The Old Testament in the Layman’s Language

THE

OLD

TESTAMENT

in the Layman’s Language

LEROY STOUT

Copyright © 2024 Leroy Stout.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0781-3 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0782-0 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0786-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023917738

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/12/2024

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 God’s Attributes And Characteristics

2 Creation and Evolution

3 The Noah Flood

4 God’s Promise to The Patriarchs

5 Moses and The Exodus

6 The Wilderness Wandering

7 Conquest Of Cannon

8 The Two Recorded Women In The The Bible; Ruth And Esther.

8 A – Ruth

8 B – Esther

9 The Judges

10 From A Theocracy To A Monarchy; Saul, Abimalech, David, Solomon.

11 The Poetical And Wisdom Books; Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song Of Solomon

11 A – Job.

11 B – Psalms

11 C – Proverbs

11 D – Ecclesiaste

11 E – Song of Solomon

12 Kings And Prophets Of The Divided Kingdoms

13 Table Of The North And South Kingdoms.

14 Prophets To Israel; Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea.

14 A – Elijah and Elisha.

14 B – Amos

14 C – Hosea

15 Prophets To Nineveh; Jonah, Nahum

15 A – Jonah

15 B – Nahum

16 Prophet To The Babylon Government; Daniel

17 Prophet To The Babylon Captives; Ezekiel

17 A – Ezekiel

18 Prophet To Edom - Obadiah

18 A – Obadiah

19 Prophets To Judah; Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.

19 A – Joel

19 B – Isaiah

19 C – Micah

19 D – Jeremiah and Lamentations

19 E – Habakkuk

19 F – Zephaniah

20 Restoration Prophets

20 A – Haggai

20 B – Zechariah

20 C – Malichi

21 Between The Old And New Testaments.

INTRODUCTION

Allow me to say that all scripture is of value. II Timothy 3:16.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

There are many parts of the Old Testament that are difficult to understand unless you have attended a seminary and they are not necessary to remember to lead the Christian life. Scholars have different interpretations of scripture including when and where events occur.

The author has tried to segregate and explain specific sections of scripture that will aid in your Christian walk of faith through life amd prays that this work will glorify God and win others to Jesus. Your first opportunity is to teach your children.

All scripture quoted herein is taken from the KJV.

Roy Stout

Mr. Stout has also written the End Times Matrix (Including The Revelation)

1

GOD’S ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS

We begin our walk through the scriptures by learning about God. Who is He? What is He? Why does He do what he does?

When we hire into a new job, we would like to know more about our boss. He/she could be overly demanding, prejudice, full of ego, or could be the opposite. We can think of God as the boss of Christianity. What are His attributes? We must know what they are because they comprise His personality and, above all, we want to please Him. Let’s begin by looking at three attributes beginning with the letters omni. omni means all. The three are, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. If we drop the omni from all three, we get scient, potent and present. We can equate these to Scient (science) = knowledge, Potent = power, Present = everywhere.

OMNISCIENCE – It can be rewritten as all (omni) knowing (science) God is a know-it-all. His knowledge transcends all time. He also has the wisdom to apply knowledge. Wisdom is the proper use of knowledge. Isaiah 55:8, Romans 11:33.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

If we could know what God knows, we would be God. He tells us how to obey Him in the scriptures. We can’t outthink Him. The only way to communicate with God is by faith.

F – Forsake

A – All

I – I

T – Trust

H – Him

To the Christian, faith is a verb, it is something you do. In the old days they said they worthshipped. In other words what was God worth to you? Today that word has been contracted to worship.

Faith is practiced by everyone everyday although they don’t realize it. When we sit on a chair, we demonstrate our faith that it won’t collapse. When we board an airline flight, we have faith that we will arrive safely. When a doctor gives us a shot, we have no idea what is in the needle. We have faith that he/she knows what they are doing. It is similar with God. We must have faith. Hebrews 11:6.

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

OMIPOTENT

Omnipotent can be rewritten as all (omni) powerful (potent)

He created the universe. John 1: 1-3.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

He creates rulers, such as Pilate, and governments. Jesus responds to Pilates comment that he can crucify or free Jesus.

John 19:11.

11Jesus answered, Thou coaldust have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. He created us. Isaiah 44:24 .

