The Importance of Dreams
Steve Nixon
The prophet Joel prophesied of a time when the Holy Ghost would be made available to all flesh, and not just to a select few; such as the prophets of old, certain kings and a few other specially anointed people. Joel 2:28 says;
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.”
This prophecy began to be fulfilled as the first group of the New Testament church were assembled together on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2:2-4;
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
When onlookers saw what was happening but did not understand, they asked Peter what was going on, he explained to them;
“…this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:16-18).
I’ve been wondering lately about the lack of people speaking out concerning their dreams and visions. I think people have dreams and visions whether they are Christian or not,
but I am especially concerned with the dreams and visions of Christians. Why aren’t people more open about what they dream, or their visions? There is certainly a great lack of teaching by the world’s denominations of Christianity, in every aspect of the Christian faith and experience; and this holds true in the area of dreams and visions as well. I wholeheartedly think that if the Lord were to give a grade the result of the teachings of the majority of churches today that He would grade them an ‘absolute failure’. When people upon having one of those dreams, “that stand out in their minds,” why aren’t they seeking an interpretation? Are we afraid of being laughed at? And worse than that, are we afraid of being laughed at ‘by other Christians?’ If this is so, what does that say about not only the character of today’s Christians but their own level of spirituality? Are we silenced by a fear of skeptics? Or do we not perceive dreams as being spiritual or given by God? Sure, the human mind ‘wanders’ at night and we have what seem to be nonsense dreams that don’t mean anything (and usually vaporize into nothing as soon as we wake up; but there are other dreams we have that we wake up with. Dreams that we are sure ‘mean something’ but we can’t figure out. Some dreams are on our minds all day before they disappear, some for weeks and sometimes years. These are the dreams that I’m wondering about. Why are we not more open about discussing these dreams. If we pray for an interpretation and do not receive one, then why aren’t we feeling the freedom to seek an interpretation from other Christians? If indeed these dreams are given by God, then how dare we ignore them! They are for a reason; and those reasons are always in one way or another to our eventual benefit. These gifts of God are like many other things, if we ignore them, then they become pointless and we either receive them less often, or stop receiving them at all. So this brief study looks at how God spoke to His people in both the Old and New Testaments and what role dreams and visions played in guiding, directing and speaking to His people.
Abraham
When Abram (later named Abraham) first received notice that God was calling him out of his own country and into a strange land and would make him a father of nations; it was in a vision. Abram believed God in this vision, and became known as the ‘father of faith.’
(Genesis chapter 15).
Abimelech
In Genesis 20:1-18; Abimelech had previously, through no fault of his own, received Sarah (Abraham’s wife) as his wife, thinking she was Abraham’s sister. Innocent of knowing she was Abraham’s wife or not (ignorance of the law is no excuse), it would be a sin for Abimelech to have sex with Sarah. So God warned Abimelech not to touch Sarah. How was that warning given? In a dream. Because Abimelech heeded his dream, rather than ignoring or seeing little importance in it, Sarah was then returned to Abraham. What would have happened if Abimelech, like so many of us today, would have ignored his dream? Then Sarah would not have had Issac by Abraham. Isaac would not have had Jacob who through him came the nation of Israelites. Jesus would not have been born and all those who receive salvation by Him would be damned.
Jacob
In Genesis chapter 28:12-16, began the story of how Jacob was to be blessed by the Lord to become a great nation; which later became Israel and ultimately all of those both Jew and Gentile who would be considered in the family of God. And how did Jacob receive this vision and understanding, creating the faith in Jacob to spend his life in the direction to which God had appointed him? In a dream. Jacob understood the significance and
spiritual direction of a dream.
