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There is a
much-disputed belief that something happened in the Bible between Ge 1:1 and Ge
1:2. Because of this “gap” between the two verses the belief has come to be
called the Gap theory and its adherents are sometimes called “gappers.” It is falsely claimed by those who reject “the
Gap” that gappers are just trying to compromise with
the false theory of evolution and the great ages needed for evolution. However,
gappers believe man and all the animals were created
for the first time during the literal seven-day week of Creation, and all
humans and animals on earth today are descended from those on Noah’s ark.
Evolution is a hoax and does not come from Scripture. Does the Gap theory come
from Scripture?
Because we live in the Age of Reason, the
exalted position of science has given evolution astonishing acceptance among
Christians. As a young Christian I was fascinated by the evolution/creation
debate and spent quite a bit of time studying it. It was interesting and
edifying to see how amateurish and biased the thinking of evolutionists can be.
Much of what I read came from “creationist ministries.” But as I matured I was
increasingly bothered by the lack of maturity and understanding of these
creationists. Perhaps because of their constant contact with scientific
information, these Christian creationists have become quite Reasonable: They
use Reason/leaven in an attempt to show they really are legitimate scientists
(which requires them to satisfy the world’s philosophic requirement that
“legitimate” science be divorced from religion); many of their arguments come
from science falsely so called; many of them do not believe the word of God
exists and therefore spend much time flipping through layman’s aids looking for
ways to refute both evolutionists and gappers by
“correcting” the King James Bible; and many of them join affinity with worldly,
non-Christian organizations which lure them further away from the cerebral
realm of Scripture so necessary to spiritual warfare. As I grew, the Lord
gently moved me away from the world of Reason and into the world of faith. Now
I view science with critical disdain and get my reality from the word of God
only. When I quit serving two masters I was amazed how rapidly I grew and
learned. I attributed my rapid growth to the fact that the Lord had a lot of
extra time to devote to me because very few other Christians were going to Him
for training. (I’m being facetious, but you get my point.)
In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth (Ge 1:1). And obviously at that point
man was not around because man was not created until Ge
1:26. But notice in v.28 God told man to multiply and replenish
the earth. Replenish means to refill or to fill again and implies
something was there before. That would mean two things: First, there was an
earth before the seven-day creation, and second, it was populated.
God used the same word when He later told
Noah to multiply and replenish the earth (Ge
9:1). God obviously used replenish with Noah because, first, the
earth existed before Noah’s flood, and second, it had been populated by Adam’s
descendants.
Now notice when God referred to animals
in Ge 1:22, He used the word fill
instead of replenish. He did so because the animals did not exist
before. God is very careful about the words He chooses. And the fact that He
chose the word replenish with Adam – just like He did with Noah – leads
to the obvious question: Who was living on what earth before Adam
was created?
In Jb
38:1-8 God is talking about some things that happened before mankind
existed: When God originally laid the foundations of the earth the morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. In chapter D1, The
Star of Bethlehem, we learned that star is sometimes a way of
referring to angels in the Bible. Therefore, according to Jb 38 these sons of God, these stars, these angels, were
around in the beginning when the foundations of the earth were laid.
What else happened in the beginning when
the foundations of the earth were laid? 1 Jn 3:8
says the devil sinneth from the beginning, and Jn 8:44 says he was a murderer from the
beginning. Cain was also a murderer but since he wasn’t there when the
foundations of the earth were laid, his brother, Abel, wasn’t the first murder
victim. Who did the devil murder in the beginning? The Lamb,
slain from the foundation of the world (Re 13:8). See also Re
5:6,12 and Jn
1:1,14,29.
Now, before we go any further, it will
speed things up if we establish a few things. First, when the Bible uses the
word “tree” it is sometimes referring to living beings that are not trees. Take
the time to look up Mk 8:24; Ju 9:8-15; Da 4:20,22; Is 56:3; Je 17:8; Mt 3:10; 7:16-19; Is 65:22;
Ps 128:3; Ho 10:1; Jn 15:1-6. Because the last
several examples say vines instead of trees, look at these next
verses to verify that vines are trees: Nu 6:4; Ezek
15:2,6.
