BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD #2

By: Eld. G.T. Haywood

CHAPTER V.

Formation of the Third And Fourth Days

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Third Creative Day

In The third day of Creation we find the hand of God gathering together the waters on the surface, saying “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place and let the dry land appear.” (Gen. 1:9-13.) And it was so. It was then that “He strengthened the fountains of the deep; and gave to the sea His
decree, that the water should not pass His commandment” (Prov. 8:28,29) and shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb. When He made the clouds a garment thereof,
and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, * * * and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. (Job 38:4-11.)

Through the gathering together of the waters in one place the dry was made to appear, with its mountains and hills and valleys and plains. Rivers and streams flowing through the land in their onward march to
the bosom of the sea left their moisture to the soil that it might “bring forth grass, the herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth.” During that period, year after year, the vegetation grew and decayed, while as yet “there was no man to till the ground.” It was during this time, no doubt, that the great Creator, foreseeing the needs of Man, whom He was intending to make, through His great wisdom, began His work in laying His foundation for coal beds that are today found far beneath the earth’s surface. There is no doubt but that the veins of coal now being brought forth from the bowels of the earth are nothing other than carbonized vegetation, that thrived many thousands of years ago.

The most of the vegetation of that period was of a different foliage from that which we see today. From the coal mines are often brought up coal, in the layers of which can be seen leaves of various kinds of plant life which existed many thousands of years ago. Some of this vegetable matter petrified as well as carbonized. In the American Museum of Natural History in New York City can be seen a portion of a tree, one-half of which is petrified (turned to stone), while the other half is carbonized (turned to coal).

For seven thousand years this vegetation arose and fell, and during that period of time great fields of plant life, and vast forests were undoubtedly inundated by great deluges that broke forth upon the earth in those prehistoric days. The heat from the interior of the earth caused this plant matter to develop into coal beds. As fast as the earth had advanced far enough, a new order of things was established. For as soon as the earth was ready, God brought forth vegetable life, and things that he made continue unto this day, fulfilling the will of Him that created them.

The Fourth Creative Day

During the previous periods things moved on without the light of sun, moon or stars. God alone was the light thereof. There was no need of sun, because there was no animal life there to necessitate such. The
vegetable kingdom existed from the light of Him who giveth life to all things.

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the night from the day, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. (Gen. 1:14-19.)

There is no man that can, by scientific analysis, render any light on the events of this period. All they can know is that all these things had a beginning. That these things are so can not be denied, but how
and when they were created is beyond human conception. The seasons are controlled by the changes of the location of the sun, moon and stars, as God Himself has appointed them. And when we “consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and stars which Thou hast ordained: what is man that Thou art mindful of him?” The heavens declareth the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. In them He hath set a tabernacle for the sun. * * * His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and His circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. (Psa. 8:3,4;19 :1-6.)

Prior to this time clouds and thick darkness shut out the light of the stars which God had crested, but now they begin to shed forth their light upon the earth, affecting its seasons and regulating its days, months and years.

It is in this period that “time” is being divided for the preparation of the sons of men, with whom God, through His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge, rejoiced before the foundation of the world. (Pro.
8:22-31.) And through these things which he had made he intended to reveal himself to mankind in the ages that were to come. (Rom. 1:20.) The days, and months, and years were to convey unto men the secret
that had been hid for ages, and it is through these things that God hath, by His Spirit, given us the revelation of the ages. Were these things wrought in a day according to man? I tell you, nay! Seven
thousand years, no doubt, were embraced in the “evening and morning” of the fourth day. Many thousand years the hand of God moved in the midst of the firmament of heaven, preparing celestial bodies and
placing them in their respective positions to fulfill their mission unto the inhabitants of the earth until “time shall be no more,” and “the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Then the “stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.” (Psa. 13:9,10; Joel 2:30,31; Matt. 24:29.)

The sweet influence of Pleiades,
The bands that gird Orion,
The dipper, yea, all heaven agrees
God’s love is toward Mount Zion.

These selfsame stars, to Abraham,
Conveyed the gospel plan,
That Zion, through his loins, would bring
A countless Royal band.

