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God's Project

By John F. Bulharowski
October 10, 2006
Tape FT06-06

Unless otherwise stated, all scriptures quoted here are from the New American Standard Bible.

At almost every Feast that I have ever attended, sooner or later, one of the speakers will ask for a show of hands: "How many Feasts have you attended? Is this you first? Your tenth?" It is always interesting to see the hands go up. It is also interesting that there are some who have been celebrating the Feast forty and more years! Some in this congregation have celebrated over fifty Feasts!

For me, if I have counted correctly, this is my thirty-fifth Feast of Tabernacles. It seems like an awfully long time, and I think, "Wow!" I was a much younger man at the time of my calling, and I remember when I started in the church near the Feast that year that it was a very exciting time. Some of you will remember it first hand, the Feast of 1972. There was a great deal of excitement at that time dealing with the return of Jesus Christ. That was on the forefront of everybody's mind; that was all we could think about.

I was just coming into the church about that time, and I was hearing about this "1975 In Prophecy." Some man or group of men—I presume church scholars—had come up with a scenario in which the Day of Trumpets, 1975, was the day we could expect the return of Jesus Christ. They had it all worked out with the numbers that appear in scripture, especially the one that appears in Daniel 12:

Daniel 12:9-13 And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified, and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand [Aha! Those were we!] From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting, and attains to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. But as for you, go your way...

I am sure this frustrated Daniel to no end, because Daniel had no idea what He was talking about. However, in 1972, we thought we did, because they had worked it out, as I recall, that in January 1972 was Mr. Armstrong's thirty-eighth year, the end of the second nineteen-year time cycle. There was some mystique about this nineteen-year time cycle, because at the end of the first nineteen-year time cycle of Mr. Armstrong's stewardship, something significant happened. Thus, we were looking for something significant to happen at the end of the second time cycle, too. It turned out that, working back from Trumpets 1975 to Mr. Armstrong's anniversary in January 1972, these numbers I just read to you from Daniel 12 all worked out. Making a short story long, I was baptized in January 1972, wiped the sweat off my brow, and said, "Wow! I just made it under the wire before we flee!"

Now it is 2006. Here I stand, and there you sit—and we have not fled yet. What is happening?

In recent years, I have found myself crying out to God, "Lord! How long? How long is this going to go on?" There are people experiencing all sorts of trials and tribulations, and I am among them. Therefore, I cry out, "How long, O Lord?" Have you found yourself doing that?

Well, you would be in good company. Over the years many people have done just that, and it is recorded in scripture, as well. I will turn to just a couple of those. You will find that they were waiting for God to do something, for some deliverance to occur.

Psalm 90:13-15 Do return, O LORD! How long will it be, and be sorry for Your servants? Oh, satisfy us in the morning with Your loving kindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all of our days! Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us...

Perhaps a more pointed one is in the book of Revelation chapter 6, verse 9, where John's vision depicts the souls of those who have been martyred. He says,

Revelation 6:9-10 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

"How long, O Lord?" This may very well be on your mind right now.

In this split-sermon, I want to take this statement, "How long, O Lord," and examine it. To do so, I am going to call upon my own background. Those of you who have heard me speak before know that I am an engineer working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and tend to look at everything from an engineering viewpoint. I would like to do that this year, taking the first six thousand years of God's seven-thousand-year plan to look at it and ask the question, "Can I compare this to an engineering project?"

I want to set up milestones that you might expect to see during an engineering project using the first six thousand years of God's plan. To begin with, any engineering project has to be defined. There are a number of well-defined stages or phases of any project that you can break into definable blocks. They would include the definition of what you are going to do, the statement of the problem, a definition of the project, and what you are going to build.

My particular specialty deals with hardware as opposed to software. There is always a bit of banter back and forth between hardware and software engineers. I work with the hardware: after you finish building, there is something you can see, touch, and feel.

Somewhere along the line, somebody makes a decision that they would like to send an instrument out into space and measure something about the moon, or planets, or something. That somebody usually has money (which usually means they are the government), and they explain what they want to accomplish. If we win the bid on the project, we will define what it is going to take to accomplish the project: how much money, numbers of people, amount of time, needs in terms of building facilities, available technology, etc. Then we divide the task into various subtasks and start staffing up with the appropriate people if we do not already have them. The definitions start fleshing out with details as we go along. Finally, after several iterations of planning and proposing—counting the cost—we have what we are going to build and how we are planning to get to the functioning goal. We can now proceed with detailed designing of the project.

