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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Well, a topic that I want to speak on this morning is a very interesting subject. It deals with you and me. And the subject is the world, the earth. Is it young? Is it old? You know, there’s a lot of discrepancy in various theologians’ view. Many believe that the earth is really old and there’s some that believe it’s really young. And we want to believe what the Bible really says. So what does it say? And how can you know the truth?

Well you know when it comes to salvation and going to heaven, that’s a heaven and hell issue. We ought to get that right. Now when it comes to how old is the earth, we may not get it exactly right. There’s a lot of good people on both sides of the issue. So what I’m going to do this morning is see how smart you are. I’m gonna give you both issues, both sides. And then you can make an intelligent decision for yourself.

You know, you’ve seen that commercial. We report, you decide? Well, I believe God has already reported the way it really is. Sometimes as individuals, we don’t always see it the same way. So what I want you to do is take your Bible and turn to the book of Genesis, the book of Genesis in chapter one. Genesis chapter 1, because you know somewhere along the line, you have to, well, kind of get an idea of, well, is the earth old?

And is there such a thing as prehistoric men, prehistoric animals? What about the dinosaurs? You know, all those things are so interesting. And if you believe the Bible, Well, you’ve got to find out now what does God have to say about this? Is it old? Is it young? In the book of Genesis in chapter 1, look in verse 1, it makes this statement, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and He didn’t say when. He didn’t give us a date that He made it.

But there are some hints in here that we’ll find, and I want us to look at both sides of the issue. In the book of John, just hold your place here in Genesis and just go with me over to the Gospel of John in chapter 1. Gospel of John chapter 1 and look in verse 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. And him was life and the life was the light of men and goes on and says all this, but now look in verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. Also you can read over there in the book of Colossians in chapter one, but we won’t go there right now where it talks about the Lord holds everything together.

I don’t need to create everything. And he was before all things, made all things. But can you find out about when it all came to be? Well, I want you to take your Bible to look in Genesis in chapter two. Now, sometimes you look at the fossils that people have found. Now, I’ve been to various museums. I’ve seen these gigantic bones of all these big old dinosaurs. . Children really love those things. I don’t know why, but kids love dinosaurs.

I guess we call this a big. But when you look at those dinosaurs and then they talk about the different men, you know that they found the prehistoric men, the Crowe man, the Heidelberg man, the Pitta Cantabas, the Erectus man, the Austro-Pitakine man, the Nebraska man, and all that. And it sounds so intelligent. So where did they come from? So there are those who believe that they come from. those who believe and it may be true that there was before the recreation in chapter 2 of the book of Genesis that perhaps there was life upon the earth before and that’s where we had all the huge animals and prehistoric men and the angels sinned against God and a cataclysmic judgment upon the earth and God beat earth up and turned it upside down and sunk it all into water.

And there you go. And then, when he made the heavens in the earth that we have now, it was a recreation of the old creation that was destroyed. Okay? That is a view. And if a person believed in God, that God created, Okay? But what about those who believe that God created by the process of evolution, theistic evolution, that God created by the process of evolution? That means that all those days in the book of Genesis where it says, on evening and morning, was one revolutionary turn of the year, but those really were long geological ice ages of 250,000 years each.

So therefore, or they’ve got to have time because evolutionists believe that if you have enough time, anything is possible. So they need all these eons and eons of time because if you’ve got enough time, anything is possible. But then the other issue is can God make something out of something that was created out of nothing? So God can make something out of something that He created out of nothing. So you’ll find those two thoughts that are mentioned in the book of Genesis, that God created out of nothing and then took what he made out of nothing and formed something out of that.

This is just getting interesting. I hope that you can follow me. Don’t go to sleep because we got to have to be kind of like this woman who became an archaeologist because she would do anything to dig up a man. Anyway, so we’re studying in the book of Genesis. And I want you to look in chapter two, and chapter two, and there is the belief that there’s a good possibility that this in chapter two is the recreation of a Catechism and judgment that had taken place upon the earth.

So in verse one, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished. All the hosts of them. And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day, and he sanctified it because in it he had rested from all his work, SourceFile which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth. When they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

So they believed that chapter 1c was an original and then chapter 2 was a recreation and therefore before this was when we have all the dinosaurs and the cavemen and all that stuff and so therefore they could have been millions of years and as many as you need and so there’s a good possibility that that all might be true. And then when you look at it and say, wow, did you know that there are stars that are millions of light years away?

So you figure out how much light travels, how many miles, 186,000 miles a second, and then it’s a year away, and then a light year away. And so the light to shine from that star that’s millions of light years away, well, it has to travel so fast. And And so if we’re here on the earth and we finally see that, well, that light has to be at least, that it has to be created that long ago. So you have all these ages and these eons of time.

Now look there in Genesis in chapter one. Genesis chapter one and look in verse two. In verse two is the statement made, 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. There’s a word here that many take and say the word WAS. And it’s always in the Hebrew, in the original, means became. If you look in the bottom of your old Schofield reference note, it even tells you that this is probably what happened.

