Divine Origin and Sacred History: Original Design and Christ’s Cross

Recently a Scripturosity reader asked me to comment on an article published by Answers in Genesis dealing with the cross and original design. The following is my response to the article entitled “Was the Cross Plan B?”

I appreciate you sharing Steve Ham’s article with me. I know that each of us has a high regard for the authenticity and accuracy of Scripture and agree that the Gospel is the message of primacy in our increasingly secular world (see Scripturosity article “The Gospel Message”). It is amazing to me, however, that AIG does not see the flaw in his reason – especially from their hard-line, historical Genesis perspective.

Was the Cross “Plan B?” Of course the Cross was not necessitated as “a result of God’s best-laid plans gone wrong” as he queries in the opening. No, “human sin did not take God by surprise.” There was no “emergency plan B forced upon the Creator…after the Fall.” In the context of the omniscient foreknowledge of God, original sin in nature’s perfection was not “an unforeseen tragedy.”

But the questions with which he frames his article present an inaccurate (or at least incomplete) either/or scenario.

I propose that the prospect of a sin-cursed detour (Plan B, if you will) eventuating to its original track sometime in the future, as prophesied in Isaiah’s description of the ecosystem of the new earth (11:6-9) or as detailed in John’s vision of fellowship in the consummation of all things (Rev. 21:3), does not harm or threaten the concept of divine “predetermined purpose.”

The issue is the character and Word of a Creator who looked upon His completed work on Day 6 and appraised it “very good (lit. exceedingly excellent).” Would an assessment of exceeding excellence on Day 6 be an honest and accurate description of Creation – particularly in view of the climatic conclusion of His image bearer – in the context of a requisite rebellion and fall from purpose?

We, young-earth creationists, argue that an evolutionary model of biology (necessitating suffering, and disease, and death) is inconsistent with the character of God. Similarly, creating with the anticipation of nature’s cursing in order to facilitate its redemption suggests a course of events that does not square either. Many struggle with the reality of suffering in the context of a loving, superintending God. To tell the skeptic or the seeker that this was God’s plan has no appeal and does nothing to defend the character of God. But to explain that this is not the way God intended things to be gives perfect frame for the Gospel (see Scripturosity article “Innocent Suffering and a Loving God – Part 1”). Knowledge of and intent toward are two very different things.

On Day 6, the glory of Christ was exhibited in the power and genius of His Creation. After the rebellion, Christ’s glory included the sovereign fulfillment of His passion – restoration of fellowship.

When Adam sinned, everything changed. God was forced, by His character, to disassociate with this debase intrusion that defined humanity’s new reality. God’s response to sin testified further of his favor toward mankind with an ingenious plan (obviously foreseen in His eternal omniscience) of restoration that would preserve every detailed facet of and satisfy every intricate demand of His glorious character. We are currently living in a sovereign detour necessitated by the Creator’s intolerance of sin, but initiated because of His desire to bring Eden’s fellowship full circle.

Original purpose and sovereign foreknowledge are not mutually exclusive divine concepts. The need for a sin-cursed, multi-millennial side-track following the Fall of man, does not mean that God’s character was compromised or that He missed this not-so-minute detail in the eternal scheme. Neither did God intend for fellowship to be broken as a result of man’s Garden rebellion so He could wind up the plan of restoration and Christ’s cross.

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Biblical Relevance in Modern Culture: Making Sense of Sandy Hook

People all over this country and the world paused and looked on in horror as the details of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting began breaking across the air-waves just over a week ago. Unfortunately, when it comes to philosophically processing violent acts within the human family we are too well rehearsed, but this one was different – even for a school shooting.

In the course of a life or even a generation, there are influences, of the most profound nature, that cause us to reassess what we know and who we are. Nationally, we can point to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. But while these certainly live in our memories as days “in infamy,” they are easily contextualized as acts of war in the struggle over ideals and supremacy in the global theater. Events such as these do change life as it was previously known. We rally. We legislate. We awaken faith. The response is clear and unanimous. God is central to our restoration and healing.

Happenings such as the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary and our collective attempt to make sense of them are painfully distinct from other tragedies. The two glaring elements that set these apart from the others are the irrational depths of human depravity and our inability to deflect suffering from the most innocent among us. As with other tragedies, the bowed will not be broken. America will embrace its suffering. Washington will evaluate its role in a remedy. But unlike most, faith is cross-examined and God is subpoenaed.

An Associated Press article entitled “Questions of Why and How Fill Pews in Connecticut Town” represented the collective cry of the “postcard-perfect New England town” and the wonder of a nation: “How could a merciful and just God allow something like (this)?”

The media has reached out to clergy and religious leaders for answers, but the offered resolutions in this culture of correctness have been tremendously disappointing, philosophically unsatisfying, and biblically anemic. The AP article quotes Rabbi Shaul Praver who offered, “This is not an act of God. This is an act of a crazy man.” While I agree with the statement completely, it gets no one any closer to a right context of the brutality or the suffering. In fact, his answer can also be technically satisfying to the atheist. In the same article, Reverend Kathleen Adams-Shepherd counseled with a quote, “Not to give simple solutions to life’s tragedies like the school massacre. It is inexplicable in human terms.”

Why is it inexplicable? Why must seekers be left without clarity?

Answers like these are the unfortunate, yet predictable, destination of a theology that has compromised the primordial veracity of history’s premier text for credibility among conceptually “enlightened” dissidents. If the early chapters of Genesis are reduced to an allegory, then human nature, innocent suffering, and destiny become starkly incomprehensible.

But if we read Genesis as the historical narrative that it is (see Scripturosity article “How to Read Genesis” – Part 1), we understand that these present conditions in which we live were not God’s architectural intent (see Scripturosity article series “Innocent Suffering and a Loving God” – Part 1,   Part 2,   Part 3). The clearly favored pinnacle of the Creation Week, mankind, failed in his opportunity to reciprocate love to the Creator when he used his free-will to defy sovereign standard (see Scripturosity article “In the Beginning…Love”). Since then, the earth and its inhabitants have been navigating a detour of separation from primordial perfection known as the Curse (see Scripturosity article “The Curse of Eden – Part 3”). At the time of the sentencing following Adam’s offense, God engaged a plan to restore the intended fellowship and destroy the intruded evil – interestingly involving the “seed” of humanity (see Scripturosity article “The Gospel Message”).

