Watchman on the Wall

Southwest Radio Ministries: Welcome to Watchman on the Wall, a daily outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and swrc.com. God is still on the throne, and prayer changes things.

The Bible is filled with incredible places, remarkable events, and mysteries that still leave us asking questions today. Today on Watchman on the Wall, we're going in the land with Mica Van Huss as he takes us into Scripture and explores some of its most fascinating mysteries.

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The Bible contains many mysteries. Where was the Garden of Eden? Were giants real? Where did Cain get his wife? Southwest Radio's Director of Marginal Mysteries, Mica Van Huss, is here to provide answers. Taken from his presentation on the brand new "In the Land" video project filmed on location in the land of the Bible, Mica explores these mysteries by looking into the pages of Scripture. To help guide us on today's journey in the land, here is Josh Davis.

Josh Davis: Friends, Southwest Radio Ministries invites you to experience God's truth in a whole new way. We have a brand new resource from a trusted team of Bible teachers as we dive deep into God's word from the land of the Bible. It's called "In the Land."

If you're a regular listener to Watchman on the Wall, you've heard us talk about this recently. You might have heard some of the snippets from Pastor Larry Spargimino, Larry Stam, or Clayton Van Huss. Well, today we're going to be hearing from our Director of Marginal Mysteries, Mica Van Huss. He sat right beside the Sea of Galilee, opened his Bible, and began to explore the answers to many mysterious Bible questions.

Mica Van Huss: Our first question: what is the light that was created on Day 1 of creation? On Day 4 of creation is when God created the sun, the moon, and the stars. And so if God created the sun on Day 4, then this light that is created on Day 1 cannot be the sun. So what is Scripture talking about when that happens?

First, let's look at that instance where light is created. We're going to the very beginning, Genesis 1:2-4. "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. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good."

What I think this light was, obviously it wasn't the sun, and I don't think it was a physical light—a physical light that we can see. There are a number of passages in Scripture that tell us that God is light and that we should be followers of the light instead of darkness. So let's look at some of those and maybe be able to answer our question.

Our first reference is John 8:12. "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'" Our next verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:5. "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."

The last reference we'll look at in trying to answer this question is 1 John 1:5. "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

When God creates light on Day 1, it is likely the presence of God coming to our creation, the orb of water that is sitting there in space. So can mankind exist without God's light? Did God have a specific plan for humankind so that His light was here so that humans could experience His light and be in light instead of darkness? His glory, maybe, is a better way of putting it. So that's my theory on answering the question of what is this light in Genesis, the first day of creation.

Another question along with creation is how long is a day of creation? Well, I do believe that each day of creation is exactly what Scripture says, and that is a day. First of all, a lot of people will say it's a thousand years per day because as later in Scripture it says a day is as a thousand years. But it also says in Scripture a thousand years is as a day. So those cancel each other out; I don't think you can really use that to mean much at all.

Let's take a look at Scripture. There is some Scripture to back up that creation is our literal days, and that would be Exodus 20:11. "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

So right here in Scripture, God says that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. This is separate from the account in Genesis; this is another book, this is Exodus. I have no reason to believe that the day in Genesis means anything other than a day.

The opposite side of this argument is synonymous with the gap theory—that there's a gap between Genesis 1:2a and 2b. I believe there is a gap of time between those two, but I don't believe it's the evolution gap. People say that evolution happened before creation and that all this stuff took place before creation. But I do believe there's a gap of time between those two, but it doesn't allow for evolution because earth is only an orb of water at this point.

So I don't believe that that allows for evolution. Honestly, the only reason for a Christian that I can see, a motivation to even want to believe in a day meaning something other than the day in Scripture, is to try to want to fit in with the world to believe in evolution. There's no reason not to take God at His word when He says He created on Day so-and-so. I think the Bible is a whole lot more literal than a lot of people give credit to.

The third question: was Eden on the Earth physically? And along with that, question four: what happened to the Garden of Eden after the fall? So we'll talk about these two questions together. Yes, I do believe that the Garden of Eden was on the Earth. We've got a couple of references for that. Genesis 2:8 will be the first one. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."