Second, when the Bible refers to “birds”
or “fowls” it is sometimes referring to devils. See Mt 13:4,19; Mk 4:4,15; Lk 8:5,12; Re 18:2.
Third, Is
14 and Ezek 28 tell us some things about Lucifer. Is
14 calls him by name, Ezek 28 refers to him figuratively. They can be seen to
be the same by comparing Is 14:15 with Ezek 28:8; Is 14:12b with Ezek 28:17; Is
14:16b with Ezek 28:17b; Is 14:13,14 with Ezek 28:2.
Satan can appear in many forms: a serpent and a dragon (Re 12:9); an
angel (2 Co 11:14); and a cherub (Ezek 28:14,16).
We are going to focus on what a cherub looks like. Clue number one: Ezek
10:14 lists four faces. In reverse order they are the faces of an eagle, a
lion, a man, a cherub. We know what the faces of eagles, lions, and men
look like. But what does the face of a cherub look like? We find the four faces
also listed in Ezek 1:10. Matching the above order of faces it says an eagle,
a lion, a man, and an ox. The four faces of these creatures that
surround God’s throne are also listed in Re 4:7. They are an eagle, a
lion, a man, and a calf. Notice the consistency. By comparing line upon
line, here a little and there a little, we find that the face of a cherub is as
the face of a cow. That is why the devil was cursed “above all cattle” (Ge 3:14). And that is why, when the
Israelites worshipped golden calves and offered sacrifices to them (Ex
32:4-6; 1 Ki 12:28; Ps 106:19,20)
they were actually sacrificing to devils (Le 17:7; De 32:17; 2 Ch
11:15; 1 Co 10:20).
It is necessary to note some of these
things as we look into the Gap because it can get complicated. There is much
resistance to the idea that something happened between the first two verses of
the Bible for several reasons. First, it takes some serious Bible study to put
together the evidence, and Christians would rather watch TV. Second, many
Christians today foolishly use “modern” Bible versions which eliminate many
pieces of evidence by changing the words God gave us as clues. Third, the
evidence that does remain in these modern versions does not have the authority
to teach the people who use these versions about this topic because everyone
who uses the New American Standard, New International, New King James,
etc., knows (correctly) they are not holy; they are not inspired, inerrant, and
infallible; they are not the exact words God chose to teach and guide His
church. The only book on this planet that is the inspired word of God
(and not “just a translation”) is the Authorized 1611 King James Bible. Only
Bible believers (defined as those who believe the word of God as defined
by God does exist on earth and who know where to get their hands on a copy)
trust God’s words and have the faith to put together the evidence (Is
28:9,10) in order to learn. But those Christians who are unbelievers in the
existence of the word of God anywhere on earth, lack the faith and confidence
to put the pieces of evidence together (Is 28:13; Mt 13:13-15) because
they’re not real sure if the words in the Bible are holy or not.
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Now, please bear with me as I make a
point by stating the obvious: In the state of Pennsylvania there is a county
called Lancaster. Lancaster County is in Pennsylvania. The county is in
Pennsylvania but the county is not Pennsylvania. The county is Lancaster,
not Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is not the name of the county just
because the county is in, or part of, Pennsylvania. Lancaster is a county of
Pennsylvania, and it is in Pennsylvania, but that does not mean the
county is named Pennsylvania.
In Eden there was a garden (Ge
2:8). This garden was in Eden. It was in the eastern part of Eden.
The garden was not named Eden; it was in Eden. It was a garden of Eden (Ge
2:15), and it was in Eden, but that does not mean the garden was
named Eden. See also Ge 2:10.
