TSW ~ Eric W. King "The Shepherds Way" : The Creation Week

The Creation Week

By Eric William King

Many Christians have differing views regarding this subject. We should never become overly divisive about these issues. The following is the view of "The Shepherds Way" (TSW)

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Well here we go…remember, we teach the Truth. “Creationists” always state that they are against “date setting” except when it comes to the doctrine of Creation. They imply that the Bible gives the exact date when this planet was created. It does not.

Another fallacy that they project is the idea that if you do not believe in their 6000 year creation plan then you are an “evolutionist”. This also is a lie. So let us intelligently review this subject. Let me here state from the get go – Ancient Antiochene Christianity believes that God actually CREATED all things. God also gave us intelligent minds and His word to help us properly understand all subjects.

As a Christian you also have the Holy Spirit discernment to lead, guide, direct and protect you in your studies of God’s blessed Word.

“How old is our Earth?” This question is not directly answered in Scripture. This first verse of the Bible states that “in the beginning God created”, that could have been billions of human years ago. As a matter of fact we will find that God is not done creating. New stars and planets are in fact formed every day.

If God stopped creating we wouldn’t be here. Oxygen is being created for us every day so that we can breathe. Jesus stated; “My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” (John 5:17) The Genesis story of Creation is a basic summation of the reality of an Intelligent Creator.

The First Earth Surface Destroyed

Using the entire Bible to interpret itself we find a much different story than what the so called “Creationists” are saying. The Bible actually teaches that when this planet was first created it was created to be inhabitable but something catastrophic occurred. This catastrophic event was an asteroid which God used to destroy the “First Earth” (actually more than one asteroid). I have other articles on this subject posted at “The Shepherds Way” so that one can get a thorough and Biblical understanding of this event. Be that as it may, let us proceed carefully.

“For this is what the Lord says – he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty (Hebrew: “without form and void”), but formed it to be inhabited.” (Isaiah 45:18)

So the original “planet Earth” was made complete and inhabitable. The very second verse of the Bible properly reads in the Hebrew; “Now the earth BECAME formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2) So the original translation tells us that something happened in-between verses one and two of Genesis….something that brought desolation to planet Earth.

My Dear Creationists

Most Christians today are not allowing the wisdom of God’s natural laws to help properly understand Scripture. Instead, most are asking us to ignore “the man behind the curtain” when it comes to scientific facts. The most remarkable and amazing thing is the fact that Scripture actually agrees with the so called “scientific facts” when it comes to creation and the destruction of the first earth.

Those that disagree with Ancient Antiochene Christianity say that we deny what they refer to as “the plain reading of Scripture” and our response to them is; “No we do not.” In fact, we follow the Seven Ancient Antiochene Hermeneutic Rules when interpreting Scripture and one of those rules is “context controls the meaning”. If the days in the creation story are literal why is the sun and moon “created” on the fourth day? To serve as signs and to mark the seasons and days? Hhhmm. Again, let the context control the meaning. Clearly these are symbolic days.

First of all, the Hebrew word for create is not used until we get to the fifth and sixth “day” [Hebrew: yom] of the creation story. The word used for the fourth day in regards to the Sun and Moon is the fact that God “brought forth” [not created] the sun and the moon so that they could be seen again from the surface of the earth that was covered with darkness (Genesis 1:2).

So after the second verse of Genesis we begin the account of the “reconstruction” of a planet gone wrong. We note that on the “first day” of the recreation God “brought forth light” - it does NOT say in the Hebrew that He then “created” the light (Genesis 1:3). Remember, after the destruction of the first earth the atmosphere was covered with “darkness” (Genesis 1:2). It was on the first day that God allowed some light back, not all. Some of this light was also no doubt produced by electrical storms.

In the “second day” we have an atmosphere reforming (Genesis 1:1-7). The second day’s work was the beginning of the readjustment of earth’s atmosphere. Then we come to the “third day” where land begins to appear and vegetation is restored. On the “fourth day” total sunlight is restored to earth’s surface – completely clean atmosphere, no more darkness.

Only when we get to the “fifth day”, “sixth day” and “eighth day” do we get to the actual Hebrew word “bara” – which means ‘created’ or ‘create’. On these last days of the Creation Week God did actually create (bara) brand new animal species and on the “sixth day” all the human races.