It must not be overlooked that during this fourth period of creation, plant life continued to thrive and fall away. The various veins of coal found in the heart of the earth bears a silent witness to this fact. The wisdom with which God has so arranged these things is wonderful to behold.

Many, many a night beneath the star-lit sky did the foliage of the giant “herbs of the field” wave to and fro through the breezes that blew over the primitive face of the earth. Night after night did the beams of moon-light drench the stately, wooded plains fulfilling the word of God, “to rule by night.” He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. (Psa. 104:19.) He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their name.

Like the various wheels of a clock making their appointed number of revolutions before the striking of the mid-night hour, so has God appointed the number of revolutions each star should make in its orbit
before the “time” of the end, at which time they will all begin to come in conjunction one with another causing there to “be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” at the closing of a given period of time. (Luke 21:24-36.)

The “fearful sights and great signs–from heaven” which are being witnessed today are declared be scholars to be eclipses, or the passing of one planetary body before the face of another, or some “wanderer of the sky” making its periodical visit in sight of the earth. Although this may be true, yet that does in no wise
alter the fact that the attractions of the asterial regions are “signs of the season and time” for our Lord’s return to earth again.

To stand beneath the starry heavens and look away into the depth of infinite space, beholding the jewel-bedecked realms above, sparkling, twinkling, beckoning, as it were, for one to “come up hither,” truly
fills the heart with praise and adoration to the Creator for such a vision, so glorious and so sublime, of the worlds to come during which “time” He will “show unto us the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Eph. 2:7.)

The shepherd, the sweet songster of Israel, on the plains of Bethlehem, watching his sheep by night, as he beheld “the glory of God,” exclaimed, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who has set thy glory above the heavens * * * when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained: What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visiteth him?” But all these things shall be known when the fulness of time is come.

CHAPTER VI

The Fifth Period of Creation

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Fifth Creative Day

Having reviewed the work of God in the previous periods and noticing how perfectly they harmonize with the word of God and geological survey, we now come to the fifth day of Creation. The secrets of this period could never have been better explained than by the Spirit of Him who created all things and “made His ways known unto Moses.” (1 Cor. 2:9,10; Psa. 103:7.)

To Moses it was revealed that God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life, and fowl that they may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created
great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind. (Gen. 1:20-23.)

Until recently I have always understood and taught that the fowls that we now see filling the earth and heaven were created out of the water, but when my eyes became enlightened (Eph. 1:18) I was astonished to see that they were a different order altogether. Compare Gen. 1:20,21 with Gen. 2:19. The former refers to the prehistoric life whose monstrous remains bear witness to God’s marvelous handiwork in ages that have long since rolled into eternity.

The winged fowls of that period were many times larger than the “inhabitants of the air” of our day. Today they would resemble our aeroplanes cleaving against the vaulted sky, pinioning their way to some prehistoric water brook to clumsily nestle among their young.

Far beneath the earth’s surface are being found the bones of “bivalves, crustaceans, mollusks, invertebrates, vertebrates, amphibians, birds, reptiles, sea monsters,” etc., and as time rolled on during that period of 7,000 years they multiplied and “filled the earth and the sea.” “It is said that much of what is now land was at that time shallow bodies of water, perpetually warm under a tropical climate, and that herein was the home of innumerable hideous sea monsters; huge bats with wings spreading from tip to tip, thirty feet; the monster dinosaur, a large lizard-like creature, more than a hundred feet long; the “tyrannosaurus,” a dinosaurus specie more than 150 feet long, and many millions of other reptile like creatures.

These great monsters are placed in the “reptile” class and are said to have lived in an age, by the geologist, called the “reptile period.” The very fact that they bear the mark of reptiles confirms the statement that they were creatures which lived in water as well as on the land, because it is a well-known fact that all reptiles live in the water and on the land with a liberty apparently equal. That these creatures lived in that period is self-vindicating, but when was that period, and how long since have these prehistoric animals been extinct, is a question that has brought many wild, speculative and extravagant estimations by those who have studied these fossil remains.

