The World That Was

"The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." — 2 Peter 3:6

David Rice

Only six chapters of scripture are devoted to "the world that was" of the remote past, which endured more than 1½ millenniums. Yet notwithstanding the relative brevity of the account, these chapters contain information of the most vital sort.

The narrative begins by describing the creation of the world and its preparation for living organisms. With simple elegance it explains that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," and then specifies the sequence of seven eons of time which ordered and developed this creation for God’s intended purpose—a habitation for living creatures.

The sequence is at once striking for the reasonable and natural progression of events, in fullest harmony with our best ability to judge of these things with our present retrospect of knowledge and inference. First dim light appeared, quite distinct from the pervasive darkness, as the mists settled sufficient for the glow of the sun to reach the earth. The large mass of vapors aggregated into two bodies, the seas below and the canopy of vapors above, separated by the atmosphere. Dry land began to emerge evidently through tectonic activity, which allowed the formation of land vegetation, grasses, trees and herbs—each producing after its own kind. At last the atmosphere became sufficiently cleared, perhaps through the organic respiration of the prolific plant life, so that the heavenly luminaries became clearly apparent and distinguishable, right down to the stars of heaven. Now animal life could be supported, first birds and sea life, subsequently the larger and more developed land animals. At last, in the end of the sixth epoch, God produced the crowning glory of it all: the direct creation of earth’s intelligent lord and master, a human being, Adam.

A Living Soul

The Bible explains simply that "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7). How natural, how plain, how clear. Man is not a mystical spirit—an immortal soul confined briefly to flesh and released through death. Man is a living creature, a brain and body enfused with the animating spirit of life common even to animals, but created with the higher capacity of mind and intellect which makes him, though on a vastly reduced scale, worthy of the description: "in the image of God" (Gen. 1:27). God honored him with the capacity for unending, eternal life—a special privilege not allowed for the brute creation.

By disobedience Adam forfeited that privilege, though it will be restored through Christ in the Kingdom. But now humans do die, and the Bible describes man’s death as simply as it did his creation. "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psa. 146:4). Thus he waits for the resurrection.

The nature of man would have been greatly clarified to the English reader if the translators of the Bible had rendered the Hebrew nephesh (soul) consistently. As it is, the same word when applied to animals is rendered creature (Gen. 1:20, 21, 24, 30; 2:19; 9:10, 12, 15) except once in Numbers 31:28 where the context describes both humans and animals, forcing the translation "soul." And had English readers for 400 years been noting the several mentions of "dead nephesh" (soul) rather than "dead body," surely much more progress would have been made in their minds against the unscriptural Grecian philosophical belief that souls are imperishable (Num. 6:6; 9:6, 7, 10; 19:11, 13, 16; Hag. 2:13).

A Lovely Companion

If there ever was truly a "marriage made in heaven," it was surely the one between Adam and Eve. She was directly formed to be a perfect mate and companion for Adam. No doubt lovely in grace and form, we can imagine what joy and appreciation each must have felt for the other. No wonder that when Eve fell to the tempter, Adam was so strongly induced to join her, against his better judgment. How gracious that he will be granted another opportunity, with greater experience and having learned greater trust, to do better.

That opportunity awaits him in the resurrection, secured by the Redeemer’s fidelity. Jesus becomes the second life-giver for the race. "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam a quickening spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).

The second Adam will also have a bride (Rev. 21:2), made lovely by every grace of character. For Eve’s creation God "caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam . . . and he took one of his ribs" from his side as living material from which to fashion his companion (Gen. 2:21). In a parallel way the second Adam fell into the sleep of death on the cross, after which his side was pierced by a spear, allowing both blood and water to issue out (John 19:34). By Jesus’ death, and the sufferings he endured as he "poured out his soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12), both the blood of atonement and the life-giving water of truth was provided, which gives life to his bride, the church.

The Garden of Eden

The Garden was a real place, at a real location on this globe. It was specially prepared for Adam, lush with vegetation watered by a thick "mist from the earth" (Gen. 2:6). Probably we should not surmise that rain had never fallen anywhere, for four rivers converged near Eden and their volume was likely composed of rain waters. However, atmospheric conditions were different before the flood (thus the intimation of Gen. 9:11-15 that the rainbow was a new phenomenon after the flood) and evidently Adam and Eve did not experience rain while in the Garden (Gen. 2:5).

Where was Eden? Chapter 2 gives these clues. (1) It was "eastward," probably in relation to what we would consider "Bible lands." (2) It was near the convergence of the Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel [Tigris], and Euphrates rivers. Today the Tigris and Euphrates rivers converge as they empty into the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the Garden of Eden was located under what became the Persian Gulf after the flood waters augmented the sea depths.

Long range aerial photos of the Gulf region do show dry beds running from the east and the west into this basin, as the presently unidentified Pison and Gihon may have done then. The Pison passed through "Havilah, where there is gold," and probably is the area later inhabited by "Ophir and Havilah," sons of Joktan who after the flood dwelt in the "east" (Gen. 10:29). Since Ophir is coupled with Havilah, and Ophir also is associated with gold (Job 22:24; 28:16; Psa. 45:9; Isa. 13:12), probably to locate Ophir is to locate Havilah. Solomon sent ships from Elath on the Red Sea to fetch gold from Ophir (2Chron. 8:17, 18), which many ancient authorities place in the direction of India (McClintock & Strong, "Ophir," page 384, item 4), or more broadly the area east of the Persian Gulf. The Gihon passes through "the whole land of Cush." A glance at a map suggests this would be Arabian Cush rather than modern Ethiopia. "Under the denomination "Cush" were included both Arabia and the country south of Egypt on the western coast of the Red Sea" (ibid., "Cush," page 613).

It is at least consistent with this that the oil fields near the Persian Gulf imply a formerly lush growth of vegetation, and such a low-lying Eden could easily have been a tropical paradise. In this case "a river went out of Eden . . . from thence it was parted and became into four heads" (Gen. 2:10) means as one traced the river upstream out of Eden one discerned that it’s source was four rivers converging upon the low-lying Eden.

Pictures of the Atonement to Come

The Old Testament is filled with types and allegories, some explicitly interpreted (Gal. 4:24; Heb. 5:6), but most left as jewels for discovery by the earnest student. The deeper one studies these gems, the more one sees a pattern and purpose behind the various allegories. They are not simply scattered randomly. Rather, the allegories pertain in some direct way to the subject of the narrative itself. For example, in the lives of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom God gave his covenants of promise, are intertwined allegories of those very covenants and the classes to develop from them. Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel all represent one aspect or another of these covenants, and their children represent one or another of the classes developed in one stage or another of the divine plan as a result of God’s promises.

It is so here also. After the sin of Adam and Eve a ray of promise was given by God that "the seed of the woman" would bring a deliverance from sin and its penalty, and intertwined with the narrative are pictures of that coming atonement. Not until our first parentssinned did the need of a covering become apparent, representing that sin brings to us the need for a covering for our iniquity. Adam and Eve first used fig leaves, but this proved unsuitable and God provided animal skins as a replacement. The fig tree is a picture of Israel, and the leaves are a picture of professions (Matt. 21:19; Rev. 22:2). Thus the fig leaves picture man’s first hope of regaining a righteous standing by performing the teachings of the law, but this proved impossible and thus an inadequate covering. A blood atonement was necessary, represented by the death necessary to procure the durable covering of skins.

In the next scene a similar picture is provided by the offerings of Cain and Abel as they matured. Cain offered his vegetable produce, and Abel an animal sacrifice, "a more excellent sacrifice than Cain" (Heb. 11:4), and by it "he being dead yet speaketh," his gift typifying the sacrifice of Jesus which actually atones for sin. Cain represents Israel, who slew their younger sibling Jesus in jealousy. For this act Cain received a mark of punishment and became a wanderer, just as Israel has been marked with their sin and wandered through the Gospel age estranged from the greater blessings of God’s plan.

