Scripture

Genesis 1:2
[2] The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is Genesis 23rd lecture.
In the last lecture, I explained both the spiritual and physical meanings that are contained in tonight's scripture.
Spiritually speaking, the lecture implicitly described the period from the moment Lucifer rebelled against God till this rebellion was suppressed and the status of God's heart.
Physically speaking, this verse contains the process that God created the earth which is the base of human cultivation.
When God the Father created the earth, He laid its foundation first according to the order (of physical law) of the flesh.
He then let the water of life, which originates from the throne of God, flow into the earth and cover it.
Just like a baby in the amniotic fluid, the earth was covered with the water of life, and waited for the first day of the "Six Days of Creation."
Let me show you two interesting (scientific) news articles related to the early appearance of the earth.
Please refer to Note [1] & [2] at the end of this lecture.
Dear brothers and sisters.
Hebrews 3:4 says, "For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God."
From a shabby looking cabin to Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, every building must have its architect, the one who builds it.
There is no building that was created by itself.
What would you say of someone said something like this while pointing at a building?
"That building was constructed by itself as the dust in the air piled up for over a long time."
"That building was built having such a shape by chance as volcanic ash came down from the sky after a volcanic eruption."
Do you think there would be anyone who would agree with such ideas?
You will naturally say, "No way!"
The fact is, however, that there are people who claim a theory that the earth, which has much more complicated structure and operates within a much more precise order, was created 'by chance.'
They insist that there was a big bang in the universe at a certain time, and this big bang created the sun, and then the planets of the solar system were created.
But the truth is, as written in the Bible, the earth was created first, and then the sun, the moon, and stars were created later.
The earth was created before the "Six Day Creation," and the sun, the moon, and stars were created on the 4th day.
Therefore, when the earth was created, there was not a single star in this galaxy, just the earth.
And there were stars outside the galaxy.
Isaiah 40:26 says, "Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing."
God had clear purpose and intention in creating the earth.
Even when a building is constructed, there is an architect and its blueprint.
By the same token, when God created the earth, He had the perfect blueprint.
The blueprint was not drawn on a piece of paper, but it was in the heart of God.
According to that blueprint, God created with His amazing wisdom and the power of creation.
As scientific technology develops, it has become increasingly discovered just how precisely the universe is operating.
If you take a look at the objective facts that the scientific technology provides with a humble mind, you can realize there is the Creator.
It was never done "by accident' nor "by chance", but someone did it with a definitive purpose from the beginning.
And so, Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."
There are many evidences of God's creation on earth. I'd like to introduce some of them to you.
The first is the size of the earth.
If the earth were smaller than it is now by 10%, it is said there would be no living thing on earth.
If the size were smaller, the gravity would also decrease as well and the atmosphere that surrounds the earth would be lost.
The atmosphere regulates the temperature of the earth so that there is no extreme change in temperature due to any effect from the universe.
If the atmosphere decreased, the entire earth would be either covered by snow or ice, or changed into a desert.
In order to make the environment where living things can survive on the earth, God the Creator designed and created the earth at the current size.
The second evidence is the proper relationship in the distance between the earth and the sun.
For your information, there are now just 8 planets in the solar system with the sun at its center.
The solar system consists of the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Pluto used to belong to the solar system, but it was excluded in 2006.
The surface temperature of the sun is approx. 5700 in Celsius, and the sun sends out radiant energy to the planets of the solar system.
Therefore, the closer a planet is to the sun, the higher its temperature becomes; the farther, the colder.
For example, Venus, which is closer to the sun than the earth, is on an average as hot as 400 degrees Celsius.
However, Mars, which is farther from the sun than the earth has an approx. average of - 40 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, the daily temperature difference on Mars is extremely huge.
At the equator of Mars, the highest diurnal temperature is about 30¡ÆC and the lowest is - 80¡ÆC.
It is impossible for a man to live in a place where the daily temperature difference is as huge as this.
On the other hand, the average temperature of the earth is about 15¡ÆC.
However, if the average temperature goes up by 2 degrees, it is said that the ice in Polar Regions will melt down and 30% of the living things will become extinct.
If the temperature goes up by 5 degrees, New York of the US and Tokyo of Japan will sink beneath the water.
What does it mean?
It means that God knew the most proper distance between the earth and the sun in advance, and that He created them so that living things can survive on earth.
God knew everything, and put the sun and the earth at the most appropriate place.
Since the sun was created after the earth, the location of the sun was decided with the standard of the earth.
All the planets of the solar system revolve around the sun on a cycle.
It is called a "revolution."
The earth's cycle of revolution is a year.
The earth moves around the sun in an elliptical orbit which is pretty close a circle.
God made the orbit of revolution of the earth close to a circle so that its temperature changes fall within a specific and appropriate range during a year.
God made the temperature change according to seasons within a range so that living things can survive even in winter or summer.
Third, the rotational speed of the earth and its axis of rotation are also the evidence of God's creation.
The earth rotates once a day by itself.
It is called "rotation."
