SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE SIX DAYS OF GENESIS CHAPTER ONE.
Fernando Castro-Chavez.
(This is a work in process. I wish to thank the review of the first topics done by Professor E. McNichols. I encourage the submission of thoughtful insights and corrections.)
Introduction:
Gen. 1:2 tells us that the earth became "tohu babohu" ("without form and void").
Foundational studies are here:
http://www.therain.org/appendixes/isa4518.html
http://www.jba.gr/Articles/nkjv_jbasep96.htm
http://www.redbay.com/ekklesia/bsspirit.htm
The modern fit of science inside the eternal Biblical truth is profitable, as when we saw the laws of Mendel as an evidence of the creator of order, of the creator of limits to biological change.
Instead of a Big Bang, at the beginning was a big transformation of energy into matter, something like the "Big Compression". Only figuratively we can say that it was like the "freezing of energy into matter" to describe that moment when matter condenses, congeals, or coalesces into mass, it is, into matter.
God created the initial energy and did the transformation of energy into matter. Even today new stars are born. However, today under the normal physical laws created by God, as far as we know, energy is no more created but only transformed (i.e., from calorific, to luminous, to electric, to mechanic, etc.)
The Big Bang theory was proposed by Friedmann and Lemaitre and elaborated by Gamow. In 1965, Penzias and Wilson discovered the echo of the Big Bang in the black of the sky at night, that can be interpreted equally as the "Big Compression" of energy into matter. Then, the scientific world paradigm changed from a universe that was eternal to a universe that had a beginning. Science then said that our universe had a beginning, that the first word of the Bible is correct: "Bereshit," "In the Beginning."
The second heavens and earth, in which we are now, will be consumed by fire to allow the appearance of the third ones. "We have the sober scientific certainty that the heavens and earth shall ‘wax old as doth a garment’ ... Dark indeed would be the prospects of the human race if unilluminated by that light which reveals ‘new heavens and a new earth.’ " (Kelvin, On Thermodynamics. Source: http://www.creationsafaris.com/wgcs.htm). ['Wax old as doth a garment' is from Psalm 102:26. and the quote marks around ‘new heavens and a new earth’ is from Revelation 21:1]."
The next are the three uses of the word "to create" (Hebrew Bara) in Genesis chapter 1:
First, there was the original creation of the entire universe and of its laws in Gen. 1:1. This was the first heaven and earth, which got destroyed in Gen. 1:2.
God started reordering the universe in Gen. 1:3 but by then He did not need to create anything additional until day five of this re-ordering of the universe. On day five God created the Nephesh (Nefesh), the soul of the animal life, inserting it to allow the existence of aquatic and of flying animals.
Finally, at the end of day six, there was a further creation that brought the spirit of God Himself over human beings only. With that perspective in mind, we can perceive that the Jewsith celebration of Rosh Hashana commemorates not the first (the original creation of heavens and earth), or the second of the creations (the creation of the soul for the living beings in this second earth), but the third one, the creation of the spirit of God Himself over human beings.
The Hebrew word "to create" is used with perfection in the Bible in Genesis chapter 1 only three times: Gen. 1:1, then the origin of animal soul life and then the origin of God's spirit on man. We have in the Biblical text what we, as inquirers, need to know to develop our research based on a godly foundation.
The Jewish Midrash asks the next question: Why does the Bible begin with the letter Bet? Because Bet (which is written like a backwards C) is closed in all directions and only open in the forward direction. Hence, we can not know what was before Gen. 1:1, only what was after. The first letter in the Bible is Bet, a letter closed in all directions and only open to the forward direction.
Molecules and celestial bodies were created before the catastrophe of Genesis 1:2:
This is what I have read in the
Bible related to "Species-Specific Tissues":
1Co
15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh; but one kind of flesh of men, and another flesh of
beasts, and another of fish, and another of birds.
The sharp difference is emphasized between feathers, scales, fur, and skin.
