Old Testament 1 Creation Stage 1 Liberty Home Bible Institute HL Willmington

Jerry Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, introduces the Liberty Home Bible Institute, a home Bible study course. Dr. Harold Wilmington, Dean of the Thomas Road Bible Institute, is the instructor for the course. The program is designed for people who can't attend a Christian school in person. The course covers a two-year period and includes a comprehensive curriculum. Dr. Wilmington is experienced in local church ministry and is an author. His wife, Sue, is a deaf interpreter. The course covers theological, historical, seminar, and elective methods of studying the Bible. The Bible is described as a beautiful palace with different sections representing different parts of the Scripture. The course will focus on the Old Testament and will cover 12 basic stages of Bible history. Hello, I'm Jerry Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is also my privilege to serve as chancellor of the Liberty Baptist School System, comprising four schools, the Lynchburg Christian Academy, Liberty Baptist College, Thomas Road Bible Institute and the Liberty Baptist Seminary. It is my very distinct privilege to introduce you to probably the most exciting and innovative home Bible study course in the world today. We call it Liberty Home Bible Institute. We feel this program was born of God, first in the heart of Dr. Harold Wilmington, who is dean of the Thomas Road Bible Institute and, of course, now dean of Liberty Home Bible Institute. This Liberty Home Bible Institute program is designed to meet the needs of literally millions of people who would never and could never uproot from their home, their job, their business, their family ties, and attend any Christian school anywhere. This program enables the student, during a two-year period of study, to cover a fantastic curriculum. First of all, let me introduce you to the man whose voice you'll be hearing for two years on every cassette tape that comes to you. His name is Dr. Harold Wilmington. Well, I remember the day he joined our staff in 1972. It was indeed one of God's greatest blessings to my ministry and to the ministry of our school system. He came here to begin a Bible Institute, Thomas Road Bible Institute. He came here for the purpose of creating a program that was not available in Christendom at that time. For that reason, TRBI came into existence, a two-year crash program through the English Bible, and now, several years later, there are scores of graduates out across this country who are literally making a mark for God upon this generation in building great local churches and serving God in other ways. Dr. Wilmington graduated from Moody Bible Institute and Culver Stockton College. He attended Dallas Theological Seminary and Ashland Theological Seminary. He also pastored for 18 years, and so he has a real insight to the local church ministry. He is an author. He authored the book entitled The King is Coming. Around 100,000 copies in circulation presently. One of the outstanding books today on the premillennial, pre-tribulational coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for his church. His wife, Sue, is that lovely little lady whom you see every Sunday on television in the little circle on the Old Time Gospel Hour screen. She is our deaf interpreter. She is not deaf, of course, but she interprets to the deaf, millions of them, on hundreds of television stations all over North America. She is a great complement to his ministry. Presently, Dr. Wilmington is Vice President of the Total Liberty Baptist School System, the four schools I mentioned to you earlier. He is also continuing as Dean of Thomas Road Bible Institute. He conducts many Bible seminars in churches all across America regularly, and he is the Dean of Liberty Home Bible Institute. He is Executive Director of the ministry that we trust will be a great blessing to you as you come to know your Bible as never before. God has given to Dr. Wilmington the gift of summarization. Like no one I know, he can make the Bible live, and make it simple, and make it understandable for every kind of person who loves God and loves the book. During your two-year period of study through the Liberty Home Bible Institute course, you will be studying the theological method. This includes an analytical study of twelve basic doctrinal themes. You will approach the Bible from the historical method, presenting the unusual and unique paragraph outlines of the twelve main chronological stages of Bible history from Genesis through Revelation. You will approach the Bible through the seminar method. This will offer practical how-to-do-it lectures on a number of vital areas relating to church work, family life, and individual responsibilities. All lectures are given by those who are proven experts in that particular field. And finally, the elective method. Eight elective courses will be chosen by the student to complete his required study program. In short, you are off to a great journey and travel and adventure through the Bible, and I trust that this will be a revolutionary experience for you. Thank you for joining our student body. Hello, this is Dr. Harold Wilmington, and I am the Dean of the Thomas Rowe Bible Institute and also Director of the Liberty Home Bible Institute. And I'd like to begin by telling you what a joy, and I really mean that, what a joy it is to officially welcome you to this nationwide student body of the Liberty Home Bible Institute. And