When Paul said, “All Scripture is inspired by God …”(2 Timothy 3:16), the New Testament had not yet been written, and some parts, such as the Book of Revelation, had not even been written, so he was referring to the Old Testament. But Christians live in faith and believe that both the Old and New Testaments are inspired by God. Because the Bible is inspired by God, they believe that God is not ambiguous, so they believe that “what God tells us through the Bible is consistent.” Also, because the Bible is inspired by God, we “do not discount the words of the Bible.” In other words, we must read the Bible based on these two. In short, if we take these two as axioms in our logical deductions and do not force our interpretation of the Bible, we will find how much the Bible conforms to logical principles.
Today we will use the first sentence of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”(Genesis 1:1), to illustrate this concept. For a non-Christian, if he could assume that these two are indeed logical axioms, he would come to the same conclusion through logical deduction. If we do not assume that such axioms are correct and only use logical deduction, we will reach the conclusion of agnosticism and not know whether God exists.
We know that although the Bible was written by different people, because the Bible is inspired by God, there is only one ultimate author, who is the Triune God. This means that Christians must live in faith and believe in this in faith. Therefore, when studying the Bible, we must read the Bible as a whole, and the New and Old Testaments must be read in conjunction with each other. Here we mentioned that God is a Triune God. We will discuss this concept in detail later, so we will not go into details now.
First, through an introduction to the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis, we can see why God’s will is mentioned in these first three chapters. We can understand it by looking at the logic. Second, let us look at what the Bible says about the situation before the creation of the heavens and the earth. It is God who created time and space. For people like me who do not understand the original text, the arrangement and use of the reference book Strong’s Concordance are briefly introduced so that when necessary, we can look up the meaning of the original text to read the Bible. Third, we described that from the perspective of man and from the perspective of Satan, time and space are different, and time can only move forward. From two passages in the Bible, we can see that God can control time, so from God’s perspective, time is a dimension, but we are not. Finally, we discussed the heavens and the earth mentioned in the first section, and explained why the Bible says that there are only three dimensions that are consistent with the facts.
1. God’s Will being in the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis
Why do we say that God’s will is in the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis? The reason is simple, because Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden at the end of Chapter 3, and starting from the first verse of Chapter 4, it talks about life after being driven out of the Garden of Eden. Logically, this is an obvious conclusion. If His will had been fulfilled and Adam and Eve had not eaten the fruit of the tree of life, they would have lived forever and would not have died, and there would have been no salvation plan as it exists now! So, God’s Will is quite clear in the first three chapters of Genesis.
Here, we will briefly introduce what the first three chapters are about, and then look at each verses carefully. First, in all the scriptures on the first day, we saw the difference between the two words “create (H1254)” and “make (H6213)”. We will see the meaning in brackets later. Through the word “light”, we can see the existence of the previous world. From the scriptures related to the second day to the seventh day, we see that “God said” is very powerful, and we also see that “each according to his kind” is a principle of God’s work, that is, the principle of separation. We also know that fish and birds are “created”, while animals and plants are merely “made”. “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”(Genesis 2:3)
The scripture also states that Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, while Eve was made from the pre-existing Adam. We also noticed that image and likeness are two different words. Although the Bible does not directly say what likeness is, it talks a lot about image because we already have the sinless likeness of Jesus, but we need to put to death the old self and allow the new self of the indwelling Holy Spirit to grow up and be conformed to the image of Jesus.
The scriptures also discussed Adam and Eve’s fall from disobedience to God on the sixth day and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden that same day. We have seen that when Satan tempted Eve, he used a strategy that mixed right and wrong. People often only see the right part and think that the wrong part is also right. We must carefully discern them. In the process, we also see why Eve was tempted. From the command God gave to Adam, “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 2:17) We can see from it and the Old and New Testaments that when a person dies, the spirit leaves the body first, and when the soul leaves the body, the person dies. So we can see that a person has three parts: spirit, soul, and body. This is the so-called tripartite, which is what the Bible says.
Although God’s punishment for their disobedience was clear, He is a merciful and gracious God, and He began His plan of salvation in a prophetic way at that time before He drove them out of the Garden of Eden for the reason stated in the Scripture, “Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever””(Genesis 3:22) We will see later how terrible it is to commit the sin of disobeying God and yet live forever.
2. Before the creation of the heavens and the earth
Before the creation of the heavens and the earth, when there was neither time nor space, the Triune God already existed, with equal dignity and honor, and united by love, just as Jesus Himself said, “…You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”(John 17:24) Therefore, in Genesis 1:1 it says, “In the beginning God (H430, plural) created (H1254, singular) the heavens (H8064, plural) and the earth (H776, singular).” The word “beginning” in “create” refers to the beginning before God created the world, so it was God who created time and space. Without discounting the words of the Bible, we can see that the word “create” (H1254) refers to the creation out of nothing. Please note that in the first verse, we have already seen the concept of God being a multi-person God, because in this sentence, the subject is in the plural and the verb is in the singular. As to why it is three, it will not become clear until we discuss it in detail later.
