Are We Living in the Last Days? A Study on Eschatology.

Cass begins a study on Eschatology, a study of the last days.  Here, he begins the foundation for this very important study.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I'm taking uh gonna take a little break from the what I was gonna start. I was gonna start uh another book of the Bible, but I'm just gonna go into a series uh for the next uh several weeks. We'll see how long it how long it lasts. And uh just want to ask you a question. If I was going to, I could tell you uh where I'm from. I'm from northern Wisconsin, I'm from the Shell Lake, uh Spooner Trigo area. And if you've never been there, uh the best way for me to tell you what it's like is just to describe it. I could tell you you head north for about two and a half hours, and when you start to see a lot of dairy farms and a lot of beautiful lakes and things like that, uh veneer in my uh stomping grounds where I where I grew up. Pat knows these that those areas well in that. So yeah, it I could describe it and then you could recognize it when you're there. Otherwise, they just might be words to you. You know, Shell Lake, what's what's that? You know, spooner, trigo, what you know, but describing it. And I said, hey, and if you stop seeing farms and you start seeing a lot of pine trees, uh, you went too far. You're you're up in Douglas County and you know, back up a little bit, you know. And uh, of course, that means we have a lot of deer there because of the farmland, and we have great fishing, and oh man, it's it's a great place to be in the summer. Spring, summer, and fall. Not so much in the winter unless you like the snowmobile. Anyway, the reason I bring that up is I want to ask you uh do you think we're in the last days?

unknown 1:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

We have some yes, we have a no. We'll probably have some, I'm not sure. Tell me more about it. Well, the Bible will describe the last days. So you can look at the description of the last days, and that's gonna be my question. Are we living in the last days? And so I'm gonna start off in the book of 2 Timothy. So if you have your Bibles, open up to 2 Timothy. And there is the description of the last days. And so this series that I'm going to be on is going to be about the last days. Uh, if you're into uh more of a scholarly type of study, this would be the study of eschatology, the last things, the end times. And I'm going to uh it's going to, you know, a lot of people when you say that, they're like, all right, we're going to be in the book of Revelation. Well, eventually, yes. Uh but like anything, you need to understand the things from the very beginning to give you an understanding of the things at the end. And so it will, I will be laying some groundwork quite a while before we get into the book of Revelation. Okay. So, 2 Timothy chapter 3, and so my question is, are we living in the last days? And here's the description. Uh, this know also, this is uh Paul writing to Timothy, his beloved son in the faith, right? And he's saying to him, uh, this know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves. Okay? So you have people that are in love with themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. I could just stop right there. What do you think? Here's the description of the last days. And through this series, I'll probably come back and draw some of this out in more detail, okay? But for now, unthankful, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. You ever notice how good gets turned evil and evil good? Isaiah warned about that. Bitter for sweet, sweet for bitter. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

You know what the sad thing is? This isn't just describing the unsaved world, is it?

SPEAKER_02 5:06

This could be describing the church having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. So Paul warns Timothy and he describes what the perilous times will be in the last days. That's how he labeled it, and then he described it. And so again, my question is are we living in the last days? And I think if you start taking a look at a lot of these warnings, which we'll be doing too, there's many others throughout the New Testament warnings about the last days and what it's like describing it. So each time I'm going to go through another passage that describes it and asking you the same question are we living in last days? So to lay the groundwork, lay the understanding of scripture, guess where we're gonna have to go? Genesis, the very beginning.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

In fact, a good uh verse to look at too. We don't have to go there, but it's Isaiah 46, 10, where he says, I'm gonna declare the end from the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

