God's Plan for Man and Planet Earth

By Rev. Elton Yutzy

This book covers Pastor Yutzys thoughts regarding some theological issues from eternity past to eternity future; from the creation of the first heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1) to the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 2122). He rejects evolution but does not agree with the young earth creationists. In eschatology, he is premillennial but does not accept the doctrine of imminence. Today, we do not know the day of his coming but, he believes, if we know what we are to look for, we will know the time when it arrives. Christs coming will not be as a thief in the night to those who know what to look for regarding the rapture of the church. The last part of the book covers his perspective on Gods special purpose for the church, Israel, and the Gentiles. He gives his views on abortion, tattoos, cremation, the lake of fire, Gehenna, outer darkness, heaven, the New Jerusalem, and other topics relevant for the church today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781490812649

Rev. Elton Yutzy

Elton Yutzy Sr. (BA, biblical studies, Cedarville University) has pastored for forty years at Maranatha Community Fellowship, Plain City, Ohio. He stepped down as head pastor in 2009. He presently serves as associate pastor and elder in the church. He wrote a weekly article for the local newspapers for twenty years. He quit writing articles to devote his time to writing this book. He is married to Betty Kuhns Yutzy. They have four children and five grandchildren.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Before The Beginning

Ibelieve in the BIG BANG theory. God spoke and BANG it happened. I don’t know how loud he spoke but it must have thundered. It didn’t take God weeks or years to accomplish his work. The same goes when he will create a new heaven and a new earth. He will say the Word and it will happen. It is not going to take Him thousands of years to create a new heaven and new earth after the millennium! If he can make a new heaven and earth instantly in Revelation 21:1, then he could also do it in Genesis 1:1.

Genesis 1:1 states, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning of WHAT?

In the beginning was God. God had no beginning. He is eternal and always exists in the present. His name is I AM. I understand that I AM is in the verb form, is present tense, and means to exist. God does not have a past or a future. He lives outside of time and space, which he created, although he does inhabit time and space whenever he chooses.

Genesis 1:1 is the beginning of time or ages. The bible talks about ages (which means eons) past. In Ephesians 3:9 the apostle Paul writes that, in God’s plan, the mystery of the church was hidden from the beginning of the ages. (Note that ages is plural.) This has reference to ages past. Then in Ephesians 2:9 he mentions that in the ages to come… .

How many ages have there been in the past? How many more ages are to come? Only God knows. What we do know is the first day of this present age began in Genesis 1:3.

The present argument between evolutionists and creationists regarding the age of the earth is a waste of time and energy. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:4 to not engage in entertaining myths and argue about genealogies, which only produces doubt rather than faith. If the creationist could win the argument for a young earth, what has he won? If the creationist could prove beyond a doubt that the earth is only 6,000 to 10,000 years old, it would not strengthen my faith that God created it. If the evolutionists could prove beyond a doubt that the earth is a billion years old, it would not weaken my faith that God created it.

My faith is rooted in what God said in Hebrews 11:3 (NKJV): By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

The Greek word for worlds is aion. Aion is plural and denotes ages or more than one age. The ages past, the present age, all future ages to come, and everything that takes place in each age are determined by the word of God.

Only God knows how many ages are in the past and how many he has determined for the future (Ephesians 2:7; 3:9). It is beyond my finite mind to conceive how an all wise, all powerful, all knowing God, who is gazillion earth years old, would sit around for gazillions of years doing nothing and finally decide about 6,000 years ago to create a universe with life on it as the creationists argue. My faith rests on the fact that God created the heavens and the earth regardless of when he created them.

I live in the present age. It behooves me to find out what God has done for me—a sinner who has come short of the glory of God—and what I must do in order for me to be saved from the penalty of my sins and get into a right relationship with him. Once that relationship with Jesus Christ is established, it opens the door of understanding the inspired Word of God. I believe the Word was inspired by God through the Holy Spirit. We must be inspired by the Holy Spirit to understand it!

ANGELS—So when did God create angels? In Job 38:4-7 God was questioning Job. God inquired of him where he was when God laid the foundations of the earth and the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" The angels obviously were present when God created the heavens and the earth, which initiated the beginning of time (Genesis 1:1). There is no mention of angels in the creation account recorded in Genesis 1:3ff. They had to have been created prior to Genesis 1:3. Therefore, I conclude that the morning stars and sons of God were created before God created the heavens and the earth.

Chapter 2

The Beginning Of The Ages

Why would sons of God shout for joy at the creation of planet earth (Job 38:6-7; Nehemiah 9:6)? The angels were praising God around his throne before God created the earth. God created planet earth and let the angels inhabit it with Lucifer being the head angel over it. Thus, God created the heavens and the earth and time began (Genesis 1:1).

In Ezekiel 28:12-15 (NKJV) we read, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

Let us take note of the attributes of this king:

(1) He was created, not born—v.13, 15. He was not a descendant of Adam and Eve.

(2) He was the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty—v.12.

(3) He was the anointed cherub—v.14. (Cherub is a class of winged supernatural beings, which serve God in various functions. They guarded Eden when Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden).

