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09. Creation, Catastrophe, and Universe.
I. Genesis 1
a. The Beginning in Genesis 1:1 is not necessarily connected to the creation week
 The Earth was in a watery inert chaotic state before the Week
 Hebrew Whbow" Whto (tohu vabohu) also used in Jeremiah 4:23  chaos
b. God alone and only ar'B' (bara)  begin something from nothing
c. Day One – Light
 Light came from God Himself. Just as in Revelation 21:23 in the New Jerusalem
God is the Source of Light. God introduces Light independent from astronomic
bodies. Setting forth a preventative measure against worshipping luminaries (as
people eventually would do).
 Other astronomical bodies were there all the time already, the Universe preexisted, giving off the light, but they were hidden from view from the Earth due to
a dense cloud of watery cover surrounding it. Only on the 4th day their light
became seen
d. Day Two – firmament between waters
 Hebrew [;yqir' (raqiya)  dome, expanse, ancients considered it as a solid plate
e. Day Three – Dry Land and Seas divided, Vegetation by Kinds
 Fundamentalists view of “fixity of species”  species existent today are limited
to the original created  this theory is not Biblical. Hebrew word !ymi (miyn) is
used for plants (v.11-12); birds and fish (21); land creatures (24-25). In Leviticus
11 and Deuteronomy 14 this same word is used for even small divisions –
subspecies. The root word means “likeness, according to that from which it
comes” and has nothing to do with biological systemic classification.
f. Thematic relationship – parallelism between days of creation:
 1st Day = Light
 4th Day = Lights
 2nd Day = Air & Water
 5th Day = Birds & Fish
rd
 3 Day = Dry Land & Vegetation  6th Day = Land creatures & insects
 Habitats is to be filled with its
inhabitants
g. Job 38:7  other worlds in the Universe viewing the Creation
h. Day Four – Luminaries
 These are not even named!
 At the time when this record was written people worshipped moon and sun and
stars by personified names. Moses avoids under inspiration mentioning names.
 God makes astronomic bodies fulfil His call and His purpose, and they have no
independent existence apart from His regard.
i. Day Five – Birds & Fish
 Instantaneous creation of the great creatures  Hebrew !yNIT; (tanniyn) is a
mysterious in meaning, translated as “sea monsters”  the same word as in
Exodus 7:9 the serpent from the staff. (Psalm 74:13)
j. Day Six – Land Animals and Humanity
 Poetry in the midst of the Prose! Genesis 1:27 God breaks in song !
 Image of God – ~l,c, (tselem) – physical, spiritual and emotional likeness
 Original diet  v.29-30  fruits and plants with seeds
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k. Day Seven – Sabbath
 After 144 hours of activity God “Shabat” verb of ceasing.
 God blessed birds and fish, animals and man, now He blesses the Day as time
l. Meaning of “Day”
 Continuous, contiguous,
 Exodus 12;18; Nehemiah 5:18; Genesis 33:13 same formula is used for 24 hours
 Removing importance or significance of 6 days creation takes away the 7th Day
Rest as a memorial of God’s Work in the beginning.
 An argument is made for “a day is like a thousand years” Psalm 90:5; 2 Peter
3:8; suggesting that divine days are not our human 24 hours periods.
 Hebrew ~Ay yom can mean a literal 24 hours day, and also as a long period
(Judges 14:4; 2 Sam.13:23; 14:28; Jeremiah 28:3,11). However in these verse in
both languages it lacks the comparative particle to suggest an allegory.
 !!! Each day is accompanied by a numeral value – 1st, 2nd ….suggesting literal.
 The boundaries of the “evening and the morning” suggest time cycle.
 Genesis 2:4– blessing of the 7th Day is literal and time-limited, hence related.
 There is a definite article HA in Genesis 1:31 & 2:2 to make a case for literal.
 Genesis 1:5 has an emphatic ONE – “the first day”
 Ten Commandments take creation days as literal days in the 6+1 formula.
