God’s Plan for the Ages
There seems to be a pattern in the ages. II Peter 3:8 tells us, “be not ignorant of one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” And in Genesis 2:17, the Lord tells Adam, “… of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surly die.” And in Genesis 5:5 we read, “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years“. Indeed, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” In Psalm 90:4, Moses tells us that, “For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday.” Thus we have Moses in Genesis and Psalms, and Peter in his second epistle, telling us that for God, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” It should be no surprise, therefore, that there are parallels between events during the days of creation and events in subsequent millennial periods. That this is a literal fact and a general principle for understanding the ages as described in Scripture, will become clear from what follows. But this does not mean that the days of the creation week each lasted a thousand years! God created the grass and trees on the third day and the Sun on the forth day. The grass and trees could not live without sunlight for a thousand years, waiting for the creation of the Sun. The days of creation were indeed days!
If the flood was approximately 4000 years before the birth of Christ, then there are apparent parallels and common themes in the events during the days of creation and the events in the millennial periods after the flood. For example, on the first day God created heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1), and later in the flood, God created a new heaven and a new earth. Also on the first day, God created light and separated light from darkness; and using the flood, God separated the one righteous man Noah, and his family (a symbol of light), from an evil generation (a symbol of darkness). On the third day God gathered the waters into a single ocean and the dry land appeared (Gen. 1:9). In Scripture the waters are often a symbol of the gentiles, the unbelieving masses1; while the land, earth or clay is often a symbol of God’s people2. Also on the third day of creation, the dry land brought forth grass, trees and herbs bearing fruit. Paralleling the third day of creation, the third millennium after the flood was the time of Israel’s great increase, the time of the Exodus, and the glory days of David and Solomon. During this time God for the first time truly had a nation of believers. On the forth day of creation God set lights in the heavens for signs and seasons and to give light. In the fourth millennium after the flood Israel went into apostasy worshiping the lights and the host of heaven. On the fifth day of creation the waters (the symbol of the unbelieving masses) brought forth abundantly. The fifth millennium after the flood was the time when Jesus walked the earth, and the time when the gentiles first received salvation. That is, the unbelieving masses received faith and brought forth life.
Whereas, in Scripture the post-flood epoch is described in detail, there is no detailed account of the time from the birth of Seth to the flood. Instead the Scriptures give us a list of the pre-flood patriarchs. This paper presents a chronology suggesting that creation occurred approximately 6000 years before the flood. Using this chronology and examining the meaning of the names of the pre-flood patriarchs, we find parallels with the events in the post-flood millennia, and parallels with the days of creation. Consider the patriarch Mahalaleel, for example. He probably lived from about 2000 to 3000 years after creation, in the third millennium. His name means to celebrate God, praise of God, or fame of God; which parallels the third millennium after the flood, when Israel became a mighty nation, truly serving God; and it parallels the third day of creation when the dry land appears (dry land being symbolic of the believing people). The patriarch of the forth millennium was Jared. His name means to go down, to cast down, to sink, which parallels the forth millennium after the flood when Israel went into apostasy worshiping the lights of heaven, fell from grace, and was judged by God; and it parallels the forth day of creation when God created the lights of heaven which Israel worshiped in the fourth millennium. The patriarch of the fifth millennium was Methuselah. His name means man with a sword, man – branch, which parallels the fifth millennium after the flood, the time of Christ, who came with a sword, the word of God; and who is the branch; and it parallels the fifth day of creation, when the waters bring forth life (waters being symbolic of the unbelieving masses). Methuselah, the patriarch who parallels Christ, lived longer than any other man on record. These parallels show that name of each pre-flood patriarch was God ordained, and that the patriarch’s name gave a prophecy of what would happen during the patriarch’s life. It is clear that the millennial periods before and after the flood were periods where events followed the pattern given by the creation account.
1 Exod. 15:23-25, Psalm 77:15-16, 144:7, Isa. 8:7, 17:12-13, 48:1, 57:20, Jer. 46:7-8, 47:2-3, 51:13, Ezek. 26:19, 31:3-5, Dan. 7:2-3,Matt. 13:47, Rev 10:2, 12:15-16, 13:1, 17:15.
