Worship and Divine Revelation

From Koinonia House

WORSHIP AND DIVINE REVELATION

One of the things we discovered about worship is that it releases blessings in two directions. Not only are we loving God, but at the same time, He is extending His Love back towards us. In other words, it’s a two-way communication. We humble ourselves and acknowledge that He is everything to us; He, then, makes Himself known by revelation, insight and love. Thus, part of the joy of worship is the divine revelation that often results.

In one of Dave Hunt’s newsletters, he comments: “Appreciation begets worship, and the Lord responds by revealing Himself in ever greater measure in a fellowship of love that overflows in fruitful witnessing.”

The bottom line is that intimacy must precede insight.

Using Scriptures in Worship
Now, not all my encounters with the Lord are dramatic. Sometimes, when I worship Him, I don’t feel a thing, but, by faith, I still know He is there, that He hears my praises and that He is pleased. Other times, my meetings with Him are electric!

Often I will repeat 1 Chronicles 29:10-13 over and over again:

“Blessed be Thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all, and in thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now, therefore, our God, we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious Name.”

Or, I will repeat certain phrases from Revelation:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8b)

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing….Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” (Revelation 5:12-13)

“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever…We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned.” (Revelation 11:15 and 17)

“Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. …For Thou only art holy…” (Revelation 15:3-4).

“Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be…” (Revelation 16:5)

Or, I read one of my favorite worship passages. See Psalm 72:17-19; 91; 95:1-7; 96:1-9; 113; 134; 135; 136; 145; 150.

I let the Spirit lead me and do whatever He tells me. Sometimes I raise my hands, sometimes I’m on my knees, and, sometimes, I’m flat on my face, silently holding the Lord in the Spirit.

Divine Revelation:
God gave us worship so that we might become partakers of His highest purposes. Yes, Christ, Himself, is the major focus of our worship, but as we worship Him, He often reveals His plans and His purposes for our lives to an even greater degree.

In worship, the Lord desires to:

1.make His presence known,
2.reveal His person to us,
3.reveal His power to us,
4.reveal His eternal purposes to us,
5.reveal His personal plans for our lives.

When I am worshiping, I find it very necessary to have my Bible and my journal close at hand. Again, God works differently in each of our lives. But, for me, He seems to make His presence known through His Word. Thus, if I don’t have my Bible handy to look up what He has just told me or my journal ready to write down what I’ve heard, by the time I’m through worshiping, I will have forgotten everything.

Bob Sorge, in his book Secrets of the Secret Place, confirms the same thing: “I am personally convinced that I cannot hold onto what God gives me apart from writing it down…Those who retain what God gives them will be given more.”

Our Response to His Love:
God’s desired response for us (when we are in His presence) is that we:

1.Have an open and contrite heart so that we might see ourselves as we truly are, and experience contrition, brokenness, sorrow, shame, grief, repentance and honesty.

2.Submit and dedicate ourselves to Him to an even greater degree – yielding, surrendering and sacrificing ourselves to His will, His Word and His authority. (Isaiah 6:8; James 1:21-25)

3.Have an urgency to lay our burdens, requests and intercessory prayers at His feet and be propelled to pray even more for the lost, the divisions, the injustices, the diseased, the pain and the difficulties others are experiencing. (Philippians 4:6; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Timothy 2: 1-3; Mark 14, Matthew 26, Luke 22, John 13 and 1 Corinthians 11)

4.To love, adore, enjoy, honor, exalt, magnify and praise Christ even more than we are doing now.

5.And, finally, that we might go forth and glorify and reflect Him in all that we think, say and do.

Overcome by “the Joy of our Salvation”
The bottom line is that experiencing the manifestation of His presence – through His Word, through His Spirit and through just knowing He is present – fills us with indescribable joy, no matter what circumstances surround us!

[This article has been excerpted from Nancy Missler's book Private Worship: The Key to Joy.]

Related Links:

• Consumed in His Presence – Koinonia House
• Private Worship: The Key To Joy – Koinonia House Store

Subscribe to the comments for this post

The Mysteries of Zechariah

From Koinonia House Archives April 2007

THE MYSTERIES OF ZECHARIAH
Some call the book of Zechariah, “The Apocalypse of the Old Testament.” Many feel that Zechariah is the most Messianic book of the Old Testament. Among its many precious passages we find the Messiah presented as the Branch who will remove iniquity; the Shepherd; the Stone; the Coming King; the Triumphal Entry on a donkey; One betrayed for 30 pieces of silver; His Crucifixion, and His Second Coming, “looking upon me whom they pierced.”

This most challenging little book is second only to Isaiah in its distinctiveness and importance as a Messianic prophet. Zechariah contains more Messianic prophecies than all of the other “Minor” prophets put together.

The book focuses on the Day of YHWH, the return of Israel in unbelief, their passing through the Great Tribulation, and their deliverance by King Messiah. It also may hold the key to resolving the enigma of “Mystery Babylon” and its relation to literal Babylon in prophecy.

The Prophet Zechariah was a Levite born in a priestly family in Babylon who returned to Jerusalem with almost 50,000 other Jewish exiles. He was probably a relatively young man at the beginning of his prophetic ministry. Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai the prophet, Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua the high priest.

Historical Background

The fall of Jerusalem to the armies of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC marked the finale of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, much as the earlier defeat at the hands of the Assyrians in 722 BC brought to an end the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Most of Jerusalem’s inhabitants were deported to Babylon for a period of 70 years, as prophesied by the Prophet Jeremiah.

During this exile, the Prophet Daniel received the revelation that Gentile kingdoms would be dominant over Judah and Israel until God set up His kingdom on the earth under the rule of the Messiah. This period was referred to by Jesus Christ as “the times of the Gentiles.”

When the Babylonian Empire fell to the Persian Empire (539 BC), Cyrus the Great decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple. However, only a small minority of about 50,000 Jews (including Haggai and Zechariah) returned under the leadership of Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest.

Levitical sacrifices were soon reinstituted on a rebuilt altar of burnt offering, and in the second year of their return the foundation of the Temple was laid. However, external oppression and internal depression halted the rebuilding of the Temple for about 16 more years of spiritual apathy until the rule of Persian King Darius Hystaspis (522-486 BC).

In the second regnal year of Darius (520 BC), God raised up Haggai the prophet to encourage the Jews in rebuilding. Haggai preached four sermons in four months and then disappeared from the scene. Two months after Haggai delivered his first sermon, Zechariah began his prophetic ministry, encouraging the people to spiritual renewal and motivating them to rebuild the Temple by revealing to them God’s plans for Israel’s future. With this prophetic encouragement the people completed the Temple reconstruction in 515 BC.

The dated portions of Zechariah’s prophecy fall within the period of the rebuilding of the Temple. The undated prophecies of Zechariah 9-14 were probably written much later in his ministry. According to Jewish tradition, Zechariah was a member of the Great Synagogue, a council originated by Nehemiah and composed of 120 members. Ezra is said to have been the president of this council, which was later succeeded by the Sanhedrin.

An Enriching Adventure

Zechariah, in a sense, closes the Old Testament. Luke opens with the account of another priest named Zechariah (“Yahweh Remembers”) and his wife Elisabeth (“His Oath”). An angelic visit ends 400 years of silence with the announcement of the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist. This astonishing book is full of surprises, to learn more click on the links below.
Related Links:
• Zechariah – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
• The Minor Prophets – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
• How to Study the Bible – MP3 Download – Koinonia House

Subscribe to the comments for this post

The Happy Man

P S A L M S

PSALM I.
________________________________________
This is a psalm of instruction concerning good and evil, setting before us life and death, the blessing and the curse, that we may take the right way which leads to happiness and avoid that which will certainly end in our misery and ruin. The different character and condition of godly people and wicked people, those that serve God and those that serve him not, is here plainly stated in a few words; so that every man, if he will be faithful to himself, may here see his own face and then read his own doom. That division of the children of men into saints and sinners, righteous and unrighteous, the children of God and the children of the wicked one, as it is ancient, ever since the struggle began between sin and grace, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, so it is lasting, and will survive all other divisions and subdivisions of men into high and low, rich and poor, bond and free; for by this men’s everlasting state will be determined, and the distinction will last as long as heaven and hell. This psalm shows us, I. The holiness and happiness of a godly man, ver. 1-3. II. The sinfulness and misery of a wicked man, ver. 4, 5. III. The ground and reason of both, ver. 6. Whoever collected the psalms of David (probably it was Ezra) with good reason put this psalm first, as a preface to the rest, because it is absolutely necessary to the acceptance of our devotions that we be righteous before God (for it is only the prayer of the upright that is his delight), and therefore that we be right in our notions of blessedness and in our choice of the way that leads to it. Those are not fit to put up good prayers who do not walk in good ways.

