From Eternity Past

490 Pages·1.33 MB·English

by  Ellen G. White

From Eternity Past
Ellen G. White
1983
Copyright © 2017
Ellen G. White Estate, Inc.

Information about this Book
Overview
This eBook is provided by the Ellen G. White Estate. It is included
in the larger free Online Books collection on the Ellen G. White
Estate Web site.
About the Author
Ellen G. White(1827-1915)isconsideredthemostwidelytranslated
American author, her works having been published in more than 160
languages. She wrote more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety of
spiritual and practical topics. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she exalted
Jesus and pointed to the Scriptures as the basis of one’s faith.
Further Links
A Brief Biography of Ellen G. White
About the Ellen G. White Estate
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A condensation of Patriarchs and Prophets
This condensation is not a paraphrase. The author‘s own words are
retained throughout, except when it has been necessary to substitute
a proper noun for a pronoun to avoid confusion, to change a verb
tense to maintain meaning and continuity, or to supply a word or
phrase to make a sentence read more smoothly.
Why You Should Read This Book
Where did we come from? Why do international tensions
threaten to wipe out civilization? Why is crime increasing? Why are
moral standards sagging? Is God indifferent to all this? Is He doing
anything to help us solve our problems?
This book—the first of a five-book series—answers these ques-
tions. It tells how our world began and how the human race orig-
inated. It describes the tragic rebellion that took place in heaven
many thousands of years ago and makes plain how the great con-
troversy between God and Satan affects every inhabitant of Planet
Earth.
With unusual skill the author describes the role of our world in
the conflict between right and wrong, between truth and error. Best
of all, the book reveals the wiles of Satan and points to the Power
by which we may defeat him in our personal lives.
Theauthor‘sstraightforwardstyleandplain,directlanguagehelp
hold one‘s interest from beginning to end. However, besides these
qualities, most readers find something else in this book. As they
read, they become convinced that the author was divinely inspired.
We commend this volume to all who seek authoritative infor-
mation about how our world began, all who are interested in sacred
history, all who are perplexed by the strange mixture of good and
evil in the natural world and in human hearts, all who desire a better
understanding of the Holy Scriptures.
The Publishers
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Contents
Information about this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Why You Should Read This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
Chapter 1—Why Was Sin Permitted? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Battle in Lucifer’s Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Satan Cast Out of Heaven. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Why God Did Not Destroy Satan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 2—Creation: God’s Answer to Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The First Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Blessing of the Sabbath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Beautiful Garden of Eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 3—The Predicament of Our First Parents . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Subtlety of Satan’s Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The Sad Change That Sin Produced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
A Plan for Man’s Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Is God Too Severe? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 4—The Plan of Redemption Is Unveiled . . . . . . . . . . . 34
God Promises a Saviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Terrible Fruits of Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
The Wider Purpose of Redemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Chapter 5—The First Murderer and His Victim. . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Great Difference Between Cain and Abel. . . . . . . . . . . . 40
The Punishment of Cain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Chapter 6—Seth: When Men Turned to God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Length of Adam’s Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Enoch—The First Man Never to Die . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Enoch Is Translated to Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 7—When the World Was Destroyed by Water. . . . . . . 50
Human Life Regarded With Indifference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
A Boat to Preserve Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
An Angel Shuts the Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Conditions Before the Flood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Similar Conditions Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
When Probation Closes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 8—After the Flood, a New Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
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The Rainbow—Sign of God’s Kindness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Chapter 9—The Beginning of the Literal Week. . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
True Science and the Bible Agree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Chapter 10—When Languages Were Changed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
God’s Purpose in Changing Their Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Today’s Tower of Babel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Chapter 11—Abraham, the Father of All Believers. . . . . . . . . . 70
Into the Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Why God Permitted Abraham to Suffer Famine . . . . . . . . . . 72
Abraham’s Sad Mistake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Chapter 12—Abraham, a Good Neighbor in Canaan . . . . . . . . 75
Lot Rescued by Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Abraham Is Afraid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Abraham Entertains Angels Unawares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Who Prays for “Sodom” Today? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The Influence of Daily Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Chapter 13—The Offering of Isaac: Test of Faith . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Polygamy Brings Sorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
An Example for All Generations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Abraham Commanded to Offer Isaac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Three Sad Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Trained to Obey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
The Promise to Abraham Repeated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Lesson Book of the Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Chapter 14—The Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Lot Entertains Angels Unawares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Lot Loses Everything Except His Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Sodom Destroyed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Another Sodom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Chapter 15—Isaac’s Marriage: The Happiest in the Bible . . . 100
Rebekah Believes God Has Spoken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Before One Marries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter 16—Jacob and Esau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Esau Sells His Treasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Consequences of Deception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Esau Could Not Repent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chapter 17—Jacob’s Flight and Exile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Why the Tithe Is Sacred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113