BiblicalInsights.net

The last week of Jesus’ life leading up to the crucifixion was trying. The hatred of His enemies was at a near peak.  The hatred had turned into a plot or conspiracy to kill Him. One of His own twelve apostles was involved in the conspiracy. The evil in Judas’ heart did not need anything to provoke it.  Judas was a thief (John 12:6).  As iniquity abounds, the love of  many waxes cold (Matt. 26:12).  Eventually, love dies and hatred takes over.  Judas conspires to kill Jesus who is the Personification of love.
In The Garden of Gethsemane
Jesus seeks solitude in the Garden of Gethsemane so He can pray to God.  When moments are dark and bleak, where can we go but to the Lord?  Jesus’ disciples are not able to stay awake and watch. Human flesh fails while, at the same time, only God supplies what is needful. Jesus prays for “this cup” to pass from Him (the cup of suffering).  However, the future was left up to God as Jesus committed Himself to Him that judges righteously.  Jesus prays three times.  After the third time, the soldiers, chief priests, and Judas arrive in the Garden to arrest Him.
The Betrayal
Judas recognizes and acknowledges Jesus. Then, he identifies Jesus with a kiss.  Normally, a kiss is a sign of friendship and affection. On this occasion, it becomes a sign of treachery and betrayal. Jesus is betrayed by one who He considered to be a friend and fellow laborer in the great work of God.  The kiss is an act of hypocrisy.  Judas honored Jesus with his lips, but his heart was far from Him.
The Application
Os Guinness in Impossible People, p. 72 states, “Just so today, Christian advocates of homosexual and lesbian revisionism believe in themselves and in the sexual revolution rather than the gospel.  They therefore twist the Scriptures to make reality fit their desires rather than making their desires fit the truths of Scripture. In Soren Kierkegaard’s stinging term, they are “kissing Judases” who betray Jesus with an interpretation.”  Peter warned against twisting or wresting the Scriptures (II Pet. 3:16).  “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” The word wrest means to distort and so pervert what God has said. The idea is that of stretching something beyond its proportions.  This is not innocent.  This is a salvation issue, i.e. “unto their own destruction.”  Guinness applies the act of betrayal of Jesus by Judas to those who betray the Lord through twisting the Scriptures to make them mean that homosexuality is not a sin.  Another example of twisting Scripture is given by Nobie Stone in Genesis 1 and Lessons From Space where Stone advocates an old earth view by changing the meaning of Scripture permitting the Gap Theory or Day-Age Theory or Progressive Creation Theory.  (see Genesis 1 and Lessons From Space, p. 69 –Published by the Warren Christian Apologetics Center).  Stone states, “First, concerning the wording in Genesis Chapter One, it says nothing about a 24-hr day.”  While the exact words “24-hr day” do not occur in the context of Genesis 1, the obvious meaning of the Hebrew word yom which is translated “day” when describing the “days” of creation refers to a 24-hr day for two reasons.  First, the use of an ordinal number before day (first day, second day, third day, etc.) limits the meaning of the Hebrew word yom to a 24-hr day.  Second, the phrase, “evening and morning” indicates a 24-hr period.  There are strong contextual elements that show that the “day” is a 24-hr period and not an indefinite period of time that could cover billions of years. Another consideration is that this understanding of the “days” of creation harmonizes with the plain statement given by Moses in Exodus 20:11, “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”  Stone betrays Jesus with an interpretation.

There are several points of similarity between Nobie Stone’s book, Genesis One and Lessons From Space (c. 2014) and John Lennox’s book, Seven Days That Divide The World (c. 2011).  Stone does not mention Lennox or reference his book in his own work.  However, many of the concepts and even vocabulary words that Stone uses come from Lennox.
1.  Both men argue for a new look at Genesis 1.
2.  Both men speak of creation as a sequence involving a process.
3.  Both believe that the Big Bang Theory is an explanation of Gen. 1:1.
4.  Both accept the Gap Theory.
5.  Both accept the Cosmic Microwave Background theory.
6.  Both believe that the days of Genesis may be 24 hour periods separated by long periods of time.
7.  Both call for humility on the part of Christians that most certainly would disagree with their interpretations.
8.  Both argue that it doesn’t make any difference if you interpret Gen. 1 as 24-hour periods or long periods of time.
9.  Both argue that the geocentric view was a false view and that the mistake was made by theologians.
10.  Both argue that the interpretation of Genesis 1 is sophisticated.
I have uploaded a pdf under the page Biblical Articles for readers to explore the comparisons in detail with quotes.  Please read my book reviews of each of these authors.  You will find the reviews under the Book Review page on this website.

