Jurassic Earth

Jurassic Earth
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The United States seems to be in the middle of dinosaur fever. The movie, "Jurassic Park," set all kinds of box office records, and young children are all wanting a stuffed animal of Barney, the purple dinosaur who hosts a popular children's television program. They are made a movie of the Flintstones, and Christians are wondering "Hey, what's the deal?"

Did dinosaurs really exist? When did they live? Did they roam through the Garden of Eden? Did Adam have to name them? Are they extinct today because Noah could not fit them on the ark? If the earth is only six thousand years old, how can science tell us the fossils of these creatures are millions of years old? Can science be trusted?

Being a pastor of a church, I have been asked all of these questions. Many parents are afraid to buy their children toy dinosaurs for fear they represent demons. They are afraid of bringing the wrong influence into their children's lives.

FOR GOD HATH NOT GIVEN US THE SPIRIT OF FEAR; BUT OF POWER, AND OF LOVE, AND OF A SOUND MIND.

I TIMOTHY 1:7

The Bible is not here to cause fear, but to remove it. I may not be able to answer all of your questions in this short article, but perhaps there will be enough to whet your appetite to search out God's Word for yourself.

To begin, the word "Jurassic" is a scientific term, which denotes the time period when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The bones archaeologists have found are real, and they tell us that the earth used to be very different from the way it is now.

HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?

The Bible does not really answer this question in great detail or with accurate figures. One fact that is obvious to anyone who has studied both the earth and the Bible is, the earth is older than six thousand years. Many verses of Scripture confirm this. Although Adam was placed here six thousand years ago, the Bible indicates he was not the first creation to occupy this planet.

Consider God's first commandment to Adam, which was, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (Genesis 1:28). This is the first indication that other creatures lived on earth before Adam did. God repeated the same commandment to Noah in Genesis 9:1, after the flood had receded and all mankind and animals on the earth except the inhabitants of the ark were destroyed.

We can also know the universe is older than six thousand years, because we can see the stars. This may not seem important, but stop to think: the light from most of those stars took many millions of years to get to your eye. If one ceased to exist today, we would not know it on earth for millions of years. In fact. many of the stars we see each night might not exist any more. They may nave disappeared long ago. We will not know it in our lifetime. The universe we see each night was here centuries before Adam was created.

Here is another fact from Scripture: the earth was created at the same time the universe was created. This places the age of the earth beyond our imagination.

IN THE BEGINNING COD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH. AND THE EARTH WAS [HAD BECOME] WITHOUT FORM, AND VOID; AND DARKNESS WAS UPON THE FACE [SURFACE] OF THE DEEP [WATERS]. AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD MOVED UPON THE FACE OF THE WATERS.

GENESIS 1:1,2

The earth was created in the beginning. Just exactly when that was, we do not know. This phrase is mentioned in two other places in the Word of God. First, in John 1:1, to let us know that Christ pre existed the creation of the universe and earth. And second, it is mentioned in Hebrews 1:10, to let us know that Christ Himself created the universe and earth (see also Colossians 1:16-18).

Butsomething happened between verse one and verse two of Genesis, chapter 1. The Hebrew tells us the earth "had become without form." Something caused the earth to change into the shapeless, dark planet of verse two. The phrase "without form" is one word in the Hebrew, tohu. The earth was not originally created this way.

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 [TOHU], HE FORMED IT TO BE INHABITED: I AM THE LORD; AND THERE IS NONE ELSE.

ISAIAH 45:18

If God did not create the earth "without form" (tohu) and it was formed “to be inhabited,” then who inhabited it?

LUCIFER'S DOMAIN

HOW ART THOU FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, 0 LUCIFER, SON OF THE MORNING! HOW ART THOU CUT DOWN TO THE (ROUND, WHICH DIDST WEAKEN THE NATIONS! FOR THOU HAST SAID IN THINE HEART, I WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN, I WILL EXALT MY THRONE ABOVE THE STARS OF COD: I WILL SIT ALSO UPON THE MOUNT OF THE CONGREGATION, IN THE SIDES OF THE NORTH: I WILL ASCEND ABOVE THE HEIGHTS OF THE CLOUDS; I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH.

ISAIAH 14:12-14

We can see that this fall of Lucifer's occurred long before Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden, because when Adam was placed there, Lucifer was already Satan, the enemy of God. The fall of Lucifer occurred during Jurassic earth. I have highlighted some words from this passage to show you that Lucifer's domain was not in heaven, but on the earth.

God has always intended that heaven and earth work together. Therefore, He has always put His crowning creation on earth. He wants His will to be done "on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:2). Whatever we "bind on earth, will be bound in heaven," and whatever we loose on earth, will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19, 18:18). One day, when the millennium is over, the earth w ill be remade and heaven will rest over earth and light it forever (Revelation 21:2,23,24).

Lucifer fell from heaven, and when you fall, you fall down. The place he fell to was under heaven, because he tried to ascend into heaven. Next, he fell to the ground. The Hebrew word is "earth." When he looked up to God's domain in heaven, he looked above clouds and stars.

It has always been God's intention that creatures in heaven and earth form an antiphonal, echoing praise and worship back and forth from both worlds. Thus, ucifer's throne and domain was on the earth, where he led praise and worship to God in heaven.

