Josephus Says 1,000 Years (The Genesis Series, Part 23)

It’s so far beyond marvelous, yet so glorious to consider.  Jesus calls it BORN AGAIN.  What an amazing idea! John 1:10-14:

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

It’s so fantastical, but yet so true: the power to become the direct descendant of, children of, God.

In John 3:3, Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, states:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

We were each born the first time as the son or daughter of a Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So and not children of God, but as a result of the fallen state of Adam and Eve, we were born spiritually stillborn.  Ephesians 2:1:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: 

We must be BORN AGAIN—born a literal second time, this time as sons and daughters of God—born of the Spirit.  This is a very BIG DEAL, so big that it swallows the universe in one single Holy Ghost gulp. At the point Jesus calls BORN AGAIN, the believer begins the journey to eternal life.

If you cannot point to a time when you repented of your sins, believing upon the saving blood of Jesus Christ and confessing with your mouth Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son as the Lord of your life, then you stand in jeopardy even at this moment.  But that can all change right now.  In just a moment, I will invite you to follow me in a simple prompt, and if you follow from your heart, your issue will be settled today.  Today, all your sin will be washed away by Christ’s cleansing blood.  You will be a new creature.  Today, all of Satan’s bondages in your life will be broken, the bigger the better.   You will be free and clear.  Your miracle begins now.  Here is the simple prompt I promised:  Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 5:1-8:

1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:

7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:

8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

GOD SAID, Genesis 5:28-31:

28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:

29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:

31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

GOD SAID, II Timothy 3:14-17:

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

MAN SAID: You can’t expect any enlightened person to believe the bizarre claims made in the Bible!  Let’s get serious!  Men living to nearly 1,000 years?! Impossible!

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid 1243 that will once again certify the supernatural inerrancy of God’s Holy Bible.  All of these faith-building features are archived here in text and streaming audio for the building-up of your faith and to be used to convince the lost sons and daughters of Adam of the glorious blessed hope found in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.

Thank you for visiting.  May God’s Light and Truth shine upon you and your home.

You have arrived at the GodSaidManSaid “Genesis Series;” this is Part 23.  Each of these features begins with the following information from the first feature:

According to a 2006 issue of Discover magazine concerning the deceased Carl Sagan: “Sagan approaches religion like any phenomenon.  He isn’t on a quest for life’s meaning, for a comforting philosophy, or even a guide to how we should treat the neighbors.  Sagan seeks truth of a demonstrable kind.  As a puckish example, he wonders why the book of Genesis didn’t include God-inspired truths…” [End of quote]

I recently reviewed an advertisement from a magazine called Free Inquiry that also has a problem with the God of Creation and the first book of the Bible, called Genesis.  Under the heading “Is God Big Enough for the Universe,” Free Inquiry writes:

The authors of Genesis proclaim that God made the heavens and earth in less than a week.  This feat must have amazed these Bronze Age authors, even though they thought the heavens extended only so far as the sky above them.  Of course, they did not know what stars, planets, or galaxies were.  We now know that the universe is so much bigger and so much more complex. [End of quote]

The BORN AGAIN scratch their heads in bewilderment.  Did these folks actually read the book of Genesis? I suppose they did, but God’s revelation is only revealed to the humbled hearts of the children of faith.  This GodSaidManSaid series will be called “The Genesis Series.”  It is our intention to travel through the entire book of Genesis and publish one major God-inspired truth after another.  We will be pulling from previous GodSaidManSaid features and adding the latest information as we go.

Genesis 5:1-8:

1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:

7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:

8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

You’ll find necessary redundancies in these features as the subjects, as you would expect, overlap frequently.  The following excerpts regarding the water canopy that once existed prior to the global flood is found in the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Dinosaurs—The Terrible Lizards:”

During the 1,656 years prior to the flood of Noah, things were dramatically different. One of the major reasons for this difference is found in Genesis 1:6-7:

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Firmament is heaven or space. There are three heavens. The space around us and the sky make up the first heaven. Outer space, with the planets, etc., is the second heaven. The third heaven is where God dwells (II Corinthians 12:2-5). God separated the water into two bodies by firmament. One body was under the firmament, covering the earth. The other body of water was above the firmament (sky). Thus, earth had two bodies of water separated by space or firmament. It is important to note that prior to the flood of Noah there is no record of rain.

Genesis 2:5-6:

5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

God watered the earth with a mist. The first record of rain is in the days of Noah when God opened the windows of heaven. Note that the token of the covenant God gave to Noah, which assured Noah that He would not destroy the whole earth again by a flood, was a rainbow. A rainbow appears to be something Noah had never seen before. The ancient civilizations of Babylon, Egypt, Greece, India, Hawaii, Indonesia, Europe, Asia, and Australia testify of a water canopy above the firmament. In the 1850s, British archaeologists found about 20,000 clay tablets in the ruins of a library excavated in Nineveh. It’s important to remember that these people were not adherents to the Bible. Among these were 12 tablets with astonishing text. The 12 ancient tablets, known as the Epic of Gilgamesh, described the destruction of the earth by a flood extremely similar to the Bible’s record in Genesis. Other ancient civilizations tell a very similar story.