24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that market all things; that stretched forth the heavens alone; that spreadiest abroad the earth by myself;

When we think of God as a creator, we think of the Genesis creation but seldom think of Him creating us. He is a womb wonder. He formed us in the womb, owns us and wants us back. Abortion is killing what He created. We are aliens on earth. We are Extra Terrestrial Beings (ETB).We came from heaven and He wants us back. We all have a return to sender label on us. If we want life in heaven, we must decide on earth. It is our free-will choice. Sinners must become saints through the saving power of Jesus.

OMNIPRESENT = This can be rewritten as all (omni) present. He is everywhere. He is sitting beside you and me now. He is on the passenger side of your car when you drive. He is lying beside you in bed. Jeremiah 25:23-25.

23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

Proverbs 15:3.

3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

IMMUTABLE – He does not change. What He was He is and will always be. The God of Genesis is the same as the God of revelation and all of the 64 books in-between. Malachi 3:6

6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

HOLY - Holy means being set apart as being perfect or pure. Only God is holy. Mankind may imitate Him but never replace Him. He is the headstone of Christianity. He is Christianity. Psalms 99:9, Habakkuk 1:13.

9 Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.

13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holiest thy tongue when the wicked devoured the man that is more righteous than he?

Is this the reason God forsake Jesus on the cross as Jesus absorbed all the past, present and future sins of mankind? Mark: 15:34’

34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

RIGHTEOUS - What do we mean by righteous? Doing what is right. We can think of it as pure justice. This would apply to both salvation and rewards. Both rely on us taking action. Salvation must come before rewards. Good deeds do not count if you are not a Christian. The road to hell is paved with good deeds of non-Christians. There can be more good deeds done by non-Christians than are done by Christians. God places the responsibility of righteousness on His Christians. 1 John 1:9.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

SOVEREIGN - God doesn’t have a boss. He is the boss. He created and owns the universe and all of us. He is in complete control from the beginning of the bible to the end. However, He has delegated the choice of salvation to each of us. Why? He doesn’t want robotic Christians He can control. He wants robust Christians. He gave us free will just as he did in heaven when Satan rebelled against Him. He wants to be wanted. 1 Timothy 6:15

15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

LOVE and WRATH - God is an extremist. He can be as wrathful as He is loving. He showed this with Adam and Eve and the Noah flood. We control His choice. If we accept Jesus as our savior and live the life of a Christian, He showers us with His loving redemption and our names are written in The Book of Life. If we do not choose Jesus, He ushers us into hell. Again, we make the choice. He wants everyone to be showered rather than ushered. Revelation 20:15.

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The Book of Life is heaven (love) and the Lake of fire is hell (wrath). We choose our own destination. He doesn’t want any of us to go to hell. Then why have a hell? Matthew 25:41.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Notice that hell was created ONLY for the devil and his crew. God never intended for you and I to go there. 2 Peter 3:9.

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God can be compared to electricity. It can help us or kill us. We get pleasure when we use it for cooking, AC/Heat, TV remote controls, garage door openers and etc. If we misuse it, we can be electrocuted. The electricity has not changed. We chose the outcome. The same is true with God. God is God. The type of God He is to us is our choice. We control His Love/Wrath switch. There are four Greek words addressing love. They are

Agape – All encompassing

Philos – Brotherly love

Eros – Marital

Storge – Family

The keyword is APES

MERCIFUL - Mercy is defined as God not giving us what we deserve. He has given us an out. That out is Jesus. Psalms 103:8, Romans 5:8.

103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

TRINITY - While God is one, He manifests Himself in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and Jesus are in both Testaments. Genesis 1:2, 26.

2 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.

26 And God said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

US and OUR is the trinity. 2 Peter 1:21.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Paul spoke about the trinity. I Corinthians 12:4-6.

4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

Jesus spoke about the trinity. (God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit)

Matthew 28:19.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

The bible was written by 40 people over 1500 years and maintained the same theme. An example of a writer that was led by the Holy Spirit and did not understand what he wrote was Daniel. Daniel 12:8.

8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?

Why didn’t Daniel understand? He was just a pen and the Holy Spirit was the author. The New Testament talks about the trinity. I pray that The Holy Spirit leads me in writing this book.

FIRST - Matthew 3:16-17 shows the three persons of the Trinity. God speaks as the Holy Spirit descends from heaven to Jesus.