This prophesied “seed” was manifest when God entered our world as a baby in “the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4).” The angels declared to the shepherds that his coming would bring “peace” to the earth (Luke 2:14). We celebrate His coming this week at Christmas.

But if the “Seed-remedy” has come, then where is the peace?

First, the embodiment of peace did come to earth at that moment in history when Jesus was born. The prophet Isaiah forecast His coming calling Him “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).” For a moment, the collective “groan” of Creation was silenced in anticipation of immediate restoration. But as time moved forward, it was obvious that the grand renovation would have to wait. Peace was embodied on earth, but its perfected “increase” was still to come.

Secondly, His peace was not imposed with force from a palace without; it was to be instilled with faith from each person within. Christ explained to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you (John 14:27).” The world around us can rage in utter chaos as we live in perfect peace. This is why the great Apostle Paul was able to write of a “peace…which passeth all understanding” while imprisoned in Rome (Phil. 4:7).

Finally, total world peace is coming. At the consummation of all things, when the sin-cursed detour has run its course, the Creator’s original intent of symphonic symbiosis in nature (Isaiah 11:6-9) and perfect fellowship with mankind (Rev. 21:3) will be realized only a few mere millennia from His “very good” appraisal of the first earth. The Apostle John was given a vision of God’s ambition and wrote from Patmos, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away…And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new (Rev. 21:1,5).”

The unimaginable horror in Newtown is a stark reminder that nothing in the human condition has changed since Cain slew his brother Abel in the shadow of Eden. Today, just as then, humanity’s intrinsically fallen state is amplified and the need for a Deliverer confirmed. We can find context and direction from this history as so eloquently stated by the brilliant commentator Matthew Henry. “O that our hearts were deeply affected by this record! For we are all nearly concerned in it; let it not be to us as a tale that is told.”

Also see Reasons for Hope article “Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering,” written by Shari Abbott, Communications Director and author of the new book “Why the Butterfly?”

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Divine Origin and Sacred History: Genesis in Job (Part 5)

So far we’ve been able to identify a meaningful alignment with the most significant events recorded in the annals of earth and human history – Creation (Part 1), the Fall and the Curse (Part 2), the Flood (Part 3), and the post-Flood era (Part 4). The last of these is the world-wide Dispersion.

In the beginning, God blessed the first inhabitants in order that they might fill and discover His glory and provision throughout the perfect primordial landmass (Gen.1:28-31). After Creation’s canvas had been purged by the Flood, God similarly blessed Noah. The purpose of Noah’s replenish commission was to facilitate the reconciliation through the “Seed Remedy” (see Scripturosity article “The Gospel Message”) and the restoration of Edenic fellowship. The command to “replenish” the earth was to ensure that the promised seed would be far less vulnerable to the certain assaults that would come from heaven’s archenemy and nemesis of mankind – Satan (see Scripturosity article “The Dark Cherub”).

When a vast majority of the growing populous chose (or were perhaps forced, in some cases) to follow Nimrod (see Scripturosity article “The Tyrant of Babel”) in defiance of God’s order, the Judge of heaven took preemptive action by confusing the languages at Babel and forcing the smaller language groups to strike out on their own in search of new and suited regions for settlement (see Scripturosity article “Human Diversity” – Part 1 & Part 2).

Notice in one of Job’s answers, a reasonably inferred reference to the Babel Dispersion (12:17-25). Job seemed to be aware of a divinely directed judgment that overturned the purposes of the powerful and influential through a language and understanding barrier (v.20). “He maketh them to stagger like a drunken man (v.25).” Try to picture the scene in and around the rising Babel Empire when God introduced the tongues.

It is worth noting that a number of the tribal names mentioned in Job are first encountered in the Genesis Table of Nations.

Uz (Genesis 10:23 w/ Job 1:1)

Sheba (Genesis 10:7,28 w/ Job 6:19)

Ophir (Genesis 10:29 w/ Job 28:16)

Ethiopia (same as Cush; Genesis 10:6 w/ Job 28:19)

Seba (same as Sabaeans; Genesis 10:7 w/ Job 1:15)

Another interesting association is in the mention of the hostile tribe from Chaldea in Job 1:17. In Genesis 11 (vv.28,31) Abraham’s childhood is connected to a place called Ur of the Chaldees. Some scholars speculate that Ur may be the satellite kingdom of Nimrod – Uruk called Erech in Genesis 10:10.

Concerning the limited mention or absence of some of the family tribes historically beyond the Table of Nations, Henry Morris gives this speculative assessment (The Remarkable Record of Job; p.32).

“In addition to the tribes and nations named in the early chapters of Genesis and those known from ancient secular history, many, for some reason (perhaps lack of ability or industry, degenerate habits, or disease), could not compete successfully and eventually died out. These most likely included ‘cave men’ and others now identified only by fragmentary fossils and crude artifacts and often mistakenly classed as evolving hominids or ape-men.”

While we will commit article content to the topic of cave men and the anthropological interpretations of evolving hominids at a later time, it is relevant to our introductory overview (and particularly the Dispersion) to note that Job makes mention of nomadic, and sometimes degenerate, cave dwellers during a couple of his responses.

“He (God) taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way (12:24).”

“They were driven forth from among men…To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in the caves of the earth, and in the rocks (30:5,6).”

Indeed, when we start with Scripture and assign the proper historical designation to discovery, the mysteries of science and nature are drawn more clearly into focus.

The evolutionary history of humanity is told as a fortunate yet unspectacular blip on our 4 billion year old earth. Jared Diamond, professor of geography at UCLA and acclaimed author, constructs such a context in his book The Third Chimpanzee.

