In beginning God created. Genesis 1:1

 Genesis 1:1 NASB In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

When it comes to Bible translations, I transitioned from the King James version long ago as I came to understand that the NASB was a bit more accurate in translating to English. Many years ago, while listening to Dr. Chuck Missler on the radio, I learned that he preferred the KJV because the problems with that translation were well known, while other, relatively new translations or transliterations, which, too, had issues but, in some cases, were not identified yet. Taking Dr. Missler's advice, I approach them all with a bit of skepticism. That being said, here is a translation that works for me when looking at Genesis 1:1.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 AFV
(AFV - A Faithful Version) Copyright © 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011; York Publishing Company.

What is so different about the AFV?

It is one of the few versions that puts the word "the" in an italicized format to affirm that it is an added word and used only for the sake of clarity. I do not think verse one needed any added clarity at this point. So verse one could and should be read "In beginning."

You might ask, what difference does it make?

To say, "In the beginning" denotes an emphasis on a specific point in time in which everything happened perfectly. The Hebrew word is rê'shı̂yth and means the first, in place, time, order, or rank (specifically a first fruit.) If you were to hold tightly to a specific point, why does scripture bother to point out other periods in which God/Jesus created? Almost as if the Hebrew is in opposition to a specific point, you should have noticed the reference in definition to this point in time being the first fruit. If there was a first of the fruit, then there were other fruits produced or gathered; none of which takes away from or diminishes the authority and power of God in creation, but it also does NOT limit His creative abilities. So, the more appropriate read of rê'shı̂yth would be "In beginning," as this expresses the idea that creation was a process.

If you feel you need to continue arguing that everything was created at once, with one word, then why wasn't Adam placed here on the earth at that moment? Notice that I did not mention Eve because she clearly came later, and we cannot define how much later she showed up.

What else can I learn from verse one?

That God created created the heavens and the earth.

Create is the Hebrew word bara, meaning to shape, bring about, make, or produce.

How do I look at this and not see a process?

I can, however, see why evolutionists think the way they do; the obvious is that they refuse to acknowledge or consider that there is an omniscient, eternal God that established our moral baseline and placed the knowledge and comprehension of that baseline within us through His Son, Jesus, who put Himself upon that cross in order to give us all salvation and a restored life with the Father. A life without problems or mistakes in it.

Does God have problems or make mistakes?

The answer is an emphatic NO, although someone lacking wisdom will throw in the creation of Lucifer/Satan and say, see, what about that?

Even the angels were given free will, and though we don't know when this Satanic rebellion took place, it was obviously after verse one and was prior to God putting the man in the garden.

This is so much easier on the brain when you can acknowledge that the creation was a process.

If God created the Earth, then it had to be perfect from the beginning. Want evidence?

“For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am the LORD, and there is none else.”
Isaiah 45:18 NASB

Note the words formed and made; Formed is the Hebrew word yāṣar and means to form, fashion, or devise. In my book, this word alone demonstrates a process. Made is the Hebrew word ‛āśāh, meaning to do, make, accomplish, or complete. If it was complete from the moment He spoke it into existence, there would be no reason to complete it sometime later unless something cataclysmic took place.

So God, in making the earth and everything related to it, did it perfectly from the beginning. In other words, it was NOT formless and void unless you can handle a process that allows for the sun and planets to be created out of spinning, formless masses of matter that God had to fashion into something usable (trying to reason that out simply defies logical thought). If God made everything, then He also had to make the formless masses from which He may have formed the universe.

Most of the “Christian community” will adamantly renounce such talk because they believe it implies an agreement with evolution. For someone to suggest that the Creation of the earth, in the Genesis account, could have taken an indeterminate amount of time garners abrasive negativity and the idea that I am now an evolutionist, which I am not.

How do I know that the fall of Satan took place after verse one?

Because verse two declares that the earth is now destroyed.

“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.”
Genesis 1:2 NASB

Perhaps you have never heard what Jesus said about Satan.

 “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”
Luke 10:18 KJV

Jesus, the creator – according to John's gospel, watched as Satan fell from heaven.

The word fall is the Greek word piptō and means to descend from a higher place to a lower or to be thrust down.

When I apply Jesus's eyewitness account, in which He compares Satan's fall to lightning, it is easy to see that Satan's departure from his heavenly position was fast and powerful.

Why is this important?

Because of the potential damage involved with Satan's impacting the earth, the fall could have had a greater impact than some meteorites, such as those that struck the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago. An understanding like this makes it far easier to understand that the heavens sustained tremendous violence.

We have another piece of evidence concerning Satan's plummet.

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Revelation 12:7-9 NKJV

Who is the dragon?

