However, in Genesis 38 we see Judah, as a young 20 yr old, falling for that same old lie… “has God really said?”. “Does it really matter?” “Is it really that important?”. Judah then goes and takes a Canaanite wife and has three sons with her.

How many people – even Christians – fall for the same lie continually?

YES IT DOES MATTER! The details ARE important. You cannot pick and chose which parts of God’s WORD you take! You are fallible, God is not. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than yours! You do not know enough about the eternal consequences of your actions to simply ignore even the smallest detail in God’s Word!

But because God is a God of grace, He steps into the situation and Judah’s ‘corrupted’ offspring are taken out of the way.

Judah (inadvertently) then ends up having a child with his daughter-in-law, also a descendant of Shem (of the same uncorrupted family line that came down to Abraham).

Their son, Pharez, although born out of wedlock, becomes the subject of a remarkable prophecy found in the book of Ruth, which points to David as God’s choice as king of Israel, and as we know, it will later be one of David’s descendants who will not only sit on his throne, but will be the Messiah and Saviour of the World!

…and to think, all of this hinges on the events of Genesis 38!

Just as Isaiah records:  “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him”. (Isaiah 59:19)

More from our study in Genesis next week…

Every blessing,

Pastor Barry.

The post Every Detail Matters! first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

But chapter 36 focuses on Esau’s children, and the families he (and his sons) had married in to.

The inhabitants of Mt Seir (aka Edom) were not your average neighbours! They were the descendants of the Nephilim that we read about in Genesis 6:

“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown”. (Gen 6:1-4).

What the critics (and sadly many Christians) simply don’t get is that there was a genetic problem with the potential to wipe out humanity, and at the very least, stop the Seed of the Woman from being born (that, of course, was Satan’s real intention in all of this!). This is the reason our God, who is a God of Love, sent  the flood; and this is the reason Israel destroyed these giant tribes in Canaan, and after what must have been a brief honeymoon period, Esau set about destroying the very people he had unwittingly married into, by now, surely beginning to realise the danger they posed!

Deuteronomy chapter 2 states: “The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims. The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them”. (Deut 2:10-12).

Genesis chapter 36 is not just a list of names we have trouble pronouncing, it is a reminder of the covenant God has made with mankind, to send a Saviour to deliver us from this present darkness!

Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.

Every blessing,

Pastor Barry.

The post The Old Testament’s God of Love! first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

Genesis 5 gives us the genealogy from Adam to Noah, both of whom Jesus spoke of as real historical characters (Matt 10:4 / Luke 17:26). Yet the critics have been quick to tell us that the long lifetimes recorded in this chapter are nothing but fiction. However, in the 19th century, a number of cunieform tablets were discovered that not only seemed to corroborate the long lifetimes recorded before the Flood, but now, thanks to the excellent scholarship of Dr Bill Cooper, have yielded another remarkable discovery.   

The cunieform tablets in questions are collectively known as the Sumerian King List, one of the principle finds being WB 444, also known as the Weld-Blundell Prisim which currently resides at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (UK).

The list gives us 8kings who ruled over 5 cities before “the Flood swept thereover”. This on its own is very interesting, as here we have an independent witness that speaks of the world that then was being destroyed by a flood, just as detailed in Genesis 6-9. However, the list also records a dramatic decrease in the life-spans of those listed after the Flood when compared to the kings before the Flood.

Now, all of this was actually known over 2000 years ago, although the critics chose to ignore it! In around 280 B.C. the Babylonian priest, Berosus, was asked by Antiochus I to translate a list of these Sumerian Kings into Greek. Up until the recent discoveries, this list of Berosus was considered spurious and not taken seriously. Probably because it gave too much credence to the Biblical account! Critics (ever struggling to hold their ground) point out that the ages of the kings in the list are impossible as there are even more ‘far fetched’ than the Biblical account. The oldest king in the list is said to have reigned for 43,200 years. However, neither Berosus in his Greek translation nor the other cuneiform documents mention years – something the critics know but choose to ignore! The unit of measurement is actually ‘saros’ (and more specifically ‘sari’. The Sumerians used a ‘sexagesimal’ system of mathematics (based on the number 60). Dr Bill Cooper comments:“Berosus wasn’t giving us a period of time measured in years, but one that is measured in Lunar months, and the 7-day units of those months”….“Well, 60 months equal 5 years, and if we divide 432,000 by 5 we are left with the product of 86,400, which happens also to be the number of weeks in the 1,656 years Genesis gives us”! This is remarkable!! Here we have a secular list dating back over 4000 years that gives exactly the same time period from Creation to the Flood as recorded in detail in the Bible – in Genesis chapter 5.

“So once again, and in distinct contradiction to all that the modernists say, Genesis shows itself to be the older and by far the purer account. Moreover, the longevity of its patriarchs – a point of much scoffing in the modernist camp – is seen to be corroborated to a surprising degree by two independent and very ancient sources”  –   The Authenticity of Genesis, by Dr Bill Cooper, available from:www.genesisexpo.org.uk

If that is impressive, the next thing we will look at here is truly outstanding and gives undeniable proof that the Bible is from outside our time domain and is the work of a God who “knows the end from the beginning” (Isiah 46:9-10).

Our list in Genesis 5 begins with Adam, whose name in Hebrew simply means ‘man’. It is interesting to note that whilst Adam was made in God’s image, his son, Seth, we are told was made in the image and likeness of Adam. Only Adam and Christ (His physical body) were directly created by God. For this reason, Paul, in Romans 5, calls Jesus the 2nd Adam. Both Adam and Jesus were sinless. Adam failed and brought death into the world. Jesus overcame sin & the devil and brought everlasting life to all who will receive Him.

The next in our genealogy is Seth. We are told in Genesis 4:25 that Seth means “Appointed” – “and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew”.

At the end of chapter 4 we noted that it was in the days of Seth’s son Enos that “men began to [profane] the name of the Lord”. Why would this be? With Adam still alive and memories of the Garden of Eden still vivid, how could man turn so quickly away from God to the extent that they would blaspheme His holy name? The clue is given throughout this chapter, at the end of every sentence, for there we read “…and he died” (with the exception of Enoch whom we’ll get to in a moment!). For the first time, fledgling humanity is brought face to face with the reality of death. Yes, Abel had died at the hand of his brother, but at some point in these verses, we would have had the first person to die of natural causes. That must have been terrifying. It is curious how death so often has one of two reactions: either it draws us closer to God, or it causes deep resentment, feeling that death is in some way unfair. Seemingly here, a number of people felt bitterness at the loss of loved ones. Now, it is not necessarily a nice name to give your child, but how applicable then that Seth names his son ‘Enos’, meaning “mortal,” “frail,” or  “miserable.” (It is from the root anash, to be incurable; used of a wound, grief, woe, sickness, or wickedness).

It doesn’t get much better with Enos either, as he names his son Kenan, meaning “sorrow,”   “dirge,” or “elegy.”

Thankfully, even in the midst of darkness and despair, the Lord is always there, and Kenan, maybe clinging to the hope of Genesis 3:15 and the promise of a Seed to deliver man from this body of death, names his son Mahalalel, which means “blessed” or “praise”; combined with the ending El, the name for God. His name means: “The Blessed God.”

Next, we have Jared, whose name comes from the verb yaradh, meaning “shall come down.” Dr Chuck Missler, among other scholars, suggest that it was during the days of Jared that the Angels ‘who left their first estate’ (Jude 6), and came to take the women of the earth, producing ungodly offspring, first ‘came down’  (we will discuss this in more detail in the coming weeks).

The one exception to this list of death is Jared’s son Enoch. Enoch’s name means ‘teaching’ and significantly, 1 Corinthians 10 tells us that the things that were written aforetime were written for our learning – especially in these last days. Throughout the Old Testament, we see countless models that pre-figure an event that was to take place at some point in the future. It is no coincidence that Enoch was raptured (taken alive from earth to heaven without dying) at one of the darkest periods in the pre-Flood world. Elijah, another who was raptured, was taken to heaven at arguably the darkest time in Israel’s history during the reign of king Ahab and queen Jezebel. There can be no question we are now living at one of the darkest times spiritually the world has ever known, and the Rapture of the Church is imminent!

It is also fascinating that Enoch’s prophecy [the first one uttered by a prophet in the Bible] is recorded in Jude, and it concerns the return of Jesus at the Second Coming were He is seen coming with His saints to execute judgment on the earth.

Before his rapture, however, Enoch had a son to whom he gave one of the most bizarre names ever! It is a compound name comprising two Hebrew roots. The first is muth, meaning “death”, the second is shalach, which means “to bring,” or   “to send forth.”. Literally, Methuselah means “His death shall bring.” We can only wonder at what Enoch’s close relationship and walk with God had revealed to him? But what we do know (with the benefit of hindsight) is that Methuselah’s name and life were a prophecy that spoke of God’s longsuffering in the days leading up to the Flood (see 1 Peter 3:20), for we discover that the very year Methusaleh died was the exact year the Flood came – quite literally, when he died, it came! Methuselah lived longer than any other human being, a stagering 969 years! One again, critics may scoff at so great an age, but we do know the earth was once very different, with greater oxygen content than we have now (which would have a significant effect on the human body); there would have been hardly any disease or sickness, and the water canopy surrounding the earth would have provided protection from solar radiation.

We are not told if Methusalah knew the significance of his name, but he names his son ‘Lamech’ – from whcih we derive the word ‘Lament’. In Hebrew it simply meant ‘despairing’.

But out of all this sadness comes hope. In Genesis chapter 6 we read:  “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD“ (Gen 6:6-8)

Lamech named his son ‘Noah’ meaning ‘comfort or ‘rest’.“saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed”.(Gen 5:29)

Now, that is an incredible list of names, each one so applicable to their own lives, yet the truely asounding thing is seen when we put all the names together, for when we do we see this:

Man [is] Appointed Mortal sorrow, [but] The blessed God Shall come down Teaching [that] His death shall bring [the] Dispairing Comfort!

