Before Adam

Certainly the Bible is the source of my religion, stated a professing Christian; however, we all realize that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are myth. This outlook immediately presents a problem: if the first part of the Bible is questionable, so is the rest of the Bible.

The Bible’s answer to this modern concept is clearly stated in Ps. 119:160, Jewish translation: “The beginning of thy word is truth.” God knew the opening portion of the Bible would bring forth the most controversy. Therefore he has backed up its absolute validity in plain language.

The beginning of all things is extremely important. If man can’t know where and how he began, he can’t know where he is going. But, if he has the correct start, the rest of the way becomes clear. The Bible, and the Bible alone, gives man the correct start in understanding the origins of all elements of his universe, world, and society. Without that correct start, man can never arrive at the true answers to his questions and problems. He will simply continue to grope aimlessly, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Today’s “scientific man,” having dispensed with God as superstition, is groping around in his intellectual vanity! In his vain search for Godless explanations of origins and beginnings, while clinging to the idol known as science, he has come up with two basic science fiction ideas: Evolution and a phantom called prehistory. Let’s leave the concept of evolution for the time being, and consider the concept of prehistory. “Prehistoric time” supposedly refers to man’s earliest experience which is nowhere recorded in written records. This concept, incidentally, has become popular only within the last century or so. But is prehistoric time an actual fact? Let the Bible answer: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The idea of prehistory or prehistoric time can’t be reconciled with scripture for there is no period of time the Bible does not cover!

The Bible begins at the very beginning, the original creation of the physical earth and universe. Actually, however, to make the record complete it should be noted that the Bible, in other places, actually provides a glimpse of events even prior to its opening verse!

Realizing an important point about God’s character helps us to understand what occurred in the spiritual realm before the time of the original physical creation. Jesus, in John 5:17, said that he and his Father work. It is a certainty then, that God the Father, and the logos or spokesman, the one who became Jesus Christ, the two members of the God Family, thought out and carefully planned everything they intended to bring into existence.

In the long reaches of eternity before time began, the God Family was actively and dynamically thinking, planning, working and devising their perfect plan to reproduce themselves. Since the Bible makes plain that God has an eternal throne (Ps. 45:6) and that He dwells in a Holy Temple (Ps. 11:4) located in a heavenly city (Ps. 48:1-2). This must have been the place He and His Son were working before anything else was brought into existence. And then at a certain point in their program, the God Family created, instantaneously, the first beings. They were angels.

The first creation of all consisted of eternal spirit beings that were to serve God and help him carry out his plan to completion. This creation of the vast angel kingdom was a gigantic project. It included bringing into existence the cherubim (Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer are the three the Bible mentions) and the seraphim, the four living creatures, the counselors, and the millions of other angels that serve God in controlling the vast universe (Rev. 5:6, 8, 11). Finally the time arrived to bring the material universe into existence. And this is where the first verse of the Bible takes up the account.

The first verse of scripture is packed with meaning. An expanded paraphrase helps to make plain its full significance. “In an original beginning time, an untold number of years ago, the god family (Elohim is the Hebrew uniplural word translated “God”) created out of invisible energy (Heb. 11:3), the perfect order and harmony and beauty, (the Hebrew word for “created” – barah, carries this meaning) the physical earth and universe.”

The Bible records that the original vast operation was so overwhelmingly beautiful that the angels shouted for sheer joy when they beheld it for the first time (Job 38:7). Many of them were going to dwell on the perfect planet that was earth, and they were overjoyed at the prospect.

Scientists have analyzed the minerals of both the earth and outer space and have guessed at their age. Hundreds of millions of years is the claim. The universe is very ancient. It is not hard to understand, then, why God the Father is called the “Ancient of Day” (Dan. 7:9).

The universe is very ancient. Yet all segments were brought into existence by God at the same time. Radioactive elements prove matter is not eternal. All material things were brought into existence at a definite time in the past. Scientific findings prove conclusively that the universe is a created entity.

Notice also, in this very first verse of the Bible, that the earth is given equal importance with the rest of the entire universe. (The KJV translation has “the heaven” but this is in the plural and should be rendered, “the heavens”). In other words, God is an earth centered Creator, He is geocentric.

God is so vitally concerned about this planet because this is where He is reproducing Himself. This is the only world to be inhabited by humans thus far in all the history of the universe. Christ, God’s first begotten Son, came to redeem the inhabitants of this earth, and not any other planet or planets. This has been the only inhabited world so far requiring a Savior.

And not only that, but this is where the Throne of Christ will be in the New Word to come (Zech. 14:9) and where the Headquarters of the entire universe (Rev. 21:2, 10) will ultimately be located.