1Co
15:40 There
are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the
heavenly is truly different, and that of
the earthly different
Then, this is what William Bateson
declared related to the verse 40:
"I do not dare to suggest that
in magnitude or splendour the field of Genetics may be compared with that now
being disclosed to the physicist or the astronomer; for the glory of the
celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another." [Bateson,
W., The Methods And Scope Of Genetics, 1908, Cambridge University Press, p. 3]
"The glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another." I can see the amazing fact that on the third day the plants appeared without the need of God to create any molecule (the word "to create" does not appear here!) The Hebrew word "to create" (bara) only appears at the beginning, in Gen. 1:1, and when God puts animal soul in the oceans and in the sky on the fifth day, and when God puts His spirit on man in the sixth day. In some way, maybe dead frozen microorganisms, plants and animals, because everything died in Gen. 1:2 as the word "void" suggests.
Here I think in freezing temperatures because in that catastrophe the sun and stars were like turned off, not giving heat or light until day four, when God restored them. God then turned their lights on and put them in motion again (the sun, the moon and the stars with the rest of the celestial bodies).
All the "Molecular Biology" survived between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:3. The perfectly created molecules (DNA, RNA, Proteins) in Gen. 1:1 survived "the great dying", "the great impact." Ice comets bombing earth (in my perception of a spiritual and a literal "fall" from heaven) destroying all life on earth, as described in Gen. 1:2. In this same destuction, we can include the death of dinosaurs. And after that, God only needed to re-shape the pre-existing molecules to produce all the new biological organisms (but no more big dinosaurs this time).
As far as we can tell, dinosaurs were present on earth before the first six days of the second heaven and earth, that means before Genesis 1:2.
So, God needed only to create the soul of animals again on the fifth day (yes, because the soul of the dinosaurs and of any other living creature, of any other living soul, was destroyed in the "tohu babohu" of Gen. 1:2).
We have seen that on the fifth day God created the living soul for the animals of the ocean and for the birds. As stated before, every life including breathing dinosaurs completely died in Gen. 1:2. That points out the great difference between animal soul-life created on day fifth and the plant life formed on day three from pre-existing molecules, as the word "to create" does not appear here. The plant life lacks of a soul.
In the sixth day, God just takes the animal soul that He had previously created on the fifth day and puts of it on terrestrial animals, including men.
At the end of the sixth day, God puts that same animal soul in humans because first is the natural, then is the spiritual:
1Co
15:46 But not the spiritual first, but
the natural; afterward the spiritual.
The first human being was first natural, then spiritual for a little while. But he lost that spirit of God. Christ then did came to provide the spirit of God back again for every one willing to receive.
Finally at the climax, as performing his final deed to seal His own creation, God creates ("infuses") of His spirit over man for the first time. No other animal received it except of man.
With the celestial bodies it happened the same way as with the earthly biological molecules previously mentioned. The celestial bodies survived, but they were also like the molecules on earth, "frozen" or flooded, static, with all their lights turned off, as it was stated, even the light of the sun at that moment was turned off. Can we imagine the complete universe under water?
God did not need "to create" the celestial bodies again! The word ""to create" is not used for the celestial bodies at the fourth day. As it was stated before, the word "to create" was not used to describe the molecules needed to bring again the plants over the earth on the third day, as they were existing before the "tohu babohu" of Gen. 1:2.
So, those celestial bodies in heaven and these molecules on earth were already there, and God only "turned them on" again.
There is a purpose for the sun appearing only on day four. As time goes by and people understand more about the universe, we can still confidently dig deeper into the Biblical text. As we have said before, the sun was not created on day four; the word "to create" is not used of any celestial body on the fourth day. The original creation of light and the sun was originally created in Gen. 1:1. On day one and on day four God is "turning on" them again. For example on day four God turns on the sun and the stars again; lighting on and putting them in motion again.
So, the fall from heaven of Satan and of his hosts was represented in real terms by the bombing over the earth of many ice filled comets that destroyed life here, an event that happened in Gen. 1:2.