That is the Christian gospel concelaed in a geneology in Genesis 5! There is no way Jewish scribes consipred to put the Christian gospel into their beloved TORAH, nor could they have manipulated over 1500 years of history that occured before the nation of Israel had even been born to do this!

The only explanation for this is that God has intentionally conceld this in the names recorded in the text as a proof and demonstration of the supernatural origin of His Word. That means we can trust not only this chapter in its entirity, but also the whole councel of God given to us in the pages of the Bible.

I hope this stirs your hearts and minds to undertake the greatest jourtney of all – to read from Genesis to Revelation though God’s word! If you have never done this, you might find our “Though the Bible in a Year” teaching series beneficial. There are 48 studies that go from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 complete with Powerpoint slides – all avaialbe for free download on this web site. Just click on the ‘Teaching and Audio link at the top of the home page (or click this link:https://www.calvaryportsmouth.co.uk/sermon-series/through-the-bible/)

Next time… ‘The Flood of Noah’

Every blessing,

Pastor Barry.

The post He has not left Himself without a witness! first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

“Has God said?”

Satan’s objective was clear; cause Eve to doubt God’s Word, in so doing, get her to focus on this forbidden fruit. If Eve fell for Satan’s ruse, he would be able to lay claim to this World that he so greatly desired, and Adam & Eve would forfeit all that had been given to them and be subject to God’s wrath.

History is now the lamentable record of Satan’s victory in the Garden of Eden and God’s incredible plan of Redemption to right the wrong. He is, in this current order of things, the ‘god of this world’ (2 Cor 4:4). The kingdoms of this would have been given over to him, for now (Luke 4:5-6).

Satan has successfully employed the same method ever since. The moment he can cause even the slightest doubt in God’s Word, he has a foothold. We have had attempts to undermine, re-define and allegorise Scripture, each time with the same question: ‘has God said’?

We have had the documentary hypothesis, textual criticism, liberalism and forgeries that claim to be older and more reliable manuscripts of the Bible – yet which omit entire verses and call into question scores of others, all of which are nothing more than the regurgitation of these most pernicious three words.

In this study of Genesis chapter 3, we look at the Fall of man and the introduction of God’s plan of redemption. I pray that you will be blessed and encouraged by these comments. If you want to listen to the audio teaching on Genesis chapter 3 (complete with PowerPoint slides), go to the following link: https://www.calvaryportsmouth.co.uk/sermon-series/sunday-morning-studies/

Genesis 3:1

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

The first question to answer is, what is this ‘serpent’, and why was it made more subtle than any living thing?

There is a clue in the word for ‘subtle’ עָרוּם (aruwm) which has a negative connotation and in Hebrew it implies cunning (usually in a bad sense) – which begs then the question, why would God make a creature that was deliberately deceitful in a Creation He declared ‘very good’? In 2 Corinthians 11:3 we are told that the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, i.e. the serpent acted with intent. In Revelation 12 we are given a specific link between the serpent and Satan.

There seems to be an implied comparison in this verse, where on one hand we have ‘every living creature that the LORD God made’ and on the other hand we have this creature. Somehow, Satan used this creature to manifest himself and turned it from whatever God had created it to be, into an instrument of deception.

The next question is why would Eve stop and listen to a talking snake?

The fact that Eve doesn’t immediately run away is a good indication that she was not surprised by this! The fact that she happily engages in conversation with this serpent suggests a familiarity.

This itself should come as no surprise for in the book of Ezekiel (ch 28) we are told that Satan (then known as Lucifer) was in the Garden of Eden. Initially, he was a perfect and beautiful Angelic being, so there is no reason Adam and Eve would not have already known Satan in his un-fallen state. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for serpent is ‘Nachash’ meaning ‘shining one’

So when this beautiful creature engages Eve in conversation it was probably nothing new to her, hence she was willing to listen to this beautiful and captivating being.

“Has God said?”

It’s either God’s Word or man’s. Either we believe that God has said what He means and means what He says, or it’s a free-for-all!

Peter tells us that ‘prophecy is of no private interpretation (2 Peter 2:20), but this applies to all Scripture – to everything that God has said! It is not up to us to decide or vote upon what God meant!

Eve’s simple failing here was to entertain the question! (but let’s not be too harsh on Eve, not only is she our great, great, great…..grandmother, we would have all (and actually have all) done the same!

A.W. Tozer said: “Let a man question the inspiration of the Scriptures and a curious, even monstrous, inversion takes place: thereafter he judges the Word instead of letting the Word judge him; he determines what the Word should teach instead of permitting it to determine what he should believe; he edits, amends, strikes out, adds at his pleasure; but always he sits above the Word and makes it amenable to him instead of kneeling before God and becoming amenable to the Word”.    (A W Tozer, “Man the Dwelling Place of God,” chapter 26,)

Significantly, despite the claims and allegations to the contrary, the Bible has stood the test of time. God’s Word has never failed; He has preserved His Word and it will stand forever (see Psalm 12:7 / Isaiah 40:8).  Yet Satan has continued to say ‘Has God said…’ and many sincere people have given him their ear and doubted God’s Word, questioned what He has said, and ultimately fallen from the simplicity of a child-like faith in Him and been plunged into a life of doubt.

Notice Satan’s question: It is itself a distortion of the truth: “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

This shows the ‘wiles of the Devil’, His question immediately provokes a response  – which is exactly what he wanted as this sets the conversation up for him to reap the seed of doubt he had sown!

What it the lesson here? The Devil is an alluring and formidable opponent. He was one jump ahead of Eve and orchestrated this whole event with precision. The moment Eve unwittingly succumbed to this interaction there was only one possible outcome.

“And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:26-27).

Genesis 3:2-3

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Eve answers the question, adding her own interpretation of what she thought God had said!

[Remember that Adam was given the instruction about this Tree not Eve; it was his responsibility to instruct his wife! Do the details matter? I think this example should answer that question for every husband, father, wife, mother and child – God says what He means and means what He says! We should pay attention!]

Nowhere is it recorded that God said to Adam and Eve they would die from merely touching this tree. Does that make a difference? Absolutely! For, as we will see in a moment, Eve will stretch out her hand and touch the fruit of this tree, and guess what? She doesn’t die by touching it! Thus Satan will be ‘proved right’ and it will seem that God is the one who has concealed the truth from them both. If touching the tree caused no harm, why not eat and see if it makes you wise?

It cannot be overemphasised how important the lessons we glean from these verses are!

Genesis 3:4

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

John 8:44 tells us that the Devil was a liar from the beginning. Remember his objective: usurp man and claim the title to the earth. Did he care one iota about man? No! Did he care about how man would view him after this? No! Though Satan appears as an angel of light, he will only bring darkness to our souls! He leads men into darkness but makes them think he is leading them into light.

Who on earth could ever be so twisted and cold as to take a young child and tell them to put their hand into a fire and pick up a burning hot coal, knowing it will burn and sear their tender young flesh? That isn’t even half the wickedness of Satan. He did this knowing he would be condemning humanity to hell! What is hell? It is separation from a perfect and loving God. Yes, it is a real place; yes it is a place of suffering, but the greatest pain will not be physical, it will be the unimaginable anguish that will be experienced by every soul condemned to this eternal place of torment on account of  Satan’s lie in Genesis chapter 3 verse 4.

Genesis 3:5

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

The hallmark of a good liar is that they don’t know when to stop! Satan’s arrogance here leads him to make the assumption that all created beings covert being ‘as gods’. Yet that job is already taken! Satan did not take into account the capacity to find total fulfilment in serving and obedience to the One true God. That is our greatest joy!

Nevertheless, Eve is already on the hook, so another tug won’t do any harm! Sadly, so many through history have fallen for this lie also. Kings and despots alike have sought absolute power; but as has been said, absolute power corrupts absolutely! Man was not created to be ‘god’. Nor for that matter was any angelic being!

There is a beautiful innocence in young children before they become ‘worldly wise’. Yet notice how wisdom does not bring happiness but sadness. We can never go back and undo what has been done. We can never reclaim innocence lost.

“I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (Eccl 1:17-18).

Genesis 3:6

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Notice the progression; she saw that it would satisfy her hunger, that it looked really good and that it would make her wise!

John tells us that this same progression is found when we love the creation more than the Creator!

“ ¹⁵Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever”. (1 John 2:15-17)

When did Eve sin? When she ate of the fruit? When she plucked it from the Tree? When she first touched it? When she merely looked at it?

No. Eve sinned – rebelled against God – when in her heart she decided to take the fruit.

“And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).

In Paul’s letter to Timothy he makes an important comment:

“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Tim 2:11-14).

This is very interesting because Paul also said in the book of Romans that Adam was a “figure of him that was to come” (Romans 5:14).

Adam, realising what had happened to his bride, knowing that she would now die on account of her sin, willingly entered into the same predicament as Eve, knowing that this would be the only way to save her! It would ultimately be through their union and through Eve’s offspring that not only Eve, but all her children could be redeemed.

In just the same way, Jesus, the Second Adam, willingly gave up His position to come and rescue His bride (comprised of all who accept Jesus and are part of His Church).

Genesis 3:7

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

The had been naked in the moments leading up to the Fall, but there was no shame. Suddenly, in a moment, everything had changed. They had crossed a line and there was no going back. Suddenly they were not only physically naked, but they were ‘uncovered’. Seemingly up to this point they had been covered, not by a fabric or physical covering, but by the Shekinah glory of God. Now, on account of their sin that glorious covering had departed. Sin distorts nakedness.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life all swamp our minds and we cannot regain that wonderful innocence Adam and Eve had known.

