Herbert W. Armstrong Audio Sermon Transcripts
The Church of God Faithful Flock brings you transcripts of sermons given by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong.
Creation and Prehistory
12 May 1978
My, I didn't expect over 30 or 40 people here tonight. (Great laughter from audience) Oh my, I'm way down in here. Anyhow, I'm going to be seated tonight because I've been rather tired today, more than any day I think in two or three months. But, of course, it was natural it would happen that way.
The Church is off to a new start. We are all unified. We're all together. God is still on His throne; and we are going to see the radio broadcasting program daily picking up at as fast a pace as possible, and once again we are going to be back on the track and really going in a big way.
Now I might just say that I am leaving on the next trip. My plane is sort of in for its annual checkup right now, but it will be out the end of this month; and on June 25th we are leaving for London. We'll be there just a couple of days or so to rest up from the trip, and then on to Jerusalem. A year and a half or so ago (could have been nearly two years) the mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek ... The mayor of Jerusalem is a man that should be of world renown, and certainly should be outstanding.
He came to me and he said: "Jerusalem has never had, doesn't have, a good central downtown park," and he had an ambition to have one; and there was a place all cleared. I think it's about two or three blocks wide and three or four blocks the other way. It's a reasonably good size. It's only a short distance, just a short walk, to the wall of the old city. It is sort of between that and the King David Hotel (The King David Hotel looms right up just a couple of blocks the other way.) in a beautiful location.
Now the Prime Minister of Israel (It's not the present Prime Minister, but the one who was then Prime Minister.) had gone from Washington when he was over here to see our President, had made a trip down to Philadelphia. I don't know all of the details, but I know that the city of Philadelphia had agreed to have a duplicate made of the Liberty Bell and sent it over to Israel, which is a symbol of our freedom in this country. And the Liberty Bell was already there when he came to me, oh I don't know, it's a year and a half or more ago. You may have seen my picture published in front of that Liberty Bell. It's the same size, exactly like the original Liberty Bell, crack and all! So he is calling it the Liberty Bell Park.
He asked me if we would share a little bit in it, and I told him that we would undertake (since we have been quite active in Jerusalem for the past ten years, that we would undertake) to build the children's playground. That's right at the entrance. I don't know how much of an area it is; but I suppose maybe 20-25% of the whole area, for it is now complete. It is to be dedicated, and I probably will make the dedication prayer, on July the 4th. So about July the 2nd (the 1st or 2nd) we will go on down to Jerusalem; and I will be there to open this with my friend Teddy Kollek. He is my friend, and he has been here on the campus. He has spoken to our students.
Then, from there, we go back to London; and on July the 8th there will be a premier of a motion picture that has been made to raise funds for charity for a fund for the crippled children. Now I have already participated in a few of those premiers that have raised millions of dollars for the crippled children. Sometimes it is a very good thing. For example, in Monte Carlo it was hosted by Prince Rainier and myself; and then at the banquet afterwards Princess Grace was seated next to me and Prince Rainier just across from me in the middle of the table (because over there the host does not sit at the end of the table, but in the middle at one side or the other).
Then at the one we had in London, the Duke of Kent and I were the hosts; and that one there raised up more than a million dollars for this crippled children's fund. This time Queen Elizabeth the II has promised to be the co-host with me in this. If for any reason she cannot be there, Prince Charles (who I expect to be the King very soon, because I am rather expecting the Queen will abdicate in his favor before too long. He's now about I think he must be about 22. You may know better than I do just what his age is, but he is old enough to take it over, and seems to be very well liked). It will either be Prince Charles or Prince ... Oh, why can't I think of his name now? The Queen's husband. It will be one at the top of the Royal Family, in any event.
Now on December the 1st a big celebration is being planned in Jerusalem, because that is the 10th anniversary of the time when I went over there and had made the decision that we would go in on the archeological project; and I handed over the first check for a part of the first year's contribution. Now we had sent, on a few summers, we had sent up to 100 students over there from our three campuses (when we had the three campuses running). Actually, of course I get the personal credit for it; but we have probably done more for Jerusalem than anyone else in the past 10 years. Now we've come to the 10th anniversary; and, of course, that archeological project has become the largest in history.
Now here's something that maybe most of you don't know. We're soon going to have a new world government. I think you should know that, anyway; and I think you know Who will be the King over all the earth. I think you know where He is going to sit and rule from. It will be the throne of the ancient King David. Now that throne has been covered up with something like 50 feet or more of debris and waste and other things that have piled up on top of it.
