57. CUF: The Years of the genesis Gap : By Grace

THE YEARS OCCUPIED BY THE GENESIS GAP.

My journey of discovery has yet to be completed. The Scriptures reveal the need to include a time span not covered by the previous chart shown in By Grace No:56.:

We have not reached backward in time to the point of the original creation revealed to us in the first verse of Genesis:

In the beginning God created the Heaven and The Earth.

The Second verse begins:

And the earth was without form and void,

The Hebrew of this second verse implies ‘a chaotic condition’. Between these two verses is a gap of time, because it is reasoned that God does not create anything which is imperfect, let alone chaotic.

Dividing verse one from verse two introduces a gap of time, such that those students of The Word who have considered this have named it 'The Genesis Gap Theory', which is very well discussed by Maurice Lloyd in the leaflet By Grace No:ML4. His reasoned argument concludes as follows:

The Judgment 'Gap Theory', then, is not a proven or provable fact; but it is a tenable theory for which no serious challenger has yet been proposed.

It is my belief that the acceptance of the numeric time scales developed in these By Grace articles show it to be no longer a theory. The following three Scriptural facts are proof that this period existed:
1. The book of Ecclesiastes refers to an early period of time, the details of which are closed to us:

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. [Ecclesiastes 1:9]

There is no doubt that the 'former things' refer to those which occurred before the earth became 'without form and void'. It does not refer to those things which occurred before the Universal Flood, because their record is given in Genesis.

2. The term 'without form and void' [Hebrew: Whbw Wht........TOHU AND BOHU]. occurs in only two other places in the Old Testament. Their use describes destruction arising from divine judgment. These verifiable facts found in these two other places [Jeremiah 4:23 Isaiah 34:11] is strong evidence indicating the probability of a similar context for this first occurrence in Gen 1:2.

3. The pride of The Covering Cherub, Satan, led to his downfall, an action which occurred before the world became 'chaotic':

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty......... every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned:........... I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: ............Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick;.....and never shalt thou be any more. [Ezekiel 28:12]
These three points establish a need for a time period between the Earth's creation and its 'chaotic' condition, which is the result of evil activity by the Anointed Covering Cherub. God would not have accepted that this was good,. Although He did state that His work was good on each of the following six days of formation and creation. [Genesis 1:4,10.12,18,21,25.31]. What then is the length of time of this 'Genesis Gap' Period? When studying the previous charts, there is an obvious answer to this question. The present chart is divided into two periods of 4900 years, which figure is based upon the most important timing figure found in the whole of Scripture.......49. The years which the Israelites were commanded to keep for ever as a Jubilee: For it is The Jubilee, it shall be holy unto you. [Leviticus 25:12]

A pointer to the duration of this time period between verses one and two of Genesis chapter one is the age of Jacob. The days of his years were 147 [3 x 49]. He was 98 [2 x 49] years old when the 'man' met him at the break of day and wrestled with him, after which the 'man' changed his name from Jacob to Israel. Many other periods of time are determined by 147. Here are three examples.

1470 years is 30 Jubilees, the 30th Jubilee being the time that The Christ announced His commission in the Nazareth Synagogue at the beginning of His Ministry.
1470 There are two of these periods between 2029ad, when The Lord Jesus Christ is manifest, and the opening of The Day of God.
147 There are sixteen of these periods between the Second Advent of Jesus Christ and the commencement of The Administration of The Fullness of Times.

As confirmation of these timings it is noteworthy that the Jubilee periods of 49years each beginning at 2688 years from the sin of Adam in 1444bc, reach number 80 at the time of The Christ’s Second Advent in 2477ad. At this time new life, that of God Himself will be manifest throughout His creation.

Put another way: The Christ announced His commission at the time of the 30th Jubilee in 27ad. At this time the prophetic 70weeks [490years] of Daniel’s prophecy began, but after 35 years the remaining 475 years were postponed to allow God to introduce this present 1960 years Administration of His grace. Thus Daniel’s 490years prophecy will be complete in 2477ad, before the time of The Christ’s Second Advent.

We can now again expand our chart to include the additional 4900 years occupied by this time gap. This brings the total number of years which will pass from In The Beginning God created The Heaven and the Earth to The Day of God as 14700 years.
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Here then is the complete chart covering the whole span of God’s revelation concerning The Adam and The Second Adam. The main points to note are:
The time covered is 14700 revolutions of the Earth around the Sun. A figure reflecting the years of Jacob/Israel’s life….147.
The important 49 figure divides the 147 at the statement in Genesis 1:1 the reformation and creation of the earth and at the temple destruction in 69/70 ad, the beginning of this present Administration of God’s Grace.
The seven days of creation and reformation lasting 700 years conforms to the times of the 700 year weeks of Enoch’s Apocalypse of Weeks
The Jubilee periods of 49 years, initiated by God when the twelve tribes of Israel had entered their lots in Canaan, reached 30 at the birth of The Saviour of The World [27ad] and 80 at the time when He personally rules from His throne in Jerusalem [2477ad]