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.