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Creation and Evolution:
The Bible Explanation
In this third and final installment, we examine the findings of modern science
in the light of God's Word.
by Mario Seiglie
In the first two installments of
this series, we examined the weaknesses of the theory of evolution as an explanation
for the bewildering complexity of the forms of life we see around us. Now we turn
to the Bible itself to see what the Creator God says about His creation.
One important principle to keep in mind is that God does not usually explain all
there is to know about a subject in one place in the Bible. His Word is not organized
so we can turn to one passage and read all of God's revelation about a particular
truth.
God's truths are not revealed all at once. Although He often provides a broad outline
of a truth early in the Scriptures, we find that He later fills in many of the details
elsewhere in the Bible. The Bible itself speaks of this principle when it talks of
"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers
by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son . . ."
(Hebrews 1:1-2).
The Nature of Revelation
The Hebrew prophets did not always understand the significance of the prophecies
they recorded under God's inspiration (Daniel 12:8-9). Their knowledge of the particular
truth they received was incomplete.
"Of this salvation," writes the apostle Peter, ́the prophets have inquired and searched
carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or
what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ (which) was in them was indicating when
(it) testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering
the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the
gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which angels desire to
look into" (1Peter 1:10-12).
The prophets obviously had partial information about eternal truths revealed to them.
This is also the case with the account of creation in Genesis 1. God would reveal
additional details later. Many Bible readers, however, mistakenly assume everything
the Bible has to say about creation is explained there. Yet the Bible adds details
later that make clarify the Genesis 1 account.
Details About the Creation
Consider, for example, that Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth." It might seem as if this verse describes the beginning of
everything, but God later reveals details of events and conditions that took place
earlier.
The apostle John, writing under God's inspiration, takes us back to a time before
events described in Genesis 1. "In the beginning," he states, ́was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made"
(John 1:1-3, emphasis added throughout).
Here the Bible reveals that, before the creation of the heavens and the earth described
in Genesis 1, the Word was with God and God made everything through the Word. None
of this is revealed in the Genesis account, yet these details help us understand
who God was in the beginning and at the time of the earth's creation. We see that
John gives us more information that helps us understand what happened "in the beginning"
in Genesis 1.
Similarly, Genesis 1:2 describes the earth as being "without form, and void." This
sketchy description offers no explanation as to why the earth was in this condition.
However, God reveals more details in other parts of His Word. We have to compile
and consider all pertinent scriptures on a subject to gain a complete understanding.
For example, in another passage God explains that angels were present at the creation
of the earth. The book of Genesis doesn't mention this, but it is an important truth.
We find this detail recorded in the book of Job, where God asks Job, "Where were
you when I laid the foundations of the earth? . . . Who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted with joy? (Job 38:4,6-7). The "morning stars" and ́sons of Godî--the angels--exulted as they saw
the earth miraculously come into being from nothing.
The Angelic Revolt
A key to understanding why the earth was "without form and void" involves what
happened to some of these angels. Again, nothing of this angelic story is described
in Genesis. But later in His Word, God reveals there was a great angel, Lucifer,
who rebelled against Him. "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you
have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God . . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I
will be like the Most High' " (Isaiah 14:12-14).
Here God explains that this Lucifer had a throne, representing a position of leadership
and authority. He rose from somewhere below to try to overthrow God, but was cast
down again "to the ground."
Where was this place where Lucifer had his throne? Jesus Christ, whom we saw earlier
was the "Word" alongside God at the creation, reveals more details. ́I saw Satan
fall like lightning from heaven," He said (Luke 10:18). Lucifer, who became Satan,
was cast down from heaven--to the earth!
The Bible explains that Satan retains his authority over this planet. Notice what
Satan told Christ: "Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him
all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to Him, 'All this authority I will
give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever
I wish' " (Luke 4:5-6).
Christ resisted this temptation but did not dispute the assertion of Satan's present
authority. The Bible shows in many places that Satan has authority over the earth.
He is even called "the god of this age" in 2Corinthians 4:4.
