Perfect God Can Only Create a Perfect Universe; 4 Creation Verbs; Isaiah’s Catastrophic View of Gen 1:2, Isa 45:18; Hebrew Syntax of Genesis 1:2a

•	The excerpts from Charles Clough were designed to present a quick overview of the pagan view of creation and evolution and how belief in its conclusions takes more faith than to simply accept as true the biblical revelation on these issues.
•	It must be noted however that Clough does not subscribe to the principle that there is an unknown period of time that exists between the creation of the universe in Genesis 1:1 and formless void of Genesis 1:2.
•	Both Clough and I are in agreement that the human race is about 10,000 years old at most.  However, the age of the universe may or may not be much older than that.
•	This needs amplification and review so we will take the time to analyze the biblical view of creation which recognizes it original perfection subsequently destroyed by the Luciferian Rebellion and restored over a six-day period in preparation for the Appeal Trial of Satan.
The Catastrophic Events between Genesis 1:1 & 1:2
1.	In this study we will prove that the universe was created up and running and that it is not the result of any evolutionary processes.
2.	We will begin with a principle that the perfect God of this universe, Who is our Lord Jesus Christ, could not by definition create anything that is imperfect. 
3.	We will establish this by examining the creation verbs in Genesis 1:1 and Isaiah 45:18.
4.	Further, we will establish that the earth entered a state of chaos and suspended animation as a result of the Luciferian Rebellion by noting Genesis 1:2.
5.	First of all we need to establish the premise that God is perfect.
Deuteronomy 32:4a -	“The Rock!  His work is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48 -		“Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Hebrews 5:9 -		Having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.
Job 37:16 -	“Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, the wonders of One perfect in knowledge?”
6.	A perfect God can only create that which is perfect.  It is incongruous to imagine that the perfect Christ would create anything imperfect.  This is borne out by two passages dealing with the creation of the universe. 
Genesis 1:1 -	In the beginning [ of the universe ] God [ specifically, Jesus Christ ] created [ ar*B* bara ] the heavens and the earth.
The verb for creation is bara, which is one of four creation verbs found in the Hebrew of the Old Testament.  It is important that each is distinguished from the others and defined:
		1)	ar*B* bara refers in Scripture exclusively to God and His creative acts.  It means, “to create something out of nothing.”  That is, where noting previously existed, by the voice command of God, all things came into existence.  The equivalent Greek word is kt…zw ktizō as found in Colossians 1:16.  The equivalent Latin phrase is creatio ex nihilo.
		2)	hc*u* asah generally means, “to make; to fashion.”  The more precise meaning is “to create something according to a pattern.”  For example, the creation of the human soul is described by both of these verbs.  Genesis 1:26 reads, “Let Us make man in Our image.”  The verb “make” is hc*u* asah, to create according to a pattern, i.e., the image of divine essence.
			However, in the following verse we read:
Genesis 1:27 -	And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
On all three occasions, verse 27 uses the verb ar*B* bara, confirming that the soul itself was created out of nothing.  However, when God created the human soul, both male and female, that creation was patterned after divine essence, therefore the verb used in verse 26 is hc*u* asah.
		3)	rx^y* yatsar is used to describe the molding of materials to create a finished product such as a potter would mold clay.  This is the verb used in Genesis 2:7 to describe how the Lord formed Adam’s physical body from the chemicals of the soil.
Genesis 2:7 -	Then the Lord God formed [ rx^y* yatsar ] man of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living being.
4)	hn*B* banah is the final creation verb used in the Old Testament and it refers to the techniques used by a sculptor to form an image.  This is the creation verb used to describe the creation of Ishah in:
Genesis 2:22 -	And the Lord God fashioned [ hn*B* banah ] into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
7.	In summary, then, we have four verbs that describe various methods of creation used by God in Scripture:
1)	ar*B* bara : to create matter or energy from no preexisting materials.
		2)	hc*u* asah: to create matter or energy from a preexisting pattern.
		3)	rx^y* yatsar: to create by molding preexisting matter.
		4)	hn*B* banah: to create by sculpting preexisting materials.
8.	Now the reason we have taken the time to distinguish all these verbs is because three of them come into view in Isaiah 45:18 in a very important way.
