THE BIBLE AGES

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PATRIARCHAL AGE
                Was there really a Patriarchal age? The answer is yes because God in the early period of His dealing with man spoke to the Fathers of the families (Hebrews 1:1). He spoke directly to them, or in visions and dreams, or through angels, and he had special prophets through whom he spoke. The period of the Patriarchal age for all men is recorded in Genesis, the first 19 chapters of Exodus and the book of Job. Even after giving the law to Israel God still dealt in a Patriarchal way to the Gentile peoples who sought him. Good examples of this was Jethro the father in law of Moses (Exodus 18; Numbers 10), Balaam (Numbers 22-31), people of Nineveh (Jonah), Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel), Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1), and Cornelius (Acts 10).  We are going to notice some things about them.

                1. They had laws from God. “(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.”  (Romans 5:13, 14). Also though the Jews had the written law and the Patriarchs did not have a written law they could keep the things written in the law. “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another”  (Romans  2:12-15).

                2. In the Patriarchal age they offered animal sacrifices. Abel offered the more excellent sacrifice by faith (Hebrews 11:4). Since faith comes by hearing the word (Romans 10:17), then Abel was told by God to offer of the firstlings of his flock with the fat thereof. He believed God and obeyed God. Noah offered of every clean animal when he came out of the ark (Genesis 8:20). Abraham built an alter and offered in every place he camped (Genesis 12-25). Isaac and Jacob also offered (Genesis 26:25). Without the shedding of blood there is no remission (Hebrews 9:22).

                3. God expected faith and obedience of the Patriarchs. The lesson we get from Abraham is that faith without works is dead. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” (James 2:21-24).  We also learn the same lesson from Noah (Hebrews 11:7).   God sent the flood on those who did not believe and obey. There has never been a time that God has not required faith and obedience for a person to be acceptable to Him.

                4. During the Patriarchal Age Jacobs’s family was formed into a great nation as had been promised of Abraham.  The providence of God worked in the life of Joseph to make him governor of Egypt and he brought the 70 souls of Jacobs’s family to the land of Goshen in Egypt. It was there that they became a great nation of people. Pharaoh put them in bondage out of fear that they would take over Egypt. It was from this bondage that Moses led them hundreds of years later after sending a series of devastating plagues upon the Egyptians. The institution of the Passover feast was on the night before they left the bondage of Egypt. (Exodus 12). The killing of the firstborn of the Egyptians was too much for Pharaoh so he told them to be gone from Egypt. God provided for them by parting the waters of the Red Sea and they crossed on dry ground. God also provided them bread in the wilderness and water of out a rock. They went to Sinai where they were given the law which ushered in the Mosaical age.

                5. From this period of time we learn our origin. From Genesis 1 we learn that God created the heavens and the earth. We also see how in a very orderly way God placed everything we enjoy upon the earth. Also how He created man in His own image.  We learn that the first man was put into the paradise of Eden and how the woman was created to be a sufficient companion of the man. 

                6. We also learn how sin entered into the world. Eve was deceived by the serpent concerning eating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God commanded them not to eat. So sin is disobedience to God. (Genesis 3:1-14). Sin also has its consequences. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). They were put out of the garden, the woman was decreed to have pain in child birth, the man was decreed to gain his bread by the sweat of his face, and the serpent was to crawl on his belly. Also Satan, who energized the serpent would have his head bruised by the seed of the woman who is Christ (Genesis 3:15; Hebrews 2:14, 15).

                7. There are prophecies of Christ coming to be the savior of the world in Genesis 3:15; and 49:9.  The animal sacrifices are also typical of the sacrifice of Jesus who as the lamb of God takes away the sins of the world.

                8. Marriage and the family are glorified in Genesis 2.
                10. God has a limit as to his mercy. When he saw how wicked people had become “the LORD said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3) Also he said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” Noah was upright so he was spared. During the 120 year period He built the ark wherein he and his family were saved from the flood. We are told that this world will be burned up when Jesus comes again (2 Peter 3:7-10).

                11. From Job we learn that man can be true to God in suffering and adversity.  The patience of Job and the resulting mercy and blessings of God are a great lesson to us. Many are the lessons of the Patriarchal Age. Let us learn from their examples (Romans 15:4).                

