Age of the Earth – Do We Know?

Part 6

The Great Week of Time

The Biblical record repetitively draws on the cycle of seven with everything restored on the eighth. Thus far in our discussion it is clear that this sinful world will have a six-millennial period of human habitation, then the land will rest, followed by the new heavens and the new earth (Revelation 21) – the eighth. This provocative information demands, or it is only a misplaced Scriptural factoid, that we should be able to approximate where we are in that six-thousand linear year period.

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           Millenniums

                                               ?

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                  Centuries

This chapter will explore what is known about the age of the earth. If we can determine from a variety of techniques that the 6000-year period is nearly complete, then we know that the parousia is imminent – a solemn issue for every Christian.

A Simple Provocative Observation

The genealogies of the Bible are difficult to evaluate precisely into a time database. There is one apparent exception, and that is from the line of individuals between Adam and the Flood. That record not only notes the ages of the males when the first son was born but states that Noah, the ninth from Adam, was six hundred years old when the Flood waters came upon the earth (Genesis 7:6). Some may jest at the meaning of that ancient record. It is important to point out to those skeptics that the precision of God’s record is so detailed it even notes: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven opened.” Genesis 7:11. That’s a lot of timing information.

Those generations reveal that 1656 years from Adam’s creation the Flood came. We are not asked to figure out Adam’s birthday, whether the first birthday was the second year or even how long Adam was in the Garden before he sinned – none of those are issues. It simply says by God’s reckoning of a year when each man had a son and then Noah’s age at the Flood. That is 1656 years.

The Bible states that “every living substance” was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground. Noah came forth on the earth, and it was desolate – barren.¹ Yet the first sign of life was an olive leaf “plucked off” (Genesis 8:11) from a tree. Life had begun once again.

This raises a fascinating question. Could any living tree that began to grow then still be surviving today? The oldest known tree is called Methusela because core specimens show 4757 rings. That bristlecone pine is in the arid White Mountains of California, just outside of Bishop.

How accurate are “annual rings” in a tree trunk? Some years a tree will make two rings. It is the exception and not the rule. Also, scientists must deal with “false rings,” all making it appear older than it is. A variety of techniques have been used by dendrochronologists to try to pinpoint the age of the ancient trees (see Table 1 below). Cross dating and regression analyses and carbon-14 dating have all helped to make estimates more accurate. However, science admits the age given is “maximum” for a given tree.² The actual age is likely 10% less than the maximum years because of the extra-ring challenge. Methusela is probably 4300+ years old by many estimates. Incidentally, that ancient gnarled tree is still growing.

Concluding, it was 1656 years to the flood and 4300 years since, the time since creation is now close to 6000 years.

The Evidence from Biblical Chronology

The Bible is the “word” of God. It is filled with timing information cover to cover. A fairly good delineation of time periods can be developed from Adam to the building of Solomon’s temple. The following outline is given in A.M. (anna mundi) years or “the year of the world.” (See Table 2 – next page.)

Another similar analysis in narrative form is here described:

“There are five (and only five) Biblical steps necessary to determine the age of the universe [earth]. 

“1. Genesis 5. These genealogies cover 10 generations, from Adam to Noah, and reveal that Noah died when the earth was 2006 years old. 

“2. Gen. 11:10-32. These genealogies cover 9 generations, from Shem (the son of Noah) to the death of Terah (Abraham’s dad). This genealogy will give you the age of the earth at the death of Terah, who is the father of Abraham, as 2081. It is very interesting to note that Terah died the very year Abraham received the promise of God in Genesis 12:1-4. It is very true that we will not receive any of the promises of God until we obey the conditions of those promises. God had told Abraham to depart from: (1) his country, (2) his kindred, and (3) his father’s house.  Abraham did not receive any of the promises of God until he obeyed completely.  We, like Abraham, will receive none of the promises of God until we obey completely.

      “It is interesting to note that Abraham was born the same year Noah died, when the world was 2006 years old. According to Genesis 12:4, Abraham was 75 years old when he received the promises of God. Add 2006 to 75 and we discover the world was 2081 years old when the promise was given to Abraham concerning the coming Saviour and the blessings of God upon the nation of Israel.

