THE SEPTENARY ARRANGEMENT OF SCRIPTURE*
By ARLEN L. CHITWOOD
[* The following writing
can be found in the author's book: FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN.]
DAYS IN SCRIPTURE
The
structure of God's revelation to man will be set forth briefly under three
headings, and material discussed under these three headings will relate
specifically to how particular sections of Scripture handle the matter at
hand. Then attention will be called to other related Scriptures outside
these sections to better present the overall picture from the whole of
Scripture.
1. THE SIGN OF THE
SABBATH
The
Sabbath was a sign of "a perpetual covenant."
God stated concerning the Sabbath, "It is a sign
between me and the children of
That
is, though the sign of the Sabbath concerned a present work and future rest,
it was based on a past work and rest. God worked six days to restore* a ruined creation in the opening chapter of
Genesis; and on the sixth day, along with the completion of His work of
restoration, He brought man into existence to rule over the restored material
creation. Then God rested on the seventh day. But a ruin ensued
once again. Man, an entirely new creation in the universe, fell; and, as
a result, the restored material creation was brought under a curse, leaving God
with two ruined creations: man, and the material creation.
[* NOTE. The
Hebrew word "Hayah,"
translated "was" in most English
versions in Genesis 1: 2 ("and the earth was"), can also be
translated "became".
Hebrew
scholars see the word ("hayah")
used in the sense of "to be," "to become," or "to
come to pass”.
In
the Latin vulgate there are thirteen instances where hayah
has been translated in the sense of "became"
in Genesis chapter one alone (the word
appears 27 times in the chapter); and in
the Septuagint there are 22 such instances in this one chapter.
Scripture
will support only one view in Genesis 1: 2a:
"And the earth was ("became")
without form, and void; and darkness was ("became" -word not in Hebrew text, though implied from
the first verb) upon the face of the deep."]
With
that in mind, how did God, in the Genesis account, set about to restore these
two ruined creations? The answer is not only clearly revealed but it is
also very simple. According to Scripture, God set about to restore the subsequent ruined creations
in exactly the same manner as He
had restored the former ruined creation in the opening chapter of
Genesis. He set about to restore the ruined creations over six days of time, and He, in accord
with Genesis 2: 2, 3, would then rest on the
seventh day.
The
latter restoration must occur in
complete keeping with the former restoration. A pattern has been set in
the opening verses of Genesis which cannot change. The latter restoration
must occur over a six-day
period. And also in accord with this pattern there must be a day of rest following the
six days of work.
The
Sabbath was given to
Each
day in the former restoration and rest was twenty-four hours in length, but
each day in the latter restoration and rest is revealed to be one thousand
years in length (2 Peter 1: 16-18; 3: 3-8; cf. Matthew 16: 28-17: 5). Based on the pattern
set forth in Genesis 1, 2, God is going to work for six thousand years
during the present restoration and then rest the seventh one-thousand-year
period.
Scripture
begins by laying the basis for this septenary arrangement of time in the
opening verses (Genesis 1, 2), this is
something seen throughout Scripture (Exodus 31:
13-17; Numbers 19: 12; Hosea 5: 15-6: 2; Jonah 1: 17; Matthew 17: 1; Luke 24:
21; John 1: 29, 35, 43; 2: 1; 5: 9; 9: 14; 11: 6,7; Hebrews 4: 1, 4, 9),
and this is the way God concludes His revelation surrounding time immediately prior to the eternal ages (Revelation 20: 4-6).
Scripture deals with 7,000 years of time - time extending from the
restoration of the earth and the creation of man to the end of the Messianic
Kingdom. Scripture
has very little to say about what occurred prior to these 7,000 years, and it
has very little to say about what will occur following these 7,000 years. Scripture is built on this septenary
arrangement of time, which is based on the opening two chapters of Genesis; and
this is an evident fact which must be recognized if one would correctly
understand God's redemptive plans and purposes which He has revealed in His
Word.
2. THE SIGNS IN
JOHN'S GOSPEL
The
Gospel of John is built around seven signs; and, as in the sign of the Sabbath,
the signs in this gospel point to things beyond the signs themselves.
