Welcome to Sacramento Central Seventh-day Adventist church. We are so thrilled that you have joined us to study God's Word together as you do every week from across the country and around the world. All over the planet people are studying God's Word together preparing for His second coming, which I know is soon. So to begin this presentation as we sing together, I invite you into your hymnals - wherever you are at home pull out your hymnals and we'll sing hymn #251 - 'he lives' and I'm sure as you're pulling out your hymnals you're saying 'amen to that - he lives today.' We will sing all three verses and this comes as a request from oona in antigua and barbuda, nikki in Arizona, stephen and emanuel in australia, abelino in belize, louisa in Canada, derthalie in florida, keryl in France, abigail in ghana, kindy in grenada, tom in Indiana, hakim and bernice in jamaica, Joel in kenya, David and alevia in Maryland, maisie and karl in mauritius, rochelle in Michigan, anna, maria, susannah, Luke and carlene in New York, suanny in new zealand, vern, sandie, jamie and jenny in North Carolina, lise in norway, susan in Pennsylvania, dina and ray in Rhode Island, jerlyn in saudi arabia, willington in the Solomon islands, roger in tennessee, mildred in Texas, jiggs in thailand, joanna in trinidad and tobago, henry in the united kingdom, and Christa in Virginia. So all over the planet people know that he lives.
Let's sing about it. Hymn #251. If you have a favorite hymn that you would like to sing with us on a coming study I invite you to go to our website at 'saccentral.org' and there you can click on the 'contact us' link - you can request any hymn in our hymnal and we'll be back to learning the new hymns in the hymnal coming up in the new year and so request those too and we'll be happy to sing that with you together on a coming study together. Our next hymn is hymn #590 - 'trust and obey' and this comes as a request from chris and clarry in australia, veronica, angel and jasmine in the bahamas, jennifer in bahrain, laray, Michael and joan in California, erlande in Connecticut, maisie and karl in France, myron in Georgia, nepo, beryl and jesse in germany, bob and Paula in Idaho, terry in Illinois, hezron in india, dave in Indiana, willinda in kuwait, gilenita in Maryland, rut in the netherlands, linda, debby and Sarah in New York, sipho and zukisa in south africa, latonia in South Carolina, lydia and horacio in Texas, anita and ricky in the united arab emirates and also from julie in the heard and mcdonald islands - I don't know if any of you know where that is - I had no clue. I went to wikipedia and it is found - I think there's going to be a map up for you to see - it is truly in the middle of nowhere.
Wikipedia says, "it is among the most remote places on earth." Which, as I was looking at that this morning, it brought me to Revelation 24:14 which says, "and this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come." So prophecies can come and go just like the one that just came and went but there is a prophecy that will remain true and will remain faithful - found in God's word and this gospel is being preached everywhere. So to julie in heard and mcdonald islands, welcome to joining us and we cannot wait to see you in heaven. So let's sing hymn #590 together - 'trust and obey' and we're going to sing all five verses. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we are so grateful to come before you this morning with the promise that if we just trust you and we obey what is in your word, that you have made every avenue possible for us to be saved.
And so we come with grateful and humble hearts to learn more about you today. Please bless each ear that is listening, each family, each heart that has come to learn about you through this media. And lord, as we come before you, just grant us our request to be closer to you. Please be with Pastor Doug as he brings us your word today, lord, and find us all faithful when you come and we know it's soon and we're so looking forward to seeing you face to face. We pray these things in the precious name of Jesus, amen.
Our study will be brought to us by Pastor Doug Batchelor, senior pastor here at Sacramento Central Seventh-day Adventist church. Thank you jolyne and our musicians - sounded really good today. How is everybody? Welcome to visitors - I know there's probably visitors here. I want to welcome those who are watching. Right now we're sort of in a time warp because we're recording this in 2012 - we just narrowly survived the mayan apocalypse and - or nostradamus' latest prophecies - and I assume that this will be broadcast in , but we are into a new lesson and we are just two lessons into our lesson on origins.