My counsel will stand, saith the Lord. He says, I'm declaring the end from the very beginning. And I've asked you this question before, but I find that it's always good to bring things up more than once. And just as a reminder. The book of Genesis, what is it about? The book of Exodus, what is it about? Numbers, Deuteronomy, Leviticus. When you look at the first five books of the Bible, what are they about? Jesus. Why do we know that? Because Jesus said so. He warned the Pharisees, says, You don't believe me. If you believe Moses, you'd believe me because Moses wrote of me. Well, we know what Moses wrote. On the disciples that were leaving Jerusalem on the third day after Jesus was put to death, when he rose from the dead, they left Jerusalem, and Jesus came up and talked to them, and it says, beginning at Moses, he explained, and in the prophets, he explained all the scriptures concerning himself. So Jesus was very clear. Book of Genesis, yeah, it's about Jesus. And I would fair to say that you could say the whole Old Testament is about Jesus. Now that's not saying the accounts there were not true, that they did not happen, that they were some kind of fable or allegory. No, they were literal accounts. And the details brought out was to show you Jesus. So with that in mind, we're going to look at the creation of man. These are some of the key verses that I talk about a lot, uh, but I want you to have them uh basically burned into your consciousness, okay? I want you to understand these verses because if you can get a good grasp of the very foundations, uh you can understand later on what is going to happen. Uh it's it's it's no different than if you were looking at a blueprint and you looked at the very end, the finishing parts of the blueprint without understanding the foundations, it would be very confusing. You need to understand the foundation that God has laid uh in his word. So in Genesis 1:26, and just uh for an example of that, uh how many times have you heard people say, uh, I don't understand the book of Revelation? You may have said that yourself or thought that. Well, it's very difficult to understand if you start there. What book would you pick up from the library and just read the last chapter and think you understood the whole story? It wouldn't happen. I mean, I know people will like read the last to see if it's a good ending in that, and I go, I get that. Uh, and if you want to do that with the Bible, that's fine. Find out, oh yeah, God wins, of course. Uh everything's wonderful, you know, a new heaven, new earth. Not go back and read it all because you're not going to understand the book of Revelation until you understand everything beforehand. Uh it's been said that there's over 800 inferences to the Old Testament in the book of Revelation. 800. So if you don't have those, it'd be very difficult to understand. So I'm going to lay the foundation for those, okay? Uh Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. So God said, Let us create man in our image after our likeness, and let him have dominion over, uh, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, uh, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the all the earth, over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

unknown 10:09

Okay?

SPEAKER_02 10:10

So, again, in the very beginning, when God created man, he gave man a relationship with himself. Adam could walk in the cool of the day. He was made in the image of God and in the likeness of God. And I would like to suggest that those are two separate things. Uh, the image of God, God is a triune God, three and one. Therefore, man is three and one. And it's notice the wording here let us create man in our image after our those are plural forms, right? And we know that God wasn't speaking to the angels, God wasn't speaking to anything else, because in verse 27, God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. So man's created in the image of God. We have a physical body, we have a mind, uh, intellect, a will, what we call maybe a personality, and we have a spiritual side too. The three and one. And he gave him dominion over the fish of the sea, over the animals, over the earth. So dominion, those two things: a relationship with God, dominion over the earth. Now, uh there was a uh requirement, a test, Genesis chapter 2, verse 16, 17. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it thou shalt surely die. A lot of things in that verse there that you might not uh catch. Uh one, one is this is a command. It's not a covenant. There are some uh theologies that would say, well, God made a covenant with Adam. The scripture does not say he made a covenant with Adam, he gave Adam a command. Adam didn't have a say in the matter, did he? He didn't have to agree with it, didn't matter. Adam, don't eat from natural. That's a command. Very clearly. A covenant is something you enter into. You go, okay, let me think about that. Should I go, should I be part of that or not? Totally different. Totally different. This is not a covenant, it's a command. And that has some theological applications that we aren't necessarily going to get into uh today. The second thing is, as he says, you will surely die. If you go into the Hebrew, it says literally, you will die, you will die. He's saying it twice. And I don't believe it's for emphasis. I believe that God is talking about two deaths. When we get to the end, the book of Revelation, it clearly says that there is a first death and a second death. The first death being physical, the second death is what we call a spiritual death, being separated from God forever and put into a place called the lake of fire. That is the second death that the Bible declares. So he says, if you break the command, if you eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you will die, you will die. You will die a physical death, you will die a spiritual death. Okay. Now, I'm going to, I know I'm going to uh probably go against the flow, go against the current of a lot of main teaching that's out there. And uh in these next few things I want to present to you, but I think if you look at what I'm talking about, uh you may agree with me, and you may not, and that's fine. Uh I understand that I'm going against the the flow when it comes to uh what is considered uh how they interpret some of these verses coming up. Uh we know that uh in Genesis 3 there is the fall of mankind. They disobey, they take from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and they eat from it. First, the woman is deceived, takes it, gives it to Adam, who was standing right there, and he ate from it also. And sin comes into the world, right? Now, most people will say, well, Adam died spiritually that day, and he died physically at the age of 930. Because we know his lifespan was 930. And so they say, well, he he eventually died. He eventually died physically. Well, yeah, he did. But I want to make a point. What did God say when you eat from the that tree? The day you eat from that tree, he didn't say, Well, after you eat it from you'll start to die, and eventually, when you get to the age of 930, you will die. Do you understand what I'm saying? So my question is if God says, On that day you will surely die. You will die, you will die. Why didn't He die physically on that day? Okay, I think it's a big deal. I think it's very important to understand. And I'll show you why. Genesis 3, 15. So I won't go through the Genesis 3 into a long exposition on it. It's well worth the time to do, but I can't do it today. But nevertheless, God calls out to Adam, he confronts Adam, Adam confesses. Uh I know most people will say he tried to blame the woman. Uh I don't think that was the case. I think he simply said, The woman that you gave me to eat gave me the fruit, and I did eat from it. I think he was just saying it like it was. Reason being is God accepted what he said. God doesn't accept blaming somebody else. Look at Cain. Oh, am I responsible for my brother? You know, that's and he says, Your blood brother's blood cries out from the ground to me. He doesn't let him get away with giving an excuse. That's why I think Adam was not blaming his wife. I think he was simply saying, the woman that you gave me to be with, she gave me, that's exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened. So, like I said, there's some things that I'm going to present that go against the normal grain and the current, and that's okay. Uh, it's it's up to you to read and be discerning uh on these subjects. And in the big scope of it, it's not a big deal one way or another, um, doctrinal-wise. So, but I just wanted you to be aware of those things. So Adam's confronted, he confesses, and and he goes to God goes to the woman and she says, Yep, uh, I was deceived. That's what happened, she was deceived, and I think she confesses also. I don't think she's making excuses or blaming. He gives a curse to the serpent, doesn't question him, you are cursed, okay? Then God makes this statement: I will put enmity between thee. He's speaking to the serpent, to Satan. Genesis 3.15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. Now, this is something a lot of people miss. There are two seeds mentioned. There is the seed of the serpent, and there's the seed of the woman. Two seeds mentioned. So then he goes on to say, um, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Two different events. There's going to be the seed of a woman. Like I said, we've talked about this before, right? Not seed of a man, not seed of man and woman, seed of a woman. That is none other than speaking of the virgin birth of Christ. The only one that can say, born of a woman only, not of a man and woman, but a woman only. Seed of a woman. Now it says, there's going to be a seed of Satan. I believe that that's a future event, talking about who we call the Antichrist or the beast. Future event. The first thing that's going to happen, it says, um, it says thou shalt bruise a head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Well, Jesus received a bruised heel when he was crucified on the cross. That payment that he made for sin, that blood that was purchased us, if we believe, that payment at the cross, he received a bruised heel. That was so we can have our relationship restored. You see those two things in the beginning, the relationship, the dominion that we're lost when sin came into the world. The first time Jesus came as a babe and grew up and lived a sinless life and was crucified, died, buried, rose again. That's so we can have a relationship once again with the Father. That is the purpose of that. A bruised heel. Now, there is going to be come a time when the seed of Satan comes on the seed, the Antichrist, the beast. There is going to be that time of tribulation. There is going to be the second coming of Christ. The return of Christ. Not talking about the rapture, the return of Christ. And he's going to take that beast and the false prophet, toss them into the lake of fire. Satan will be bound a thousand years. You see, this is, those are future events.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

I think this one verse speaks of the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

One to restore the relationship, one to restore the dominion, the rule, the reign. That time. So we have the relationship and the dominion given to man, the commandment not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You have the fall of mankind and the promise to someday restore both of those things. Genesis 3, 15. So we could hit on Cain and Abel, but I'll bypass that for now. Genesis chapter 6. We'll pick it up there. Genesis 6, the flood. And just to let you know where I'm why I'm going into this, do you remember one of the things that Jesus says, as in the days of Noah, so it shall be at the coming of the Son of Man? So think about this. Say you're teaching somebody, and you want them to understand what Jesus was talking about. When he's talking about the second coming, when he says, So will be the second coming. The coming of the Son of Man shall be like in the days of Noah. Wouldn't it make sense then to teach about the days of Noah? Yes, of course. Because then if you can understand the days of Noah, then you'll have a better understanding of what it's going to be like during the second coming of Christ.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Okay?