The Happy Man.
________________________________________
Psalm 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The psalmist begins with the character and condition of a godly man, that those may first take the comfort of that to whom it belongs. Here is,

I. A description of the godly man’s spirit and way, by which we are to try ourselves. The Lord knows those that are his by name, but we must know them by their character; for that is agreeable to a state of probation, that we may study to answer to the character, which is indeed both the command of the law which we are bound in duty to obey and the condition of the promise which we are bound in interest to fulfil. The character of a good man is here given by the rules he chooses to walk by and to take his measures from. What we take at our setting out, and at every turn, for the guide of our conversation, whether the course of this world or the word of God, is of material consequence. An error in the choice of our standard and leader is original and fatal; but, if we be right here, we are in a fair way to do well.

1. A godly man, that he may avoid the evil, utterly renounces the companionship of evil-doers, and will not be led by them (v. 1): He walks not in the council of the ungodly, &c. This part of his character is put first, because those that will keep the commandments of their God must say to evil-doers, Depart from us (Ps. cxix. 115), and departing from evil is that in which wisdom begins.

(1.) He sees evil-doers round about him; the world is full of them; they walk on every side. They are here described by three characters, ungodly, sinners, and scornful. See by what steps men arrive at the height of impiety. Nemo repente fit turpissimus–None reach the height of vice at once. They are ungodly first, casting off the fear of God and living in the neglect of their duty to him: but they rest not there. When the services of religion are laid aside, they come to be sinners, that is, they break out into open rebellion against God and engage in the service of sin and Satan. Omissions make way for commissions, and by these the heart is so hardened that at length they come to be scorners, that is, they openly defy all that is sacred, scoff at religion, and make a jest of sin.

Thus is the way of iniquity down-hill; the bad grow worse, sinners themselves become tempters to others and advocates for Baal. The word which we translate ungodly signifies such as are unsettled, aim at no certain end and walk by no certain rule, but are at the command of every lust and at the beck of every temptation. The word for sinners signifies such as are determined for the practice of sin and set it up as their trade. The scornful are those that set their mouths against the heavens. These the good man sees with a sad heart; they are a constant vexation to his righteous soul. But,

(2.) He shuns them wherever he sees them. He does not do as they do; and, that he may not, he does not converse familiarly with them.
[1.] He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He is not present at their councils, nor does he advise with them; though they are ever so witty, and subtle, and learned, if they are ungodly, they shall not be the men of his counsel. He does not consent to them, nor say as they say, Luke 23:51. He does not take his measures from their principles, nor act according to the advice which they give and take. The ungodly are forward to give their advice against religion, and it is managed so artfully that we have reason to think ourselves happy if we escape being tainted and ensnared by it.

[2.] He stands not in the way of sinners; he avoids doing as they do; their way shall not be his way; he will not come into it, much less will he continue in it, as the sinner does, who sets himself in a way that is not good, Ps. 36:4. He avoids (as much as may be) being where they are. That he may not imitate them, he will not associate with them, nor choose them for his companions. He does not stand in their way, to be picked up by them (Prov. 7:8), but keeps as far from them as from a place or person infected with the plague, for fear of the contagion, Prov. iv. 14, 15. He that would be kept from harm must keep out of harm’s way.

[3.] He sits not in the seat of the scornful; he does not repose himself with those that sit down secure in their wickedness and please themselves with the searedness of their own consciences. He does not associate with those that sit in close cabal to find out ways and means for the support and advancement of the devil’s kingdom, or that sit in open judgment, magisterially to condemn the generation of the righteous. The seat of the drunkards is the seat of the scornful, Ps. 69:12. Happy is the man that never sits in it, Hos. 7:5.

2. A godly man, that he may do that which is good and cleave to it, submits to the guidance of the word of God and makes that familiar to him, v. 2. This is that which keeps him out of the way of the ungodly and fortifies him against their temptations. By the words of thy lips I have kept me from the path of the deceiver, Ps. 17:4. We need not court the fellowship of sinners, either for pleasure or for improvement, while we have fellowship with the word of God and with God himself in and by his word. When thou awakest it shall talk with thee, Prov. 6:22. We may judge of our spiritual state by asking, “What is the law of God to us? What account do we make of it? What place has it in us?” See here,

(1.) The entire affection which a good man has for the law of God: His delight is in it. He delights in it, though it be a law, a yoke, because it is the law of God, which is holy, just, and good, which he freely consents to, and so delights in, after the inner man, Rom. 7:16, 22. All who are well pleased that there is a God must be well pleased that there is a Bible, a revelation of God, of his will, and of the only way to happiness in him.

(2.) The intimate acquaintance which a good man keeps up with the word of God: In that law doth he meditate day and night; and by this it appears that his delight is in it, for what we love we love to think of, Ps. 119:97. To meditate in God’s word is to discourse with ourselves concerning the great things contained in it, with a close application of mind, a fixedness of thought, till we be suitably affected with those things and experience the savour and power of them in our hearts. This we must do day and night; we must have a constant habitual regard to the word of God as the rule of our actions and the spring of our comforts, and we must have it in our thoughts, accordingly, upon every occasion that occurs, whether night or day. No time is amiss for meditating on the word of God, nor is any time unseasonable for those visits. We must not only set ourselves to meditate on God’s word morning and evening, at the entrance of the day and of the night, but these thoughts should be interwoven with the business and converse of every day and with the repose and slumbers of every night. When I awake I am still with thee.

II. An assurance given of the godly man’s happiness, with which we should encourage ourselves to answer the character of such.

1. In general, he is blessed, Ps. 5:1. God blesses him, and that blessing will make him happy. Blessednesses are to him, blessings of all kinds, of the upper and nether springs, enough to make him completely happy; none of the ingredients of happiness shall be wanting to him. When the psalmist undertakes to describe a blessed man, he describes a good man; for, after all, those only are happy, truly happy, that are holy, truly holy; and we are more concerned to know the way to blessedness than to know wherein that blessedness will consist. Nay, goodness and holiness are not only the way to happiness (Rev. 22:14) but happiness itself; supposing there were not another life after this, yet that man is a happy man that keeps in the way of his duty.

2. His blessedness is here illustrated by a similitude (v. 3): He shall be like a tree, fruitful and flourishing. This is the effect,

(1.) Of his pious practice; he meditates in the law of God, turns that in succum et sanguinem–into juice and blood, and that makes him like a tree. The more we converse with the word of God the better furnished we are for every good word and work. Or,
(2.) Of the promised blessing; he is blessed of the Lord, and therefore he shall be like a tree. The divine blessing produces real effects. It is the happiness of a godly ma

[1.] That he is planted by the grace of God. These trees were by nature wild olives, and will continue so till they are grafted anew, and so planted by a power from above. Never any good tree grew of itself; it is the planting of the Lord, and therefore he must in it be glorified. Isa. 61:3, The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
[2.] That he is placed by the means of grace, here called the rivers of water, those rivers which make glad the city of our God (Ps. 46:4); from these a good man receives supplies of strength and vigour, but in secret undiscerned ways.
[3.] That his practices shall be fruit, abounding to a good account, Phil. iv. 17. To those whom God first blessed he said, Be fruitful (Gen. 1:22), and still the comfort and honour of fruitfulness are a recompense for the labour of it. It is expected from those who enjoy the mercies of grace that, both in the temper of their minds and in the tenour of their lives, they comply with the intentions of that grace, and then they bring forth fruit. And, be it observed to the praise of the great dresser of the vineyard, they bring forth their fruit (that which is required of them) in due season, when it is most beautiful and most useful, improving every opportunity of doing good and doing it in its proper time.
[4.] That his profession shall be preserved from blemish and decay: His leaf also shall not wither. As to those who bring forth only the leaves of profession, without any good fruit, even their leaf will wither and they shall be as much ashamed of their profession as ever they were proud of it; but, if the word of God rule in the heart, that will keep the profession green, both to our comfort and to our credit; the laurels thus won shall never wither.
[5.] That prosperity shall attend him wherever he goes, soul-prosperity. Whatever he does, in conformity to the law, it shall prosper and succeed to his mind, or above his hope.

