BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 66
October, 1994
Copyright 1994, Biblical Horizons
Since Revelation is laid out in serieses of sevens, it is worth investigating to see if there is a series of seven after the seven libation-bowls of chapter 16. I believe there is, and it is the burden of this essay to expose it.
The series of sevens, or heptamerous sequences, generally take their rise from Genesis 1. In Exodus, for instance, the lampstand or its oil is always found in the fourth slot, corresponding to the creation of the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day. Similarly, judgments concerning the sun occupy the fourth slot in the trumpet and libation-bowl judgments of Revelation.
Taking this as a hint, I suggest that Revelation 19:17-21 is the fourth in a series. "And I saw an angel standing in the sun." The Sun Angel pronounces the doom of the beast and false prophet, and they are cast into a lake of fire, a scorching sun before the throne of God.
The next vision is Revelation 20:1-3, where we see the serpent bound in the abyss for the duration of the millennium.
The sixth vision is Revelation 20:4-10, which concerns the rule of the saints during the millennium and what happens after the millennium is over. This works well as the enthronement of man on the sixth day.
The seventh vision is Revelation 20:11-15, which is the great white throne judgment. This is sabbatical, corresponding with the seventh day.
Then we come to a new creation, the last and eighth vision, of Revelation 21:1–22:5.
So far, we have seen rather clear correlations for the fourth, sixth, and seventh days.
The first of the last visions is Revelation 17, the destruction of Babylon by the Beast. I suggest that this is a de-creation vision, an antithesis to the first day of creation. Note that Babylon rules the waters, as the Spirit hovered over the waters.
The second of the last visions is Revelation 18:1–19:10, the lamentation over Babylon by the wicked, which is followed by the praise of God in heaven by the firmament-people of God. Babylon is thrown in the earthly sea, while the saints are in heaven with the heavenly sea (day 2).
The third of the last visions is Revelation 19:11-16, where we see Jesus and the Church coming out of the heavenly sanctuary after worship to conquer the world with the gospel. Included in this section is the statement that He treads the winepress of the wrath-wine of God, an allusion perhaps to the fruit trees made on the third day.
As is often the case, the associations are "vague," but there is enough to let us see the sequence as valid. It does indeed seem that Revelation ends with one last series of seven, in this case, seven plus one.
A. The judgment of Babylon, center of the First Creation.
B. The fall of Babylon, and the praise of the firmament-people.
C. Jesus rides forth to conquer.
A’. The fall of the Beast and False Prophet, from the sun.
C’. Jesus binds the serpent for 1000 years.
B’. The rule of True Babylon over the world.
A". The judgment of all humanity, of the New Creation.
A’".A new creation, a new Babylon-Jerusalem.
Note that in A, Babylon is burned (17:16); in A’ the Beast and false prophet are burned (19:20); and in A" all the wicked are burned (20:15).
BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 66
October, 1994
Copyright 1994, Biblical Horizons
In Revelation 10 John sees Jesus come down to him from heaven with a little book in His hand. Jesus cries out with a great voice, and seven thunders are heard. John hears messages in these seven thunders, and starts to write them down, as he has the seven seals and the seven trumpets, but he is told not to. "And I heard a voice from heaven saying, `Seal up the things that the seven thunders have spoken, and do not write them.’"
Commentators have run in three directions in interpreting this event. Some have remarked that this event shows us that we are not being told everything. God reserves some information for Himself and His prophet alone. This rebukes our pride, our desire to know everything. Now, while this is a worthy pious thought, it seems to have nothing to do with the context of the event or the purpose of the book as a whole, which after all is a "revelation."
A second interpretation is like unto it: The seven thunders are a special message for John alone, not for us. God has special things to say to each of us. Again, this is true enough, but how does it fit into what is going on in Revelation 10? Moreover, all of Revelation is addressed to the churches (1:1, 4), so why would there be a special, secret word to John in it?
Commentators who take one of these two approaches never have any explanation for this. There seems to be no reason for God to interrupt the flow of events to show us, at this particular point, that we don’t know everything, or to give a special, private word to John.
The third approach is far more satisfactory. It holds that the content of the seven thunders is same as that of the Little Book. The reason for holding this interpretation is that right after John is told to seal up the message of the thunders, he is told to eat the Little Book and to begin speaking again. Moreover, the same voice from heaven that told him to seal up the message of the thunders tells him to take the Book (10:8). As He gives the Book to John, Jesus tells him to eat it.
Previously John has been a spectator. He has recorded the messages he has been shown and that he has heard. Now he is to be a participant. He must eat the book, and then prophesy himself. This contrast explains why the seven thunders are not written down as such. John must absorb and internalize them, and then prophesy them himself.
What happens next in Revelation shows us what this means. John is told that he will prophesy, and then we are shown the two witnesses prophesying in Jerusalem in Revelation 11. After eating the Book, John is told the measure the Temple and (Bronze) Altar. This is not the physical Temple and Altar in Jerusalem, but refers to the true Temple and Altar of the Church. These are sealed and safeguarded before the judgments begin (compare 7:3ff.). Thus, it would seem that there is an identification between John and the two witnesses. The message is sweet but becomes bitter (10:10); the two prophets proclaim the good news, but eventually are slain. We notice also that Revelation 11:1-13, the measuring of the Temple & Altar and the work of the two witnesses, is the only section that John did not "see" or "hear." It is not introduced by "and I saw" or "and I heard." John’s participation seems more direct.