I think it's exciting to know that God has led you, along with thousands of others, to enroll in this brand-new portable Bible Institute. Now we'll be spending many fruitful hours together in the months to come if Jesus tarries. And let me say, if Jesus does not tarry, then class is dismissed and we'll see you at the Eastern Gate. But if Jesus tarries, I count it a privilege, I really do, to serve as your instructor. And I promise that I'm going to do my very best to make this course both inspirational and informative. You know, people need a study of the Word of God today. You know, our Lord Jesus said on one occasion to the devil, he said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Do you know that in the King James Bible there are 774,747 words? And our Lord said that man should not live, he's speaking of the believer now, by bread alone, but by every word, not just the few dozen verses that we might learn in Sunday school. Well, actually, I'm, I suppose, trying to sell the wrong group on this, because you are interested in the Bible and that's the reason that you've taken it. Some time ago, one of the most beautiful descriptions of the Bible ever, I think, that was written came to my attention. And I believe this was in the flyleaf of D. L. Moody's Bible, and also in the flyleaf of Billy Sunday's Bible, and it's simply entitled, The Bible. And I'd like to read it in our introductory lecture here. It goes like this. The Bible is a beautiful palace built up out of 66 blocks of solid marble, the 66 books. In the first chapter of Genesis, we enter the vestibule, which is filled with the mighty acts of creation. The vestibule gives access to the law courts of the five books of Moses, passing through which we come to the picture gallery, the historical books. Here we find hung upon the walls scenes of battlefields, representations of heroic deeds, and portraits of eminent men belonging to the early days of this world's history. Beyond the picture gallery, we find the philosopher's chamber, the book of Job, passing through which we enter the music room, the book of Psalms, where we listen to the grandest strains that ever fell upon human ears. Then we come to the business office, the book of Proverbs, where right in the center of the room stands facing us the motto, Righteousness exalted the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. From the business office we pass into the chapel, Ecclesiastes, or the preacher in his pulpit, and thence into the conservatory, the song of Solomon, with the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley, and all manner of fine perfumes and fruit and flower and singing birds. Finally we reach the observatory, the prophets, with their telescopes fixed on near and distant stars, and all directed toward that bright and morning star that was soon to arise. Crossing the court, we come to the audience chamber of the king, the Gospels, where we find four vivid lifelike portraits of the king himself. Inside we enter the workshop, or the workroom of the Holy Spirit, the Acts of the Apostles, and beyond that, the correspondence room, the epistles, where we see Paul and Peter and James and John and Jude busy at their desks, and if you would know what they are writing about, their epistles are open for all to study. Before leaving, we stand for a moment in the outside gallery, the Revelation, where we look upon some striking pictures of the judgments to come and the glories to be revealed, concluding with an awe-inspiring picture of the throne room of the king himself. And then we hear the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he shall rule forever. Well, I think that's almost inspired, don't you? And that's the book that we are going to study. Someone has written this about the Bible. In the Bible we read of the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, and the doom of sinners. We read of the happiness of believers. Its doctrine is holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. We are to read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains strength to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's charter. After heaven is opened and the gates of hell disclosed, Christ is its grand subject and good its design, and the glory of God is its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. The approach that we are taking has been called, at least we have called it down here, basic stages in the book of Ages, a brand new look at the grand old book. And of course these tapes we are concerned primarily with the Old Testament. But actually we have divided the Bible into 12 basic periods of time, and we call these, as we said, basic stages. And let me give you sort of a bird's eye view of what we will be studying in the next few months. The Old Testament has 9 of these basic stages, and the New Testament has 3, for a total of 12. Okay, now the first stage is called the creation stage. That's what we'll be referring to it by, and that's Genesis 1 through 11. And of course that tells us what God did the first day and the second and the third and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth, and the early moments and events of this world's history. So that's the creation stage, Genesis 1 through 11. Then in Genesis 12, a very important man gets saved and we have a brand new ball game. His name is Abraham, and that leads us into the patriarchal stage. And this covers Genesis 12 through 50, and also the book of Job. Now some believe that Job and