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Restore Earth. From darkness, over the face of the deep, to God’s Spirit moving over the water.
Restore Earth from waste to flourish, from chaos to harmony
Restore earth after our audience has just finished watching a terrifying episode in the history of our planet. A rebellious coup d’etat by the instigator, Lucifer, now called the Serpent, thrown out of his heavenly position down to his new abode, Earth. We’ve seen that this transition was a time of upheaval that left Earth and even its spatial environment in upheaval, characterized by the term tohu and bohu–confusion and waste.
(Origin of the Universe, chapter 8.1)
The cause of this turmoil is the Serpent.
But Genesis 1:2 is not yet finished. The end adds an opposed new concept. It’s time to restore.
1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.
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.
This last little section of verse 2 turns full-swing to restire what God is now going to accomplish. The focus is entirely different. The first part shows Satan raising Cain (pun intended); the second shows God’s constructive intervention. A verse break at the end of “…the surface of the deep” might have been more accurate, but the translators would’ve needed to understand the context.
On the other hand, we do find verses with the second part in opposition to the first, which we remember from our English classes are called antithetical poetry. All we need to know from this poetic narrative is that God has deposed the opposition, taken care of the hostile conflict, and now that we have the recap let’s move forward to the Spirit of God.
God’s Spirit
Here are a couple of parallel contexts that assist us in comprehending the far-reaching utilization of His Spirit. “By his spirit he has garnished the heavens…” (Job 26:13). We’ve already seen this verse when Job is meditating on the role played by God’s Spirit during the creation.
Imagine the unimaginable–the power confined in that original Big Bang pinhead, imagine the power to spew out all the future matter in the universe, and keep it expanding at ever-increasing speeds after 13.7 billion years. Such is the nature of God’s Spirit.
The psalmist writes: ’When you [God] send your Spirit, they [living creatures] are created, and you renew the face of the earth’. (Ps. 104:30).
God’s Holy Spirit is the power used in this tremendous task of creation. We’re going to see that the Spirit is a prime element in not only Creation but also in conferring creative abilities. It is the force behind beauty, splendor, and magnificence.
Galacti pauses as he notices a vital second point in this verse. God REnewed the earth’s surface. This renewal conforms to what these initial Genesis verses are demonstrating (remember Biblewide corroborating contexts). There was an original, wondrous creation that was subsequently shattered by Satan, and now God intervenes to rejuvenate the earth.
Now we can better understand why the Bible starts with In beginning, not In the beginning. It was the beginning corresponding to Big Bang, the creation ex-nihilo, but that’s not the only beginning.
In beginning also refers to ‘in a beginning’; Big Bang was a beginning, amongst others. We now see from the REnewal in Ps 104:30 there’s another beginning, a second beginning. Later on, I’ll show why there could’ve even been multiple beginnings. Yes, several interventions where God started from scratch, I’ll give you plausible reasons why this could be the case!
God’s Spirit moved over the water. Some translations say hovered. Guess where we’re going to look for a better comprehension of moved (H7363)… and it’s not in a hovercraft manual.
רָחַף râchaph raw-khaf’; a primitive root; to brood; by implication, to be relaxed:
KJV – flutter, move, shake.
Let’s see how other contexts use this Biblical Hebrew word.
10 He [God] found him [an impoverished people] in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters (7363) over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings:
12 So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.
14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and you did drink the pure blood of the grape.
Our study shows us that the Hebrew word translated move in Genesis carries the meaning of flutter in relation to spreading wings. Not evident until we read Deut 32:11 above and see how an eagle flutters over her young brood.
Think back to Inventory of the Universe chapter 10, where we heard that birds push their young out of the nest to teach them to fly. Well, eagles have an unusual way of instructing their young in the art of flying. The mother carries her brood aloft and ejects them. She forces them to learn. However, she is ever-present during these test flights. When the eaglet nose-dives, the mother swoops down and catches her progeny on her outspread wings — quite a feat revealing the care of a parent for its offspring.
Similarly, on a more elevated level, when God’s Spirit hovers over the waters that covered the earth, it is God, fluttering over, taking care of his creation. He is about to embark on the revitalization of this impoverished planet.
I’ve included the surrounding five-verse context in Deuteronomy 32 because as you read it, doesn’t a light switch on for us? Does the desert land in a waste howling wilderness remind you of anything? How about tohu and bohu? When you read further, you see how God’s spirit fluttering over this devastation transforms it into honey, oil, milk, fat, wheat, and pure grape juice.
