Day 1 and 2 in Genesis are like 2 church ages

We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net

The created earth was covered in water and dark clouds

The first Day produced Light on Earth. The first church age produced the Light of the Gospel that got people saved. Then they were able to understand the Scriptures. They got saved as the first step in order to learn how to process the information contained in the Word. We need to uncover the meaning and purpose of Scripture once we have been saved.

The second Day produced a suitable atmosphere that was needed to sustain life. This represents a love of Bible truth that makes you die to self and be submissive to Scripture. But the second church age began to move in a new direction by elevating a holy man to be in charge of each church.

Consequently, only the first church age got it right.

Then the mysteries of the Seven Seals gives a bigger picture as that reveals the errors of the churches as well as God’s Plan with the Jews.

Day 1 sees sunlight hit the Earth for the first time. This is just like the apostles spreading the Gospel Light to the Gentiles in the first church age.

Day 1 holds a deep mystery. It is formed by the evening and the morning. But Night is left out. Why?

Day 2 produces the protected atmosphere. But it is not called "Good". Why?

GENESIS 1:1   In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

The heaven would be the Sun, Moon, Earth, planets, and stars.

No time is mentioned, so it could have taken billions of years.

God’s Plan begins with creating the entire physical universe, heaven and earth, out of nothing.

Heaven has many meanings. It can refer to the spiritual dimension of the angels around the throne of God. It can refer to outer space with the Sun and the Moon and the stars. It can also refer to the atmosphere.

Scientists cannot duplicate the creation process.

There are no scientific laws of creation.

They can make something out of something else. They can make petrol out of oil.

But they cannot make petrol or oil out of nothing, as that is creation.

Scientists cannot create energy or time out of nothing. They always just assume the existence of energy and time but cannot explain how they got there if they start with nothing.

Scientists also cannot explain how the laws of physics came into existence.

Light is very unusual. You cannot see light as it travels through space because space is dark.

You can see the object that produces the light, the Sun. Then you can see nothing except any object that reflects the light. So God is looking for light reflectors.

Light carries the picture of the last object that it bounced off.

There is one source of light, the Sun. That represents Jesus Who is the Word of God.

He is our only source of spiritual Light.

The Moon represents the church when it reflects the sunlight to the world that is in the darkness of night.

Night represents sin and unbelief.

The Moon has no light of its own.

So, God wanted the first church just to reflect the Scriptures. None of their own bright ideas.

Humans are saved by reflecting what is written in Scripture, not by trying to be clever in order to impress others.

GENESIS 1:2   And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Moses is watching this creation from nothing in a vision. He zooms over the surface of the earth and sees that it is all water. Human life will need water in the future, so God was providing water in advance.

We learn two characteristics of God. He is creative and can produce something new that adjusts to the different conditions in each of the seven church ages.

God is prophetic. He is prepared for what is going to happen in the future.

But this vast expanse of water that covered the earth has no surface shape or form.

It is all flat with no hills and valleys. Just like flying over the ocean which is a vast expanse of emptiness, void of any landmarks.

Thus, a feeling of being lost in the dark on an empty sea. A pointless journey.

Only God could give mankind a sense of direction and a definite purpose in life.

Why dark? The Sun had been created and was shining. But its light never reached the surface of the Earth.

Water evaporates to form clouds and dense clouds formed above the surface of the water which blocked the sunlight.

Below the base of the clouds it was very dark. So the surface of the water would be dark.

If you pictured a closeup view of one small portion of the vast clouds that surrounded the Earth, then it would look something like this.

The dense clouds blocked all the sunlight.

Below the base of the clouds it was very dark.

Life could not exist on Earth at this stage. There were dense clouds, darkness, and a deep layer of water that would be in the way.

God would have to change things dramatically.

The only life-giving movement came from God.

GENESIS 1:2    And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

His Spirit moved  as He planted the seeds of land-life in the soil of the earth under the water, under the darkness of the thick clouds. These seeds were helpless unless God removed the obstacles that would stop them from germinating.

This scene, spiritually, represents God’s people who are born in the darkness of sin and unbelief and doomed to death and hell unless God intervenes to save them.

The seeds could not germinate by themselves in those conditions. Neither can we save ourselves from hell however hard we try. God has to change things as He alone can save us.

Let us now consider the seven church ages in the light of God’s seven Days whereby He made seven major changes that enabled life to flourish on earth.

First church age of Ephesus had Scriptural Light

The Earth was dead until God made the first move.

GENESIS 1:3   And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

The spoken Word of God struck the dense clouds and dispersed them.

That is how we get saved.

We are born with a veil of unbelief around our hearts. When God convicts us of sin, His Word destroys the veil of unbelief and we can see the spiritual Sun, our Saviour Jesus.

The dark clouds of water vapour were turned by God into invisible gases hydrogen and oxygen.

The surface of the earth could now rejoice in the presence of the sunlight as the water vapour clouds were transformed into invisible gases.

This first Day was aptly called Sunday, the day that the Earth first saw the Sun.

It was a preview of the Day of Pentecost which was the morrow (or the tomorrow) after the Saturday Sabbath.

The day after the Saturday Sabbath was Sunday.

