God’s Plan Throughout History

Biblical Timeline of God’s Plan

‍ ‍Last time, we talked about God’s plan and how it was implemented. Today, let’s look at this in more detail and see how it progressed through history. While the overarching plan of Christ to pay for the sin of mankind was always in play, how God interacted with mankind did change over time so that his plan could get enacted as he desired. This can be divided into seven different epochs of time. Within each of these, God provided a Standard by which mankind was to live and relate to God and which the Holy Spirit used as a means to restrict sin and institute consequences. The standards of each epoch did not go away with time but were added to as the Holy Spirit used each to help restrain evil.

‍1.      Innocence: From Creation to the Fall of Mankind. The standard here was obedience. As long as Adam and Eve (and their descendants; Gn 1:28) ate of the Tree of Life and did not disobey by eating from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, their state of sinlessness would survive. Yet, they disobeyed before any offspring were born, so they were removed from the Garden of Eden and the Age of Innocence ended. They now knew what sin was and experienced its consequence—a separation (not abandonment) of themselves from God.

‍ ‍2.      Conscience: From the time of the Fall of Mankind to the Worldwide Flood. The standard here was one’s own conscience which the Holy Spirit attempted to work through to keep them in line with God’s vision. Yet, the ideas and thoughts of man seemed to allow more and more wickedness to dominate them (Gn 6:5). Satan began to try and manipulate mankind’s DNA and make Adam’s race into his own image. Therefore, God worked through Noah, a non-contaminated bloodline and one who served him (Gn 6:9). God sent a worldwide flood to thwart Satan’s plan.

‍ ‍3.      Human Government: From the Worldwide Flood to the Call of Abraham. The standard used here was human government and its morality laws. After Noah and his family left the ark, God instituted rules for mankind to live by and human government to restrict the wickedness of mankind’s heart (Gn 9:1-7). The Holy Spirit would work through the laws of human government to restrict wickedness through consequences which would be implemented by governmental justice.

‍ ‍4.      Patriarchs: From the Call of Abraham to the Law given at Mt. Sinai. God now began to use specified humans to be examples for mankind to follow. The standard used here was the promises God gave. God’s blessings on these individuals should be a testimony to how God wanted to bestow such things on others if they would follow him. These included: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), Jacob’s twelve sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin), Joseph’s sons (Manasseh and Ephraim) who became tribes of Israel, and Moses through the lineage of Levi. While these individuals were not perfect people, God did bless them and made them witnesses of his lovingkindness toward those who follow him.

‍ ‍5.      Law: From the Law Given at Mt. Sinai to the giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The standard during this time was the Law of Moses given by God to the Israelites at Sinai. These laws governed how Israel would live in relationship to each other and to God himself. Israel was to be a testimony to the rest of the world to help mankind see the seriousness of disobedience and that they could never bridge the gap that had occurred between mankind and God. The sacrifices represented what was needed to restore their relationship with God and to help them realize they could never achieve this on their own merit. It would be their coming Messiah who would fulfill and achieve what the sacrifices they made could not.

‍ ‍6.      Grace: From the Giving of the Holy Spirit to the Millennial Kingdom. Jesus Christ became the standard. His death on the cross paid the debt that the Law required of all mankind. Faith in what Christ did for us became the salvation that mankind was seeking. He then imparts his grace—his unmerited favor—to us. Our debt is paid; God declares us righteous making us justified before him because of the payment Christ did for us. Christ achieved for us what we could never achieve for ourselves.

‍ ‍7.      Kingdom: From the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom to Eternity. Christ fulfills the promise to be not only the reigning king for Israel, but for the entire world. Only the righteous enter but those born during this time must also learn to accept Christ, now their king, as their personal savior, just as we must do today. At the end of this time, sin and Satan will be forever banished and all those who have accepted Christ as their savior and king will enter eternity with sin forever banished from their lives.

‍ ‍Throughout each of these epochs of history, the crimson thread of Christ’s redemptive power is observable: God’s promise to Adam and Eve of One to Come who would defeat Satan who had deceived them into sinning against him, God’s work through Noah and his family to preserve what he had started with his work and salvation of mankind, God’s promises to the patriarchs of the Messiah, the One to Come, who would come through their descendants, God’s giving of his Law to the Israelites so they could understand they cannot patch the rift between themselves and God on their own merit but pointed toward their coming Messiah and what he would achieve for them, God sending Jesus Christ as his only Son who would pay the debt holy justice required to repair the broken relationship between mankind and God, and then to fulfill all the prophecy of Christ returning to become the King of kings and Lord of lords to rule the Earth and all the universe for eternity.

‍ ‍As you can see, this was quite the plan and required a lot of finesse to create the right circumstances for all these things to fall into place so his promises could be fulfilled at the right time and in the right manner. Now the question is, do you want to be part of his plan? He’s created the way. Now, all you have to do is accept what he has already done for you by faith. I hope you take that step and come along next time as we explore his plan in even further detail.

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