Repeatedly, we learn that Satan is the dragon. One of the problems we seem to have is that the Book of Job renders Satan, in heaven, walking among the Sons of God. This gave Satan the opportunity to pursue a course of action against Job. So obviously, Satan did not receive complete destruction with his punishment, or he would not have been able to tempt Jesus nor offer Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth when he tried to tempt Him. His day will come.

“Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE.' "

Matthew 4:8-10 NKJV

Having been thrown down to earth, did God bestow him with authority and power?

No, but Adam did, and that was an aspect of the deception and willing participation in eating the fruit, in opposition to the ONLY rule God placed against the only two humans walking and dominating the earth. And yet, there it is, Satan is offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew ...”.
Genesis 3:5-7 NKJV

They knew they had undone the life and pattern that God had laid out before them, and they knew they had just handed it over to Satan.

Did you see Jesus calling Satan a liar or reminding him that he had been thrown down to earth, stripped of power?

You did not see that because even Jesus knew that Adam had given Satan all this power. This is an interesting way of stating a fact, and it is interesting because Jesus had voluntarily set aside all that HE was to become a human – and He is still a human today.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV

If that is the case, and it is, then how did Jesus come to know and understand that Satan had been given his power through Adam's betrayal?

The most substantial clue we have is a sparse statement about Joseph.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.”
Matthew 1:18-19 NKJV

Just is the Greek word dikaios and means that he was one that observed divine laws. In a wider sense, Joseph was upright, righteous, and one who kept the commands of God. (Thayer's Definitions)

This title of being righteous was not one you gave yourself but was assigned by a watchful community – in other words, Jews. Because Mary stood her ground and maintained that this baby was implanted by the Holy Spirit, she was considered a tramp, worthy of nothing more than a stoning, and the baby was deemed an illegitimate child – a mumzer and He (the young Jesus) was excluded from entering the synagogue or learning from the rabbis. It may have been possible that Joseph was very capable of teaching the young Jesus.

Obviously, somebody taught Him and taught Him well because, without us having to discuss it, it is clear that He knew the intimate details of the events that happened in the garden on the day that Adam handed the world over to Satan.

Does scripture tell us that the earth's axis will shift 40 degrees?

 A brother in Christ who goes by the YouTube name, Watchman River Tom, mentioned that he always listens to Jonathan Brentner. So I felt I needed to check out his website, "Our Journey Home."

https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/https/jonathan-brentner-g8fgsquarespacecom/config/2022/11/28/12-signs-the-world-is-running-out-of-normal

The article is called "12 Signs The World is Running Out of Normal."

I am not confused about what I read in scripture or hear in my spirit, and I will not let fools cause me to be led astray. Therefore, I can say with a passion that normal is NOT coming back; Jesus is.

An aspect of what Jonathan said was that the world wobbling would be part of the signs that are to come. He bases his statement on two verses, Isaiah 24:19-20 and Revelation 6:12-17. 

I am NOT doing this to rebuke a brother in Christ but to see if his thesis holds true, if scripture, in any way, tells us that the world will wobble and if we can use this to describe things that are to come.

From Jonathan Brentner's website, Our Journey Home.

WHEN THE WORLD WOBBLES

“Since 2001, the earth’s magnetic north pole has been moving. An article on the Forbes Magazine website, Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Is Shifting Dramatically From A Powerful Tug Of War, discussed how this shift has speeded up in recent years.

Why do I include this in the list of 12 signs? It’s because of warnings of what happens when the pole shift may reach forty degrees. That’s the point at which the north and south poles will swap places.[iii]

What’s so significant about this?

The Bible tells us that during the Tribulation period, the world will wobble (see Isaiah 24:19-20 and Revelation 6:12-17). I find it more than a little curious that what many predict will happen at the time of the pole shift matches what these prophetic passages say will happen during the Day of the Lord. It’s much more than a coincidence.”

Because Jonathan referenced an article from Forbes Magazine that speaks of how the earth's magnetic pole is shifting, I can easily realize that we are talking about a polar shift.

Now the question is, what would cause this?

“The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.” (Isaiah 24:19-20 NASB)

I cannot honestly say that I see the earth rotating 40+ degrees askew, let alone understand what is being said. A literal translation reads,

The earth is breaking, breaking! The earth is crashing, crashing! The earth is tottering, tottering. (Isaiah 24:19 LITV)

From what I have come to understand, the repetition of words in the Hebrew tradition means that God is trying to solidify and emphasize, especially in a prophetic sense. The terminology “utterly breaking down” is the Hebrew word rā‛a‛ and means to be evil or bad. It goes on to call it damaged or distressed.

The earth was NOT bad or evil in the day that it was made, but it certainly could have been damaged. When I look at the Literal Translation of the Bible, instead of "moved" exceedingly, it uses the terminology tottering twice.

