The Peace of God

Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world give I give to you.”

What Jesus gave to His disciples was a forever promise.

The word peace in Greek is eirēnē. The Hebrew is salom or shalom. It appears about 429 times in the King James Bible.

The word has several meanings: wholeness, completeness, welfare, health, freedom from war, unharmed, prosperity, et al.

It’s a wonderful thing that Jesus would leave His peace with us, but what is His peace? Does everyone have this peace? Can anyone obtain it? Peace is such a broad term.

God’s peace is varied.

Ultimate or Godly peace would have to be connected to salvation. No one can have true peace unless their soul is saved. The peace the world gives is temporal, a mirage. It will ultimately fail.

The peace that God gives is an everlasting peace. His peace gives us assurance in this life and the next.

I want to explore some wonderful features of God’s peace.

In Ephesians 6:15 says we are to have our feet shod with the gospel of peace. This is part of our spiritual armor when we war against our unseen demonic enemies in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). So in this verse, God’s peace is an adjective for it describes the gospel.

Why is the gospel called the gospel of peace?

Let’s go back in the book of Ephesians to chapter two: “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in the place of the two so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and peace those who were near (vv 12-17).

The word peace appears four times in these six verses. The first appearance declares Christ is our peace. Peace is personified – a pronoun. The second appearance He made peace by bringing Jew and Gentile together in one body, one family – peace is a verb. And the third and fourth appearances He preached peace – peace is a noun.

Any wonder why the prophet Isaiah called Jesus the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6)?

  

Another way God offers peace is through prayer. In Philippians 4:6-7 we read, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

In these two verses God is telling us to place all of our cares on Him for He cares for us (I Peter 5:7). We are to petition Him in prayer with thankfulness with the full confidence that whatever we are going through His peace will sustain us – a wonderful comfort and reality.

What is peace with God?

Romans 5:1 declares we have peace with God because of our justification in Christ Jesus. Peace with God grants the believer complete access to God as priests whereby we can go to throne of God anytime we want to and offer spiritual sacrifices to our Heavenly Father by faith. God will not grant anyone this access to Him unless they are sanctified, washed and cleansed in the lamb of God’s blood.

Peace with God is synonymous with forgiveness of sins when one believes on the completed work of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.

Summation

We live in a world full of turmoil. Civil unrest, poverty, slavery, human trafficking, disease, starvation, war and death. With all of this evil, it seems impossible we can experience any level of peace, let alone an everlasting peace. When I look at the news, there is an ongoing war between the Israelis and Palestinians (Arab Muslims). They are shedding blood over a small piece of real estate less than 200 miles long from north to south – the land of Israel. Both nations say they have rights to it.[1] The Oslo Accords peace agreement of 1993 failed between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat because of the wickedness of Arafat – it was a false peace. The four-year terror war ensued shortly thereafter between 2000-2004.

The peace of God delivered to us came at an incalculable cost – the cost of the life of the Son of God. I must go back to Isaiah 53:5, “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.”

Our peace cost the Father His only begotten Son, and it cost the sinless, spotless lamb of God His life.

Jesus had to be punished as if He was a sinner to satisfy the Father’s wrath for our sins ( 2 Cor 5:21).            

Only God can bring the world true and lasting peace. That peace must first be within us. So that we can then conquer the world with the gospel of peace, offering the world the love of the Prince of Peace so that they will have peace with God, and possess the peace of God.

The holy scripture is God’s peace treaty. Use it! It never fails.     

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[1] The land of Israel (formerly called Canaan) was given to Abram (later re-named Abraham) and

His descendants. See Genesis chapters 12, 15, 17 and 22. Arab Muslims argue that God promised

The land to Abraham’s son Ishmael (not Isaac) who some believe was the progenitor of the Arab nations.

Are our wills free or do we have free will?

The answer to this question is yes and no. When God created Adam and Eve He created them with a free will, to choose between good and evil. Before the fall, man’s will was absolutely free from sin – it was perfect. However, since man has peccability (i.e. the ability to sin), his will is always challengeable – particularly to sin which Adam and Eve committed plunging the entire the human race into sin and death.

Here is the status of our will/and or choices now; we are still free to choose, but due to our sin nature, we will not always choose what is right. Sadly, our choices are bound because of our sin so in essence our choices are not always free to choose what is ultimately right and good.

Our will is conflicted because of internal evil.  Listen to the Apostle Paul’s words:

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me (emphasis added).

For I know nothing good in me dwells, that is in my flesh. For I have a desire to what is right, but the not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing (Rom 7:15-19).

