Eternity to Eternity 02 Genesis 1:1 — Joseph Balsan

Genesis 1:1 and the Original Creation

Let us turn to Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, 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.

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.

Now that's all we're going to read for the present. We hope that in the moments that are ahead of us we look at other portions of the word of God before the earth as we had brought before us, the eternity as expressed in Korah, how that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were in eternity before the world began.

And then we add how the original creation is brought before us in the first verse of Genesis chapter 1. How long ago that was we do not know. And it was brought into the chaotic state which it is presented to us in the second verse.

The second verse is not an explanation of the first verse. There are many people who seem to have the idea that Genesis 1 and 1 is the, you might say, the heading of the chapter, and the following verses are the explanation of how the earth was created.

But, you notice that primarily in the things that follow from the second verse on, it is not the heavens that are in disorder, it is not the heavens that are under the judgment of God, which of course is expressive to us of the universe around us, but it is only this earth upon which man was to be placed that was in the chaotic state, so that from the second verse down to the end of the chapter is not an explanation of the first verse.

Interpreting Science Through Scripture

You know, there are some Bible teachers who are so, you might say, influenced by the so-called science of the day, that instead of interpreting the science of the day in the light of the Bible, they're trying to interpret the Bible in the light of science.

Now, history is very useful, and science is very useful if they're kept in their right places, but never as authoritative interpreters of the Word of God. It's much better to look at history and science through the Word of God, and interpret history and science in the light of the Word of God, than it is to interpret the Bible in the light of science and in the light of history, because scientific theories, so-called, and I'm speaking of theories, they change.

They change with time. There were theories that men had about science that were considered sound 50 years ago, but I'm going to tell my friends today why they're known to be exploded theories. For instance, when I was a boy and went to school, we had the idea that molecules were the smallest form of matter.

Well, we know that today, atoms, and not only atoms, but the constituents of elements of atoms are the smallest things, and, of course, we have brought before us in Hebrews chapter 11 a very scientific theory that science is finding true today, that the things which are made are not made of things which do appear, and that is true.

They tell us that everything is composed of atoms, and so atoms are not readily discerned without microscopes and other instruments that men have to study these various things in the atom, and so we find that the first verse is by itself, and then we find the chaotic state, and then into that chaotic state, why God comes in and it begins to work, and personally I believe that the six days that we have here are literal days of 24 hours each.

Now, again, of course, there are those who try to accommodate these days to periods of time, and they say, well, after all, they're geological ages or periods of time. Well, that might be all right for the first and second day, but friends, if we were to do a lot, you might say each of those days say to a period of time of about 500 ,000 years each.

Well, each of those days was composed of darkness and of light, and that's all right in the first and second day, but when we come to the third day, well, we find that in the third day the dry land brings forth the fruit, and my friends, it would be unreasonable for us to believe that if the days are periods of time that it abode in darkness for such a half of that period.

Personally, I believe that when we have brought before us God said, God said, I believe that you and I can believe that God is able in a very short time to bring about what he decrees or what he says he has accomplished.

The Six Days as Six Ages of Human History

Now, you notice that on this chart, the six days, they are picturing for us the six ages of human history. You notice that in this eternity, in the past eternal age, we have the eternal purpose. In other words, before anything was brought into being, God had an eternal purpose, and we're not left in doubt as to what that purpose is.

Let us turn for a moment to Ephesians 1, and notice what he tells us is the eternal purpose for which God brought all things into being, and which God has in mind in all his dealings with the sons of men.

Ephesians chapter 1, and notice we have in the 8th verse, it tells us, or we could start with the 7th verse, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to the good pleasure which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.

Now, let us turn to the 3rd chapter of Ephesians, and here we have brought before us again in the 8th verse the apostle Paul saying, Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, there you notice that God created all things, and that God is working all things according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, and what is that purpose? That he should head up in Christ all things which are in heaven and which are on earth.

Might I say, my friends, that this creation in which man was placed was not God's ultimate purpose? It was only a stage, or a place, in which God was going to work and accomplish certain things in order that he might, before eternity or the kingdom age, fulfill or head up in our Lord Jesus Christ things in heaven and things on earth.

Ages, Dispensations, and the Eternal Purpose of God

You know, many of us get so circumscribed by this present life that we think that this life is the sum and substance of everything, but my friends, this life is only a step in the direction in which God is dealing, and eternity is what God has in mind, and that is why God's dealings with men are divided into ages, or into dispensations.