It
is the Jews who require a sign (1 Corinthians 1: 22);
and these signs, taken from numerous signs which Jesus performed during His
earthly ministry, are directed (as was His ministry in that day) to the Jewish
people. Jesus performed such signs for one central purpose: "... that ye [the Jews] might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might
have life through his name" (John 20:
30, 31; cf. John 2: 11; 5: 46, 47; 6: 14, 21; 11: 45).
Six
of the seven signs in John's gospel were performed in connection with
particular days, all in perfect keeping with one another, all in perfect
keeping with the sign of the Sabbath, and all in perfect keeping with the
septenary arrangement of Scripture. And all of the signs refer, after
different fashions, to the same thing. They all refer to
The first sign, in John 2: 1-11, has
to do with Jesus turning the water in six waterpots
to wine ("six," man's number; the waterpots made from the earth, as man; filled with water
[the Word]; and through Divine intervention a change ensues). This sign,
pointing to the future salvation of
The second sign,
in 4: 40-54, has to do with the healing of a
nobleman's son. This sign occurred after Jesus had spent two days with
the Samaritans, on the third day (verses 40,
43). It will be after two days visiting "the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name,"
on the third day, that Jesus will return to the Jewish people and the
nation will be healed (cf. Hosea 5: 15- 6: 2; Acts
15: 14-18).
The third sign, in 5: 1-9, has to do
with a man being healed. This occurred after thirty eight years, on
the Sabbath (verses 5, 9). The
reference (in the type) would be to the healing of the nation through the
second generation of Israelites being allowed to enter the land under Joshua after
thirty-eight years (dating from the overthrow at Kadesh-Barena),
referring to that time (in the antitype) when the nation will be healed and be allowed to enter the land under Christ, an event
which will occur on the seventh day,
the Sabbath.
The fourth sign, in 6: 1-14, has to do
with bread being provided for the multitudes; and the sign occurred in
connection with the Passover (verse 4).
Jesus is the "bread of life" which
will be provided for the nation yet future (verse
35), and the Passover is the festival in Leviticus
23 which has to do with the future salvation Of Israel, when the nation
will receive the true "bread of life."
The fifth sign, in 6: 15-21, has to
do with Christ's departure, a storm, His return, the disciples' attitude toward
Him at this time, and the geographical location in which they subsequently
found themselves. It points to Christ's
departure from
The sixth sign, in 9: 1-41, has to do
with the healing of a blind man, on the Sabbath day (verse 14). This points to
The seventh sign, in 11: 1-44, has to
do with the resurrection of Lazarus. This resurrection occurred after
Jesus had been out of the
[* This must be at the time of “the first
resurrection,” when the Lord descends from Heaven to establish His
millennial kingdom, (1Thessalonians 4: 16; Rev. 20:
5).]
3. THE STRUCTURE
OF 2 PETER
2 Peter parallels
Jude in the sense that both deal with the Word
of the Kingdom and apostasy after a similar fashion.
Both
epistles begin the same way. The first chapter of Peter
is taken up with that which is stated in one verse in Jude
(verse 3). Then the matter of apostasy
is dealt with throughout most of the remainder of both epistles. However,
there are things dealt with in the first and third chapters of 2
Peter, showing the septenary structure of the epistle, which are not
dealt with at all in Jude.
Peter
exhorts his readers to make their "calling
[pertaining to the Kingdom] and election ['selection' for a position of power and authority in
the Kingdom] sure" (1: 1-15); and Jude states
the same thing in Jude 3 when he exhorts his
readers to "earnestly contend for ['strive with respect to'] the
faith"* (cf. 1 Timothy
6: 12; 2 Timothy 4: 7, 8). Then
the thought of apostasy relative to "the
faith"* comes into view
in both epistles.
[* It should be evident from the first three verses
in Jude, that the expression - "the faith,"
has nothing to do with initial salvation: it is something which one must "earnestly contend for," (Jude
3): it has to do with the future salvation of the soul. "Fight the good
fight of the faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto
thou art called ..." This verse
could be better translated, "Strive ['Agonize,' Agonizomi]
in the good contest [agon]
of the faith; lay
hold on life for the age,
whereunto thou art also called."(1 Timothy 6: 12).