We'll get to that in just a minute. And we have a free study - a resource - sermon book that goes along with this - we're going to be dealing with origins and creation and all you have to do is call and ask for 'how evolution flunked the science test' - 'how evolution flunked the science test' - we'll be happy to send that to you free. It's offer #169 and if you just call the number - if you're watching on t.v. You see it on the screen - it's 866-study-more that's -788-3966 and ask for the book 'how science' - I'm sorry - 'how evolution flunked the science test' by Joe Crews and I know you'll appreciate that. I also want to welcome those who are part of the extended Sacramento central church family - that was very interesting when we talked about the people who were writing in from that island out there - it looked like it was out there near pitcairn somewhere out in the pacific.
But people, through the internet and some through satellite television, are literally watching all over the world. I know one time we got a text message from someone that was based at an antarctic station down in antarctica so - we haven't got any from the north pole yet but it's coming. So we're going to study lesson #2 talking about 'creation: forming the world'. Now, our study today really is dealing with the first 13 verses in the Bible so if we read the first 13 verses in the Bible you'll at least have the background for what we're talking about. Why don't we begin by doing that? Go to Genesis chapter 1 - Genesis chapter 1 - I'm going to read 1 through 13.
You know, in the first 13 verses God creates - the first three days - what we're talking about - God creates the environment for creatures then the last three days he creates the creatures. So yeah, we're in our study guide dealing with origins now and Genesis chapter 1 and I'll read verses 1 through 13 if you can bear with me. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." - By the way, I'm in the new king James version - "the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, 'let there be light'; and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, 'let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the Waters from the waters.' Thus 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. And God called the firmament heaven.
So the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, 'let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear'; and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, 'let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth'; and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day." Now those are the passages. I always like to do that just because I sometimes don't finish the lesson but at least I finished the Scripture that we're supposed to cover by reading it. Sometimes I think that if we did anything - if we could only do one thing in church - if we read the word - you know that's what Jesus did on Sabbath.
It says, 'as his custom was he stood up in the synagogue and read the Scriptures.' And then he would expound them, of course. So, with that as our backdrop, let's get into day #1 talking about 'forming the world.' Now really what's happening - in the first three days God is creating the perfect environment for life. You know, I've seen a number of programs that talk about the debate between evolution and creation and one of the most powerful was produced by a number of scientists - phd's - that talked about how the astronomical odds of having our planet in just the very perfect situation - there's a very narrow razor-thin line of where a planet could be to sustain life. That's why - to our knowledge - none of the other moons around jupiter or other planets in our solar system - we have no evidence there's any life there after having sent the voyager spacecraft looking - taking pictures - and they're inhospitable to life. Our planet has this very unique combination - very rare combination - the magnetic field that keeps the earth from being bombarded by rays is just perfect.
The distance from the earth, the oxygen components in the atmosphere - everything had to be so precise - the amount of gravity - there are so many things that were - if they were just slightly different there would be no life. And for it to happen accidentally starts seeming more and more remote. I remember a few years ago - matter of fact, I think I've got the notes of this here in my lessons - I do. I talked about this once years ago at an evangelistic meeting. The biosphere 2 - have any of you heard about this? It's about a half an hour out of tucson and it says here, "this was a state-of-the-art greenhouse complex built on three acres in the Arizona desert.
This huge sealed computer-controlled environment" - matter of fact, I think we've got a picture of it we can put up on the screen - sherle - of the biosphere 2. This was built on three acres in the Arizona desert. It's a computer-controlled environment - it was intended to be a miniature version of the much larger biosphere 1 - that really is earth - so they called this biosphere 2 - they wanted to be sort of self-contained. "It was completed in 1991 at the cost of $200 million" - that would be about $300 million today - "with five wilderness areas that range from rainforest to desert and it was stocked with thousands of exotic plants and animals and eight humans" - biospherians - were supposed to go in there and live completely within this environment. The oxygen was supposed to come within the environment and the birds and the different creatures and they were to live off the land - except for outside communications - "the designers envisioned that biosphere 2 would be the first step towards human colonization of mars through man creating this perfect self-contained environment.
But when this land-locked Noah's ark set sail for its two-year voyage of discovery" - from 1991 to 1993 - these eight people - scientists - went inside, sealed themselves off, were going to live just inside this perfect man-made environment - "it ran aground on a host of unforeseen environmental and human disasters. Oxygen levels immediately began to drop so low that they had to to pump in outside oxygen." - They thought they'd get enough just from the plants that they had stocked it with but the animals and the people, I guess, breathe much more than the plants were putting out. "Most of the birds and animals inside died except for the crazy ants and the cockroaches that seemed to fill the place and thrive." They said that if there's a nuclear attack that you'll probably find ants and cockroaches will still survive. I know that cockroaches would make it. I lived in New York city and miami and they're hard to get rid of.
So man's proud vision of utopia on earth sort of became a joke. It was abandoned and later bought by the university of Arizona and it's sort of used to do different experiments now. They discovered how hard it is - how very difficult it can be for man to create the perfect environment - with all of our planning and sophistication we couldn't create it and yet God manages to have this healing self-contained environment all over the planet. Well, he did this in the first three days of creation. So, we're going to look at some of the verses that talk about this.
The first section is 'without form and void' - we're going to break down verses 1 and 2 of Genesis and there's so much here we won't get to it all. But someone look up for me psalm verses 1 and 2 - we've given out some different slips of verses and if you've got that one - we've got a microphone here - okay - we'll get to you in just a moment. This is the part we're looking at in Genesis 1, verses 1 and 2, "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
" So one thing it tells us there is in this first statement - it sort of has this statement - it's a summary of the work of creation. It's the epitome of everything - in the beginning God. Now, how far back does God go? Why don't you read for us psalm verses 1 and 2, please. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
" So how far does God go back? He is from everlasting to everlasting. He exists and he is God and watches over everything. And in the beginning was God. God is self-existent. He's always been there.
It says that the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the water. You know, right in the beginning God says, 'let us make man in our image.' So you've got plural. And then among the plural - and then you read, of course, all things that were made were made by Jesus. So you've got God The Father and then you've got God The Son, and then you read in the first verses of the Bible, 'and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.' You find the Spirit in the very beginning - do you find the Spirit in the end of the Bible too? 'And the Spirit and the bride say 'come' and whosoever is athirst let him come.' And so, you see God all the way from beginning to end here in the Bible. This - now when it says the earth was without form and void - this has been much debated - you know, it tells us what God did in the first three days - or in the first six days of creation - it tells us what happened on first day, second day, third day - we're going to look at that.
But when it says, 'the earth was without form and void' some are wondering on the first day does God speak the mass of the planet into existence that day or does he come to this part of the universe - in other words, did God make all of the infinite cosmos in those first four days where it says, you know, he made the stars? Or when it says he made the sun, the moon, and the stars, could it be talking about the sun, moon, and stars in our galaxy? Now, you realize there's like billion stars in our galaxy. Do we know that God had other created beings before Genesis chapter 1? When the world was created does it say 'when all The Sons of God shouted for joy and the stars sang?' It's talking about angels - maybe creatures from other planets that rejoiced when our world was made. So the idea that these first six days is when everything else that God made was made and he had nothing else before then is really not biblical. Whether or not the first day he spoke our planet into existence, that's up for debate. I always read it and I've had people show me other verses that seem to imply that this planet was made - the matter itself - on the first day, but I always read it that he came to this corner of the cosmos and there was this chaotic orb and he said, you know, I'm going to begin creating now.
The earth was without form and void and then he begins creating. It's like you find this lump of clay and you start working with it. It may have looked something like our moon except different because the way it's worded it tells us that there were waters - so it's almost like there's a liquefied mush of rock and - because he ends up separating them, right? So we knew there was water on the planet because he's got to separate them. So what it looked like - it was a big mud pie. Have you ever had your kids make something out of a mud pie? I mean, it was - it was just chaotic - it may not have even been an orb, we don't know.