"The great impact," and "the great dying," are synonymous. After that bombing, God needed to form a second heavens and earth, and to create animal life and spiritual men on earth. That was the plan of God. Those things can be better understood by reading the NT. Further, the book of Revelation again declares that in the future there will be new heavens and earth; those will be the third heavens and earth.
The creation of the spirit of God in men:
In the sixth day we need to emphasize that there is a difference between the "spirit of God in men" and the "soul of Adam". "Body, soul and spirit" compose all the human being, we need to see the difference between soul and spirit to "divide the soul from the spirit", and those are references that we found in the NT:
1Th
5:23 And may the God of peace Himself
sanctify you, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blamelessly at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here we can read that the whole of the perfect human being consists of:
1-spirit,
2-soul,
3-body.
With the light provided by that verse of the NT we can better understand a verse of the OT relating the whole of the human being according to God's original purpose:
Isa
43:7 everyone who is called by My
name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
The created part of men is the spirit, God's glory in men. The formed part of men is the body, formed from the dust of the earth, and the made part of men is the soul, the active principle, the part of man that makes him move, that makes him be who he is, and includes the nature of man, his thoughts:
1-spirit created (Heb. bara),
2-soul made (Heb. asah),
3-body formed (Heb. yatsar).
There is then a difference between the spirit (the nature of God in the born again Christians) and the soul (the natural human nature). There is also a difference between the spirit of God over men before Christ and the spirit of God inside men after Christ. The difference is that at the beginning the spirit of God was "infused" over man conditionally and after Christ, the spirit of God is dwelling inside the born again Christians, being "infused" into believers unconditionally.
Heb
4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The complete Word of God that we have now (OT + NT) is living and powerful and sharp, and is the only one that can help us to discern the difference between the human soul and the spirit of God that enters inside those humans that have believed that Jesus Christ is their living Lord:
Joh
3:6 That which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born
again.
Joh
3:3 Jesus answered and said to him,
Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
1Pe
1:23 having been born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the living Word of God, and
abiding forever.
Joh 6:63 It is the Spirit that makes alive, the flesh
profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life.
Act
10:44 While Peter was still speaking
these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those hearing the Word.
Pro
1:23 Turn at my warning; behold, I
will pour out my Spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.
Rom
8:2 But the Law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
The medullar scriptures to discern the difference between soul and spirit are present in the New Testament. Here we have the sharp difference and separation between flesh and spirit, with the comandment of Jesus Christ "You must be born again" which is the only thing that allows for the holy spirit from God to penetrate inside a human being, and once this happens, men receive the new nature:
2Co
5:17 So that if any one is in Christ, that
one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all
things have become new.
Gal
6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision has any strength, nor
uncircumcision, but a new creation.
Scriptures of the Old Testament that make a difference between the soul of man and the spirit of God expressing over man are, for example:
Eze
11:19 And I will give them one heart,
and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the stony heart out
of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh
See also Eze 36:26.
Joel 2:28 And it shall be afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions.
See the initial fulfilling of that prophecy in Act 2:17.
Other amazing scripture that defines the sharp contrast between natural body (which includes body and soul) and spiritual body is:
1Co
15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is
raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual
body.
By believing in the promises that we read in the NT of the Bible regarding Christ as our living Lord we became partakers of divine nature, as God's holy spirit is his divine nature inside us:
2Pe
1:3 according as His divine power has
given to us all things that pertain to
life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and
virtue,
2Pe
1:4 through which He has given to us
exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be
partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Before hearing the Word of God that we have received in the NT, we were only natural persons:
1Co
2:14 But the natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Rom
8:9 But you are not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone
has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of His.
See also in that same chapter Rom
8:13, and Rom 8:4-5. And also Gal 5:16-17, Gal
6:8, 1Co 5:5.
Gal
3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun
in the Spirit, do you now perfect yourself in the flesh?
The natural man has been alive since after the fall of Adam until the new birth of the believer in Christ. Adam lost God's spirit on him, since that day humans became beings of only two parts: body and soul. The spirit is received by grace when we confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord, raised by God from the dead:
Isa
42:1 Behold My Servant, whom I uphold;
My Elect, in whom My soul delights. I
have put My Spirit on Him; He shall bring out judgment to the nations.