Here, for those who do not know the Strong’s Concordance system, we would like to explain briefly. Basically, every word in the Bible has a corresponding number. For example, God’s number here is H430. Since most of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, and only a very small part is written in Aramaic, the numbers all begin with H. The New Testament was written in Greek, so the numbers all begin with G. For example, this verse, “Just as the Father has loved (G25, verb) Me, I have also loved (G25) you; abide in My love (G26, noun).”(John 15:9) Please note that different tenses have different numbers even though they mean the same thing.
This arrangement makes it easy to find all the verses with the same number in the Strong’s Concordance. After looking at these verses and their context, we can basically know how this word is used in the Bible. But sometimes we have to look at how it is used in the Bible to see its meaning. For example, if a word only appears once, we can only look at how it is used in the Bible to determine its meaning, rather than just looking at a root-based dictionary in the Concordance.
3. Time and Space
We live in three-dimensional space, and time can only move forward. Satan is the same as us, and time can only move forward. This is clearly stated in the scriptures: “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) If Satan’s time could be delayed, there would be no such thing as knowing that its time is short. Satan can do more things than we can, but time can only move forward just like us.
For God, it is different from us. He is in the four-dimensional space. For Him, time is just one-dimensional and is no different from any other dimensions. That is to say, in three-dimensional space, if there is no obstruction, we can move freely from one point to another, and we can freely choose the origin as the standard for describing the points. While in this dimension of time, we can only move forward, and He can do whatever we can do in the other three dimensions. There are two places in the Bible where it is said that He can indeed control time, that is, choose the origin. Since He can control the choice of the origin, He can naturally move forward and backward on the timeline. Therefore, Jesus would say during the time of His incarnation, “…Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”(John 8:58)
Some people may say that God can live in four dimensions or higher than four dimensions in addition to time, but the Bible says that He also lives in three dimensions in this world in addition to time. God originally created the world by “calling into being something that is not there”, and then He restricted Himself to abide by this rule and no longer “calling into being something that is not there” because the work of creation and making had been completed on the seventh day. In fact, we can also see this in the New Testament, because even a miracle like the five loaves and two fishes starts with the five loaves and two fishes, not “calling into being something that does not exist.” In fact, no one has ever been to such a space of four dimensions or higher in addition of time, so such a space only exists in mathematics. He will not lie. We must believe what the Bible says. He did not create lies, because Satan is the father of lies. The scripture says very clearly, “…the devil (Satan)… Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”(John 8:44)
There are two places that mention that He can control time. One is, “Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.”(Joshua 10:12-13) Another place is “Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD the third day?” Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” So Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.”(2 Kings 20:8-11) So God does have control over time.
4. The heavens, the earth, and three-dimensional space
“In the beginning God (H430, plural) created (H1254, singular) the heavens (H8064, plural) and the earth (H776, singular) …”(Genesis 1:1) @The word “earth” is singular, so there is only one “earth”, which refers to the Earth. But “heavens” is plural, referring to there are many heavens. What exactly does this mean? Let us first give a wrong but seemingly reasonable explanation, and then share with you what the Bible is actually saying!
First, we can see from the following verses that Jesus’ body had no restrictions on moving around on earth after His resurrection, and the physical door obviously could not limit Him. For example, the scripture says, “After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.””(John 20:26) The doors are closed, but Jesus could come and stood among them. In fact, Jesus had gone down to Hades as well, “…I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”(Revelation 1:18) And “…Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, …”(1 Peter 3:21-22) Jesus’ body after resurrection is a spiritual body, which can move freely in the world, Hades, and heaven. We seem to be able to expand this vision and assume that there are no restrictions on the activities of spirits in the same dimensional space, that is, to expand this statement into an axiom of logical deduction.
Based on this axiom, the following scriptures can tell us that there is at least four dimensions of space that do not include time. “But Abraham said (to the rich man in Hades), ‘…between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’” (Luke 16:25-26) Abraham was in the spirit body at that time, for the Bible says, “…the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”(Philippians 3:20-21) Therefore, all those who are saved have a spiritual body. Based on the axiom that there are no restrictions on the activities of spirit body in the same dimensional space, how can there is a great chasm between them in the same space? It must be in spaces of different dimensions, which means that at least four dimensions exist, otherwise it is inconsistent with the axiom. Without this axiom, it would be impossible for us to use the words in the Bible and logic to conclude that the fourth dimension exists.
The problem with this statement lies in the axioms of logic. We cannot expand it into an axiom with just one example. This is illogical. In fact, if there is only three-dimensional space, we can easily explain the chasm mentioned in Luke 16:25-26. As long as Abraham and the rich man are on different distant planets in three-dimensional space, there will naturally be a chasm separating them. In this situation, spirit body can still communicate. The Bible does not say how Abraham communicated with the rich man, but it was obviously not with words.
In short, we cannot say in the beginning in the first verse that no matter how vast the universe is beyond our imagination, it is only a part of the sky we see, and there are heavens as seen from the earth, because only when reaching Genesis 1:3, it starts to talk about the creation and making of the present world. From the first verse, we see the power of God’s creation and making.
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
(You can get all articles in “https://a-christian-voice.com/” under “On spiritual understanding about life.”)
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