“To place human evolution in a time perspective, recall that life originated on Earth several billion years ago, and that dinosaurs became extinct around sixty-five million years ago. It was only between six and ten million years ago that our ancestors finally became distinct from the ancestors of chimps and gorillas. Hence human history constitutes only an insignificant portion of the history of life.”

The author of a July 2006 National Geographic article entitled “The Downside of Upright,” Jenifer Ackerman, depicts the rise of mankind this way.

“Scientists are the first to admit that much work needs to be done before we fully understand the origins of bipedalism. But whatever drove human ancestors to get upright in the first place – reaching for fruit or traveling farther in search of it, scanning the horizon for predators or transporting food to family – the habit stuck. They eventually evolved the ability to walk and run long distances. They learned to hunt and scavenge meat. They created and manipulated a diverse array of tools. These were the essential steps in evolving a big brain and a human intelligence, one that could make poetry and music and mathematics, assist in difficult childbirth, develop sophisticated technology, and consider the roots of its own quirky and imperfect upright being.”

The Bible represents a far different history of humanity; one that has reflected a clear favor from the beginning. It is a detailed history of primal intelligence and development with a record of immediate communication, sovereign delegation, and absolute volition at the start (Genesis 2:15-17). The record is one of exponential inventive development from discoveries of first causation. The survivors of the Flood had the benefit of starting civilization afresh with this learned and applied knowledge from the lost world.

400 years later, Job offers some insights that reflect the advanced scientific appreciation of the world in which they lived. Interestingly and counter to secular anthropology, this was during a time when some men were still choosing to live in caves and whose remains have been misinterpreted as pre-human.

The evolutionary narrative requires that the cave dwellers of European and Middle Eastern paleoanthropological fame (aka Neanderthal) were a hominid convergent species that evolved separately from the modern humans arising from Africa (see Scripturosity article “Out of Africa”). Just as Johannes Kepler embraced a heliocentric model of earth’s movement because of the simplicity of motion and beautiful order, so is the biblical model human history superior to evolution’s tortuous tale of impossible probability. You really have to admire the faith of its proponents who insist, beyond reason, that a disregard of the sacred chronicles is somehow necessary for their intellectual credibility.

“Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge (The Creator – Job 38:2)?”

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Divine Origin and Sacred History: Genesis in Job (Part 3)

        The Flood

Not only do we find distinct references to Creation, the Fall, and the Curse, but the book of Job continues to amaze with specifics about The Flood of Noah’s day.

Keeping in mind the Genesis record of human debauchery and continual evil in the days preceding the Great Purge (see Scripturosity article series “Who were the Giants of Noah’s Day?” Parts 1,  2,  3), notice the following reflection in the third discourse of Eliphaz (22:15-18). “Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: Which said unto God, Depart from us…Yet He filled their houses with good things…”

Not only was knowledge of the Flood fresh, but it was established that the trigger was divine and that man’s wickedness was the reason.

How could Eliphaz be so emphatic about that?

Do you recall the setting that we established earlier (see Scripturosity article “Understanding the Book of Job” – Part 2)? The chronology places the events in the book of Job at or around 2,000 BC, which would be 300-400 years following the Flood. Noah lived 350 years after the Flood. Shem lived 502 years after disembarking outliving Abraham and dying when Isaac was 130 years old. The survivors from the lost world were undoubtedly revered (or loathed) figures in the rebounding population with tremendous respect and consideration given to their words.

It is easy to see how the Flood account could be so vivid.

Job, in particular, had an acute sense of the historicity of the Flood. We can make that claim based on his multiple references.

“He (God) is wise in heart and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him, and hath prospered? Which removeth the mountains (intimating that mountains were a part of the created, antediluvian landscape), and they know not: which overturneth them in His anger. Which shaketh the earth out of her place (intimating a different axial attitude), and the pillars thereof tremble (9:4-6).”

In this passage (vv.1-10) Job acknowledges both God’s creative exploits and His destructive force. It is His world; He can break it if He chooses to. “Who will say unto Him, what doest thou (v.12)?”

“Behold, He breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: He shutteth up a man (in this hydrologic, judgment context, this man must be Noah; Gen. 7:16), and there can be no opening. Behold, He withholdeth the waters (atmospheric and subterranean) and they dry up: also He sendeth them (the waters) out, and He overturneth the earth (12:14,15).”

Job’s point to his “friends” was that God has, in the past, chosen to set one man apart, uniquely, for the purpose of accomplishing that which is unprecedented. He did it with Noah; now God was doing it again with him.

He recognized that the post-Flood landscape was dramatically different from the topography of the early earth as a result of judgment at God’s hand.

“…by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished (2 Pet.3:5,6).”

“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again…through the scent of water it will bud…As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: so man lieth down, and riseth not…If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come (14:7-14).”

Job uses the phenomenal retreat of the Flood waters and subsequent ecological rebirth to express his faith in a hope beyond the grave.

“He (God) hath compassed (determined the extent of) the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end (26:10).”

Job reflects on God’s promise kept since the time of Noah’s altar and takes comfort in His faithful maintenance on earth. “…And the Lord said in His heart, I will not…again smite any more every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (see Scripturosity article “Noah’s New World” – Part 1).”

 Job continues in his answer to Bildad (26:11-14) exposing the egotism and ignorance of the friends by highlighting the power necessary for Creation and the authority requisite for global judgment as merely “parts of His ways.” Simply put, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. He mocked their folly in claiming to be His worthy delegates (v.2-4). The sovereign dynamic that formed the mountain ranges and towering peaks has the right to demand humility of the creatures that inhabit them (v.12).

“He (God) putteth forth His hand upon the rock; He overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; His eye seeth every precious thing (28:9,10).”

Job seems to have been aware of or conceptualized “run-away” or catastrophic plate tectonics as well as appreciated the destructive hydrologic flows that cut the deep, stratified canyons during the Flood-water retreat (see Scripturosity article “Noah’s New World” – Part 2). To Job, every phenomenon of nature was a signpost pointing the observer to the Creator/Redeemer.