In singing these verses, being duly affected with the malignant and dangerous nature of sin, the transcendent excellencies of the divine law, and the power and efficacy of God’s grace, from which our fruit is found, we must teach and admonish ourselves, and one another, to watch against sin and all approaches towards it, to converse much with the word of God, and abound in the fruit of righteousness; and, in praying over them, we must seek to God for his grace both to fortify us against every evil word and work and to furnish us for every good word and work.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Love is Strong as Death

Song of Solomon 8:5-7
5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. 6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

Here, I. The spouse is much admired by those about her. It comes in in a parenthesis, but in it gospel-grace lies as plain, and as much above ground, as any where in this mystical song: Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Some make these the words of the bridegroom, expressing himself well pleased with her reliance on him and resignation of herself to his guidance. They are rather the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, to whom she spoke (v. 4); they see her, and bless her. The angels in heaven, and all her friends on earth, are the joyful spectators of her bliss. The Jewish church came up from the wilderness supported by the divine power and favour, Deut. 32:10, 11. The Christian church was raised up from a low and desolate condition by the grace of Christ relied on, Gal. 4:27. Particular believers are amiable, nay, admirable, and divine grace is to be admired in them, when by the power of that grace they are brought up from the wilderness, leaning with a holy confidence and complacency upon Jesus Christ their beloved. This bespeaks the beauty of a soul, and the wonders of divine grace,

1. In the conversion of sinners. A sinful state is a wilderness, remote from communion with God, barren and dry, and in which there is no true comfort; it is a wandering wanting state. Out of this wilderness we are concerned to come up, by true repentance, in the strength of the grace of Christ, supported by our beloved and carried in his arms.

2. In the consolation of saints. A soul convinced of sin, and truly humbled for it, is in a wilderness, quite at a loss; and there is no coming out of this wilderness but leaning on Christ as our beloved, by faith, and not leaning to our own understanding, nor trusting to any righteousness or strength of our own as sufficient for us, but going forth, and going on, in the strength of the Lord God, and making mention of his righteousness, even his only, who is the Lord our righteousness.

3. In the salvation of those that belong to Christ. We must go up from the wilderness of this world having our conversation in heaven; and, at death, we must remove thither, leaning upon Christ, must live and die by faith in him. To me to live is Christ, and it is he that is gain in death.

II. She addresses herself to her beloved.

1. She puts him in mind of the former experience which she and others had had of comfort and success in applying to him.

(1.) For her own part: “I raised thee up under the apple tree, that is, I have many a time wrestled with thee by prayer and have prevailed. When I was alone in the acts of devotion, retired in the orchard, under the apple-tree” (which Christ himself was compared to, ch. 2:3), as Nathanael under the fig-tree (John 1:48, “meditating and praying, then I raised thee up, to help me and comfort me,” as the disciples raised him up in the storm, saying, Master, carest thou not that we perish? (Mark 4:38, and the church (Ps. 44:23), Awake, why sleepest thou? Note, The experience we have had of Christ’s readiness to yield to the importunities of our faith and prayer should encourage us to continue instant in our addresses to him, to strive more earnestly, and not to faint. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, Ps. 34:4.

(2.) Others also had like experience of comfort in Christ, as it follows there (Ps. 34:5), They looked unto him, as well as I, and were lightened. There thy mother brought thee forth, the universal church, or believing souls, in whom Christ was formed, Gal. 4:15. They were in pain for the comfort of an interest in thee, and travailed in pain with great sorrow (so the word here signifies); but they brought thee forth; the pangs did not continue always; those that had travailed in convictions at last brought forth in consolations, and the pain was forgotten for joy of the Saviour’s birth. By this very similitude our Saviour illustrates the joy which his disciples would have in his return to them, after a mournful separation for a time, John 16:21, 22. After the bitter pangs of repentance many a one has had the blessed birth of comfort; why then may not I?

2. She begs of him that her union with him might be confirmed, and her communion with him continued and made more intimate (v. 6): Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.

(1.) “Let me have a place in thy heart, an interest in thy love.” This is that which all those desire above any thing that know how much their happiness is bound up in the love of Christ.

(2.) “Let me never lose the room I have in thy heart; let thy love to me be ensured, as that deed which is sealed up not to be robbed. Let nothing ever prevail either to separate me from thy love, or, by suspending the communications of it, to deprive me of the comfortable sense of it.”

(3.) “Let me be always near and dear to thee, as the signet on thy right hand, not to be parted with (Jer. xxii. 24), engraven upon the palms of thy hands (Isa. 49:14), be loved with a peculiar love.”

(4.) “Be thou my high priest; let my name be written on thy breast-plate, nearer thy heart, as the names of all the tribes were engraven like the engravings of a signet in twelve precious stones on the breast-plate of Aaron, and also on two precious stones on the two shoulders or arms of the ephod,” Exod. 28:11, 12, 21.

(5.) “Let thy power be engaged for me, as an evidence of thy love to me; let me be not only a seal upon thy heart, but a seal upon thy arm; let me be ever borne up in thy arms, and know it to my comfort.” Some make these to be the words of Christ to his spouse, commanding her to be ever mindful of him and of his love to her; however, if we desire and expect that Christ should set us as a seal on his heart, surely we cannot do less than set him as a seal on ours.

3. To enforce this petition, she pleads the power of love, of her love to him, which constrained her to be thus pressing for the tokens of his love to her.

(1.) Love is a violent vigorous passion.

[1.] It is strong as death. The pains of a disappointed lover are like the pains of death; nay, the pains of death are slighted, and made nothing of, in pursuit of the beloved object. Christ’s love to us was strong as death, for it broke through death itself. He loved us, and gave himself for us. The love of true believers to Christ is strong as death, for it makes them dead to every thing else; it even parts between soul and body, while the soul, upon the wings of devout affections, soars upward to heaven, and even forgets that it is yet clothed and clogged with flesh. Paul, in a rapture of this love, knew not whether he was in the body or out of the body. By it a believer is crucified to the world.

[2.] Jealousy is cruel as the grave, which swallows up and devours all; those that truly love Christ are jealous of every thing that would draw them from him, and especially jealous of themselves, lest they should do any thing to provoke him to withdraw from them, and, rather than do so, would pluck out a right eye and cut off a right hand, than which what can be more cruel? Weak and trembling saints, who conceive a jealousy of Christ, doubting of his love to them, find that jealousy to prey upon them like the grave; nothing wastes the spirits more; but it is an evidence of the strength of their love to him.

(3.) The coals thereof, its lamps, and flames, and beams, are very strong, and burn with incredible force, as the coals of fire that have a most vehement flame, a flame of the Lord (so some read it), a powerful piercing flame, as the lightning, Ps. 29:7. Holy love is a fire that begets a vehement heat in the soul, and consumes the dross and chaff that are in it, melts it down like wax into a new form, and carries it upwards as the sparks towards God and heaven.

(2.) Love is a valiant victorious passion. Holy love is so; the reigning love of God in the soul is constant and firm, and will not be drawn off from him either by fair means or foul, by life or death, Rom. viii. 38.

[1.] Death, and all its terrors, will not frighten a believer from loving Christ: Many waters, though they will quench fire, cannot quench this love, no, nor the floods drown it, v. 7. The noise of these waters will strike no terror upon it; let them do their worst, Christ shall still be the best beloved. The overflowing of these waters will strike no damp upon it, but it will enable a man to rejoice in tribulation. Though he slay me, I will love him and trust in him. No waters could quench Christ’s love to us, nor any floods drown it; he waded through the greatest difficulties, even seas of blood. Love sat king upon the floods; let nothing then abate our love to him.

[2.] Life, and all its comforts, will not entice a believer from loving Christ: If a man could hire him with all the substance of his house, to take his love off from Christ and set it upon the world and the flesh again, he would reject the proposal with the utmost disdain; as Christ, when the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them were offered him, to buy him off from his undertaking, said, Get thee hence, Satan. It would utterly be contemned. Offer those things to those that know no better. Love will enable us to repel and triumph over temptations from the smiles of the world, as much as from its frowns. Some give this sense of it: If a man would give all the substance of his house to Christ, as an equivalent instead of love, to excuse it, it would be contemned. He seeks not ours, but us, the heart, not the wealth. If I give all my goods to feed the poor, and have not love, it is nothing, 1 Cor. 13:1. Thus believers stand affected to Christ: the gifts of his providence cannot satisfy them without the assurances of his love.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Esther: A Book of Mysteries

From Koinonia House

ESTHER: A BOOK OF MYSTERIES

Esther is an obscure book to many, even though it is a story of romance and palace intrigue set in the glory days of the Persian Empire. A Jewish maiden, elevated to the throne of Persia as its queen, is used by God to preserve His people against a Hitler-like annihilation. Even the works of Shakespeare’s dramatic genius cannot compare with the drama and irony in this captivating epic.