SPEAKER_02 21:54

So I just I'm going to hit on a little bit. We'll go later on in the series, I'm sure we'll get more in depth. In a lot of this, I'm trying to lay a foundation though. Genesis 6, chapter, chapter 6, verse 1. It came to pass when men began to multiply in the face of the earth, and the daughters were born unto them. The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all that they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he is also flesh, yet his day shall be a hundred and twenty years. So what I believe that God is speaking here is there's going to be from that time forward a hundred and twenty years before the destruction happens, before the flood comes. Not that man's lifespan is limited to a hundred and twenty years, but from that point on, a hundred and twenty years, the destruction is going to come. Now, a few things that we can notice there. It says, My spirit will not always strive or contend with man, as the spirit of God being outside of man, contending with him, trying to get man to trust God to do what is right, but him refusing. Verse 4, there were giants on the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, that they had bare children unto them. The same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination and thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So notice what he says when he's describing the time of Noah is going to be similar to the end times. Be before the return of Christ. He says, the wickedness of man was great on the earth. Second, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only, only evil, continually. Do you realize how bad that is? Not just, you know, no say you, you know, you cut the day in half. So, you know, 12 hours, I mean, no one's, well, I don't know anyone's sleep, but just say 12 hours of sleep. 12 hours you're awake. Okay. So out of that 12 hours, well, you know, there was probably a couple hours where my mind was just not on the things of God. Or maybe we might say, well, maybe there's only a couple hours where my mind was on the things of God. Look what this is saying. Not a second was on anything of God, of any kind of righteousness, on any kind of form of truth, but the whole time was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from off the face of the earth, both man and beast, and every creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repented me that I've made them. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So, here when when the God looks down at mankind and he sees that his man is wicked, uh, that the thoughts, the imagination of his thoughts of his heart were only evil continually, he says, enough. I'm going to destroy mankind. Uh, except for Noah and his family. Noah found grace. And of course, we find out later, Noah's a preacher is a preacher of righteousness, and then anyone uh could that wanted to could have been on that ark too. Uh they didn't have to uh stay out, they didn't have to mock, they didn't have to uh reject that message, they could have been there too, but nevertheless they did not. And God destroys the world with a flood. Well, I won't go into the whole account there, there's so much there, but uh let's go into Genesis chapter 11. So Noah's family, they get out, they start being fruitful, multiplying, and they're told to spread throughout the earth. And guess what they do? They don't do that. They're fruitful, they multiply. But chapter 11 says, and the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. And they said to one another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And let them uh and they had brick for stone and slime they had for mortar. And they said, Go to, thou let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto the heaven, that we uh and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the old world. So they're directly rebelling against what God said to do. They're coming together in one place, they had one language, and this place is going to be known as Babel or Babylon. It's going to play a very significant role throughout scripture. Uh, two major cities in the Bible, Jerusalem and Babylon. Polar opposites, really. Polar opposites. And so there you're going to see that as we go through. So we need to understand what this was all about. So it's one people, one language, one everything, basically. And if you have studied n times, you'll see a revival of Babylon. You're going to see a one-world government, a one-world religion, and so on. So as we go through here, verse 5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Now, if you take that verse, it says, I take it, it seems like there is no limit to what man can do if they are together as one. I'm pretty sure that's if you just take the plain reading of that, that's what it says. And it's amazing when you understand that when you get to the book of Revelation, you remember the passage uh when it talks about the people who sought for death but could not find it. Strange. Strange. What did they learn how to do? Did they learn how to live forever physically? It says once they come together, whatever they imagine to do, they'll be able to accomplish it. Interesting thing. So God scattered them. Do you see a reversal of Babylon? Of the Babylon, the scattering and the languages being confused. Do we see a reversal of that? Do we see more and more it's easier to have things translated? Sure. Sure, you can do that. So he says, Nothing will be done, uh, nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Verse 7, go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from upon the face of the all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore the name of it is called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth, and