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How old is time?
Many Christian leaders say that we should not insist that the first day was a literal day as in the following next five days of Genesis Chapter 1, so as not to offend or just avoid the effort it takes to defend it. Why don’t we just footnote the first 5 verses as being uncertain in meaning? Or better yet change the first 5 verses to be more specific about how long we think it was. Then we will not have to suffer the repercussions of ‘adding unto or away’. Anybody want to take the responsibility for doing so? Maybe just initial the redact:
1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2. 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. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.^
(a really, really, really long day) _____
I love watching Asian news on TV. Seems like they have not yet learned from American News (it’s all about our rights) how to manipulate the stories to influence how I should think. I grew up with more responsible reporting. You know, “and that’s the way it ‘was’ October 23rd, 4004 BC”. Walter Cronkite (it’s all about our responsibilities). CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81). Replaced by Dan I’d Rather distort today and apologize later.
I do have a problem with metric weather however. To me 32 is a snow indicator, or 95 is too hot to play golf. Celsius? What? When do I check my antifreeze? Or when should I not play golf? I grew up with a foot is 12 inches, 3 feet is a yard, a mile is 1760 yards, or 5280 feet. I ran track in high school. A 100 yards or a mile was a race. Meters and kilometers? Thank goodness we still have 100 yard football fields, or 90 feet between bases in baseball, or a good wedge is 100 yards. If my caddie says 100 meters, I may deep six my ball over the green and into the lake! I honestly believe that golf is the ‘last good civilized game’. A perfect venue for a Sunday afternoon ‘thank you Jesus’, just before 60 ‘apologize?’ Minutes.
I suppose metric is good for technology, but it is not based on my history of understanding. Fortunately we have not yet tinkered with the concept of measuring time. Of course a lot of confusion exists over how old is time itself. 60 seconds is a minute, 60 minutes is an hour, 24 hours is a day, 365.25 days is a year. What? If God created a perfect universe, why 365.25 days for us to circle the sun? You know, leap year. I am guessing that 30 days times 12 months would be perfect, just like ‘in the beginning’. 360 would be a perfect circle time wise.
I have heard some Christian scientists are looking for Joshua’s extra-long day as evidence for the discrepancy. I believe the pillar of fire and cloud, God’s presence, let the sun go down as normal. Jashur, the first journalist to cash in on ‘uniformed’ eye witness news? (This Jashur comment, or why it is there, has to be considered.) Now Hezekiah’s sundial, that is a more likely possibility for the discrepancy. 10 degrees back or 15 more years of life. I love exploring possibilities and measuring things rightly.
If the answer to this riddle is ‘the traumatic flood of Noah’s time’ then, that is good too. But I will still not be any younger. Or am I? As of Nov 17, 2013, I was 69 years old or lived 25,202.25 days. If I lived before Hezekiah (or Joshua, or Noah) I would only be 24,840 days old. I would still be 69. But I would be 362.25 days younger. I may need to think more about that one.
As the Ussher Chronology illustrates, the Universe is about 6018 (2014) years old (6018 x 365.25 = 2,198,074.5 days). And did you know that the ‘6 day Creation’ concept is repeated in the middle of the 10 Commandments, right after the Keeping the Sabbath Command. Must be there for a reason!
In grade school we had a 10 Commandments Plaque in the hallway. My first 3 years of high school we started our day with the Lord’s Prayer. The last year it was outlawed. And in Biology class, a distant uncle was a monkey? Needless to say, I was confused for a while. Until I read Genesis 1 that is.
Growing up in the 40’s and 50’s, the 10 Commandments were respected as ‘normal behavior’. Everyone seemed to be going to church on Sunday. Not all were Christian, but morally it seemed to be the right thing to do, for the family.
During the 60’s the 10 Commandments became the 10 Suggestions. In the 70’s abortion of the unborn was legalized. In today’s chaotic political and judicial world, the 10 Suggestions have become the 10 Rights, or it is ‘practically’ legal to break all the Commandments; even encouraged to do so; even increasingly mandatory...
In Ecclesiastes 12 Solomon says in verse 13. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
I know the Bible says we are not saved by keeping the commandments, but by trusting in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. But as Joshua warned the Israelites in Joshua 22:5. But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Or as Moses said in Deuteronomy 5:33. Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
Or the Apostle John in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 was expressing the same sentiment, live well and prosper.
Maybe we all should be more controversial and explore the possibilities and measure things rightly. When we stand before Jesus on that last day, and long to hear that “well done good and faithful servant” we can honestly and confidently say “we did the best we could with the time we had”.
How much time is left? What about Nowmil?
http://historyreally.org/1000yearisms.html
Is history important? I was talking to a retired local newscaster about recent events. I mentioned the name of Walter Cronkite. Bob said, ‘ah, the most trusted newscaster in America’. In the 1950’s I remember a tv program called ‘You Are There’. Walter was the host and he would send a reporter and a camera man back in time to a famous event in history. The one I remember most was the ‘Assassination of Julius Caesar’. I can still see the reporter talking to Brutus. Et Tu, Brute.
Often I think what it was like back in the time when people first read the Book of Revelation and in particular Chapter 20. You know the 1000 years. Did they think that Jesus would return in 1000 years, from the date Jesus Ascended? Of course about 1030 or 1033 or shortly thereafter, the millennial theory gained prominence.
