Review
1. Prophets have been from the foundation of the world. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Job, and Abraham, were all prophets of God before the time of Moses.
2. The Proto-Evangelium is the basic gospel message, pregnant with significance, and was preserved by various means, some of which we have noticed, such as
a) Gospel in the names of Adam and his first descendents
b) The names of the days of the week
c) The names of the twelve sons of Jacob
we have also mentioned other means which we will notice in today's lesson, and in future lessons, such as
a) The ancient Hebrew alphabet
b) lineage of Cain
c) the names of the stars, both individually and collectively.
3. What the Bible says about stars and the constellations
4. The names, character, and work of "the serpent"
5. Misc. scripture dealing with the stars and constellations, the ancient prophets, etc.
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds..." (Hebrews 1: 1, 2)
"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets." (Hosea 12: 10)
"used similitudes" or "gave parables" or "used similes"
Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary
"I have also spoken" - I have used every means, and employed every method, to instruct and save you. I have sent prophets, who spake plainly, exhorting, warning, and beseeching you to return to me. They have had Divine visions, which they have declared and interpreted. They have used similitudes, symbols, metaphors, allegories, &c., in order to fix your attention, and bring you back to your duty and interest.
Dr. Dodd supposes that there are three distinct kinds of prophecy mentioned here: 1. Immediate inspiration, when God declares the very words. 2. Vision; a representation of external objects to the mind, in as lively a manner as if there were conveyed by the senses. 3. Parables and apt resemblances."
"Similitudes" ("damah"), a singular usage, in this text only, according to Strong, means "likenesses" or "resemblences" or "comparisons"
Certainly God spoke to Adam and Eve. In this passage God identifies "prophets" with those to whom he verbally "spoke," with those who received "oracles."
God spoke to the fathers, which would include Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Job, and Abraham, in "various ways" and at "sundry (various) times," by direct speaking, by visions and dreams, and by "similitudes."
In showing how the gospel message was encoded in the names of Adam's first descendents, and in the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and in the names of the days of the ancient week, and in the alphabet, and in the temple, etc., we are showing these "similitudes" and various ways in which God memorialized the gospel of Christ.
The Hebrew Alphabet and the Gospel
The names of the first two Hebrew Letters, Aleph and Beth, are the origin of the English word Alphabet.
The Hebrew Alphabet is an incomparably rich and self-coherent symbolic system. Each Letter has a broad set of associated meanings based on its name, its position in the Alphabet, its role in Hebrew grammar, and its use in the Alphabetic Verses.
The Hebrew Alphabet ends with the sign of the cross in precise analogy with the Gospel Message that declares Christ completed His Work of redemption on His Cross with the words "It is finished" (John 19:30).
Rolleston wrote:
"Somewhat of a symbolical and even a sacred character seems given to the alphabet by the use made of the allusion to Alpha and Omega in the Apocalypse. Alpha is plainly the Aleph of the original alphabet, as in the ancient Oriental alphabets, the leader, chief, first, the beginning. The Omega of the Greeks supplied the place of Thau, the last letter of the ancient series, originally figures as a cross, like our modern T, t. The word Thau means in those dialects a mark, as in Ezekiel 9:4; a boundary, as in Genesis 49:26. By dropping the prefix Th, it gives the sound of Omega. The Arabic sense of the word Thau is a mark in the form of a cross, with which the Arabs marked their animals.
The first and last letters being thus used symbolically in Scripture, it seems probable that every intermediate letter had some similar purport, agreeing with that of the constellation to which they belong."
THE HEBREW ALPHABET, AS CONNECTED WITH THE CONSTELLATIONS
MAZZAROTH; or, the CONSTELLATIONS.
Recent Books on the Subject
1) "In His Own Words" - Messianic Insights Into The Hebrew Alphabet by L. Grant Luton, 265pp, 5.25" x 8.25, paper, $15.95
"In His Own Words will take you on a fascinating journey through territory that has, until now, remained unexplored by Christian theologians. The book reveals amazing details about God's Word that have never been translated into our English editions.
You will learn why some letters in the original Hebrew Bible are printed over- or under-size, as well as why other letters are printed upside down, broken in half, or suspended in mid-air. You will discover why nearly every column of a Torah scroll begins with a letter that symbolizes a hook, and why some passages of scripture are printed in such a way as to depict a brick wall. This book will also demonstrate how the message of the gospel is graphically illustrated by the names, shapes, and order of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. You are sure to be inspired and encouraged by the amazing truths that God has hidden in these ancient symbols. Written in layman's terms, In His Own Words will introduce you to a dimension of God's Word that will powerfully impact your life and ministry."
The book that shows how the ancient Hebrew letters declare the Gospel! Discover the ancient script that reveals penetrating truth about the Word of God!
2) The Gospel in Ancient Hebrew by Dr. Frank T. Seekins. Hebrew Word Pictures: How Does the Hebrew Alphabet Reveal Prophetic Truths? (Amazon $9. 99)
3) “The Language of God in History” by Helena Lehman
This exploration of history thoroughly explores the Pre-Flood world of Enoch and the Sethite Astronomy and Gospel in the Stars that Enoch developed into a profound spiritual discipline that led the sages of past ages to create the pyramids at Dahshur, Giza, and Teotihuacan, the statues on Easter Island, the monument at Stonehenge, the Angkor Temple complex and the so-called Aztec Calendar Stone found in Mexico as spiritually significant allegorical messages in stone that are tied to the End Time Signs in the Heavens that Yahshua spoke of. The book also explores the spiritual and scientific disciplines that were behind the journey of the Magi or Wise Men to Bethlehem to worship Yahshua as the Messiah that was prophesied about in the stars before the world was even created.
Finally, the rise and fall of ancient Israel, the facts behind their migrations in the Diaspora, the re-immergence of Israel in modern times and its ties to the United States in light of End Time prophecies, the secret meanings and dire implications behind the ideologies expressed in the 2008 US Presidential Race, the history and ultimate destiny of the Kingdom of Israel, and the amazing Signs in the Heavens connected to Orion, Draco, Taurus and Scorpio that are tied to the Tribulation and Second Coming of Christ are explored in preparation for the exhaustive study of biblical prophecy and the Signs in the Heavens in the final book of this series.
“The Language of God in History” gives a brilliant and clear defense of biblical history, and reveals how our ancestors may have creatively designed their religious monuments to reflect the spiritual allegories God wrote into our Universe. It also explores the history of the Kingdom of Israel, and delves into the true nature of dinosaurs and their possible links to the Behemoth, Leviathan, Nephilim and Giants spoken of in the Bible.
http://pillar-of-enoch.com/Language_of_God_in_History/
The Alphabet And The Stars - The Hebrew Alphabet
In ancient Hebrew, like Chinese and ancient Egyptian, every word was formed by adding pictures together to paint or illustrate the meaning of a word.
Aleph - A way, or a beginning - An Ox or Bullock, a sacrifice or at-one-ment. Its numerical value is ONE. The literal meaning of aleph is ox or bull. The symbolic meaning of this letter is: God, strength, strong leader. It shows God's mastery and oneness.
In the ancient Hebrew, it was drawn like the head of an ox which is part of the original meaning of the letter. The literal meaning is "strong leader, strength, master."
Beth - A house - A House or Tent, a dwelling or tabernacle, in, among, within, etc.
Gimel - Retribution - A Camel, like a camel's hump, heap, collect, high.
Daleth - A door - A Door or Gate, lid, valve.
He - Demonstration - Lo, see, behold, (therefore) a lattice or window for that purpose
Vau - A nail bent back - A Peg, Nail or Hook, therefore, wherefore, then, that, in order that, so that, etc.
Zain - Armour - A Weapon, a shining sword, brightness, light.
Heth or Cheth - Terror - An Enclosure, fenced in, ark, refuge.
Teth - Declination - A Serpent, like a serpent, rolled, twisted, entwined.
Yod - Confession of praise - The Hand, the right hand, to strike or pierce, a stroke, a blow.
Caph - Hollow hand - The Hollow or Palm of the Hand, curved, concave, a valley or basin.
Lamed - Doctrine - A Goad, towards, into, unto, until, upon, even to, besides, etc.
Mem - Water, waves, a flood.
Nun - Filiation - A Fish, to sprout, to put forth (as one from whom all are propagated).
Samech - Opposition - A Fulcrum, prop, lever, to help, to sustain, to uphold, the hinge of a mason's apron, a ladder or line connecting the lower with the higher, the Holy Ghost.
Ayin - An eye - The Eye, to flow, to flow out, a fountain.
Pe - A mouth - The Mouth, to breathe, to blow, a side or quarter of the heavens, region, part, quarter.
Tzaddi - Sides - A Scythe or Reaping-hook, just, pertains to the harvest or retribution. Tsadok is Jupiter or justice (in Sanscrit, karma).
Koph - A circuit - Occiput, back of the head, to move in a circle.
Resh - Poverty - Head, first, foremost, beginning, front.
Rosh means a foremost or most northern nation.
Shin - A tooth - Tooth, a sharp rock, cliff, crag.
Thau - A sign - A Sign or Mark, cross, a symbol, a token.
If one puts these names and their meanings together, they tell the story of Christ and the gospel.
Aleph
Denotes, as Christ said, "the first," and identified himself with this first letter of the ancient alphabet. "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he." (Isa. 41: 4; See also 44: 6 & 48: 12) "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." (Rev. 1: 11; See also 1: 17, 2: 8, 2: 19, 22: 13)
"The First" is a title of God and Christ is God.
Aleph is the unpronounceable first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a silent letter that makes sound when vowel marks are associated with it. It is interesting that the first letter of the names of the first man (Adam), the first Jew (Abraham), and the herald of the last man (Elijah), as well as the first letter of the first commandment, is Aleph.
The First and the Last
A writer wrote:
"In the Old Testament, we frequently encounter the letters aleph, and the tau, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. When used with a connector-bar, a maqqeph, the two-letter prefix, at-,is used as a grammatical element to indicate a direct object. There are also instances, however, where aleph tau is used as a pronoun to indicate the second person masculine singular; a hypocatastasis ("putting down underneath"), a kind of grammatical pun: "a hidden declarative implied metaphor expressing a superlative degree of resemblance."18 For example, in Zechariah 12 we find the prophecy of the Messiah's climactic appearance to Israel:
...and they shall look upon me [aleph tau] whom they have pierced... Zechariah 12:10
The untranslated aleph tau could be translated as follows:
"... and they shall look upon me, the aleph and the tau, whom they have pierced."
We also find the same untranslated letters in Genesis 1:
In the beginning God [aleph tau] created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1
This Aleph and Tau, that created the heavens and the earth, is the same Aleph and Tau whom they pierced on the wooden cross erected in Judea almost 2,000 years ago."
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2000/196/
The ancient Hebrew pictograph for the letter Aleph is an ox head, meaning strength or God, as in "the Lord is my strength." The pictograph for the letter Tav is two crossed sticks, meaning a mark or covenant. Therefore, when Jesus says, "I am the Aleph and the Tav," what He is saying is that He is the mark of God, or God's signature.
