Understanding the End Times, Part One: The Kingdom of God

 

Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is none other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, “My purpose will be established,

And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” – Isaiah 46:9-10

There is significantly more to the end times issue than the popular focus on matters of when and how end-time events will take place. The question of “Why?” is also extremely important. We have to understand why this period of history is coming, what it is designed to achieve. Nor can we restrict our study of scripture to what is specifically said concerning the end. No, if we want to fully understand the end, it’s essential that we go back to the beginning, for all of human history has been steadily leading up to this time.

God created human beings to be his imagers—that is, to reflect and represent him—and he gave us the task of caring for this planet. In other words, mankind was to act as God’s regent or viceroy on the earth, ruling over the world on his behalf. Ultimately, Adam and Eve—the father and mother of the Adamic race—chose to rebel, seeking the knowledge to live without the guidance of God. They chose their own will over God’s will, and this unfortunate choice soon became the defining characteristic of the human race: the gratification and exaltation of self. As a result of their rebellion, Adam and Eve were cast out of the place of privilege and blessing that God had prepared for them, doomed to labor for their sustenance and, eventually, to die. Yet, even in the midst of judgment, God showed them mercy and promised a redeemer.

In the centuries that followed, God worked through various individuals who were willing to be led by him. One of the most prominent of these was a man named Abraham, with whom God entered into a covenant, which is a solemn agreement based upon promises (marriage is a type of covenant). In his covenant with Abraham, God promised several things, including:

1. He would have descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.
2. He and his descendants would possess a great land inheritance encompassing the territory between the Nile and Euphrates rivers.
3. He would become a blessing to all nations.

Abraham’s descendants multiplied greatly and eventually became the nation of Israel, which was named for Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, whose name God changed. In time, God established a covenant with Israelites in order to establish them as a holy people, meaning a people set apart to himself, so that he could bless them for Abraham’s sake and bring them into the land he had promised. This covenant became known as the Mosaic Covenant or the Law of Moses in that it was given to Israel through Moses after the Israelites were freed from a period of bondage in Egypt. In this covenant, God promised Israel many blessings, but he also sternly warned them that these blessings (including the privilege of living in the land they inhabited) were conditional on their loyalty to him. If they departed from him and served other gods like the nations around them, God promised to visit many different types of judgments upon them and to evict them from the land.

Israel started off well under Moses and his successor, Joshua. They established the civil and ceremonial law that God had commanded, and they took the land of Canaan from the various tribes living in it and became prosperous. In time, however, many of them left off serving God in favor of worshiping pagan gods and adopting the religious practices of the nations around them, such as child sacrifice. Time after time, God warned and judged his people for their idolatry, often by sending foreign conquerors to rule over them; and, time after time, the Israelites repented and turned back to God, who then delivered them through a host of judges and prophets.

This cycle continued until the people finally demanded a king to rule over them, just as the nations around them had kings. God warned them of how a king would tax and otherwise oppress them, but the people were insistent, so God set a man over them named Saul. Saul was effectively the nation of Israel in a microcosm. He started off well, just as Israel had in the day s of Moses and Joshua, but he became proud and stubborn and disobeyed God repeatedly. God then revoked the kingship from Saul and chose another man, a young man named David. David was by no means perfect, but he was a man after God’s own heart. He remained loyal to God throughout his life, and while he was king over Israel the people worshiped and served God as the Law of Moses prescribed. God entered into a covenant with David as well, promising that his family would retain the throne forever.

After David and his son Solomon passed off the scene, ten of Israel’s twelve tribes rebelled against David’s grandson Rehoboam and broke away, becoming known as Israel or “the Northern Kingdom.” The remaining two tribes became known as “Judah” or “the Southern Kingdom.” The Northern Kingdom became steeped in idolatry and paganism early on, and had no really good kings at all apart from a man named Jehu, and even he tolerated idolatry in the land to a degree. Eventually, the Northern Kingdom was destroyed and its people were taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire. For its part, the Southern Kingdom remained loyal to the house of David and produced some good kings, but it also had some kings who gave themselves wholeheartedly to the service of pagan gods. As a result, the Southern Kingdom outlasted the Northern Kingdom but eventually fell to the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar and its people were carried off into exile for seventy years.

As he had in the days of the judges, God sent one prophet after another to Israel and Judah, warning of impending judgment and calling on them to repent and return wholeheartedly to their God. Even as they prophesied of overthrow and captivity, however, a number of these men also foretold a time when God would restore the fortunes of his people, defeat their enemies, and re-gather them in their own land, establishing an everlasting kingdom. In this kingdom, justice and righteousness would reign supreme, and God himself would dwell among men as he had not since the beginning. The kingdom would be centered on Jerusalem, which the prophets commonly referred to as Mount Zion, and the land of Israel would become a place of peace and particular blessing, just as the Garden had once been. God also promised to inaugurate a new covenant with both Judah and Israel, and to write his laws in their hearts so that they would never stray from him again.

This covenant and kingdom would be established and ruled over by a descendant of David known as the Messiah. Messiah is a title taken from the Hebrew word Mashiach, meaning “anointed one,” after the ancient practice of anointing kings with oil. In the Greek language, it is Christos: Christ or “the Christ”. Thus, Messiah was to be both deliverer and king, and it was prophesied that even the gentile nations would come to revere him.

Yet, the prophets also warned that the coming of the kingdom would involve a time of great calamity for Israel. The nation’s enemies would rise up against it, intent on destroying it. God would eventually intervene and stop this, but it would be a terrible time for humanity as a whole. Judgment would fall on those who hated Israel as well as those who hated God and refused to acknowledge him and honor Christ as king.

Eventually, in what the Bible calls “the fullness of time,” God sent his Son, Jesus of Nazareth, into the world. When he began his public ministry, the Bible tells us that Jesus came preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17), which effectively means: “Turn from your rebellion against God, because the Kingdom of God is coming and judgment is coming with it.” The Jews of Jesus’ day knew very well what this reference meant: the time of Israel’s prophesied restoration was near, and they began to openly debate whether Jesus was the expected Messiah, the Christ. Yet, Jesus refused to openly proclaim himself as such, and he would not allow others to prematurely put him in that position. Instead, he taught the people, healed them, freed them from spiritual oppression, and even raised the dead back to life. In so doing, he fulfilled Old Testament prophecies concerning the work of the Messiah, and he exemplified the blessings of the coming Kingdom age, in which disease, the oppression of evil, and even death itself would be overcome. In other words, he showed himself—and those who followed him and did the same works as he did—to be the living Kingdom of God among them: the very personification of the Kingdom and the proof that it was in fact on its way, with both blessing and judgment.

 “I AM the bread of life…” – John 6:35

“I AM the light of the world…” – John 8:12

“I AM the gate for the sheep…” – John 10:7

“I AM the good shepherd…” – John 10:11

“I AM the resurrection and the life…” – John 11:35

“I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6

“I AM the true vine…” – John 15:1

In a nutshell, the ministry of Jesus Christ was a ministry of reconciliation. Everything he did was geared toward restoring what humanity had lost when it lost access to God and the blessings of Eden: peace, health, and life in all of their various dimensions. He set right all that had been made wrong in human experience. In healing the sick and lame, he restored people’s bodies to their proper function. In raising the dead, he restored life that had been lost. In teaching, he restored truth where it had been clouded or distorted. He came to bring restoration, and he was the very embodiment of it.

Yet, not all accepted him or recognized him for who he was. From the very beginning, Jesus called out a select few to follow him and learn from him intimately. These people—both men and women—became his disciples. The closest of these were twelve men whom Jesus called “apostles.” It was specifically these that he trained to carry on his ministry, for he knew that he would not continue with them for long. Those who were jealous of him and hated him were conspiring to kill him. This, too, had been prophesied in the Old Testament, although the prophecies were not well understood. They told of one who would come and carry away the sicknesses and diseases of the people, who would bear the burden of sin to make atonement, and who would be put to a shameful death. Jesus warned his disciples that this was coming, but he also promised that it was not the end: after he had suffered and died, he would rise again; and as he lived, they would live also.