The water canopy was rained down upon the earth. According to scientists, a water canopy of that magnitude would have had very powerful benefits. One benefit would have been a greenhouse effect, making the whole world tropical. For example, if you had a greenhouse, you could have tropical temperatures inside and frigid temperatures outside. So then the water canopy God describes in Genesis would have provided a balmy tropical temperature as one of its benefits, and it would have encompassed the globe. Every day would have featured a beautiful, rainless, cloudless, postcard sky. However, immediately after God opened the windows of heaven and rained down that water canopy, the greenhouse effect ended and the north and south poles went into an immediate, deep freeze. According to an AP science writer, and I quote, ’The frigid Arctic regions were as balmy as present-day Florida some 90 million years ago according to researchers who found fossils in northern Canada of a crocodile-like animal.

The AP science writer was only half right. Balmy temperatures, yes. Ninety million years ago, no.

In a book titled, The Waters Above, by author J. C. Dillow, the following excerpts were found:

Baron Toll, the Arctic explorer, found remains of a saber-toothed tiger and a 90-foot plum tree with green leaves and ripe fruit on its branches over 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the New Siberian Islands. Today, the only vegetation that grows there is a one-inch high willow. [End of quote]

And again Dillow reports:

Dr. Jack A. Wolfe in a U. S. Geological Survey Report (1978) told that Alaska once teemed with tropical plants. He found evidence of mangroves, palm trees, Burmese lacquer trees, and groups of trees that now produce nutmeg and Macassar oil. [End of quote]

In northern Siberia and Alaska, there are an estimated 5,000,000 elephant-like mammoths killed by a flood and frozen in ice and permafrost.

Kellog, an expert on ancient civilizations, recounts their record which tells of a visible water heaven that was titillating with light. These ancient civilizations claimed this water heaven was home of the gods and that it obstructed the power of the sun god. One day, this water heaven was banished and cast down to the earth, after which the sun came riding through as the conqueror of heaven, the master of the wind and rain. Until the worldwide flood that took place in the days of Noah, approximately 4,373 years ago, there was a water canopy above the firmament which made the climate very balmy. Every day was a beautiful, cloudless, postcard-perfect sky.

Another major benefit of this global water canopy was the filtering of ultraviolet killer rays from the sun as well as other sun-related detriments. Ultraviolet radiation is a contributing factor for at least 60 major diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, strokes, Alzheimer’s, Down syndrome, mental loss and arteriosclerosis, just to name a few.

A scientist recently offered his solution to the scientific community for the deadly effects astronauts experience from prolonged bombardment by UV rays. His solution: five feet of water all around their habitation.

Many of God’s critics, being willingly unaware of the benefits of the water canopy, have ridiculed the tremendously long lives of those who lived before Noah’s flood, before the end of the water canopy. Methuselah, the oldest Bible man who ever lived, reached the ancient age of 969 years. The average pre-Noah lifespan was 912 years, or 13 times longer than we live today. Imagine living in a perfect tropical atmosphere: perfect air, perfect water, perfect diet, without harmful effects from the sun. The obvious result would be a long, long, healthy life — 13 times longer. The famed historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote just after Christ’s life here on the earth, recorded the life span of the ancients reaching up to 1,000 years. He refers directly to ancient historians such as Manetho, Berosus, Mockus, Hestiaeus, Hieronymus, Hesiod, Hecataeus, Hellanicus, Acusilaus, Ephorus, and Nicolaus, who attest to these phenomenal life spans.

The GodSaidManSaid feature “Historians and 912 Years” records Josephus’s own words:

This feature deals with the historians’ record concerning the phenomenal life span of ancient man.  It also demonstrates the catastrophic results when TRUTH is rejected for hypothesis.  The following paragraph is found in the writings of Josephus:

Now when Noah had lived three hundred and fifty years after the Flood, and that all that time happily, he died, having the number of nine hundred and fifty years: but let no one, upon comparing the lives of the ancients with our lives, and with the few years which we now live, think that what we have said of them is false; or make the shortness of our lives at present an argument that neither did they attain to so long a duration of life; for those ancients were beloved of God, and [lately] made by God himself; and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life, might well live so great a number of years; and besides, God afforded them a longer time of life on account of their virtue, and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical discoveries, which would not have afforded the time of foretelling [the periods of the stars] unless they had lived six hundred years; for the Great Year is completed in that interval.  Now I have for witnesses to what I have said all those that have written Antiquities, both among the Greeks and barbarians; for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian History, and Berosus, who collected the Chaldean Monuments, and Mochus, and Hestiaeus, and besides these, Hieronymus the Egyptian, and those who composed the Phoenician History, agree to what I here say: Hesiod also, and Hecataeus, Hellanicus, and Acusilaus; and besides, Ephorus and Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thousand years: but as to these matters, let every one look upon them as he thinks fit.  [End of quote]

The pre-Noah water canopy is central to the explanation of what has perplexed many about the idea of a young, 6,000-year-old earth and what happened to the dinosaurs.