This leads to the suggestion that the Little Book consists only of the message proclaimed in 11:3-7. It is not the New Testament, nor is it the whole Book of Revelation. It is what the two prophets, signified by John himself, proclaim.
While this might seem the simplest explanation of the Little Book, and has been advocated by some, there is a problem: According to 10:11, the Little Book causes John to prophesy concerning many people and nations and tongues and kings. Revelation 11:1-13 only concerns Jerusalem. Accordingly, the Little Book must extend beyond this section, but how far? Also, we notice that after Revelation 11, we go back to the phrases "and I saw" and "and I heard," which thus must also be included as part of John’s prophesying.
I think it is correct to link John with the two witnesses of Revelation 11, though, as we have done. This is enough to show things that John himself, and thus the witness of the Firstfruits Church, will prophesy the contents of the Little Book.
I should like to suggest that we may be able to uncover the seven thunders, and that this will help us to know the specific boundaries of the Little Book within Revelation. We notice in 10:3 that Jesus cries with at "great voice," which is like the roar of a lion, and which is answered in seven thunders. I suggest that the thunders are identified as "great voice" utterances in the passages that follow.
There are, however, more than seven "great voice" utterances from specific heavenly voices. If there were only seven, I could feel more secure in this interpretive suggestion. As it is, it must remain tentative.
Here are my conclusions as to where the Seven Thunders are found:
First Thunder – 11:12, "And they heard a great voice from heaven saying to them, `Come up here!’" The great voice calls the dead bodies of the two witnesses, the martyrs of the Firstfruits Church, to heaven. This comes right at the end of the Sixth Trumpet.
Second Thunder – 12:10, "And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, `Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Messiah have come . . . ." The great voice announces the coming of the fullness of the Kingdom. This is part of the Seventh Trumpet. At the beginning of the Seventh Trumpet, John heard "great voices" in heaven saying the same thing. This would be one "thunder" in two parts. Between these two parts the earthly ministry of Jesus is discussed.
Third Thunder – 14:7-18. There are actually four "great voices" in this section, but they are arranged as one. Seven messengers appear as follows:
A. Great Voice Angel (v. 6): the eternal gospel
B. Angel (v. 8): Babylon is fallen
A’. Great Voice Angel (v. 9): wrath upon the Beast
C. The Son of Man (v. 14): reaps the wheat
A". Great Voice Angel (v. 15): calls for the harvest
B’. Angel (v. 17): reaps the grapes
A’".Great Voice Angel: (v. 18): calls for grape harvest
This "thunder" ends the trumpet sequence with the harvest of the Firstfruits Church.
Fourth thunder – 16:1 & 17: Great voices begin and end the series of libation-bowls, bringing the destruction of the Old Creation order.
Fifth thunder – 18:2, "And [another angel] cried out with a great voice, saying, `Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great!’" This "thunder" announces the fall of Jerusalem.
Sixth thunder – 19:17, "And I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven, "Come. Assemble for the great supper of God.’" This thunder announces the destruction of the Beast and his army.
Seventh thunder – 21:3, "And I heard a great voice from the Throne, saying, `Behold! The tabernacle of God is among men." This is the sabbatical and final thunder.
Now, if I am correct, at least this far we have come in the contents of the Little Book. I suggest that the Little Book continues to 22:7, "Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." John refers to himself in the next verse, indicating the close of a section, and the last time he himself has acted was when he ate the Little Book. This phrase, of course, might refer just as well to all of Revelation. Verse 10, however, goes on to say, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book." Since John was told to seal up the seven thunders, but was given the open Little Book to eat, and since they are almost certainly equivalent, I believe the Little Book is specifically what is spoken of here.
Two further observations: The voice of God is like a trumpet and like thunder. It seems to me that the seven thunders, which begin within the trumpet sequence, serve to extend the trumpets to the end of Revelation. Just as the seals open the book which contains everything that follows, including the Little Book, so the trumpets announce everything that follows, including the libation-bowls, the millennium, and the New Jerusalem. Also, since the first two thunders correspond to the sixth and seventh trumpets, there remain five. Thus, the seven trumpets are extended to twelve by means of the five remaining thunders.
My second observation is based on the association of the sequences of seven in Revelation with the events of creation week in Genesis 1, and the other re-creation sequences in the Bible that consist of seven sections. Notice, for instance, that in both the trumpets and the libation-bowls, the fourth judgment affects the sun, a clear fourth-day association. I believe that the seven trumpets, as I have set them out, show some correlations to that same pattern.
These correlations are very "vague," but vague correlations are as important as precise ones, just as vague language is just as important as precise language. (Compare "The sun rose at six this morning," with "The horizon of the earth dropped to reveal the first crescent of the sun at 6:01:23 a.m., as seen from Niceville, Florida, 2428 Martin Drive." Both are valid ways of speaking. Both are true, in terms of their universe of discourse.)