In Ge
13:10 we have a place called “the garden of the Lord” being compared
with Egypt. Egypt is often a type of the world in the Bible, much more often,
in fact, than birds, trees, and stars are used in their figurative sense. In Is 51:3 we see this “garden of the Lord”
mentioned along with “Eden” (not the “garden of Eden”). That means
“Eden” is the same as “the garden of the Lord” which is typified by
Egypt – the world. In other words, this planet we live on was named Eden and
the whole thing was the garden of the Lord. On the planet Eden, God
later created a smaller garden that was home to Adam. This small garden was not
named Eden because Eden was the name of the entire planet. So the small garden
was called, appropriately enough, the garden of
Eden.
In Ge 1:1 God
created the heaven and the earth. The earth was named Eden and the whole planet
was God’s garden. It was referred to as the garden of the Lord and the garden
of God. Lucifer was put in the garden of God to keep it and to dress it. But he
rebelled and warred against God. In this war the planet Eden was destroyed and
became without form and void. God took the destroyed Eden and in six days
created the planet anew. But because Eden was now part of the Devil’s kingdom (Mt
4:8,9; 12:25-28; 2 Co 4:4; Jn
12:31; 18:36), God didn’t make the entire planet His garden this time, and
it would no longer be referred to as the garden of the Lord. In the eastern
part of Eden, God planted a garden and put Adam in it to dress it and to keep
it. But Adam also rebelled against God and was kicked out of the garden of Eden.
I’ll now try to piece together what
happened from the Scriptures so you can see whether these things be so. (As you
study this topic the two illustrations on pages 3 and 4 of this chapter may
help you visualize what I’m saying.)
In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth. The earth was named Eden and was all one garden called the
garden of God. All was wonderful and all God’s creatures were happy (Jb 38:7).
Lucifer was perfect (Ezek 28:15) when he
was created. And he was wiser than Daniel (Ezek 28:3). But Lucifer used his
wisdom to accumulate money and other physical wealth (Ezek 28:4). Physical
possessions made him materialistic, he became covetous (Ezek 28:5), and that
led him to sin violently against God (Ezek 28:15,16; 1
Jn 3:8; Jn 8:44; Re 13:8).
Lucifer was in Eden, the garden of God.
This first Eden did not have a garden in it; the whole planet was
a garden. Lucifer lived in and husbanded the garden of God. Adam lived in and
husbanded only the garden of Eden. Lucifer, in the
garden of God, was beautiful (Ezek 28:12; 31:8,9).
Eden, the garden of God, was apparently in contact with the Deep and was
therefore well watered (Ezek 31:4-9).
Lucifer decided to exalt himself against
God through progress and cities and skyscrapers (Is 14:13,14,21;
Nu 24:19; Ezek 31:10). Lucifer (Is 14:12) is also called “the Assyrian”
(Is 14:25; Ezek 31:3), and the Assyrian is called “Nimrod” (Mi 5:6),
which leads us to more cities and skyscrapers God didn’t want (Ge 10:9,10; 11:3-8).
The Assyrian is also called “Pharaoh” (Ezek 31:18b). This is the same
Pharaoh who rebelled against God, which resulted in the death of the Passover
lamb (Ex 12:5,6), which is a type of Re 13:8.
God then warred against Egypt (Ex 14:14,25) and
destroyed it with the flood (Am 9:5; Ex 15:8). Ex 14:26 says the
Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them. This, however, was
the first and only time Egypt’s Pharaoh was defeated by the flood. So perhaps
this word “again” is referring to Lucifer back in the days of the foundation of
the earth (Jb 22:16). Zech 14
seems to say the same thing: Right in the middle of talking about future events
it mentions the Lord fighting in the past during “the day of battle” (Zech
14:3b). Perhaps these are clues to a past battle between God’s loyal angels and
those angels who rebelled against Him. See also Ju
5:20,21; Re 12:7; Ec 1:9,10.
