CHAPTER 30
CONCLUSION
The following is a short summary of what has been covered in this book regarding time and the creations contained within time, including locations:
1. God has always existed in an "eternal now" prior to and apart from time and location.
2. God simultaneously created time, the original universe and heaven, which became the infrastructure into which souled creatures could fit.
3. God created the first sentient (souled) beings, the angels, who initially occupied heaven and the universe. Then God created the earth as a home planet for the angels. This original earth included the original plant and animal life.
4. After a very long time, Satan revolted against God, and 1/3 of all angels joined with Satan. War broke out in heaven and in the universe. Satan and his fallen angels lost.
5. Earth was shut down by extinguishing its sun resulting in the earth being frozen and encased in ice which formed glaciers; all plant and animal life died (the “extinction event”), and earth remained a frozen dark planet for probably a very long time.
6. The Lake of Fire was created as a new location for Satan and his fallen angels as their eternal prison.
7. Satan and his angels appealed their sentence to God. God agreed to allow Satan to attempt to prove his accusations against God, so the appeal trial phase of time started.
8. God determined to create mankind to resolve the appeal of Satan. He restored the original universe including planet earth and prepared it for the creation of man including a restored sun, and entirely new plant and animal life.
9. After the restored universe and earth were prepared, one man was created and put on the earth into a perfect environment called the Garden of Eden. Later God created one woman using the DNA taken from that man.
10. Satan enticed the woman and man to sin in revolt against God’s will. After their fall, the man and woman were removed from the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden, then the woman's womb was made active for child-bearing and the couple propagated outside of the Garden in a fallen state and in an imperfect and cursed environment. God offered the two fallen humans salvation through a future Messiah, which they accepted.
11. God segmented human history into Ages to demonstrate several different aspects of His love and fairness during the appeal trial of Satan. Adam and Eve started the first human Age, the Age of the Patriarchs. Satan devised new plans to prove his case against God.
12. About 1500 years after the Garden of Eden was closed down the earth experienced a universal flood. That flood eliminated the half-angel humans and also changed the earth in several significant ways.
13. God later re-sequenced the DNA of one man called Abraham, and one woman called Sarah, creating a new race called the Jews.
14. The Jewish descendants eventually entered a land promised to them, beginning the Age of Israel. God made a covenant with the Jews in the form of the Old Testament.
15. At the proper time, the promised Messiah Jesus Christ became a substitute sacrifice for mankind's sins, making salvation a reality and allowing God to offer expanded grace to mankind.
16. The Church Age began shortly afterward. A New Covenant to the Church was provided which emphasized expanded grace from God, changing how God would interface with mankind after the Messiah removed the sin issue.
BEYOND THE CHURCH AGE: FUTURE TIME:
17. The next major change to the earth will occur after the Church is removed by the Rapture of the Church. The Tribulation will occur and the earth will be severely damaged during a seven year period. Then Jesus Christ will return to earth at the Second Advent.
18. Next in sequence the Millennium will begin and Jesus Christ will rule the earth for 1000 years, and the current earth will be healed by Him. The earth will undergo a major restoration before the Millennial Age begins, as the earth will be restored to a perfect environment similar to the Garden of Eden, then mankind will continue on the same earth for a final 1000 years of human history.
19. After the Millennium is over, the appeal trial of Satan is complete, and all mankind is taken off the earth. Then the current universe and all in it will be unzipped at the atom level and destroyed. Nothing will remain of the current earth and universe. History will be complete at this point.
20. All unsaved mankind and fallen angels will be put into the Lake of Fire which was created just after the fall of Satan. These two sets of beings will spend eternity (unending future time) in the Lake of Fire because they chose to do so when they rejected God during their natural lives.
21. A new eternal universe will be created at the beginning of the Eternal State, and a new heaven (the New Jerusalem) will become part of it. This is the second universe. God, elect angels, and saved mankind will all live together in this new combined heaven/universe forever.
22. Time will continue without end during eternity as every angel and every human who ever lived will exist in two very different states of existence, either with God or apart from Him.
We have seen how there could be several ways to divide the locations God will have provided during time. The ones which can be most easily separated into distinct entities throughout the course of time are as follows, in order of their creation:
The original universe (prepared for angels)
Heaven (simultaneous creation along with the universe)
Earth as a home for the angels
The Lake of Fire (created after the fall of Satan)
The renovated universe and earth (prepared for humans)
Hades (four compartments: two for humans, two for fallen angels)
The future eternal universe, including the new earth and eternal heaven inside the New Jerusalem
To sum up time and the various creations and locations God will have provided during time, it will have included two creations of souled beings, two creations of separate universes plus one restoration, three creations of plant and animal species plus one partial re-creation of a separate race of humans. God created one set of plants and animals for the angels, one set for man during the first part of his time on earth, will renovate plant and animal life late in the Ages (Millennium) and will create another set for the Eternal State. As we have seen in this book, the history of time and locations is not one continuous sequence of events in the same universe with only humans. Rather, God's structure of time and locations as revealed in the Bible is complex, fascinating, and awe-inspiring.
It is time.....to wrap up this discussion. The Bible is the only definitive source of information about time and the universe. There are many books which have sought to outline the history of the universe, or define time, or even try to explain why we are here. They all fall way short because they ignore what God says, since only He knows the Truth. Only God truly understands time, and He has revealed a tiny portion of what He knows to us through His Word, the Bible.
God created time, He is not inside of it. God controls time, He is not defined by it. God knows what time it is, and He is never late. God provides everything in due time, in the proper season, in the correct location, on time, every time, as proof of His love and fairness toward His souled creatures. But those creatures must choose whether to accept what God has done for them, or to try to make their own way apart from Him. For Satan and his fallen angels, they have made their choices and their future is locked in. For humans, each one is on earth during time to make a simple choice, to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and have eternal life, or to reject Him and accept the consequences of an eternity apart from God. All of time and locations comes down to one simple choice for each souled creature, namely to use their own free will to choose for or against God.
When human history is complete, all souled creatures will be placed into the eternal structure of time and location which they individually chose. It is a sad reality that a majority will have chosen against God, but that is why God is loving and fair to place them into the Lake of Fire, along with Satan and fallen angels, because each souled creature in all of history, both angelic history and human history, will have chosen their eternal location.
Many people ask what they believe is the "ultimate question" which has been stated as "Why are we here?" The answer is quite simple, even though most miss it. We are here to make choices, for or against God. And that is why God has structured time and location the way He did, to set up various conditions under which angels and then man would make choices either for God and His plan, or to reject God and His plan. God allows each one to use their own free will to choose for or against Him and make that ultimate choice of all time.
THERE IS NO END....OF TIME