Bible Studies

---

We start in the middle of the five-paragraph footnote that was started in Part 10.

Another constant reminder of the awesome reality of sin, darkness, etc. that God gave His people in the Mosaic Law dealt with sexual relations and the bearing of children. Although it was understood that sexual relations in marriage and the bearing of children were a blessing from God, it was also understood that everything associated with the process, including the menstrual cycle, had been affected by the fall (ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, children have been born outside the garden of Eden into a fallen world that is permeated with darkness and death) and now involved uncleanness and pain along with blessing. See, for example, Gen. 3:16; Lev. 12:1-8; and 15:16-33.

Other constant reminders were sickness and disease (see chapter D of my book "Holiness and Victory Over Sin") and all the things that worked against the production of food (cf. Gen. 3:17-19). (This is the end of the five-paragraph footnote.) )) There wasn't much of a need, if any need at all, to separate (or to distinguish) between physical light and physical darkness, but the separating (or distinguishing) between light and darkness when understood in a symbolic/spiritual sense is a dominant message of the Bible, as discussed above under Gen. 1:2-5. It is necessary and "good" to distinguish between and to separate between the light and the darkness because of the strong symbolic/spiritual component of these words.]] (19) There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. (20) Then God said, 'Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse [firmament] of the heavens [For a more accurate translation of the last words of this verse, and for a discussion regarding the meaning of the firmament, see above, under Gen. 1:8.]].' (21) God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. (22) God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.' (23) There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. (24) Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind'; and it was so. [The sixth day is discussed to some extent in this paper under #5, under the heading "Some Key Reasons for Not Seeing Literal Twenty-Four Hour Days in This Passage (Gen. 1:2-2:3)," under Gen. 1:5.] (25) God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. [[God created the plants, trees, fish, birds, animals, etc, after their kind. They didn't evolve from another kind. (See Extended Note K in the Appendix of the original 273 page paper. I included excerpts from Extended Note K in the Introduction of this paper.) By God's design there is some room for micro-evolution within a kind, as animals, for example, adapt to their environment, or with the breeding of animals for different purposes, but God is the Creator of each kind, and He determined the degrees of adaptation that are attainable. There is some room for changes caused by mutations, but almost all mutations are harmful (see Extended Note K), and such changes can never create an eye or a heart, or change a cow into a dog (or a dog into a cow).]] (26) Then God said, 'Let Us [[(This double bracket goes on for four paragraphs.) Also see Gen. 3:22; 11:7. I agree with the large number of commentators who understand God to be speaking to the heavenly beings surrounding Him here, the cherubim, seraphim, archangel(s), etc. Job 38:4-7 show that the heavenly (angelic) beings (they are called "sons of God" in Job 38:7, as in Job chapters 1 and 2) were there when God "laid the foundation of the earth." (Many only see the Trinity here, with "Us" referring to the three Persons of the Trinity.) I'll quote part of what Bruce K. Waltke says here ("Genesis," [Zondervan, 2001], pages 64, 65). "The explanation that better satisfies all such uses of the pronoun [The other such uses of the pronoun "us" are Gen. 3:22; 11:7; and Isa. 6:8.] is that God is addressing the angels or heavenly court ((cf. 1 Kings 22:19-22 [In these verses God interacts with "all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left."]; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps. 29:1-3; 89:5-6 [I'll quote Psalm 89:5-7, "The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD; Your faithfulness also IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE HOLY ONES [my emphasis]. (6) For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD? Who among THE SONS OF THE MIGHTY [my emphasis] is like the LORD, (7) A God greatly feared IN THE COUNCIL OF THE HOLY ONES [my emphasis], And awesome above ALL THOSE WHO ARE AROUND HIM (my emphasis)?"]; Isa. 6:8 ["Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I (Isaiah) said, 'Here am I, send me!' " In the preceding verses of Isaiah chapter 6, the seraphim play a major role (see Isa. 6:2, 6, 7); I assume God was speaking to them here (or to them and the rest of the heavenly council).]...)). ... It is not surprising that God would address the heavenly court, since angels play a prominent role in Scripture...." ((Waltke has a footnote, "...God's address of the heavenly court does not mean that they participate in the act of creation. ....")) Also see Isa. 24:24; Rev. 4:4-11. ((In Rev. 4:4-11 we see the twenty-four elders [high-level angelic beings] crowned and sitting on thrones around the throne of God, and we see the four living creatures around the throne. The four living creatures interact with God and play important roles in the outworking of His plans as shown by Rev. 6:1, 3, 5, 7; 7:13, 14; 8:2; 14:18; 15:1, 5-7; 16:1-17; 17:1; and 21:9, 10. (The four living creatures are similar to, but not identical with, the cherubim of the Old Testament.) So do the twenty-four elders: Rev. 5:6, 8, 14; 7:13-17; 11:16-18 14:3; 19:4.))

The angels are called "sons of God" (Gen. 6:2; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). We Christians become sons of God in Christ ((Matt. 5:9, 45; Luke 6:35; 20:35, 36 ("but those who are considered worthy to attain to the age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection"); Rom. 8:14, 15, 19, 23; Gal. 3:26; 4:5, 6; Eph. 1:5; Heb. 2:10; and 12:5, 7, 8)).

I'm sure that God could have done without His heavenly council and ignored them (He didn't have to create them in the first place), but God isn't like that. He chooses to delegate authority to, and to use, those He has created (He created them for a purpose; that purpose includes using them, but even more importantly, it includes establishing a love relationship with them) - this includes us too, and especially after we are glorified.

I'll include a brief excerpt from what Gordon J. Wenham says here ("Genesis 1-15," pages 27, 28). "... 'Let us create man' should...be regarded as a divine announcement to the heavenly court, drawing the angelic host's attention to the master stroke of creation, man. [Wenham went on to mention Job 38:4, 7 ('When I laid the foundation of the earth...all the sons of God shouted for joy')]...." (This is the end of the four paragraph footnote.)

I believe in the Trinity, but I don't believe the Trinity is in view here. We don't clearly see the Trinity until we get to the New Testament. I have four articles/paper on the Trinity on my internet site: "Who Do We Worship?

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR