creation week Archives

May 15, 2022

Cosmic Rhythm only God could Dance: From Creation to Cross

What is dance? Theatrical dance encompasses rhythmic movements, meant to be viewed by spectators and to tell a story. Accordingly, dancers coordinate their movements with other dancers, using different parts of their own body, so that their movements generate visual beauty and accentuate rhythm. Usually this coordination occurs in a repeating time interval, called meter. Researchers have documented the crucial role that rhythm plays in our lives. So it is not surprising if we see a similar tilt to rhythm in God’s outworking since we are made in His image.

The Cross: Dancing on the Serpent’s head

The Gospel emphatically declares that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was God’s defeat of His Adversary. We see this right at the beginning of human history, when Adam succumbed to the serpent. The scripture back then (details here) had predicted to the serpent:

¹⁵And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15

*The Woman’s Seed would trample the serpent’s head*

So this foretold a coming struggle between the Serpent and the Seed or Offspring of the Woman. Jesus declared himself as ‘the Seed’ on Day 1 of Passion Week. Then he purposefully drove the conflict to its climax at the cross. Thus, Jesus allowed the Serpent to strike him, confident of his final victory. In so doing, Jesus trampled the head of the serpent, making the way to life. Summing up, the Bible describes His victory and our way to live like this:

¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2: 13-15

Their struggle unfolded like a dance, in a rhythmic meter of ‘sevens’ and ‘threes’. We explicitly see this by looking at the Passion Week events of Jesus through the lens of Creation.

God’s foreknowledge revealed from the beginning of Time

How can we know if this was God’s Plan instead of some random events with no ultimate purpose behind it? Alternatively, could the Gospel story have simply been human-engineered?

We know that no matter how clever, gifted, eloquent, powerful, or rich someone is, they cannot foresee the future. No one has the ability to coordinate with events thousands of years into the future. Only God can possibly foreknow and predestine far into the future. So, if we detect evidence of this kind of coordination through history we can prove that he choreographed this drama. Thus, it would rule out chance or clever people behind the gospel.

In the whole Bible there are, in fact, only two weeks where the events of every day in the week are narrated. The first week, recorded at the beginning of the Bible, describes how God created everything.

The only other week with every day’s events recorded is Jesus’ Passion Week. No other Biblical characters have daily activities detailed for one complete week. You can read the complete Creation Week account here. Correspondingly, we went through each day’s events in Jesus’ Passion Week. The table below places each day of these two weeks side-by-side. The number ‘seven’, which forms a week, is thus the base meter or rhythm. Observe how all daily events correspond to one another even though separated time-wise by millennia. At the very minimum, because the Creation Week is included in the Dead Sea Scrolls the creation account was already in writing hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth. And textual criticism analysis of the New Testament reveals it has not been changed or corrupted.

So how to explain the coordination?

The Rhythm of the Two weeks

Day of week	Creation Week	Jesus’ Passion Week
Day 1	Surrounded by darkness God says, ‘Let there be light’and there was light in the darkness.	Jesus says “I have come into the world as a light…” There is light in the darkness (John 12: 46)
Day 2	God separates the earth from the heavens.	Jesus separates that of earth from that of heaven by cleansing the Temple as a place of prayer from commercialism.
Day 3	God speaks land to rise out of the sea.	Jesus speaks of faith moving mountains into the sea.
	God speaks again ‘Let the land produce plants’ and vegetation sprouts.	Jesus speaks a curse and the tree withers.
Day 4	God speaks ‘Let there be lights in the sky’ and the sun, moon and stars appear, lighting the sky.	Jesus speaks of the sign of his return – the sun, moon and stars will extinguish.
Day 5	God creates flying animals, including the flying dinosaur reptiles, or dragons.	Satan, the great dragon, moves to strike the Christ.
Day 6	God speaks and land animals come to life.	Passover lamb animals are slaughtered in the Temple.
	‘the Lord God … breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life’. Adam started breathing.	“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.” (Mark 15: 37)
	God places Adam in the Garden.	Jesus freely enters a Garden
	Adam is warned away from the Tree of Knowledge with a curse.	Jesus is nailed to a tree and cursed. ¹³But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” -Galatians 3:13
	No animal is found suitable for Adam. Another person was necessary.	Passover animal sacrifices were not sufficient. A person was required. ⁴It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.⁵Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; -Hebrews 10:4-5
	God puts Adam into a deep sleep.	Jesus enters the sleep of death
	God wounds Adam’s side with which He creates Adam’s bride.	A wound is made in Jesus’ side. From his sacrifice Jesus wins his bride, those who belong to him. ⁹One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” -Revelation 21:9
Day 7	God rests from creation	Jesus rests in death