We see at this point in Scripture that Eden is on Earth. God did not create Adam in the garden; God created Adam, picked him up, and put him in Eden. First of all, in the garden to the east. So what does that mean was to the west? Was there something to the west of the Garden of Eden, possibly? Or was the author of Genesis just speaking from his vantage point because he knew back then they knew which direction the Garden of Eden was?

Now, we're talking about if, in fact, Genesis was written after the flood of Noah, we're talking about a vastly changed world. If the Garden of Eden did in fact remain on Earth, it could have been flooded, buried under the mud, moved down to the ice, floated down under Antarctica as Pangea broke apart and ended up under the ice there. It could be in the Bermuda Triangle for all I know. But at this point in creation in the antediluvian world, there is the garden in the east. And it's fascinating to think what was to the west.

There's more Scripture on whether or not Eden was on Earth. Let's go to Ezekiel 28:14-15. "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." God is talking to Lucifer or about Lucifer at this point. When we talk about the holy mountain of God, He is talking about the Garden of Eden here. Verse 15: "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

This one's a little bit more of a spiritual reference. So let's go ahead and get into the next question, which is part of it: what happened to the Garden of Eden after the fall? So my theory—I don't say that this is fact, but I do think that this is a plausible explanation—I think the Garden of Eden was actually heaven on Earth.

It was part of the spiritual realm and the physical realm at the same time. Adam and Eve, I think, existed in the spiritual realm and the physical realm. I think Eden was a garden that contained a mountain, if it not was on the whole mountain. And I think on that mountain sat God and His council, His holy council that we read about in Psalm 82. So I think heaven and the heavenly council throned themselves on Earth in the Garden of Eden. And then, I guess man, the most plausible theory, man was at the base of the mountain or at the garden at the bottom of the mountain because God would come down and walk with Adam.

Fascinating idea. Why do I say all that? We've got a few pieces of Scripture that back up the idea of the Garden of Eden being both in the spiritual and physical realm. One of the ideas is that the tree of life—we know the tree of life was in the Garden of Eden, also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—but we do see in Revelation, which we will read, that the tree of life is actually in paradise.

We won't get into the discussion of whether or not heaven and paradise are the same thing. Jesus says to the thief on the cross, "Surely this day you will be with me in paradise." So whether paradise is synonymous with heaven, whether there's different layers, we're not going to get into that kind of discussion.

But we do see in Revelation that the tree of life is in paradise in our future and obviously in the Garden of Eden in the past. So let's jump to Revelation 2:7. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

And along with that, Revelation 22:1-2. "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

So here we see in the book of Revelation the tree of life in paradise. Interestingly, a river flows underneath it and that is the water that gives life. Also, there are twelve different types of fruit on the tree of life. Let's jump over to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What kind of fruit was on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Is it something we know? Is it not? I don't know. The tree of life had twelve different manners of fruit and God put the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden, so who knows what was on it. But it is a fascinating topic.

Another question which isn't on the list, but I'll ask it here because it's a very profound question: why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden and give mankind a choice to sin? Well, I think that it has a lot to do, if not everything to do, with free will.

I think God wanted His creation of humans to have a choice on whether or not to obey Him or not. And so by putting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden and telling Adam and Eve, the Adams, that they could not eat of it was a way of giving them free will. God could have made us autonomous robots and we could have just done exactly what He said and served His purpose exactly. But I think He wanted this part of His creation at least to have a choice.

Let's talk a little bit more about the Garden of Eden. I theorize we may actually see the exact same type of thing in the millennial kingdom. I don't think that this is the traditional Christian timeline that most people are taught in the fundamental circles. But it is possible that the timeline of a new heaven and a new earth are actually at the beginning of the millennium, right after Revelation.

We see in Revelation that the mountains are thrown into the sea and the valleys and everything is just destroyed on the earth there in Revelation. But in the millennial kingdom, Mount Zion coming down to Earth, which is possibly the Garden of Eden coming back down to Earth during that time.

Now, why do I say a new heaven and a new earth would be made before the millennial kingdom? Because we know a few things about the millennial kingdom. Isaiah 65, off the top of my head, talks about men's lives during the millennial kingdom will be as the lives of trees. In other words, men will live to be five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred, maybe nine hundred years old. When did we see that? That was antediluvian. Adam and Noah and Methuselah lived into their nine hundreds.

