Threescore and Ten

Darwin’s Albatross

[Under construction]

As the H.M.S. Beagle began her five year meandering voyage round the world, twenty-two year old Charles saw the pristine glory of Creation ─ the evening and the morning were ever as that first day of Eden.

Yet ─ “that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).
















 John Murray, Publisher [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

As Jonah

Jonah¹

[Under construction / revision!]
“As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (cf. Matthew 12:40, ASV).

In the book that bears his name, Jonah “vicariously” experienced the essence of things yet to be, i.e., shadows of Christ. The Old Testament is filled with personas, e.g., Job, Joseph, and David, and many others who foreshadowed of the Son of man ─ each in his way symbolically prefiguring Christ, and each in turn, for a moment, likewise forsaken by God!



 As Jonah was fast asleep amid “a mighty tempest on the sea” (cf. Jonah 1:5) ─ likewise, the Son of man, as the “boat was covered with the waves” was asleep (cf. Matthew 8:24).

As Jonah was cast into the sea by the casters of lots (cf. Jonah 1:7) ─ likewise, the Son of man was crucified by the casters of lots (John 19:24).

As Jonah gave his life for the mariners (Jonah 1:12) ─ likewise the Son of man gave His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

 “And Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17). 

 Jonah’s “body” was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights ─ but perhaps his soul was not! The breath of God imparts life to the “ever conscious” soul at the moment of conception. The body may sleep in the dust in death ─ yet the “ever conscious” soul remains unabated!

 “Then Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God out of the fish's belly. And he said, [Note, this pass tense] I called by reason of mine affliction unto Jehovah, And he answered me; Out of the belly of Sheol (שְׁאוֹל, shĕ'owl) cried I, And thou heardest my voice” (Jonah 2:1-2). 

Jonah prayed this prayer before being spewed out upon the dry land, yet, there were times during those “three days and three nights” when he cried “out of the belly of Sheol” ─ the realm of disembodied dead!

 Consider how the following versions translates this phrase: “From the depth of Sheol” (NASB); “from deep in the realm of the dead” (NIV); “from the land of the dead” (NLT); “out of the belly of Sheol” (Darby); "Out of the belly of the nether-world” (JPS).

The following links are the two most graphic depictions Sheol in Scripture:

 Ezekiel is told to “take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt” ─ (Ezekiel 32:17-32).

Isaiah is likewise told to “take up this parable against the king of Babylon” ─ (Isaiah 14:9-20).

The following verse and associated links pertain to Jonah’s experience in Sheol.

“For thou didst cast me into the depth [Ezekiel 31:15], in the heart of the seas [Ezekiel 28:8], And the flood was round about me; All thy waves and thy billows passed over me [Psalms 42:7]” (Jonah 2:3).

Compare the weed shroud wrapped about Jonah’s head with the cloth "death" shroud, that was upon Jesus’ head:

“The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; The deep was round about me [Psa_69:15] ; The weeds were wrapped about my head [John 20:6-7]” (Jonah 2:5 ).

  Jonah as he continues his remembrance of the shades of Sheol:

 “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains [Deuteronomy 32:22] The earth with its bars [Job 17:16] closed upon me for ever: Yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit [Psalms_30:3], O Jehovah my God” (Jonah 2:6). 

Perhaps as Jonah completes his prayer he is resurrected from Sheol:

“When my soul fainted within me [Psalms_22:14], I remembered Jehovah; And my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple… But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of Jehovah” (cf. Jonah 2:8-9). “And Jehovah spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10). 

 The following passages seem to pertain to the introductory verse: “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (cf. Matthew 12:40, ASV).

“He [Christ] went and preached unto the spirits in prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah” (cf. 1Peter 3:19-20). 

 “He [David] foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:31). 

“For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1Pe 4:6).

“Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high [Psalms_68:18], he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men. (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth” (Ephesians 4:8-9).

 ¹By Unknown -This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.

©2018 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.
https://a-hillside-church.blogspot.com/

The Deluge

The Deluge, John Martin, 1834¹

Andrew R. George, regarding his “translation” of Gilgamesh Tablet XI, alleges “the Flood episode in Gen. 6-8 matches the older Babylonian myth so well… few doubt Noah’s story is descended from a Mesopotamian account.” 

The Gilgamesh tablets are part of an ever-accruing annotation of the Sumerian saga of Babylonian mythological erotica ─ as it is unearthed from each new tel. George contends, without offering conclusive proof, that the “Gilgamesh myth” predates Genesis and is the source of the latter. Although comparative studies of the two flood episodes, indicates an obvious correlation – Scripture confutes George’s allegations. 

