History: how do you define it? Part 1

        To find out what history is all about let us check the dictionary. The Cambridge dictionary assures us that history is: (the study of or a record of) past events considered together, especially events of a particular period, country, or subject.[i] Even better, when you research the origin of history via the Latin and Greek one finds that it means “learning or knowing by inquiry, history.[ii]”

        History then, is the knowledge of past events which we can acquire by reading or listening to sources that divulge information. There is actually another very profound meaning of history which eludes many of us, and this is irrespective of one’s worldview; yet for many of us that believe in God and His instructions to us found in the Bible, history is above all, His-story. In the English language the word history can be divided into two syllables: ‘his’ and ‘(s)tory’; and for us Christians this can be interpreted as His-story, that is, the story of God or Jesus; so history is looked at as the revelation of the acts of Jesus in the events of humanity and all the universe. Therefore, as we study history, we are looking at not just the events that took place on earth per se, but the events that took place under the auspices of God. In the biblical book of Genesis (the word genesis means, the beginning) it tells us: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1. In the New Testament, the second division of the Bible, John tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1.

        Putting these two texts together we come up with the concept that, in the beginning Jesus who also is God created the entire universe, and so history is God’s story of the events that took place in the beginning and will continue right through to the future. We can therefore, as Christians, define history as a revelation of the acts of God from the very beginning of time. And these acts of God involve the creation, the entrance of sin into the universe and the acts of God in restoring this universe to its pristine beauty and perfection. The fairness of this is that God has not left us to guess as to how these events took place in the distant past, nor how they will end in the future because He has recorded this history for humanity, and this history book of the past, present, and future events is the Bible which He calls His Word, or as we often say, the Word of God. The Irish man Edmund Burke wrote in his book Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) the following quote: “People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.[iii]” Another popular way of repeating Burke’s expression is, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

        Let us see then, how Burke’s quote on history impacts us today as we survey man’s past and future. We have discovered that Edmund Burke’s expression was actually predated by almost seventeen hundred years by Jesus Christ (4 BC-AD31) who first said, “as it was in the days of Noah so will it be in the days of the son of man” Luke 17:26. Burke’s expression was also predated by the apostle Paul when he said to the church in Corinth, “Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” 1 Cor. 10:11. Again Burke’s statement was predated by about 2, 500 years when King Solomon wrote: “The thing that has been-it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun” Ecclesiastes 1:9. Solomon was here imply that humans will not learn adequately from history, they will always be doomed to repeat the past.

        The question I have for you today, my friend, is, what is the problem with repeating the past? Is it a big deal? Well, here is what the Bible tells us about our past history and for good reasons: in Genesis 2:1-3 we read that God made this world in six days and gave us the seventh day as an eternal Sabbath that we may remember that He was the creator and that we did not evolve from ‘nothing.’ In fact the last verse of Genesis 1 tells us that God saw everything that He had made that is was very good. So the first fact of history for us to remember is that God created us perfect, and that evolution is a departure from this belief-a ploy of the devil. Everything, the environment and animals, and vegetation, and all life in the sea were perfectly created. Nothing evolved as false science has it. Humans have been led astray by satan, using false science and false teachers.

        The next human event in our past history is that our first parents through listening to satan rejected God as their guide and disobeyed Him. This disobedience brought sin into this planet and it took control of our minds causing us to rebel against the Creator’s instructions. Although God had warned Adam and Eve of satan and how he would seek tempt them to disobey Him and to eat of the tree which was to strengthen their love for and faithfulness to Him by leaving it alone, they proceeded to listen to satan and reject God’s prohibition against eating the fruit. God told them that the consequences of this act, called sin, would be death to both of them and to all other living beings and that satan would have a measure of control over them. However, God did not abandon this couple, He told them that He Himself would pay their penalty of death in order to restore them to harmony with the rest of the universe. We find this resolve of God in Genesis 3:15. It reads, speaking to the serpent (behind which was satan): “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between those who follow you (the ungodly) and those who follow her (as she follows God), and through this enmity you (satan) will receive a mortal wound, and He (her follower, meaning the Redeemer, Jesus) will receive a wound from which He will recover.”

        Both Adam and his wife Eve, understand this to mean God’s pardon, forgiveness, and Restoration of the guilty pair and of all those descendants that accepted this act of God. The apostle Paul in the New Testament in the light of this act of God wrote in Romans 5:8: “But God showed His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament writes: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” This my friends is the demonstration of God’s bountiful and gracious love towards us in spite of our transgression against Him. Please, let us not reject this offer of pardon and restoration.

