CHAPTER III.

 

THE ORDINATION OF THE AGES.

 

“He ordained the ages.”—Heb. 1: 2.

 

 

“TIME is a relation of succession between events or phenomena; duration is the attribute of continuance in events or phenomena; eternity is the attribute of unlimited duration in Infinite and Absolute Being.”  There is but one Being without beginning or end, and that is God.  Eternity is His attribute.  We cannot truly speak of the eternities, for there is but one eternity.  We speak of the eternal past and the eternal future, because time intervenes with us.  With God there is but one eternity; but time is fragmentary, and is broken up into ages.

Eternity had no starting point; there was a point at which time began.  An age is a duration of time.  We read in the Bible about “the age,” about “the ages,” and about “the ages of the ages.”  An age is only a fragmentary part of time; and time is included in eternity.  The ages are arranged within the duration of time, the one to follow another.  We read in the Original of Heb. 1: 2, that through Jesus Christ God “ordained the ages.”  This ordination of the ages, no doubt, means that at some time in eternity God through Jesus, planned the ages to come.  It would seem that at one time God fixed all the ages of eternity.  The ages, or dispensations, through which man passes are only parts of “the ages” which God ordained.  Of course, only the ages of this world shall concern us here.

We know that the world has passed through certain ages, or dispensations, distinctly marked.  First, the Edenic Age.  This age began with the creation of man, and continued until he was driven from the Garden.  Second, the Antediluvian Age.  This age reaches from the expulsion from the Garden to

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THE ORDINATION OF THE AGES.

 

 

the flood.  Third, the Postdiluvian Age.  This age reaches from the flood to the giving of the law.  Fourth, the Mosaic Age, which continues until Pentecost.  Fifth, the Christian Age. This will continue until the battle of Armageddon.  Sixth, the Millennial Age, which will begin at the close of this age, and continue to the final judgment.  Seventh, there will be a Post­Millennial Age or Ages.  Of course, other divisions of time can be made.  The time from Abraham until Pentecost may be called the Jewish Age, and the Christian Age is often called the Gentile Age.  Each of these ages has a close, and the close of each is marked by some great event, world‑wide in its effect.  Perhaps no two ages are of the same duration, and yet it seems that God has appointed the time when each age shall close.

The writer wishes it understood that he has no sympathy with the doctrine of the predestination of every thing.  Some teach that in the beginning God wound up the Universe, in­cluding all human affairs, like a clock; that it has been running like a machine ever since; that God ordered everything from the beginning; and that some men are born to be lost, while others are predestinated to eternal life.  The writer has no fellowship with such doctrine.  However, I do hold that there are certain events which were appointed of God in the past, and that such events occur at an appointed time.

The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is definitely written upon the face of the sky; and if we would take time to study the matter we would see a striking similarity between the gos­pel and the twelve signs of the Zodiac.  Without entering into a discussion to prove that the gospel is written on the sky, I will state a few noticeable coincidences between the “signs of the heavens” and the occurrences of certain events on the earth.

The sign of Virgo, the Virgin, I take as setting forth the Virgin Mary.  The first Decan of Virgo is an infant boy.  This sign is known as Coma, which in Hebrew and Oriental dialects means “the desired, the longed for” —the same word used by Haggai where he speaks of Christ as “the Desire of all nations.”

 

16

 

THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS.

 

 

I accordingly take Coma as referring to Jesus, the Infant Boy.  If I err in this, I err in company with many of the wisest and best men of any age.  It is certain that the “wise men from the east” learned of the birth of Jesus through their observa­tion of the stars.  That glorious event was announced to them through the “signs in the heavens.”  They said, “We have seen his star in the east.”—Matt. 2: 2.  It is a recorded fact that about one hundred and twenty‑five years before Christ a new and peculiar star did make its appearance in the first Decan of Virgo, and that it was so bright as to be visible in the day time.  This star was in Coma, the sign of the Infant accom­panying Virgo, and it marked the very head of that Infant.  Astronomical calculations prove that two years before Jesus is said to have been born there were three consecutive con­junctions of Jupiter and Saturn.  The conjunction of these two planets has always preceded some great event.  Such a conjunction announced the birth of Moses.  Abarbanel, in his Commentary on Daniel, affirms it to be a settled fact that the conjunction of these two planets always betokens some great event or beginning in human affairs.  It is remarkable that the conjunction of these planets three years before the birth of Moses occurred in the sign of the Pisces, with which the Jews were already associated.  The Egyptian astronomers and wise men interpreted this as being favorable to the Egyptians.  “Kepler, on consulting the periods of the conjunctions between Jupiter and Saturn, gave it as his opinion that such conjunc­tions astronomically coincided with the approach of each cli­macteric in human affairs; to‑wit, the revelations of Adam, the birth of Enoch, the Deluge, the birth of Moses, the birth of Cyrus, the birth of Christ, the birth of Charlemagne, and the birth of Luther.”

