The Narrow Gate

 Here is another great sermon by Voddie Bauchan.  I will give a Cliff’s Notes rendition.  But I must confess: unlike the past, I have put many of my own thoughts in too. His sermon starts with Matthew 7:13-14, at the end of the precious, and important, Sermon on the Mount:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 Jesus is saying, in effect, “since you have listened to this whole sermon (Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 5-7) you must make a choice about heaven or hell, life or destruction. There are two gate entrances; which will you take?” 

Many of them believed that as long as they are trying to follow the rituals laid forth by Moses, they’re already leading the “narrow-gate” life, they’re good for heaven.  But Jesus, in the Sermon, was trying to correct that assumption. He did that by focusing on the mind as the real cause of sin.  Here is one example:  Matthew 5:27-28

  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

A stricter standard, don’t you agree? Many people, He knew, don’t engage in sinful behavior, but they still think sinful thoughts. They thought it was OK, if you don’t murder, to hate somebody.  Jesus said sinful thoughts are sinful too.

 In case YOU have any false assumptions about gaining eternal life, let’s talk about that eternal life or death choice in Matthew 7:13-14.  You should know, first, all of us start out our lives on the evil, Broad path. Ephesians 2:3 spells this out, too:

…among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others…

It’s our Sin nature that put us there on day 1.  Further, we grow up and tend to choose that wrong way too—even with our reasonable minds. But our minds have been corrupted too.  As Romans 3:10-12 says:

“There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

You may feel this is harsh.  First, this is God’s standard. He is the Judge, in the end, of our eternal destiny, and we have to accept it. It’s like, He lives in perfect white, so our sins and keeping God away are an abomination in His comparison.  We all live in shadows of gray; we don’t even know what white is really like.  So a “good guy” is just a little less gray to God, but He knows white, and none of our lives are anywhere near the standard.  Secondly, God has given us a free choice between two Gates. As we said, we start out automatically on the broad path, through the Wide Gate. But that’s on the way to hell.  So everyone starts out destined for hell. But, to switch to the difficult path, through the Narrow gate, you must enter into it intentionally.  People just don’t get on the right path by inheritance or by growing up in it, as the Jews often believed.  If you ask someone, “Are you a Christian?” some will answer “Of course—I go to church every week.” Well, let’s look at this.  I’m hoping they mean, “I’m a Christian AND I go to church,” or “I go to church every week BECAUSE I’m a Christian.” No, sadly, they are saying that that activity makes them a Christian. It doesn’t. Another bad response is, “I’m a Christian; I was raised in a Christian home.” Or, “I was baptized in infancy, so I’ve been a Christian all my life.” Actually, that last one is the worst response of all: It’s a theological impossibility, because Scripture clearly says it takes a reasoning person to intentionally seek God, which you can’t do as an infant.   If you really believe “I have been all my life,” you are probably not a Christian at all. Because you have not done the intentional move—which has to be entered into by Repentance and by Faith (see other blogs).  What does Jesus say in His first Gospel presentation?  Mark 1:14-15:

 Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

You were not born repentant or believing.  It’s the opposite:  all of us are born into a sin nature. So we start out on the Broad road.  We are all headed for destruction.  Unfortunately, few people intentionally find their way to the narrow gate. We have a self-deception problem; we don’t see where we stand with God.  We should beg God to show us the narrow gate. The London Baptist Confession puts it this way:

  This saving repentance…whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavor, by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things.

The problem with this confession is, it was inked in 1689; few people today feel “self-abhorrent” or feel the necessary repentance, because few people think about how bad their sin is to God. He doesn’t think like we assume.  They think God always forgives, but your life sometimes gets corrupted and you don’t even know.  As Rom. 11:22 points out, you think you’ve gained salvation because you “accepted Christ,” but there’s more to it. 

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off

Another blog explains that is necessary to abide in Christ (see John 15:1-6).  If you want heaven and not hell, you need to seriously examine the word “abide.”  It’s why the gate is narrow.

In some cases, some of the many false evangelists among us  believe that we don’t even have to ask God for forgiveness—or we can do that on our death-bed.  This kind of self-deception will send many to hell.  There is plenty of self-deception going around.  The fact is, from the time we knew right from wrong, we were in desperate need of a Savior.  We knew He is there, we knew what was right, and we deliberately transgressed. 

What is the “formula” for salvation?  Unfortunately there are many who proclaim the “Gospel,” but they make it sound easy. “It’s easy as ABC:  A, Acknowledge; B, Believe; C, Confess.  Just word your prayer of confession after me.”  They may make it sound easy, but Jesus Did Not. Jesus said that entrance into the Kingdom was not easy—the entrance gate is portrayed as Narrow, and it must be searched for.

Here’s what they preach today: “Believe.  Believe God loves you and has made you for a purpose.  Believe God has chosen you to have a relationship with Jesus, Who died on the Cross for you.  Believe that no matter what you’ve done, God wants to forgive you. Second, Receive.  Receive Jesus into your life as Lord and Savior.  Receive His forgiveness for your sin.  So I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity.  What’s that prayer?  “Jesus, I believe in You and I receive You.”  If you sincerely meant that prayer, Congratulations!  Welcome to the Family of God. (This is the actual Gospel presentation in The Purpose-Driven Life). Notice that you see no repentance, no sin, no wrath of God, no nothing.  Just believe—God loves you. And you’re on your way–so they say.

