“God is a God of wrath and His wrath is going to be poured out upon you, if you are outside of Christ! But the blood can stop the wrath of God. The blood that He shed on that cross brings justification. And justification means; just as if you had never sinned. Can you imagine such a thing? Just as though you had never sinned? As white as a lily in your heart before God? Never committing a sin? Suppose I’ve been perfect from the day I was born till the day I die. That’s exactly what it means. Justification. Just as though I had never sinned.” ~ Billy Graham

Lately I have been reading a book entitled Earth’s Earliest Ages by

G H Pember. Indeed, a good read. He starts off from Genesis 1:1 “IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

As I pondered on these two scriptures, for the first time I realised that they were Ages apart. I cannot tell how many generations saw the first Age that Genesis 1:1 is referring to. To know of their civilisations would not profit us at all; otherwise God would have revealed them to us. So, indeed PreAdamic days belong to PreAdamic days.

But we can decipher the “DESOLATION ” in Genesis 1:2

What caused the desolation?

Ezekiel 28:13-15 “Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering: the Sardius, topaz, and the diamond, beryl, the onyx, and the Jasper, the sapphire, the emerald and the carbuncle and gold : the workmanship of thy tabrets and thy pipes was prepared for thee in the day that thou wast created.Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth ; and I have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God ; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”

Adam was put in the Garden of Eden when he was created.

Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

Clearly the events in Ezekiel 28:13-15 and Genesis 2:7 are two separate events at different times. I believe these too are Ages apart. For Ezekiel reveals a time when a being was once in Eden and whose covering was of every precious stone! And Genesis 2:7 speaks of God forming man out of the dust of the ground where there is no mention of precious stones fashioning the man as he was made out of dust.

Psalm 103:14 “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” And thus we are the generation of the man formed out of dust!

Isaiah 14:12-14 “How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

The bible has snippets taken of times past. Who was this being in Eden, the garden of God? One believes this is Lucifer who Ezekiel is referring to.

Job 2:1-2 “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Satan? Genesis 17:15-16 “God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

Genesis 35:10 “And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.’ So he called his name Israel.”

So, it is, God changed Lucifer’s name to Satan. In Job 2:2 Satan said he was coming from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. Is it not clear that he is doing what he was doing before his fall but only this time, he is doing it on earth! He was brought low. He was no more walking up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

So Lucifer, had been given charge over Eden, the garden of God, before his fall and before Adam was created. Clearly Lucifer had a powerful position! Why did he not embrace it and live the life?

In hindsight when power and authority are not reined in, they can become one’s downfall. Therefore there is safety in humility.

John 8:44 “ You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Here is what G. H Pember said in reference to this mystery spoken of by Ezekiel and Isaiah?

“We have no records left to us : — Yet, as we peer hopelessly into the night, a faint and unsteady gleam seems to emanate from the scriptures in our hand, a very different light from that which they pour upon other subjects, scarcely more than sufficient to make darkness visible, but enough to reveal the outline of shadowy form seated on high above the desolation, and looking sullenly down upon his ruined realm.

It is our own great enemy, the Prince of this World and of the Power of the Air.

Let us, then, consider the scanty hints which the Bible seems to offer in regard to this great mystery. But we must tread lightly and rapidly over the bridge which we shall attempt to throw across the foaming torrent : for we cannot be sure of its foundation : nay, in the darkness of the night there may also be serious defects in its construction. Yet the revelation to which we shall refer was given for our learning, and, like all scripture, is profitable, even if we fail to grasp the secret contained in it, provided we handle it with reverence and fear (2 Tim 3:16). For the contemplation of such a theme gives us some idea of the ineffable magnitude of the events, past and future, by which time is bounded, and of the countless millions of actors concerned in them : it calls off our minds which are prone to dwell so complacently, and yet so irrationally, upon this present brief age and our still more insignificant selves : it strikes us with inconceivable awe : it makes us tremblingly anxious to be safe in the only refuge before the next great storm of God’s wrath comes thundering over our doomed world : it urges us to fulfil our minute duty in the stupendous drama which the great Supreme is rapidly hastening to its close.”

1John 2:16 “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life —is not of the Father but is of the world.”

As I close I will leave you with the promise of God the Father :

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

For His name is Jesus. Accept Him and be saved before it is too late. For the wrath of God is on them who reject Him. John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

For some reason, I find that, when I ponder on this question, my mind takes me to the Queen of Sheba.

1Kings 10:1-10

And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.

And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.

And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built,

And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her.

And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceeds the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.

Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.

And she gave the king a hundred talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.”

1 talent (Biblical Hebrew) weighs 34.2 kg

Moving on.

Where is Ophir? I believe God will show us where Ophir is through the written word, which is, the holy scriptures or the holy bible.

Let us start with God from as late as 970 BC. King Solomon’s era.

“And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones… Now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.” 1Kings 10:12, 14

I believe Ophir was booming with trade and saw many merchants come in and out with great merchandise in exchange for gold. The Kingdom of Ophir would have built a trading place!

