Perry Stone - In The Beginning Was The End - Part 1
Summary:
The preacher wants to show that God has encoded the future in the beginning, particularly in Genesis, declaring the end from the beginning as stated in Isaiah 46:10. Using the creation account, types and shadows, number patterns, prophetic cycles, and stories like Abraham and Isaac or Gideon, he demonstrates how events and patterns from Genesis repeat throughout history and point to the ultimate future in Revelation. In the end, everything comes full circle: history will conclude the way it began, with a restored paradise, no sin or death, and God dwelling with man once again.
Opening Banter and Introduction
Before we start the program today, I want you to understand something. Everybody’s standing up, and these two sisters right here, I want you to look at this. They brought with them a portable chair, and everybody who goes to Israel and watches this is going to bring a portable chair. You watch them, and then they’re all going to want to sit down, and then we ain’t going to have any. I’m just kidding; you know I’m teasing. They’re partners in our ministry, and I want to have a good time with them.
Let me tell you something very important. Several years ago, in 1988, I never forgot this: we took a tour to what’s called the Rabbinical Tunnel. What it is, it’s a continuation of the Western Wall. Let me just show you a clip of that. The quality is not necessarily as good as the cameras we have today, but you can kind of see what I’m talking about.
Encounter in the Tunnel
That day, or that night, I should say, there was a rabbi in the tunnel. He began to share something with me; he said the history of the world is encoded in the Book of Genesis.
Well, here I am, a fellow from America, minister of the gospel, four generations of preachers, and I thought, «Yeah, right. All the Book of Genesis is is a history of the world’s creation up to the time of the death of Joseph.» Then he started talking about the Bible Code. He didn’t call it that, but that’s what it became, where they would take the Hebrew Scriptures, put them in a computer, skip so many letters, and it would actually spell a word every seventh letter.
They began to see a pattern developing, and they began to realize the Torah is absolutely divinely inspired. What is the Torah? It’s a word that is used by Jewish people to describe the first five books of the Bible written by Moses in the wilderness, which are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
The Future Encoded in the Beginning
Well, in 1989, I came back to Israel, and they were researching this idea of how the Bible encodes the future. Then I read these scriptures, and I want to give you these scriptures. Now, we’re not going to talk about the Bible Code today; we’re going to show you, however, that in the beginning was the end. This will be a two-part series; this is part one. At some point on Manifest, we’ll air part two.
«That which has been is that which will be; that which is done is that which will be done.» Ecclesiastes 1:9. Ecclesiastes 3:15 reads, «That which has already been and what is to be has already been, and God requires an account of that which is past.»
Isaiah 46:9-10: «Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.’»
Types and Shadows in Scripture
Now, to prove to you that we’re not just making this up—that the Old Testament reveals the future and that the entire history of what’s about to happen is encoded in the Book of Genesis—let me just explain a few things for you. There are some scriptures that talk about types and shadows in the Bible. Let me just give you some examples of what we call types and shadows, where it’s a story or an event that was a picture of what was to come in the future.
First of all, the Ark of Noah is similar to the Tabernacle of Moses. You have the rectangular dimensions, and you have the door on the first level, which was the entrance to the Tabernacle. You can go on and on. The dove went up into the third level where the window, which is in Hebrew Zohar, was, and the dove is the Holy Spirit coming in and out of that window, as we know that’s what Noah sent out. I don’t have time to develop all this, but that’s one example.
Another example is Genesis 22. Abraham and Isaac. The offering of Isaac on Mount Moriah is a picture of Jesus' death on the cross. The Brazen Serpent of Numbers 21 represents the death of Jesus on the cross. The red heifer of Numbers 19 is an exact duplicate of what would happen to Christ on the cross.
The lamb in Exodus 12 is a picture of Jesus and his crucifixion, with the blood being on the top lintel, the left post, and the right post, as well as the three crosses that were actually on Golgotha’s hill. So, the future is hidden in types and shadows.