From the south wall of the temple (the temple wall) ... Of course, David did not reign from the temple. That was a place of worship. He reigned from his palace. And so that was in the City of David, and it's down the hill just a little further. We were not able yet to get down there because of a road that goes by, and we have excavated up to that road. Now the excavation is going to start immediately on the other side of the road in the old ancient City of David; and we will be preparing for Christ's coming, and cleaning off all of the accumulated debris and everything that has come in the last 2,500 years.
It isn't as if that is necessary, brethren. I know you know that. Christ is coming in supernatural power, and He can supernaturally clear it almost quicker than you can bat an eye. But, nevertheless, I think He wants us to do some of these things. We are not only announcing His coming, and announcing the coming Kingdom of God; but we also are actually preparing the very place from which Christ will reign. If that isn't preparing the way before Christ, who is doing it? You tell me. Nobody else at all!
Well now, I think tonight that I would rather start on a sort of message that I gave when the ministers, who were here on sabbatical leave, came down. There were three groups of them, and I gave the same talk each time. Now it wasn't written or anything. It was just as I would adlib it, and just speak to you casually; and that's what I am going to do tonight. I'll take half of it tonight and the rest tomorrow at a service. It will be at 1 o'clock. Now that service tomorrow, and even tonight, this is being piped over by television (short-circuit television) to both of the gymnasiums I understand on the campus: the college gymnasium and the high school gym. So we have probably a few thousand people right here tonight.
Tomorrow it will be sent over our broadcast line (the telephone broadcast line) all the way to Big Sandy. It will be 3 o'clock over there when it's 1 o'clock here. So we will have the service at 1 o'clock here, and it will be 3 o'clock when they will be having and listening to the same service over there. I'm sure that this is being taped and that both of these sermons will be sent to the membership in all of the Churches around the world. I think it's so very, very important because I don't think that ever before I (or have I heard anyone else) start from the very beginning and go through with the whole story of this Book.
If I were to ask you, "Where does it start?" -- most of you would say it starts in Genesis 1:1, wouldn't you?
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven(s) and the earth.
No, you would be wrong. In point of time of what it's talking about, that is not the beginning; but rather John 1:1, which I will open to. And there is ... I suggest on this John 1:1-3, I could preach an entire long sermon on just that alone. Now I want you to notice: here is what began before anything else. We need to get back and into pre-history, and see what brought us up to the place where we are. If we start with Christ, it is like beginning going into a motion picture theatre when it is, well, about two-thirds over; and you can't understand what went before. You didn't see what led up to it, and you don't get the meaning of what you are seeing.
That is the case in all the world. They hear about Christ. They don't hear that He came as a King to rule and that He did qualify. They don't seem to understand that the government of God had been on this earth before that, and that He came to restore that government over the earth. That's the most important thing that there is or could be. That's the most important thing to Almighty God. It should be the most important thing to us.
So I am going to begin way back in the real beginning: Now here it is, John 1 verses 1 to 3.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Now that might have been millions of years before Genesis 1:1. We just don't know. We don't know how long it was. We don't know whether it was a year or two, or whether it was millions of years, because the Bible doesn't tell us. I just wasn't there, and you weren't either.
John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. [That is, the Word.]
Now that word 'Word' comes from the Greek word 'Logos,' and it means Spokesman. The Spokesman was there with God, and the Spokesman was also God. There are two personages. At that time there was no matter. There was no material universe. There was no earth; there was no sun, planets (like Mars and Jupiter) and so on. Our whole galaxy did not exist, and the other galaxies just seem to go on through limitless space. None of them existed yet at that time. ALL THAT EXISTED, ANYWHERE, was God and this other personage -- who also was God, but a different person, and is called the Word. He was not then the Son of God; however He has always existed, as other scriptures show us.
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
Now who was that Word? Well, later we read down here in the 12th verse ... .or the 14th verse rather:
John 1:14 The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Christ was the only one begotten (before his human birth) of God. Now we could be begotten of God, and we all should be here; but that is begotten for the final life in the Kingdom of God when we'll be changed into spirit beings and will become sons of God. Christ became a Son of God even while He was a human man subject to death, and He did die for us. He was begotten of God, and no one else ever has been; and that's the meaning there of "the only begotten" of God.
This, however, starts way back before He was begotten of God and became Christ. A thing that most of the churches don't seem to know is that the God of the Old Testament is the one who became Christ. They didn't know the Father. He went under the name of Yhwh, which in English simply means the Ever Living, or the Eternal (eternally alive) One. There is no one word in the English language that expresses it exactly; but, of all the words that you can use, I have always preferred the word "the Eternal." So where you find the word LORD in the Old Testament, it is translated from this word Yhwh. I (and I believe all ... as far as I know, that all of our ministers do the same thing) call it the Eternal. He is eternally living, has ALWAYS lived. There never was a time when He did not exist.