To this day, the Feast of Purim is held to commemorate these events. Instituted by Mordecai to celebrate the deliverance of the Jews from extermination, Purim (from Akkadian, puru, “lots”) is so called after the lots cast by Haman in order to determine the month in which the slaughter was to take place. Held on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month of Adar, Purim is one of the most joyous days of the year.

The book of Esther chronicles real historical events. It deals with the Jews escape from genocidal annihilation after their return from Babylonian captivity. Chronologically, Esther makes possible Nehemiah. It was Esther’s marriage to the king of Persia that ultimately leads to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and enables the chain of events that led to the appearance of the Messiah five centuries later.

Orphaned as a child and brought up by her cousin Mordecai, Esther was selected by King Ahasuerus to replace the queen when Vashti was disgraced. Haman, the prime minister, persuaded the king to issue an edict of extermination of all the Jews in the Persian Empire. Esther, on Mordecai’s advice, endangered her own life by appearing before the king-without being invited – in order to intercede for her people.

Seeing that the king was well disposed toward her, she invited him and Haman to a private banquet, during which she did not reveal her desire but invited them to yet another banquet, thus misleading Haman by making him think that he was in the queen’s good graces. Her real intention was to take revenge on him. During a second banquet, Queen Esther revealed her Jewish origin to the king, begged for her life and the life of her people, and named her enemy.

Angry with Haman, King Ahasuerus retreated into the palace garden. Haman, in great fear, remained to plead for his life from the Queen. While imploring, Haman fell on Esther’s couch and was found in this ostensibly compromising situation upon the king’s return. He was immediately condemned to be hung on the very gallows which he had previously prepared for Mordecai. The king complied with Esther’s request, and the edict of destruction was then changed into permission for the Jews to avenge themselves on their enemies.

It is a fascinating story, but one full of Biblical mysteries. There is no mention of the name of God in the book. There is no reference to worship or faith. There is no mention or prediction of the Messiah; no mention of heaven or hell; there is nothing “religious” about it. It is a gripping tale, but why is it here in the Bible? Martin Luther believed it should not be part of the Canon, however the name Esther gives us a clue: it means “something hidden.” In studying this book we have discovered that there are numerous surprises hidden behind, and underneath, the text itself. To learn more about the book of Esther, click on the link below.

Related Links:

• Ruth & Esther – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
• Ruth & Esther – CD-ROM – Koinonia House

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Physics and The Bible: The Terrible Flood of Noah

From Koinonia House

The 104th Psalm is a beautiful hymn about creation that complements the information given to us in Genesis and elsewhere in the Bible. Here, as in other Scriptures, the origin of the universe and our planet is not pictured as a massive explosion (such as a Big Bang) but as an orderly series of events in which everything was crafted by the hands of an artisan, a Master Builder.

Before the Fall

The early earth after creation is nowhere pictured as a place of smoking volcanoes, sulfureous fumes and violent quakes. The Apostle Peter quite simply says that the earth “was formed out of water and by means of water” (2 Peter 3:5). The whole purpose of creation was to produce an environment-a habitat-for man. In fact, the universe was designed for man to manage and govern (Gen 1:26-31, Heb 2:6-8). All this has changed as far as we are concerned-Adam forfeited his rightful place as steward over the creation. The world we live in has been ruined, and the human race in its ongoing rebellion against God continues to require interventions by God when He calls men into courts of judgment. God’s last major judgment was the Flood of Noah-and this great disaster was actually not very long ago in the history of our race.

Seventy-one percent of the earth’s surface today is indeed water-the oceans average 3.8 kilometers deep. Only 29% of the earth’s surface is land-whose average elevation is only 623 meters! If all the continents and land masses were leveled into the sea using a giant bulldozer, nearly two miles of water would cover our entire earth. Glaciers and ice caps hold about two percent of earth’s water; were they all to melt, sea levels around the world would rise 40 meters-a big problem for many large sea-level cities should this happen. The earth’s atmosphere today holds only about two inches of precipitable water-this is constantly being replenished by the hydrologic cycle.¹

Before the Flood

The earth before the Flood of Noah was a very different place! Our long years of educational brainwashing in the mythology of evolutionary theory and an old-earth has numbed us to the clear testimony of the Bible that God’s intervention in human affairs during the time of Noah, the tenth man from Adam, changed things forever on our planet.² Since Old Testament chronologies are actually quite complete, we can date the Flood as most likely occurring between 2500 B.C. and 3400 B.C.- depending on our choice of the Masoretic Hebrew text or the Greek Septuagint of the Old Testament, respectively. The earth before the Flood seems to have possessed a uniform sub-tropical climate. There may have been no rainfall, no ice and snow, and no major seasonal changes. (For instance, palm tree fossils have been found in Alaska, frozen warm-climate mammoths in Siberia, and coal in Antarctica.) The oceans would have been much warmer, and earth’s rivers and streams may well have originated in powerful springs-such as the spring that supplied the four rivers of Eden.

I personally subscribe to a vapor canopy model of earth’s atmosphere before the Flood, which could have provided the greenhouse effect for a worldwide mild climate. But vapor canopy models are very limited by basic thermodynamic considerations. In his classic pioneering study,³ Joseph Dillow suggested a pre-Flood atmospheric pressure at sea level twice the present value-a big help to the extinct flying reptile Pteranadon, who would probably not get off the ground in today’s atmosphere. But too much water vapor in the upper atmosphere before the Flood would obscure the stars, and even the sun and moon, because of perpetual cloud cover. And for the atmosphere to support the weight of additional water vapor, the surface temperature would have to rise rapidly toward the boiling point of water. Condensation of water vapor during very heavy, prolonged rainfall would release enormous amounts of latent heat of condensation.

However, in spite of these difficulties, a modest vapor canopy – perhaps holding 40 feet of rain water – may have existed prior to the deluge of the Flood.

The Flood

Most of the water for the great Flood of Noah came from the so-called “fountains of the great deep” (Gen 7:11). This source of water is mentioned before the rain from the “windows of heaven.”

During the formation of the earth on the second and third days of creation, large quantities of water were evidently placed between the earth’s crust and mantle in what might be called giant subterranean reservoirs. This water was probably under high pressure to begin with (causing artesian springs and geysers to abound), but after the fall of man and the angels-when some of the heavier atomic elements were apparently made unstable by reduced nuclear binding forces so that radioactive decay commenced – the shorter-lived isotopes could well have heated the subsurface to a point of criticality where it could scarcely be contained by the strength of the overlying crust. We mentioned this in last month’s article as a possible cause for the explosion of a planet where the asteroid belt now is found.

Extensive volcanic activity may have occurred at the same time-the fountains of the great deep were thus broken open and volcanic ash hurtling into the stratosphere could have collapsed the vapor canopy by dispersing condensation nuclei around which raindrops formed.⁴

[Incidentally, gravitational compaction of the earth at the time of earth's formation would not have raised the interior temperature above 1000 degrees C, yet the earth's core-present temperature about 4300 degrees-has evidently melted and overturned in the past. Radioactive heating is believed to have supplied the extra energy needed - see http://www.ldolphin.org/Early.html]

The Flood in Noah’s time was certainly a direct act of judgment by God on a world which had become thoroughly and continually evil:

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’” (Genesis 6:5-7)

Since God is in full control of nature-there are no “accidents” in God’s universe-the exact mechanisms the Lord used to initiate the Flood need not preoccupy our attention. Erudite scientific models for the geophysical processes that accompanied the Flood have been presented at three Pittsburgh International Conferences on Creation⁵- the proceedings are available and highly recommended. Dr. Walter Brown’s outstanding book on the Flood, which can be found on the Internet,⁶ especially concentrates on possible mechanisms for the bursting open of the fountains of the great deep.

Was the Flood Global?