Aleph, is the first letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet and is therefore linked with the mysteries of the one true God of the Universe. Aleph is called the 'father' of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (alphabet) and stems from aluph which means Lord or Master. Most of the divine names of God begin with Aleph. Yeshua our Kinsman Redeemer is God in the flesh (Isaiah 9:6).
Aleph then, in totality, designates God in Christ, God incarnate, the One who would become both the ox of sacrifice (bullock) and the ox of strength, the One who would push through his enemies, by his horns of power, and is the same that is signified in the sign of Taurus. Thus we read of the "strength of the ox" (Pro. 14: 4). Aleph signifies power, one who is master and leader. It also signifies a way or beginning. Of Christ it is said - "who is the beginning" (Col. 1: 18). Christ also says of himself - "I am the Way." (John 14: 6)
"Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass." (Psalm 106: 20)
This was the error of the Hebrews and of the Pagan idolaters. They worshipped the symbol, making the similitude the object of their worship.
Bet or Beth originally was the figure of a tent or house. It signified "to dwell within." In scripture, the body is called a tent or tabernacle to house the soul. Wrote Paul:
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (II cor. 5: 1)
Also, in speaking of Christ becoming flesh, or of his incarnation, John wrote:
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (tented, tabernacled) among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1: 14)
Gimel was associated with the Camel and came to denote "retribution." Camels, like oxen, are pack animals, or burden bearers. They carry loads. The Camel's hump helped to signify a load piled high. Our sins are numerous, like a heap upon the scales of divine justice. These were heaped or piled upon Christ, he becoming the burden bearer of his people. Sinners, before they come to Christ, are bearing their own sins, a load they cannot endure.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt. 11: 28-30)
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (I Peter 2: 24)
The Camel is also a conquerer of the desert or wilderness area. This world, because of sin, has become a desert wilderness. Christ came into it, survived it. Also, according to the gospels, Christ literally, as did John the Baptist, preach in the wilderness.
Daleth denoted a door, gate, or a covering. Thus Christ is pictured as the "door," and Christ said of himself - "I am the door of the sheep." (John 10: 7) "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (vs. 9)
"...he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." (Acts 14: 27)
Christ's blood is that which atones or covers sin. The Hebrew word translated as "atonement" literally means "to cover" or "covering" and first appears in Genesis 6:14 as the word "pitch" which was used to cover the ark of Noah to protect it from the waters of the flood. Also, remember how Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness and shame by "fig leaves" and how God rather clothed them with the skin of a sacrificial animal.
He denotes to see or behold, as through a lattice or window for that purpose.
The one who has thus been described is to be "beheld."
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isa. 7: 14)
"Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment." (Isa. 32: 1)
"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." (Isa. 40: 9, 10)
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." (Isa. 42: 1)
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." (Num. 21: 8)
"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." (Isa. 45: 22)
Vau denotes a Peg, Nail or Hook.
"And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it." (Isa. 22: 23-25)
Besides this, Christ was nailed to the cross, pierced in his hands and in his feet. At the same time, something else was nailed to the cross.
"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Col. 2: 14, 15)
Zain signifies a weapon, a shining sword, brightness, light.
"Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." (Zech. 13: 7)
Heth or Cheth denotes terror - An Enclosure, fenced in, ark, refuge.
"Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences." (II Cor. 5: 11)
It was "by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors," that the Lord delivered his ancient people from bondage in Egypt. (Deut. 4: 34; See also 34: 12)
"For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me." (Job 6: 4)
"His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors." (Job 18: 14)
Death is viewed as a "king" in Romans 5. Paul says "death" and "sin" "reign" as monarchs over fallen man. John Gill said - "His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors." He also said - "Death is a king: it reigns, it has a large empire, even the whole world; its subjects are numerous, all, high and low, rich and poor, great and small; and the duration of its reign is long, it reigned from Adam to Moses, from Moses to the coming of Christ, and from thence to this day, and will to the end of the world, and it reigns with an irresistible power: and this king is a king of terrors to wicked men."
The Psalmist mentioned the "terrors of death" in Psalm 55: 4. Sinners "are utterly consumed with terrors." (Ps. 73: 19) But, they who trust in the Lord and in his salvation, he said - "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day." (91: 5)
"In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." (Isa. 54: 14)
Fenced
"our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities." (Num. 32: 17) "these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars." (Deut. 32: 5) "fenced up to heaven." (9: 1)
"And he fenced it (the vineyard of God, or Israel), and gathered out the stones thereof..." (Isa. 5: 2)
"And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD." (Jer. 15: 20)
"Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?" (Job 1: 10)
The Hebrew letter also means an ark or refuge. The whole idea concerns safety and security. As a result of Christ suffering for us, experiencing our terrors, the terrible sword of divine justice, a people are "fenced in," and made to dwell in a refuge.
Teth means "declination - A Serpent, like a serpent, rolled, twisted, entwined."
By the victorious death of Christ over death and over the serpent, he has ensured the doom of the "old serpent." He has made his "decline" certain. Christ, as the divine "serpent holder," Ophiuchus, as in the constellation, who subdues the coiled serpent, the one who has entwined himself into every nook and cranny of our world. The Lord will yet finish his work on the "old serpent" by casting him into the lake of fire, the place originaly prepared for him and for his angels.
Yod means "confession of praise - The Hand, the right hand, to strike or pierce, a stroke, a blow."
Such a victory over the serpent and such a restoration to Edenic blessing brings eternal praise to God and his Son Jesus. This is pictured in the constellation (decan) of Lyra, the harp of praise. Christ, the hand of God, his own right arm, crushes the head of the serpent, as is pictured in many places in scripture and in several of the constellations. Christ, the right hand of God, will crush the head of the serpent, just as was promised in the proto-evangelium.
"And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power." (Hab. 3: 4)
"receive good at the hand of God." (Job 2: 10) "his hands make whole." (5: 18)
"Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both." (9: 33)
"Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up..." (Ps. 18: 35)
"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand." (37: 24)
"...thy right hand is full of righteousness." (48: 10)
"For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them." (44: 3)
"O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory." (98: 1)
"The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly." (118: 15, 16)
"Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." (Isa. 40: 10)
"I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (41: 10)
"Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver?" (50: 2)
"Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee." (Ps. 21: 8)
"stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them." (Isa 5: 25)
"In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it." (Isa. 19: 16)
Are we in God's hands for him to protect or for him to crush? Will we fall on the stone or will the stone fall on us? This Hebrew letter denotes hand and to strike a blow with the hand also. God, in Christ, gave a blow to Satan when he died upon the cross and rose again. He will yet strike with his hand against him and against wicked men.
"striketh hands" (Prov. 17: 18) "Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts." (22: 26)
Our salvation comes because Christ has put his hand on us and on his Father, and reconciled, as a Daysman or Mediator. Christ is our "surety" (Heb. 7: 22), the one who struck and sealed the deal for his elect.
Caph means "hollow hand - The hollow or palm of the hand, curved, concave, a valley or basin."
What do these written scriptures say of this "hollow hand"?
"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" (Isa. 40: 12)
"And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me." (49: 2)
"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." (49: 16)
"And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people." (51: 16)
Lamed means "doctrine or a goad."
God is a teacher. Christ is the teacher of teachers.
"It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." (John 6: 45)
The Father gives us "good doctrine" in Christ. Christ said - "Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." (John 7: 16)
"My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." (Deut. 32: 2)
"Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." (Isa. 28: 9)
"And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine." (Mark 4: 2)
"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7: 17)
"But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." (Rom. 6: 17, 18)
"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." (I Tim. 4: 16)
"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." (II John 1: 9)
God's word "goads" us. "The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd." (Eccl. 12: 11)
Mem means "Water, waves, a flood." We find that the Bible and the inspired constellations both testify to the significance of this Hebrew letter. Water pours forth from the bucket of Aquarius. In scripture, a river of water is spoken of that proceeds from God and his throne. It speaks of "showers of blessings," of God "pouring" forth of his Spirit. We read of raining blessings upon the redeemed but raining wrath upon the unredeemed.
"Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup." (Psa. 11: 6)
"For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him." (Psa. 32: 6)
"I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me." (69: 2)
"Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand." (Isa. 28: 2)
"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." (Isa. 44: 3)
Nun means "filiation - a fish, to sprout, to put forth."
What this letter designates is also what we will see in some of the star constellations. We will see filiation in the relationship between Virgo and her illustrious seed (son). We will see "fish" in the constellations, and find it connected with the prosperity and health of the redeemed, or of the church. Christ used the metaphor or similitude of "fishing for men" in his teaching about men being saved. Jesus spoke of nets which catch both good and bad fish. The good are kept while the bad are thrown away. Christians are fish whom God has caught with his hook and net.
Samech means "a fulcrum, prop, lever, to help, to sustain, to uphold, the hinge of a mason's apron, a ladder or line connecting the lower with the higher."
Symbollically, Christ is God's "fulrum," his means for "propping up," or "upholding" (supporting) his people. Christ is the "hinge" upon which all turns, certainly the hinge on the door to heaven. Christ also is a ladder, typified in Jacob's ladder, the medium by which any reach God and heaven. He is the line, the band, that connects us to himself, and to one another. This too is signified in the star constellations. We will behold later a band or ribbon that is viewed holding the fish to him who caught them and to each other.
Ayin means "the eye, to flow, to flow out, a fountain."
This is typified in the sign of Aquarius, as I have already somewhat shown. It is more descriptive here of "tears." What can we say about "tears" as they relate to 1) our present fallen condition? 2) the death of Christ? 3) the coming end of time and the day of judgment?
"There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" for all the lost.
"But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children." (Luke 23: 38)
"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared." (Heb. 5: 7)
"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (Rev. 17: 17 & 21: 4)
Pe means "the mouth, to breathe, to blow."
This Hebrew word may be viewed in its dual aspect, as it concerns the righteous and the wicked respectively.
As a result of Christ and his work the redeemed are "breathed upon" by God. Recall that God originally "breathed into" the nostrils of Adam, "the breath of life," and "he became a living soul." ( ) This breath gives life. God has also breathed into the scriptures, which is the meaning of the word "inspired." ( ) Before Christ died it is said that he "breathed" upon the first disciples and said "receive ye the Holy Spirit." (John 20: 22)
"The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." (Psa. 33: 4)
"Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD...Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." (Eze. 37: 5, 6, 9)
"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." (Psa. 33: 6)
"By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed." (Job 4: 9)
"But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." (Isa. 11: 4)
"And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err." (30: 28)
"For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." (30: 33)
"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit (breath) of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." (II Thess. 2: 8)
Tzaddi means "a scythe or reaping-hook, just, what pertains to harvest and retribution."
We will see this aspect of Christ when we study the sign of Virgo. One of the Decans of Virgo is a constellation called "Bootes," which is none other than a figure of Christ as a shepherd and harvester, having in his uplifted left hand a sharp cicle.
We know that there is to be a "harvest" at the end of the world, as Christ taught in the parable of the wheat and the tares. We also know that Christ will be the chief reaper. Wrote John in the Apocalypse:
"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." (Rev. 14: 14-16)
Many other scriptures speak of the Lord "cutting down" men in the judgment and "retribution."