And so in order for that to happen, I believe when God says He'll create a new heaven, that could actually mean a new firmament. On day two of creation, God creates the firmament, the water above our heads. A firmament would be a layer of water in the sky, maybe water at creation, but quickly it would freeze. So it's likely a layer of ice in the sky, and that is what stopped the sun's UV rays from coming in and aging mankind so quickly.

Also in Isaiah 65 in the millennial kingdom, if a man dies at a hundred years old, he will be considered a child. Well, what do we see in the Old Testament with the firmament overhead? We see how old are these patriarchs, how old are these gentlemen when they're having their first children? They're 130, 140, 120. Humankind is not sexually mature in the antediluvian world until they are roughly 120. I think that is because of the firmament overhead; mankind did not mature or grow as quickly as they do now without the firmament.

Also it says during the millennial kingdom the lion will lie with the lamb, indicating another peace on earth. So I think the Garden of Eden style creation will be remade for the millennial kingdom.

Josh Davis: Friends, you're listening to the Director of Marginal Ministries for SWRC, Mica Van Huss. He's answering many mysterious Bible questions sitting beside the Sea of Galilee. And what you're listening to is a portion from our brand new project called "In the Land." Trusted voices, timeless truth, where it all began—five different teachers over ninety minutes worth of Bible teaching, filmed in 4K high-quality digital video.

It's available right now at swrc.com. That's swrc.com. Now, I do want to let you know that on the website, it's available in two different formats. The first is what we've been doing for many years: that's DVDs. You can order it from the website and that DVD will be shipped directly to your front door.

Secondly, we have a digital download of this high-quality video project. That means as soon as you complete your purchase on the website, you'll receive an email code and you can begin watching this video instantaneously.

It includes Pastor Larry Spargimino sitting atop Mount Arbel near the Sea of Galilee. It includes Larry Stam filmed in northern Israel, looking at Psalm 2, "Why do the nations rage?" And I had the opportunity of standing in the place called Petra, that red rock fortress currently in the country of Jordan, talking about the history and the Bible prophecy connected to Petra.

All five of these presentations are available on one single DVD disc or available as a digital download from swrc.com. So visit the website and order yours today. swrc.com. If you'd like to order the DVD over the phone, you are welcome to do so. Our phone number is toll-free 1-800-652-1144. That's 1-800-652-1144. Now here is Mica Van Huss continuing his answers to mysterious questions from the Scriptures.

Mica Van Huss: What happened to Eden after the fall? I think that Eden was taken away from the physical realm. I think at the beginning it was part of the physical and spiritual at the same time, but that it disappeared from the physical realm, maybe right at the fall. Maybe God waited until the flood of Noah. Or maybe the Garden of Eden is still here, still a spiritual place and a physical place. And if you could bypass the angel that's guarding the gates or the flaming sword around the tree of life, you would be able to see part of the spiritual realm. You'd be able to eat of the tree that gives immortality.

Like Ponce de Leon was looking for the Fountain of Youth, but I don't think I'd want to find that considering it's guarded by a flaming sword and an angel at the gates. So is it under the ice in Antarctica? Is it at the Bermuda Triangle? Is it at the North Pole? Mercator drew the first known map of the Arctic; we have that map today. And at the Arctic, he draws a magnetic mountain literally at the top of the world with four islands around it. Now the Garden of Eden had four rivers, the tree of life had four rivers flowing out of it that split the Garden of Eden and separated the Garden of Eden. If you look at Mercator's map, it's a fascinating image of what he drew as the Arctic. Now, if you go on Google Earth today, you'll see nothing but water and ice.

Josh Davis: The next question we have is: were giants real?

Mica Van Huss: Yes, Scripture is quite clear about giants being real. First reference, that would be Genesis 6:4. This is the chapter where God chooses Noah to survive the flood. "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

So clearly the Bible says there were giants in the earth in those days. I don't want to get too much into the Watchers descending in Genesis 6 here and sleeping with women and their offspring being giants, but that's how they came to be. And then, of course, this is expounded upon in the book of Enoch, which is not inspired Scripture. But then the book of Enoch is confirmed in Jude and Second Peter. In Isaiah, it prophesies the judgment of the Watchers.