(4) He was in Eden, the garden of God. This is NOT the same Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve were in. (Please note the description of the precious stones and jewels that adorned this garden. Compare this with the description of the jewels adorning the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:18-21).

(5) He was perfect in all his doings until sin (pride) entered his heart—v. 15, 17. (None of Adam’s descendants are born perfect.)

I believe this is the same creature that Isaiah described in Isaiah 14:12-14. In Isaiah he is named Lucifer. He was also lifted up with pride. He said in his heart—I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will be like the Most High.

Then what happened? The king of Tyre in Ezekiel was cast out of the mountain of God as a profane thing—v.16 (and most likely the angels that sinned with him [2 Peter 2:4]). Lucifer, in Isaiah 14:2 was cut down to the ground, into the pit of Sheol, v.15. With his casting out, the earth trembled, v.16, and the world became a wilderness, v.17.

Prophecy gives us a window into the future. Here I believe God gives us a telescopic view into the past. In my understanding, the earth described in Ezekiel 28:13 as Eden, the garden of God, is the earth God created in Genesis 1:1. It was created perfect and adorned with jewels and precious metals, which we will not see on earth again until the new earth is created. These precious stones and metals are not mentioned in the creation account of the present age in Genesis 1:3ff. Neither are they mentioned in relation to the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve were.

Psalms 18:7-15 (NKJV) gives us another window into the past of what happened when God destroyed the earth in his anger. It reads as follows:

"Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down with darkness under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and flew; he flew upon the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his secret place; his canopy around him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before him, his thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out his arrows and scattered the foe, lightnings in abundance, and he vanquished them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were uncovered at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils."

Let me give you my reasons for my belief in a prior world before Adam.

(1) Everything God does is good. It is totally inconsistent with the character of a holy and perfect God to create a mess like the one that existed in Genesis 1:2. For God is neither the author of confusion nor a God of disorder (1 Corinthians 14:33). God created everything good in the beginning. The earth in Genesis 1:2 was not good. Isaiah 45:18 says God did not create the earth in vain (i.e., empty or waste as it existed in Genesis 1:2) but formed it to be inhabited.

Jeremiah was inspired to write about a time in history when: I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; And the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, And all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, And all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. (Jeremiah 4:23-26, KJV)

Without form and void are the same words used in Genesis 1:2. The heavens had no light—this is the beginning of darkness that was on the earth in Genesis 1:2. Jeremiah writes about a historical earth that was utterly destroyed by the fierce anger of the Lord.

(2) 1 John 3:8 (NLT) says that the devil has been sinning since the beginning. He was not created a sinner. He became a sinner sometime since the beginning of time in Genesis 1:1.

(3) Darkness and chaos are associated with sin, not with good. God is light and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5; James 1:17). Where darkness is—God is not! Darkness and chaos DID NOT CO-EXIST WITH GOD in eternity past. Sometime in the history of the universe, darkness and chaos came into existence. I believe that happened when the king of Tyre (alias Lucifer) sinned (Ezekiel 28:16; called Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12). Because of his sin, God destroyed the earth and plunged it into darkness, thus the heavens had no light (Jeremiah 4:23).

Peter tells us that God spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5, KJV). The word for world, cosmos, refers to life on planet earth, not the earth itself. In Noah’s flood, planet earth was not destroyed. The earth was flooded destroying all air-breathing creatures not inside Noah’s ark. Sea creatures were not affected by the flood. When the waters subsided, the earth had not perished. It was still habitable. Vegetation and sea life were not destroyed. When the waters subsided, the animals and Noah’s family left the ark and life on earth resumed again. God did not have to recreate anything for life to exist on earth after Noah’s flood.

In 2 Peter 3:5-7 (KJV) Peter wrote: For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

The heavens were of old—a long time ago. The word for old in Greek, ἔκπαλαι¹, pertains to a point of time preceding another point of time, with an interval of considerable length, (the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains by Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A Nida. LN 67.24).

Of old—the earth standing out of water and in the water perished and was made uninhabitable. The earth and everything on it was totally ruined by water and darkness set in on the face of the deep. This was the beginning of darkness and chaos (Genesis 1:2).

Remember the tsunami that hit Japan in the spring of 2011? How it devastated everything in its path? Now try to imagine a world tsunami and the destruction it would cause on planet earth. It helps me to understand how the world of Genesis 1:1 could be destroyed by water and was or became without form and void.

But the heavens and earth, which exist now, will be destroyed by fire on the Day of Judgment because of the ungodly deeds committed by ungodly men who inhabit it. The first earth was destroyed by water because of the sin of angelic beings. The present world is going to be destroyed by fire because of the sins of human beings.

In summary, I believe when God judged and destroyed the earth after Lucifer sinned, God buried the gold, precious stones and metals, etc., along with all the vegetation and animal carcasses (perhaps dinosaurs also?) inside the earth.

Today we mine coal, oil and gas along with gold, diamonds and other precious metals from the earth. Today archeologists discover dinosaur skeletons and other creatures among other things that appear to have lived on the earth long ago were buried deep in the earth, some with food in their mouth. Their demise must have been swift. How and when did they get there? It is certainly possible these creatures and things could have lived in an age before Genesis 1:2 happened.

