PHYSICAL CREATION vs SPIRITUAL CREATION
The creation story is among the most iconic images in the Bible. Even those who do not consider themselves to be religious recognize Adam and Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Because of this awareness, it is not surprising that creation is one of the hottest topics for debate between those who take the Bible literally and those who do not. It would not garner the attention, however, if the Christian zealots did not make it a religious issue.

The way we see it the, creationist zealots are all wrong. They insist on picking fights they cannot win because they are stuck in Old/First Covenant religion where the letter of the law is all that they understand. As we said, we will not enter the debate because it is not worth debating — at least not in the terms that religionists have employed in their side of it. However,  we will here give our own interpretations of what God intended to communicate — not just about creation as a singular event in time, but about the spiritual world in general.

This series of pages is dedicated to showing that Creation and the Garden of Eden stories are parables that preview everything else we read in the Bible. They go way beyond the creationist’s simplistic, literal interpretations of natural creation to expose deep spiritual truths about spiritual creation found throughout the Bible. As God gives eyes to see, readers will come to see new, life-giving truths in a very old story. Our hope is that readers will be able to apply those Biblical truths to their own lives, and that they will learn from our example of how to dig for spiritual truth in difficult scriptures. We also hope that any readers who may have been involved in the creation dispute in any way will repent for their involvement and redirect their efforts for more profitable pursuits.

Another hope we have is that readers will learn is God’s pattern of giving a prophetic preview of coming attractions is something he often does through parables and prophets in words and stories that are always mysteries that challenge our understanding.  If anyone would want to research this pattern of forecasting, we think they would prove that there is no Bible story that is told only once. The actors, circumstances and dates, may change, but the story is always the same. Here is our condensed version of the major theme of the Bible:

The way we see it, the creation account is the first time this basic Bible story is told. Everything after that is elaboration, commentary and retelling of the basic story that applies to everyone — not just to Israel. We find this truth in the following scriptures.

Isaiah 40:21-22 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

Isaiah 41:4  Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He.

Isaiah 41:24-27 Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nought; an abomination is he who chooses you. 25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call on my name; he shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay. 26 Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, and beforetime, that we might say, “He is right”? There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words. 27 I first have declared it to Zion, and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good tidings.

Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Isaiah 45:21  Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.

Isaiah 46:8-13: “Remember this and consider, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. 12 “Hearken to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from deliverance: 13 I bring near my deliverance, it is not far off, and my salvation will not tarry; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.”

Isaiah 48:1-8 Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the loins of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD, and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right. 2 For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name. 3 “The former things I declared of old, they went forth from my mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them and they came to pass. 4 Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, 5 I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, ‘My idol did them, my graven image and my molten image commanded them.’ 6 “You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I make you hear new things, hidden things which you have not known. 7 They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8 You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and that from birth you were called a rebel.

Most readers will reject any suggestion that the creation story is not simply about creation of the physical world. Christians especially like to think that they have the inside track on the truth because they have the New Testament, but the above scriptures from Isaiah tell us that the Jews had it all from the beginning also. Not that it did them any good, however, because they, along with Christians, are still stuck in Old/First Covenant religion.

Setting aside rebelliousness for a moment, we understand why Christians and Jews are stuck in an Old/First Covenant, literal interpretation of the creation story. The story is a deep and confusing parable that introduces the rest of the Bible. We also  understand that the ability to understand these deep truths depends on two factors: God’s willingness to reveal truth; the presence of hard, calloused hearts that are so conditioned to literal truth that they cannot acknowledge or accept spiritual truth.

Why God made the creation story this way is a mystery to us. We speculate, however, that it is like he knows rebellious people will not understand from one telling so he tells it again and again, speaking first in vague parables and then following with real life examples of Bible characters. In each telling, however, it is basically the same story of sin, bondage, deliverance and new life. But even though this clear pattern exists, many do not get the meaning because they cannot read between the lines to get the Spirit of the stories. All they focus on is the literal words which tell the real story in natural terms. Failure to see through the natural to the spiritual is part of the curse of being an Old/First Covenant believer.