When Moses compiled the book of Genesis, he cites his sources, e.g., “the book of the generations of Adam”: 

“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him” (Genesis 5:1). 

Although, Moses composed Genesis in ~ 1500 BC, he did so as an “editor” ─ as any historian compiles from records “predating” his composition ─ Moses compiled Genesis from many “generational” records – some predating his birth by over two Millennia! 

Therefore, Genesis is the original source material predating all subsequent antediluvian and deluge chronologies. Chronologies that misappropriate and corrupt the Genesis text to conform to pagan culture! 

Regarding the veracity of this sacred text Paul queries: “What then is the superiority of the Jew?... to them were entrusted the oracles of God” (Rom 3:1-2) ─ certainly not compatible with the Sumerian saga of Babylonian mythological erotica! 

 Moreover, the Bible is the only “reliable” ancient text providing historical records regarding lands, times, people groups, and events that preempt Archaeology from digging in the dark! 

 The following are a few early “generational records” of Genesis refuting any semblance of “Sumerian mythology” or “oral tradition” ─ click on the reference link in each passage to inspect the associated record: 

“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens” (Gen_2:4-25). 

“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him” (Gen_5:1-32). 

 “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Gen_6:9-22). 

“Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood” (Gen_10:1-32). 

“These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood” (Gen_11:10-26). 



 ¹By John Martin - Unknown, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6890177

©2018 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.
https://a-hillside-church.blogspot.com/

The Ultimate “Truth”!

Total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919.¹

Isaac Newton mathematically compiled the dynamics of the universe in “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” and in as much as it unerringly predicated all observable phenomena in the universe for almost three hundred years, it was truth ─ and all truth supports Scripture. 

However, the truth encompassed by the Principia was a “subset” of a still greater truth revealed by Einstein and validated by concurrent expeditions on two continents measuring the position of the same star during the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919.

The reality as far as we are concerned, i.e., the truth determined by “real” science will always be a subset of the ultimate “Truth”!


“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names” (Psalms_147:4). 

See also:
God Does Not Play Dice 
The Face of God 
Science Falsely So Called 


¹By F. W. Dyson, A. S. Eddington, and C. Davidson - F. W. Dyson, A. S. Eddington, and C. Davidson, "A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Total Eclipse of May 29, 1919" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical or Physical Character (1920): 291-333, on 332., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=182028

One of Eddington's photographs of the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919, presented in his 1920 paper announcing its success, confirming Einstein's theory that light "bends"

Positive (inverted) edition of Image:1919_eclipse_negative.jpg. Original caption of that image: From the report of Sir Arthur Eddington on the expedition to verify Albert Einstein's prediction of the bending of light around the sun. In Plate 1 is given a half-tone reproduction of one of the negatives taken with the 4-inch lens at Sobral. This shows the position of the stars, and, as far as possible in a reproduction of this kind, the character of the images, as there has been no retouching. A number of photographic prints have been made and applications for these from astronomers, who wish to assure themselves of the quality of the photographs, will be considered as as far as possible acceded to.

©2018 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.
https://a-hillside-church.blogspot.com/

Oral Tradition

Mappa mundi, 1472¹

“There have been laws on the books aimed at curtailing murder for millennia; in fact, the oldest known law code…”²

It is always so frustrating to hear that phrase “the oldest known” whatever!

 When Moses compiled the book of Genesis, he cites the “first” of his sources “the book of the generations of Adam”:


“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him” (Genesis 5:1).


 

Yes, Moses composed the book of Genesis in ~ 1500 BC, but as an “editor,” or as any historian, he compiled it from records “predating” his composition!

 For example ─ this abbreviated ship log and the “time stamped” detail “never” found in “oral tradition,” i.e., circumstances of specific days ─ and the month and year they occurred:

“In the six hundredth year (שָׁנָה) of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day (יוֹם) of the month (חֹדֶשׁ), the same day (יוֹם) were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Genesis 7:11). 

“And the ark rested in the seventh month (חֹדֶשׁ), on the seventeenth day (יוֹם) of the month (חֹדֶשׁ), upon the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4).

 “And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month (חֹדֶשׁ): in the tenth month (חֹדֶשׁ), on the first day (יוֹם) of the month (חֹדֶשׁ), were the tops of the mountains seen” (Genesis 8:5).

