Adam When?

    Thus far in this volume we have examined a number of pieces of scientific information in the light of the Bible. We have seen that there is marvelous correlation between the sacred and secular records (there must be, once the secular record is properly understood).

    Let us now try briefly to reconstruct earth’s history from the beginning, looking especially at the aspects of truth we have already discussed. We are greatly helped in doing this by the absolutely trustworthy chronology the Bible offers as well as by many other statements which are part of the sacred record.


In The Beginning

    The belief in the fact of the creation of the universe 13,000 years ago in six days, each day of 24 hours’ duration, appears quite naive to say the least. And yet God has given us the calendars in Genesis 5 and 11 to assure us that the year 11,013 B.C. is the beginning. The secular evidence of C14 information and ocean sediments does not violate the Biblical time-table but actually reinforces it. as we saw in previous chapters. The Bible reinforces the Genesis six-day creation account by stating in Exodus 20:11:

For in six days Jehovah made Heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

    And we read in Exodus 31:17:

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

    Thus, we can be reassured that all of the events recorded in the owning chapter of Genesis are included in this six-day period.

    Looking briefly at the six days of creation, we can see the unfolding of God’s program. Genesis 1:1 states:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

    This statement is a declaration that God is the creator and that He constructed the universe at the beginning of time. This truth is reemphasized throughout the Bible. For example, we read in Isaiah 42:5:

Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.

    Verse two of the Bible gives us the first step in the formation of the universe. On the first day God brought into being the raw materials that were to become the stars and the planets. Genesis 1:2 declares:

And the earth was 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.

    “The earth was without form, and void” means it was in a state of emptiness and chaos. This suggests that when the elements, the “stuff” of the universe, were first created, they were in a gaseous unresolved form. The universe was unable to support life and was unavailable for any known useful purpose. This initial step was transitional in God’s creative activity, as suggested by Isaiah 45:18:

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.

    The Hebrew word for “in vain” is toho, which is the same word used in Genesis 1:2 where it is translated “without form.” Thus, the Bible appears to indicate that while the earth did exist for a time in chaos, the final purpose of God was to create earth for habitation.

    Verse two of Genesis then states that “darkness was upon the face of the dep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face waters.” This is a surprising statement because “God is light.” Even though God is a Spirit and under no circumstances is to be considered material substance, it is significant that God’s appearance is often characterized by brilliant light. We think of God’s glory in the

presence of Moses on Mount Sinai and of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. In the new heavens and the new earth, we read in Revelation 21:23:

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

    Thus, it would appear that God was required to create darkness, even as He says in Isaiah 45:7, “I form light and create darkness.” The presence of darkness together with the Spirit of God seems quite incompatible. This in turn might offer a clue as to why scientists have been unable to discover the true nature of light. They can use light they know how it manifests itself, but they do not know what it is. The fact that the Bible speaks of darkness being created suggests that darkness is more than just the absence of light. Does darkness of itself have some substance? Is this suggested by the plague of darkness over Egypt, a darkness that could be “felt”? In Exodus 10:21, Jehovah said to Moses:

And the LORD said unto Moses. Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

    Verse two of Genesis 1 goes on to declare that the Spirit of God moved or brooded on the face of the waters. This beautifully emphasizes the activity of the Godhead in creation. While other Scriptures underscore the activity of Christ and the Father in creation, this verse shows that the Holy Spirit was intimately involved from the very beginning with the drama that was to take place in time in this universe.

    We were surprised to find the reference to darkness in the second verse, but it is also rather surprising to see the emphasis on water in relationship to creation. I do not know the full implication of this, but we read in II Peter 3:5:

For this they willingly are ignorantly, that by the word of God the heavens, were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.

    As we saw in an earlier chapter, this suggests that although creation was accomplished in six 24-hour steps, sedimentary rock that is, rock formed from water-borne sediment, was present from the beginning as part of the earth’s crust. That this is so is amply borne out by the vast amount of sedimentary rock which shows no relationship

whatsoever to the flood, that is, it has no C14 content, which indicates it was laid down prior to the beginning of cosmic activity, and it contains no fossils, which could only have resulted from the flood.¹

    In any case, before day one drew to a close, God performed one more mighty creative act. God said, “let there be light.” As we have already noted, the precise nature of light is a mystery. Obviously it is not dependent upon light bearers such as the sun or stars because they were not made until the fourth day. God is the Creator, and already on the first day God established a 24-hour rhythm of night and day.