Bear in mind that the seven days of Genesis 1 are thematically chiastic. Possibly then:
– The seventh thunder, which announces God’s sabbath dwelling among men, is sabbatical.
– The second thunder, which announces the coming of the Kingdom, corresponds to the establishment of the firmament, the people of God, between heaven and earth. That God’s people are this firmament is clearly taught in the various 7-fold re-creation sequences in Exodus.
– The sixth thunder, which announces the destruction of the Beast and the false prophet, corresponds to the sixth day, on which beasts and men were created.
– The first thunder calls the saints to heaven. While this does not have any clear association with the first day of creation, we can see it as a chiastic balance to the seventh thunder, which shows God coming down to man.
– The third thunder, which harvests grain and grape, corresponds to the third day, when grain and fruit were created.
– The fourth thunder might have an association with the fourth day, in that the libation-bowls are poured from heaven, and the heavenly rulers were set up on the fourth day. At the center of this sequence, the fourth libation-bowl causes the sun (day four) to burn men.
– This leaves the fifth thunder. Those who have read our other studies on the heptamerous sequences in the Bible (in Biblical Horizons 46-50) know that this is the slot that has the most vagueness and seeming diversity. It is usually associated with swarms (the fifth day) and the cloud of incense over the altar (signifying God’s holy cloud-swarm). Babylon is a counterfeit Church, thus a counterfeit holy swarm. Moreover, Revelation 18, which is introduced by this thunder, delineates a whole list of people who traded with Babylon and the wares they sold her (which are the accoutrements of the Temple worship). Thus, there is a false "swarm" here. Additionally, the thunder says that Babylon is the habitation of every evil bird (day five), and speaks most about sea-traders (fishes) who traffic with Jerusalem.
Summary
I have suggested that while the seven thunders are sealed as such, their content is found in the Little Book. I think we can be pretty confident of this assertion, and it is not a new one.
I have suggested that the Little Book runs from Revelation 11:1 to 22:7. This is not a new idea, though it is only one of many suggested possibilities. I am fairly confident of it.
I have suggested that we can find seven thunders in the Little Book by looking at the "great voice" pronouncements from heaven. I am less confident of this assertion, but it seems right to me.
I have identified what I think these seven thunders are. I am about as confident of these identifications as I am that they are to be identified at all. In other words, if we can find the seven thunders, then I am pretty sure of what they are. What makes me feel fairly confident of this is their vague association with the seven days of creation, especially since the seven days of creation underlie many of the other sequences of seven in the book of Revelation.
Biblical Chronology
Vol. 6, No. 10
October, 1994
Copyright © James B. Jordan 1994
by James B. Jordan
The numbers found in Genesis 5 & 11 display characteristics that indicate a complex and meticulous symbolic schematization operating at several levels. Because these numbers are so potent symbolically, unbelieving scholars have universally (as far as I know) treated them as artificial. Believers take them literally, but believers must also reflect on their meaning. Our purpose in this essay is to uncover what we can of their significance.
First of all, we notice that there are 10 generations from Adam to Noah, and also 10 generations from Noah to Abram:
Adam Noah
Seth Shem
Enosh Arpachshad
Kenan Shelah
Mahalalel Eber
Jared Peleg
Enoch Reu
Methuselah Serug
Lamech Nahor
Noah Terah
Japheth Nahor
Shem Abram
Ham Haran
This numerical scheme seems contrived, and that’s because it is indeed contrived. The question is: Who contrived it? Was it contrived by a "priestly redactor" late in the history of the kingdom of Judah, or even after the exile, who was simply trying to show that God superin-
tends history; or was it contrived by God Himself, the Playwrite of all history? For believers, the answer must be the latter.
This, however, is only the beginning. To help us consider these passages, we shall summarize the data in tabulations that follow. As regards Genesis 5, we are told how old each patriarch was at the time of the birth of his significant son, how many more years he lived, and then we are given the total of the years of his life. Moreover, in most cases, these numbers are given in a strangely elaborate form, which contrasts with the way numbers are ordinarily written in the Bible. Usually, large numbers in Hebrew are given in this form:
"And the years of the life of Levi were 7 & 30 & 100 years" (Ex. 6:16).
"And Moses was a son of 100 & 20 years when he died" (Dt. 34:7).
"A son of 16 years he was when he became king, and 50 & 2 years he reigned in Jerusalem" (2 Kings 15:2).
In these instances, drawn at random, we see that the word "years" appears only once, after all the numbers. In most instances in Genesis 5 & 11, however, the numbers are partially separated by the repeated term "years"; to wit:
"And Methuselah lived 7 & 80 years and 100 years and begat Lamech. And Methuselah lived after begetting Lamech 2 & 80 years and 700 years, and he begat sons and daughters. And all of the days of Methuselah were 9 & 60 years and 900 years, and he died" (Gen. 5:25-27).