Hidden in Number Patterns
Number two, it is very important you understand this: they don’t teach this in Bible school or schools of theology. I’m telling you that they make a mistake by not doing this, but the future is also hidden in number patterns in the Bible. In the Bible, every number has a meaning. Here are some examples.
The number 40 is always a number of testing. The number 70 is 10 times 7. Israel went into captivity for 70 years. Why? Because there were Ten Commandments; they broke the Ten Commandments. In the Book of Leviticus, God said, «I’ll punish you seven times if you break my commandments.» So God just took the Ten Commandments, multiplied them seven times, and gave them 70 years of captivity. Ain’t that something?
So that’s your picture of that number and its meaning. 100 is also a major prophetic cycle. Abraham was told that his seed would be in Egypt for 400 years, even four generations. That’s 100 years multiplied four times. We read in the Bible where it talks about that Noah had 100 years to build the ark. So 100 is a number of fullness as it relates to transition.
Then we have the number 400, which is used as a cycle. We know again that Abraham was told his seed would be in Egypt for 400 years. Scholars tell us that from Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, to John the Baptist was a period of 400 years. We can even get into some modern prophecy. In 1517, the Turks took over Jerusalem completely, but 400 years later, the British took Jerusalem and Palestine from the Turks and the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and it came under British rule.
So all these things are important to understand that God can reveal what’s going to happen in the future by Biblical numbers.
Prophetic Cycles
Here’s something else I want to share with you: the future is also hidden in what I call prophetic cycles. Let me just give you one here. I’ve shared this before on TV, and people seem to really enjoy this one.
If you go from Adam and you add up all the numbers mentioned all the way to Abraham—you have to add, folks, the two years mentioned after the flood—it totals 1,948. So, in other words, from Adam, using the numbers in the Book of Genesis all the way to the time of Abraham, it totals 1,948.
Check this out: from the time of the second man, Adam, who was Jesus, to the time that Israel became a nation again in 1948, it’s 1,948 years. There are some places in the Bible where you can determine prophetic time based on times mentioned in those scriptures, and they start repeating themselves somewhere in history.
The First and Last Adam
Now, I’m going to show you here if I can. Let’s take a look at something here. We know that there was the first man, Adam, that God formed in the Garden of Eden. We also know that Christ is called the second Adam.
Let us compare the first Adam to the second Adam—the Adam in the garden to Jesus Christ—and let’s see if in the beginning it reveals something about the future. The first Adam was formed by God without man’s seed; the second Adam was formed without man’s seed.
The first Adam was called the Son of God; the last Adam is called the Son of God. The first Adam was given dominion over the earth; the last Adam was given dominion over Satan’s kingdom. The first Adam sinned in the garden; the last Adam had sin placed on him in the garden—the sins of the world.
The first Adam had Satan come to him in the form of a serpent; the last Adam, the Bible says that the prince of the world was coming but had no part in him. The first Adam lost his fellowship at a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the second Adam died on a tree to get it all back for us and regain that victory and relationship with God.
The first Adam was a living soul; the last Adam was a quickening spirit. In the first Adam, all men die; in the last Adam, all men live. Hey, you tell me that’s not God repeating itself in history!
Full Circle: Genesis and Revelation
Here’s another example. I love this one! When I’ve been preaching sometimes on prophetic things at some of our bigger conferences, let me just say I hope in 2010 that everybody watching me can get to at least one of the big conferences this year because I’m telling you, we’re about to have just an explosion of God’s revelation and word that’s going to come out this year. I just want to assure you of that.
But listen to this very carefully. I said it’s going to end the way that it began. In other words, what God does is everything goes full circle. I’m going to take you to Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2, the first two chapters of the Bible. Then I’m going to take you to Revelation chapters 20 through 22, right around there actually 21 and 22, which are the last two chapters of the Bible. So we’re going to see if the first two match the last two. We’re going to see if it’s going to end the way that it began. Here we go!