LEVITICUS 23:15   And ye shall count unto you from

the morrow after the sabbath,

from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

The Sabbath is the seventh day. Seven Sabbaths will be 7 x 7 = 49 days

LEVITICUS 23:16   Even unto

the morrow after the seventh sabbath

shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

The tomorrow after the seventh Sabbath is a Sunday which is the fiftieth day, which means Pentecost.

(from Greek pentecostē, "50th day").

So, the Holy Ghost came down with Fire on a Sunday to fill and inspire the disciples and their followers who were in the upper room.

ACTS 2:3   And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

:4   And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,

That was the day that the New Testament church started. Those 120 men and women in the upper room saw the Light of the New Testament. The clouds of their doubt and unbelief just vanished away.

Peter preached and 3000 souls were saved on the first day as the Gospel Light began to spread out.

The first sunlight to strike the Earth's surface when the dense clouds were broken up and dispersed by God's spoken Word. This is an apt picture of the apostles spreading the Bible truth as they dispersed and destroyed the clouds of pagan ignorance that had ruled the people.

ACTS 2:38   Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

:39     For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

:40     And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

:41     Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:

and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

A 7-branched candlestick represents seven church ages

A seven-branched candlestick was in the Jewish Tabernacle.

It represented the future seven church ages.

The Table of Shewbread with its 12 loaves represented the 12 Tribes of Israel who accept the Gospel after the church ages are finished.

The Day of Pentecost was the day that the central candlestick was lit, as far as the church is concerned.

Three branches were on one side of the central candlestick and three branches were on the other side. So, this central candlestick, representing the first church age of Ephesus, was the most important church age.

EXODUS 25:31   And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.

:32   And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:

What we call the 7-branched candlestick was actually a central or middle candlestick with six side branches.

This middle candlestick is the only candlestick where Jesus was seen.

REVELATION 1:13   And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,

The first church age is thus the supreme example of what a church must be like. That is the church that we should strive to follow.

Salvation is essential. But it is a foundation that we must build the revelation of the Bible mysteries on, by being just like the first church.

JUDE 1:3   Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Salvation is common to both the wise virgins and the foolish or fooled virgins.

Being saved will save us from going to hell.

But we need to know the revealed Bible truths in order to avoid the churches' errors that will take us into great Tribulation as the foolish virgins.

Life on Earth totally depends on Sunlight

Eternal Life is totally dependent on Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

ACTS 10:36   The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)

EPHESIANS 4:5   One Lord

II CORINTHIANS 3:17   Now the Lord is that Spirit:

Thus, Jesus as the Lord is the Holy Spirit that descended on the Day of Pentecost to start the church that would last for 2000 years.

JOHN 14:17   Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

The Spirit of truth was with them when He dwelled in Jesus.

Then the Spirit of truth would be in His people.

MATTHEW 1:23    Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Jesus dwelled with the apostles as He trained them.

Now He dwells in His church as it spreads across the world.

Jesus is the Light of the world.

JOHN 8:12   Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world:

PSALM 119:105   NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Jesus is the Word.

JOHN 1:14   And the Word was made flesh,

The Word of God, the Bible, tells us the thoughts of Jesus.

We cannot love Jesus unless we love His thoughts. What we say about the Bible we are actually saying about Jesus.

When we criticize the Bible, we are criticizing Jesus.

ISAIAH 8:20   To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

The true believer only wants to know what the Scripture says.

II PETER 1:19   We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

Prophecy means that God is going to tell us about the seven church ages in advance.

Light and darkness found their place.

Light is when you face the Sun. Darkness is when you cannot see the Sun.

Darkness is not a substance, it is simply where there is no Bible Light.

Darkness cannot destroy the smallest light.

There are two patterns of seven in Scripture.

The seven church ages that describe the history of the church that made a good start but faded out in the Dark Ages. Then it began to recover in the Reformation of getting saved and the holiness and Missionary age. The Pentecostals restored the supernatural gifts but rejected the revelation of the Bible mysteries by William Branham.

The Seven Seals put more focus on the rise of error in the church. Religious deception, political power, and then the rise of Big Business in the church that then ended in great Tribulation as the saved but foolish virgins that will be killed.

Then the Fifth Seal moves to the martyred Jews and the Sixth Seal to the 144000 Jews in great Tribulation.

The Seventh Seal mysteriously is the Coming of the Lord for His Church and then for the 144000 Jews.

The first church age had much light from the apostles but, almost unnoticed, the antichrist spirit was starting his ride in darkness by putting the worldliness of the world between the people and the Sun, the Light of God's Word. At first the darkness in the church of Rome seemed small, but after the deaths of the apostles the darkness of unbelief rose up to control the church of Rome. And then paganism was dressed in a veneer of Christianity as it took over the churches. The world had accepted and loved paganism. To this day the pagan 25 December, Christmas tree, Good Friday, Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, and Lent still continue to dominate the thinking of the churches.

Santa seems harmless until you move the N to the end of the word. Then it becomes Satan.

EPHESIANS 2:7   That in the ages to come

he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Whatever errors Satan was able to think up in the different church ages, there were always some who preferred to remain Scriptural and were thus not fooled by the church errors.