Now one thing, He and God (who later became His Father, but was not yet at the time here in John 1:1 the Father of Christ), They were of one mind: That is, They agreed on everything to the last detail; and the One who was the Word was subject to the One who is called God. In Ephesians the 3rd chapter, I believe it is, you will read that "God ... created all things BY Jesus Christ." I'm not going to turn to that right now. I think it is the 3rd chapter of Ephesians. Christ is the instrument He used.
I saw Henry Ford in early January in 1914 to get a story, an article, for a national magazine. Now that's quite a time back, 1914. Most of you have been born since. I imagine most of you here. Some of you were born before that and most of you afterwards. But I saw Henry Ford. He was in a business suit, and he is the maker of the Ford car. (Or was. Of course, he is dead now -- the original Henry Ford.) On the other hand, I saw him in the breezeway between the office building and the big factory that they then had. Since then, they have built one so very much bigger; but that was the one out on Highland Avenue to the north of downtown Detroit. Henry Ford was the maker of the Ford car; but he made it by and through all of those thousands of workmen that I saw out in that great, gigantic factory wearing overalls and using the power of electricity and machines to make it.
Now God created the whole universe BY Jesus Christ, who was the Workman. But instead of electricity and tools, Christ used the Holy Spirit; and He spake, and it was done. When Christ spoke, the Holy Spirit did it immediately; and that's the way all creation came about.
Now then, go back and let your mind dwell on this a while. Here They were out in space. I don't know what the heaven where God's throne is, is like; and you don't either, because it isn't described in the Bible; and I know that none of us have been there and so therefore we don't know. But whether it's on some solid planet or just in space, I don't know. In any event, it was not then on a planet because there had been no physical matter even created yet at that time.
What I want you to understand is that there They were for a long, long time; and, if you ask what is God, God is Creator. Above all things, first of all, He's a Creator. Now God is much more than the Creator. God is also Lord and Master (that is, Ruler),and He is supreme in the rule of the universe. Satan is really ruling on this earth, but that is because God is allowing it; and Satan can't do one thing God doesn't allow. God's power is supreme over all!
We have a mind something like God's (only so far inferior to that of God, of course). But His mind works something like our minds do, and we can learn a little bit by it from that. What were the Father (who is God) and the Word -- just the two of Them -- what were They doing? Well, I can imagine that They wanted some company.
You know, down in Tucson we have a little ferret. (I remember I had a ferret when I was a boy 11 years old.) This ferret has his own little cage, and we'd call it a ferret's palace. He's going to get a wife pretty soon; but he seemed pretty lonesome there, all by himself. If we let him out, he will play with the dog. They get frisky, and they play around a lot; but he looks pretty lonely in there all by himself. Well, I would think that God and the Word could have felt a little that way.
Now first of all, They created angels; but They thought, and planned, and worked out all of the plans, a long time before They did the actual job of creating. Now angels are created out of spirit; and they were just out in empty space, because there was no physical universe. But God knew that His future plan needed a physical universe. God must have known even then that He was going to create human beings in His own image and in His likeness. God must have known even then that He was going to reproduce himself through a family of humans. However, He had not yet come to the place where He had planned and actually created matter, or the physical universe. It was only the angels at first.
Now there were only the Two, and They had created these angels out of spirit. They were made spirit, or immortal, beings. If you want to read more about them, you can turn to the 1st chapter of Hebrews in the Bible; and you will learn probably more about the angels there than in any other one place in the Bible, although they are mentioned many places. But They created the angels, and that was before They had created the earth or the physical universe.
Now I'd like to show you back here in Job, the book of Job (which is just before the Psalms), the 38th chapter. Job was a very great man. He was the greatest man in all the East; and Job was very, very wealthy. He was very surrendered to God, and he was so righteous that even Satan couldn't find anything wrong with him. You know how Satan argued with God about it, and God allowed Satan first to take away his wealth and finally even strike him with boils from head to foot.
Job then had a long discussion with his three friends, which carries us clear up to the 38th chapter of the book. Now they didn't have a right understanding. ALL MY LIFE I HAVE CRAVED UNDERSTANDING above everything else. I knew, because I read very early in the Bible 50 years ago, that no one has ever had the wisdom of Solomon, or ever can have. But I don't know of anyone that God has given the most understanding to. At least I have craved it, I remember since I was 5 years old. My father used to tell me that I would be a Philadelphia lawyer when I grew up because he said I asked so many crazy, fool questions; and he got tired of answering. But I wanted to know WHY. I wanted to know HOW. I wanted it explained. I wanted to understand. I always have.
And so God has given me understanding; and I've tried to give it to you, brethren, and save you a lot of time that I had to spend in searching and researching everything to get the bits of truth out of the Bible one by one. It did not all come at once, you can be sure of that; and I'm getting more truth every year.