Abraham lived about the same time, but they compose the patriarchal stage. Patriarchal, of course, means an early spiritual father of the Bible. Men like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Job, at least to say, these five men. Then after the patriarchal stage, we have the exodus stage. Do you remember how Genesis chapter 50 ends? We have Israel and Egypt, and then there was a new Pharaoh that arose that knew not Joseph or Joseph's God, and so they are in terrible captivity. And we have the exodus stage as led by Moses, and that includes Exodus and Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And then you remember at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, they're on the eastern side of the Jordan River, about ready to go in the land. And that brings us then to stage number four, the conquest stage. That's one single book in the Bible, but what an exciting book it is. It's the book of Joshua. And then from there, the judgeous stage, which is probably the saddest stage in Old Testament history. It's sort of the Middle Age period or the Dark Age period, someone has said in Israeli chronology. The judgeous stage would contain the book of Judges and the book of Ruth and the first seven chapters of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 1-7. And then you have the United Kingdom stage, and that includes 1 Samuel 8-1 Samuel 31. Something happens in 1 Samuel 8, there's a great big tall fellow whose name is Saul, and he's anointed as the first king. And so he rules for some 40 years, and he's succeeded then by a man after God's own heart whose name is David. And David rules for 40 years, and then David dies and is succeeded by his well-known son whose name was Solomon. And so you have a period of approximately 120 years called the United Kingdom stage. This would include 1 Samuel 8-31, all of 2 Samuel, and the first 11 chapters of 1 Kings. It would include all of the rest of 1 Chronicles. It would include 2 Chronicles 1-9, and a number of the poetical books. It would include the book of Psalms and the song of Solomon, the book of Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes. That's the United Kingdom stage. And then the divided kingdom stage, or as we have entitled the chaotic kingdom stage, where law and order was sort of up for grabs, you might say, because after the death of Solomon, then he had a son who was very inexperienced and very immature. I suppose we could say stupid. And his name was Rehoboam. And in 1 Kings 12, we have one of the saddest chapters in all the Bible, because this records a very tragic civil war. The northern ten tribes secede, as it were, from the southern two tribes, and you have the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. So this is called the divided kingdom stage, and this would correspond, the information would be included in 1 Kings 12, and then the rest of 1 Kings, and 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles, and then the book of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Joel, Obadiah, Nahum, Isaiah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Lamentations. And so many of the books in the Bible, the Old Testament, were written during the seventh stage, which is the divided kingdom stage. And then the eighth stage, you have the captivity stage. In the year 605 B.C., something very, very frightening happened, as far as Israeli history is concerned. A fellow named Nebuchadnezzar came down from Babylon, surrounded the city of Jerusalem, and later would burn its building, destroy its walls, and simply annihilate it, almost from the face of the Middle East. And two books were written during the captivity stage. One was the book of Ezekiel, and one was the book of Daniel. Both these men, Ezekiel and Daniel, grew up in the city of Jerusalem. They were both carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, and they both wrote their books in the Babylonian captivity. And then some 70 years later, we have the final stage called the return stage, because the Babylonian Empire had fallen during that 70-year period and was succeeded by the Persian Empire. And the mighty Persian monarch Cyrus issued the famous decree there in the first chapter of Ezra, chapter 1, allowing the Jews to go back and rebuild the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed some 70 years before that time. So you have the ninth and final stage, the return stage, and this would include such books as Ezra and Esther, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and then the final book in the Old Testament, the book of Malachi. Then you have, of course, a 400-year space between the writing of the Old and New Testaments, and during the fulness of time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman whose name was Jesus. Then we enter the tenth stage in biblical history, entitled the gospel stage, and that includes the biographies of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then the eleventh stage, shortly after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, called the early church stage, and that has one book, but again, like the book of Joshua in the Old Testament, what an exciting book it is, is called the book of the Acts. And then finally the twelfth stage, the epistle stage, and that's the remaining books in the New Testament. So here we have, in a nutshell, the twelve basic stages in the book of Ages. Now in beginning, and by the way, we need to keep a record of this, this will be the first of some 80 