    The second day was the division of the waters that had been brought into being the first day. These gigantic, unformed, gaseous, semi-liquid clouds were divided so that deep space called firmament or heavens was produced. Discoveries by contemporary scientists show that these huge water clouds still exist in deep space.

    The third day was focused on the waters that would become the scene of the formation of earth. They were gathered together and the dry land came into being under God’s creation program. It was then that the universe first experienced living organisms because the Bible declares in Genesis 1:11:

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

    The earth had become ready to supply food for animals and man who would be created the sixth day.

    On the fourth day, God focused His attention on the universe. Until this time there was light but no light bearers. The earth was a complete planet but the balance of the universe still consisted only of the huge water clouds that had been separated from the water from which the dry land of the earth emerged. On this day God made the sun, the moon, and the stars.

    These light bearers took their responsible positions in continuing the 24-hour rhythm of day and night which was established by God on the previous three days. Moreover, they became the sources of the light which had been created by God the first day.

    One important truth suggests itself at the moment. As small as planet earth is in comparison with the universe, this planet the preeminence in the universe. The sun, moon, and stars have only a supporting role. The fact that the universe is billions upon billions of

times greater in size than the earth does not diminish its preeminence. We have an infinite Creator, and it is no more difficult for Him to create a universe than it is for Him to create life or any other part of creation. The apparent endless expanse of the universe, which is held together by immutable God-given laws, gives us a deeper insight into the magnificence, majesty, omnipotence, and omni- science of the Creator. The earth is the scene of the manifestation of God’s love, grace, wrath, and justice.

    Once we understand the pre-eminence of the earth, we can begin to understand why the Bible declares, in connection with Christ’s second coming, that the stars will begin to fall from heaven (Matt. 24:29), and why “the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places” (Revelation 6:14). Infinite God’s treatment of the universe at Christ’s return is no more a problem to God than it would be for man to empty a bucket of water. In other words, the size, complexity, and nature of the universe is relative. To us the universe appears infinite, and surely it must have a life duration commensurate with its size and complexity, but for God it is merely another item created as part of God’s program of redemption. The timetable for the universe is the same as that of the earth.

    Since the earth was created about 13,000 years ago, in the year 11,013 B.C., the universe must have been created in the year 11,013 B.C. also. Moreover, the end of the universe is simultaneous with that of the earth. Revelation 21:1 declares:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

    Perhaps the reference to seas being no more underscores the renewal of the universe in every aspect because the creation began with water. The new heaven and new earth are created new, as compared with the old universe, as our resurrected spiritual bodies are new as compared with our present bodies. Note the additional reference to this grand truth in II Peter 3:7:

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

    We read in II Peter 3:10-13:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the

elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

    Isaiah 65:17 tells us:

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.

    Returning to the creation of the light bodies on the fourth day, we should not be frustrated by questions such as the earth receiving light from light bearers located billion of light years in space. At the moment God created the light bearers, He unquestionably also brought the light to earth. Therefore, we should not look for clues regarding the age of the universe from phenomena such as the speed of light.

    Moreover, we should not expect the chemical composition of the moon or the other planets necessarily to be the same as that of our earth. They were a creative activity distantly separate from that of the earth. This has been shown by moon exploration. Scientists have discovered that a wide difference exists between the chemical composition of the earth and the chemical composition of the moon.

    A portion of the deep space water that was separated on the second creative day from that from which the earth emerged could have been utilized by God in creating the universe. Or it is possible that this water continued in deep space as scientific evidence presently shows. We might recall that this is the source of most of the water that deluged the earth in the awful flood of Noah’s day. (See Chapter 13.)

    On the fifth day, God created the fish and the birds. The earth was now about prepared for the crown of God’s creation, man.

    On the sixth day, God continued his creative acts by bringing into being the animals. Then as the final creative acts in the six days of creation, He created man in the image and to the glory of God. God saw everything He had made, and behold, it was very good.

    One is stuck by the introduction of Christ to man. In His first act of power, at Cana of Galilee at a marriage feast, He displayed Himself

as Almighty Creator. There He turned the water into wine, huge quantities of wine, in an act of instantaneous creation. There is none of the element carbon inlayer, but carbon is required in wine. Where did it come from? Christ, of course, created it and showed and proved conclusively that He is Creator. Do the six jars point to the six days of creation? He again powerfully displayed Himself as Creator when He multiplied the loaves and the fish in the presence of the thousands who ate. This is Christ who formed and created instantaneously during the six days of Genesis I (John 1:3, Hebrews 1:2).