2 Timothy 4: 7 is a very similar verse
"I have fought a good fight ..." could be better translated,
"I have strived ['agonised,'
agonizomai] in
the good contest [agon] ..."
The "contest" here, as in 1 Timothy 6: 12, has to do with ‘the faith’.
This verse, along with the following, goes on to state, "... I have
finished my course [the contest/race], I have
kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day ..." The contest or race
here is the same race set forth in 1 Corinthians 9:
24-27, with one or more crowns in view at the end of the race, and
successful completion of the race will result in the runner being crowned,
anticipating the coming rule from the heavens over the earth as a joint-heir
with Christ (called "life for the age"
in 1 Timothy 6: 12).]
However,
Peter does something which Jude does not do. Before beginning his dissertation
on apostasy he calls attention to that which occurred on the Mount of
Transfiguration in Matthew 17: 1-8 (2 Peter 1: 16-18), which has to do with the Son of
Man coming in His Kingdom, ‘after six days’, on the seventh day (cf. Matthew 16: 28-17: 1).
Then
toward the end of his epistle, Peter, unlike Jude, moves from thoughts
surrounding apostasy to thoughts surrounding the existence and subsequent
destruction of the heavens and the earth at two different times - (a) at
a time following the creation of the heavens and earth ("the heavens ... of old" and "the
world that then was [the world existing at the time of 'the heavens ... of old']"
[verses 5, 6]), and (b) at the time
following the restoration of the heavens and earth ("the heavens and the earth which are now" [verse 7]).
The
destruction of the former is seen in Genesis 1: 2a
("But the earth had become without form, and void; and darkness [the sun had
ceased to give its light] was upon the face of the deep
['the raging waters']"), and the
destruction of the latter - a destruction by fire - is seen in succeeding
verses in 2 Peter (3:
10 ff).
Peter
then draws the entire matter to a climax by stating that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day" (3: 8).
Understood contextually, the verse is self-explanatory. "The heavens and the earth, which are now" (verse 7) must cover the entire septenary period
from chapter one (verses 16- 18), else 2 Peter 3: 8 would be meaningless. And each day in this period is revealed to be
one thousand years in length - six millenniums of work, followed by one
millennium of rest, based on the opening verses of Genesis.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Viewing
the whole of Scripture, the correct interpretation of the opening verses of
Genesis can be clearly and unquestionably presented through the typical nature
of Old Testament history (1 Corinthains
10: 6, 11), as it is set forth in the very evident Divinely established
septenary arrangement of Scripture. And these opening verses, providing
the Divinely established basis for that which follows,
must be understood accordingly.
The
Bible is a book of redemption;
and only a correct view of the opening verses of Genesis can reflect positively,
at the very outset, on God's
redemptive message as a whole (the restoration of a ruined creation, performed
in its entirety through divine intervention, for a revealed purpose).
An
incorrect view can, on the other hand, only have negative ramifications. Creation
alone, apart from a ruin and restoration of the creation, fails to convey
the complete message; and Restoration alone (viewing the opening verse
as other than an absolute beginning), apart from a record of the preceding
creation and ruin, likewise fails to convey the complete message.
It
is as F. W. Grant stated years ago:
"The thought of a ruined condition of the earth
succeeding its original creation ... is ... required by the typical view [man's creation, ruin,
and subsequent restoration paralleling the earth's creation, ruin, and
subsequent restoration]."
Accordingly,
the opening verses of Genesis cannot deal strictly with Creation; nor
can these verses deal strictly with Restoration. Either view would be out of line with the
whole of Scripture, beginning with the central theme of Scripture, the
message of redemption.
The
only interpretative view which will fit - at all points - within
the Divinely established septenary arrangement of Scripture (which has its
basis in these opening verses) is ...
Creation (an absolute creation [Gen.
1: verse 1]).
A Ruin of the Creation (verse
2a).
A Restoration of the Ruined Creation (verses
2b-25).
Time (in
the type - six days of restorative work, followed by a day of rest; in the
antitype - six thousand years of restorative work, followed by one thousand
years of rest [1: 2b - 2: 3]).
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