genesis

Sprung fully formed

Posted on January 30, 2019January 30, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Creation account in Genesis is a wonder to me and energizing to my faith. It is obvious that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are meant to be a recounting of actual events. These two books are not poetry, though the language is lofty. It is history. The account is a complete one, at least as far as what God wants us to know. There is no place in those chapters for belief in evolution, gap theories, or poetry.

My Bible reading plan this year started with Job and then went to Genesis. It is a plan that brings the reader progressively from the oldest book (Job, then Genesis) to the most recent. (Revelation).

I’ve been mulling the creation account for a while. I enjoyed John MacArthur’s series on it very much a few years back. I’ll link to that series below.

What struck me are a few verses in Genesis 1 and 2-

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:11)

You know that old joke told by secular people, ‘What came first, the chicken or the egg?’ The answer is, the chicken. Or for the purposes of this essay, not the seed, but the plant.

The plants were created fully formed, with their seeds already in them to propagate to the second generation of flora.

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” (Genesis 1:29).

If someone doesn’t believe this is literal, then they must believe that the author is attributing words to God that He didn’t say. Who would put words in God’s mouth and write them down and then the Spirit inspire men to include them into the canon? Would the Spirit accept words into the canon that God didn’t say…that man made up?

Adam was made fully formed, a fully grown and functioning adult man. He was capable of speech and thought and will. Then God created Eve, another fully functioning adult with thoughts and speech and will.

Satan knew that the earth was created by God complete and functioning from the beginning. He was among the holy angels who shouted for joy when creation was performed. (Job 38:7).

Satan knew that it happened this way. When he invented a false religion for the Greeks, he even included an evil shadow of the true creation story in his pantheon of gods and origin stories. Athena was supposed to have sprung fully formed, and in armor, from her father Zeus’s head.

I affirm in joy the account set before us in Genesis 1 and 2, its true historicity and its wonderful language accurately describing this true event. God spoke, and plants, animals, light, sun, stars; all of it, sprung fully formed from His lips. I pray you have joy in believing this, too.

Throwback: Genesis IS the Beginning

Posted on January 17, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This essay first appeared on The End Time on May, 2011

In a recent John MacArthur sermon, he said, “A well-known scientist named Herbert Spencer died in 1903. He discovered that all reality, all reality, all that exists in the universe can be contained in five categories…time, force, action, space and matter. Herbert Spencer said everything that exists, exists in one of those categories…time, force, action, space and matter.

Now think about that. Time, force, action, space and matter. That is a logical sequence. And then with that in your mind, listen to Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning,” that’s time…”God,” that’s force, “created,” that’s action, “the heavens,” that’s space, “and the earth,” that’s matter. Everything that could be said about everything that exists is said in that first verse.”

Yes, indeed. The Bible is amazing isn’t it? And I share with some glee that the scientist who believes all reality can be found in those five categories was an evolutionist who actually coined the term ‘survival of the fittest’ which Darwin subsequently used. But re-read Genesis 1:1, and you find truth in the five category theory. The Bible is a wonderful book of science.

I am not ashamed of the Bible. I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is all I need to live on, for it is my bread of life and the fountain of water is rich to slake my thirst. I believe Jesus is God incarnate, lived on earth as a man, died as the only spotless sacrifice there is, was, or will be to pay the penalty God requires for sin. I believe He died and rose again on the third day. I believe He intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father, and will return to judge the earth. I believe He is preparing a place for us called New Jerusalem which is glorious and will be our home forever when He calls us to Him. I believe I am a sinner, not arrogantly believing I am good, or that I merit entry to heaven on my own, or that I never have done, said, or thought a wrong thing, but instead I am sinful to the core. I asked Him to forgive my sins, and He did. I believe Jesus did forgive my sins and I will rule and reign with Him after He calls us to Him. I believe the church age is winding down and I thank Jesus every day for my salvation that I am cleaned from unrighteousness and will be able to dwell with Him in blissful eternity- thanks to His work on the cross. I believe the time is short. I am ready.

ARE YOU?

and god said genesis verse

prophecy, Uncategorized

The view from space: “We are all so unbelievably small”

Posted on October 26, 2017 by elizabethprata

God is majestic. He is enormous in power, might, will, strength, and mind. He made the universe in 6 successive, literal days, with just His voice. He created all the stars and named them also. This achievement is incredible to wrap our minds around, especially since we as humans are self-centered and myopic. We can’t conceive of exactly how big the universe is partly because we’re seeking our own glory which blinds us to it. We tend to magnify our own selves as a human race. (Genesis 11:1-9).

