THE EIGHTH DAY
How could I have missed it? How could any theologian miss
it? What have we missed? The seven years of drought in Egypt represents time
itself, and the eighth day — the day after — represents eternity. What are you
doing on the eighth day when time stops still?
KEY VERSES: 29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: 30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; 31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.(Gen 41:29-31)
Assume that the “seven days of plenty” represents Paradise. That makes
sense because the seven-day creation was “very good” (Gen 1:31). There was sustenance
aplenty in the Garden of Eden. Was not Eden “seven days” though before plenty
was forsaken for pleasure. In my book, On the Origin of Man and the Universe,
I present evidence that the “seven day” creation was seven “processes.” I did
not define the time interval for those processes. I took this seriously: “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” (2 Pet 3:8).
In some instances, in the Bible, that may be true. As an example, in the Book
of Adam and Eve, 5-1/2 days are 5500 years. Not that it is
actual, but that Adam would be redeemed in 5500 years, and God referred
to that short time interval as “days.” That comparison is an antitype, “something
that corresponds to or is foreshadowed in a type” (Merriam-Webster Dict.)
If Adam would be redeemed in 5-1/2 days, then time thereafter would be nearly
over. Since God created existence in six days and rested on the seventh, then
using antitypes, Jesus’s thousand-year reign would be the seventh “day.” Tribulation
would be over, and with God again in charge, He would “rest” during the Millennial
Reign of Jesus. With that, the existence of the world will last six days, then
Jesus will reign on the seventh “day” or during the last “year” of seven-thousand
years.
The “time” this year is Anno Mundi (AM) 5780. Of course, the Jewish
calendar has been revised and is lunar time. Anno Mundi is the year of
the world. The world was created on the third “day.” That would commence after
2000 day-years, using Peter’s comparison, and the sacred writings. But lunar
time did not commence until the 4th ‘day.” As such, the universe was
in existence, perhaps 3000 years before lunar time began, which coincided in
the beginning with solar time.
Why all the emphasis on time? Because time began before Adam was created
on the sixth day, perhaps even in the evening of the sixth day since the animal
kingdom preceded Adam in the dawn of a new day. With that, Adam would have been
created on day 5-1/2 and he would be redeemed on the same “day” 5500 years
later.
The year of the world would need approximately another 1500 years to make
AM 5780 accurate to scripture, assuming the sun was made before the moon at the
waning of the fourth day. Add 1500 years to 5780. The true AM time would be closer
to AM 7000 (approximated) or today is near the end of the sixth “day”
and heading toward the seventh “day” for the reign of Jesus. Indeed, “now is
our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom 13:11). How near? Maybe this
year, maybe a thousand years!
What comes after the Millennial Reign of Jesus on the seventh day? Eternity.
It is not mentioned in the Bible, but the Book of Jubilees does.
The seven-years famine of the Egyptians represent the seven-thousand years of life on Earth and the “eighth year” of the famine eternity after the reign. With that said, Joseph is an antitype of Jesus and Pharaoh and antitype of Satan. Egypt represents the world, and the seven years of drought time, or seven millennia. With that said, something must have been unusual on the seventh year in Egypt. It was. Everyone believed in Joseph because he had brought them through great tribulation. But famine on the seventh day? Joseph took care of them, and sometime, it is likely that a new pharaoah who knew not Joseph came into power, or perhaps, because of Joseph’s legacy, a new Pharaoh took charge. It may be that Joseph was the ad hoc pharaoh on the last year. It was an antitype of the millennial reign of Jesus, it seems.
After the famine, an antitype of the world, there was an eighth year, to wit:
And the years of the famine were accomplished, and Joseph gave to the people in the land seed and food that they might sow (the land) in the eighth year, for the river had overflowed all the land of Egypt... it grew much corn that year. And this was the first year of the fourth week of the forty-fifth jubilee. (Jubilees 46:9-10)
Note that a jubilee is another measurement of biblical time. One jubilee equals
49 years, and a week equals a year measured from Anno Mundi. But that is
not the point. What is? “Joseph gave to the people in the land seed and food
that they might sow (the land) in the eighth year.” After seven-years of
tribulation, on the eighth year, things again got very good. The eight-year
represents Paradise wherein everything is “very good.”
