GOD'S PLAN OF THE AGES

ACTS 15:18

                                                                                                                          SATAN LOOSED
       ABRAM      490
                           YEARS                                                                    SECOND       G.W.T.
ADAM                PROPHECY                           RAPTURE                COMING       JUDGMENT
                                           CROSS                                                                           N. H.
                                                                                                                                   N. E.
                                                CHURCH AGE               TRIBULATION             MILLENIUM

1____2______3________4__________5_________6_____7______8________9________

1.- Adam was created. Genesis Chapter 2.

2.- Abraham - Genesis Chapter 12. The Jewish Nation was formed from the loins of Abraham. The story of God's dealings with the Jewish Nation is told in the Old Testament.

3.- The prophecy of 490 years. Daniel 9:24 - 27. The referred to command was given as recorded in Nehemiah chapter 2. The command was prophecied in Daniel 9:24 - 27. Seventy weeks of years (490 years ) would cover the years God would deal with His people, the Jews. After the command, God would deal with the Jews for sixty nine weeks of years ( 483 years ) and then the Messiah would come. That Messiah was Jesus Christ.

4. - The Cross of Calvary. Matthew 27:33-61, 28:1- 10. Jesus died in fulfilment of scores of prophecies as recorded in the Old Testament. Cf. Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7 :14; 9:6,7; Micah 5:2; Psalm 22.

5.- The Church Age or the Age of Grace or the Age of the Great Parenthesis. During His Earthly ministry, Jesus had built His Church. Matthew 16:17,18. Now the church was commissioned to take the good news of the Gospel to the whole world and every individual. Cf. Acts 15:14 - 17; Matthew 28:18-20. Revelation chapter two and three gives a panoramic view of the church age. The church age is an indeterminate period of time. Only God knows when it will end.

6. - The Rapture of the Saints. I Thessalonians 4:13 - 18. Jesus will come for the saints, the saved. They will suddenly disappear from the earth. This is the blessed hope that Christians have expected and longed for throughout the Church Age.

7. - The Tribulation Period. It immediately begins with the Rapture. It will be for seven years. This is the seventieth week of the prophecy that Daniel recorded in Daniel 9:24 - 27. There has been a parenthetical period between the end of the sixty nine weeks before the cross and the beginning of the seventieth week. Now God is going to finish dealing with the Jew. He loves the Jew. They are the apple of His eye. They are His chosen people. They have rejected Him but He still longs for their worship and love. Revelation chapters four through nineteen tell us much of what God is going to do as He deals with the Jew. At the end of this period, the Jew will accept Him as their Messiah. Isaiah, chapter 12.

8. - Jesus comes back to Earth in Power with His Saints at the close of the Tribulation. Revelation 19:11-16. He comes as the Conquering King, riding on a beautiful white horse. He comes to put down all rebellion, to establish His Kingdom on Earth, and to reign for a thousand years. Revelation 20:4 - 6.It will be a golden era. Satan will be chained in Hell during this period. Revelation 20:2,3,6-10.

9. - Satan is loosed and defeated at the close of the Millenium. Revelation 20:7,10. The Great White Throne Judgment occurs. Revelation 20:11 - 15. The New Heavens and the New Earth are revealed. Revelation chapters 21 and 23.