Is this what the Psalmist was talking about when he wrote, He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. (Psalm 33:7, KJV)

A storehouse is where you deposit valuables. Can anyone deny that these minerals—coal, oil and gas, which are stored deep in the earth—come from organic matter that at one point in time lived on the earth?

I know God can create an earth with all these precious metals and minerals buried inside, but, just maybe, they are stored there from a previous judgment of the earth as a witness to some of God’s creative work and judgment for sin in ages past and a warning to us that our earth and present age will also end in judgment because of sin (2 Peter 3:5-6).

It would be consistent with the character and wisdom of our God to take the chaos and destruction of one age and turn it into something useful for the next age to come. This is what I believe happened when the earth of Genesis 1:1 was destroyed. What would our world be like today without gas, oil, coal and precious metals mined from the earth?

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36, KJV)

Chapter 3

Creation Week: The Present Age Begins

The First Day—God Divides the Darkness

The present age begins with the restoration of the earth in Genesis 1:3. Let us look back at what was already present before day one of this age . There was an earth, there was water and there was darkness. When was darkness created or came into existence? These were all in existence before day one of creation week which begins in genesis 1:3. How long had the earth been in that state? Only God knows.

May I address those who believe that the earth or universe is only 6,000 to 10,000 years old? Do you believe that God, who has no beginning, who has always existed, possibly gazillions of years in our time (who knows?) finally, 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, got an idea in his head to create the heavens and earth? Was there nothing in existence besides God, Christ and the Holy Spirit until about 10,000 years ago? No angels? No space? No time? No heaven? No earth? No universe? Nothing! Just God, sitting on His throne for gazillions of years doing nothing until about 10,000 years ago?

I don’t know how many ages there are yet to come (Ephesians 2:7) or how many other "worlds [ages] (Ephesians 3:5) were framed by the word of God (Hebrews 11:3) in the past. What we need to concern ourselves with is what God is doing in this age and what our relationship is with him. Our relationship with him now will affect our relationship with him and the new earth forever and ever, i.e., in every age yet to come.

No matter how old the earth is, God created it instantly by the spoken word, not by the process of evolution. The Psalmist wrote:

Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. (Psalm 33:8-9, KJV)

I believe in a BIG BANG theory. GOD spoke and BANG! It happened. It did not take God years to accomplish his work of creation. In Revelations 21:1 God is going to create a new heaven and a new earth. It is not going to take him thousands of years to do it. I believe it will only be a short time between the burning up of the old heavens and earth and the creation of the new heaven and earth is only going to be a very short time. (2 Peter 2:12-13.) If God can create a new heaven and new earth in a short time after the millennium, then he could also have done so in the beginning.

Now back to day one of this present age. God said, let there be light. It was God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6). God did not create light on the first day. Light is eternal because God, who is eternal, is light. The light that divided the darkness on the first day emanated from God himself, not from the sun. He caused his light to penetrate the darkness and divide the darkness. So now there is light on half the earth and darkness on the other half. God’s favor is beginning to shine on the earth again.

As far as we know, the earth was spinning on its axis making a revolution every 24 hours, which constitutes one evening and one morning, twenty four hours long. (Genesis 1:5). The creation week days were 24 hours in duration, not long periods of time as some would have us believe (Exodus 20:11).

The evening and the morning were the first day. Note: the day begins with darkness and ends with light. The day did not begin at midnight and go to midnight. Nor did it begin with the dawn of day and go till dawn the next morning. Doesn’t that parallel our spiritual journey—it began in darkness and progresses into the light? (2 Corinthians 4:6)

The Second Day—God Divides the Waters

God puts a space between the waters so that some of the water is above the earth and the rest of the water is on the earth. The space in between the waters he called heaven. This is the first heaven—the atmosphere around the earth.

The third heaven is where God dwells. It is the heaven the Apostle Paul was privileged to experience for a moment (2 Corinthians 12:2). If there is a first and a third heaven, then there must also be a second heaven. Thus the space between the first and third heaven, which contains the sun, moon, stars and all the galaxies, is probably known as the second heaven. It is the realm where principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this age, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places operate (Ephesians 6:12).

I assumed the first and second heaven existed because Paul made reference to a third heaven. But most of the time it is not safe to assume. There once were pranksters who took three goats and painted the numbers 1, 2 and 4 on them and put them in the school building during the night. When the school officials arrived in the morning, they saw the 1, 2 and 4 goats immediately. They assumed there must be a number 3 goat since there were numbers 1, 2 and 4. They spent half the day looking for number 3 before they concluded it may not exist. Let’s not just automatically assume something to be true. But sometimes the evidence leads us to make an assumption.

Please also note that 6,000 years ago when God divided the waters from the waters, there was no ice! The earth was covered with water, not ice. The idea that millions of years ago there was an ice age with ice covering the North Pole area and sliding down through the middle of the United States is contrary to biblical revelation. There was no ice age in Genesis 1:1, 2 or 3. The first time cold is mentioned in the bible is after Noah’s flood in Genesis 8:22.

The Third day—God Divides the Earth and Sea

He causes the dry land to appear and the waters on