When I was first introduced to true Rightly Dividing, I was about 13 years old. My parents bought a copy of
One Book Rightly Divided from Dr. Bill Grady, who strongly recommended it. After I read through that book, my spiritual understanding was opened to the incredible depth of the Scriptures. Dr. Stauffer doesn't address the Gap theory in depth, or at all if memory serves me correctly, so at that point I was still firmly set in agreement with men like Kent Hovind and Ken Ham who taught that the Gap was simply an attempt to reconcile the Bible and the Genesis account of Creation with the humanistic theories of Evolution. Needless to say, I was, as they are, very very wrong on that point.
Some people do point to Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 and attempt to fit evolution into it, but a simple reading of the Scriptures proves that God never used "Natural Selection" or "evolution" to bring about the Creation. When God finished in Genesis 1:31, the Creation that had taken Him but six days to complete was whole, mature and finished. He did not use "Survival of the Fittest" or any nonsense like that to create the earth: the creation of Genesis 1:3-31 (regardless of your stance on the Gap, the actual creation of everything besides the earth itself began in verse 3) was "very good" like God said, without the necessity of any natural processes.
In 2003, my family and I took a trip to Dillon Montana to visit my aunt and uncle and attend Bro. Sturgeon's Big Sky Camp Meeting. God did some miraculous things in my family at that meeting; He gave my dad some direction and started us on the path that led us to where we are today as a family (not to mention Kathie and myself getting together!). While there, I had a discussion with a man in the church (whom we knew from a church we had attended in Missouri) about the Gap "theory." I gave him my pre-digested response about evolution and whatnot, and he explained that the Gap was nothing of the sort. He pointed out the fact that God did not view the firmament as being good when He had created it, and that sparked my curiosity. After reading a lot of Scripture and talking to a few different people about it, I began to change my stance on the issue. I've since come completely around to where I understand the Dispensational significance of the Gap, and its prophetic parallels. While some of those specifics are deep and somewhat clouded and I won't dig that deeply into the topic, there is enough valid Scripture to show that there have been, in fact, two Creations: the third and final Creation is spoken of in Revelation 21 (remember, God almost
always works in threes and sevens).
Ok, that was the introduction. I'll try to address the "heaven/s" thing more specifically here. I just wanted to point out that I don't have a "pre-conceived" doctrine that I'm trying to defend: I was originally an "anti-gapper" to the hilt, but God showed me otherwise through His word.
When you find the same exact word or phrase used the same way in two different places about two different things, it's imperative that the reader note that and allow God to show the similarities. Genesis 1:2 and Jeremiah 4:23 parallel almost perfectly: the subject in both sentences is the earth, and in both places it is referred to as "without form, and void;" even to the point of the
exact same usage and punctuation!! Were that to appear anywhere else in the Bible, anyone would simply accept it as Biblical truth and a God-given cross-reference. However, when it comes to a "questionable" teaching or doctrine, the "brethren" get skittish and look for a way out.
Gen. 1:2 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.
Jer. 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it
was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Now understandably, the Jeremiah reference is speaking directly of the destruction of Jerusalem, prophetically occurring at the end of the Tribulation; from what I recall (end-times prophecy is not my strong suit), this happens right before the destruction by fire and re-creation of the earth spoken of in Revelation 21 and 2 Peter 3. However, as Bible Believers we know that the Bible always has multiple applications, so this should not be an exception. As I showed with my topic on Inspiration (discussion on that should be directed to that thread so as not to derail this one), the same word or phrase used in two different places almost certainly defines and cross-references itself.
Unarguably, Genesis 1:2 refers to the earth right before God creates the current population of flora and fauna, and Jeremiah 4:23 refers to a place and time of destruction, likely before God recreates it. Both places imply previous existence of something; God didn't simply create a huge ball of water-covered mud floating in water. Somehow it got that way, as Genesis 1:2 speaks of something that is in a state of destruction (a la Jer. 4:23). By the way, "without form, and void" does
NOT mean "unformed and unfilled": it means "without form, and void." therefore, what God had made was at that point "without form, and void." Claiming that God created something that was "without form, and void" is rather baseless: you'll not find anywhere else that God created something that was immediately "without form, and void."
Saying that, let's get back to the "heaven/s" quandary. Without getting into the whole process of Creation, the fall of Lucifer, the destruction of Eden, and the recreation (I'll save that for another time
), I want to address Bro. Forrest's objections.
Without a "Gap," you have a God who created a "without form, and void" mudball, and one "heaven," and then decided "Whoops, I needed three of those!" and created two more. I have a God that created a perfect paradise for the Sons of God (Job 38:4-7) which was subsequently destroyed in a cataclysmic, supernatural rebellion, which took His 4-Dimensional, Divine Creation (Gen. 1:1, Eph. 3:18) and degraded it into our current 3-Dimensional universe; as a result, God's throne (Heaven) was still 4D (Eph. 3:18) but the remainder was divided into two parts (2 - number of division) which we know as "space" and the atmosphere: He then recreated the demolished earth (Gen. 1:2) into a beautiful planet where He placed the king to rule His creation: Adam.
On the one hand you have a slightly absentminded God who says one thing ("heaven," singular) and then makes three things in almost the same breath, and somehow gets a kick out of making broken things and then making mud pies. On the other hand, you have a God that is powerful and sovereign, Who gives His creatures the Free Will to serve Him or rebel, and Who deigns to give His creature (man) the rule ("dominion," Gen. 1:26, 28) over His beautiful Creation; this God also works in threes, as this is the second Creation, and looking forward to the third where He will give His chosen people the entire universe for their habitation.
These topics are fun.