The word - it's like the 'abussos' - it's a surging mass of water - the waters are called the deep. And so he began his work on the planet there in those first days - in the first few days. Isaiah 45:18, "for thus says the lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: 'I am the Lord, and there is no other.'" So we find in the first three days that God is creating the perfect environment that is going to be inhabited by his creatures. All right, let's move on to the next section here under 'light' and we've got to read Genesis 1, verses 3 through 5 one more time here. And it's interesting when you read these three verses - Genesis 1:3, 4, and 5, "then God said, 'let there be light'; and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good;" - wait a second - did God suddenly say, 'hey, light's a good thing. Glad I made it'? Had God not seen light before? Then is he saying, 'hey this light's pretty good!' As though he just discovered it or is he declaring something good for our benefit? Yeah, God already knew everything. How well does God see in the dark? Can God see perfectly in the dark? So when he - it's not like God said, 'whew, I'm glad I did that!' - It's like, you know, you're stumbling around through your house because there's a power failure and you find a flashlight and go 'oooh, light is good.' It's not like that because God - he sees perfectly anytime, doesn't he? Something else you'll notice, it says, - he said, 'let there be light and there was light' - notice he just says, 'let there be.' By His Word it comes into existence. "And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night.
So the evening and the morning were the first day." Light is mentioned five times in those verses if I counted right - let there be light - light - light - light - light - yep, five times he mentions light right there in the beginning of the Bible. You know, the Bible has a lot to say about light. Somebody look up for me Psalms 139:12. We've got a hand over here. Did you get that verse? Who? Someone over here has it? Okay.
Psalm 139, verse 12 - I'm going to read 1 John 1:5, "this is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all." Now, what day does God make the sun? I'm running ahead, we'll get to this later - fourth day, right? He doesn't make the light until - he makes the light on the first day and he makes the vegetation on the third day. Did Moses suddenly realize, 'oops, I've made the vegetation and I forgot to make the sun. I better throw in the sun here now'? Or was Moses aware that these things - and how does God make day and night and there's no sun yet? I mean, didn't Moses realize that? Well, the answer is, God is light and in him is no darkness. So when God comes to this dark chaotic part of the universe and either speaks this mass into existence or finds it there because he had previously created the matter of the earth, his presence brings light. Alright, go ahead, psalm 139:12.
"Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to you." God sees just as well with his eyes closed as he does with them open, doesn't he? Alright, somebody look up for me Revelation 22:5 - where do we have that? We've given verses out - you got that one? Let's get you a microphone - we gave somebody Malachi 4:2 - I don't know if that - you'll be next then, okay? And while we're looking at that I'm going to read John - now this is the gospel of John - a minute ago I read 1 John 1:5 now I'm reading the gospel of John chapter 1, verse 5 - they could be confused - and I'll read through verse 9. "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend (or overcome) it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." - John the baptist - "this man came for a witness to bear witness to the light, that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
" Isn't it interesting that in the beginning of the gospel of John - something like the beginning of the Bible - you've got this big emphasis on the word 'light' and the word 'light' is mentioned several times here, but it's not talking about the sun, it's talking about The Son of God. Alright, so read for us Revelation 22:5 please. "There shall be no night there: they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever." I had a step-father that was employed by ibm and he used to tell me - he was always talking to me about science but he talked to me about how rich you'd be if you could discover cold light because light naturally produces heat and, you know, they're getting closer and closer to understanding ways to have cooler light and these little led bulbs that they've developed now use very little energy and they're very bright, but they still do emit heat. What is the power source for the new Jerusalem? What illuminates the city of God? Is it the sun? Now, keep in mind it does not say in this verse that we just read in Revelation 22 that there is no sun.