I can be saved just like that?  No. To God (and He is the Judge, not you), you are a wretched, sinful creature, who, as clearly pointed out in Scripture, deserves to die and go to hell. See Romans 1:32 and 9:22. Unless you repent of your sin. Unless you are aware of the fact that you deserve to be crushed under the weight of the majesty and holiness of God, you don’t “get it,” it’s not deep in your heart. “Believe in Jesus,” they say…well, which Jesus?  Today’s preachers usually don’t define Him—well, you ask, what about the Jesus of the New Age Movement?  Or, what if I know Jesus as “lowly Jesus, meek and mild, who wouldn’t hurt a fly?” Then can I be saved?  Unlikely, since both those ideas have the wrong view of Jesus.  That also means you haven’t truly read your Scripture. He will disappoint the image you made up of Him, and you will leave Jesus and the faith.

“It’s really easy,” the experts say.  Yes, initial salvation is easy: you go through the narrow gate with repentance and belief.  But you then must endure to the end As Matt. 24:13 says:  

.But he who endures to the end shall be saved

So it’s also a journey, a Path, seeking what Christ wants every day, opening up our sin problems to Him; that’s not easy. The difficulty comes because our sinful lusts, still there after we make our emotional confession of belief, lead us to bend toward our own will.  We must appeal to the Holy Spirit for help (Gal. 5:24-25).  People don’t like to humble themselves and ask for help.  They want to keep God far away when they sin. Also, too many people still believe that “My sins aren’t bad.”  Especially if they’re rich; they’re convinced they deserve heaven.  What does “being saved” mean to you?  That you want to keep following your own path, and you just want God to bless it? You want Jesus to be an appendage on your self-centered life, not an eradication of it?  Are you willing to make His will the center of your life?  He deserves to be Lord, since His death saved you from hell. Those things are hard. But…His Spirit is a solid help, if you appeal to Him.  It’s possible to stay on the narrow path, and reach heaven.  Revelation says that millions of people will be there.

Your “old sinful man” (Rom. 6:6) within you doesn’t want to let Christ put him to death; the old nature is willing to lie to you, to tell you, “Hey, don’t go to the narrow gate. On this broad road, there are lots of people who talk Jesus; they go to church, they don’t have that narrow theology.  That ‘narrow’ stuff….that’s negative; you don’t want to be narrow.”  People often tell me, when I preach, “That’s so narrow.”  Yes, that’s the Gospel.  God’s not a politician; He’s not running for God, so He can afford to be narrow. He sets the rules; our wishes about what we want of His personality have no impact.

The Christian life must be lived purposefully—that is, every day to every day, you desire more to be sanctified to His pleasure and glory. Sanctification, or fruits, are essential to keep salvation.  But modern preachers separate justification and sanctification in such a way that they actually believe that you can be saved, yet not have your life affected at all.  On the contrary, the requirement is, there’s not only a gate, there’s a path involved, a lifestyle. Of growing faith-relationship with God. I remember a church, and the whole sermon that day was on tithing.  They never mentioned Christ–then suddenly, at the end, pastor does a quick, manipulative, altar call to invite anyone to accept Christ and be saved.  I almost got whiplash.  People start walking toward the front—why, I asked?  He had said nothing about Christ’s expectations.  There’s been no layout of the Gospel. Nothing about sin, or why Christ died. They’re then led in the sinner’s prayer—a prayer, I remind you, that you will find nowhere in the Bible.  Then they’re told they are saved, sealed in the Lamb’s book of life.  But the truth is, I’ve met a whole lot of people who were led in somebody else’s prayer, and “meant it,” but their life says They Lied. Somebody put the pressure on them; they were uncomfortable, in many cases, and just wanted to agree to get outside and breathe again. The preacher might’ve said “You can die and go to hell, or you can pray this prayer.”  “Will you pray that and mean it?”  You’re uncertain, intimidated, maybe a little scared. You say “Sure! Absolutely.” That’ll do it, right?

Well, you can “mean it” and not know who Jesus is. You will do well to read Scripture and secure His expectations, not the preacher’s—after all, God is the Judge in the end. Have you been brought to a place of conviction and brokenness over your sin? The Bible says, “Test yourselves, to see if you be in the faith.”  Remember, there’s not just an entrance, there’s a path. With intention, get off the broad path, and onto the narrow path. 