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

SECOND – Our baptism depicts the trinity. Matthew 28:19.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

THIRD – Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to us depicts the trinity. John 14:26.

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

We can better understand the trinity if we represent Jesus by ice, the Holy Spirit by steam and God by water. They are all distinct items but are all water i.e., H2O. Most people have a difficult time trying to understand the trinity. The Christian concept is that the trinity consists of three entities as one i.e., God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in that order. Trinity in the Greek is tpiac meaning a set of three.

The following example explains the trinity.

The chemical formula for water is H2O. Water exists in three stages of matter i.e., solid (ice cube), gaseous (steam), and liquid (fluid). When looking at this example, our addition tends to be 1 + 1 + 1 = 3. God’s addition is 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. We will look at each stage of the trinity. To understand God’s math is as difficult as understanding His trinity. Let’s look at each part of the trinity.

JESUS (Ice cube)

He is the incarnate part of the trinity. He walked the earth and was touched. We can touch an ice cube. Matthew 28:9.

9 Good morning he said, and they fell to the ground before him, holding His feet and worshiping him.

Luke 24:39.

39 Look at my hands! Look at my feet! You can see that it is I myself. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, for ghost do not have bodies as you see that I do. Jesus had a resurrected body. He was the visible part of the trinity.

THE HOLY SPIRIT (Steam)

He cannot be held. The same is true of steam but, His presence can be felt. Have you ever been burnt opening a microwave dinner? Suppose you are boiling a pan of water. If you place your hand over the pan, you would be burnt by the steam. Now, go into the next room in your house. There is no way you can place your hand over the pan and feel the heat. This is the principle in which the Holy Spirit works; the closer you are to him, the more you feel his presence and the better the communication and comforting relationship. His name in the Greek is paraclete meaning comforter or one alongside. He relays our prayers to God. No other medium is necessary. Romans 8:26.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Jesus promised he would send the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Have we received he Holy Spirit and are winning others to Jesus?

It happened! Acts 2:1-4

1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The church was born at Pentecost which followed the resurrection. The Greek word for tongues is glossa which is the root word for glossary. They spoke in foreign lanaguages that others understood. They did not just babble. In fact, one might add that Pentecost reversed the meaning of Tower of Babble.

GOD (Water)

He is the ultimate figure of the trinity. If you have a glass of water (God), you can put the ice cube (Jesus) in it and it will melt. You can pour boiling water that emits steam (The Holy Spirit) in it and the steam disappears. The reverse is also true; you can freeze water and get an ice cube or boil water and get steam. God (water) is the source of Jesus (ice cube) and The Holy Spirit (steam). Here are some verses that mention the trinity. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6.

4Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

6And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

In verse 4 Paul speaks about the Holy Spirit. In verse 5 he speaks about Jesus. In verse 6 he speaks about God. These three verses describe the trinity.

2 Corinthians 13:14

14The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Do you feel that you could explain the trinity to someone using the above information? It is almost guaranteed that the challenge of explaining the trinity will arise if you witness enough. Practice it in your Sunday school class.

GOD CAN REPENT

Repent means a change of mind. Some examples of when God repented follow:

1 – Exodus 32:11-14. Moses talked God out of punishing the Jews.

2 – Genesis 6:5-7. God repented that He had made man.

3 – I Samuel 15:35. God repented He made Saul the king.

4 – Jeremiah 18:7-10. God says if a nation will repent of evil, He will repent of punishing that nation.

GOD GOVERNS GOVERMENTS

Jeremiah 25:11-12.

11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

Jeremiah 18:7

7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

John 19:10-11.

10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

God’s attributes shows He created everything, including us, and has shown His love and mercy for us through the crucifixion of His son Jesus. Part of God hung on that cross for us. Let’s take a brief look at God’s attributes again. This will make it easier for the reader to remember them.

The above matrix is our God. Who, in their right mind, would ignore such a resume? The only attributes we can assign to Satan are omnipresent and immutable. When God sends him to hell, the only attribute He will have is immutable for eternity. His travel days (omnipresent) are over. Why would anyone partner with him?