It says there is no need of the sun because the Lord illuminates the city, right? Alright, we're going to jump on to 'the heaven created' in Genesis 1, verses 6 through 8. I need somebody to look up for me job 37 - job 37:18 - we gave that to somebody. Got a hand over here. And reading Genesis 1:6 through 8. "Then God said, 'let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
' Thus 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. And God called the firmament heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day." Now, when we say the word 'heaven' what are we typically thinking about? When we say 'our father which art in heaven' are we thinking about what God made on the second day of creation? No, we're thinking about that dwelling place of God off in paradise somewhere, right? Well here it says God created a heaven. What heaven is he speaking of? You've got this atmosphere. And it says he separated the waters - he talks about the waters below from the waters above.
You know, it's very interesting because the word that is used here for heaven is the Hebrew word 'rachia' and it means - it's often used in the Bible to describe like a layer of metal that has been hammered into a thin sheet. It talks about the heavens above - it's like this sheet - this tent - this pavilion above the earth. But how is it that the waters above are separated from the waters below? Did it rain up until Genesis 9? Or is it Genesis 8 when the rain comes? I think it's Genesis 9. There was no rain. What happened? So the clouds that we've got, like today, floating around in the sky did they have that back then? What did the sky look like? It kind of tells us that there was this layer of water that was somehow suspended - waters - must have been a lot of water because the Bible tells us when the flood began the windows of heaven were opened and the water fell from the sky in great cataracts.
I mean, there were waters below and waters above and God had them separated with this atmosphere. Now there is good evidence for this - I'll tell you why. They haven't come up with - geologists have not come up with a really good explanation for how you can find tropical fossils in the north and south poles. The whole temperature of the planet must have been much more mild. The harsh regions of the arctic and the antarctic did not exist at some point in the past because you've got these great oil reserves up in Alaska and siberia - what does that come from? Copious amounts of animal and plant material that has died - I mean, just rich, thick jungles.
They found mastodons that were suddenly frozen chewing on ferns - tropical ferns. And so, something very different happened to our planet. You know, it's been hypothesized that there was this sheet - this vapor - this layer - this ceiling of water that completely enveloped the earth and, you know, we can even see that in other moons and planets in the solar system where it seems like there's an envelope around it and it looks solid from the outside. You know, our planet, you look at our planet and it constantly has the variegated colors of white and blue that change as the clouds move around the planet - do you know what I'm talking about? Like a satellite photo of the weather. But some of these planets look solid but we know from probes that it's atmosphere that is suspended somehow.
I don't know how God did it and I don't understand all the physics behind it but there was an envelope of water completely surrounding the planet prior to the flood that polarized the temperature so the whole planet had a beautiful even temperature and everything was watered from this mist that came up in the morning. Heavens - the waters above, then there was an atmosphere, then the waters below. Does that make sense? Alright I gave somebody job 37:18 - who has that? I forget. Over here - are we ready for that? Yeah. "Hast thou, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong and as a molten looking glass?" Now when it says, 'molten looking glass' there that means a mirror that - they used to hammer their mirrors and polish them and make them smooth but they were made out of metal and when they looked up, they saw the heavens differently than we do.
I don't know exactly what they saw, but they may have been able to see through it. Who knows, it may have magnified the stars so they could see them better. I mean, there's some mysteries we don't understand but there was a layer above - it did not rain the way it does now. And so, when it says 'heavens' in the Bible, the jews understood there were three words for heaven - we've talked about this before. You had the first heavens, which is the atmosphere around the planet where the clouds presently float and the birds fly that - up until you get to the stratosphere you've got this atmosphere we breathe.
Then you have the heavens where our planets are suspended - the sun and the moon and the stars - at least in the milky way galaxy - our native neighboring stars. And then you had the dwelling place of God was called the third heaven. That's why Paul says, 'I knew a man that was caught up to the third heaven' where God actually lives and no, the Bible does not talk about a seventh heaven or a fifth or a sixth or a fourth - it just goes up to the third heaven. And, yes, some people have made those things up. Let me give you some more evidence for this.
