THE SCIENCE OF THE BIBLE
One of the great debates today involves the beginning of all things. How did it all begin? How did earth and life come into existence? Who do I believe? Dear friend, I will say this. What you “know” about the beginning indicates whether or not you have the faith to believe in Jesus Christ.
I believe it is absolutely imperative for Christians to “know” the origins of it all. Do you know what I think? I think Christians contribute to the doubt about the origins of everything by saying I believe God created instead of saying I know God created. I don’t believe God created the heavens and earth; I know He did. There is a big difference especially to a mind of a child who is being subjected to a daily bombardment of what I am going to say shortly. I believe God expects all Christians to be able to defend what they know to be true.
1 Peter 3:15
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”
Can you do that? Can you biblically explain what you claim to know about the beginning? I am talking about systematically taking the Bible to explain Genesis 1:1. How many of you know that the Bible explains it to us? That is where Bible study comes to play. How can you defend something with the Bible when you do not know it is in the Bible? I am going to look at the beginning by using a passage of Scripture not often associated with the beginning.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Using this passage, I want us to examine Man’s Lie and God’s Truth regarding the beginning.
Man’s Lie
Mankind has always tried to do things its way at the expense of God. At the heart of Adam’s and Eve’s sin was a desire to do what they wanted to do instead of obeying what God had said.
God said: Genesis 2:16-17
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Mankind’s desire: Genesis 3:4-5
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Mankind did not want to obey God; mankind wanted to be its own “god.” It is the age-old struggle. Believe and obey God versus following after the flesh tempted by Satan. Cain fell victim to the same thing that his father and mother did. He knew what God demanded, but he wanted to give God not what God wanted but what Cain wanted. The same applies to the beginning.
A. Mankind cannot and does not deny a beginning.
Right off the get-go, I want to establish one truth, and even science will not deny this fact. A person can look at the heavens above and life below and absolutely conclude that it all began somewhere. Paul said as much in Romans 1:20.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”
Man looks at the universe and knows that something or someone caused it, but in his typical sinful nature, man tries to explain away God and substitute mankind’s intellect. It is God’s divinity versus man’s intellect. In his intellect, man tries to explain away God, and in his attempts to explain God away, he actually acknowledges God’s involvement.
B. Mankind’s intellectual attempt to explain the beginning.
In his intellect, mankind’s best plausible explanation for how things began is called the Big Bang Theory. Briefly, let me tell you what man says. I think it is important for you to know because it is what your children and grandchildren are taught daily in school.
According to Space.com, this is what the Big Bang Theory says. Around 13.7 billion years ago, everything in the entire universe was condensed in a infinitesimally small singularity(ATOM), a point of infinite denseness and heat. Suddenly, at a single point in time, an explosive expansion began propelling our universe outward faster than the speed of light.
Your children are taught that as fact, and if all they hear you say is I believe, which do you think has a more lasting impact-your belief or a fact? Dear friend, all is not lost, however, as I chuckle at the language man uses to explain the beginning. Can I focus on three phrases in man’s attempt to explain away God?
· Atom
· A single point in time
· Faster than the speed of light
Can I use those three phrases to explain biblically how I know God created?
III. God’s Truth
1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
A. Atom
Now, admittedly, I am not a Greek expert as I can barely comprehend the English language, but this is fascinating if you want to be able to biblically explain God’s creative work as a fact instead of a belief.
Verse 52 says in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. In the original Greek, the word translated into English as moment/twinkling of an eye was atomos. It is the word from which we get our word atom. It meant, in the Greek, the smallest uncuttable or indivisible amount of a thing, power, or time.
Think of atomic power. The United States displayed its atomic might on August 6 and August 9 in the year 1945. It was devastating power created by the splitting of the atom, the smallest particle. The passage in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 literally means in the smallest amount of time with extreme power, God is going to give me a new body. Whether resurrected or raptured, instantaneously, I am going to be changed. This, of course, is a future event, but do you know when God first displayed this awesome power?
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
The same power that gives me a new body in the future is the same power that created the heavens and the earth. That same power has existed from infinity.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The use of atomos in 1 Corinthians 15 is proof that God was the source of the beginning.
B. A Moment in Time
Mankind says that it all began in a moment of time. Well, guess what it did, but it began when God instituted the process. The key to the Big Bang is that in a moment in time. Dear friend, it is mankind’s twist on what God has said.
Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 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.3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
In a moment in time with great power, God acted. When He acted, the heavens and the earth were created in much the same way that in a moment in time I will receive a new body one of these days. That moment in time was the flashpoint for the beginning of time just as at the resurrection or rapture that moment in time will be the flashpoint for my eternal state.
When God thought about the heavens and the earth, they both sprang forward with great “atomic” power, if you will allow me to say it like that, and the whole universe exploded from a single moment in time. It did not take billions of years. Just as quickly as I will be changed at the resurrection or rapture so was the earth created.
C. Faster Than the Speed of Light
The point in time was when God said, “Let there be light” and you better believe the heavens and earth exploded in creative power. Dear friend, here is the kicker. Mankind tries to explain away God’s power by saying it has taken 13.7 billion years for us to get to this point, but dear friend, all it took was the twinkle of God’s eye. AMEN!!!!
God said, “Light be!” and light was. Can I ask you a question? Now, this is amazing. This is one aspect of the beginning that man cannot explain as hard as mankind tries. The Big Bang cannot explain where those atoms came from when suddenly they started condensing. Now, here is the question I want to ask. Did you know to this very day no one can tell us what light is? It is one of the mysteries of the universe.