Joseph
In Genesis chapter 37, Joseph, the son of Jacob, had a dream. He dreamed that he would rise above his brothers and they would obey him. His brothers already did not like Joseph because he was the youngest of the brothers, but after Joseph related his dream his brothers hated him. This dream might have been ‘the final straw’ that caused his brothers to sell joseph as a slave to an Egyptian. We understand though, in later chapters in Genesis, that once again it was God behind this dream. What I marvel at about this dream is that Joseph’s dream, like many dreams, was metaphorical in nature… yet his brothers and father instantly understood what the dream meant. People of old had a far better understanding of the spiritual nature of dreams than people of today have. Isn’t it about time we start paying more attention to our dreams as well? Later in Joseph’s life, (Genesis chapter 40), Joseph found himself in prison and two men, a butler of Pharaoh and a baker, each had a dream. Not an ordinary dream but they must have recognized their dreams as having meaning that neither of them could figure out and it made them ‘sad’ because they didn’t understand what the dreams meant. When Joseph asked why the men were so sad they told him it was because they did not understand their dreams. At that time Joseph made a profound statement, that ‘interpretations belong to God’.
(The New Testament declares the fulfillment of “your young men shall dream dreams, and your old men shall have visions”. There is a difference of ‘dreams’ and ‘visions’.
Dreams are usually metaphoric and required interpretation, visions are not. Both dreams and visions usually give direction, warn or assure. Dreams occur during sleep whereas visions can occur either in sleep or ‘daydreaming’ (in a trance). Visions generally are not metaphoric but explain plainly). Getting back to the story; Joseph explained the two men’s dreams to them, both dreams being prophetic in nature, and those dreams came to pass exactly as Joseph had interpreted. Later, in Genesis chapter 41, the Pharaoh himself had a very disturbing dream and was informed that there was a man in prison who could interpret dreams (Joseph’s God being with him) and Pharaoh summoned him to interpret his dream. Pharaoh related his dream (in which everything was metaphoric) to Joseph and Joseph gave the interpretation; warning Pharaoh of a coming serious drought that would last seven years and also of how to spare Egypt during the disaster to come. Pharaoh listened, and did everything Joseph said to do, resulting in all of Egypt being spared throughout the drought, and all of Israel as well. How much credence was given to dreams in centuries gone by? Enough to change the course of nations! In these last days there is supposed to be an abundance of ‘dreams and visions’. Are we so dull of understanding of these spiritual blessings?
Gideon
In the book of Judges, chapter 7, Gideon was going to war against the Midianites and Amalekites, but God wanted Gideon to reduce the number of his forces from 30,000 to a mere 300! Still, the Midianite and Amalekite armies were huge and Gideon was now far outnumbered. How was Gideon reassured to enter this conflict against overwhelming forces? Because of a man’s dream, and Gideon’s understanding of that dream!
King Saul
In 1 Samuel, chapter 28, King Saul, who at one time was filled with the Holy Spirit, received direction from God both through prophets and through his own dreams. By those prophets and dreams, King Saul led the nation of Israel. But there came a time when, through Saul’s disobedience, that God’s Spirit departed from Saul, and Saul no longer received God’s direction himself, and sought Samuel for understanding and direction.
Solomon
In 1 Kings, chapter 3:1-15, Solomon was King of Israel, and he besought the Lord to grant him understanding by which to lead God’s people. God granted Solomon his request and Solomon to this day is known worldwide for his wisdom! And how did Solomon ask this of the Lord, and in what way did God grant his request? The whole
event took place…yes, in a dream.
Daniel
One of the most dramatic dreams and interpretation of dreams to be spoken of in scripture is in the book of Daniel, chapters 1 through 5. If you are reading this article to learn about the importance of dreams and interpretation of dreams that have nation changing effects; then these chapters are an absolute must read. In Daniel, chapter 7,
Daniel has another most amazing and dramatic dream which is the forerunner of the vision of John known as the Book of Revelation; Daniel chapter 7 reveals Daniel’s prophetic dream of earth’s destruction and the kingdom of God.