This is a masterpiece of instruction by Paul. It gets right to the heart and soul of our problem. 

Paul clearly admits that he desires to do the right thing, but does not because of the sin that dwells in him. His will to do good is bound by his sinfulness. What is the result? He does what he hates to do. In other words, sin often prevails over his desire to do good and please God.

Paul’s will like ours is free to choose, but sadly we often choose evil although within our spirits we desire to do good. Do you understand now how our wills our free and bound at the same time?

Yes, we are free to choose, but because of sin, our wills our incarcerated because of evil.

Is there any wonder Paul cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Answer? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Here’s the scenario: I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh the law of sin (Rom 7:24-25).

  

There is another passage worth mentioning to amplify my point regarding the human will. We find it in Galatians 5, but I say, “walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit against the flesh, for these (the Spirit and the flesh) are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (vv 16-18).

This is revelation knowledge here! Once again Paul is revealing to us our dilemma. We as believers have an internal struggle, a tug-of-war going on within our own being. Our flesh is warring against the Spirit of God! Can you guess who’s going to lose?

What’s the answer to winning this war? We MUST walk in the Spirit (the Holy Spirit)!

Terrific! How do we do that?

Let’s look further in Galatians 5, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things there is no law (vv 23-23).

Practicing these virtues from God, will earn us this victory we need to subject our will to the will of God. This way we want what God desires for us and not our own often selfish desires.

Insisting on our own way is always a losing battle. We see how tragically things ended when Adam and Eve exercised their choice to disobey the Lord – they were expelled from the Garden of Eden.

Yet, we continue to do what we want. Why? Because as Paul stated, sin dwells within me (Rom 7:17,23).  We are wretched human beings (although we sometimes do human benevolent things), that is a fact. No one is essentially good or seeks God (Rom 3:10-12).

Concluding, someone has said our wills our free in the sense that we are only free to choose our sin, but our wills are not free to choose what is good because we are by nature corrupt.

This is a sad commentary of mankind, but is also true.

The person who does not realize this about themselves is blind and will never call on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and salvation of their soul.

The Significance of the Old Testament Offerings

The third book of Moses is called Leviticus. It means, “matters of the Levites” The title and meaning come from the Latin Vulgate version of the Greek OT (LXX or Septuagint which means seventy). The Levites were the priestly tribe of the twelve tribes (or sons) of Israel. The Levites are the descendants of their ancestor Levi who was the third son born to Jacob with his wife Leah (Genesis 29:34b).

Moses and his brother Aaron the High Priest were from the tribe of Levi or the Levites.

Now, what was the purpose of the OT offerings? What did they signify? The short answer is the OT offerings were a foreshadowing that prefigured the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ dying on 

Calvary’s cross for mankind’s sins.

The sacrifice was accompanied with great ceremony and had to be executed the right way for God to accept it.

Let us take a look at a couple.

The Burnt Offering

Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock of the herd and of the flock. If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish (italics added for emphasis), he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He shall kill the bull before the Lord; and the priests, Aaron’s sons shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and lay the wood in order on the fire. Then the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar, but he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord” (Leviticus 1:1-9).

The Sin Offering

Now the Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to the children of Israel saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not be done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish (italics added for emphasis) as a sin offering. He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the Lord.

Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting. The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and she shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. He shall take from it all the fat of the bull as the sin offering. The fat that covers the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove, as it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering.

But the bull’s hide and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and offal – the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned (Leviticus 4: 1-12).[1]

Commentary

As we read, OT sacrifices involved the brutal killing of an innocent animal in place of the person offering it. Depending upon the sacrifice, the High Priest would sprinkle the blood of a bull seven times[2] on the altar of incense before the veil in the holy place if he was making atonement for himself and the people for sinning in ignorance, or if it was burnt offering, a bull or lamb, a male would be sacrificed with the blood being sprinkled all around the bronze altar used for sacrifice.

When one placed his hands on the head of the animal being sacrificed, it was symbolic of the sinner transferring his sins to that animal. As a result, the animal was killed instead of the person. Blood would always have to be shed. Why? Because blood atones for the soul (Leviticus 17:11).

This act of worship would be acceptable to God and the person would be forgiven (Leviticus 1:4).

Keep in mind certain sacrifices were compulsory or obligatory (i.e. the trespass and sin offering. The burnt, peace, and grain offering were freewill offerings).