This literary structure has the effect of creating several significant chains of numbers, which now follow:
Lifespans Numbers as Written in Hebrew
Adam 130+800=930 130 + 800 = 900 & 30
Seth 105+807=912 5 & 100 + 7 & 800 = 12 & 900
Enosh 90+815=905 90 + 15 & 800 = 5 & 900
Kenan 70+840=910 70 + 40 & 800 = 10 & 900
Mahalalel 65+830=895 5 & 60 + 30 & 800 = 95 & 800
Jared 162+800=962 62 & 100 + 800 = 62 & 900
Enoch 65+300=365 65 + 300 = 65 & 300
Methuselah 187+782=969 87 & 100 + 82 & 700 = 69 & 900
Lamech 182+595=777 82 & 100 + 95 & 500 = 77 & 700
Noah’s years are not given in this form. Genesis 5:32 says that "Noah was a son of 500 years and he begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth." (According to Genesis 10:21, Japheth was the eldest, and according to Genesis 9:24, Ham was the youngest.) "Noah was a son of 600 years when the flood put waters on the earth" (Gen. 7:6).
Also, Genesis 9:28-29 says that Noah lived 350 years after the Flood, for a total of 950 years, using this form:
Noah After Flood: 300 years & 50 years
Total: 900 years & 50 years
Let us notice a couple of significant features of this data so far. First, the text says that Adam was 130 years
old when he begat Seth; it does not say that he was 30 years & 100 years old. This contrasts with every other item in the list. Why this is so is unclear to me.
Second, in the cases of Adam and Noah, the total life span is given in reversed literary order from the rest; in their cases alone the number of centuries is given first, and then the remainder of years. This seems to link the two men as progenitors of humanity.
Let us now consider the post-flood patriarchs in Genesis 11. Here the information is simpler, in that we are not given the total number of years each patriarch lived; we have to figure that out for ourselves from the data provide (age at birth of significant son+remaining years):
Lifespans Numbers as Written In Hebrew
Shem 100+500(=600) 100 + 500
Arpachshad 35+403(=438) 35 + 3 & 400
Shelah 30+403(=433) 30 + 3 & 400
Eber 34+430(=464) 34 + 30 & 400
Peleg 30+209(=239) 30 + 9 & 200
Reu 32+207(=239) 32 + 7 & 200
Serug 30+200(=230) 30 + 200
Nahor 29+119(=148) 29 + 19 & 100
Terah 70(+135)=205 70 (+135) = 5 & 200
In all these cases, the century years follow the extra years.
Now, this peculiar way of stating years is also used sometimes in the rest of Genesis for the patriarchs, and for a couple of other significant periods in the Bible; to wit:
Abram enters land (Gen. 12:4) 5 years & 70 years
Abram receives Ishmael (Gen. 16:16) 80 years & 6 years
Covenant of circumcision (Gen. 17:1) 90 years & 9 years
(contrast 17:24) 99 years
Lifespan of Sarah (Gen. 23:1) 100 & 20 & 7
Lifespan of Abraham (Gen. 25:7) 100 & 70 & 5
Lifespan of Ishmael (Gen. 25:17) 100 & 30 & 7
Lifespan of Isaac (Gen. 35:28) 100 & 80
Lifespan of Jacob (Gen. 47:28) 7 & 40 & 100
Lifespan of Joseph (Gen. 50:22, 26) 110; 110 (note contrast)
Sojourn in Egypt (Ex. 12:40, 41) 30 & 400; 30 & 400
Lifespan of Aaron (Num. 33:9) 123 (note contrast)
Lifespan of Moses (Dt. 34:7) 120 (note contrast)
Lifespan of Joshua (Josh. 24:29) 110 (note contrast)
Exodus to Temple (1 Ki. 6:1) 80 & 400
What accounts for this oddity of expression? One thing we can notice is that outside of the patriarchs, the only other two occurances of this form are found in connection with the exodus from Egypt and the building of the Temple; or perhaps more pointedly the building the Tabernacle (representing Israel and the world) and the Temple (representing the same). The last patriarch whose years are recounted in this way is Israel himself.
The years of the patriarchs are recounted in this elaborate manner from Adam to Noah and Shem, from Shem to Eber, and from Eber (Hebrew) to Jacob (Israel). The period from Abraham the Hebrew to the Exodus is recounted this way, as is the period from the Exodus to the Temple. Thus, from creation to the Temple this extended form is used.
The only person whose lifespan is recounted this way who does not seem to belong in the list is Ishmael, but when we consider that Ishmael represents the entire converted Gentile world, sons of Egyptian women who recognize Abraham as father, we can see a possibly reason why his lifespan is signified by this lengthened form. (On Ishmael’s conversion, see Genesis 21:20, "God was with the lad," as explained by the same phrase two verses later in 21:22.)
This lengthened formula of dating is used in the patriarchs for the birth of the significant son (Gen. 5 & 11), and for certain events in the life of Abraham: his entrance into the land (the microcosmic world), the birth of Ishmael (a new first-Adam, the portion of humanity that is saved and led), and the promise of Isaac (a promised last-Adam, the portion of humanity, ultimately Christ, that saves and leads).