Joseph and Mary
The virgin Mary had been promised to Joseph. But before the marriage she was found to be pregnant. At that time in history (and in some cultures still true today) a woman found pregnant could be killed. Mary could have been stoned to death, and her husband to be Joseph was fearful of proceeding with the marriage. But in the book of Matthew, chapter 1 verse 20, an angel came to Joseph and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife; and Joseph obeyed and the marriage took place. Had this not happened, what would become of Mary…of Jesus? And how did this angel appear to Joseph? Yes again…in a dream! People not only believed in their dreams, they received heavenly instruction by them.
Wise Men from the East
The wise men of the east were instructed of King Herod to inform him when they had found the infant that was to be King of the Jews. But after the wise men had found Jesus, they were warned not to return to Herod, but return home a different way. How were they warned? In a dream, again. And they listened and followed that warning that came in that dream. What would happen if they didn’t? Herod wanted to know where the baby was so he could kill him. (Mt 2:7-12).
Joseph and Mary
In Matthew 2:13-18, Joseph and Mary were to return to where they had lived before going to Bethlehem. But God warned Joseph not to return, but to flee into Egypt, for King Herod was in a rage trying to find Jesus. Again, the warning came in a dream.
In Matthew 2:19-20, an angel came to Joseph and informed him that King Herod had died, and to return to Nazareth in Israel. This message also… came in a dream. Are we seeing a pattern here… in all these dreams?
Apostle Peter and the Gentiles
At first, New Testament salvation was of the house of Israel, and only for the Jews, but several years after the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was poured out and made available to all believers, the Apostle Peter fell into a trance and had a vision. In this vision, the Lord was giving approval for Gentiles to be saved. Just prior to Peter’s vision, in a different town, an angel came to a Gentile household to a man named Cornelius, informing him to send for the Apostle Peter. When Peter came to the house of Cornelius, the Spirit of God began filling all in the house of Cornelius and Peter then understood the vision he had. That Gentiles also could be saved and have eternal life through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. (Acts chapters 9, 10 and 11).
John’s Book of Revelation
Even the Book of Revelation, given the Apostle John and now having been read by millions, was given to John in a vision (Revelation 9:17).
There are many other examples as well, of major importance recorded in scripture that came through dreams and visions. Look up ‘dream’ and ‘vision’ in a good concordance to find them. It’s an interesting study. But what am I saying about dreams and visions in today’s world? Share all your dreams? Not hardly. But don’t ignore them, either.
Most dreams are somehow therapeutic to the mind; perhaps it’s way of dealing with the stresses and pressures of day to day life. I’m sure some dreams are simply the mind’s fanciful nonsense. But like I said earlier, some dreams ‘stay with us’ for a while, causing us to wonder what it meant. Some dreams give us a feeling like it’s a warning, but we somehow can’t figure out what it means. THESE are the dreams I’m referring to. We should not ignore them. We should seek to understand them. We should first go to God in prayer and seek understanding. If no understanding is given then it very well could be that ‘someone else’ has the interpretation or ‘will have’ as soon as they hear the dream.
This has certainly been the case many time in the Old Testament. And how will we ever find that person unless we at least feel a liberty to speak of our dreams to those we believe are also Christians.
And what about sharing visions? Where would we be if the Apostle Peter, upon receiving his vision, simply stayed on his rooftop? Where would the Gentiles be now? And Cornelius. What would have happened if he ‘dismissed’ his vision and for whatever reason did not send for the Apostle Peter. What about Daniel, and the vision of the Apostle John and the Book of Revelation? Were it not for their realization of the importance of their visions, and their obedience, the Judean-Christian faiths would not be fore-warned of what is to come. The men of both the Old and New Testaments knew the spiritual nature and seriousness of dreams and visions; so should we. Some dreams and visions are given by God. They are given to warn, instruct or assurance, both for the present day as well as future events and are often prophetic in nature. The words of the Apostle Peter hold just as true today, as they did when he spoke them in Acts 2: 16-18…
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
A Quick Course on Creation and timelines
A Quick Course
by Steve Nixon
Let’s take a good look at Genesis chapters 1 and 2.
