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    Ex Nihilo: Out of Nothing
    Ex Nihilo: Out of Nothing
    Ex Nihilo: Out of Nothing
    Ebook157 pages2 hours

    Ex Nihilo: Out of Nothing

    By Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

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    About this ebook

    The creation of the human race was the high point of God's creative genius. He bestowed upon them the unique characteristics of Himself by making them "in His image." Male and female reflect the characterisitcs of their Creator. God took control of creation and formed man, "Ex Nihilo," out of nothing, to take an unfinished, untamed world and direct and subdue it just as He Himself would.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDr. Martin G Tharp PhD
    Release dateMar 4, 2013
    ISBN9781301726042
    Ex Nihilo: Out of Nothing
    Author

    Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

    Dr. Martin Tharp has been an avid student of the Bible for many years and holds a Bachelor, Master and eight Doctorates, one honorary and seven earned, including a Doctor. of Literature and two PhDs. He has been in full time ministry for over fifty-seven years and has authored forty-nine books to date, many of which are being used as curriculum in Bible colleges around the United States and abroad. He has also penned a number of gospel songs and recorded thirty-three albums as well as being actively involved in a school ministry to Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom for the past thirty-eight years, and Dr. Tharp has been honored twice by members of parliament in Ireland for their work in the Protestant and Catholic schools. He and his wife, Sharon, along with Maranda Howells, travel extensively across the USA and the whole of the British Isles holding evangelistic crusades in the churches of both countries.

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      Book preview

      Ex Nihilo - Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

      Ex Nihilo

      Out Of Nothing!

      By Martin G. Tharp, Ph.D.

      Copyright 2013 Martin Tharp Ph.D.

      Smashwords edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes; This ebook is licensed for your own personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.. Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version. Copyright 1984, 1991 by AMG International, INC and the Living Bible Copyright 1971,1986 by Tyndale House Publishers INC

      Acknowledgment

      I wish to thank all the Minister friends, especially our spiritual children, and the Pastor’s and churches who given me their pulpits year after year. Their encouragement and their compliments have kept me digging through the pages of the Bible, for it is the only source of strength and wisdom which matters.

      Also, I would like to thank Maranda for her dedication to our ministry over the past twelve years, she has been an inspiration to us as we watch her grow and progress in her own ministry. She takes charge of the many kids who join us in our missionary endeavors and turns them into a winning team each year. Thanks Maranda!

      Dedication

      As usual, I would like to dedicate this book to my wife Sharon , who after forty-nine years of marriage still continues to be my greatest fan, always encouraging me to persevere in my insatiable thirst for knowledge, even when it is not convenient, she is always there rooting for the completion of my next book. Thanks babe!

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      1. Ba’ra’

      2. God Had a Plan Before He Had a Man

      3. Conscience

      4. Aphar

      5. Nephesh

      6. The Mind; Carnal or Spiritual?

      7. Foolish Things

      8. Ruach/Pnuema;

      9. Ex Nihilo; Grafted in By the Spirit

      Study Questions

      Bibliography

      About The Author

      Introduction

      At the ripe old age of seventy one, we still deal with thousands of kids each year whose curiosity knows no boundaries! The Biblical account of creation is one of the most fascinating subjects to be found in the Bible. Especially after you have listened to the ridiculous theories of those who teach evolution! Perhaps it doesn’t bother you to watch the history channel and hear them throw out casual figures like, forty million years ago a pollywog grew legs and became a frog, then the frog began to grow longer legs, and slowly progressed to the stage where he became a monkey!

      What I find amazing is that in over six thousand years of recorded history, there has never been such a transformation take place! There is no doubt that some men act like monkeys, but it doesn’t make them one!

      For God to create a man out of the dust of the earth (Ba’ra’; Ex Nihilo; Out Of Nothing), and give definition to that creation, proclaiming his characteristics to be likened to the God of all heaven and earth, is within itself a miraculous achievement. Genesis declares that Adam has been created in His likeness and in His image, making him a triune being like his creator! God gave him an intelligence which is far superior to the smartest beast in the animal kingdom, then gave him dominion over that kingdom! From the smallest bug crawling on the earth to the mightiest beast of the field, man has been given superiority!

      Amazingly, God did not stop there! God chose Noah, the very first decision to select a man with no apparent qualifications for the task at hand, yet He would spare him and his family while the earth was covered with the torrent from heaven! God instructed him to build an Ark, a boat like the antediluvian world had never seen! A ship whose size and magnitude was never equaled for almost six thousand years. The ark was discovered in the mid eighteen hundreds, and its size still dumbfounds the world’s most renowned mariners.

