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How the Bible Has Been
Preserved
Now, to continue this short-short
history from Creat ion to Eternity, we
return to Genesis 1, and notice verse 2.
"And the earth was without forro,
and void; and darkness was upon the
face of the deep."
The first five books of the Bible
were written by Moses, in the Hebrew
language. Thousands of copies of
those original Hebrew writings have
been preserved by the Jewish people
(as well as of the whole Bible), and
in Christian times by non-Jewish
scholars. T he professional Jewish
scribes were so meticulously careful in
copying, that on proofreading by
severa! people, if a single mistake was
discovered, the entire sheet (or roll)
was discarded and done over until
perfect.
These five books, and all the books
of both Old and New Testament, are
claimed by the Bible to be divinely
inspired by God. And when thousands
of copies in the original languages
agree, we may be SURE we do have
what the Bible claims is the pure and
SURE "Word of God."
The Bible, the "world's best seller"
year in and year out, has been trans–
lated into virtually all languages used
on earth today. In our English lan–
guage, we have
seve1•al
translations,
done directly from copies of the origi–
nal. Where there appear to be slight
variations of meaning in the original
text, we may always consult three
oc
four, or more, reliable translations and
compare.
Then there are the many "commen–
taries" by high ranking scholars of the
original languages, which in scholarly
manner compare such few variations
of meaning. We may also consult
cop ies
in
the original languages, and
check the Greek or Hebrew words
with lexicons - Greek-English, or
Hebrew-Engl ish dict ionaries. T here
also are a number of multiple-volume
Bible dictionaries, and also Bible en·
cydopedias. The technical and schol–
arly works to help us get to the
PLAIN TRUTH Moy 1972
precise, intended meaning of any and
every part of the Bible are almost
inexhaustible. There are also the con–
cordances, by which one may turn to
virtually every word in the Bible, and
learn in what books and passages that
word is used.
Not "T ohu" When Created
Now back to the second verse in the
Bible - Genesis 1:2. The words
translated "without form and void,"
are translated from the Hebrew words
which Moses wrote,
"toh11
and
bohtt."
They mean "waste and empty," and
also "chaotic and in confusion" (as
well as "without form and void"),
as we may learn from Hebrew-English
dictionaries.
But we already have seen that God
did not create the earth in a state of
confusion. In Isaiah 45:18 the Hebrew
word "tohu" is used. There it says,
"He created it NOT
'toh11'"
-
trans–
lated "in vain." And in I Coriothians
14:33, it says "God is not the author
of confusion." But the Bible states
that Satan
is!
We have seen that the earth, after
its
perfect
original creation, was popu–
lated by angels who sinned.
It
was
universal sin worldwide. We have seen
other examples of how universal sin
resul ts in total destruction of the arca
of the sin - in this case, the entire
earth. There is, therefore, the Biblical
evidence that the chaotic and confused
condition of the earth described in
Genesis 1:2 happened AFTER the origi–
nal perfect creation. We are not told
how long after. Since angels are im–
mortal spirit beings who never die,
there
co1dd have
been
millions of
years of peace, joy, and happiness on
earth, while GoD'S GOVERNMENT
ruled with Goo's WA.YS,
before
Lucifer
led his angels into rebellion and law–
lessness. But of course the Bible makes
no statement as to how long.
Renewing Earth's Surface
So now in
SIX
DAYS God RENEWED
the earth's surface.
In Psalm 104:30 you wi ll read:
"Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they
are created:
and
thou RENEWEST the
face of the earth." In that six days,
God CREATED anjroal, plant, and
human life - and RENEWED the face
or surface of the earth.
Return now to the second verse of
Genesis
l.
The remainder of this
verse, unquoted above, is: ".... dark–
ness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters."
Notice, it was dark.
lt
speaks only
of a fluid surface- oceans- no dry
land showing. In Psalm 104:30, we
read, "Thou sendest forth tby Spirit"
for the re-creation and renewing of
the surface of the earth. And here in
Genesis 1:2, God has sent forth His
Spirit, moving upon the fluid face of
the earth.
Verse 3: "And God said, Let there
be light: and there was ligbt."
While we are here considering the
Bíblica! claims for creation - com–
paring them with the claims for the
evolutionary theory - it is well to
notice, at tbis point, the Bible claims
about
the
manner
by whid1 God
is
said to have brought about this cre–
atioo.
In the New Testament, Ephesians
3 :9, we find these words: "God, who
created all things
by
Jesus Christ."
Then notice, beginning in John 1:1,
"In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the
Word was God." The English "Word"
is translated from the Greek word
Logos.
John wrote his Gospel in the
Greek language. The Greek
Logos
means "Spokesman," or "the One who
speaks."
In the 14th verse it is made clear
that this "Word" was Christ. Under
the name
Logos
it is speakiog of Christ
prior to His human birth - as having
existed ALWAYS, with God the Father.
In verse 3: "All things were made by
him; and without him was not any
thing made that was made."
And, speaking of Christ in Colos–
sians 1:16-18: "For by him were all
things created, that are in heaven, and
that are in earth, visible and invisible,
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