In the Genesis account, the heavens were newly created. In Revelation, there’s a new heaven and a new earth. In the Genesis account, there was a tree of life in the garden. In the Revelation account, there’s a tree of life on the new earth.
In the Genesis account, there were rivers in the garden. In the Book of Revelation, there’s a river of life on the new earth coming through the New Jerusalem. In the Genesis account, there was no sin in the garden. In the Revelation account, there’s no sin.
In Genesis chapters 1 and 2, there was no pain, and in the Book of Revelation, there’ll be no pain on the new earth. There was no sorrow in the garden until the fall of man, right? But in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, there’s no sorrow, and in the last two chapters of Revelation, there’s no sorrow.
In Genesis chapters 1 and 2, God was walking with man. In Revelation 21 and 22, guess what’s going to happen? The Lamb and God will be walking with man; he will live among them. There was a gate with an angel guarding it in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. There will be gates of the New Jerusalem guarded by angels.
Is anybody with me right here? There was no death in the garden, and there will be no death in the end. Hey, there you go again! What God does is He starts it off this way; you get through thousands of years of history, and what does it do? It comes around complete full circle. Everything that was in the beginning starts being repeated in the end. You want to go a little further with this? Come on!
Abraham, Isaac, and the Crucifixion
Okay, let me give you the parallels. Some of you have heard us teach this before, but for those of you that haven’t, this is important. The parallels in Genesis 22, where Abraham took his son Isaac and offered him upon Mount Moriah, show us how Jesus had to go through the same exact pattern that Abraham and Isaac went through.
In other words, Abraham is the father; Isaac is the son. So God is the father; Jesus is the son. But He had to take Jesus to the same place, that’s why Jesus could not die in Galilee. He could not die in the Negev Desert; He could not die up here on this mountain; He had to go to Jerusalem!
Let’s look at it. What we’re going to do is this will come up on the screen. We’re going to compare Genesis 22 with the New Testament account of Christ’s crucifixion. In Genesis 22, it was on Mount Moriah; in the New Testament, it also was in the area of Mount Moriah, Jerusalem.
In Genesis 22, Abraham was the father; in the life of Jesus, God was His Father. Isaac was Abraham’s only son; it calls him His only son because he was the true covenant son out of Sarah, the only one he ever had, and in Christ, He is called the only begotten Son of God.
There are two men at the bottom of the hill in Genesis 22, and there were two unidentified men at the crucifixion—one on the left side of Christ and one on the other side. Abraham saw the mountain on the third day, and Jesus ended up being raised on the third day.
Isaac had the wood laid on him; he actually had the wood laid on him to carry it to the top of the hill. Christ was also laid upon a wooden cross. I like this part; everybody ready? Isaac got up alive, and so did Jesus!
A ram replaced Isaac, and Christ replaced us. In other words, we could have—the one who should have been suffering—He suffered in our place. In Genesis 22, I love this part; it says a lamb would be seen on Mount Moriah. That was the prediction, and Christ is called the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. Come on, somebody give God a praise in this place! Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that amazing?
Isaac, Rebekah, and the Bride of Christ
Now let me see if I can go through this real quick because this is one of those. I’m telling you, folks, I’m having a hard time finishing all the messages here! Man, we’re just getting into this thing, and I’ll get to it; not finish at all, but we’re going to try our best to do it today.
Now here’s what I’d like to do. In Genesis chapter 24, you have Isaac who is the son of Abraham, and you have Rebekah. You have a servant that they believe is Eleazar, Abraham’s servant, who’s going to go look for a bride for Isaac.
Now, let’s see if the father, Abraham, who sends Eleazar to go look for a bride for Isaac, has any parallel for us today. Guess what? Abraham is the father who goes and gets a bride for his son Isaac. God, the Father had to find a bride for His Son Jesus.
