Prof Zebulon E29

A) Creation (Day 1 of creation)

The book of Genesis is unique in all of literature because it is the only place where the creation of the world and the universe is discussed in great detail. On day one of Creation, the Bible says in Genesis 1 : 1 “God created the heaven and the earth”. The word created (barah in Hebrew) is seen 54 times in the Bible and each time that it is used, God is the subject. The definition of this word for created is the action of bringing into existence from nothing (Ex Nihilo) and God used power that we have absolutely no concept of. In modern science, there are three foundational terms used to describe the physical world and they are time, space and matter. In verse one alone these three terms are discussed in the following manner : TIME (In the beginning); SPACE (God created the heaven); MATTER (and the earth). God also created light on the first day and He saw that it was good (verse 4). He divided the light from the darkness and called the light DAY and the darkness He called NIGHT (verse 5). This light was not the light that we know of today because our light, the sun, was created on the fourth day (Gen 1 :16). Upon creation, the earth was in total darkness (verse 2) and God used this light to create the cycle of 24 hours that we know today. God used power way beyond our comprehension and therefore it is absolutely necessary to accept this cycle of the length of days as truth because God did so, the Bible says so and that’s that!! In other studies that we have done, it was said that it is pure speculation on man’s part if an attempt is made to shove millions of years between each day of creation. It makes no sense and it contradicts the account of creation in the Bible.

In Psalm 104 :1 – 5, the Bible says that the angels were created at the same time as the earth was. In 2 Corinthians 4 :6, the Bible symbolically uses day one of the creation of light to demonstrate the light in the hearts of believers when they come in contact with the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, just as believers are born in darkness and are enlightened by the Spirit of God, so was the earth at the time of creation.

E) Israel (Israel in the Promised Land)

God promised Abraham that his descendants would occupy land that was not theirs (Gen 15 :18) but would have to wait until the iniquity of the Amorites was full (Gen 15 :16). In previous studies we have seen that the Israelites stayed in Egypt all this time and Moses brought them out. However, when the time came to cross the Jordan river, the Bible says in Deut 34 :4 that Moses did not go : “I have caused thee to see it (the promised land) but thou shalt not go over thither”. Joshua was given the task of taking the Israelites into the Promised Land and the transfer of power from Moses was confirmed by God in the book of Joshua in chapter 1 : 1-5. There were two things that encouraged Joshua to take the job : God was with him (Jos 1 :5) and the people were with him (Jos 1 :17). The first large city that was to be taken was Jericho but not without intrigue and miraculous power. The Bible says in Jos 2 that two men were sent to Jericho to spy on the city and they stayed in a harlot’s house (Rehab) until it was safe to return to the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan River. Joshua ordered the people to get ready to cross the Jordan River and that the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, would walk ahead of the people. When the soles of the priests’ feet touched the water of the Jordan, it opened up and the people were able to cross the river on dry land (Jos 3 :17). Twelve stones (one for each tribe) were taken from the dry riverbed and placed on the other side of the Jordan as a memorial for the children of Israel forever (Jos 4 :7). The intrigue and the miraculous power continue and we are all familiar with taking of Jericho where the Israelites, by the power of God caused the walls of Jericho to fall. This was just the beginning and God wanted “to magnify Joshua in the sight of all Israel so that they would fear him as they did Moses, all the days of his life” Jos 4 :14. Campaign after campaign was won by the Israelites, by the power of God and the obedience of Joshua. In Joshua 24 :15, he summed up what he and his family had been doing all along and thought that every Israelite should do the same when he said, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. This is good advice, even for today.