A Chronological Synopsis of the Entire Bible
Pre Human History from the Perspective of God’s Word:
God Creates the Universe
God creates the heavens (God’s dwelling place and the physical universe) and the earth (Gen. 1:1). God illumines the universe with the light of His own glory [implied, Gen. 1:2; Isa. 45:18; Rev. 21:23; 22:5]. The earth is formless and void (Gen. 1:2).
God creates spirit-beings called “angels” (including Lucifer, the highest angel, who is full of wisdom and perfect in beauty) (Ezek. 28:12-14). The universe is empty at this point [implied, Gen. 1:14-19] except for God’s dwelling place, the angels, and the formless-void earth.
Sin Enters the Universe
Lucifer falls into sin (the sin of pride and subsequent rebellion against God) (Isa. 14:13-14; Ezek. 28:15-18).
One-third of heaven’s angels follow Lucifer’s rebellion against God (Rev. 12:4; II Peter 2:4; Jude 6); the other two-thirds—including Gabriel (Luke 1:19) and Michael (Rev. 12:7)—remain loyal to God.
God Judges Lucifer’s Sin
God terminates His illumination of the universe [implied], and darkness (which symbolizes the presence of sin in God’s universe for the first time) covers the face of the earth (Gen. 1:2; Isa. 45:18).
God changes Lucifer’s name to Satan (which means “adversary”). Heaven’s rebellious, fallen angels hereafter are called “demons.”
God removes Satan from his position of privilege and casts him out of heaven to the earth (Ezek. 28:15-17). Satan still has access to God—access which he (Satan) uses to accuse believers (even today) (Job 1 – 2; Rev. 12:10)—until God shuts him out of heaven permanently at the mid-point of the Tribulation period (or immediately after) (Rev. 12:7-17). God also casts the rebellious angels (demons) out of heaven to the earth.
God confines some of the rebellious angels (demons) in a place known as the “Abyss.” The Abyss probably is located in the magma chambers of the earth (Rev. 9:1-11) and is the temporary prison for at least some of the demons (II Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 9:1-11). (The Lord Himself casts many demons into the Abyss during His earthly ministry. see Luke 8:30-33)
God also creates a place in His universe called “Hades” (“Sheol” in the Old Testament). Hades has two compartments (Luke 16:19-31)—Gehenna and Paradise. Gehenna is the temporary abode of the souls of all unbelievers from all Ages until the time of the Second Resurrection immediately prior to the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). Paradise, on the other hand, is the temporary abode of the souls of Old Testament believers until the resurrection of Christ. [At the resurrection of Christ—the event which consummates Christ’s victory over sin and death—the souls of all Old Testament believers are moved out of Hades’ Paradise compartment into the presence of God. Today, the soul of a believer goes directly into the presence of Christ at the instant of that believer’s physical death (II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23).]
God prepares a place in His universe called the “Lake of Fire,” or “Hell,” which will be the place of eternal torment for Satan and the angels (demons) who followed him in his rebellion (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10). It will also be the place of eternal torment for the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and all unbelievers who ever live on planet Earth (Rev. 19:20; 20:10-15).
Human History from the Perspective of God’s Word:
God Prepares the Earth for Human Habitation
(God’s Six Days of Work and One Day of Rest)
God once again illumines the universe, including the surface of the earth, and God puts the earth into rotation on its axis (Gen. 1:3-5). [on the first day]
God creates the earth’s atmosphere (Gen. 1:6-8). [on the second day]
God arranges the oceans and the dry land on the earth, and God brings forth vegetation on the earth (Gen. 1:9-13). [on the third day]
God creates the sun, the moon, and the stars; God puts the earth into orbit around the sun, and God puts the moon into orbit around the earth (Genesis 1:14-19). [on the fourth day]
God creates marine life and birds (Gen. 1:20-23). [on the fifth day]
God creates animal life and reptiles (Gen. 1:24-25). [on the sixth day]
God Creates Man in His (God’s) Own Image—on the Sixth Day
God creates Adam (out of dust from the ground) (Gen. 1:26-30; 2:7; Ps. 103:14).
God prepares the Garden of Eden to be Adam’s abode on earth (Gen. 2:8-10).
God places Adam in the Garden of Eden (located in the Tigres-Euphrates valley) (Gen. 2:8-15).
God forbids Adam from eating the fruit of one tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—on penalty of death for disobedience (Gen. 2:15-17). [Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible, p. 5]
God brings the animals and birds to Adam; Adam names each (Gen. 2:19,20).
God creates Eve (out of one of Adam’s ribs) to be a helper suitable for Adam (Gen. 1:26-30; 2:18-25).
Either God or Adam explains God’s one prohibition to Eve immediately after her creation (implied, Gen. 3:1-5).
God gives Adam and Eve several responsibilities: (1) to propagate the earth; (2) to subdue the earth for man; (3) to have dominion over the fish, birds, and animals; and (4) to care for the garden and to eat its fruits and herbs (Gen. 1:28-30; 2:15-17). [Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible, p. 5]
God Rests—on the Seventh Day
His creation now complete, God rests (Gen. 2:1-3).