Koph means "a circuit - Occiput, back of the head, to move in a circle."
Jesus was in heaven, left heaven and came down to earth, and ascended back. This grand circuitous journey is the reason for our redemption.
Resh means "poverty, head, first, foremost, beginning, front."
Wrote Paul:
"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." (II Cor. 8: 9)
The "head" of "every man," the "head" of the "church," became poor that we might be made rich! Blessed gospel story! He who is "first" (Aleph) became "last" that we might go from last to first!
Shin means "a tooth (or teeth), sharp rock, cliff, crag."
The ancient written symbol for "shin" looks like teeth. Teeth are symbolic in scripture. Not only people have "teeth," but so do other things, like hooks, combs, and gears.
"And the priest's custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand." (I Sam. 2: 13)
"Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD." (Psa. 58: 6)
"There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men." (30: 14)
"My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." (Psa. 57: 4)
"Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff." (Isa. 41: 15)
And what happens in the day of judgment when the Lord is ripping and tearing, like teeth, the wicked?
"And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." (Rev. 6: 16)
They will seek to find refuge in the rocks and cliffs but to no avail.
Thau means "a sign or mark, cross, a symbol, a token."
In ancient times, it was a symbol for life and resurrection.
Newer versions of the Bible have replaced the ancient term “Taw” with "mark" (Ezekiel 9:4) or "signature" (Job 31:35).
It relates to what is finished, to end purpose, to final design. When Christ was upon the "cross," he said "it is finished." (John 19: 30) When Christ returns we will also hear the words "it is done (finished)." (Rev. 10: 7)
Everything begins and ends with the cross of Christ.
Sep 9, 2011
Sep 8, 2011
The Gospel in the Stars I
I will begin to post my notes on "The Gospel in the Stars," a class I taught at our local Bible school a couple years ago.
Syllabus
First Class - The Gospel before Moses I
Second Class - The Gospel before Moses II
Third Class - The Gospel before Moses III
Fourth Class - The Sign of Virgo
Fifth Class - The Sign of Libra
Sixth Class - The Sign of Scorpio
Seventh Class - The Sign of Sagittarius
Eighth Class - The Sign of Capricorn
Ninth Class - The Sign of Aquarius
Tenth Class - The Sign of Pisces
Eleventh Class - The Sign of Aries
Twelfth Class - The Sign of Taurus
Thirteenth Class - The Sign of Gemini
Fourteenth Class - The Sign of Cancer
Fifteenth Class - The Sign of Leo
Sixteenth Class - The Lunar Zodiac
Possible Other Topics
1. Gospel in the Pyramid
2. Other Witnesses
Ancient Witnesses to the Gospel Story
1. The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet
2. Mazzaroth or the ancient Zodiac (gospel in the stars)
3. Names of Adam's first descendents
4. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel
5. The names of the Sabbath Week
6. Tabernacle and Temple
Some others believe that the gospel story was also written in
1. The pyramids of Egypt, especially those of Giza.
2. The Sphinx
The First Gospel Revelation or The Proto-Evangelium
"And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3: 13-19)
Allusions to the Ancient Prophecy
"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." (Romans 16: 20)
"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat." (Isa. 65: 25)
The above verses in Genesis give us the story of the fall of Adam, the fall of mankind. We have all the main characters. Lord God, Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and the earth with all its animal and planet lilfe. The fall of man is here viewed as the work of the "serpent." Who this is we should have no doubt. Wrote John:
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Rev. 12: 9)
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." (20: 12)
Clearly Satan possessed this reptilian creature, choosing it. Since that time, "the serpent" has been one of the titles of Satan.
Titles and their Meanings
1. "The Old Serpent" - the Deceiver, the Crafty (subtle) one, the Destroyer, the Tempter (Seducer)
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (II Cor. 11: 3)
"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." (Rev. 9: 11)
2. "The Devil" ("daimonion" and "diabolos") - evil spirit, false accuser, slanderer.
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." (Rev. 12: 10)
3. "Satan" ("Satanas") - the Adversary (foe, enemy) of God and man.
4. "The Dragon" ("drakōn") - Leviathan, Sea Monster
"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." (Isa. 27: 1)
When the scriptures refer to Satan under these titles, his various powers are denominated. Satan's power is called "the power of darkness." (Luke 22: 53) When he is referred to as "the dragon," his earthly political power is generally foremost.
Of course, there are other figures or symbols of Satan in scripture, such as that of a poisonous snake, a wolf, a lion, scorpion, etc.
The Serpent brought death, woe, and the curse. By the promise of God, however, the Seed of the woman will "restore," and "redeem," and "deliver" from the destructive work of the Serpent.
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Heb. 2: 14)
"And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3: 20, 21)
"For the earnest expectation of the creature (all of creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature (all of creation) was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature (all of creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8: 19-23)
Eve was looking for the coming of her "seed" for her deliverance, for when Cain, her firstborn, came forth from her womb, she said - "I have gotten a man, the Lord." She soon realized that Cain was not that illustrious "seed." She then bore Abel, but her hopes of Abel being the promised Deliverer and Redeemer, were dashed, for he was killed by his brother. Next she bore Seth whose name means "appointed," possibly thinking that he might be the one appointed to be the blessed seed. Many people might have even supposed that Noah was the One promised, for his name denoted "rest" or "comfort," the kind that only the promised Deliverer would bring.
"And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." (Gen. 5: 29)
"Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of (Hebrew) women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all (gods)." (Dan. 11: 37)
This verse is not saying that AntiChrist will be homosexual, but that he will not "regard" God or his Son Jesus, the one whom Eve and all godly women desired to be mother to. The "desire of women" here is described as a deity, and is a clear allusion to the promise of Genesis 3: 15, 16. Thus, the "seed" becomes known by his other titles, such as "seed of the woman," the "desire of women," the "desire of all nations," or simply "the desired one," "Redeemer" and "Restorer," "Savior" and "Deliverer," the "Warrior" who would fight and subdue the Serpent, the "Victor," the "Lamb," the sacrificial victim, etc. The first believers of the gospel placed their hopes and trust in this blessed promise of their creator.
Gospel Before Abraham
"And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us..." (Luke 1: 69-71)
"...the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation..." (Luke 11: 50)
"...the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3: 21)
The Prophet Enoch
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 15: 15)
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God...By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." (Hebrews 11: 4, 5, 7)
Adam, the First Man
"Adam was the greatest amongst mere mortals that ever the world possessed."
"It is also a matter of inspired record that God gave to Adam special revelations. After his fall Jehovah made known to him His purposes concerning the Serpent and it's seed and the woman and her Seed. The whole Gospel revelation and promise was therein included, and was given to him, not for himself alone, but to be made known to all his posterity as the great and only hope of man."
Seth
"What Adam knew, Seth would thus also know, and so would Enoch. And living contemporaneously together for more than two, three, or five ordinary lifetimes, there was the sublimest opportunity for them to observe, construct, and mature just such a system as astronomy presents, inwoven as it is with all the great facts, features, and hopes embraced in the promised redemption by the Seed of the woman. In fact, it was the one great and only opportunity in the history of our race for such an accomplishment."
"And what Adam and his believing children did not know simply as men, they would still know as prophets, which they certainly were."
"Under God, they were the great founders of the world, and were fully cognizant of the fact. They were the great appointed teachers of the world from the very nature of the case. They were the first great prophets of the world, the original recipients of the revelation of God's purposes of redemption through the promised Seed of the woman, and as such were under bonds to make known the facts, explain their import, and use every means of recording and transmitting to all men the knowledge of them. They lived nearly a thousand years, and so had ample time for observation, study, and thorough elaboration to bring the work to finished perfection before being required to leave it. And over them were the virgin stars, only waiting to be named and grouped, and hung with the records and symbols of the precious treasures of promise and prophecy on which the world's hopes depended, that they might become the everlasting witnesses to men of the God-given faith and hope which shone in the serene imaginations of these great grand fathers of all sacred prophets...men drew these celestial hieroglyphics, named and grouped the stars, laid out the Zodiacs and their signs, and made the heavens a picture-gallery for all the world, the first and greatest that ever was made, that there mankind might gaze and read the wondrous story of the promised Redeemer, the redemption, and the redeemed."
"And this, and this only, will account for the sacred reverence in which all the ancient peoples held these starry emblems, and even fell to worshipping them and ascribing to them all sorts of divine and prophetic virtues."
http://www.asis.com/users/stag/zodiac.html
Patriarchal Names & Their Significance
Adam, the likeness, of God
Seth, appointed
Eve declared that God had "appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." (Gen. 4:25)
Enos, suffering
Cainan, gaining or purchasing a possession
Mahalaleel, the shining forth of God
Jared, he shall come down
Enoch, training, teaching
Methuselah, from death he releases
Lamech, being smitten
Noah, he gives rest or comfort
When we link the names of these ten pre-Flood patriarchs together, they form the following sentence: "Man (is) appointed (a) mortal habitation, (but) the blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring the captives comfort." It's the Gospel in a nutshell!
"Such are the meanings of the names of the ten antediluvian Patriarchs. Early Christian tradition has said, that in them is contained the whole scheme of the Gospel."
Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.
"Seth, to whom is attributed the invention of these Signs, seems to have desired to call his descendants by names alluding to the prophecies expressed in them. He might observe that the divinely given name of Adam, the likeness, would accord with the divinely ordained sacrifice. The Lamb was the appointed likeness of the coming of the second Adam, whose redemption he had typified in the emblems he had chosen..."
"The name which his mother had given to himself would also agree with the next of his emblems. He, whose coming in power the chief of the herd prefigured, was also the appointed. In the following eight names the correspondence is so close, as to indicate design. If that design was to follow out the analogy of the Signs, two more names were required: we find them in Shem and Arphaxad, in whom was continued the line of the promised Messiah."
Shem, ordained, set up
Arphaxad, supporting the assembly
"It has been observed that the names of the antediluvian patriarchs, as enumerated in Genesis 5 and 1 Chronicles 1, contain the whole scheme of the Gospel. The assertion has been differently explained by different expositors; all however agree in referring it to the meanings of the names in Hebrew."
"In this genealogy we have the authority of the context for the intentional application of the name of Noah. We may therefore infer that the intermediate names were also given with some intended application of their ancient Hebrew significations. Their roots are to be found in the Hebrew Scriptures, used in the sense here attributed to them, which, in some instances, differs from the meanings heretofore given, where the texts in which the words are used have not been referred to by those who explained them.
If these successive names be found to form a sentence containing a meaning, it appears probable that the meaning was designedly expressed; if this meaning contain prophecy, it shows that a revelation had been given. That it does contain prophecy may be made clear to the English reader as follows:—
"The likeness of God, appointed, suffering. Gaining a possession, the shining forth of God, He shall come down. Dedicated, from death he releases, being smitten. He gives rest, ordained, supporting the assembly."