Very Long Lives

A remarkable feature of this era was the extreme life-spans of all the generations before the flood. Omitting Enoch, who was specially taken that he not see death in its normal course, the life-spans from Adam to Noah inclusive were 930, 912, 905, 910, 895, 962, 969, 777, and 950 years. These ages do not reflect any systematic decline, indicating that the health and vigor of the condemned race remained at a high and constant level from one generation to the next. But after the flood life-spans sloped downward dramatically. Evidently the radical alteration of the environment was a causative factor. Perhaps the canopy of waters which descended had shielded ultraviolet or other radiations harmful to the human frame; if so, some appropriate remedy for this would have to be effected in the Kingdom.

Despite the long lives, it is striking that none reached or exceeded 1000 years. God’s warning that "in the day that thou eatest [of the forbidden tree] thou shalt surely die" evidently was fulfilled on God’s time, "a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday" (Psa. 90:4).

Angelic Interbreeding

One of the strangest elements of the pre-flood world is that some of the angelic hosts, without divine authorization, materialized into human form to effect an inbreeding among the Adamic race. "The sons of God [angels, cf. Job 1:6; 38:7] saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose . . . There were giants in the earth in those days . . . when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown" (Gen. 6:2-4).

It is possible that these angels were motivated at least in part by a wish to energize the dying race. But their influence proved pernicious. "The earth is filled with violence . . . behold, I will destroy them" (Gen. 6:13) said God. The hybrid race was destroyed, but the angels themselves merely dematerialized, though with restrictions imposed upon them. "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6, cf. 2 Peter 2:4). If they prove repentant they will be judged for life, and if defiant in rebellion they will be destroyed. And who shall make this judgment? "We [the church] shall judge angels," Paul said (1 Cor. 6:3).

From these events a great lesson has been demonstrated: not even angelic infusions can save humanity from the condemnation of death. Only Christ, as the divinely appointed substitute for Father Adam, can through his offering release Adam and his seed from the pale of destruction, and as the "everlasting father" provide lasting, wholesome, eternal life.

Preparing the Ark

The first intimation recorded in Genesis of the impending doom upon the "world that was" appears in Genesis 6:3. "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." This might have been a 120-year preannouncement to Noah of God’s intent (since at no time did the age of mankind stabilize at about 120 years). However, this was not the time Noah was commanded to construct an ark. That message appears in Genesis 6:13-22, and includes mention of his "sons," which Genesis 5:32 says were born when Noah was 500 years old, just 100 years before the flood. However, evidently the foreboding sense of approaching judgment had been very, very long-standing. Jude says that "Enoch . . . the seventh from Adam, prophesied . . . saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all" (Jude 14, 15), and no doubt these words had an application to the flood, though another to the judgment pending today. Enoch was taken by God more than 600 years before the flood.

The dimensions of Noah’s ark were stipulated by God, 300 x 50 x 30 cubits high, and some have observed that its 6:1 length to width ratio was ideally suited to its purpose—floating with stability, something like a huge barge, with no concern for propulsion and little for direction.

Finally the calamity fell. God gave Noah a warning of seven days as the time approached. "And it came to pass on the seventh day [marginal reading] that the waters of the flood were upon the earth" (Gen. 7:10). Thus the rains began after 6 days, at the end of Noah’s sixth century, and wiped away the sinful race. Adam’s race less eight souls was laid to rest, waiting for a better opportunity and a brighter day, when they shall be called from the tomb to a better experience.

And now today, after six millennia of sin and death, the world is passing through a purging which also will lead to a better day and a brighter future. With the dawning of the seventh millennium comes a new world, the fruition of all the planning and preparation God has laid down age by age for the glorious consummation in the Kingdom of Christ. The early rays of dawn are visible to the watchers, the preparatory drama is already unfolding, and the celestial rulers are coming into their kingdom authority beyond the veil. Soon the crescendo of events will give birth to the new order. And then the bright shining of the Lord’s presence will bring uplift, healing, and blessing to a new world.

Therefore we join with the Apostle Paul in his words to the Ephesians, "May [God] be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the Church through Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:21; The Living Bible).