From Adam to the Flood

    We will continue our reconstruction by examining the 6023-year period from Adam to the flood.

    We may suppose that when God created the earth, He created one large continent with the balance of the surface of this planet covered by oceans. In Genesis 1:9-10 we read:

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

    This language would surely permit a one-continent concept and there appears to be no language elsewhere in Scripture which would prohibit this interpretation. The continental area could have been larger than the presently existing continental areas. As seen in a previous chapter, the volume of the seas possibly could have been on the order of one half as large as they are today. The submarine canyons found on the ocean floor, the continental shelves which occupy a global area of about 7% of that of the oceans, and the finding of continental beach sand in mid-Atlantic, all point to the possibility of a large continent that occupied a greater area of the earth’s surface than the sum of all the continents today. However, the size of this great continent is not germaine in a critical way to our discussion. Whatever the size, the land masses of today could have existed as one continent at the beginning. This is suggested by secular evidence and is permitted by the Bible.

    As seen in an earlier chapter, the climate was 15-20° F. warmer than the world-wide average today. Vegetation was exceedingly 1ush, and many plants reached a huge size in such benevolent climate conditions. Many large land animals, such as the dinosaurs, roamed

the plains and forests. No high mountains on a par with those of today existed. Perhaps the highest was less than 5,000 feet. Disease was not nearly as prevalent as today. Therefore, man reached astounding ages (Genesis 5). Perhaps the animals, too, were exceedingly long-lived.

    Mankind was not overly plentiful on earth at that time. While he lived as long as 900 years or more, his first-born child probably was not born until he was anywhere from perhaps 60 to 500 years of age. Noah, for example, was 500 years old before he fathered a child. Moreover, there is no evidence that families were larger in those ancient days than at any other time in history. Noah had only three sons, as did Terah who lived some 2700 years later. No statement is found anywhere in the Bible that suggests that there were large families in this period or any other period of history. Life must have been very slow moving with each marriage and each birth a great and signal event. The total population of the world before the flood possibly could have never exceeded one million.

    Ancient man from this period was very skillful. His intelligence was easily as great as any later generation because he had been created a perfect man in the image of God. Only the results of sin were corroding him and causing his death. Early, very early, he thought that in this creation he could find security and hope. So Cain built a city (Genesis 7:14). His descendant Jubal invented musical instruments (Genesis 4:21), and his descendant Tubalcain forged articles of bronze and iron (Genesis 4:22). Man had learned to live very successfully in his environment.

    But sin multiplied. Believers intermarried with unbelievers. The vast majority no longer thought about God. Rather, they placed their trust and confidence in the strong (Genesis 6:4), and their wickedness began to be boundless.


The Flood

    So God intervened. The year was 4990 B.C. After preparing for the continuation of man and animals by means of the ark which Noah had obediently built, God destroyed the earth with water. God brought a great deep-space rain cloud into the path of the earth, and the water began to pour upon the earth. Simultaneously, the floor of the ocean erupted in massive volcanoes and water and lava flowed from the bowels of the earth.

    The Bible says in Genesis 7:11:

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

    Here is the first clue that speaks to the question of mid-ocean ridges and paleo-magnetic anomalies. The gigantic proportions of the Noachian deluge would have left tremendous scars on the ocean floor of such openings of the fountains of the deep. As water poured forth, basaltic lava also must have poured forth as happens with volcanoes today.

    Thus, the great rifts in the ocean floor originated. For forty days enormous quantities of lava and water flowed from these fissures. Simultaneously, the earth was deluged with new water from deep space. The rate of deposition of the new water approximated that which would cover the entire earth to a depth of 100 feet per 24-hour period. Obviously, this changed the equilibrium of the earth’s internal forces. Variations and reversals of the earth’s magnetic pole were occurring at a time rate of hours or days. As each day’s volume of the deep earth magmas poured from the earth’s deep ocean rifts, the mid-ocean ridge was built up. Thus, the lava poured down the ridge slopes and solidified at increasingly great distances from the rift source. As the lavas cooled, they cooled with the earth’s magnetic vector frozen within them. Additionally, great mountains were built as the earth came back to equilibrium. These processes caused further magnetic anomalies.

    When the waters first struck the earth as it began to move through the great deep-space rain cloud, temperatures on the other side of the earth must have plummeted. In some areas animals by the thousands were instantly frozen by the first great temperature oscillation. As the waters rose they were buried in huge cakes of ice that covered hundreds of miles. Animals and insects by the millions were instantly buried, sometimes singly and sometimes in great twisted masses as the flood waters continued. Never before or since did conditions even remotely approach the possibility of fossilization that existed in these destructive days.