To give some idea of the unreasonableness of these statements or estimations, we hereby quote a few of them: “Probable, the earliest of all extinct monsters to become known to modern man was the mammoth,
which scientists think lived about 150,000 years ago.” “Many of these species became extinct from 20,000 to 150,000 years ago.” “The bones were perfectly preserved by tar, in which they had lain for 2,000 centuries (200,000 years)” according to scientists who “have viewed the remains.” “The ornitholestes is said to have lived 6,000,000 (six million) years ago,” while another recent discovery “is supposed to have lived 5,000,000 years ago.” The tyrannosaurus is “by science claimed to have lived six or seven million years ago.”

The weakness of these estimations are clearly seen when we consider that they are merely what scientists “think,” “claim,” “said” and “supposed.” These scientific “suppositions” are the things that Satan is using to set in opposition to God’s inspired Word, and not the scientific discoveries. True science and the Word of God are in perfect harmony, but we are warned against the “oppositions” of science, and not science in itself. (1 Tim. 6:20,21.) Because of these discoveries many have been turned away from the Word of God, being made to believe that science has proven, by these things, the incredibleness of the inspiration of the Bible. While, in fact, it is not the discoveries that are causing the trouble, but rather these exaggerated “scientific” estimations as to when these creatures lived and roamed the earth. As there is no historical record of them to be found in stone, Assyrian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, or some ancient deciphered papyrus scroll, these “scholars” are given free rein to make their guesses and defy any one to dispute them. “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets. He revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.” (Dan. 2:22,28.) There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known. See Matt. 10:26.

According to the Word of God and divine revelation (Eph. 1:17,18; Luke 24:25), through the Holy Spirit (John 16:13, 15;1 Cor. 2:9,10), these creatures were created and lived in the “fifth day,” or the fifth period of 7,000 years. Counting the 7,000 years of that period and the 6,000 years of this period wherein we are now living (which it will be seen by referring to the chart is the sixth period), we can plainly see that the oldest of these prehistoric animals could not have lived more than 13,000 years ago.

For 7,000 years these monsters roamed leisurely up and down the breadth of the earth, feeding upon the foliage that flourished in years gone by. How often did the low setting sun sink behind the hills, leaving the grey shadowed form of these hideous, gawky creatures against the crimson horizon of the western sky to be later swallowed up by approaching darkness of those prehistoric nights.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, time rolled steadily on, till the plains, the valleys, the hills and mountains were swarming with these giant reptile creatures. To their
habitations there were no bounds. They were commanded to “be fruitful, and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let the fowls multiply in the earth.”

The waters not only brought forth “great whales” but also “living creatures that moved (or creepeth),” Gen. 1:21. It is from this passage that we are able to locate the record of the creation of these prehistoric creatures. No matter how large a skeleton may be unearthed, it must be acknowledged that God made them for His glory. (Rev. 4:11.)

The Flood Theory

In a certain religious publication there appeared an article opposing the view of the scientist as pertaining to the age of the earth and the “millions of years ago” theory as the time wherein the prehistoric animals roamed this earth. Their argument was that the bones of all those monstrous creatures that are supposed to have lived thousands of centuries ago are none other than the remains of the antediluvian creation and that they were all destroyed during the flood.

This would seem reasonable were it not that the word of God is averse to such a conclusion. In the book of Genesis it is said, “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind. * * * Of every clean beast * * * by sevens, the male and the female: and of beasts not clean by two, the male and his female.” Genesis 6:13,20; 7:1-9.

According to the inspired record at least two of every living creature that existed before the flood, clean or unclean, were preserved “to keep them alive,” and if the “Dinosaurus, tyrannosaurus” and other extinct monsters lived during the age of the antediluvians there ought be some of them alive somewhere on the earth. But the fact that none of them are around alive today is sufficient evidence that they lived more than six thousand (6,000) years ago. To say that they lived “millions of years ago” is placing the time of their activity too far, and to number them with those destroyed during the flood is bringing them too near. The only logical conclusion to be drawn is that they lived in the fifth period of creation.

The judgment on that period of creation may have come at the close of the 6,000th year, and that the earth laid in silence during the 7,000th, during which time the monstrous remains became petrified and encased in stone.