EPHESIANS 2:8   For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Faith in God’s written Word is essential for salvation. God’s grace is that He gives us that faith to believe in Scripture, if we want to believe.

GENESIS 1:4   And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

God’s light is always good. God’s Word is our Light to show us the path that He wants us to walk in.

Darkness is simply the absence of light.

Saying things that are unscriptural.

That is the boundary that divides.

What you say is either found written in the Bible or else unscriptural words are used.

Unscriptural words represent a false doctrine. Fake news. A lie.

PROVERBS 30:5   Every word of God is pure:

This was the attitude of the early church. They checked everything.

Every written Scripture was regarded as being perfect. The Absolute truth.

ACTS 17:10   And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

:11     These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

They did not just accept what Paul and Silas said. They wanted to hear and they checked with Scripture.

This was the essential element of the early church. Their strong desire to be Scriptural.

They checked everyone who preached. Woe betide you if you said anything that was unscriptural. Then you were just called a liar.

REVELATION 2:2   I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

They could not bear those that are evil.

They stayed away from anything that was not Scriptural. They had a clear boundary between Light and Dark. Right and Wrong.

And God divided the light from the darkness

GENESIS 1:4   And God saw the light, that it was good:

and God divided the light from the darkness.

Darkness was simply the lack of Light. The lack of Scripture.

REVELATION 2:6  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

The spirit of the Nicolaitans was the desire to elevate a holy man above the congregation or church.

The early church hated this idea whereby one man became the head of the church.

Each local assembly was to be ruled by a group of local elders.

Paul called the local elders of Ephesus to the city of Miletus where he told them to be the overseers who fed the flock.

ACTS 20:17   And from Miletus he [Paul] sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

ACTS 20:28   Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

:29     For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

But after Paul and the apostles died, ambitious men would rise up to hijack the leadership of the church.

ACTS 20:30   Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

Greedy of financial gain and driven by ego-loving pride, men strove to draw attention to themselves as they pushed to be the one-man-head of a church.

This man-made church-system undermined the Light with which the apostles had founded early local churches run by their local elders.

I PETER 5:1   The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

Peter wanted local elders to preach and teach and thereby feed the flock.

Peter called himself an elder. He did not try to impress with his position as an apostle.

I PETER 5:2   Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

It was not a money-making system for the one-man-head of the church that he could pass on to his son, thus making the church a family business.

I PETER 5:3   Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

There was not supposed to be one important man as the head of the church.

That idea was universally introduced after the apostles died. It made sure that the people took their eyes off the Scripture in order to elevate and follow a human leader.

One-man leadership dimmed the light of truth in the second church age that began about AD 170.

The church would move towards darkness and grow dimmer as it reflected less Scripture, rather than move on into the light of Scripture.

The second church age still had much of the lion-like truth of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Who is Jesus.

But they were losing their first love of putting Scripture first.

They were starting to obey elevated Bishops of a city. This was a completely unscriptural position.

The evening and the morning were the first day

GENESIS 1:5   And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

And the evening and the morning were the first day.

This is an incredibly deep statement that the evening and the morning formed a day.

We define a day as being a day and a night.

The Bible, however, leaves out both the word “day” and the word “night” from its description of a day. Why?

JOHN 9:4   I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

“Night” is symbolic of the 3.5 years of great Tribulation when there is no salvation for the Gentiles.

II PETER 3:10   But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

This is a good description of nuclear bombs or missiles exploding hundreds of metres above the ground that unleash a firestorm far hotter than the centre of the sun. But it is a totally destructive power that will burn up many parts of the earth.

“Night” symbolizes this worst time in human history.

DANIEL 12:1   … and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time:

ISAIAH 57:1  The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering

that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.

Great Tribulation will be too evil a place for the Bride. Jesus will come to rescue them and take them up to Heaven just before great Tribulation starts. We study Scripture now to know enough to avoid the church errors and be ready for the Coming of the Lord.

None of the Bride will be on Earth during great Tribulation.

Consequently, when God described a “day” which symbolizes light He leaves out the word “night” because His Bride will not be on earth during the 3.5 years of hellish great Tribulation.

In the new Heaven and the new Earth there will be no night.

The horrendous memories of great Tribulation will be forever forgotten.

REVELATION 21:25   And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

New Jerusalem is a mighty Pyramid with God sitting on top. All the Bride will be in His Light.

REVELATION 22:4   And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

In your forehead is your brain. You will know the name of God. It will not be hidden by the three titles of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

REVELATION 22:5And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

The Holy Spirit, Who is Life, leaves the Earth when He takes the Bride up to Heaven at the Coming of the Lord.

ROMANS 8:10   … but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Death can only enter when Life leaves.

Death is not some thing. Death is just the absence of Life.

REVELATION 6:8   And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and the name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

That spirit of antichrist is the horse rider, finally unmasked as Death.

The Rapture has happened as the Bride has been caught up to Heaven and great Tribulation is suddenly unleashed on the world and the foolish virgins who forgot to be Scriptural.

GENESIS 1:5   And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Strangely, there is no mention of “day” which means daylight in this description. Why?

The cruelest and most unjust death was inflicted upon the Light of the world, Jesus.