There are, in Greek, two different meanings that could apply to our word “narrow.”  One meaning that we haven’t covered is “compressed, pressed in.” It has the meaning of “harassed.”  So we can think of it as “persecuted.”  Jesus is saying, “You can enter a way that is narrow, a life with persecution.”  The opposite gospel of our day says “you need Jesus so your life won’t be hard.”  Well, here’s the truth:  Paul says in II Tim. 3:12: …all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  What can you do?  Following Christ points you out to people that you’re weird. How are you blessed?  By suffering verbal attack, or even physical violence, God will reward you in heaven. You should be striving for that treasure of reward, not treasure on earth.  If we consistently withstand persecution, we feel assurance of salvation. Yours is the kingdom of heaven.  This is important enough that Jesus began and ended His famous sermon on the mount with this theme.  For proof, see the beginning of the Sermon, Matt. 5:44 (And you can add 10:22, too), on the last days:  “…You will be hated by all….the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Not the one who just parrots the “sinner’s prayer” and eventually gets tired of Jesus not making his life what he wants.

The Apostle John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us.”  Those who left the faith had the wrong expectations.  If they were of us, they would have remained.  Remaining is an evidence of salvation.  Staying on the Path.  Yes, believers can fall into sin—but only for a season.  But if you belong to Him, you will turn your behavior about—the Holy Spirit won’t leave you alone, you can’t stand it.  Think of Revelation 3:19: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.  This is spoken to believers, remember.  Look at Matthew 24:9-13 for the last days, which we may be getting close to:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 

Can you hack this kind of trouble? You may not feel it, but the Holy Spirit will embolden you.  The last days may be coming soon.  Read verse 13 again.  It’s how you keep salvation.

On to the last step. In this salvation exercise, we have the entrance, the path, and the crowd. Now let’s talk about that. The narrow entrance and the hard path are necessary for salvation.  The crowd problem (different than the parable) is this:  You entered the narrow gate, but you might note, while  walking the path, that BOTH “narrow” and “broad” people are around you. “Wheat” and “tares” are all there.  God knows who the “narrow” people are—those are the real church, those are in His kingdom. Broad people are living off their fleshly lusts—tempting though it is, we stay away from that world. We tend to find our way to other “narrow” folk, so we provide mutual strength and encouragement to one another. If church on Sunday were made up of all that folk, it would make life easier. But that’s not the way it is either.  One way we know who is who (assuming we’re a light and not hidden), is that those walking on the broad way despise us.  We give them conviction of their sins.  Just by our lives, we don’t have to broadcast it.  They don’t like the light when they live in darkness. They accuse us, “You’re so narrow-minded.” “Why, thank you very much,” we might respond slyly, “I’m really working on that.”  (But don’t forget this: The Gate is Narrow, but we don’t have to make it more narrow than it already is. It’s way too easy to fall into pride with this thinking. We don’t want to become the Pharisees). 

Most of the people on the Broad way believe that they are on the right road.  They believe the lie that says, “All roads lead to God; you just need to find the one that works for you.”  It says there are many roads, when in fact, there are only two:  There’s Christ and His kingdom—and there’s everybody else.  Most are on the Broad way because most people believe that Man is essentially good.  Where did they hear that?  Not from Scripture. 

Most people record every good deed in their head, and forget the bad.  That’s the way we are.  They will lie and cheat, which is active rebellion against God (“no fear of God before their eyes”), but they still think they are “good enough for God.” It’s hard to break from a whole life of ignoring God and from sin.  That’s why it’s hard to find the narrow gate. But there are still evangelists who make it harder.  They lie and tell us, all we have to do is just say a few programmed words, as long as you’re sincere—and you’re sealed in the Lamb’s book of Life! But for many who don’t work on sanctification, but think they’re still saved, they end up just sealed in their unbelief! To think about confession would expose them as hypocritical. Remember:  You can just say words, only words, and die and be separated from God. And don’t think of trying to match good deeds with bad deeds.  God’s not on a scale system.

Part of that Broad path crowd is a group of people who go to church on a regular basis, and know how to use very familiar Biblical language.  Crafty folk. The skin of truth surrounding the meat of a lie. Many of the innocents are unaware they’re on the Broad road—because somebody guaranteed them salvation.  If they see a glimpse of that hard, narrow path, they say, “Hey, they’re on a different path than us.”  The crafty one will say, “No, that’s just a different KIND of Christian path. They’re just extra committed.”  Or, they’ll say, “they’re over-committed.” Could we be wrong, with hundreds of people coming in to our church, getting saved every week? God is blessing our work!” So, it seems….

Finally, the Christian life must be completed faithfully: “Those who endure to the end are saved.”  A warning, though: if you endure, you still don’t get to share credit with Jesus for your salvation.  You never “earn,” or “joint-earn” heaven. Read Phil. 1:6:  I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.  He is the One who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:13). He is our Lord, so we respond in obedience—if we are truly saved. All our greatest and correct thoughts on doctrine come from God and His Word.  Study it!

May God help us to “test ourselves,” to see if we are truly in the faith.  Do we have the necessary fruits?  John 15:5-6 has a warning: he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned..

Have a faithful relationship with Christ, and His Word, and you’ll abide. The result—heaven!

 

We Have Been Around for 5966 of 6000 Years of Man on Earth

  

For anyone who loves Scriptural study of the future, we know that it forbids making a prophecy about an exact date of the Lord’s return.  But how about signs to know it’s close?  There is a large group of believers who think that His return has no signs to warn us at all--it is "imminent," they say; ie, it could happen at any time without any sign.  If you have read my blogs on the Last Days, you know that I discount this theory, believing that while we don’t know the exact date of His return, God will send us signs that the last day is not far away.  This proposition is based on a quote from Jesus in Matthew 24:30-33:

“Then… they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other  ³² “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³ So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!

