Part I
Understanding God's Plan of Universal Reconciliation for All
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Part I Understanding God's Plan of Universal Reconciliation for All |
CHAPTER 5 THE SEVEN AGES IN GOD’S PLAN FOR ALL
The first important thing to understand is that God the Father made the Ages through His Son Jesus Christ. God of the Ages Hebrews 1:1-2 The Greek word for ages is aion. In this scripture, the literal translation of worlds is ages as given in Young’s Literal Translation below and some other versions of the Bible. Hebrews 1:1-2 (YLT) The Greek word aion is a very significant word for our understanding of God’s Plan of the Ages. In the original Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament, aion occurs 128 times. Aion (eon in English) is a time-related word. It is translated in the Bible in the following two ways. 1. A long period of time that begins and ends, meaning an age or ages. Its context in the Bible dictates whether aion means an age or whether it means forever, everlasting or eternal. We give full details on how aion and its adjective aionios, and the equivalent time-related Hebrew word owlam are translated in various versions of the Bible in Chapter 17, Translations of Owlam, Aion and Aionios. Father God who is the Creator of the Ages through His Son is also the King of the Ages. Revelation 15:3 (NIV) When did the ages begin? The ages began when God first created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, as the very first verse in the Bible says. Genesis 1:1 When God first created the physical universe, including the earth through Jesus Christ, this marked the beginning of the First Age in God’s Plan of the Ages. Ages do not only begin, they also end. Ages do not continue forever, except for the last Eternal Seventh Age of the Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth. Matthew 24:3 The disciples were asking Jesus Christ about the end of the age (aion). They understood that the Second Coming of Jesus would mark the end of an age and the beginning of another age. All of the ages, apart from the final Eternal Seventh Age, have a definite beginning and an end. The Seventh Age differs in that it will have a beginning but no end. Ephesians 1:20-21 Please note, this scripture confirms that there are ages in God’s Plan. This present age will end and it will be followed by another age, which is yet to come. Hebrews 9:26 (NLT) The death of Jesus Christ marked the end of an age, which was actually the end of the Third Age in God’s Plan of the Ages. The resurrection of Jesus Christ marked the beginning of the Fourth Age, which is this present age. This present age will end at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ when the next age, the Fifth Age - the Millennial Age, will commence. When will God's Plan of the ages for the reconciliation of all be fulfilled? It will be fulfilled at the beginning of the Eternal Kingdom of the New Heaven and the New Earth. Revelation 21:1, 6 6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End….” God's Plan of the Ages will be fulfilled when Father God shouts the glorious words ‘It is done’ at the creation of the New Heaven and New Earth. This is after Jesus Christ has reconciled all things in heaven and all things on earth to God the Father having made peace through His blood shed on the cross. This is when there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. God the Father Himself will come down to this renewed earth with its renewed heaven and dwell with men forever, and be all in all (Revelation 21:1-6, Colossians 1:19-20, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28). Let us now state the seven ages, as revealed in the Bible, which come under the following headings: 1. The Pre-Adamic Age, the Age of Angels These Seven Ages, which we discuss in this chapter, should not be confused with the Seven Dispensations as promoted by J N Darby and C I Scoffield. The Seven Ages are different and distinct from the Seven Dispensations. Dispensationalists fail to understand and believe in God’s Plan of Universal Reconciliation. We shall comment on each of the above listed seven ages in detail, but before we do so, we need to understandod’s Plan of the Ages remains a mystery to the world. The Mystery of the Ages Apostle Paul was absolutely awed to understand the unsearchable riches of the mystery of Christ, which was hidden from the beginning of the ages. He was one of the first among the early apostles to whom God clearly revealed all aspects of the mystery of the Kingdom of God. The whole of Ephesians 3, written by Paul, is a marvellous chapter that speaks about the Mystery of God’s Plan for the Salvation of all Jews and all Gentiles through the work of the cross. Ephesians 3:8-9 The Mystery, which has been hidden for ages, is God’s Plan to bring everything