And so it’s recorded right there in your notes that sometimes this is how it is looked upon, and the word was without form. and it uses several scripture references. And so you go to the scripture references and you look and it looks like the earth was one way and became something else. And then the spirit moved upon the face of the waters and then we have the recreation. So there’s those who believe that this is a possibility, that it is no true.

So what I want you to do is take your Bible and look very quickly at a couple of these verses mentioned right here in the O skill for reference notes, which is Jeremiah chapter 4. So take your Bible, turn to Jeremiah and chapter 4. Jeremiah chapter 4, and look in verse 23, verse 23. And you’ll notice where it says in Jeremiah 4 23, I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void, and the heavens, and they had no light.

I beheld the mountains and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens fled. So therefore, this shows that there was nobody, no people, no burden, no nothing, and when God originally formed the earth. So therefore, this has to be a recreation because God did not create it in vain, and that when He made it, it was not to be without form and void. So that had to be from an original chaos upon the earth, where God poured out a judgment upon the earth and therefore whatever was living upon the earth during this time and many believe it was because of the angels that sinned against God and so therefore there was this judgment upon the earth.

It may be. Remember when it comes to salvation how to go to heaven that’s a heaven and hell issue and that’s really really important and yet there’s a lot of people who don’t even see that and agree on that. It’s going to be very difficult for everybody to agree on the same thing, reading out of the same book. Because many times we have a preconceived idea and we go to the Bible and we look for verses to try to prove that our view is right.

And it may not be right, but we don’t want to admit that. So we try to take the Bible and maybe twist it to make it say what we want it to say. So it’s interesting. Take your Bible looking Isaiah 24, Isaiah and chapter 24, Isaiah chapter 24, and look in verse 1. In verse 1 it makes the statement on page 733, Behold the Lord, make of the earth empty. And make it that waste, turn it that upside down.

So you see that in the beginning when God made the original earth. This is what he did. He made it empty and he brought this judgment upon the earth and made it waste and turned it upside down. And so that’s what we have in the very beginning when it says, and the earth was without form and void or became this way because of some judgment of God upon that which was living upon the earth, whether it was angels or prehistoric men and so forth.

And so they believed that Adam was a recreation of a man. And he was just in the line of a long bunch of men who’d gone before him. And that’s where we have all the prehistoric stuff. So there’s a view that is held by this and pretty strong. But since we’re in the book of Isaiah, look in chapter 45. Isaiah, chapter 45. And look there in chapter 45 and verse 18. And notice what he says in verse 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, there is none else. So God made the earth. God made the world. He did not create it in vain in the beginning or formed it in the beginning You know not to be inhabited or whatever so Then if that word was means became it was one thing and became something else And that’s where all these verses are referring to So it sounds pretty reasonable, and people who hold that view, I don’t.

I don’t. I don’t. Because as I read those scriptures and just what I showed you, you may believe that too. But when you get right down to it, what’s it going to change? What effects upon your life is it going to make? Now I simply believe that whatever the Bible says, we should believe it. Though I may not understand everything, I do want to take a look at all options and then try to make a logical conclusion because it might help me down the road to make a wiser decision, but one thing is true.

Whatever the word of God says, I should believe what God’s word says. So now let’s take a look at the other view. Instead of thinking that maybe the earth is really old, is there a possibility the earth could be really young? And there’s several reasons for a person believing this. So whenever we talk about the world that we now live in, God that said He laid the foundations of the earth? Is it possible? Just possible. Could God create with the appearance of age?

Now when He made the world and He made, you know, the waters, did He do it all at once? Did He just speak and it happened? Or did it take eons and eons of time? It’s always interesting watching sometimes the history channel and the channels that talked about, you know, prehistoric man and how the world began and why they want to send out all these things into space so they can try to find how it really began. And they talk about the Big Bang Theory.

You know, the Big Bang Theory, well, I’d believe the Big Bang was when God spoke and there it was. But they’re talking about some gases that come together. And all of a sudden, we have a blob of protoplasm floating around in the use of the Nile. And one celled a mama, and then it gets more complex from there. And next thing you know, we’re the highest form of something on an evolutionary ladder. Here we are. So they don’t believe that there was a God because a God means a creator and a creator of means he created.

So you don’t believe in a God, you can’t believe in creation. So you have have to reason, well, where did we come from? How did we get here? So then you have to come to the conclusion that either something made something or something created itself. If it created itself, that means it had to act before it existed. And as Spock would say, that’s illogical. Or you can say that I believe that there was a God and God created the heavens in the earth.

And that means if that’s true, then God had to always be because God cannot create himself. He has to always be. Or he had to do the same thing and create out of nothing. And there he is. There’s God. But whoever God is, wherever God is, if you can believe in God, you can believe everything else that the Bible says. In the beginning, created the heavens and the earth. Doesn’t even try to explain it just by the fact that you’re supposed to accept it because it’s a reasonable thing.

Why? The world is here and we didn’t do it and the world didn’t make itself so the only logical conclusion there had to be a God that designed this world because it has designed that means a designer and it has laws that means a lawgiver and it has plans so that means there’s a planner behind all of this. I do not believe that we are a bunch of accidents upon this earth. I believe there’s a God that created the heavens and the earth.