The Fall of Angels

It was during this period that Lucifer, the son of the morning, the arch-angel of heaven, walked in the garden of God, even the Garden of Eden of that day, with every precious stone as his covering, and sat
in the holy mountain of God, walking up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. (Isa. 14:12; Ezek. 28:12-15.) The control of that age was in “subjection to angels,” but through the pride of the “anointed
cherub” that covered, or controlled, the works of God’s hand, the earth and all things were ruined and destroyed.

That the earth has undergone a judgment of some kind prior to the age of man is a thing that is conceded by all who have visited the mountainous regions of the west and other countries. And writers declare that “there are not wanting intimations which connect it with the previous testing and fall of angels.” It was then that Jesus “saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18.)

The fall of Satan undoubtedly took place before what is known as the “eruption of angels” before the flood. It is believed by many that the “sons of God” who took wives of the “daughters of men” were the “angels who left their first estate.” Even if that were true, yet we must admit that the “anointed cherub” had fallen and become “that wicked one” before the fall of man, or the birth of Cain and Abel. Gen. 3:1-15; 4:1-8; 1 John 3:12.

In Hebrews 2:5 we read, “For unto angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” From this statement it appears that at one time the world was under the “subjection” of angels, but
having failed God and fallen, God renews the face of the earth and forms man out of the dust of the ground, making him a “little lower than the angels,” crowning him with glory and honor and set him over all the works of his hand. Although man has failed God during this present world, yet the angels which caused his downfall will not have the “world to come” put under their subjection, but instead, “the kingdoms of this world” will “become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ” (the glorified church). And as for the angels who were partakers of the “eruption” the scriptures clearly state that “the angels that sinned, and kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, God has reserved in chains of darkness until the day of judgment.” (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6.)

Angelic nature is different from either divine nature, or human nature. When God through Christ came into the world, He took not on the “nature of angels” but rather the nature of mankind through the loins of Abraham. Heb. 2:16,17. It was in this nature that the angels controlled and populated the earth in the fifth day of creation. Angelic nature is a substance that can be seen (Gen. 18:2), heard (Gen. 16:7-12), handled (Gen. 32:25; Hosea 12:4) and felt (Acts 12:5-11). They can appear and disappear at will. The creation of mankind was for the purpose of “replenishing” the earth with another order of creatures “a little lower than the angels.”

CHAPTER VII

The Sixth Period of Creation

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The Sixth Creative Day

The period in which we are now living is the sixth time the earth has passed through a revolution of 7,000 years. After the fall of the angels, God renews the face of the earth and starts a new order of creatures to multiply and “replenish” the earth. The angels that had previously filled the earth fell from their lofty “estate” and the animal creation was all destroyed in the fall, therefore God proceeded to create man with an animal-like nature, but angelic intelligence–purposing in Himself to make him “after His likeness” in the dispensation of the fullness of time. (See paragraphs under Chapter II.)

The revelation of God’s purpose and operation during this period is found in Gen. 1:24-31. His manner of operation in the beginning of His work with the sons of Adam is found in Gen. 2:7-25. It was for this
age that God prepared His plan of salvation before the foundation of the world, and the record of God’s dealings during this entire cycle, from Adam to the close of the millennium (7,000 years) is embraced in
all the Scriptures from Gen. 2:7 to Rev. 20:15, the past, the present and the future.

This is Man’s day. The sixth “creative day” is “not yet done.” The evening time of this period has come and again God is speaking to the sons of Adam, “Where art thou?” Every man is becoming ashamed of his invention, for his wisdom has been turned backward and his knowledge into foolishness ; and his wealth with “rust” and “canker” eats his soul.

The animal creation of this period differs from the former in that it is made from the “dust of the ground” instead of the water. The fowls of this “day” are also made “out of the ground” while in the preceding “day” they were of water origin. (Gen. 1:20-23; 2:19.) This new order of creatures was no doubt made for the glory of God, and their various characteristics were intended to signify the favorable and disfavorable spiritual qualification in the plan of salvation. See the following: Psa. 32:9; 2 Pet. 2:22; Isa. 40:41; 59:11; Matt. 10:16; Luke 13:32; Isa. 53:6,7; 1 Pet. 5:8. Many other Scriptures will bear witness to this fact. Great is our God! Infinite in wisdom, mighty in power! Who beside Him could have wrought such a plan?