Try to clear your mind of everything you’ve ever heard about ‘creation’, both of the church, and of science, at least for this fresh look. Forget the ‘typical’ and ‘what’s always been taught’ and ‘what you’ve always hear’ as far as interpretation goes and just take a close look at what God’s Word actually says, and only what it says.
First of all, Genesis begins with the planetary ball we call Earth as being already created.
Verse 1 says;
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
This verse 1 ends in a period. It is done… period. The ‘days of creation’ do not begin until verse 3. The idea of ‘the days of creation’ refers only to what was done to the earth to make it as we see now (with trees, birds, etc). The earth existed before the ‘first day’ of the creation story. How do I know this? Because it is not until verse 3 that scripture begins to record the different days of creation and each of those days begins with “And God said”. Remember too, that God ‘spoke’ all things into existence; this is also verified by Psalms 33: 6-9;
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
So exactly “how old” this planet is, the bible does not say, or even pretends to say.
2 “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
The earth was without form (no mountains, valleys, cliffs, nothing was on it… it was without form…void. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. The face of the deep meaning the surface of the water. “The deep” always refers to water (oceans). To veryify this, look at the second half of verse 2. So here we have earth, a ball of water, at least on the surface. Being a ball of water, it is void and without form. All this was already in existence prior to the ‘days of creation’. Now begins the story of creation, not of the earth itself, but of what God did with the earth. Now begins the ‘And God said’ phrases at the beginning of each day.
Where did the ‘light’ come from? The sun was not created yet, and not created until the fourth day of creation. The light is from God Himself. The glowing aura that surrounds the Purity and Holiness of God, called the Shekinah (my spelling might be off) glory of God, was allowed to shine upon the earth. This is similar to the description in Revelation, where there is no more sun, but heaven will be lighted once again by the light that eminates from God himself. This was the first day.
“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.”
In these verses above, God has created the sky (which He calls ‘firmament’) and divides the waters below the sky (ocean), from the waters above the firmament (now we have clouds…which… are water also, as we well know). Heaven simply refers to sky, even as we say ‘we look up into heaven’ meaning the sky. It’s the physical heaven, not the spiritual one. This ends the second day.
The third day is really busy!
. 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.
Although the earth was a ball of water, under the earths ocean was land. If you make an object that you can shape, that is covered in water with land beneath, all you have to do is to dip below the water and pull up on what is under it. Or, push down on the bottom below the water to make a deep impression on the bottom. As the water flows to the depth of the impression…other parts of the surface become evident. We see mount Everest as extremely high, being thousands of feet above sea level. Yet we have deep trenches and valleys under the oceans that are as much as 37,500 feet below sea level. Now we have an earth that is no longer “void and without shape”, we have mountains, hills, and deep ocean valleys.
Also on day 3;
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. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Note that (thousands of years before ‘Darwin’) God’s word is careful to specifically say that every thing living was created had seed within itself, after it’s kind.
There’s no evolution here.
Now we come to day 4;
. 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.”
NOW we have the sun, and the moon. On the fourth day. And why were they made?
Verse 15 says “to give light upon the Earth.” I love day four; it shows how important the Earth is to God! He made the sun and moon for the earth! Science used to teach that the earth was a meteor cast forth from the sun and found its orbit 93 million miles away to become a planet. They don’t teach that anymore and have come up with a new theory.
But God’s word tells us the earth came first, with the sun and moon to aid the earth.
NOT ONLY THAT, but verse 16 tells us he also made the stars on day 4! This makes earth the oldest thing in the universe… and that all things were made to benefit Earth.
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. Remember the ‘wise men’ from the east, looking for the newborn king of the Jews? They followed his star…
Ah… on to day 5:
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. 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. 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.
Once again…’after his kind’. No evolution here.
On to day 6… an extremely important day to understand…
. 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. 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. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 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. 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. 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.