lectures on the Old Testament. And we'll have the same in the New Testament, because that's part two, and I like stories that have a happy ending, and this story has a happy ending. I like stories where the hero of the story gets the bride, and they settle down and get married and live happily ever after. They sort of ride off in the sunset, and this is how our story ends. So once we go through the Old Testament, then we simply must go through the New Testament and discover how the story ends. We told you about the twelve basic stages. Let me introduce now the first stage, entitled the creation stage. These eleven chapters, Genesis 1 to 11, are absolutely vital in rightly understanding the remaining 1,178 in the Bible. If the student accepts these at face value, he'll have no trouble concerning the rest of the Old and the New Testament. And you know, dear friend, you show me someone who has trouble with the first eleven chapters, they're not quite sure of their historicity or of their scientific accuracy, and something else perhaps that bothers them, then I'll show you probably a student or a person that will have problems with the miracles in the Old Testament, and they won't be quite sure about this virgin birth business and about whether the fact that Christ actually walked on water. Can we still believe things like this? And that death, burial, and resurrection, did Jesus literally die, and did he literally come out of a grave? And what about this business in Revelation 19 of a Savior coming to earth again on a white horse from the sky? Can we believe all this? Well, if a person has problems in the first eleven chapters, that's the foundation of the Bible, chances are he'll have problems with the entire house of the Bible. The answer, of course, is to can we believe this literally? Yes, indeed, we are to believe the Bible literally. So that's very important, and we'll spend several lectures, probably four or five, maybe even six lectures on the first eleven chapters, because they are so important. Three men, important men of this stage, of the creation stage, I suppose could be summarized by mentioning these three, Adam and Enoch and Noah. There are four important events of this stage. One is the creation of man, and then there's the fall of man, the third is the flood, and the fourth is the Tower of Babel. The creation account includes everything, friends. This is everything from electrons to galaxies, from dinosaurs to dandelions, and from angels to Adam, all in that six-day period. Now this stage is also rather unique, because it is the only stage that pictures God as resting. At the end of chapter one, at the beginning of chapter two, we find where God is resting. But then in chapter three, man sins, and from that point on, God works for the redemption of fallen man. Our Lord said in the New Testament, My Father worketh hitherto and I work. He told his disciples, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work. And then right before he was crucified, he said these thrilling words, I have finished the work that thou called me to do. I have a little poem I read some time ago concerning the work of God and concerning the work of salvation, and it goes this way. The Father wrought it, that is to say he thought it up, the Father wrought it, and the Son bought it, and the Spirit taught it, and the Devil fought it, the rich man sought it, the dying thief caught it, and thank God I've got it. So this is the only stage that pictures God as resting. This stage gives us the name of the first human being to be created, his name is Adam, and the first human being to be born, and his name was Cain, the first baby to be born on this earth. This stage records the first man to die, his name was Abel, and he was a martyr for his faith. It also records the first man not to die, and his name was Enoch, who goes to heaven without dying. This stage records the first marriage, the first murder, and the first promise of the Messiah. This stage gives us the first illustration of human religion. That's by way of the fig leaves that Adam and Eve sowed to hide themselves from the nakedness of God, and it gives us the first illustration of divine redemption in the form of the coats of skin that God made for a sinful man and his wife. In short, I think it's been said that this stage records the Garden of Eden, the mountains of Erat, the plains of Shinar. It closes, well, somewhere around 2200 B.C. Now let me give you an analysis, we've given you an introduction. Now before we go right into the Word of God itself, let me give you an analysis of Genesis 1 through 11, and we'll go through some of the material that we'll be covering. First of all, we're going to be looking at the pre-creation activities of God. What God was doing before he created the world. And then the size of creation. How big is God's creation, and how small is God's creation? And then the complexity of creation. We hope that you'll never again use the expression, a simple one-celled animal, after we study this. Now let me tell you, this is not a course in science, but there are so many thrilling scientific implications in the first few chapters that we definitely want to give a brief Reader's Digest type summary of some of these scientific implications. Then the date of creation. Some methods used to determine dates, and perhaps some indications of a recent creation date. Is this world really 5 to 50 billion years old, as many scientists would have us believe? Then the methods of creation. How did