002 – Foundations 002 – Chaos is Conquered

Foundations

002 - Foundations 002 - Chaos is Conquered

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Gen. 1:2 – The Chaos is Conquered

By Jarod Hinton, August 9, 2015

The gap between the first two verses of Genesis has provided significant debate among Christians in recent years. Here is a biblical breakdown of what is true and what is fanciful about those early moments before light came upon the world.

• Gap Theory
  • Belief in long ages (millions of years) between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2.
    • Includes a belief that Lucifer fell during this period, and that God completely destroyed his original creation until it became “without form and void.”
    • What we see today was a “do over.”
  • An attempt to incorporate evolutionary geology into a “literal” interpretation of Genesis. (Trying to mix evolutionary science into the Bible.)
    • Believe that the fossils were part of this first creation that God destroyed.
  • Scripture does not support this view:
    • Romans 5:12 – “…by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin…”
      1. There could not have been either sin or death before Adam, since the Bible clearly says that both things started with him. Gap Theory requires millions of years of death and fossils before God “started over.”
    • Exodus 20:11 – “…in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.”
      1. This would have to include the fossils and geologic strata. It would also include Lucifer and the angels.
    • This theory also requires that there be practically no trace of Noah’s flood anywhere in the world. This is highly unlikely given the Scriptural description of Noah’s flood as a worldwide catastrophe.  
  • Bottom line: Gap theory has gaps in logic.
• The Empty Chaos
  • The first verse of Genesis gives us a summary of what is about to follow. Verse 2 begins with the details of how God created the universe.
  • “without form” = to lie waste, a desolation. Trans. confusion, wilderness (Think Sahara Desert.)
  • “void” = from a root meaning “to be empty”, an undistinguishable ruin, emptiness.
  • The earth was literally a place of confusion and emptiness. A formless nothing.
    • Darkness – No light whatsoever. Light had yet to be invented.
    • Darkness is not an actual thing. It is merely the absence of light.
  • Why was there water?
    • It wasn’t an ocean or a lake like we think of it now. (Hydrogen and Oxygen weren’t yet created.) It was a mass of something similar to water and something very much like earth combined which had no order, structure, or form. It had nothing in it, completely empty. A floating and formless mass of entire confusion and chaos, surrounded in a cloak of utter darkness.
    • Where did the water come from? I’m not sure. Maybe this was the best way the Lord could explain to our limited understanding what the earth looked like at the very beginning. Still hard to imagine.
  • God is describing the condition of the “earth” (used rather loosely) before he began to create.
  • Picture of our Soul in Sin
    • Before we come to the Cross, we are without purpose and without substance. No structure or meaning to our lives. We are a mass of confusion and emptiness pervades our soul.
    • Eph 2:1 and Col 2:13 tell us we were “dead in sins” before Christ. Lifeless.
    • Darkness surrounds or life and we are blinded to the Truth.
      1. Eph 5:8 says we were “sometimes darkness.”
      2. Col. 1:13 says we were under the power of darkness.
    • Apart from Christ we have no hope and are bound for eternal destruction.
• The Spark
  • God’s Spirit comes and everything changes!
    • The Spirit of God moved (or hovered) over the water and things began to happen. A world is beginning. The light is coming. All because the Spirit of God decided to move.
    • This phrase is the promise of wonderful things to come.
  • Reveals some of God’s nature to us.
    • He is the difference maker. (Both in Creation and in everything.)
    • He is the spark that ignites the fire! The key that unlocks the door! The hinge upon which history turns.
    • He is the Light-Bringer, the Order-Maker, the Conqueror of Chaos! The Defeater of Darkness!
    • He is the originator of all good things. (James 1:17)
    • Teaches a principle of life: Without the Spirit, there is no life.
      1. Jn. 6:63 – “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.”
      2. 2 Cor. 3:6 – “…the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
      3. Rom 8:10 – “the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
  • Makes all the difference for us also.
    • This part of the creation story is a picture of how Christ moves upon our darkness of soul and brings redemption and light.
    • 2 Cor. 4:6 – Brings the light of Christ to our soul.
    • When we are born again, we are made into a new creature. Christ creates a new man from the old dead sinner. (2 Cor. 5:17)