In 2 Peter 3, verse 5, "for this they willfully forget: that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water was in the water." And then you jump down to 2 Peter 3, verse 12, "looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?" What heavens are going to be on fire - the dwelling place of God? The place where the stars hang out there? Or is it talking about our atmosphere? Why is our planet - our heavens and our earth going to burn when the Lord comes? First of all, to purify. Is our world polluted? Creation waxes old like a garment. Are the - is the atmosphere polluted? Does it need a cleansing? And so, that's one reason, but the starry, you know, space when you're leaving and going off to other galaxies, it's not been contaminated by sin - that's not the part, I believe, that's going to be burning. It's here on earth he's going to purify things. And let me give you another verse here that I thought was interesting.
Isaiah 40, verses 12 and 13, "who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has taught him?" When God talks about the scope of what he's made in the universe he says, you know, for him he puts the mountains in a little scale on his desk - and you think about how big mountains are for us - he measures out the heavens with a span. Now you've heard about furlongs in the Bible and it'll talk about Sabbath day's journey and a cubit - cubit was roughly the distance from your elbow to your first knuckle - this is called a cubit - it's about 18 inches. A span was half a cubit. A span is the distance between the outermost fingers when you stretch your hands. So they would measure, back then, and that was a span.
And where do you think we get the word for a foot? Kind of self-explanatory. And people used to pace things off - they'd go like this - that's supposed to be one foot - and it kind of messed up the carpenters because - at least in england for a while - the measurement was always based upon the King's foot - whoever happened to be the King. So if you had a king with a big foot - big foot king - his name was king yeti. So if you had a king with a big foot and he was then followed by a king with a little tiny foot, it just really messed up all the measurements in the Kingdom so they ended up with what they called the 'standardized' foot. And we're still messed up when you go from europe to America and you've got so many 'stone' in europe and so many 'pounds' in America.
And they call their money 'pounds' and we call them dollars and it's confusing. But what was I saying? Oh yeah, so when God looks down and he talks about our heavens - how vast they are for us - it says he measures it with a span and for him it's nothing - our sky. So when he speaks these things into existence - and then he separates them - again he separates - you notice all three times he does three during these three days. There are three separations. He does a separation of time.
He does a separation of the earth and the waters. And he does a separation from the waters above and the waters below in creating the atmosphere. Alright, moving along, 'space for living' - oh, you know, one more thing while we're talking about the atmosphere - somebody was pointing out to me or I actually saw it on one of these creation dvds - the delicate balance in our atmosphere is so precise that if the oxygen content was a little higher the air would burn. If it was a little lower and there was more co2 nothing would survive. It is such a perfectly balanced situation that it's amazing.
Now, you know, there probably has been an alteration in the atmosphere following the flood. So many of the creatures were so much bigger. That could be because of the radiation that hits and, you know, our tissues break down, our cells break down. That's one reason people grow old - our cells don't renew as much. This field of water that was around the world - it had a polarizing influence that actually protected the creatures and they were designed to live longer.
Do we all agree with that? Before the flood they were living longer and the atmosphere content - the oxygen content could have been a little better. You know there - I can't explain it all but is it called the hyper - hypo - hyperbaric oxygen chambers where they put people - I'm looking at dr. Derose - where they put people in a chamber and it's got more - a higher content of oxygen that is pressurized air and it somehow promotes healing - is that right? Is that the rough content of that? How many of you have heard of that now? Well, we may have had - the earth may have been more of a hyperbaric chamber with higher oxygen content. Why do I say that? Was there more vegetation? Were there the vast deserts in the world that we have today - before the flood? Or the briny oceans that we have today? No, there was a lot more foliage and maybe a better oxygen content - but below the burning level. And so creatures got bigger, they lived longer, and things have been handicapped because of sin.
'Space for living' - somebody look up for me - I didn't give it to anyone but I'm just going to call out here psalm 104, verses 13 and 14 - psalm :13-14 - I need a volunteer. Brother boatright, we're glad you're here - wish you were closer to the microphone. Hold up your hand, David, so she can see you. And I'm going to read Genesis 1:9 through 13. Now we're looking at these last days of creation, "then God said, 'let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.