The Nile is the River of God called the "Gihon" in the Bible, according to the
Jewish historian, Josephus. The world looked much different now than in the
beginning, but the Nile River is the life-blood of that God forsaken land. “Nile”
means “great river.” That because it ran through Paradise into the world
(Egypt).
How are things on the eighth year — the year after the flood? The river
overflowed and brought forth much corn (grain). What was the food in Paradise? Vegetation.
What provided the vegetation since there was no rain in the Garden of Eden? The
Gihon… The River of God!
Jacob was an antitype of the Father in the following passage:
And it came to pass that after Jacob died the children of Israel multiplied in the land of Egypt, and they became a great nation, and they were of one accord in heart, so that brother loved brother and every man helped his brother, and they increased abundantly and multiplied exceedingly, ten weeks of years, all the days of the life of Joseph. (Jubilees 46:1)
Now recall the coming of the Holy Ghost: “And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” (Acts 2:1). When
Jacob gave up the Ghost, it was after his sons were of one accord. For Jacob,
it was finished. Thereafter, as you see, the focus was off the name “Jacob” and
on “Israel.” The twelve brothers became “Israel.” That accordance is when
Israel was built and is an antitype of the Church. Jesus had finished the stonework
for the Church just as Joseph had for the foundation of Israel.
The Holy Ghost of Jacob had left him but lived on through his children.
They remained in “Abraham’s Bosom” as I wrote about yesterday. The ameliorating
attitudes of the brothers describes what Paradise will be like, but unlike the Exodus
from Egypt, there will be no exodus from the eighth day!
What will the eighth day be like for Christians?
And there was no Satan nor any evil all the days of the life of Joseph which he lived after his father Jacob, for all the Egyptians honored the children of Israel all the days of the life of Joseph. (Jubilees 46:2)
Jacob was in Abraham’s Bosom when he died? That is Paradise. In other
words, Jacob suffered death, but remained alive through Abraham and his
children. Jacob is perpetually alive and so will Israel be on the “eighth day.”
Satan will be destroyed to commence the eighth day (Rev 20:8-10).
Where was Pharaoh in the seventh year? He was in the pit somewhere,
symbolically covered with grain that Joseph provided. That is where Satan will
be (in the bottomless pit) on the seventh day before his dynasty is finished. During
the Millennial Reign, the world is safe from Satan and on the “eighth
day” (eternity) the world will finally be saved from Satan and sin! What
a great day that will be… for some. What a terrible day for others.
And with a great war, symbolic of Armageddon, the world will be closed for
normal business, and that was the case for Egypt: “And he went to the land of
Canaan, and the gates of Egypt were closed, and none went out an none came into
Egypt” (Jubilees 46:8).
The same applies to the “eighth day,” or eternity. Hell will be closed for
business, and it will become impregnable. All those there will stay and all those
saved in “Canaan” will never enter Egypt. Egypt will change from the antitype “world”
whereon the Prince of the Power of the Air rules, to Hell where Satan is doomed.
Satan can never leave Hell just as Pharaoh, after his defeat by Canaan, would never
leave Egypt again.
Canaan is the Promise Land. It is an antitype of Paradise in heaven, and
once the seven days of the world is complete (seven thousand years), heaven and
earth will again be one just as in the beginning. The Garden of Eden, by then
populated, will be a City of God, and New Jerusalem will be restored on its
foundation (Jerusalem) wherein the Gihon still springs! Egypt will be no more.
Life will extend as far as Egypt, but it will again have a great famine, not
for seven years but for eternity — all the “eighth day” that never ends.
The decision should be easy. Shall it be Canaan or Egypt. The Israelites
had a hard time deciding but only a remnant will ever choose the real Promised
Land.
(picture credit: USB David; "Along Way from Home")
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