"And in the second month (חֹדֶשׁ), on the seven and twentieth day (יוֹם)of the month (חֹדֶשׁ), was the earth dried” (Genesis 8:14).

And there are many other records too frequent to mention. Genesis chapter 10 contains the “Table of Nations” ─ nothing like it in the history of mankind ─ in it Moses documents the “only” extant account of the origin of nations!

Even today, with transgenesis CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing capabilities, man has yet to present a more specific and credible depiction of the origin of the nations than ─ than that displayed in the image above!

The following is but the introductory verse of that the table ─ please click on this link for a more complete multi-generational discourse on the sons of Noah ─ and on this link for the more definitive discussion of the descendants of Shem ─ one being Abraham the father of the Hebrews!

“Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood” (Genesis 10:1).

Now back to the beginning: “There have been laws on the books aimed at curtailing murder for millennia; in fact, the oldest known”² is the following:

“And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Genesis_9:5-6). 

¹By Isidore of Seville - This file has been extracted from another file: Etimologías - Mapa del Mundo Conocido.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=164605

T and O style mappa mundi (map of the known world) from the first printed version of Isidorus' Etymologiae (Kraus 13). The book was written in 623 and first printed in 1472 at Augsburg by one Günther Zainer (Guntherus Ziner), Isidor's sketch thus becoming the oldest printed map of the occident. Note: T-O-maps are typically displayed "East-up", show Jerusalem at the center and the paradise at the outmost East, balanced by the pillars of Hercules at the outmost West.

 ²Greg Jones, The American Spectator, Legislating Human Nature Is a Pipe Dream of the Left, November 14, 2018.

©2018 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.
https://a-hillside-church.blogspot.com/

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe¹

As rain gently fell during today’s commemoration of “the war to end all wars” a hundred years ago ─ Macron led heads of state down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, cursing the spirit of “nationalism,” under his breath, with each and every step!

"Old demons [of nationalism] are reawakening, ready to sow chaos and death," Macron said, condemning “ideology” and “religion”! "History sometimes threatens to repeat its tragic patterns, and undermine the legacy of peace we thought we had sealed with the blood of our ancestors."

Yet, the Arc de Triomphe honors Macron’s “Ultra Nationalist Ancestors” ─ inspired by radical ideas ─ they Stormed of the Bastille, and during the subsequent Reign of Terror guillotined 16,594 and as many as 40,000 summarily executed without trial or died awaiting trial.

Unlike the Third Reich, the French Revolution "people's wars" conscripted “every” citizen as a subordinate but integral part of her destiny to enslave the world! The Napoleonic wars, to follow, were “total wars” with the home front industrial war machine aiding and supplying the military.

The legacy of those ancestors inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe was the “violence and chaos” that culminated in Napoleon’s coup d'état and dictatorship, and subsequent Napoleonic Wars that infused “fascist nationalism” into a comparatively innocent world ─ the precursor of the World Wars to follow!



 ¹By Larry from Charlottetown, PEI, Canada - Arc de Triomphe, VE Day, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74291512

©2018 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.
https://a-hillside-church.blogspot.com/

Victory or Death

 ©2018 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold. 
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Without Natural Affection

 ©2018 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold. https://a-hillside-church.blogspot.com/

The Mystery of Lawlessness

We appear to be converging on an “age of grace” “prophesied” threshold ─ an incipience of “lawlessness” ─ unrestrained corruption at all levels ─ Constitutional Law vs. the dictum of a metastasizing shadow government and ─ the concurrent decimation of civility and burgeoning anarchy. 

“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed” (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 NAS). 

What does the apostle mean? “it will not come” ─ consistent with the context, Paul is referring to the “Day of the Lord” when He will return in Judgement. 

“The apostasy” indicates a time when belief in and obedience to the Word of God is in marked decline. And that must precede the revelation of the "man of lawlessness," i.e., the antithesis of Christ.

"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way” (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:7, NAS). 

 What does Paul mean “mystery of lawlessness”? – the covert reality that the lawlessness of our world, stoked by the lawless one, is a boiling cauldron, that will not overflow until "He who now restrains," i.e., the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way. 

When will He be “taken out of the way”? 

No one has a clue when the Holy Spirit “and” those He indwells will be “caught up” ─ but when they are, that boiling cauldron of lawlessness will overflow and every "thought and intent of the heart" on earth will be as it was in the days of Noah ─ without restraint!

©2018 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold. https://a-hillside-church.blogspot.com/