“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground” Genesis 2:4-6.
Seeing Jesus in the History of Creation
Christians delight in referring to history as His-story. Though the Father and the Spirit are involved in creating and sustaining creation, it is all in preparation for the Son “in the fulness of the time” to step into God’s creation as a man. As God used the dust of the earth to bring forth Adam, so God is going to use the dust of the earth in the form of a woman to bring forth the last Adam, Jesus. Yes, we have already looked at the ‘rebirth’ of Jesus when, just as the great fish “vomited” Jonah onto dry land, so the earth brought forth the resurrected Jesus. However, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves.
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According to the Old Testament historian Alfred Edersheim, using the Biblical chronology, Bishop Ussher dates the year of creation (at least the creation of man) as 4004 BC. Therefore barely 6,000 years have passed since God formed man from the dust of the ground. Ussher’s chronology is the view held by Christian orthodoxy (to which we adhere).[1]
Notice,
in the following, that Jesus is referring to Genesis 1:27 and 5:2 where He
says, “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and
female’” (Mark 10:6). Also, “Have you not read that He who made them at
the beginning ‘made them male and female’” (Matt. 19:4). Using the Word to
interpret the Word, we see that human beings were created when creation began,
albeit of the sixth day of formation. Thus, the first humans walked on Earth
just over 6,000 years ago, when God brought creation into existence from
nothing.
Some
Christians and others work on the presupposition of “The Gap Theory” as they
try to accommodate the presuppositions of the long ages needed by Evolutionary
Science, which is simply Evolutionary Philosophy by another name. Whereas the
Bible gives us the history of creation, Evolutionary Science presents
hypotheticals. So, history or hypothesis?
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It
can easily be seen that the followers of Jesus do not presuppose that there was
nothing in the beginning. Rather, they presuppose that Jesus is the Truth.
Therefore, they would rather trust the words of the One who was there in the
beginning over the speculations of those who attempt to make Jesus out as a
liar. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God” (John 1:1). Say no to the God of the Gaps, as if the increase in
scientific knowledge somehow is directly proportionate to the decrease of our
need for God, as if it were not the Word who is “upholding all things by the
word of His power” (Heb. 1:3), as if it were not “in Him all things consist”
(Col. 1:17).
Whereas
Christians do science, any science, presupposing that God is, Evolutionary Science
presupposes that God is not. “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, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as
God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish
hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:20-21). However, as Christians, “We know that the
Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who
is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the
true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).
At
least the Gap Theory attempts to use the Bible to support its hypothesis, as
opposed to ignoring the Biblical record. The Gap Theory uses word plays
utilising “replenish” in the following verses of Genesis. Do you remember the
Cultural Mandate? “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Thus, mankind was to replenish the
earth. Also, Genesis 5:1, “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto
them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 9:1).
In
English, the prefix re-
gives the idea of doing something over again as in restoring something that was
lost to return it to its former state. However, the original Hebrew word is
more to do with furnishing and filling as in fulfilling the Cultural Mandate
than recovering something that was lost. This is why most Bible translations,
unlike the 1611 KJV, use the word “fill” rather than the confusing word
“replenish”. Keep in mind that there is no hint of any previous death and
destruction in any of the days of creation. “Then God saw everything that
He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and
the morning were the sixth day” (Gen. 1:31).
We’ve
already touched on redemption above and therefore should easily see how the
misapplied word “replenish” has more to do with redemption than the intention
of fulfilling the Cultural Mandate. We learn about the need for redemption only
when God says to Adam in Genesis 3, “Cursed by the ground for your sake.” The
apostle refers to this where he says, “For the creation was subjected to
futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope”
(Rom. 8:20). Our hope is in the One whom the history of creation is about,
i.e., the Word who became also flesh, the One whom Job put his trust in, “For I
know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh
shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and
not another; though my reins be consumed within me” (Job 19:25-27, KJV).
Seeing
Jesus in the History
of Special Revelation
As Reformed,
and as already mentioned, we do not subscribe to the Biblicist position.
Therefore, we do not ignore and dismiss out of hand legitimate scientific
findings. However, they need to be tested by the Word speaking in Scripture.
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Whereas Evolutionist
Theory operates outside of Biblical revelation, Theological Liberalism seeks to
remove the supernatural from Scripture. Thus, both function in accordance with
Atheistic assumptions. Their presuppositions deny the truth of Scripture. However,
whereas Theological Liberalism sees the Bible as man searching for God,
Biblical Theology views the Bible as the “History of Special Revelation”, as
Geerhardus Vos preferred to call it.
When was
the beginning of the history of special revelation? “In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Therefore, Christians believe it as
true history coming from God and not something fabricated by mankind, such as
the Theory of Evolution. We are simply trying to see the Word in God’s revelation
in the early chapters of Genesis.
Notice in
the following verses that God reveals a little more of Himself to us. He is the
LORD God. “This is the
history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that
the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of
the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For
the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there
was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth
and watered the whole face of the ground” (Gen. 2:4-6).
The Authorised Version offers some help to us here with the “LORD God”, “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven” (Gen. 2:4, ASV). The Lexam English Bible too, “These are the generations of heaven and earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven” (Gen. 2:4, LEB). So, the LORD God is Yahweh God or the more familiar Jehovah God, which means the same. The name Jehovah makes us think of the old William Williams hymn,
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand;
feed me till I want no more,
feed me till I want no more.
Here is a name given to the Creator which we have not yet met with, and that is Jehovah – the LORD, in capital letters, which are constantly used in our English translation to intimate that in the original it is Jehovah. All along, in the first chapter, He is called Elohim – a God of power; but now Jehovah Elohim – a God of power and perfection, a finishing God. Jehovah is that great and incommunicable name of God which denotes His having His being of Himself, and His giving being to all things.
In
the Greek New Testament Jesus is the same Jehovah Elohim as found in the Old Testament
Hebrew. However, He is referred to as Kurios which is usually translated
from the Greek as Lord. He is the Κύριος ὁ θεός, the Lord God, in the
following verse, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is,
and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Rev. 1:8, NIV). Therefore, because
we are treating the Bible as the history of revelation, we are not misusing
Biblical Theology to see Jesus in Genesis. Therefore, from the time history
began, Jesus has been Jehovah. He is Jehovah Elohim, the LORD God.
[1] Even if you challenge the total
accuracy of Ussher, his chronological calculations at the very least
demonstrate that the earth’s formation took place thousands, not billions or
even millions, of years ago. Quoted from Neil Cullan McKinlay and D. Rudi
Schwartz, The Unfaithful Bride and The Faithful Groom (Weemac
Publishing, Queensland, 2023), 435.
[2] Geerhardus Vos, The
Idea of Biblical Theology as a Science and as a Theological Discipline, 3.
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