II Corinthians 4:5 to 7
“For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord: and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Here we learn that the true and faithful servants of God preached the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s Book states plainly and positively that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; that sinners justified by faith have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 6:23 and Romans 5:1.

Thus we see that men receive peace and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Note some other reasons why God’s true servants preach the Lord Jesus Christ:

John 14:6
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

Acts 4:12
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

I Peter 3:18
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”

John 8:12
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

God’s servants who preach Christ should live Christ.

Galatians 2:20
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

“GOD HATH SHINED IN OUR HEARTS.”

Philippians 2:15 and 16
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world: Holding forth the Word of life.”

When and how did God command the light to shine out of darkness?

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Genesis 1:3 to 5
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Isaiah 45:12
“I have made the earth and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.”

Isaiah 40:28
“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding.”

CHRIST IN THE BEGINNING

“In the beginning, God.” This Hebrew word “God” is “Elohim.” “Elohim” is the plural of Eloah”. “El” is the simple form. of the Hebrew word. “El” denotes strength—God—the—Strong One. Note some of the words where “El” is used: “Elijah”, “Elisha”, “Eli”, “Elizur”, “Elizabeth”, “Joel”, “Daniel” “Ezekiel”. “Elohim” is plural. Note:

John 1:1 to 3
“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.”

John 1:14
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”

Colossians 1:17
“And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”

John 17:5
“And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”

John 17:24
“. . . That they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lowest Me before the foundation of the world.”

Now we can understand the “let us” in the statement:

Genesis 1:26
“And God (Elohim) 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.”

The Lord Jesus Christ was with the Father. “He was in the form of God.” Philippians 2:5 and 6. He said, while here on earth:

John 6:36
“All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me: and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”

John 10:28 to 30
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand . . . . . I and My Father are One.”

“And God called the light, Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:5.

Note: “the evening and the morning were the first day.” This was the first day of God’s creative work in bringing cosmos, or order, out of chaos. But the question is: who created the chaos before God said, “let there be light?”

Let us read carefully the first two verses of the Bible:

Genesis 1:1 and 2
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” “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.”

Now we must note the difference between, “in the beginning,” of Genesis 1:1 and “the first day” of Genesis 1:5. How long was “the beginning” before “the first day?” We will never know until we get to heaven and God tells us that hundreds of thousands of years may have elapsed between “in the beginning” and “the first day” when God said, “let there be light.”

The statement in the second verse might read, “the earth became without form and void.”

Note:

Isaiah 45:18
“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 (void).”

Hebrews 11:3
“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

God’s original creation was not void, God’s original creation was made not out of something that already existed.

Job 26:7
“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” “In the beginning, God.” God is infinite, eternal and self–existent. No person or power created God. God had no beginning. This is too much for finite human beings to reason out or comprehend. We accept this as Divine revelation and at the same time the most plausible and intelligent explanation of the origin of life.

Acts 17:24 and 25
“God That made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands: Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”

John 14:9
“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”

Some years after His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to John (the writer of The Revelation) and said to him:

Revelation 1:8
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:18
“I am He That liveth, and was dead: and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

Yes, by the Lord Jesus Christ were all things made and without Him was not anything made that was made.

Inasmuch as there may have been many, many years between the original creation of Genesis 1:1 and the re-creation of Genesis 1:3 to 31, you can see why we prefer not to attempt to date from the beginning of the world and use the words “Anno Mundi, year of the world.” We can be rather accurate in using the words “Anno Homini,” the year of man.

Let us read carefully:

Genesis 5:3 to 32
“And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begat Enos: And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died. And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. And Cainan lived seventy years, and he begat Mahalaleel: And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died. And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died. And Jared lived a hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

AGAIN AFTER THE FLOOD:

Genesis 11:10 to 32
“These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begot Peleg: And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: And Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren: she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.”

Genesis 12:4
“So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him: and Lot went with him: And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.”

Genesis 17:24
“And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.”

Genesis 25:7
“And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, a hundred threescore and fifteen years.”

Genesis 25:20
“And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.”

Genesis 25:26
“And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel: and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.”

Genesis 35:28
“And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.”

Galatians 3:17
“And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.”

And from the Scriptures we have the following table:

(A. H.—the year of man)

Noah was 600 years old when the flood was on the earth. Genesis 7:6. And Noah lived 350 years after the flood. Genesis 9:29.

Noah’s father, Lamech, was 168 years old when Adam’s son, Seth, died, in the year 1042 A. H. (year of man). Genesis 5. Noah’s son, Shem, (from whom Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, descended) was 98 years old when the flood was on the earth. Shem died 502 years after the flood. Genesis 11:10 and 11. Shem died in the year of man 2158, or about 1842 B. C.

Abram was 75 years old in 2083 A. H. Genesis 12:4 (about 1917 B. C.). Abraham died when 175 years old (Genesis 25:7) therefore, about 1817 B. C. Note then, that although Abraham was the ninth generation from Shem (Genesis 11:10 to 29) Shem lived until Abraham was 150 years old. For many years they could have talked about the events before and during the flood; for Shem lived 98 years before the flood.

QUESTIONS—LESSON TWO

1. What is implied in the name “God” in Genesis 1:1 and 26?

2. Quote Scriptures to prove that Christ is in the Godhead.

3. What did Christ claim to be in John 14:6?

4. In what two-fold sense did God command light to shine out of darkness?

5. What is said about Christ in Colossians 1:17?

6. What did Christ claim in John 17:5?

7. According to Hebrews 11:3, out of what was the world framed?

8. Explain the difference between the original creation and the first day of Genesis 1:5.

9. In what form was Christ before He became Man?

10. What is said about Christ in John 1:14?

11. Mention seven men whose names have in them the Hebrew “El”.

12. In John 10:28 to 30, what did Christ give to men?

13. In John 10:28 to 30 and John 14:9, what did Christ claim for Himself?

14. Who lives in the believer according to Galatians 2:20?

15. What is the meaning of B. C.? Of A. D.?

16. What is the meaning of A. M. and A. H.?

17. In what year A. H. was the flood upon the earth? About what year B. C.?

18. What happened to Enoch according to Genesis 5:21 to 25?

19. Note that Methuselah died the year of the flood. What year?

20. How old was Methuselah when he died? Jared? Noah? Adam?

For more articles by Pastor J. C. O'Hair, visit the J. C. O'Hair Online Library.