    And then, as abruptly as it had begun, the deluge ended. The awesome rain of forty days stops. The earth was stressed to its very

foundations by the fantastic magnitude of pressures and imbalances placed upon it by the new water. Already changes were taking place. The ocean basins were deepening. The mountains began to thrust higher, and, as the water settled into the ocean basins, the land was torn by the receding torrents. The floor of the ocean at the continental edges became deep with sediment. The ocean water was heavy with sediment so that most of the ocean floor had some sediment build up. Sedimentary rock, pockmarked by fossils, became abundant everywhere. The pressures of the flood waters upon water-deposited sediment produced ideals conditions for such rock development. Huge pockets of plants buried under thousands of feet of water and silt, and further compressed by gigantic mountain-building stresses, became fossilized into oil and other hydrocarbons.

    As the water left the continental mass, it became evident that the whole face of the earth had changed. Huge areas were covered with ice because the world-wide temperature had drops 20-30 degrees F. Severe oscillations of temperatures continued for possibly hundreds of years. Therefore, some of the ice fields would recede and grow again repeatedly.

    There was still one feat continent, or possibly two, hooked together and separated on one side by the so-called Tethys Sea. Possibly, the continent was smaller after the flood due to the waters rising over the low-lying continental slopes, and the first evidence of what is now the Atlantic Ocean was seen. Great deposits of sediment were placed at the edges of the continents as the water receded from the continents. The oceans themselves contained much sediment in suspension so that for a number of years sediment accumulation occurred at an abnormally high rate all over the ocean floor.

    Why should we conclude that there was no continental division as a result of the flood? Several reasons suggest themselves. First secular evidence suggests polar wandering or paleo-magnetic reversals much earlier than that produced by continental drift. The effects of the flood, without continental movement, could account for this. Secondly, the Bible gives no intimation of continental division occurring as a result of the flood. Thirdly, a single continent at the conclusion of the flood provides a very satisfactory solution to the problem of animals and man occupying every continent.

    Let us think further about this. The Bible indicates that all flesh with the breath of life was destroyed in the flood of Noah’s day, with the exception of Noah and his family and the animals with them in the

ark. Thus, in the year 4989 B.C., man and animals again began to populate the earth, beginning from the slows of Mount Ararat where the ark had come to rest. The animals began to migrate to every area of the huge continent with nearly the same configuration before the flood. For example, since there were only two elephants saved in the ark, all of the elephant population sprang from these two. For the next couple of thousand years, the habitation of the elephants was generally in that part of the continent toward which the original elephants began to migrate. Similarly, after leaving the ark, various species of animals began to migrate toward other parts of the continent, and their progeny continued to develop in that part of the continent.

    Likewise, man began to move to the fertile crescent of the Mesopotamia Valley. Because he is by nature quite gregarious, he normally wanted to remain close to the main body of humans. (We see the same phenomenon today; our metropolitan areas encompass a large percentage of the earth’s population.) At the same timed there were some independent individuals who began to migrate to other parts of the continent. Their number, however, was probably quite incidental as compared with the main body of civilization which developed on the plains of Shinar or Sumer in the Mesopotamia Valley.

    Twelve to fifteen centuries passed. The flood was almost forgotten. Man began to develop into a cohesive social, political, economic unit. Under the leadership of possibly one of the greatest city builders of all time. the great cities of Babylon, Erech, Nineveh, and others were constructed. The Bible tells us that his name was Nimrod (Genesis 10:9-11). Even before the flood, mankind had developed technologies as diverse as forging bronze and iron and making musical instruments. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the people of Nimrod’s day showed such competence as city builders. Unquestionably, much of the technology developed before the flood was taught to post-flood generations by the greatest boat-builder of all time, Noah. Expertise of the highest order would be required for one man to single-handedly construct an ocean-going vessel 450 feet. The Bible tells us that Noah lived for another 350 years after the flood, so he had ample opportunity to share his technical and scientific knowledge.

    By the year 3200 B.C., man had become quite self-sufficient. He had forgotten about God and had placed his reliance on the skills and

ingenuity of man. He had found that all kinds of wonderful comforts and security could be developed from the earth. He began to honor those who were strong. His dependence upon God had become extinct almost. Instead he worshiped the creation itself.