With regard to the Flood and its signature left all over the earth, Henry Morris offers the following (The Remarkable Record of Job, p.28).

“The Noahic flood marked a great discontinuity (break from the established sequence), both in the course of human history and in the normal operation of the natural processes that God established supernaturally in the beginning. The rates of most geological processes (such as erosion, sedimentation, tectonism, and volcanism) were vastly accelerated during the year after the Flood. God finally allowed the Flood to run its course, after which all these rates gradually slowed, though much “residual catastrophism” persists even to the present day.”

The earthquakes and volcanoes that we experience today are reminders of when the Creator judged His earth “with the earth (Gen.6:13).” These are only remnant tremors and eruptions compared by magnitudes to the geologic events that continued to shake the earth beyond the retreat of the waters (see Scripturosity article “Is Earth’s Fire Responsible for its Ice?”).

When God finally breaks heaven’s silence in the discourse, He amplifies His authority in Job’s life by taking credit for an intimate management of the Flood; from its initiation to its cessation. “…Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb…and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hither to shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed (38:8-11)?”

His message to Job (and all that come across this record) was, “I am the God of the Flood; I’ve got a pretty good grasp of your situation.”

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Divine Origin and Sacred History: Genesis in Job (Part 2)

                      The Curse

Beyond its allusions to Creation (see Scripturosity article Genesis in Job – Part 1), the next reference to the primeval history of Genesis remarkably detailed in the book of Job is the Fall of Man and nature’s Curse.

There is no way to intellectually reconcile faith in a good and loving God with the suffering that so indelibly defines our world without an intrinsic understanding of the cause for nature’s groaning.

A naturalistic explanation of human emergence is that death and misfits and suffering and mutations eventually brought about man. The biblical explanation of life’s inherent pain and misery is that man brought death. “Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men…(Romans 5:12).”

According to the Bible, suffering is a remnant phenomenon of the Curse placed on the creation at the time of Adam’s sin. His disobedience would be shown to have implications far more reaching than his own mortality. Man’s obedience to God had been key to the preservation of Paradise. Now perfection became flawed and innocence condemned. All of creation was cursed with mankind because of mankind.

John Calvin wrote the following concerning the curse and what we see in nature today…

“The Lord…determined that his anger should, like a deluge, overflow all parts of the earth, that wherever man might look, the atrocity of his sin should meet his eyes. Before the fall, the state of the world was a most fair and delightful mirror of the divine favour and paternal indulgence towards man. Now, in all the elements, we perceive that we are cursed. And although the earth is still full of the mercy of God (Psalm 33:5), yet at the same time appear manifest signs of his dreadful alienation from us, by which, if we are unmoved, we betray our blindness and insensibility.”

It is fascinating to find in the writings of Job, a keen awareness and comprehension of creation’s Curse.

“Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” said the Lord to Adam, “Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee (contrasting the previously cooperative earth that he dressed and kept)…In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Gen. 3:17-19).”

Job ended his discourse with his “comforters” with a reminder of the Curse’s strangle-hold on their environment. “Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley (31:40).”

Earlier he prays within earshot of the others, “Remember, I beseech Thee, that Thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt Thou bring me into dust again (10:9)?”

Elihu sarcastically advised with a similar acknowledgement, “Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment…If He set His heart upon man, (or) if He gather unto Himself His spirit and His breath (Gen.2:7); All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust (Job 34:10-15).”

Job references the Curse and the futility of protecting your offspring from its effects in 14:1-4. In protest of the friend’s insistence of his guilt based solely upon the tragic turn of circumstances, Job recounts of the testimony of old, “Man that is born of woman is few of days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not… Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.”

Job had a remarkable grasp of the sentence of sorrow placed upon woman at the time of the Fall (Gen.3:16).

Woman’s curse was an engagement of sorrow. There is something very interesting; however, about the words translated “sorrow” in verse 16. They actually represent two different Hebrew words.

The first sorrow, the sorrow that is to be “greatly multiplied,” is defined by Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon as “pain” or “toil” and specifically “of travail.”

The second “sorrow” (“…in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children…”) is a different word. It is defined (B-D-B) similarly as “pain, hurt, toil,” also noting travail but it points out that the same word is found in Proverbs 10:22. This passage is contrasting sorrow as the antithetical reality to the Lord’s blessing. There is no allusion to or connection to physical pain at all. This word in its very essence is probably best defined by Ungers Bible Dictionary as “grief arising from the privation of some good we actually possessed.”

The “sorrow” that was to be “greatly multiplied” is descriptive of the physical pangs of childbirth. The second “sorrow” of Genesis 3:16 is referencing the inevitable grief that will now be associated with protecting and rearing offspring after the Curse.

Job was simply saying, “My suffering is the result of original sin and the curse – nothing more.”

Eliphaz aligns with Job’s perspective in his previous comments. “Yet man is born into trouble, as the sparks fly upward (5:7).” He follows up with a similar recognition, “What is man, that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous (15:14)?”

Bildad offered the same appreciation for the initial context of Job’s circumstances. “How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of woman (25:4)?”

Job even expresses knowledge of the original sin, references the catalyst, and makes personal application. “If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquities in my bosom: Did I fear a great multitude…or the contempt of families…that I kept silence, and went not out of the door (31:33,34)?”

This record makes it quite clear that Job and those with whom he associated had a coherent appreciation for the history of mankind as it was preserved from the beginning and eventually compiled by Moses. Either their knowledge was based on an indirect passing down through oral tradition or they had a more direct access to the Sacred Annals in some way. Regardless, the references cannot be considered coincidental.

The next article in this series will address the chronicled recognition of a hydrological cataclysm that had rocked the earth only a few short centuries prior.

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Divine Origin and Sacred History: Genesis in Job (Part 1)

One of the most remarkable, authenticating attributes of Scripture is the comprehensive compatibility of its content while often chronologically disconnected by millennia. The book of Job is a prime example of this literary phenomenon. It is not clear how, but this compiled journal references events detailed in history’s earliest records (Genesis 1-11) that had not yet been collated for posterity (See Scripturosity articles “Who Wrote Genesis” – Part 1 & Part 2).