For almost 6,000 years God and man have wrestled with the prince of darkness, forging their way to the dawn of a better day. From the judgment ill the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:21) and the death of the righteous Abel down throughout the entire journey to the hill of Calvary, a trail of blood has flown. From then even till now and on throughout the end of the age there is one continuous stream of blood.

Sorrow, pain and death have reigned from Adam even to this present time, and shall continue unto the end of the millennium, when death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire. (1 Cor. 15:26; Rev. 20:14.)

The Age of Death

This has been an age of sin and death. Through the tragedy in Eden sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death was passed upon all men. (Rom. 5:12.) In sorrow did “the mother of all living” bring
forth her first born sons. In sorrow was she bereaved of them both.

The generations that followed grew worse and worse. The giants that were “in those days” were  instruments in the hands of the wicked one to “fill the earth with violence,” and the wickedness thereof was
great. To end this reign of lawlessness the deluge was sent, and the mighty waters destroyed them all.

The new generation that began to “replenish” the earth soon forgot the Judgments that had but in a little while passed and were again found swiftly running into mischief. The conquest of Nimrod silently speaks
of bloodshed in order to establish the Kingdom of Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. The construction of the tower of Babel brought a judgment which scattered men abroad over the face of
the earth.

The call of Abraham was the beginning of a new era. From him sprang a generation destined to bring a blessing upon the earth. Four hundred years in Egypt they saw sorrow, suffering and death. Through the Red Sea they marched, en route to Canaan land. The people of the land trembled as they marched through time and territory, through nations, empires and kingdoms, looking for a better country; a city that had
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Kingdoms, empires, and nations arose and fell, but their scepter departed not “until Shiloh” came.

Calvary’s tragic event reversed things, and a new generation was born. While the world moved on this new “regenerated man” has kept up the steady march toward the dawn of a better day when “there shall be no
death.” Six thousand years of this, the Sixth day of Creation is almost gone. The death struggle between the forces of right and wrong over the breaking forth of this great climax in the drama of the Age of sin and death, is being waged throughout the entire world. For “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now” (Rom. 8:23), waiting for the time when the devil shall be bound a thousand years, and there shall be “on earth peace and good will toward men.”

Then for 1,000 years, the last portion of this Sixth period of creation Satan shall be bound and death shall be restrained. Then “a child shall die an hundred years old; but a sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.” (Rev. 20:1,2; Isa. 65:20.) Death reigned from Adam to Moses; from Moses to Christ; and from Christ’s time till now, and on, even throughout the millennium. But he shall come to his end. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death (Rev. 21:4).

Two Classes of People

Before the Flood there were two classes of people, a righteous line through Seth, and an ungodly line through Cain. When these two became joined together by marriage the wickedness of the world became so
great that God sent the flood and destroyed them all. (Gen. 6:17.) Through Noah the world was repopulated, and through Abraham God drew out a separated people for Himself, so that the distinctive lines from Abraham to Christ were Jew and Gentile. Because of Israel’s failure, God sets them aside until the fullness of the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21:24), and through Christ Jesus He takes a  “people that are no people and makes them a people of God.” (1 Pet. 2:10.) Thus we have two lines of people again, two-and only two–the Church and the World. All outside of the Church are of the World. When the Church becomes translated (Isa. 26:20; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; 1 Cor. 15 :51,52) , then will God turn to Israel again, and bring them through a great tribulation and finally set up His Kingdom on earth for a
thousand years. During the thousand years’ reign on earth, prior to the Judgment of the Great White Throne, the two classes will be “All Israel” and the remnant of the Gentiles, Gog and Magog. See Rom. 11
:26; Rev. 20:7,8.

When God shall bring judgment upon the armies of Gog and Magog (remnant of the Gentiles), fire shall come down from heaven and destroy them (Rev. 20:9), and through this means God shall make “a full end” of all races of the Gentiles, but will preserve Israel as a people to inhabit the New Earth forever and ever. (Jer. 46:28; Ezek. 37:12-28; Dan. 7:18.)