We have Deuteronomy 3:11 that talks about King Og of Bashan. King Og of Bashan was the last of the Rephaim; the Rephaim was a race of giants in the Bible. So let's read Deuteronomy 3:11. "For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man."

So here we have King Og of Bashan, his bed of iron—whether that's what he slept in or whether that was his coffin—he was still a big man. It was 18 feet tall by 9 feet wide. A massive coffin. Actually today, as we are in Israel, we went up to Nimrod's Cliff Castle near Mount Hermon. We actually show the valley where King Og of Bashan likely lived and the valley where Moses's army likely killed King Og of Bashan.

Were giants real? Even the possibility that giants are real today, if you've ever heard the story of the Giant of Kandahar in the Afghan mountains. A fascinating story that L.A. Marzulli does a great interview on, so it's possible that there are some even left today. It is also possible that the end-time scenario with the image of the antichrist breathing life into the beast—that we are talking about giants.

Next question: what did the Witch of Endor do and are mediums real? Now when we ask are mediums real, we're talking about people who talk with the dead, people who bring up spirits. So what did the Witch of Endor do? Well, she brought up Samuel from the grave. And it was Samuel; it wasn't some demon. She actually called up Samuel.

King Saul has already banned the children of Israel from using mediums, from using people who can speak to the spirit world. He's banned that in his kingdom, but he himself goes under in disguise under the cover of darkness to the Witch of Endor and asks her to call up Samuel.

First Samuel 28:8 says, "And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, 'I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.'" Verse 11, we'll skip to: "Then said the woman, 'Whom shall I bring up unto thee?' And he said, 'Bring me up Samuel.'"

Verse 13: "And the king said unto her, 'Be not afraid: for what sawest thou?' And the woman said unto Saul, 'I saw gods ascending out of the earth.'" Verse 14: "And he said unto her, 'What form is he of?' And she said, 'An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle.' And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself."

I'll read the next verse because it's Samuel's actual response. This is where we know it's Samuel and not just some demon. Verse 15: "And Samuel said to Saul, 'Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?' And Saul answered, 'I am sore distressed.'"

So here we see the Witch of Endor bringing a spirit of someone who has passed, in this case Samuel, up from wherever. You see two gods ascending into the sky right here; that is likely an escort, probably an angelic escort because in Scripture it says there is a great gulf between the underworld and paradise and that no human soul can go between. So likely if Samuel was to come up, he would have to have an angelic escort across this great rift that we're reading about.

Later in Scripture, God tells us we should not talk to the spirits. She was actually bringing up a real spirit of someone who had passed. I believe that's what's going on at Endor.

Another very common question: who did Cain marry? He married a sister. The human gene pool was almost perfect after the fall. Obviously, the fall corrupted it some, and over the generations, the gene pool has become more and more corrupted. At some point in the Old Testament, God tells people to stop marrying their sisters; don't do it anymore. So obviously over time, the gene pool's becoming corrupted. Who did Cain marry? Married his sister.

And then the last question I have on my list here is what was Behemoth? So let's quickly take a look at Behemoth. I think Behemoth was a titanosaur. As I said earlier, dinosaurs and mankind were created on the sixth day of creation. We were created together. So yes, mankind and dinosaurs did coexist. How did Noah fit the dinosaurs on the ark? Well, he brought children dinosaurs. You don't have to fit a fully grown titanosaur on the ark for it to be able to survive.

Why don't we have dinosaurs anymore? Well, we do have dinosaurs still. I think alligators are dinosaurs. Scientists will come up with all kinds of reasons why alligators aren't dinosaurs, but they will say, secular scientists will say that alligators were here before the dinosaurs—that they're older than the dinosaurs. That's fascinating to me because if you believe that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a comet, why didn't it kill the alligators?

Not just alligators, there are all kinds of stories of dinosaur-like creatures over the last hundreds of years. The buru would probably be the most recent, 1947 I believe. A British explorer in the Himalayas, multiple tribes record the buru that lived in the Himalayan mountains—hippopotamus type body, a very long neck with an alligator snake-like head, called it the buru.