So when Lucifer and his cities in Eden
warred against God, the first flood in history occurred when the Deep, which
had watered the earth, overflowed the earth and destroyed the Devil’s doings
(Ezek 28:8; 31:18b; Is 14:17). This ended the
unity and harmony of the Kingdom of God, which had consisted of the heaven and
the earth. How long had this harmonious period on Eden, the garden of God,
lasted? In other words, how old was this planet by the time the events of the
Gap happened? We have no idea because the Bible doesn’t say – probably because
time and years didn’t exist back in eternity before God created Time during the
seven-day creation week.
This ancient destruction by the Deep would
certainly be an unpleasant memory for the devils, but that wouldn’t explain why
they still have a very real fear of the Deep (Lk
8:31). Let’s take a long road to the explanation. Remember, the Lord said
His good angels in heaven don’t marry (Mt 22:30). Does
that mean the bad angels who were thrown out of heaven did marry
and have sex with women (Ge 6:2,4)? When Ham had sex with Mrs. Noah in Ge 9:21-24 was this a picture of the devil
having sex with Eve (1 Jn 3:12)? (Some people
think Ham performed a homosexual act on Noah rather than have sex with Mrs.
Noah. But first, nowhere is “uncovering a man’s nakedness” defined as screwing
that man. And second, Le 18:8,14; 20:11,20; and
Dt 22:30; 27:20 all make it clear that
uncovering a man’s nakedness is screwing his wife. Third, Ham screwing
Mrs. Noah is consistent with 1 Jn 3:12 and 2 Sa
16:21,22. But how can screwing a man’s wife be
uncovering his nakedness? Because, unlike most Christians, God takes the
Bible literally, and that includes Ge 2:24b.)
Some devils are still allowed to run to
and fro today, but others are locked up (2 Pe 2:4;
Jude 6). Why? Did the devils, who are spirit beings, go after human flesh
just like human flesh went after spirit beings (Ge
19:1,5)? Is there something so wicked about spirits
and mortals having sex with each other that Lot was willing to resort to
shocking measures in an effort to prevent it (Ge
19:7,8)? Is that the reason the sex sins in Jude 7 are mentioned
right after the bad angels of Jude 6? And if 2 Pe
2:5 is a reminder of the sex sins of Ge 6:4, and
if 2 Pe 2:6 is a reminder of the sex sins of
Jude 7, doesn’t that mean we can’t rule out sex as the reason for 2 Pe 2:4? So it looks like the bad angels who went after
strange flesh were locked in hell, and the bad angels who did not go after
strange flesh but kept their first estate are still out and about. Even though
they are still out and about, they know the time is coming when they will be
thrown into the lake of fire (see Lk 8:31 again).
This prison for devils is typified by the belly of a fish, the belly of hell,
the deep, the floods, the waters, the depth, being behind bars, etc. (Jona 2:1-6). Hence the
devils’ fear of being sent to “the deep” before the time (Mt 8:29;
Lk 8:31). Notice that this “deep” the devils
did not want to be cast into is not a local lake (Mk 5:10). The
devils wanted to go into the local “lake” or “sea” (Mk 5:13; Lk 8:33). The Deep they fear is a much larger lake than
the one the swine drowned in; it is the lake of fire into which they will be
cast when “the time” is right – at Judgment at the end of the seventh day.
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After the first battle ended with the
first flood, the earth was destroyed, had no form, and was void (Je 4:20,23; Ge 1:2). Then the Deep, which
had previously been in contact with the earth in order to keep it watered,
expanded like a huge bubble up and away from the earth, but a small portion of
the Deep was left on earth as oceans to water the earth via the hydrological
cycle. The invisible substance God used to inflate the Deep was the firmament (Ge 1:6-8).
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We know there are now three heavens (2
Co 12:2-4). The first heaven is the atmosphere (Je 8:7). The second
heaven is outer space (Ge 1:6-17). The
Deep sits on top of the first two heavens and below the third as we saw in D3, Where
is Heaven? Because Ge 1:1 says heaven
(apparently singular), and because the word Heaven in Ge 1:8 is capitalized even though it’s not the first use of
the word, we might infer the Heaven of Ge 1:8,
which is between the oceans and the Deep (Ge 1:6,7),
includes both the first (atmosphere) and the second (outer space) heavens. In
possible support of this inference are verses like Dt 10:14; 1 Ki
8:27; 2 Ch 2:6; 6:18. Not only do they show that a seemingly singular heaven
can contain two heavens, but they consistently seem to differentiate between
the singular heaven and the plural heaven. That seems to fit with the third
heaven being the one in Ge 1:1 and the other two,
created later, being the Heaven in Ge 1:8.
