Chapter 5—Time Lapse Between Creation and Moses, and Creation and Christ

Four Thousand Years

(1) 1874. TC^* 30. The Son of God humbled Himself, and took man’s nature, after the race had wandered four thousand years from Eden, and from their original state of purity and uprightness. (Reprinted in The Signs of the Times, June 11, 1874; The Review and Herald, July 28, 1874; and Selected Messages 1:267.) ^*Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness

(2) 1874. TC 30. Christ, in the wilderness of temptation, stood in Adam’s place to bear the test he failed to endure. Here Christ overcame in the sinner’s behalf, four thousand years after Adam turned his back upon the light of his home. (Reprinted in The Signs of the Times, June 11, 1874; The Review and Herald, July 28, 1874; and Selected Messages 1:267.) (3) 1874. TC 33. Satan had succeeded so well in deceiving the angels of God, and in ruining noble Adam, that he thought he should be successful in overcoming Christ in His humiliation. He looked with pleased exultation upon the result of his temptations, and the increase of sin in the continued transgression of God’s law, for more than four thousand years. (Reprinted in The Signs of the Times, June 11, 1874; The Review and Herald, July 28, 1874; and Selected Messages 1:269.) (4) 1874. TC 44. Four thousand years he had been warring against the government of God, and had lost none of his skill or power to tempt and deceive. (Reprinted in The Signs of the Times, July 9, 1874; The Review and Herald, August 18, 1874; and Selected Messages 1:279.) (5) 1874. TC 46. Four thousand years had Satan been at work against the government of God, and he had obtained strength and experience from determined practice. (Reprinted in The Signs of the Times, July 9, 1874; The Review and Herald, August 18, 1874; and Selected Messages 1:280.) (6) 1874. TC 46. Fallen men had not the advantages of Adam in Eden. They had been separating from God for four thousand years. (Reprinted in The Signs of the Times, July 9, 1874; The Review and Herald, August 18, 1874, and Selected Messages 1:280.) (7) 1874. TC 80. For four thousand years, ever since the declaration was made to Adam that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, he had been planning his manner of attack. (Reprinted in The Signs of the Times, February 25, 1875; and The Review and Herald, March 18, 1875.) (8) 1874. The Signs of the Times, June 11, 1874. Satan had succeeded so well in deceiving the angels of God, and in the fall of noble Adam, that he thought that in Christ’s humiliation he should be successful in overcoming Him. He looked with pleased exultation, upon the result of his temptations, and the increase of sin in the continued transgression of God’s law for more than four thousand years. (Reprinted in The Review and Herald, July 28, 1874; and Selected Messages 1:269.) (9) 1877. The Signs of the Times, November 15, 1877. What a contrast to this perfect being did the second Adam present, as He entered the desolate wilderness to cope with Satan singlehanded. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in size and physical strength, and deteriorating in moral worth. (10) 1877. The Spirit of Prophecy 2:88. For four thousand years the race has been decreasing in size and physical strength, and deteriorating in moral worth; and, in order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he stood.

(11) 1888. GC vii (Author’s Introduction). During the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there was no written revelation. Those who had been taught of God, communicated their knowledge to others, and it was handed down from father to son, through successive generations. The preparation of the written word began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelations were then embodied in an inspired book. This work continued during the long period of sixteen hundred years—from Moses, the historian of creation and the law, to John, the recorder of the most sublime truths of the gospel. (This statement appears unchanged in the 1911 edition.) (12) 1888. The Great Controversy, 328. With the great sacrifice offered upon Calvary, ended that system of offerings which for four thousand years had pointed forward to the Lamb of God. (13) 1888. The Great Controversy, 546. If for four thousand years the righteous had gone directly to heaven at death, how could Paul have said that if there is no resurrection, “they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished”? No resurrection would be necessary. (14) 1897. Ms 43, 1897. He [Christ] put an end to the sacrifices which for four thousand years had been offered. (15) 1898. The Desire of Ages, 48. It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man’s nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. (16) 1898. The Desire of Ages, 117. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his degradation. (17) 1898. The Desire of Ages, 652. He [Christ] would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to His death. (18) 1898. The Desire of Ages, 759. For four thousand years, Christ was working for man’s uplifting, and Satan for his ruin and degradation. And the heavenly universe beheld it all. (19) 1902. The Signs of the Times, December 3, 1902. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity.