Read

The History of the Ages – Lesson 1

The first several lessons in this series are designed to give a foundation for what will be presented later. I urge you to pay particular attention to all of the scripture verses cited; read them several times, noting how they might be applied to explanations of word meanings, etc. 

“That which the Lord has chosen not to reveal belong to Him alone, but the things He has revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may know them and follow them.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

I. The pre-existence of God (that is, the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God…” “Beginning” is reshith, the start of a fixed period of time, here, the beginning of time as we understand it – this separates time from eternity past for our understanding. “God” is Elohim, a plural form that assumes the Trinity. Note: the beginning of time was not 6,000 yrs. ago with the creation of man, nor can you affix an arbitrary number to it as some do, trying to date the earth as millions or even hundreds of millions of years old. The age of the earth is not something that God has chosen to reveal to us, specifically. It is, in fact, something that cannot be accurately defined, as we will see in future lessons. When the Lord created the earth (Genesis 1:1), it would have already contained evidence of age, though it was recent.

-John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word…” Here, “in the beginning” is en arche, and this verse should be literally translated, “In a beginning that was not really a beginning the Word (that is, Christ) already existed”. Compare Colossians 1:16, 17; Hebrews 1:10; Revelation 1:8, 3:14. Note: The emphasis here is on the pre-existence of Christ, since He is the One responsible for the creation and restoration of the earth, as we will see later.

-Isaiah 46:8-13 illustrates a pre-existent, all-knowing, all-powerful God in control of the creation of the universe, the fixed periods of time in His plan for that universe and the fulfillment of all that He has purposed for mankind.

1. Christ has neither beginning nor end. By His own testimony in John 8:54-58: the literal translation of verse 58 should read something like this, “I’m telling you the truth, Jesus told them, long before Abraham was born, I existed.” In I John 5:11, 12, the word “eternal” is aionios, meaning, time in its total duration, including eternity past and eternity future. This illustrates the life of God. His existence is not affected by, defined by or confined to time as we know it or understand it by our own experience – we are finite, He is infinite.
2. Christ is eternally related to the other two members of the Trinity, John 1:1, 2 (verse 1 “with God”, and verse 2 “with God in the beginning”, again, en arche, as explained above). John 14:9-11, Jesus says He was “in the Father”, the Greek en, translated “in” illustrates relationship, could be translated “with” in more contemporary English. John 15:26 mentions all three members of the Trinity (working together in perfect harmony to accomplish the plan and purpose of God). The key word here is “testify”, translated from martureo and means, to speak on the basis of personal experience or firsthand knowledge. The Holy Spirit will talk about Christ only on the basis of personal, firsthand knowledge of Him due to their eternal relationship.

II. Jesus and creation. “Now He (that is, Christ) is the exact, visible representation of the unseen God; and He existed before all creation. Because it was by Him that all things were created, in heaven and on the earth, things both seen and unseen, whether they be thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. And He existed before all these things, and in Him they are all held together.” (Colossians 1:15-17) Then compare Psalms 33:6; John 1:3, 10; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:2 (where “worlds” is aion, ages of time, also in Hebrews 11:3); Revelation 4:11 (compare Psalm 19:1); all are self-explanatory.

Note: As you progress through these lessons, you will, no doubt notice quotes of verses or passages that may not entirely compare to any translation or version you might have (as Colossians 1:15-17 above). These are my own translations taking into consideration the context, accurate word meanings as they are translated from the original languages to English (as in sections I, A and B above), the grammatical structure and a more contemporary word usage to make the meaning more clearly understood.  

And it should be also understood at this point that the purity of the original texts of Hebrew in the Old Testament and Greek in the New Testament must be preserved. Therefore it is essential to correct some renderings in popular Bible versions that are based more on religious bias or modern scholarship that tends to distort the meaning of the writers, who used specific words with specific meanings in their understanding in their day, not in the minds of others several thousand years later who may have been influenced by other forces.  

Add to this the fact that the writers of the Scriptures were inspired to record what is written by the Holy Spirit of God in the first place. “First, it must be understood that no prophecy of the Scriptures is a matter of personal interpretation. For no prophecy ever came as a result of human thought, but men spoke only as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) You can also look at 2 Timothy 3:16, Acts 1:16 (a reference to Psalm 41:9). And just to clarify, the word “prophecy” above is from propheteia, and does not refer to predicting the future; the word means, to accurately proclaim the mind and counsel of God.