Jesus inaugurated the promised new covenant with his disciples the night before his death; and when he was raised from the dead, he commissioned them to go and preach what he called “the Gospel of the Kingdom” throughout the world. The word “gospel” is from a Greek word meaning “good news.” The Kingdom of God is indeed good news—even with its prophecies of judgment—if you view it the way God views it, for it represents the end of evil’s domination of this world. From that time forward, true justice and righteousness will reign supreme, and the old, corrupt regimes of this world will never come to power again.

In his ministry of reconciliation, the New Testament calls Christ “the last Adam.” Why? Because he is the embodiment of what man was meant to be under God. He is the first—not of a new race, but of a renewed race of man—in perfect fellowship with God. Where Adam failed, choosing to follow his own will and effectively be God to himself, Christ succeeded, remaining faithful to God and doing his will perfectly and consistently. He is the perfect image of God.

“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” – John 14:9

“For in him, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” – Colossians 2:9

All of this brings us back to the time of the end.

The purpose of the end times is to bring in the Kingdom of God with Christ at its head, to do away with everything that is contrary to the will and character of God, and to establish eternal righteousness and blessing with man restored in perfect, eternal fellowship with his creator. In the words of the angel Gabriel as recorded by the prophet Daniel:

“…to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” – Daniel 9:24

Just as the events of the creation in Genesis prepared the world to be handed over to the government of humanity, which was made in the image of God to represent him in the world but fell into rebellion, so the events of the end times are to prepare the world to be handed over to the government of Jesus Christ, who is the perfect, unfailing image of God and will reign in eternal righteousness. He has indeed declared the end from the beginning.

As they say, “That’s what it’s all about.”

“Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and he will reign forever and ever.’” – Revelation 11:15

Understanding the End Times - Introduction

For 2,000 years, Christians have been expecting the “the last days,” “the end of days,” and “the end of the age.” Even Christ’s own disciples lingered on the Mount of Olives for awhile after his ascension, as if expecting him to turn around and come right back. Since that time, every new war, outbreak of disease, upheaval in the church, an unprecedented social trend, has brought with it a renewed flood of speculation about the end.

I grew up in the heyday of the imminent pretribulation rapture movement, when books like The Great Late Planet Earth and speakers like Jerry Falwell and Hal Lindsey had many believers thinking that the end of the world was right around the corner. I remember some pastors teaching that, at virtually any time, the United States would be taken over by a communist dictatorship and Christians would be herded off to concentration camps. I was an anxious kid, and my mind often turned to end-time scenarios as preachers and Bible teachers I heard commented on items in the news. I also struggled with assurance of salvation issues, and our church taught that if you weren’t taken in the rapture you had forfeited your chance for salvation. As you might imagine, these two elements made for an interesting mental mixture at times.

I remember an occasion when my parents went out and were several hours later coming back than they had said they would be (remember that this was the era before cell phones). Meanwhile, a terrible thunderstorm broke out, turning the sky an ugly yellow color. I was filled with a very real dread that the rapture may have happened and I had been left behind. Close to a state of panic, I called my pastor (who I was reasonably sure was a saved person, if anyone was), just to see whether he would answer the phone. He did, and my blood pressure slowly returned to normal. Meanwhile, I’m sure he was confused as to why a kid who had been attending the church longer than he had would suddenly call and ask to verify the Wednesday night service time…

It’s interesting now to look back on all of the failed rapture/second coming/end time predictions now (anyone remember 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988? – check out the reviews on Amazon for some interesting commentary). Prophecy teachers who thought they had everything figured out turned out to be totally wrong. For instance, none of them predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union. Undaunted by this miserable track record, however, more prophecy teachers have since arisen with brand new theories or tweaked variations on the old ones, and more embarrassments have resulted (the Harold Camping/Family Radio debacle in 2011 being a particularly prominent and unfortunate one).

