Abstract

Table of Contents

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI
  

Volume 7: The Doorway Papers Series

HIDDEN THINGS OF GOD'S
REVELATION

Abstract:

 This miscellany of six biblical studies give insight into the ways of God with mankind as seem in revelation and in history. Even the most unpromising passages (like genealogies) prove to be a rich source of blessing and spiritual truth. Attention to grammar and syntax in the Hebrew language supply new meaning to the first chapter of Genesis. Questions about the reliability of the early portion of Scripture, about contradictions within Scripture, of what is prophecy or merely prediction, of why God intervenes dramatically at times but is silent at other times � challenge both the heart and mind. Answers suggested here are refreshing and thought-provoking. Scripture thus bears everywhere the hallmarks of true inspiration: its words are for children, its thoughts are for men. No other such book as this was ever written.

    This paper is not about the unanswered prayer which every child of God experiences � a kind of private silence. It is about the public silences of God � that silence marked by the total absence of any manifest public display of his power.  And we ask, Why? Why has there been for so long an absence of miraculous deliverances, sudden judgments, raising of the dead � of 'signs and wonders'?
    It isn't that God doesn't care � as we are apt to interpret his silences. Whatever He does, or doesn't do, is always in accordance with his predetermined will and purpose. Scripture indicates when public "signs and wonders" may be expected which thus reveal his purpose for mankind.

   To get a complete picture of reality, it is sometimes necessary to perceive reality in different ways. Even in Science the statement of truth may demand the use of contradictory terms as when light is described as both material and non-material. There is a difference between knowing that facts and perceiving the truth. This is interestingly illustrated here, making it well worth reading even if not troubled by the apparent contradictions in Scripture. It seems likely that, with our minds constituted as they are, contradiction will always be essential to the perception of truth. This "harmony" of contradiction is superbly demonstrated in the four Gospels: in John's Gospel we are clearly in the presence of One who, having been set forth as King (by Matthew) and as Servant (by Mark) and as Perfect Man (by Luke), is now set forth as God Himself.

     It is remarkably difficult to prophecy, or foretell, the future, or to know the difference between foresight and genuine 'forthelling'. Here are two long-range detailed prophecies whose fulfillments are unquestionable, demonstrating that God does communicate via this means. Some prophecies worth exploring in this light are given.

   In reading Genesis, at what point can we say we are entering a period of non-history? Here is a survey of less commonly reports from Archaeology which provide confirmatory evidence pointing to the historicity of accounts in Genesis, even back to Adam.

     As a traveller pores over a map, so a historian pores over a genealogy. Unlike ancient maps, many ancient genealogy are quite precies, often giving brief historical notes. Here they are explored as a guide to lines of relationship, on they light they shed on the world's sppiritual history, its social customs and value systems. on mythology, and their bearing on chronology � demonstrating that some apparently dry and uninspiring portions are food for the soul and stimulation for the mind.

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Genealogies of the Old Testament

Graph of First and Last Adam

Chapter 2. The Genalogies of the New Testament

   Another translation? This brief one takes into consideration some grammatical points in the Hebrew language. To respect these literary devices in translation is to discover new meaning in the intention of the origina writer. This paper reflects the author's understanding of this Creation Week.

1977 published by Zondervan Publishing Co.
1997 published online
2001 2nd Online Edition – corrected, edited and re-formatted