Isaiah 45:18 -	For thus says the Lord, Who created [ ar*B* bara: out of nothing ] the heavens [ the universe ] (He is the God who formed [ rx^y* yatsar: to mold preexisting matter ] the earth and made it [ hc*u* asah: from a preexisting pattern ], He established it and did not create it [ ar*B* bara: out of nothing ] a waste place [ WhT)) tohu ], but formed it [ rx^y* yatsar: to mold preexisting matter ] to be inhabited), “I am the Lord, and there is none else.” 
9.	Isaiah is reporting a quote under divine inspiration from the Lord Jesus Christ.  In introducing the quote he identifies Him as the One “Who created the heavens.”  The word Isaiah uses for “created” is the past tense of [ ar*B* bara, to create ex nihilo.  He then elaborates on a number of additional details in a parenthesis that follows.
10.	In this parenthesis he uses three creation verbs: (1) rx^y* yatsar twice, (2) hc*u* asah once, and (3) ar*B* bara once.
11.	First, Isaiah points out that the One Who created the universe is the very same One Who “formed the earth”: rx^y* yatsar, which indicates that He “molded” it from preexisting materials.  This does not refer to the original ex‑nihilo creation but to an act that occurred after that.  It refers to the restoration of a fallen planet.
12.	To this, Isaiah adds the statement that as the Lord molded the earth He did so according to a preexisting pattern: “… and made it—hc*u* asah.”  The pattern used was the perfection of the original creation before it fell into a chaotic state.
13.	This chaotic condition is addressed by the next phrase, “… He established it and did not create it [ ar*B* bara: out of nothing ] a waste place [ WhT)) tohu ].”
14.	Isaiah informs us that the original ex-nihilo creation was perfect by saying that the Lord did not create it— ar*B* bara—a “waste place.”
15.	However, it is obvious that it did become a waste place from the fact it required restoration, a fact that is repeated at the end of the parenthesis: “… but formed it [ rx^y* yatsar: to mold from preexisting matter ] to be inhabited.”
16.	The restoration was undertaken so the earth would be inhabited by creatures in the same perfect environment that accompanied the earth’s original ex-nihilo creation.
17.	So we can see from this verse that the earth was created perfectly, fell into chaos, and was then restored to its pristine perfection.
18.	The fall into chaos occurred in Genesis, chapter one, but Moses did not elaborate.  He simply states that the condition existed in:
Genesis 1:2 -	[NASV] And the earth was [ waw aretz hayah ] formless and void [ tohu wabohu ], and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
19.	The verse begins with a disjunctive clause introduced by the conjunction “but” followed by the Qal perfect of the verb:
	hy*h* hayah -	Best translated, “But the earth became.”
20.	The NASV translates the phrase, “And the earth was,” as if it were a sequential construction linking verse 2 with verse 1.  However, this is refuted by:
Thieme, R. B., Jr.  Creation, Chaos, & Restoration.  3d ed.  (Houston: R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, 1995), 10n:
In Hebrew syntax, a sequential construction is expressed by a w+ (waw) + verb + noun word order [translated “and the earth was”].  A disjunctive or contrastive construction is expressed by a waw + noun + verb word order [translated “but the earth became”] as in Genesis 1:2.  [Bruce K. Waltke and M. O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1990), 650-51.]
21.	Genesis 1:2 begins with the disjunctive waw  w+ followed by the noun “earth”: Jr#a# aretz, plus the verb hy*h* hayah in the Qal perfect.  The correct translation is, “But the earth became.”
22.	This disjunctive construction not only separates verse two from verse one but grammatically it introduces three circumstantial clauses in verse two which describe the circumstances that preexisted verse three before God began the first day of restoration.
23.	In other words, Genesis 1:1 is original creation.  The student must imagine an unspecified expanse of time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 in which the fall of Satan occurs, his trial at bar before the Supreme Court of Heaven is prosecuted, his and the fallen angels’ sentence is pronounced, the lake of fire is created, and his appeal trial is granted.  Genesis 1:3 begins the restoration of Planet Earth for habitation by mankind for the purpose of becoming witnesses for the Prosecution in this appeal trial.
24.	The restoration is required because of the ramifications the fall of Lucifer had upon the perfect universe in which the angels were allowed to function.  Therefore, our study of verse two will instruct us about the chaos that resulted from these events.