Finally, in the cases of Adam and Noah, the centuries come first and then the remaining years. This is also true of Abraham and his immediate family (Sarah, Ishmael, Isaac). Thus, I suggest Abraham is presented as a Third Adam, a new progenitor.
Fascinating Numbers
The style of writing we have been examining has the effect of isolating the hundreds from the rest of a number. Thus, the number 782 becomes 700 + 82. This causes us to reflect on these numbers in a more precise way than we might: We don’t simply ask what the number 782 might signify, or what its factors might be; but we also ask what the numbers 700 and 82 might mean and what their factors might be. When we do this, something odd turns up: Virtually every number in these lists ends in either 0, 2, 5, 7, or 9. Moreover, it can easily be shown that every number is composed of 10s, 5s, and 7s. The texts of Genesis 5 & 11 provide us with 38 numbers (not counting hundreds). If we were to take 18 people out of the population at random, and take the year their first child was born, the number of additional years they lived, and their total lifespan, what are the odds that all of these numbers would be composed of 10s, 5s, and 7s?
You can look back at the list and see these numbers. First comes Adam, with a 30. Then comes Seth, with a 5 (105) and a 7 (807) for a total of 12 (912). The numbers in Seth’s life provide a clue for understanding certain other numbers, as we shall see. Here are the rest:
Enosh 90, 15, 5
Kenan 70, 40, 10
Mahalalel 5, 30, 95
Jared 62 (50+[5+7])
Enoch 65
Methuselah 87, 82 (70+[5+7]), 69 (50+[5+7]+7)
Lamech 82 (70+[5+7]), 95, 77
Notice that the more complex numbers are still composed of fives and sevens. 62 is built from 50, and 82 is built from 70.
5+7=12, and 12 is certainly a significant number. It appears first with Seth (105+807=912). Jared’s 62 is 50+12; and Methuselah’s 82 is 70+12. Methuselah’s 69 is 50+12+7.
Certain other numbers also are composed of 5 & 7. For instance, Mahalalel lived "5 years and 60 years" and begat Jared, while Enoch lived "65 years" and begat Methuselah. Mahalalel comes first, and thus explains 65 to us. 65 is (5×12)+5; or (5x[5+7])+5.
The number 95, which occurs twice in the series, might be seen simply as a multiple of 5, or as (7×10)+(5×5).
When we turn to Genesis 11, we have fewer numbers, but they are equally curious. Here again are the numbers as given in the text, this time including the hundreds:
Shem 100, 500
Arpachshad 35, 3 + 400
Shelah 30, 3 + 400
Eber 34, 30 + 400
Peleg 30, 9 + 200
Reu 32, 7 + 200
Serug 30, 200
Nahor 29, 19 + 100
Terah 70, 5 + 200
At first glance, we are struck by the predominance of 3, itself a very significant number in the Bible: the number of the preliminary crisis in the middle of the week (3d day, 3d week, 3d hour, 3d year, etc.). At second glance, however, most of these 3s are visibly and inescapably linked with 4s, to make symbolic 7s. Notice these numbers from the list:
3 + 400 (twice)
30 + 400
34
We should not fail to see the obvious allusion to 7 here.
Moreover, Arpachshad’s 35 years are 5×7. With Terah we have a 70 and a 5. Peleg’s 9 seems an anomaly, but the next Patriarch, Reu, has the same total number of years, but with a 2 and a 7 instead. Reu’s 32 seems to be 20+5+7. Nines show up again with Nahor, but here again these nine only conceal 5s and 7s:
29 = 10+5+7+7
19 = 5+7+7
Now, it is amazing enough that out of such a small population sampling, we should find virtually all the numbers ending in 0, 2, 5, 7, & 9. It is even more amazing to find that all the 2s and 9s reduce to 7s in such a way that the remainder of the number is also significant in terms of this system of 5s and 7s (see Note below). It is even more amazing to find that almost all of the few 3s and 4s that do crop up are visibly paired, forming 7s of some sort.
But what is yet more amazing is that this system continues on in Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch, with the addition of the number 3 (which we have seen creeping into Genesis 11). Consider these lifespans:
Sarah 100 & 20 & 7
Abraham 100 & 70 & 5
Ishmael 100 & 30 & 7
Isaac 100 & 80
Jacob 7 & 40 & 100
Joseph 110
Sojourn 430 years
Levi 137 (Ex. 6)
Kohath 133 (Ex. 6)
Amram 137 (Ex. 6)
Aaron 123
Moses 120
Joshua 110
[NOTE: Of course, any number above 2 and 9 themselves can be reduced to 5s and 7s and 10s. For instance, 99 is 7+7+5+80. What is significant about the 2s and 9s in the Genesis 5 chronology is that once we’ve subtracted the 7s and 5s necessary to get a round number (divisible by 10), that number itself is either 50 or 70. The only such numbers are 62, 69, and 82.]
The occurrence of these numbers 5, 7, 10, and 12 invites us to consider the genealogies themselves.
The fifth from Noah is Eber, who is directly tied to the witness of Shem in Genesis 10:21, and whose name is heard in the term "Hebrew." The Hebrews are the focussed continuance of the religious calling of Shem (Gen. 9:26-27).