It is the Hebrew word mot and means to totter, shake, or slip, among other words like totter. Isaiah 24:20 tells us in the KJV that “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard.” This is the Hebrew word nua and means to quiver, wave, waver, tremble, totter.

So, based upon Isaiah 24:19-20, I am still at a loss to understand where Jonathan gets a 40-degree tilt.

“For thus saith 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.” (Isaiah 45:18 KJV)

It is clear to me that Isaiah 24:19,20 has a context, and it starts in verse 1. The NASB entitles this section of scripture "Judgment on the whole earth." Alright, this I can understand, but I still have a problem.

“Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.” (Isaiah 24:1-2 NASB)

Notice the role reversals. So the emphasis has everything to do with the destruction of the earth and its inhabitants. This passage tells us that the LORD distorts its surface.

Distort is the Hebrew word avah and means to bend or twist.

What would it take for the earth to bend and twist in this manner?

We would have to project every possible scenario in order to obtain such an effect. I will add that the associated passage Jonathan mentions is in Revelation 6. When I attempted to teach through Revelation, we were not very far in chapter six before my friend said, how does anybody make it through the seven years? Good question.

If I put together what I have just learned, I have bad earth, and because it's bad, He bends and twists the earth in order to punish (the earth) and those on it. Since the earth could NOT make itself bad, then it is reasonable to consider other outside forces being applied.

Can we make an assertion as to what those outside forces were or are?

Here in Isaiah 42, we see that one of those outside forces will definitely be the Lord. Now project this forward to the Revelation, which declares that the book is a Revealing of Jesus. Would it surprise you to see that Jesus goes forth like a warrior and lays waste to the mountains and hills?

“The LORD will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies. "I have kept silent for a long time; I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now, like a woman in labor, I will groan; I will both gasp and pant. "I will lay waste the mountains and hills And wither all their vegetation; I will make the rivers into coastlands And dry up the ponds.” (Isaiah 42:13-15 NASB)

In Jeremiah 51, the Lord says that He is against someone or something that has qualities like a mountain but destroys the whole earth; He calls it Babylon. Think about the logic of a statement like that. A city cannot destroy the entire world, so "Babylon" is either a spiritual entity associated with that name or applies to those who ruled over Babylon.  

The context is directed at Babylon, but there is a spiritual theme.

"Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, Who destroys the whole earth," declares the LORD, "And I will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the crags, And I will make you a burnt out mountain." (Jeremiah 51:25 NASB)

Anyone with a Biblical sense understands that Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler over Babylon, took Israel captive for 70 years as punishment for not obeying God. By the time Daniel realized that the time of their punishment was over, Babylon was under the control of the Persians, and King Cyrus was in control. It is well-defined in scripture that men like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Hitler served as the hands and feet of God when it came to dishing out punishment. Fortunately, none of these men lived forever, but something else does – spiritual entities. 

One of the places where we see a powerful allusion to our spiritual enemy is found in Revelation 12.

"For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time." (Revelation 12:12 NASB)

A question, when did Satan come down to earth?

An aspect of our answer is associated with a statement that Jesus made.

“And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”
(Luke 10:18 NASB)

Consider that Jesus was standing before a crowd when He said this. That means He was in close proximity to the Father when Satan was tossed to earth, and it would appear that the planet was free of humanity when this happened. Another thing that plays a role in your understanding of when this fall from heaven took place is the actuality that Satan, who had possessed a serpent that walked on four legs and talked, met with Adam and Eve as they were now cultivating within earshot of the tree that was off limits to eat from. An interesting thought that suddenly occurs to me is, Why go near that tree? 

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15 NASB)

The tree that was off-limits in terms of eating was an aspect of the garden that God gave Adam to cultivate. So it was a non-issue until Satan got involved, but if you go back to the conversation where this instruction was initiated, there was NO Eve; this fact legitimizes Satan's arguments when he said, "did He really say that?"

“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17 NASB)

Considering that we started by trying to figure out if scripture tells us that the earth will wobble by "40 degrees of tilt (+ or -)", where does the garden of Eden fit into this? Seeing as we learned that Satan was thrown to the ground before the creation of man and that Genesis 1:2 indicates that the earth had been thrown into an explosive turmoil, which made the place void.

I would be a fool to think that the impact of Satan on the earth could not have tilted the globe on its axis. Many will deny the possibility that the earth endures such hellish devastation because they seem to think that it impairs God. Oh well, I do not see it that way, and it is clear that there is the potential that God will do the same thing.

From a scientific point of view, causing the earth to rotate to another axis should cause a total annihilation of humanity on earth, an event which I never see in scripture until after the great white throne judgment – an event which finally leaves a world in which there are NO unbelievers or humans subject to death, and it will be a time in which we will be forever, with the Father, in heaven. All this creates an environment in which the heavens and the earth could then be burned up and perhaps replaced, an event that we do encounter in scripture. These are physical phenomena that could not be done at any point outside of the time beyond the great white throne because there will continue to be mortals up to the final judgment, a judgment, by the way, that only includes dead people.