The Hebrew language has several words to describe ordinary floods, but Genesis 7-11 uses the unique word mabbul (found only elsewhere in Psalm 29:10). When Hebrew scholars put the Old Testament into Greek, they chose the Greek word kataklusmos, from the verb “to inundate,” in place of the Hebrew mabbul. All the language of Genesis, and especially the words of the Apostle Peter, give us the clearest possible picture of a worldwide, cataclysmic, universal disaster from which only eight human beings escaped with their lives. Warning of false teachers and strong-willed skeptics, Peter tells us:

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly… Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’ For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But the present heavens and earth by His Word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men…” (2 Peter 2:4-5, 3:3-7)

Noah and his sons (and perhaps some hired hands) probably had less than 76 years to build the Ark in which Noah’s family and selected animals were to find refuge from the Flood. We know the size of the Ark from Genesis 6:14-16, and many fine books have been written in recent years⁷ analyzing the design and adequacies of this great barge. The Ark is said to have landed on the Mountains of Ararat in Eastern Turkey after the Flood. Many amazing search expeditions^<8 have been launched in our century, though all have thus far been inconclusive.

There would be no need to labor many decades building a boat to escape a local flood-simple flight to the next valley or to a nearby mountain would have sufficed. Nor would a local flood require such an elaborate plan to save representative animal species.

Scripture is clear: the purpose of the Flood was to judge and destroy a decadent, thoroughly evil human civilization that probably numbered some billions of individuals – along with their cities and all the infrastructures.

Noah escaped not because he was blameless (justified by his faith as we are), but because he (and his family) responded to God’s mercy and grace. A good many other individuals who lived in the 1655-2255 years between Adam and Noah no doubt responded to the gospel preached by Adam, by Enoch, and by others who knew the Lord. But by the time of the Flood, apparently the entire “civilized” world had become totally unresponsive to the offer of God’s free salvation. Crazy Noah kept on building his weird boat on dry land-far from the ocean-in a country where it never rained! He probably endured constant mocking, scorn and ridicule up until the end. Noah’s friends were welcome to find refuge on the Ark by faith in God, but no one else believed God’s clear warnings.

“And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. And the water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days….” (Genesis 7:21-24)

The Ark finally landed on the very same day of the Hebrew calendar that Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead about three millennia later in history, taking into account the calendar change in Exodus 12. The subterranean caverns of the great deep collapsed, so that the waters receded into what are now our deep ocean basins.

With the tremendous weight of water removed from the land, isostatic rebound allowed great mountains, capped with sediments, to “float” up on the underlying mantle below the crust. (Mountains before the Flood were most likely much lower than they are now.) Seeds sprouted, life began again, and Noah and his family left the Ark to repopulate the earth under a new covenant with God (Gen 8:18-9:17). Four men and four women, who knew and loved the living God personally, began to repopulate the earth. They started with only meager resources and animals from the Ark – plus the bountiful grace of God

After the Flood

The post-Flood climate was now very different – assuming the collapse of the vapor canopy. An ice-age followed. Earth’s original one continent broke up and spread apart (rapid continental drift)- either during the Flood-or as some believe during the days of Peleg, perhaps 100-600 years later.⁹ The dinosaurs, once contemporary with men, rapidly died out, quite possibly from a separate disaster not long after the Flood. Storms, natural disasters and great seasonal weather changes set in during the years immediately following the Flood as well.

Everything was different, yet life survived, recovered and proliferated. Great civilizations were built up again in a matter of only hundreds of years.

Next month our plan is to look at world population statistics and growth rates for both the ancient world and for the past few hundred years, especially guided by the vast pre-Flood knowledge accumulated by the eight Flood survivors with life spans of 300+ years and the long life experiences of post-Flood peoples with similar longevities. The mathematics and census data lead to an inescapable conclusion: Our earth has surely again reached a critical time on God’s calendar of events for world history. Another great and terrible judgment most certainly lies just ahead. As God provided an Ark of Refuge in the Days of Noah, so He invites all to find eternal safe harbor and refuge through a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. We are invited to come “into” the Body of Christ by faith and thereby to find rescue and everlasting life.

“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.” It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:26-30)

Time is running out!

* * *

1. Michael J. Oart, An Ice Age Caused by the Genesis Flood, Institute for Creation Research, Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021, 1990 ( http://www.icr.org/ ).
2. For a history of how evolutionary theory and old-earth geology developed as parallel world-views that sought from their inception to replace a Biblical world-view, see Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of Men: Darwin and the New World Order, Bible-Science Association, PO Box 260, Zimmerman, MN 55398-0260 (1-800-422-4253).
3. Joseph Dillow, The Waters Above: Earth’s Preflood Vapor Canopy, Moody Press, Chicago IL, 1982.
4. Setterfield, Barry, Creation and Catastrophe, 80-page monograph plus color wall chart. Summary: http://www.ldolphin.org/catastrophe.html.
5. Proceedings of the [1st, 2nd, and 3rd] International Conference(s) on Creationism, Creation Science Fellowship, 362 Ashland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15228.
6. 6. Walter Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, Center for Scientific Creation, on-line or in book form: http://www.indirect.com/www/wbrown/.
7. John Woodmorappe, Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, Institute of Creation Research, Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021, 1990 (http://www.icr.org).
8. Noah’s Ark Home Page (B. J. Corbin), http://www.beachin.net/~bjcorbin/noahsark/; The Search for Noah’s Ark (Matthew Kneisler), http://users.aol.com/mkneisler/noah/nahome.htm ; The Noah’s Ark Project (Douglas Peterson), http://user.mc.net/dougp/noahs_ark/ : Christian Information Ministry (Noah’s Ark, Creation, Theology; Richardson, TX) http://www.fni.com/cim/index.html .
9. Watson, John A., “The Division of the Earth in Peleg’s Day: Tectonic or Linguistics,” Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal, Vol 11, Part 1, 1997, P.O. Box 6302, Acacia Ridge, D.C. Queensland 4110, Australia.

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Physics and The Bible: Exploding Plantets and Ancient Catastrophes

From Koinonia House

Five planets (Gr: wanderers) were known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. They named these “non-fixed stars” after their gods (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn); Uranus was found in 1781, Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1930.¹

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) thought there should be an additional planet between Mars and Jupiter. A bit later Johann David Titius (1729-1794) noted the curious spacing of the planets-each was twice the distance from the Sun as its predecessor. Johannes Bode formulated this as a “law” in 1778, leading to an intensive search for the “missing” planet.

The Asteroid Belt

In January 1801 the mystery of the missing planet unfolded rapidly. However, only a broad belt of rock fragments-the asteroid belt-was. These rings of fragments averaged 2.8 AU from the Sun (AU stands for “astronomical unit,” with the earth being 1 AU from the Sun). The first four asteroids discovered were Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, and Juno-the “named” list today numbers several hundred. The biggest are 200-480 miles in diameter.²

These asteroids are not ordinary pieces of rocks and clouds of dust that never quite coalesced to become a legitimate planet. There are enough asteroid pieces in orbit today to form an object less than a tenth the mass of the moon, but originally there may have been a planet at that location with a gravity two-thirds that of the earth, a 4.5 year orbit, and perhaps a 57.5 hour day.³ Another estimate is that the original planet may have been 15 times larger than the earth!⁴

Some asteroids do not lie in the plane of the ecliptic and many have highly elliptical orbits that endanger the earth from time to time. Because of their high relative velocities with respect to the earth, even a small asteroid would hit the earth with tens or hundreds of megatons of energy release. An exploding planet would heavily bombard, disturb, and crater planets and moons and that, of course, is what we observe in examining objects in our solar system. The dangers of future collisions by asteroids or comets to life on earth is a very real source of concern in government science circles these days, though it seems doubtful that an adequate warning and defense system will ever be built. Earth’s atmosphere destroys or weakens most objects which fall from space. Thousands of meteors the size of a grain of sand burn up in the earth’s atmosphere each day. “Fireballs,” which may not burn up completely and sometimes weigh up to several tons, hit the earth as meteorites at a rate of perhaps ten per year. Now that investigators are searching with opened eyes, eroded and filled-in large impact craters have been found to dot the globe, testifying to many large (and probably major) impacts in the past. [See Personal UPDATE 12/95 p. 9.]

The moon and airless planets are all heavily cratered; in fact, the evidence points to most of these craters being “early” in the history of the universe. Probably most occurred at the same time. Slowly rotating bodies, such as Mercury for example, are much more cratered on one side than on the other. The Book of the Revelation, incidentally, describes what may in fact be two such future collisions during the coming judgment (Revelation 8:8-11). [For a relevant commentary, see http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/revelation/4200.html ]

Ancient Earth Impacts

Astronomer Tom Van Flandern (see endnote #4) considers several such collisions happened during earth’s history. His hypothesis is based on different compositions of various asteroids and comets. Converting the atomic time scale (that is, the conventional old-earth geological time scale) to ordinary dynamic time would place these events within the framework of human history: the Flood, the breakup of the continents, the sudden extinction of the dinosaurs, Astronomer Dodwell’s observed shift in the tilt of the earth’s axis in 2345 B.C., Joshua’s Long Day, and so on. For now we must postpone discussing such fascinating topics.

