The Second verse of the Bible is more important than the first Why?important than the first…Why?

The Earth, the Sea and the Ancient Near East mindset

KJV Genesis 1:1‐3 In the beginning God createdGenesis 1:1 3 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  2 And the earth was without form and void; and2 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 thethe Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  3 A d G d id L h b li h d h3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 

Heaven is not our home!!!Heaven is not our home!!!The future of God’s people is not a life “up there” in heaven, neither walking on heaven, neither walking on streets of gold, nor playing h hil itti th harps while sitting on the clouds, smokin’ 50 cent cigars (How long would you have wanted to play that have wanted to play that harp anyway…?)

No Streets of         (or Stairway to GOLD

Heaven, BTW) 

I wondered if “pearly p ygates” were in order???

No Harps in the Clouds…thankfullyNo Harps in the Clouds…thankfully

How long would you have wanted to play that harp anyway??

No 50 Cent Cigars…No 50 Cent Cigars…

Now I’mNow I m starting to get upset…

An engraving from the lost book of k hHezekiah…

The Beginning of Times: God Battles a “Monster” of…well…Biblical Proportions  

First  three (3) Verses in the Bible:  After the Beginning what happened?  Do we need six (6) days to create the Earth?

Latest Linguistic research says…(per email from Dr. Francis Ian Andersen February 2013)

1When God began to create heaven and earthWhen God began to create heaven and earth

2and (when) the earth had become tohuand (when) the earth had become tohuwabohu,and (when) darkness [is] over the surface of theand (when) darkness [is] over the surface of the deep,and (when) God's Spirit [is] sweeping over the face of the water ‐‐

3(Then) God said ...

More from Dr. Andersen…More from Dr. Andersen…"In classical prose, the expected translation of "the earth became tohu wabohu" would use

And Genesis is prose not  the earth became tohu wabohu  would use 

the waw‐consecutive construction wayehi in first position, making it an eventive clause. The 

f th " f t" b h h (i d

poetry…

use of the "perfect" verb hayah (in second position) has bewildered readers for ages. To be in coherence with the following two 

And verse 2 starts with a waw‐di j i clauses, the verb must have the aspect option 

of a Hebrew perfect verb, portraying a present state that is the continuing outcome of a

disjunctive…

state that is the continuing outcome of a previous event. The earth had come to be in a state of tohu wabohu. “

f h l lOr “had Sorry for the linguistic jargon…let me explain.

Or  had become”…

The Beginning…g gGenesis 1:1‐2  KJV  KJV 1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.the heaven and the earth.  

2And 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 becomes the Epicenter of God’sThe Earth becomes the Epicenter of God s Heart…Where did all this water  come from?

Let’s unpack this verse…The Earth is there; we don’t have to “create it in sixThe Earth is there; we don t have to create it in six

days”, but… 1. It was “without form and void” (aka – “a wreck”) 2 Th h “d k h f f h d ”2. That there was “darkness was upon the face of the deep” 3. And finally that “the spirit of God moved upon [hovered over]

the face of the waters”

The good student of Scripture needs to ask a few questions here:

1. What does it mean to have the earth without form and void? 2. Why is there darkness on the surface of the deep?3. What is the deep for that matter?4. Where did all that water come from?(and…trumpets

l P l 148 4 7)please…Psalm 148: 4-7)5. Why is God’s spirit (or breath?) moving on the water’s surface?

Who else knew about this water?(Alternatively:  Why don’t we know about this water?)

Peter describes it…and its not Noah’s Flood…(that’s 2 Peter 2: 5)Peter 2: 5)

2 Peter 3:1-6 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by theThat ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as theyof his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of (NJB – “They deliberately ignore”), that by the word of God (sound like Genesis 1:3?) the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby (by this water…) the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished (NASB/ NIV - “was destroyed”):

THIS NOT NOAH’S FLOOD!!Genesis 7:20  “the mountains were covered” 

Paul knew of the Catastrophe!Paul knew of the Catastrophe!• How did Paul describe it?

Ro 8 20 25 (KJV)

Put the comma here!

Romans 8:20-25 (KJV)

20 For the creature (creation) was made (futility or

frustration), not willingly (not by its own choice), but by reason of him (“because

subject to vanity

of Him) who hath subjected the same (i.e.-the creation), in hope, (NASB) that the

creation itself also will be set free from its into the freedom Slavery to corruptionof the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth

and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they (this - NASB), but

ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within

ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are

saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet

hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

This is actually the catastrophe that h d b fhappened before Genesis 1:2… 

God’s First Mistake…

He would start over…

World “destroyed” by water?World  destroyed  by water?Is there any corroborating evidence?  In the oldest book in the Bible…Yes!