Our earth is about ninety‑two million miles away from the sun.  It is travelling in its yearly motion at the rate of seven­teen miles per seccond.  It takes just one year for the earth to make its journey around the sun.  It is now a well established

 

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THE ORDINATION OF THE AGES.

 

 

astronomical fact that there is a centre around which our sun, with a number of others, is journeying.  It takes the sun eighteen millions of years to make its journey around the centre which it obeys.  Perhaps “the star of Bethlehem” has an orbit equally as large as that of our sun.  In its circuit it came near enough to us to be seen one hundred and twenty­-five years before Christ.  It was at its greatest brilliancy during the life of Christ, and was in the head of Coma.  This is why artists have painted the picture of Jesus with a star in His head.  One hundred and fifty years after Christ this star passed from view, and has not been seen since.  It is gone on to make its great journey around its centre.  Perhaps it will return some day.

If you will accept the statement that the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn do mark the approach of some great event, and remember that these planets at certain points of time reach certain points in space with mathematical accuracy, you will be able to see that which I am trying to teach, viz., that all great events occur at the time appointed.

The Great Pyramid of Gizeh, the first among the “seven wonders of the world,” is a monument in stone to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we will study this pyramid, we shall be able to note some remarkable coincidences between it and certain events in this world.

Viewing its weights, measures, angles, etc., from a stand­point of mathematics, it presents to us a miniature earth in itself.  It seems to have been built upon the same mathematical calcu­lations as the earth was.  The only entrance into the pyramid, as left by the builders, is a tube beginning on the north side and running obliquely down to an unfinished room in the solid rock, about one hundred feet below the levelled surface upon which the pyramid stands.  Taking this entrance tube as the earth’s axis, and this unfinished room as the bottomless pit, we have a striking picture of the road that leads to hell.  The system of measurements and weights used in this edifice is the

 

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THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS.

 

 

same as used by primal man.  Beginning with the opening of the entrance tube and measuring downward towards the bottomless pit, we go about one thousand inches, where we reach the first upward passage.  Following the upward passage for 1542 inches, we come to the Grand Gallery, which in many ways sets forth the Christian dispensation.  Letting one inch represent a year, the lengths of these tubes correspond with the ages of the world.  Beginning with the flood, at the open­ing of the entrance passage, we follow the course of humanity downward for about a thousand years, at which date the chil­dren of Israel began their national economy and history.  There the first upward passage begins, which marks the Exodus of Israel.  Going upward 1542 inches we come to the Grand Gallery; and it was 1542 years from Exodus to the birth of Christ.  Just thirty‑three and one‑half inches from the begin­ning of the Grand Gallery we come to an opening down to the pit, which marks the descent of Christ into Hades.  Did all these things come about by chance? It might be so admitted if there was nothing more.

       It is now a well established fact that this pyramid was built 2170 B. C.  Beginning with the Grand Gallery and continuing backward 2170 inches, the number of years from the birth of Christ back to the building of the pyramid, we come to a place in the entrance tube which clearly indicates the building of the edifice.  At that time the Dragon, one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, was turning about the then pole star, which was point­ing directly down this entrance passage.  The sign of the Dragon represents the devil.  Here is a picture of the down­ward path of man to hell under a Dragon star.  At the time the pyramid was built the top of it was pointing directly to Alcyone, one of the “seven stars;” which is thought to be the centre of the Universe.  Since the pyramid sets forth a minature earth in itself, this is very significant.  If this pyramid had been standing at the time of the flood, the Dragon star would have been pointing down this same tube, and Aquarius, the water-

 

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THE ORDINATION OF THE AGES.

 

 

man, would have been directly over the pyramid with his pitcher pouring the water down.  These things could hardly have been without the knowledge of the designer of this edifice, and they present a very grand and remarkable time‑mark.   Such a position of the stars could not possibly occur again within 25,860 years.

These things I have written, not just to show you the cor­respondence between certain events and this pyramid, but to show you the correspondence between certain events and cer­tain positions in the stars, and thereby proving that God or­dained the ages from the beginning; and that some events, especially those which close the ages, occur at an appointed time.

It is just as true, however, that many events occur upon certain conditions.  The Scriptures abound with promises to God’s people founded upon certain conditions.  It is a great mistake to teach that everything that occurs would have occur­red anyway, that God has wound up the Universe and it must run down in certain order of events, and that nothing can be changed, delayed, nor thrown out of its course.

Perhaps, many of our readers will think that we have de­-departed from our subject, but this is a necessary step in pre­paring the way for some important truths that are to follow.