And the rotation speed was also decided according to the blueprint of God.
If the rotational speed were one-tenth slower than now, it is said that all the plant would be frozen at night, and they would be burned during a day.
The earth currently has an axial tilt of about 23.5 to its orbital plane.
It is also called "obliquity."
Simply put, the earth's axial tilt is not perpendicular to its orbital plane, but the earth is tilted a little bit and it revolves and rotates.
If the earth were not tilted like this, there would not be the 4 seasons we have today.
It eventually made the earth a difficult place for living things to live in.
Fourth, the earth has protective shields.
I said the planets of the solar system receive the light and heat from the sun.
By the way, the sun radiates a continuous stream of charged particles that contain harmful radioactivity to living things.
This is known as the solar wind.
If the solar wind reached the earth directly, there would be no living things on earth.
However, the earth has protective shields to protect itself from this solar wind.
Simply speaking, the earth itself has a characteristic that is like a huge magnet.
The "Van Allen belt" which is held in a place by the earth's magnetic field surrounds the earth, and it protects the earth from the harmful radiation from the solar wind.
In order to cultivate human beings on earth, God installed safety systems like this.
There is another safety system, and it is the ozone layer.
The ozone layer is located at approx 50 kilometers above the earth, and it absorbs much of the ultraviolet light of the sun.
Your skin can burn in the sun, and it is caused by this ultraviolet light.
If the ozone layer didn't absorb the ultraviolet light, the massive amount of ultraviolet light would cause serious diseases such as skin cancers.
The ozone layer absorbs 93-99 % of the ultraviolet light, and only a certain amount of this light reaches the surface of the earth.
This small amount of ultraviolet light helps man's body develop Vitamin D.
The atmosphere of the earth also plays the role of a protective shield.
In fact, countless meteorites in the space enter the atmosphere everyday at the speed of 180,000 kilometers per hour.
Even though a meteorite is small, since the falling speed is so fast it can result in a serious impact on earth if it falls to the ground directly.
However, most of the meteorites are burned up in the atmosphere and disappear.
There are only a few meteorites that don't burn up completely in the atmosphere and fall down to hit the ground.
If tens of millions of meteorites fall down to the earth every day, they will also result in serious damage to all living things.
God the Father installed many safety systems and protective shields on earth like this, and allowed the living things to survive.
Contrary to this, there is no safety system on Venus at all.
Therefore, the surface is exposed directly to harmful things such as the solar wind and the ultraviolet light so that no living things can survive.
Let me give you one more evidence that God created the earth.
It is the fifth evidence; water.
I told you about the water in the last lecture.
In the entire universe, water, which is essential for living things to survive, can be found to any extent only on the earth.
This water is so amazing.
Unlike the most other things, the density of it as a solid is lower than that of its liquid.
It means that, among the ice and the liquid of the same volume, the ice is lighter than the liquid.
Therefore, when you put the ice into water, it doesn't sink down, but floats over the water.
If the ice sank down in the water, all the sea living things in Polar Regions would die.
Since the ice floats over the surface of water, however, the ice layer forms from the top in the Polar Region oceans.
Therefore, under the water which is blocked off from the outside thanks to the ice, its temperature can be maintained just over zero in Celsius.
With this principle, living things can survive even under the ocean in the Polar Regions.
In addition, God made the ocean of the earth contain proper level of salt.
It is the wisdom of God who doesn't let the water become stagnant and decay even after long time passes by.
It is a common sense that stagnant water is bound to become rotten.
If you put water in a glass for a long time, the water will naturally become foul and stale.
The water of the earth is actually stagnant water contained in a huge vessel; the earth.
Therefore, chances are that the sea water may decay as long times go by.
Since the sea water contains salt, however, it prevents itself from decaying.
Rivers are constantly flowing, and thus they don't need salt. But, the sea water is relatively stagnant water, and thus it needs salt.
Of course, the tide is another reason why the sea water doesn't decay.
The high tide and low tide (the ebb and flow) take place due to the moon.
God let the moon exist as a satellite of the earth because it is necessary for the earth.
The providence of creation related to the moon will be explained in detail when I tell you how God created the moon.
Dear brothers and sisters.
God designed the earth with clear purpose and intention, and He created the earth with amazing wisdom and power.
The purpose of the creation of the earth was to create the best environment for human cultivation.
Since the planets other than earth don't need to have living things, God just made them with current shape, and didn't touch them anymore.
However, it doesn't mean that those planets exist without any reason.
Since those planets are put in the respective location, the general balance of the solar system can be maintained and they affect the earth appropriately.
Truly, those who are of a good heart can realize there is God the Creator just by looking at these facts.
They should say, "The earth was surely designed and created by God the Almighty" and acknowledge the existence of God the Creator.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
In order to perfectly understand the creation of the earth in tonight's verse and the upcoming "Six Days of Creation," you should know about the concept of "time."
Scientists say the earth is about 4.6 billion years old.
On the other hand, those who believe in the doctrine of creation say it is 6,000 years old.
