Dear brother,Thank you for writing. It is appreciated. However, you caught the glaring error I made in even laying out the problem. See my "error" post on Five Doves tomorrow. It is obvious that one can't use the whole year of 30 A.D. and come up with correct or even close calculations. As you point out, one has to start the count with one of the days you mentioned. I was personally thinking about the day Christ ascended, but failed to state that when I laid out the problem. But I know someone will work it out and come up with the right answer.Brother, in answer to your question.... We need to remember that the Lord placed Adam and Eve over the entire earth, Genesis 1:28-30. Adam and Eve were literally the God appointed rulers of the whole earth. Even though God's people don't ordinarily think of Adam and Eve in these terms, what I am stating is literally true. They were the God appointed King and Queen and the earth was their kingdom. They owned it by title deed from the Lord Himself.
But then they lost their kingdom through the fall. The entire kingdom passed into the hands of the arch enemy of God; Satan himself. Such a truth is clearly stated in 2 Peter 2:19. When Adam and Eve fell, they lost their kingdom and their freedom. Rather than ruling over the earth, they became mere subjects in it. Satan became the owner and ruler of the earth, and the whole earth became His kingdom. This is why, at the first coming of Christ Satan could show the Lord all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and offer to give the Lord power over them all if the Lord would only bow down and worship him, Luke 4:5-8. This is also why Satan is referred to as "the god of this world" in 2 Corinthians 4:4, and is called "the prince of this world" in John 12:31 by the Lord Himself. In Matthew 12:26 and Luke 11:18 the Lord Himself plainly stated that Satan has a kingdom. Satan's kingdom is this whole earth which he became the king of when he overcame Adam and Eve at the fall. Satan presently owns and rules over this earth as earth's mighty spiritual king.
Now in order to answer your question, consider the protocol exercised between kings throughout human history, remembering that men have just imitated what God Himself set in order. God is a mighty King, and before everything else is a God of "judgment and justice." Most of God's people don't even realize that in God's present 7,000 year plan of the ages, a great "legal procedure" is being carried out, and God never violates the legal procedure that He Himself set in place for all of His subjects to follow.
Throughout human history kings have visited one another, both for pleasure and for evil purposes. Even today, when one nation commits a grievance against another, unless the offense is absolutely unforgiveable those nations don't immediately rush into war with each other. There is a protocol to be followed. First the nation that has been grieved will send a diplomat to the offending nation with a formal protest. Or, if the offense is serious enough, the actual king or ruler of the offended nation may come calling on the ruler of the nation that did the offending to personally discuss the matter in an attempt to avert outright war. In such cases, the offending ruler will graciously receive the offended ruler into his presence, even though the two rulers may hate each others guts. You have examples of this very kind of protocol carried out between various kings in the Bible. Go back and take a look at them and learn about protocol between kings and rulers.
During the past 6,000 years Satan has ruled this earth with a cruel hand, doing his best to stop all worship of God Almighty. But there has always been a remnant of people living on this earth who refused to give their allegiance to Satan, but chose to serve the God of Heaven. Satan and his henchmen have tormented them, persecuted them, and even slaughtered them at every opportunity, but to no avail. Some in every period of time in human history have still given themselves over to cleave to and worship the true God of heaven. It is with such "radicals" [like Job...and all true believers] that Satan then goes calling on God Himself. Since he is a king, God receives him into His court. Once Satan has been received into God's court with all the protocol due a king, he there "accuses the brethren day and night before God," Revelation 12:10. Now ask yourself why, after we are saved, do we need a "Mediator" in Heaven? Isn't the answer plain?
Dear brother, this is why Satan is allowed to come into God's presence today. Because he is a great and powerful king with a great kingdom; a potentate in his own realm. Why do you think that even Michael the archangel dared not bring a railing accusation against Satan? Jude 9. Because Satan is a king and has great and mighty power. He is the most powerful being in the whole universe, second in power only to our Lord Jesus Christ. Satan is not someone to mock or ridicule or play games with, as even some foolish Christians occasionally do. As children of God we can hate him and resist him, but we are to still remember that he is a powerful king and we are presently living in his kingdom. Our only strength against Satan is the strength we find in the Holy Spirit given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. If a child of God tries to defy Satan in their own strength, they will be defeated and put to shame every time. That is why we are repeatedly told and cautioned in God's Word not to rely on the flesh. "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." Praise God!
Why do you think our Kinsman-Redeemer was crowned with thorns from the cursed soil, and wore that crown as He hung upon the cross? He was paying the redemption price to buy back this cursed earth for fallen man, redeeming it from the curse, as well as redeeming fallen man himself. Oh, what a Savior! Glory! That is why the title deed to the earth [the seven sealed book] is taken out of the hand of God in Heaven by our Kinsman-Redeemer [Revelation 5] and opened in the five chapters that follow. He is the only One who is qualified to open that book because He is the God-Man; true man and true God. As man He paid the redemption price to buy back what Adam lost, and as God he makes intercession for fallen man before God the Father Himself.
This is also why outright war will ultimately break out during the last half of the Trib. When our Kinsman-Redeemer has broken the seals and opened the book, proving his LEGAL right to this earth, Satan will refuse to recognize the Lord's legal claim to the earth. This is when God casts [drives] Satan out of His court and His presence for defying the LAW that God Himself has set in place. When Satan tells God that he will not recognize the Lord's claim to the earth, a declaration of war will be declared right there. Satan will then be cast down to the earth and outright warfare breaks out between the followers of Satan and the followers of God. This is also when, in absolute rage over such defiance, God Almighty turns to His Son, and says, "Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool," Psalm 110:1. This is when God Himself will do "...His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act," Isaiah 28:21. The Bible explicitly tells us that "God is love." His very nature is love for His whole creation. But the word "strange" in this passage means a work and an act that is totally foreign to one's nature. When Satan defies God's established LAW, and refuses to give this earth back to it's proven LEGAL rightful owner, God Himself is going to fly into a rage and cut loose on Satan and his followers on this earth unlike anything ever known before in all of human history; the seven vials [bowls] of God's wrath. When the last bowl is poured out, I can almost hear God say to our Savior, "Alright Son, I have softened them up for you. Now go finish the job." Glory! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Glory to God!
What a great and mighty and terrible and dreadful and fearful and LOVING God we serve. I am so thankful to Him that I know Him; that He is my Father and God and that His Son is my Savior. Praise the Lord!
Dear brother, I hope I have answered your question. Feel free to write me anytime. God bless you. Pray for me. I'll soon meet you in glory.Pastor F. M. Riley
----- Original Message ----
From: JAMES
To: fmrglbd5@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 4:45:42 PM
Subject: Calculate This
Hi Pastor Riley
It would be 360 x 0.1971 which equals 70.956. I see where you are going with this. Does the count start from Lord Jesus' death, resurrection, or his asscenion.
I have a question for you. I am currently doing a study of Genesis. Here is my question and I hope it makes sense. In chapter 3 there is the fall of man. God declares war on satan. I am assuming at this point Lucifer(satan) has already committed his sin with the 5 I will statements from Isaiah. My questions is this, Since God hates sin why does Lucifer(satan) have access to God i.e. the Book of Job? Thanks in advance for the help.
James