Somewhere along the line, we begin building something, and we might make one or more prototypes—form, fit, and function—like the end product. Then we use it in various tests and see how it measures up to what we are trying to accomplish and ultimately build. (At this point, you are probably squirming in your seat, and wondering, "O Lord! How long before Jack gets to his point?") Ultimately, we get to the point at which we complete the project and build what we are going to build.

As you might expect, throughout all this designing and planning, building and testing, there is this customer (who has provided the money) who says, "Since I want to know how you are doing, you are going to have to make reports to me at various points and tell me how things are going." The management from your own company wants to know these things, as well. If you are a team leader, it is a common thing that, as the project goes along, you are expected to give regular reports—"I have done this," and "I have done that," and "It is progressing in such and such a way." It is not uncommon that you would give progress of a project in terms of percentage of completion: "We are twenty percent completed."

Basically, this brings me to God's Project, this first six thousand years that I want to examine in terms of this kind of thing—this engineering viewpoint in terms of percentage of completion at various stages along the timeline from zero to six thousand years. Another supposition for my scenario: I think that everyone will agree that we are pretty close to the six-thousand-year mark right now. For simplicity's sake, I will say that 2006 is year 6000. The arithmetic works out better this way. Mr. Armstrong talked about God's seven-thousand-year plan, but I will go through only the six thousand years because it happens to be the time in which man has dominion over the earth without God. Of course, we can see the mess that he is making.

There is a statement in Genesis 1 of this very project. This is the summary statement of what is going on, what God is doing in His Grand Project:

Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Here is a very short statement of the plan of God, the project that He is going about building. This starts the project. This begins time zero and sets the clock. This is zero percent completion. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and it is interesting that we have the entire Bible talking about the what is involved in making man in God's likeness. It talks about He made them in His image, but the likeness is a bit more of a difficult process that takes all the remainder of the time. Here is Adam and Eve starting the clock at zero percent in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

God also planted the garden, and Adam was in the garden.

Genesis 2:18-19 And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field...

And then it goes on to say how God brought the creatures before Adam, and he named them all.

Genesis 2:21-23 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took out one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib, which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said: "This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

Here again, this is the beginning of the project, zero percent.

Now go over to chapter 5. We are still very early in the project, as you can see:

Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the image of God.

He made him look like God, but he did not yet act like God.

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

This is a milestone in the progress of the engineering project of God. I have rounded this off to one thousand years just for my simple arithmetic. (Please do not be too critical about the numbers and dates that I come up with. They are numbers that I had. I realize that there is argument about some of the dates involved in various events, biblically speaking.) Adam dies at almost one thousand years from point zero, and that in our reporting progress is about fifteen to sixteen percent of the project completed. Here we are, still very early in the planning stages or probably still (from an engineering standpoint) trying to figure out what it is we are doing: doing preliminary planning, what we can do, what we would like to do. We are about fifteen or sixteen percent completed at the end of Adam's life.

If you would think of the Bible as a graphic representation of this timeline, we still have lots of Bible in front of us through which to go.

Genesis 6:5-6 Then the LORD saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent and the thoughts of his heart was only on evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

God (the Ultimate Customer) came and said, "Whoa! This project is not turning out right at all. Let's have a re-plan," as we like to call it in our space technology jargon. "We are going to re-plan this thing." He stepped back and took a look at things, because everything was turning bad.

Genesis 6:7-8 So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

After some time,

Genesis 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time."

Then He describes how He will have all the various animals with him.

Genesis 7:11-12 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 7:24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

Here again is a major milestone, the date of which I learned was about 2325 B.C. (Again there are probably arguments as to when.) Using this date, we come to about twenty-eight percent completion of the whole six-thousand-year project. There is still a lot of work ahead of Him; the effort has by no means peaked.

Without referring to scriptures, I will say that about 1443 B.C. was the Exodus. Of course, Israel was in Egypt for quite a number of years, and this is at the end of the 430 years from the promise of God to Abraham. This in our progression brings us to about forty-three percent complete. The project is well along its way, but as you can see, there is a lot of work to be done, a lot of designing and testing to be done. It is not yet time for anyone to be crying out, "How long, O Lord?" No, we have a long way to go yet.