We also diminish God in His power, especially because He is invisible. (John 20:29; 1 Peter 1:8). However, God created the universe, moon, sun, and earth as a sign to us sinful creatures who in our pre-salvation state, do not know Him. As it says in Romans 1:18-20,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

It’s highly important to believe and understand that Genesis 1 is literal. It is not poetry, allegory, or hyperbole. It is lyrical, to be sure, but it is a record of actual history as it happened. It is revealed to us by the One and only witness to its creation: Jehovah.

Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.
(Revelation 4:11.)

When Paul preached to the Gentiles, he used creation to convict them of God’s existence. (Acts 14:15; 17:24-26.) He then used that truth in the Gospel’s proclamation. By this, we know that Paul believed the opening chapters of Genesis as historical fact as revealed.

I’ve felt an increasing burden for the evangelical world’s compromise of and even outright rejection of Genesis 1 as literal fact. On blogs, I see that when asked, major ministries claim that Genesis 1/literal creation/young earth is a tangential issue not appropriate to bring up in evangelism. Yet Paul used creation and Genesis 1 as the foundation of evangelism in Acts and Romans!

In personal conversations with people they tell me that Genesis 1 isn’t a battleground because, well, the Gospel isn’t there. But it is! Genesis 1 & 2 demonstrate the Creator to whom we are all responsible. Genesis 3 shows us the reason we need the Gospel and contains the protoevangelium.

I’ve been feeling this burden for Genesis 1 for a few months now. I intuit that it is from the Lord and that it is in my heart and mind for a reason. I’ll be writing about it, I surmise, several times in upcoming blogs.

Today’s point I’d be pleased that you take away is that preaching a literal Genesis 1 aligns with the foundational truth Paul used when he preached to the Gentiles. Preaching Genesis 1’s literal and 6-day creation doesn’t have the same impact, say, if you were to tell the Gentile it’s just a poem.

Please watch this short video to see how unbelievably small we are, and by comparison how unbelievably big God is. I don’t think it is produced with a Creation/Creator perspective in mind, but it is factual and amazing nonetheless.

Scripture cannot be broken, and the battle for Genesis 1 as literal and historical is the primary and starting hill to die on.

Uncategorized

Joseph is a picture of Jesus, Jesus is the true and better Savior

Posted on August 10, 2016 by elizabethprata

There are lots of “types” in the Bible. A fancier name for it is Biblical Typology. Biblical Typology is…

…a special kind of symbolism. (A symbol is something which represents something else.) We can define a type as a “prophetic symbol” because all types are representations of something yet future. More specifically, a type in scripture is a person or thing in the Old Testament which foreshadows a person or thing in the New Testament. For example, the flood of Noah’s day (Genesis 6-7) is used as a type of baptism in 1 Peter 3:20-21. The word for type that Peter uses is figure.

Another example of a type is in Hebrews 9:8-9: “the first tabernacle . . . which was a figure for the time then present.” The blood sacrifices of lambs prefigured or was a type of the actual sacrifice of the Lamb of God. And so on.

Ligonier defines typology as

Typology is based on the fact that God works in recurring patterns throughout history and says that a past event or person can prefigure or serve as a type of a future person or event.

Joseph, son of Jacob, is in many respects one of the strongest types depicting the Savior. At our church we are going through Genesis and the latter portion of all the books of Genesis detail Joseph’s story. Sold into slavery, descended into the pit (jail), Joseph interpreted the Cupbearer’s and Baker’s dreams and said to them as they were called to Pharaoh’s side, “Remember me”. Joseph was forgotten, … until the Cupbearer heard that Pharaoh needed someone to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. Joseph was called to the King’s side-

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. (Genesis 41:14)

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” (Genesis 41:41-44).

When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” (Genesis 41:55)

Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth. (Genesis 41:57)

Hopefully you notice the similarities. Joseph was reviled, sold as a slave, they put an iron fetter around his neck. (Psalm 105:17-18). He was in the pit, forgotten and ignored. One day in a moment, a twinkling, he was exalted and put in second place, only the King was higher than he. He rode in the second chariot. He was given a fine garment and his iron collar replaced with a chain of gold. All were told to bow the knee to Joseph, just as they will bow the knee to Jesus (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10). Joseph saved all in the land, all the earth.

The almost exact language was used by Pharaoh about Joseph as Mary had stated at the Wedding at Cana.

“Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.” (Genesis 41:55 NIV)

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5).

Of course, typology only goes so far. Joseph gave grain (bread) to the people to save their life, but Jesus IS the bread of life. However, it’s interesting to note types as you read along to note types as you read along to think more deeply about what God is showing us through His word. Here are some further resources for you on typology.

Ligonier: Typology vs. Allegory.
Carm: Dictionary- Type
GTY: Melchizedek, a Type of Christ