The sacrifices were also a demonstration of the nation’s faith in their God to forgive them when they obeyed.

God used the most graphic illustration possible; the slaughter of countless innocent (would to have been in the millions over nearly fifteen hundred years) animals to die and shed its blood for the guilty.

Sin always kills.

Why did the Israelites have to offer sacrifices every day for centuries? What was the purpose of brutalizing, and killing so many animals?

The perpetual daily sacrifices were a constant reminder of the nation’s sinfulness, and as a result they needed perpetual forgiveness from God; the one who they kept offending with their sins. When could they stop offering these brutal sacrifices?

When Jesus Christ came and offered up Himself for the sins of the world. Once He died, the OT sacrificial system became obsolete.

In Hebrews we read some revelatory passages regarding the OT sacrificial system vs the sacrifice (singular) of Christ.

Who does not need daily, as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself (Hebrews 7:27).

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins (Hebrews 10:4).

In the OT sins were atoned for; meaning sin was covered with the shedding of an animal’s blood. The blood was the purifying agent.

With the sacrifice of Jesus’ shed blood, sin is removed forever, washed away when one repents and believes (Revelation 1:5).

That means sin is gone from a judicial, legal standpoint as far as God is concerned. Jesus took away our sin debt and placed it on Himself so we would not have to suffer its penalty – eternal death (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Hopefully, the reader sees the significance of the OT sacrificial system. It foreshadowed Christ’s perfect sacrifice for our sins. It was never meant to take away sins; only to drive those who practiced it to the cross, but no further. The OT law was holy and good in that it revealed to man his inability to keep all the commands it contained; reminding him of his sinfulness, and his desperate need for a deliverer – namely a perfect, spotless sin-bearer (Hebrews 7:26; 9:14).

“He will not always strive with us; Nor will he keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. As far as the heavens are high above the earth, so His great mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, so far He has removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.

For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”

                                                                            Psalm 103: 9-14

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[1] The removal of the dead animal outside the camp of Israel was symbolic of removing sin from their midst since the animal was a sin sacrifice. The law of the sin offering prohibited consumption of the animal if any of its blood was sprinkled on the altar of incense in the tabernacle of meeting before the veil in the holy place. The entire animal had to be burned (Lev 4:13-21). If the animal’s blood was sprinkled on and poured at the base of the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle (not inside it), then a portion of it could be eaten by the priests for it is holy (Lev 6:24-30).

[2] The number seven in scripture represents perfection or completion depending

upon the context.

Justification by Faith. Two Views - Catholicism & Protestantism

There are many, thousands even that believe Catholics and Protestants (or Evangelicals) believe the same thing. Nothing could be further from the truth. This article will not be a history regarding the relationship between Roman Catholics and Protestants, but it will deal with the very important matter of how one is justified in the eyes of God. This is a matter one MUST get right! Your eternal destiny depends upon your understanding of this vital matter.

Unfortunately, there are two views regarding how one is justified. I say unfortunately on purpose because one view is right, and the other is wrong. What I will attempt to do in this article is explain the clear distinctions between the two ideas.

For Catholics they teach that one is saved or justified by grace plus works. What are the works? The sacraments of course. And what are the sacraments? They are:

1.       Baptism – Catholic Church teaches that Baptism removes original sin and infuses one with grace making them righteous (Baptism is a one-time act)

2.       Confirmation – A formal acceptance into the Church along special anointing of the Holy Spirit

3.       Holy Communion – Also known as Mass or Eucharist. The consumption of the actual body and blood of Christ. Also called transubstantiation

4.       Confession –  Also called Penance; when confesses his or her sins to a priest so they can be forgiven and receive absolution. This causes one to receive the justification that was lost when one sins after Baptism.

5.       Marriage – This sacrament provides special grace to a couple

6.       Holy Orders – The process where men are ordained to the clergy

7.       Anointing the Sick – Performed by a priest using oil. This is associated with bodily healing, and forgiveness of sins. When this is performed on a dying person, it is called Extreme Unction or Last Rites

All of these sacraments in name are good, but the practice of them presents major problems. Why? Because the Catholic depends upon them for their salvation. Catholicism is a work righteousness religion. Catholicism not God determines salvation in their worldview.

Mortal sins causes grace in Catholicism to die. What that means is if you do not go to confession and receive absolution from the priest for your sins, and you die, you will go to hell. So in this system, salvation can be lost.

So, what does one have to do in order re-acquire their salvation or justification?

This is where Penance comes in – the second plank of justification according to the Catholic Encyclopedia.