Each of these four lines in the original would consist of three words. Such is the measure of the Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32, and such that of Lamech in the line of Cain, which has often been cited as the earliest poetry. The tradition that these names contain the whole scheme of the Gospel is corroborated by the somewhat similar meanings in the names of Cain's posterity. In the line from which the Messiah was to descend, the names are more clearly expressive of the prophecy, and given in such succession as to convey it. In the family of Cain, they are only as it were a faint echo of the promise made to the common ancestor. The eldest son of Cain was called Enoch, dedicated, probably because, as the firstborn, he was to be the religious as well as temporal head of the family. Such was the birthright which Esau failed to recover, though he sought it with many tears. To the name of Irad, the next in succession, the meaning usually annexed is that of "a wild ass," in Syriac, untamed, in Arabic, hard to subdue, as if inheriting the temper of his grandfather Cain: the next, Mehujael, declaring God, written by the Sept. as they write Mahalaleel, and having nearly the same signification. Methusael, his death is required, may set forth the doctrine taught by the rite of sacrifice. These two last names encourage the hope that the promise of the coming Saviour was not wholly disregarded among the Cainites. The name of Lamech, sixth in the line of Cain, and eighth in that of Seth, has the same meaning in both: whether it had any reference to his homicide is not known. It is considered that with him polygamy began; and he named his offspring not after spiritual, but temporal good. Jubal, fruit of the earth; Tubal-cain, worldly possession; Zillah, likeness or shadow, as of the parent; Naamah, gracious."
"Had the names of the patriarchs of the chosen family merely individually referred to the promised Redeemer, as did many in later times, their series would not thus have formed a sentence or stanza conveying the prophecies, amplified much beyond what is contained in the promise of the seed of the woman.
If, as antiquity asserts, Seth was the inventor of astronomy, his arrangement of the emblems would account for the sequence of the names of his descendants, most of whom he lived to see. The meanings and order of these names therefore furnish corroborating evidence that such was the origin and intention of the signs.
Were it proved that Chinese or Egyptian chronology went back further than the date usually assigned to the deluge, there might have been transmitted by Noah the history of his ancestors, or of chiefs and dominions in the line of Cain, especially if connected with astronomical data, such as eclipses or conjunctions of the orbs of heaven. Seth has often been supposed by ancient writers to be Hermes Trismegistus."
http://philologos.org/__eb-mazzaroth/204.htm
Prophetic Names - 12 Tribes
Rolleston, under title "NAMES OF THE SONS OF JACOB ACCORDING TO THEIR BIRTH," gives the name and their significance in the following citation from her works.
Reuben, behold a son, the son, arising, pouring out blessings
Simeon, heard, characteristic of the Church
Levi, bound, united, characteristic of the Church
Judah, praise to the Lord, for the coming Messiah
Dan, judging, ruling, his people
Naphtali, wrestling, sufferings at the first coming
Gad, good fortune, blessings at the second coming, (Arab. use.)
Asher, happy, the going forth of the Gospel
Issachar, recompense, or reward, of the Messiah's sufferings
Zebulon, dwelling, as the promised seed at his first coming
Joseph, adding.
Ephraim, fruitful, Gen 41:52; gathering in the Gentiles
Benjamin, son of the right hand, called by his mother, Ben-oni, son of sorrow, the suffering and triumphant Messiah
From http://www.philologos.org/
Taken together, these names tell the story of the gospel.
"Behold the Son," the promised Deliverer, the Seed of the Eve, the Coming One. Look earnestly for and unto him, or "look and live." Him will Lord God "hear" on our behalf, as he represents men before God as priest, granting to him, because of his worthiness, our petitions of salvation. Also, the message is "hear him." He "unites" himself with the fallen race by incarnation, by his becoming one with men in his nature, voluntarily binding himself and uniting God and men thereby. Praise to the Lord for this act of mercy and grace, for his coming to our aid. Praise to the Son who dies and who is the Lord himself. He will come to rule and to judge, the divine harvester and separater of men, wrestling and fighting with the enemy, and obtaining victory for us, a "good fortune," a "happy" destiny, free from all curse and sorrow, dispensing to many the "reward" of Messiah's victorious mission, an eternal "dwelling" or "resting place," an "eternal inheritance," who will "add" to what was lost, giving greater blessing than was enjoyed in Eden, a far superior "fruitful" earth and blessing, being exalted to the right hand of God with the Son.
The Bible on the Stars
1. Stars in the Bible are mentioned in the singular and plural (star vs. stars)
2. Sometimes we read of "the star," referencing a single particular star
3. Sometimes we read of "stars," where reference is to a particular group of stars or to the totality of them
4. "Wandering stars" (Jude 1: 13) are the seven planets, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and are contrasted with the fixed stars.
5. Stars are named by God - "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." (Psa. 147: 4 & Isa. 40: 6)
6. Stars are not only given individual names, but group of stars are also named (such as Pleiades, Orion, and The Crooked Serpent - Job 26: 13; 38: 31)
7. Stars are placed into groups by 1) proximity 2) Magnitude of brilliance
8. Stars are signs and symbols of
a. Christ (Rev. 22: 16)
b. Children of God (Dan. 12: 3)
c. Angels (cherubim and seraphim, etc. - Job 38: 7)
d. Pastors (Rev, 2 & 3)
e. Satan and his angels
f. false gods (Amos 5: 26 & Acts 7: 43)
9. Stars were created by God to be "lightbearers" and to be for "signs" (Gen. 1: 14)
10. The star constellations, or Mazzaroth (Job 38: 32), was the first zodiac, inspired by God and written by Adam, Seth, and Enoch
11. Stars are characterized by their radiance, brilliance, and glory (aura)
12. Stars differ in "glory" (I Cor. 15: 41) or in "magnitude" or effulgence
13. Stars are called the "host" of heaven, as if marching in ranks.
The Sabbatic Week And The Stars
"It is generally claimed that the Sabbath, and the week of seven days which it marks, date back to the beginning of the race, to the institution of God himself at the completion of the great creation-work. But that system of the seven days is essentially bound up with these selfsame astronomical notations. We find among all the ancient nations—Chaldeans, Persians, Hindoos, Chinese, and Egyptians—that the seven days of the week were in universal use; and, what is far more remarkable, each of these nations named the days of the week, as we still do, after the seven planets numbering the Sun and Moon among them. Hence we say Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco or Tuves'-day (Tuisco being the Anglo-Saxon name for Mars), Woden's-day (Woden being the same as Mercury), Thor's-day (Thor being the same as Jupiter), Frigo-day (Friga or Freiya being the same as Venus), and lastly, Saturn-day, anciently the most sacred of the seven. The order is not that of the distance, velocity, or brilliancy of the orbs named, neither does the first day of the week always coincide among the different nations; but the succession, no matter with which of the days begun, is everywhere the same. It is impossible to suppose this mere accident or chance; and the fact forces the conclusion that the devising and naming of the seven days of the week dates back to some primitive representatives of the race, from whom the tradition has thus generally descended, and who at the same time knew and had regard to the seven planets as enumerated in the primeval astronomy."
"It appears from the most ancient records, that among all nations the period of seven days was used from time immemorial. It is traced in the account given of the Deluge in the book of Genesis (Gen 8: 10, 11), and in the scarcely less ancient book of Job (Job 1:6, and 2:1, where the Hebrew is the day). By the Hebrews, Arabs, and Persians the seven days were distinguished, as in the history of the creation, by numbers, as day one, &c. - a form considered to be of the highest antiquity."
"The succession of the planetary names in the week, as found in all ages and climates, may also be accounted for by the planets having been first recognized in that order. If by Adam, as here suggested, and from him made known to Noah, the wide diffusion of the traditional succession may be understood, which is otherwise unintelligible, neither according with magnitude, brightness, nor time of revolution."
"In the arrangement of these planets so as to be discovered in this order, there might be foreshown the course of prophecy: the sun in daily return proclaiming that He who was to come, shall come, shall go, and shall return; the moon, that even in His absence His light shall illuminate the darkness of the earth; Mars, by all his equivalent names expressing that He should bruise the enemy, but Himself receive the wounds beheld by the prophet, with which He should be wounded in the house of His friends (Zech 13: 6); in Mercury, the consoling prospect that He should return with intensified luster; in Jupiter, the reign of truth and righteousness; in Venus, the beauty of His sister-spouse (Song 4: 9, 10) the Church; in Saturn, the rest that shall remain for the people of God."
"As, however, the Arabs, through whom we receive the names of the stars, and the Hebrews, through whom we receive the prophecies with which they are shown to correspond, did not annex the names of the sun, moon, and five planets to the days of the week, that annexation might seem to be a contrivance of later days than those of the invention of the celestial emblems, of those days when, as in the time of Job, men had begun to pay undue reverence to the orbs of heaven "walking in their brightness." If, however, this application to the days of the week be of later origin and inferior authority, still the arrangement of the names in the order here shown to be accordant with prophecy, may have been part of the lesson of divine truth, intended by the early fathers of mankind for their posterity, to be nightly read in the golden characters of the starry heaven: an arrangement commemorating at once the order of their appearing to the eyes of man, and the development of those promises on which hang the hopes of his future destiny, solving the great enigma of the restoration of a ruined world."
"The division into years, months, and days depended on natural causes; but that into weeks is not so dependent, four weeks not being exactly equal to a lunar revolution; a tradition older than the dispersion of mankind can alone account for it, that tradition being of the seven days or periods of creation."
"The week was not in the calendar of the Greeks, who divided the month into three periods of ten days; and it was not adopted by the Romans until the time of Theodosius, in the latter part of the fourth century of our era. There is properly no word in the Latin classics equivalent to the term week."
"Some religious persons have had a great objection to speak of the days of the week by the names in common use. Many do not like to call the Lord's Day Sunday, but to those who have been brought up so to speak, it may be useful to remember that the Sun is the Scripture type or emblem of the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, as making Himself known to mankind, as it were shining on them. That Oriental name of the Sun, Shemish,* most used in Hebrew and Arabic for the Sun, means ministering, as the Sun ministers light, and as Christ's abode on earth is often called His ministry, giving light to the souls as the Sun to the bodies of men; but in other Eastern dialects names are used signifying who cometh, another attribute of the Sun peculiarly befitting him as the type of the great theme of prophecy, the Sun of righteousness who should arise with healing on His wings, "He who should come" (Matt 11:3; Luke 7:19,20)."
"In calling the next day Monday, or the Moon's day, we may also remember that the Moon is the Scriptural type of the visible Church of Christ. Every day of the week should be in some sort a day for the Lord, and the remaining five days bear traces in their names of those ancient prophecies of Christ, from which the Gentiles formed many of their idols. The third day some of the Northern nations named after their hero-god, Tuisco, who like Mars ((#y) was called the god of war, but the Oriental root of his name means, who saves; therefore in using our name of this day, Tuesday, He might be remembered to whom the name best applies, and from a traditional prophecy of whom it originated. Wednesday, called the day of Mercury, said by the Romans to be the son of Jupiter and to have power over the souls of the dead, in many other particulars showing that here too we have a tradition of ancient prophecy concerning Christ, by our Northern ancestors was named, as was their demigod or great hero, Woden or Odin, whose name means Judge or Lord, and is nearly the same word as that used in Psalm 110 of the Messiah; here again let us think of Him, rather than of the heathen hero. Thursday was called by the Northern nations the day of their god Thor, the god of heaven, and of thunder and lightning; one meaning of the name Thor is light, but it also means, who bruises or is bruised, as Christ the Seed of the woman in the original prophecy, concerning which they evidently had some tradition, but it was also by some understood as referring to light, whence he was considered as the god of the Sun and of lightning;* and was not Christ revealed as the true light? John 1.