Mat
12:18 "Behold My Child whom I
have chosen; My Beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased. I will put My Spirit
on Him, and He shall declare judgment to the nations.
1Co
15:45 And so it is written, "The
first man, Adam, became a living soul," the last Adam was a life-giving
Spirit.
1Co
15:21 For since death is through man, the resurrection of the dead also is
through a Man.
1Co
15:42 So also the resurrection of the
dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
2Co
3:17 And the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
Rom
1:4 who was marked out the Son of God
in power, according to the Spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead.
1Pe
3:18 For Christ also once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, indeed being put
to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit;
Act
2:33 Therefore being exalted to the
right of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the holy
spirit, He has poured out this which you now see and hear.
Rom
10:9 Because if you confess the Lord
Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.
Rom
10:10 For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the
mouth one confesses unto salvation.
Rom
10:13 For everyone, "whoever
shall call on the name of the Lord will
be saved."
God promised to give back to man of His own divine and holy nature, God's gift to men is His own holy spirit for everybody who believes and through everybody who has believed:
Act
8:17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received holy
spirit.
The born again believers that have alread received holy spirit are able to impart the same gift of the nature of God to others: the precious gift of His divine nature:
1Co
2:12 But we have not received the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things
that are freely given to us by God.
We have received the gift of holy spirit from God, we are now a new creation in Christ. We were saved by God's grace:
2Ti
1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the eternal times.
Eph
2:5 (even when we were dead in sins)
has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved),
Eph
2:8 For by grace you are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God,
Eph
2:9 not of works, lest anyone should
boast.
Eph
2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good
works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
We were saved by grace and not by works but after our salvation God want us to do His good works.
The Jewish concept of the human "Neshama" is NOT the only thing that differentiates humans from animals, the crucial point is "the spirit of God inside men", as we have read in the verses from the NT, God calls it the new creation:
Gal
6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision has any strength, nor
uncircumcision, but a new creation.
We need to renew our minds to believe what we have now and the power that we have now to do what God want us to do. That process of the renewing of our mind is called to put on the new man:
Rom
12:2 And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by
you what is that good and pleasing and
perfect will of God.
Eph
4:24 And you should put on the new
man, who according to God was created in
righteousness and true holiness.
The spirit of God inside man is "the image of God in men":
Joh
4:24 God is
a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
Phi
3:3 For we are the circumcision who
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in
the flesh.
According to the Jewish concept of the human "Neshama" there are two "categories" of human soul: first, the animal soul within men, which is in the blood.
The Bible describes that the soul (translated as life) of the flesh is in the blood:
Lev
17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you on
the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes an atonement for the
soul.
This should be properly translated: "For the soul (Nepesh, Nephesh, Nefesh) of the flesh is in the blood."
But the second category of soul within men is the human soul properly speaking, as every human "soul" will be raised at the end but not so the "soul" of the animals:
Rev
20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat
on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw
the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the
Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had
received his mark on their foreheads,
nor in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev
20:5 But the rest of the dead did not
live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev
20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The
second death has no authority over these, but they will be priests of God and
of Christ, and will reign with Him a thousand years.
Rev
2:11 He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the
second death.
The soul of animals will not be raised again, not even for a brief season, not for a moment, as will be the case of the bad humanity.
The animal soul within men just disappears with the last breath of men.
But then, there is still the human soul within men resting at the Sheol to be raised again, and that precisely is the plus, every soul of men will be raised at the end, when compared not so any of the animals.
The animal soul, which is in the blood (the Nefesh) is not spiritual, not eternal. It was indeed created by a spiritual creator, as everything else. Again, the human soul life in the blood is the same as the animal soul life, the real and enduring difference today is being made by the spirit of God in men.