Here we see religion introduced for the first time. Religion is man’s attempt to cover sin and get right with God by his own efforts. The Latin word for religion means to re-link. That is what Adam and Eve were trying to do through these leaves. They were trying to make themselves acceptable to God again, trying to remove their shame.

It has been said that Religion is man searching for God. Christianity is God revealing Himself to man!

Genesis 3:8

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

How can you hear a voice walking? What is the voice of God? It is the Word of God? This is a ‘Christophany’ – a pre-incarnate appearance of God the Son.

Genesis 3:9

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

God was not asking this question because He needed help finding Adam! God never asks questions because He is looking for information! God asks questions to make us think! He the question to Adam was to make Adam think about his predicament. Where are you? What has become of you? The same question is asked of each of us: “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death” (Rom 6:21).
As you read this, where are you? Are you walking with God in the open or are you trying to hide from God? Are there things in your life you would rather God didn’t see? Where are you at right now? What is going on? God is awaiting the response.

As noted previously, God holds Adam responsible, even though Eve is accountable for her own actions. Significantly in this verse, we see that it is God who seeks Adam, and not Adam seeking God.

This is always the way we see it in scripture. Paul says in Romans: “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Rom 3:11). God Always Does the Seeking: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

God sought Abraham, whilst living among idol worshipping gentiles. God sought Jacob at Bethel as he was fleeing from Esau and God sought Moses whilst a fugitive in Midian. God sought David, a man after His own heart. God sought Isaiah, Jeremiah and the prophets of old. God still seeks today. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock’ (Rev 3:20). The Shepherd always seeks the sheep (see Matthew 18:12-14).

Genesis 3:10

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

How sin brings guilt and fear! We don’t want people to see us as we really are, especial the One before whose eyes “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).

Psalm 139 reminds us that it is foolish to hide from God, for even in Hades, God’s presence can be felt. Jonah tried to prove this the hard way! Seriously, how can you run away from an omniscient and omnipotent God?!

Genesis 3:11

And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

This is what the knowledge of Good and Evil does! It doesn’t make us wise unto Salvation, it makes us wise unto death!

Genesis 3:12

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Always someone else’s fault! Never our own. Blame it on my evil twin! In fact, blame it on everyone and anyone, just not me!

Genesis 3:13

And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

The man blames the woman, the woman blames the snake. It doesn’t change the last four words of this verse:

‘and I did eat’!

The rest is simply the details; the fact remains that Adam and Eve had transgressed (crossed a line) and they had sinned (missed the mark).

Genesis 3:14

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

What was this creature? Somehow it is physically altered so that after the fall it would like much like every snake does today. A documentary some time ago was suggesting that Snakes once had legs. Of course they put this down as ‘proof’ for Evolution. As we know, Evolution is utterly ridiculous, but it does beg the question, did the snake once have the ability to walk? Certainly, this verse would lead us to that conclusion.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

This is the foundation of the Gospel, and the start of the incredible story of redemption. From this moment God reveals that man is not without hope, for through his offspring God will make, not only a way of salvation but also for the ultimate defeat our adversary.

There is a dramatic ‘role play’ of this in the account of David and Goliath. David, as a type of Christ takes on the embodiment of evil in Goliath. David slays the great giant with a Stone that strikes his head. But more than that, the head of Goliath is then taken by David to Jerusalem. This has to be one of the most bizarre events in Scripture! For at the time David did this Jerusalem was not in Israel’s hands. It belonged to the Jebusites. This means that, in order to bury Goliath’s head, David had to break through into enemy territory (see 1 Samuel 17:54).

But the astounding thing is that place that David buries the head thereafter bore the name of the giant as a memorial of David’s great conquest. Around 1000 years later, Jesus is taken out to this very spot and crucified. John (19:17) specifically tells us it was ‘the place of a skull’ – whose skull? Goliath’s; hence the name ‘Gol[iath of [Gath]a’ – Golgotha!

Of course, now that God had announced that the Seed of the woman would be the one to redeem man and also [fatally wound] Satan’s head, Satan know what he had to do – destroy the seed. The Old Testament is the account of this battle. When Adam & Eve had their first children, they must have been wondering which one would be the seed? It soon became apparent that Abel was a man of faith and obedient to God. Could this be the Seed? Satan took no chances and used Cain to kill Abel.

However, as the population increased, the problem multiplied!

This led to the Angelic invasion that led to God cleansing the world with the Flood (see Genesis 6).

Then came the Tower of Babel – maybe Satan could manipulate the world through a One World Government which he would control?

Once again God confounded Satan’s plans.

However, God then chose to establish a ‘protective clothing’ for the Seed (see Rev 11:1-2). That clothing was the Nation of Israel. God chose Abraham and said that the Seed would come through His family. There were strict rules for the descendants of Abraham such that they should not intermarry with the people around them. They must be kept separate to ensure the safe delivery of the Seed at God’s appointed time. (This is all summarised in Revelation 12!)

The Battle of the Seeds

• The murder of Abel by Cain (Gen 4);
• The fallen angels corrupt mankind (Gen 6).
• The Tower of Babel – One World Government (Gen 10-11)
• Abraham’s famine
• Isaac and Abhimelech
• Jacob & Esau and then later, Laban
• The Famine in Canaan (Gen 50)
• Destruction of male line (Ex 1)
• Pharaoh’s pursuit (Ex 14)
• The battles and populating of Canaan (Gen 12:6)
• Saul’s attempts on David’s life
• Against David’s line (2 Sam 7)

Attacks on David’s Line

• Jehoram kills his brothers (2 Chr 21)
• Arabians slew all (but Ahazariah)
• Athaliah kills all (but Joash) (2 Chr 22)
• Hezekiah assaulted, etc. (Isa 36, 38)
• Haman’s attempts (Est 3)

New Testament attempts:

• The babies of Bethlehem
• The attempts on Jesus through his ministry
• The Cross

Genesis 3:16

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

The curse – the Woman

Genesis 3:17

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

The curse – man

Genesis 3:18

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

This is why we have a day job!!!  – and why we are continually mowing grass and weeding during the spring & summer!

Genesis 3:19

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

This was the ‘prize’ for disobedience.
“The keyword in the sentence of the man is the “soil.” The curse of the soil is the desire of the fruit trees with which the garden was planted, and of that spontaneous growth which would have rendered the toil of man unnecessary. The rank growth of thorns and thistles was also a part of the curse which it occasioned to man when fallen. His sorrow was to arise from the labor and sweat with which he was to draw from the ground the means of subsistence. Instead of the spontaneous fruits of the garden, the herb of the field, which required diligent cultivation, was henceforth to constitute a principal part of his support. And he had the dreary prospect before him of returning at length to the ground whence he was taken”. (Albert Barnes)

However, Paul tells us in Galatians that Jesus became a curse for us to deliver us from the curse of the Fall.

Bearing the Curse – Jesus became a curse

• Ground cursed – Jesus made a curse for us                  Gal 3:13
• Man: eat sorrow –Jesus became the Man of Sorrows Isa 53:3
• Thorns & Thistles –Jesus wore a crown of thorns           Jn 18:8
• Sweat of brow –Sweat as blood                                   Lk 22:44
• Dust to return –Dust of death                                     Ps 22:15
• Sword barred –Awake O Sword                               Zech 13:7
• Man to die –“Why has thou forsaken me?”        Ps 22:1; Mt 27:26

Genesis 3:20-21

And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Here we have the first sacrifice – made by God  – notice plural skins. Were they clothed by the shed blood of a slain lamb?

The basis of blood sacrifice is instituted here. Any attempt to cover ourselves is just empty religion, but God’s remedy is acceptable to a holy God.

Genesis 3:22

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

We have become like God inasmuch as we now know about good and evil.

We will not get to see this tree of life again until the New Jerusalem

Genesis 3:23

Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Banished on account of sin.

Now man had to work for a living! From the beauty and perfection of Eden, this is now the way it is. We simply have to look at the world to see that something is wrong. Death should not have been. Sickness was never part of the original plan. But praise God that this is not the end of the story! For there is coming a day of restitution! (Acts 3:21).

Genesis 3:24

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Why does this require a SuperAngel? Ordinary angels would seem to be sufficient. We see here Gods grace yet again, for now God guarded the way to the Tree of Life so that man would not eat from it and then forever remain in his falled condition. God here institutes death as the means for salvation. For if the sentance for our sin is death, and if another could be found to die in our place, God’s perfect justice and mercy could both be satisfied!

Cherubim principle: They were guardians of God’s glory and majesty (Ex 9, 10:1-22; Isa 6; Rev 4:6-8; Ps 18:10; 81:1; 99:1; et al.). Satan was the “anointed Cherub”… Ezek 28:14…

More next week…

Every blessing,

Pastor Barry.

The post Three Words That Changed Everything! first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

Later in Israel’s history, we find that God actually has Israel removed from their land for 70 years because they had failed to keep the Sabbaths for the land (every 7th year)  – see 2 Chron 36:21

There is far more to the Sabbath than most are aware! As we study scripture we find there is a principle laid down here that has enormous implications. The Sabbath is about rest as opposed to work, and herein is the whole Gospel message!

If you want to listen to the audio teaching associated with this post, you can find both the Audio and Powerpoint slides in the Sunday Morning Teaching section or click this link: https://www.calvaryportsmouth.co.uk/sermons/genesis-2/

Chapter 2

Genesis 2:1

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Finished, complete, nothing new needed to be added. This means there will be no new information. That which has been designed to reproduce will do so, but no more matter or energy will created.