2 Psalm 10:18, 16:3, 40:2, 96:1, 97:1, Isa. 1:2, 4:2, 10:14, 14:7, 45:9, 64:8, Jer. 18:6, Dan. 2:42-43, Zech. 1:11, John 9:6, Rev. 10:2, 12:15-16.
God’s Plan for the Ages
The Creation Days |
Millennia After Creation |
Millennia After the Flood |
1) God creates heaven and earth. The earth is formless. God creates light & divides light from darkness. The earth takes on form.
(The light is an organizing force because gravity is a form of electro-magnetism.) |
1) Age of Adam, year 1 – 931, means flush, ruddy, man, individual human. Lines of Seth and Cain separated.
Age of Seth, means substitute, year 131 – 1043, Age of Enos, means mortal man, year 236 – 1141, |
Noah is separated. A new heaven and a new earth. The ice age. The Tower of Babel & disbursing of tribes. Arphaxad 6026 – 6464, means to spread out. The single continent divides at time of Peleg. Peleg means to split, earthquake. Peleg lives 6931 – 7170. |
2) God creates the firmament, divides the waters above form the waters below. (The same word is used for waters above and below, the Hebrew mah’- yim, which suggests liquid water.) | 2) Age of Cainan = Kenan = Cain,
year 1141 – 2051. Cainan means first child, zealous, to erect, to purchase, to occupy, fixed, a room or dwelling. |
2) 7025 – 8024 or, 2976 – 1975 B.C.
Tribes become nations. Reu = to associate with. Serug = to entwine. Abraham separated to God and from Lot. A homeland for God’s people. |
3) God gathers waters into one ocean, and the dry land appears. God creates grass and herbs bearing seeds and fruit. | 3) Age of Mahalaleel.
year 2051 – 2946. Mahalaleel means to shine of God, Godly, strength, to celebrate God, praise of God or fame of God. |
3) 8025 – 9024 or, 1976 – 975 B.C.
The great multiplication of Israel, the Exodus, the giving of the law, the time of the judges & the glory days of David and Solomon. |
4) God sets lights in the firmament to divide the day from the night, for signs and seasons, to mark days and years, and to give light. | 4) Age of Jared.
year 2946 – 3908. Jared means to go down, fall, cast down, sink, subdue. Age of Enoch, means to discipline, narrow, initiate, dedicate, train up. year 3908 – 4273. |
4) 9025 – 10,024 or,
976 B.C – 24 A.D. (Jesus’ Baptism) Israel goes into apostasy, worships of the lights and host of heaven. Israel is judged! Israel is overrun. (There is no year zero.) |
5) God says let the waters bring forth abundantly fish, and moving creatures. Let there be fowl in the air. (They swim in water and air.) | 5) Age of Methuselah.
year 4273 – 5242. Methuselah means man – branch, man with sword, man or war. |
5) 10,025 – 11,024 or, 25 – 1024 A.D.
Jesus ministers on earth. Salvation comes to believing gentiles. The Heathen – Jewish War begins. AD 70. The gap between Daniel’s 69th to 70th week starts. |
6) God says let the earth bring forth living creatures, cattle and beasts. God makes man in His image. God gives man dominion over all the earth and its creatures. All is good. | 6) Age of Lamech.
year 5242 – 6019. Lamech, meaning unknown. Noah is born in 5424. |
6) 11,025 – 12,024 or,
1025- 2024 A.D. Man multiplies greatly. Man takes dominion over the Earth. The anti-Christ comes to power and with technology rules the Earth. |
7) The day of rest.
