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1But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob,

and he who formed you, Israel, says:

“Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you.

I have called you by your name.

You are mine.

2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,

and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned,

and flame will not scorch you.

3For I am Yahweh your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

your Savior.

I have given Egypt as your ransom,

Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

4Since you have been precious and honored in my sight,

and I have loved you,

therefore I will give people in your place,

and nations instead of your life.

5Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and gather you from the west.

6I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’

and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!

Bring my sons from far away,

and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

7everyone who is called by my name,

and whom I have created for my glory,

whom I have formed,

yes, whom I have made.’”

8Bring out the blind people who have eyes,

and the deaf who have ears.

9Let all the nations be gathered together,

and let the peoples be assembled.

Who among them can declare this,

and show us former things?

Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified,

or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”

10“You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh,

“With my servant whom I have chosen;

that you may know and believe me,

and understand that I am he.

Before me there was no God formed,

neither will there be after me.

11I myself am Yahweh.

Besides me, there is no savior.

12I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown,

and there was no strange god among you.

Therefore you are my witnesses”,

says Yahweh, “and I am God.

13Yes, since the day was, I am he.

There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

I will work, and who can hinder it?”

14Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. 15I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

16Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea,

and a path in the mighty waters,

17who brings out the chariot and horse,

the army and the mighty man

(they lie down together, they shall not rise;

they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick) says:

18“Don’t remember the former things,

and don’t consider the things of old.

19Behold, I will do a new thing.

It springs out now.

Don’t you know it?

I will even make a way in the wilderness,

and rivers in the desert.

20The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me,

because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21the people which I formed for myself,

that they might declare my praise.

22Yet you have not called on me, Jacob;

but you have been weary of me, Israel.

23You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings,

neither have you honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

nor wearied you with frankincense.

24You have bought me no sweet cane with money,

nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices,

but you have burdened me with your sins.

You have wearied me with your iniquities.

25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake;

and I will not remember your sins.

26Put me in remembrance.

Let us plead together.

Declare your case,

that you may be justified.

27Your first father sinned,

and your teachers have transgressed against me.

28Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;

and I will make Jacob a curse,

and Israel an insult.”

Is the Creation Account in Genesis One an Historical Account or a Myth?

Is the Creation Account in Genesis One an Historical Account or a Myth?

Topical Study | Gen 1:1 | Hershel Wayne House

There is controversy today in the Christian community far more important than differences among believers in many decades regarding the nature of the Genesis account in Genesis 1, 2, & 3. Liberal scholars have generally believed the creation account was not truly representative of an actual event but embraced a Darwinist explanation of the creation of the world (what is often called macro-evolution), that contends that all of life on earth developed from very small forms of life that were created by an accident in the primordial fluids of ancient earth billions of years ago. Even so, the current debate extends much further than believing in long periods for the creation days and even accepting some form of evolution. The current debate is whether Adam and Eve and the events transpiring around them in the biblical account ever occurred and whether Genesis is only a myth rather than factual history.

Christians, through most of Christian history (and the Jewish people before Christianity), have embraced a literal and factual creation by God that is found in Genesis 1, as well as the more detailed creation of humans in Genesis 2. In current Christianity, several scholars, who are generally conservative in most areas of theology, are advocating that the Genesis One account is, in reality, a myth or fiction. Moreover, there is a rejection of an actual Adam and Eve, a temptation and fall, and many of the events in the book of Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament. Allegedly, God only inspired a mythical account that provided a story in which He could teach an inerrant truth about Himself being the ultimate Creator of the universe.

However, there are several reasons to reject this manner of interpreting Genesis. First, this alternate view is contrary to the understanding of various persons in the Old Testament, Jesus, the apostles, and the church for most of its history. Second, though the factual account of creation and the fall arguably contains some poetic features, the essence is a true and historical account that is consistent with the mainstream scientific understanding of the chronology of the creative events. Additionally, the biblical account of creation is not in agreement with Ancient Near East creation stories, upon which many current scholars rely in rejecting the factual, historical account found in Scripture, as well as the uniqueness of the Genesis account of creation. As the literary scholar C. S. Lewis once stated, "Myth comes from history and not history from myth."

I would encourage you to view the free YouTube video, Is Genesis History? Click https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UM82qxxskZE&feature=youtu.be in the browser of your phone, iPad, or Computer for this excellent discussion of the historicity of the book of Genesis.

The writers of the Bible believed in the historical doctrine of the creation of the world and the specific creation of Adam and Eve. The Bible contains about 300 verses on creation.

Gen 1:1-27; 2:1-23; 3:1, 19, 23; 5:1, 2; 6:6, 7; 7:4; 9:6

Exod 4:11, 32; 14:21; 20:11; 31:17

Deut 32:15

2 Kgs 19:15

1 Chr 1:1; 16:26

2 Chr 2:12

Neh 9:6

Job 4:7; 9:8, 9; 10:8; 26:7; 28:6; 31:15; 32:22; 33:4, 6, 7; 34:15; 38:4-6; 40:15

Ps 8:3-8; 19:1-4; 24:1; 33:6; 52:7; 86:9; 89:11, 12; 90:2, 3; 94:9; 95:5, 6; 96:5; 100:3; 102:25; 104:2-5, 19, 24, 25, 30; 115:8, 15; 119:73; 121:2; 125:3, 8; 135:7; 139:14, 15; 146:6; 148:1-5

Prov 8:23-29; 14:31; 16:4; 17:5; 20:1, 2, 12; 22:2; 26:10

Eccl 3:11; 7:14, 29; 11:5; 12:1, 7

Isa 17:7; 22:11; 27:11; 29:16; 37:16, 26; 40:21, 26, 28; 41:20; 42:5; 43:1, 7, 10, 17, 21; 44:2, 21, 24; 45:7, 8, 12, 18; 48:13; 49:5; 51:13, 16; 66:2, 22

Jer 1:5; 10:11-13, 16; 27:5; 29:9; 31:35; 32:17; 33:2; 51:15, 16

Ezek 21:30; 28:13, 15

Hos 8:14

Amos 4:13; 5:8; 9:6

Jonah 1:9

Hab 1:14

Zech 12:1

Mal 2:10, 15

Matt 13:35; 19:4, 5, 6, 8; 24:21; 25:34

Mark 10:6; 13:19; 16:15

Luke 3:38; 11:50

John 1:3, 10; 8:44; 9:32; 17:24

Acts 7:50; 14:15; 17:24

Rom 1:19, 20; 5:12, 14-19; 8:19-23, 39; Rom 13:1, 4

1 Cor 11:3, 8, 9, 12; 15:22, 38, 45-47, 49

2 Cor 4:6

Eph 1:4, 39

Col 1:16, 17, 23; 3:10

1 Tim 2:13, 14; 4:3, 4

Heb 1:2, 3, 10, 14; 3:4; 4:3, 4, 10, 13; 9:11, 26; 12:27

Jas 3:9, 10

1 Pet 1:20; 4:19

2 Pet 3:3, 4-7, 13

Rev 3:14; 4:8-11; 10:6; 13:8; 14:7; 17:8; 21:1, 5; 22:13

Knowing the Truth about Creation, p. 150, from Norm Geisler, The Importance of Creation (PowerPoint Presentation)