Now God said (well, in the 38th chapter):
Job 38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said ...
He's talking to him because Job was so proud and so self-righteous; and he kept arguing that he maintained his own righteousness, and that's what was wrong with him. Our righteousness is just like a lot of filthy rags to God. It's got to be the righteousness of God that we receive through His Spirit, and Job just didn't have that; and so finally God Himself begins to speak to him. This is the Word that is doing it, and He says to Job:
Job 38:4-5 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. (5) Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Who did these things? You see Job had built the greatest building on earth. He had been sort of employed (or retained) by the Pharaoh of Egypt, because the Pharaoh didn't know how to do it or have anyone who did. Job was really a man of God, and he had the knowledge and the wisdom for something like that. It is my guess, I would say, that in the resurrection into the Kingdom of God Job will be delegated the head over all the great masterworks in the earth, because that was what he was prepared for.
Well, you see, Job had built the greatest building in the world -- the Great Pyramid. It was the tallest building, the highest building, on earth until the Woolworth Tower was completed in New York. I remember when I was back in New York for the first time in the year of 1920 and attending a National Bankers' Convention that I went up to the top of the Woolworth building. The Empire State Building had not been built yet at that time. I want to tell you, the Woolworth building ... I don't know what it is, 60-70 stories? (Something like that.) And it was then the tallest building on earth. It seemed very tall from the tower looking down on the street.
Well, God says: "Where were you when I laid the foundations ... ?" He laid the foundations of that great pyramid, and he thought that was pretty big. Well, it was by human standards; but God is showing now something far bigger.
Job 38:6-7 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fashioned? Or who (hath)laid the corner stone thereof; (7) When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
The sons of God are angels. That shows that the angels were created when God created the earth. The angels, I mean, had already been created BEFORE God created the earth; and they were there to shout with joy. Now why did they shout with joy? Because God created the earth as the abode for the angels! Very few people know that; and, if you don't know that, you can't understand why God put human beings on this earth. It's very important that we go clear back, and that we understand this thing.
Now there is a little more that I need to explain to you about John 1:1 before we get away from that. When God created the angels and then He created the earth, he expected them to do something on this earth -- to improve it and finish the work. I tell you how God has created the earth; and I think there is enough evidence to show that that is the way He created our moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, all of the planets in our solar system and all of the millions upon millions of other planets throughout the universe.
Have you ever seen an unfinished furniture store where they have furniture? It's ... the wood is made. It's complete. It's solid. It's a fine wood. That is, it can be. Some of it is, and some is cheaper. But the finish has not been put on yet. Well I can see, if you think about these things as I have done and use all of the scriptures (don't go parts of them, but just what is consistent with them), you will understand a lot of these things. And that is what I am trying to impart to you.
There is one thing that God wanted. He wanted them to do what He wanted done on this earth. He intended for them to improve it and to put the finishing touches on; and it would have been, well, greater than anything any of us has every seen. Now I am coming to more of that later. This is all before Genesis 1:1. I haven't got to that yet. That's not where the time order of events begins.
Now there is one very important point right here that I want to bring in. If you were to ask what is God -- what characterizes God above all -- I would say righteous, holy, perfect character. That means the motivation. That means His attitude, His purpose. God is a great Giver. God is not only a Creator, but He is the Giver of every good and precious gift; and giving is the very principle of righteousness. Getting and taking is the very principle of evil. (Now there is more on that, a moment or so later.)
The point I want to make right now is that there is one thing God could not create. (That's either God or the Word; and God created through the Word, or the Spokesman, who became Christ.) He could not create perfect, holy, righteous character. If God made a person so they had to do everything the perfect, right way and would not have any ability to ever decide or think the other way (or do the other way), there would be no character whatever; and that would defeat His very purpose.
GOD HAS PUT YOU ON THIS EARTH FOR THE PURPOSE OF FORMING CHARACTER WITHIN YOU. THAT'S WHY YOU ARE HERE. THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE BEEN BORN. THAT IS THE BIG PURPOSE. Now, secondarily, He has called you to get back of me in getting His good news of the coming Kingdom of God, when it is going to be restored on earth, and getting that around to the world; and, secondly, to prepare YOU in character that YOU can have that kind of righteous character so that you can rule under Christ when He comes to rule the WHOLE WORLD and to take over every nation on this earth and take over every government.
I go around the world, brethren; and I probably have had more private, personal talks with kings and emperors and presidents and prime ministers than even Henry Kissinger. And if I haven't, I bet I am a close second. Anyway, they're just here for a little while; and Christ is going to come and take over every one of those thrones, and they will not be sitting there any longer. But if we just start in with the gospel about the Kingdom of God, and you don't go and get this background, you can't understand WHY. WHY did God do what He did?