When one has committed mortal or deadly sins, they must go to the priest to confess their sins and receive forgiveness and absolution for those sins. They must be truly contrite like David was in Psalm 51. Afterward, they must produce meritorious works such as praying the Rosary, recite Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s. Give alms, attend Mass, or whatever their priest demands.

These things cause one to grow in their justification until they commit mortal sin again, and again, and again, and infinitum ad nauseum.

Rarely does anyone in Catholicism go straight to heaven. Almost all when they die go to Purgatory – an intermediate status between heaven and hell.  Why? So they can be finally purged of their sins. How can one get released from Purgatory? A living relative has to pay their way out through indulgences.

An indulgence is a work of piety that is provided by the Church for the member to perform in order to reduce a person’s misery in Purgatory. Why is there Purgatory? It exists because when someone dies that has confessed their sin while alive, they have been “forgiven” of their sin, but still must suffer punishment for that sin in Purgatory to be purged through suffering for their sins.  To me it begs the question, “If one has been forgiven of sin by God, then why do you still have to suffer for it?”  Does not sound like one has been forgiven for it.                         

Just thinking out loud.

How does Catholicism differ from Protestantism?

Catholicism sees faith as a necessary condition of Justification, but not a sufficient one. If faith alone was a sufficient condition, the sacraments, indulgences, praying the rosary, etc would not be required for an ongoing justification. Lost in all of their minutiae is the most important matter of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Christ’s atonement is a one time all-sufficient sacrifice for all of mankind’s sins. When one genuinely repents of their sins and believes the gospel, they are born into the family of God forever. Their sins have been washed away, and can never be counted against them again. Why? Because Jesus paid the price for the sins of all who believe (Please read Isaiah 53).

Hebrews 9:26-27 tells us that Christ came only once to offer up Himself as a sacrifice for sin. In the Catholic worldview, Christ’s sacrifice is not sufficient. If one can lose the grace once infused into the soul through Catholic baptism, how effective is it? Not effective at all.

The biggest difference between Catholics and Protestants is how one is justified. Above describes the Catholic view.

Let’s us now look at the Reformed view.

Martin Luther the sixteenth-century German Reformer said justification is Sola Fide – by faith alone. His discovery of this was revealed to him when he read Romans 1:17, “the just shall live by faith.”

Simply put, Protestants do not put any trust in any works we can perform to obtain or maintain our salvation. We recognize that salvation is a gift of God’s precious grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).  The only work we place our trust in is Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross for the remission of our sins (Hebrews 9:22).

This truth bears repeating, we do not perform good works to obtain salvation, rather we perform good works because of our salvation. Good works are a natural byproduct of the believer (Ephesians 2:10).

Good works is evidence that our faith is real (Read James 2).

Unfortunately, Catholics are exercising useless energy trying to perform meritorious works to keep the salvation they keep losing due to mortal sin. How can one be sure if they have performed enough works to appease God’s wrath against them? Does the priest know the answer? Is there a bar or level that one can see to if they have re-gained their salvation again? In this system there is absolutely no way one can be assured of their salvation.

The Roman Catholic Church has put on its parishioners’ burdens that neither they or its members can bear (Acts 15:10).

Catholicism is a complex religion that cannot assure the salvation of any of its members; including the priests.

Any religion that denies the efficacy of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross for the remission of sins is a false religion.

Catholics may argue that they believe in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice is sufficient for the forgiveness of sins, but the sacraments they are required to perform to increase their justification speak to the contrary.

Protestants know that we CANNOT grow in our justification. It’s a fixed position in Christ. We must grow in sanctification or holiness.

Concluding, Paul said this in the book of Titus regarding our justification, “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done (emphasis added), but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (true Spiritual Baptism), whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Thus having been justified[1] by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:3-7).

I say this as respectfully and lovingly as I know how, anyone trusting in the Roman Catholic Church for salvation will never obtain it. The Catholic or Reformed Church is not our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ is.

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[1] Justified is in the past tense, meaning once one is justified, they will never lose

That justification. Its permanent. 