The Jewish day started with sunrise at 6 o’clock. Their sixth hour was six hours later at midday.

That savage death sentence was so horrific that the sun refused to shine for three hours from midday to three o’clock. It was not an eclipse because the longest eclipse of the Sun is about 7.5 minutes.

MATTHEW 27:45   Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

The Jewish day started at 6 o'clock in the morning. The Roman day started at midnight.

That ruthless destruction which switched off the Light of the world, forever stained the concept of daylight. It was a dreadful day of terror and the unleashing of a vicious flood of demonology, symbolized by the darkness.

The darkness started at midday. Darkness overwhelmed the light of day for three hours. It seemed that Satan had won.

This is contrary to nature as, usually, darkness cannot wipe out light.

Midday and the afternoon were grievously polluted. Killing Jesus was the opposite of Light and Life.

So, which part of the day does God want remembered as His true Light?

The morning.

The first church age that was built on the power of the resurrection after the death of Jesus had atoned for the sins of the world.

That first church age received the truth from the apostles who established the church on the foundation of the New Testament.

They began with repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ which was followed by the Holy Ghost baptism that enabled them to learn the truth of Scripture. That was the powerful message that they spread around the world.

They searched the Scriptures daily to check that the preachers taught them strictly from Scripture.

The strength of the first church was their dedication to the Word of God. This was the morning of the church ages. God was happy with the Scriptural first church.

But then human leadership took over and the church began to follow human wisdom.

The church died in the Dark Ages and began to recover in Martin Luther’s Reformation.

Then the King James Bible was translated and checked for about 160 years and published as the Absolute truth.

John Wesley’s holiness campaign led to the great missionary age.

The Pentecostal revival began in Wales in 1904 and in 1906 at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, America.

JOHN 4:24   God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The Pentecostal revival of the gifts of the Spirit was amazing, but it was not enough.

They denominated on speaking in tongues and did not move on to get the revelation of the Bible mysteries.

But God wanted the church to be just like the original seed that had been planted in the beginning. Only then could the harvest come.

When would that be?

ZECHARIAH 14:7   But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

This verse speaks of a confused time that is neither day nor night. Neither fully Scriptural nor totally unscriptural.

This describes the condition of saved Christians in the church today. They know enough to get saved and live reasonably holy lives. They experience some of the Holy Spirit’s supernatural power. But they are woefully ignorant of the mysteries of Scripture.

JOHN 4:24   God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

So, God raised up a prophet in America, William Branham, who would reveal the mysteries of Scripture that will restore us back to the beliefs of the first church age.

MATTHEW 17:11   And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

“At evening time it shall be light”.

The only light that God will accept comes at evening time. That is when the Bride from the seventh church age returns to the beliefs of the first church that the apostles established.

When the first and the last church ages are the same, then comes the resurrection and the full Bride of Christ will be on earth. That is the true light.

Then God is ready for His Day when Jesus and his Bride rule on Earth for one thousand years in the Millennium.

II PETER 3:8   But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

That will not happen until His morning Bride has resurrected up with all the other saints to meet His evening Bride.

Day Two involves Heavenly protection

This second Day is a very difficult Day to interpret. It is very brief, only three verses.

The most difficult part is that the word “good” is not mentioned. Yet, everything that God does is for our good.

“Light” struck the Earth on Day 1.

This Light has a double meaning. Natural light for physical vision to see objects. Then there is spiritual vision in order to be able to see the meaning of Scripture.

We can be easily fooled by a bad spirit in a pleasant looking person. But Jesus gave a blind man the spiritual insight to see what kind of spirit was in men.

MARK 8:24   And he [the blind man] looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

The spirit of an unsaved man would look like a dead tree without leaves or fruit. He stands outside of the river of Life.

A saved person looks like a tree with some leaves as signs of Life. He knows some Scriptures but his knowledge is shallow. These are foolish virgins who got saved but were then fooled by church doctrines.

If a saved person lives a holy life then their spirit looks like a tree with far more leaves. Having learned more Scriptures they have moved deeper into the river of Life. But some dead branches speak of church doctrinal errors. Which is why we have 45000 different kinds of churches and denominations.

A person who receives the Holy Ghost baptism can move deeper into the River of Life (the Bible) but still has some dead branches of wrong doctrine or Bible ignorance. But he shows some fruits of the Spirit.

JOHN 4:24   God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Having the Spirit is great but we must still move on to study hard enough to understand the Bible.

II TIMOTHY 2:15    Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

If we cannot understand the Bible mysteries, then God has not approved us.

DANIEL 12:11   … but the wise shall understand.

We cannot be part of the wise virgins unless we can understand the Scripture.

Only the wise virgins of Matthew Chapter 25 have enough oil in their lamps to burn brightly enough to illuminate the mysteries of Scripture.

Only the Holy Ghost baptism will enable us to study hard enough to enable us to understand the Bible mysteries. If we cannot understand the Bible then we cannot claim to be Spirit-filled.

JOHN 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

for he shall not speak of himself;

“For he shall not speak of himself”. We cannot understand the Scripture by our own human wisdom.

We must not brag about ourselves.

It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to understand the Bible. We should brag about Him.