The newest end-time theory I’ve seen relies on a teaching that was common in the early church, namely that the six creation days of Genesis represent six successive 1,000-year ages of human history, with the seventh day representing the Millennial Reign of Christ. According to this theory, 2032 will mark the end of the sixth age and the beginning of the seventh, as it is generally believed that Christ died in AD 32. Pretribulationists who hold to this theory are now speculating that the rapture will take place in the fall of 2025, likely coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Further, they speculate that the near-earth asteroid Apophis (scheduled to make a close flyby of the earth in 2029) is the “Wormwood” object referenced in Revelation. This Wormwood connection is fueled, not only by the fact that 2029 is midway between 2025 and 2032, but also by the fact that Apophis is the Greek name for the Egyptian serpent demon Apep, who was seen as a god of chaos and destruction. Pretribulationists are not the only ones looking at these dates, however. I also know of one posttribulationist group that is also interested in this timeline, as they place a heavy emphasis on the teachings of the early church fathers.

So…what about it? What do we really know about the biblical End of Days?

This has been an area of interest and study for me for quite some time. I’ve written articles and made videos on various aspects of the subject, and used to frequently discuss and debate it online. My intention here is to write a series of posts touching on various aspects of the End Times question, with the goal of passing along what I’ve learned. I don’t pretend to have everything figured out, by any means, but I do believe I have a much clearer understanding of biblical eschatology (End Times studies) than I used to. Further, I have found that these understandings dovetail nicely with the broader tapestry of biblical teaching.

I pray that at least some of you will find these studies of use, and that the Lord will receive glory as I try to share what I believe he has taught me.

Who Were the Nicolaitans?

In the book of the Revelation, Jesus Christ commends the church at Ephesus for the fact that they “hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Revelation 2:6). Debate has taken place over the centuries in regard to just who the Nicolaitans were and what it was about them that Christ hated. Given that the word ‘Nicolaitanes’ itself is a compound Greek word meaning “victory (or conquest) over the people,” some have argued that the Nicolaitans represented a high-church type oligarchy that suppressed the laity or common people, yet this interpretation does not fit naturally with the text of Revelation.

Jesus himself seems to elaborate on the matter a bit further in his message to the church at Pergamos in Revelation 2:14-15:

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”

Here, Christ equates the teaching of the Nicolaitans with that of Balaam, a renegade Old Testament prophet who led Israel into idolatry and immortality.

The early church father Irenaeus of Lyon may be the best authority we have on the Nicolaitans outside of scripture. Irenaeus was born sometime between AD 120-140 and died around the year 200. He was a disciple of a revered church father named Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John himself. Irenaeus was a prolific early Christian writer and apologist whose works were extremely influential in the early centuries of Christianity. He mentions the Nicolaitans twice in his writings.

In Book I, Chapter 26 of his best-known work Against Heresies, Irenaeus claims that the Nicolaitans were followers of Nicolas, a proselyte (convert to Judaism) from Antioch, who was one of the seven deacons appointed by the church in Acts 6:

 

The Nicolaitans are the followers of that Nicolas who one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John…as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

In Book Three, Chapter Eleven of Against Heresies, Irenaeus lumps the Nicolaitans in with the Gnostics as “an offset of that ‘knowledge’ falsely so called” (‘Gnostic’ being derived from the Greek word gnosis, meaning “knowledge”). The Gnostics effectively layered Christianity over pagan teachings, and promoted a number of heresies related to the nature of God and the person of Jesus Christ. Gnostics denied the resurrection of the body and instead taught a form of spiritual ascension in which the body was cast off and left behind forever. Since the body was to be discarded in this way, Gnostics felt that what a person did in the flesh was unimportant, hence their uninhibited practice of sexual sins such as adultery.

Another church father, Clement of Alexandria, who lived c. AD 150 to 215, denied that Nicolas was the father of the Gnostic doctrine bearing his name, arguing instead that the Gnostics had perverted one of his sayings:

 

Such also are those who say they follow Nicolaus, quoting an adage of the man, which they pervert, “that the flesh must be abused.” But the worthy man showed that it was necessary to check pleasures and lusts, and by such training to waste away the impulses and propensities of the flesh. But they, abandoning themselves to pleasure like goats, as if insulting the body, lead a life of self-indulgence; not knowing that the body is wasted, being by nature subject to dissolution: while their soul is buried in the mire of vice (Stromata, Book Two, Chapter Twenty)

Whatever the truth about Nicolas himself may have been, Irenaeus and Clement clearly agreed that the Nicolaitans taught the sinful indulgence of fleshly desires, particularly where sexuality was concerned. No wonder Christ hated their doctrine and wanted it out of his churches.