The Planet Vulcan?

The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter gives every evidence that a planet was once there but somehow blew up! Following Greek mythology, the planet could have been named Hephaestus, had it been known to the Greeks, or Vulcan (see endnote #2) in equivalent Roman mythology.

Hephaestus is the god of smiths and fire. He was born lame and weak and was rejected by his mother, Hera (Juno), who threw him down from Mt. Olympus. Thetis, the gentle sea god, found him and nurtured him and returned him to Olympus, but he later disputed (along with his mother) against Zeus (Jupiter), who threw him out of Olympus a second time. He fell on the island Lemnos with a thump so hard the island shook. There, restored to health, he built robots of gold and silver to support his weak legs and went on to craft many wonderful artifacts, including the twelve golden thrones of the Olympians as well as their weapons and treasures. He married Aphrodite (Venus).

The Romans called Hephaestus “Vulcan” and said that his forge was beneath Mt. Etna. He has been identified by many scholars⁵ as associated with Cain’s Antediluvian descendant Tubal-Cain (Genesis 4:16-22).

Is there a connection between the Greek and Roman pantheon of Gods, the Flood, and a planet that perhaps once exploded? Writing of the Nephilim-who sprang from the illicit union of fallen angels with Antediluvian daughters of Eve-Ray Stedman says:

It is clear that the result of this union…was a race of mighty men, “men of renown.” Here, I think, is the explanation for the stories of mythology with which many of you are familiar, the demi-gods-half man and half god- such as Hercules, and others. Mythology is no mere invention of the mind of man; it grows out of the traditions, memories, and legends which were a corruption and perversion of primitive truths. We are told in this passage that this occurred “also afterward.” This “also afterward” means that after the Flood a similar incursion of demonic beings took place. This second invasion resulted in the presence in the land of Canaan of certain gigantic races which are called in our Bible, the Canaanites. Many of you who have stumbled over those long lists of “ites” in the Old Testament are familiar with these various races-the Jebusites, the Geshurites, the Hittites, etc. All of these are divisions of the Nephilim (they are also called the Rephaim in the Old Testament) who were already in the land when Abraham came to the promised land. They represent an attempt on the part of demonic powers to derail the divine program of bringing a Redeemer into the world through the human race.^6,7

Geological Evidence

If a planet did explode in ancient times, showering the earth with debris, it could well have caused the sudden extinction of the dinosaurs. The pioneering research of A-Bomb Physicist Luis Alvarez and his son, geologist Walter, about 15 years ago showed that a thin layer of the rare element Iridium apparently lies in the strata of the standard geological column known as the K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) boundary.⁸ This transitional layer, 65 million years ago on the atomic time scale, was a time when massive extinctions, especially of the dinosaurs, appear in the fossil record. It is now widely believed that the earth was struck at that time by a large asteroid-the impact site probably at the Yucatan peninsula.

The Flood, too, might have been triggered by this collision from space, but possibly not.⁹ According to the Setterfield model describing the decrease in the speed of light since the fall of man [see Personal UPDATE 3/95, p. 10 for details on his controversial theory], 65 million years BP (Before Present) in atomic time corresponds to 3005 B.C. in ordinary Biblical (dynamical) calendar time. However, Setterfield’s preferred (Masoretic text) date for the Flood is ~3500 B.C., or 600 million years BP in atomic time. For those who want a credible and professional theory of how one or more exploded planets could cause great catastrophes on earth, secular astronomer Tom Van Flandern has written an excellent and stimulating book on this subject. He believes that three significant disastrous planetary explosion events are associated with the birth of all asteroids and comets and with breaks in earth’s geological record.¹⁰

What Caused the Explosion?

Ordinary planets don’t explode, of course! They are all far too stable or too small for a runaway nuclear explosion to occur spontaneously. There is, however, one intriguing possibility.

The terrestrial planets contain about 19% water. When the velocity of light was very high just after creation, and after radioactive decay had commenced, short-lived radioactive elements in the terrestrial planets could have heated rapidly, leading to crustal fracture on a planet from superheated steam (more on this next month). But even so, one or more planetary explosions may have been caused by intelligent, sentient beings-namely, by mighty fallen angels!

C.S. Lewis did not think it out of the ordinary for each planet to be under the governmental jurisdiction of a single great angel.¹¹ We know from Scripture that four amazing angels, the four-faced winged Cherubim surround the throne of God. The Archangel Michael is specially charged with the care and well-being of Israel; other angels (fallen and unfallen) oversee the affairs of the nations (Daniel 10). Lucifer, the present angelic “god” of our own planet, was once the virtual Prime Minister of the universe in the throne room of God before his fall.¹²

Spiritual Warfare

The universe we live in is a fallen universe, a dying world. The fall of Satan effectively wrecked and ruined the original creation, setting it spiralling downward to disorder and decay as described by what we now call the Second Law of Thermodynamics (Romans 8:20-22). Angelic conflict was involved in the original series of events that brought about the fall of man into sin and the initial devastation of the physical universe.

Although one group of fallen angels was removed by God and confined to Tartarus at the time of the Flood (Jude 6), this does not mean angelic conflict has by any means ceased! Angelic conflict continues to this day and hour! In fact, we followers of the Lord Jesus Christ are enjoined to enter into and take part in the ongoing conflict of the ages:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

Ephesians 6:12-13

Angels apparently war against one another with impressive weaponry that would amaze even the best of our modern science fiction writers. Yet the Bible boldly declares that we, the followers of Christ, have more effective weapons than angelic planet-destroying laser cannons or matter/antimatter missiles.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our (cosmic) warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

As C.S. Lewis vividly portrays in the third book of his trilogy, That Hideous Strength, the final showdown between good and evil is set to occur on our carefully protected but beleaguered planet Earth-as the Seed of the Serpent and his angelic hosts are thrown down and enchained by Yahweh Sabaoth, Jesus the Messiah, the Seed of the Woman Eve:

“Terror and pit and snare will confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above will be opened, and the foundations of the earth will shake. The earth will be broken asunder, The earth will be split through, The earth will be shaken violently. The earth will reel to and fro like a drunkard, And it will totter like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again. So it will happen in that day, that the Lord will punish the host of heaven, on high, And the kings of the earth, on earth. And they will be gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders. O Lord, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will give thanks to Thy name; For Thou hast worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.”

Isaiah 24:17-25:1, “Little Apocalypse”

The Grand Finale

“Uniformitarianism”-that great neo-pagan philosophy which claims that there have been long stable ages, billions of years in extent, with unchanging environmental conditions and all the delicate balances needed for life to “evolve” by “accident” from simple to complex-is in full retreat in these latter days.

At the end of the age God is apparently making the true and brief history of our universe more clear for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear. This final story is far more exciting than previous generations could ever have imagined. What is most amazing of all to me is that we are not bystanders but active agents on behalf of our Creator and King.

The final chapters are surely about to unfold before us. In the service of the coming King there is much work you can do. Do make yourself available to the Commander of the Armies of the Lord!