';" - Okay, he's separated the waters below from the waters above and now he's separating the waters on the planet. "And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas." And so it says in your lesson then the continents were formed. But, you know, I might want to say it right here - and, you know, I don't know this for a certainty, but how many of you have heard the theory of the continental drift that - there's probably some truth to it - you know, the different continents our world sits on these tectonic plates that seem to slide gradually. I think they're moving very, very gradually now but I believe immediately after the flood there was very rapid movement and violent change happening on the planet and some of these mountain ranges were pushed up and things were happening much quicker than you're hearing.
The reason I say that is the first world that God made where he separated the water and the land - the continents probably looked different, don't you think? And that's why, when they try to pinpoint mount ararat - or exactly where the ark settled, and where the rivers - you know there were four rivers coming out of eden then - they may not be in exactly the same places now as they were then because there's been such a convulsion in the planet on the land that - you know, water goes to the lowest point - who knows exactly where they were. So they gave the Euphrates and the tigris the old names, but they can't find the other two rivers that were coming out of eden - at least nothing prominent that they can find. So when you think about the continent, I think they - people who theorize the continents all shifted they say prior to this cataclysm that caused this great continental shift - they said it was all one continent - is it pangea? Panagea? I forget. Pangea? Yeah, so it was all one place. Now they - you know, it is kind of interesting how south America kind of fits there into the notch of africa and some of the other land masses seem to come together.
And when they look at the geology on these coasts there's similarity so it may have been that way, but - when God makes the new heaven and the new earth it says there is no more sea. Does that mean there's no more water? Does that mean it's back the way it was again before the flood? Don't know. Alright go ahead David, read for us psalm 104. "He watereth the hills from his chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth.
" So what are the reasons he separates the waters from the waters? Do you think the waters in the ocean were salt back then? I don't think so. I don't think it would have stung your eyes or made you gag to drink it. I think that the flood disturbed the great salt caverns of the earth and it mingled up with the oceans and that's how we ended up with the salt seas. I think it was all fresh back then. So God is now creating an environment where vegetation can grow both in the oceans and on the land because he's going to feed all his creatures with this.
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man that it might bring forth fruit. So now he's still working to prepare this perfect environment. Now, it's interesting also - God makes the vegetation. Not only does he separate the waters below from the waters above, but he makes the vegetation for the animals on this day. It says, "and the earth brought forth" - I'm in verse 12 of Genesis 1, "the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good." So would that be the day that God made the bananas? That's a trick question. There were no bananas. You say, Pastor Doug, are you telling me God didn't create bananas? Not as bananas. Do you know how you get a banana? It's a hybrid of two asian plants. There were probably no bananas.
I think when God told adam and eve to then - to dress and to keep the garden - that they had the pleasure of creating these great varieties of plants. Do you know how many different kinds of fig trees there are in the world? So when God first made the world there may have been a few different kinds of fig trees but I think many more have developed through cross-pollination since then. You know what I'm saying? So he made the great kinds and I think part of the work of man was to then work with that - look at the incredible diversity of plants. Now, in the same way that plants can't live without the sun - but he hasn't made the sun yet, has he? Has God made the sun? How long are they going to live without sun? Do you know he also made the plants on the third day but can plants live without certain animals and insects? A lot of plants just will not pollinate - they will not survive - they won't last long without the animals. So if each of these days of creation really represents millennia or thousands of years or millions of years, would that make sense? They've got to be literal -hour days because these things are all co-dependent on one another.
And so, I don't accept the idea - and, by the way, if you believe Jesus - Jesus said, 'if you believe my word you would believe Moses.' And Jesus said, you know, you've got to believe Moses. Did Jesus say that adam and eve were made in the beginning? Yeah, Jesus - did Jesus talk about Noah as though it really happened? And Jonah? So a lot of these stories in the Bible that the evolutionists say were just myths - well, they've also got to make the teachings of Jesus a myth too because Jesus spoke about these things as though they are literal, real days. The word that is being used here for today - the word 'yom' is typically used in the Bible for a 24-hour period. And so, we believe that God could do it. And you know what confuses people - and I've talked about this before - is but it seems to be that there are certain ages - for instance, they've found petrified trees that have hundreds of rings in them.