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However, the use of heavens
in Je 4:23 may mean I’ve got it backwards. It may be that in the beginning God
created the third heaven for His throne, and also created the first heaven so
the plants in Eden, the garden of God, would have air to breathe. In that case
the heaven in Ge 1:1 would have the
dual meaning of Dt 10:14,
and the capitalized Heaven of Ge 1:8
would have the singular meaning. In either case, we can see that the heaven
of Ge 1:1 cannot be assumed to be an error
in the King James Bible in order to justify changing it to match the heavens
of Ge 2:1 as is done by modern Bible versions,
because when you add the Heaven created in Ge
1:8 to the heaven created in Ge 1:1 you get
the plural heavens of Ge 2:1.
Je 4:23-28 is interesting because v.23, being almost
identical to Ge 1:2, pulls us back to the first
generation of the planet Eden. Also v.25 (like Jb
38:4,7) establishes the timeframe as a period when
angels existed but man had not yet been created. The birds in this verse
are devils, and are also called “trees of Eden” in Ezek 31:16-18. How do
we know these birds in Je 4:25 are devils who have “fled” the destructive wrath
of God? Because they are “birds of the heavens.”
The birds you and I know today can’t leave the atmosphere of the first heaven
(Je 8:7; Ho 2:18). But devil birds can even go up to the third heaven (Jb 1:6; 2:1).
Je 4:26 refers to the garden of God being
made desolate. As we saw, its former glory was alluded to in Ge 13:10 and Is 51:3. The old cities of Eden were also
destroyed.
In Je 4:27 God says this destruction is
not the end of the earth because He has plans to recreate it in six days.
Je 4:28 is about mourning for a lost son.
King David’s son, Absalom, is a type of Lucifer. When Absalom rebelled against
David and was killed and cast into a great pit (2 Sa
18:17), David mourned greatly (2 Sa 18:33; 19:1-4). And here in this
passage, God the Father, grieving over the rebellion of His beloved son,
Lucifer, the destruction of Eden, and the division in the Kingdom of God,
decides to enshroud the Kingdom of Heaven in darkness, in black, as a sign of
His mourning (Ezek 31:15). The Deep was moved up to become the outer
boundary of Satan’s new Kingdom of Heaven, thus shutting out the light of the
Kingdom of God and, like a tomb, sealing darkness and death under God’s feet.
This means the darkness on the face of the Deep (Ge
1:2) is on the inner face. And that’s why God created the sun and the
stars as artificial, temporary lighting. Ominously and prophetically our
universe is lit by firelight from raging infernos.
God then took the destroyed earth, the old
garden of God, and recreated it in six days. He planted a garden in the
eastward part of the earth, and created man. At this point history began to
repeat itself (just like Ec 1:9,10
says it does) because Lucifer and Adam have similar histories.
Lucifer was wise (Ezek 28:3,4) and that got him into trouble (Ezek 28:15,16). Adam
wanted knowledge (Ge 3:6) and it got
him into trouble (Ge 3:11). After the
Devil sinned he wanted to build cities and reach up into heaven (Is 14:13,14,21), and so did man (Ge
11:4,5). The Devil was filled with violence (Ezek 28:16), and so were
Adam’s offspring (Ge 4:8; 6:11,13). God flooded the first Eden with the Deep (Ezek
28:8; 31:15,18b) just like He did the second Eden (Ge
7:11). Lucifer’s sin against God resulted in the curse of death (lake of fire)
being placed on all damned angels. Adam’s sin against God resulted in the curse
of death (mortality) being placed on all mankind. When Lucifer was booted from
the real estate of the garden of God, over which he had dominion, he was
disinherited and damned. When Adam was booted from the real estate of the garden of Eden, over which he had dominion, he was
disinherited and damned. (When God’s people were booted from the real estate of
the nation of Israel, over which they had dominion, they were disinherited and
damned. Read and heed Ro 11:20,21.) Nowhere
does the Bible actually say Adam went to hell, but the patterns don’t look good
for him and he is conspicuously absent from the hall of fame in He 11.