Friday the Northerns named after a goddess whose Roman name Venus means gracious, or beloved, and whose Greek name Aphrodite, and Northern name Freyga or Freya, means, bearing fruit, fruitful, as a branch, and from the Northern name of Freya we call this day Friday, on which Christ died upon the cross for His people, His Church, whose duty to Him and to each other we may remember in so naming the sixth day of the week.
Saturday was called by the Northern nations the day of their god Sater, a name which means to hide, and it may remind us that on this day our Lord's body was hidden in the grave.
Surely those Christians who use these names should be glad to remember, that however corrupted to the service of idolatry, they had a foundation in the ancient prophecies still to be traced among all the children of Adam."
Sunday, think of Him who rose,
Who comes again even as He goes;
Monday, think how in His light
His faithful Church is calm and bright;
Tuesday, of His pierced side,
Wounded for His sister-bride;
Wednesday, of His sure return,
Soon may we that day discern;
Thursday, of His truth and love
Shining on us from above;
Friday, of His hour of anguish,
Lest our love of Him should languish;
Saturday, His silent grave,
Dying those He loved to save.
Misc. Scriptures
"He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." (Psa. 147: 4)
"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that [he is] strong in power; not one faileth. * Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." (Isa. 40: 6)
"Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion..." (Amos 5: 8)
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" (Job 38: 31, 32)
"By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." (Job 26: 13)
"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." (Isa. 27: 1)
"They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." (Judges 5: 20)
"Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night..." (Jer. 31: 35)
"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." (Gen. 15: 5)
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (II Peter 1: 19)
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" (Isa. 14: 12)
"When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38: 7)
"And I will give him the morning star." (Rev. 2: 28)
"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." (Rev. 22: 16)
"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." (Rev. 8: 10, 11)
"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit..." (Rev. 9: 1, 2)
"Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee." (Isa. 47: 13)
"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." (Gen. 37: 9)
"And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven." (Deut. 4: 19)
"Become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Philippians 2:14-15)
"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." (Gen. 37: 9)
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." (Rev. 12: 1, 2)
Syllabus
First Class - The Gospel before Moses I
Second Class - The Gospel before Moses II
Third Class - The Gospel before Moses III
Fourth Class - The Sign of Virgo
Fifth Class - The Sign of Libra
Sixth Class - The Sign of Scorpio
Seventh Class - The Sign of Sagittarius
Eighth Class - The Sign of Capricorn
Ninth Class - The Sign of Aquarius
Tenth Class - The Sign of Pisces
Eleventh Class - The Sign of Aries
Twelfth Class - The Sign of Taurus
Thirteenth Class - The Sign of Gemini
Fourteenth Class - The Sign of Cancer
Fifteenth Class - The Sign of Leo
Sixteenth Class - The Lunar Zodiac
Possible Other Topics
1. Gospel in the Pyramid
2. Other Witnesses
Ancient Witnesses to the Gospel Story
1. The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet
2. Mazzaroth or the ancient Zodiac (gospel in the stars)
3. Names of Adam's first descendents
4. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel
5. The names of the Sabbath Week
6. Tabernacle and Temple
Some others believe that the gospel story was also written in
1. The pyramids of Egypt, especially those of Giza.
2. The Sphinx
The First Gospel Revelation or The Proto-Evangelium
"And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3: 13-19)
Allusions to the Ancient Prophecy
"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." (Romans 16: 20)
"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat." (Isa. 65: 25)
The above verses in Genesis give us the story of the fall of Adam, the fall of mankind. We have all the main characters. Lord God, Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and the earth with all its animal and planet lilfe. The fall of man is here viewed as the work of the "serpent." Who this is we should have no doubt. Wrote John:
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Rev. 12: 9)
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." (20: 12)
Clearly Satan possessed this reptilian creature, choosing it. Since that time, "the serpent" has been one of the titles of Satan.
Titles and their Meanings
1. "The Old Serpent" - the Deceiver, the Crafty (subtle) one, the Destroyer, the Tempter (Seducer)
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (II Cor. 11: 3)
"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." (Rev. 9: 11)
2. "The Devil" ("daimonion" and "diabolos") - evil spirit, false accuser, slanderer.
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." (Rev. 12: 10)
3. "Satan" ("Satanas") - the Adversary (foe, enemy) of God and man.
4. "The Dragon" ("drakōn") - Leviathan, Sea Monster
"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." (Isa. 27: 1)
When the scriptures refer to Satan under these titles, his various powers are denominated. Satan's power is called "the power of darkness." (Luke 22: 53) When he is referred to as "the dragon," his earthly political power is generally foremost.
Of course, there are other figures or symbols of Satan in scripture, such as that of a poisonous snake, a wolf, a lion, scorpion, etc.
The Serpent brought death, woe, and the curse. By the promise of God, however, the Seed of the woman will "restore," and "redeem," and "deliver" from the destructive work of the Serpent.
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Heb. 2: 14)
"And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3: 20, 21)
"For the earnest expectation of the creature (all of creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature (all of creation) was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature (all of creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8: 19-23)
Eve was looking for the coming of her "seed" for her deliverance, for when Cain, her firstborn, came forth from her womb, she said - "I have gotten a man, the Lord." She soon realized that Cain was not that illustrious "seed." She then bore Abel, but her hopes of Abel being the promised Deliverer and Redeemer, were dashed, for he was killed by his brother. Next she bore Seth whose name means "appointed," possibly thinking that he might be the one appointed to be the blessed seed. Many people might have even supposed that Noah was the One promised, for his name denoted "rest" or "comfort," the kind that only the promised Deliverer would bring.
"And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." (Gen. 5: 29)
"Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of (Hebrew) women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all (gods)." (Dan. 11: 37)
This verse is not saying that AntiChrist will be homosexual, but that he will not "regard" God or his Son Jesus, the one whom Eve and all godly women desired to be mother to. The "desire of women" here is described as a deity, and is a clear allusion to the promise of Genesis 3: 15, 16. Thus, the "seed" becomes known by his other titles, such as "seed of the woman," the "desire of women," the "desire of all nations," or simply "the desired one," "Redeemer" and "Restorer," "Savior" and "Deliverer," the "Warrior" who would fight and subdue the Serpent, the "Victor," the "Lamb," the sacrificial victim, etc. The first believers of the gospel placed their hopes and trust in this blessed promise of their creator.
Gospel Before Abraham
"And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us..." (Luke 1: 69-71)
"...the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation..." (Luke 11: 50)
"...the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3: 21)
The Prophet Enoch
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 15: 15)
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God...By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." (Hebrews 11: 4, 5, 7)
Adam, the First Man
"Adam was the greatest amongst mere mortals that ever the world possessed."
"It is also a matter of inspired record that God gave to Adam special revelations. After his fall Jehovah made known to him His purposes concerning the Serpent and it's seed and the woman and her Seed. The whole Gospel revelation and promise was therein included, and was given to him, not for himself alone, but to be made known to all his posterity as the great and only hope of man."
Seth
"What Adam knew, Seth would thus also know, and so would Enoch. And living contemporaneously together for more than two, three, or five ordinary lifetimes, there was the sublimest opportunity for them to observe, construct, and mature just such a system as astronomy presents, inwoven as it is with all the great facts, features, and hopes embraced in the promised redemption by the Seed of the woman. In fact, it was the one great and only opportunity in the history of our race for such an accomplishment."
"And what Adam and his believing children did not know simply as men, they would still know as prophets, which they certainly were."
"Under God, they were the great founders of the world, and were fully cognizant of the fact. They were the great appointed teachers of the world from the very nature of the case. They were the first great prophets of the world, the original recipients of the revelation of God's purposes of redemption through the promised Seed of the woman, and as such were under bonds to make known the facts, explain their import, and use every means of recording and transmitting to all men the knowledge of them. They lived nearly a thousand years, and so had ample time for observation, study, and thorough elaboration to bring the work to finished perfection before being required to leave it. And over them were the virgin stars, only waiting to be named and grouped, and hung with the records and symbols of the precious treasures of promise and prophecy on which the world's hopes depended, that they might become the everlasting witnesses to men of the God-given faith and hope which shone in the serene imaginations of these great grand fathers of all sacred prophets...men drew these celestial hieroglyphics, named and grouped the stars, laid out the Zodiacs and their signs, and made the heavens a picture-gallery for all the world, the first and greatest that ever was made, that there mankind might gaze and read the wondrous story of the promised Redeemer, the redemption, and the redeemed."
"And this, and this only, will account for the sacred reverence in which all the ancient peoples held these starry emblems, and even fell to worshipping them and ascribing to them all sorts of divine and prophetic virtues."
http://www.asis.com/users/stag/zodiac.html
Patriarchal Names & Their Significance
Adam, the likeness, of God
Seth, appointed
Eve declared that God had "appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." (Gen. 4:25)
Enos, suffering
Cainan, gaining or purchasing a possession
Mahalaleel, the shining forth of God
Jared, he shall come down
Enoch, training, teaching
Methuselah, from death he releases
Lamech, being smitten
Noah, he gives rest or comfort
When we link the names of these ten pre-Flood patriarchs together, they form the following sentence: "Man (is) appointed (a) mortal habitation, (but) the blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring the captives comfort." It's the Gospel in a nutshell!
"Such are the meanings of the names of the ten antediluvian Patriarchs. Early Christian tradition has said, that in them is contained the whole scheme of the Gospel."
Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.
"Seth, to whom is attributed the invention of these Signs, seems to have desired to call his descendants by names alluding to the prophecies expressed in them. He might observe that the divinely given name of Adam, the likeness, would accord with the divinely ordained sacrifice. The Lamb was the appointed likeness of the coming of the second Adam, whose redemption he had typified in the emblems he had chosen..."
"The name which his mother had given to himself would also agree with the next of his emblems. He, whose coming in power the chief of the herd prefigured, was also the appointed. In the following eight names the correspondence is so close, as to indicate design. If that design was to follow out the analogy of the Signs, two more names were required: we find them in Shem and Arphaxad, in whom was continued the line of the promised Messiah."
Shem, ordained, set up
Arphaxad, supporting the assembly
"It has been observed that the names of the antediluvian patriarchs, as enumerated in Genesis 5 and 1 Chronicles 1, contain the whole scheme of the Gospel. The assertion has been differently explained by different expositors; all however agree in referring it to the meanings of the names in Hebrew."
"In this genealogy we have the authority of the context for the intentional application of the name of Noah. We may therefore infer that the intermediate names were also given with some intended application of their ancient Hebrew significations. Their roots are to be found in the Hebrew Scriptures, used in the sense here attributed to them, which, in some instances, differs from the meanings heretofore given, where the texts in which the words are used have not been referred to by those who explained them.
