Genesis 1:1

Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler

INTRODUCTION

There are only two world views: either everything is a result of a cosmic accident, or we are the result of a deliberate design by a Designer.

Two Critical Discoveries
1) We have in our possession an Integrated Message System, consisting of 66 separate books penned by 40 different individuals over thousands of years...

2) Which provably has its origin from outside our time domain.

One Integrated Design: The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed; The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.
— Augustine

The Old Testament is an account of a Nation. The New Testament is the account of a Man. The Creator became a Man. His appearance is the central event of all history: He died to purchase us and is alive now. The most exalted privilege is to know Him. That’s what the Bible is all about.

The Torah: The Five Books of Moses
Genesis The Book of Beginnings
Exodus The Birth of the Nation
Leviticus The Law of the Nation
Numbers The Wilderness Wanderings
Deuteronomy The Laws Reviewed

Who Wrote the Torah?
Documentary Hypothesis (Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis) says that the Torah was compiled by later editors: J (Jehovahist, Yahwist); E (Elohist); D (Deuteronomic source); and, P (Priestly source). This hypothesis was created without any compelling historical, linguistic or textual evidence and has been shredded by Oswalt T. Allis, R.N. Whybray, E.J. Young, Umbertos Cassuto, R.K. Harrison, Kenneth A. Kitchen, et al.

Luke Chapter 24: The Walk to Emmaus – Jesus said Moses wrote the Torah

Luke 24:25-27
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Textual Rebuttals: Jesus said Moses wrote the Torah
• Emmaus Road Account (The key phrase is quoted above)
• Authentication of Moses: Mt 8:4; 19:7,8; 23:2; Mk 1:44; 10:3,4; 7:10; Lk 5:14; 16:19, 31; 20:37; 24:27,44; Jn 3:14; 5:39,45,46; 6:32; 7:19, 22,23.
• All Scriptures are Christ Centered: Jn 5:39; Ps 40:7; Mt 5:17,18.
• Old Testament Quotes:
– Adam: Deut, Job, 1 Chr.
– Noah: 1 Chr, Isa, Ezek.
– Abraham: 15X in OT; 11X in NT.
– Jacob: 20X in OT; 17X NT.
• New Testament Quotes of Genesis:
– 165 direct quotes; ~200 allusions;
– ~100 of the first 11 chapters

John 5:45-47
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

New Testament References to the Book of Genesis
• The Creator and the Creation: Mt 13:35; Mk 13:19; Jn 1:3; Acts 4:24; Acts 14:15; Rom 1:20; 2 Cor 4:6; Col 1:16; Heb 1:10; 11:3.
• Allusions to the Creation: Rom 1:25; 16:25; Eph 3:9; 1 Tim 4:4; Heb 2:10; 4:10; 9:26; Jas 3:9; Rev 3:14; 4:11; 10:6; 14:7.
• Creation of Man and Woman: Mt 19:4-6, 8; Mk 10:6; Acts 17:26; 1 Cor 6:16; 11:8,9; Eph 5:31; 1 Tim 2:13, 14; Rev 2:7; 22:2, 14.
• The Fall: Rom 5:11, 14, 17, 19; 8:19-20; 1 Cor 15:21-22; 2 Cor 11:3; Rev 20:2.
• The Flood: Mt 24:37; Lk 17:26; 1 Pet 3:20; 2 Pet 2:5; 3:5-6.
• The Patriarchs: Mt 23:35; Lk 3:34-38; 11:52; Heb 11:4-7, 23; 12:24; 1 Jn 3:12; Jude 11, 14.

Every New Testament writer refers to the early chapters of Genesis: portions of Chapters 1 – 11 (except 8) is referred to in New Testament.

John 5: 39
Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Christ is on every page!

John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Colossians 1:16-17
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

John 5:45-47
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Why Study the Book of Genesis?

It is the Book of Beginnings (Law of First Mention)
Creation • Man • Woman • Sabbath • Marriage • Home • Childhood • Sin • Murder • Sacrifice • Grace • Trade • Agriculture • City life • Races • Languages • Chosen people, etc.