Now, you notice in the portion that I read, in Ephesians chapter 1, we have that word dispensation. Now, some people don't like to think of the Bible as being divided into ages or dispensations. You notice on this chart we have a verse written here, or printed here, from 2 Timothy chapter 2, and verse 15, study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We have to be able to rightly divide the word of truth if we're going to understand it. Augustine was the great church father, a great Bible teacher, and he said on one occasion, "'Distinguish the ages, and the Scriptures will harmonize.'.

I remember when, as a young Christian, I had an experience that impressed upon me the necessity of distinguishing the ages. It was during Mr. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Program. You remember when he took office?

Those of you who are older, in 1932 the country was in the throes of a depression, and so he wanted to lift the country out of the depression, and so he took a number of the young men from off the streets of the city, and he put them into reforestation programs.

While I was a teenager in the city of Chicago, and so I was sent out way out to Oregon, and we were working in the forest out there in Oregon. There were about 200 of us boys in the camp. I don't know how many there were that were Christians, but the Lord enabled me to take a stand for the Lord Jesus amongst these unsaved fellows, and I met one fellow that was communistically inclined.

He ridiculed the Bible, and one time we had a conference or a discussion about the Bible, and he said to me, well, do you believe the Bible? I said, I certainly do. He said, well, do you know that right now you are disobeying the Bible?

I said, I am? How am I disobeying the Bible? Well, the Bible says that you are not to wear a garment of mixed clothing cloth, and in that shirt and that pair of khakis that you have there, you have cotton and you have wool, and according to the Bible, why, you are not to wear a garment of mixed clothing.

Well, that set me back because I had never read any such verse in the Bible. And so, I wrote to my friends in Chicago. I didn't have a concordance. Where is there any verse in the Bible that speaks about not wearing a garment of mixed cloth?

And they wrote back to me, it's in Deuteronomy, I think it was the 22nd chapter, that the Lord told the children of Israel that they were not to wear a garment that had a mixture of woolen and linen in it, because he hated a mixed garment.

Well, I had the privilege of telling that man, well, you know, that belongs to the children of Israel, and I'm not under the dispensation where the children of Israel were under law. I am under grace, and God is not occupied with a mixture in my literal clothing at this time, but he is more interested that I have not a mixed garb in my life as a believer.

In other words, that I should be out and out for the Lord. But the thing is, that I saw for the first time there is a difference as to what was true in one period of time is not true in another period of time.

The law, Israel was not allowed to eat pork, but you know, friends, there are many of us that like ham, or bacon, or pork chops, or something like that, but under the law, these things were forbidden.

Why? Because they were in a different dispensation. And you notice here that we have the expression in the tenth verse that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ.

Christ as the Center of God's Eternal Purpose

Now, God's purpose from eternity, my friends, is not only the salvation of men. People emphasize that salvation is the most important thing of all. Salvation is important, but salvation is not the only or the eternal purpose of God.

The eternal purpose of God from before the foundation of the world was one, and that is to exalt and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and to make him, the son of his love, the center as a man of the entire universe, and to have around him a people in heaven who will be to his eternal glory and praise.

And, in all of these ages, while God does save men, the main purpose of God is his glory. Now, I might mention that there is a difference between dispensations and ages. While they are, you might say, interlocking terms, and while one is included in the other, they are nevertheless not one and the same thing.

The Present Church Age and Future Ages

Now, if you turn to Ephesians chapter 3 for a moment, I want you to notice that the Bible does speak about ages. In Ephesians 3 and verse 4, it says, whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

Now, you notice that there Paul says that there is a certain something, a mystery, which is now being made known which was not in other ages made known unto the sons of men. So, there we have brought before us that there are past ages.

We believe, as we shall see in the next scenario ahead of us, that we are in this fourth age, the present age which is the church age in which the Lord is calling out from Jew and a people who are called the church, and that church is a distinct company composed of those who are saved.

Now, this is that Paul speaks about in the third chapter of Ephesians that is now being revealed which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men. So, we know that there are previous ages prior to this age.

Some people say, well, the church? Well, the church, why, that began when Adam was on earth. Why, the church goes all the way back to the time of Adam, and from the time of Adam to the present time, everyone that is saved is in the church.

But, my friends, the third chapter of Ephesians shows us that the church age is a mystery age, that it is a special age which was not made known in other ages, a truth that is not made known previously, and is now made known unto us through the apostles and prophets.

If you'll turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 7, you'll notice it brings before us there that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Here, in Ephesians 2 and 7, we find that after this age, there are going to be future ages. That this age is not going to terminate God's dealings with men. That this age is not going to end with the end of all things.