“3. Galatians 3:16,17 declares, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” Abraham received the promise when the world was 2081 years old. Now, add the 430 years spoken of in Galatians 3:16,17 to 2081, and we discover the world was 2511 years old when the law (the Ten Commandments) was given.

      “Also read Exodus 12:40,41. “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.”

      “The sojourning of the children of Israel in Canaan: during the lifetime of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [was 215 years]: in Egypt (see Exodus 6:16-20) during the life of Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Moses [was 215 years].

“4. I Kings 6:1. This verse will bring us up to the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.

      “I Kings 6:1 states, “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.”

      “Now we can add another 480 years to 2511 and we get find it is 2991 years from creation to the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.

“5. Using any secular history, look up the date when Solomon reigned. This will be in the area of 1015-975 B. C.  If you like, you can go through the books of I and II Kings and prove that Israel went into bondage to the Assyrians in 722 B. C. and Judah went into bondage to Babylon in 606 B. C.

      “Because we know from secular history that Solomon reigned about 1,000 years before Christ, we can add 1,000 years to 2,991 (the age of the earth when Solomon began to reign) and you get 3991 (the approximate age of the earth when Christ was born.)

      “I think everybody knows it is approximately 2000 years from the time of Christ until now. So add 2000 years to 3991 and you get 5991. That is pretty close to 6,000 years.

      “It is very clear, is it not, that the Bible proves the age of the universe [earth] to be approximately 6,000 years old.”³

That would mean the 6000-year period of this earth would end soon after the year 2000 A.D. We have entered that time period. Since God works on a Sabbatical principle, His coming is close.

Evidence from the Shortness of Human History⁴

Mythical periods of human history are claimed to go back thousands or even millions of years. The Flood, as we have seen, occurred at 1656 A.M. There are no ancient records detailing man prior to that date except in the Bible. In fact, no accurate records from Babylon, Syria, Egypt or China go beyond 3000 years ago.

The first fragmentary records from the Tchou Dynasty appears around 1000 B.C. (3000 A.M.). Greece, noted for its scholarship, science and literature, goes back accurately to only the 600-B.C. era.

“As with history, so with dates: the world has, aside from the Bible, no means of tracing its chronology farther back than B.C. 776. On this subject we quote Prof. Fisher of Yale College. He says: ‘An exact method of establishing dates was slowly reached. The invention of eras was indispensable to this end. The earliest definite time for the dating of events was established in Babylon – the era of Nabonassar, 747 B.C. The Greeks (from about 300 B.C.) dated events from the first recorded victory at the Olympic games, 776 B.C. These games occurred every fourth year. Each Olympiad was thus a period of four years. The Romans, though not for some centuries after the founding of Rome, dated from that event; i.e., from 753 B.C.”⁵

Civilization seems to come into existence fully developed. Why do all ancient records reveal the existence of a highly developed society?

Early Egyptian Records

The historical dates assigned to Egyptian history are based on kings’ lists. The First Dynasty was originally put at 3600-3200 B.C. – but more recently has been made much later. They were based on the writings of Mantho, an Egyptian priest around 250 B.C. What has been preserved of his writings have been questioned by many scholars, who now feel his chronology wasn’t reliable.

Babylonian Writings

The oldest pictographic Sumerian tablets came from the region of Babylon. They too were originally placed as 3500 B.C. This was questioned in 1957 by S. N. Kramer, an expert in ancient Near Eastern Civilization. “The dates of Sumer’s early history have always been surrounded with uncertainty.”⁶

Civilizations

All the earliest peoples came from Mesopotamia, southeast of the Ararat Mountains where Noah’s ark came to rest. Those mountains are in the far eastern portion of Turkey.

If man went back over millions of years, by the records he has accomplished more in the past 3000-4000 years than in those vast eons of time! Again, the record reflects only a young age for mankind.

Languages

The Biblical record notes that language or dialectic differences suddenly developed shortly after the Flood when men began to separate by language groups so they could understand one another (Genesis 11:1-9). Philosophical and linguistic studies suggest that the large language families appear to radiate from the Babylonia area.