all things come into being? Today, of course, there are three main theories. There is the atheistic materialism theory that says that you give enough mud enough time and it will by itself create everything. Then there's a theory called theistic evolution. This theory says that God used the method of evolution. There was a God, he did create all things, but he used the method of evolution. Then there's a third theory called special creation, and this says, in effect, that God created all things in the six literal days that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 speak of. Then the chronology of creation, we'll be studying about this. The creation of the heavens, now that's H-E-A-V-E-N-S, plural. The Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. There are three heavens, and we'll discuss those. Then the proposed gap between Genesis 1-1 and Genesis 1-2. Did something frightful and fearful happen between the first two verses in the Bible? We'll be discussing that. Then the work of the first six days and the first man. Then we'll get into the subtlety of Satan and the fall of man and the results of his fall, judgment upon the man, upon the woman, upon all nature, upon the serpent, upon the devil. Then we'll see in this the grace of God, how he sought out Adam, how he promised them a Savior, how he clothed them, and yes, how he removed them from the Garden of Eden. This was not just an act of judgment in removing them from the Garden of Eden, it was actually an act of grace, and we'll see that. Then we'll see the first offering upon this earth, the offering of Abel and Cain, and then the ministry of Enoch, who was the first man to go to heaven without dying. Then some very mysterious characters in Genesis 6 that are called the sons of God. Who were these creatures? Were they men? Were they angels? We'll discuss that. Then something concerning the pre-flood world. What was the antediluvian climate and topography really like? And what is meant by the canopy theory? This is a very popular theory in some camp schools, and what does this mean? And how advanced was the pre-flood civilization? How much spiritual light did they have? I'm talking about conditions before the flood. How did their age compare with our age? By the way, Jesus said there was a favorable comparison between Noah's age and between our age. And then finally, of course, the flood itself, the condemnation of the world, a number of questions that we'll attempt to ask and answer. When did the flood begin? What may have triggered the flood? How long did the flood last? Was the flood worldwide? How destructive would a worldwide flood be? How big was Noah's ark? How did Noah gather to himself all the animals on board that ark? How did he pack them on board? How did he feed and keep them for an entire year? And here's one. Were there dinosaurs on board the ark? You know, I can hardly wait to hear what I'm going to say about some of these things myself. Well, we discussed a lot of these. For example, was there an ice age? And where did all the floodwaters go? Where did the ark land? And by the way, has the ark been sighted since it landed on Mount Ararat? And then, what was involved in Noah's prophecy concerning his three sons? And finally, in Genesis 11, this pretty well will bring us to the end of the first creation stage, the confusion at Babel or the Tower of Babel. Well, I hope by this time we've sort of whetted your appetite, and let's begin now by reading just the first few verses in the Bible, and then we'll comment. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Now before we go any further, let me briefly discuss with you some of the things that God was doing before the creation of the world. What do you think God was up to before he got around to creating man? At least six things God was doing. Number one, and before I even introduce number one, let me just say this, that sometimes people, I think even Christians, get their theology from the comic books or the cartoons, and we allow Walt Disney to interpret the Bible instead of Moses for us. We get the idea that before creation God was so lonely, and he sort of looked like Father Time with the long white beard, and he sounded like Edward G. Robinson, and there God was so sad and there was nothing good on television, and he saw the bunny rabbit and he saw the antelope and the fish and the fowl, and everybody had a companion, and God says, I'm just so lonely, and he began to cry, and he said, I know what I'll do, I'll create me a man, and then I won't be lonely. Now I'm not sure why God created man. I think a suggested answer to that question is found in Revelation 4, verse 11, but student, let me tell you one reason he did not create man. God did not create man because he was lonely, for the Bible says that God had and God has and God always will have a beloved son. God, number one, was having fellowship with his son before the creation of the world. The last prayer that our Lord prayed before they put him on the cross is found in John 17, verse 5, Jesus says, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, now notice, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. What was God doing before the foundation of the world? He was having fellowship with his son. In that same chapter of John, chapter 17, verse 24, our Lord says, For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. God was having fellowship with his son. The second thing that God was doing, God was creating angels and stars. In the book