is grace. Grace is giving the opposite of what is deserved. On the cross He dealt with Christ as though He was the sinner, and He deals with the believing sinner as though he were His Son. Christ paid the debt that the sinner could not pay and God transfers Christ’s merits to the believer who deserves condemnation. It is God’s grace that changes a sinner into a saint, a rebel into a son.

God is Faithful. In Revelation 19:11, Christ is presented as triumphantly riding a white horse bearing the names Faithful and True. All the future hopes and joy of God’s people rest upon His faithfulness. In the meantime, the weary, the tempted, the anxious, the discouraged, can go to the bottomless well of God’s promises knowing that they are as sure as God Himself".

The fact of one attribute leads to the fact of another attribute, if God is self-existent He must also be self-sufficient. If His being is infinite, His power and wisdom must be unlimited. If He is unchangeable He could not be unfaithful, for that would require Him to change. God cannot cease being who He is, or act out of character with Himself, as fallen mankind can do.

Within the divine nature there can be no conflict in His attributes. All His actions are in perfect union. He cannot divide himself and act According to one attribute while the others remain inactive.

What God is like and how we can expect him to act toward us are vital questions that relate to us for time and eternity. These attributes describe His very nature. They simply describe God as being Himself.

In eternity other attributes may be revealed to His redeemed creation. God has been pleased to reveal His attributes that affect us now.

GOD’S TRIUNE NATURE

The Bible emphasizes that there is One God.

The Lord our God, The Lord is One. (Deuteronomy 6:4)

The Lord Himself is God: besides Him there is no other. (Deuteronomy 4:35)

I Am the First, and I Am the Last, apart from Me there is no God. (Isaiah 44:6)

I Am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from Me there is no God. (Isaiah 45:5)

However, it is also taught that this One God consists of a plurality of Persons. God is a Plurality of One. This sounds strange, but it is what the Bible repeatedly teaches. This is taught in the very Scriptures that emphasize that there is One God, for instance: Deuteronomy 6:4 uses two Hebrew words to emphasize this. "The Lord (Jehovah-singular), our God (Elohim-Plural), is one Lord’’ (Jehovah-singular).

Deuteronomy 4:35 reads: The Lord (Jehovah-singular), Himself is God (Elohim-plural); there is none other besides Him. Isaiah 45:5 reads: I Am the Lord (Jehovah-singular), there is no God (Elohim-plural) besides Me.

If the Bible wanted to teach a single entity within the Godhead the word Eloah would have been used instead of the plural Elohim.

Note in Genesis 1:26: God said; let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness. In the next verse we read: So God created man in HIS OWN image. The US and OUR in verse 26 becomes HIS in verse 27. This singular God consists of a plurality of Persons. This singular God and plurality of Persons in the Godhead also runs all through the New Testament. Note in John 1:1 we have "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus Christ), and the Word was with God (plurality), and the word was God (singular).

This plurality is consistently revealed as 3 Persons. Genesis 1:1 says: In the beginning God (Elohim-plural) created the heavens and the earth’’. Here the plural is used, a plurality of Persons. This is why we are told that the Father created all things: The Father from Whom all things came." (I Corinthians 8:6)

The Son created all things: all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:3). And the Holy Spirit is the Creator: The Spirit of God had made me. (Job 33:4)

Likewise, Jesus’ Resurrection is attributed to the Father: This Jesus God has raised up. (Acts 2:32) To the Son: Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. (John 10:17) To the Holy Spirit: but if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)

In John I: I8 we read: No one has ever seen God. But God The One and Only who is at the Father’s side has made Him known. Here we see that no one has seen God in His divine essence, but the Second Person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Christ is the One Who manifested Him many times in the Old Testament as the Angel of the Lord. He is God’s Reveler. He took the angelic appearance in order to reveal God. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ was incarnate in human form. (became flesh John 1:14) Jesus Christ, in His earthly life unveiled the Father.

Every visible manifestation of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament was the work of the Second Person of the Trinity. This is what Jesus meant when He said in John 14:9 He that has seen Me has seen the Father.