Abraham had a servant named Eleazar. Eleazar means—are you ready for this? —“God is my helper.» He’s a picture of the Holy Spirit, and the word «paraclete» is one who goes alongside to help.
Alright, they took ten camels loaded down with gifts. Eleazar took ten camels loaded down with gifts; he’s riding on one of them. If Eleazar is on one and you have nine camels behind, that means you’ve got nine camels loaded down with gifts that represent the nine gifts of the Spirit. Oh, you’ll get this in a minute! That comes through the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:7-10.
They met—watch this—Isaac, the bride met Isaac at a well of water called Lahai Roi, which means the Well of Living Water. Christ said, «Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.» John 7.
Rebekah made room for the camels, and if you’re going to be the bride of Christ, you better make room for the Holy Spirit because He’s here! You know Jesus sent Him for us! She was predicted to be a mother of thousands. The church is a bride out of every kindred, tongue, and people producing a body of thousands!
She was—here’s something interesting—I want you to pay attention. Isaac was married to his wife after Sarah died. The Gentiles were grafted in after Israel’s unbelief. Wow! It says He took her into his mother’s tent and was comforted, and we have received the wonderful promises that were promised to Abraham’s seed, being a part of that spiritual seed grafted into the covenant.
Now this is just an example right here, ladies and gentlemen, of how the Old Testament reveals events that are repeated in history.
Gideon and the Battle of Armageddon
Now let me see if I can get this through in the next six minutes or so. One of the great events that parallel today, my fellow’s over here counting down the time on his fingers. One of the great events mentioned is the story of Gideon found in Judges chapters 6 and 7. The Midianites were invading the land, and this is a picture of the battle of Armageddon, which will come in the near future.
Here we go! Watch carefully: the Midianites were invading the land. Number one, it was at the time of the threshing of wheat, and I’m not going to give all the scripture references to state the time; it was the time of the threshing of wheat. Then it says Israel served them for seven years. God sent a prophet to them; the fire fell on the sacrifice, and they took ten men at night. All this is in the story.
Here’s the parallel to that as it relates to the time of the end. The end-time Harvest is when all the end-time events will relate to the coming of the Lord. Number two: Israel served for seven years; the tribulation will be seven years in length.
God sent a prophet; Elijah the prophet will come as one of the two witnesses in Revelation 11:1-2. The fire fell on the sacrifice; in Revelation 11:5, Elijah will call fire down from heaven in the tribulation period. And it said they took ten men at night, and don’t forget this—in Revelation 17:12, ten kings are going to arise in the last days.
Now here we’ve got certain numbers and phrases that match what will happen in the future during the seven-year tribulation period.
More Parallels in Gideon’s Story
Here’s the second thing I want to share with you. Number two: the children of the East were coming according to the Bible into that valley to fight against the Israelites. Here’s what it says: the children of the East came; number two, they were gathered together; number three, they pitched in Jezreel; and number four, they were blowing a trumpet.
How does that fit into what will happen in the future? If we look at Gideon’s story and compare it to something in the New Testament here we go: the children of the East are mentioned in Revelation 16:12 as the kings of the East, who will march in the last great battle.
The Bible says they are gathered together in the Old Testament story of Gideon, and the Bible says God will gather all nations together against Jerusalem. Zechariah 14:2 says they pitched at Jezreel. Now this is interesting because Jezreel Valley—how many of you know what it is? It’s the Valley of Armageddon, which is mentioned in Revelation 16:16. Jezreel is that same valley.
So we have a picture here of this army coming into the Valley of Armageddon to fight, which is the same thing that’s going to happen in the future according to the Book of Revelation. Then it says they began blowing a trumpet, and when they blew the trumpet, that’s when the battle ensued, and the enemy was confused, right?
Well, guess what’s going to happen? In Matthew 24:31, there’s going to be the sound of a great trumpet, a shofar that’s going to sound on that day to stop the battle when the Messiah returns.
