The"American
Wisdom Series"
presents
Peter Describes the Three World Ages
Is
the earth only 6,000 years old as many Christians have been led to believe
by 'willingly ignorant' ministers and teachers of God's word?
Does the Bible conflict with true
science and contradict the evidences found in the geological layers of
the earth?
Of course not.
God is the creator of true "science"
and the author of His "Word".
The two are in complete harmony
and the Bible provides a complete answer to all the cavils of geologists!
And we will now learn some of that harmony from a PhD
in Geo-Physics and the Biological Sciences.
No!
We'll learn it from a Big Old Lovable Fisherman with more
common sense than most Harvard grads.
It reminds you of Paul's words in
1 Cor. 1:26:
1 Cor.
1:26
For ye see your
calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called:
That is, most of the brethren
are not wise, mighty and noble as the world sees them, because many have
no alphabet soup attached to their names.
But to our Father they are wise,
mighty and noble indeed!
We are blessed with one them in
Simon Bar Jona.
Here he is.
2 Peter
3:1
This second
epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure
minds by way of remembrance:
Peter wrote both his first
and second epistles to "stir up" the minds of God's elect (See 1 Pet. 1:1)
to "remember" that which they already know!
Therefore a foundation in the Oracles
of God, a database of knowledge from which to draw memory, is necessary
to understand the Big Fisherman's letter.
Those of the world willingly don't
study God's Word, so how could they possibly know what Peter is talking
about?
[2]
That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
The word "mindful" is the Greek
word mimnesko, Strong's #3403, and means to remind, i.e.
to recall to mind.
Again, Peter wants us to remember
the words of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
"But know this first", he says:
[3]
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking
after their own lusts,
Scoffers and mockers wear many
different hats. Some even claim to be Christian but you can always find
them fishing out of the left side of the boat...
2 Pet.
3:4
And saying,
Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
We have already seen and will
continue to see the main stream media in cooperation with the "higher critics"
put forth scoffing programs about the predictions of the end of the world
or those predicting the coming of the Messiah in the year 2000 and beyond.
The comparison is always made to
the turn of last millennium whereby they are eager to point out that many
of the same predictions were made then.
And of course they never came to
pass, silly Christians, for "all things continue as they were from the
beginning", they say.
But here is their problem:
[5]
For
this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
There was a world [age]
before this present one.
"In the beginning", when God created
this beautiful earth it was NOT created under the water, but it was created
and stood OUT OF THE WATER.
This verse refers to Genesis 1:1
as we shall see.
But then something happened:
[6]
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
"Whereby" = "Which means".
So read, "Which means that the world
which stood out of the water became overflowed with water, and perished."
Remember that Peter is just reminding us about this?
Remember he told us in verse 2 that
the prophets of old already declared this stuff.
So let's go back and see what they had to say.
Let's begin at the beginning with the prophet Moses.
Genesis
1:1
In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth.
If ever there was a perfect
verse to begin the Word of God, this is it!
It is simple, plain talk, like the
rest of the Bible and our Father purposely placed here as "the gateway"
for the entrance to His Word.
And think of the incredible thoughtfulness
of it's message!
For if one can't get past the "stupidity"
of evolution in believing that complexity and order can just happen from
"Big Bang Explosions" and slimy organic soup, then one needs to go no further
in the Book!
So look around the room where you
are sitting and point to just one thing that wasn't MADE!
You can't do it!
Now if you can go outside and point
to a car and say "this was made" and then point to a horse and say "this
wasn't made, it evolved", and then point to the flowers and the trees and
the birds and all of nature and say this wasn't made by someone, then you
need go no further in your Father's Word until you can obtain some common
sense.
Show me an almost bird!
Show me apes evolving into men today!
What?
Did evolution all of a sudden stop?
There's no almost anything either today or in the fossil
records.
Get a life!
Call me when you grow up!
Now, the other amazing thing
about Genesis 1:1 is that this is about as far as most people can get in
the Bible before mistranslations cause them to misinterpret God's Word
and they begin to stumble and fall at verse 2.
And believe it or not, the majority
of Christianity stumbles at Gen. 1:2.
Before we read Gen. 1:2, let's go to the prophet Isaiah
and read some details about the creation of heaven and earth in Genesis
1:1, expressed by the Creator God Himself.
Isaiah
45:18
For thus saith
the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and
made it; He hath established it, He created
it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited:
I am the LORD; and there is none else.
There can be no doubt about who is speaking.
It is the Creator God of Genesis 1:1 which we just read.
Here we see that God says He "established"
the earth, i.e. perfectly fashioned it.
He made it Himself and created it
TO BE INHABITED!
AND,
one thing is for sure!
Whatever
"in vain" is, He DID NOT create it that way!
Read it again: "He
created it not in vain."
So let's see what "in vain" means.
The Hebrew word is tohu.
tohuw, to'-hoo, Hebrew 8414; from an unused
root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i.e.
desert;
figurative a worthless thing; adverbial in vain :- confusion, empty
place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity,
waste, wilderness.
Notice that this word means totally wasted, a
thing of nought, i.e. nothingness, which also means "without
form".
Now let's return to Genesis and read verse 2.
Genesis
1:2
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.
"Without form" is exactly the
same Hebrew word, tohu,
that we read in Isaiah 45:18.
Now wait a minute!
Isaiah said that He did not create
it tohu, and here in Genesis 1:2 Doesn't Moses says He did!
What gives?
The answer lies in the simple fact
that the word "was" in Genesis 1:2 is the Hebrew word hayah, and
should be rendered "became" as it is in Genesis 2:7, "and man became
a living soul".
Even
the NIV translation makes reference to "was" meaning "became".
In fact, when you add the word "void" in verse 2, which
in Hebrew is bohu and means "an undistinguishable
ruin", you get
tohu va bohu which
means total utter DESTRUCTION, which is something that must happen,
i.e. "become".
So God said through His servant
Isaiah, He didn't create it tohu, so somehow it "became" tohu
va bohu.
We're going to read how that happened
in just a moment.
But first let's look at another
account of the creation of the world in the beginning, before it became
tohu.
This is God talking to Job, a type of God's elect:
Job
38:1
Then the LORD
answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
[2] Who is this
that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Job has just listened to 33
chapters of "counsel by words without knowledge" from his three preacher
friends.
"All that they said is bunk, Job!",
said the Lord in 38:1 - 7
Now pay attention and answer me this.", said the Lord.
[3]
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer
thou me.
[4] Where wast
thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
If you have understanding the answer is Job was indeed
there at creation.
And so were you and I!
[5]
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched
the line upon it?
[6] Whereupon
are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
God created the entire universe and hung the earth
in space.
How did He do that?
Is there such a thing as a "Space Hook?"
[7]
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy?
Of course, all the sons of
God were present at the creation of the world.
It was created expressly for them/us!
And when He was done creating it,
everyone, that includes you and me, sang and jumped and shouted for joy,
for it was one beautiful masterpiece!
Again, if you know anything about
the Hebrew language at all, then you know that no one sings for joy at
tohu
va bohu, for it is utter waste and destruction.
They would cry boohoo waa boohoo, for it would be ALL
GONE!
Let's now go to the prophet Jeremiah
and see what scoffers are so willingly ignorant of.
The context of what God is about
to say is that if you think "all things continue as from the beginning
of creation" and that He will not bring forth correction and a new earth
age, then you are "stupid" indeed!
Why?
You are willingly ignorant of the
destruction of the old earth age, the "world that then was" which Peter
spoke of!
In other words, He did it before!
Jeremiah
4:22
For my people
is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they
have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they
have no knowledge.
"Sottish" literally means "stupid"
(God's words, not mine).
They have no knowledge of His Word.
[23]
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens,
and they had no light.
This verse and the following
few verses show us what the earth looked like after it BECAME without form
and void, i.e. now was
tohu va bohu.
There was NO LIGHT!
