Willie Martin
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 Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2003 4:59 am Post subject: Old People - 8 (Last One) |
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Let's now examine other passages in the Scriptures bearing
upon the creative processes. Through Isaiah the Prophet God
has made an interesting statement regarding His creative
work and the formation of that which He had CREATED.
"For thus saith the Lord that CREATED the heavens; god
himself that FORMED the earth and MADE it; he hath
ESTABLISHED it, he CREATED it not in vain, he FORMED it to
be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else."
(Isaiah 45:18)
The interesting use of the words CREATE and FORM in this
verse should settle the question raised by their use in the
first and second chapters of Genesis. A careful analysis of
the use here yields some very interesting results. In
Genesis 1:1 we are informed in one sweeping statement that
God CREATED the heaven (single) and the earth. By Isaiah we
are told that He FORMED the earth. It would have been
incorrect to have referred to the earth as FORMED in Genesis
1:1, for the coming was yet future to the thought expressed
in that verse. However, Isaiah could refer to the earth in
that way because the creative act as it applied to the earth
had by that time become a completed fact.
The Bible does not refer to the heavens as being FORMED in
the sense that they are a finished creation. There are,
however, instances where it is said that they are CREATED
and MADE. The Psalmist addresses a paean of praise to the
Lord, "To him that by wisdom made the heavens." (Psalm
136:5) In God's infinite wisdom the whole pattern of the
heavens and the ultimate form they will take is made in the
sense that it is a completed blueprint in His mind. But
until His creative act concerning the whole heavens becomes
a fully manifested reality, the final form of the heavens
will not become visible.
Ferrar Fenton renders an interesting translation of Isaiah
45:18:
"Thus says the Lord who CREATED the Suns, The God Who
FORMED Earth, and provided its laws, FORMED it not for a
waste, but for men to reside, I am Ever-Living, and none but
Myself."
This reference to the creation of the suns, or stars, is
interesting in the light of Ferrar Fenton's translation of
Genesis 1:1:
"By Periods God CREATED THAT WHICH PRODUCED THE SUNS; THEN
THAT WHICH PRODUCED THE EARTH."
Here again, by Ferrar Fenton's unique choice of words, the
idea of process requiring time is implied. Every astronomer
knows that the great suns, or stars, are in the process of
change. The stars and galaxies are moving away from each
other at tremendous ferocities, while new formations are in
the continuing process of coming into being. In this
connection the editorial titled "A Vanishing Universe" in
Destiny Magazine for April 1949 is of interest. It will not
be until that is all completed and God's heavenly creation
reaches perfection that the pattern God made will be
fulfilled. Only time will answer the question as to when
this will be. Perhaps it will not be until after the
following prophecy has been fulfilled that it will be
possible to understand the form the heavens will finally
assume:
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." (2 Peter
3:10)
Ferrar Fenton translates this:
"But the day of the Lord will approach like a thief, when
the skies will pass away with a crash, and their
constituents will be dissolved by heat."
Moffatt renders it:
"The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, when the
heavens will vanish with crackling roar, the stars will be
set ablaze and melt."
Smith and Goodspeed offer a different rendering:
"The Day of the Lord will come like a thief; on it the
heavens will pass away with a roar, the heavenly bodies will
burn up and be destroyed."
The whole meaning of this passage will have to await the
day of fulfillment to be entirely understood. However, it is
clear that great and awe-inspiring events are on the agenda
and scheduled to occur in the future as the creative process
continue.
When God FORMED man He tells us the fashioning was of the
dust of the ground, but we are not told from whence came the
substance out of which the earth was FORMED. Was it "star
dust" or the condensation of highly volatile gasses? We do
not know, but if God had given us this information it would
have settled questions which have stirred astronomers and
scientists from time immemorial, about which they have
adopted first one theory and then another as to how the
earth came into being.
Perhaps if God had provided this information, it would have
been too easy to believe in Him as the Creator of the
heavens, the earth and man. Our loyalty to Him is to be
based upon faith, no on the explanations of science.
We may therefore conclude that it is incorrect to say that
God CREATED man of the dust of the ground. The creating
process was His mental image by which He had made what was
to be; then he FORMED man according to the pattern as
expressed in Genesis 2:7. For God, whose thoughts are
perfect, the creative act could be performed very quickly,
while the resulting formation of the substance of that
creation might require centuries for its completion. We do
not even know the time involved in the FORMING of an from
the dust of the ground. Not all of the facts are told;
obviously they are purposely hidden from us.
Isaiah Informs us that the earth was established,
indicating the placing of it in its permanent orbital course
around the sun, as well as the completion of its formation,
introducing vegetation, animal and human life upon the
globe. |
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