    Moreover, God had decreed to Noah that man was to be fruitful and was to multiply and fill the earth. But man was not obedient to his command. Except for a few unsociable nomads most of the population congregated in the great cities whose foundations had been laid by Nimrod. Some had begun to live in Egypt and some lived in Palestine, in the area of Jericho, but these, too, were incidental developments compared with the super civilization which developed around Babylon.


Continental Division

    Almost 2,000 years earlier God had visited the earth with the awe-inspiring flood that destroyed the world of that day because of its sins. Then about the year 3153 B.C.. terror struck this planet. The world has again rejected God, but God had promised that He never again would destroy the world with a flood. But God did act. He did not act with a flood, but He acted by bringing confusion into the affairs of man. He confused their ability to communicate by changing their languages and dividing the continent into a number of continental areas.

    Continental division must have been exceedingly traumatic. The earth began to shake and buildings began to fall. The earth began to move; the great continent which survived the flood began to break up. Relentlessly, great masses of earth continental size began to slide over the ocean floor. At the forward edge of these masses, mountain building began to occur with dramatic suddenness. Land masses of sedimentary rock were twisted and folded and overturned. Like a toy the earth shuddered for the second time in 2,000 years under stresses too huge for our minds to comprehend.

    And man was spread apart and isolated. He was isolated by vast bodies of water and by changes in language. He was not able to frustrate God’s plan that he should be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Only when he learned to prevent conception, as he has in our day, would he again become guilty of the monstrous sin of disobedience to this command.

    Perhaps physically the earth was ripe for this kind of rupture.² Many residual tensions could have been present due to the catastrophic nature of the flood. In any case, God acted, and the continent began to split apart. The animals moved with the part of the fragmented continent on which they happened to be living. Most of mankind lived in or near the Mesopotamia Valley, and they remained in the same area which became known as Africa and Asia. The nomads who had migrated away from the population centers moved with the continental pieces on which they lived. Thus, for example, the nomads who had begun to live in that part of the continent which became North America, became the ancestors of the American Indian.

    The movement of the continents must have been fantastic in its impact upon the physical earth. We can see the results, for example, on the western side of North and South America. Scientific evidence shows that this was the leading edge of the part of the continent that broke away from Europe and Africa. As this continent moved over the ocean floor, great mountain building resulted, and so we find the great mountains and high plateaus of the Americas all along the western side. The eastern side shows no such characteristics. This also explains the fact of earthquake zones being principally located along the western area of the Americas.

    Possibly as a result of the tremendous changes which occurred in the earth by the continental division, the can floor could have ruptured again in a fashion similar to that which occurred during the flood. Because of these changes as well as the imbalances that resulted from the movements of the continents, many magnetic reversals of the earth’s polarity could have taken place, freezing additional magnetic anomalies in the lava which flowed from the great sores in the ocean floor.

    When the dust had settled, we would have discovered that the earth had become pretty much what we see it to be today. It was still colder worldwide than today, but a warming process, beginning after the extreme cold which gripped the earth immediately following the flood, was taking place. While many of the large pre-flood animals whose existence depended upon a warm climate and heavy vegetation had become extinct, others flourished and continue to exist today. Because man had been forcibly separated by language, many and varied races and nations began to come into being at widely separated places in the world. The science of writing, which probably had been invented by the Sumerians as a result of the God-sent confusion of

languages, was further developed by each emerging race. And so the earth left its prehistorical period and entered into the period covered in ancient history books.

    This attempt at a reconstruction of a few aspects of the prehistorical world seems almost like fantasy, like the wildest kind of speculation. But the Bible tells us that the world began some 13,000 years ago. It details the fact of a world-wide deluge that destroyed the face of the earth. It describes the mountain building that followed this fantastic flood. It gives us the truth of continental division about 5,000 years ago, and the scientific evidence agrees with these startling Biblical assertions. It must, of course, because the Bible is infallible truth.

    If our scientists would simply examine the evidence that continues to pour forth under present-day research in the light of the Biblical statement and timetable, they would make far more progress in reconstructing the history of man and the earth.



NOTES:

    ¹See Appendix XI for a discussion of the problem of lack of C14 in many fossils and fossil fuels, such as coal and oil.

    ²See Dr. Cook’s interesting idea, that the stresses caused by the load and flow of a large ice cap might be sufficient to cause the breakup of a continent, in Prehistory and Earth Models by Melvin A. Cook (London: Max Parrish, 1966), Chapters 7-10.