CHAPTER 1
THE TIMELINE OF TIME
The following is an outline of time and the creations contained within time, including all the locations God will use during the course of history. All information is in summary form in this timeline, therefore the conclusions are not supported at this point, but will be supported throughout the remaining chapters. The purpose of inserting a timeline here is to enable the reader to orient to where we are headed in this book, since these are complicated subjects. Therefore each of these timeline items are in summary form and will be discussed in much greater detail in later chapters:
1. Before anything was created, and before time or location existed, God existed in an "eternal now" prior to and apart from time and location. God does not need time or location, so neither existed before God created them. As such time did not "pass" during the eternal now before God created time. There simply was no time until God created it. Everything to God was in the present, all at once.
2. God determined to create souled creatures, but first He needed an infrastructure in which they could live since they could not exist in God's "eternal now" apart from time and location. Therefore when souled creatures were about to be created, both time and location were required first, and God created time, the original universe, and heaven. These became the infrastructure in which souled creatures could exist.
3. After God created both time and the original universe He created the first sentient (souled) beings, the angels. Angels were created once there was a structure consisting of time and location in which they could exist. The angels occupied heaven and the universe, and the earth was created for them as their home planet. Earth was originally provided as a paradise location with perfect environment as a source of pleasure, sort of a theme park for the societal structure of the angels. The over-sized animals (dinosaurs) on earth at that time could not harm angels and were meant for their enjoyment along with the original plant life.
4. At some point in 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 likely a very long time. The earth was essentially put into mothballs. This status probably continued for a very long time.
6. After the fallen angels lost the angelic war another location was created, which was the Lake of Fire. This new location was created to be the eternal prison for Satan and his fallen angels. Satan and his fallen angels were sentenced to spend eternal time in this newly created location.
7. Satan and his angels were not immediately put into the Lake of Fire due to Satan appealing his sentence to God. God agreed to allow Satan to appeal his sentence and prove his case, so the appeal trial phase of time started. God determined to create mankind to resolve the appeal of Satan. Fallen angels moved their societal structure in its fallen state to a new, undisclosed location in the universe since earth was no longer open to them.
8. After a period of time elapsed, the appeal trial of Satan began. God restored the original universe including planet earth and prepared it for the creation of man. God therefore restored (not created) the universe and earth for this new category of souled beings to occupy. This restoration of the earth in six days is the story of Genesis 1:2-16 and included an entirely new set of plants and animal life, since none of the original species were continued. It also included a restored sun, since the old sun had been extinguished after the fall of Satan.
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. The appeal trial of Satan began, and over a period of time Satan worked at enticing the humans to sin. After some time he lured the woman into sin first, then the man also joined her in sin as a 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 environment.
11. Since the time the Garden of Eden was shut down mankind has been living out human history under various Ages of time. God has segmented human history into Ages to demonstrate several different aspects of His love and fairness during the appeal trial of Satan in order to disprove the appeal accusations made by Satan against God. Adam and Eve started the first human Age, the Age of the Patriarchs.
12. Approximately 1500 years after the Garden of Eden was closed down the earth experienced a universal flood. That flood changed the earth in several significant ways.
13. God later created a new race from one man called Abraham, and one woman called Sarah, creating a new race called the Jews.
14. The Jewish descendants would eventually enter a land promised to them, beginning the Age of Israel, which was the second Age of time. God made a covenant with the Jews in the form of the Old Testament.
15. About 1400 years after the Jews became a new race the promised Messiah Jesus Christ was sent to be a substitute sacrifice for the sins of mankind, 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, changing how God would interface with mankind after the Messiah had removed the sin issue. This is the current Age in the timeline of time & history.
17. The next major change to the earth will occur after the Church is removed. Then the Great Tribulation will occur. It will last for seven years and the earth will be severely damaged.
18. Next in sequence the Millennium will begin and Jesus Christ will rule the earth, and the current earth and universe will be healed by Him. The current 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 that 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.
21. A new eternal universe will be created at the beginning of the Eternal State, and a new heaven 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 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.
To sum up the overview of time, and looking forward in time, as time plays out it will have included two creations of sentient souled beings, two creations of separate universes, two restorations of the first universe, and four creations of plant and animal species. 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 see, the history of time and locations is not simply one continuous sequence of events in the same universe with only humans, but rather it is much more complex.
With this timeline overview in mind as a means of orienting to the subject, let us unravel the details and mysteries of time and the universe starting at the beginning. The beginning of time, that is. We cannot begin at the beginning of God since He has no beginning, and lives outside of time. Eternal now, remember?