The fig tree metaphor tells us that harvesting is near—the branches get tender, and the leaves sprout.  In like manner, we can expect signs for mankind’s harvest; we can KNOW that “it,” referring back to the Parousia, the coming of Jesus for harvesting His own (the “elect”), is NEAR.

I have a theory about calculating an estimated date of His return.  Please do not assume that the calculations in it is accurate, but it’s pretty accurate.  It probably has flaws.  This “close, but not perfect” result is just as God would intend.  He wants us to be as accurate as the fig tree.  There are signs to excite us, but not the exact date —that would encourage complacency.  This theory I will present does have a momentous and surprising conclusion. 

Before I get into it, I have to give credit to Michael Pedrin, a pastor in India from the Seventh Day Adventist Church (I’m not of that persuasion, but I’ll take any great idea from anybody, if it’s realistically based).  I made some changes on his base.

By way of introduction, the Word tells us that immediately after Jesus comes for His own, we get to spend a thousand years of freedom from Satan’s attacks, because he is bound for that time (Rev. 20:1-3). There, we will rest, finally, from the ravages of sin all around us and from our own nature. This millennium of one thousand years will be a “great Sabbath of rest” from the ravages of sin. Thee is a key in the word "sabbath."  What precedes it?  Six days of creation.  

The theory’s critical proposition is this: the 1000 years of rest is preceded by six thousand years of man on earth.

The key to this theory is simple:  it’s in the 6+1=7 equation.  Seven is God’s number of completeness and rest.  You begin a cycle with six, the number of days you work, followed by one day of rest. Then the cycle is complete.  Creation was like that:  God didn’t have to take six days to create—He could have done it in a second.  Nor was He tired, and needed a day of rest.  He did it as an example for us to follow. He focused on the 6+1 again by instructing His people on how to till the ground.  You plant and harvest for six years.  The seventh, you let the ground rest.  Leviticus 25:3-4:

Six years you shall sow your field…and gather its fruit; ⁴ but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

Jesus has some interesting words on this subject in Matthew 13:38-39:

The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. ³⁹ The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

He purposely ties in the cycle of earthly harvest with the cycle of heavenly harvest.  Jesus makes a comparison of land’s harvest, which we just saw to be 6+1, to OUR harvest.  There is good reason to believe that man likely is also on a 6+1 rapture scale.  If the heavenly harvest is followed by a millennium of rest, why not believe that six millennia of man working on earth precedes it?  

The Apostle Peter gives us some tantalizing verses on this too.  In II Peter 3, he is telling us that there will be many unbelievers scoffing about Jesus’ return.  Then, in verses 8 and 9, he counsels us to be patient.  Then it seems that he is laying on us an insider hint.  II Peter 3:3-4, 8-10a:

….scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? …..But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise…but the day of the Lord will come….

Peter hints how important is what he’s going to say, by his phrase “do not forget this one thing.”  And what is that one thing?  In talking about Jesus’ return, God is willing to proportionately lay down the idea of “one day=one thousand years.” So, just as Creation was six days of work followed by one day of rest, and then substituting by Peter’s hint, you get six thousand years of work, followed by one thousand years of rest.

I want to make an additional comment about v 10, “the day of the Lord.”  The Bible has two contexts for that phrase.  First, the Sabbath is called the day of the Lord (Ex. 20:10).  Also, significantly, the Parousia, or the Second Coming of Christ is also called the day of the Lord.  See I Thessalonians 4:16-5:2, when Paul is comforting believers who were mistaken in their belief that Christ had already come: 

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 5 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ² For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes…

 

My point here is, using the “day of the Lord” for both, God is perfectly willing for us to compare the Sabbath with His Second Coming.  The former is six days of work, then a single-day Sabbath, and God ties it in to the Return, which is followed by one thousand years of rest.  We’re suggesting that it is reasonable to assume that this is preceded by six thousand years of work for man on earth.

 

We thus have five proofs of the 6+1 for Man.  The big question is, how long has man been on earth?  Are we close to 6000 years?

 Did you know that it’s possible to count, with close proximity, how long man has been on earth?  (PS:  As you can tell, we’re ignoring the rantings of atheistic evolution).  After all, Matthew 1 and Luke 3 give many names from Adam all the way down to Joseph or Mary, Jesus’ stepfather and mother. It has this thing about genealogy.  There are long boring lists of ages in Genesis. So let’s put to good use, for once, those lists of names in Genesis and II Chronicles.  They go from Adam down pretty much through the generations to the exile in Babylonian captivity.  Sprinkle in some Scriptural shortcuts and prophecy.  From there, a final nod to secular history.  Let’s go: 

 

 

Event

  

                                                                    Verse                        # of yrs    Note

  From Adam to Seth                                                         Gen. 5:3                                       130       