Genesis anticipates all false philosophies
• Atheism (Genesis says the world was created by God)
• Pantheism (Genesis says God is transcendent and distinguishable)
• Polytheism (Genesis says there is One God)
• Materialism (Genesis says that matter had a beginning)
• Humanism (Genesis says that God, not man, is the ultimate reality)
• Evolutionism (Genesis says “God created”)
• Uniformism (Genesis says God intervenes in His creation)

All major doctrines have their roots in Genesis:
Sovereign election • Salvation • Justification by faith • Believer’s Security • Separation • Disciplinary chastisement • Divine Incarnation • Rapture of the Church • Death and Resurrection • Priesthoods (Aaronic and Melchizedek) • The Antichrist • Palestinian Covenant

Genesis Outline
Part 1: Genesis 1, 2 Creation
Genesis 3 Fall of Man
Genesis 4 Cain & Abel
Genesis 5 Genealogy of Noah
Genesis 6-9 Flood of Noah
Genesis 10-11 Tower of Babel

Part 2: Genesis 12-20 Abraham
Genesis 21-26 Isaac
Genesis 27-36 Jacob
Genesis 37-50 Joseph
Creation Week: Day One: “Let Light Be”
2nd Day: Stretching of Space
3rd Day: Land and vegetation
4th Day: Sun, Moon, Stars
5th Day: Sea Animals & Birds
6th Day: Land Animals & Man

The Word of God is inexhaustible. The truth is in the details. Every detail is connected to every other; it is an integrated message. What do we do with “difficult” passages? Put Christ right in the middle and see what happens! We will discover that Christ is on every page!

Some Fundamental Questions
• Is the Universe ~15 billion years old? (Hubble Telescope, et al.)
• Was it created in 6 days? 144 hours? Were aging factors built in? Was light created “in transit”?
• Or were the “days” of Genesis simply geological eras? Was “evolution” the mechanism God used?

The Nature of Reality: A Glimpse of Hyperspaces
The rules we learned in school were for a universe of only two dimensions, that’s why we call it “plane” geometry; or “plane” trigonometry. In spherical (3-D) trigonometry, a triangle of more than 180 degrees implies a convex surface; a triangle of less than 180 degrees implies a concave surface.

Einstein’s Revolution
Special Relativity (1905): Length, mass, velocity and time are relative to velocity of the observers General Relativity (1915): There is no distinction between time and space = a 4-dimensional continuum (confirmed 14 ways to 19 decimals).

We have the advantage of modern physics, although few appreciate its aid to our understanding Biblical insights!

The Nature of Gravitational Time Dilation
Identical Atomic clocks are located at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The NIST clock ticks 5 μ seconds/year faster than an identical clock at Greenwich. Which is correct? Both are! Boulder,
Colorado = 5400 ft altitude; Greenwich, England = 80 ft. Atomic clocks are faster by the rate of 10-16 sec/meter elevation. Other demonstrations include the aircraft experiment (1971) where the plane traveling eastward lost 0.059 microseconds and the one flying westward gained 0.273 microseconds, accounting for the Earth’s rotation, etc., exactly what Einstein’s formula predicted! And a classic is the hypothetical trip to Alpha Centauri by the twin astronauts.

Time is not uniform: it is a physical property that varies with mass, acceleration and gravity…among other things... We exist in more than three dimensions (apparently 10). This physical insight will dissolve most theological paradoxes.

The Nature of God
Is God subject to the restrictions of mass? Acceleration? Gravity? He is not simply One with “lots of time,” He is outside of the restrictions of time. This uniqueness is His Personal Imprint… From Outside Time.

Isaiah 57:15
For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity…

Since God has the technology to create us, He certainly has the means to get a message to us…but how does He authenticate His message so that we know that it is really from Him, and not a contrivance or a fraud? By prophecies.

Isaiah 46:10
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done...