Galacti realizes that the rest of Genesis 1 shows this same principle concerning the REcreation of earth, not the planet, but its external environment. God’s Spirit brings clarity, where there was formerly chaos. There is another way we can explain this, or instead frame it.
Notice a verse in the New Testament, in Greek, that you might’ve read on numerous occasions in your native language. Has something been overlooked?
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed (2675) by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Framed is a rather mysterious way of expressing something to do with worlds; let’s clarify this.
Meditate on a few contexts with mending, perfecting, restoring using the same G2675:
- Matthew 4:21 “…James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending (G2675) their nets…”
- Galatians 6:1 “…if a man be overtaken in a fault, …restore (H2675) such an one in the spirit of meekness…”
- Hebrews 13:21 “Make you perfect (2675) in every good work to do his will…”
- 1 Corinthians 1:10 “…that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together (H2675) in the same mind…”
Much is added to our comprehension by understanding original meanings; the same principle applies in Hebrew and Greek. Helping to restore someone from a fault is aiding that person switch from a downfall to an upswing, which is what we discussed last week. It’s a renewal or a new beginning.
Considering these other KJV renditions of katartizo (G2675), we can read this verse in Hebrews 11 like this, “…we understand that the worlds were mended, prepared, restored by the word of God…”
Galacti and I like the “perfectly joined together’’, which reminds us of The Explanation puzzle we’re putting together, assembling the puzzle pieces perfectly. Likewise, everything in this new creation to restore earth’s environment, this REnewal, had to fit together perfectly.
Remember Inventory of the Universe chapter 7? Remember the nitrogen cycle, the oxygen cycle, the water cycle, and the amino acid process, how each one is an intricate, incredible design of and by itself, and how all these hundreds of cycles interweave to sustain life on Earth? In a nutshell, this is the meaning of framed worlds. Restore Earth.
The creation story we’re about to embark on will restore Earth and prepare it, revamp and establish this life-supporting infrastructure for the arrival of its new population. Adam and Eve, you and I, and each one of the other billions of human beings that have traversed the face of Earth.
I ask Galacti, “Should I or shouldn’t I mention the next point related to restore?’ He says, “Yes, go ahead.”
You’re beginning to read these verses, paying attention to the details, like worlds. (Heb 11:3) In plural. Yes, the Greek is in the plural, and the meaning is worlds or ages (Strong’s G165); we’ve already discussed two worlds or ages, and as I said, we’ll discuss others… on our Earth. No contradictions, just Biblewide corroborations (see Further Study below for more details).
This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 8.1 of the book Origin of the Universe
Further Study
Study the word move from Genesis 1:2 in Strong’s and find all the related verses using the Biblical Hebrew word H7363. You’ll come across Jeremiah 23:9
“My heart within me [Jeremiah] is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake (H7363); I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.”
The use of another translation shake conveys a different message to the word H7363. See the relationship between move and shake. Especially realize these complementary meanings exist and add understanding for us.
Look up Hebrews 11.3 (do NOT take my word for it) and study the word framed. When we hear this word, we think of a picture frame or being framed by a criminal. Even English isn’t clear. Using Strong’s gives you real enlightenment. Below the KJV translations click on Greek Concordance for G2675
See that there are two distinct concepts
- Perfection
- Mending, restoring.
You can see that the translations in context are excellent. The results of both the Big Bang creation and creation week were perfect. But creation week was a time to mend and restore. Again, do you see how these the expression of both these concepts fit together? After you properly restore something, it is perfect.
Check worlds in Hebrews 11.3 Notice that often this Greek word refers to time, but it is also used for the world in a physical sense: Luke 1:700 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: G165.
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Sam, I finished my hard copy of “Inventory”. So much good info. Thanks.
Sam, I’ve read through some of your web pages. I was taught the “Gap” theory in my younger days. I accept it. Am I off base thinking this is what you are presenting?…..though your presentation is much more detailed.
Thanks again, Joe
Joe, thanks for your appreciation. Wherever you purchased it, a short review would be helpful for future readers.
You are not off base. I don’t use that term and, as you know, enhance the explanation using a fuller meaning of the Biblical Hebrew than what English renders. The opening five minutes, the first verses, and especially the first three chapters of Genesis are crucial for understanding the rest of the Bible and God’s plan.
Just for information, some of the next books in The Explanation series are now available in e-book format and will be in hard copy asap. All the information about availability and updates can be found here, Take care.