When we finish a project there is a sense of satisfaction, but for God, as wonderful as this new creation was, He knew that His special creation would soon ‘fall’. Satan would soon rebel taking a third of the angelic host with him and the Earth that God has created for man would soon be in Satan’s hands. It would take the sacrificial death of His own Son, the One who is Light, to redeem the Earth and Adam’s offspring – but even then, many of Adam’s descendants would reject the Light in favour of the Darkness. Yet there was hope…

Genesis 2:2

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

This is far more than a pattern for our week – which of course it is. In establishing the Sabbath God was prophetically outlining the future-history of man. For the next 6000 years of human history there would be toil and suffering, the six days of work. But then there would be a glorious age – the millennial kingdom – when the Earth would be reclaimed by the Second Adam, the curse would be removed and it would be a day of rest. The Sabbath speaks of Christ’s reign on the Earth He had made. It also speaks of His completed work. The writer to the Hebrews states:

“Let [those who are Christ’s] therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto [Israel]: but the word preached did not profit [Israel], not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, [i.e. we have ceased from the days of toil] as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall [not] enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world [i.e. God’s plan and the opportunity to enter rest existed from the foundation of the World]. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. [Even from the beginning of the World, before sin had entered, God’s plan of redemption was established and God had foreordained a place of rest (in Christ) and a time of rest (Christ’s everlasting kingdom)]. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.[The key is ‘if’ – the gospel is for the ‘whosever will’].

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. [Let me paraphrase this: God foreordained that some would enter into the Sabbath rest through Christ, the offer went first of all to Israel, but they would not believe by faith. God therefore chose a time, for this offer of Salvation and rest for our souls, to go out to the world through the Seed of David].

For if [Joshua – who had led them into Canaan] had given [Israel] rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. [If God’s plan had been fulfilled through Israel’s obedience to the Law of Moses, there would be no need for the cross].

[However] There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. [The Law could not bring us to a place of rest, it could only condemn us, But Christ has paid for our sin, so anyone who simply believes on Him by faith is assured that there is a place of rest from our striving against sin, and that place is in Christ!]

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. [Those who believe by faith know that it is not because of what we have done, but because of who He is!]. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. [This ends in an oxymoron! In essence what is said is let’s labour to not labour! Simply trust in the completed work of Christ and we can be assured of the Sabbath rest God intended for all who would believe!]  (Hebrews 4:1-11)

Thinking again of the man caught gathering sticks (as mentioned in the intro to this post), it speaks of religion – man’s attempt to get right with God by his own efforts. God had said ‘rest’! He would provide. This man was all about ‘works’, ‘doing things’. In esence, it is either your own works, your own efforts, or it is the completed work of Christ on the cross. This is not an issue about sticks, it is about salvation! Are you going to trust in what you can do (which will only lead to death)? Or trust in Christ’s payment in full (which will lead to life!)?

God was not harsh in the judgment meted out to this man, nor in regard to the 70 years captivity for Israel. Both of these examples draw our focus to the most important decision anyone can make. Are you going to go your own way and gather sticks – your labour, your efforts to provide for your needs? Or are you resting in the Lord knowing He has done it all?!

Genesis 2:3

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Now that we have seen in type what the Sabbath is really all about, we start to understand why God was so protective of the model. The Sabbath is set apart because it represents the hope of mankind and the restoration of God’s walk with man.

Genesis 2:4

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

The phrase ‘These are the generations’  we find nine times in Genesis: 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10,27; 25:12,19; 36:1; 37:2. Each time it marks a division of the book and the commencement of a new section. Some scholars think that, whilst Moses was the compiler of this book, each of these sections were originally recorded by different individuals starting with God Himself recoding 1:1 to 2:3, then Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and finally Moses himself.

Genesis 2:5-6

And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

Here we are told that originally there was no rain. This, coupled with the statement in Hebrews 11:7 and with what seems to be implied in chapter 1 verse 7 leads to the conclusion that the earth had a very different hydo-system before the flood.

The statement that ‘there was not a man’ indicated that this, along with the next verse, is a recap of what we have seen in chapter 1.

Genesis 2:7

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.

This verse is very instructive! Firstly we are told that man was formed from the dust of the ground. It is very unlikely that Adam/Moses knew when they were recording this that the human body is made up almost entirely of 13 elements, all of which are found in the ground! The next insight we glean here is that we are made up of three component parts; body, soul and spirit.

Body

Our physical body is the container in which we reside, but it is not who we are. God here forms man out of the dust, but man is not alive until God breathes life into him. We (the real ‘us’) reside in our body (the Bible likens it to a ‘tabernacle’ or tent, implying a temporary residence (see 2 Cor 5:1,4 / 2 Peter 1:3). When we die the body goes back to dust (Gen 3:19).

Spirit

Then there is the spirit, given to us by God, and which will return to God when we die (see Ecclesiastes 12:7). The spirit is in effect our conscience; it is the part of us that is conscious of God. At the time of the fall man died spiritually, hence now we find that ‘the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, nor can his know them, because they are spiritually discerned’ (see 1 Cor 2:14). However, when we are born again we are not merely given a new spirit, we are given God’s Holy Spirit!

Soul

Finally, we have the real ‘you’ – the soul. This is who we are, and as we noted previously, the soul comprises the heart and mind. The soul is not alive until the breath of life comes. The Bible makes it clear, life is not physical but spiritual. Those who live to satisfy the body exist, but are not truly alive.

Genesis 2:8

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

It may seem like stating the obvious, but Adam is created on day 6, and then God places him in this wonderful garden sometime after day 7; but notice this is before Eve is taken out of Adam.

Genesis 2:9

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Now, it is surprising how many people seem to struggle with the following verses. Often we here allegations of contradictions between Genesis 1 and Geneses 2. Even well-meaning Christians attempt to point out two different creation accounts, and then deliberate as to which is the correct or best one?

However, as so frequently is the case, if we simply read the verses in context there is no confusion and we see a coherent single account.

What we need to note is the fact that God creates a garden and then puts man in the garden. God has already created all plant life, all marine life, all land animals etc, on day 5 & 6. Now we are told that he causes to grow, out of the ground, another of every plant and tree etc.

Why does God do this? To show Adam that He alone is the Creator! Adam did not see days 1 – 5 as God was creating. History has shown how easily man is led away from trusting in our Creator; very soon the great Tempter would come onto the scene, and how easy it would have been for Satan to convince man that he was the one who had created everything! But now, Adam is an eyewitness of Creation and sees, first-hand, God at work.

Genesis 2:10-14

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

All of Earth’s geography was rearranged at the time of the Flood. Clearly, some of these place names were re-used and given to other places / rivers after the Flood. But why do we have this record in scripture? Why did God choose to give us this information?

The honest answer is ‘I don’t know!’ – but that doesn’t trouble me. When you come to appreciate what the Bible is, when you realise that every name, every number, every letter and every place name are in the Bible by deliberate supernatural design, you begin to recognise what the Rabbi’s called a ‘Remez’ – a hint of something deeper. Just because we have not discovered it yet simply means we carry on looking. We might make and amazing discover that becomes a blessing and encouragment to the body of Christ, or we may not know this side of eternity.

“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law”. (Deut 29:29)

Genesis 2:15-17

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

So Adam has the opportunity to eat from the tree of life, but for some inexplicable reason, he doesn’t take it!

Instead, he ends up eating from the only tree that is forbidden!

Notice too that this instruction is given to him before Eve is created.

It was Adam’s responsibility to instruct his wife.

Notice that God holds Adam responsible, yet at the same time Eve is held accountable for her own actions.

Genesis 2:18

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Man was created for fellowship – ultimately with God, but we are not supposed to be on our own.

Is there one woman for every man?

Does God intend for some people to remain single?

Can more be accomplished as a couple?

What is certain is that we must maintain fellowship with other believers!

Fellowship and friendship costs. It cost Adam a rib! David would not offer to God that which cost him nothing (2 Sam 24:24). Don’t expect a free ride! Adam will appreciate Eve for more after this object lesson that God is about to teach him.

Genesis 2:19

And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

As already noted, God forms another of each creature out of the ground in the Garden of Eden in front of Adam to show again that He is the Creator.

The other purpose of this is to bring Adam to the place of realising his need!

God does this with us today. He allows circumstances and even disappointment into our lives to help us to understand.

Experience is still one of the best teachers. Some things we need to learn the hard way.

Adam must have had an incredible intellect, but remember, he was created perfect!

Had God not have exposed Adam’s need for companionship, his attitude toward might have been different. What seems clear is that by the time God creates Eve, Adam is overjoyed!

Genesis 2:20

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

If more proof were needed, there is a chasm of difference between man and animals.

We are created eternal – they are not.

Genesis 2:21

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

God’s intention in making woman was not to give man a helper, nor a servant, but an ‘opposite’, the other part of the equation.

Man was asleep when Eve was created!

Here God literally takes the woman part out of Adam!

Man does not have one less rib!!

Note that woman was taken out of Adam’s side; this is a picture in type of the Church being taken from Christ’s side.

Genesis 2:22-24

And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

The ‘woman’ part is taken out of man, but through marriage (which by the way, God invented so only He can define it – and He does, as the union between one man and one woman!!) man and woman are joined togehter and become one again – do you see from this why God hates divorce so much? It is like ripping part of your own self away, and you can never be the same after that.

That doesn’t mean God won’t forgive and bring a degree of healing, but God’s standard is clearly given – and for our benefit too!

Although they were naked they had a spiritual covering. They lose this at the time of the Fall (we will look at this in more details next week).

More next week…

Every blessing,

Pastor Barry.