The Church of Laodicea

In the Book of Revelation the Apostle John writes to seven churches is Asia Minor (Modern day Turkey). The seventh church is in the city of Laodicea. The city of Laodicea gets its name from the Seleucid King Antiochus II (261-246 B.C.). It was located in the Lycus Valley in Phrygia.[1]

He named the city after his sister and wife Laodice. The city was 90 miles east of Ephesus which was on the coast in that area – Laodicea was an inland city. Laodicea was a famous commercial and wealthy center due to its production and selling of their world famous black wool.  The city was so rich that when it was destroyed by an earthquake in 60 A.D., it refused government aid. The citizens rebuilt the city with their own resources.[2]

Laodicea was also well known for its banking industry and medical skills especially for a Phrygian powder – a medicine for the eyes; an eye salve.[3]

The city water supply came from an underground aqueduct miles away. The water flowed through pipes made out of cubical blocks of stone cemented together three feet wide. By the time the water reached the city, it was not hot enough to take baths, nor was it cold enough to drink. Their water was tepid, or lukewarm. Whoever drank it, it would make them ill so they would vomit it out.[4]

When John addresses the church in Revelation 3:14-19, he tells them this, “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then since you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do not know you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy gold from me refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that you may see.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.’ “

The church at Laodicea had already been founded during the time of the Apostle Paul; for he mentions it in his epistle to the Colossians (Colossians 2:1; 4:13-16).

By the time John writes to them, the church had become apostate. They trusted in their material wealth and possessions instead of the Lord. As a result of their wrong attitude, Jesus rebukes them, and says, “Since you are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16)!             

No doubt the Laodiceans understood Jesus’ rebuke regarding them being lukewarm just like the tepid water that flowed through their city. Their works in Jesus’ eyes was just as unsavory as the water they received.

In the end Jesus demanded they put on spiritual eye salve so they can see what was important, and purchase gold from him so that they could truly be rich along with putting on Jesus which in the book of Revelation is represented by clean white raiment – righteousness.

The purchasing of true gold, eye salve for sight, and putting on white garments is indicative of Jesus commanding them to repent and perform righteous works since they were neither cold nor hot – they were emetic, disgusting to the Lord.

These attitudes often are indicative of Christians today. Just as Jesus warned the original Laodiceans of that day, He is warning the modern Laodiceans. Are you trusting in your money, your success, your position in society, your education and not the Lord? Then you actually have nothing although you say you have everything. What Jesus through John commanded the Church back then he is commanding us now to do the same – be zealous and repent so that He does not vomit you out his mouth.

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[1] Charles F. Pfeiffer, Howard F. Vos, John Rea, Wycliffe Bible Dictionary (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1998), Pg. 1012

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid                                                                                                                                                                          

[4] Ibid

                               

                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                

From the birth of Abraham to the death of Joseph

In my previous article, I covered from creation to the death of Shem – son of Noah. I said that covered 2158 years of human history. Now as we continue through the life of the Patriarchs, we come to Abraham.

There are at least two dates given for the year of Abraham’s birth. The first one we will consider is the early birth date of ca[1] 2166 BC. How this date is derived is by moving back in time. The year given for the Exodus out of Egypt is 1446 BC. Moses is 80 years old which means he is born in the year 1526 BC. We read in I Kings 6:1 that King Solomon begins to build the house of the Lord in the fourth year of his reign – 966 BC 480 years after the Exodus. Adding 480 + 966 = 1446 BC. Add in the 430 years the Hebrews were in Egypt before the Exodus, we get to 1876 BC. when Jacob enters Egypt at 130 years old (Genesis 47:9).

As we continue through our time machine, we go back to the birth of Isaac, Jacob’s father who was born 190 years ago from the time Jacob entered Egypt. 1876+190 = 2066 BC (Isaac’s birth). Abraham was born 100 years before Isaac which makes his birth year ca. 2166 BC. (Genesis 21:5).

Now, let’s look at another scenario regarding the birth of Abraham. This time we have to move forward in time. A sixteenth century Bishop named James Ussher (1581-1656) said that the beginning of creation was October 23^rd, 4004 BC. How did he come up with this date for the creation of the earth? Was it random? I do not believe so.

This is what he did.

Ussher used the Bible as his main resource particularly Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 along with astronomical charts and the Julian Calendar which is pretty much like the calendar we use now, the Gregorian Calendar – 365 days a year, and 366 days every four years. Ussher also used landmark events in the Bible such as the year of the Babylonian Captivity of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and the year of the Exodus which he determined is 1491 BC.  Finally, using the autumnal equinox[2] Ussher determined the dawn of creation as October 23, 4004 BC. Ussher’s research for the beginning of the world is far more extensive than the few sentences than I have treated it here. To learn more, get a copy of his book Annals of the World to get the full story of how he calculated the history of the world using scripture and various main events in history up to the year AD 70.