This is what a Spirit-filled man looks like when he can understand the deep mysteries of Scripture as he can swim in deep water. He displays the fruits of the Spirit.

After getting saved and living holy, he receives the Holy Ghost baptism which enables him to understand the deeper mysteries of Scripture.

EPHESIANS 1:13   In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also

after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

JOHN 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,

he will guide you into all truth:

The Spirit of God in a man is what is important. Not the man himself.

We need angelic help from above

We need help from above, from the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We also need angelic help.

To move upwards is difficult. Elijah needed a chariot with supernatural horses and horsemen to guide him. As well as a whirlwind to help get him up. A whirlwind speaks of difficult and dangerous times.

Two angels helped Lot escape from Sodom before it was destroyed by fire.

Abraham sent a messenger to find a wife for his natural seed Isaac. Symbolic of Abraham’s spiritual Seed Jesus looking for His Bride.

God sent an angel before the messenger in order to guide him to the right woman.

GENESIS 24:7   The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land;

he shall send his angel before thee,

and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.

God promised an Angel to guide Moses to the Promised Land.

EXODUS 23:20   Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

EXODUS 14:19   And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:

The Angel guided them from in front but also moved behind them to protect them from Pharaoh and his army.

The first Exodus could not have happened without angelic intervention as Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.

The seventh parable in Matthew Chapter 13 speaks of a NET, representing the spread of the truth by the internet at the end of the seventh church age.

The sorting out of the good fish and the unwanted bad sea creatures will be done by angels.

MATTHEW 13:47   Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

:48   Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

:49   So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

Only angelic inspiration can distinguish between the good and the bad. The bad are cast into great Tribulation which is the fate of the foolish virgins who could not understand the Scriptures.

MATTHEW 13:50   And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

This describes great Tribulation time that comes at the end of the seventh church age.

MATTHEW 13:51   Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.

Jesus mentions the good fish and then asks if the disciples understood.

“Good” is linked to “understanding” at the end of the seventh parable.

But that is a repeat of what was revealed in the first parable.

MATTHEW 13:23   But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

This indicates that the seventh church age will be restored to the good understanding of Scripture that the first church age had.

Angels are involved in an intense war against demonology in a higher spiritual dimension that we cannot see in order to protect us.

REVELATION 12:7   And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

When Paul and all the sailors in the ship were in serious difficulties, an angel appeared to Paul to tell him that they would all be safe.

ACTS 27:23   For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,

Angels from above guard us as we struggle here below.

Seven angels appeared to the American William Branham in March 1963 to reveal the mysteries of the Seven Seals to him. We need angelic help to understand the deeper Bible mysteries.

The natural world that we live in thus gets entangled with the supernatural.

MATTHEW 6:10   Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Only the Bible can tell us what God’s heavenly Plan is. Things are set up in Heaven that have to be duplicated down here on earth in some way.

The Holy Spirit filled the church on the Day of Pentecost so that the apostles on earth could guide the church to reflect God’s heavenly purpose.

God’s kingdom can only come when the church on earth is guided by God’s invisible Presence so that we are restored back to the beliefs of the first church age of the apostles.

One Person sits on a throne in Heaven

MATTHEW 6:10   Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Consider this example of duplicating Heaven on Earth.

REVELATION 4:2   And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

There were four beasts around the throne.

REVELATION 4:6   And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

Eyes speak of intelligence. “Full of eyes” mean they are full of intelligence. They know what is going on.

“Before”. They know the future.  “Behind”. They know the past. They represent different characteristics  of the Spirit of Jesus as He guides the church through different stages or circumstances of church history.

REVELATION 4:7   And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

In addition, there are 24 elders around the throne.

REVELATION 4:4   And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

This scene has to be repeated on Earth.

So, where is God’s throne on earth?

The only place that Jesus wants to dwell, that reminds Him of Heaven, is in the centre of the four chambers of the human heart. He wants to be the Lord of our hearts so that He can guide and direct our paths.

A repentant human heart is the only throne that He wants on earth during the seven church ages.

But Jesus wants to rule alone on the throne of your heart. There must be no room for Self or the World.

The four chambers of the heart symbolize the four beasts around the throne.

But what about the 24 elders who sit further out as they sit around the throne? These are the original 12 disciples from the New Testament, with Paul taking the place of Judas. And the 12 patriarchs from the Old Testament who were the sons of Jacob.

The elders are represented by stars in the next diagram.

REVELATION 4:4   And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

These 24 elders are represented by the 24 human ribs.

Thus, down on Earth, the human heart is the most accurate copy of God’s Heavenly throne.

So, from now on, there is going to be an invisible interaction as our human thoughts down on Earth get entangled with God’s thinking in Heaven.

We must Die to selfwill to experience the Predestination of God.

Thus, our human free-will in some way has to be merged into God’s Predestination even though at first they seem to be contradictory ideas.

We have to die to our selfish free-will, and then we must want to be totally subject to God’s predestinated Will for our lives. Not because we have to, but because we want to. Because we love God’s Will, which is His Word, more than life itself.

Our difficulty is that God sees the long-term Big Picture of 2000 years of church history that God has to hold together, whereas we individuals only see the short-term benefits for our own selfish free-will. It is essential that we must learn to die daily in order to be subject to God’s Scriptural Plan.

