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Toward the end of Job’s suffering, God answered his prayers, revealing both spiritual and geological details of the Creation that were not all recorded by Moses.  Jesus provided Solomon with a similar revalation, but the account in Job contains details not even recorded in Proverbs.  It even reveals where the “gap” championed by “Gap Theology” fits into the scheme of things!  Similar to Proverbs, the literary style requires no particular sequence for the events recorded, other than God’s train of thought.  However, just like Proverbs, given their conspicuous parallel with the physical reality of the first four days, a sequence of geological events is exactly what God provided.  The account is recorded in Job 38:

Day 1 - v4 - Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Day 1 - v4 - Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Day 1 - v5 - Who set its measurements, since you know?
Day 1 - v5 - Or who stretched the line on it?
Day 1 - v6 - On what were its bases sunk?
Day 1 - v6 - Or who laid its cornerstone,
Day 1 - v7 - When the morning stars sang together,
Day 1 - v7 - And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Day 3 - v8 - Or who enclosed the sea with doors,
Days 1,2 - v8 - When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
Days 1 - v9 - When I made a cloud its garment,
Days 1 - v9 - And thick darkenss its swaddling band,
Day 3 - v10 - And I placed boundaries on it,
Day 3 - v10 - And I set a bolt and doors,
Day 3 - v11 - And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
Day 3 - v11 - And here shall your proud waves stop’?
Day 4 - v12 - Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
Day 4 - v12 - And caused the dawn to know its place;
Day 4 - v13 - That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
Day 4 - v13 - And the wicked be shaken out of it?

Laying the foundation of the Earth - Job 28:4 to 7
Notice that the foundation of the earth was laid (v4) and measured (v5) before God said “Let there be light”.  To be clear, the “line” drawn in verse 5 (between 3.8 and 3.9 billion years ago) is the separation between the day and nighttime skies, where they appear to meet the horizon.  As described in the post “Creation Account in Proverbs“:

“It should be noted that God’s pronouncement of light did not actually create light upon the earth, but resulted in the absence of darkness over the deep from a perspective of one hovering over it.  With an ocean but no real atmosphere, the sky over the deep would appear dark (as opposed to blue), even in the sunlight.  The circle drawn over the deep is therefore not a reference to lighting the deep per se, but a reference to where the lit sky appears to meet the deep at the horizon.  From a hovering position over the deep, with the sun shining directly overhead, this would draw a compass (i.e., a circle) around the earth.”

Note also that the morning stars were already in existence to sing, while the “sons of God” shouted for joy as witnesses to Day 1 of God’s handiwork. This is consistant with Proverbs 8:27, which listed creation of the heavens as God’s first action, before drawing the circle on the deep.  It is the combination of these verses that support the geocreationist interpretation of Genesis 1:1 as a historical action, and not a summary as many believe.

Establishment of the Oceans - Job 28:8 to 11
This shows that Day 3 is a response to the events of Day 2.  Recall that after the last meteor strike 3.9 billion years ago, the ocean was heated and vaporized.  Eventually it cooled, and the waters burst forth from the womb, so to speak.  When the rain let up, it left a firmament between the oceans and the clouds.  This marked the end of Day 2.

When Day 3 began, the oceans still covered the earth. Volcanic activity may have resulted in mounds that were high enough to break the ocean’s surface, but nothing very major.  But then, some time before 2.5 Ga, the earth’s crust had hardened, and built up enough pressure to begin the process of plate tectonics that continues until this day.  The initial upheavals are assumed to be quite serious, creating barriers for the ocean that never existed before.  As described so well in Verse 8, God “enclosed the sea with doors.”

Verses 8b and 9 describe the sea that God enclosed.  It was a sea that had burst forth from the womb (v. 8b), having been covered in clouds before that (v. 10a), to the point of thick darkness.  Of course, that darkness let up on Day 1, and the clouds let up on Day 2.  And, the seas were brought under control on Day 3.

In Verse 11, God elaborates on the events of Day 3.  Not only were the seas closed in with a doors (i.e., land a la plate tectonics), but the doors were locked with a bolt.  What is the bolt?  I propose it was the moon, which pushes the seas away from the land as they attempt to encroach beyond their limits.  As God said, “This far you shall come, but no farther; And here your proud waves must stop.”

Putting Dawn in its Place - Job 38:12
God then describes not the appearance of the sun, moon, and stars, but rather their purpose… in part, to command the morning and cause the dawn to know its place.

Shaking the Wicked out - Job 38:13
The other purpose of Day 4 was to use the dawn to shake out the wicked from the earth.  When was this done?

Well, we know from Genesis that Day 5’s account of life created does not match the evolutionary fossil record.  However, it does match the series of events scientists believe happened immediately following the KT impact 65 million years ago.  Basically, after life was largely wiped out, the smaller sea animals and the birds were allowed to flourish.  The fossil record of that time reflects that, as mammals did not make a true comeback for many more millions of years.  Therefore, the morning following Day 4 did not occur until 65 million years ago.  This leaves a sizeable gap between the morning of Day 4 and the morning of 5 measuring billions of years!  Could this be the gap championed by Gap Theorists?  I believe it is, though they place the gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.

When considering this possibility, note what God said the morning would be for: shaking out the wicked from the earth.  But, weren’t the sun, moon, and stars visible on Day 4?  Yes they were, but this occurred during Day 4.  The first creation day actually marked by the visible sun was Day 5, the end of the gap, marked by the KT impact.  The KT impact certainly shook up the world, and it marked the end of Satan’s rule.

Loose Ends
This still begs more questions of course.  For example, weren’t their other mornings before the KT impact?  The answer is yes, however, the creation days were marked by the onset of evening and dawn from the perspective of Jesus hovering over the earth.  The geocrationist view is that Jesus could hover over the earth for billions of years with the earth spinning beneath him… He doesn’t have to actually cross over into the evening unless He wants to.  The morning, similarly, doesn’t begin until Jesus steps into the sunlight again, which He didn’t do in this case until 65 million years ago.  Spiritually speaking, Jesus not only let the evening overtake Him, but He actually left the world to its own devices.  It was indeed spiritual nighttime on the earth for over 2 billion years, until Jesus, the light of the world came back and put an end to it. 

As God in Job 38:12, Jesus commanded the morning, and shook the wicked out of the earth.  And this brings up our other question: then why is Satan still here?  What Jesus did was remove Satan’s rule over the earth, and leave Him exposed for who and what He is.  Part of that eventually included the creation of mankind, when He gave us the ability to discern right from wrong.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 1:13 am and is filed under Creation Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.