        The next historical act of God was the destruction of the first creation, both of man, beast, and the earth’s structure. This act of destruction was for the removal of sinful humanity who had totally rejected God, except for Noah, his wife, and his three sons with their wives, eight individuals in total. God did this in order to preserve righteousness on the earth.[iv]^,[v] This was God’s first Reset of the earth. This act of destruction is well documented historically in the folklore of all nations across the earth,[vi]^,[vii] and also in the science of geology.[viii]^,[ix],[x] It was never God’s intention that this should happen to mankind and the earth; the earth was made to be inhabited forever.[xi] However, when humanity increased across the earth they drifted more and more away from God and His instructions to them until not just their actions, but their very thoughts were only evil continually. None except Noah and his family followed God. Because of this, and to preserve righteousness on the earth, God purposed to destroy the earth with a humongous flood. You may read of this episode in Genesis 6:1-8.

        It seems like Edmund Burke’s words were prophetic when he wrote that ‘people will not look forward to posterity if they do not look backward to their ancestors’[xii]  because this is exactly where our world is today. Many people are hell-bent on dismissing God from the halls of government, from institutions of learning, from jobs, entertainment centres, from the family and from society in general. God and religion are continually being legislated out of the market place. Sexual immorality is hardly a topic today, it has become almost the norm in many countries; the barrier between male and female is becoming every so thin, gender is becoming less important in choosing a life companion to marry, with biblical marriage fast becoming a thing of the past. We have children being born to more than two parents. And the barrier between humans and animals is set to be destroyed as society enters the post-humanism era.[xiii]  And the irony of it all is that the governments are the ones pushing this ‘brave new world.’ Like before the world Deluge, the Spirit of God is gradually removing from impious people society.

        Fortunately, our past history goes on to tells us that amidst all this evil in our planet God has planted a lodestar for all humanity to take advantage of to be guided through the evil darkness, and like the Polaris of the darkest night everyone that fixes his gaze upon this Star will be led home to safety. Paul the apostles repeats in a stentorian voice that none can avoid: “But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” Galatians 4:4, 5. The cross stands solidly in the midst of earth’s history, in the darkest hour of man’s existence, but its light and effect reach backwards to the beginning of sin on earth and through the present to the end of man’s probation and beyond; and until then many voices are heard crying in the stillness of the night and in the turbulence of day, “wherefore (as the Holy Ghost says), Today if you will hear His voice do not harden your hearts…” Heb. 3:7, 8.

        The choice my friend is, as they say in Africa, left by you. Please do not resist no matter how strong the temptation is, no matter how far into the temptation you are, ask for the mighty Holy Spirit in order to resist the temptation and you will find victory. Yes, friends, this past act of God in sending Jesus to live and die for our sins is the most historical act and fact in our world’s history; in fact, it divides history into two equal parts; we call this division B. C. (Before Christ) and A. D. (In the year of our Lord, Anno Domini). Today progressive humanity would like to remove these two distinctions for the division of earth’s history because of its religious implications in this multi-religious world. They would rather we use terms like BCE (Before Common Era) or CE (Common Era).[xiv]  While one understands the views of non-Christians here, this nevertheless shows the departure of humanity in general from the one true God who is the creator and sustainer of all humanity and earth regardless of whether one is a Christian or non-Christian, and this is exactly what happened in the times before the Flood[xv] until humanity totally abandoned God. And today we are almost there!

        There is more to earth’s history that we will look at in part 2 of this article in September. May God continue to bless each one of you and lead you closer to Him in today’s turbulent world.       

[i] Cambridge Dictionary, (Cambridge University Press, 2021)

[ii] Dictionary.com

[iii] Oxford Essential Quotations, edited by Susan Ratcliffe, (Oxford University Press, online version, 2016).

[iv] 2 Peter 2:4, 5. Peter here makes it clear that God preserved Noah a preacher of righteousness and destroyed the ungodly.

[v] Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association), p. 101. Please read the entire chapter entitled, The Flood, pages 90-104.

[vi] J. A. Coleman, The Dictionary of Mythology An A-Z of Themes, Legends and Heroes, (London: Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2007). The use of the word ‘Mythology’ might fool people to believe that the accounts of the ancient nations were just ‘made up’ stories, but this is untrue; while there might be some exaggeration in some stories, many are nevertheless based on real historical facts of which there is plenty of evidence.

[vii] J. P. Moreland & William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations For A Christian Worldview, (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2003), pp. 1-7

[viii] Robert Carter, editor, Evolution’s Achilles’ Heels, written by nine scientists, Georgia, USA: Creation Book Publishers, 2014), Chap. 5, The Geologic Record.

[ix] John C. Whitcomb, JR. and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis FLOOD, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1961) Chapter 1, Basic Arguments for a Universal Flood.

[x] Walter J. Veith, The Genesis Conflict, Delta, BC, Canada: Amazing Discoveries, 2002), Chap. 3, The Fossil Record

[xi] Isaiah 45:18 says: … “He (God) formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD and there is none else.”

[xii] Susan Ratcliffe, Oxford Essential Quotations.

[xiii] Ronald Bailey, Transhumanism and the Limits of Democracy, reason.com, April 28, 2009. A paper presented at the Arizona State University’s Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict. Kindle Version.

[xiv] HistorySkills.com

[xv] Genesis 6:1-5

If you have any comments or questions please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.

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