Now I can’t make people believe that, but I believe that. So when you look at the various things and so-called fossils, the fossils that they find do not prove their pre-historate. You see, we have from the very beginning the first man. And God says the first man, Adam, not the second, third, and fourth. The first man was Adam. Who said that? God’s word says that. So if God says the first man was Adam, I just believe what God said.

I don’t put a billion before Him walking around, grunk, grunk, grunk, grunk, grunk, grunk, grunk, I don’t believe that. I believe God created the first man. And that the first man was the most intelligent man. Because he was able to, well, I guess you could say… Name everything that God ever made. And because of that, it’s very, very important to realize that the first man had a language because no man ever created languages. Start one. Create your own language.

But we’re supposed to believe that a blob that can’t think originated in the mouth, in eyes, in ears. And they didn’t even know ahead of time there was light waves or sound waves, or that there would be words to communicate to somebody else. Why? Because they didn’t know anybody else existed. Why? Because they couldn’t see them. They couldn’t hear them. Why? Because they can’t hear. So what came first? The light of the eye. So every step in evolution is a great miracle than creation itself.

Why? Because it did it by itself. It’s easier for me to believe that in the beginning God did something. So I believe that God created the heavens and the earth and that I believe that God could create with the appearance of age. God said that he made man. Take your Bible and look in chapter two of the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter two and look there in verse 7, verse 7, verse 7 says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.

Now stop right there. That means he took something he had already made from something that he created out of nothing because he there wasn’t anything. So God made something and then he was able to take something and make a man, and he formed a man, but he wasn’t yet the man until God breathed into his but the breath of life and man became a living soul. So he already formed the body, but he didn’t create or form it in vain.

He didn’t do that for no purpose. He wasn’t through yet. He formed the body, then he breathed into it. Is it possible that in the beginning God can create out of nothing the heavens and the earth, and then he starts making what he wants to out of it? And not that he created it and it became void or in vain or empty or what God now threw with what he did. And so we have, I believe, the good possibility that the earth could be a young earth, not an older.

Nobody can tell me that I do not understand the old age theory. I know it very well. I know every bit of the logic that’s used. I know every scripture that someone uses to present the old age theory and that there was a judgment from the word was, and we have everything else that has come from that. So I know the thought, the theory, but I’m not sure that it’s the truth, the total truth. So is there a possibility that it could be another explanation?

just pretend that God created the heavens and the earth just like He said. Now can He create with the appearance of age? I mean God made a rock. There’s a rock. How old is that rock? Well we can check and see how old this rock is. We meant God just made it. It’s brand new. God laid the foundations of the earth. Well these down here had to get here first and then those on top of it. therefore it takes thousands of years.

Is it possible that God could create and make oil and put oil wherever he wants it in the earth and it didn’t have to come because of vegetation that over the millions and millions of you, you’re trying to tell me my God can make gold and my God can make silver but my God can’t make oil? I believe he can. I believe God can create with the appearance of when he made Adam an Eve, do you think they were capable of bearing children?

Let off the bat. When he made a tree, we’ll just look at it. Look at this tree. See there in Genesis in chapter 1. Look what he says there in verse 11. And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth and it was so. God is able to create the seed and the tree all at one time and it can bear fruit and it was an evening and the morning.

See 13 and evening and the morning was the third day. In one revolutionary turn of the earth, lo and behold, a tree that can bear fruit. Well, how old was the tree? Twenty-four hours old? Well, just by the mere fact that there’s a tree, what it takes so long for this tree to develop, it has to come from the seed and grow up. It has to be twenty-thirty years old. No, it’s brand new. How old was Adam? It was brand new.

Couldn’t God make a brand new earth? Is it possible? I believe it was a possibility. And God says He made everything where it would recreate after its own kind. The power of recreation, the power of procreation, we call it. And everybody and even people, we are able to reproduce after our own kind. That’s the way God set it up in the very beginning. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Exodus in chapter 20, the book of Exodus.

And you’ll notice there’s a statement made here that I think you’ll find pretty interesting. Exodus chapter 20. Remember this, God used Moses to write the first five books of the Bible. True? If he understood what he says here in the book of Exodus, God also used him to write the book of Genesis. So it was done by the same writer. So what Moses wrote here is a reference to back there. But look what he says there in verse 11, For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.

The sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. He says here, six days. And he’s talking to Israel and talking to them about the Sabbath day which mentions up there in verse eight and so forth. And he’s talking about a literal 24 hour period or a one revolutionary turn of the year. of the Europe and these six days, they’re not long geological ice ages, they’re literal days. And he’s the one that God used to write this and he’s the same one that wrote the book of Genesis, same guy.

And he says back then it was one revolutionary turn, one evening and a morning was the first day. Evening and morning was the second day. And how did the Jewish people count their time? Evening and a morning. I’m not making it up, but sometimes you know there’s another way of looking at something. Does it mean you don’t believe the Bible? No, there’s just sometimes not everybody sees everything exactly the same way. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.