First of all, in verse 24 and 25 it is mentioned 5 times that the living things created were ‘after their kind’. Again, thousands of years before Darwin, God prepared His people to have the truth. Notice also, that man was created on the sixth day. On that sixth day, he created male and female on the same day (man too) Notice too… that everything concerning creation was created by God “speaking them into existence”. These verses of creation all begin with “AND GOD SAID…” This is important… to know that God SPOKE them into existence, simply by the power of His word and the strength of His will. On the sixth day, He spoke man into existence as well. Scripture does not say ‘a man’, but ‘man’. The species. Mankind. Not a singular man. Just for fun, look at verse 30 again; all living things like cattle, beasts and man were designed to be vegetarians. This was not changed until after Noah’s ark… which explains how all those animals could
co-exist without killing each other.
The sixth day is now over. Mankind exists. The seventh day is about to come. A big surprise comes after that day of rest, in chapter two. But I want to point out also on the first six days, that even though scripture says ‘a day unto the Lord is as a thousand days’
That this phrase does not apply to the ‘days of creation’. Each day of creation was a 24 hour day as we know it now. Okay, how do I know this? Because at the end of each day of the days of creation, one through six…is the phrase; And the evening and the morning were the (first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth) day. The evening and the morning (singular), not evenings and mornings (plural). The Word of God is not redundant for no reason. It’s trying to drive home a point; just as in the phrase ‘whose seed is in itself, after it’s own kind. Still, people miss it. They also miss the fact, according to scripture, that the earth already existed before the ‘six days’ in which God gave the earth form, mountains, and living things. How long? It could be billions of years, nobody knows. But after a period of time, God went to work on it and spoke all things then created into existence, in six days, including man.
Genesis Chapter 2
“1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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. 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. 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, 5 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. 6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”
Notice in verse 1 that the earth was now finished in six days. Now, stop right here for a moment.
God’s word never had specific chapters and verses… these were all added later.
From verse 7 and onward, the story is NOT a repeat of chapter one at all. IT’S A CONTINUATION of the creation story and history.
Look at verse 5 above; “there was not a man to till the ground”. Man, mankind, was already created at this point; being created on the sixth day. Yet, there was no man to till the ground. Why? So what does God do, to have ‘a man’ (singular) to till the ground?
He creates Adam. Mankind existed from day 6, not Adam.
Verse 7:
“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.”
Please note that, while ‘man’ was created by God speaking him into existence,
Adam was made later, AFTER the sixth day, and that God did NOT speak Adam into existence but “formed man of the dust of the ground”. Indeed, this was no ordinary ‘man’ like what was spoken into existence on day six. This one God took some time with.
Not only that, but after God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, he “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Mankind, which was made male and female on day six, were made the same day as were cattle and every creeping thing upon the earth, were not much more than ‘beasts’ themselves; although they were human (man) and had superior intelligence. But they were not created having the ‘breath of life’ from God which creates in them “a living soul”. Only Adam did, and Adam alone. Adam was meant to live an extremely long life, and did so, as well as all his descendants for hundreds of years.
Verse 8
“ 8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”
Again, scripture re-states, “there he put the man whom he had formed.” ‘The man’
(singular) whom He had formed (not spoken into existence). Verses 9 through 17 describe where the Garden of Eden is (Africa) and God’s guidelines of what Adam may and may not eat.
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. 10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 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. 15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 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.
Verses 18 through 25 tell the story that there were additional animals made for the Garden of Eden, which were also ‘formed’, not being part of the sixth day creation.
And also the creation of Eve. Rmemeber on the 6th day of creation, God created ‘man’ (mankind) being male and female, which were told to ‘go and replenish the Earth’; yet Adam and Eve were told to STAY IN THE GARDEN, and in fact was made FOR the Garden… to till and to keep it. Remember they were driven out of the Garden after they had sinned.
“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. 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. 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. 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; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 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. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
TIMELINES:
There is a huge gap, or very could be a huge gap, between the time the Earth was fist made (remember it already existed before Genesis 1:1) and the time when God decided to ‘do something with it’ It could be a few days, or billions of years, the Bible does not say.