Now using Ussher’s chronology, we have Abraham being born in the year ca. 1996 BC or year 2008 of creation. This is almost 2000 years before the birth of Christ – born 6 or 5 BC. The following flow chart presents a timeline from creation to the death of Joseph based on Ussher’s chronology:[3]

Year of the Earth	Event	Scripture	Birthdate
0	Creation	Genesis 1:1-31	4004 BC
130	Adam fathers Seth at 130 years	Genesis 5:3	3874 BC
235	Seth fathers Enosh  at 105 years	Genesis 5:6	3769 BC
325	Enosh fathers Kenan at 90 years	Genesis 5:9	3679 BC
395	Kenan fathers Mahalalel at 70 years	Genesis 5:12	3609 BC
460	Mahalalel fathers Jared at 65 years	Genesis 5:15	3544 BC
622	Jared fathers Enoch at 162 years	Genesis 5:18	3382 BC
687	Enoch fathers Methuselah at 65 years	Genesis 5:18	3317 BC
874	Methuselah fathers Lamech at 187 years	Genesis 5:25	3130 BC
1056	Lamech fathers Noah at 182 years	Genesis 5:28-29	2948 BC
1558	Noah fathers Shem at 502 years	Genesis 5:32	2446 BC
1656	The Flood in Noah’s 600th year	Genesis 7:10-12	2348 BC
1658	Shem fathers Arphaxad at 100 years; two years after the flood	Genesis 11:10	2346 BC
1693	Arphaxad fathers Shelah at 35 years	Genesis 11:12	2311 BC
1723	Shelah fathers Eber at 30 years	Genesis 11:14	2281 BC
1757	Eber fathers Peleg at 34 years	Genesis 11:16	2247 BC
1787	Peleg fathers Reu at 30 years	Genesis 11:18	2217 BC
1819	Reu fathers Serug at 32 years	Genesis 11:20	2185 BC
1849	Serug fathers Nahor at 30 years	Genesis 11:22	2155 BC
1878	Nahor fathers Terah at 29 years	Genesis 11:24	2126 BC
2008	Terah fathers Abram at 130 years	Genesis 11:26	1996 BC
2083	Abraham enters Caanan at 75 years. Ussher believes the 430 years begins here	Genesis 12:4	1921 BC
2108	Abraham fathers Isaac at 100 years	Genesis 21:5	1896 BC
2168	Isaac fathers Jacob at 60 years	Genesis 25:26	1836 BC
2258	Jacob fathers Joseph at 90 years in Padan-Aram	Genesis 30:24	1746 BC
2368	Joseph dies in Egypt at 110 years	Genesis 50:26	1636 BC

The problem I see with Ussher’s timeline is that the birthdates are off by about 170 years. For instance, the more widely accepted date for Abraham’s birth is 2166 BC not 1996 BC. 1996 BC is too late of a date. This also means all the other dates in his timeline off by the same amount -170 years. It is more effective to start from the Exodus of Egypt date 14 Nisan 1446 BC and work our way backward like I did before I entered the flow chart.

Another error I see for Ussher’s timeline is when he believes the 430 years began before the Exodus. He says the 430 years begins when Abraham enters Canaan in 1921 BC. As a result of this calculation, the Exodus occurs in the 1491 BC, 46 years earlier than the more popular date of 1446 BC. The 430 year sojourn in Egypt does not actually begin until Jacob arrives there in the year 1876 BC when he 130 years old (Genesis 47:9).

Therefore, I am not convinced that Ussher’s timeline is correct. I respectfully do not accept the 4004 BC dawn of creation date.

Continuing, Jacob dies 17 years after migrating to Egypt at 147 years old in the year 1859 BC. Joseph is 57 years old when his father dies. Joseph lives 53 more years and dies at 110 years old in 1806 BC (Genesis 50:26). He governs all of Egypt for 80 years as he began when he was 30 years old (Genesis 41:46).

The death of Joseph concludes the entire book of Genesis which covers over 2,000 years of human history - more than all the other 65 books of the Bible combined.

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[1] ca stands for about or approximately

[2] The Equinox is when the Sun causes the day and night on the planet to be almost equal in time.

Also the autumnal equinox happens every year in September 21,22 or 23^rd. This year for instance the autumnal equinox will take place on September 22^nd at 7:21 am PST. This is according to: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?n=806

The reason for Ussher using October 23^rd instead of September 21st is because of the adding and taking away of days between the Julian and Gregorian calendars

[3] The last four entries of this chart I added to include the birth of Isaac to the death of Joseph.