The Seven Days of Man - Presentation

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>The Seven Days of Man - Presentation</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="c814a440.jpg" border=0 width="330" height="324" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> In the presentation titled “Parables” we looked at Yahweh’s method of selectively communicating truth through the use of parables, dark sayings, signs and symbols. Yahshua declared to His disciples that He spoke all things to the crowds in parables that only those whom His Father had granted the privilege of understanding would be able to discern what was actually being spoken. We observed that, though Christ would speak all things to the multitudes in parables, He would go aside with His disciples and explain the parables to them.</div> <bR> <div> We also saw that there are many types of parables that God has chosen to communicate truth through. Most saints only think of the teachings of Christ contained in the four gospels when parables are mentioned. Yet we saw that not only did Christ speak in parables, but His very life, and the works He performed contained parables. We looked at the miracle where Christ cast the demons out of the Gadarene demoniac, and the demons entered into a herd of swine. The swine ran down the hill and were drowned in the sea. We saw how this event serves as a parable for the church age in which we now live.</div> <bR> <div> We also looked at other books of Scripture, such as Revelation and Daniel, which are filled with symbolic images and things hard to understand. We saw that God also uses these types of writings to selectively reveal truth to His elect, while hiding the truth from those He has not granted the right of discernment. We saw that all of the more than 600 laws of the Old Testament, and the tremendous detail presented in the building of the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon contain parables, and they serve as signs and shadows for spiritual truths that Yahshua wants His disciples to understand. We also saw how Yahweh is speaking in parables to this very hour through signs in the heavens and on the earth, that when properly understood give understanding to the saints of the day we live in and the things shortly coming upon the earth.</div> <bR> <div> In this presentation we are going to look at the very first parable God gave in order that He might make known His work among mankind, while hiding the details of this work from those not granted understanding. We are going to look at the account of creation found in Genesis chapter one.</div> <bR> <div> Psalms 78:1-4</div> <div> Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.</div> <bR> <div> Notice in these words that the Psalmist Asaph, who was also a prophet, declares that he is going to open his mouth in a parable. He then states that he “will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us.” What are these parables and dark sayings to which he refers.</div> <bR> <div> Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible renders this phrase in the following way:</div> <bR> <div> Psalms 78:2</div> <div> I bring forth hidden things of old...</div> <div> [YLT]</div> <bR> <div> Remember that God has declared:</div> <bR> <div> Proverbs 25:2</div> <div> It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.</div> <bR> <div> Matthew 13:35</div> <div> "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD." </div> <bR> <div> The Lord is quoting from the Psalm of Asaph that we just looked at, yet there is a slight difference in wording here, and in this difference we can discern something relevant to our study. Yahshua stated that He would utter things hidden since the foundation of the world. Some Bible translations render the word foundation as creation. If we understand the word foundation, we will see that it holds a similar meaning as creation. What is referenced here is the time when Yahweh acted to create the world and all that is in it. Yahshua is saying that there were things present at that time that remained hidden until His day, and He made them known.</div> <bR> <div> What is it that Yahshua made known that was hidden in the creation of the world? Yahshua revealed God’s plan of redemption for mankind. God knew before He even began to create the earth that the creation would experience a fall into sin and come under the curse of death. He had already formed a plan to redeem the creation and restore all things back to Himself through His Son, and He set the testimony of His great plan everywhere throughout the creation. This testimony is in the heavens, and this testimony is upon the earth. Yet it is hidden and must be revealed by the Spirit of Christ.</div> <bR> <div> Consider for a moment that the Scriptures declare that Yahweh is omnipotent, that is to say, there is no limit to His power. If a Christian believes God spent six days creating the earth because it took Him that long to do it, being the limit of His ability, then the Christian has denied that God is omnipotent. If God is omnipotent, having no limit to His power, then He could have as easily created the earth in four minutes, or three seconds, or in no time at all. And in truth, He could have done so.</div> <bR> <div> Why then do we read that God spent six days creating the earth, and on the seventh day He rested from His work? This is one of the things hidden since the creation of the earth. Every detail of the creation account was chosen precisely to communicate some truth relating to Yahweh’s plan of redemption, and His great work with mankind. He chose to divide the work of creation up over six days in order to teach man something, though few have had eyes to see what is being taught.</div> <bR> <div> Each day’s work was perfectly planned to communicate the thoughts of God concerning His great work with mankind, and He intentionally set the limits of each day’s activity to provide a perfect parable filled with hidden knowledge that men throughout the ages could search out.