The Power of Darkness

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In Luke 22:53, Jesus states to those who had come to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, “When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me; but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”  Jesus spoke these words to the chief priests and elders and captains of the temple who came to arrest Him.  He understood the significance of the moment.  His time had come.  The forces of evil were converging in this historic moment and He would soon face death by crucifixion.
The Foe
The evil forces at work in this world as listed by Paul in Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
The foes we face are spiritual in nature.  Satan and his angels (Matt. 25:41) form part of this evil force.  If the warfare is spiritual, then the weapons must also be spiritual in nature to fight against it (II Cor. 10:4-6; Eph. 6:10-18).  This evil force is organized.  Paul mentions principalities and powers which refer to the various dominions of evil.  He mentions the rulers (plural) of the darkness of this world which refers to Satan and his allies.  The foe is a powerful evil force.  Powerful, but yet limited.  Satan’s powers are limited by God.  Satan cannot coerce people to sin.  Also, he does not share ultimate authority with God.  Satan is always depicted in Scripture as being in subjection to God’s power.  The power that he exerts is evil or wicked.  He opposes truth and righteousness.  He is the father of lies (John 8:44) and he tempts people to commit all manner of sinful acts.  The existence of this foe is proof that there is objective evil in the world.  The enemy of truth and righteousness is knowable.  He is revealed by God through God’s holy Word.  We can know Satan’s methods of operation.  Finally, Satan does not do his work alone.  He has individuals (ministers) who, being deceived, help carry out his evil schemes (II Cor. 11:14-15).  Jesus finds Himself in the midst of an evil scheme to take His life.  Judas would betray Him.  The chief priests and elders would have Him arrested.  The scheme was diabolical and effective.
The Force
The arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was the culmination of the conspiracy made between Judas and the chief priests and elders among the Jews (Matt. 26:14-16).  Judas, a friend and apostle of Jesus, betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver.  Judas was a thief (John 12:4-6).  He was covetous and selfish.  Satan was working in his heart.  The chief priests and elders were religious leaders among the Jews.  They also permitted Satan to use them.  In Matt. 27:18, we are told that they delivered Jesus because of envy.  They generated lies about Jesus accusing Him of blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God and of insurrection because He claimed to be a king.  Jesus was the Son of God and He was and is the King of kings! Later, the governor of Judea, Pilate, would condemn Jesus to death even though after examination, he could find no fault in Him.  Pilate proved unjust and acted to do what was politically expedient.  Satan was working in his heart too.  Evil converges through a friend and disciple, religious rulers, political figures and the people controlled by them.  This convergence of evil in the hearts of men found its object in Jesus Christ.
The Fortification
How did Jesus handle this moment?  He was fully aware of what was transpiring (spiritually aware).  He knew the enemy and how he worked.  He recognized the power of darkness in the people who had betrayed him and were arresting Him. Jesus committed Himself to Him that judges righteously (I Pet. 2:23).  He trusted God.  He trusted in the Word of God.  He remained true to Himself.  He did not became like his enemies in order to defeat them.  His speech was pure and his conduct righteous.  He manifested meekness, self-control, love, and forgiveness (I Pet. 2:22).  He sacrificed Himself for the higher purpose of saving mankind from sin (I Pet. 2:24).  He fulfilled the noble purpose for which He came into this world.  Jesus knew that He would ultimately prevail.  He had the promise of God that “he could lay down his life and take it up again” (John 10:16-18).  Jesus would destroy the power of Satan (Heb. 2:14).  The power of darkness is shattered by the power of light!
Will you come to the light? (John 3:18-21).  While men love darkness rather than light, the power of God’s love can overcome the darkness in the human heart and through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, we can be reconciled to God and walk in the light as He is in the light!