The Creation Controversy: Recommended Resources

The following are various books, websites, articles, and video presentations that I recommend for further information on alternative understandings of Genesis and creation-related issues. The reader should understand that I present these resources for their informational value. I do not necessarily endorse all of the views reflected here, nor should it be assumed that the authors and contributors listed here would necessarily agree with me on any particular point. As with everything else in life, “Test all things; hold fast to that which is good.”

Books

A Biblical Case for an Old Earth, by Richard Snoke.

A Matter of Days: Resolving a Creation Controversy, by Hugh Ross.

 Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design, by Stephen Meyer.

Dinosaur Blood and the Age of the Earth, by Fazale Rana.

Early Genesis: The Revealed Cosmology, by Mark Moore.

Friend of Science, Friend of Faith: Listening to God in His Works and World, by Greg Davidson.

Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design, by Ken Ham, Hugh Ross, Deborah Haarsma, and Stephen Meyer (Edited by James Stump).

Improbable Planet: How Earth Became Humanity’s Home, by Hugh Ross.

(Mis)Interpreting Genesis: How the Creation Museum Misunderstands the Ancient Near Eastern Context of the Bible, by Ben Standhope.

Navigating Genesis: A Scientist’s Journey through Genesis 1-11, by Hugh Ross.

Seven Days that Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science, by John Lennox.

The Creator Revealed: A Physicist Examines the Big Bang and the Bible, by Mike Strauss.

The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry, by Joshua Swamidass.

The Grand Canyon: Monument to an Ancient Earth, by Carol Hill, Gregg Davidson, Wayne Ranney, and Tim Helble.

The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, by Dr. Michael Heiser.

 

Websites

Age of Rocks: Exploring the Wonders of Geology in Response to Young Earth Claims: ageofrocks.wordpress.com

God and Science.org: www.godandscience.org

John Lennox: www.johnlennox.org

Old Earth Ministries: www.oldearth.org

Reasons to Believe: www.reasons.org

Stephen Meyer: www.stephencmeyer.org

The Glenn Morton Archive: https://www.oldearth.org/bio_glenn_morton.htm

The Grand Canyon: Monument to An Ancient Earth: www.grandcanyonancientearth.com

William Lane Craig: www.reasonablefaith.org

 

 Articles and Video Presentations:

“100 Reasons theEarth is Old,” by Jonathan Baker.

Articles onDinosaur Soft Tissue and Related Matters
 

“Coming to Gripswith the Early Church Fathers’ Perspective on Genesis,” by John Millam: 

“Early Genesis,the Revealed Cosmology,” companion blog to the book by Mark Moore: 

“Hugh Ross Responding to YEC Criticism of Navigating Genesis,” by Sentinel Apologetics (an excellent, capsule look at how young-earth ministries often misrepresent old-earth creationists).

“Noah’s Flood: ABird’s-Eye View,” by Steve Sarigianis.

“Scandal of theEvangelical Mind: A Biblical and Scientific Critique of Young-EarthCreationism,” by Bruce Gordon.

“The Demise and Fall of the Water Vapor Canopy: A Fallen Creationist Idea,” by Glenn Morton.

“The LondonHammer: An Alleged Out of Place Artifact,” by Glen Kuban.

“The PaluxyDinosaur/ ‘Man Track’ Controversy,” by Glen Kuban.

“Textual andscientific resources in response to young-earth creationism”

“What is GopherWood? Do even the Supposed ‘Errors’ in the Text Point to Christ?” by Mark Moore.

“Why Behemothisn’t a Dinosaur,” by Ben Standhope.

“Why I LeftYoung-Earth Creationism,” by Glenn Morton.

“Why Leviathanisn’t a Dinosaur,” by Ben Standhope.

“Why the UniverseIs the Way It Is,” by Dr. Hugh Ross (a powerful example of how real science is an ally to theism rather than an enemy).