Job 38:1‐11 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,  2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?  3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.  4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.  5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?  6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;  7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Hebrew poetry here.

8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it (the sea) brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?  9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof (for it), and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it (the sea),  10 And brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors 11 AndAnd brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,   And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

Now we start to synchronize the Bible h h ?with Science…Right?

NO!NO!We “Read What is Written” (nottin’ but Net…I mean Text)

Understand “To Whom it is written”U d t d “ h t did it t th ?”Understand “what did it mean to them?”

THENTHEN(and only then)

“What does it mean to us?”

The Big Bang? Is it in the Bible?The Big Bang?  Is it in the Bible?

• Personally I think this is what really happenedPersonally I think this is what really happened

Notice the beard…it’s OK, OK, maybe notNotice the beard…it s Biblical…really

OK, OK, maybe not the bag….

And so the Big Bang gives us “poof” ( th t ld b P ff?)(sorry….that would be Puff?) a 

Dragon…right?

Not so much like this I d ’ hi kdon’t think.

Our dude was nasty…y

No, but we did get the Celestial Sea!, gPsalm 148: 4‐7

The water seems boisterous!What do we think caused the commotion?What do we think caused the commotion?These context say it was a nasty creature

“Enter the Dragon”

The doesn’t tell us the origin of the DragonThe doesn t tell us the origin of the Dragon

• Psalm 74: 12‐14 (Leviathan) 

l ( h b)• Psalm 89: 5‐15 (Rahab)

• Job 26:12‐14 (Rahab)…match with Genesis 1:2

• Isaiah 51:9, 10 (Rahab)

• Isaiah 27:1 (Leviathan)Isaiah 27:1 (Leviathan)

ANE Cosmic GeographyTh

Psalm 104:3  ‐ “Who layeth the beams of his 

h b i th

The Big PictureThirdHeaven

The Highest

chambers in the waters: who makeththe clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: 

Heaven2 Cor 12:2

HeavenGenesis 1:8

Psalm 148:4

Sheol/ Hades

Heaven2 Sam 21:10;Revelation 

Genesis 1: 7‐9  Exodus 

20: 4

Tartaros

Sheol/ Hades 19:17

in Denis Lamoureux’sEvolutionary Creation:

Bob’s Notes

Did you think they thought like this???Did you think they thought like this???

And God said, “Let there be light…”And God said,  Let there be light…

If the earth exists in Genesis 1:2; don’t the heavens exist in 1:1?  Where does the light come from? – Job 26:13 tells us; it isn’t some contrived “light that was not the sun, because the sun isn’t created until verse 14”…that’s crazy

Looking down on the earth and the “sea”:earth and the sea :very close to the Biblical model: Water, water

everywhere…

The oldest known world map, 6thC BCE, Babylonian clay tablet. Courtesy of the British Museum, London.

Water all around

Circle of the Earth

1. Where the birds fly (Jeremiah 4:25); can be . e e t e b ds y (Je e a : 5); ca be“black” (Jeremiah 4:28)

2. The Firmament (Genesis 1:6‐8); can be “rolled up like a scroll”; has “windows”, is a “tent”, etc.

3. Where God (Elyon – the Most High) lives (the “heaven of heavens” or “highest heaven” or just “highest” (Psalm 68:33; Deuteronomy 33:26; Luke 2:14; 2 Corinthians 12:2 (Paul’s “thirdLuke 2:14;  2 Corinthians 12:2 (Paul s  third heaven”)

We no longer think of them chronologicallyWe no longer think of them chronologically.

Waters “above” the firmament?Waters  above  the firmament?

Genesis 1:3‐8  3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.  5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And g y gthe evening and the morning were 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. 

BiosphereBiosphere

This is a modern conceptualization of theThis is a modern conceptualization of the Biblical model of their cosmos (from the outside); they only knew the insideoutside); they only knew the inside.

The Real Acts of God!The Real Acts of God!

Not Blowin’ KissesNot Blowin KissesIsaiah 27:1  “In that day (what day?), the LORD will punish ith hi d hi fiwith his sword, his fierce, 

great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster (dragon) that is in the sea.” ‐

Exit the DragonExit the Dragon

Revelation 20:7-10 7 And when the thousand years are yexpired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth Gog and Magog to gather themquarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth,

d d h f h b d hand compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and everday and night for ever and ever.