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOSAICAL AGE
                The Mosaical Age was the time from the giving of the Law on Sinai until Jesus died on the cross. It was over 1500 years and covers the Old Testament from Exodus 20 to its conclusion. Moses law was observed by Christ during his personal ministry. He took it away to give us the New Testament by the which will we are sanctifies (Hebrews 10:9, 10). It was a law given to the Israelites. Moses said, “The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.” (Deuteronomy 5:2, 3). Other people could be converted into it. God made Himself known to the Gentile people and had standards for their conduct but the elaborate system of law was given to the Jews in written form

                1. THEY HAD A WRITTEN LAW.  God wrote the ten commandments on tables of stone. The first ones are described, “And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.” (Exodus 32:16). When Moses saw them worshipping the golden calf he broke these tables (Exodus 32:19). Moses at the command of God supplied the second set of stone tables and God wrote the 10 commandments and Moses wrote the other parts of the law at the dictation of God (Exodus 32:28; Deuteronomy 10:4).

                2. THEY WERE TO STRICTLY FOLLOW, OBEY AND SERVE THE ONE GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. The first four of the ten commandments are directed to God. A)  No other Gods were to be served.
B) They were strictly forbidden to make any images to worship. C) They were to be sure not to take the Name of the Lord God in vain. D) And the seventh day was to be a Sabbath of rest and to worship God. Leviticus 23:3 speaks of a holy Convocation on that day. This would be to assemble for worship.

                3. THEY WERE TO TREAT THEIR FELLOW MEN RIGHT. The last 6 commands are directed toward relationships with one another. A) Honor of father and mother was commanded. The same is commanded in the New Testament (Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:1, 2). The family is the basic unit of society and authority in the family lies in the hands of fathers and mothers. Children learning obedience and respect for parents are better equipped to get along with their neighbors.  B) The next is to do no murder as Jesus pointed out in Matthew 19:18). The punishment for murder was “He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.”  (Exodus 21:12). Several different things carried the punishment of death. Allowances were made if a person killed accidentally (Exodus 21:13; Numbers 35:10-34; Deuteronomy. 19:1-3; Joshua 20:1-9). C) They were not to commit adultery. The only sex to be had was that of mates in marriage. Any sex outside marriage or extra marital is adultery. “And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” (Leviticus 20:10). The verses that follow pronounce a death sentence on adultery with father’s wife, with a daughter in law, with his wife’s mother, with an animal, or with one of the same sex (Leviticus 20:11-16). D) “Thou shalt not steal” is a command that shows they were to respect the property of their fellow men. It is also rendered, “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.” (Leviticus. 19:11). To keep the poor from stealing to have food to eat they were told, “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 23:22).  Also, “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.” (Leviticus 19:13).  E) They were to respect the reputation and character of one another by not bearing false witness. They did not have the right to slander or gossip against one another. F) The tenth commandment is very important, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.”  (Exodus 20:17). They were not to desire what others had. The New Testament tells us to be content with what we have (Hebrews 13:5).

                4. THEY WERE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AND THE PATTERNS GOD GAVE THEM IN BUILDING THE TABERNACLE, THE TEMPLE, AND IN THE SYSTEM OF WORSHIP AND SERVICE.
A) Moses was told, “According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” (Exodus 25:9).  Their burnt offerings, sin offerings, trespass offerings, and peace offerings were to be of certain kinds of animals and done in a certain way. Descendants of Aaron’s family of the tribe of Levi would be the priests. All of the people of the Levitical tribe were to have special parts in the service of God. Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, were burned with fire when they offered incense with strange fire which the Lord had not commanded them (Leviticus 10:1, 2). God let it be known that any deviation from His standards of worship was strictly forbidden.

                5. GOD’S CHARACTERISTICS WERE SHOWN TO ISRAEL. “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6, 7).  In Deuteronomy 32:4 it is stated, “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.”  The longsuffering of God is shown in His dealing with Israel. The punishment of God is seen in God sending Assyria and Babylon to put Israel and Judah in captivity.

            The law was given because of sin (Galatians 3:19). It was temporary and was to last until the promised seed should come who is Christ. It was the Jews Tutor to bring them to Christ (Galatians 3:24). It was a shadow of things to come (Colossians 2:16). Under it the promises of the coming of Christ and the blessings he would give are shown.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN AGE
                This is the period in which we live today. Christ came to fulfill the law and to give us the New Testament. (Matthew 5:17). He nailed the law to his cross in dying for the sins of the world. Fifty three days later he brought the New Testament into effect, himself being made both Lord and Christ (Colossians  2:14-16; Acts 2:34-41). 