If these successive names be found to form a sentence containing a meaning, it appears probable that the meaning was designedly expressed; if this meaning contain prophecy, it shows that a revelation had been given. That it does contain prophecy may be made clear to the English reader as follows:—
"The likeness of God, appointed, suffering. Gaining a possession, the shining forth of God, He shall come down. Dedicated, from death he releases, being smitten. He gives rest, ordained, supporting the assembly."
Each of these four lines in the original would consist of three words. Such is the measure of the Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32, and such that of Lamech in the line of Cain, which has often been cited as the earliest poetry. The tradition that these names contain the whole scheme of the Gospel is corroborated by the somewhat similar meanings in the names of Cain's posterity. In the line from which the Messiah was to descend, the names are more clearly expressive of the prophecy, and given in such succession as to convey it. In the family of Cain, they are only as it were a faint echo of the promise made to the common ancestor. The eldest son of Cain was called Enoch, dedicated, probably because, as the firstborn, he was to be the religious as well as temporal head of the family. Such was the birthright which Esau failed to recover, though he sought it with many tears. To the name of Irad, the next in succession, the meaning usually annexed is that of "a wild ass," in Syriac, untamed, in Arabic, hard to subdue, as if inheriting the temper of his grandfather Cain: the next, Mehujael, declaring God, written by the Sept. as they write Mahalaleel, and having nearly the same signification. Methusael, his death is required, may set forth the doctrine taught by the rite of sacrifice. These two last names encourage the hope that the promise of the coming Saviour was not wholly disregarded among the Cainites. The name of Lamech, sixth in the line of Cain, and eighth in that of Seth, has the same meaning in both: whether it had any reference to his homicide is not known. It is considered that with him polygamy began; and he named his offspring not after spiritual, but temporal good. Jubal, fruit of the earth; Tubal-cain, worldly possession; Zillah, likeness or shadow, as of the parent; Naamah, gracious."
"Had the names of the patriarchs of the chosen family merely individually referred to the promised Redeemer, as did many in later times, their series would not thus have formed a sentence or stanza conveying the prophecies, amplified much beyond what is contained in the promise of the seed of the woman.
If, as antiquity asserts, Seth was the inventor of astronomy, his arrangement of the emblems would account for the sequence of the names of his descendants, most of whom he lived to see. The meanings and order of these names therefore furnish corroborating evidence that such was the origin and intention of the signs.
Were it proved that Chinese or Egyptian chronology went back further than the date usually assigned to the deluge, there might have been transmitted by Noah the history of his ancestors, or of chiefs and dominions in the line of Cain, especially if connected with astronomical data, such as eclipses or conjunctions of the orbs of heaven. Seth has often been supposed by ancient writers to be Hermes Trismegistus."
http://philologos.org/__eb-mazzaroth/204.htm
Prophetic Names - 12 Tribes
Rolleston, under title "NAMES OF THE SONS OF JACOB ACCORDING TO THEIR BIRTH," gives the name and their significance in the following citation from her works.
Reuben, behold a son, the son, arising, pouring out blessings
Simeon, heard, characteristic of the Church
Levi, bound, united, characteristic of the Church
Judah, praise to the Lord, for the coming Messiah
Dan, judging, ruling, his people
Naphtali, wrestling, sufferings at the first coming
Gad, good fortune, blessings at the second coming, (Arab. use.)
Asher, happy, the going forth of the Gospel
Issachar, recompense, or reward, of the Messiah's sufferings
Zebulon, dwelling, as the promised seed at his first coming
Joseph, adding.
Ephraim, fruitful, Gen 41:52; gathering in the Gentiles
Benjamin, son of the right hand, called by his mother, Ben-oni, son of sorrow, the suffering and triumphant Messiah
From http://www.philologos.org/
Taken together, these names tell the story of the gospel.
"Behold the Son," the promised Deliverer, the Seed of the Eve, the Coming One. Look earnestly for and unto him, or "look and live." Him will Lord God "hear" on our behalf, as he represents men before God as priest, granting to him, because of his worthiness, our petitions of salvation. Also, the message is "hear him." He "unites" himself with the fallen race by incarnation, by his becoming one with men in his nature, voluntarily binding himself and uniting God and men thereby. Praise to the Lord for this act of mercy and grace, for his coming to our aid. Praise to the Son who dies and who is the Lord himself. He will come to rule and to judge, the divine harvester and separater of men, wrestling and fighting with the enemy, and obtaining victory for us, a "good fortune," a "happy" destiny, free from all curse and sorrow, dispensing to many the "reward" of Messiah's victorious mission, an eternal "dwelling" or "resting place," an "eternal inheritance," who will "add" to what was lost, giving greater blessing than was enjoyed in Eden, a far superior "fruitful" earth and blessing, being exalted to the right hand of God with the Son.
The Bible on the Stars
1. Stars in the Bible are mentioned in the singular and plural (star vs. stars)
2. Sometimes we read of "the star," referencing a single particular star
3. Sometimes we read of "stars," where reference is to a particular group of stars or to the totality of them
4. "Wandering stars" (Jude 1: 13) are the seven planets, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and are contrasted with the fixed stars.
5. Stars are named by God - "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." (Psa. 147: 4 & Isa. 40: 6)
6. Stars are not only given individual names, but group of stars are also named (such as Pleiades, Orion, and The Crooked Serpent - Job 26: 13; 38: 31)
7. Stars are placed into groups by 1) proximity 2) Magnitude of brilliance
8. Stars are signs and symbols of
a. Christ (Rev. 22: 16)
b. Children of God (Dan. 12: 3)
c. Angels (cherubim and seraphim, etc. - Job 38: 7)
d. Pastors (Rev, 2 & 3)
e. Satan and his angels
f. false gods (Amos 5: 26 & Acts 7: 43)
9. Stars were created by God to be "lightbearers" and to be for "signs" (Gen. 1: 14)
10. The star constellations, or Mazzaroth (Job 38: 32), was the first zodiac, inspired by God and written by Adam, Seth, and Enoch
11. Stars are characterized by their radiance, brilliance, and glory (aura)
12. Stars differ in "glory" (I Cor. 15: 41) or in "magnitude" or effulgence
13. Stars are called the "host" of heaven, as if marching in ranks.
The Sabbatic Week And The Stars
"It is generally claimed that the Sabbath, and the week of seven days which it marks, date back to the beginning of the race, to the institution of God himself at the completion of the great creation-work. But that system of the seven days is essentially bound up with these selfsame astronomical notations. We find among all the ancient nations—Chaldeans, Persians, Hindoos, Chinese, and Egyptians—that the seven days of the week were in universal use; and, what is far more remarkable, each of these nations named the days of the week, as we still do, after the seven planets numbering the Sun and Moon among them. Hence we say Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco or Tuves'-day (Tuisco being the Anglo-Saxon name for Mars), Woden's-day (Woden being the same as Mercury), Thor's-day (Thor being the same as Jupiter), Frigo-day (Friga or Freiya being the same as Venus), and lastly, Saturn-day, anciently the most sacred of the seven. The order is not that of the distance, velocity, or brilliancy of the orbs named, neither does the first day of the week always coincide among the different nations; but the succession, no matter with which of the days begun, is everywhere the same. It is impossible to suppose this mere accident or chance; and the fact forces the conclusion that the devising and naming of the seven days of the week dates back to some primitive representatives of the race, from whom the tradition has thus generally descended, and who at the same time knew and had regard to the seven planets as enumerated in the primeval astronomy."
"It appears from the most ancient records, that among all nations the period of seven days was used from time immemorial. It is traced in the account given of the Deluge in the book of Genesis (Gen 8: 10, 11), and in the scarcely less ancient book of Job (Job 1:6, and 2:1, where the Hebrew is the day). By the Hebrews, Arabs, and Persians the seven days were distinguished, as in the history of the creation, by numbers, as day one, &c. - a form considered to be of the highest antiquity."
"The succession of the planetary names in the week, as found in all ages and climates, may also be accounted for by the planets having been first recognized in that order. If by Adam, as here suggested, and from him made known to Noah, the wide diffusion of the traditional succession may be understood, which is otherwise unintelligible, neither according with magnitude, brightness, nor time of revolution."
"In the arrangement of these planets so as to be discovered in this order, there might be foreshown the course of prophecy: the sun in daily return proclaiming that He who was to come, shall come, shall go, and shall return; the moon, that even in His absence His light shall illuminate the darkness of the earth; Mars, by all his equivalent names expressing that He should bruise the enemy, but Himself receive the wounds beheld by the prophet, with which He should be wounded in the house of His friends (Zech 13: 6); in Mercury, the consoling prospect that He should return with intensified luster; in Jupiter, the reign of truth and righteousness; in Venus, the beauty of His sister-spouse (Song 4: 9, 10) the Church; in Saturn, the rest that shall remain for the people of God."
"As, however, the Arabs, through whom we receive the names of the stars, and the Hebrews, through whom we receive the prophecies with which they are shown to correspond, did not annex the names of the sun, moon, and five planets to the days of the week, that annexation might seem to be a contrivance of later days than those of the invention of the celestial emblems, of those days when, as in the time of Job, men had begun to pay undue reverence to the orbs of heaven "walking in their brightness." If, however, this application to the days of the week be of later origin and inferior authority, still the arrangement of the names in the order here shown to be accordant with prophecy, may have been part of the lesson of divine truth, intended by the early fathers of mankind for their posterity, to be nightly read in the golden characters of the starry heaven: an arrangement commemorating at once the order of their appearing to the eyes of man, and the development of those promises on which hang the hopes of his future destiny, solving the great enigma of the restoration of a ruined world."
"The division into years, months, and days depended on natural causes; but that into weeks is not so dependent, four weeks not being exactly equal to a lunar revolution; a tradition older than the dispersion of mankind can alone account for it, that tradition being of the seven days or periods of creation."
"The week was not in the calendar of the Greeks, who divided the month into three periods of ten days; and it was not adopted by the Romans until the time of Theodosius, in the latter part of the fourth century of our era. There is properly no word in the Latin classics equivalent to the term week."
"Some religious persons have had a great objection to speak of the days of the week by the names in common use. Many do not like to call the Lord's Day Sunday, but to those who have been brought up so to speak, it may be useful to remember that the Sun is the Scripture type or emblem of the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, as making Himself known to mankind, as it were shining on them. That Oriental name of the Sun, Shemish,* most used in Hebrew and Arabic for the Sun, means ministering, as the Sun ministers light, and as Christ's abode on earth is often called His ministry, giving light to the souls as the Sun to the bodies of men; but in other Eastern dialects names are used signifying who cometh, another attribute of the Sun peculiarly befitting him as the type of the great theme of prophecy, the Sun of righteousness who should arise with healing on His wings, "He who should come" (Matt 11:3; Luke 7:19,20)."