The first sabbath, type of the jubilee. |
7) Age of Noah,
year 5424 – 6374. Noah means to sift, to be promoted, to let alone, to remain. The world wide flood! Noah is 600. year 6024 -6025. The earth rests from man’s sin. |
7) 12,025 – 13,024, or
2025 – 3024 A.D. The day of the Lord, Daniel’s 70th week, the jubilee and the millennial reign of Jesus. All nations come to Jerusalem to worship the one true King. |
Apparently the account of creation given in Genesis not only gives an accurate historical record of events during the creation week, the creation account is also a prophecy of the events which occur in the following millennia. That is, the six millennia after creation, a week of millennia; parallel the days of the creation week. But at the end of the week, instead of a millennium of rest for man, there followed the world wide totally devastating flood, as the Lord caused the earth to rest from man’s sin. The Lord then began a second week of millennia, starting with Noah and his family. Which brings us to the present, the end of the sixth millennium after the flood. We stand on the brink of the Lord’s return, the long awaited jubilee, His millennial kingdom, and the thirteenth and final millennium. It is notable that in Hebrew tradition a boy becomes accountable as a man at age twelve. And at the end of the twelfth millennium man as a race will be held accountable; when God, as a loving father, has dealt with man for twelve millennia. This plan of the ages has a total of thirteen millennia, the same number as the number of apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, (twelve original apostles take away Judas, add Matthias and Paul). If all of time lasts just thirteen thousand years, then indeed the Lord is doing “a short work” (Romans 9:28). It is my sincere hope that this chronology will show that the Scriptures give a coherent view of history, which will help demonstrate the absolute accuracy of Scripture.
The Genesis record is here taken as a revelation of God to Moses, not a set of historical records kept by men. As such, it gives God’s view of history, a record of events as He has known them since before the beginning of time. Apparently the events of the creation week were so ordered as to be a prophecy of subsequent ages. God gave this revelation to Moses knowing that men would have to keep it, interpret it, and preserve it. In His wisdom God kept the record brief and simple, He included numerical checks, and He used a parallel poetic form as a memory aid. (We have reason to believe that this record was both an oral and a written record1). As part of God’s word, the Genesis record should be seen in the light of other Scriptures, not in terms of human traditions or human record keeping.
There are other Scriptures which support the validity of this concept of God’s plan of the ages. Matthew 1:17, states that there were two weeks of generations (fourteen generations) from Abraham to David, that there were two weeks of generations (fourteen generations) from David to the carrying away into Babylon, and that there were two weeks of generations (fourteen generations) from the carrying away into Babylon until the appearance of Christ. That is, a total of six weeks of generations from Abraham to Christ. Note that the carrying away into Babylon was in the forth week of generations after Abraham, and in the forth millennium after the flood in the present chronology. From the baptism of Christ (in about 27 A.D.) to the present end of the age is approximately 1960 years; and 1960 years is seven weeks of generations, 49 generations of 40 years each. Thus, in Matthew, the ages are divided into six weeks of generations, from Abraham to Christ; and seven weeks of generations, from Christ to the return; just as all time is divided into six millennia before the flood, and seven millennia after the flood in the present chronology. In the book of Joshua ch. 6, we read of the fall of Jericho (a type of the rebellious world). We read that the children of Israel compassed the city once each day for six days, and then on the seventh day, they compassed it seven times, a total of 13 times. They blew the trumpets, the walls fell flat, and God’s people overran the city. This is a type of God’s overall plan. In the end the rebellious race of man is overcome by God’s people.
The Scriptures also show parallels between days and ages for the numbers two, six, seven, eight, ten, and twelve. In John 4:40, we read that Jesus ministered to the Samaritans two days, just as the glorified Jesus has dealt with the gentiles for the last two thousand years. And in Hosea 6:2, we read that, “After two days will He revive us…”, “us” being Israel. So after dealing with the gentiles for two millennia, between Daniel’s 69th and 70th week, He will again deal with Israel. We read in Matthew 17:1, that “after six days” (from His baptism2) the glory of God was manifest at the transfiguration. And six millennia after the flood God’s glory will fully manifest at the return of the Lord. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came ending the sixth millennium. Lamech died at age 777 (Gen. 5:31) at the start of the seventh millennium. The purification of a woman after child birth takes seven days (Lev. 12:2-3). Similarly, when the altar in the Temple was cleansed in Ezekiel 43:26, we read “Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it ….” So each cycle of purification takes seven days. In God’s plan for the ages purification is completed at the start of the seventh (day) millennium. In Genesis 17:12, circumcision is prescribed for the 8th day after birth, and Abraham receives the covenant of circumcision at the end of the 8th millennium. The Holy Spirit falls at Pentecost, ten days after Jesus’ ascension; and the Lord walks the earth the second time ten thousand years after He left the Garden of Eden (John 16:28). In I Kings 19:19, we read that Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen when he was called; and Israel will begin to rule the earth in God’s power after twelve thousand years.
