Genesis 1:1,2 – In the beginning God created (bara’) the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was (hayethah - became) 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.

Moses uses the word bara’ to indicate God created the heavens and earth from things that are not seen.

Hebrews 11:3 – Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

But in the re-creating or renovation of the bara’ of Genesis 1:1, when God begins the process of restoring it, he indicates he is making (asah’) visible things from his first bara’, which he created from unseen things.

Genesis 1:7 – And God made (‘asah) the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Genesis 1:16 – And God made (‘asah) two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made (‘asah) the stars also.

‘Asah’ means to make from what is seen. Bara’ is often used to identify what is made from things that cannot be seen. God made (‘asah) the sun, moon, and stars from what he had already created (bara’) in 1:1.

In Exodus 20:11 he uses ‘asah, rather than bara’, because he is referring to remaking (‘asah) the earth in six days out of what had been marred in what he created (bara’) billions of years before the fall of Satan.

Exodus 20:11 – For in six days the Lord made (‘asah) 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.

Vine’s says the following concerning created (bara’) as it relates to made (‘asah): “The verb bara’ is of profound theological significance, since it has only God as its subject. Only God can create in the sense implied by bara’: The verb expresses creation out of nothing on a cosmic scale: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

In Genesis 2:3, referring back to Genesis 1:1 where God first created (bara’) the earth, then made (‘asah) the things of verses 4 to 17 out of what he had previously created, we find the two words used together.

Genesis 2:3 – And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created (bara’) and made (asah’).

I believe God created (bara’) the heavens and the earth billions of years ago, and Lucifer was placed over it. I do not know how much time passed before Lucifer fell. I do know God rested on the seventh day after he made (asah’) it such than man could exist on the earth.

One must be careful to explain that there is not a concrete, infallible rule for distinguishing precise bara’ and ‘asah differences in all cases, and the exact differences between the usages of bara’ and ‘asha in all sentence structures does have some variance. But the context in which they are placed in Genesis 1:1 to 1:17, does allow the distinction to be made.

When I retired from the National Security Agency, I enrolled in the Missionary Baptist Seminary. During my undergraduate work there, I was privileged to have Dr. Capell for study of the poetical books. When he was covering the book of Job he gave two assignments we had to turn in for a grade. We were allowed to write on any subject that might relate to the book. The first paper I composed was basically what you read in Update 148A, which I titled “A Brief History of the Gap Theory,” and Dr. Capell gave me an “A+” on it. To be quite honest, since I knew he was a proponent of the gap theory, I knew he would like it. However, when the second paper was due, my confidence he would like what I wrote was about a minus 10, but I wrote it anyway, and much to my surprise, he have me an “A” on it. The second paper was titled “The First Sin.” What follows is virtually a copy of what I wrote, and what I have taught at Dardanelle MBC for almost 30 years.

The basic hypothesis that I offer concerning Satan’s sin against God that caused the earth to become without form and void is as follows:

(1)    That Lucifer’s original sin was to attempt to create a living form of “bios” (life) by his own power.

(2)    That most, if not all, creatures possessing “bios” (life) in the time gap between Genesis 1:1, and the latter part of 1:2, were Satanic clones of the life forms God placed on the earth in Genesis 1:1.

(3)    That Satan’s basic purpose in his numerous forms of cloning “bios” (life) over millions of years was to produce a form of “bios” into which he could transfer his spirit, and sustain “zoe” (eternal life) in his cloned creature.

(4)    That Satan was finally able to clone an inferior non-homosapien form of “bios” without a living soul, but could not generate “zoe” into it.

Perhaps the most graphic description of Lucifer’s sin is contained in Isaiah 14:12-15 – How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! [13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: [14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. [15] Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

