TIME DISRUPTED BY THE FALL

The universe was created for man --- in science this is called the "anthropic principle." It is also evident from the opening chapters of the Bible. An empty universe inhabited only by God and the angels makes little sense to most of us. God does not "need" a universe, nor does he need man to add to His Being. He is fully sufficient and complete in all His attributes so our creation adds nothing to His essential nature. The universe was made as a home for man, and man was made for fellowship with God (see Isaiah 45:18). Man was placed in charge of the creation as Hebrews Chapter 2 recalls. God pronounced nature "good" and valuable to Him before He placed man on earth. Intuitively it is unattractive to imagine that the universe sat empty for aeons before man arrived on the scene --- as evolutionary thought teaches was the case. According to Genesis, God proceeded to create the universe step by step in an orderly way, and when He had the ecosystem prepared, He made man (last of all) and placed him squarely in the center of things to understand and to rule over what had been created. [Man has since lost his dominion over the creation --- but that is another story. God hass a restoration plan underway].

The notion of an originally upright, unflawed universe also suggests that the moon and planets may have once been more beautiful, more pristine, and more "inhabitable" than they are now. I myself happen to believe that some sort of cosmic disaster has already occurred throughout the solar system and that there is ample evidence now of destructive forces at work in the physical universe that were not put there by God. The Biblical view also contradicts the notion that man is improving and society is advancing morally and socially. Rather, it is the grace of God which makes life bearable and prevents mankind from self-destruction.

The original creation was "good" (unmarred, flawless) at the end of creation week. Then the angels fell and later man fell. The fall of man resulted in a "curse" on the physical world, a curse which has not yet been lifted. [Actually there are at least five significant curses named in Genesis that effect the world we live in today]. The fall of man and the fall of Satan seems to have made fundamental changes in certain laws of physics and biology as well. The nature of subjective time, i.e., the "quality" of time as we experience it has changed since creation. Also, man in his present condition is constrained to a rather limited "one-dimensional" time frame whereas before the fall, our first parents enjoyed a multidimensional quality of time much richer than we can even begin to imagine.

Before the fall, our first parents in their innocence and purity were in a very real sense enjoying a quality of life moment by moment that is unknown to us at the present time.

Incidentally the role of the angels in the government of the physical universe as well as in the affairs of men is confirmed by a verse in Hebrews,

"...For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking." (2:5)

The implication of this verse is the age we now live in is governed by the angels --- the age which is to come will not be governed by angels, but by the redeemed of mankind who are in Christ the Lord.

source: S. Porte