If you’ve enjoyed this series, you can find it available in book form on Amazon.com in both Kindle and paperback formats under the title: Creation in the Crossfire: A Study of the Genesis Debate in the Church.

Paperback Edition

Kindle Edition

The Creation Controversy: Conclusion

Also in this series:
 
Introduction
Part One: Biblical Authority
Part Two: Authority from Tradition – the Jewish Sages and the Early Church Fathers
Part Three: The Weight of Traditional Views
Part Four: Man’s Fallible Opinions
Part Five: Clues in the Text
Part Six: More Clues in the Text
Part Seven: What are the Days of Genesis?
Part Eight: Misconceptions of Paradise
Part Nine: Life and Death in the Pre-Fall Animal World, I
Part Ten: Life and Death in the Pre-Fall Animal World, II
Part Eleven: The Other Realm and the Other Fall
Part Twelve: Tracing the Advent of Man, I
Part Thirteen: Tracing the Advent of Man, II
Part Fourteen: Tracing the Advent of Man, III
Part Fifteen: Tracing the Advent of Man, IV
Part Sixteen: Was Jesus a Young-Earth Creationist?
Part Seventeen: The Flood of Noah
Part Eighteen: Some Considerations from Science

In the course of this series, I have labored to present plausible understandings of the major themes of the Genesis debate and the scriptures most often brought into contention. In summary then, the most important points to remember are these:

 