II. Genesis 2  Second Creation Story!
a. From a generic name Elohim, used by all nations of the middle east to the personal name
Yahweh, specific only to Israel.
b. Dominion given in 1:28 is illustrated in the personal care by naming each creature (2:19)
c. Not a new story, or a different “source story” but an in-depth look into human origins
d. Chemical analysis of the human body shows it is made up of same elements that are
found in the earth.
e. Four rivers are not necessarily located where post-Flood rivers are. Similar phenomena
occurs whenever people move to new places  London, Paris, Moscow, Berlin….After
the flood people were naming new topographic features by names they remembered from
the “old country”
f. Creation of the Woman  Second time the Poetry breaks the prose! (2:23) Shout of Joy!
g. 4 things absent – not yet made  Genesis 2:5
 Shrub of the field “siah ha-sadeh” (Job 30:4,7) xerophytes, desert plants. Also
called “thorns and thistles” as a parallel in Genesis 3:18
 Plant of the field “esev ha-sadeh” Genesis 3:18  result of the cursed ground,
obtained by painful toil, for food in the sweat of the brow – grains, by tilling (v.19)
 Man to work the ground – man existed, but no tilling was done. God’s intention
was not for a man to labour as described in Genesis 3:17. Genesis 4;2 – Cain tills.
Orchards/gardens were equated with paradise as it was non-labour intensive food
production, comparing to the field work. This is contrasting view to the Sumerian
account where goddess Nintur gives “gifts” of cities, plows, canals, and kings
delivering people from misery of nakedness.
 Rain to water the earth. Not until Genesis 7:3,12, at the commencement of the
flood. Not as water for agriculture, but as an agent of God’s judgment.
All are referring to things that would come after the sin. Hence these are statements of
what was absent from the perfect paradise.
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III. Historic overview.
a. Assyrian Enuma Elish
 Babylonian Marduk or Assirian Ashur killing goddess Tiamat (similar to Hebrew
tehom “the deep” in Genesis 1:2), slicing her in half to make division between
waters above and below; and then killing her consort Kingu to use the blood for
mixing clay in creating humankind.
b. Babylonian Atrahasis
 Lesser gods are doing most of the work for the greater gods, and deciding to go
on strike. A compromise was made to make humans do the work. Birth goddess
got involved. They slaughtered go We-ila to purify the clay. Nipping 14 pieces
of clay mix, and incubating them 7 men and 7 women were born to start human
races.
c. Sumerian Eridu
 Incomplete account only found. First 36 lines are broken away. It tells about An,
Enlil, Enki together with Ninhursaga (birth goddess) fashioning people and
animals of the earth.
d. Egyptian Myths
 Different gods were considered at different times: Amun, Aten, Atum, Ptah,
Khnum. All stories have dragon killing to start the process of making.
e. Greek Creation stories
 Hesiod, the oldest known writings from around 800 B.C. – tale of Pandora and
Five Ages known as Theogony. Suggests 3 generations of gods: 1st  Chaos and
Eros, 2nd  children of Titans and creation of a woman, ending with a war among
gods in heaven; 3rd marriages of Zeus, producing gods involved with people.
 Story of Pandora distinguishes between good of maleness and not-so-good of
femaleness.
IV. Wisdom literature
a. Job 38-41 – Divine statements about creation
b. Job 38:7  sons of God shouting from joy watching creation of the earth
c. Psalm 104  poetic outline of the Days of Creation
 v.2  God covers Earth with Light from His radiant Glory.
 v.3-4  God stretched out the atmosphere like a tent and set it in motion
 long before contemporary science discovered atmospheric currents
Psalmist described cycles rotating from equator to the poles
 v.10-13  cycle of watering, as evaporation and rain – ecologic cycles
 v.33  the end result of Creation is Worship!
d. Psalm 19  4th day of creation – speechless speech of stars
e. Psalm 8  Creation of man, little less than elohim.
