Mystery of the Ages.PDF - Blow the Trumpet

Let me here interject a biblical principle within the immediate context. There isthis instruction in Isaiah: "Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make tounderstand doctrine?...precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line,line upon line; here a little, and there a little" (Isa. 28:9-10). But most who try to applythis principle in biblical understanding take each "little" verse out of its context, to"interpret" their own ideas into it.The Holy Bible is unique among all books ever written. The very fact that itstruths are revealed here a little, there a little means it is a coded book, not to beunderstood until our present time of the end as explained elsewhere in this volume. Thosewho have tried to read the Bible directly and continuously from the beginning have beenbewildered. Many have simply thrown up their hands and said, as I myself did once, "Ijust can't understand the Bible." That is why Bruce Barton said the Bible is the booknobody knows. As I have explained elsewhere the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle. Until thevarious pieces of a jigsaw puzzle are put properly together, the true picture does notemerge.Much, directly concerned with what is in Genesis 1, is filled in by other passagesof Scripture in other parts of the Bible.So now, let's UNDERSTAND the background. Genesis 1:1: God created theheavens and the earth. We have already seen, in chapter 2, that the heavens (or theuniverse) and the earth were created after the angels. Earth's angels had not completed thecreation of the earth by improvement, development and beautification. Rather, they hadbrought it to desolation and ruin. The GOVERNMENT OF GOD had been nullified onearth.And now of all living beings in the universe, ONLY GOD could be certainlyrelied upon never to depart from the way of his law. No higher, more perfect being couldbe created than the cherub, Lucifer, who rebelled. Character cannot be automaticallycreated by fiat. Godly spiritual character is the habitual action and conduct of the personor created entity to come to a knowledge of the true ways of God, and to exercise the willto follow those ways even against opposition, temptation or self-desire to the contrary.Character must be developed with the assent, will and action of the separately createdentity. It is imparted by God and must be willingly received by that entity. So God nowdetermined, or had predetermined, to accomplish the SUPREME creative feat--byreproducing himself! That was to be accomplished through MAN! God knew this must bebrought about through MATTER.Man in God's ImageTo prepare the earth for the creation of man, God renewed the face of the earth. This isexplained in Psalm 104:30: "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thourenewest the face of the earth."Now back to Genesis 1:2: The earth had come to be in a state of ruin. "...And theSpirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."The first thing God did was turn darkness back into LIGHT as originally made.God said, "Let there be light: and there was light" (Gen. 1:3).