There are sightings of the Tombstone Thunderbird, the pterodactyls, which a pterodactyl is not a dinosaur but they lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. All kinds of instances of dinosaurs that could still be living today. We have Alexander the Great, him and his men, it's in Roman recorded history that in 330 BC when Alexander the Great was conquering India, that he saw a hundred-foot-tall dragon, he and his men. Its eyes were the size of a Macedonian shield, according to the Roman recording.

Of course we have the story of Saint George that slays the dragon. That dragon had gotten so small by the time about 900 AD that it was smaller than his horse when he killed it. So when we talk about knights slaying dragons, I think that that is true, that knights of old fought dragons that breathed fire.

Of course, China has a very long history of the dragons that served the Chinese emperors. Jobs in the Chinese government that was actually an official dragon feeder that would throw the food into the ponds for the dragons.

Why don't we have dinosaurs anymore? I think we do as I said, but I think after the flood the dinosaurs kind of died off pretty quickly for two reasons. One, the oxygen in the air was a lot thinner, is a lot thinner now than it was before the flood. And so dinosaurs couldn't breathe as well. And so the bigger you are, the eighty-foot-tall dinosaurs had oxygen in the antediluvian world because the antediluvian world had 32 percent oxygen and today's world only has 21 percent oxygen in the air.

Also the increased pressure from the firmament overhead causes not only your red blood cells to carry oxygen, it also causes the plasma, which is the liquid part of the blood, it causes that to be able to carry oxygen. So eighty-foot-tall dinosaurs that had lungs and nostrils the size of horses were able to breathe in the antediluvian world.

They get off the ark, big dinosaurs—these baby dinosaurs are able to live. Big dinosaurs after they grow are not able to breathe, not able to live under the conditions, and so eventually the dinosaurs either get smaller over generations, which I think some of the lizards we have today—the three-horned lizard looks like a triceratops—give it enough time to grow, it might ever become one. But I think lizards have adapted to not grow as big.

So just fascinating stuff. Feel free to check out what I do for Southwest Radio Ministries and for the Lord. Our website is marginalmysteries.com. marginalmysteries.com. I have a YouTube channel where we do all kinds of fascinating videos. Appreciate you for joining me. It's been a fun time talking to you by the Sea of Galilee. To my left is the steep place where Jesus cast Legion, the two thousand demons into the swine, and they ran into the ocean. Thank you guys, have a wonderful day.

Southwest Radio Ministries: What if you could open your Bible and then actually stand in the places where its history happened and its prophecies point to the future? That's the experience waiting for you in the brand new "In the Land," available now on DVD and digital download from Southwest Radio Ministries. Filmed on location throughout Israel and Jordan, "In the Land" features five powerful teaching sessions from Larry Spargimino, Larry Stam, Mica Van Huss, Josh Davis, and archaeologist Clayton Van Huss.

Stand atop Mount Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee and explore Israel's role in Bible prophecy. Travel to northern Israel for a biblical answer to a world in turmoil. Sit beside the Sea of Galilee and investigate fascinating biblical mysteries. Then, journey to the ancient city of Petra to uncover its history and prophetic significance and stand on Mount Nebo where archaeology and Bible prophecy come together in the remarkable prophecy of the star and scepter.

It's nearly two hours of teaching filmed where the Bible comes alive. Get "In the Land" today on DVD or watch it anywhere with the new digital download. Order "In the Land" right now at swrc.com or call 1-800-652-1144. "In the Land." Trusted voices, timeless truth, where it all began. 1-800-652-1144.

Tomorrow on Watchman on the Wall, is artificial intelligence simply another technological revolution, or could it be helping build the infrastructure for something the Bible warned about long ago? Author and national security analyst Lieutenant Colonel Robert Maginnis joins us to discuss his new book, "The Final Algorithm." That fascinating conversation will happen tomorrow on Watchman on the Wall.

Watchman on the Wall is a production of Southwest Radio Ministries and is supported by faithful listeners like you. To learn more, visit swrc.com.