Therefore on average, these four measurements serve to confirm that one day in the Creator’s life at creation would seem like 0.9 x 10^12 days to us. And none of this should be surprising since Yahweh consistently equates His nature to light, and since we now know that at the velocity of light, time stands still. Eternity only exists in the presence of the Light.

Yahuweh created the Abyss as a prison for Halal ben Shachar, better known as Satan, and for the divisions who rebelled with him.

"Yahuweh, God, said to the serpent (nahas - viper, poisonous reptile, and venomous snake), ‘Because (kiy) you have done (‘asah) this (zo’t) you have brought a curse upon yourself (‘arar - invoked injury, misfortune, affliction, and harm, earning retribution) more than any (min kol) class of living being (bahemah - beast or animal), more than any form of life (hayah - conscious existence) in the realm (sadeh - open environs outside the walled enclosure). On (‘al) your belly[/b] (gahon - the part of a reptile which makes contact with the ground) you shall move about (halak - travel, proceed, exist, and live), and dirt (‘apar - the minute elements or particles which comprise matter) you shall eat (‘akal - consume) all (kol) the days (yowm) of your (‘atah) lives (hayim - suffering anguish in distress).’" (Genesis 3:14)

For there to be justice, there must be recompense. For a judge to be moral, he must punish those who deceive, destroy, steal, and kill. Satan used half truths, a counterfeit, and a straw man to delude Chawah, destroying her relationship with Yahweh, robbing her of her home, and stealing her mortal soul. For that, Satan will be punished.

The sentence, however, was not death. Spirits, unlike souls, are all immortal. Even God cannot kill them. So that is why the misfortune the Adversary brought upon himself, his retribution, will be eternal anguish. Satan will be incarcerated for all but the last fleeting moments of the Sukah Millennial Sabbath. He will be released and will use similar tactics to deprive many of those born during the thousand year right, causing them to be wrong with God. This will be the final rebellion and then Satan, his fellow demons, as well as all of those who leagued with him, will be tested and found wanting in the lake of fire. Passing through it, they will find themselves in an eternal prison called the Abyss. Made especially for Satan and his colleagues, this penitentiary is indistinguishable from a black hole. It is a lightless place of emotional anguish separated from God. It is a place where the pressures are so intense, the minute particles which comprise matter are consumed. Ultimately it becomes a one dimensional construct where only time exists.

There are three ways to interpret this message. The simplest would have been understood by the first people to hear the story. Satan acted badly and was punished. Groveling on one’s belly and eating dirt has never been good.

Spiritually, the Adversary was cast down and as a result he spends his days devouring mankind. Adam was created from the very substance Satan was predicted to consume.

Scientifically, the leading astrophysicist of our day, Stephen Hawkins, has invested the last decade of his life in the advancement of the theory which is suggested here - that matter can be consumed. He has postulated that this condition exists within the confines of black holes. While most scientists despise his conclusion, knowing that physics itself is based upon the conservation of matter, Hawkins is merely reporting what Yahweh has revealed. The first thing God said He will do following the Millennial Sabbath is to completely destroy the entire universe. But don’t be alarmed. He will instantaneously create a new one, this time with us as witnesses in addition to beneficiaries.

In truth, the Big Bang theory cannot even explain how galaxies formed. So that which is purported to be science, and thus is assumed to be testable, and taught as fact, and thus assumed to be true, is neither. The simple truth is: at the moment scientists don’t know much when it comes to the substance of the universe.

But don’t accept my testimony on this, consider P.J.E. Peebles’ conclusion. He is the acknowledged leader in the field of universal beginnings, professor of Cosmology at Princeton University: "Cosmology - the study of the beginnings, formation, and evolution of our Universe - is currently in a badly confused state. At the moment, scientists don’t know what makes up 99% of the Universe. This, needless to say, is a rather embarrassing situation. Although much of what is visible in the Universe is becoming comprehensible, with great recent strides in understanding star formation, galactic structure, and spectacular events such as supernovae, it would appear that there is another component of the universe - possibly making up most of its mass - which we cannot see, and we do not understand."

Turning to Someone who does understand, Genesis 1:2 reveals that while the scientific term "dark matter" is only a score of years old, Yahweh has always been familiar with the concept: "The natural material of which things are comprised (‘erets) exists (hayah) formless (tohu), as an empty void (bohu), obscured in darkness (chosek) along with the presence of the inaccessible and mysterious depths." If they only knew where to look, scientists would have long ago come to recognize that God was explaining what happened, defining the very terms "Big Bang" and "Dark Matter" which astronomers and physicists would come to ponder.

But there was much more to God’s message. Yahweh was also introducing the concept of relationship and separation in these opening verses. We must choose which side of the divide we want to be on - darkness, confusion, and lifelessness or light, instruction, and life - the family or the void. It should be no surprise then that light, instruction, and life occupy Yahweh’s thoughts over the first three days of creation and that on the fourth day He presents the ultimate guide to them.

While we are on the subject of God knowing that which man does not know, of God being light, and of man stumbling in the darkness, the most recent tests conducted by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite experiment show that dark energy, the force which is unknown to man, occupies 73% of the energy of the universe, and dark matter, the effect which is unknown to man, represents 23% of universal content. Thus our known and testable theories can only account for 4% of the energy and matter in the universe. All we know about Dark Energy is that it is both ubiquitous and repulsive and that its relationship to Dark Matter suggests fine-tuning manifest through intelligent design.

And in the end, their destiny is eternal darkness. “These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” (II Peter 2:17) Wells without water promise to slake the thirst, but provide nothing of value. You can’t drink false hope. Nor does the parched land benefit from clouds that merely scud by overhead. A false promise is far more cruel than silence. Therefore, those who lead the spiritually unborn astray, those who conspire to keep them from experiencing the light of Yahweh’s love, have a confirmed reservation in Hotel Hell, described here as “the blackness of darkness.” And their stay is described as forever. As the Eagles’ old rock anthem put it, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

It’s an interesting phrase: “the blackness of darkness.” The Greek zophos means deep gloom, the blackest darkness of hell. And skotos is the word for the darkness of night, also indicating “darkened eyesight or blindness; the darkness of ignorance respecting divine things and human duties, and the accompanying ungodliness and immorality, together with their consequent misery in hell.” (Strong’s) Scientists tell us that there are places within every galaxy called “black holes,” where the gravitational pressure is so great that not even light can escape. Crushing, voracious, and utterly lightless, these black holes provide an apt metaphor for what hell is like. (And who knows? Perhaps they’re more than metaphors. Could it be that Yahweh has reserved a black hole for each soul inhabited by Satan’s spirit? This thought is obviously beyond SF10 on my speculation scale, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be true.)