You notice, my friends, that this age is not going to bring about the end of the world. It is going to be brought to its church, and the world goes on as we shall see in future meetings, and there will be a tribulation period to be followed by the visible return of our Lord Jesus to set up a kingdom, and then a kingdom of Christ for a period of at least a thousand years before the end of all things, and the bringing in of the new heavens and the new earth.

So, we know from Ephesians 3 that there is a present age, that there are past ages. From Ephesians 2, we know that there are going to be future ages after the termination of this present age by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What a Dispensation Means

Now, what is the difference? And I might say it's a slight difference, but I think it's a very nice difference to notice between an age and a dispensation. Now, they're both one and the same in that this is the first age as well as the first dispensation.

This is the second age as well as the second dispensation. But, the word of God is speaking of the dispensation. What is a dispensation? If you and I were to look up that word in our concordance, we would find that a dispensation was a description of a well-ordered or administered household.

So that, when we come to the word dispensation and the thought of a dispensation, it is this that it is God administering the affairs with mankind in a special, distinct way for the fulfillment and the accomplishment of his purpose.

And that dispensation is a particular period of time or an age which has a beginning, and which has a character, and which has an end. So, the dispensation brings before us that the reason why there are different ages is because God is dealing with humanity in different ways for the fulfillment and accomplishment of his purposes, and in the bout of the ultimate purpose which he hides that he might head up in Christ in the things which are in heaven, and which are on earth, and which are going to be carried on into eternity itself.

Six Literal Days and Six Dispensations

Now, you notice that this chart, and I might say there is, of course, a difference in ideas as to how many dispensations there are. And, for myself, I might say I'm not dogmatic about those who say, well, there are seven dispensations, and perhaps they do not see how the six days foreshadow six dispensations.

For myself, I like to accept the thought that there are six ages of human history foreshadowed for us in the six days in which God brought the earth out of the chaotic state into which it had fallen as a result of something that happened in the bygone recess of time.

Those six days, the event part in those six days, they foreshadow for us the six ages or six dispensations of human history. Now, as I said, I believe that those six days are literal days of 24 hours each, and the reason why I believe that they are days of 24 hours each is because, for one thing, each of the days had an evening and a morning, an evening and a morning, and so, my friends, that was the Hebrew way of computing a solar day.

The evening and the morning was the first day. A second reason why I believe that these are literal days of 24 hours each is because it is only of literal solar days that, with its head, numbers are associated with them.

Like we have here, the evening and morning was the first day, evening and morning was the second day, evening and morning was the third day, and the fourth day, and the fifth day, and the sixth day. Each of them had a number associated with it, thereby bringing before us that these were literal days.

A third reason why is because, when we turn to the later accounts, when, for instance, in the book of Exodus, let us turn for a moment to the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus where we have the law given to the children of Israel.

Notice what it tells us here. In the 20th chapter and the 8th verse, it says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made, and I want you to notice it doesn't say, For in six days the Lord created.

It says, In six days the Lord made, and when you read the first chapter of Genesis, you want to distinguish between those three words, created, and made, and formed, and if you look up those three words in your Young's or Strong's Concordance, you'll find that the Hebrew word for each of those words is different.

The word created is the word vera, v-a-r-a, which means to bring forth out of nothing. The word made is an entirely different word. It is the word asah, a-s-a-h, which means to make out of existing material, so that here notice, and I might say that if you go all through the Bible, you'll find a perfect accuracy and harmony in the use of these verbs, that the Spirit of God and the Biblical writers never confuse these various words, and you'll find here in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 11, For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

So, my friends, here in the law, when it comes to the sabbath day, the Lord told the people of Israel that they were to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy, because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.

So, I believe that Moses meant to convey to the people that it was not six periods of time, but it was six literal days of 24 hours each in which God did these various things, and if we turn to the 33rd Psalm, we'll find the words God spake and it was done.

God commanded and it's held fast, and my friends, if we believe that God could make all these things in a period of 500 ,000 years or a million years at least for each of the ages, why should we think it unreasonable to believe that the Lord would do it in the period of 24 hours each?

Christ's Miracle of Compressing Time

When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, the Lord Jesus performed some miracles that simply shortened the span of time. Changing water into wine is quite a miracle. Some people say, I remember reading this story that Mr. Marsh wrote in one of his books about the atheist who said to the man, you don't believe that Jesus changed water into wine, do you?