Which one of the two is right?
Besides, how could possibly God do such amazing works of creation in a very short period of time of just "6 days"?
In order to get the answer to such questions, you should know the time flow in the spiritual realm.
The time flow in the spiritual realm is different from that in the fleshly physical world.
It is 2 Peter 3:8 that implies this fact.
It says, "But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day."
This verse also contains a spiritual meaning in that God awaits long years to acquire His true children.
Anyway, God tells you through this verse that the time flow in the spiritual realm and in fleshly world is different.
Of course, even if it says "one day is like a thousand years," it doesn't necessarily mean that the proportion of the time difference of these two worlds is exactly "one day" to "one thousand years."
God says it like this to tell you that there is such great difference in the time flow.
What you should remember is this; of the two worlds, the time flow in the spiritual world is "faster."
This difference of time flow can be felt only when you look at the two worlds with an objective view.
The length of a day is felt the same to those in the spiritual realm and to those in the fleshly world when they are in their respective worlds.
However, if someone of the fleshly world spends a day in the spiritual realm and comes back to his fleshly world, the situation changes.
Even though he spends just one day in the spiritual realm, more than a day is passed when he comes back to his fleshly world.
Say, 10 years have passed.
Even though he spent one day in the spiritual realm, 10 years passed in the fleshly world.
In other words, what it takes 10 years in the fleshly world may take just one day in the spiritual realm.
Therefore, the time flow in the spiritual realm is much faster than that in the fleshly world.
Let me tell you one more thing you should remember related to the concept of time.
Before the Six Day Creation, the fleshly world was also in the same time flow of the spiritual realm.
In other words, the works of the creation of the earth was surely the works in the fleshly world, but it took place in the spiritual time flow.
Therefore, the time period when God created the earth in the beginning and made it covered by the water of life was short with the concept of the spiritual time flow, but it was very long with the concept of the fleshly time flow.
Since the earth itself is the fleshly (physical) thing, even though it was in the spiritual time flow, it was old in fleshly time.
Scientists say the earth is 4.6 billion years old.
Though their claim cannot be considered precisely correct, it is a fact that the earth is actually every old.
It is because even though it was not so in the spiritual time flow, it was so in the fleshly time flow.
Other than this time period, there is another time period that explains this difference in time flow.
It is the period when Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, but it will be explained in some time later.
The third thing that you should remember related with the concept of time is that the fleshly world began to ride on the fleshly time flow as the Six Days of Creation began.
Therefore, the works of the Six Days of Creation took place in 6 days as with the concept of time as we sense it today.
Why did God make the fleshly world ride on the fleshly time flow as the 6 Day Creation began?
It was to follow the order of the fleshly, physical world.
The Six Day Creation is the actual beginning of the fleshly world.
Therefore, the fleshly world needed a concept of time that is in accordance with the attributes of the flesh.
Then, how could such amazing works of creation take place in just one day?
For example, on the 3rd day of creation, the land was separated from the sea, and various plants were created on the land.
On the fifth day, fish and birds were created.
How could all these works take place in just one day?
It was possible because God covered the earth with the spiritual space and accomplished the works of creation.
When covered with the spiritual space, the concept of spiritual time flow governs the inside.
Do you remember, as I said earlier, that what takes a long time in the fleshly world may take much shorter in the spiritual realm?
Likewise, the spiritual space where the time flow is fast can cover the fleshly world.
Then, the place which is covered with the spiritual space can ride on the faster time flow.
For example, in Numbers Chapter 17, not even in a period of one day, "the rod of Aaron sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds." (Numbers 17:8)
It takes months for even a tree with root to bear fruit in the fleshly world.
However, the Bible says that the rod of Aaron bore ripe almonds in less than a day.
It was that the spiritual space covered the rod, and the spiritual time flow was applied to his rod.
The same applies to countless works of God's power of creation that take place in this church.
There are many testimonies like this.
Someone had his bones broken and he received my prayer. He went to hospital to take an X-ray picture.
But the doctors found no trace of broken bones in the picture.
Common sense tells us that it takes at least several weeks or months for broken bones to become normal.
However, as the spiritual space covered the bones and the work of God's power of creation took place, the broken bones became normal in a very short period of time.
The works of the Six Days of Creation were done by the same principle.
From the beginning of the Six Days of Creation, of course, the fleshly world started to ride on the fleshly time flow.
However, the place where the works of creation took place was covered with the spiritual space, and it was in the spiritual time flow.
I will give you more detailed explanation on this beginning with the next lecture.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
In this lecture, I showed the evidences of God's creation of the earth, and also explained the concept of time.
Hebrews 11:3 says, "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."
God the Father has shown many evidences of creation so that we can completely believe the works of creation.
He not only put His eternal power and divine nature into what He created, but He also shows amazing power of Creation.
He also explained to us about the works of creation like this so we could understand.
Therefore, I hope that you will completely possess spiritual faith so that you can believe something was created from nothing.
May your faith grow up every day to reach the mature level, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray!

[Amen!]