White Throne Judgment

At the Great White Throne Judgment the Lord shall gather all nations before Him at the last resurrection and shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. (Rev. 20:11-
15; Matt. 25:31-46.) This judgment will not include the Bride (the previously translated once 1 Thess. 4:15-18), but all those who have died throughout the entire period from Adam to the end of the period of 7,000 years, and received not the baptism of the Spirit, which is necessary to quicken the mortal body at the resurrection from among the dead. (Matt. 3:16; Rom. 8:11.) The earth shall then pass through a renovating process whereby it shall be changed and brought out anew. (2 Pet. 3:10-13.) Thus it shall be with the things that have come to pass during the “evening and morning” of the Sixth day.

Not only will Israel be resurrected at the white throne judgment and placed on the New Earth, but the wicked, also and all those who died without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and yet walked in all the
light that they had. The latter go away “into life eternal,” that is, where “there shall be no more death” (the new earth). Matt. 25:34-46; Rev. 21:1-4. There is no doubt but that all the heathens who died without the knowledge of Christ will be raised to life in the last resurrection and be judged “without the law,” but by their conscience (Rom. 2:12-16) and shall be placed on the new earth also. It will “be more tolerable” for the heathen nations and cities in all their sins in the day of judgment than it will be for those who have heard the gospel, confirmed with signs and wonders, and believe not. (Matt. 11:20- 24.) “He that believeth not” is the one that is doomed to “be damned” (Mark 3:29; 16:16; 2 Thess. 2:12). Those who have never heard have had no opportunity to “believe,” or “believe not” (Rom. 10:14). The wicked go into the lake of fire.

These are they of whom the Lord speaketh where He says, “And the heathen shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for EVERMORE.” See Ezek. 37:27,28. The time for the “Tabernacle of God to be with men” is during the New Earth period (Rev. 21:3), and according to the prophecy of Ezekiel there will be some heathens there witnessing God’s love toward His people Israel. All who lived before the flood will be there; all who walked in the light of their day will be there; but he that believeth not shall be damned. There is hope for one who has never heard. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, etc., shall have their part in the lake that burneth with
fire and brimstone.

CHAPTER VIII

The Seventh Creative Day

On the seventh day, it is said God ended His work which He had made. This was said in the beginning, but the work then “was not yet done,” for God calls those things which are not as though they were, and
proceeds to perform the counsel of His own will. (Isa. 46:9,10; Rom. 4:17; Gen. 2:4, 5.)

After six days (7,000 years each) of labor and toil in perfecting His plan according to His eternal purpose which He purposed in Himself before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4,9,11;3:11) , God ends His
work and rests on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. This “day” will no doubt be of the same duration as the “six days” that precede it (7,000 years long). And what a day of rejoicing that will be! “For, behold, I create New Heavens and a New Earth: and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy.” “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem add joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” (Isa. 65:17-19; Rev. 21:1-5.)

Israel is God’s people forever! And it is with this people and the righteous from among the heathen, that God intends to populate the new earth. (2 Sam. 7:24; Psa. 76:6-9; Psa. 37:11.) Though scattered for almost 2,000 years without a country, yet their identity is as distinct as it was in the days of old. The Gentiles shall come to their full end at the close of the millennium, but Israel shall be preserved forever They shall go forth and grow up like “calves of the stall.” No pain, no sickness, no sorrow, no crying, no devil and no
death for SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS! This is the true SABBATH of the Lord. (Heb. 4:1-11.)

For Seven Thousand Years there shall be no need of sun nor moon. For the glory of God from the New Jerusalem shall lighten the earth. And the nations of them that are saved (Israel and the righteous) shall
walk in the light of the city. (Rev. 21:9-27.) Seven Thousand Years shall the earth flourish in the breeze of God’s eternal glory, unhampered by the cursed thorns that pressed our Saviour’s brow. (Rev. 22:3-6.) And the ransomed of the Lord shall return to Zion with songs and EVERLASTING joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. See Isa. 35.