The fifth from Adam is Mahalalel. What is significant about him is that he died in the year a.m.1290, which is 366 years before the Flood. Considering that Enoch lived
365 years, we are entitled to see the number 366 as significant. Mahalalel’s death began a countdown, a Great Year of grace, which was extended by one further year, before the Flood. (Also, it may be noted that 1290 is 3×430, and recurs with exodus-connotations in Daniel 12:11.)
The seventh from Adam is Enoch, who walked with God after 365 years and was taken by God without passing through earthly death. The fourteenth from Adam is Eber, whose name is preserved in the word Hebrew. The twenty-first from Adam is Isaac, the miracle son.
The seventh from Noah is Reu. What is significant about him is only indirectly revealed. Let’s go back: The seventh from Adam in the line of Cain is the murderous polygamistic poet Lamech–quite a contrast to Enoch. Reu also contrasts with the seventh from Noah in this way: Eber had two sons: Peleg and Joktan. The Joktanites were involved in Babel (Gen. 10:30 + 11:2). Genesis 10:26-29 lists 13 sons of Joktan, who moved east with him and were involved with Babel. By way of contrast, we are only given one son of Peleg by name: Reu. The Hebrew Reu continued the true line when the Hebrew Joktanites apostatized. Thus there was judgment and separation in the 3rd generation from Eber, the 7th generation from Noah.
The tenth from Adam is Noah; the tenth from Noah is Terah, father of Abram. Since the second chronology starts with Shem, we can also see that Abram is tenth from Shem. The fifteenth from Adam is Peleg, in whose days the earth was divided at the tower of Babel. The twentieth from Adam is Abram.
The twelfth from Adam is Arpachshad, born after the Flood. The twelfth from Noah is Isaac, the miracle son born after the circumcision. (The coming of circumcision in Genesis 17 should be regarded as an historical event analogous to the Flood or to the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost; it created a new world.) The twelfth from Shem is Israel.
Now, if we consider the other names on the list, which have no numerical association with 5, 7, 10, or 12, we find that nothing significant is said about any of them:
Enosh
Kenan
Jared
Lamech, father of Noah (an exception: he uttered a prophecy)
Shelah
Serug
Nahor
Rite Reasons, Studies in Worship, No. 35
Copyright (c) 1994 Biblical Horizons
October, 1994
Prostration
God has designed the human body in a marvelous way, and Biblical religion is very physical. We believe in the resurrection of the body, against all pagan ideas of the immortality of the soul. We bury our bodies, not burning them. Human beings in their totality, including our bodies, are the images of God and are designed to serve Him.
When we sit down we are in a position of rest and judgment. We don’t sit to receive orders. We sit to evaluate. Our body is designed to fall backwards into this position.
The fullest position of rest is reclining. We recline to sleep and to make love. The disciples reclined with Jesus at the Last Supper. Sitting or reclining, positions of rest, are the only appropriate postures for the communion meal.
We stand to receive orders. We stand because we are ready for action, ready for obedience. God has made our bodies this way.
We can also fall forwards, prostrating ourselves. This is the posture of humility, submission, and adoration.
And so, we kneel for the confession of sin in worship, stand to hear the Word, sit to evaluate the sermon (Acts 17:11, and recline to eat the communion meal.
Thus, the Second Word is intensely physical. The iconolaters in the semi-Christian churches maintain that when they bow and adore icons and statues and crosses and sacraments, they are only rendering “second class” worship, veneration not adoration. They say that their mental attitude is right, so that their body’s posture does not matter. This is not the attitude of Biblical religion; it is the attitude of paganism.
The Biblical, authentically Christian worldview says that our body influences our mind, just as our mind influences our body. This is obvious to us when we are tired and cannot think well, or if we are on drugs or have drunk too much alcohol. But it is also true, for instance, that if we sit for prayer we will not understand prayer very well. It is also true, for instance, that if we kneel for communion we shall never understand very much about the meaning of the communion meal.
Moreover, if we kneel for communion, eventually we are all too likely to wind up adoring the communion elements, which are nothing but bread and wine. The Bible never provides any rite for consecrating bread and wine so as to turn them into Christ’s body and blood in some sense. Rather, the Bible says that Christ’s body and blood are really and mystically given to us as we eat the communion meal.
Thus, the body and its postures are important, very important. They are important enough that God has attached great curses to moving the body in the wrong way: bowing before manmade objects in worship. The only way to get around this law of God is to do what the heretical churches have done: adopt a pagan view of the relationship of mind and body.
The Curse & Blessing of the Second Word
The most horrible of all curses is found connected to violations of the Second Word. For this reason alone, I believe that no one in his right mind would consider going into the iconolatrous churches. God says that those who set up images and prostrate to them, as a way supposedly of worshipping Him, are in reality guilty of hating Him. He says that they are spiritual adulterers, who provoke Him to jealousy. He says that He will curse their children to the third and fourth generation. By way of contrast, those who resist this temptation will be blessed for thousands of generations! In the light of such horrible threats, we should be very, very careful what we bow down to!