Now, character is something we have to make our own decision about. In other words, character is that which takes place (or is developed) in one who has a separate mind and an individual separate entity, and who comes to see and understand the right from the wrong (God's way from the wrong way), and who goes that way (decides to go that way) and overcomes the other way (even though he may have a desire to go the other way) instead of going the way that seems easiest and that he wants to do.
Well, I tried to teach my sons when they were little to do what you ought to do and not what you want to do -- of coming to know what you ought to do, what is right (the right thing to think, the right thing to do -- and then to do it, and even though you may want to do something else. You must RESIST the WRONG impulses.
Now we have to make that decision ourselves. When God created Adam, (I am going to show you, and I probably won't get to that till tomorrow) Adam had to make a decision. There were the Two Trees there in the Garden of Eden, and Adam had to decide. God said later to Israel that He had set two ways in front of them. One was righteousness and life (eternal life), and the other was sin and death; and He said, "CHOOSE." The people had to choose; but God said, "Choose the righteous way."
God wants us to choose the righteous way; but, if He makes us do it, then we could not have any character whatsoever. We'd be just like a ... Well, I was going to say a spineless automaton; but we would be just like a machine. It can't think. It just does what we set it to do. And that's what we would be, whatever God set us to do. You see, God has put us here for the greatest thing there is; and that is the kind of character that God Himself has.
Now then, when He created the angels, He could not create holy, righteous character within them. So He put them on this earth. He had a job for them to do, and we don't know all the details of that; but I do know that they would have gone ahead. It's like taking raw, unfinished furniture and finishing it. The furniture is all completely built, and all of the wood and everything is there; but, if it is to be painted, it isn't painted yet. Or, if it is to be polished, the wood polish hasn't been put on and rubbed down and everything yet. (You, of course, get furniture a lot cheaper if you buy it that way and finish it up yourself than you can if you go on ahead and buy at the average furniture store, completely finished furniture.)
I have reason to believe that that is the way God not only created the earth but the way He created Mars, for example. Now I have seen that, when the angels sinned on this earth, they not only ruined the physical earth but all of these other planets too; and there's a reason why I know that. I knew that when we got that unmanned spacecraft (made right here in Pasadena, in almost walking distance from right here where we are this minute), and it was sent up to Mars and took pictures right down on the surface of Mars and sent them here. And incidentally, let me tell you that the first pictures that came back from Mars were first shown and seen right here on our screen up on this stage; and some of you probably were here. I got in here just a little before 5 o'clock in the morning, and it was about 5 minutes after 5 when those pictures began coming in.
They allowed us to have them, and any 'people in public' ever saw of them were seen here in this auditorium. Now what we saw was ... (chuckles) I almost said debris. Well, it is partly what it was. But what we saw was (well, it's used if you get the right translation of the book of Romans), well, it means something that had been better than is now, like degenerated. Why can't I think? That word will come to me a little later.
Anyway, God put the angels on this earth. Now He put a king over them, on a throne. Before He put that king there, he was a specially created being and the greatest being that God could create. But, of course, He couldn't put that character in him. However, he had power and ability next to God -- greater than any human had and greater than the angels. He was a super angel, and his name was Lucifer. I'm coming to more about that a little later.
He had been trained at the headquarters of the Universe, which is God's throne. God had taught him. God had trained him. He KNEW the right way from the wrong. He KNEW the law of God, and he was put here to administer what GOD gave him to ADMINISTER. But he didn't want to administer what God wanted. He wanted to administer what he wanted, and it was just the opposite.
God's way is love; and it is love to God, and then for us love to fellow man. And God is the greatest Giver. His way is giving, loving, caring, serving, helping, compassion -- everything of that kind! Now the opposite way that this Lucifer turned to and led his angels into after they were here on earth ... and how long the Kingdom of God ruled on the earth before they turned against it, I don't know because the Bible doesn't say. Now that might have been millions of years too. We just don't know.
Nevertheless, the angels did sin. Now let me see, over here in II Peter. "For if God ... " Beginning verse 4, II Peter 2 verse 4.
II Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned [Angels sinned. Angels had to develop right character, and apparently 2/3rds of all that God has created have. But here was a third of them that you find mentioned in the 12th chapter of Revelation that went the wrong way, and they sinned.], but cast them down to (tartaroo) [The only place in the Bible that is a Greek word, "tartaroo;" and here they put 'hell' in the English language, and it doesn't mean the same as 'hell' means in every other place.], and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.