of Job, Job had been, well, really sort of bad-mouthing God. He was claiming that God was losing control of the universe, and God says, Now, Job, I really don't have it up for grabs like you might think, and Job, you seem to think that I've lost control. I'd like to ask you something, Job, where was thou? In Job 38, verses 4 and 7 we read, Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth, and the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? So what a dedication service they had when God created the world. He says here that the morning stars, that's probably the reference to angels, or maybe the actual stars that we see in the heavens, sang together and all the sons of God, that's the angels, shouted for joy. So what was he doing before he created the world? Well, he was creating angels and stars. And then the third thing God was doing, God was planning for a church. He was planning for a church. In the book of Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 4, Paul says this, According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, and it says, the entire book of Ephesians Paul says that God has asked me, God has called me to declare this mystery to you, that God was planning for a church before the foundation of the world. Even before Israel came into existence and then Israel was set aside by God at the day of Pentecost and the Gentiles now are carrying out the message of Christ until the tribulation, of course Israel will again be back in the limelight, but even before there was an Israel, God was planning for a church. And then the third thing that God was doing, God was choosing the elect. The Bible says, Chosen in him before the foundation of the world. In other words, that before God even created Adam, God had written the names of all believers down in the Lamb's book of life. Now we're not going to take this hour or any of the Old Testament studies to debate predestination and election, but the Bible simply says that before the foundation of the world, God knew those that would be saved and he wrote their names down in the book of life. He was very busy before he created this world, having fellowship with his Son, creating angels and stars, planning for a church, choosing the elect. Then he was planning for a kingdom. Jesus will someday repeat these words. He'll say, Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This is the millennial kingdom, the 1,000 year reign of Christ. Think of it, even before Jesus came, God was planning for his rule. Even before Bethlehem, God had the millennium in mind. Then the final thing that God was doing before the creation of the world, and apart from this, I don't suppose the first five would mean very much in the long haul of the thing. God was planning for a Savior. In Revelation 13, verse 8, the scriptures speak of the Lamb slain from the foundation. Then also in 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19, Simon Peter speaks of Jesus who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Let me just briefly now say this, that the first verse in the Bible says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. As we said before, that this verse is probably the most profound verse ever written. It refutes a number of false doctrines. Number one, it refutes the false doctrine of polytheism, and that says that there are many gods, but the Bible says, In the beginning, one God. Secondly, it refutes the doctrine of materialism, because the materialist says there is no spirit, only matter. But the Bible says that in the beginning God, the invisible spirit God, created the world. And it refutes the doctrine of eternalism, and that says that the world always existed. But Genesis 1 says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, so it refutes that doctrine. I suppose that there is not a more profound statement among the 31,173 verses in the entire word of God than that first statement. Now, concerning the heavens that God created, in the Hebrew, as I told you, it says, In the beginning he created the heavens, three. There are three heavens mentioned in the Bible, first heaven, second heaven, and third heaven. The first heaven is the atmospheric heavens, that is, the home of the birds and of the clouds. On one occasion in the New Testament, our Lord said, Consider the fowls the birds of the heavens, of the skies, and he is referring to the first heaven. In the beginning God created that. Then some years before that in Genesis, or in Psalm 19, verse 1, David was a shepherd boy and he was keeping watch by night over his father's sheep, and he looked up in that starry sky over the Judean hills and he sees the little dipper and the big dipper and the shining moon and the stars a million light years removed, and he says, The heavens declare the glory of God. Now there he was speaking about the second heaven. That's the home of the stars and the moon and the home of outer space. And in the beginning God created the second heaven. Then in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, the Apostle Paul said that on one occasion he himself, the Apostle, was caught up into the third heaven, beyond the first, beyond the second, into the third heaven, and that's the very abode of God. And in the beginning God created that heaven also. So God was very busy before he created all these things. Now, our Father, we ask your blessing upon this first lecture. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray, thy blessed Son and our wonderful Savior. Amen. Amen.