      In the same way He chose Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, and again bought out of nothing (Ex Nihilo; Out Of Nothing) a nation whose survival has dumbfounded and amazed the historians for centuries.

      As we examine the myriad idiosyncracies of this triune being that He made of us, remember that He is still in the Creating Something Out Of Nothing business!

      Chapter One

      God Had A Plan,

      Before

      He Had A Man!

      "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God *created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen 1:26-27).

      Please allow me to deal further with the word *created, which also in this passage comes from the Hebrew word Ba’ra’; and primarily means to create, form, make, or produce. But Ba’ra’ is far more descriptive in the sense that it emphasizes the initiation of the object, not the manipulation of it after its original formation.

      Ba’ra’, refers to an activity which can only be performed by God, and specifically to the concept of bringing into existence, as in the origination or inception of a product as stated in the book of Isaiah;

      "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine" (Isaiah 43:1).

      Listen to the Prophet Ezekiel in a prophetic utterance to the Ammonites;

      "Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity" (Ezek 21:30).

      Then again as he addresses Satan in the book of Ezekiel;

      "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee" (Ezek. 28:13-15).

      It is not surprising then that Ba’ra’ is used in the story of the creation of man in the first chapter of Genesis, in verses 21 and 27, giving us the context that Ba’ra’ was indeed Ex Nihilo, out of nothing! Man was not only created as a new species, he is essentially different from all other categories which are attributed to the creative genius of God on this earth, whose decision to uniquely create and separate man from all other living creatures by stipulating that distinctiveness as;

      "In our image, after our likeness."

      Man alone is to be associated with heaven as no other creature on the planet. He is related to the Eternal Being Himself, and this relationship is not only in matter, but in form; not just in essence, but in resemblance. This precludes all pantheistic notions of the origin of man.

      The word which is translated Image is the Hebrew word tselem, which is from an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol:—image. (Strong’s Concordance)

      It is a word taken from sensible things, and denotes likeness in outward form, while the material may be different. Likeness in the Hebrew is demuth which is pronounced dem-ooth' Resemblance; concretely model, shape; adverbially like:—fashion, like (-ness, as), manner, similitude (Strong’s).

      It is a more general term, indicating resemblance in any quality, external or internal. It is here explanatory of image, and seems to show that this term is to be taken in a figurative sense, to denote not a material but a spiritual conformity to God, for the Eternal Being is essentially self-manifesting. The manner in which He chooses to present Himself is always uniquely suited in the eye which is chosen to contemplate Him in that image. The union of attributes which constitute His spiritual nature is defined by His character or likeness.

      The creation of human beings was God’s crowning work. He bestowed upon them the unique characteristics of Himself by making them in His own tselem" (likeness, image of same). Thus male and female reflect and reveal the characteristics of their Creator. God took control of creation, and created humans to take an unfinished and untamed creation to direct and subdue it just as God Himself would.

      We can clearly see that dominion over the earth was not the same thing as image. God created man capable of governing the world, and when fitted for the office, He fixed him in it. We can see the tender care of God for His creation and the parental regard for the comfort and well-being of this masterpiece of His workmanship. In creating the world previously to the creation of man, He prepared every thing for his subsistence, convenience, and pleasure, before He brought him into being. In comparing little with great things, the house was built, furnished, and amply stored, by the time the destined tenant was ready to occupy it.

      All of creation is the work of God and reflects His character, and it is proclaimed by the Creator Himself as good!

      "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day" (Gen. 1:31).

      Every single person in the human race is special for one simple reason, God made us in His image to represent Him in the world. As humans, we hold a special place of importance and service in the perfect plan of God. The Creator placed human beings in charge of His material world to manage and care for it, for under the authority of God we must fulfill His purpose in our lives. Being a manager for God is the foundation of stewardship which is clearly exemplified in the opening frames of the story of Joseph after he has reached the place of destiny in the economy of God;

      "And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field" (Gen. 39:2-6).

      Sin, however, corrupts God’s perfect order. It distorts our likeness to God, and it causes us to try to take over the primary ownership and authority which belongs entirely to our Creator!

      "The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalms 24:1).

      Material possessions are neither good nor bad in themselves, but the selfish misuse of possessions is sinful.

      We gather

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