At fifty percent, 1000 B.C. would bring you around to some time right after the Judges, about the time of King Saul. This is the halfway point! This is a long way from the beginning. Yet, looking at it from where we are now, we think of King Saul or the judges as being during such early times. That is a long time ago! Such ancient, ancient history! However, it is still too soon to cry, "How long, O Lord?" They were not even cognizant of such a thing as the return-of-Jesus-Christ aspect of the plan, even though it was part of the plan from the beginning.

When Jesus Christ came on the scene, walking along the Galilee and in Judea, would be about sixty-seven percent. After the resurrection, there were people who were starting to think about things, that the return of the Christ might be soon. This is something for which we should be looking. There are numerous places in the New Testament where we could go to see this attitude beginning to emerge.

At the beginning of the book of Acts, we have the account of Jesus on the Mount of Olives with His disciples when Jesus rises in the air. Before He rises,

Acts 1:6 So, when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is this the time You will be restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

"Is this the time, Lord?" Hey! This is the "How long...?"

Acts 1:7 So, He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs [seasons] which the Father has fixed by His own authority."

Acts 1:11 ...[The angels] who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

They are now ready to be looking for Jesus Christ to return and establish the kingdom. We are in good company if we are crying out, "How long, O Lord," because we have the Apostle Paul telling us:

[NKJV] I Thessalonians 4:13-17 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Paul uses the expression we who remain or we who are alive at the time of the return of Jesus Christ to describe will rise up and meet Him in the air. It is easy to see that Paul was fully expecting that he would be alive at the return of Jesus Christ: He uses that very intimate first person pronoun we. However, as you read through Paul's writings, you find out later that he realized that he was not going to see the return of Jesus Christ.

At eighty-four percent complete (this is a bit odd, but I chose this knowingly), it brings us historically to the year of A.D. 1066, the year of the Norman Invasion. By this time, the project is well underway. In an engineering project, a lot has already been accomplished. A lot of the design work is finished. They are into prototyping now. Many of the design people may have been released to go to other projects or are planning for their next job. Also at this point, it is almost a done deal. You are really starting to wind down. It is getting very near the completion date—but A.D. 1066? Is there anybody who would think that A.D. 1066 is recent? No. This is still too long ago to start saying, "How long, O Lord?"

What about the ninety percent mark? That would be six hundred years ago! That is A.D. 1406. At that time, Europe was someplace in their Renaissance period. Henry V was ruling England. The famous Battle of Agincourt in Shakespeare's literature took place in 1415. The British Empire did not exist as such. (That was mostly during the Elizabethan period.) This was about four hundred years before the United States of America would begin to exist. None of this seems to us to be recent history.

In terms of God's engineering plan, though—again, reflecting upon my experiences—being able to say that it is ninety percent finished means that you are coasting by this time. However, in God's plan, this is not late enough to say, "How long, O Lord," because nobody is going to survive that long.

One step further: How about ninety-nine percent completion? It is all over except for the shouting, as far as an engineering project would be concerned. There are probably a few signatures on a few document left to be gotten, or maybe a few corrections in some manuals, or something like that. You are in production by this time, though.

However, this is also sixty years ago—A.D. 1946. How many of you were at the Feast of Tabernacles in 1946? What? No hands going up? You get my picture. Even though we may have been around a long time in the church—thirty-five, forty, forty-five years or more—we somehow tend to get a bit weary.

In my case, there was a great deal of excitement in my beginning in 1972 about going to the place of safety. There were ministers like Mr. Gerald Waterhouse who basically had a career of going and preaching this stuff. He would tell you how Mr. Armstrong would survive and see the return of Jesus Christ, and we all believed it. Mr. Armstrong died twenty years ago. Can you believe that?

The point is that in the whole scheme of things, our thirty, forty, or fifty years are not all that much. We come to the Feast, and every year it seems that there are a few empty chairs and faces you do not see anymore. We may or may not see Jesus Christ come back. We may not be among the we of which Paul talked. What do we do?

Galatians 6:6-9 The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this also will he reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Since the plan of God is really seven thousand years, as opposed to six thousand, the real completion of the project is yet later, at the end of the seven thousand. We find this at the end of Revelation—perhaps the most encouraging portion of the whole Bible.

Revelation 21:1-4 And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no longer any sea. Then I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men... there is no longer any mourning, no longer any death, no longer any crying, or pain. The first things have passed away."

JFB/rwu/klg

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