Israel shall live on the New Earth while the glorified, or translated ones, who were translated a thousand years before the last resurrection, will dwell in the Holy City which comes down from God out of heaver, suspended in the sight of all those upon earth, and shall have the liberty of visiting those on the earth, even as the angels did in the days of the Patriarchs. See Luke 20:35,36. Thus God will yet have “two classes of people,” fulfilling His promise to Abraham that from him should come forth a people so many as the stars
of the sky in multitude (the glorified Israel, Rom. 2:28,29; 9:6-8), and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable (fleshly Israel). Heb. 11:12.

For Seven Thousand Years there shall be no death. Israel shall multiply and fill the earth. But what shall become of them if there is no death? Like Enoch, they shall be translated. Enoch, the SEVENTH from Adam, is a type of the life and departure of the people of the SEVENTH period. (Gen. 5:18-24; Jude 14.) The translation of the Bride is called the “first fruits,” which is to be gathered during the Seventh period of the Church (Laodicean) , and if that is the “first fruit” the real harvest must be during the SEVENTH PERIOD of Creation. The Spirit of God has borne witness to this whenever we have taught it.

Moreover, there is a glimpse also as to what age these earthly inhabitants will arrive prior to their translation. Our solar year bears a cycle of 365 days. Why was it arranged thus? Who can tell? If we were to take a “day for a year” (Num. 14:33,34; Ezek. 4:3-6), we have the exact age of Enoch at the time of his translation. There is no time recorded in the grave. When one shall arise from the dead it will be to him as one just awakened from a sleep over night and comes forth as if it were morning. (Psa. 49:14,15.) Thus the righteous who die at the age of 25 years, will live 340 years before his translation takes place. Those who die at the age of 65 years will live 300 years on the New Earth before they are translated, and so on to the end, each making his complete cycle of 365 years like the prophet Enoch. During this period, in which we are now living, for one to “depart and be with Christ,” he must necessarily pass through the valley of death,
but then it shall be far better, for when they shall have “walked with God 365 years” they will “not be found,” because God will have taken them.

It is for this cause that He has preserved Israel, that He might “plant the heavens” and lay the foundations of the earth (that is, the generation of the New Earth), and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. (Isa. 51:16.) This passage could not refer to the foundation of the physical earth, because in verse 13 He declares that He “hath stretched forth the heavens and laid (past tense) the foundation of the earth,” while that in verse 16 refers to the future. O that Israel only knew her calling and the glory that awaits her. Then her mouth
would be filled with laughter and her tongue with singing. Surely, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning!

Whereas, thou hast been forsaken and hated * * * I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. * * * And thou shalt know that I am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people shall all be righteous: they shall
inherit the land FOREVER, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. (Isa. 60:15-21.) Wonderful things are spoken of thee, O City of God.

The Heavenly Seed

As to the heavenly seed, in that day they shall be filled with rapture and joys untold as they explore the mysterious realm of eternal glory. Hither and thither shall they traverse the unlimited space, beholding
the beauties of the Lord and the unfathomable riches of His infinite wisdom and knowledge, and then return to the Holy City, from whence they may visit the unraptured sons of Jacob and tell them of the
glories of the ages yet to come.

In the days of the patriarchs, angels from the realms above visited the inhabitants of the earth and told them of the things to come, but during this period the glorified children of God will in the “hereafter” ascend and descend upon the merits of the blood of the Son of Man. For they that shall be accounted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead * * * can die no more: for they are equal unto the angels. (Luke 20:35, 36.)

The life on the new earth will be glorious, but the liberty enjoyed by the glorified sons of God as they mount up to heaven, and nimbly light upon the earth from the Holy City above, will undoubtedly fill the hearts of the righteous with a longing for the time to come when they too shall enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

With them time will be unknown, and space will be annihilated. They shall traverse the boundless realms of the universe with a rapidity that will eclipse the records of light. Surely “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the things God has prepared for them that love Him.”

And when we reach that glorious plane

And walk the streets of gold,
We’ll sing and shout this rapturous strain,
“The half was never told.”

Then Seven Times SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS will have run its course. Seven weeks of seven thousand years each will be fulfilled. Forty-nine Thousand Years will then be done, and the Fiftieth Thousand will usher in ETERNITY, the JUBILEE: of all Jubilees. God only knows what then.

(The above material is Part II of G.T. Haywood’s book pulished in 1923, chapters 5-8.)

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