Let’s pause here to note a difference
between the first flood that destroyed the earth of Ge
1:1, and the second flood that covered the earth of Ge
2:1. The first flood destroyed the earth so much it became without form and
void and had to be created anew by God in six days. The second flood did not
destroy the earth: Noah was able to step off the ark and begin living. The
objective of the first flood was to destroy the earth; the objective of the
second flood was to destroy all flesh (Ge
6:17; 7:4,20-24). There is an important difference
between destroying the earth, which leaves it uninhabitable and needing
to be recreated, and destroying all flesh, which leaves the earth
habitable. Therefore, pay attention to God’s rainbow covenant with Noah (Ge 9:11) in which He promises to never again
use a flood to destroy all flesh (which did happen during Noah’s
flood), and then notice God promises to never again use a flood to destroy
the earth (which did not happen during Noah’s flood). When God tells
Noah He will never again use a flood to destroy the earth He is
letting us know it happened during the Gap. That’s right. And He is letting us
know we can go ahead and build a case out of the verses covered earlier even if
they do seem vague, veiled, and figurative. Notice how careful the Word of God
is with the words He chooses to put in His Book, the word of God: He did not
say in Ge 9:11 He will not again destroy the earth;
He said next time He won’t use a flood to do it. He says next time it
will be done with fire (2 Pe 3:7,10,12). And the fire of 2 Pe
3 is the answer to the confusion of Ge 6:13
when God is thinking about the destruction of all flesh and of the earth. God
is thinking ahead to 2 Pe 3 and the final step in the
7000-year battle to destroy all flesh – fire. That’s why in Ge
6:13 He doesn’t mention anything about a flood; He’s thinking fire.
Every other time He mentions destruction He is careful to mention a
flood right along with it (Ge 6:17; 7:4,20-24; 9:11,15). Noah’s flood and the first flood during
the Gap were just interim measures. The destruction God foresaw in Ge 6:13, however, is the Final Solution (He 2:14; 1 Jn 3:8b; Ro 6:6,7; 7:2; 8:3; Re
20:10,14). It is the flood of fire, the lake of fire.
Now let’s pick up where we left off with
history repeating itself, and compare Adam and Noah. Everyone on earth was
descended from Adam. Everyone on earth is descended from Noah. Adam got in
trouble by taking the fruit of a vine tree. Noah got in trouble by taking the
fruit of a vine tree (Ge 9:21). Both
Adam and Noah took over the earth after floods destroyed wicked civilizations.
Both Adam and Noah were told to replenish the earth. Both may have had
their nakedness uncovered (Ge 9:22; 1 Jn 3:12). Both had sons who were cursed (Ge 4:11; 9:25). The similarities end in He 11; only Noah is in the hall of fame, and it is unlikely
the omission of Adam is an oversight.
Some people reject all of this
information on the Gap because Ge 1:2 begins with
“And…” They think that means Ge 1:1 flows directly
into 1:2 without anything happening in between. Three things can be said in
reply: First, that argument fails to deal with all the Scriptures presented
concerning events “in the beginning.” When people cannot handle Scripture they
run from, not to, the Bible with mindless mouthings
like, “Yeah, but what about yakety-yak?” Second, “And” most certainly does not imply nothing
happened between two verses! Third, anyone who has carefully studied the events
surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection, for example, knows many events
happened between three consecutive verses – all starting with “And…” (Mk
15:47 happened on Wednesday. Mk 16:1 happened on Friday. Mk 16:2
happened on Sunday. This topic is covered in chapter D33).