                1. The Christian age is a time of salvation by the grace of God.  “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8, 9). There are two parts of salvation by grace -- God’s part and man’s part. God sent Christ to die for our sins, and to be raised as Savior, Lord, and Christ. Man’s part is to believe in God and Christ and submit ourselves to His will. The grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2:11, 12). Here the grace of God is equivalent to the New Testament gospel which shows us what we have to do to be acceptable to Him.  We are told to not receive the grace of God in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1). We are exhorted not to fail of the grace of God (Hebrews 12:15). God in his favor to us provided our salvation, and told us how to obtain it. We can obey this gospel and be saved. We can also turn from it and be lost. Salvation by grace does not relieve us of our duty to accept it.

                2. The Christian age is characterized by immersion for the remission of sins. After his death and before his ascension Jesus met and gave the commission to his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and that he who believes and is baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:15, 16). In Matthew’s account the Lord emphasized that he has all authority,  that disciples were to be made of all nations, and they were to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18, 19). In Luke’s account emphasis is placed on repentance being necessary to remission (Luke 24:46, 47). One but has to read Acts 2:38; 8:12; 8:36-38; 9:18; 22;16 to see that gospel  teaching, faith, repentance, and baptism were all required for people to be saved. The Greek definition of baptism is immersion.

                3. The Christian age is also the time of the church Jesus established.  People have made the church so humanly indoctrinated that it is often said that the church is not essential to salvation. Man made churches, and man organized churches are not essential to salvation. In fact those planted by men will be rooted up at the coming of the Lord. They are really tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). However, this is not so of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He built it and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). He also identified it as the kingdom of heaven over which he is king and all true members are his citizens (Matthew 16:19). The only way that people can be members of it is by listening to the instructions his apostles gave in the New Testament (Matthew 16:19; John 16:8-15). God through Daniel said that it would stand forever (Daniel 2:44). We have the task to find that New Testament church, to find what to do be a part of it, and be sure that we are in congregations of it instead of some invention of men. Acts 2:47 tells us who the Lord adds to it. Ephesians tells us who is head (1:22, 23); savior (5:23); what the Lord does for it out of love (Ephesians 5:25-28); and that we are reconciled to God in it (2:16).  The church is the pillar and ground of the truth (I Timothy 3:14, 15). The local church consists of saved people who worship, teach, and carry out God’s mission. If these people decide not to abide in the doctrine of Christ they lose their fellowship with God (2 John 9; Revelation 2:5).

                4. The Christian age is characterized by the Lord’s Supper in Sunday worship.  This was instituted by Christ who said, “This do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19, 20). He also said he would partake of it with his disciples in the kingdom which we have already shown to be the church (Matthew 26:29). The church of the first century partook of the supper on the first day of the week which is Sunday. “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” Some might doubt that this is the Lord’s Supper because it simply said “break bread”. However, if one would read I Corinthians 10:16 he will find that this breaking of bread is communion with the body of Christ which is being done when the disciples come together on the first day of the week. Since Christ commanded that it be done, and we have an inspired example of when they did it, we have a pattern to follow in partaking of the Lord’s Supper. No Sunday worship should be without the Lord’s Supper.

                5. The Christian age is characterized by singing in worship.  Jesus and the apostles left the example of singing in worship (Matthews 26:30; Acts 16:25; I Corinthians 14:15). The prophesies said that singing was to be in the congregation (Romans 15:9; Hebrews 2:12). The command is to “sing and make melody in your hearts to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). Also the command is to “teach and admonish one another ...singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16). We do not have and right to add to the command of the Lord by using any other form of music.

                6. The Christian age is characterized by the priesthood of believers. There is NO special priesthood of a group called “clergy” and the rest of the members being “laity” in the New Testament.  “But ye are a chosen generation,  a royal priesthood, an holy  nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light “ (I Peter 2:9).

                7. The Christian age is characterized as the last days. This is when God speaks by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-3). There are many warnings of apostasy being prevalent in the last days (I Timothy 4:1-4; I John 2:18).  There will not be another dispensation after this one. When Christ comes time will be no more because he said, “then cometh the end” (I Corinthians 15:24). Heaven and earth will be no more because they will burn (2 Peter 3:10). Christians have the hope of everlasting life in a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1-7).

At the end of the Christian age the dead will be raised, the living will be changed and all will be given incorruptible, immortal, glorious, spiritual bodies. There will be a judgment where we will give an account of our lives, and then our eternal destinies will be sealed.                                            C.D. 
              

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