* * *

1. Jastrow and Thompson, Astronomy: Fundamentals and Frontiers, John Wiley and Sons, New York NY, 1977.
2. J. Tim Unruh, Phaeton: The Lost Planet. An Account of Biblical Catastrophism on a Cosmic Scale, on-line at http://www.ldolphin.org/unruh. Tim reminds me that a hypothetical planet called, at the time, “Vulcan” was proposed inside the orbit of Mercury in the 1800′s. Mercury’s anomalous orbit was later accounted for by Relativity Theory.
3. Ibid.
4. Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets: Paradoxes Resolved, Origins Illuminated, by Tom Van Flandern. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley CA, 1993. See also http://www.metaresearch.org and http://www.planetarymysteries.com/vanflandern.html for bio and book ordering. See also The Asteroid Belt: Remnant of a Former Planet? http://www.n-polk.k12.ia.us/Pages/AiS/Asteroid.html. Late Update: In the March 15 issue of Van Flandern’s Meta Research Bulletin, the author gives a fascinating discussion of the Face on Mars, planetary explosions, comets and asteroids. He believes the first major event, 338 million years ago at the Permian/Triassic (P/T) geologic boundary (atomic time scale) was the explosion of “Planet K” (Krypton?), which he estimates was 15 times more massive than the earth, in the outer asteroid belt. [Did this event initiate the Flood of Noah?] A second event, the explosion of “Planet V” (the original fifth planet, he thinks) took place at the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary, 65 million years ago, and would be associated with dinosaur extinction. The third event, 3.2 Mya at the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary, he believes was the explosion of “Body C” which was about 1% as massive as the earth. [Clearly, the picture of one possible planetary explosion as I have sketched it above is preliminary and only accounts for part of the evidence.] Another group of asteroids has recently been discovered beyond Neptune at 50 AU, consistent with Bode’s Law. Thus there may have been yet another planet at that location once upon a time. After writing this article, I had lunch with Donald Patten who reminded me of his book, The Mars-Earth Wars, which deals with these same subjets. It is available from the author, 13540 39th Ave. NE, Seattle WA, 98125.
5. Noah’s Three Sons, by Arthur Custance, PhD, http://www.best.com/~custance.
6. Ray C. Stedman, Genesis: Signs of Collapse http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/genesis/0325.html.
7. Chuck Missler, Return of the Nephilim, Koinonia House, 1997.
8. Walter Alvarez and Frank Asaro, “What Caused The Mass Extinction? An Extraterrestrial Impact,” Scientific American, October 1990, p. 44.
9. Barry Setterfield, Creation and Catastrophe, 80-page monograph plus color wall chart, 25 x 36 inches. Set available for $30 US postage paid from the author, Box 328, Blackwood SA 5051, Australia. Summary: http://www.ldolphin.org/catastrophe.html.
10. Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets: Paradoxes Resolved, Origins Illuminated, by Tom Van Flandern. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley CA, 1993.
11. C.S. Lewis, Science Fiction Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength, Macmillan, NY, 1965.

Subscribe to the comments for this post

The Gift From Ethiopia: A Relic with a Future? Part Two

From Koinonia House

A Relic with a Future? Pt. 2

The Gift From Ethiopia

by Chuck Missler and Bob Cornuke In our previous article we explored some hints, in the Old Testament Scriptures, that the fabled Ark of the Covenant may, indeed, presently reside in Ethiopia, in accordance with a tradition that goes back over 2,600 years. Many of us have been skeptical of the colorful legends surrounding Menelik, the offspring of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who is reputed to have removed the Ark of the Covenant out of reach of Solomon’s apostasy.  (These views are still retained by the current leadership in Ethiopia. They believe they have a destiny to deliver their sacred relic to the Messiah when He rules from Mt. Zion.)¹

What might be overlooked is that the Ark may have reached Ethiopia by a different path altogether: the Levites may have removed it during the dark days of Manasseh’s persecutions² and sought refuge under Pharaoh Necho II.³ Pharaoh Necho II was not Egyptian: he was Ethiopian: he was the grandson of Necho I of the 25th, or Ethiopian, dynasty.⁴ Our skepticism concerning the whereabouts of the fabled Ark of the Covenant would seem to be supported by Jeremiah 3:16:

And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.

But most of us have failed to fully apprehend the verse that follows!

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.  – Jeremiah 3:17

An Overlooked Piece of Furniture?

We are often guilty of stumbling over our own presuppositions.  As we read the various passages concerning the Tabernacle and its seven appliances (the Brazen Altar, the Molten Sea, the Menorah, the Table of Shewbread, the Golden Incense Altar, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Mercy Seat) we tend to view the Mercy Seat as the “lid” of the Ark, since that is where it was located: covering the Ark.⁵ However, if we examine the passages carefully, we note that the Mercy Seat is distinctively separate: it is always described separately and it’s made of different materials.  The Ark was made of wood, covered with gold.⁶ (This is suggestive of both the humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ.)  The Mercy Seat was made of pure gold.  (This would seem to make it a more enduring relic.)

It is profoundly significant to recognize that all of this was a copy of a heavenly reality which had been shown to Moses.⁷ It is also important to note that the Holy of Holies was described as the location of the Mercy Seat.⁸ God Himself is described as “He that dwelleth above the Cherubim” of the Mercy Seat. ⁹

Millennial Throne

The Throne of the Messiah is surprisingly prominent in Scripture.¹⁰ It is interesting to note that there are Messianic psalms that associate the Ark with the Millennial Throne as His resting place forever.¹¹ (It is also noteworthy that on Yom Kippur, the High Priest would sprinkle the blood upon the Mercy Seat, and also in front of it.¹² This is provocatively suggestive of the picture presented of the “soles of His feet” in the Millennium.¹³)

The Gift from Ethiopia

The Ethiopians believe that the relic presently in their trust will be the subject of a very prominent gift to the Messiah when He rules on Mt. Zion.

From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. - Zephaniah 3:10

The word “bring” is yabal, to bear or carry, as in a royal procession; the word for “offering” is hxn>mi minchah, a gift, tribute, present.  This apparently is the presentation by the Ethiopians which receives such special emphasis in Isaiah 18.14

The Ethiopian Treasurer

This all lends a revealing perspective on the strange events which occurred with Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian Treasurer in Acts Chapter 8.  In the middle of a major revival in Samaria, Philip is sent to the desert:

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” Acts 8:26-30

He finds this royal dignitary reading from Isaiah 52 and 53.

And he said, “How can I, except some man should guide me?” And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.  The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, “I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?” Acts 8:30-34

It is important that Philip interpreted this important passage in terms of the Messiah Himself (and not as symbolizing the nation, as some cling to).

Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. Acts 8:30-39

But, why was the Ethiopian Treasurer visiting Jerusalem?  And then, why was he confused?  Perhaps he was on an official errand for Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia.  He came to worship the Messiah, but learned that He had been killed!  Philip shows him that this was all a fulfillment of prophecy and that the Messiah was destined to return in the future.

After being baptized, the official returns to his Queen and when she inquires, “Has the time come?”

He replies, “Not yet!”

*  *  *

This article includes some of the startling disclosures that were presented jointly by Bob Cornuke and Chuck Missler at the Prophecy Summit at Branson, Missouri, August 22-24, 2001, and is the result of the many visits to Ethiopia by Bob Cornuke and extensive research notes by Ken Durham.  Bob can be contacted at the Biblical Archaeology Search & Exploration (BASE) Institute, (719) 540-9799. See also The Seat of Mercy , by Chuck Missler and Bob Cornuke.

Subscribe to the comments for this post

The Gift From Ethiopia: A Relic with a Future?

From Koinonia House

The Gift from Ethiopia:

A Relic with a Future?

by Chuck Missler [This article is the first in a series regarding some of the startling disclosures that were presented jointly by Bob Cornuke and Chuck Missler at the Prophecy Summit at Branson, Missouri, August 22-24, 2001.]

The Mystery of the Lost Ark

The Ark of the Covenant, a prominent fixture in the narratives of the Old Testament, certainly seems to have disappeared from view after the Babylonian captivity, which began in 606 B.C.  There are many theories as to what happened to the Ark of the Covenant. This issue was, of course, popularized in the well-attended fantasy movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Among the many theories as to its subsequent whereabouts, the “official” position by conservative rabbis in Israel – and also the Temple Institute – is that it remains hidden in some secret location under the Temple Mount to this day. But there are many who doubt this. Some believe it was among the items plundered by the Babylonians during the captivity (however, it is conspicuously absent from the detailed inventories associated with those events).  Some believe it was taken by Pharaoh Shishak;¹ others believe it was hidden by Jeremiah on Mt. Nebo.² Ron Wyatt claimed to have found it under Golgatha.  Each of these views has various scholastic and technical rebuttals.

Many link its future to the rebuilding of the Temple that appears to be destined before the Second Coming of Christ.  We know that the Temple will be rebuilt at that time: Jesus,³ Paul, ⁴ and John⁵ each make reference to it. However, the Ark of the Covenant is not an essential.  The Tenach, the Tosephta, and the Mishna, regarded as the primary authorities in these matters, all indicate procedural steps regarding its absence. The Ark of the Covenant was not in Herod’s Temple, the Temple that was standing during the ministry of Christ.

The Ethiopian Tradition

Many of us have heard of the belief that the Ark was taken to Ethiopia by Menelik I, the offspring of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba who, raised by priests until he was of age, and then leaving behind a replica, removed the Ark to separate it from Solomon’s apostasy.  (These ideas were developed by Graham Hancock in his book, The Sign and the Seal, ⁶ and also popularized by Grant Jeffrey in some of his publications.)  Emperor Haile Selassie has been regarded as the 225th descendant of Menelik, and these traditions continue to be embraced by the current leadership of the government of Ethiopia.