[24]
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved
lightly.
There was a great shaking of
the earth.
[25]
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were
fled.
No Men?
No Birds?
Obviously there was a creation
before the earth became "without
form and void", wasn't there?
And don't let anyone try to tell
you this was Noah's flood.
Because the earth never became
tohu va bohu
at Noah's flood because there were birds and at least
8 men alive then.
And there was light also.
[26]
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities
thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce
anger.
All vegetation was destroyed and pressed into the
shale along with the dinosaurs and every living creature of which the fossil
records declare.
And notice there were cities in
the world that then was?
A lost city of Atlantis?
Probably!
[27]
For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will
I not make a full end.
God did not make a "full end"
of the earth.
He simply wiped out the "world [age]
that then was" and covered it with water, and darkness was upon the face
of the deep, and "being overflowed with water, perished" (2 Pet. 3:6).
He literally knocked it off its
axis, which is why true north and magnetic north are out of sync and the
earth wobbles and produces a jet stream and storms, etc.
And now the question:
Why did He do it?
The answer in part was given in Jer. 4:26,
"by His fierce anger"!
You see, Satan rebelled in the "world
that then was" and drew 1/3 of the sons of God away from Him (Rev. 12:4).
Our Father was not too happy about that and He judged
and sentenced Satan to die, which sentence has not been executed yet.
Read
all of Ezekiel chapter 28 concerning Satan and his rebellion.
But because of His love for His
children, our Father chose not to hold judgment for the other children
who defected and sentence them to die also.
He rather destroyed the earth age
that then was and instituted a plan to "restore His children to Him", to
save them from the fate they deserve, which is eternal death.
We call His loving plan "The Plan
of Salvation", the salvaging of the sons of God.
Then
too, there were those who stood against Satan in that first earth age
and
were justified and chosen to be used by our Father in this present earth
age to help bring about the plan of God.They
are called God's elect.
And so it is easy to understand what the apostle Paul
meant in Ephes. 1:4 when he says concerning God's elect:
Ephes.
1:4
According as
he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
"Before the foundation of the
world" means before the "casting down"
or "overthrow" of Satan. (See appendix 146 in the Companion
Bible).
God's
elect were chosen before Genesis 1:2 occurred.
[5]
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Once you understand what happened
in "the world that then was" there are a multitude of verses that are easily
understood and questions that are simply answered.
Consider for example the following verse concerning Jeremiah:
Jeremiah
1:5
Before I
formed thee in the belly I knew thee;
and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations.
It makes sense now, doesn't it?
Our Father
knows all of His children before He sends them through the womb of woman
to be born innocent, i.e. without prior knowledge of the 1st earth age,
that
they might have an opportunity to be saved.
Now you know why God told flesh
man, male and female, to go "replenish" the earth.
It had been populated [plenished]
before, though man was not flesh during
that earth age.
Now you know why God is able
to say in Romans 9:13, "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated", even before they were born!
Esau was obviously disrespectful
in the first earth age.
Isn't this exciting information?
Just wait!
Next
see the Big Fisherman is going to talk about the "present" earth age and
the "future" earth age to come.
Peter
tells us that the scoffers in these last days are "willingly ignorant"
The Bible declares that there are
3 World Ages.
One has already passed away, one
is present now, and one is yet to come.
The understanding of these 3 World
Ages is essential to a having basic understanding of the overall plan of
salvation.
So let's pick up where we left off in our last study,
where Peter had just told us that the scoffers in these last days are
"willingly ignorant" [meaning they are unwilling
to study God's Word] of the fact that the Word of God declares that
the 1st heaven and earth age, which Peter calls "the world that then was",
perished.
And guess what?
That means they are also "willingly
ignorant" of the fact that the same Word of God declares that this present
earth age in which we live, the 2nd heaven and earth age, is going to pass
away, also!
Read it for yourself:
2 Peter
3:7
But the heavens
and the earth, which are now,
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day
of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
This present earth age is going
to end at the Great White Throne Judgment following the Millennium and
we shall have a new heaven and a new earth age (Rev. 21:1), the third and
final one which will be for all eternity.