Jesus was the perfect Example as He somehow was in Heaven (the realm of the Spirit) while He was on Earth (the realm of the flesh).

JOHN 3:13   And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,

even the Son of man which is in heaven.

The sign that Jesus was also in the Heavenly realm when He was down on Earth was His incredible ability to put aside any personal wishes on a matter.

LUKE 22:42   Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

The atmosphere is symbolic of our attitude

Water symbolizes multitudes and doctrines.

REVELATION 17:15   And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Water is also a symbol of Scriptural doctrine that can cleanse us from unbelief and sin.

EPHESIANS 5:26   That he might sanctify and

cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

GENESIS 1:6   And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

God made a "firmament" which physically is our atmosphere or sky. This is a symbol of Heaven.

The Earth was covered in water below the atmosphere or sky. Above the atmosphere was a protective layer of water that God turned into a transparent layer of the two invisible gases of hydrogen and oxygen. Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen gases.

The upper water symbolizes God's Word which is our protection. Being in the form of invisible gases symbolizes the hidden mysteries of God that we need to understand if we are to be protected from all the errors that have invaded the churches. Invisible to the natural eye symbolizes that we need angelic help to puzzle out the mysteries of the Scriptures.

The physical atmosphere was crucial for life as we have to breathe oxygen in order to live on Earth. Everything God was doing was aimed at the future creatures and humans who would live down on earth. The atmosphere had to be 21% oxygen gas for us to breathe in and to allow fires to burn for cooking and smelting metals. It then had to be 78% nitrogen gas which is inert and does not burn. This dilutes the oxygen and thus stops fires burning out of control.

Day One saw the Light of the Sun (representing the Light of Truth) hit the Earth.

Day Two required the right atmosphere for sunlight to sustain life.

Sunlight hits the planet Mars but there is no life on Mars because it has the wrong atmosphere.

The only atmosphere or attitude that enables the Light of the Word to produce eternal life is when we have a love for Bible Truth. A desire to be totally obedient and submissive to Scripture. God looks for those who believe in His Word because they love the Scriptures and of their own free-will they want to be in submission to what the Bible says.

ACTS 2:41     Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:

We must be glad to hear God's Word. We must not reject Scripture when it says something that is not to our liking.

ACTS 16:14    And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

We must always believe what is Scriptural. Especially when the Bible contradicts us.
ACTS 17:11   These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily,

whether those things were so.

We must daily search the Bible to see that we are Scriptural.

But human activity, especially when it involves financial gain, easily pollutes the physical atmosphere thanks to massive industrial smoke emissions. Today there are many weather problems associated with climate change due to changes in the atmosphere.

This is a picture of the city of Delhi that is basically hidden behind a dense veil of polluted air.

Thus, the atmospheric pollution symbolizes how the church would lose their love to be strictly Scriptural. Church beliefs would be corrupted by accepting human headship, as if a man is the head of a church. Ambitious men would rise to be the head of the church and increase their popularity by allowing pagan traditions and worldliness to creep into the church. As human opinions defiled the atmosphere of love for God's Word, so the churches were able to see less and less of what the Scriptures mean. Church opinions are just spiritual pollution. Only God's Word is pure.

PROVERBS 30:5   Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

When we regard the Scripture as Absolute Truth, then it forms an invisible veil above us that acts as a shield to protect us from demonology and unbelief. The Bible becomes our ultimate guide.

The big mistake that the early church made after the death of the apostles was to elevate a priest to be in charge of a church. The priest did all the thinking and told the people what to believe. The people no longer searched out their own salvation in fear and trembling as they just had to conform to the peer pressure of the church. The people stopped thinking for themselves. Like parrots, they just repeated what their priest said because he had become the unscriptural head of the church.

The second church age made the fatal mistake of accepting a Bishop as the head of a group of priests in a city.

Nicolaitans. One man becoming more important than other men. They copied that idea from politics.

This was unscriptural as the apostles wanted local churches to be ruled by a group of local elders.

Once you accept the first unscriptural idea, then you open the door to more and more man-made ideas that take you further and further from the Scripture as written down in the New Testament.

An unscriptural church structure means that the people are not taught to love Scripture but rather to love the opinion of the church or its human head.

ACTS 20:17   And from Miletus he [Paul] sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

ACTS 20:28   Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Paul describes some of the future heads of the church as dangerous wolves. Wolves are dangerous and destructive.

ACTS 20:29   For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

ACTS 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

The head of the church always expects the people to obey and believe what he says. The influence of the Bible decreases.

The priests and the Bishops removed the Scriptural protection from the people by making them conform to man-made church rules. You are only well liked by the head of the church if you agree with him. Disagree with him and you are regarded as an enemy.

One man cannot rule a church if he allows the people to follow their own free will.

The bishops thus had to build a hierarchy or organization to force the people into a certain way of thinking.

The people preferred to have man-made church rules that they could obey as it gave them a sense of security. They felt that they were earning their way into heaven by obeying the Bishops.

65-0220 GOD'S CHOSEN PLACE OF WORSHIP

They think you have to belong to that certain church or you cannot go to Heaven. That's wrong. To believe that, is antichrist.