I have just posted a new book review of John Lennox’s work titled, Seven Days That Divide The World. Lennox may be referred to as a progressive creationist.  He believes in an ancient universe and ancient earth.  He reinterprets Genesis 1 to fit this viewpoint.  In doing so, he has to deal rather creatively with the grammatical and lexical features of the creation account in Genesis.  I have reviewed and in many instances challenged his conclusions.
This book, in my opinion, was used by Nobie Stone to produce his own work, Genesis 1 and Lessons From Space that was published by the Warren Christian Apologetics Center.  The Warren Christian Apologetics Center just published Nobie Stone’s mostly favorable review of Lennox’s work in Sufficient Evidence, vol. 6 (Fall, 2016).  Reader’s may want to consult a review of Lennox’s work that was printed in Answers Research Journal 5 (2012): 89-97.  That review was written by Simon Turpin and titled, Review of John Lennox’s Book Seven Days That Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science.  Turpin shows that Answers in Genesis publications have answered most of Lennox’s arguments.

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.

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.

I recently uploaded a new book review.  The book is by John Otis and is titled, Theistic Evolution A Sinful Compromise.  Otis writes to expose a serious problem in the Presbyterian Church in America concerning the doctrine of creation.  He attacks the false notion of theistic evolution within the PCA.  Otis believes in the superiority of the Scriptures over the false concepts of evolution.  He recognizes the crux of the matter to be one of hermeneutics (the science of the interpretation of the Scriptures).  He also affirms that theistic evolution is a “Pandora’s Theological Box.”  You are invited to read the review under the Book Review page.  Just click on the page and then click on the name of the book.  The book consists of 322 pages, but the review is only seven pages.  The doctrinal compromise of theistic evolution has been advanced in the churches of Christ by the Warren Christian Apologetics Center under the direction of Charles Pugh III.  The Center recently published a book by Nobie Stone titled, Genesis 1 and Lessons From Space.  Dr. Stone is a theistic evolutionist.  The warning of John Otis in his book should serve as a warning to other religious groups who seek to compromise the Scriptures by advocating a concordant view between the Scriptures and Evolution.

One of the most important things parents can do for their children is teach them the law of rationality.  This law states that we should draw only such conclusions as are warranted by the evidence.  The law of rationality forces us to think correctly and critically.
Some evolutionists insist that the universe actually comes from nothing!  That’s right.  Everything comes from nothing.  Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist, has released a new book titled, A Universe From Nothing (Free Press) in which he claims to have proven that the laws of physics could have created the universe from nothing.  Krauss  repeats the theory that there are virtual particles that appear for a very short time and then disappear in what is called “a quantum fluctuation” by a very short time; we are talking a billionth of a second or less.  Nonetheless, space and time would have to already exist–to have been created.  Krauss makes many assumptions and so advances speculation–not science (see Does God Exist? Nov./Dec. 2012, p. 27).
Most could refute such a notion based upon common sense.  Nothing cannot produce anything.  Nothing comes from nothing!  Consider the following poem:
Once nothing arrived on this earth out of space;
It rode in on nothing; it came from no place;
It landed on nothing–the earth was not here–
It worked hard on nothing for year after year;
It sweat over nothing with mighty resolve–
But just about then things began to evolve:
The heavens appeared, and the sea and the sod;
This Almighty Nothing worked much like a god.
It started unwinding without any plan,
It made every creature and ended with man.
No god here was needed–there was no creation;
Man grew like a mushroom and needs no salvation.
Some savants say this should be called evolution
And that ignorance only rejects that solution.
(anonymous, but from Genesis, vol. I by C.C. Crawford, College Press, p. 134).
It is irrational to affirm that everything comes from nothing!  This poem pokes a little fun at the intellectual gaffes of evolutionists.