Many Bible translators (Goodspeed and Moffatt are two examples) combine the first two verses of the Bible as if they were speaking of the same period of time. This is a common misconception that has caused millions to misunderstand the very beginning of the Bible. It is vital to understand this: The first two verses of the Bible are speaking of two separate and distinct events. They are widely separated in time by an untold number of years.

The true meaning of the second verse of the Bible is as follows: “Now (Jewish translation, implying a later period of time) the earth had become (the correct rendering of the verse, not “was’) chaotic and undistinguishable ruin, and darkness was upon the face of the muddy ocean depths.”

The first verse of the Bible pictures a perfectly beautiful and harmonious creation. The second verse of the Bible shows an earth that has become a chaotic wreck. A perfect creation and a complete destruction occur within the first two verses of Genesis. This is what the Bible reveals. What brought about this destruction?

The Bible does not tell the cause of this chaos at its opening because God, at this stage of the story, doesn’t want to divert our minds from the concept of creation, the tremendously important realization that there was a beginning and a beginner. Other parts of the story are reserved till later. Bearing this in mind, we may, to fill in the story, bring in other parts of the Bible which reveal what occurred before the earth was re-created for human habitation. Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, Heb. 2:5, and II Peter 2:4 show that the original earth was inhabited, not by men but by angels and the chief spirit being was “Lucifer” (a Latin translation of the Hebrew word “Helel,” which means “Lightbringer.”

A colossal battle of the spirit beings took place, the angels of God versus the forces of Lucifer, now the devil (Read our article – “Did God Create a Devil” this explains Lucifer’s fall). The earth and the entire universe were involved; tremendous catastrophes resulted. The earth was made a chaotic wreck. Plants and animals were buried in great tidal waves and floods. To use a geologist’s expression, it was “a time of great dying.”

Look at other members of our solar system. Even the nearest planets, especially our own moon bears scars of this fantastic space battle! Astronomers report that some of the huge craters on the moon are more than a hundred miles across. That means astral bodies weighing countless thousands of tons must have smashed into the surface of the moon. The planet Mars shows the same kind of destruction. Spectacular photographs taken by the Mariner 4 scientific spacecraft revealed gigantic craters there, just as on the moon. Scientists estimated that more than 10,000 meteorite craters may pit the Martian surface.

Notice, however, that this kind of catastrophe is not continuing today. There are no new craters of such immense size being formed on the moon or any of the planets observable through powerful telescopes. This disapproves an important principle of evolutionary theory, namely that the past can be interpreted in terms of what is going on in the present.

In short, the sins of rebellious angels reached into the heavens and wrought chaos on the earth. What scientists see in their observation is not an evolving universe, but the wreckage of a titanic battle waged by spirits in all parts of the universe, a battle fought before man’s creation. There is an interesting point about this battle. It concerns actual astronomical evidence of Satan’s initial attack against the Creator.

The Throne of God is situated in the northern heavens (Isa. 14:13). There is an empty space between our earth and God’s heavenly city. This space, as mentioned in Job 26:7, is also toward the north. The Washington Observatory has discovered a vast expanse in the northern heavens which does not contain a single star. The rebellious Lucifer and his force of angels, rising in a northerly direction, were met and defeated by the forces of God (II Peter 2:4). It is God’s custom to destroy areas in which sin, rebellion against him has occurred.

Before Lucifer (Helel) rebelled and became Satan, he had dominion over the earth, which was inhabited by millions of other angels over whom he had charge. What were Satan and all his angels doing here before the first man was created? In Ezekiel 28:13 we read of Satan’s “workmanship.” He and his assistants actually had the job of preparing this earth for human habitation. If Lucifer and his angels had carried out God’s will, they would have had satisfaction and rewards far beyond even their expectations, but they were not content with the role God had assigned them.

The world before Adam was inhabited by spirit beings. But there were also physical plants and animals at this time. Geologists have discovered fossils in the strata of the earth which show what one could have seen in the pre-Adamic creation. It would have been an amazing sight to behold. It was a world characterized by giant dinosaurs that weighted as much as 40 tons. Some roamed the land, some were sea creatures, and others actually could fly. In addition to these gargantuan reptiles, there were giant insects that filled the air. Hugh plants covered the ground comprising vast and dense forest which far surpassed even our densest jungles of today.