Jesus’ Passion week in rhythm with Creation week

Adam’s Friday Choreography with Jesus

Events for each day across these two weeks correspond to each other, resulting in rhythmic symmetry like in a choreography. Then, at the end of both these 7-day cycles, first fruits of new life bursts forth into a new creation. So, Adam and Jesus link together, creating a composite drama.

Significantly, the Bible says of Adam that:

… Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
Romans 5:14

and

²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22

By comparing these two weeks we see that Adam dramatized a pattern that prefigures Jesus. Did God need six days to create the world? Could He simply not have made everything with one command? Why then did He create in the order and with a structure that He did? Why did God rest on the seventh day when He cannot tire? He created in the timing and order that He did to demonstrate that He anticipated the events of Passion week from the beginning of human history.

This is especially true of Day Six – The Fridays of both weeks. Specifically, we see symmetry directly in the words used. For example, instead of simply saying ‘Jesus died’ the Gospel says he ‘breathed his last’, a direct inverse pattern to Adam who received the ‘breath of life’. Surely, such a pattern from Time’s beginning shows foreknowledge spanning time and the world. In short, it can only be a dance orchestrated by the Divine.

Subsequent Prophetic Events of the Divine Choreography

Subsequently, the Bible recorded specific historical events and festivals picturing Jesus’ coming. They were written down and recorded hundreds of years before Jesus walked on earth. Since humans cannot foreknow the future that far ahead, this provides further evidence that this was God’s drama, not man’s, nor simply random chance. The table below summarizes some.

Hebrew Bible	How it foretells the coming of Jesus
Sign of Adam	God confronted the serpent, announcing the Seed coming to crush the serpent’s head.
Sign of Abraham’s sacrifice	Abraham’s sacrifice (2000 BCE) was on the same Mountain where thousands of years later Jesus would be sacrificed. At the last moment the lamb substituted for Isaac so he could live. This pictured how Jesus the ‘Lamb of God’ would substitute and sacrifice himself for us so we could live.
Sign of the Passover	Lambs were to be sacrificed on a specific day – Nisan 14, Passover (1500 BCE). Those who obeyed escaped death, but those who disobeyed died. Hundreds of years later Jesus was sacrificed on this exact day – Nisan 14, Passover. Like those original Passover lambs, he died so we could live.
Where does ‘Christ’ come from?	The title ’Christ’ inaugurated with the promise of His coming – prophesied 1000 BCE.
Was Jesus the son of a virgin from the line of David?	The ‘Christ’ would descend from King David, but would be born from a virgin the ancient prophets foretold. Prophecies given 1000 BCE and 750 BCE and fulfilled in Jesus.
Sign of the Branch	The ‘Christ’ would sprout like a branch from a dead royal dynasty – prophesied 750 BCE and fulfilled in Jesus
The Coming Branch named	This sprouting ‘Branch’ was named ‘Jesus’ 500 years before he lived.
Suffering Servant gives his life for all	The prophecy foretelling how this coming Servant would serve all mankind in his death – 750 BCE. Fulfilled by Jesus in the manner of his crucifixion and his resurrection.
Christ Coming in ‘sevens’	The Prophetic Oracle foretelling when He would come, given through cycles of seven in 550 BCE. Fulfilled in Jesus by the precise timing to the day of his arrival to Jerusalem in 33 CE.
The Crucifixion Previewed	Vivid details of the crucifixion prophesied 1000 BCE – and fulfilled in the details of Jesus’ crucifixion.
The Son of Man Revealed	The vision of a Divine person coming on the clouds in the air is fulfilled in the only way possible by Jesus