Chronology of OT History

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Genesis 1:1 begins, “In the beginning…”  When was the beginning of all things?  Philip Mauro in his book, The Wonders of Bible Chronology, places the beginning at 4046 B.C.  (p. 18).  Six days later, God created Adam (Gen. 1:24-31).  The times given below reflect the actual chronological information given in the Bible itself.  This provides us with an accurate view of the chronology of the Old Testament.
–From the creation of Adam to the  time of the Flood—1656 years.
–From the creation of Adam until the birth of Peleg (when the earth was divided) —1757 years. (Gen. 10:25).
–From the creation of Adam to the birth of Terah (Gen. 11:24) –1878 years.
–From the creation of Adam to the birth of Abraham (Gen. 11:27) –2008 years.  By this time, we are more than halfway through the history of the OT (Gen. 12).
–The book of Genesis covers 2369 years.
–From the creation of Adam to the birth of Ishmael –2094 years.
–From the creation of Adam to the birth of Isaac–2108 years.
–From the creation of Adam to the birth of Jacob–2168 years.
–From the creation of Adam to the birth of Joseph–2259 years.
–From the creation of Adam to the death of Joseph–2369 years.
–From the death of Joseph to the birth of Moses–64 years.
–From the creation of Adam to the birth of Moses–2433 years.
–From the creation of Adam to the Exodus from Egypt–2513 years.
–The book of Exodus covers 144 years, 11 1/2 months.
–The book of Leviticus covers 1 month of time.
–The book of Numbers covers 40 years.
–The book of Deuteronomy covers 30 days (1 month).
–From the creation of Adam to the death of Moses–2552 years.
–The Pentateuch covers 2554 years, 1 1/2 months.
There are twelve periods of OT History.  The chronology will be given for each periods.
1.  The Antediluvian Period (before the Flood)  1656 years.
2.  The Postdiluvian Period (after the Flood) 352 years.
3.  Patriarchal Period: (Abraham to Moses) 425 years.
4.  Captivity in Egypt and Exodus:  80 years.
5.  Wilderness Wanderings: 40 years.
6.  Conquest of Canaan (6 years) and Division of the Land (14 years): 20 years.
7.  Judges:  450 years.
8.  United Kingdom: 120 years.
9.  Divided Kingdom: 264 years.
10. Judah Alone:  131 years.
11. Babylonian Captivity: 70 years.
12. Restoration of the Jews to Palestine: 49 years.
Period between the OT and NT: 403 years.
Jesus was born 4041 years after Adam was created.
Jesus was baptized 4071 years after Adam was created.
Jesus was crucified 4074 1/2 years after Adam was created in the year 4075 after Adam was created.
The chronology of the Bible is given for one main purpose, to give the history of the scheme of the redemption of mankind through Jesus Christ our savior.  The people, places, and events are important because they figure prominently into the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth.  The chronology is interwoven with the history.  You cannot change the chronology without dramatically impacting the history of the Messiah.  For this reason, it is impossible to harmonize biblical chronology with that of the theory of evolution.

 

The Clash Between Science and Religion

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I recently visited the Ark Encounter exhibit in Williamstown, KY.  The exhibit is not quite finished at this time (July, 2016), but it is completed to the point that a visitor can enjoy the conceptualizations and renderings based upon the Biblical account of Noah’s ark and the universal flood of Genesis 6-9.  The exhibit is massive in size and requires a lot of walking to see.  Ken Ham is director of Answers in Genesis and is responsible for the construction of the ark exhibit.  He is a young earth creationist.  Opposition to the Ark Encounter exhibit has already surfaced.  Barbara King wrote an article attacking the basic concept of the exhibit as anti-science because it is anti-evolution.  The most important clash between science so-called and the Bible is focused on chronology.  The Biblical chronology beginning with Genesis 1 :1 and continuing to today allows for around 6,000 years of human history.  Evolutionists argue for a much longer period of time.  Evolutionists hold that the universe is around 14 billion years old.  The earth is about 4 to 5 billion years old.  They also teach that human lineage evolved 6 million years ago and our own species about 200,000 years ago.  King objected to the display of humans and dinosaurs on the ark (There’s No Controversy: Let’s Stop Failing Our Children on Evolution, July, 28, 2016).  She claims that dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago and that humans have only been on the earth for about 200,000 years.  The difference between the chronology of the Biblical account of the creation of man and the chronology of evolution cannot be reconciled without destroying the veracity of the Biblical account.  Keep in mind that most of Bible chronology is given within the context of the history of the men and women who were involved in bringing the Messiah into the world.  If you destroy the chronology that is imbedded in the genealogy accounts of Christ, you destroy faith in the accounts themselves and they under gird our faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the one who is the Messiah (both creator and redeemer of mankind).  Those who want to hold to the Bible and evolutionary chronology must compromise.  These individuals are known as theistic evolutionists.  Theistic evolutionists generally believe that the Biblical accounts of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the flood of Noah’s day are myths.  They deny the historical and literal aspects of these accounts.  But, when they do so, they also impact the genealogies of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Why do they do this?  They desire to harmonize, in some way, what the Bible says with evolutionary chronology.  By making these accounts myths, they actually agree with the evolutionist who holds that Noah’s ark is fiction.  King quotes from the Patheos blog with which she agrees, “…and there wasn’t even a mention of how the whole Noah’s Ark story is fiction.”
King’s article focused on an NBC Nightly News broadcast by Kevin Tibbles from the site of the Ark Encounter in which Tibbles failed to affirm evolution.  King interpreted this as a failure to teach our children science (evolution).  She said, “The NBC segment was a prime example of a missed opportunity in mass-media science literacy education–education that’s sorely needed.”
This expressed opinion is precisely the reason there is a clash between the Bible and science (macro-evolution).
The chronology of the Bible cannot be reconciled with the chronology of evolution.