The "human soul" (the Neshama), when separated from its Nephesh, the "soul that is in the blood", goes equally to the "Sheol", as does the animal soul. The difference is that every "human soul" is going to be raised again at the end, to know its final fate. Not so "the souls of the animals." That "human soul", the "Neshama", is different from the animal "Nefesh" (or "Nephesh") in that aspect of needing to be raised again; for some that did evil, it will be only temporary and then they will die again forever. However, the crucial point not to be dismissed is "the spirit of God in men", "the image of God in men", which can be perceived especially by putting together the scriptures of the NT dealing with that subject. Unfortunately again, the NT is still rejected by the authentic Israelites of today.
We need to study deeper that subject to discern the difference between the animals and the natural man, and between the natural man and the spiritual man. The last one is the only one that is going to live forever in the presence of God, with Christ as their leader.
The promise of God: "To Live Forever":
This first resurrection corresponds to the resurrection of the just:
Luk
14:14 and you shall be blessed, for
they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
Act 24:15 And I have hope toward God, which they themselves
also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the
dead, both of the just and unjust.
This resurrection of the just was promised in the OT:
Dan
12:13 But you go on to the end, for
you shall rest and stand in your lot at the end of the days
Job
19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall rise on the
earth at the last;
Job
19:26 and even after they corrupt my
skin, yet this: in my flesh I shall see God,
Job
19:27 whom I shall see for myself, and
my eyes shall behold, and not a stranger's; though
my heart be exhausted in my bosom.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was already promised in the OT:
Act
2:29 Men, brothers, it is permitted to
say to you with plainness as to the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Act
2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
He would raise up Christ to sit upon his throne,
Act
2:31 seeing this beforehand, he spoke
of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor would
His flesh see corruption,
Act
2:32 God raised up this Jesus, of
which we all are witnesses.
Act
2:33 Therefore being exalted to the
right of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy
Spirit, He has poured out this which you now see and hear.
Act
2:34 For David has not ascended into
the heavens, but he says himself, "The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at My
right hand
Act
2:35 until I place Your enemies as a footstool to Your feet."
Act
2:36 Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God made this same Jesus, whom you crucified, both
Lord and Christ.
The second resurrection will correspond to the resurrection of the unjust, the ones that will die again, that will die the second death to live no more. The contrast is clear between the last two different resurrections and its two different fates:
Rev
21:7 He who overcomes will inherit all
things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.
Rev
21:8 But the fearful, and the
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and
sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, will have their part in the Lake
burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Rev
20:12 And I saw the dead, the small
and the great, stand before God. And books were opened, and another book was
opened, which is the Book of Life. And
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works.
Rev
20:13 And the sea gave up the dead in
it. And death and hell delivered up the dead in them. And each one of them was
judged according to their works.
Rev
20:14 And death and hell were cast
into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.
Rev
20:15 And if anyone was not found
having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.
The resurrection of the just is also called the resurrection of life, whereas the resurrection of the unjust is called the resurrection of condemnation:
Joh
5:29 and shall come forth, those who
have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil
to the resurrection of condemnation.
The born again believers are going to be taken out of this world even before the resurrection of the just:
Rom
5:9 Much more then, being now
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Rom
6:5 For if we have been joined
together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection;
1Co
15:51 Behold, I speak a mystery to
you; we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed;
1Co
15:52 in a moment, in a glance of an
eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.
1Co
15:53 For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put
on immortality.
1Co
15:54 But when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality, then will
take place the word that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co
15:55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?"
1Co
15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.
1Co
15:57 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co
15:58 So that, my beloved brothers, be
steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that
your labor is not without fruit in the Lord.
1Th
1:10 and to wait for His Son from
Heaven (whom He raised from the dead),
Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.
1Th
4:13 But I would not have you
ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you be not grieved,
even as others who have no hope.
1Th
4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him all those who have fallen
asleep through Jesus.
1Th
4:15 For we say this to you by the
Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not
go before those who are asleep.
1Th
4:16 For the Lord Himself shall
descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
1Th
4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord.
1Th
4:18 Therefore comfort one another
with these words.