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Hebrew: Beresheet Bara Elohim et ha-Shamayim et ha-Eretz
Beresheet = In beginning
Bara = Create out of nothing
Elohim = God; plural noun, used as a singular

Age of the Earth?
Classic Date of October, 1404 B.C.: Archbishop James Ussher & Dr. John Lightfoot (17th century). Similar studies by William Henry Green, & B. B. Warfield, Princeton (19th century) and E.W. Faulstich, computer analysis, 1979; Walter T. Brown, 1995. More recent parallel studies not materially different. “Gaps” in genealogies not materially relevant.

Some Preliminaries
It is essential to “blindfold our prejudices” and shed the baggage of our misconceptions. The only sure barrier to truth is the presumption that you already have it… 20th century science has vindicated the Biblical perspectives of reality (the finite universe; the discovery of the nature of time, the realization of hyperspaces...and more!).

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is condemnation before investigation.
— Edmund Spencer

Thermal Decay
Heat always flows from hot bodies to cold bodies. If the universe was infinitely old, the temperature throughout the universe would be uniform. It isn’t; therefore, it isn’t infinitely old. The universe had a beginning. And it is destined for an ending. The most profound discovery of modern physics is that we live in a finite universe. From a singularity of a beginning… to an ultimate thermodynamic termination as an ending.

The “Big Bang” Models
• Steady State Model
– Einstein’s Biggest Mistake
• Hesitation Model
– Refuted in the 1960s
• Oscillation Model
– Refuted by entropy laws, lack of mass.
• Inflation Model
– Requires antigravity forces never observed
The Stretch Factor (re: Dr. Gerald Schroeder)
• The expansion factor: ~1012
• 16 billion years x 365 = 6,000,000,000,000 days
• 6 x 1012 days ÷ 1012 = 6 days! Cosmic
• Background Radiation: Initial formation (hadron nucleosynthesis):10.9 x 1012k/2.73k (today) = 4 x 1012

Boundaries of Reality
There are two mathematical concepts that go beyond our physical reality: infinity and randomness.

Infinity and Chaos Theory: Our physical universe is a subset of an ultimate set of conditions and length, mass, and time = quantized.

Physical Chronometers
• Radiometric Dating
• Known clock rate
• Clock set accurately at beginning
• Clock must not be disturbed during measure
• Uniformitarian Thesis vs Catastrophism

Young Earth Indicators
Moon Dust
The lunar surface is exposed to direct sunlight, and strong ultraviolet light and x-rays can destroy the surface layers of exposed rock and reduce them to dust at a rate of a few ten-thousandths of an inch per year. But even this minute amount during the age of the moon could be sufficient to form a layer several miles deep.” (R. A. Lyttleton, astronomer and consultant to NASA, 1956.) Neil Armstrong, Apollo 12, was concerned as he stepped out -- fortunately for him, there was only a few thousand year’s worth found. 

Earth’s Magnetic Field
Earth’s magnetic field half-life is calculated to be 1,400 years. Based on measurements taken from 1835 to 1965 estimates an age of less than 10,000 years. If extrapolated back 20,000 years, the joule heat generated would liquefy the earth. [Thomas G. Barnes, Origin and Destiny of the Earth’s Magnetic Field, Institute for Creation Research, 1983. After revisions for magnetic reversals, etc., Dr. Russell Humphreys confirmed these results. (John D. Morris, The Young Earth, 1994.)]

Mississippi River Delta
Approximately 300 million cubic yards of sediment are deposited into the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi River each year. Analysis of the volume and rate of accumulation and dividing the weight of the sediments deposited annually, the age of the delta appears to be about 4,000 years old. (Henry M. Morris, ICR.)

Salinity of the Oceans
The uranium, sodium, nickel, magnesium, silicon, potassium, copper, gold, molybdenum, and bicarbonate concentrations in the oceans are much less than would be expected if these elements and compounds were being added to the oceans at the present rate for thousands of millions of years. Nitrates and uranium do not break down or recycle like salt. Implies oceans are a few thousand years old. (Henry Morris, SA Austin, Dr. Humphreys, et al.)

