In The Beginning(s ? )
Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
And in the Gospel of John we read:
John1:1, In the beginning was the the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Does scripture say that there are two beginnings? No, there is only one beginning, Genesis 1:1. John 1:1 amplifies Genesis 1:1 by including the Word Who existed even before the re-creation of the earth after its ruin.
Isaiah 45:18, For thus sayeth 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.
Job 38:4, The Lord asks a question of Job, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth? declare if thou hast undestanding,” And verse 7 asks another question by the Lord, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
This is the creation of the earth as Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 tell us. Ezekiel 18:4 tells us that God owns all souls and are His by right of creation. When were these souls, sons of God created? Even before the creation of the earth when they shouted for joy. This was a time when God says that He created the earth to be inhabited as we read in Isaiah 45:18, until ???
Jeremiah 4:22,, ” For My people is foolish, they have not known Me; they are Sottish (stupid) children, and they have no understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 23, I beheld the earth and, lo, it was without any form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 25, I beheld the earth and there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.”
This is not the flood of Noah where 8 souls were saved by water, 2nd Peter 2:5, and there were birds aboard the Ark built by Noah,Genesis 8:7and 8.
Jeremiah 4:22-27 is a reference to what the Apostle Peter says in 2nd Peter concerning the age that is called the katabole meaning disruption or ruin of the earth; Companion Bible, Appendixes 146.
2nd Peter 3:5, “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6, Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water perished.”
Yes, there was an earth and heaven age before this present earth age. Genesis 1:2 is a new beginning process in which the Lord has re-juvenated the earth in six days, then rested on the seventh day. He had prepared the earth for the habitation of His children, not for those in Spirit bodies as we read in Job 38:7, but for his children created in flesh bodies to inhabit this 2nd earth age.
God Will Accomplish In This 2nd Earth Age What Was Not Possible During The First Earth Age.
God created all His children all at once from Himself and in spirit bodies before the katabole, the destruction of that age. Some of His children called angels or stars sinned, 2nd Peter 2:4.
Isaiah 14:12-17 reads that Lucifer wanted to be like the most high God and was cut down. And Revelation 12:4 says that his tail drew a third part of God’s children to follow him, mostly ignorant of what was happening.
At the time of the initial creation of His children, the only way God could install His Righteousness within them was to teach them. That would mean that He was always on the outside of them. We see the same picture in the gospels where Jesus was called a Teacher and a Rabbi. He could only teach His disciples from the outside of Him with His words entering into them through their ears. After He was crucified and resurrected His spirit was released from His flesh body which was brought to the cross, and now, because of resurrection, He could enter into them as spirit by their breathing Him in as a new life, John 20:22, Jesus, as a Spirit could now mingle within the spirit of His disciples.
He initially, in the age that was, purpose then was to instruct His children outwardly and by never entering into them as breadth. The full purpose of God is to saturate every part of our organic being with Himself. It took Jesus Christ, as the Son of God to accomplish this. This couldn’t have be done at the first earth age. Only as a teacher God could instruct them, He could not enter into His children and saturate them with Himself because spirit is not organic as a physical body. Spirit is a finished product and not subject to change.
At the end of the Bible we have the Book of Revelation and in it we see an eternal life whithout tears and war, Revelation 21:4. This is the accomplishment of the Triune God and the installing the righteousness of Christ within His children, making lasting peace forever which could not have been done at the first earth age.
The Heavens And The Earth Which Are Now
2nd Peter 3:7, “But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
This is the age of the flesh, when all mankind will be tested in order for God to know who are His and know those who still want to be independent of Him. All of God’s children created in the 1st earth age will have to pass through this 2nd earth age; the spirit inserted into an embryo at conception to be born of woman.
Luke 1:41, And it came to past that when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, (Spirit)
According to scripture , life begins at conception. Genesis 6 reads that the sons of God inhabited this earth age with their full strength choosing the daughters of men and took wives for themselves. These sinning sons of God didn’t like the idea of being born into this earth age to be tested. They came into this earth age with full knowledge and strength. This was a corrupt time causing God to bring about the flood waters of Noah to eliminate the problem caused by those who left their first estate, Jude 1:6.
God’s purpose in all this is to save His children who sinned and those who followed Lucifer in ignorance during that 1st earth age. The name Lucifer means light bringer and he had to have a name change called Satan in this 2nd earth age. He was once a light bringer and now in this testing age of God’s children, he brings only darkness to this world, Ephesians 6:11-18.
Satan as the Strong Man
Mark 3:27, “No man can enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.”
What are the goods of the strong man, his children, those who followed him in ignorance and they are very active during this 2nd earth age.
Psalms 8:5, says that man is made a little lower than the angels. Yes, we are made in the image of God but only outwardly, in form, not with content. When we were born into this flesh age we were helpless. We had no strength or knowledge. We had to be cared for. Our memory of that 1st earth age had been blotted out. Our intelligence capacity was reduced to ten per-cent of what we once had. These are what God calls His tithe. We need to surrender ourselves with all our being to our Heavenly Father. Keep in mind the first commandment, that is the example Jesus set for us. We once only knew of the world with its surroundings and men’s traditions. That’s what it means to be a little lower than the angels, until God changes our circumstances. We were once a part of the human race but with God’s calling, we are like Father Abraham, a called race.
1st John 5:19, ” And we know that we are of God, and the whole world liveth in wickedness.”
How do we bind the strong man?
2nd Corinthians 10:3, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, 4, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but almighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. 5, Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
This is spiritual warfare. It can’t be done with our effort alone. We need to be filled with the very life of God, and eventually saturated throughout every part of our being, using and the exercising of the Holy Spirit with prayer and suplication.
God cares for His children who followed Satan in ignorance. They are His children and His desire is to bring as many as possible to repentance.
Acts 17:30, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commanded all men every where to repent.”
This mission is so important that Jesus Christ, emptied His Divinity, became a flesh and blood God-man for the purpose of becoming the Savior of all men and women.