The post The Sanctified Sabbath first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

If you want to listen to the audio teaching associated with these verses, you can find the Audio and Powerpoint slides in the Sunday Morning Teaching section: CLICK HERE

Genesis 1:20

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

We now find the beginning of self-replicating conscious life. This is the first time the word ‘life’ (Hebrew: ‘khah’-ee) appears in the Bible, and we find God makes a clear distinction between non-conscious plants and vegetation, and that which has a distinct self-awareness (specifically here marine life and birds). This distinction shows itself again in that which God originally gives for food (see Gen 1:29-30), and the fundamental difference is blood. Prior to the flood, only plants and vegetation were to be eaten – these do not have blood. Leviticus 17:11 states that “The life of the flesh is in the blood”, thus life and blood are inextricably linked; that which does not rely on blood for its survival is not truly alive – and here there is a profound deeper truth. By inference, we can deduce that blood was created on day five, and there is a profound significance here also; the number five is consistently used in the Bible to speak of grace – and God’s grace is dependent on the blood of Christ.

It is interesting to note that the first real life we see is from the water – symbolic in the Bible of the Holy Spirit. In fact, both water and that which soars above is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit descended as a dove at Jesus’ baptism. It may be a tenuous link, but Jesus said that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). It could be argued that the first semblance of life on earth is seen in the water and the air, and real life comes likewise through natural (water) birth and by being born again of the Spirit – made possible by the blood of Jesus.

This is the last mention of the firmament in these verses, and as we noted, the implication from the Hebrew is that the birds fly ‘in the face of’ or ‘in front of’ the heavens.

Genesis 1:21

 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Notice that in the previous verse, and again here, God commanded the waters to bring forth abundantly, and only a cursory look at the life in the oceans will confirm that they are teeming with life. From the great whales and sharks to elaborately coloured tropical fish, to the huge variety of shellfish, the Octopus, Jellyfish, turtles and the list could go on. It has been estimated that there are 228,450 known species in the ocean, and one recent article stated that scientists had identified almost 1,500 new creatures in the world’s oceans in 2014, including the Australian humpback dolphin, 139 sponges, a South African “star-gazing shrimp” and a giant, venomous, tentacle-free box jellyfish about 50 cm (20 inches) long. They estimate there are still as many as 2 million more yet to be discovered! The huge variety of life in the oceans is breathtaking; yet what is even more incredible is the design we see with these sea creatures. Evolution cannot explain this diversity, nor can it offer any mechanism to account for the sheer complexity of marine life. Take, for example, the dolphin; it uses a sophisticated sonar system, located in its forehead, to find food. This has to have been there from the start or it would be no use. There is no way this could have evolved, it has to be the hand of a Master Designer!

It is the same when we look at birds; they have hollow bones so as to reduce weight and enable flight; they lay eggs so their young develop outside of the body. Their reproductive organs atrophy outside of breeding season, again to keep their weight down. They have a very fast metabolism and lungs that open at each end – completely different to any other vertebrates. They have an amazing 450 breaths per minute and have a larger heart to cope with higher altitudes.

Feathers, which most of us think of as fairly simple, are actually complex. Coming off the main hollow shaft (rachis), they have side branches (barbs) that have even finer sub-branches. Theses sub-branches are joined together with barbules and their corresponding hooklets (hamuli). The combined effect is a lightweight yet strong feather that provides lift when in flight and a first defence against physical objects, sunlight and rain. Each feather is contoured with a leading edge to go into the wind and a trailing edge designed for the optimum aerodynamic efficiency.

Is anyone going to tell me that this came about by random chance? Is our government’s ‘high-quality science education’ wanting us to believe that mutations over millions of years produced identical yet symmetrical mutations in both the male and female of the species at the same time and in the same place, and that these mutations actually got passed on to the next generation? It is astounding that evolutionists have never been publicly called out on this ‘mutation’ mantra. A mutation is a loss or scrambling of genetic information. It cannot create anything new. What also is never mentioned in the text books, or when David Attenborough is presenting his heavily evolutionary biased nature documentaries, is that for every ‘beneficial’ mutation there would be 10,000 that are, at best neutral, but many of which would be lethal! How do you get successive mutations that all complement each other if each mutation is just a random unguided event?

Dr J.C. Stanford, in his book “Genetic Entropy & The Mystery of the Genome” concludes:

“We have reviewed compelling evidence that, even when ignoring deleterious mutations, mutation/selection cannot create a single gene within the human evolutionary timescale. When deleterious mutations are factored back in, we see that mutations / selection cannot create a single gene, ever. This is overwhelming evidence against the Primary Axiom [theory of evolution]. In my opinion this constitutes what is essentially a formal proof that the Primary Axiom is false.”

The following article by Ray Comfort in his ‘Evidence Bible’ also hits the nail on the head:

• If every creature “evolved” with no Creator, there would be numerous problems. Take for instance the first bird. 
• Was it male or female? Let’s say it was male.  How did it produce offspring without a mate?  If a female also evolved, why did it evolve with differing reproductive organs? 
• Did it evolve by chance, or did it evolve because it knew that it was needed by the male of the species?
• How did it know what needed to be evolved if its brain hadn’t yet evolved? Did the bird breathe?  Did it breathe before it evolved lungs?  How did it do this?  Why did it evolve lungs if it was happily surviving without them? 
• Did the bird have a mouth? How did it eat before it evolved a mouth?  Where did the mouth send the food before the stomach evolved? 
• How did the bird have energy if it didn’t eat (because it didn’t yet have a mouth)? How did the bird see what there was to eat before its eyes evolved? 
• Evolution is intellectual suicide. It is an embarrassment.

Far from the science fiction that masquerades as fact is the reality that a wonderful God created all that we see, including the Woodpecker, which is an evolutionist’s nightmare! It has a super-strong beak to cope with all its hammering on wood, which in turn is seated in special cartilage to prevent it forcing its beak into its brain! Its eyes also shut at precisely the moment the beak strikes the tree to stop its eyes popping out! Its toes are not arranged like most birds with three claws at the front and a single claw at the back; the woodpecker has 2+2 to enable much greater grip when hanging onto a tree hammering away to find food.

Then there is the tongue! It is incredible. It goes down the throat, out the back of the neck, around the back of the skull beneath the skin, over the top of the eyes and terminates just below the eye socket.

We could talk about migration or the flight patterns of migrating birds that enable them to complete an eighty-eight-hour journey, in the case of the Golden Plover, by flying in formation. They could not complete the journey if they flew alone. This knowledge could not have evolved, it just shouts out there is an awesome Designer!

Gtting back to the text, notice also how God wants you to know that things only reproduce ‘after their own kind’! This is repeated 10x in chapter 1. Things NEVER reproduce something other than themselves, despite Charles Darwin’s wishful thinking!

Genesis 1:22-23

22  And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

So this brings us to the end of the fifth day. Once again we have ‘erev’ and ‘boker’ as we move from less order to more order as God’s work of creation is almost complete.

Genesis 1:24-25

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

 We could now list the countless numbers of land animals that exhibit such staggering complexity and design. If we take just one, let’s consider the Giraffe. They can grow up to 21ft tall and have a large & powerful heart to pump the blood up their long neck. The miracle is that when they bend down to drink they don’t pass out with all the blood that would rush to their heads, or worse still their brains explode! Yet God has built in ‘safety’ valves that close when the Giraffe bends down to prevent the otherwise inevitable. The next problem our Giraffe would face, however, is if it now needs to lift its head up and leave in a hurry – due to a nearby predator etc. – it would now faint as there would not be enough blood and therefore oxygen feeding its brain. Once again we see the brilliance of God’s design, for instead of the last valve in its neck it has a sponge in its brain that soaks up blood, this again prevents problems when it bends down, but also provides a sufficient reserve of oxygen if a fast getaway is needed! This all has to work or no more Giraffe!

So, all made after their kind, all made good, and all made originally to be herbivores (there was no meat eaten until after the flood).

Genesis 1:26

 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

As we now move to God’s final work of creation, just like at the wedding in Cana, He saves the best until last!

Notice that we have the Trinity in this verse as God says “Let US….” The work of creation is attributed to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit throughout scripture.

The important thing in this verse is that Adam was made in God’s image and in His likeness. No other created being can claim this.

Genesis 1:27

 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

We make an interesting discovery if we look at the Hebrew words in this verse. If we were to transliterate it into English it would actually read: “Created out of nothing, God, [the Alpha & Omega] Man in His resemblance. In His resemblance, God created out of nothing him, male – female, created out of nothing him“. In other words, God created Adam as perfect male and female in one. This helps to answer something some have struggled with regarding the creation of Eve. Eve was not created on day six, she was not created until the Garden of Eden, which occurred after the first 7 days. All God does in the Garden of Eden is to take the woman part he had already created out of man!

This is why we will see in chapter 2 that Adam states: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man“. It also defines marriage (contrary to modern society’s re-writing the rules), because when a man and wife are joined in marriage, they come back to as it was:  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh“(Gen 2:23-24).

Genesis 1:28-29

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Man is given dominion over all God’s creation, and having already noted the complexity and design, there is clearly implied the mandate to look after the world that God has given us!

Genesis 1:30

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

As we have noted, the animals and man were all vegetarians prior to the flood. Up until the Fall there was no death, so no killing creatures for food. This again makes a distinction between that which is alive in the Biblical sense and that which is merely living. Plants have life, but they are not truly alive as they don’t have blood. Only that which has blood is alive. Only that which has the blood of Christ is eternally alive! (see John 6:54-55).     

Genesis 1:31

 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

This brings us to the end of the sixth day, and notice that it wasn’t just ok, it was the best it could possibly be! God doesn’t do His best, He does it the best!

This is the last time we see ‘evening and morning’ (in the Hebrew ‘Erev’ and ‘Boker’). God’s work of creation is complete and no new information will be added. God has taken the world from disorder to order.

(Above chart by Dr Chuck Missler – www.khouse.org)

More next week…

Every blessing,

Pastor Barry.

The post The Beginning of Life – Day 5 & 6 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

Well, actually no. True science and the Bible will never be in disagreement because they both have the same author!

