The gap, the king, and the Savior
I read a book in my college days called The King of the Earth by Erich Sauer where I was first exposed to the "Gap Theory". Basically, this theory holds that there is a gap of indeterminable length between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 where a created and mature universe fell as a result of the rebellion of Satan (some call him Lucifer, but that's another topic). Many people attempt to place the eons of evolution into the perceived gap. I have to admit that when I read the book I wasn't thinking along those lines at all. When we read the Scriptures rightly I believe that placing the evolutionary process into that gap is wrong. But that doesn't convince me that the gap theory is wrong.
What if, for example, the gap was a mere 30 minutes or 15 seconds? Rejecting the placement of the many millions of years evolutionists claim have transpired before arriving at this present time and, therefore, rejecting the gap is a false dilemma. What Sauer's book did for me was clarify why God created us at all.
Before Sauer's book I never have received a good (read "intellectually satisfying") answer for the purpose of man. I know that I was put on this earth to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever (or by enjoying Him forever). That gets me part of the way in my head. But God does command man in the Garden to multiply over the whole earth and subdue it. He wanted us to rule over the creation and lovingly enslave it. We were to be the King of the Earth. Why this command? Was it just a test? Was it a means that He chose to reclaim that which had been sullied?
No doubt the curse that followed our fall came much later in Chapter 3 along with the great protoevangelium in v. 15 (which has captured my imagination like nothing else in the Scriptures) but what of the rebellion of Satan? The fall, no doubt, paved the way for his demise when God promised deliverance through the death, burial, and resurrection of the King of Kings, but I just can't shake the command for us to rule, for us to subdue. Why not the promise of the Deliverer earlier when the command he gave to us was issued?
Ugh. Why indeed.
What if, for example, the gap was a mere 30 minutes or 15 seconds? Rejecting the placement of the many millions of years evolutionists claim have transpired before arriving at this present time and, therefore, rejecting the gap is a false dilemma. What Sauer's book did for me was clarify why God created us at all.
Before Sauer's book I never have received a good (read "intellectually satisfying") answer for the purpose of man. I know that I was put on this earth to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever (or by enjoying Him forever). That gets me part of the way in my head. But God does command man in the Garden to multiply over the whole earth and subdue it. He wanted us to rule over the creation and lovingly enslave it. We were to be the King of the Earth. Why this command? Was it just a test? Was it a means that He chose to reclaim that which had been sullied?
No doubt the curse that followed our fall came much later in Chapter 3 along with the great protoevangelium in v. 15 (which has captured my imagination like nothing else in the Scriptures) but what of the rebellion of Satan? The fall, no doubt, paved the way for his demise when God promised deliverance through the death, burial, and resurrection of the King of Kings, but I just can't shake the command for us to rule, for us to subdue. Why not the promise of the Deliverer earlier when the command he gave to us was issued?
Ugh. Why indeed.
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