Hallelujah!
[8]
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
But be patient and knowledgeable
about the difference in the dimensions!
Our reckoning of time is not on the same scale as our
Father's is in the spiritual realm.
A thousand years to us is simply
one day with Him.
[9]
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance.
Yes, God will keep all of His
promises just as we know He has so far!
But there is really good news in the fact that His answers
and promises seem slow to come to flesh man.
And that is that He has patience with us [thank God] and
through His patience all who will can come to repentance and receive salvation.
But the sand will eventually run
out of the hour glass no matter what the scoffers say, for it is written
that it shall.
And when it does and that final trump sounds, it shall
overtake those who are "willingly ignorant" as a thief in the night and
rob them of their chance for salvation in this earth
age.
2 Peter
3:10
But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
The Day of the Lord doesn't
come upon everyone as a thief in the night, only to the willingly ignorant
who walk in the darkness of the world.
1 Thes.
5:4
But ye, brethren,
are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
It isn't going to surprise
the Children of Light, the watchmen of God!
Rev.
3:3
Remember therefore
how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore
thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not
know what hour I will come upon thee.
But if you do watch and
take heed He will not come on thee as a thief!
Let's read 2 Pet. 3:10 again:
2 Peter
3:10
But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
To understand the rest of this verse
you must know a few things:
(1) God is a consuming fire as
documented by Hebrews 12:29; "For our God is a consuming fire."It
is His fire that warms the heart of His children while at the same time
consuming away stubble.
(2) The word "elements" comes
from the Greek word stoicheion, Strong's #4747, and means
"rudiments" or "principles", which are spiritual things and not physical
matter or "material elements".
(3) Fire does not burn or
melt spirit. For example
you can
not burn an "attitude" with a blow torch. Neither
can you burn either good works or bad works with a match.
This verse simply says that the evil rudiments shall be
destroyed at His coming.
[11]
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Well, you don't want to be
among those counted as stubble, do you?
Peter spent the entirety of his first letter instructing
us how to conduct ourselves.
[12]
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat?
Again, we look forward to the purifying effect of
God's presence, the consuming fire, which fire purifies gold and completely
destroys chaff, straw and stubble.
2 Pet.
3:13
Nevertheless
we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness.
There is a new heaven and a
new earth coming, the 3rd Heaven and Earth Age.
The Word of God declares it.
He has promised it and He will keep
that promise!
And only "righteousness" will dwell
there for the evil "rudiments" shall all be burned with fire and consumed
away!
[14]
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that
ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
Take heed and study His Word, thereby growing in
the grace and knowledge of Him, and "grace and peace will be multiplied
unto you" (2 Pet. 1:2).
[15]
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our
beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written
unto you;
And understand and consider God's longsuffering,
His patience with us, as salvation; even as Paul who wrote about longsuffering
in Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and the Books
of Timothy.
[16]
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which
are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Notice that Peter gives credentials to Paul and calls
his epistles "scriptures".
And
yes, some of Paul's writings would be, and are for the unlearned, hard
to understand if one doesn't know about the 3 Earth Ages. Eph. 1:4
where Paul talks about God's elect being chosen before the foundation/destruction
of this earth age is really hard for some to explain.
But those who have eyes to see and
ears to hear and "take heed" by growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord,
find it quite simple and no mystery at all, for they can be "reminded"
of the other scriptures and stirred up again, for they have studied them
in earnest.
[17]
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest
ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
stedfastness.
Beware, take heed, and be stedfast.
Luke 21:8 "And He said, Take heed
that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ;
and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them."
Instead, draw near to Him and to
His Word.
[18]
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
To Him be glory both now and for
ever.
And thank you Father for giving
us your instructions through Peter, a fisher of men indeed!
Amen.
To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits;
to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, you accomplish both.
1 Corinthians
10:11 Now all these things happened unto them {the
ancient Israelites} for
ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends
of the world are come.
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