Festivals & Oracles prophetically choreographed to Jesus

Your Invitation

The Gospel invites our examination. It also invites us to

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
Revelation 22:17

The following are available to help both to examine and to ‘come’

November 29, 2021

Creator in the Flesh: Shown by Word of Power

The 20^th century scientist, Albert Einstein, and the 21^st century tech entrepreneur, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook/Meta, provide insight into the two most fundamental laws of our universe, helping us better understand what the Bible records in Creation as well as insight into the person of Jesus. We explore this by first summarizing Einstein’s and Zuckerberg’s achievements.

Einstein: Mass-Energy of 20^th Century

We know Albert Einstein (1879-1955), a Jewish German, for developing the Theory of Relativity. Educated in Pre-World War 1 Germany and Switzerland, Einstein excelled in math and physics. Working in a Swiss patent office, he first published his Theory of Relativity in 1905 which predicted strange physical occurrences. Eddington verified Einstein’s theory in 1919 when he observed light bending around a star during an eclipse. This confirmation made Einstein world famous and granted him the 1921 Nobel prize.

The equation resulting from Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (E= mc²) reveal that Mass and Energy are interchangeable. Mass can be lost for an enormous gain of energy. But though Mass-Energy can be interchanged, science has found no natural process which creates Mass-Energy. The First Law of Thermodynamics, (or the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy), the most verified and observed law of physical science, states that mass-energy cannot be created. Energy can be transformed into different kinds of energy (kinetic, thermal, electrical etc) or into mass, but new mass-energy cannot be created. Energy can be propagated as waves, which is how the energy of the sun reaches the earth.

Zuckerberg: Information in 21^st Century

Einstein shed light for us on the First Law. Zuckerberg’s success with Facebook shows the pervasiveness of its companion law – The Second Law of Thermodynamics. Born in 1984 and also of Jewish origin, Mark Zuckerberg’s success, as one of the most prominent of the 21^st century billionaire Information Technology entrepreneurs illustrates the fundamental reality of a non-mass-energy element: information. Because information is not mass-energy and cannot be detected physically many do not think of information as real. Others assume that information arises simply after a long chain of lucky events. This remains the cornerstone of the Darwinian view of the universe promoted so strongly in modern culture.

It is beyond our scope here to probe the assumptions in this worldview but simply consider for a minute all the multi-billionaries like Mark Zuckerberg that have popped up in recent decades. They became billionaires because they recognized the reality of information and built clever information systems we all now use. Intelligence causes information, not luck. The success of Zuckerberg and others like him have created a whole new industry – information technology. The fact that few have accomplished what they have done should show that information does not arise simply by luck.

In fact, the Second Law of Thermodynamics reveals that the natural world simply left to natural energy reactions loses information. But then where does all the fantastically complex information that we see in the natural world harnessing mass-energy (DNA, proteins, photosynthesis, ATP synthase etc.) come from?

Mass-Energy & Information at Beginning

The Bible’s account of Creation gives an elegant answer. The Bible records creation occurring by God speaking. Speaking essentially involves information and energy transmitted by waves. Information carried by waves can be beautiful music, a set of instructions, or any message that someone wishes to send.

The Bible records that God ‘spoke’ and thus transmitted information and energy propagated as waves. This caused an ordering of mass and energy into the complex universe we see today. This occurred because the ‘Spirit of God’ hovered or vibrated over the mass. Vibration is both a form of energy and also constitutes the essence of sound. Read the record from this point-of-view.

