Genesis 1:2-5, Let there be light
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So tonight we continue our journey into the book of beginnings, Genesis, or in the Torah, Beresheet.
I promise we won’t always move this slowly, but these first chapters are the foundation of the entire bible. I have been stressing that the entire OT and NT, all 66 books are one cohesive message from our Creator.
Lets read our text; please stand;
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Last time we talked in depth regarding the beginning of verse 2. We talked about the possibility that the word “was” could, and perhaps should, be translated “became.” We then explored the somewhat mysterious phrase, “Tohu V’ Bohu” Hebrew for “formless and void.” All of that has led to the idea of the “Gap Theory.” That there is a “gap” between verses 1 & 2.
We began to look at when the Angels were created and we ended discussing a “certain” angels beginning, who is Lucifer, by name. We know him now as Satan or the Devil. I wanted to clarify something that I said in error and that is where Lucifer is spoken about in the OT. The two passages I mentioned are Is 14 & Ezekiel 28. Apparently I said Exodus in stead of Ezekiel in error; so sorry for the confusion. The point being that the Gap Theory supplies an answer to the question when did Satan fall.
It also, as some believe, gives answers to what appears to be extremely old artifacts found in the earth. There are definitely problems with this view and it is not universally accepted.
We looked last time at the Ezekiel 28 passage which showed him in Eden. So tonight lets look at the Is 14 passage in light of what we have been discussing.
12 “How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will ponder over you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’
So perhaps this hints at something was happening here on Earth, some type of civilization, that was destroyed when Lucifer fell. We don’t know for sure..
For now lets look at the rest of verse 2.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
The words darkness and the deep are interesting. Darkness, the word is used of the extraordinary darkness as in Egypt at the Exodus.
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.”
It is also used of the darkness in mines. If you have ever experienced the darkness in a mine you know what I’m talking about. Darkness you can feel. the word used in Exodus for “felt” indicates “groping or searching.”
“The deep “ is the Hebrew word “te-home” it is used of the abyss or in Greek the Abusso. Those of you who were with us in the Revelation study will recall that the Abusso is where the demonic locust hoard comes from Rev 9 and the AC in Rev 11, We are also told that the angel of the Abusso is Abaddon or Apollyon. (translated as the destroyer). Now the deep could simply be referring to the deep oceans but it would seem that based on all this other stuff we are learning it would seem to have a spiritual edge to it.
It is believed by many that in ages past, prior to Adam, between verses 1 & 2, there was a great war in the Spirit realm. Some postulate that perhaps Lucifer was in control of the Earth or another planet, prior to his fall and then afterward was relegated to the deep.
Later, when Adam is created in God’s image and given dominion over the Earth, it stoked Lucifer’s hatred of mankind. I am reading a very interesting book on this topic called “Birthright” by Tim Alberino. Here is a brief exert from the book. Quote page 47.
Verse 2 then introduces the Holy Spirit;
and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
It is important that we realize that the HS is not just the “force” or some energy we can use. The HS is a person, like Jesus, and the Father, a individual part of the one Triune God. Jesus said of the HS;
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
The word for another is allos in Greek meaning another of the same kind. There is a second word for another heteros meaning another of the different kind. So here Jesus is sending another of the same kind as Him is, God.
BTW - its amazing how much Christian Theology is found in just these 2 verses.
The word “moving” in the NASB is also understood as “hovering or brooding.” The term has a sense of tenderness and affection as in preparing it for life. Of course at this beginning time, the earth is completely covered by water as God would separated the land and the water in Day 3.
So we see the HS, Who in Hebrew is called the Ruach Elohim. The word Ruach is interesting because as in Greek the word for Spirit, pneuma, is also used for wind, breath, and wind.
Here we see Him hoovering over the surface or literally face of the waters.
Now, we get ready to open another “can of worms.” Verse 3;
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
This is an example of what learned last week as ex-nihilo creation. God literally speaks light into existence!