Do you know that we are going to judge angels? There is a JUDGMENT right now, and that's on God's Church -- on us. WE'RE BEING JUDGED RIGHT NOW, BUT THE WORLD AS A WHOLE IS NOT. What about people that haven't accepted Christ as their Saviour, ARE THEY LOST? Well, people in the world think they are. No, they are not lost; neither are they saved. Most of them, as you will see tomorrow (I'm going to get to that.), have been completely CUT OFF from God.
Jesus Christ said, "NO MAN CAN COME UNTO ME," except that the Father which had sent Him draws them; and God is only drawing a few so far. The reason He's drawn you is first of all to get back of me and help me get this message to the world that He wants. Secondly, to develop His character also in you; and the means He has given you to develop that character is to get back of me in this Work of God. I'm the one God has called to get it done; and I have been working a good many years to get it done, and I'm still out there on the firing line.
I know when I was 80-years-old, at the Feast of Tabernacles up here at Squaw Valley, I told them that I was just the age now that Moses was when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. I said, "I'm going to lead you into the Kingdom of God." Of course, there was great applause. I'm a little older than that now. However, in another way I am not. That's only the number of years, and some people are old at 50 or 55. I mean, real old. Other people are not old at 90. At age 120 Moses' power and ability had not abated at all, but the time had come -- his work was finished; and God took him and buried him, and no one knows where God buried him. That is one of God's secrets that He doesn't tell us.
Now angels sinned. Notice the time order in which it is mentioned. After that it said:
II Peter 2:5-6 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person; a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. [In other words, the time from Adam to Moses FOLLOWED. The angels sinned, then, before Adam.] (6) And [then, after that] turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly.
So you see there's the three. Sodom and Gomorrah came after the Flood. The time between Adam and Noah was before the Flood, but after the angels had sinned. Now the other example is the Antediluvian age. About up to Noah, there was such sin on the earth that it brought the Flood to wipe out all humanity but eight persons, and it brought destruction to the earth. Also the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. People are wanting to begin to brag about that kind of thing and exalt it today. Well, I'll leave that to (What's this girl's name?) Mrs. Bryant. Anyway, it's the same thing. They're boasting about it today just like they did in Sodom; and physical destruction came to the whole area where that sin was. In the original time of the angels, it was the whole earth that they occupied; and they sinned. Now turn over a few pages to the book of Jude, just before the book of Revelation; and in Jude the 6th verse you'll read:
Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate [The first estate God gave then was this earth, but they didn't keep it.], but left their own habitation [They ascended up to heaven to try to war against God and take everything away from GOD.],he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
We are going to sit in as judges at that time, judging angels, IF WE QUALIFY AND DEVELOP THAT KIND OF CHARACTER NOW. I wanted to get that over -- about the developing of character -- because that perhaps is the most important thing in all the Bible.
Now we are ready to get back to Genesis 1. I want to go a little farther in this a moment later, but turn back now to Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven [It should be heavens, plural. That's the whole universe.] and the earth.
That leads me to believe that He created the whole vast universe at the same time He created this earth. And, again, I'm saying it was unfinished; but, as far as it went, it was absolutely perfect. Everything you find that is described (that is, the condition of it) that God ever created, it says that God beheld all that He had made and behold it was very good. Always, whatever God has created, is very good (never the other way). Now:
Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven(s) and the earth. (2) And the earth was [That word 'was' should be translated 'became.' That is, it wasn't at the time God created it; but it was later. It became] without form and void.
Those Hebrew words are "tohu" and "bohu." They mean waste and empty and (Now wait. What is that word?) degenerative. It's the word I wanted a while ago. Decayed! Decayed is something that has happened after a thing was made. It could not be made and first created in a decayed form. Now our moon is a whole massive decay. We know now. We have pictures from Mars; and I knew what we would have, because it is in the Bible. And if we ever get to Jupiter, to Saturn, and so on (And I don't know. I believe that they are planning to get unmanned spacecraft to those places with cameras to send back pictures.), you'll find the same thing. There is no life there. There are no people there.
I don't know how many of you have been looking at these sort of movies that they are putting on television about the flying saucers; but the things that I have read, there is no doubt that people have seen something. They don't all agree on what they have seen. But men, who are responsible pilots for large airlines, have seen things like that; but they can't explain it.
Now they are trying to lead people to think that maybe that could be a spacecraft from some other planet. Well, hogwash. I can tell you from what the Bible says that it is not from any other planet. I think there is something, and people see it. But I think that the government wants to keep it a secret; and therefore they've assigned it to the Air Force to try to investigate, and they have allowed these pictures to go. And they've had some little cooperation from the government in that, in order not to only throw us off the track but other governments.