1 Job 13:26, 19:23-24, Gen. 4:15, 18:19, Exod. 17:14, 24:7, 24:12, 28:11, 32:16, 34:1, 34:27, 39:30, Lev. 10:11,
Num. 5:23, Deut. 4:5, 17:18-19, 31:22.
2 As in John 1:43, “the day following,” and in John 2:1, “the third day, ” which count days from His baptism.
by Daniel H. Harris, December, 1992.
The pivotal question in interpreting the Geneses chronologies is, how we can know if a direct father-son relation is indicated? In the Scriptures Jesus is called the “son of David.” Yet we know that Jesus was not the immediate son of David. And in the book of Daniel we read that Daniel referred to Nebuchadnezzar as the father of Belshazzar (Dan.5:18), when we know from contemporary inscriptions that in fact Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. These passages show that it was common practice for the Hebrews in ancient times to speak of a father-son relationship when there was in fact one or more generations between father and son. This calls into question the conventional interpretation of the Genesis genealogies, which assumed an immediate father-son relationship in each case. Then how can we recognize an immediate father-son relationship in the Biblical genealogies?
The chronology presented here, with its parallels, is markedly different from the chronologies given by most scholars (such as those in the marginal notes of many Bibles). Such chronologies rely on the straight forward addition of time intervals from Scripture, without an underlying concept, or an expected result. By contrast, the present chronology is based on three distinctive principles of interpretation. The first principle of interpretation used here assumes the reality of the parallels between the days of creation and the subsequent millennial periods; and uses these parallels to test the validity of the chronology. The second principle of interpretation holds that the early dates in the Bible are given relative to the patriarchs, the men of God in the line of descent leading to Jesus. In Genesis 7:6, we read that, “… Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.” We can think of this as dating the flood as “the year of Noah 600.” Similarly modern dates, such as the first landing on the moon in 1969 A.D., are dated in reference to the birth of Jesus the Christ, our living reference patriarch.
Dating events by referring to the year of the reference patriarch requires that there be a living reference patriarch at all times. That is, in the year of the death of the old patriarch, a new patriarch must be born in the line of descent leading to Jesus to take the place of the old patriarch. If the new patriarch were born before the death of the old patriarch, then there would be two dates for a notable event, one relative to the old patriarch, and another date relative to the new patriarch. That could cause confusion for readers of the record. On the other hand, if the new patriarch were born several years after the death of the old patriarch, then there would be a gap with no living reference patriarch. Thus, a clear chronology needs to have the new reference patriarch born in the same year as the death of the old patriarch. This is the second principle of interpretation. This is in marked contrast to the usual understanding of the Genesis record, where the lifetimes of the patriarchs overlap. It is remarkable that, of the many descendants of the patriarch, a child born in the year of the patriarch’s death should be the next in line of descent leading to Jesus.
A record of this kind serves well if there is a child born in the line of descent of the patriarch in the year of the patriarch’s death. And this was the case during most of the pre-flood and post-flood periods. But in the first few generations after Adam, and in the first few generations after the flood, there were not enough children being born in the line of descent of the patriarch for a birth to occur in the year of the patriarch’s death. And later, when the population was divided at the tower of Babel there also was a disruption of normal life activities, as the various tongues and nations spread across the then single continent1. Consequently, there was no child born in the line of Eber during the year that Eber died. During such times a record can’t just relative to the reference patriarch, instead more detail must be given.