together in Christ, everything without exception in heaven and on earth. Ephesians 1:9-10 This scripture clearly reveals that the mystery of God’s will is to gather together, in one, absolutely all things in Christ. The wonderful and powerful expression ‘in Christ’ means that all will come to believe in Christ and accept Him as their Saviour and Lord. This will happen in the fullness of time (in the fullness of the ages), which will be in God’s time marking the completion of His Plan of the Ages to reconcile all without exception. Paul clearly repeats God’s Plan of Universal Reconciliation in Colossians 1:19-20. Colossians 1:19-20, 26 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. Scripture very clearly confirms that the Mystery of the Ages is the Universal Salvation and Reconciliation of all. This is an exciting and an important study. God formulated a Plan for all from the beginning of the ages, which has been kept secret from the foundation of the world. The Plan of God is nothing less than the Universal Reconciliation of absolutely all things through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus Christ spoke in parables to the multitudes to hide the mystery of the Kingdom of God because it wasn’t yet their time to know God’s Plan of Universal Reconciliation. It is a mystery hidden from the world but revealed only to God’s Saints, His Elect. Matthew 13:10-11 The Mystery of the Kingdom of God is indeed the universal reconciliation of all without exception through the finished work of the cross. Traditional Christianity has failed to understand the Mystery of the Kingdom of God, the unsearchable Riches of Christ, because of the false doctrines of the Trinity and Hell. In past eternity before time and the ages began, Father God and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ conceived a Plan to have a huge family. They worked out every detail of their glorious Family Plan, which takes seven ages to its fulfilment at the creation of the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth. God’s one family will ultimately consist of Father God as the head of the family, His Son Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18), all of humanity as the adopted sons of God (Romans 8:15, Ephesians 1:5) and all angels as the created sons of God (Job 38:7). Below, we give an overview of God’s Glorious Plan of the Ages from the beginning of the ages through to the end of the ages.
1. The Pre-Adamic Age, the Age of Angels The First Age is from the creation of the universe to the creation of Adam, the age when the angels were the key focus of God’s dealings. Time Period: Unknown, but likely to be many millions or even billions of years in duration. Key Events: At some point before the creation of the heavens and the earth and before time began, God through His Son first created a host of multiple millions of holy angels, ‘sons of God’ (Job 38:6-7). God then created the universe with the earth instantaneously, which marked the beginning of time and the beginning of the ages. God created the earth in such a beautiful perfect condition, as a garden teeming with plant and animal life, that the angels responded with singing and shouts of joy. God put angels in charge of His beautifully created earth with Lucifer as the leading angel. At some point in the Pre-Adamic Age, Lucifer who became Satan convinced a third of the angels to join him in a rebellion against God to usurp the throne of God in heaven. These rebellious angels were severely punished by God for their sins and He violently cast them back down to earth. This judgement of God against the sinful fallen angels resulted in a total global cataclysmic destruction of the earth’s surface and a sudden extinction of all Pre-Adamic plant and animal life. Since then, God has chained Satan and his fallen angels in spiritual darkness and confined them to earth and its atmosphere awaiting their final judgement in the Lake of Fire. The abundant existence of fossils and vast deposits of fossil fuels throughout the world today bear witness to the past sudden extinction of Pre-Adamic plant and animal life resulting from God’s judgement against Satan and his fallen angels. Also, in addition to its long age, earth’s geology bears clear witness to massively cataclysmic upheavals of the earth’s surface in its past, such that even the seabeds were raised to form sedimentary mountains like the Himalayas. These also resulted from God’s global judgement of the sinful fallen angels. Star distances and many other modern scientific methods all show that the earth is many millions years old; hence the Pre-Adamic Age lasted for many millions of years. In Chapter 24, The Pre-Adamic Age - the Age of Angels, we give detailed answers to understand the scriptural, scientific and geological aspects of the truth of the Pre-Adamic Age.