From Seth to Enosh	Gen. 5:6	105	1
From Enosh to Cainan	Gen. 5:9	90
From Cainan to Mahalalel	Gen 5:12	70
From Mahalalel to Jared	Gen. 5:15	65
From Jared to Enoch	Gen. 5:18	162	2
From Enoch to Methuselah	Gen. 5:21	65
Methuselah to Lamech	Gen. 5:25	187
Lamech to Noah	Gen. 5:28	182
Noah to Shem	Gen. 5:32*	502	3
Cumulative years Adam to Shem		1558
Shem to Arphaxad	Gen. 11:10	100
Arphaxad to Salah	Gen. 11:12	35
Salah to Eber	Gen. 11:14	30
Eber to Peleg	Gen. 11:16	34
Peleg to Reu	Gen. 11:18	30
Reu to Serug	Ge. 11:20	32
Serug to Nahor	Gen. 11:22	30
Nahor to Terah	Gen. 11:24	29
Terah to Birth of Abram/Abraham	Gen. 11:26*	130	4
Cumulative 2:Shem to Abram's Birth		450
Shortcuts: From birth of Abram
to promise to Abraham	Gen. 12:4	75
From the promise to Abraham
to the giving of the Law	Galat. 3:16-18	430
From the Exodus of Egypt to the
Beginning of Solomon's Reign	I Kings 6:1	476
Back off: From Exodus of Egypt
to Giving of the law (counted twice)	Ex. 19:1	-0.1	5
Solomon's Reign	I KI 11:42	40
Rehoboam's Reign	II Chron 12:13	17	6
Abijah's Reign	II Chron 13:1,2	3
Asa's Reign	II Chron. 16:13	41
Jehoshaphat's Reign	II Chron. 20:31	25
Jehoram's Reign	II Chron 21:5	8
Ahaziah's Reign	II Chron. 22:2	1
Athaliah's Reign	II Chron 22:12	6
Joash's Reign	II Chron 24:1	40
Amaziah's Reign	II Chron 25:1	29
Uzziah's Reign	II Chron 26:3	52
Jotham's Reign	II Chron 27:1	16
Ahaz's Reign	II Chron 28:1	16
Hezekiah's Reign	II Chron 29:1	29
Manasseh's Reign	II Chron 33:1	55
Amon's Reign	II Chron 33:21	2
Josiah's Reign	II Chron 34:1	31
Jehoahaz	II Chron 36:2	0.3
Jehoiakim's Reign	II Ki 23:36	11	7
Jehoiachin's Reign, then Exiled	II KI 24:6, 12, 14	8
Cumulative 3 from Abraham
to Exile in Babylon		1411.2
Time in Exile=Sabbath for Land	Jere. 29:10	70
From Artaxerxes' Rebuild Edict to Palm Sunday	Ezr1:1,2; Dan 9:25	483	8
Adjust: Birth of Jesus to Palm Sunday		-33	9a
From Jesus' Birth to Today		2026.8	9
Grand Total:  Lines 12, 22, 52-56		5966

 Wow! We be close.

 Note 1: We do not need to record all of Seth’s life.  Only from his birth to the birth of his son, Enosh. Same treatment throughout.  (Since the question here is, "How long each person been on earth?" we don't care what age Adam was when created. Gen. 3:3 says "When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son....Seth." Similarly, 3:6 says "When Seth had lived 105 years...")

 Note 2:  Interesting point about Enoch:  He is the 7^th generation, and he deserved a special kind of rest—a rest from dying (Gen. 5:22-24).  There’s our 6+1 again.  Six generations of men dying, followed by a single generation of rest from dying.  In the same way, I’m suggesting that there will be 6 millenniums of men dying, followed by a single millennium of men, raptured, in heaven, not dying.  That’s our sixth proof that this theory is real. 

 Note 3:  Gen. 5:32 actually records that Noah “was 500 years old…begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”  They were not triplets, and Shem was only mentioned first because he got the birthright (i.e, from his descendants would come the Christ.) So Noah wasn’t 500 when he had Shem.  So, how old was Noah when he begot Shem? Find out by comparing Gen. 7:6:  Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth” with Gen. 11:10: This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad; (this was) two years after the flood” If Shem was 98 at the time of the Flood, and Noah was 600 at Flood, then Noah had to beget Shem at age 502. 

 Note 4:  Gen. 11:26 says: Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran” We see the same problem as Noah and his sons; here again, Abram was not the first son.  So, how old was Terah when he begot Abram?  Compare verses again for the answer.  Start with Gen. 12:1, 2:  Now the Lord had said to Abram:  “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you (Canaan, the promised land). I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing…And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot (and more) …. and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. ³² So the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.”  So they only went halfway to Canaan, and stopped in Haran.  Now read Acts 7:4: Then he (ie, Abram)came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell (ie, Canaan).  There is every reason to suspect that Abram packed up and headed for Canaan quickly after his father’s death. He was, as you will see from surrounding Scripture, old, and he didn’t want to die outside Canaan--if he did so, he would miss out on God’s promises. Finally, the clincher verse:  Gen. 12:4:  …And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” I believe that when Terah died, Abram immediately left Haran.  We conclude from this assumption that at the time of Terah’s death at age 205, Abram was 75.  Thus, Terah was 130 at the time of Abram’s birth. This is not rock-solid by any means.  Probably the weakest entry above.  Just a guess.