Any student of the bible may ask this question. The bible was written by 40 people over 1500 years. The bible contains the thoughts of one mind, not many. Peter identifies the author. 2 Peter 1:21.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost (Spirit) is the third part of the trinity. This makes God the author. It is His book. History is His Story. Bible study is paramount. Fathers are responsible to teach the children. The author believes that this is one reason the Israelies kept returning to idolatry i.e., the current generation was not teaching the future generation. I personally know of cases where this is true. In fact, I know of very few cases where scripture is studied in the home. To make matters worst, I know of very few fathers that know enough scripture to teach it. The early church did not have the scriptures. We do! 40 people wrote them over a period of 1500 years and didn’t conflict with each other. Why? The Holy Spirit was the author.

The Jews were extraordinary when it came to keeping records. When we look at Luke’s genealogy and are amazed that it goes back to Adam and Eve. They kept terrific records that became the Hebrew Canon. There are 39 Old Testament books. After the ascension of Christ, the New Testament authors documented what they personally experienced. The bible has 39 Old Testament books + 27 New Testament books = 66 books. Phillips translated all of them in his bible which has comically been referred to as Phillips 66.

They had recorders and scribes. We can think of the scribe as one who created the document (author) and the recorder as the one that filed it as a record for posterity (librarian). Some examples are: 1 Kings 4:1.

¹So king Solomon was king over all Israel. ²And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest ³Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder.

Isaiah 36:3

3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.

The Hebrew bible (the Christian Old Testament) is called the Tanakh and consists of three sections;

Torah – the first 5 books of the bible

Nebim – the prophets

Kethubim – the writings

About 250BC, 70 Jewish scholars met in Alexander Egypt and translated the Hebrew bible into the Greek. It was called the Septuagint. Later, King James translated it into English. It was called The Great Bible.There were a plethora of documents written about Christianity by others who were not Christians. One of them was Titus Flavius Josephus also known as Joseph ben Matityahu. He wrote about Jesus in his book, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 2, Section 3.

"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."

Where did the bible come from?

The above was written in 94AD just 61 years (94 – 33 = 61) after the crucifixion of Jesus. You have read about many translations. Understandably, some wrote because they wanted scripture in their language. How should the Christian cope with the various translations? We have heard the saying, when all else fails, read the directions. It is best to trust the early church fathers then to lean on those that wrote hundreds of years later. If God wanted us to know more, it would be in the scriptures. Variations in religious groups stymies the cause of Christ. The unifying factor in all religions must be Romans 3:23, John 3:16.

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Study the message when you read. Don’t just read it! A good approach is preview, view and review. A preview is a rough scan to get the gist of what is written. A view is a study. Underline or high light information you wish to remember. A review consists of looking at your highlights and underlines. There are some good study aids you may use such as a Biblical Dictionary, Concordance, Halleys Handbook, All the Men of the Bible, All the women of the Bible and etc.

The bible is God speaking to you. What message is He sending to you personally? Scripture is aimed to us and for us. An example is the Ascension of Christ. Scripture give a message to us that Christ went home to God. The message is for our comfort and says He will return. Read your bible daily. The early church did not have it. We do! It is God’s gift to us.

2

CREATION AND EVOLUTION

The following is not intended to supersede any current interpretations of the scripture nor is it intended to be taken as gospel. Theories are not laws. However, I find it interesting enough to present it to the reader. Scripture was born out of the Holy Spirit which is the true author. Scripture writers took dictation. They were pens. What follows is offered as a theory that agrees with science. We will examine creation in three phases;

The first phase is Stellar evolution or sequence as stated in Genesis 1:1-10, 14-18. This involves the earth and the universe.

The second phase is Genesis 1:11-13, 20-25 which, involves vegetation and animals.

The third phase is Genesis 1:26-31 which, involves mankind.

In order to understand the Genesis creation, we need to clarify some terms. Consider the words day and created. Day in Hebrew is yom. It can mean a day (24 hours) or an unspecified length of time. Sometimes yom is used to mean time itself. Genesis 4.3.

3 In the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

Peter further explains what a day means to God. 2 Peter 3:8.

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Some scholars stick to yom as meaning a 24 hour period. It makes sense to consider yom as an unspecified period of time. If we treat yom as meaning one day then, we can claim the earth was created about 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. This is contradicted by fossil finds and other archeological discoveries. When yom is used as time, as Peter says above, it meshes with science. When discussing creation, we are at a disadvantage because we don’t know what God knows. He is omniscience which means all knowing. God is a know it all (Isaiah 55:8-9). We must accept Him by faith. There is no other way.