1. God communicates with man on man’s level, according to man’s conceptions, and often in the form of revelatory imagery. In so doing, he is not necessarily bothered with correcting inaccuracies in man’s perception of the world.
2. The Bible was written to an ancient, pre-scientific culture with a different understanding of the world than our modern, global, scientifically-informed understanding.
3. The English translation of scripture does not always bring out important nuances in the underlying, original languages. Hebrew in particular has a comparatively small vocabulary, and Hebrew words often have more than one meaning.
4. The debate over Genesis is not a unique debate in the history of the church. A number of contentious theological issues have come down to us through the centuries, with great minds taking opposite positions. Nor are the charges of “heretic” and “not really believing the Bible” unique to this debate, by any means.
5. What one believes about creation does not necessarily impact what he or she thinks about other scriptural matters, including core New Testament doctrines. Allegations that old-earth views amount to an attack on the gospel are specious, sensational, and unnecessarily inflammatory.
6. Scripture does not support the view that man’s intellect is “fallen.” On the contrary, scripture takes a high view of man’s capabilities. It is man’s moral center that is corrupt. God has given us the intellectual ability to comprehend the world in which we live, however imperfectly we have managed this to date. The scientific revolution is proof that man is not an inept, bumbling creature. Furthermore, scripture tells us that man is responsible before God on the basis of what God has made, which demonstrates that man is capable of understanding creation. The scientific revolution has also demonstrated this for us in the fact that Big Bang cosmology has made atheists extremely uncomfortable and has provided tremendous evidences that our universe is fine-tuned for the existence of life forms just like us.
7. Nuanced views of Genesis existed amongst the Jews and the early Christians long before Darwin came on the scene. There were at least three views of creation at the time of Christ. Christians from the earliest times right up through the Reformation period were not averse to looking at scripture in light of what they understood about the natural world.
8. While the views of ancient theologians can be instructive, they did not face the same debate we face today. For them, it was not a matter of “Bible right/science wrong.” We do not know how they would have reacted to modern scientific discoveries, but it is at least possible that they would have delved deeper into scripture in order to re-evaluate their understanding of it when confronted with the evidences of science.
9. It is entirely possible to understand God too literally at times. Christ rebuked his own disciples for this on occasion, and even allowed people to confuse themselves and walk away from him when he might have clarified his teachings easily. He frequently taught in parables—illustrative stories—and selectively explained them to only certain persons. His teachings were deliberately hidden in part, and were deliberately designed to upset particular individuals.
10. Certain scriptures, especially prophetic events, were not entirely understood by the generations that received them; rather, they were meant to be understood at a different time, by a different generation. Some apparent relationships between creation and prophecies surrounding the return of Christ suggest that this may also be true of Genesis.
11. In scripture, the terms translated as “land” and “earth” often simply refer to dry land or to a particular country or region. There is no reason to immediately insist that these terms must refer to the entire landmass of the planet, as is proven by the fact that such uses render many passages absurd. Further, there is no evidence in scripture that the ancients understood the earth as a planet in the way that we understand it today.
12. Scripture often employs hyperbole as a form of emphasis, and in many cases phraseology must be understood within a particular context, such as “the whole world going to be taxed” in Luke’s account of the birth of Christ.
13. One does not have to “stuff millions of years” into scripture to come away with interpretations other than “six days, six thousand years ago.” There are certain internal oddities that suggest that more may be going on with the creation account than immediately meets the eye. Other portions of scripture, such as Job 38-41, bolster this impression. It is this understanding, combined with what we have learned of the physical universe, that leads to old-earth conclusions. The Bible never tells us how old the earth is, nor does it impose any test of orthodoxy on the matter
14. The “days” of Genesis are strongly evidenced to be divine work days, expressed in terms of a standard work week, for two reasons: a) To provide the basis for a calendar system, and b) To do so in a cyclical work/rest framework to which the ancient Hebrews could readily relate. In so doing, God described the creation of the world as a landowner preparing his property to be handed over to a manager, and he ended the account by placing man on the scene and giving him just such a charge.
15. The story of the creation and the Fall of Man was likely compiled by Moses during the time Israel spent wandering in the wilderness, and the parallels between Eden and Canaan are quite strong. The expulsion from paradise was a fitting warning to the Hebrews, as God promised to evict them from their land if they would not obey him, calling their dilemma a choice between life and death, blessing and cursing.
16. The earth of Adam and Eve was not one vast paradise. The Garden of Eden was a place of special blessing and abundance, although it was still subject to the laws of physics and required care. God commanded Adam to care for the garden and to maintain it. The underlying Hebrew also suggests that Adam was to protect the garden. By contrast, however, God commanded that the land outside of the garden be forcefully subdued.
17. The prophesied Millennial Age will restore the Edenic dichotomy: Jerusalem and the land surrounding it will be blessed with particular abundance, health, and safety, whereas Christ will rule over the outside nations by force.
18. There is no evidence whatsoever in scripture that animals were immortal before the Fall of Man. For that matter, Adam and Eve were not immortal, either, as they required access to the Tree of Life to maintain themselves.
19. There is no evidence whatsoever in scripture that animals were cursed with death or endowed with predatory behavior as a result of the Fall of Man. Animal attack and defense capabilities give every appearance of having been purposefully designed and built into them from the beginning. Adam’s sin is said only to have brought death upon mankind. Animals are not “cursed” with death because it is their natural condition. By contrast, Adam and Eve did not have to die. They held a special status in the creation until they forfeited it through disobedience.