God says that those who bow to icons and sacraments hate Him. To hate means to treat with contempt. God has set up the wonderful covenant as a means to have conversation with us, but we prefer to bow to silent images!
God says that He is jealous, and this is the language of marriage in the Bible (Numbers 5). Suppose a man says that he loves his wife, but spends all his time drooling over the centerfolds of Playboy magazine. Does he love her or has he betrayed her? If we love our wife, we converse with her; the fact that so many marriages are silent is proof of the depth of our Original Sin, and is something we must fight. But now we set up pictures of other women, and say that they remind us of our wife. We masturbate in front of these pictures, and say that it is almost the same as making love to our wife. We say that the affection we give to these pictures “rises up” to our wife. It does not matter that she has told us to get rid of these things! That is exactly how God regards image-worship. No wonder God hates it, and no wonder he regards those who do it as hating Him!
The fact that judgment runs down to the third and fourth generation is significant. It means that the results of breaking the Second Word are not immediately obvious. Protestants who go into Rome, Orthodoxy, or Anglo-Catholicism still retain their knowledge of the Bible. They still have some moral discipline. And since these churches are not completely idolatrous, there is some reinforcement of the Word of God to be found in them. The corruption of iconic worship, however, will become clear by the fourth generation, for a culture will emerge that is cruel and degraded. Men who move their families into these semi-Christian churches doom their children and grandchildren.
Why Do Men Make Idols?
When a pagan or a semi-Christian makes an idol or an icon, he knows full well that he has not created a god. Rather, he believes that his image somehow captures some of God’s divine “being” and thus establishes a link between himself and God, or between himself and the saint. It is the same as voodoo. The voodoo priest makes a doll to represent you. He energizes the doll by getting some of your hair or blood and putting it into the doll. Then, when he sticks a needle into the doll, you are supposed to feel the pain.
I recall when I was young and for a few years attended a Roman Catholic parochial school, the Catholic kids would buy holy cards, which were sort of like religious baseball cards but with pictures of saints on them. Then they would ask the priest to bless the cards. This made the cards “special.” It was implied, if not always stated, that this blessing energized the card and made it a special telephone to the saint.
For an icon in the Eastern Church to be a real icon it has to be made by a consecrated monk, using consecrated wood and pigments, and properly consecrated. Thereafter it has captured some of the essence or being of the saint it portrays, and is a window to that saint. It is not true that the icons are just pictures to remind us of our older brothers and sisters in heaven.
The consecrationist view of the sacraments says that after the priest has consecrated the bread and wine, they become in some mystical sense the body and blood of Christ. Thus, they may be held up and adored, prayed to, etc. You want to keep some of the leftover consecrated bread in the church so that people can come in an have “conversations with the blessed sacrament.” In authentic Christianity, there is no rite of consecration of bread and wine. Rather, Jesus told us to give thanks for it, and we receive Him, really and mystically, as we eat it. But the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine.
All of these perverse teachings are based on a pagan view of existence. These doctrines treat persons as if they were impersonal forces or objects. Instead of relating to God personally through conversation, we get some of God’s “being” and stuff it into bread and wine and bow down to it. This notion views God as a Thing, not as a Person. Similarly, the notion that we can capture part of the saintness of the saint and put it into an icon treats the saint not as a person but as a thing. Voodoo does the same thing, but treats living people this way, seeking to create an impersonal, mechanical link to another person by means of the doll and hair.
These objects are not viewed as gods, thus, but as mediators or links to God. They are essentially mechanical, impersonal links. They are false mediators, counterfeits of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word of God. Man does not want God Himself as a Mediator, because God is not under our control. We want to create our own mediators.
Romans 1:18 says that men suppress the truth. To suppress the truth, men must know it. Thus, part of the essence of Original Sin is self-deception. Iconic religion participates in this self-deception in a very obvious way. The iconolater creates an object that supposedly links him to God or to a saint. Such a heavenly being is supposed to have authority over us, but these icons are silent, and thus have no authority over us at all. If anything is obvious it is that these objects have nothing to do with God or heavenly authorities at all. They cannot, for they cannot give us orders or counsel. Yet the iconolater, in his self-deception, thinks that these silent things, which he has set up, are links to heavenly authorities. It escapes his sin-darkened mind that this is completely contradictory.
The reason the iconolater is determined to live with this self-contradiction is that he must be in control. He must be the one to make the mediator, and the mediator must be silent so that he can keep control of his own life. This is the opposite of the true state of affairs, revealed in authentic Christianity. God has set up the Mediator, and the Mediator is anything but silent! We are not in control of who the Mediator is or how He has effected our salvation. And when we submit to the Mediator, we must hear His Word, which has supreme authority over us and constantly rebukes our sinful tendencies.
Thus, to summarize:
In Christianity,
God sets up the Mediator.
The Mediator is verbal, not visual.
We must listen and be changed.
In paganism and semi-Christianity,
Man sets up the mediators by making images.
The mediators are visual, not verbal.
The mediators are silent, so we are not changed.