2Th
2:1 Now we beseech you, my brothers,
with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together
to Him,
2Th
2:13 But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,
2Th
2:14 to which He called you by our
gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th
2:15 Therefore, my brothers, stand
fast and hold the teachings which you have been taught, whether by word or by
our letter.
2Th
2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, and God, even our Father, who has loved us and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace,
2Th
2:17 comfort your hearts and establish
you in every good word and work.
As we have seen before, the final resurrection will be temporary for some humans. For the ones that were so bad that will be raised only to be aware, only to know that they will experience the second death. They need to be informed that they are going to die a second time, and that their death will be to die forever. There will be no more life or resurrection for them.
Human longevity before the flood:
The extreme longevity of the early man, when compared with us is a reality.
In the days after the flood the life span started to be reduced. The sons of the sons of Noah were able to marry only their cousin relatives. Then at the entering of the Israelites to Canaan they got mixed up in their genetics with the people of the land, with the consequence that the life span was reduced to an average of 70-80 years for humanity, as the Psalm 90:10 declares:
Psa
90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by strength
they are fourscore years, yet their
pride is labor and sorrow; for it is
soon cut off, and we fly away.
The adversary, the enemy of God has been around even before man existed trying to discredit the Word of God. That adversary Satan, always, since the day that it was found selfishness in his heart, is trying to twist the ways of the Lord. The adversary is trying to discredit any biblical scripture that he can, as the ones that describe an extreme longevity of the humanity that was living before the flood. The particular bones of the archaic humans, of those ancient humans in comparison to the modern humans confirm the scriptures of the Bible.
"Consider the days of old, the years of the many generations" (Deut. 32:7). Why does Moses divide the time in two parts? Consider the days of old' can be before the "tohu babohu" of Genesis 1:2. 'The years of the many generations' can include all the time that runs from day one of this second heavens and earth until the destruction of them by fire.
The times of old are contained in Gen. 1:1, which was the first heavens and earth. Then, for the second heavens and earth each day of creation is numbered.
There is direction in the flow of history, history is not at random. History is also God's business. Unfortunately, genuine Israelites that rejected to believe on the scriptures of the NT are going to still in the front page of the newspapers once we, all the genuine Born Again Christians are departed. We are going to be taken away from here by Christ Jesus himself. But all the rest, Jewish and Gentiles, all that rejected to believe in the NT are going to be left here on earth. Then they are going to realize that they were missing something and many of them are going to start believingin the revealed word of God of the NT. The same can be said of the Gentiles of that period.
Any human dating methodology is just a "guessing game." And worst if it does not include the flood over all the earth (the universal one of Gen. 1:2 and the earthly one in the days of Noah).
The revealed Word of God was and is not a "guess" of any kind. The Bible says "day one", to begin the account of the second heavens and earth, then the Bible says "second day, third day", etc.
The waters of the flood:
Water alters every dating system; water alters the mineral compositions. The impact on Yucatan, half on dry land and half on the ocean floor and the complete impact on the ocean floor near Australia, I think that both of them happened at the same time to destroy every living being in Gen. 1:2. I think that the dating analysis of the sediments inside the salty seawater provide a very old date when compared to the dating analysis of dry land sediments found on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. It will be interesting to date sediments outside the ocean and inside the ocean of that Yucatan's crater to see how their chronologies get altered and change at the presence of the oceanic waters.
Biblical words are not to be understood by their contemporary common definitions. For example, "mayim" typically means water. Waters surrounding our universe are different from the waters that we have in our planet. The waters of day two are then different than the waters of day three. On day two was the vertical separation of the waters, the ones at the bottom were left on and under the earth and the ones surrounding the universe were left at the top. However, the waters of day three were separated horizontally inside our same planet allowing the dry land to appear.
It impresses me that inside the permafrost of the North Pole there are frozen thousands of mammals, i.e., mammoths, but not dinosaurs. Such evidence indicates that the disappearance of the dinosaurs was a separate and different event.
To go to part 2: http://plin9k.ucoz.com/index/0-25