Some may have thought there is a 1000 (or a long period of time) year period of a future kingdom. And of course there where people like me who believe that the first thousand years is over, now we begin the second. I suppose in 2030 or 2033 the same thing will happen.
Revelation 20 is tough and still not sure of the exact meaning. As with most passages we have to look at past, present and future considerations. And not necessarily in sequence. My view, as it is today, is based more on history and the rest of Scripture, even Revelation, like Chapter 12, which looks more like a brief history of the New Testament Church.
For now, I view Revelation 20 as the Resurrection of the Church (and the recognized success they had in the first 1000 years, or they ‘reigned in life’) and not the individual and starting in verse 7 we see more of the here and now, and starting in verse 10 we see the future.
(Note: there is a ‘reformed position’ somewhere that the 1000 years is ‘just a long time’. A mistranslation, or copy error, maybe one of the 1000’s? If this be so then Rev 20 makes more sense, and there was a 1000 year period of Church success (54 AD to 1054 AD). Of course then we have to rethink everything about this 1000 years. But of course NOWMIL, is still intact historically.)
(Like: John 21:20-24 and Jesus reference to John not seeing death ‘till I come’? A reference to John on Patmos and Jesus appearance before him? And Matthew 16:28 and Mark 9:1 and Luke 9:27 about ‘some shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God present with power’: Pentecost, the early Church, and the persecution that was to follow?
What about Matthew 24? Jesus got 2 (or 3) questions, about Jerusalem and His return, and gives a layered response with short and long term implications. Beginning with the desolation and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Church Age with its initial tribulation, victory over the Roman Empire, 1000 year foundation for Missions, and its lapses over time with successes followed by failures (with a final great tribulation) until Jesus returns with the ‘clouds of heaven’ to rescue and gather his Saints and then a New Heavens and a New Earth.
Or about the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24:15: Agrippa I comes to power in 37 AD. Approx. 3 ½ years in Rome (with Caligula), and approx. 3 ½ years in Jerusalem. About the time Agrippa arrives in Jerusalem, followers of Caligula erect a statue of him in the Temple (short lived) and toward the end of Agrippa’s reign, Agrippa begins a reign of terror on Jewish Christians (kills James, imprisons Peter, persecutes others) and essentially forces the Christians to leave Jerusalem. This is the ‘beginning of desolation of Jerusalem’, which is physically destroyed in 70 AD. See 70 Weeks chart below.
Or how about
Matthew 24:50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53. And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Where did these ‘saints’ wind up? Where they the ‘cloud’ (of witnesses) that Jesus Ascended into? The first Resurrection. Including a possible last minute entry, the repentant thief on the cross; but excluding poor Lazarus who died just a few days earlier, but ‘reluctantly’ brought to life again (John 11)? Awaiting the last Resurrection. (Apostle John and Antipas in 67 AD respond to ‘come up hither’ – revhist, Rev 11). See ‘cloud image’ below.)
Revelation History:
http://historyreally.org/revhist.html
What happened in 1054 is a historical fact. The Great Church Schism and I suppose it was the multiple ism schism. What is the future? Not to mention the free will debate and other points of disagreement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastWest_Schism
What followed the Schism was the Dark Ages where a lot of bad things happened, particularly in Europe. Then the Reformation happened and a revival started which led to a rebirth of human achievement which we benefit from to this day. And this of course was taken, along with the Great Commission to the nations.
The Reformation was of course inspired by God’s Spirit in the hearts and minds of His people. Could there be a second Reformation where we minimize the isms and understand that the Babel mentality (political vote getting manipulation using the victimology and migration crises, instead of the victor/immigration norm, or tough love) is really about another tower and that God’s Ten Commandments are our 10 rights to break them:
Genesis 11: 4. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.''
Is this another episode of ‘You Are There’? And will future generations look back at us in future episodes?
Political manipulation:
http://historyreally.org/newpost2.html
NKJV
Revelation 20
1. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
3. and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
4. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
7. Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
8. and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
9. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
10. And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
11. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
12. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
13. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
14. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Everything Theory:
http://historyreally.org/hist01.html
Matthew 24
1. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.
2. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.''
3. Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?''
4. And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.
5. "For many will come in My name, saying, `I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
6. "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7. "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
8. "All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9. "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
10. "And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11. "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12. "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13. "But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
15. "Therefore when you see the `abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place'' (whoever reads, let him understand),
16. "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17. "Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house.
18. "And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
19. "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those with nursing babies in those days!
20. "And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
21. "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22. "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
23. "Then if anyone says to you, `Look, here is the Christ!' or `There!' do not believe it.
24. "For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
25. "See, I have told you beforehand.
26. "Therefore if they say to you, `Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or `Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it.
27. "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
28. "For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
29. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30. "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31. "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32. "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.
33. "So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the very doors.
34. "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled.
35. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
36. "But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
37. "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38. "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39. "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
40. "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.
41. "Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
42. "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
43. "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
44. "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.
45. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?
46. "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.
47. "Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.
48. "But if that evil servant says in his heart, `My master is delaying his coming,'
49. "and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
50. "the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
51. "and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