Let’s consider two concepts; time and space. We will look at time first.

BIRTH----------------------------DEATH

Our concept of time has a start and a stop such as birth and death.

God’s concept of time is circular i.e., it has no beginning or end. Choose any point on the circle and travel clockwise and you will not find an end but, you will return to where you started. This concept of God is clearly stated in the last book of the bible and within only 8 verses of the end of the bible. Revelation 22:13.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last letter. God encompasses all time. We cannot understand it now but, we will when we get to heaven. In the 1960’s I was a scientist at the Kenedy Space Center. If you did not work there, you probally could not explain the functions of the Space Shuttle. Does that mean it did not exist? Just because we can not interpret a process does not mean it does not exist.

Let us now consider the concept of space. There are thousands of galaxies. Ours is the Milky Way. How far out does space go? If it ends somewhere, we can ask the question what is on the other side? To us, space has borders. To God, it does not. These are difficult concepts to master because we are not God.

Create in the Hebrew is bara. Ex nihilo means out of nothing. The creation account in Genesis 1 says God bara nihilo (created out of nothing). Only God can bara. Bara also means to form or fashion. Let’s consider form and fashion. Some take these to mean brooding over much like a hen spreads her wings and broods over the chicks to protect them. Was God forming, fashioning or brooding during the creation. If the answer is "yes’, we have no conflict with science. God could have created the basics (chemistry, physics, astronomy etc.) and let the process/sequence begin. This begs further explanation. Suppose we are at a chemical plant. Certain chemical compounds are mixed due to their valance, atomic weight and etc. This is chemistry. They are then subjected to heat (thermodynamics) and mixed (physics). Further processing enters the picture and the result is a tooth brush. God created all of the elements with the aim in mind that his process would produce a tooth brush. Adam never saw a tooth brush but, we have.

We can think of creation from other view points. You are in an operating room and the doctor puts you to sleep for what seems like seconds and you wake up in the recovery room. He/she tells you everything went well. What is everything? You don’t know nor could you recite the process in medical language. But, it happened. Creation is like that. We cannot explain it in full but, Jesus said it happened. Let’s discuss the first phase of creation.

Stellar evolution (or sequence) begins from clouds of dust and gas that become stars/suns. At this stage they are called nebular. They are powered by nuclear fusion from hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen atoms become helium atoms. The star/sun grows from a sub-giant stage to a red giant stage. Once the nuclear source is exhausted, it collapses to a white dwarf and expels its outer layers as planetary/spiral nebula. Nebulas are shapeless and dark. Smaller bodies collide with others and the nebula grows. This process is called accretion. Genesis 1:2.

2And 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.

This describes a nebula. These shapes travel a distance from the stars until gravity takes hold and they travel in an orbit and begin rotating. Rotation renders them into a global shape. When they rotate, you have day and night. Genesis 1:3-5.

³And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

⁴And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Our sun, moon, earth and eight more planets in our solar system are all round (globes). At any one time, half of the earth is dark and half is light. This is day and night. As time goes by planets cool and condense a water shield around the globe.

Genesis 1:6-8.

⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

⁷And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Firmament in the Hebrew is ragia which means expanse. Some interpret it as sky. There are two sets of water, one on land and the other in the sky We see them as oceans and clouds.

The next phase of planet creation is rifting. Webster defines rift as splitting or separation. Planetary rifting involves the shifting of subsurface plates causing the movement of continents and oceans. We see this happening today as earthquakes. Land masses and oceans have changed since their initial formation. This entails a voluminous amount of information that is too much to cite here. Genesis 1:9-10.

⁹And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

We need to pause and consider what is happening with the writer of Genesis which, is considered to be Moses. First of all, Moses came along millions of years after the creation and is detailing much of the creation as God said let there be … Why? He did not know the specifics nor could he explain them. Even scientists do not agree. I feel Moses did a good Job considering the handicaps he had to work with. Moses wrote the Torah (first 5 books). Four of them related to his lifetime. Genesis occurred before he was born. God must have related it to Moses because there are many scriptures during the wilderness wandering where God talked to Moses.

Where are we in the creation process? We have a globe, water, oceans, mountains, sun, moon, day/night and seasons as shown in the following table. What follows the table is phase two i.e., the creation of vegetation and animals.

We need