The second gap occurs between when God created plants, trees, animals, birds and mankind… and when the story continues on to Adam. The seventh day, God rested. That’s all we know. It never says, ‘on the eighth day…Adam’. So, once again, between the seventh day, and the time when God decided to form Adam, could be hundreds, thousands, or millions of years! Adam and Eve were designed to stay separated, living in the Garden of Eden. Remember, female humans were already created on the sixth day, but Adam (separated from the ‘pack’) was alone and there was no helper found for him and that he was alone. Remember also that when Cain left Adam and Eve that we went and lived in the land of “Nod”, so there was already an established area (which had to be established by mankind [ descendants of man created on the sixth day]). The history of Adam and Eve go back 6 thousand years, historically traceable through well-kept Jewish records and even traceable through scripture (though it’s an exhausting job). Yet mankind, can be millions of years old. It all depends on the ‘gap’ between the seventh day of creation… and when God finally made Adam.
Mankind, was well-established by the time Cain left. In Genesis 6:1- 5 ‘men’ began to multiply on the face of the earth (as they were told to do on the sixth day of creation, but not Adam and Eve). Later, the ‘sons of God’ (descendants of Adam) saw the daughters of ‘men’ and made wives of them. What was the result of this? Complete wickedness; which led to the destruction of all mankind except Noah and his family.
Gen 6: 1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 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. 4 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. 5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
So who were these people, that God created, not having the breath of life, or souls, but were intelligent above animals? God’s word tells us man was created in Africa. So they were Africans. Adam and Eve, were set apart from the rest of man in the Garden of Eden, also in Africa, but history shows they became the foundation of the Jewish race. Our own science traces humankinds beginnings as being from Africa. But remember too, that ALL mankind everywhere was destroyed from the earth by the great flood. So, all mankind as we know it today comes from one family… Noah, and his sons and their wives. We are all related through Noah… even though it was not intended to be that way.
by Steve Nixon
Let’s take a good look at Genesis chapters 1 and 2.
Try to clear your mind of everything you’ve ever heard about ‘creation’, both of the church, and of science, at least for this fresh look. Forget the ‘typical’ and ‘what’s always been taught’ and ‘what you’ve always hear’ as far as interpretation goes and just take a close look at what God’s Word actually says, and only what it says.
First of all, Genesis begins with the planetary ball we call Earth as being already created.
Verse 1 says;
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
This verse 1 ends in a period. It is done… period. The ‘days of creation’ do not begin until verse 3. The idea of ‘the days of creation’ refers only to what was done to the earth to make it as we see now (with trees, birds, etc). The earth existed before the ‘first day’ of the creation story. How do I know this? Because it is not until verse 3 that scripture begins to record the different days of creation and each of those days begins with “And God said”. Remember too, that God ‘spoke’ all things into existence; this is also verified by Psalms 33: 6-9;
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
So exactly “how old” this planet is, the bible does not say, or even pretends to say.
2 “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
The earth was without form (no mountains, valleys, cliffs, nothing was on it… it was without form…void. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. The face of the deep meaning the surface of the water. “The deep” always refers to water (oceans). To veryify this, look at the second half of verse 2. So here we have earth, a ball of water, at least on the surface. Being a ball of water, it is void and without form. All this was already in existence prior to the ‘days of creation’. Now begins the story of creation, not of the earth itself, but of what God did with the earth. Now begins the ‘And God said’ phrases at the beginning of each day.
Where did the ‘light’ come from? The sun was not created yet, and not created until the fourth day of creation. The light is from God Himself. The glowing aura that surrounds the Purity and Holiness of God, called the Shekinah (my spelling might be off) glory of God, was allowed to shine upon the earth. This is similar to the description in Revelation, where there is no more sun, but heaven will be lighted once again by the light that eminates from God himself. This was the first day.
“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.”