To recognize which are instances of immediate father-son relationships we need an understanding of the terms used in the Biblical genealogies. In the Genesis genealogies the most frequently used term is “begat” (Hebrew yawlad), to “bear young,” or “son of.” This same term is used in Deuteronomy 32:18 where we read, “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful …,” the Rock being the Lord, who was not the immediate father of the children of Israel. Thus the term “begat“, or “son of” in this passage means “born a descendant of.” An immediate father-son relation is not indicated. As we’ve seen, there are other Scriptures which call into doubt the conventional interpretation of the Genesis genealogies. If the term “begat” does not necessarily indicate an immediate father-son relationship, then we are justified in tentatively adopting the second principle of interpretation, that the new reference patriarch is not the immediate son, but is born in the year of the death of the old reference patriarch. In that case, when the Scripture says that Jared begat Enoch, (Gen. 5:18) we can be confident that Enoch was born a descendant of Jared. But the number of generations between Jared and Enoch is not specified. We can look at the Biblical genealogies as lists of patriarchs, each born in the year of the death of the previous patriarch. (However, in describing the periods when there were few children being born in the line of the reference patriarch, the Genesis record avoids confusion by giving more details.)
1 We can surmise from Genesis 1:9 that there was a single continent and a single ocean at creation. We read nothing more of this until Genesis 10:25 which reveals that after the flood the continent divided, during the time of Peleg the son of Eber (Peleg means to split, earthquake.) by Daniel H. Harris, December, 1992.
The third principle of interpretation used here is based on recognition that, when describing the generations, Scripture uses two distinct phrases, one which only indicates descent, and another phrase which clearly shows an immediate father-son relationship. This third principle of interpretation was pointed out by Harold Camping in his pamphlet The Biblical Calendar of History and his book Adam When?1. Camping recognized the important difference in meaning between the two phrases begat, and called his name. Camping found that when the Scripture uses the phrase called his name, we can be assured of an immediate father-son relation, because the father must be present to give the child his name. Whereas, the term begat indicates descent only, with and unknown number of generations between. This distinction gives us the third principle of interpretation.
Specifically, in describing the creation of Adam, Genesis 5:1-2 states that, “God created man” … male and female …” and called their name Adam in the day that He made them,” showing an immediate father-son relationship. In Genesis 4:25, we read regarding the birth of Seth, “And Adam … called his name Seth.” In describing the birth of Enosh, Genesis 4:26 states that, “Seth called his name Enosh” (Gen. 4:26). And in Genesis 5:28-29 we read that, “Lamech … begat a son and called his name Noah….” The use of the phrase called his name or called their name clearly shows that as creator God gave Adam his name at the time of creation, that Adam was the immediate father of Seth, that Seth was the immediate father of Enosh, and Lamech was the immediate father of Noah.
A similar special term is used in Genesis 10 & 11 where we see “the children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad…,” (Gen. 10:22). Here children of, is the Hebrew “ben” which means “son of,” indicating that Arphaxad was born directly to Shem. We may also infer that, although the Hebrew yawlad is used in Gen. 10:25, (which is translated “were born”), “And unto Eber were born two sons… Peleg … and Joktan”; the usage and context here suggests that Peleg and Joktan were born directly to Eber. Also Genesis 11:31 makes clear that Abram = Abraham is the immediate son of Terah, (even though Genesis 11:26 states that, “Terah lived seventy years and begat (yawlad) Abram….”) Therefore, if Arphaxad is born directly to Shem, Peleg is born directly to Eber, and Abram = Abraham is born directly to Terah, but all the other patriarchs in the post flood list are born in the year of the death of the previous patriarch, then in the resulting chronology the flood is dated at about 4000 B.C. This suggests that the careful and judicious application of the second principle of interpretation and the third principle of interpretation produces a chronology which is consistent with the first principle of interpretation2.