To put in geologic terms, these were the creatures and plants of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic eras. This portion of the Mesozoic era is termed early Cretaceous. It contains the last deposits of the pre-Adamic world. (Cretaceous, then, contains material of Adam’s time and there after). Geologists assign long periods of time to these so-called eras because they believe the animals in them evolved over a long time span. But actually, these layers show the order in which these creatures were buried when the earth was wrecked in Satan’s war of rebellion. The larger creatures were in the higher strata because they tended to be buried later than the smaller creatures

In other words, the fossil remains in the earth do not show the process of evolution but the relative order of burying in a great catastrophe which occurred before any men existed. Man and mammals appeared later in the geological picture in the Cenozoic era, not because it took them a long time to evolve, but because they were created later!

The geologist Dunbar has provided us with a startling admission: “Fossils provide the only historical, documentary evidence that life has evolved from simple to more and more complex forms” (Historical Geology, p. 47). Now bear this in mind: evolution teaches that the strata of the earth were laid down slowly and in perfectly smooth and uniform fashion by the land areas slowly rising above and sinking below the ocean waters. This is the theory known as uniformitarianism. And during these long ages which covered millions of years, plants and animals were supposedly evolving from the original single living cell which once had miraculously appeared down by the sea shore.

But here is the catch. If such a process did go on in the distant undeterminable past, no fossils could have been buried. Why? Because fossils, in order to be preserved, must be buried suddenly, and packed tightly in sediment where no air can ever reach them. A sudden burying must take place otherwise the plant or animal will decay. If the evolutionary concept is true, all fossils would have decayed and none would exist. So the unanswerable question for the evolutionist is: if evolution was an extremely gradual process, but fossils can be formed only by sudden burying, how can fossils prove evolution?

As a result, then, of Lucifer’s rebellion, great catastrophe struck this earth and all the strange creatures of the pre-Adamic age were buried and geologists themselves call this the first “time of a great dying,” though they cannot explain why all these life forms suddenly became extinct. If they had analyzed the Bible to see what it really did say, they would have had to understand the full significance of only the very first two verses.

A number of fundamentalist church denominations believe the Bible account of Noah’s flood. But these groups do not understand the great catastrophe which occurred after Gen. 1:1. Consequently, they try to interpret all the geological evidence of destruction and stratification evident in the layers of the earth’s crust on the basis of only one deluge.

The unbelieving, geologists realize this explanation is entirely illogical and out of harmony with evidence. Therefore, they reject the Bible account because they believe it says the same thing, the fundamentalist interpreters believe it says. If the agnostic geologist would lay aside the assumptions he has inherited from others and read the Bible with an open mind, he would discover that the scripture is scientifically accurate.

Lucifer, then, changed his character from that of light bringer to that of destroyer. He had developed a philosophy just the opposite of God’s, he wanted to get instead of serve, help, and give. Lucifer’s job was to prepare this earth for human habitation. He knew this was to be the place where God was going to carry out his great spiritual creation of forming members of his very own family. He knew that God was planning to raise man higher than the angel kingdom. This was a thought Lucifer, or Satan, finally could no longer take. He did not want to see man reach a level above him, so he determined to take God’s Throne away from him and run things his way.

He failed miserably. He was cast out of heaven with his angels, who now became demons. (Luke 10:18). His bright light became dull, dim, eerie, perverted. His whole nature had been miserably transformed. This, of course, was not the end of Satan’s influence on earth or in the universe. In fact, it is even possible to know what Satan tried to do to hinder God after he was cast out after the original rebellion and before man was created.

The first recorded lie is what Satan told Eve in Gen. 3. But that was not the first lie. There is an ancient source, known to the pagans which indicates what it was: “Prometheus still continued to defy Zeus and declared that there was a decree of fate according to which Zeus was destined to be dethroned by his own son.” From this ancient pagan belief we can deduce that, “Zeus” is God and “Prometheus” is the devil. And Satan was saying that the time would come when God the Father would be dethroned by His own Son. He certainly attempted this in Matthew the fourth chapter. But Christ overcame his temptations.

Satan’s idea and aim is always to divide people and set them against each other. And this is what he tried to do to the God Family. He told God the Father, “you watch, your Son will try to take your throne away from you. He’ll try to double-cross you. You’d better not rust him.” The Bible shows clearly that this is Satan’s nature. It is precisely what he would try to do. Satan is the Accuser and he was now accusing Jesus Christ of what he himself had tried to do and still wanted to achieve.

Did God create a Devil? No, Satan “created” himself through his evil philosophy, thoughts, and actions. His warped character changed the entire universe in past ages and still influences our chaotic world to the present time. The Bible is the source of all truth. If people would just accept what it says and not adhere to their own human reasoning a clear and concise understanding of what occurred before Adam is there.

 
The Church of God, New World Ministries P.O. Box 5536 Sevierville, TN 37864