Wednesday 22 April 2015

AGAINST THE GAP THEORY

Against the GAP Theory

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  (2) And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Vs. 2 “And the earth was waste and void”.  Strong’s has the meaning of היה (hâyâh) as to exist or to be then to become.   The first usage seems to be ‘to exist’ therefore seeing this makes sense I will seek no other sense and I accept the completed action seen in the word was.

I also see this completed action in the straight forward reading of Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4, which ends… “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens…”

The word for generations here is תּלדה תּולדה pronounced to-led-aw', to-led-aw' and literally means descendants but figuratively means history, ‘These are the history of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens…’  I simply see the history of creation in Genesis 1:1 to 2:4 as one completed action.

The GAP theory relies heavily on Isaiah 45:18 as a proof text that the original mention (Genesis 1:2) should be translated became.  “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:18).  The claim is that Isaiah directly contradicts an original formless and empty state understood by the use of the word ‘was’ as in  the KJV, ASV, ESV, ISV, MKJV etc, and therefore should be translated became; i.e. The creation was not formless or void but became so.

From that the theory goes on to put forward reasons for this gap.   Some accepted this idea to combat the theory of evolution and its need for unimaginable time, but other conservative scholars believe it answers passages such as Isaiah 45:18 quoted above.

However in Isaiah God is simply stating a fact; …against all the unbelief of men his creation was not in vain, he had a purpose for it.

The only thing the GAP theory does is give time for the angelic creation; but are the angels part of the “space/time continuum”?

In Job chapter 38 God asks Job “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth (vs.4)… when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (vs.7)?”   The “sons of God” can be shown to be the angelic host therefore we see the angels as being present at the laying of the foundations of the earth.  The foundations of the earth are seen in Genesis 1:1 therefore the angelic host pre-existed the material creation.

Angels are manifest to a material world in the sphere of spiritual things, i.e. in certain manifestations of evil or protection from evil, and they have been and are manifested to men in material form only after the material creation which included the creation of light (Genesis 1:3).

(This principle also embraces God’s manifesting himself to mankind in the person of Christ.  God is Spirit and could not materially manifest his person until the creation of a material universe.)

Angels are spiritual beings, spiritual as God is spirit (immaterial), and this being the case their creation must have been prior to the creation of time and space, which seems to be the case in the Job passage just quoted.

My original rejection of the GAP theory was based upon a straight forward reading of God’s account of the history (to-led-aw', to-led-aw') of Genesis 1:1 to 2:4 (see above).  Nevertheless the creation of angels had always been a major point of concern because I associated their creation with the creation of time and space.  However with a separate creation of spirit beings this problem of time no longer exists.

From the Biblical account it is clear that God’s creation of the material universe (especially seen in the creation of human beings) was to finalise a conflict with Lucifer and other angels from eternity past.  It is clear from certain passages of Scripture that that conflict arose because of the pride and arrogance of a ‘super’ angel in his desire to be like the Most High.  A conflict that we see now extended to the world of men, a conflict between good and evil and one no sane person can deny.


In Ezekiel 28:12-19 we see not the prince of Tyrus as in vs.2, but the king of Tyrus, a completely different entity and one who transcends earthly things.  Not just the personality of this ‘King’ but all that is described in this passage transcends time and space and I believe is a representation of the spiritual realities of heaven, for in Ezekiel 28:16 God tells Satan ”...therefore 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.”   In vss 17, 18 and 19 it is said that Satan will be cast to the ground and be brought to ashes upon the earth as is also stated in Revelation 12:7-9 which is still future.  It is my belief that the Eden mentioned in Ezekiel 28:13 does not refer to the earthly garden where Adam and Eve were placed, but are descriptive of heaven itself.

Adam’s garden of Eden was an earthly garden planted by God eastward in Eden (Genesis 2:8); it was watered by a river that branched out to create four rivers (Genesis 2:10); it was a garden that needed maintenance (Genesis 2:15); Man was eventually banished from this garden and a sword placed east of Eden (this suggests man was driven eastward, possibly to the Mesopotamian valley, the co called cradle of civilisation).  If this is so then a line westward would lead to Jerusalem, God’s centre of proceedings.  Other mentions of Eden refer either to a man’s name, a place, or a pictorial reference to the beauty of the garden.


The garden of God referred to in Ezekiel 28:13-19 had been the King of Tyrus’ abode; he had also been upon the holy mountain of God; and had walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire until iniquity was found in him.  The tone of this passage changes from the past tense of indictment regarding his sin to the future tense of God’s judgements and their effects.  This fits well with a pre-creation indictment to a future judgement where this evil genius’ fall will be manifest to all men especially those who had remained his spiritual captives.

Ezekiel 28:12  “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
v.13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
v.14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
v.15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
v.16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore 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.
v.17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
v.18  Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
V.19  All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”

The King of Tyrus is the spiritual power behind the pride and arrogance of the prince of Tyre (vss.2-5).

In Isaiah 14:4-15 we see another passage of similar condemnation and scope: -
“ That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

It seems evident that both entities in the quoted passages are one and the same being and thus the spiritual power behind the prince of Tyre is almost certainly Lucifer son of the morning, who because of pride and arrogance is destined to hell, to the sides of the pit, and cast as ashes onto the earth.

In his original state Lucifer/Satan/the Devil had no residence other than the spiritual realms of eternity, therefore it can be assumed that a place needed to be created where his case could be adjudicated (God is absolute in his justice), witnesses could be called, and a place could be set apart from the heavenly realms for his incarceration.  The heavens and the earth were created for these purposes and human beings were to be God’s witnesses under the principles of faith.

Lucifer on the other hand had seen and experienced God’s majesty first hand and yet he rejected that majesty in trying to usurp it.  Mankind, inferior to Lucifer, had not seen, yet men through faith have believed and continue to believe in the majesty and glory and grace of God.  The faith of men is a witness against Lucifer’s wilful rebellion and will be used as proof positive that Lucifer/Satan/the Devil has no defence for his rebellion.

The Garden of Eden was the perfect environment for this adjudication to take place, but Satan could not afford to have man succeed where he had failed and so his evil work of deception and death began.  

The Bible is God’s record of creation, but more importantly it is His record of redemption from Satan’s deception and continuing attempts to thwart the judicial process.  It shows the final triumph of good over evil being revealed in the destruction of the old creation (rolled up as a scroll [Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:13-14], which will almost certainly be the location of the lake of fire), and in the creation of New Heavens and the New Earth (Isaiah 51:16, Isaiah 66:22; 2Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-5).

This may have been why the ‘sons of God’ shouted for joy at the creation of a material world.  There is a principle stated in the Bible that God will give understanding to those who are his friends (Genesis 18:17; Psalm 25:14; Amos 3:7; John 15:14-15) and if Lucifer had fallen at this point and brought disharmony to heaven, those angels who had remained true to God would rejoice over God’s declared plan for the world.

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