Redundancy and Noise

From the serpent in the garden to most modern scientists, they attempt to bring doubt to God’s Truth or to even His existence. On the other hand, over the years the integrity of the Bible has suffered some mistakes in copying and actual changes for various reasons. The debate over science’s attack on God and the Bible must be left for another article; however, discovering mistakes in copying and purposeful changes to the Word can be examined. Information Technology has the tools for anyone who wants to determine the integrity of the Bible. Redundancy and noise will always find any changes to the original intent.

Simply, redundancy means repetition of a singular concept. Using a cross-reference tool or a concordance will show the breathe and number of times a concept carries through the Bible. Some concepts are enumerated one hundred to two hundred times, others maybe only twenty-five or so. The more important the concept the more God repeats it so a few mistakes or changes seem jarring and out of place and easy to recognize for believers. Attackers and noisemakers use the few isolated alteration to attack the Bible or promote some pagan concept coveted by them. In all instances, noise promotes some idea contrary to God’s way, His Word or who He really is. “Has God said…?” How can you believe that?

In the Beginning

Let us follow, then, a major concept attacked from within the Bible in apostasy and from outside the Bible in most science.

Let us trace some of the redundancy of God as the Creator. This singular concept begins God’s Word. No other book ever written comes close to this unique statement.

Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Those who believe God was not the singular Creator claim Elohim is plural in spite of context, sentence structure, grammar and concordances. Elohim can be plural if stated something like the people worshipped the gods. However, when referring to God, Elohim means:

430. MyIhølTa elohiym, ; plural of 433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:

Albright has suggested that the use of this majestic plural comes from the tendency in the ancient near east toward a universalism:

“When indicating the true God, MyIhølTa functions as the subject of all divine activity revealed to man and as the object of all true reverence and fear from men. Often MyIhølTa is accompanied by the personal name of God, Yahweh (Gen 2:4–5; Ex 34:23; Ps 68:18 [H 19], etc.).”

Thus, the Queen, using the majestic plural, says, “Let us attend to our duties.” The Bible uses the majestic plural: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man….’” God would never say, let Me create… which language would be beneath His majesty.

When the Bible talks about what God did, not quoting Him, it uses the singular.

Gen. 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Gen. 2:2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

However, the abundance of redundancy says God is a Singular Being. People will search for any scripture which “proves” their errancy or preconceived notions.

Gen. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.

I Am the Lord Your God

Genesis tells us about God’s creation in the beginning, from creating light to creating signs for festivals and forming the first man from the clay of the earth.

Gen. 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Gen. 1:14 ¶ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;

Gen. 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Being God, the Creator and Ruler of Earth, He gave certain authority to people created in His image. God delegated to people the authority to fill the earth and subjugate it; He also assigned to people sovereignty over all living life forms on it.

Gen. 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Before God formed Adam from the clay of the earth, He provided a planet with all the necessities of life and life more abundantly. Foremost, of course, He created the signs in the heavens for Sabbaths and Holy Days for people’s spiritual and eternal life.

Gen. 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
Gen. 1:30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.

Abram’s recognizing God as the Creator gave him the faith of righteousness, which is an example to all believers.

Gen. 15:5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Gen. 15:6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Many years later, after God rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery, God reiterated that as the Creator, who put the signs in the heavens, He gave people the opportunity to rest on the Sabbath as He did, since they were made in His image.

Ex. 20:11 “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Job

Coming from a different perspective, Job recognizes the breath and depth of the creation. Just observing the creation, Job notes, teaches the unbiased spectator much about the Creator. God hands the atmosphere, amazingly complicated and indispensable for all life on the planet, to mankind without charge.

Job 12:7 “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Job 12:8 “Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Job 12:9 “Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind?

Scientists believing only in evolution cannot begin to understand the earth’s beginnings and complexities because they will not see the Creator or the creation.

Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
Job 38:5 Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
Job 38:6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
Job 38:7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Job 38:8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb;
Job 38:9 when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,
Job 38:10 and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors,

At another time and place, this writer reiterates the fact that God alone, by Himself without help, created the heavens and earth. He also repeats the fact that God Himself gave and gives life to all life on earth. Sometime someone ought to count the conditions necessary for life and its parameters; the work would fill several volumes. For example, one volume, Gray’s Anatomy, just begins to set forth the complexity of the human body. Ancillary books include neurology, myology, kinesiology and osteology.