It is likely that the antediluvian journals were preserved through the Flood, on the Ark with Noah. There is reason to believe that knowledge of these chronicles was passed down generationally by oral tradition after the Flood. During the famous dialogue between Job and his friends, Bildad may have actually been making reference to Noah and a few of the surviving 7 when he admonished Job to “…inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon the earth are a shadow): Shall they not teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart (8:8-10)?”

Likewise, Eliphaz rebuked Job for trusting his limited perspective saying, “With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father (15:10).” While he could have been speaking of the age of one or two of the three present, it seems more likely that he was referring to, even name dropping (to add weight to his counsel), the very aged Flood survivors and their wisdom.

Regarding the reliability of the direct and inferred historical references in the book of Job and their significance to the whole, Henry Morris suggests the following (The Remarkable Record of Job, p.23).

“In light of the antiquity of the book of Job, it is not surprising that it includes many references to the great events associated with the earth’s primeval ages. Conversely, these references may be cited as evidence for the book’s antiquity. They are not listed as a recitation of history, but are mentioned in passing. This argues both for the historicity of the events and for the antiquity of the book itself. They are mentioned almost casually, suggesting that they were common knowledge at the time of writing, with no need to stress their historicity…references to the ancient histories (should) be noted, along with their significance, to provide an appropriate background for Job’s message.”

Matthew Henry wrote of Genesis, “We are all nearly concerned in it; let it not be to us as a tale that is told.”

The history referenced in Job carries with it the weight of eternal destiny. We should all regard them as intensely personal and of the highest priority. We should value them as, not just history, but our history. It gives relevance to redemption. In the annals of the world chronicled in Genesis we see how and why we are here, what went wrong, and how the problem would be solved. The actors in Job recognized the events as historical and understood their pertinence to daily living.

Let’s take note of a few of the book’s references to primeval history (including Creation, the Fall and the Curse, the great Flood, the post-Flood era, and the Dispersion).

1) Creation

The book of Job assumes God to be the Creator and sustainer of all things. There are no references to other deities, no suggestion made of alternative origins, and no credit given to other mechanisms of cosmic maintenance.

Even Job’s friends, though severely mistaken regarding divine justice, recognized one Creator/Sustainer God.

Eliphaz – “I would seek unto God…Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number: Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields (5:8-10).”

Zophar – “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? If He cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder Him (11:7-10)?” In other words, it’s His world and He does with it as He pleases.

Elihu – “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life… I also am formed out of the clay (33:4-6).”

“I…will ascribe righteousness to my Maker (36:3).”

“Remember that thou magnify His work, which men behold. Every man may see it; man may behold it afar off…For He maketh small the drops of water; they pour down like rain according to the vapour thereof: Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly…Behold He spreadeth His light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea (36:24-30).”

Notice also “Creation” in Job’s soul searching.

“(God) alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number (9:8-10).”

“But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath (Genesis 2:7) of all mankind (12:7-10).”

“All the while my breath is within me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils (27:3 w/ Gen. 2:7).”

It is interesting that God is referred to as “The Almighty” more times in the book of Job than the entire rest of the Bible combined. This repetition among the actors seems to emphasize the fact that there were still segments of society (though biblical and archeological evidence suggests that false religions were spreading rapidly; i.e. Babel) that still acknowledged the one, true God as the powerful Creator and sustainer of all things.

The next article will detail the Jobian cast’s knowledge of man’s Fall and nature’s Curse nearly 2,000 years removed from history’s darkest day.

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Divine Origin and Sacred History: Tale Lights

Just as today, ancient man was fascinated by the heavens. This appeal is well-placed since its purpose from the beginning was to benefit the earth-bound observer. In the Creator’s accounting of the events He expresses that the host of lights inset against the deep blackness of space (as diamonds enhanced on velvet), were “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years (Genesis 1:14).” Universal time measurement was ordained on Day 4.

While standard time measurement was obviously an expressed purpose of heaven’s luminaries, the book of Job bears out a deeper stellar appreciation related to the “signs” denoted in history’s opening record.

In Chapter 9, Job credits God with the placement and design of pictorial star groupings (vv.4-9). Later on in Chapter 38, God Himself references these “heavenly congregations” (vv.31-33).  God intimates that these groupings are more than just random clusters of plasma smattered across the heavens. Though tens-of-thousands of light years apart, they have been divinely manipulated with an assigned place and purpose in order to affect the terrestrial occupant.

The “ordinances” of verse 33 are interpreted literally as order or arrangement, rendering the following as a reasonable paraphrase: “Job, can you fathom the order and arrangement of the stars and their relevance to the observer?”

We are instructed in Scripture that the priority or role of Creation is to declare the magnificence of the Creator and direct the observer to Him.

Psalm 8 – “Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Who (not a question but an allusion to His prime seating and interest in His investment) hast set Thy glory above the heavens…When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy finger, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou art mindful of Him…Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy name.”

Psalm 19 – “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.”

Acts 17 – “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;…That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel (grope) after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us…”

Acknowledgement of this profound direction offered in the heavens and relevance to the observer is found in the dialogue between Job and his friends. Zophar uses the observable yet incomprehensible expanse of the heavens to stress the infinitude of God. “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is as high as the heavens…what canst thou know (11:7-8)?” Eliphaz uses the height of heaven to illustrate God’s unobstructed perspective of all man’s activities; particularly those which he assumed Job was trying to hide. “Is not God in the height of the heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are! And thou sayest, How doth God know (22:12-13)?”

Dr. Henry Morris believed that it is most “significant that this oldest book of the Bible contains more specific references to the constellations than any other book, suggesting that God-fearing men of that age were very much aware of the divine significance of these God-ordained star groups.”

When David wrote the 19^th Psalm, what was the declarative extent of the handiwork to which he referred? Was the appreciative “knowledge” (v.2) general and declaring of His glory or specific and directing to His person?