It is no accident that in Genesis 3, shortly after God created Adam and Eve, that
Satan appeared on the scene. The earth was--and still is--his domain. He had been
cast down to earth before man's creation took place. As noted in the account of the
temptation of Christ, Satan had received authority over the earth. He then rebelled
against God in a battle in which he was cast down to the earth, as Christ recounted.
The earth is Satan's realm. The book of Job records God asking Satan, "From where
do you come?" Satan's reply was, "From going to and fro on the earth and from walking
back and forth on it" (Job 1:7).
How Earth Became Waste and Empty
In Genesis we do not see details of the awe-inspiring initial creation, the creation
long before Adam and Eve about which angels sang for joy. We do not read how that
creation came to be in chaos--"without form and void."
The text, though, does offer clues. Notice how the New International Version has
a marginal notation regarding the translation of Genesis 1:2: "Now the earth was
(or possibly became) formless and empty . . ."
Does God reveal elsewhere in his Word how the earth came to be in this disorderly
state, "formless and empty"? He gives us some telling hints in the book of Isaiah.
"For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth
and made it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited"
(Isaiah 45:18).
The term in vain here is the same word translated "without form" in Genesis 1:2. Yet Isaiah records God as saying He did not originally create the earth in this
condition. Other scriptures, such as Isaiah 34:11 and Jeremiah 4:23, describe similar
devastation on the earth using the same words translated "without form, and void"
in Genesis 1:2. There is no doubt that these words describe the earth as being an
empty, void wasteland.
The Genesis account simply does not provide all the details. But the Bible as a whole
fills in other parts of the story. The missing pieces are given in other scriptures,
which tell us of Satan's rebellion against God. They describe his attempt to overthrow
God, and, as a result of a great supernatural battle, the fact that he was cast down
again.
We see what appears to be a parallel situation in Revelation 12:7-9, which describes
an attempt by Satan to overthrow God shortly before Christ's return. "And war broke
out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and
his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven
any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil
and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels
were cast out with him."
Yet God has allowed Satan to retain authority over this present world. Satan even
offered Christ the opportunity to share rulership over the earth under him.
You can see that, when we examine all the Scriptures, we find a great deal more information
illuminating and explaining the Genesis account.
Earth Renewed and Restored
Consider another section of Scripture in which God inspired David to understand
more about His Creation. "O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have
made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions . . . You send forth
Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth" (Psalm 104:24,30).
The surface of the earth needed a renewal when God created the present life forms
we see around us. So what does the fossil record depict? It shows a series of fossilized
life forms an average of a mile deep in the earth's crust. Man as we know him, made
in God's image with enormous creative and spiritual abilities, has a recorded history
of only a little more than 5,000 years.
This is a tiny span of time compared with the age of the earth and stars around us,
as evidenced by radioactivity and other scientific findings. Man, in an incredibly
short time, built the pyramids--which to this day defy imitation. Man has traveled
to the moon and sent spacecraft to explore our solar system and beyond. Such achievements
show the enormous difference in the earth before and after Adam.
How long did the angels exist before man was created? The Bible doesn't reveal the
answer. How long did it take Lucifer to persuade as many as a third of the angels
to rebel with him? (Revelation 12:4). Remember, angels are immortal beings for whom
aging is of no consequence (Luke 20:36). Whatever length of time this might be, perhaps
millions of years, the angels were created and lived before the creation of
Adam and Eve and the days of the renewal of the earth described in Genesis.
Why did God create angels? "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister
for those who will inherit salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14). God "has not put the world
to come, of which we speak, in subjection to the angels" (Hebrews 2:5). God created
angels to serve mankind once it inherits the world to come. God is working out His
plan of salvation on earth. The creation waits for the glorious moment when man inherits
what God the Father has planned from the start.
"For I consider," writes the apostle Paul, ́that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the
earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of
God. For the creation was subjected to futility (waste), not willingly, but because
of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered
from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God" (Romans 8:18-21). (For more details, be sure to request your free booklets What Is Your
Destiny? and The Gospel of the Kingdom from the address nearest you listed
on page 2.)