V. New Testament evidence.
a. Creation event is considered “foundation of the world” and marks the division in time

Matthew 13:35; 25:34; Luke 11:50; Hebrews 4;3; 9:26; Rev.13:8; 17:8; Eph.1:4; 1 Peter 1:20;
b. Paul’s sermon on the Mars’ Hill (Acts 17:24) “God who made the world and everything”
c. Oath about the End time in Revelation 10:6 invokes God as Creator of everything.
d. Christ is presented as the Creator:
 John 1:1-3  all things were made through Him
 Colossians 1:16-19  in Him all things were created
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VI. Early Church understanding & Science Development
a. Origen (185-254 A.D.)  followed Philo of Alexandria in allegorical interpretation of 6
days in a non-literal manner
b. Augustine  continued spiritualizing the days of creation, suggesting that we should not
approach these allegorically rather than literally. Yet, neither Origen nor Augustine had
any evolutionary concept in mind – they believed God created in a single flash of a
moment. They were under Greek philosophical influence of “timeless” God – hence
“days” were understood in a “timeless” sense.
c. Aquinas  systematic scholar tried to make sense and rationalize creation. He believed
in the “progressive creation” which today means “theistic evolution.” His was the first
attempt for “Creation science”, eventually producing “secular theism.”
d. Martin Luther  return to Biblical literal understanding, ignoring scientific
reasoning, and focusing on the miraculous work of the Word of God.
e. Isaac Newton  beginning of Deism, view of the Universe with God as a “watchmaker”
f. Hutton, Cuvier, Smith – established evolutionary geology of strata, fossils, and ‘progress’
g. Charles Lyell (1797-1875) published Principles of Geology presenting the long timescale
for formation of the Earth.
h. 1844 publication of Robert Chambers “Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation”
presenting progression from invertebrates to fish, from reptiles to mammals and man.
Evolutionary theory predated Charles Darwin
i. 1859 Darwin published “the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the
Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life” as massive influence on
politics, sciences, humanities, government and theology. It is said that more cases of
loss of religious faith are to be traced to the theory of evolution than to anything else.
j. Isaac Asimov points out that “from Aristotle on many speculated on the possibility that
organisms evolved from one another”
k. George McCready Price (1870-1963) self-taught geologist established what is known
today as Creationism – Creation Science, explaining the Flood as the Cause of stratas.
l. 1950s discovery of DNA by Watson and Crick caused reanalysis of evolutionary theory.
The precision of DNA sequencing makes evolution improbable, impossible, implausible.
m. Late Pope John Paul II, in the Message delivered to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
22 October 1996 has proclaimed that the theory of evolution is 'more than just a
hypothesis' and that evolution is compatible with Christian faith. Giving permission to
the catholic Church to reject the 6 days as literal days of Creation.
VII. Revelation 14:6-7  significance of the Creation faith in the End-time Message
a. First angel’s message Endorsement of the six-day creation cosmogony:
b. Four references/allusions to Exodus 20:11 in Revelation 14:7
Old Testament
New Testament
Exodus 20:11
Revelation 14:7
For in six days the LORD
made
the heavens
and the earth,
the sea,
and all that is in them,
worship Him who [in six days]
made
heaven
and earth,
the sea
and springs of water.
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c. The end-time proclamation has to highlight the fact of Creation.
d. Darwin’s theory of macroevolution prompted ideas of progressive creation and theistic
evolution, suggesting long periods of time, where god is credited with the spark of life,
but development is viewed as by chance over millions of years
e. Protology determines history and eschatology.
 Six-days creation requires a corresponding historical global flood
 Six-days creation points to God who is involved and will fix it by re-creation
VIII.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Flood
Revelation 14:7 inserts “springs/fountains of water” into Exodus 20:11 allusion
The reference to “fountains of water” comes in context of the Divine judgment
Genesis 7:11 presents “fountains of the great deep” washing corruption on Earth
Proverbs 8:24,28 speaks of God creating the “fountains of the deep”
Hint of the Divine Judgment of the Flood, as God’s act of creation/re-creation.