The dinosaur is a reptile and it does something that we can’t do: it never stops growing. In A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians, which is part of the Peterson Field Guide Series, sponsored by the National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation, I found the following statement:

Size: Reptiles and amphibians may continue to grow as long as they live, rapidly at first but more slowly after maturity. Hence, giant specimens may be encountered on very rare occasions. [End of quote]

The older it is, the bigger it gets. Note, before the water canopy was eliminated, the average lifespan was 13 times longer than it is today. Remember, the air was pure, the water clean, and diet near perfect. There were no harmful rays from the sun and the lifespan was 13 times longer. Consider the present-day Chinese Iguana that grows as large as 12 feet long. Suppose before the flood, in a near perfect environment, the iguana would have lived 13 times longer, and because it never stops growing, would become 13 times bigger. That Chinese Iguana would be 156 feet long and about three stories tall. Dinosaur — terrible lizard. The dinosaur is simply a giant lizard which was created by God in the same six-day span as man. [End of quotes]

It’s true: The reptile never stops growing—fast at first and slower as it ages.  This is not a perfect example, but it elucidates the point of pre-flood life. 

Consider this information on pre-flood lifespans from the GodSaidManSaid feature “Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters of the Bible Found:”

If men lived an average pre-flood life of 912 years, or basically 13 times longer than we do today (and they certainly did), then much of the world’s knowledge that rejects this Biblical record would have a very distorted view of reality (and it certainly does).  Just one point will be briefly discussed to illustrate:

Neanderthal Man: The Neanderthal is showcased by Darwinian scientists as an evolutionary progression to today’s modern man.  The following excerpt is from the GodSaidManSaid feature “Adam Was To Live Forever:”

...tremendously long pre-flood life spans answer many questions.  Consider Neanderthal man, one of the evolutionists’ supposed links between ape and man.  Because pseudo-science has rejected the Bible and the creation model, the following truth has escaped the followers of pseudo-science.  A.L. Gillen writes in his book, Body By Design, the following:

Dr. Jack Cuozzo, a research orthodontist for over 30 years, in his book Buried Alive, explains Neanderthal man's skeletons.  His studies show that the human head does not stop growing as we age.  Contrasting the measurements of people’s heads when they were 19, in their late forties, and some at age 80, he discovered that the head changed in the following manner: 1) the brow ridge came forward; 2) the jaw came forward; 3) the nose got bigger; 4) the chin came forward; 5) the cheeks came forward and flattened out; 6) the teeth came forward; 7) the back of the head started to point out.

Think of a baby’s soft head.  It is fashioned with cartilage as well as bone.  Our skull gradually changes over time from fetus to infant to adolescent to adult.  This has been known for some time.  But more recently Dr. Jack Cuozzo has found that our skull continues to change in our old age, and assuming man could live to 150, 200, 300, or even 500 years of age, this pattern of change would produce an individual that looked remarkably like Neanderthal man. [End of quotes]

If you still find man’s 912-year average lifespan prior to the flood unbelievable, consider the following reporting from Psychology Today, originally featured in the GodSaidManSaid article “I Want to Live Forever (But I Don’t Want No Jesus):”

The headline in the March/April 2015 issue of Psychology Today reads, “Tinkering with Mortality.”  The subhead reads, “The quest for eternal life has been with us eternally.  But the latest interventions raise questions we’ve never before encountered.”  A paragraph follows:

The prospect of such treatments has energized a more radical group of thinkers, including Aubrey deGray, controversial chief science officer of SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence), who has suggested that, as we engineer aging out of our very cells, some people born today may live 1,000 years.  Such claims have drawn intense interest from certain Silicon Valley magnates who have made the war on aging a near obsession. [End of quote]

In the first eight verses of Genesis Chapter Five, the formula for dating the age of the earth is established.  Adam lives 130 years and begets Seth.  Seth lives 105 years and begets Enos.  When you add all the years recorded between father and son until the flood in the days of Noah, you will have a sum of 1,656 years.  The time that elapsed from the moment Adam opened his eyes until the global flood is 1,656 years.  After the flood, the genealogies continue, along with numerous other dates that establish the age of the earth and its universe at just over 6,000 years.  That’s thousands and not billions of years.  The amazing chronology of Anglican Archbishop James Ussher, The Annals of the World, dates Day One of Creation to Sunday eve, September 21, 4004 BC on the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar that we use today. 

Did humans live an average of 912 years before the flood?  YES!  Just like the Bible says. 

God’s Word is true and righteous altogether, a place to build a life that will last forever.

GOD SAID, Genesis 5:1-8:

1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:

7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:

8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

GOD SAID, Genesis 5:28-31:

28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:

29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:

31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

GOD SAID, II Timothy 3:14-17:

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

MAN SAID: You can’t expect any enlightened person to believe the bizarre claims made in the Bible!  Let’s get serious!  Men living to nearly 1,000 years?! Impossible!

 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Blumner, R., Free Inquiry

GodSaidManSaid, “Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters of the Bible Found”

GodSaidManSaid, “Dinosaurs—The Terrible Lizards”

GodSaidManSaid, “Historians and 912 Years”

GodSaidManSaid, “I Want to Live Forever (But I Don’t Want No Jesus)”

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