In these verses above, God has created the sky (which He calls ‘firmament’) and divides the waters below the sky (ocean), from the waters above the firmament (now we have clouds…which… are water also, as we well know). Heaven simply refers to sky, even as we say ‘we look up into heaven’ meaning the sky. It’s the physical heaven, not the spiritual one. This ends the second day.
The third day is really busy!
. 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.
Although the earth was a ball of water, under the earths ocean was land. If you make an object that you can shape, that is covered in water with land beneath, all you have to do is to dip below the water and pull up on what is under it. Or, push down on the bottom below the water to make a deep impression on the bottom. As the water flows to the depth of the impression…other parts of the surface become evident. We see mount Everest as extremely high, being thousands of feet above sea level. Yet we have deep trenches and valleys under the oceans that are as much as 37,500 feet below sea level. Now we have an earth that is no longer “void and without shape”, we have mountains, hills, and deep ocean valleys.
Also on day 3;
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. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Note that (thousands of years before ‘Darwin’) God’s word is careful to specifically say that every thing living was created had seed within itself, after it’s kind.
There’s no evolution here.
Now we come to day 4;
. 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.”
NOW we have the sun, and the moon. On the fourth day. And why were they made?
Verse 15 says “to give light upon the Earth.” I love day four; it shows how important the Earth is to God! He made the sun and moon for the earth! Science used to teach that the earth was a meteor cast forth from the sun and found its orbit 93 million miles away to become a planet. They don’t teach that anymore and have come up with a new theory.
But God’s word tells us the earth came first, with the sun and moon to aid the earth.
NOT ONLY THAT, but verse 16 tells us he also made the stars on day 4! This makes earth the oldest thing in the universe… and that all things were made to benefit Earth.
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. Remember the ‘wise men’ from the east, looking for the newborn king of the Jews? They followed his star…
Ah… on to day 5:
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. 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. 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.
Once again…’after his kind’. No evolution here.
On to day 6… an extremely important day to understand…
. 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. 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. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 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. 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. 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.
First of all, in verse 24 and 25 it is mentioned 5 times that the living things created were ‘after their kind’. Again, thousands of years before Darwin, God prepared His people to have the truth. Notice also, that man was created on the sixth day. On that sixth day, he created male and female on the same day (man too) Notice too… that everything concerning creation was created by God “speaking them into existence”. These verses of creation all begin with “AND GOD SAID…” This is important… to know that God SPOKE them into existence, simply by the power of His word and the strength of His will. On the sixth day, He spoke man into existence as well. Scripture does not say ‘a man’, but ‘man’. The species. Mankind. Not a singular man. Just for fun, look at verse 30 again; all living things like cattle, beasts and man were designed to be vegetarians. This was not changed until after Noah’s ark… which explains how all those animals could
co-exist without killing each other.
The sixth day is now over. Mankind exists. The seventh day is about to come. A big surprise comes after that day of rest, in chapter two. But I want to point out also on the first six days, that even though scripture says ‘a day unto the Lord is as a thousand days’
That this phrase does not apply to the ‘days of creation’. Each day of creation was a 24 hour day as we know it now. Okay, how do I know this? Because at the end of each day of the days of creation, one through six…is the phrase; And the evening and the morning were the (first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth) day. The evening and the morning (singular), not evenings and mornings (plural). The Word of God is not redundant for no reason. It’s trying to drive home a point; just as in the phrase ‘whose seed is in itself, after it’s own kind. Still, people miss it. They also miss the fact, according to scripture, that the earth already existed before the ‘six days’ in which God gave the earth form, mountains, and living things. How long? It could be billions of years, nobody knows. But after a period of time, God went to work on it and spoke all things then created into existence, in six days, including man.
Genesis Chapter 2
“1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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. 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. 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, 5 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. 6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”
Notice in verse 1 that the earth was now finished in six days. Now, stop right here for a moment.
God’s word never had specific chapters and verses… these were all added later.
From verse 7 and onward, the story is NOT a repeat of chapter one at all. IT’S A CONTINUATION of the creation story and history.