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Another thing about the Gap: The Genesis
account separates the original creation of the heaven and the earth from
the later six days when the earth was created anew. Ge
1:1 and 1:2 are by themselves and then come the six days. In
support of this notice that each of the six days of creation, without
exception, begins with, “And God said, Let…” And
each day, without exception, ends with, “And the evening and the morning
were the __ day.”
The first day is bracketed by verses 3
and 5; the second day by verses 6 and 8; the third by 9 and 13; the fourth by
14 and 19; the fifth by 20 and 23; and the sixth by 24 and 31. Note that
neither the heaven nor the earth (Ge 1:1) was created
on any of the six days. They were created before the six days; they were
created back in the beginning. If anyone challenges the Gap, just ask him to
show you on which day the earth was created. That will provide an opportunity
to point out that the Bible plainly states the earth was created in
the beginning. And the Bible plainly shows that, rather than create
land on day three, God merely uncovers the already-existing-but-flooded
land. There is no quote such as, “And God said, Let
there be land” or “Let there be an earth.”
The
earth was created back in eternity before time, before day one, in verse one.
It was then flooded and destroyed prior to verse two. Then the Kingdom of God
was separated from the new Kingdom of darkness, the Kingdom of Heaven, which
included the destroyed Eden (called Atlantis in pagan mythology), and time
arrived. God created light on day one so there could be “days” since days are
made up of both darkness and light. Then on day two He created the firmament
(also called Heaven) to push the Deep up off the earth to the outer boundary of
the Kingdom of darkness. And on day three He segregated the oceans and the dry
land. It’s all spelled out. In other words, Ge 1:1 is
the creation of the unified Kingdom of God. And the six days describe the
creation of the newly independent Kingdom of Heaven. The Gap is between those
two; it is when Lucifer’s rebellion began and when the Kingdom of God was
divided.
Some people use Ge 1:5; 2:2,3; Ex 20:11; and He 4:4 to “prove” there was no Gap. Notice those verses all have to do with the Creation Week. The problem seems to be a lack of understanding of Time because the only way people could use those verses to disprove the Gap is to think, “Hmm, if there was a Gap, the first day in the Creation Week wouldn’t have been the first day because there would have been other days back during or before the Gap, which means the second, third, etc. days – and, indeed the entire week – wouldn’t have been the first – they would have been just other days and weeks out of many that preceded them.”
That
problem goes away when you realize Time did not exist during the Gap because
the Gap happened during eternity. God created time during the Creation Week,
and He created clocks with which to measure time (Ge
1:14-16). Those who get dogmatic and say the Creation Week disproves the
Gap do not understand that God may be differentiating between time and
eternity, which are as different as, well, night and day. Again, days
did not exist back in eternity during the Gap. Days were a by-product of the
darkness created in Ge 1:2. Review vv.2-5.
Naysayers
may also be trying to suggest that, because artificial light and day and night
were created in Ge 1:3-5, there could not have been a Gap
prior to that because everything would have been dark – and why would God and
Lucifer and Gabriel want to fumble around in the dark! Light as we know it is
an artificial entity mortals need in order to see. Spirit beings do not need anything in order to see
because God is their light (Re
21:23-25). Therefore God and His children needed no flashlights
back during the Gap.
The Bible does not come right out and
state some of the things we covered in this chapter. The Biblical road to the
Gap is a long, involved, and, in places, broken trail. I do not understand all
of it fully. I may be wrong about some of it. But not all of
it. I’ve learned too much about the Lord Jesus Christ and His word not
to understand some things about Him and the way He works.
This topic is a “gee whiz” topic, a fun
topic. And I enjoy it. It helps us get some mental exercise because it goes to
a lot of places in the Bible that are silently swept under the rug by modern
Christianity. This topic is also a good illustration of how shamefully lazy,
ignorant, unskilled, uninterested, and unadventurous we are when
studying the mind of God and the subjects He put in His Book.