I believe Ophir was blessed!

The house of the Lord; which Solomon built in Jerusalem was adorned with the gold of Ophir. “Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron and wood for the things of wood; …” 1Chronicles 29:2

Moving on.

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” Matthew 2:13.

Egypt is in North Africa with Israel also in the Northern Hemisphere. Take note of that please will you; for it is important.

Moving on.

The Queen of Sheba travelled far! How did she hear of the fame of Solomon being so far away? I would like to believe the merchants who came for gold spoke about King Solomon. They spoke of his greatness! His fame had reached far and wide!

Matthew 12:42 “The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.”

Here, Jesus spoke of Himself and declared that He is greater than Solomon. Notice where He said the queen of Sheba came from. Jesus said she came from the South. He said she came from the ends of the earth! The ends of the earth would mean Down Yonder or farthest South. Now, which region was farthest South from where Jesus was? This is so important because it makes us know the location of Ophir. Because that is where the Queen of Sheba was coming from; laden with so much gold.

Moving on.

We hear the name Ophir so many times in the bible:

In Job 28:16 we read the following,“It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.”

1Chronicles 29:3-4 “Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal:”

2Chronicles 8:18 “And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.”

Psalm 45:9 “King’s daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.”

1Kings 22:48 “Jehoshaphat made ships of Thar’shish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezi-on-geber.”

According to the world, Ophir is an unidentified region famous in the Old Testament times for its fine gold. The geographic location is thought to be somewhere, sandalwood, ivory, monkeys and peacocks were procured.

Moving on.

Ophir lies in Southern Africa; it must not go unsaid that in the modern day Zimbabwe, ancient gold mines were discovered!

Please read a 2011 clip below taken from a write up by Mukoma Ngwena Chakamwe.

“The majority if not all modern gold mines in Zimbabwe were established on such ancient workings. The country has the largest number of ancient gold workings in the world and no wonder the great Arab historian Masud referred to a thriving trade in gold at Sofala which originated from a place called Ophir in Zimbabwe. Mrs Banda thought the vast ancient gold workings on which the present day Globe and Phoenix mine stands is the ancient mine of Ophir which was famous because the Queen of Sheba got 450 tablets of gold which she took to the Jewish King Solomon to build the Jewish temple as commanded by his father King David. I found that interesting. After being given a historical background to mining at Globe and Phoenix gold mine in particular, Mrs Banda took me on a tour of the museum. Presently the museum is on open ground with old mining equipment. The Government, however, built a massive hall situated at the southern edge of the Central Business District where the old mining museum will soon be translocated. As we moved around the museum, I felt as if I was walking right at the centre of the entire mining history in Zimbabwe. It was interesting to see how creative ancient miners were as well as how much they prioritised mining. They used grinding stones to extract the gold. The grinding stones had dolly holes in the centre which was used to pound the gold ore to fine powder by rock pastels. What is interesting to note is that the ancient Shona miners, for instance, exported upwards of 30 000 ounces of purely refined gold to China, India, Israel from just one of the mines, the Globe. They did not export raw gold.”

Moving on.

The Economist issue of 18 December 2021 had the following :

Moving on.

And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised. Psalm 72:15

We shall take a break with a song written by Munesu Marie. I hope you will be blessed by it, as I was.

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If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17

A few years ago, we drove to London to be with a friend who recently lost her loving husband to cancer. Firstly, I dread driving on the motorway and secondly, London is huge and one may still get lost even with a friend like Sat Nav (SN). The reason is simple. I doubt the capabilities of SN. I always find myself saying, ‘I think I should be going that way’ or ‘this cannot be the way’. This might be true for many of us. So yesterday was one of those days.

I had decided on the No-Toll option when mapping out the journey. The journey had been smooth for a while until SN took us onto a road that was by the docks; where we were required to join a long queue. Ahead of us was the notice ‘1 hour delay with the boat, thank you for your patience’. I looked at my daughter who sat beside me and said to her, ‘wrong queue.’ We drove past and expected SN to talk but he didn’t. We continued to drive to get our bearings when we heard ‘bear right; at the roundabout take the third exit, bear left; at the roundabout take the 1st exit’. Much to our surprise, we found ourselves back at the same boat queue! I wondered why we were there but this time I decided to go where SN was leading. Eventually we were on a ferry to be taken to the other side. I even forgot about SN with all that was going on around us.

Finally we were on the other side of the river where we disembarked and took the obvious route where the arrows were pointing out and then we heard the familiar voice, ‘at the roundabout take the 2nd exit.’ Ah! That was SN. I was relieved to hear him and I felt secure. He continued to lead us until we got to our destination!

This got me thinking.

How many times do we fail by not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us? He knows where we should go but many a times we do not think he knows. We think we know where the Holy Spirit should lead us.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come, he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:12-15

That day I learnt how important it is to allow the Holy Spirit to lead me even when it does not seem like the right way to go.