Look at verse 5 above; “there was not a man to till the ground”. Man, mankind, was already created at this point; being created on the sixth day. Yet, there was no man to till the ground. Why? So what does God do, to have ‘a man’ (singular) to till the ground?
He creates Adam. Mankind existed from day 6, not Adam.
Verse 7:
“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.”
Please note that, while ‘man’ was created by God speaking him into existence,
Adam was made later, AFTER the sixth day, and that God did NOT speak Adam into existence but “formed man of the dust of the ground”. Indeed, this was no ordinary ‘man’ like what was spoken into existence on day six. This one God took some time with.
Not only that, but after God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, he “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Mankind, which was made male and female on day six, were made the same day as were cattle and every creeping thing upon the earth, were not much more than ‘beasts’ themselves; although they were human (man) and had superior intelligence. But they were not created having the ‘breath of life’ from God which creates in them “a living soul”. Only Adam did, and Adam alone. Adam was meant to live an extremely long life, and did so, as well as all his descendants for hundreds of years.
Verse 8
“ 8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”
Again, scripture re-states, “there he put the man whom he had formed.” ‘The man’
(singular) whom He had formed (not spoken into existence). Verses 9 through 17 describe where the Garden of Eden is (Africa) and God’s guidelines of what Adam may and may not eat.
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. 10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 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. 15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 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.
Verses 18 through 25 tell the story that there were additional animals made for the Garden of Eden, which were also ‘formed’, not being part of the sixth day creation.
And also the creation of Eve. Rmemeber on the 6th day of creation, God created ‘man’ (mankind) being male and female, which were told to ‘go and replenish the Earth’; yet Adam and Eve were told to STAY IN THE GARDEN, and in fact was made FOR the Garden… to till and to keep it. Remember they were driven out of the Garden after they had sinned.
“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. 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. 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. 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; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 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. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
TIMELINES:
There is a huge gap, or very could be a huge gap, between the time the Earth was fist made (remember it already existed before Genesis 1:1) and the time when God decided to ‘do something with it’ It could be a few days, or billions of years, the Bible does not say.
The second gap occurs between when God created plants, trees, animals, birds and mankind… and when the story continues on to Adam. The seventh day, God rested. That’s all we know. It never says, ‘on the eighth day…Adam’. So, once again, between the seventh day, and the time when God decided to form Adam, could be hundreds, thousands, or millions of years! Adam and Eve were designed to stay separated, living in the Garden of Eden. Remember, female humans were already created on the sixth day, but Adam (separated from the ‘pack’) was alone and there was no helper found for him and that he was alone. Remember also that when Cain left Adam and Eve that we went and lived in the land of “Nod”, so there was already an established area (which had to be established by mankind [ descendants of man created on the sixth day]). The history of Adam and Eve go back 6 thousand years, historically traceable through well-kept Jewish records and even traceable through scripture (though it’s an exhausting job). Yet mankind, can be millions of years old. It all depends on the ‘gap’ between the seventh day of creation… and when God finally made Adam.
Mankind, was well-established by the time Cain left. In Genesis 6:1- 5 ‘men’ began to multiply on the face of the earth (as they were told to do on the sixth day of creation, but not Adam and Eve). Later, the ‘sons of God’ (descendants of Adam) saw the daughters of ‘men’ and made wives of them. What was the result of this? Complete wickedness; which led to the destruction of all mankind except Noah and his family.
Gen 6: 1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 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. 4 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. 5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
So who were these people, that God created, not having the breath of life, or souls, but were intelligent above animals? God’s word tells us man was created in Africa. So they were Africans. Adam and Eve, were set apart from the rest of man in the Garden of Eden, also in Africa, but history shows they became the foundation of the Jewish race. Our own science traces humankinds beginnings as being from Africa. But remember too, that ALL mankind everywhere was destroyed from the earth by the great flood. So, all mankind as we know it today comes from one family… Noah, and his sons and their wives. We are all related through Noah… even though it was not intended to be that way.
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