(#6 5985) Overview of the 7 Days of Creation

FIRST POSTED ON 15 OCTOBER 2018.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

As we conclude our opening session on understanding the times and before moving on to consider each Day of Creation in detail, let us first have an overview or snapshot of how each of the 7 Days of Creation foreshadowed each of the 7 millennia of world history from Creation until now as God unfolds His eternal will both in the world and in His Word.

DAY 1 on the separation of light and darkness foreshadowed the Fall, resulting in the separation of God (who is synonymous with Light) and Man (who was now plunged into Sin and Darkness). This is covered in the Bible in Genesis chapters 3-4 and is the key event that characterises the First Millennium of world history.

DAY 2 on what the Bible described as a vault or space separating water from water foreshadowed the Flood - the first worldwide judgment - and Noah’s Ark that became that vault separating the rain from the floodwaters. This is covered in Genesis chapters 5-9 and characterises the Second Millennium of world history.

DAY 3 on the gathering of waters and appearing of dry ground foreshadowed the emerging of the dry ground of salvation out of the sea of sin and judgment with the call of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and the Exodus of the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt - literally through dry ground as they crossed the Red Sea. This is covered from Genesis chapter 10 - Exodus chapter 15 and characterises the Third Millennium of world history.

DAY 4 on the greater and lesser lights foreshadowed how God appointed Israel - through its Law, Tabernacle, Priesthood, Sacrifices, Sacred Times or Festivals, history and the message of its Prophets - to act as His lesser light directing mankind to Jesus Christ, the Greater/True Light of salvation. This brings us all the way from Exodus chapter 16 to the end of the Gospels and characterises the Fourth Millennium of world history.

DAY 5 on the water and air teeming with life foreshadowed the new life available to all mankind through the giving of the Holy Spirit - the living waters and very breath of God that gave birth to the Church, the Body of Christ. This is covered in the book of Acts and throughout the New Testament Letters and characterises the Fifth Millennium of world history.

DAY 6 on the creation of Adam and the subsequent rule of Man foreshadows the coming rule of the Antichrist, the counterfeit “Son of Man.” This is covered primarily in Revelations chapters 1-18, but is also spoken of in many other parts of the Bible (especially in the prophetic book of Daniel). The rule of the Antichrist is characteristic of the Sixth Millennium that we are currently living in and defines the spirit of our age.

Finally, as we had learnt earlier, DAY 7 on the Sabbath Rest foreshadows the second coming of Christ (also known as the Day of the Lord) and the establishment of His Millennial Kingdom and rule on earth. This is covered in Revelations chapters 19-20 and is also spoken of in many other parts of the Bible. Christ’s coming will mark the start of the Seventh (and last) Millennium of world history as we know it.

Now, there is an “Eighth Day” Sabbath that Jews celebrate after the end of the 7-day Feast of Tabernacles prophetic of Christ’s Millennial Rule. It foreshadows the final and eternal Sabbath rest as the heavens, earth and time itself give way to the New Heaven, Earth and Jerusalem in eternity. This is covered in the concluding chapters of Revelations 21-22.

May God grant us wisdom and open our eyes to see and understand each day that has passed and especially the day that we are currently living in.

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(#5 5985) A Thousand Years in a Day

FIRST POSTED ON 1 OCTOBER 2018.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

We believe that the 7 Days of Creation refer to 7 Millennia (or 7,000 years) of world history, as determined by the chronology of people and events in the Bible.

There is a strong biblical basis for this - the Apostle Peter in 2 Pet 3:8 reminded believers “do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The Psalmist in Psalm 90:4 said, “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.”  Most importantly, it explains Christ’s Millennial or 1,000-year rule and how the 7th Day of Creation, when God rested in the original Creation account, points to this period when Creation will finally receive its earthly rest.

There is a clear parallel in the Bible between a day in the original Creation Account and each 1000-year period of world history. We will see as we go along how key events that characterise each Day of Creation fit into this seven thousand-year historical framework.

For this reason also, the question is not whether the world was created in 7 literal days as Creationists believe or had evolved over billions of years according to Evolutionists. All these arguments still function within a narrow viewpoint of the world ruled only by Chronos.

As we saw in our earlier sessions, the Creation Account was given to help us understand God’s concept of time and eternity, to recognise the signs when He will act in His Kairos to bring about His eternal will, and to hear His Rhema for His people - in other words, to help us understand the times as they relate to God’s eternal will and know what we should do.

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(#4 5985) What the Creation Account Tells Us - Rhema, Kairos & Jesus Christ

FIRST POSTED ON 1 & 15 SEPTEMBER 2018.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

If you recall, we said that what God wanted to speak to His people today - His Rhema in this Kairos - could be discerned from the Bible if we approached it through the perspective of the 7 Days of Creation. This was because through the Creation Account, God revealed to us the outworking of His eternal will on this side of time and history. Ultimately, as in the original Creation Account, there would be a future Sabbath or Shabbat when this world would enter into God’s eternal Shalom.

Let us unpack this a bit more.

First, the Creation Account gives us a framework with which to recognise when God will act in His Kairos - His appointed or opportune time. It thus gives us a unique Biblical perspective of world history. History is not just a series of accidents and coincidences or intentional or unintentional human causes and effects. It is His-story - God’s story in action, revealing His sovereign will and hand at work over everything that happens in the world. After all, God is the Creator and hence, has mastery over His creation.

But God doesn’t just want us to see Him at work. He wants to tell us what to do in light of what He is doing in the world. For this reason, the Creation Account also reveals God’s Rhema for us in view of the times that we live in. The Bible is God’s story in revelation. Through the Creation Account, each Kairos generation receives a fresh understanding of the Bible and knowledge of what to do according to His eternal will here on earth.  

How God’s Rhema brings about His eternal will in His Kairos is seen in the original Creation account itself. Here, on each appointed day or Kairos, God spoke into being - in other words, He acted by releasing His Rhema to bring about an aspect of the unfolding creation according to His eternal will until all is perfect and He rested. Since then, God not only acts by direct divine intervention in the world but also through His people, by releasing His Rhema to us in His Kairos so that we join together with Him to bring about the outworking of His eternal plan and will until everything is perfect and at rest.

Ultimately though, the Creation Account tell us about Jesus Christ. It reveals how, when God created the world, He had already planned how it would progress and eventually end by bringing all things to perfect completion and rest, forever set apart for Him, in Jesus Christ.

Eph 1:9-10 tells us that “[God] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment [meaning in His Kairos] —to bring unity [that is, Shalom] to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”

Christ existed from the beginning, came 2,000 years ago to save us, and will return to usher in this seventh or Sabbath Day rest we spoke about earlier. This will happen during His Millennial or 1,000-year reign mentioned in many parts of the Old Testament and especially in Revelations chapter 20.

As we will learn next time, although we may not know the exact year, we do know that Jesus’ coming will take place during the annual Jewish Autumn or Fall Feasts. These Fall Feasts are part of the 7 annual High Sabbaths mentioned earlier and point to God’s Kairos or appointed time for Jesus’ return.

Before we close, I just want to emphasise at this very early stage, and in fact this will be something that will always be upfront and centre in all our sessions, that everything is - and has to be - only about Jesus. This is what the Gospel and the entire Bible, indeed all of life and creation and history including everyone and every part of us, are about. Any gospel or sermon that puts us - our prosperity, welfare or blessing - or even the Church or our nation or anything or anyone else besides Jesus as the central focus of its message, misses the point and cannot therefore be God’s Rhema for us. May we always remember this, so that Christ is always seated on the throne of our hearts.  

Link to presentation.

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