Now I'll tell you what I believe it is and what I've heard; and it's got to be something, and it's got to be something like this: I think that it is some new something that the ... not the Air Force, but the ... well, the Navy. They have their own Air Force, you know, in the Navy; and I think it's the United States Navy are producing something. If you stop to think with jets, and a round circular thing with jets, in every direction; and they can make it go up or down. It can go this way and turn almost instantly the other way, not like our airplanes now do. I think it is a thing that is practical. Well, that's just a little human interest by the way side as I go along. I don't know whether you look at those pictures or not. I usually do. They are only pictures for entertainment. However, I think that the things that these men from the Air Force are finding, that you see in the picture, may be based on actual fact. They may give the people who make the movies that much information.
Now I want to go next to the 14th chapter of Isaiah. I've gone over this so much that I don't know that I need to take a lot of time about it tonight, because Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 show the truth about this Lucifer who was to lead the people. I'll just read a portion of this. Isaiah 14, it starts out about the king of Babylon. Now let's see. Well, it's mentioned in the early part; and it's the time when the whole earth will be at rest and quiet and the fir trees rejoice at the cedars of Lebanon. That's when Christ comes and sets up the Kingdom of God again. And then we come to the 12th verse; and it now goes from the king of Babylon to the great antitype, who is Satan, the former Lucifer.
Isaiah 14:12 How are thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer [Here's his name given.], son of the morning! [Now if you compare that with Revelation 12 verse 7, you'll get something there of how a third of the angels fell with him. "Son of the morning."] How are thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations?
In other words; "How art thou, who didst weaken the nations, cut down to the ground?"
Isaiah 14:13-14 For thou has said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven [Therefore, he was under the heaven.], I will exalt my throne above the stars [or the angels]of God [He had a throne. It was on this earth because he was going to ascend up from the earth.]: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. [That's the great congregation that's described in the, let me see, about the 3rd or 4th chapter of Revelation -- at the throne of God.] (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
Well, I have done that -- above the clouds. Our airplane, we fly often at 41 (up to 45) thousand feet elevation; and, once in a while, the clouds even get up that high; but not very often. We're usually clear up above all the weather. This Lucifer said ... "Lucifer," by the way, is a Hebrew name which means "shining star of the dawn," or "bringer of light," or "preacher of truth." That's what his name was, and that's what he had been trained to be. But now God has changed his name because, I'm going to show you, that iniquity was found in him after he was created; and now he has the name of Satan. But he said:
Isaiah 14:14-15 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. [Actually, that should be translated, "I'm going to be the Most High." He was going to knock God off His throne and take over.] (15) Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [that is, the grave] to the sides of the pit.
And there it gets back to the human king of Babylon, but those few verses talk of a supernatural power far greater than any human could be. Now in Ezekiel 28, here it is speaking of the king of Tyre; and actually that is a king. It is speaking, a lot of this, the time element is even in our day and ahead of us yet (part of it), and what is to come. And ancient Tyre, the people from there moved farther west into Italy and Spain. So here again it starts:
Ezekiel 28:11-12 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying, (12) Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre.
Now before that it said, "Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre." The prince of Tyre was a human ruler. The king of Tyre is the great supernatural ruler above him -- and, in this case, he wanted to be the King -- Satan.
Ezekiel 28:12 ... the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus saith the Lord Eternal; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
God could never say that about any human man. No human man has ever been like that, but this was the great supernatural being that God created.
Ezekiel 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God [That's here on this earth.]; and every precious stone was thy covering ...
And it goes on to mention them. Besides diamonds and others, it mentions onyx; and there is more onyx in this building than any other building on the face of the earth, and it's one of the precious stones. Then in verse 14, well, let's see, it talks about the pipes that were created; and a great music talent and ability, which now has become perverted; and you get a lot of that perverted music all over the earth, and have in the last two decades.
Ezekiel 28:13-14 ... prepared in thee [it says] in the day that thou was created. [He was not born. He was created. So he was not a human being.] (14) Thou are the anointed cherub that covereth.
That refers you back to the (Oh, let me see. I should have had that marked.) the 24th and the 25th chapter of Exodus where God was showing Moses the pattern of the very throne of God, and where he was to make the ark; and inside of the ark of the covenant was the mercy seat, and on top of it were the two golden cherubim whose wings completely covered the throne. And that is the mercy seat. Inside of the ark were the two plates of the Ten Commandments. Outside of the ark was the book of Moses -- totally different, and a different place: one written by Moses, the other written by the finger of God. But sin is the transgression of the spiritual law, the Ten Commandments. They were kept in underneath on the mercy seat above, the seat of the throne of God, who can forgive sin on repentance (because Christ has come and paid the price in our stead).