Poynting-Robertson Effect (“Solar Janitor”)
Photons slow down the forward movement of objects in space. The solar drag force exerted upon micrometeoroids causes the particles to spiral into the sun. The sun is sweeping space at the rate of about 100,000 tons/day. There is no known source of replenishment. Their current abundance speaks for a young universe. (Stanley P. Wyatt, Jr. and Fred L. Whipple, “The Poynting-Robertson Effect on Meteors,” Astrophysical Journal, Vol 3, Jan 1950, p.134-141; David A Weintraub, “Comets in Collision,” Nature, Vol 351, 6 June 1991, p.440-441.)

Radiohalos
Primordial Polonium 218 has been found in mica and fluorite. Polonium 218 has a half-life of only 3 minutes. This is evidence of an instantaneous crystallization of the host granite concurrent with the formation of the polonium. This speaks of an instantaneous creation.

Decreasing Velocity of light (c)
Four of five related atomic properties dependent upon c have demonstrated decrease. Slowing of atomic clocks relative to orbital clocks; if atomic clocks are correct, orbital speeds of Mercury, Venus and Mars are increasing. [William Tifft, University of Naval Observatory: atomic clocks are slowing several parts per billion/year. D. Russell Humphreys: “White Hole” (Black hole in reverse).]

Quantization of Red Shift
Distortion of gravity during an early expansion phase. Time stands still at event horizon.

Matthew 5:17-18
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Is the Bible “Inerrant”?

What about 1 Kings 7:23?

1 Kings 7:23
And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

We all know from school that the circumference of a circle is pi x diameter. For the Bible to suggest that the circumference was 3 x diameter, that rubs many mathematicians the wrong way.

Hebrew Alphanumerics: A spelling lesson
The word circumference, in the Hebrew, was written as "hwq kethiv" in the text. This phrase's numeric value total 111.

Ancient scribes noticed the use of the phrase and were aware that the actual phrase should really be "wq qere (marginal annotation)." This phrase's numeric value total 106.

Instead of just changing the text, the scribes maintained the integrity of the original text and in the margins, denoted the phrase commonly used for circumference.

Taking these numerical values in account and making the respective mathematical conversions, going back to the text, we get 30 cubits x 111/106 = 31.41509433962 cubits! That is, in a circumference of over 46 feet, the ancient text actually denotes pi to an error of less than 15 thousandths of an inch!

The above is just one example that tells us our God is a God of details. The deeper we dig, the more we find how each detail fit perfectly with understanding we have had to spend decades of scientific research to develop. Each of these example within the Bible is another of these puzzling ostensible “coincidences” that are too astonishing to dismiss. The rabbis would suggest that each of these may simply be a remez, a hint of something deeper.

From my own personal study of the Bible, I have found that literally or figurative, superficially or digging deeper into the text, the Bible ALWAYS makes sense. That is just how amazing God is. He has given us His Word that proves His existence -- not just through prophecies that have been fulfilled and will be fulfilled but also in the design itself. It show mathematical beauty and perfection -- a feat that could have never been accomplished by accident, not even by many men with the power of several super computers!

Follow-up Questions/Perspectives
1) How do we know that time is a physical property? How does that impact our Biblical views?
2) Why do most people believe in a very “old” universe?
3) What does thermodynamics indicate about the age of the universe?
4) How does our world view affect our everyday life? Can we adduce the real world view from one’s behavior?
5) How does the Book of Genesis refutes each of the major false philosophies prevalent today?
6) How old do we believe the universe is? Why do we believe that? Is the age of the earth any different?
7) Infinity and randomness are two concepts in mathematics that do not exist in our physical universe. What does that imply about our reality?
8) We need to realize that the Big Bang Theory, no matter how astounding, is, well, a theory. The theory has evolved over the years as more and more scientific data suggest why the most current version cannot be physically true. And because science has yet to establish the dogma, the Big Bang Theory continues to evolve. As such, there continue to be problems with the various views of the “Big Bang.” This is how science works. Science, but its nature, does not have the ability to prove anything to be true. It can only prove something to not be true. This is not to say science has not value. On the contrary, science has allowed us to explore and marvel at this world. We just need to be aware that science is not perfect. It has limitations, and as we read into scientific data, we need to always keep that in mind.