I'll say this: if you believe such a spirit, you're lost.

That's a good sign you are lost, because it's taking away from what God did. God never put His Name in any church. He put It in His Son, Christ Jesus,

Belonging to a church meant that they no longer had to study all of the Bible because that was too much like hard work. They just had to listen to the man who they called the head of the church. That was much easier.

In addition, the Bishops were bringing in pagan customs by giving them Christian names. This made the church popular with the pagans and unsaved pagans felt at home in the church.

Only the true church would want to be ruled by God as they preferred to obey the Bible rather than human opinions.

God made a protective layer above the atmosphere

GENESIS 1:7   And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

There was plenty of water at the bottom of the atmosphere as water covered the entire Earth.

God then lifted some of the water up above the atmosphere to represent the Heavenly realm.

This upper water God split into its components of invisible oxygen gas and hydrogen gas to form an unseen protective layer of gases above the atmosphere.

The next picture shows the layer of gases that surrounded the earth.

The warmth from the sun spread through this layer so that the temperature was the same everywhere.

Rain depends on hot meeting cold. (Your hot breath has water vapour and it condenses on the cold glass of the car’s windscreen in winter to make water droplets that form a mist on the glass).

The whole protective layer of invisible gases was at the same temperature and had no hot or cold areas. Thus, no rain formed.

With no hot and cold regions, there were no seasons. A comfortable temperature was everywhere.

All the second church age had to do was to follow the New Testament beliefs of the first church age.

But each church wanted one man to rule them.

This was a Nicolaitan spirit, which God hates.

Nico means conquer. Conquer the laity or congregation. Make them follow a man instead of God's Word.

And competitive Christianity arose with certain churches claiming to be better than other churches.

The head of a bigger church expected smaller churches to be subject to him and believe what he said.

The Bishop of a city expected any new converts to fall under his authority and protection.

Bishops became famous and their opinions became more important than Scripture.

If you leave part of a curtain in the sunlight, it will fade faster than the part of the curtain that was not in sunlight. Sunlight has harmful ultraviolet rays that cause damage. The protective layer of gases absorbed the ultraviolet rays. Only the harmless heat and light from the sun reached the earth. With no ultraviolet rays and other dangerous sun rays to cause damage, men lived longer. Methuselah made 969 years old because he lived before Noah's Flood.

So, an ideal earth had been set up. No hot and no cold. No rain, just a gentle mist to water the plants. No harmful rays from the sun. Life would be comfortable and people would live for hundreds of years.

But men had no desire to serve God under these relaxing and pleasant conditions.

Look at the lifestyle of wealthy people today. Their money enables them to live comfortably but often does not make them into better people.

A lot of money can even do us harm. Two billionaires could easily pay $250000 each for a ticket to visit the Titanic wreck in June 2023. That seemed to be an exciting idea until the colossal and unforgiving deep sea pressure crushed their small submarine or submersible craft.

This is similar to the second church age. Instead of just following the beliefs of the original apostolic church, people began to change and modify the Bible to suit themselves.

They wanted one man, a Bishop, to be the head of the churches in each city.

That was unscriptural. But people relaxed and allowed it to happen.

As the Bishop became more elevated and more important, he imagined that he could change communion bread into the literal flesh of Jesus which he claimed would give you eternal life if you ate it. People began to rely on the communion bread to be their means of salvation. By continually eating this round wafer, they believed that they would be saved. Thus they fooled themselves. Only the Bishop could perform the miracle that turned the bread, that was in the form of a round wafer, into literal flesh. This made the church dependent on the Bishop and exalted him to be the head of the church.

The church then believed what the Bishop said, not what the Bible said.

Elevating a man to be the head of the church was just opening a door for error to come in. Then the Bishop of Rome began to believe that he must be elevated above other Bishops because he falsely claimed that he was the Successor of Saint Peter (who was never in Rome).

So, a lie became the truth if enough people repeated it. Claiming that Peter was in Rome would be continually repeated. Eventually everyone began to believe that it was the truth.

GENESIS 1:8   And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

The firmament was the sky or atmosphere between the water that covered the earth and the higher up protective layer of invisible gases made from water.

The second Day was not called Good

The protective layer represented the water of the Word. The need to be Scriptural.

The two invisible gases hydrogen and oxygen represent the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Word of God is invisible but as long as we live in subjection under the Word of God then we are safe.

Here we come to a frightening discovery.

God did not call the achievements of the second day “good”. Why not?

Before the Flood, men lived long lives under the ideal conditions of no cold or hot regions and no rain or storms or strong winds.

But they responded to all this comfort by being dedicated to evil.

Rather like many wealthy families who raise up children with no real financial worries and then find their privileged children are attracted to drink, drugs, immorality, and crime.

Making life very easy for the people did not give the people a desire to serve God.

GENESIS 6:5   And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The result of the protective layer of gases around the earth that made life so easy and comfortable was that mankind took it all for granted and simply became evil. That is typical of human nature.

Consequently, when God decided to wipe out mankind, all He had to do was recombine the hydrogen gas and oxygen gas and form water. Thus, the protective gases disappeared as they formed water which rained down to drown the earth in the days of Noah's Flood.