The idea that the Ark is presently ensconced in Ethiopia is a well-documented tradition dating from at least 642 B.C. when it ostensibly was at Elephantine Island, in Egypt; then moved to Tana Kirkos Island, Lake Tana, Ethiopia; and finally to its present site in a well-protected bunker at St. Mary’s of Zion Church at Axum, Ethiopia.  The Ethiopians believe that it is destined to be delivered to the Messiah when He reigns on Mt.  Zion. ⁷ Most of us have dismissed these tales for various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the Ark appears in the Scriptures well after Solomon.⁸ Perhaps the biggest death knell for these various theories would seem to occur in Jeremiah:

And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. -Jeremiah 3:16

And yet there are some aspects of this mystery, in the Scriptures, that suggest a very different possibility.  What may be presently in Ethiopia may have arrived there by a different path altogether, and may have a destiny that has been widely overlooked in the Biblical texts.

The Reign of Manasseh

The very positive reign of Hezekiah was, unfortunately, succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Manasseh. Reigning for 55 years, and continuing the paganism of Ahaz, he relapsed into idolatry with all its vices. The worship of YHWH was banished; yet faithful prophets, including Isaiah and Micah, lifted up their voices in reproof and in warning. However, their fidelity only aroused bitter hatred, and a period of cruel persecution against all the friends of the traditional practices spread “blood from one border to the other.”  An ancient Jewish tradition indicates that at this time Isaiah was “sawn asunder.”⁹

Manasseh was succeeded by Josiah, who led a significant revival and thereby gained a personal reprieve from the coming judgment that God had declared as a result of Manasseh’s disasters.¹⁰

Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. - 2 Chronicles 34:28

What is strange is that Josiah receives his instructions through Huldah the prophetess. Why not through the traditional path involving the Levites and the Ark of the Covenant? Josiah had instructed the Levites to return the Ark to the Temple:

And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel…  – 2 Chronicles 35:3

The Ark was, obviously, not in the Temple at that time.  It is a reasonable conjecture that the Levites, due to the widespread mischief of Manasseh, removed the Ark to a place of safekeeping: out of the Temple, out of Jerusalem, and probably out of the entire jurisdiction of Manasseh.  It was apparently in transit: “a burden upon [their] shoulders.”  (This may also explain why Josiah had to resort to Huldah the prophetess for his counsel.) Notice that this was Josiah’s request.  There is no evidence that they complied (quite the contrary!).

Pharaoh Necho

The Assyrian Empire, which had ruled the region for many centuries, was on the wane, and Egypt’s Pharaoh Necho was moving to pick up some of the pieces.  But he is surprised that King Josiah was taking up arms against him.  Pharaoh Necho’s response is one of astonishment:

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.  -2 Chronicles 35:21

Why would Josiah go against Pharaoh Necho?  The Assyrians were the adversary of Judah as well.  What did Josiah expect to gain from this aggressive commitment? And why did Pharaoh Necho believe that God was on his side? The Chronicler adds an additional provocative insight:

Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.  - 2 Chronicles 35:22

How could Pharaoh Necho have heard the words “from the mouth of God”?  Is it possible that the Levites had sought refuge from Manasseh in Egypt, and had set up shop there?  Was this what Josiah was after?  Was this how Necho heard “from the mouth of God”?

In any case, Josiah goes in disguise and gets killed at Megiddo.  After this battle Necho marched on to Carchemish (a Syrian city on the middle Euphrates River), where he met and conquered the Assyrian army, and thus all the Syrian provinces and Israel came under his dominion. On his return march he deposed Jehoahaz, who had succeeded his father Josiah, and made Eliakim, Josiah’s eldest son (whose name he changed to Jehoiakim), king.  Jehoahaz he carried down into Egypt, where he died.¹¹

Four years after this conquest, Necho again marched to the Euphrates, but this time his army was met and routed by the Chaldeans under a crown prince by the name of Nebuchadnezzar, who drove Necho back and took from him all the territory he had conquered, from the Euphrates unto the “river of Egypt.” ¹² The establishment of the Babylonian Empire would thus be the means that God would use to complete the judgment He had pronounced in response to Manasseh’s disastrous reign. But what about the fabled Ark of the Covenant?  Did the Levites continue to keep it separate from the vicissitudes in Judea?  Did this begin its trek southward from Egypt to Ethiopia?  (It is interesting to note that Pharaoh Necho II was not Egyptian: he was Ethiopian. He was the grandson of Necho I, of the 25th, or Ethiopian, dynasty.¹³ )

More Surprises to Come

In the next article we will explore some common misconceptions about the ancient relic that may presently reside under such diligent care in Ethiopia.  Perhaps it is not the Ark of the Covenant that is the key issue!  There is a separate element of equipment that is closely associated with the Ark, but has a distinct purpose and, perhaps, a distinct destiny: the Mercy Seat.

And, perhaps, there is also a uniquely distinctive role that was involved in the incident with Philip and the Ethiopian treasurer in Acts Chapter 8. Join us for some startling conjectures in the next issue.

*  *  *

[This article was, in large measure, the result of the many visits to Ethiopia by Bob Cornuke and research notes by Ken Durham.  Bob can be contacted at the Biblical Archaeology Search & Exploration (BASE) Institute: (719) 540-9799 or www.baseinstitute.org.]

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Astonishing Rediscovery: The Magdalen Papyrus

From Koinonia House

Astonishing Rediscovery:

The Magdalen Papyrus

by Chuck Missler In the late 19th century, Charles B. Huleatt, an Egyptologist, acquired three small fragments of papyrus that were unearthed in Upper Egypt and subsequently bequeathed them to his Alma Mater, Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1901.

These three segments contain the Greek text of Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 26, verses 23 and 31.  There are a total of 24 lines, text on both sides. (This implies that they were part of a codex-a book with pages rather than a traditional scroll, which was written on the smooth side only. These were beginning to make their appearance during the Gospel period. In his final letter, Paul requested Timothy to bring his notebooks to him. ¹ )

In 1953, Colin H.  Roberts, a notable British papyrologist, declared that these papyrus fragments were probably from the late second century A.D.  It would be 40 years later that advanced technology would reveal that these three small fragments are apparently the oldest New Testament manuscripts in existence, contemporaneous with the Apostles themselves and other eye witnesses!

In 1994, Dr. Carsten Peter Thiede, Director of the Institute of Basic Epistemological Research in Paderborn, Germany, used a scanning laser microscope to more carefully examine these fragments, “P.Magdalen Greek 17/P64,” as they are formally designated.

A scanning laser microscope can now differentiate between the twenty micrometer (millionth of a meter) layers of papyrus, measuring the height and depth of the ink, and can even determine the angle of the stylus used by the scribe. Dr. Thiede compared the fragments with four other known references: a manuscript from Qumran, dated to 58 A.D.; one from the Herculaneum, dated prior to 79 A.D.; one from Masada, dated between 73-74 A.D.; and one from the Egyptian town of Oxyrynchus, dated 65-66 A.D. He astounded the scholastic world by concluding that the Magdalen fragments were either an original from Matthew’s Gospel, or an immediate copy, written while Matthew and the other disciples and other eye witnesses were still alive!  Matthew’s skills in shorthand (an essential requirement for a customs official in a society devoid of printing, copiers, and the like) are evident in his inclusion of the extensive discourses, which he apparently was able to record verbatim!

The Magdalen papyrus discovery is distinctive in that it was dated on the basis of physical evidence rather than a literary theory or historical suppositions. This is just an example of how advanced technology can reveal discoveries in existing artifacts.

Other technologies discussed in our currently featured Briefing Pack, Digging Up the Truth, a review of Biblical archaeology by Chuck Missler and Bob Cornuke, include ground-penetrating radar,² microgravity sensors, and thermographic (infrared) scanning³ , as well as laser microscopy. Bob discusses some of the amazing adventures he has had with the discovery of Jabel al Lawz, which appears to be the real Mt. Sinai in Arabia,⁴ and other recent discoveries.  His clandestine penetration of forbidden areas, eluding armed patrols, etc., and the astonishing discoveries encountered are gripping.  [Our article on "Nehustan" in this issue also highlights some of the dangers that can accompany the excessive veneration of artifacts, however authentic they may be.]

*  *  *

Source:
Thiede, Carsten Peter  & D’Ancona, Matthew, The Jesus Papyrus, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1996.

This article was originally published in the
April 2001 Personal Update NewsJournal.

Subscribe to the comments for this post