And so, doesn't it mean that there were thousands of years that went by? And I asked the question, 'when God first made adam how old was he?' He was just a baby but he probably looked like a -year-old baby 20-feet tall. No, I don't mean he looked like a baby - you know what I'm saying? His first day of life did he look like a baby crawling around or did he make him as a fully developed man? He came factory prepared to run right away. So when he made the first tree did it have tree rings? Did adam have evidence of being years old - 40 - whatever his perfect age was? - You pick what you think the perfect age is for man. Adam was made with this perfect adult age, right? So he had age built into him. Big question is did he have a belly button? Right? So the trees, the first trees that God made - don't you think they were bigger than trees we have now? The rings of a tree - somehow the cells work as a sponge to draw water up to their vast heights - they pump at great distances against gravity.
You ever seen how amazing it is that a tree can go way down in the ground - measure from the bottom of a tree's roots sometime to the top of the tree - maybe 200-feet high - how it is pumping water uphill through its cells? The rings of a tree are part of that process. So did the first trees have rings? On the first day of their life they had evidence of age. See what I'm saying? Could he do that with rocks? When people say, 'well, we dated the rocks. They're billions of years old.' So? What prevents God from making his first rocks where they had built-in age. And the stars - 'the light from the stars has been coming for millions of years because of how long it takes light to move and so we know that it's been vast periods of time.
' Couldn't God create - when he says 'let there be light' - the light beams are already en route. Can he do that? Is that against the rules for him? Who makes the rules? So why does anyone have a problem with that? That's never been a problem for me. And so when people say, 'ah, we've looked and there's great age.' Yeah? God could have started out that way. See what I'm saying? So, alright, enough about that. We'll get to the last section here, 'God's all-powerful word.
' Alright, 2 Corinthians 4:6, "for it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." You know, the power of God to just speak these things into existence - I always love the stories in the Bible where Jesus said, 'be' - because it's Christ's - you know, I mentioned to you I think last week when that leper came to Jesus he said, 'lord, if you are willing you can make me clean.' And the Lord said, 'I am willing. Be thou clean.' And then you read in, I believe it's 1 Peter, where God says, 'be holy for I am holy.' Is there creative power in the Word of God? God can just speak things into existence and when he says something - when it's the King's will - who was it? Stonewall jackson once got a message from robert e. Lee and he said, 'at your convenience I'd like to see you.' Well, when he got the message it was a blizzard in the winter during the civil war and he immediately set out at night - rode horseback all night long through this blizzard and when he shows up robert e. Lee was surprised to see jackson there. He said, 'what are you doing?' He said, 'well you said you wanted to see me.
' He said, 'at your convenience. You didn't have to ride through a blizzard.' He said, 'oh, but your wish is my command.' And so when God speaks something, all of inanimate nature must obey. You know, it's interesting, I think, that when Christ was dying on the cross there was an earthquake. It's almost like nature convulsed and the day went dark and the sun refused to shine. It was like nature was responding to nature's creator because the power of God's Word is so amazing.
And then you've got psalm - I'm sorry - Isaiah 55:11. God says, 'so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." God says when he speaks it's going to do what he tells it to do. Well, we are out of time and I want to remind those who maybe didn't hear the first time, but we have a special offer for you and it's called 'how evolution flunked the science test' - written by Joe Crews. It's a good book - has good principles on understanding the relationship between creation and evolution. Yours for free - it's offer #169 - when you call ask for offer #169 and that number again is -788-3966 and God bless 'til we study again next time.
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org. Journey back through time to the center of the universe. Discover how a perfect angel transformed into satan the arch villain. The birth of evil. A rebellion in heaven.
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