Concerning these heavenly declarations, Dr. Morris suggests the following in his book The Remarkable Record of Job (p. 45).

“In some way…these constellations must have symbolized to the ancient patriarchs God’s purposes in creation and His promises of a coming Redeemer. This primeval message has been corrupted satanically into fantasy messages of the astrologers, but, since we now have God’s written Word, it is no longer needed. To the early generations, however, it may have served as a memory device, perpetually calling to mind the primeval promises given to Adam, Enoch, and Noah…”

Genesis 15 relates an encounter between the Lord and a likely contemporary of Job, the man Abram. The result of the encounter was a declaration of a righteous credit to Abram’s spiritual account after believing something clarified by the Lord in the night sky.

“Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be (v.5).” In order to understand this passage, two words must be defined. The words “tell” and “number” are translated from the Hebrew word sāpar which has multiple usages in Scripture primarily determined by context. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon favors two definitions – to count things (as in learning the number) and to take account of or to reckon (as to carefully observe and consider). Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words also assigns contextual meanings – to number, count, proclaim, declare, to take account of (as being aware and concerned about each detail). While most commentators interpret a redundant definition of “counting to learn the number” for both words, this does not satisfactorily answer how righteousness was imputed to Abram as a result of his faithful agreement.

A well-reasoned, biblically consistent interpretation of this passage could read like this. “Look now toward heaven, and take account of the stars, if thou be able to recognize the declaration in their appointed sequence: and He said unto him, I will accomplish this through your lineage. And he had faith in what the Lord told him; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

Most scholars agree that this was Abram’s faith-defining moment. “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness (Galatians 3:6-9). And the scripture (affirming the canonical authority of Genesis), foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with (in the same manner as) faithful Abraham.”

Perhaps Abram’s faith was initiated “before the gospel,” at the Lord’s direction, upon recognition of God’s curse-defying redemptive plan as depicted in the star groupings. Similarly, it may be that Job’s awareness of the constellations carried much deeper meaning for him and may have been instrumental in his faith as well.

Salvation is and has always been by grace, through faith in the sacrificial, shed blood of our innocent substitute, Jesus Christ. Old Testament believers looked ahead. New Testament believers look back. We find the account in the pages of Scripture (see Scripturosity article “The Gospel Message”). Perhaps to the ancients, it was revealed in the stars.

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Biblical Relevance in Modern Culture: Defending Eden

Since his cosmic rebellion, Satan’s obsession has been to disrupt God’s fellowship with the apple of His creative eye; the very focus and pinnacle of time’s explosive, opening week – mankind.

His tactics of impediment are of record for the sake of informed, counter-combat.

The Garden Tactic – Confuse God’s Mandate (Genesis 3:1)

Satan’s initial disruption involved Woman (Eve) and her understanding of God’s expectation (“Yea, hath God said?”). He is careful not to ridicule her spiritual sensitivities, only to cast doubt on her limited perspective (see Scripturosity article “Yea, Hath God Said?”). “Can you be confident that the words are preserved rightly as given by God (Eve was not created when God explained the ground-rules to Adam) and, beyond that, are you satisfied in your interpretation and practical application of those words?”

If he can cast doubt on the authorship, the preservation, or the expectation, then the Record becomes far less authoritative and relevant.

The Desert Tactic – Confound Christ’s Meaning (Matthew 4:1-11)

Much has been written and spoken concerning this 3-phase assault that started and ended in the wilderness with an intermediate clash at the Jerusalem temple. The stake in the encounter is amply measured and condensed in the words of Matthew Henry. “That which Satan aimed at, in all his temptations, was, to bring him (Jesus) to sin against God (To despair of His goodness, ‚To presume upon His power, and ƒTo alienate His honour), and so to render him forever incapable of being a Sacrifice for the sins of others.”

Satan has never been dissuaded, even in light of his forecast bruising at the hand of woman’s seed (Genesis 3:15), from the prospect of a perpetually cursed race and a foiled reconciliation. Now with the Seed-remedy fully clarified in the flesh, Satan approached his Adamic nemesis face-to-face in brazen desperation. Though weakened in the flesh, Jesus never wavered unsheathing and brilliantly flashing the sword of the eternal Word in response to Satan’s advances.

“This is observable,” Matthew Henry comments, “that Christ answered and baffled all the temptations of Satan with It is written. He is himself the eternal Word, and could have produced the mind of God without having recourse to the writings of Moses; but he put honour upon the scripture, and, to set us an example, he appealed to what was written.”

Satan’s attempt to draw the Last Adam into sin, as the first, was disappointed, but he still efforts to marginalize Christ and his role in the lives of men and women. While Jesus maintained focus on His passion and fulfilled the Edenic prophecy offering Himself in innocence for the whole of Adam’s guilty race, the Devil continues to deter mankind by muddling Christ’s person and purpose.

The Reckoning Tactic – Condemn Man’s Motives (Job 1:9)

The first two devices of disruption were to affect man toward God. This final maneuver is intended to agitate God toward man.

It seems that Satan’s “going” previously included a visit to the Job estate since he was keenly familiar with Job’s good life – both internally and materially. When God, in full awareness of Satan’s motives, referenced Job as a template of faithful integrity, Satan was cocked and locked with an accusatory query. “Doth Job fear God for nought (1:9)?”

Respected 17^th century author and scholar Matthew Henry offers this insight into this devilish device.

“He (Satan) could not deny that Job feared God, but suggested that he was a mercenary (one serving merely for wages) in his religion, and therefore a hypocrite. See how slyly he censured him as a hypocrite,” Henry points out, “not asserting that he was so, but only asking, Is he not so?”

Satan’s purpose was to demonstrate to God that His love was wasted on mankind. Job was simply the representative case-in-point. If he could demonstrate that Job only responded with affection because of his good life (“Hast not thou made an hedge about him?”), then perhaps all followers are disingenuous and self-serving in their faith.

The cosmic accuser was trying to get God to question His prophesied commitment to and continued investment in humanity’s restoration (Genesis 3:15).