I Timothy 3:6 – Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Verses 13 and 14 from Isaiah, in conjunction with I Timothy 3:6, reveal the basic problem of Lucifer, pride, and is what his sin of rebellion most likely entailed. In his pride Lucifer wanted to be the most High, not in a position of being his servant, but being equal to him. So how could it be brought to pass? There is one thing about God that is absolutely unique – He is the creator all things, yet he was not created. Before Lucifer’s sin there were only two categories of existence or being – The Creator, and the created. The most High was the Creator and everything else was what he had created. In order for Lucifer to fulfill the prideful goal of his heart expressed by his statement, “I will be like the most High,” it was necessary for him to move into the Creator status that only God held. For only by moving into the Creator status could he have any possibility of reaching his lofty goal of being “like the most High.” It is with this idea I proceed with the hypothesis that Satan’s original sin consisted of attempting to be the first creation of God who could create life exactly like God generated life. I contend that God gave Satan billions of years to accomplish such a feat by experimentation with the first life forms God placed on the earth he created in Genesis 1:1. I contend that Satan was able to learn how to clone and manipulate the original life forms God created in Genesis, and that his counterfeiting endeavors over billions of years are found in the fossil records of the earth’s layers laid down over that vast expanse of time. I suspect God gave Satan all this time before a vast audience of his first creation, the angels, so that it would forever be established in their minds that God along was the giver of life, and all Satan was ever able to accomplish was the manipulation of the life forms God had first given life. So, in the end, after all the angelic host had seen the utter failure of Satan to produce a form of life to rule over the earth as his children, then God recreated what Satan had wrecked and marred, and placed a new creature on the earth to rule over it in righteousness for him, the creation we know as Adam, as man, as anthropos. And, when Adam sinned, God immediately revealed his plan to have his Seed, his only begotten Son, to be the one who would buy back Adam’s inheritance by the price of his own blood on the cross.

Genesis 3:15 – And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Hebrews 2:14,15 – Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; [15] And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

It is my contention that while Satan was never able to create such a being as Adam, even by mutation of the species, manipulation of the DNA, or cloning, it is possible he was eventually successful in producing a creature with a crude form of animal intelligence. At the end of the pre-Cambrian age, hundreds of fossil life forms suddenly appeared in the Cambrian rock strata. These were the original life forms of Genesis 1:1, and it was from these simple life forms that Satan’s experimentation produced the heinous creatures that eventually roamed the earth for millions of years. It is conceivable that Satan hoped eventually, through experimentation with “bios,” to produce a life form in the flesh in which his “zoe” could dwell. If so, he failed completely. And, more importantly, all of heaven was a witness to his failure. I do not believe Satan has ever been, or ever will be, able to create life as God creates it, from his very person. But I do believe he has learned to take what God has created, and manipulate, mutate, and clone it into something God never intended. I will take the Scriptures, Lord willing, and make a case for my contention in the next Update.

Dr. J. Louis Guthrie, in his book, “Christ in Creation,” says of “bios” and “zoe” on page 17: “bios is a Greek word meaning physical or tangible life. From it we get many English derivatives connected with physical life. Zoe is the other form. It is not so easily defined and indeed corresponds more closely to what we call spiritual life in common speech. I cannot recall a single instance, where the Greek work bios, is ever used for the inner life of God, his saved, or angels, and I have given it pretty thorough investigation. These words and their meanings seem sometimes incorporated in the inner life when life is spoken of in the sense of such things as salvation, regeneration, development of Christian ideals, and the resurrection. Many times it is implied that the physical life depends on the spiritual. The living zoe never seems to have existence alone, the inner life is the sort that is self sustaining, and has no need of food itself, also it has complete power to give off eternally and never receive nor demand anything returning to it. This life seems to comprehend the infinity of matter, mind, and spirit. This is the complete fullness of divine life. God then becomes to us a complete personality of material, mind, and spirit.” Neither could I find a single case where bios, or derivations thereof, were ever used to refer to anything but things concerned with physical or tangible life. It was never used for the inner life of God, his saved, or angels. With this in mind, I repeat my original hypothesis that Satan was able to mutate, manipulate, and clone the cells of the original life forms of Genesis 1:1 into a low grade form of bios, but never zoa (eternal life). In my old seminary composition I wrote, “I would not be surprised to see scientists produce crude bios in test tube proportions in the next ten years.” And indeed they did! I told the members of the church I pastor in Dardanelle 25 years ago that they would clone a warm blooded mammal before the year 2000, and that it was quite possible they would clone a soulless human just before the Lord returned.

In my next Update I will give accounts from Scripture that support my hypothesis that Satan has, can, and will duplicate life forms. He has been in the process for a very long time. Hopefully, before I am finished with this series on the Genesis creation, I will transmit my explanation as what caused the age of the dinosaurs to abruptly come to an end.