It is clear that the list of patriarchs is not a list of the first born in each generation. For example, Seth is the third born, Jacob is second, etc. In the instances where we can be sure of an immediate father-son relationship there is no clear pattern in the birth order of the next succeeding patriarch leading to Jesus. The first born or the third born or the seventh born may be the next in line of descent leading to Jesus. We know that today similarity of personality and gifts often skip a generation and then reappear in the grandchildren or even great grandchildren. Similarly in ancient times the righteous men of the family of the patriarch looked for a special child born in his line with the calling of the patriarch, and born in the year of the patriarch’s death, that child became the new reference patriarch.
Agreeing with, but not directly supporting, the chronology is the fact that at the end of time, in the Millennium, when the earth is again clean, men will again live to great ages as they did before the flood (Isa. 65:20).
1 Both book and pamphlet are available from Family Stations, Inc. 290 Hengensberger Road, Oakland, CA 94621, (415) 568-6200.
2 The dates given here in the “Table of the Patriarchs”, and “God’s Plan for the Ages”, are consistent with Harold Camping’s dates for the period before the flood. We disagree after the flood in that Camping holds that Arphaxad was born in the year 6526 at the death of Shem, even though Genesis 10:22 uses the term children of, that is, the Hebrew word “ben” (son). We also disagree regarding the date of birth of Peleg. Camping holds that Peleg was born in the year that Eber died. I hold that Peleg was born 34 years after the birth of Eber (Gen.10:25 & 11:16). We also disagree regarding Abraham. I hold that Abraham was born directly to Terah when Terah was seventy years old (Genesis 11:26 & 11:31). Camping holds that Abraham was born when Terah died at the age of 205 (Gen. 11:32).
Table of the Patriarchs
Patriarch | Absolute Date of Birth | Interval | Begat | Interval | Age at Time of Death | Absolute Date of Death | Day of God |
Genesis 4 & 5 | |||||||
Adam | 1 | 130 | Seth | 800 | 930 | 931 | 1 |
Seth | 131 | 105 | Enos | 807 | 912 | 1043 | 1 |
Enos | 236 | 90 | Cainan | 815 | 905 | 1141 | 2 |
Cainan | 1141 | 70 | Mahalaleel | 840 | 910 | 2051 | 3 |
Mahalaleel | 2051 | 65 | Jared | 830 | 895 | 2946 | 4 |
Jared | 2946 | 162 | Enoch | 800 | 962 | 3908 | 5 |
Enoch | 3908 | 65 | Methuselah | 300 | 365 | 4273 | 5 |
Methuselah | 4273 | 187 | Lamech | 782 | 969 | 5242 | 6 |
Lamech | 5242 | 182 | Noah | 595 | 777 | 6019 | 1 |
The Flood is in the year of Noah 600, absolute date 6024-6025 | |||||||
Patriarch | Absolute Date of Birth | Interval | Begat | Interval | Age at Time of Death | Absolute Date of Death | Day of God |
Genesis 9, 10 & 11 | |||||||
Noah | 5424 | 502 | Shem | 448 | 950 | 6374 | 1 |
Shem | 5926 | 100 | Arphaxad | 500 | 600 | 6526 | 1 |
Arphaxad | 6026 | 35 | Salah | 403 | 438 | 6464 | 1 |
Salah | 6464 | 30 | Eber | 403 | 433 | 6897 | 1 |
Eber | 6897 | 34 | Peleg | 430 | 464 | 7361 | 1-2 |
Peleg | 6931 | 30 | Reu | 209 | 239 | 7170 | 2 |
Reu | 7170 | 32 | Serug | 207 | 239 | 7409 | 2 |
Serug | 7409 | 30 | Nahor | 200 | 230 | 7639 | 2 |
Nahor | 7639 | 29 | Terah | 119 | 148 | 7787 | 2 |
Terah | 7787 | 70 | Abram | 135 | 205 | 7922 | 2 |
Patriarch | Absolute Date of Birth | Interval | Begat | Interval | Age at Time of Death | Absolute Date of Death | Day of God |
Genesis 21 & 25 | |||||||
Abraham | 7857 | 100 | Isaac | 75 | 175 | 8032 | 2-3 |
Genesis 25 & 35
|
|||||||
Isaac | 7957 | 60 | Jacob | 120 | 180 | 8137 | 3 |
Genesis 48:28 | |||||||
Jacob | 8017 | 130 | into Egypt | 17 | 147 | 8164 | |
Entrance into Egypt | 8147 | ||||||
Exodus | 8577 = 1423 BC. (Accepted date is 8553 = 1447 BC.) | ||||||
I Kings 6:1 | |||||||
Start of Solomon’s Temple | 9057 |
Suggested Test of “God’s Plan for the Ages”
To further explore the ideas presented in “God’s Plan for the Ages” I would suggest further readings of the Scriptures searching for patterns which would confirm or deny these concepts. And in order to limit the time required I suggest reading a limited section of Scripture such as:
1) The Gospels.