We know a lot about it, but we do not know what it is. We do not know if it light is a wave or a particle. We know it travels with great velocity, 186,000 miles per second. We know it can pass through a dirty window. We know it is necessary for life and growing things. We know its speed is constant. We know when it passes through water it bends, and we know when it passes through a prism it explodes into seven vibrant, beautiful colors with seven being the number of God’s perfection, but we do not know what it is, or let me say it this way. In man’s intellectual attempt to explain the beginning, he does not know what light is.
But, dear friend, I know what it is and where it came from. It came from the mind of God. God the Father thought it, and God the Son spoke it into existence. When God the Son said, “Let there be light” you better believe this universe exploded with activity, so much activity that these intellectual idiots think it took 13.7 billion years for it to happen, but they are wrong. It happened in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye with tremendous divine power at a single point in time.
What man cannot explain God controls. The Bible gives many examples, and this is why these intellectual idiots do not understand what light is.
John 8:12
“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”
Lost man cannot know and understand light because Jesus Christ is the light, and what mankind cannot know in its intellect, God controls.
Exodus 10:21-22
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.
It is an absolute that even the Big Bang acknowledges that life and light came from nothing, but these intellectual idiots just cannot bring themselves to the point where they accept by faith what God has done. Listen to me. The atomic power by which I will be changed one of these days was on full display when God said, “Let there be light!” That same power will be displayed three more times.
It will be displayed at the rapture or resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
It will be displayed during the Great Tribulation. I do not have time to read the Scripture, but I challenge you to read Revelation 9-16 if you want to see God’s power at work during the Great Tribulation. If you read those chapters, you will find things like this:
· Hail and fire mixed with blood
· Ugly and painful sores
· Sea turning to blood
· Rivers, streams, and drinking water turning to blood
· Sun scorching the people with fire
· Darkness
· Tremendous earthquakes
And dear friend, God does not need some manmade devices to carry out His judgement. He will proclaim it through His prophets, and it will happen much in the same way He spoke through Moses in Egypt and Elijah in Israel. Did God need man’s help in Egypt? NO!!!! Too many times people read the judgements in Revelation and say that what happens is caused by nuclear explosions or nonsense like that. Dear friend, if God wants to turn the Mississippi River to blood, all He has to do is think it if you catch my drift.
It is God that controls the earth and earth’s processes. God has those in His hand, and all He has to do to cause major issues is to loosen His grip. Can you imagine being one mile closer to the sun? Can you imagine earth not being in a consistent orbit? Can you imagine no water cycle? All of those things happen because of the power of God and not scientific processes. Do you want biblical proof?
Colossians 1:15-17
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
It will be displayed at the end of the Millennium.
2 Peter 3:10-13
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 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 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Dear friend, at the end of time, God will display the power of atomos, and all that we see will be burned away in a minute replaced by a new heaven and a new earth which will not be scarred by sin. It will not take billions of years. It will take one holy thought.
IV. Conclusion
Dear friend, we live in an age of skepticism. Telling your children that God created everything because of what the Bible says is not enough to counteract what they are being taught in the public school, and I am going to say this, but the devil is using the family and public schools more than anything else to attack God as the Creator of everything.
Your child or grandchild goes to school, and they sit in a science class from the time they are 4 to 18, and they hear constantly about the Big Bang and Evolution, and they get home, and nothing is done to counterbalance what they are taught in school.
In a skeptical age, it is your responsibility to take the Bible and teach your children about the beginning. I do not want to hear any nonsensical excuses. Saying it is in the Bible and you believe because it is in the Bible is not enough. You must be able to show them the Scriptures that verify your belief.
Now, fortunately or unfortunately, men that is your responsibility in the house.
1 Corinthians 14:35a
“And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home”
Dear friend, it is an indictment against Christian husbands and fathers in this society. Let me ask you some questions.
When your child was growing up, did you talk more about the Bible or more about baseball?
When your child was growing up, did you talk more about video games and technology or about what God did in creation?
When your child was growing up, how many family Bible studies did you lead where you explained God’s role in the beginning? I am talking about using the whole Bible.
When your child was growing up, did you spend more time helping them study for that science test that contained questions about evolution and the big bang than you did talking about God’s awesome power?
And we wonder why there is a great falling away today. Most Christians cannot take the Bible and teach their children about what God did in creation, and listen I just scratched the surface in this blog. The Bible is full of details concerning God’s creative work, and I have not even touched on God’s greatest creative work. What is that you might ask?
God has the power to give new life to a dead man. DO you know how God did and does it? God sent His Son to die for your sins, and if you believe on Jesus, this is what the Bible says.
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Listen to me. If Christ has not made you a new creature, you do not have the ability to know the God of Creation. You can say you know, but you do not because the faith it takes to believe what the Bible says about Creation springs forth from the faith you put int Jesus Christ as your Savior, the One who died for your sins.
But, dear friend, God sent His Son Jesus to earth so that you could experience the new birth, a birth that leads to eternal life and not eternal death. It is the simplest thing you could ever do because all you have to do is admit what you are, a lost sinner without any hope. The Bible says the whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). Will you do that? If you will, your life will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and when you do call on Jesus for salvation, you will experience that creative power as you are changed into a new creature.
You can reach out to me with any questions by asking in the comments section of this blog, or you can email me at jclendenin37@yahoo.com.
I would be glad to discuss the beginning with you, but more importantly, I would love to discuss salvation with you by telling you what Jesus has done for you.