Neh. 9:6 “You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.

As John says, “In the beginning was the word….” Beyond the fact, that God’s word existed in His mind in the beginning, the first thing God says in the beginning is, “Light….” and light came into existence. We see this light in the form of sunlight, moon light, incandescent light, reflected light, firelight and candlelight, to mention just a few. Light is also quite complex and complicated being a force and wave. Notice the singular throughout.

Psa. 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
Psa. 33:9 For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

Psa. 95:4 In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also.
Psa. 95:5 The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.
Psa. 95:6 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

Psa. 102:25 “Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

Psa. 104:5 You placed the world on its foundation so it would never be moved.
Psa. 104:6 You clothed the earth with floods of water,
water that covered even the mountains.
Psa. 104:7 At your command, the water fled; at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.
Psa. 104:8 Mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed.
Psa. 104:9 Then you set a firm boundary for the seas, so they would never again cover the earth.
Psa. 104:10 You make springs pour water into the ravines, so streams gush down from the mountains.
Psa. 104:11They provide water for all the animals, and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Psa. 104:12 The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.
Psa. 104:13 You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home, and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
Psa. 104:14 You cause grass to grow for the livestock and plants for people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth—
Psa. 104:15 wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength.
Psa. 104:19 You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set.
Psa. 104:20 You send the darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals prowl about.
Psa. 104:23 Then people go off to their work, where they labor until evening.
Psa. 104:24 O LORD, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.
Psa. 104:30 When you give them your breath, life is created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
Psa. 104:31 May the glory of the LORD continue forever!
The LORD takes pleasure in all he has made!
Psa. 104:32 The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch.

Psa. 119:90 Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands.

Psa. 136:5 To Him who made the heavens with skill,For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
Psa. 136:6 To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
Psa. 136:7 To Him who made the great lights,For His lovingkindness is everlasting:
Psa. 136:8 The sun to rule by day, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
Psa. 136:9 The moon and stars to rule by night, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

At a later period when Israel was in a climatic decline because of its idolatry, Isaiah found time to pen verses about the One Creator, who asks, “Who is my equal?” In other words, God is and there is no other.

Is. 40:25 “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
Is. 40:26 Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name.

In another place, God reiterates that He alone created the earth for people to live on it. While today people question the existence of a creator, believers understand that deceptions are the ways of the adversary, Satan. Wherever the demon can. it questions whether anyone can believe God or believe in the Creator, in this case, the obvious. The earth proliferates life in aspects beyond the understanding of earthlings. Scientists keep “discovering” the amazing aspects of the creation.

Is. 45:11 This is what the LORD says— the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: “Do you question what I do for my children?
Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?
Is. 45:12 I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command.

Again God proclaims that He alone is God; there is no other. Deceptions again dispute this fact by having a singular God being three people. Forget, God alone; learn the trinity of the past idolatries from Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome.

Is. 48:12 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last.
Is. 48:13 It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order.”

The New Testament continues in the same vein as the Old. God’s Word must say the same thing through out. The early believers prayed as one in proclaiming God as the Creator of the heavens and the Earth.

Acts 4:24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,

Further along in Acts, the prophet is quoted, which states that God’s hand alone made all things.

Acts 7:48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says,
Acts 7:49 ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
Acts 7:50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

By way of convincing those about to be fully converted, the apostle names God as the one who created the heavens and the earth. Turn, he says, from the worship of things in the creation to the One Creator God, the living God.

Acts 14:15 “Men, why are you doing this? We also are men, of like nature with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

Again the apostle notes that God created the heavens and the earth and provided the breath of life to all He created.

Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man,
Acts 17:25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything.

Conclusion

That the One God is the Creator is obvious to all except those who allowed themselves to be deceived by or enslaved to demons. No one has an excuse because the creation clearly proves the existence of the Creator.

Rom. 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom. 1:20 Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse;
Rom. 1:21 for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened.

Later, the author of Hebrews agrees with all scripture before and with the world existent that God created the world by His Word, “Light!”

Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

2Pet. 3:5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water,

From Genesis in the beginning to Revelation in the end, all agree that the One Lord and God created everything. Praise God.

Rev. 4:11 “Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create all things, and by thy will they existed and were created.”

Gil Kovacs, Pastor
Sabbath Christian Church

Amen.

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