Regeneration and Replenishment of Earth

Adult Sunday School - Part 3 - Regeneration and Replenishment of Earth

And so we come to Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

We have seen in the previous part how the earth was laid waste, being void, and without form and without light. It was time for God to remake the vessel :

Jer. 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make.

If we read this story as the story of creation, we will see many anomalies and discrepancies. If we read it as the regeneration of earth, we will find it interesting. If we read between the lines or on a deeper level, we will find it vital and exciting - and I will try to bring all three to you.

Seen as a story of creation.

The first thing you may ask me is : Is this not the story of creation? And my answer would be : 'No'. If this was in fact the story of creation, as many people would have it to be, then please consider these anomalies:

1.     How can the earth have been in chaos just after God made the heaven and earth in Gen 1:1? Surely God only creates perfect and beautiful things.

        The reason is found in my previous part where God almost totally destroyed the earth due to the iniquity of mankind.

2.     In this piece God says over and over again : 'Let there be ... light etc.'. If it was creation, He would have created light according to one of the verbs I previously enumerated in a previous part. These verbs were : prepared, set, established, strengthened, gave, appointed, brought forth, settled, made as we read in Proverbs 8.  

        The reason for this is that He had already created all these things previously, and here He only reinstates them.

3.     The light appears in verse three on the first day of the week, whilst the sun and moon only appeared on the third day. This means that the light of the existing sun started to shine through the mist and smoke of the darkness on earth only during the course of the first day and it only became visible on the third day. 

        -  Firstly, it says that the sun and the moon started to shine on the third day. We all know that the sun is very much older than the moon, and thus, it was only on the third day when the semi darkness cleared up, that the sun and moon, which both existed from the first day, could shine through the mist and smoke, much like the morning mist and cloud breaks up to form openings.

         - Secondly, this story specifically states that it was evening and it was morning the third day. How could days be counted when there was no sun on the first two days?

        - Thirdly, it is stated over and over again that God made the earth in six earth days as we know days (and it was morning and it was evening the first day ....), whilst it is general knowledge that it took many years and maybe even millennia for God to create the heavens and earth.

        Some say that for God one day is like a thousand years, meaning the heavens and earth was made in six thousand years. The scripture emphatically says six days. Even if you believe in the six thousand years, then we know that it is not a correct interpretation, as many excavated cities are much older than the six thousand years postulated. Troy and Jericho are examples.

        You do however touch on the deeper meaning of the scripture when you think about six thousand years, but we should not confuse the literal and the deeper meaning. Each has its own way of counting days.

4.     What does Proverbs 8 then mean if it does not refer to the creation of the earth and the sky?

5.     Who lived in the cities which Cain fled to, if Adam, Eve and Cain were the only people created, and where did Cain and Set find wives?

        The only feasible explanation can be that is was from the people who survived the first destruction of earth. Scripture says a few survived.

6.     Who would have killed Cain according to his words in Gen 4:14 ... and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

7.     We must explain on which of these six days Satan was cast out of heaven, because we already find him in Gen 3:1 busy deceiving Adam and Eve. The only consistent explanation is that he was cast out before the first day.

8.     We must explain with whom Jesus Christ played on earth (see Prov. 8:31). During, and since this story of Adam and Eve, Jesus Christ has never played with mankind on earth.

9.     Genesis says that on the seventh day God rested from His works. It is a fact that God does not presently rest, because he does a work in each person's soul, he works for our salvation and safety, and He maintains His creation.

        Jesus Christ says in Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected (rest).

        It is clear from this that He did not enter His rest yet.

Seen as a story of the regeneration of earth.

Seen as a story of the regeneration of earth, I find no anomalies in these verses, and it therefore appears reasonable to accept that it was in fact the regeneration of the earth. I am however not dogmatic about it and accept that there may be other explanations.

Seen as the story of the coming history of God and mankind.

Here we find this story vital and exciting, and we must read it in a spiritual way.

Firstly we look at the six days which we then interpret as six thousand years according to the guidance of the scripture in 2 Peter 3:8 and Ps 90:4.

The counting of a day as a thousand years, is repeated again and again in the prophecies of the Bible. To give you one instance by Jesus Christ Himself :

Luk 10:35  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence (one for each day), and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

Here Jesus Christ tells the inn keeper that He is going away for two thousand years. I will not labour this point any longer as you can study this aspect yourself in Ex 12:3-6 and Rev. 20:2. The six thousand years are now almost past and we are waiting for the seventh day, when God and we shall rest.

This story stops abruptly on the seventh day, only because the seventh day only dawns in Revelation 21, where the story is continued. Let us try and map Genesis to Revelation, and see the striking similarities :

Similarity 1.

Genesis : There was chaos on earth.

Revelations : There was chaos on earth after the seven seals. The earth had been struck by a meteorite (about which I will specially dedicate one part in this series).

Similarity 2.

Genesis : There was the tree of life standing in the middle of paradise, which was guarded by angels with swords, lest man should taste of it whilst in a state of sin.

Revelation : In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, ...

Similarity 3.

Genesis : God prepared a bride for Adam from a small part of his body - a rib.

Revelation : God prepared a bride for His son Jesus Christ from a small part of the body of Christ (His church)

Similarity 4.

Genesis : The seventh day was a day of rest, when the works of God had been completed.

Revelation : The seventh thousand year was a year of rest known as the Kingdom of Peace : Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

There are many bother similarities, if you care to study it in detail.

Conclusion.

So yes, it may be that the regeneration of earth was in six days, but here one has to read deeper into the story because it is a summary of the whole plan that God has in store for us and for the earth, over a period of six thousand years.

One last note - and I will come back to this again and again.

Scripture has a depth of meaning far in excess of what we can understand or fathom in the text itself. When we read a verse, this verse has different levels of meaning, and we sometimes find a deeper meaning than what we literally read. We must look out for these deeper meanings which are disguised in the text. In fact, there are so many different levels, that we will only one day in the hereafter really understand what is contained therein.

In later parts I will talk a lot about types. If we learn about types we can delve into deeper meanings of the text. Some things can only be found if we meditate over scripture and study it. In this manner Jesus Christ was disguised in the Old Testament to the extent that the Jews never could imagine that the Messiah had to die. But it is all there in black and white in stories, prophecies and in types, long before the time.


Regeneration and Replenishment of Earth. - by P.K.Odendaal - July 2012