</div> <bR> <div> Yet before we get into the understanding of the parable of the creation account, we must look at the correct understanding of the physical events that occurred. The church, by and large, does not even understand the elemental things spoken about in Genesis chapter one. This is due to the work of Satan who seeks to deceive the entire world, especially the church. The apostle Paul declared that the condition of the church before the return of Christ would be very tragic, for she would depart from the truth, and the majority would not even tolerate the teaching of sound doctrine.</div> <bR> <div> II Timothy 4:3-4</div> <div> For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.</div> <bR> <div> I want you to consider these words from the apostle Paul carefully, for they have great importance to you. The time Paul was talking about is the time you live in. Paul says that in this day the church will not endure sound doctrine. Doctrine is instruction, or teaching. The church will not endure sound teaching. This means they will not tolerate it. They will not permit it to be taught in their church buildings and meeting halls. Instead they will accumulate (the KJV says “heap up”) teachers of their own choosing who will declare things in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn aside to myths and fables.</div> <bR> <div> Some of you know this is the condition of the church today. Those things we have been looking at in this Bible Study group are sound doctrine. The Spirit of Christ has directed me to speak to you about the high cost of discipleship. He has directed me to reveal to you the nature of Babylon, and to declare that the church of this hour is filled with all the idolatry of Babylon, even in its symbols and rituals and its holy days that it has chosen as substitutes for the Feast days of Yahweh. The Spirit has directed me to speak to you about the lateness of the hour and the judgments that are coming swiftly upon the earth, judgments that will begin at the house of God.</div> <bR> <div> It is not by chance that this Bible Study group is being conducted outside of a church building. Read again the words of Paul. The men and women of the church will not endure sound doctrine. They will turn their ears away from the truth. They have given themselves over to myths and fables and the things that are in accordance with their own desires.</div> <bR> <div> The church does not wish to hear that there is a cost to be borne by everyone who would be a disciple of Christ. They do not wish to hear that they cannot love the world and Christ at the same time. They do not want to hear that multitudes of Christians will have their names blotted out of the Lamb’s book of life and they will be cast into the Lake of Fire. They want a Christianity without cost, and they want to enjoy all the things of the world while declaring themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ.</div> <bR> <div> Revelation 18:4</div> <div> I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of (Babylon), my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues...”</div> <bR> <div> The voice of the Spirit is calling out in this hour for the people of God to come out of Babylon. Coming out of Babylon involves a number of things. It may mean leaving a church that preaches a compromised gospel, one where the cross of Christ is spoken of, but the disciple’s cross is neglected. It may mean ceasing from participating in idolatrous festivals that the church received from the world, such as Christmas and Easter. It may require a repentance from living a vain life focused upon the pursuit of the things of the world. It will always require a single minded devotion to Christ.</div> <bR> <div> We should not be surprised that in a day when the church is described to have departed from sound teaching, and has embraced myths and fables, that many of her interpretations of Scripture are erroneous. There is great error concerning the creation account in Genesis chapter one. This error has led to the upset of the faith of many as they have been unable to answer the arguments of the scientific community. Vast numbers of young Christians have not been taught the Scriptures correctly, and when they have gone off to college and encountered the arguments of professors and fellow students they have not been able to provide an answer. Some have been persuaded that the beliefs of their parents and pastors and Bible teachers are simple minded.</div> <bR> <div> Most young believers in fundamental evangelical churches have been taught that the earth is only 6,000 years old, for this is as far back as the genealogies of the Bible go. If a person starts with Adam, and calculates the age of the earth through the Biblical record, they are led to conclude that the earth can not be older than 6,000 years. Yet there is much scientific evidence of a much older earth.</div> <bR> <div> The Christian is also challenged with all the fossil evidence of a great variety and of dinosaurs who once lived in large populations. There is nothing mentioned in Scripture of dinosaurs living at the same time as man, and once more the Christians finds himself troubled as he seeks to reconcile the teaching of the church with the evidence of science.</div> <bR> <div> There is also much evidence of a great ice age where ice covered the earth, yet there is nothing taught in the church today of when this might have occurred. More often than not, Bible teachers simply deny that such an event over occurred.</div> <bR> <div> Yet, when one rightly divides the word of God, and has received sound doctrine from the Spirit of Christ, all such difficulties are resolved, and a perfect harmony is seen between the witness of the creation and the witness of Scriptures, both of which have the same Author.</div> <bR> <div> Continue to <A HREF="id607.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Seven Days of Man Page 2"><U>Next Page</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>