"In calling the next day Monday, or the Moon's day, we may also remember that the Moon is the Scriptural type of the visible Church of Christ. Every day of the week should be in some sort a day for the Lord, and the remaining five days bear traces in their names of those ancient prophecies of Christ, from which the Gentiles formed many of their idols. The third day some of the Northern nations named after their hero-god, Tuisco, who like Mars ((#y) was called the god of war, but the Oriental root of his name means, who saves; therefore in using our name of this day, Tuesday, He might be remembered to whom the name best applies, and from a traditional prophecy of whom it originated. Wednesday, called the day of Mercury, said by the Romans to be the son of Jupiter and to have power over the souls of the dead, in many other particulars showing that here too we have a tradition of ancient prophecy concerning Christ, by our Northern ancestors was named, as was their demigod or great hero, Woden or Odin, whose name means Judge or Lord, and is nearly the same word as that used in Psalm 110 of the Messiah; here again let us think of Him, rather than of the heathen hero. Thursday was called by the Northern nations the day of their god Thor, the god of heaven, and of thunder and lightning; one meaning of the name Thor is light, but it also means, who bruises or is bruised, as Christ the Seed of the woman in the original prophecy, concerning which they evidently had some tradition, but it was also by some understood as referring to light, whence he was considered as the god of the Sun and of lightning;* and was not Christ revealed as the true light? John 1.
Friday the Northerns named after a goddess whose Roman name Venus means gracious, or beloved, and whose Greek name Aphrodite, and Northern name Freyga or Freya, means, bearing fruit, fruitful, as a branch, and from the Northern name of Freya we call this day Friday, on which Christ died upon the cross for His people, His Church, whose duty to Him and to each other we may remember in so naming the sixth day of the week.
Saturday was called by the Northern nations the day of their god Sater, a name which means to hide, and it may remind us that on this day our Lord's body was hidden in the grave.
Surely those Christians who use these names should be glad to remember, that however corrupted to the service of idolatry, they had a foundation in the ancient prophecies still to be traced among all the children of Adam."
Sunday, think of Him who rose,
Who comes again even as He goes;
Monday, think how in His light
His faithful Church is calm and bright;
Tuesday, of His pierced side,
Wounded for His sister-bride;
Wednesday, of His sure return,
Soon may we that day discern;
Thursday, of His truth and love
Shining on us from above;
Friday, of His hour of anguish,
Lest our love of Him should languish;
Saturday, His silent grave,
Dying those He loved to save.
Misc. Scriptures
"He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." (Psa. 147: 4)
"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that [he is] strong in power; not one faileth. * Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." (Isa. 40: 6)
"Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion..." (Amos 5: 8)
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" (Job 38: 31, 32)
"By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." (Job 26: 13)
"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." (Isa. 27: 1)
"They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." (Judges 5: 20)
"Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night..." (Jer. 31: 35)
"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." (Gen. 15: 5)
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (II Peter 1: 19)
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" (Isa. 14: 12)
"When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38: 7)
"And I will give him the morning star." (Rev. 2: 28)
"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." (Rev. 22: 16)
"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." (Rev. 8: 10, 11)
"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit..." (Rev. 9: 1, 2)
"Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee." (Isa. 47: 13)
"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." (Gen. 37: 9)
"And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven." (Deut. 4: 19)
"Become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Philippians 2:14-15)
"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." (Gen. 37: 9)
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." (Rev. 12: 1, 2)
Aug 24, 2011
James Leo Garrett on Hardshell Origins
---------------
In his book "Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study," James Leo Garrett (no relation) wrote the following about Hardshell denominational origins. See here
"Those Baptist churches in the United States which deliberately opposed the Trienniel Convention and its related societies, the Baptist state conventions, and Baptist colleges and seminaries between 1820 and 1840 came to have a separate existence and chose to be called Primitive Baptists on the assumption that Missionary Baptists were innovators, whereas they represented the original Baptist movement."
"The Kehukee Primitive Baptist Association in North Carolina in 1827 circulated Joshua Lawrence's (1778-1843) "Declaration of the Reformed Baptist Churches in the state of North Carolina." It anticipated or expressed "virtually all Primitive Baptist arguments against Missionary Baptist practice: lack of a definite biblical mandate, overemphasis on money, overevaluation of secular learning, large and potentially subversive organizations, and friendship with 'the world.'" Yet Primitive Baptists have been reluctant to frame and adopt new confessions of faith. Some have been prone to cite or quote from the Philadelphia Confession, whereas others have reckoned as parallel to and reflective of Primitive Baptist beliefs three confessions: the 1655 Midland Confession of England, the 1777 Kehukee Confession of Faith, and the principles of Faith of the Sandy Creek Association. Normally Primitive Baptists have held to the existence of a succession of Primitive Baptist churches from the New Testament era, especially through the Waldenses or the Welsh Baptists." ("Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study," pgs. 209, 210)
What is interesting is the fact that the first Hardshells called themselves "Reformed Baptists," and not "Primitive" or "Old School." This does not mean that Joshua Lawrence and his "Reformed Baptists of North Carolina" would identify today with those who call themselves "Reform Baptists," men like James White of Alpha and Omega ministries. They would no doubt agree with the reformed "ordo salutis" that avers that "regeneration precedes faith," but they would disagree that faith is instantly the automatic result of regeneration as taught by most of today's "Reformed Baptists."
The fact that the first Hardshells selected the term "Reformed Baptist" is interesting and revealing. First, it demonstrates that they recognized that they were a minority, and that their views were not the traditional views of Particular or Regular Baptists. Why "reform" the Baptists if they were already Hardshell in faith and practice? Second, the term "reformed" was also adopted by Alexander Campbell, the founder of Campbellism. He too looked to "reform" the old Baptist.
Bob Ross, a preacher friend of mine, has written extensively on both Campbellism and Hardshellism. He cites B.H. Carroll who, in writing on the history of the anti-mission Baptists, said that Campbellism and Hardshellism were "twins." Bob Ross has elaborated on this, writing:
"On this point of doctrine, the Hardshells are much like their Campbellite "twin," while the Campbellites are also divided into many factions, they are generally united in their "Word alone" theory, just as the Hardshells are generally united in their "Spirit alone" theory.
While on the idea of "similarities" between Campbellism and Hardshellism, consider the following:
1. Both were "born" in the early 1800's, apostatizing from "Calvinism."
2. Both systems obtained their "followings" primarily from Presbyterians and unstable Baptists.
3. Both held to a non-Baptist position on the new birth, Campbellism teaching the "Word alone" theory and Hardshellism teaching the "Spirit alone" theory.
4. Both had significant events in 1827 and 1832:
---1827: First Campbellite baptism by Walter Scott "in order to remission of sins."
---1827: Kehukee Declaration in opposition to missionary methods.
---1832: Union of Campbellites and Stoneites as one "movement."
---1832: Black Rock Address in opposition to missionary methods.
These are "watershed" events in the early development of both schisms.
1. Both were molded by magazines -- Campbellism by Campbell's Millennial Harbinger and Hardshellism by Beebe's Signs of the Times and Cayce's Primitive Baptist.
2. Both were adamantly opposed to the "mission methods" used to send the Gospel abroad.
3. Both attributed the most contemptible motives and purposes to those who were engaged in the missionary cause.
4. Both departed from the Baptist Confession of Faith in regard to the Gospel in the Effectual Calling of the elect to Christ.
5. Both, in the course of time, fragmentized over internal controversies and leaders (usually those who published magazines). "Patternism" produced "factions."
6. Both made a major issue over "instrumental music in worship."
7. Both became "exclusivists," claiming that they were the "only" church of Christ, they only held "scriptural" baptism, and they only practiced "scriptural" worship and church order.
8. Both adopted the "command, example, inference" hermeneutic.
9. Both developed a strong anti-premillennialist eschatology.
10. Both promoted the Pelagian philosophy that "command implies ability." They both appeal to "logic" to set aside the plain statements of Scripture, denying that the power of the Holy Spirit accompanies the Gospel in the new birth.
See here
We can add that they both considered themselves "reformers."
Garrett mentions the attempt by some Hardshells, like Michael Ivey, to find a "succession" of their churches and sentiments through the Welsh Baptists of the Midlands Association, but this effort is a dismal failure, as I have recently shown in my online debate with Hardshell Jason Brown. I also plan to do a more extensive review of Ivey's work in the near future.
But, this attempt to find succession through the Welsh Baptists goes against the Hardshell affirmations of the past, who all found their succession through the Philadelphia and London Confessions of Faith.
In his book "Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study," James Leo Garrett (no relation) wrote the following about Hardshell denominational origins. See here
"Those Baptist churches in the United States which deliberately opposed the Trienniel Convention and its related societies, the Baptist state conventions, and Baptist colleges and seminaries between 1820 and 1840 came to have a separate existence and chose to be called Primitive Baptists on the assumption that Missionary Baptists were innovators, whereas they represented the original Baptist movement."
"The Kehukee Primitive Baptist Association in North Carolina in 1827 circulated Joshua Lawrence's (1778-1843) "Declaration of the Reformed Baptist Churches in the state of North Carolina." It anticipated or expressed "virtually all Primitive Baptist arguments against Missionary Baptist practice: lack of a definite biblical mandate, overemphasis on money, overevaluation of secular learning, large and potentially subversive organizations, and friendship with 'the world.'" Yet Primitive Baptists have been reluctant to frame and adopt new confessions of faith. Some have been prone to cite or quote from the Philadelphia Confession, whereas others have reckoned as parallel to and reflective of Primitive Baptist beliefs three confessions: the 1655 Midland Confession of England, the 1777 Kehukee Confession of Faith, and the principles of Faith of the Sandy Creek Association. Normally Primitive Baptists have held to the existence of a succession of Primitive Baptist churches from the New Testament era, especially through the Waldenses or the Welsh Baptists." ("Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study," pgs. 209, 210)
What is interesting is the fact that the first Hardshells called themselves "Reformed Baptists," and not "Primitive" or "Old School." This does not mean that Joshua Lawrence and his "Reformed Baptists of North Carolina" would identify today with those who call themselves "Reform Baptists," men like James White of Alpha and Omega ministries. They would no doubt agree with the reformed "ordo salutis" that avers that "regeneration precedes faith," but they would disagree that faith is instantly the automatic result of regeneration as taught by most of today's "Reformed Baptists."
The fact that the first Hardshells selected the term "Reformed Baptist" is interesting and revealing. First, it demonstrates that they recognized that they were a minority, and that their views were not the traditional views of Particular or Regular Baptists. Why "reform" the Baptists if they were already Hardshell in faith and practice? Second, the term "reformed" was also adopted by Alexander Campbell, the founder of Campbellism. He too looked to "reform" the old Baptist.
Bob Ross, a preacher friend of mine, has written extensively on both Campbellism and Hardshellism. He cites B.H. Carroll who, in writing on the history of the anti-mission Baptists, said that Campbellism and Hardshellism were "twins." Bob Ross has elaborated on this, writing:
"On this point of doctrine, the Hardshells are much like their Campbellite "twin," while the Campbellites are also divided into many factions, they are generally united in their "Word alone" theory, just as the Hardshells are generally united in their "Spirit alone" theory.
While on the idea of "similarities" between Campbellism and Hardshellism, consider the following:
1. Both were "born" in the early 1800's, apostatizing from "Calvinism."
2. Both systems obtained their "followings" primarily from Presbyterians and unstable Baptists.
3. Both held to a non-Baptist position on the new birth, Campbellism teaching the "Word alone" theory and Hardshellism teaching the "Spirit alone" theory.