It is, therefore, fascinating when we come to the opening chapters of the Bible to find that many of sciences ‘discoveries’ have been preempted by God’s Word, hundreds and even thousands of years before science has stumbled upon them. In fact, the more we discover about the world around us, the more comfortable we become with the opening chapters of Genesis!

This week, as we continue our study in Genesis chapter 1, we look at ‘the firmament’ and consider why life on Earth seemed once to be so much different than it is today. What accounts for the super-size plants and animals in the fossil record? If the climate around the world is now very different to what it used to be, what caused the change?

I hope the notes below encourage you to undertake your own study of God’s unchanging Word!

The audio teaching accompanying this post can be listened to on this web site by clicking on the following link:

Genesis 1 6-19

Genesis 1:6 – Day 2

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 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. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

As we move on to the second day of Creation we find God putting something called a ‘firmament’ in between the waters above (whatever they are) and the waters below (which we are told in verse 10 are the seas). The word ‘firmament’ comes from the Latin firmamentum, and implies solidity. In Hebrew the word is  ‘Raqia’, and literally means ‘to stretch, spread out, beat or tread out, or a solid expanse’.

Firmament actually occurs 9 times in this chapter and seems to be used to refer to two distinct ‘expanses’. In verses 14-17 we will find that God places the sun, moon and stars in the ‘firmament of heaven’; thus, in these three instances, the firmament of heaven would seem to refer to ‘outer space’.  So immediately this poses the question, how can space be described as a solid expanse? We’ll come back to that in a moment.

For now, let us consider this firmament that divides the waters above from the waters below. There are a number of suggestions that have been proposed, but the one that fits the Biblical description best is the idea that there was once a water canopy that God placed around the Earth. The ‘solid expanse’ spoken of in this verse was simply what held it in place. Of course, the question must be asked, is that something supported by science? The answer is surprising yes!

What would be the effect of such a canopy? Firstly, it would regulate the temperature on Earth, causing a greenhouse-like environment and uniform temperature around the world. There is strong evidence to support this, from coal seams at the south pole, to Mammoths with undigested tropical food in their stomachs – yet now frozen in places like Siberia.  This, in turn, would also increase the atmospheric pressure (more Oxygen & CO2) which would have a significant impact on anything living. Studies have shown that, at one time, the oxygen content of the atmosphere was once up to 50% greater than it is now. This would cause things to grow bigger and could elongate lifespans. In an article in Time Magazine (9/11/87 p.82) it was stated that “…earth’s atmosphere contained about 50% more oxygen than it does today”. An article on the University of London’s website documents the fact that they have found oxygen trapped in amber (fossilised tree sap) that is double the level currently in our atmosphere.

There is abundant evidence to show that things did once grow to significantly greater size than today. We have:

• Fossilised Moss 3ft deep
• Fossils of Asparagus 40ft high
• 50ft Horsetail Reeds found fossilised
• Ferns over 50ft tall
• Fossil cattails 60ft long found in sedimentary rock
• Dragonflys with 3ft wingspans
• Buffalo horns with 12ft spans
• (See the Powerpoint slides from the study for more!)

Before we move on, it’s interesting that reptiles keep growing until they die. If you take many of the lizards that we have today, give them a perfect environment, and let them live for hundreds of years, what would they end up looking like? Probably what you and I would call a dinosaur! Not all dinosaurs were huge, most were comparatively small.

Another significant effect of a water canopy would be the protection is would give the Earth from Solar radiation – much like the Ozone layer does today (only better!).

All of this combined could account for the long life spans as recorded in the Bible.

Further Biblical support can be found in Genesis chapter 6, where, at the time of the flood, the ‘windows of the heaven were opened’ and this water canopy seemingly came crashing down providing much of the water for the flood.

This is certainly a view that cannot just be dismissed because one doesn’t like it and a number of credentialed Bible-believing scientists have postulated and demonstrated the credibility of this view.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Here we see God separate the land from the sea for the first time. The interesting thing to note is the clear implication that there was originally one land mass. There are many theories of ‘Pangea’ or one single super continent in the past, but an interesting study done by Peter Wilders, in a pamphlet produced by Creation Science Movement – Pamphlet 246, proposed that the original land mass may have been shaped as a flower, and significantly with Jerusalem at the centre. (for more information write to PO Box 888, Portsmouth, PO6 2YD, ref: Pamphlet 246 or go to www.CreationScienceMovement.com).

As an aside, Acts 3:21 speaks of the ‘times of restitution of all things’. This implies that one day God will put things back to the way they were in the beginning. This is further supported by the statement in Revelation 16:20 that during the Tribulation (as a result of a catastrophic worldwide earthquake) ‘every island will flee away’. Through simple deduction, if there are no more islands, there would have to be just one land mass. Food for thought!

11 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. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Three times in these verses we are told that things bring forth ‘after their kind’. This is a scientific statement that anyone can very easily verify. Apple trees produce apples, Orange trees produce oranges. A strawberry plant will produce strawberries, always. This is the clearest and simplest rebuttal to the non-science that fills our school text books, university lecture halls and TV screens. I am of course referring to the theory of Evolution as proposed by Charles Darwin. Mr Darwin proposed that things can bring forth things other than themselves, yet this has not only never been observed anywhere in nature, it is scientifically impossible.

The packet seed industry basis its reputation on the scientific accuracy of Genesis chapter 1 verse 11. Whenever you buy a packet of seeds there will be a picture on the front of the packet presumptuously stating what it will become if you plant it and water it! How can they be so sure? If there was an ounce of credibility in Darwin’s fairy story they would not dare be so arrogant as to boldly state what it will become! They have certainly never felt the need to put a warning on the front of the packet saying: Warning! May produce a frog! If you stop and think about it, thousands of experiments are being conducted every day around the world in this manner; whenever someone plants a seed, whenever a creature gives birth, whenever

If you stop and think about it, thousands of experiments are being conducted every day around the world in this manner; whenever someone plants a seed, whenever a creature gives birth, whenever an egg hatches, all of these experiments prove conclusively that evolution simply does not happen!

Clearly, the Bible is right and Darwin (and sadly much of the scientific community who favour man’s ‘wisdom’ over God’s word) is wrong!

By the way, what an incredible piece of design to place the ability to reproduce itself in the seed, that can sometimes lay dormant for hundreds of years, until the right conditions exist for the seed to germinate and reproduce itself!

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

You may have noticed that on day two God did not declare it good. However, when we come to the third day, we find that twice God has it recorded that what He saw was good (v10 & v12). It is because of this that the third day became to be known as the ‘day of double blessing’ among the Jews. Therefore, if you were to get married, for example, which day would you choose? The day of double blessing! There is an allusion to this in the beginning of John’s gospel: “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there” (John 2:1). Normally you would just read on and not pay too much attention to the mention of the ‘third day’, but hopefully, by now, you are realising that every single detail in the Bible is there by deliberate supernatural design! When John mentions the ‘third day; he doesn’t give any reference point; the third day from what? However when we understand that by ‘the third day’ he is referring to Tuesday – the ‘day of double blessing’, it all starts to make sense.

The ‘third day’ is also yet to be a day of blessing for Israel – see Hosea 6:1-2.

And we should need no reminding that the third day is indeed a day of blessing for us all; for it was on the ‘third day’ that our Saviour rose and conquered death!

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

The first thing God does on day four is to make ‘light bearers’. Light already existed, the sun and moon are simply vessels that carry the light. This is how each of us should be. Christ is the light of the world, we are to be His light bearers – without this light the world is in darkness (cf Matt 5:14).

As an aside, the word for ‘seasons’  in Hebrew is ‘Ha Moyadim’ meaning ‘appointed times’. In the original Hebrew text it appears just once in the book of Genesis as an equidistant letter sequence, which so happens to occur at an interval of 70. In other words, if you start with the first letter, count forward 70 letters, you have the next letter, and so on until you spell the word. What makes this provocative is that, of all the places this could ‘randomly’ occur in the book of Genesis, it ‘happens’ to be centred on this very verse, where the word actually appears in the surface text. Even more incredible is the fact that we are told that the sun and moon were to be for signs and seasons, and it is from these signs that Israel’s calendar is derived, (each month begins with the new moon etc.). When we add up all of Israel’s  ‘appointed times’, their feast days etc. we discover there are 70! As the Rabbis say: ‘coincidence is not a kosher word!’

God places these light bearers in the ‘firmament’. As we have already noted, this word in these verses refers to ‘outer space’. As mentioned in verse 7, the word ‘firmament’ comes from the Latin firmamentum, and implies solidity. Again, in Hebrew the word is ‘Raqia’, which means ‘to stretch, spread out, beat or tread out; literally or figuratively, an expanse’. God could have chosen any word to describe space, but specifically chooses this one. This is extremely provocative for, contrary to our general assumptions, space is not just an empty void, but rather is indeed a ‘solid expanse’.  Building on the efforts of many before him, James Clerk Maxwell (1839-1879) pioneered work to show how light waves could pass through space. The significance of this is that for a wave to travel, there must be a medium for it to travel through, but that medium must also have elasticity (a spring-like property). Science still does not fully understand what material it is made up of, but the vacuum of space is clearly not an empty nothingness.

To Bible-believing Christians this should not really come as a surprise, for we are repeatedly told through scripture that God stretched out the heavens, and that the heavens will be rolled up as a scroll (Isaiah 34:4). Isaiah 13:13 tells us that God will ‘shake the heavens’; and the writer to the Hebrews tells us that one day God will fold up the heavens like you can fold up a garment (Hebrews 1:10-12). With what we now know, rather than being simply metaphors, these Biblical comments show scientific insight not known until relatively recently. For space to be ‘rolled up’, there must be a dimension in which it is thin. For space to be ‘bent’, there must be a direction it can be bent toward. All of this hints at its solidity and implies additional spatial dimensions (other than width, length, height and time). The reality of additional dimensions was something noted by Biblical sages in the 13^th century, and now confirmed by quantum physicists. It is now believed there are actually ten dimensions, of which only ‘our’ four are directly measurable. This may give us a hint at what the world and universe were like before Adam fell. We are now ‘trapped’ in width, length, height and time, yet the Bible speaks of other (spiritual) dimensions we cannot currently perceive. Was Adam originally able to experience these? Is this how Jesus could pass through solid walls in His resurrected body? (John 20:26).