Now, the semi-Christian churches think that we can have both the Bible and images, both the Word and silent bowing to manmade objects. God has said no to this. God tells us in the Bible over and over again that if we try to do both we are adulterers, married to God but masturbating with idols. (Since idols are not real, we cannot fornicate with them, we can only masturbate with them. Does my language offend you? Good, it should! This is how God views it!)
Since these churches have both, there are people in them that focus on the Bible rather than on bowing to objects. We can rejoice in this, and some writers and thinkers in these traditions have genuine insights into God’s plan for history. Because they have mixed Christianity with paganism, however, there is only so far they can go.
Idolatry and Iconolatry
The Bible shows us that any attempt to worship God through images is treated by Him as idolatry. Those who use images claim to worship Yahweh, but in fact worship a figment of their own imaginations. Today the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim to worship the God of the Bible, but we know that they worship a false god of their own invention.
For this reason, the Protestant Reformers rightly said that when men set up artifacts and bow down to them, claiming to worship the God of Christianity, they are actually worshipping a false God of their own devising. They hate the real God, setting Him aside for one they have made.
Sins against the Second Word come into existence when it is no longer possible to break the First Word openly. In the first phase of Israel under the Law, the Israelites tended to worship other gods, as throughout the period of the Judges. By the time of the Kingdom, however, it had become clearly established that Yahweh was the God of Israel. Forsaking Yahweh and worshipping other gods by name was no longer a likely avenue for the sinful heart to follow. But it was possible to worship Yahweh hypocritically.
Breaking the Second Word is hypocrisy at its most blatant. The Israelites set up shrines and little temples on high places, and put in these shrines objects representing the lesser gods who were said to be in Yahweh’s court: Baal, Asherah, etc. There might be a golden calf to represent the focal point of mediation to Yahweh. People would to the shrines and leave gifts to buy favors from these lesser gods, just as the semi-Christians light candles and incense to icons and statues today. Thus, while giving lip service to Yahweh as God, the actual religious practice focused on the service of manmade mediators. This was the awful “sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin.”
This is hypocrisy because it is claiming to worship God while doing exactly what He has explicitly ordered us not to do. There can be no more extreme form of hypocrisy.
Men are naturally idolators. They worship anything but the true God. Once the true God reveals Himself, it is natural for sinners to stray from Him. Common sense tells us that one of the foremost ways to stray from the true Yahweh is to invent a false Yahweh. We still get to speak of the Trinity, of Christ, of Jesus, etc., but we invest these terms with false meaning. This is what Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses do, for instance. Now, what did Yahweh say to Israel was the test by which they would know if they were worshipping the true Yahweh or a false Yahweh? It was the Second Word. If they set up images and worshipped at or through them, they were worshipping a false Yahweh of their own imagination. This is why iconolatry is just disguised idolatry. Worshipping “Yahweh” on high places, or worshipping “Yahweh” at the calves, or worshipping “Yahweh” while rendering service to various baals (powers, saints), all of these are idolatrous because this “Yahweh” does not exist.
How can I know that my worship is acceptable to God? I can relax and offer Him my praise as long as I don’t venerate any manmade object.
What About Catholics?
Of course, the semi-Christian churches recognize the possibility of false Christs, but they only recognize them doctrinally. Thus, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses hold to a false Christ. This is one valid approach to the question, but when it is the only approach to recognizing a false Christ, it betrays the influence of gnosticism and intellectualism. Another approach, and the one the Bible emphasizes, is worship. Worship shows our hearts, which are deceptive. Our hearts deceive us. How, then, can we know our hearts? The Bible says that if we venerate manmade objects we are not worshipping the true God, and that is evidence that our hearts probably “hate” God. It may feel right to us, but our hearts cannot be trusted. Man can only look on the outward appearance, and that means I can only see my own outward appearance. I cannot discern my own heart. God has, thus, graciously given me outward signs by which I can assess myself. The Second Word is preeminent among them.
So, should we regard Roman Catholics, Anglo-Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox people as Christians? The Reformers treated their baptisms as legitimate but their practices as corrupted by idolatry. The Reformers recognized that the Bible distinguishes between sins of being misled from high-handed sins. People who grow up in such cultures may never really and effectively be challenged to set aside such damaging practices. People converted from paganism to Roman Catholicism may come into the Church because they want Christ, the Bible, the Church, the worship of God, etc. They get some “barnacles” along with it, and they accept these because they don’t know any better. We should give them the judgment of charity.
But what of people who forsake authentic Christianity and go into Rome or Orthodoxy or Anglo-Catholicism? What about Scott Hahn and Frankie Schaeffer? They men already had Christ, the Bible, the Church, the sacraments, true worship, etc. But they wanted something else. They wanted idols. They have yielded to the idolatry of their hearts. They are apostates. I do not believe we can give them the same judgment of charity, though all judgment ultimately rests with God, and He will deal with them.
The Protestant Church today is dying in many ways, and some people become so frustrated with it, and become so enamored with the seeming strength of the Vatican or the seeming strength of Orthodox tradition, that they go into one or the other. This is a foolish decision, one that is essentially sinful. Still, we have to have some charity in some such cases. When the shepherd (authentic Christianity) is struck, the sheep sometimes scatter.
(to be continued)