Note 5: A small portion of the exodus trip was counted twice.  Experts say God didn’t waste any time, once they started their trip, to get them to Mt. Sinai to give them the Law.  It took, best estimate, 47 days, which is .129 of a year.  So we backed off .1 year because it was counted twice in the shortcuts.

Note 6:  Since Jesus came from the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), we followed only Judah and descendants’ births.  Even when the tribes split up, we only follow David’s line, since he was from the tribe of Judah.  His son’s son was Rehoboam. And down from there.

Note 7: While we generally assume that once Babylonians took over the government (Jehoiakim was a “puppet” for the last 8 years), that the exile immediately began, so the land would get its denied rest.  Truth is, it was delayed.  II Ki. 23:36 and 24:6-14 clearly show that the real exile didn’t take place until the eighth year of his son’s reign.

Note 8:  Daniel’s 9:25 prophecy shows that “62+7=69 weeks” was the time period indicated from Artaxerxes’ edict to “Messiah the Prince.”  It is assumed by experts that “weeks” could be translated as “sevens,” with no explanations as “seven what—weeks, days, years?”  Because the time period from the Artaxerxes edict to Jesus’ hearing the hosannas on Palm Sunday  (i.e, “Messiah the Prince”) was, historically, 483 years, the “weeks” must be years—69x7 years, or 483 years.   

Note 9:  From Jesus’ birth to today may seem obvious, but Scriptural things are never that.  It’s not “2025” (which I’m modifying to 2025.8, when I’m publishing this, OK?)  He was born, best guess, 2 BC.  Finally, there is no “zero year.”  So, Jesus’ birth to today is 2025.8+2-1, or 2026.8.

Note 9a:  We’re counting something twice again. The note 8 shortcut took us out to Palm Sunday.  Jesus was 32 then.  Proof?  We have, in another blog, shown that Jesus was crucified in 32 AD.  He was that age on Palm Sunday too.  Note 9 says he was born 2BC, and there is no “zero year.”  Thus, we have counted 32+2-1, or 33 years, twice. So we’re backing it off.

So, mankind has been around for 5966 years, see my totals.  So only 34 years, best guess, til’ 6000 is up and those alive then (and the dead in Christ) blast off to heaven for 1000 years of rest.  Now, if you’re over 70 when you read this (as I am), this 34-years-away from rapture could be considered a buzzkill. It would be so cool to be alive already when He comes.  But I thought again—I believe that Christians of that time will have to endure most of the 7 years of trouble (see my blog elsewhere), so you  want to change your thinking--you DO want to  miss it. It’s 7 years of persecution and disease and martyrdom before the rapture.  So, subtracting 7, for my younger readers, it’s only 27 years before such terror begins—if my data are accurate, which they are quite possibly not.  If you’re a Scripture thinker, please comment to me if you find any mistakes.  But, hey, if you’re old, that still leaves two things to consider: Anybody that dies before the last days, if a Christian, his or her soul goes to a wonderful place.  Your soul is very alive, conscious, and will love it.  (It joins the body at the rapture).  But you need to MAKE SURE that you’re a Christian.  You tune up your car before a trip, right?  Even if it isn’t making any telltale noises, right?  Just so, I highly recommend you read some of my many blogs on what it takes to be a Christian. Or, you can try a much better way: Put all the complacent assurances you’ve cherry-picked from Paul, and set them aside.  Start reading Scripture, hours at a time.  Read with fresh eyes what Jesus said involving what it takes for heaven—and what kinds of people go to hell.  Read Luke, Matthew, the Gospels, writing down every sentence the World’s Greatest Teacher said about (eternal) life or (eternal) death.  You’ll be surprised at the result.  Please don’t be afraid to break from your denomination on some points (as I have).  Seminarians and pastors have led us into an “easy believism” which they substitute for the Gospel. It’s not a conspiracy:  It’s just the way the Western hemisphere is headed. We are sliding, ever so quickly, into downright Apostasy.  A sign of the last days, wouldn’t you know it. 

Self-Examination

Charles Spurgeon was saved at 15, began 38 years of preaching at what became Metropolitan Tabernacle in England at 19, got married at 20—and unfortunately also was early in his death at 57, in 1892. In between, he was called “Prince of Preachers” for his oratorical skills and his ability to lead people to the Lord. At age 22, he was the most popular preacher in London, frequently speaking to crowds as large as 10,000. He also started a charitable organization and a college. He was a Baptist for the most part, but left the denomination in later years “over doctrinal convictions.” Because of his previous denomination, most people would say that he was a Calvinist, but his response to that was intriguing: “I love the name Calvin, but always regard him as sitting on one side of the room; and I love the name of Wesley, but I regard him as occupying another side place in the assembly…I am myself persuaded that the points of the Calvinist alone is right upon some points, and the Arminian alone is right upon others.” To which I agree. Here is one of his best sermons, in 1858, only reduced a bit for readership. 

 Our text is II Corinthians 13:5: Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you? 