Ultimately, the sun, moon and stars are un-complex and simple, from a chemical perspective, when compared to even a single cell in a living organism; and this may be why we have such a brief mention of them here. The phrase ‘He made the stars also’ almost implies an afterthought, something of little regard from God’s perspective. Yet these celestial bodies have captivated mankind’s thoughts and imaginations throughout history, and have even become objects of worship (e.g. the days of the week are named after the planets).

Isaiah tells us (Is 42:8) that God will not share His glory with another, and in the book of Deuteronomy, God will say: “If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.” (Deut 17:2-5)

“And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven” (Deut 4:19)

So whilst we are clearly warned against worshipping these things, we cannot help be amazed at the scale and beauty of the universe. Job comments on the ‘height of heaven’ and the ‘height of the stars’, being in awe at the scale of these things (Job 22:12). In Psalm 8 we read: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:3-4). Although man is infinitely more complex, the sheer scale of the universe is breathtaking.

The Stars

The universe is estimated to be 30 Billion light years wide; there are enough stars for each person to own 3 Trillion each! The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy is the closest galaxy outside our own Milky Way; if you could travel at 186,282 miles per second, it would take you ten thousand years (at that speed) to go from one side of it to the other! The Orion Nebula is around 10 quadrillion miles away from earth!

If you tried to count just the stars visible to the naked eye at the rate of 1 per second, you would be counting for thousands of years! – and yet our God “telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names” (Psalm 147:4).

Interestingly, secular scientists still do not know how stars are formed, as the following quotes show: “According to current theories of star formation, cores of molecular clouds (regions of especially high density) become gravitationally unstable, fragment and begin to collapse (sometimes, shockwaves from supernovae will trigger star formation in nearby gas clouds).

[i.e you need a star (supernovae) to trigger the formation of a star – so where did the supernovae come from???] The youngest and brightest stars we now see in the Orion Nebula are thought to be less than 300,000 years old, and the brightest may be only 10,000 years in age. Source”: Wikipedia

“The earliest modern theory of the formation of our galaxy describes a single (relatively) rapid monolithic collapse…..Another view published in 1978 describes a more gradual process……An even more recent idea is that significant portions of the stellar halo could be stellar debris from destroyed dwarf galaxies and globular clusters……Giant elliptical galaxies are probably formed by……etc.,etc.

While we have learned a great deal about ours and other galaxies, the most fundamental questions about formation and evolution remain only tentatively answered.” Source: Wikipedia

So we have ‘theories’, ‘views’, ‘ideas’, ‘probably’s’, and ‘tentative answers’, but no facts or evidence! Yet secular scientists are quick to point to Creationists as ‘unscientific’ because we believe primarily on the basis of faith. Surely it takes more faith to believe that the whole universe came into being, with all the chemicals and atoms that make up the stars, from nothing, that from nowhere found the energy to explode into everything?! Such a belief defies reason and the 1^st and 2^nd laws of thermodynamics. The real problem here for atheists and evolutionists is, that if you base your belief on purely natural mechanisms, denying the possibility of outside (supernatural) intelligence, you have to abide by the laws of the physical universe; and those laws will tell you it cannot, and will not happen, regardless of how much time you give it!

In contrast, the Bible boldly declares: “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee” (Neh 9:6)

Psalm 19 states: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1-3). God’s creation is awesome and testifies to all people in all languages that there is a Creator!

The Sun

Our sun is losing mass at the rate of 4 billion kg a second. This is not something that should worry us as there is plenty of it! But what is does underline is that it will not go on forever. There will come a point – however far away it may be – when our sun will burn out. This confirms one of the greatest discoveries of the 21^st century, namely that our universe is finite: it had a beginning and is destined for an ending. And what does the opening verse of the Bible state? In the beginning… The Bible is not a science textbook… it is far more accurate and never needs to be updated!

Not only does the Bible tell us that the Earth is a sphere (Isaiah 40:22) that hangs in space (Job 26:7), it also tells us that the sun is not stationary but on a circuit around the heavens: “[the sun] is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” (Psalm 19:5-6). Cosmologists now know that the sun is indeed on its own massive orbit within our solar system.

The Moon

Before we move on, we should also briefly mention the moon. All planets have a certain amount of reflectivity, known as the albedo. This is simply the ratio of the intensity of light reflected compared to the light received from the sun. Our moon had an albedo of just 12%; this is enough to provide light at night, but not too much to keep us all awake! If someone intended to design a ‘lesser light’ to rule the night, it is hard to think how it could have been done any better!

Various theories have been put forward to explain the origin of the moon; three principle theories are the sister theory, wife theory and the daughter theory.

Sister theory – this holds that the moon was formed at the same time as the earth, although as we have noted, the nebular hypothesis does not offer a satisfactory explanation to this, so we are still left not knowing how the moon was formed.

Wife theory – the moon was just passing close to the earth and earth’s gravity just ‘grabbed’ it. Numerous problems exist with this option, and it still does not account for the moon’s origin.

Daughter theory – This view suggests that a passing meteor crashed into the earth and broke a bit off. Although the moon is small compared to the earth, it is still huge, and it is hard to believe that such an impact and cataclysmic event would leave no obvious sign. Furthermore, this theory does not account for the chemical composition of the moon differing from rock indigenous to earth.

None of these theories stand under scientific scrutiny. It has been said that it is easier to explain why the moon should not be there, than to try to explain why it is! And yet, it has such a profound effect on life on earth, controlling the tides and being a reference point from which calendars can be set “and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years”. Cosmologists cannot explain the origin of the moon – it’s as if was put there on purpose!

Interestingly, the moon is moving away from the earth at the rate of 4cm per year. Whilst this is of no concern to us, it is compelling grounds to reject an age of millions of years for the moon, for if its current rate of movement has been consistent, it would have been so close in the past as to make life on earth impossible.

Needless to say, when God looked at all the billions of stars and galaxies, and at the sun and moon, all fulfilling their specific purpose, it is no wonder “God saw that it was good”. And that brings us to the end of the fourth day. Notice once again we have ‘Erev’ and ‘Boker’; things on earth are becoming more discernable, and a formless universe gives way to incredible design.

We’ll continue our study next week as we move into day 5.

Every blessing,

Pastor Bary.

The post Day Two, Three & Four first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In these blogs over the coming weeks, I will include the study notes that accompany the teaching sessions (which can be found in the ‘Teaching & Audio > Sunday Morning Studies’ section of this web-site.

I hope and pray that (if you are a Christian) you are encouraged, edified and strengthened in your faith; and if not, that you would come to see that the Bible really is God’s Word – provably so – and that the greatest privilege of all is to know Him!

Introduction to the book of Genesis

Surveying the Landscape

As we start a verse-by-verse study of this book I am filled with a profound sense of unworthiness to undertake this task. Whilst to many the book of Genesis is irrelevant, or simply a combination of myth and legend; to those who have discovered what the Bible actually is, the task before us is like standing on top of the world’s tallest mountain and trying to summarise in words the breathtaking beauty of all you can see. Genesis is just such a mountain, and also serves as the foundation of the entire Bible; from here we can see all the incredible landscape of scripture. The name ‘Genesis’ is derived from the Greek version of the Hebrew word ‘toledah’ that first occurs in Genesis 2:4, and occurs a total of 14 times in the book. Genesis / toledah means ‘beginnings’ and this book is certainly the book of beginnings; it is the key that unlocks the rest of the Bible, and without which, much of the rest of scripture would be without context, for all the major issues and doctrines that are developed in the rest of scripture are begun here. The Hebrew name for the book is ‘Beresheet’ from the first word in the book, literally ‘in the beginning’.

Beginnings

Genesis explains the origin of space, time, matter, energy, the universe, stars and planets, earth, the seas, life, man, animals, vegetation etc., and the beginning of nations, languages, government, culture, cities, music and various occupations etc. Of particular importance, Genesis brings us face to face with the beginning of sin, death, murder, rebellion and defiance against God, and sees the birth of false religion – mans attempt to cover his sin and get right with God by his own efforts. It introduces us to the first world-dictator and world-government – something that is destined to be repeated in our time.  However, it also reveals God as a knowable God, a God of love and mercy, and yet a God of justice. It reveals the necessary step that had to be taken in order for God to have a people who would walk with Him for eternity, He being their God and they His people (Rev 21:3). It demonstrates the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. It sees the first blood sacrifice as an atonement for sin, and the promise of a Saviour who will redeem mankind. It ultimately answers the fundamental questions of life: Who am I? Where did I come from? What am I doing here? What happens when I die?

Foundation

The rest of the Bible is built on this foundation. David said: ‘If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ (Psalm 11:3).  It is therefore hardly surprising that Genesis – its credibility and reliability – is frequently attacked by those who are simply blinded by the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4); for ‘the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’ (1 Cor 2:14).

When we look at a painting, we appreciate the skill of the artist and notice the depth and use of colours to create the appearance of an extra dimension.

Certain animals cannot understand two-dimensional images, thus when they look at a painting they cannot appreciate it; and so it is when a ‘natural man’ looks at the pages of scripture; he has no capacity to see the incredible depth that tells of dimensions beyond the natural.