The Bible Explanation
Can the Bible explain the fossil record, an ancient earth and divine creation
at the same time? Yes, it can. We don't know all the details of what happened before
man's time. But Christ has assured us that when He returns "there is nothing hidden
which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should
come to light" (Mark 4:22).
Instead of wandering through the confused, chaotic maze of the theory of evolution
like so many, we should look to God's Word for assurance. It is there--directly from
our Creator--that we find the truth of man's origin.
Perhaps the following quote from George Sim Johnston best sums up that truth: "The
book of Genesis has held up well under the scrutiny of modern geology and archaeology.
Twentieth-century physics, moreover, describes the beginning of the universe in virtually
the same cosmological terms as Genesis. Space, time and matter came out of nothing
in a single burst of light entirely hospitable to carbon-based life.
"A growing number of chemists and biologists agree that life had its origin from
clay templates (see Genesis 2:7), while genetic research asserts that we are all
descended from one woman. I would say all this is a curious development for Darwinists"
(Reader's Digest, May 1991, p. 31).
But these things aren't a "strange discovery" to those who faithfully believe, as
Christ did, in "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). They
know that such truths have been recorded for mankind in the Bible for thousands of
years.
It is to the Bible that we should turn for our moral standards, to discover our one
true source of salvation and, perhaps most of all, for our belief in the invisible
Creator God. Why, then, should we doubt the real origin of the species mentioned
in the creation epic, that rock-solid book of beginnings, Genesis?
The Creation-science Movement
One aspect of the creation-evolution debate involves numerous evangelical Christians
who oppose the theory of evolution. Their position is called creation science. Most
do not believe in an ancient earth. In general terms, they believe the entire geologic
column with its millions of fossils is the result of catastrophism, largely the result
of the biblical flood of Noah.
In 1981 the basic tenets of creation science were included in the
Arkansas "Act 590 of 1981":
(a) 'Creation-science' means the scientific evidences for creation and
inferences from those scientific evidences . . . It includes: (1) Sudden
creation of the universe, energy, and life from nothing; (2) The insufficiency of
mutation and natural selection in bringing about development of all living kinds
from a single organism; (3) Changes only within fixed limits of originally created
kinds of plants and animals; (4) Separate ancestry for man and apes; (5) Explanation
of the earth's geology by catastrophism, including the occurrence of a worldwide
flood; and (6) A relatively recent inception of the earth and living kinds.
SIDEBAR: Genesis 1: History or Myth?
To excuse the account of creation in Genesis 1, some attempt to explain it away
as poetry rather than literal history. They call it "the hymn to creation," although
this explanation is not supported in Scripture.
Genesis 1 was not written in poetic form. Conservative scholars have pointed out
all of Genesis, from chapters 1 through 50, is history written in the same narrative
form.
In his Introduction to the Old Testament, Edward Young states about the first
chapter of Genesis: "We are not to regard the chapter as the reworking by the Priestly
School of a myth that was common to ancient tradition. Rather, the chapter is
sober history. Although Genesis does not purport to be a textbook of science,
nevertheless, when it touches upon scientific subjects, it is accurate" (1964, p.
49, emphasis added).
When poetry is used in the Bible, it is clear that it is poetry. For instance, in
Genesis 4:23-24, Lamech's saying is in poetic form and is set off as such in most
Bible versions--yet Genesis 1 is not. The books of Job and the Psalms are written
in poetic style and are noted as such. However, Genesis 1 is written in a narrative
style, which continues throughout the book. It describes the creation in the same
style as the account of Abraham in chapter 12.
If we arbitrarily attribute an allegorical, nonliteral style to Genesis 1--when it
is not written in this form--then what is to stop anyone from discounting other portions
of Genesis or the Bible in the same way? Ultimately anything can be dismissed as
allegory, as was done by some of the misguided early church fathers and in more recent
years by liberal critics of the Bible.
Both grammar and style show that Genesis 1 was not written as poetry. Genesis 1 should
be taken at face value as the rest of the Scriptures.
--Mario Seiglie
© 1999 United Church of God, an International Association
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