20. There is no evidence in scripture that the entire physical universe “fell” when Adam sinned. The curses of Genesis 3 are very specific. The curse on the ground is said only to have affected man’s labor for food and does not appear to have continued after the flood. The subjection of the creation to “futility” is explainable as the earth having been left under the inept management of fallen man.
21. The phraseology used in Genesis where God tells man that he has been given green plants for food just as the animals have been given them is perfectly explainable as God pointing out the particular animal behavior that he wanted man to emulate. It does not justify the assumption that all animals ate only plants. Most animals do eat some form of plant life, but we do not know what animals man was familiar with when this commandment was given. Furthermore, even some young-earth creationists have acknowledged that sea creatures may have been predatory from the beginning.
22. Many stories in the pages of scripture show us that God is perfectly willing to use, and even to ordain, things that are not good in and of themselves in order to bring about results that are in fact good. God’s pronouncement that the creation was “very good” should not be taken to mean that it lacked any characteristics that we might find objectionable, such as animal mortality, but simply indicates that it was suitable for its intended purposes. God is following a plan that is fully known only to himself, and until it is complete there is no justification for assuming that we know enough of what God is doing to authoritatively declare that he couldn’t have designed anything but a harmless creation.
23. Angels were the first intelligences created by God. They are employed by him in carrying out his will in a variety of ways and scripture tells us that God is demonstrating certain things to them in his dealings with mankind. Scripture provides hints that angels could have assisted in carrying out God’s creative decrees, and this may be a major factor in why the process of creation stretched over long ages of time. Yet, we know almost nothing about the history of angels or the full extent of what they do. This is a major gap in our understanding of creation and another reason why should we not be so quick to assume that we understand everything God is doing in creation now or did in the past.
24. It is indisputable that some biblical genealogies do contain gaps. Whether the Genesis genealogies contain gaps or not is debatable, but it is possible. Biblical genealogies, including those in Genesis 5 and 11, do not always list first-born sons first. Instead, they prioritize the records around especially important ancestors. The terms “father” and “begat” or “became the father of” do not always indicate direct ancestry in scripture. Consequently, there may be undetectable gaps of time in the Genesis genealogies. It cannot be ruled out.
25. The Genesis creation account, including where the creation of Adam and Eve is concerned, is strongly indicated to be a material origins account. Although it contains a degree of theological messaging and some appeals to the understandings of a pre-scientific culture, scripture is nonetheless describing real people and real events.
26. There is no need to push Adam and Eve back in time beyond a reasonable reading of the Genesis genealogies in order to account for scientific findings related to the origin of man. A two-population model of humanity accounts for the discrepancy and may be hinted at in scripture itself. Even if one dismisses these hints, however, this does not mean that Adam and Eve were necessarily the first human beings. Scripture is primarily the story of the Adamic race and does not focus on any other races of man that may have existed in the past.
27. In light of a two-population model of human origins, Adam was a type of Christ. He was the first man in the Messianic line, specially created to more closely resemble Jesus Christ, who was virgin-born into an existing population and became “the last Adam.” Recent research highlighted by Dr. Joshua Swamidass shows that, even assuming a two-population model, Adam and Eve could well have been the genealogical ancestors of every human being by 1 A.D., which would help explain why Christ was not sent for so long. “The fullness of time” in which he came may indicate the time by which all of humanity was finally united in the ancestry of Adam and Eve.
28. The reference Christ made to male and female being joined together “from the beginning” is not an endorsement of young-earth creationism. Man was not created at the beginning of the creation but rather at the end of the process, as even young-earth creationists acknowledge. When we understand the entirety of the creation week as “the beginning,” the statement of Christ poses no problem for an old earth paradigm.
29. The phraseology of the flood account in Genesis 6-9 matches closely with language employed elsewhere in scripture that is only reasonable in a limited context, suggesting that the flood could well have been regional rather than global. The dimensions of the ark, the depth of the flood, and the recession of the flood waters indicate that the ark ran aground on land that was not much higher in elevation than the surrounding region. Further, we do not see any hints of typical young-earth interpretations in the flood account itself, such as the raising and lowering of land masses.
30. Scientific findings concerning the nature of the universe are entirely consistent with great age and match well with the predictions of Big Bang cosmology. Stellar z-axis motion and colliding galaxies are ready examples of findings in nature that also support “deep time” measurements. The physics and features of our universe are not consistent with a young-earth paradigm. Indeed, young-earth creationists have conceded that there is abundant evidence for great age in materials collected from both the earth and extraterrestrial sources, and they are unable to offer credible explanations for this phenomenon. Instead, they resort to emphasizing their interpretation of scripture while arguing for divine intervention on a massive yet undetectable scale—and with no apparent purpose other than to endow creation with a false appearance of age.

 

I have written this series in a spirit of “Come, let us reason together.” I have friends and family members who are young-earth creationists, and I respect their beliefs and their right to hold those beliefs. At one time, I shared those beliefs, and I understand why many Christians continue to find them compelling.

What I have sought to do here is to present a respectful, coherent, biblically-based case for an alternative point of view, and I offer it up to the Lord for whatever use he may have for it. I can only ask that my young-earth brethren consider the case fairly and in the spirit in which it is offered; and whether you agree with it or not, let us be careful to extend godly grace to one another in the midst of our discussions. Although we may have different creation creeds, we have one Lord to whom we must all give account, and one everlasting gospel to share with the world before he returns.

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that with one purpose and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us, for the glory of God. – Romans 15:5-7

 

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