Also, notice that Lucifer's world was inhabited. When he fell to the earth, he weakened the nations. Before and after Lucifer fell, the earth was filled with cities and nations. Scientists have found the remains of beings who resemble man, but are very different. They have used these remains to support the theory of evolution, proposing that these creatures are some of the missing links betw eenman and apes. However, these creatures predate Adam by thousands of years and are not actual men. The Hebrew word for "nations" is gog or "heathen." Isaiah 14:17 goes on to tell us,

THAT MADE THE WORLD AS A WILDERNESS, AND DESTROYED THE CITIES THEREOF; THAT OPENED NOT THE HOUSE OF HIS PRISONERS?

Like the angels which fell with Lucifer, these nations fell prey to his seduction and turned against God. All creatures on the earth became destructive and grew out of proportion. Jurassic earth was under Satan's control, filled w ith rebellion and chaos.

After a long period of evil and decadence, God finally judged the earth. He flooded it w ith water, destroyed all life which was there, and removed the light, which froze the water and wrapped the entire planet in ice for a very long period of time. This ice age reshaped the earth into its present form and crushed the dinosaurs into the oil and natural gas we enjoy today. As always, what Satan meant for evil, God turned to our good!

The first verse of Genesis tells of the original creation of earth and the universe by God. The first part of verse 2 depicts earth under judgment. Then the second part of verse two begins the restoration of earth for man, as" the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

There is no such thing as evolution. There is no missing link. God destroyed the prehistoric earth and began all over again. The original earth was created in an instant, but the restoration of the earth after the ice age took six days. What happened to the creation back then? We do not know. Where the Bible is silent, we must be also.

BORN AGAIN

FOR WE KNOW THAT THE WHOLE CREATION GROANETH AND TRAVAILETH IN PAIN TO GET HER UNTIL NOW. AND NOT ONLY THEY, BUT OURSELVES ALSO, WHICH HAVE THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, EVEN WE OURSELVES GROAN WITHIN OURSELVES, WAITING FOR THE ADOPTION, TO WIT [THAT IS], THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY.

ROMANS 8:22,23

These verses tell us that nature and the believer have something in common. They are both groaning and travailing as they wait for their day of completed redemption. For the Church, it will be the day of the rapture, when we w ill be free from the curse of the flesh. For the earth, it will be the day of the second advent of the Lord, when the earth w ill be free from the curse on nature.

Originally, the earth was alive with the life of God, but when Lucifer became Satan and brought it into rebellion and chaos, God judged the earth and it became void, or lifeless. Moreover, the earth did not have the power to restore itself. It would take a divine miracle.

That miracle began as the Holy Spirit "moved upon the face of the waters." The Hebrew word for "moved" means to brood. Just like a mother hen sits on her egg to give it warmth and bring it to life, the Holy Spirit began to warm the ice pack, and as the earth responded, God commanded, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3). The earth was then restored in six days, but today it still carries a curse. However, God has promised in His Word that one day there w ill be a new earth, and the curse will be gone forever.

Like the earth before Lucifer's fall, the believer used to be alive to God "in Adam" or the age of innocence. But then Satan enticed Adam to rebel against God also, and all mankind died spiritually "inAdam." Man was incapable of restoring and redeeming himself. Again, it would take a divine miracle.

The first thing people experience when they-come into contact with God is the moving and brooding of the Holy Spirit over them. When they say "yes" to the Spirit of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the next command is "Let there be light!" They are restored back to spiritual life in Jesus Christ, seated w ith Him in position of authority, yet with a temporary curse — the nature of the flesh. However, one day every believer w ill have a new, resurrected body just like Jesus', and the curse w ill be gone forever.

Why is the Bible so silent about prehistoric earth? Because the earth has been born again, and "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). God does not want us to be consumed with the time when Satan ruled the earth any more than He wants us to glory in the time of our life w hen we
were under Satan's control.

Our lives truly begin when Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior, and our concern with the earth should revolve around redemption, not the dark time of evil and judgment. A fter all, we w ill have eternity to have all these mysteries answered!

SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE

The Bible tells us that the continuation of the universe and the life of all of its creatures depends on the grace, omnipotence, and immutability of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 13:8). Jesus created everything, and He sustains everything.

Jesus is also the author of all laws, which govern the universe. He created them and He enforces them. In that sense, the term "scientific law " is a misnomer. Science does not have laws, because it neither created them, nor is it able to enforce them. What we know as "scientific law " is actually God's law.

Science cannot guarantee that gravity will work tomorrow and water will seek the downward path of least resistance, but God can. Moreover, He can alter the natural laws of the earth any time He pleases. In fact, all law s will change when there is a new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21,22), and the law s of the earth will change because God will reverse many of them (2 Peter 3:10-12, Revelation 20:11).

Science confuses laws with observations. Because they observe a law and apply it to produce something beneficial to mankind, they assume they have created something. In fact, they have merely observed God's law and used it to discover His blessing.

Where was science when God stopped the earth from rotating so Joshua could have extra daylight to finish a battle (Joshua 10:12,13)? Where will science be at the second advent of Jesus Christ, when the earth will experience twenty-four hours of darkness and twenty-four hours of supernatural light (Joel 3:15)?

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 1:3 that the universe is held together and is sustained by the spoken Word of God. It also says that, although the earth will be destroyed and replaced with a new earth one day, the Word of God will never change (Matthew 24:35).

The Word of God also tells us in Hebrews 12:26-28 that believers will not only survive the destruction of the earth, but will dwell with Him for eternity in the new earth. Knowing this, our focus is not to be on trying to figure out Jurassic earth, but serving the Lord "acceptably, with reverence and godly fear."

Bob Yandian

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