Really there is no “eighth day” mentioned in Scripture but we use that as a phrase - a reference for the creation which did indeed follow the Seventh Day. These were probably not literal days. The Hebrew word used for “day” in regards to the six day creation does not necessarily mean a literal 24 hour day. These time periods probably differed somewhat in length.

The Hebrew word used for “day” (yom) and the contextual way it is used doesn’t mean that the days have to be literal days. They can mean a “lengthy period” of time. The Bible says; “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8)

God gave literal day weeks for man to remember the gift of creation and the manna He fed them while in the wilderness (Exodus 16:23). The macro creation week is remembered in a micro week of literal days on the Jewish calendar. The literal Sabbath Day marked the week and ultimately pointed to Jesus Christ who becomes the “Life Giver” and “Spiritual Rest” of the true believer. (Hebrews 4:3; Matthew 11:28-30)

Not Literal Days

Even some of the early Patristic Christians properly contemplated this. St Augustine stated;”What kind of days these were it is extremely difficult, or perhaps impossible, to determine” (City of God 11.7).

In Genesis 1:1 the word “created” is in the “perfect tense” which means in Hebrew that it precedes what follows as a fact and not as a summery to that which follows. In fact, what follows is an explanation of a “reconstruction” of earth’s surface while Genesis 1:1 is creation by fiat, out of nothing.

When we get to the “7^th day” are we to assume that just because God was done with the “reconstruction” of earth’s surface that He was done forever creating? Some “creationists” tout this. The Scriptures teach that God is still creating. Also, was this “Sabbath” a once for all 24 hour day? No. Hebrews ch.4 teaches that “the Sabbath remains” for all who wish to enter this spiritual rest.

When we read the beginning of the gospel of St John we find that in the beginning “was the Word” and that from that Word (Jesus the Christ) came all things. In Christ we are a “new creation” so yes, God is definitely still creating.

“The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:9-13).

Jesus was resurrected on the “eighth day”, the day after the Sabbath. “Behold, all things become new.” So symbolically we are still in the 8^th day of creation…creation is still happening. Jesus Christ stated; “My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34)

The Eighth Day

After the seventh day, it is recorded that “eth ha Adam” was created (Genesis 2:7). This is the “emphatic man”…the “special man”. The rest of the entire Bible will have to do with this man’s history and all his offspring. Through this “first Adam” would ultimately come the “second Adam”, from umbilical cord to umbilical cord ultimately producing Jesus Christ, which is to say “God with us.” (1 Corinthians 15:45)

Many scholars have debated over and noticed the fact that there are two creation stories of man given in the Bible. Are these the same account? Or are they different accounts…different creations? Contextually they are different accounts thus different creations.

Note: Marriage was instituted in honor of Adam and Eve and to show and demonstrate that we serve a God of relationship. God was beginning to reveal His plan to humanity. (Genesis 2:24)

When we read Genesis chapter one all the way up to chapter two and verse six we notice an abrupt change, a jump into the creation account of Eth ha Adam and Eve. This is a different account than the first recorded creation account of “man” or “mankind” in chapter one verses twenty-six through thirty-one and it begins right after the seventh day. This is why we say that the creation of Adam and Eve actually occurred on the Eighth Day.

In Genesis chapter one the Hebrew word create (bara) is used to explain the creation of animals and mankind but in chapter two regarding the creation of Eth ha Adam the Hebrew word form (yasar) is used. The Creation Week is what we could call “fiat” (by Word) creation and Adam and Eve’s creation (on the eighth day) one of “action creation” – hands on forming like a potter.

Adam and Eve were created to produce the special blood-line (Family) that would ultimately produce the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. God promised that through Eve’s seed the redeemer would come and ultimately destroy Satan. God said that He would put hatred between her seed (offspring) and the Serpent’s (Satan’s) offspring (Genesis 3:14-15).

So technically God is still creating in this “8^th Day” and we are watching and experiencing it. This symbolic 8^th Day will end with Armageddon. After that, we (True Christians) will enter “the Day of the Lord” which is the Millennial Reign of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

I hope that this helped you understand the beauty of Scripture in harmony. Please continue your studies with us here at “The Shepherds Way”.

Loving my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ every day.

Eric William King (July 4^th 2020)