The Japhetic peoples, listed in Genesis 10, traveled to Europe and India, where they became the Ayran peoples.  All this is of recent record only.⁷

Evidence for a Young Earth in Nature^4,9

The Globe

 The earth rotation is gradually slowing down. Currently, it is spinning approximately 1000 mph at the equator. If it were millions of years old, it would have been spinning so fast that nothing could be retained on its surface. It would also be like a thin pancake.

The magnetic field is also slowly decaying. Only 20,000 years ago that electrical field would have been so strong the planet would have been liquefied by heat, totally unable to sustain life.

Looking Beneath the Surface

Oil and gas are located in porous or permeable rock. The current rate of gas escaping through sandstone or limestone would have depleted all supplies if the earth were long ages old.

Oil is constantly seeping from deep in the earth into the ocean floors. If the earth was older than 20,000 years old, all the oil would have been emptied out and all pressure would have been released from those vast reserves. Those reserves were placed there only recently.

Recently, Baumgardner reported that new studies of plate tectonics support the timing of the flood when great shifts of the earth’s surface occurred.⁸

Looking  at Earth’s Surface

It has been estimated that it takes 300-1000 years to build one inch of topsoil. The average depth of topsoil is eight inches. Though very general statistics, this does show this planet can’t be older than a few thousand years as it presently exists.

Niagara Falls erodes the cliffs it cascades over three and a half feet each year. The gorge is less than seven miles, meaning that that natural wonder is likely a little over 5000 years old (likely eroding much at first as it was formed).

Evidence from the Oceans

“River deltas. The Mississippi River dumps 300 million cubic yards [229 million cm] of mud into the Gulf of Mexico each year—continually enlarging the delta area. Yet the Mississippi delta is not large. Calculations reveal it has only been forming for the past 4,000 years (4,620 years, to be exact). If the world was 120,000 years old, that delta would extend all the way to the North Pole.

“Sea ooze. Soft mud from dead plants and animal life form on the floor of the oceans, at the rate of about one inch (2.54 cm) every 1,000 to 5,000 years. The depth of ooze indicates the earth is quite young.

“Thickness of ocean sediments. If the earth was billions of years old, the ocean floor would be covered by sediments from land, measuring 60 to 100 miles [96.5 to 160.9 km] thick, and all the continents would be eroded away. Instead, we only find a few thousand feet of sediment. Based on known yearly sediment deposition, calculations yield only a few thousand years for our planet.

“Growth of coral. Coral growth rates indicate the earth is quite young. No known coral formation is older than 3,500 years.A”⁹

Science is increasingly coming to grips with the evidence that the earth is young. New observations on 14C decay to 12C show the earth to be relatively young.¹⁰

The Biblical Sabbaticals encompass the Great Week of Time (GWT) as a significant divine restoration template. This introduces linear redemptive appointments that are highlighted by prophetic events scattered throughout history. At the end of its “sixth,” sin and sinners will become history, and God’s kingdom will supervene. The GWT defines a restricted period of time for sin and rebellion to operate within.

Through innumerable channels it is possible to convincingly argue that the age of this earth fits within the GWT period. Of solemn importance is the information that we now have, revealing that closure on sinful man is about to occur. A major time transition within the GWT is pending.

[Next month we will analyze what E. G. White

said regarding the Great Week of Time.]

References

  1Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 106.

  2www.rmtrr.org/oldlist.htm

  3http://www.independentbaptist.org/6,000_year_old_earth.htm.

  4www.pathlights.com/ce-encyclopedia/05agee6.htm

  5http://www.divineplan.org/studies/htdb0086.htm.

  6Kramer, S. N.; “The Sumerians,” Scientific American, Oct. 1957, p. 72.

  7Thieme, Paul, “The Indo-European Languages,” Scientific American, Oct. 1958, p. 74.

  8Baumgardner, John R., Ph.D.; “Catastrophic Plate Tectonics: The Physics Behind the Genesis

    Flood,” Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, Pittsburgh, PA, pp.

    113-126, 2003.

  9http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/05agee3.htm

  10globalflood.org/earthage

Christian Heritage Foundation, CS © 2004-2005 – Franklin S. Fowler Jr., M.D., Director