The King James Bible Church
HARLEY
HITCHCOCK
PO
Box 310 Mt Ommaney
Australia
4074
(1Cor
2:13)
When
did this theory emerge?
During
the early 1800’s.
To
eliminate conflict
between the Bible and science so that both could be right. Science says
the
earth is billions of years old while the Bible states a literal six day
creation.
Put
a gap of billions of
years between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2 and everybody’s happy.
Who
first started the idea?
Laplace’s
(1796) ‘nebula hypothesis’ stated the earth needed millions of years to
cool
down from a hot gaseous state so man could live on it.
Then, Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), a notable
Scottish theologian, first
suggested in 1823 that a time gap existed between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2.
At age
twenty three, he was minister of Kilmeny and science lecturer at the
university. His conflict of interest needed a theory to bring evolution
and the
literal six day creation together. Next a Roman Catholic scholar, Crampon, stated “…that a gap in Genesis
1:2 gives every latitude for accommodating diverse scientific
hypotheses.”
Since then, Scofield, Larkin, Dake, Barnhouse, Knox and
Ruckman have promoted the theory.
What
happened in the ‘gap’?
Supposedly,
God flooded the
earth like in Noah’s day and wiped out every living thing including a
pre-Adamite race of men.
God
started creation again
after Gen 1:2.
Three
places in the main:
1.
Jeremiah 4:23-37 and
Genesis 1:2
2.
2 Peter 3:5-6
3.
Genesis 1:28,Gen 9:1
Jeremiah
4:23-26,27-29
and Genesis 1:2
23.
I
beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without
form, and void; and the
heavens, and they had no light. 24.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo,
they trembled, and all the hills
moved lightly. 25. I
beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds
of the heavens were fled. 26.
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the
presence of the
LORD, and by his fierce anger. 27.
For thus hath the LORD said, The
whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28. For this shall the earth mourn, and
the heavens above be black; because I
have spoken it, I have
purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. 29.
The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen;
they shall go into thickets, and climb up
upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell
therein.(Jeremiah 4:23-26,27-29)
No,
although they both have
the phrase ‘without form and void’
and both refer to ‘no light’ and ‘darkness’, this is where the
similarities
end. The Jeremiah passage refers to an invading army - not God’s
destruction.
1.
Jeremiah says that ‘I beheld, and, lo,
there was no man’ – he doesn’t say that man hadn’t been created at
this
time – simply there were no men to be found.
Verse
29 explains why.
‘The
whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they
shall go
into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be
forsaken, and
not a man dwell therein.’ This is why
Jeremiah can’t see any men – because they have fled the city because of
the
impending threat and dreadful noise of an invading army.
2.
The
phrase ‘all the birds of the heavens
were fled’ doesn’t mean that birds hadn’t been created at this
time. The
birds had simply flown away. Why? Because of the approaching ‘noise of the horsemen and bowmen’ in
verse 29.
3.
The
phrase ‘they had no light’ doesn’t
mean that ‘light’ hadn’t been created, but only that they had none ie
no fires,
candles or lanterns. Why? Similar to an air raid, a city puts out all
lights
hoping the bombs won’t hit. Here in Jeremiah, the people have fled
under cover
of darkness, not wanting to show the invading army where they are.
In
Jeremiah, there are ‘mountains’ and ‘hills’
so it can’t be the ‘without
form’ of Genesis 1:2 which is formless water.
The
‘without form’ of Jeremiah is the description of the
landscape under
cover of darkness – there being no light and the heavens above being
black. The
whole vision appears as ‘formless landscape’ to Jeremiah.
The
use of the word ‘void’ here, simply means that people
have fled from the invading army.
5.
The
phrase ‘all the cities thereof were
broken down’ doesn’t refer to a pre-Adamite civilisation. The
cities
referred to here were broken down as the result of the invading army
that
caused their destruction.
Correct.
Although both use
the phrase ‘without form and void’ they mean different things by
referring to a
different set of circumstances and events.
Well,
doesn’t 2 Peter 3:5-6 refer to the ‘gap’ flood?
No.
“For this they willingly
are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the
world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:”
(2Pet 3:5-6)
The
passage states that ‘the heavens’ and ‘the earth’ were of old. Can we
say then,
that ‘the world’ was of old?
Yes
– it says so - ‘the
world that then was’.
Yes.
Turn to 2 Peter 2:5 and
we see this ‘old world’ mentioned. And guess what? It was Noah’s
flood that drowned the old
world!
So
2 Peter 3:5-6 refers to Noah’s flood?
Yes,
it’s in black and white
– “And spared not the old world, but
saved Noah the eighth person, a
preacher of righteousness, bringing in
the flood upon the world of the ungodly;”
Well,
does the word ‘replenish’ in Genesis 1:28 mean the same as in Genesis
9:1?
Yes.
Well
didn’t Noah get off the ark and God said to ‘replenish/restock’ the
earth?
No
he didn’t. The word ‘replenish’ doesn’t mean ‘restock’ although we use it to mean
that today.
The
word means ‘become full,
be filled, become satisfied, be fulfilled, be at an end’ but never restock! God said to be fruitful,
multiply and complete/fill/bring to an end/satisfy my creation.
(Even
substituting different
English words from the back of Young’s Concordance, you can’t give the
word
‘replenish’ the meaning of ‘restock’.)
That’s
fine, but can you
nail
this thing down with one verse?
How
about “For in six days the LORD made heaven
(not the heavens) and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day…”
(Ex 20:11)
These
six days start at Gen
1:1 with “In the beginning God made the heaven
(not the heavens) and
the earth…” and end with “…he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” (Gen
2:2). Very
simple – six days from start to finish with no gap!
How
about “And I saw a new
heaven and a new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth were
passed away…” (Rev 21:1).
Now
according to the
gappists, this should read ““And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the second heaven and the second
earth were passed away…”.
Now,
apart from denying what the English actually says, to have three
creations is a
slap in the face for Jesus. Why?
He is the 2nd person of the Godhead
and therefore he will only have two creations. To have three creations,
attributes creation to the 3rd person of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore,
“In the
beginning God…” (Gen 1:1) proves God is Jesus. How? God is the 4th word
in the
verse and Jesus is from Judah, the 4th tribe.
Harley Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
Australian
Bible Ministries, PO Box 5058,
Mount Gravatt East,
4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