Creation Account: The Creator Speaks

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹²The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

^{_{Izaak van Oosten, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons}}

²⁰And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:1-25

The Bible then recounts that God created mankind in the ‘image of God’ so that we could reflect the Creator. But our reflection remains limited in that we cannot command nature simply by speaking to it.

Jesus Likewise ‘Speaks’

But Jesus did do this, demonstrating an authority to speak beyond that of teaching and healing. He did this so we could understand him from the creation account where God spoke information and energy to setup the universe. We see how the Gospels record these events

²²One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. ²³As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

²⁴The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ²⁵“Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
Luke 8:22-25

The word of Jesus commanded even the wind and the waves! No wonder the disciples were filled with fear.

… Creating Mass-Energy

On another occasion he showed similar power with thousands of people. This time he did not command wind and wave – but food.

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ²and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. ³Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. ⁴The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

⁷Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

⁸Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

¹²When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
John 6: 1-15

What did it mean?

In creating mass out of nothing Jesus exhibits the same command over mass-energy as God did at Creation. When the people saw that Jesus could multiply food simply by speaking they knew he was unique. But what did it mean? Jesus explained later on by clarifying the power of his words

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
John 6:63

And

Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
John 6:57

Jesus claimed to embody in the flesh the tri-fold Creator (Father, Word, Spirit) that had spoken the cosmos into existence. He was Creator alive in human form. He demonstrated this by speaking his power over wind, wave and matter.

Considering with our Minds…

People today often understand the Bible Creation account as simply an ancient mythology from simple people. But this account aligns perfectly with our latest understanding of how information and energy propagates as waves. The elegant account remains uncomplicated when it repeats ‘God said …’ so simple non-scientific people understood it. But it also has real meaning to us in light of mass-energy and information understanding of 21^st century.

Jews have led mankind’s progress to understand and apply the basic elements that make up reality (mass-energy & information), exemplified by Einstein & Zuckerberg.

Some fear this Jewish leadership and so spread an anti-semitic fear of Jews. But since these advances have blessed and enriched all people a better explanation for Jewish leadership comes from the promise of blessing to Abraham.

The Gospels present Jesus as the arche-type of the Jewish people (conclusion of this comes here). As such he also directed his focus on mass-energy and information. In doing so he proved his claim to be the same Agent who originally ‘spoke’ our world into existence. Later we will see how he uncannily mirrors Creation week events by what he does during his Passion week.

… and Hearts

Jesus’ disciples had a hard time understanding this. The Gospel records that right after feeding the 5000:

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Jesus walks on water
_{^{Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons}}

⁴⁷Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. ⁴⁸He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, ⁴⁹but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, ⁵⁰because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” ⁵¹Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, ⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. ⁵⁴As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Mark 6:45-56

Our Hard hearts

It says that the disciples did ‘not understand’. The reason for not understanding was not that they were not intelligent; it was not because they did not see what happened; not because they were bad disciples; nor was it because they did not believe in God. It says that their ‘hearts were hardened’. Our own hard hearts also keeps us from understanding spiritual truth.

This is the fundamental reason that people in his day divided themselves about Jesus. More than understanding intellectually is the need to remove obstinacy from our hearts.

This is why the preparing work of John was vital. He called people to repent by confessing their sin instead of hiding it. If Jesus’ disciples had hard hearts that needed repenting and confessing of sin, how much more you and me?

So what to do?

Confession to Soften Heart & Gain Understanding

I have found praying this confession in the Psalms to be helpful. Perhaps meditating or reciting this will work in your heart too.

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
²Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge…

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51: 1-4, 10-12

We need this repentance to understand what it means that, as the Living Word, Jesus reveals God in the flesh.

He also came to inaugurate the ‘Kingdom of God’, by definition a political exercise. This is another domain where Jews have led the way, exemplified by Karl Marx. We use him as our lens to look at the ‘Kingdom of God’ compared to Kingdoms of men – next.