2) Psalms and Proverbs.
3) Two of the Major Prophets.
4) All of the Minor Prophets.
5) Daniel and Revelation.
6) Two of the books of the Pentateuch.
7) The Books of Chronicles and Kings.
8) Joshua through Judges.
9) The Pauline Epistles.
10) Hebrews through Jude.
11) Acts, Romans and Galatians.
12) Ezra through Job.
When reading please be thorough and use Bible helps. If you come upon something relevant use a comprehensive concordance or other materials if necessary. Keep a detailed log of your activities. Log the date and time of your reading, the material covered, and any discoveries or explorations along the way. When you have completed your reading and study, write a summary of your findings and include the log of your activities. If you are alert you may discover more Scripture relevant to “God’s Plan for the Ages.”
additional relevant scripture discovered after Dec 7, 1992
Josh 3:4 shows that when Israel crossed the Jordan the Ark was separated from the people of Israel by 2000 cubits!
Gen 17:24 Abraham receives the covenant of circumcision at the end of the eight millennium and the start of the nineth millennium, when he was 99 years old.
Deut. 31:24 “…Moses had made an end of writing the words of the law in a book,….”
Matt. 4:1-11 The adversary tempted Jesus in three ways, and the direct witness of Jesus works on the earth for a total of three millennia, from the year 10,000 to the year 13,000.
History of the Development of God’s Plan for the Agesz
Shortly after my salvation experience, in about 1979, during times of prayer and reading of the Scriptures the Lord would bring to my memory some of the things which I learned in graduate school in astronomy. At first He reminded me of difficulties with the theory of the rotation of our Milky Way galaxy, the density wave theory which was contradicted by computer simulations. Then He reminded me of the fact that the measured velocities of nearby stars are not random as one would expect if the stars had been gravitationally interacting during several rotations of the galaxy. Thirdly He reminded me of the rapid loss of material from the comets which suggests they are of a young age. Then He reminded me of the fact of vulcanism on the moon, which I had studied, shows that the moon is still hot inside, contrary to theory, which says small solar system bodies should have cooled during within a few hundred million years after the formation of the solar system. Then He pointed out that the rings of the outer planets should be rare and short lived phenomena because they are made of ices which would evaporate into space. Then He reminded me of the neutrino paradox which casts into doubt the theory that stars generate their energy by converting hydrogen into helium. Later, when I was still undecided as to whether to believe a young or an old universe, I ran into a former colleague from the University of Arizona who described the confusion at a conference of astronomers brought on by the space satellite discovery that massive hot stars produce X-rays, a direct contradiction of the standard theory. At about the same time I heard a lecture by a local Christian activist and the well read creationist Stu Slimp, owner of the Ministries for Christ Book Store in north Austin. His extensive discussion of the scientific and Scriptural evidence was very persuasive. It was during this time, in 1983, that I came to realize that the earth could not be billions of years old, but at the most a few tens of millions of years old. It was also clear that there was not enough time for evolution to have worked, that the world must have been created.
In succeeding years study of the Scriptures and reading