We see in John’s Revelation of things to come, that Satan will continue to employ this tactic even after the Seed of woman has long been victorious over the Curse through His bruising and until the moment he is finally barred from presenting himself before the Lord with the other sons of God. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of the brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night (Revelation 12:9-10).”

It is not out of the realm of possibility that a personal hardship may represent your moment in the cosmic batter’s box to prove your faith and pronounce God’s goodness (see Scripturosity article “Innocent Suffering and a Loving God” – Part 3).

Do not fall victim to the enemy’s devices. 1) Elevate the Scriptures – your purpose lies therein. 2) Esteem the sacrifice – your rescue is in Christ. 3) Embrace the scrutiny – your adversity can be the Creator’s praise.

Though Eden was buried under the Flood waters (2 Peter 3:6), the purposed, Garden fellowship (see Scripturosity article “Mankind – Favored Not Fortunate”) is accessible to the seeker today. Sons and daughters of Adam, fulfill Creation’s purpose and courageously defend Eden’s fellowship.

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Divine Origin and Sacred History: The Dark Cherub

An important part of preparation in sports, as well as in military strategy, is to know your opposition. To many, the Devil has been reduced to a shoulder-perched, conscience-clashing, figment clad in a red suit and armed with a pitchfork. The Scriptures, however, reveal something quite different from this popular caricature.

What can we know biblically about this villainous, historical figure?

1) He was created (Ezekiel 28:13).

In this passage, the prophet Ezekiel is instructed by the Lord to write a song or poem, for posterity, of the rise and fall of the king of Tyre. As we will see, the details provided to the prophet strongly intimate that the message for this earthly king carried with it a direct address from the Creator to another – the king’s possessor.

2) He was part of the “very good” six day creation of Genesis (Exo. 20:11, Ps. 104:4, Ps. 148:2-5, Col. 1:16-17).

Chapter 1 concludes, “And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” The second chapter division begins (still part of the opening toledoth entry) with, “Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.”

3) He was special – “the sum” of Creation’s splendor embodied (Ezekiel 28:12). Whether he was given a special cloak or his beauty rivaled the glimmer of “every precious stone,” his glamour and abilities were distinct among all others (v.13).

4) He was appointed to a prominent place in Creation’s theocracy (Ezekiel 28:14).

His installation was a position of guardianship; that is what is meant by the word “covereth” in this verse (different from the word translated “covering” in v.12). It may be inferred that his commission had something to do with the Garden of Eden (v.13), the climax of Creation – mankind, or both. Speaking of the angels and their comparative inferiority to the Son, the writer of Hebrews gives what might be insight into original, angelic purpose. “Are they (angels) not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation (1:14)?”

5) He served obediently in his appointed role with right motive (Ezekiel 28:15).

The dichotomous address recounts a time when this anointed cherub was perfect in his ways. Not only was he faithful to his commission of protector, but his heart was right.

6) His heart became lifted up in pride corrupting every created attribute (Ezekiel 28:15b, 17). Another account of a host-dignitary being condemned through the words of a prophet with a direct heavenly message to the possessor-foe is found in Isaiah 14:9-15. The “time-dimension” context of this passage is the prophetic collapse of the great Babylonian empire. The warning is directed toward the sitting king of Babylon (14:4), perhaps Nebuchadnezzar, as well as his dark spirit-guide. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning…For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…I will be like the most High.”

7) He was sentenced with no hope of reparation or appeal.

“Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee…How art thou cut down to the ground…thou shalt be brought down to hell (Isaiah 14:9,12,15).

“I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire (perhaps a reference to his attire or decorated appointment)…All they that know thee…shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more (Ezekiel 28:16,19).”

“I will put enmity between thee and woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (the Seed-Remedy) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15).”

8) He maintains access and accountability to God despite his rebellion (Job 1:6-7).

To observe the depravity and violence that seems to define our world, one might get the impression that God has lost His grip on creation. According to this inspired peek into the third heaven, God has relinquished no measure of His authority. Satan, like all else, is a subject of sovereign reign. Everything is orchestrated toward Edenic fellowship with mankind – including the exploits of Satan. The unfortunate condition of the world around us is the inevitable result of sin’s entrance and creation’s Curse. These are evidences of divine code, not diminished control. This detour will eventually arrive at the original destination of reciprocal love and free-choice fellowship with mankind, having preserved every facet of His divine character. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the earth were passed away…And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God (Rev. 21:1-3).”

9) He is obsessed with mankind (Job 1:7-8)

In these verses, the reader can easily conclude that Satan’s pacing was not out of boredom or without purpose. It is obvious from God’s response that mankind was central to Satan’s goings.

The truth is, since the Garden, Satan has had an obsession with mankind. At some point in the performance of his duties as the “covering cherub,” he determined that his service to mankind would no longer define him. In his heart he resolved that he deserved better than his appointment. The impetus of his revolt may be clarified in the book of Hebrews (2:5-18) where the writer draws a distinction between men and angels.

1)      Only man has been authorized with dominion over the earth, both primeval and post-millennial (v.5, 7-8).

2)      Only man was and is the subject of divine visitation both primeval and post-Curse (v. 6-10).

3)      Only man has been given the intimate familial identification of “brethren” with the Son of God (v. 11).

4)      Only man was the subject of God’s mercy and restorative action (v. 14-17).

This obvious favor given to man may have been the catalyst for the great angelic rebellion, the initial Edenic assault (see Scripturosity article “The Genesis Serpent”), and subsequent destructive preoccupation led by Satan. Everything focused on mankind from the earth itself to the affection of the Architect. And to compound the insult, when Satan was finally able to accomplish the separation in Eden, God engaged an immediate action plan (see Scripturosity article “The Gospel Message”) to restore the fellowship that man had forfeited (a provision not afforded the fallen angels)! One more small detail of the reclamation blueprint that was of vital interest to Satan – not only would he be destroyed, but mankind would be key to his ruin (Gen. 3:15).