Science

Genesis is actually the third longest book in the Bible (excluding Psalms) and yet it is the opening chapters that are often the major focus of attention. Most people are aware of the controversy and debate between ‘science and religion’. It is not uncommon to hear news reports of ‘fundamentalist Christians’ who have dared to challenge the status quo, and the danger these so called ‘extremists’ pose to the education of young people – Richard Dawkins aligns the teaching of Biblical Creation with child abuse! Repeatedly the populace are told via the news media that the ‘Big Bang’ and theory of Evolution are scientific facts that we don’t need to challenge but simply accept. So why is the book of Genesis so vehemently attacked by its detractors? For the simple reason that it offers the only viable alternative regarding our origins. The problem is that this ‘alternative’ requires belief in a supernatural God – something that many scientists struggle to accept (apparently they prefer to believe that ‘in the beginning nothing…’ then, that this nothing exploded and became everything! Apparently that is a more ‘scientific’ explanation!??).

Sadly, many Christians have been duped into believing the lies and deceit propagated in the name of science that broadly fall under the banner of ‘the theory of evolution’.  We will deal with this in subsequent weeks as we go through our study.

A Major Problem

One of the reasons so many sincere believers have abandoned a belief in the early chapters of Genesis in favour of an ‘evolution-guided-by-God’ view*, is that they no longer have confidence in the Bible itself.

*The inconsistencies of this position we will explore more fully in future weeks.

It is no wonder this situation has occurred when countless ministers and church leaders, (themselves the product of liberal Bible Seminaries) have undermined the inspiration and authority of the Word of God

Vicious Circle

This is just a vicious circle; people reject the authority, accuracy and integrity of scripture because they have been convinced by the media, so-called scientists and ‘ministers of religion’ that it is not trustworthy. They don’t trust it because they have been taught to doubt its authority.

As we begin a study in Genesis, this issue is of the utmost importance; either the Bible is the inspired Word of God – all of it – or it isn’t. There is no middle ground. For if Genesis contains errors and factual inaccuracies about our origins and the history of man, it cannot be the word of a supernatural and all-knowing God. If the Bible merely contains the words of God, then it becomes subjective, and who is to say what are God’s infallible words and what are the words of fallible man?

This is, in many respects, the crux of the matter; but once we understand just what the Bible is, these, and almost all other problems, disappear.

Extra Terrestrial Message

It is no secret that vast sums of money are spent on the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. To date they have found nothing, despite hundreds of thousands of man-hours being spent searching. In September 1971, 84 of the world’s top scientists gathered at the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, Yerevan, Armenia, for a conference on Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CETI), jointly sponsored U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the SSSR (it’s Russian counterpart). A formula was devised to work out the possible number of existing civilisations in the Milky Way Galaxy at or beyond our level of technological advancement.

Various factors were taken into account, such as the rate of star formation, averaged over the supposed lifetime of the galaxy (R*); the fraction of stars which have planetary systems (fp); the number of planets that would be able to support organic life (ⁿe); the number of such planets on which life may actually occur (Fl); the fraction of these planets that after the spontaneous origin of life, intelligence in some form arises (fi); then the fraction of these planets where life could originate that could then go on to develop the ability to communicate (fc); and finally the mean lifetime of such technical civilisations (L). Thus the formula was:

…impressive, isn’t it!

Given all of these factors, it was concluded that the number of planets in the Milky Way Galaxy that are able to support life, where life could be found, where that life had developed the ability to communicate, was just one – Earth!

(Dr Chuck Missler, from his book: Cosmic Codes,  ISBN 1-57821-255-3)

The impossibility of the odds that life exists elsewhere in the universe has still not deterred them from looking – however they may just be looking in the wrong place!

The question needs to be asked, what are they looking for, and how will they know when they find it? It goes without saying that such a discovery would be one of the greatest discoveries ever made by mankind; a discovery that would change forever the outlook of those who had made it. Ultimately, for a message to be accepted as genuine, it would have to be provably extra-terrestrial in origin.

“It seems a strange irony that an extraterrestrial message has been received from beyond our space-time, and it appears in the most ubiquitous of all the books in the entire world – the Bible. It has from the beginning, maintained that its origin was from outside the space-time of Planet Earth.”

(Dr Chuck Missler, from his book: Cosmic Codes, ISBN 1-57821-255-3)

66 Books From Outside Our Space-Time

I am deeply indebted to the teaching and scholarship of Dr Chuck Missler, who brings to our attention the fact that the Bible is not just a collection of ancient writings, but is 66 books written by around 40 authors, over a period of approximately 2000 years that we can demonstrate is one integrated message system that has its origin from outside our time domain. In other words, because the Bible is so integrated and does what no other book in the world can do – tell the future before it happens – it cannot be merely the work of men, no matter how brilliant, but has to be the work of someone who is not confined by time itself, but is outside of time and is able to ‘tell the end from the beginning’ (Isaiah 46:10). This is one of the greatest discoveries that an individual can ever make.  Indeed, over 300 times the Bible claims to be the word of God to His creation; and Paul reminded Timothy that ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ (2 Tim 3:16). Isaiah records that ‘The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever’(Isaiah 40:8). David said ‘For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven’ (Psalm 119:89).

Thus, that which we hold in our hands is no mere book, but a supernatural message that cuts through time and space to reveal our past, present and future, and most importantly, our own connection with eternity.

When we understand that, we have no problem putting complete trust in the Bible.

God said it; I believe it; that settles it!

It is really not hard to take the book of Genesis, indeed all scripture, seriously. If it comes down to the word of Charley Darwin – who wasn’t there and couldn’t observe or record the events taking place at the creation of the world – or the Word of an infinite God, who was there and has given us a written account, signed with His own finger (see Exodus 31:17-18), there really in no debate.

As to the question of science versus religion, the simple fact of the matter is that God has given us a reasonably detailed account of what happened, and when it took place. True science will therefore never be in conflict with the Bible. And let us not forget that science itself has limits, it deals with the present and not the past, it requires investigation and observation using one of more of our five senses (taste, touch, sight, smell & sound).

All we know about the past is from inference based on what exists in the present. Fossils, for example, exist in the present, not the past. Our assessment of how a fossil was formed will be based on our belief about the past, not science. Even if today we saw reptiles evolve into birds*, that doesn’t prove it happened in the past, only that it happens in the present. We may conclude that it is likely that it happened in the past because we see it happening in the present, but that becomes a statement of belief, not fact.

• NB: as an aside, it is completely impossible for a reptile to evolve into a bird – that is not just a belief, but a statement based on observable scientific fact. For more on this see One Small Speck – the evolution myth, by Dr Vij Sodera.

No Contradiction

Again, there is no contention between the Creator and His creation, the Bible and science. The contention comes when an ‘unproved and unprovable’ manmade theory tries to account for all of creation without acknowledging the Creator.

Despite the propaganda we so frequently hear, it is evolution, rather than Biblical creation, that is in conflict with science.

Introduction to Genesis

Genesis can be divided into two sections: Chapters 1-11 and 12-50.

Chapters 1-11 deal with the creation and beginning of everything. The first man (Ch 1), the first marriage (Ch 2), the first sin and the first blood sacrifice (Ch3), the first murder (Ch4), the first Rapture (Ch5), the first worldwide apostasy (Ch6), the first global judgment (Ch 7-9), the first world dictator (Ch10) and the dividing of the nations and languages (Ch11).

The second section of the book (Chapters 12-50) focuses on one man and his family, namely Abraham. We will see God call this man and explain to him that the Seed of the Woman, as promised to Eve, will come through his family, and as a result, all the families of the earth will be blessed. The rest of the book will chart the intrigues and struggles, as this family becomes a nation whom God will watch over and protect for eternity.

Author: Moses – how do we know? Because Moses, Joshua, David, Ezra, Daniel and Jesus all said so. “If you don’t believe what Jesus said you’ve got much bigger problems than the authorship of Genesis!” – Chuck Missler

When was it written?: Around 1600 B.C. – either when Moses was tending sheep for Jethro his father-in-law, and/or at Sinai as an introduction to the Law (Israel were camped there for two years). Originally, the first five books of the Bible (known as the Pentateuch) were one writing in five sections. The separation into five books did not occur until around 300 B.C.

Theme: “the creation, the fall, and redemption of the human race through Jesus Christ. Around this centres all divine revelation and scripture truth. The book is the seed-plot of the entire Bible and is essential to the correct understanding of every part of it. Genesis is the foundation on which all divine revelation rests and on which it is built up. Not only that, but it enters into, and forms a very integral part of that revelation. Every great doctrine of Scripture finds its roots in germ, type, or simple revelation.”   Finis Jennings Dake

Statistics:

1^st book of the Bible;

50 chapters,

1533 verses;

38,267 words;

1385 verses of history;

148 questions;

56 prophecies;

123 verses of fulfilled prophecy to date;

23 verses of unfulfilled prophecy to date;

106 commands;

71 promises;

326 predictions;

95 distinct messages from God.

(Source:, Finis Jennings Dake Annotated Reference Bible)

Scope: The largest time span of any book in the Bible: 4000? B.C. to 1600 B.C.

Main characters: Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.

Things to look for: Models, patterns and types; all of which point to Jesus.

Adam is a type of Christ – giving himself for his bride (1 Tim 2:14).

The Ark (chapters 6-9) is a type of Christ – all who enter in are safe from God’s judgment. tadalafil online

Melchizedek (chapter 14) is a type of Christ being a priest who has no beginning or end.

Isaac is a type of Christ, being willingly offered by his father, and eventually being united with his gentile bride.

Joseph (chapter 39-50) is a type of Christ in that no sin is recorded or him; he was rejected by his brethren; cast into a pit but then ‘raised up’ to deliver all who came to him. In fact, we will explore over 100 different ways that Joseph is a type of Christ.

Check back later this week to see the study notes for verse 1! – or if you follow us on Twitter you will automatically be notified when new posts are added.

Every blessing,

Pastor Barry.

The post An Immovable Foundation! first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.