Now let’s go a little bit further because I think this gets extremely interesting when you continue to watch this. The Bible tells us that there were two princes that were slain in the story of Gideon. One is called Oreb, and his name means «raven, ” and the other is called Zeeb, whose name means „wolf.“
Remember this: in the story of Gideon, two leaders are slain. Watch this! In the Book of Revelation, two beasts are slain: one is the first Beast, the Antichrist (Revelation 13:1), and the other is the false prophet (Revelation 13:1).
So, in the story of Gideon, where the battle is happening in Jezreel, Jezreel is Armageddon. They slew two princes there, and the Beast and the false prophet are going to be taken at the Messiah’s return and cast into the fire.
Now here’s what the Bible says: they were slain at the winepress, and that’s in the Old Testament 7:25. The winepress in the Book of Revelation indicates war and battle (Revelation 14:20). It’s called „The Winepress of the Wrath of God, ” in Revelation 19:1-15.
So, in other words, in the story of Gideon and the battle against the Midianites, that the word „winepress“ is used in that story, and that same exact word is used in the Book of Revelation to describe the battle that’s going to take place related to the battle of Armageddon and the winepress of the wrath of God.
Succoth, Tabernacles, and Final Victory
Now let me go through this very quickly and share this with you. Here’s another point; it says in the Bible in Gideon’s story that the enemy was, I’m sorry, the men crossed the Jordan River and they met at Succoth. This I love! Succoth is the Hebrew name of the seventh feast of Israel called the Feast of Tabernacles.
Now how do you like that? And here’s the thing that’s interesting about that: the Feast of Succoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles, the seventh feast in Israel, is the feast that Jews and Gentiles both celebrate. Think about how it represents the kingdom!
Let me just give you a nugget here: you know when it says after six days Jesus went to a high mountain and was transfigured in front of them? Do you know a lot of people believe that happened during the Feast of Tabernacles? You know why? Because after they realized that Elijah and Moses were on the mountain, Peter said, „Let us build three booths, ” or three tabernacles.
See, so the early fathers would identify the Feast of Tabernacles as being the feast that Jesus comes back and rules on earth a thousand years. So what it says, they met at Succoth.
Now listen to this: they beat the enemy with thorns. The Bible said that the Lord returns and comes with a rod of iron to tread down His enemies (Revelation 19:15), and verse six says—this is in the story of Gideon—Israel destroyed the Ishmaelites.
Now the Ishmaelites were the children of Ishmael, and according to Genesis 16:12, Ishmael was a wild man, and his hand was against every man. This would actually, in my opinion, allude to a picture of the surrounding nations that seek the destruction of Israel actually being destroyed themselves in the end.
A Warning About Israel
Because let me tell you something, there are two things you can’t really come against: number one, you can’t come against the Church. You can fight the Church; you can pass laws to silence the mouth of the preachers all you want to, but I’m going to tell you, you start messing with Jesus’s body, and Jesus Himself will put His boxing gloves on and knock your jaws loose, okay?
I’m just going to tell you the truth; nobody’s been able to destroy the Church in almost 2,960-some years! You’re not going to do it now because the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church, and I tell you something else: you can’t touch this land because this land belongs to God, and God has given it to whomsoever He will.
So when you get to messing with God’s land, I’m telling some of you, some of you guys in D.C.—there’s a station up there in D.C. that gets my program. You know, listen to me: you better leave Israel alone! You better leave this land alone! You better quit dividing this land, trying to split it up, because I believe it’s possible that the Jews, the Christians, and the Palestinians can all get along.
I believe you don’t have to split anything; I believe you can start preaching that you need to get along with each other—your cousins in the flesh and brothers spiritually—so you need to learn to get along! Amen!
But this is the story. These are some of the prophetic things that are going to happen. Now, I’m out of time, but watch this new resource. I want to get it to your home. I’ll be right back; I’m going to come to some places. I want you to hear me preach. I’ll be right back in just a moment.