No wonder he paces the earth “walking up and down in it.” Perhaps the Apostle Peter had this passage in mind when he described our “adversary…as a roaring lion” who “walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8).”

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Divine Origin and Sacred History: Grasping Earth’s Gold

In one of Job’s answers to the ill-informed panel of friends (14:18,19) he references earth processes recognized today to be within the scientific discipline of geomorphology.

“And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.”

What was the context of Job’s geomorphologic observations? These earth processes were simply part of divine governance. They were predictable systems that changed the topography of the established land features.

The point of Job’s reference to erosion in answer to his friends was “as predictable as the processes of nature that wear away the stone exposing its hidden treasures, so is the certainty of exposure and corresponding regret of a life characterized by vain, frivolous pursuits.”

This was neither a technologically simple nor spiritually dull civilization that expressed these observations and contextualized them as divinely appointed and influenced processes (“Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth” -14:19).

Job made a similar acknowledgement a little while later when he wrote, “He (God) cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and His eye seeth every precious thing (28:10).”

Of Job’s scientific object lesson, Dr. Henry Morris writes (The Remarkable Record of Job, p.41), “The process of establishing a post-flood drainage system exposed the ‘precious things’ in the rocks, the beautiful and valuable metals and minerals so highly prized and widely used by man. Chapter 28 of Job mentions a number of these – the ‘gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire” (v.16), the ‘silver’ and the ‘crystal’ (vv.15-17), the ‘rubies’ and the ‘topaz of Ethiopia’ (vv.18-19)…But all these ‘precious things’ are said to be far less valuable than true wisdom and understanding (true science one might say), which is discovered only through the fear of the Lord.”

A most interesting study, beyond the exposure of such treasures, involves the source of such and the spectacular compatibility with the biblical model of earth history.

Gold is referenced in the Adamic tablet of Genesis (2:10-12) as an element of the original creation. Apparently, it was not distributed equally since the record distinguishes the antediluvian land known as Havilah by its “good” deposit of the precious metal. During the global destruction of “the world that then was” in Noah’s day, this and other mineral resources were displaced from their original deposit sites and subjected to the catastrophic influences of sedimentary burial, plate tectonics, and magmatic venting.

Geologist and author Dr. Andrew Snelling offers his deposition scenario for today’s gold discoveries in an article for Answers Magazine (first quarter 2011) entitled “Gold – A Little Bit of Heaven on Earth.”

“Initially hot acid waters in deep crustal rocks dissolved the gold, and molten magma and volcanic waters carried it toward the surface. This hot material then entered the cracks in the rocks near the earth’s surface.

As it cooled, the gold remained in place, either associated with certain large granite bodies (often with copper) or in veins and orebodies.

After these ‘primary gold deposits’ were put in place, heavy rains and other natural forces eroded many of the rocks. Because gold is very heavy and resistant to corrosion, it settled out into what are called ‘placer deposits.’ These secondary gold deposits include the gold particles found at Sutter’s Mill, which sparked the California gold rush in 1849.

Most placer deposits formed at the end of the Flood when the retreating waters drastically eroded the landscape. Indeed, most of the Flood-generated primary and secondary deposits formed during the closing stages of the Flood, especially during the building of the Rockies, Andes, Himalayas, European Alps, and other related mountain ranges.”

Dr. Snelling points out that earth processes are still exposing gold today. Not only in secondary deposits revealed through erosion, but also in primary ones such as seen at the Lihir mines in Papua New Guinea. Lihir Island consists of a series of volcanic units evidenced by hot-springs in and around calderas (collapsed volcanoes). Here, according to the article, “volcanic waters are still depositing gold at a rate of 52 pounds per year.”

A May 11, 2012 AP article entitled “Gold! Haiti Hopes Ore Find Will Spur Mining Boom,” reveals that there may be a literal “golden” lining to the devastating earthquake that rattled the island in January of 2010.

“Haiti’s geological vulnerability is also its promise. Massive tectonic plates squeeze the island with horrifying consequences, but deep cracks between them form convenient veins for gold, silver and copper pushed up from the hot innards of the planet. Prospectors from California to Chile know earthquake faults often have, quite literally, a golden lining.”

In a 2012 Discover magazine publication called Extreme Earth, Robert Kunzig authored an article entitled “Strip-Mining the Sea.” The article describes the discovery of tremendous ore deposits on the sea-floor around hot volcanic springs known as hydrothermal vents or black smokers off the coast of Papua New Guinea. These venting plumes of 650 ° F, metal-rich water grow chimneys that break off and reform leaving heaps of valuable deposits around them. The Bismark Sea expedition dredged rocks from the mounds that “contained copper and gold concentrations several times higher than those typical of mines on land.” This is likely a snap-shot on a dramatically reduced, yet comparable, scale of the way gold may have been distributed throughout the newly deposited landmasses when “the fountains of the great deep” erupted mixing the slurry of reconstructive sediment.

One discovery has even been attributed to the initial revelation of the landmass during the Creation Week. This is found in South Africa and is known as the Wit-waters-rand deposit (or simply known as the “reef” by the locals). About 40% of all known gold comes from this basin in the Dark Continent. Dr. Snelling describes it as “a great sea reef rising gently above the surrounding landscape.” He agrees with its classification as a placer deposit (water being essential in its placement), but rather than millions of years of settling, gold-laden sediments at the bottom of a huge ancient lake, he attributes it to the originally created landmass that emerged from the waters on Day 3. While it eventually became covered by mudflows during the great Genesis Flood, tectonics and erosion have exposed it at the surface once again. Perhaps this is the remnant deposit that distinguished the “good” gold of the pre-Flood land of Havilah (Gen. 2:11-12).

As in the original creation, the new earth (of Revelation prophecy) will be characterized with the existence of gold – transparently pure gold. The capitol city will not only have streets made of this rare metal (21:21), but the city itself will be constructed of it (21:18). Perhaps this forecast is detailed to help the believer rightly assign value while living on this present earth. Be discerning when it comes to your pursuits. Don’t prioritize in time that which will be common in eternity.

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