The Second Age is from Adam to Noah’s flood, the age when men were the key focus of God’s dealings. Time Period: Approximately 1700 years in duration. Key Events: The Second Age began approximately six-ten thousand years ago when God renewed the earth’s surface and its heaven (the earth’s atmosphere). God created life as we know it today in six literal 24-hour days. He created Adam and Eve in His own image (Genesis 1:3-28). Adam and Eve sinned when Satan tempted them and, as a consequence, the judgement of God’s curse fell upon them and all of their descendants. Thus, sin and death entered the human world (Genesis 3:1-7, Romans 5:12). The wickedness of men multiplied, and some of the fallen angels had ungodly relationships with women. The Second Age ended approximately 4300 years ago with the destruction of Noah’s world by a global flood, but God saved Noah and his family (Genesis 6, Genesis 7). 3. The Age of Israel under the Mosaic Law The Third Age is from Noah’s flood to Jesus Christ’s First Coming, the age when Israel under the Mosaic Law was the key focus of God’s dealings. Time Period: Approximately 2300 years in duration. Key Events: The Third Age began with God’s promise to never flood the earth again. God blessed Noah and his sons and instructed them to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. God became displeased with men when they built the tower of Babel, a symbol of man’s pride, unity and power. Consequently, God caused disunity and confusion among men by giving them different languages and scattering them across the globe. The descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, formed the nations that re-populated the earth. God called Abraham and made a covenant with him known as the Abrahamic Covenant, a covenant of faith. God promised to make Abraham and his descendants a great and blessed nation, and also to bless all the families (nations) of the earth through the Seed of Abraham, who is Jesus Christ Himself. God chose the Israelites, who are the descendants of Abraham, as a special people above all peoples in order to fulfil the Abrahamic Covenant. He chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt and He made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai called the Mosaic Covenant. It is a conditional covenant based on God’s laws and commandments. The most important commandments in The Mosaic Covenant are the Ten Commandments. God punished the Israelites for breaking the Mosaic Covenant, and because of their sins and rebellion, God allowed foreign armies to take them captive and remove most of them from Israel. The time will come in the future when God will restore the Kingdom of Israel and He will enter into a New Covenant with His chosen people. Full details are given in Chapters 6 and 7, God’s Purpose for Israel – Part 1 and Part 2. The birth, life and death of Jesus Christ, who is the Seed of Abraham, was the most important event to occur in this age. The Third Age ended approximately 2000 years ago with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ who died for the sins of the whole world.
The Fourth Age is from the resurrection of Jesus Christ to His Second Coming, this present age when the Church under God’s Grace is the key focus of God’s dealings. Time Period: Unknown, but probably not many more than 2000 years in duration. Key Events: The Fourth Age began with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the most central event in God’s Plan to reconcile all things to God the Father. In this present Fourth Age, God is preparing His Church, His Bride, who are the called and chosen believers from both the nation of Israel and the Gentile nations. Many people claim to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour, but only a few are chosen to be God’s Elect. Many false prophets and false teachers come in Jesus Christ’s name, and they deceive many (Matthew 24:4-5). There are two important signs to watch out for before this present age comes to an end. Firstly, the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. Secondly, the earth will suffer a horrific judgement called the Great Tribulation. It will involve worldwide cataclysmic events and result in the earth’s population being decimated. The Fourth Age will finally come to an end at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ when Satan is bound and confined to a bottomless pit, which will be his prison for a thousand years, to prevent him from deceiving the nations during Christ’s Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:1-3).
The Fifth Age is the glorious reign of Jesus Christ on this earth with His resurrected Elect Bride, and the fulfilment of all the promises made to Israel and the Church. Time Period: Exactly 1000 years in duration. Key Events: The Fifth Age will begin with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the First Resurrection, which is the resurrection of God’s Elect, the Bride of Christ. The Millennial Kingdom of God will be a glorious thousand-year age when Jesus Christ will rule and reign with His Bride on earth. Christ and His Bride will rule over the mortal fleshly people who survive the Great Tribulation and their descendants born during the Millennial Age. The Millennial Kingdom of God will be a time of fulfilment of all of the promises made to Israel and the Church. It will be a time of great blessings for Israel and all nations, and the whole earth will become like the Garden of Eden and full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Full details are given in Chapter 11, The Millennial Age of the Kingdom of God. The Fifth Age will end with the release of Satan from his prison (Revelation 20:7).