In I John 5:20 Jesus is called The True God and Eternal Life. In Isaiah 9:6 Jesus is called the Mighty God. In Acts 5:3 Ananias is said to have lied to the Holy Spirit, in the next verse 4, this is explained as lying to God. In I Corinthians 3:16 believers are called the temple of God. Why? Because the Holy Spirit dwells in them.

These Three Persons are coeternal and coequal. They are distinct Individuals. Each partakes of the full Divine Essence. The One God, is also Three Persons, and they are always together and always cooperating. They are inherently one in the fullness of Deity in which each one lives in and through the others in an inner union eternally rooted in infinite love. At the center of reality is a relationship within the nature of God, relating beautifully and perfectly, eternally.

The inner life of the Triune God is characterized by a self-giving love, which revolves around the Others. Scripture declares that God is love. (I John 4:8) This means that it is His very nature to love. The Persons of the Trinity continuously pour out love to each other and receive love in return.

The universe was created by a fellowship of persons who have loved each other from eternity. We were created for a mutually self-giving, other-centered love; self-centeredness came from the fall and destroys our purpose. The scriptures do not explain the Trinity just as it does not explain God. The existence of God is taken for granted as is His Triune nature. It is simply ingrained in Scripture. It’s just there.

Christ is the Mediator, and the Preserver, of Creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth. (Colossians1:16)

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:3)

"Has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed Heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (universe).

Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power...." (Hebrews1:2-3)

He is the Mediator of Redemption. For God chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be Holy and blameless in His sight. According to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians1:4)

According to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ our Lord.(Ephesians3:4)

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. (1Peter 1:20)

According to his eternal plan, the Father chose the Son in advance as the Redeemer and determined to send Him into the world as heavens highest Gift. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

He is the Mediator of Judgment The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son. (John 5:22)

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. (2 Corinthians 9:15) The fall of mankind was known and provided for. As the Son was the Father’s Gift to the world; the redeemed world was the Father’s gift to the Son. I have manifested Your Name to the men whom you have given Me out of the world. (John 9:6) Father, I desire that they also whom who gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which you have given Me; For You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (John 9:24)

God’s glory is the source and goal of all things, for Himself (Ephesians5:27); To the praise of His glory (Ephesians1:6, 12, 14); so that God may be all in all. (1Corinthians15:28)

By virtue of His very perfection God must want the highest for His creation, thus He Himself is the goal. Thus the source and goal of all creation is the Son: For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth.......all things were created through Him and for Him. (Colossians1:16) God’s nature is love, the perfect love of John 3:16. Therefore God created mankind for love and the supreme goal is the self-unfolding of God as the perfect, Holy and loving One, in the establishment of a fellowship of life and love between the Creator and his creatures.

THE PURPOSE OF GOD’S CREATION

It is God’s desire to communicate Himself and overflow His creation with Himself. Because He is love, God created mankind as a spiritual personality on whom He could bestow His love. He created so that He could pour out His love and glory to fill His creation and have it reveal His beauty and majesty. He created mankind in His Own image and placed them in a perfect environment to reflect His glory. He created mankind for Himself. He wanted them to know Him and love Him. He wanted to share Himself with His creation and reveal Himself in His Triune Essence, which is an eternal, loving relationship, to expand His love throughout His creation. He created them in His Own image, so that they would have the ability to return His love. He created them with free will to return His love willingly, not as mere robots programmed to love Him.

Their sin and fall was foreknown by God and He built into the plan of creation, the plan of redemption.

The Second Member of the Triune God, Jesus Christ, was appointed as the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)

Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, According to His Own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who has abolished death and brought life and immorality to light through the Gospel. (2 Timothy 1:9-10) In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but in due time manifested his word through preaching, which was committed to me According to the commandment of God our Savior. (Titus 1:2-3)

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 shows that the Father planned for us to dwell in Christ and Christ in us, as Christ dwells in the Father and He in Christ.