This is a solemn text—a text that preachers must continually impress on their congregations, exhorting them to frequently meditate on it. 

The Corinthians were proud of their own skills in learning and language. But as men do, who are wise in their own eyes, they made a wrong use of their wisdom and learning—they began to criticize the apostle Paul. His letters, they said, were weighty and forceful, but in person he was unimpressive, and his speaking “amounts to nothing.” They even went so far as to deny his apostleship. So for once in his life, Paul was forced to defend himself—and scold them. And when he had verbally disarmed his opponent, he pointed the sword at them and said, as it were: “Examine yourselves—you have disputed my doctrine—examine whether YOU are in the faith. Use the powers that have been wrongfully exercising on me, for a little while, on your own character.” 

 The fault of the Corinthians is the fault of the present age. When you leave church to go home today, none of you should say, “What did you think of the sermon this morning?” Do you come here to judge God’s servants? While it is a small thing for us to be judged by man’s judgement, our judgment is by the Lord our God. To our own Master we will stand or fall. A more profitable question for yourselves might be “Didn’t that sermon strike my heart? Wasn’t it a rebuke that I deserved—a word of reproof or exhortation? Let me take it to heart. Let me not judge the preacher, for he is God’s messenger to my soul. I came to church to be judged by God’s Word.” But since there is, in all of our hearts, a great reluctance for self-examination, I will earnestly exhort myself and all of you to examine ourselves whether we are in the faith. 

 Dear friend, closely examine your heart. Question it, to see whether it has been growing in grace; to see if it knows anything of vital godliness or not. Ask your heart whether you have responded to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Go through the rank and file of your actions; and examine all of your motives. Just as the captain of a ship on the day of inspection is not content with surveying his crew from a distance, but must look at all their accouterment; so also you must closely look at yourselves, with the most scrupulous care. You have seen the witness sitting in the witness box when the lawyer has been cross-examining him. We can often tell if he lies. Never was there a scoundrel less trustworthy and more deceitful than your own heart. When you are cross-examining a dishonest person, he is bent on trying to cover up for someone—you set traps for him, and try to catch him in a lie. Now do the same thing with your own heart; question it backward and forward, this way and that way. If there is a loophole for escape, if there is any excuse for self-deception, rest assured your treacherous heart will be ready to take advantage of it. 

 The Greek root of “examine” is reminiscent of a traveler, who cannot taste the flavor of a country by touching its borders. He must go right through the heart of the country. He climbs the hilltop. He drops into the deep valley, where he can only see a shaft of blue light coming from the lofty summits of the mountains. He is not content to gaze at the broad rivers unless he traces it to the spring from where it emerges. Nor will he be satisfied with the waving shafts of grain—he must discover the minerals that lie within its heart. 

 Now do the same with your heart. Go right through yourselves, staying not only on the mountains of your public character, but go into the deep valleys of your private life. Do not be content to sail on the broad river of your outward actions, but follow backwards the narrow streams, until you discover your secret motive. Do not look only on your performance, which is but the produce of the soil, but dig into your heart, and examine the vital principle that moves you, good or bad.

 Very few of us will examine ourselves to the fullness of this solemn exhortation. 

 Let’s look at the next phrase: “test yourself.” That’s more than self-examination. Here is an example: A man is about to buy a horse. He studies it. But after that, if he is prudent, he says to the seller, “I must determine the quality by testing; will you let me have it for a week?” You see, testing is a deeper word, and goes to the core of the matter. Do not merely sit and think. But go out into this busy world and see what kind of holiness you actually have on a consistent basis. Many men’s religion may not stand testing. It is good to look at, but when it comes to daily life, it fades. See whether you can be submissive to the yoke of gospel service. In the close testing, you may be revealed to cut moral corners. 

 And lastly the phrase, “whether you are in the faith.” One may claim, “I am an orthodox Christian, believing acceptable things. There is no fear of my coming up to the mark—and beyond it too.” But my friend, that is not the question. Yes, I want orthodoxy. But it is not whether you believe the truth, but whether you are in the truth. Think of the Ark of Noah being built, and curious men around it. “Ah,” says one, “I believe that ark will float.” “Oh,” says another, “I believe in its gopher wood, and it must be strong from stem to stern.” But they took no belief in Noah, and they were elsewhere when the rain and floods came.  Their beliefs aside, it was being in the ark that saved men. There may be some of you that say, of the gospel of Christ, “I believe it to be true; that it honors God and casts down the pride of man.” But note, it is being in the faith, in Christ, taking refuge in Him as in the ark, that counts. Only having the faith as an outward belief will perish in the day of God’s anger. He who feels that faith operating on him, and is to him a living, day-to-day principle, that there he can abide, such a man is in the faith. Being in the “right” church will not save a man; but are you in the faith? Test yourselves. Perhaps you been busy with irrelevant affairs, while the richest treasure was at home. If Jesus is not living in your heart, you are reprobates, vain pretenders, false professors. Your religion is but a vanity and a show. They are called “rejected silver” (Jeremiah 6:30) because the Lord has rejected them. 