from there did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Two things that I believe God did there: confusing the languages and scattering the people. I think he did both, not just one. Again, a lot of times it gets taught that, well, he confused the languages, people didn't understand, so they just kind of wandered off. But that's he did say he confused the language and the people wandered off. He confused the languages and he scattered them. He scattered them. Ever make a homemade pizza? Take the cheese and you just start sprinkling it all over the place? When you get done, you sprinkle some more. Put some top, you sprinkle, you know. Of course, people love cheese, right? Well, I think that's what we got. Ah, North America, sprinkle some over there, South America, don't forget Australia, New Zealand. I think you scattered it. Well, if we were together, say we had a project. Um, let's see, what could we do? We're gonna we're gonna make uh we're gonna make a a a huge um uh obstacle course. And we're gonna we're gonna put it right out here. And we're gonna we're gonna use that for for different events and things like that. And so we're all in the middle of building that obstacle course, and all of a sudden we're s we start speaking different languages. Do you think it'd be too difficult just to stay there and figure it out? It wouldn't be too difficult. What if you what if all of a sudden we were scattered all over the place? Well, it'd be pretty easy to come back together and you know you run into someone who said, hey, where did you end up and how did we get back? But what if both happened? The languages were confused and you're scattered. As soon as you find someone, you can't even talk to them. It ended that work. I think both happened anyway. The Tower of Babylon, like I said, this city is gonna come back. A city uh built by whom? Nimrod, rebellion. Right? Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the city of peace, of righteousness. Two different cities, a rebellious and a righteous. Two different cities. Like I said, trying to lay the foundation. So there's a major question that should be occurring at this time. If you're following Scripture, I believe the way God intended, there should be a question, because remember, what is the focus of Genesis? The overall focus? Jesus, right? That's the overall focus of Jesus. He's already been mentioned several times. Let us make man in our image. Jesus was there. Uh when it says, and and in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That is Jesus there, right? God is in the Hebrew is Elohim. It's a plural form. It's talking about the Trinity. Okay. So you have God, Jesus, in the very beginning and working through this, and the you get to that promised seed, and we go, oh, the virgin birth, right? That is talking about Jesus coming into this earth. Well, now there's a problem. So if you're thinking of the looking through the Bible through that lens of this is about Jesus, think about it. The people are scattered all over the place and speaking a different language. What is the question? Where is the Messiah going to come from? How are we going to know who he is? How will we know? I mean, where is he going to come from? Out of all the people that are all over the place and speaking different languages, how's anyone gonna know who he is? Well, if we just turn the page Genesis chapter 12, this is the significance of the calling of Abraham. This is the significance of the nation of Israel. Chapter 12, verse 1. And now the Lord had said unto Abram, And get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land I will show thee. And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Abraham, it's going to be you, and to make sure that the whole world knows that that promised seed is going to be through you. I'm going to take you away from everything that makes you important. I'm going to take you away from your land. I'm going to take you away from your family, your father's house. I'm going to take you away from all that. I'm going to place you right in the center of the nations. I'm going to make your name great. I'm going to make of you a great nation. You see, everything, Abraham, that you leave, I'm going to make great, and everyone's going to know that I made you great. So that when the coming promise, the seed of the woman, comes, the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, when he comes into the world, the world can know that God was doing it. That's the significance of God calling out Abraham. All the other people are all over the world, they're scattered, they're speaking a different language. No one could possibly know when the Messiah would come or where he would come from, who he would be. So God starts setting the stage. I'm going to take one man and I'm going to take him away from everything. And the whole purpose of that, so everyone can know God made this man great. God made him a great nation. God did all of this. What does he ask of you and I? I think very much the same thing. What are you willing to leave for his sake? To do his will? What are you willing to give up, to follow after him? Whatever you leave, you'll receive. Maybe not in this world. I'm not preaching prosperity gospel, but rewards in heaven. So let me go on here and go through this one more time in Genesis chapter 12. So the Lord told Abram, Leave, get out of your country, your nation, your country, and from your family, your kindred, from your father's house unto a land I will show you. Just leave and I'll show you. You start walking, you start, you leave from that, and I will lead you, I will guide you, I will show you. And I will make of thee a great nation. Leave the nation, leave your country, I'll make you a great nation. And I will bless thee and make thy name great. Leave your kindred, your family, your father's house, I will make your name great. And thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, curse those that curse thee. I'm going to provide for you, and I'm going to protect you. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And we find out later with how God reveals things to Abram that he's speaking of that promised seed of the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, Jesus, coming through that lineage of Abraham. What is the significance of the nation of Israel? God put them in the land, made them great, took them out of Egypt, did all of these things so that the world could know that there's a God in Israel and that he sent his son to come and to die in our place, to pay for our sins, so that we could have that relationship restored once again to the Father, and that he's going to come a second time to rule and to reign, to establish his dominion. You see, you have to have that foundation laid. Do you realize the biggest thing that kept the Jewish people from accepting their Messiah? They had half the story. They looked at he's going to come back and rule and reign. We love those verses. What they didn't want to accept is they were sinners in desperate need of a savior. That's the whole purpose of John the Baptist was to tell them, you guys aren't fit. You aren't fit for your king. You need to repent, you need to be cleansed, you need washed. And some believed. But the majority didn't. And the problem is, as we in this time period, as the church, we jump in and we grab a hold of the other half. He came to be our savior. Wonderful. Yes, he did. But there's plenty of promises that are specifically about his rule and his dominion that we can't just grab a hold of those and apply those today. They're a future event. The relationship, the dominion. So as I conclude here, because I'm running out of time, I want you to understand the groundwork. Those things are crucially important to understand the relationship and the dominion. He came the first time. He paid for our sins. How did Adam escape death that day? How did that happen? Something took his place. Something took his place. Go back to Genesis 3. What happens? It said, Adam changed his wife's name to Eve. It was woman. Now you will be called Eve. In fact, let's go back to look and look at it. Genesis chapter 3, verse 20. I want to bring the show you this. And Adam called his wife's name E, because she was the mother of all living. God said, a seed of the woman, who is the woman? Well, who we call Eve. Remember when she was created? You are now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. You will be called woman. That was her name. And it's not until the promise was made that the seed of the woman, so what woman would Adam be thinking? His wife, the only one there. And Adam called his wife's name E, because she would be the mother of, she was the mother of all living. If it's going to be through you, see, Adam believed what God had said. Next verse. And unto Adam and unto his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothe them. See, there was death that day, but it wasn't Adam's. It was an innocent animal. And God is setting the stage to show the innocent dies in the place of the guilty. God's punishment of death skipped Adam and was placed on an animal. Now, does the blood of bulls and goats can then ever remove sin? No, it's temporary, right? It's temporary. And that's why I believe Adam died at 930. It was a temporary covering. That animal died that day. So Adam didn't have to. God introduces the concept of substitution. The innocent in place of the guilty. The innocent getting the punishment of the guilty. Did the animal do anything wrong? No. Adam deserved it, but instead, when Adam recognized that promise, believed God, it got transferred to the animal. So God made coats of skin and clothed them. That's where we get the word atonement. A covering. It covers atonement, covers sin. Doesn't take it away. Propitiation is taking it away. It means he's satisfied. It's been done. Atonement is a covering. It's kind of like uh you ever in a rush to clean your house. So you you make a big pile someplace with everything, and then you put a blanket over it. Nothing to see there. Open up the oven, good place for all the dirty dishes because the dishwasher is full. Just don't preheat it for a pizza without checking. Right? Well, what are we doing? We're just covering it. It's an atonement, it doesn't take it away. And that's the difference between the sacrificial system covered it. To where when Christ died on the cross, that's the propatiation, that's the satisfaction and took care of it.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

So Adam understood these things.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

Noah understood these things. Abram understood these things. And I'm trying to, like, again, lay the foundation so we can understand what it's going to be like in the last days. And then we'll have a better understanding and better answer of are we living in the last days? And more importantly, as Second Peter brings out, if so. What kind of people ought we to be? What kind of people ought we to be? Let's pray. Father, thank you again for this time that we come together and study your word and have a better understanding of the things that took place from the very beginning to show us the things that will happen at the very end. Lord, I do ask your blessing on the rest of our time together as we have our annual meeting and as we have a potluck in fellowship with one another. Thank you again for who you are and all that you've done for us. In Jesus' name. Amen.