Hebrew term lWBm; mabbul is unique to the Flood story of Genesis, the only place it is
used elsewhere is in Psalm 29:10 referring to the Flood, and it implies global deluge
g. God “deconstructed” what people “began to take apart” as shown by usage of Hebrew
tx;v' shachat (Genesis 6:11-13,17)  corrupt, destroy, deconstruct….
h. Book of Job, the oldest book of the Bible, references:
 9:5-8; 12:14-15; 14:11-12; 22:15-17; 26:10-14; 28:9; 38:8-11
 Historical occurrence of the flood is implied as a common knowledge
i. Expression “face of all the earth” in Genesis 7:3 & 8:9 is the same as global in 1:29
j. Phrase “under the whole heaven” in Genesis 7:19 appears only 6 times always universal
 Deuteronomy 2;25l 4:19; Job 28:24; 37:3; 41:11; Daniel 9:12
k. Genesis 7:11 and 8:2 speak of windows of the sky and fountains of the deep, as the two
halves of the primeval water separated at Creation, rejoining again from above and from
below, sinking the earth into chaos, as it was before the 6 days of creation – concern not
only living creatures on earth but the entire cosmos. Catastrophe of a cosmic magnitude!
l. Postdiluvian events resemble Creation week (adopted from Jacques Doukhan):
1. Wind over the earth and waters
8:1
1:2
2.Division of waters above and below
8:2-5
1:6-8
3.Appearance of plants
8:6-12
1:9-13
4.Appearance of light
8:13-14
1:14-19
5.Deliverance of animals
8:15-17
1:20-23
6.Animals together with humans, blessing,
food for humans, image of God
8:18-9:7
1:24-31
7.Sign of the covenant
9:8-17
2:1-3
m. New Testament author, Peter speaks of the Flood as historic  2nd Peter 2:4-6
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IX. Date of Creation
a. Chronology is clear until Exodus in 1450 B.C
b. Birth of Abraham can be in 1950 B.C. (Genesis 15:13; Gal.3:17) or 2170 B.C. (Ex.12:40)
c. Hebrew Masoretic text places the Flood at 2500 B.C. some 1650 after Creation
d. The Septuagint places Flood at 3400 B.C. and Creation about 5600 B.C.
Septuagint, Masoretic and Samarian early patriarchal ages
Patriarch’s
Name
Adam
Seth
Enosh
Cainan
Mahalaleel
Jared
Enoch
Methuselah
Lamech
Noah
Flood Date
Masoretic
130
105
90
70
65
162
65
187
182
500
1556
Samarian
Pentateuch
130
105
90
70
65
62
65
67
53
500
1207
Septuagint
230
205
190
170
165
162
165
167
188
500
2142
X. Theologic Issues of Creation and Catastrophe
a. All created things was made good. Physical nature is good.
b. We are created to Worship
c. Stewardship is basic recognition of God’s ownership in Creation
d. God is not an “absentee landlord” but is actively sustaining and governing creation
e. Nature reveals God (Romans 1;19-20)
f. Evolution (macro) is not acceptable by the Bible.
g. Rejecting Macroevolutionary theory one does not deny Microevolution, or speciation.
h. God is responsible only for the possibility of evil, not its actuality.
i. Salvific implications:
 Death came by man (1st Corinthians 15:21) and by one man sin entered (Romans
5:12). All creation was subjected to corruption at the time of human original sin
(Romans 8:20)
 Geological column suggests that death, predation, selfishness, randomness,
disaster, waste, struggle, suffering, parasitism took place before first human.
Meaning – that animal death and Adam’s sin have no causal connection
 Theistic Evolution is an oxymoron, because it rejects the Plan of salvation by
ransom and redemption of the Cross. If death existed before men sin, then death
of Christ on the Cross may liberate from sin, but does not destroy death, if it is
natural order of things, which is contrary to the Bible which calls sin an enemy,
and presents the new world without death.
 Undermining Creation and the Flood people undermine Calvary and New Earth
j. Fossil stratification – only global catastrophic flood could created global geologic column