Ezekiel 28:14-15 Thou are 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. (15) Thou wast PERFECT in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Now God didn't make him the devil. God created a perfect super archangel, but God gave him authority to rule and administer the government of God; and, instead of that, he turned it into the government of Satan. And the government of Satan still is ruling this whole world, and Satan is now the god of this world. But he is not my God, and I'm quite sure he is not yours.
Well, that covers that part of it. He was created perfect, but the character had not been created in him; and he had to make his own decision, and he decided to go the wrong way.
Now I want to bring something to you, as we leave, about this point (to pick it up tomorrow afternoon). Look where this left God. There was God and the Word, and They had created angels; and They had put them on the earth. They had put them here to build up the earth; but instead they tore it down, and all came to be darkness (as you read in the 1st chapter of Genesis). Darkness was all over the oceans. The whole world was a fluid ocean at that time. God is the light, and Christ is the light; but Lucifer was supposed to be the shining light of the dawn to bring God's truth. Light is a type of God's truth. But he turned it down just the wrong way.
Now, brethren, if you don't understand these things, you don't understand the Bible; and there is nothing more important than this. That's why I have elected to talk on this subject. God had to show them the right way, just as He did later to Adam; but they had to make up their own minds what way they were going to go. Now this Lucifer turned all under him into unrighteousness, and Lucifer ...
If you didn't already know it (and I have really discovered that in the last two or three years, and have written articles about it in The Plain Truth), human nature is not something you were born with. God did not create human nature. God created Adam with neither evil nature or good nature. He had before him the Tree of Life (which represented obedience to God, and choosing to go God's way, and receive the Holy Spirit and gain eternal life) and also the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (which meant, if he took it, he was taking to himself the decision, or the knowledge, of what is good and what is evil). That's what Adam did. I'll go into that tomorrow afternoon. It is something very vital and very important, that is not known in any other church in the world but this Church; and I think that many of you have never fully understood it and gotten it.
But here is the thing that I do want to leave you with tonight. As God looked on it, here He had put angels on this earth to accomplish something; and they had (instead of building up, they had) destroyed and torn down. And the earth had come into a condition of being waste, and deteriorated, and ... (What's that same word I used a while ago again?) So it left only God who would not and could not sin -- just the Word and God. The Two that formed God were ALL that now were left that would not and could not sin.
God wanted them to finish not only this earth but ALL the other planets in this whole vast universe. That, as you will read in the 2nd chapter of Hebrews and also if you get a right translation of the 8th chapter of Romans, is what is ahead FOR US -- to do that job and to finish WHAT GOD STARTED, and to be creators with God, and to be born into the very Family of God until we are His own children (divine children, as we will then be made). We will then be changed and converted back into spirit, as Christ was changed and converted in spirit and made into matter so He could die for us.
Now I am leaving you there. The only way that God could do ... He had created angels, the highest that He could create that way; and they had not developed character. Now He was going to reproduce Himself. He was going to create man out of matter; and then He had a plan that, if man went the wrong way, man could later come to see it and to turn to the right way and be forgiven and still develop that right character and finish the plan of God as God had intended.
So I will carry on tomorrow. I don't want to wear you out tonight. But I just wanted you to know I am coming along fine. I'm gaining strength all the time. Whereas my heart was greatly enlarged, and there was moisture in my lungs, and many other things -- that is all completely cured and back to normal. But the heart is a muscle; and, like all muscle, it is developed by exercise; and I need to continue more exercise, and primarily walking; and while I am gaining, I will gain more. And I will keep on gaining in strength; and, from now on, I will be doing much more writing; and, as I say, I have the plans ...
Oh, I don't think I told you. I meant to tell you about next December the 1st. Well, that is the 10th anniversary of the time that we announced that we would join in with Israel and help in those things over there. Of course, they give me personally the credit for it; and they will tell you that I've done more for Israel than any other man. So they are going to have a big celebration in my honor on December the 1st. That is the 10th anniversary of the time I had the meeting with the late President Shazar and announced that we would undertake this great archeological project and send students over there and would help in the ways we have.
Now we've kept up another foundation for bringing the youth (the young men) of Israel and the young men of Arabs that are still in there, together a good fellowship; and its done wonders. It really has helped a great deal there. We have also sent Japanese archeological teams to Israel for an archeological operation there, and now this park. So I expect to go back to Jerusalem again on December the 1st and I am looking forward to that very greatly because, well, I guess I am human. It will be in my honor, and I guess I'm human enough I am not going to run away from it.
Anyway, I only represent all of you because I couldn't have done it without you; and you're back of me, and that's why now this Work is going to go forward as it never did before. GOD is still on His throne, and this is the Church of God and the Work of the living God. So with that I will say, "Goodnight. See you tomorrow."