He says, why, he says, I certainly do. He says, in fact, I can tell you a greater miracle than that. I can show you how Jesus changed beer into furniture in our home. Well, my friends, you know the Lord Jesus can perform many wonderful miracles, and he did when he changed water into wine.

Why, every year, my friends, he's changing water into wine. The rain falls from heaven, it's absorbed into the vine, goes up into the cluster of grapes, the cluster of grapes grow to maturity, they're taken, they're crushed, they're fermented, and they become wine.

Only it takes a period of months to bring it about. But, my friends, the Lord Jesus just simply compressed it in a few moments when he took that water, and there in the containers, and he said to the disciples, take it and draw, and the wine was better than that which they had tasted beforehand.

The Lord had turned it, the water, into wine. So, my friends, the thing that took place in a long period of time, naturally, he simply compressed into a few brief moments, and brought it about by his own power.

So, when we come to this thought of God not being able to do these things in a short period of time, I believe we're limiting God. But, the very moment you and I bring in one who is almighty, why, then, of course, there's nothing very difficult for us to take it in that he did it in a short period of time.

And so, these six events that took place in those six days foreshadow for us six ages or dispensations of human history in which God deals with men according to his own will and purpose. And, in these dispensations or ages, we have some very wonderful lessons for you and for me.

The First Day: Light in Creation and Human History

Now, you notice that today we were reading from the first chapter of Genesis, and we were reading about the first day. God said, let there be light, and there was light. Now, sometimes people wonder, well, how could there be light apart from the sun?

Because, after all, we do not have the sun put in its place until the fourth day. Now, I might mention, if you'll notice carefully, you'll notice it does not say that God created the sun, and the moon, and the stars.

It says he made them, or he brought them into their place. I believe that the sun, and the moon, and the stars were created in the original creation of the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and when the earth was brought into the chaotic state, all that was associated with it was brought into disorder as well. You know, the larger men's telescope, and the farther they reach out into space, the more we are learning that this little sphere upon which you and I are living, which is attached to the sun by the law of gravitation, that this little solar system which is our solar system, is one only one of many multitudes of other solar systems and spheres that there are in the universe around us.

Men are finding all the time that this universe is beyond a limit. They can't reach to the end of it. So, I think that when this earth was brought into the chaotic state, the sun was brought into disorder with it, that its life in relation to this earth was affected as well, and there are some who believe that when God said, let there be light, and there was light, that it was really the light of the sun that was diffusing through the atmosphere and beginning to come into this earth.

Of course, it was still surrounded, as we know from the second day, it was still surrounded by the atmosphere clouds of water enveloping it, but really and truly in the first day, God said, let there be light, and there was light.

Hebrew scholars tell us that the real thought is let light be, and light was. That's just how fast it was. God saw the light. It doesn't say that what God saw in this creation was good, but God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.

Creation as Revelation of God

I know that foreshadows for us the first age of human history, the time from Adam to Noah, a period of 1656 years. You know, some people seem to have the idea that when God made man, that man was so ignorant, and so defrayed, and so beast-like that he had no knowledge, that he was absolutely in darkness.

But, my friends, when we turn to the Word of God, we find that from the beginning, God gave man light. Man had light. You notice that on this chart we have in the first instantation, man was tried with, first of all, the life of creation.

We turn to Romans chapter 1, we turn to Psalm 19, and we find that creation all around bears witness to man of God. How do we know there's a God? My friends, it doesn't make an image where we go. Whether we go into the darkest recesses of the jungle where people have never read a book, and missionaries tell us that as they work among these primitive peoples, these people have a consciousness of a supreme being, of a God that sometimes surpasses the knowledge of so-called educated people who despise the Word of God, and the testimony of the Word of God.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament show us his handiwork. Creation bears witness to man that there is a God, that this God is wise, that this God is powerful, that this God is mighty.

There is one above and beyond us who controls everything, who controls and directs the seasons. But, man had more than the light of creation. Man has the light of conscience. Man had within himself a conscience that told him when he did wrong.

You know, think of their conscience like the little girl who says, well, conscience is that which speaks to you when Johnny speaks to me when Johnny does something wrong. Conscience is that which speaks to me when Johnny, my brother, does something wrong.

Now, you know, that's about all some people's conscience. It's very easy for them to see when another person they think is wrong, or is doing wrong. But, really and truly, that's not what conscience is.

Conscience is that inward monitor, that inward thing within us that bears witness to you and me when we do wrong. And, again, it doesn't make any difference where we go. We find that people have a conscience.