Mankind abused the goodness of God Who had provided them with a long, easy lifestyle and a protected, comfortable existence.

Humanity then lost their layer of protection which was the upper layer of water that had been turned into gases. Ultraviolet and harmful sun rays could then reach the earth and damage living cells.

Hot and cold regions collided to form rain, storms, and high winds.

After a few centuries, men only lived to 70 years instead of over 900 years.

Therefore, God never called the second Day “good” because this protective layer only lasted less than 2000 years after sin entered Eden.

Then God had to eliminate His protective layer because mankind had become uncontrollably evil.

God had planned to give sinful man a long life but was forced to change His plan to cut mankind's lives short.

This was essential for the survival of people in a wicked world that hastens to its own destruction. It was the only way that God could limit human evil but it was not a "good" thing that God enjoyed doing.

Imagine if Hitler and Stalin and Mussolini and Mao Zedong had lived for 900 years.

When we misuse God’s goodness then we ask for trouble and provoke God to wrath.

This is an unhappy consequence that is not “good”.

61-0101 REVELATION CHAPTER FOUR.2
Now, we find out that a covenant then is a "token," a token. God said it was a "token" here, didn't He?
I do set my bow in the clouds, (That's after the destruction of the world, destroyed by water; all flesh, besides Noah, was destroyed.) and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
Not "Me and the world." The world's a "kosmos."

But this is "between me and the earth." God said, "I made that earth. And I so evilly entreated it, that I just turned it upside down and flashed her to pieces. And I oughtn't to have done it, maybe."

He said, "I was even sorry, it was such a horrible thing."

What do you think it will be when He comes in His anger now? Be right, sinner friend.

Spiritually, the churches lost the covering of the King James Bible when they criticized It and made over 100 different translations of the Bible. If there is one defect in the King James Bible then it cannot be a veil of protection for us. As a result, the churches no longer have an Absolute truth as a foundation for their faith.

Let us compare the second Day to the second church age.

Strangely enough, God says nothing bad about the second church age of Smyrna because they had such a hard time.

REVELATION 2:10   Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

This was an age where the true believers had to suffer. Prison. Tribulation. Death. Life was tough.

A sad reflection on human nature is that when men had an easy life due to the protective veil made on the second Day then they became sinful and had to be wiped out.

In the second church age the opposite occurred when they had a harsh time that inspired them to serve God with devotion.

Sinful mankind serves God better in hard times rather than easy times.

That is not a good reflection on human nature.

“Tribulation ten days” refers to the ten-year persecution started by the pagan Roman Emperor Diocletian in AD 302. It was the most vicious of the ten persecutions launched against the Christians by the pagan Roman emperors. Diocletian sought to stamp out Christianity and destroy all the Bibles. He almost succeeded.

But this persecution scattered the Christians who had to flee for their lives. They ended up in small local groups in remote places and this stopped them from denominating like the other Christians who formed bigger churches with a Bishop in charge. Elevating a holy man above the church was a Nicolaitan spirit which God hated.

REVELATION 2:6   But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

“Nico” in Greek means “conquer”.  The congregation is referred to as the “laity”.   Conquer the laity means for a holy man to be elevated above the congregation so that he can dominate them. God hates that church structure.

An ambitious leader was not interested in a small local group. Thus, a small scattered flock ended up being ruled by a group of local elders.

Being free from the dominating leadership of one man, these small scattered groups were unnoticed by historians but they pleased God. In a small group that is taught by different elders, individuals have to learn to think for themselves. There is no herd-instinct caused by peer pressure that forces people to conform to church beliefs.

I PETER 5:1   The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

:2     Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

:3     Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

The elders led by example.

The persecution and killing of true Christians were the only way that God could keep the true believers scattered and thus free from the evil denominational structure that was emerging in the one-man-controlled churches.

This hardship was essential for the survival of apostolic truth, but it was not pleasant, it was an endurance.

Not a good time for the church as they endured many savage persecutions. Especially the ten years from around AD 303 to AD 312 that was started by the pagan Emperor Diocletian. He did his best to eliminate the church and almost destroyed all the Bibles.

It was a time when the church was dropping its guard and allowing error to take over the leadership of the church. Christians fell complacently asleep instead of looking out for the subtle entrance of error and stopping it.

This was the start of even bigger problems.

The second church age saw the evil and error of declaring a man to be the head of a church, slowly taking over the church.

Thus in this second church age God begins to focus on the deception of one-man-headship of the church that was flooding into the church.

The exposure of church error is the focus of the Seven Seals.

All this awful religious error to the church that was now subject to human opinions was not "good".

So, in the second church age that was deserting the Scriptures, God switched the focus over to the Seven Seals.

The First Seal had begun the subtle ride of the antichrist spirit as the rider of the horse of religious deception.

That antichrist spirit was not noticed all that much while the apostles were still alive in the first church age.

But in the second church age religious deception grew and established itself under men who each called himself the head of the church.

This laid a firm foundation for the Second Seal. Bringing all the churches under the headship of one man.

First a political head, the Roman Emperor Constantine.

He forced the people to obey him with his political power.

Then the Pope of Rome as the Universal Bishop. He combined church power with politicical power.