 What is “Christ in you?” The Roman Catholic hangs the cross around his neck; the true Christian carries the cross in his heart. If Christ is crucified in you, in all this world’s troubles, you will be able to sustain them. Christ in the heart means Christ loved, Christ taken in your marriage. It means Christ communed with, Christ as our daily food, and ourselves as the temple and palace where Jesus daily walks. There are many here that are total strangers to the meaning of this phrase; they do not know what it means to have Christ in them. You may know about Christ on Calvary, but perhaps you know nothing about Christ in the heart. You are not saved. He must be your joy, your strength, and your consolation. 

 Do you fail the test? May the Spirit of the living God drive the sword in all the way this morning; so that the power of God may be felt in every heart. Search and test. Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. It is a matter of the very highest importance. A retailer will examine a gold coin to see if it is real when it is offered for a large amount of product, because he may lose a significant amount of money. It would be the ruin of the man if he lost so large a sum. 

 But if you are deceived in the matter of your own souls, you are truly deceived. After all, you bother to look carefully at the title deed to your estate. And to your insurance policies. But remember; all the gold and silver you have, are nothing but residue and scum of the furnace compared with the matter now at hand. It is your own soul, your never-dying soul—will you risk that? My friend, will you think about the condition of your soul? Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes; the soul is much more to be accounted of. You would say, “Let me be robbed of all my garments, if my body is safe.” But what is my body? It is a rag that enshrines and covers my soul. Let my body be sick; I can afford to lose my body. But, oh God, I cannot afford to have my soul cast into hell. What a hazardous course it is, that you and I are running if we do not examine ourselves. It is an everlasting hazard; a course that could end up in heaven or hell--a danger of losing God’s eternal favor, and gaining His everlasting curse. If you make a mistake in your assumptions, you can never rectify it, except in this world. Hence the importance of examining. A person who has gone bankrupt once, and has lost a fortune—but still he may make another. But make spiritual bankruptcy in this life, and you will never have another opportunity to gain heaven. There is no hope, no hope, of being able to gain it again. Now or never, man—remember that. Your soul’s eternal state hangs on the moments of today. If you waste your time, your abilities; if you trust your religion solely to your priest, your minister, or your family, then in the next world, you will truly regret the error, and you will have no hope—no hope--of amending it. 

 Fixed is their everlasting state. 

 If man could repent, ‘tis then too late. 

There are no acts of pardon passed 

In the cold grave to which we haste. 

But darkness, death, and long despair, 

Reign in eternal silence there. 

 How many in this world think themselves to be godly, when they are not? In the circle of your acquaintances, you have persons making a profession—and you stand in astonishment, and wonder how they dare to do it? You know them better than they know themselves. But if others are mistaken in their assessment of themselves, is it not possible that you are too? I think I see the rocks upon which many souls have been lost; the rocks of presumption. The enticing plea of self-confidence lures you onto those rocks this morning. No, you stay on course, mariner! Let the bleached bones lying on the rocks keep you back. Many have been lost, and are wailing at this present hour, wailing their everlasting ruin. If their loss is to be traced, it is nothing more than this—that they never examined themselves to see whether they were in the faith. 

Do not tell me that you are a long-time church member, or a minister. I am glad to hear it, but still I beg you—examine yourself. We may lay aside our robes to wear belts of flames and hell. We may go from our pulpits, having preached to others what we never knew ourselves, and have to someday join the everlasting wailing of souls we have helped to delude. 

There is not a man or woman that does not have good reason to test and try themselves today. Examine yourselves, because God will examine you. God will not take His gold and silver by appearance; but every vessel must be purified in the fire. If our hearts condemn us, how much more will God condemn us? Thank God for the righteousness of Jesus Christ, or none of us would pass the test. Are you truly in the faith? God, robed in thunder, will summon you and all your fellow men to the last judgment. 

I understand that many persons always doubt their eternal condition. It also might be because of a lack of self-examination. How many captains, when lost after a storm, and tensions rise, spends a long time searching his map and the stars, and comes up announcing “I know where we are. Hoist the sails! The water is deep, and you need not fear of any rocks.” How happy you might be, after searching yourselves, to say, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I’ve entrusted to Him for that day.” 

What if your searching had a bad or uncertain result? Better to find it out now, than to find it out when it is too late. We should then pray. Pray, “Lord, if I have been living in a false comfort, Lord, tear it away. Let me know just what I am and where I am. It is better that I think too harshly of myself than too securely, and be ruined by presumption.” Can you say, “I realize that I need to pray daily. I do love God’s Word; it is my meditation many times daily. I love His people and His church. My hands are often lifted upwards towards Him; and when my heart is busy with this world’s affairs, I remember to seek His throne. That is a good sign. But go deeper; have you ever wept over the grasp that worldliness has on your heart? Have you ever been driven to rely, simply, wholly on Christ? Does your faith trust Him for direction, and not your savings, in the darkest hour? Do you seek His Word to find ever more of His ways, and follow them? If you can’t say, in the above examination, that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, then you are reprobate. Go to Him humbly and sincerely; the Holy Spirit will help you to find Christ and find peace. Then you can rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy. Amen.