Keep in mind that the “English” and the grammar that we see in almost every Biblical translation came out of the mind of humans. True, there are passages such as:

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (2 Timothy 3:16 KJV)

Consider that when Paul wrote these words, the ONLY “scripture” that these Messianic believers had would have possibly been one copy of the Law and Prophets. There were NO Bibles, as the Bible was being lived out before their eyes and written to the congregations in the form of letters to those church bodies. That being said, here is another witness.

They assembled together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" (Numbers 16:3 NASB)

While the terminology does not match 2 Timothy's example, it does demonstrate how God feels about those who are His, up to and including the fact that God is always in the midst of His followers.

There is NOTHING in Isaiah 24 that specifically says the earth will tilt by 40 degrees, so let's try the other reference we were given, Revelation 6:12-17.

“I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;” (Revelation 6:12 NASB)

An obvious factor pops up as I read this. Five seals have been opened already.

1. The first seal. “A rider on a white horse” carrying a bow but NO arrows.

   Most see this as the antichrist. The timing is perfect as this is one of the first things that happens after the catching away of the church. The bow with no arrows is indicative of a false peace, and we see that with the seven-year covenant he makes.

   Other clues about this man: a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

2. The second seal, “a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

   Is this associated with the rider on the white horse or an added attraction?

3. The third seal. “A black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine."

   Horrendous escalation in food prices, shortages, and starvation.

4. The fourth seal. “An ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

   Death.

5. The fifth seal.

   “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. (Revelation 6:9-11 NASB)

   Everything seems to be focused on the intentional killing of those who follow after Christ during the seven years.

6. And the passage in question where the earth tilts.

   I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (Revelation 6:12-17 NASB)

Look at what it says, “there was a great earthquake.”

What geologic violence would the earth have to endure to shift the poles by 40 degrees?

Considering that The answer is something devastating, destructive, and monumental. And God is just getting started in terms of judgment against Israel and the nations, as there are two more sets of judgment – the bowls and the trumpets, to come.

The passage goes on to say that “every mountain and island were moved from their place.” That is a massive shaking that goes beyond our imaginations, and yet as you follow the narrative in Revelation, this happens several more times.

An example of what a 9.0 earthquake can do was seen in the Fukushima event of 2011.

“The Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, also called Great Sendai Earthquake or Great Tōhoku Earthquake, severe natural disaster that occurred in northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. The event began with a powerful earthquake off the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island, which caused widespread damage on land and initiated a series of large tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas of the country, most notably in the Tōhoku region (northeastern Honshu). The tsunami also instigated a major nuclear accident at a power station along the coast.

The magnitude-9.0 earthquake was caused by the rupture of a stretch of the subduction zone associated with the Japan Trench, which separates the Eurasian Plate from the subducting Pacific Plate. A part of the subduction zone measuring approximately 190 miles (300 km) long by 95 miles (150 km) wide lurched as much as 164 feet (50 meters) to the east-southeast and thrust upward about 33 feet (10 meters).”
https://www.britannica.com/event/Japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-of-2011

“The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up.”

Whatever this event is, it impacts the skies. The (Lexham English Bible) tells us that “...the sky was split apart like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved from their place.”

The experience of having the sky appear to split and roll back like a scroll would be frightening by itself. The question then becomes, what, then, are you looking at should you look at the sky?

I don't have an answer for you. I do know that these events will happen within the seven years of God's wrath, which comes after Jesus comes back for His church – His followers. Many people focus on the events that are currently happening and say we are experiencing God's wrath now. We are NOT as the removal of the church is necessary; however, Jesus said when you see these things, you can know that He is at the door.

“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also you, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the door. Truly I say to you that this generation will never pass away until all these things take place!”
(Mark 13:28-30 LEB)

• Israel is referenced as the fig tree on several occasions in scripture, holding to the necessity of two witnesses.

• Israel became a nation in a day (May 14, 1948). This is monumental, and squirm as you may, you can't get past this sign.

These two events/prophetic signs are game-changers that cannot be ignored.

• This generation will never pass away until all these things take place. Do a quick study to figure out the length of a generation, and you will come to the conclusion that we are right there.

• And, though it is NOT mentioned in the passages above, Jesus also said that we will hear of wars and rumors of wars. The truth be known, times of peace have been a rarity, so I am unsure how to process this statement. But, with this Russian war with Ukraine, Turkey now attacking portions of Syria; (12/23/2022). Within the last twenty-four hours, a military base in Moscow has been set on fire; and North Korea continues to ramp up the fear by launching another ballistic missile.

So, “when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the door.”

It is time to invite Jesus into your life and become a part of the family.