The Sixth Age is the age of judgement and reconciliation of all resurrected unbelievers and all fallen angels. Time Period: Unknown, but likely to be of a short duration. Key Events: The Sixth Age will begin with the Second Resurrection when all of mankind, who have lived and died throughout the ages, will be resurrected from the dead with the exception of the Bride of Christ who has already been resurrected in the First Resurrection. Satan, who will be released from his prison at the end of the Millennial Age (the Fifth Age), will go out and deceive the great multitudes of resurrected unbelievers (the non-elect), represented as Gog and Magog, who rise in the Second Resurrection in their immortal yet still unsaved bodies. Satan will lead these deceived unbelievers in a rebellion against Jesus Christ and His Bride. This rebellion will be easily crushed by God’s devouring fire. God’s devouring fire will engulf the earth as a ball of fire and the whole earth will become a literal Lake of Fire of molten elements. Also, since God Himself is a consuming fire, this Lake of Fire will also be spiritual. It is in this Lake of Fire that Jesus Christ will judge, refine and reconcile to God the Father all resurrected unbelievers, and Satan and all fallen angels. The purpose of God’s Lake of Fire Judgement is to instil Godly fear, to soften and humble the fallen, sinful, hardened hearts of unbelievers and fallen angels. It will prepare them to freely and thankfully accept the gift of God’s salvation through repentance and God given faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Ultimately, in God’s time and His order, everyone without exception will believe and be reconciled to God because Jesus Christ died to forgive the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2, Luke 23:34). Jesus Christ has been working throughout the past three ages and He will continue His work throughout this age and during the next two ages until the biblical truth of Universal Reconciliation is fully realised and accomplished. Full details of the Sixth Age are given in Chapters 12 and 13, The Lake of Fire Judgement Age – Part 1 and Part 2.
The Seventh Age is the Eternal Age of the Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth. It will begin when Jesus Christ has reconciled to God the Father all things in heaven and all things on earth having made peace through His blood shed on the cross. Time Period: For Eternity Key Events: Once Jesus Christ has reconciled all things to God the Father, the Holy City, New Jerusalem will descend onto the refined, cleansed and renewed earth with its refined, cleansed and renewed atmosphere, referred to in the Bible as the New Heaven and the New Earth (Revelation 21:2). Jesus Christ will deliver the Eternal Kingdom of the New Heaven and the New Earth to God the Father, and Father God Himself will come down to earth to dwell with men. Everyone will enter the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth where there will be no more death, no more pain, no more sorrow and no more curse, and Father God will be all in all. Thus, Jesus will bring to completion Father God’s Family Plan of the Ages for the Universal Reconciliation of all things (1 Corinthians 15:24, 28, Colossians 1:15-20, Revelation 21:1-6). God’s one family will ultimately consist of Father God as the head of the family, His Son Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18), all of humanity as the adopted sons of God (Romans 8:15, Ephesians 1:5) and all angels as the created sons of God (Job 38:7). As 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him”. We love God because He first loved us, and He loves the whole world. The earth will become the headquarters and governing planet of the universe in God’s Eternal Kingdom. Jesus Christ will begin the Seventh Age and it will never end, as it will last for eternity. Truly, it will be the glorious Eternal Sabbath Rest from all sin, all ungodliness and all unrighteousness for all of God’s creation. Full details of the Seventh Age are given in Chapter 14, The Eternal Age of the Kingdom of God. Please see the following ‘Diagrammatic Overview of the Time Periods of the Seven Ages’ in God’s Plan for All. Note, in these ‘Time Periods’, the age of the earth from Adam of approximately 6000 years is based on the Hebrew Masoretic text. Some scholars, using the Septuagint, arrive at an age of the earth from Adam of approximately 7500 years. However, this time difference of 1500 years does not affect our understanding of God’s Plan of the Ages in any way. Diagrammatic Overview of the Time Periods of the Seven Ages
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Part II Complete and Comprehensive Answers to Why, When, & How the Doctrine of Hell crept into Christianity Part III Additional Important Information for Understanding God's Plan for All |
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God's Plan for All |
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