Moving
back to the text Heaven is one of
those words like evil that doesn’t
need an ‘s’ on the end to be thought of as plural although there is nothing
particularly wrong with saying heavens or evils. It’s just awkward sometimes.
We say skies as in the old
advertising phrase, “Fly the Friendly Skies,” when there is only one sky.
William Rosenau, in his early 20th century work entitled Hebraisms in the Authorized Version of the
Bible reported that in the Hebrew grammars he studied the use of the word heaven or heavens, as for other plurals, is the difference between referring
to something as a number of individual separate objects or as a singular to
denote them collectively. So, contrary to the skeptics who insist that writing heaven for heavens is wrong, especially those skeptics sitting under Authorized Version preaching, it is not
wrong, they are.[1]
In
the following passages we see the description of the creation of two heavens;
one what we call atmosphere and the other we call outer space.
Genesis
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them.
1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters.
To
define without form, and void we
cross-reference to Jeremiah 4 to see how the Holy Spirit guided that prophet to
define the phrase.
Jeremiah
4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was
without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they
trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens
were fled.
In
a statement on an unrelated subject in Jeremiah we find the definition of without form, and void as being
structurally fluid and uninhabited, without light. In verse 9, with the
appearance of dry land the text indicates the earth was covered by water. We do
know that God’s intention was for it to be inhabited.
Isaiah
45:18 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.
There
is a belief that there is a gap between verses one and two that allows for long
ages of time or for a brief period of time where the earth was inhabited by
someone or something. We do not have enough evidence in the text to discuss
this possibility which didn’t become popular until the early 1800’s, But I call
those who believe in the authority of the King
James Bible to note that the phrase is And
the earth was without form, and void not, “And the earth became without
form, and void.” In addition, how could
there be death before Adam’s time?
Romans
5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned:
There
are some commentators who insist that animal life died in this period but
mankind had not been created yet. However…
Romans
8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now.
1Corinthians
15:21 For since by man came death, by
man came also the resurrection of the dead.
When
I get to the word replenish I will be
forced to discuss this possibility further.
The
word darkness will be used in a
spiritual sense later in the Bible as it is used in a physical sense here. The face of the deep is a reference to the
fact that this earth is encased on water and the face of references the surface. The sea or ocean as a distinct
body of water separated from land has not been formed yet. In Job 38 the phrase
is used in an argument God makes to Job about things on earth to things in the
furthest reaches of outer space.
Water
is present in the universe. In the Orion Nebula alone enough water is produced,
scientists estimate, to fill the earth’s oceans every 24 minutes.[2] This water is not
necessarily the same kind of life-giving water we have on earth, though.[3] Even if they are guessing
wrong about the amount the evidence still remains that there appears to be a
great deal of water out there.
The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters. Moved upon shows movement on something as in Genesis 7:21 and the face of the waters is the surface of
the waters as in Genesis 7:18.
The Spirit of God is
one agency by which God works in His creation. There is named the Spirit
of God here and elsewhere as well as the Spirit of Christ.
Romans 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit
of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his.
1Peter 1:11
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and
the glory that should follow.
This is the Holy Ghost as a person with the
Spirit being Himself in operation.
Luke 4:1
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led
by the Spirit into the wilderness,
John 1:33
And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same
said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on
him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
John 7:39
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet
glorified.)
Acts 2:4
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
1Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no
man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can
say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
When the Holy Spirit’s operative work is
spoken of the impersonal pronoun it can
be used.
Romans 8:16
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God:..26 Likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we
ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered.
But
as a third part of God the Holy Ghost is referred to as he.
John
14:26 But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you.
The Spirit is the mind and heart of
God just as the spirit of man includes the heart, reason, emotions, intellect,
and talents. For contexts where the Spirit of God or
the spirit of man can be synonymous with mind please see the following;
Romans 8:27 And he that
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is
the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
1Corinthians 2:9 But as it
is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in
him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we
have received, not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of
God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in
the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that
he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Ephesians 4:23 And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Philippians 1:27 Only let
your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come
and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind
striving together for the faith of the gospel;
2Timothy 1:7 For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Now for the heart, and we must understand that all of our
decisions include our invisible minds and hearts. Here are just a couple of
examples.
Exodus 35:21 And they came,
every one whose heart stirred
him up, and every one whom his spirit
made willing, and they brought
the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for
all his service, and for the holy garments.
Deuteronomy 2:30 But Sihon
king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his
spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver
him into thy hand, as appeareth
this day.
God the Father is the soul of God, the seat of will and
self-identity, while the Holy Ghost is the very mind and heart of God moving in
creation called the Holy Spirit in action as the Spirit of God and the Spirit
of Christ, and the Son of God is God’s physical existence, His image, His body.
It is through the latter that He connected with us and it is there, at the Lord
Jesus Christ, that we who have bodies commune with God. Without the physical
image of God as our Saviour there is no connection in our minds and hearts, in
our spirits with an invisible, incorporeal God of the universe. It is through
Christ that we reach God and through Him only.
The very mind of God has formed the
earth and the heavens and we will learn controls all reality and events. Nothing
can happen unless God either causes it directly or permits it to be done. From
the most basic cell function to a wisp of a breeze and from the evil that men
do to the formation of a distant galaxy all things flow from either His
perfect, direct will or His permissive will. Look around you and see the mind
of God at work every day. Pray for His mercy, accept His love, and give Him the
glory.
[1]
William Rosenau, Hebraisms in the
Authorized Version of the Bible (Baltimore: The Lord Baltimore Press,
1902), 111.
[2]
Frank D. Roylance, “Astronomers Observe Water Forming in the Orion Nebula,” The Tech – Online Edition, Volume 118,
Issue 19, April 14, 1998. http://tech.mit.edu/V118/N19/dorion.19w.html
[3]
Justine Alford, “Water on Rosetta’s Comet Different to Water on Earth,” IFL Science, December 11, 2014. http://www.iflscience.com/space/rosetta-data-suggests-water-earth-probably-didnt-come-comets
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