Now our understanding of light is limited at best. First let us consider, what is light? I have already mentioned that this is before the creation of the sun and the moon and the stars.
Is light simply the absence of darkness? or is darkness just the absence of light?
6 That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
7 The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these.
As a quick aside here in the Isaiah 45 passage He says He forms the light and creates the darkness. Forms is Yatsar and creates is Bara. Just a thought we are told God is light;
5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Therefore God formed the light, but had to create the darkness.
So what is light?
Video - What is light? 4:39
Obviously this is not a Christian made video. As they refer to evolution. But the idea that light is both a wave and a particle was not known until the last century. This understanding helped to bring about the study of quantum physics and the photon.
The video made reference to the speed of light as the constant “c”. As in E=MC2.
The video said the S.O.L. was 299,792,458 meters per second or 186K miles/sec. It takes light from the sun 8.3 minutes to get to the earth. (1 AU equals the distance from earth to the sun). The S.O.L. is really fast to say the least.
In fact in the 17th century and before it was thought that the speed of light was instantaneous. However in 1677 it was discovered that the speed of light was finite, could be measured.
As a matter of fact, over the last 300 years the speed of light has been measured 164 times using 30 different methods. What we have learned is that the value of “c” (Speed Of Light) is decreasing over time. This was a revolutionary thought just a few years ago as it wrecked many preconceived ideas about the universe and dating methods.
So the speed of light is decreasing, so what? Why does it matter?
Well based on the observed data
C = 10 -30% faster at the time of Christ
C= 2x faster at the time of Solomon
C = 4x faster at the time of Abraham
10 million x faster prior to 3000 BC
In other words this means the Earth is much younger than ever thought before. Something less than or equal to 10,000 years.
I have included an article Speed of Light May Not Be Constant, Physicists Say
I have included an article Speed of Light May Not Be Constant, Physicists Say
We move on;
4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
So here in Verse 4, God separates or divides the light from the darkness. The Hebrew verb indicates a causative action. I see more than just black an white here but the actual separation of the entire light spectrum.
Verse 5 brings some interesting ideas as well.
We learn that the light is day and darkness is called night. The word for day is Yom. This becomes critical as we must understand what is meant here. Why? If it means 24 hours we cannot apply the age/day theory and try to fit in billions of years to allow for evolution. Our problem is that the word Yom is defined in many ways including, a day, a period of time (specific and general), a division of time, or a year.
There are 1480 references to the word “Yom.” 1180 refer to day as a 24 hour period and every time Yom is used with a number it indicates a 24 hour day.
If you needed more convincing look at Exodus 20;
8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
11 “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
This is truly written in stone, on the ten commandments tablets.
But here in verse 5 we find something peculiar, notice;
5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Notice, the evening is the beginning of the day. All we have ever known is that the day begins in the morning but that's not how God equated it. You might be aware that the Sabbath observance begins at sunset. Interesting! Also in regard to ritual cleansing, one who became unclean would stay outside the camp until evening.
Notice also it seems to only include the night or the dark hours. Evening to morning? Certainly the day included all 24 hours. I have learned that God is telling us more than just the obvious. If you move forward in your bible to the 7th day in chapter 2 we find something missing from all the other days.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
There is no mention of the “evening and the morning.” So was there no evening and morning on the seventh day? Of course there was but it lets us know that there is more to these two words than the plan meaning.
First Evening is ereb and morning is bōqer. Ereb (sunset) is the time when things are not clearly seen, definition, colors and shapes, are obsured. However, bōqer (morning) we can see clearly, and as YHWH said it is good.
So in each day of creation we go from obscurity to clarity and work for that day is completed. But on the 7th day there is no more creation, no more work in progress. It is Good and we rest. So God instituted the Sabath as day set apart for rest, the weeks work is completed.
Next week, Creation Days 2, 3, and 4. the separation of our atomsphere, the separation of the land from the sea. The beginning of plant life, and the establishment of the second heaven, outer space.
Prayer