"Father, the hour has come (he was about to go to the cross), glorify Your Son, that the Son also may glorify you. As you have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word" (verses 1-6).

He goes on in verses 20-23: I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in me, and I in You; THAT THEY ALSO MAY BE ONE IN US, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; I in them, and You in Me; that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

It has always been God’s will that we share in the relationship He has with Christ. We were meant to embody and show forth to the whole creation the Triune God. And to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.

His intent was that now, through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians3:10) This plan centers in Christ: According to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:11)

Because God foresaw that sin would interrupt his purpose for mankind, God chose Jesus to be the Mediator through Whom He would create the world and who would be the Lamb of God to pay the penalty of our sin; to be the Ransom for our salvation. God carries out all his works and plans through His Son. He is the Center and Heartbeat of all God’s acts.

It was God’s plan to demonstrate the exceeding riches of His grace in Christ through all the ages to come. That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7)

The earth, the scene of the fall, would also be the scene of Christ’s death and resurrection where He would forever lift the curse from mankind by taking it on Himself and give eternal life to all who would believe in him. (John 3:16)

Christ’s Sacrifice for sin as the source of salvation for all creation was in the mind of God from eternity. Christ’s self-offering to God was through the Eternal Spirit: How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God. (Hebrews 9-14)

God’s plan of redemption stretches from eternity to eternity and Christ Himself is the guarantee of its fulfillment. This is why we are told that all things were made by Him and for Him. (Col ossians 1:15:16)

CHAPTER TWO

THE CREATION

Creation begins with God alone. He was the preexisting Intelligence and Power operating from another dimension. God created all things from nothing; without any preexisting material. He spoke the creation into existence.

God’s invisible attributes are revealed through His creation: Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world 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. (Romans1:19-20)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty; and darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters and God said, ‘let there be light’, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness night"; and there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)

Genesis chapter 1 records three specific ex-nihilo events of creation described in Hebrew by the word bara which means to create from nothing, with no existing material. A word used in scripture, to describe only the work of God as Creator. They are: 1. The creation of the physical universe. (Genesis 1:1)

2. The creation of conscious life (Genesis 1:21); and 3, the creation of spiritual life. (Genesis 1:27) Only God can call into existence by the sheer power of His Word: As we are told in Hebrews11:3 by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. So that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Because he was created in God’s image mankind can make things out of existing material but only God can bring things into existence out of nothing. The physical universe was spoken into existence by the all-mighty and all-wise God!

The ancient myths of creation all begin with matter in one form or another, as do the so-called more sophisticated theories of evolution. They all begin with space, matter and time. Only the Bible begins with the First Cause: an Eternal, Almighty, Personal God. Only this can explain the intelligent design of creation with life and personality.

In verse 1 beginning refers to time. Time had a beginning. Only God is eternal. Heaven refers to empty space. Earth refers to matter. The planet earth itself was not formed. Formless matter was used to form the planet earth and later other material bodies. The scriptures describe the universe as a space, matter, and time continuum. In the first verse of the Bible, atheism is refuted by the declaration of God’s existence; polytheism is swept aside by declaring one God; and pantheism is refuted by God being separate from matter.

The universe is clearly a place of thought and planning. Only persons can think and plan, if you find yourself in a room with a soda machine; you put your money in and the machine gives you a can of soda. We know that metal cannot think. A person who can think had to design that machine to obey a certain built-in response to the money being inserted. Machines do not think; matter does not think. The stars and planets and other material bodies did not get together and decide which laws they would obey and operate under. A Great Designer did this. A house is not built simply to look at; walking through it, one realizes that it was built for people.

At first the earth was void or empty. Then God designed it for people. As one scientist has said, it’s as though the universe knew we were coming".

New parents don’t wait until the baby comes to prepare for him or her. Loving hands prepare a room and other things to make life more enjoyable before the baby is brought home. In God’s creation the earth is at the center. Not physically, but in importance. God first made the earth and then the sun, moon and stars were made to serve the earth. (1:14) God planned in His heart, before He created anything. He would make man in His Own image, with free will to choose him or reject him. The Son of his infinite love committed Himself already to give the ultimate sacrifice of love for His rebellious creation.

Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. It is obvious that Moses did not write according to the creation theories of his day. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22), but the Egyptians taught that creation came from an egg in a primeval ocean. From this egg the sun god was born who had four children. From the rivalries of these children: Geb, Shu, Tefnut, and Nut, the creation took place.

In the Babylonian epic, Apsu, a male fresh water ocean, and Tiamat, a female salt water ocean, mated and brought forth many lesser deities of different aspects of nature. Apsu decided to destroy his offspring because they made to much noise! But one of them, the god of wisdom, ended up killing Apsu. After which, the god of wisdom gave birth to the great god Marduk. Tismat, the dragon, gave birth to a brood of dragons and became angry and declared war on Marduk.

At a great feast with other important gods, Marduk was chosen by them to battle Tiamat. A terrible battle followed and Marduk killed Tiamat and severed her body in half, the top half was made into the sky and the bottom half made into the earth. Man was made from the earth and from the blood of Tiamat’s warrior, Kingu, to serve the gods.

Moses account of creation avoids all the myths of the Pagan world of his day. He wrote contrary to all the accepted learning of his day.

Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (verse 2)

Chapter 1 shows a sequence and connects the verses before and after. Chapter 1 tells in detail how God brought form to this matter and filled its emptiness with living beings to inhabit its empty surface. So at the beginning heaven and earth referred simply to space and matter and the matter was yet unformed and uninhabited. There were no heavenly bodies. The matter was not energized. Light is energy, so darkness was everywhere. What we have in verse two is a water and element mixture referred to as the deep. No gravity was in force to form a coherent matter of definite form; no electromagnetic force was in operation and all was in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The word hovered has the thought of rapid, energizing motion, transmitting energy to the cosmos. The Spirit’s energy permeated the universe to make the gravitational and electromagnetic forces that operate on matter, and the formless earth was forced into form.

Then God said let there be light: and there was light. (verse 3) After imparting motion and form to the shapeless and lifeless watery matrix, he created light to replace the darkness. And God saw that the light was good. And he separated light from darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night and there was evening, and there was morning---the first day".

God divided the light and darkness into day and night. From the first day there was established a cyclical period of light and darkness. This makes obvious the rotation of the earth on its axis causing a source of light on the earth even though the sun was not made until the fourth day. (1:16) It was after separating the day and night that God completed his first day’s work. This is true of each of the six days.

The Hebrew word for day is yom and it means a literal day of 24 hours or to distinguish the daylight portion from the night. Sometimes it refers to an indefinite period such as in the day or at that time, but this is only when the context makes it clear that the literal sense is not intended. When distinct limits are used as day and night, or are used in a series of days, the literal sense is always used. Both of these are present in the first chapter of Genesis. (verses 1-6)

Moses was being very emphatic here because all the nations of his day believed in some form of evolution taking in vast periods of time before life developed from chaos. The creation of visible light waves brings electromagnetic force into operation completing the energizing of the cosmos.

It’s probable that the angels were created on day one, shortly after the creation of the physical universe which was to be their sphere. According to Job 38:4-7, the angels were created before the foundations of the earth were laid. "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! On what were its footings set? Or who laid its cornerstone--- While the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

The angels’ purpose was to minister to the heirs of salvation. Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?(Hebrews 1:14) They are also referred to as the host of heaven. So heaven had to be created before the angels.

Then God said, let there be an expanse between the waters to separate the water from the water. So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it and it was so. God called the expanse sky and there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. (1:6-8) Some of the waters were to be raised and separated and placed above the rotating earth to provide a sort of vapor canopy while the lower mass of waters would provide earth’s water systems. The word here for expanse" refers to atmosphere. This canopy gives earth its unique atmosphere.

Then God said, let the waters under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear, and it was so. God called the dry ground land and the gathered water he called seas. And God saw that it was good. (1:9-10) And now the dry land rises from the lower waters. This is what