There in the darkest recesses in Africa, there we find people troubled about their conscience, troubled about their sin. They're bringing sacrifices to atone for their sin. Missionaries will tell us that in the jungles of Africa, a person will take a chicken and kill it to atone for his sin, sprinkle himself with the blood, and cover himself with the blood because he thinks that will atone for his sin.

The person in India who believes the river Ganges can wash away his sin, troubled with the burden of sin, will measure himself prostrate upon the desert reciting prayers until he finally comes to the river Ganges and plunges into it, hoping that, as he washes himself in that water, his sins will be removed.

They're longing for ease and liberty and freedom of conscience. Conscience. Conscience which troubles people about their sin. That was what caused Adam and the woman to hide amongst the trees of the garden, to cover themselves with fig leaves, and to hide from God as they hid amongst the trees of the garden.

What was it? It was conscience that told them they were sinners, that told them they were guilty, that told they couldn't stand before God. It was conscience that drove Abel to bring that sacrifice to atone for his sin.

The conscience of his sins about his sins troubled him, and we find that there were others all through that age from Adam to Noah who had a conscience, and they knew that they were sinners. They knew they needed forgiveness.

They knew that they had to meet God. I wonder if I'm speaking to someone in this meeting tonight, and you're trying to deaden your conscience? You know, one of the awful things about America is that, with all of our learning, with all of our religion, we harden our conscience.

We stifle the voice of our conscience. We sear our conscience until it says, the fourth chapter of Ephesians says, people become past feelings. They become past feelings, and they don't listen to the voice of their conscience.

They try to drown the voice of their conscience. But, you know, eventually, and conscience brings the awful consciousness of one's sins and of one's guilt, and causes the person to dread to meet God. Man has the light of conscience, and just as light came in the first day, and light was in existence all the days, so these two spheres or degrees of light were given to man.

The Promise of the Coming Savior

But, you know, friends, no sooner had man sinned than God gave him the greatest light of all, and what was that? That was the light, and he returns with these to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. You'll notice the Lord says in that 15th verse, to the serpent Satan, but within the hearing of the man and the woman.

In Genesis 3 and 15, he says, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his ear. No sooner man had sinned than God gave him a promise, or God gave him a word of light.

What was that word of light? That word of light was concerning a coming Savior, a Savior who would bruise Satan's head, but a Savior who would be bruised in turn. And, who is that? That, my friends, is our Lord Jesus, the seed of the woman.

Here we find the first announcement of the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus. Here we find the first announcement of the death of our Lord Jesus. Here we find the first announcement of the overcoming of Satan.

Here we find the first announcement of a seed whom God would send into the world, and we know how this gripped the heart of the man and the woman, because it was after that the man called his wife's name Eve.

It was after the promise was given that he called his wife's name Eve, the mother of all. And, it was because they laid hold of this promise that the woman called the first son that was born into the world came.

She says, God has given me the seed. She thought this was the seed, but it was not. There was one who was to come, but there was the hope of the coming Savior, and every sacrifice that they brought was an expression of their faith in that coming Savior.

And, what distinguished all of humanity from the very beginning of time was that those who held on to that promise, and believed that promise, and were looking for the coming of the Savior, they were the children of life.

Those who refused it, like Cain and all who followed him in his path, why they were the children of darkness. And so, we find that God gave them life. When we turn to the 11th chapter of Hebrews, we find that by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was God testifying of his gift, and by it he being dead.

Yet, friends, before I can ever exercise faith, I must hear. I can't believe something I don't know anything about. I can't believe something I don't hear anything about. You have to tell me something before I can believe you, or disbelieve you.

Faith is an emotion, an experience that is the result of hearing a certain report. Where did Abel hear it? He must have heard it from his father and mother, how they sought to hide from God, how they could not hide from God, how that God brought them out into the open, how they had to make confession of what they had done, and how God had taken the sacrifice, giving them the promise, and how it slain the sacrifice, and covered them with a garment that covered their nakedness, giving them the promise of a coming Messiah, of a coming Savior.

I'm sure that's where Abel heard his report to exercise faith. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than pain, and then I like that next phrase, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.

You know, people sometimes talk of when you speak about knowing that you've saved, why they talk as though that was new doctrine. My friends, that is old. By faith, Abel obtained witness that he was righteous.

He had a witness that he was righteous, and not only so, and by it, he being dead, yet to people he's telling them the only way to go, and the only way to obtain witness about how to be righteous God.