4. Both had significant events in 1827 and 1832:
---1827: First Campbellite baptism by Walter Scott "in order to remission of sins."
---1827: Kehukee Declaration in opposition to missionary methods.
---1832: Union of Campbellites and Stoneites as one "movement."
---1832: Black Rock Address in opposition to missionary methods.
These are "watershed" events in the early development of both schisms.
1. Both were molded by magazines -- Campbellism by Campbell's Millennial Harbinger and Hardshellism by Beebe's Signs of the Times and Cayce's Primitive Baptist.
2. Both were adamantly opposed to the "mission methods" used to send the Gospel abroad.
3. Both attributed the most contemptible motives and purposes to those who were engaged in the missionary cause.
4. Both departed from the Baptist Confession of Faith in regard to the Gospel in the Effectual Calling of the elect to Christ.
5. Both, in the course of time, fragmentized over internal controversies and leaders (usually those who published magazines). "Patternism" produced "factions."
6. Both made a major issue over "instrumental music in worship."
7. Both became "exclusivists," claiming that they were the "only" church of Christ, they only held "scriptural" baptism, and they only practiced "scriptural" worship and church order.
8. Both adopted the "command, example, inference" hermeneutic.
9. Both developed a strong anti-premillennialist eschatology.
10. Both promoted the Pelagian philosophy that "command implies ability." They both appeal to "logic" to set aside the plain statements of Scripture, denying that the power of the Holy Spirit accompanies the Gospel in the new birth.
See here
We can add that they both considered themselves "reformers."
Garrett mentions the attempt by some Hardshells, like Michael Ivey, to find a "succession" of their churches and sentiments through the Welsh Baptists of the Midlands Association, but this effort is a dismal failure, as I have recently shown in my online debate with Hardshell Jason Brown. I also plan to do a more extensive review of Ivey's work in the near future.
But, this attempt to find succession through the Welsh Baptists goes against the Hardshell affirmations of the past, who all found their succession through the Philadelphia and London Confessions of Faith.
Aug 21, 2011
Gill on Man's Duty to Believe & Repent
Part I, Section XXX of The Cause of God and Truth
“Though man lies under such a disability and has neither power nor will of himself to come to Christ for life; yet his not coming to Christ, when revealed in the external ministry of the Gospel, as God’s way of salvation, is criminal and blameworthy; since the disability and perverseness of his will are not owing to any decree of God, but to the corruption and vitiosity of his nature through sin. And therefore, since this vitiosity of nature is blameworthy, that which follows upon it, and is the effect of it must be so too .”
“Though man lies under such a disability and has neither power nor will of himself to come to Christ for life; yet his not coming to Christ, when revealed in the external ministry of the Gospel, as God’s way of salvation, is criminal and blameworthy; since the disability and perverseness of his will are not owing to any decree of God, but to the corruption and vitiosity of his nature through sin. And therefore, since this vitiosity of nature is blameworthy, that which follows upon it, and is the effect of it must be so too .”
Aug 17, 2011
Begotten of God To...?
--------------
Scriptures speak of being "born again" of the Spirit (John 3: 3-8), or of being "begotten of God." (I John 5: 18) In this "birth" or "conception" something is begotten or produced. All recognize that "life" is the chief product. Also, that a "person" is created or brought into existence. When a person is "born of God," he becomes a child of God, a "new creature," a spiritual being. But, is "life" and "existence" the only things begotten? Or, are there other things that are "begotten" when life is begotten? What saith the scriptures?
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (I John 5: 4)
"Faith" is here identified as being that which is "begotten." Faith overcomes because it is born of God. When a person is spiritually begotten life is begotten, but so also is faith "begotten."
Some will argue that this proves that one is born again "before" faith, but this would be an error. It would be wrong because the birth experience does not comprehend merely the cause, but also the effect. If we say that one is "begotten before life" we do not mean that one can be "begotten" who does not live and exist. We cannot say that "begotten" refers to the cause separate from the effect. A person cannot be said to be born until he is actually born.
This is why I have opposed the idea of placing a strict chronology on the relationship between faith and birth. They are concurrent, or simultaneous, and so intimately connected together that one cannot experience one without the other. When a man is born again, he is born "unto" something. Effects are immediate and automatic. Those effects include life, faith, hope, knowledge, and love for God and his Son Jesus Christ.
Men are begotten to life, but there is no gap in time between being begotten and being alive. Likewise, when men are begotten to life, they are at the same time begotten to faith, and there is no gap in time between the two, for there is only one "begetting" and not two separate ones.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (I Peter 1: 3)
Peter says men are "begotten unto a living hope," which is similar to John saying men are begotten to faith. Hope implies faith. They are joined together by an unbreakable bond.
If a person does not have Christian faith and hope, then he has not been "begotten" of God.
Hope and faith also implies knowledge and understanding, and if men are begotten to hope and faith, then they are likewise begotten to saving knowledge. Those who are begotten, in scriptures, instinctly and naturally recognize their Father in Heaven, and their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, for this too is a part of what it means to have Christian faith and hope begotten in a person.
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Gal. 4: 6)
The immediate result of the Spirit entering a soul, in this divine begetting, is the soul crying out, in recognition, of their Heavenly Father.
Though there is no verse that says that people are "begotten" unto "love," as it is said of faith and hope, yet the same idea is expressed in other passages that describe this multifaceted miracle of spiritual birth.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Gal. 5: 22, 23)
"Fruit" here is from the Greek word "karpos" and may denote, besides the fruit of trees, the fruit of one's loins, of what is begotten or produced. The context will determine the precise usage. It often signifies "that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result."
The Hardshells cite this verse and use it to uphold their view that regeneration precedes conversion, and that the former can exist without the latter. To the Hardshells, "faith" being a "fruit of the Spirit" means "faith is an after-effect of being begotten of God." Then, having proven this, they then take giant leaps in logic and argue that since fruit is what comes after the tree is first in existence, and oftentimes many years later, so also is it with one "begotten" of God. A spiritually born soul may be fruitless (without any effects of being begotten) for many years before he possesses faith, hope, love, peace, etc.
Faith, hope, love, and peace, etc., are "begotten" (produced, as immediate effects) when a person is "begotten." Thus, we have shown what we are begotten "unto." These things define the kind of "life" begotten. To affirm that any unbeliever in Jesus, that any who have not repented and converted to Christ, are "begotten of God," is a severe error, a "heresy."
Scriptures speak of being "born again" of the Spirit (John 3: 3-8), or of being "begotten of God." (I John 5: 18) In this "birth" or "conception" something is begotten or produced. All recognize that "life" is the chief product. Also, that a "person" is created or brought into existence. When a person is "born of God," he becomes a child of God, a "new creature," a spiritual being. But, is "life" and "existence" the only things begotten? Or, are there other things that are "begotten" when life is begotten? What saith the scriptures?
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (I John 5: 4)
"Faith" is here identified as being that which is "begotten." Faith overcomes because it is born of God. When a person is spiritually begotten life is begotten, but so also is faith "begotten."
Some will argue that this proves that one is born again "before" faith, but this would be an error. It would be wrong because the birth experience does not comprehend merely the cause, but also the effect. If we say that one is "begotten before life" we do not mean that one can be "begotten" who does not live and exist. We cannot say that "begotten" refers to the cause separate from the effect. A person cannot be said to be born until he is actually born.
This is why I have opposed the idea of placing a strict chronology on the relationship between faith and birth. They are concurrent, or simultaneous, and so intimately connected together that one cannot experience one without the other. When a man is born again, he is born "unto" something. Effects are immediate and automatic. Those effects include life, faith, hope, knowledge, and love for God and his Son Jesus Christ.
Men are begotten to life, but there is no gap in time between being begotten and being alive. Likewise, when men are begotten to life, they are at the same time begotten to faith, and there is no gap in time between the two, for there is only one "begetting" and not two separate ones.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (I Peter 1: 3)
Peter says men are "begotten unto a living hope," which is similar to John saying men are begotten to faith. Hope implies faith. They are joined together by an unbreakable bond.
If a person does not have Christian faith and hope, then he has not been "begotten" of God.
Hope and faith also implies knowledge and understanding, and if men are begotten to hope and faith, then they are likewise begotten to saving knowledge. Those who are begotten, in scriptures, instinctly and naturally recognize their Father in Heaven, and their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, for this too is a part of what it means to have Christian faith and hope begotten in a person.
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Gal. 4: 6)
The immediate result of the Spirit entering a soul, in this divine begetting, is the soul crying out, in recognition, of their Heavenly Father.
Though there is no verse that says that people are "begotten" unto "love," as it is said of faith and hope, yet the same idea is expressed in other passages that describe this multifaceted miracle of spiritual birth.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Gal. 5: 22, 23)
"Fruit" here is from the Greek word "karpos" and may denote, besides the fruit of trees, the fruit of one's loins, of what is begotten or produced. The context will determine the precise usage. It often signifies "that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result."
The Hardshells cite this verse and use it to uphold their view that regeneration precedes conversion, and that the former can exist without the latter. To the Hardshells, "faith" being a "fruit of the Spirit" means "faith is an after-effect of being begotten of God." Then, having proven this, they then take giant leaps in logic and argue that since fruit is what comes after the tree is first in existence, and oftentimes many years later, so also is it with one "begotten" of God. A spiritually born soul may be fruitless (without any effects of being begotten) for many years before he possesses faith, hope, love, peace, etc.
Faith, hope, love, and peace, etc., are "begotten" (produced, as immediate effects) when a person is "begotten." Thus, we have shown what we are begotten "unto." These things define the kind of "life" begotten. To affirm that any unbeliever in Jesus, that any who have not repented and converted to Christ, are "begotten of God," is a severe error, a "heresy."
Aug 8, 2011
Edwards on Regeneration & Conversion
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J.M. Pendleton, under the heading, "Regeneration, With Its Attendants, Repentance And Faith," cites the great Calvinist Jonathan Edwards as saying:
"If we compare one scripture with another, it will be sufficiently manifest that by regeneration, or being BEGOTTEN or BORN AGAIN, the same change in the state of the mind is signified with that which the Scripture speaks of as efffected by true REPENTANCE, and CONVERSION. I put repentance and conversion together, because the Scripture puts them together (Acts 3:19), and because they plainly signify much the same thing."
Edwards says that "regeneration" is an experience "effected by" both "repentance" and "conversion." That is a Calvinist "ordo salutis," for not all Calvinists insist that regeneration is distinct from conversion, and on the former preceding the latter.
J.M. Pendleton, under the heading, "Regeneration, With Its Attendants, Repentance And Faith," cites the great Calvinist Jonathan Edwards as saying:
"If we compare one scripture with another, it will be sufficiently manifest that by regeneration, or being BEGOTTEN or BORN AGAIN, the same change in the state of the mind is signified with that which the Scripture speaks of as efffected by true REPENTANCE, and CONVERSION. I put repentance and conversion together, because the Scripture puts them together (Acts 3:19), and because they plainly signify much the same thing."
Edwards says that "regeneration" is an experience "effected by" both "repentance" and "conversion." That is a Calvinist "ordo salutis," for not all Calvinists insist that regeneration is distinct from conversion, and on the former preceding the latter.
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