Sin Enters into Mankind
Satan, residing in and speaking through a serpent, deceives Eve. Eve eats fruit from the forbidden tree—in direct disobedience to God’s one prohibition. At Eve’s urging, Adam also eats from the tree, also in direct disobedience to God. Immediately, both receive a conscience—a knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:1-7,13,22). Satan begins his reign as “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) in which he (1) tempts all men to disobedience (Gen. 3:4); (2) tempts Christ Himself (Matt. 4:1-11); (3) attempts to lead all men away from God (I Peter 5:8); (4) performs false miracles (II Thess. 2:9); (5) slanders believers (Job 1:9-11); (6) opposes believers (Zech. 3:1); (7) engages in spiritual battle with believers (Eph. 6:12); and (8) blinds the minds of unbelievers (II Cor. 4:3-4). [The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, Condensed Encyclopedia of Topics and Texts, p. 124]
The question of evil in the world: Because evil has been so pervasive throughout human history, unregenerate man over the millennia has had difficulty believing that God is a loving God. Yet for those who read and embrace God’s Word, the source of evil is clearly revealed and the problem of evil is explained.
To be sure, God throughout the Bible is portrayed as an all-loving (indeed perfectly loving) God, who is also holy and just. According to the Bible, God’s two highest forms of creation—angels and humans—have been created with a free will. God did not, in the case of angels, and does not, in the case of humans, coerce these two groups to want Him, love Him, or worship Him. Instead, He gives them freedom of choice. Angels were created before humans. Sometime after his creation Lucifer (the highest-ranking angel) chose to rebel against God—and sin entered the universe for the first time. Because Lucifer (now called “Satan”) and one-third of heaven’s angels (now called fallen angels, or “demons”) throughout human history have stood in opposition to God and God’s purposes for man, it is clear from Scripture that Satan—whose goal is to deceive, devour, and destroy as much of mankind as possible—is the primary architect and cause of evil on earth today. God, in His permissive will for creation, has allowed Satan extensive latitude on earth and in heaven, including his battle with mankind. Eventually, Satan will be prohibited from deceiving or destroying mankind (Rev. 20:1-3)—being bound in the Abyss—when Jesus Christ returns to the earth to reign over His creation for 1,000 years. Though God will release Satan from his imprisonment after the 1,000 years has ended in order to lead on final rebellion and deception, Satan’s rebellion will nevertheless be defeated by Christ, and Christ will cast Satan into the Lake of Fire (Hell) for eternity.
Eve, because she succumbed to the deception of Satan, rather than clinging to God’s instruction, suffered the consequences of her disobedience—including spiritual separation from God and a new propensity (because of her new knowledge of evil) toward self-centeredness, sin, and evil. Adam, because he listened to his wife, rather than obeying God’s instruction, likewise suffered the same consequences. Scripture makes it clear that each of Adam and Eve’s progeny (i.e., every human ever conceived or born) inherits a sin nature (Ps. 51:5), including the propensity to commit sin. Indeed, Satan and his demons work both frontally and subtly to tempt every man and woman to sin. Scripture also makes it clear that God has allowed Satan to be the “god of this world” for a season of time. One day in the future—when Christ returns to the earth to put every enemy under his foot—Satan will have no power over the earth. In the meantime, all of mankind is confronted head-on with “the world, the flesh, and the devil”—and evil is a natural consequence of this Age.
In conclusion, evil exists in the world today, not because of God, but because of (1) man’s inherent sin nature which, at times and at its worst, breeds “man’s inhumanity against man” and (2) Satan’s efforts to deceive, devour, and destroy as many persons as possible. Indeed, the evil which man sees and experiences on earth today is meant to be a perpetual reminder from God of both the fall of Satan and the fall of man. Unfortunately, because much of mankind has never read the Bible (and many would not believe it or accept it even if they had), unregenerate man continues to stumble over the question of evil in the world.
God Judges Adam and Eve’s Sin
God pronounces His judgments (the so-called Adamic Covenant, which conditions the life of fallen man and which will remain in effect until the Millennial Kingdom) upon Adam and Eve for their sin—specifically, their disobedience to His one prohibition (Gen. 3:14-19). The judgment is as follows:
(1) The changed state of the serpent: The serpent, Satan’s tool, is cursed and becomes a graphic warning of the effects of sin—being changed from the most beautiful and subtle of creatures (before Adam and Eve’s fall) to a loathsome reptile;
(2) The changed state of the woman, in three particulars: (a) multiplied conception; (b) greatly increased pain in the birthing process; and (c) the headship of the man. Sin’s disorder makes necessary a headship; it is henceforth vested in the man;
(3) The light occupation of Eden changed to burdensome labor, because of the earth being cursed with sin;
(4) The inevitable sorrow of life; and
(5) The brevity of life and the tragic certainty of physical death to Adam and all of his descendants. [Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible, p. 7]
God promises to send One from the woman’s seed who, at the appointed time, will crush Satan (Gen. 3:15). God also states that those who reject the Redeemer will be at enmity with those who receive Him (Gen. 3:15).
God, in His first act of grace toward sinful man, makes garments of animal skin to clothe Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21).
God removes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and God stations angels at the Garden to prevent man from ever again returning to it and partaking of the tree of life in his fallen condition (Gen. 3:22-24).
The Earth Begins to Become Populated
Adam and Eve give birth to Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:1-2).
God instructs the first human family to offer (in anticipation of God’s promised Redeemer) an animal blood-sacrifice to God to make atonement for personal sin [implied, Gen. 4:3-5,26]. Personal sin is revealed to the early human family by way of the conscience—the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:5,22; Romans 1:18-20).
Cain and Abel give offerings to God; Abel’s is acceptable to God (done by faith—Heb. 11:4; Gen. 4:4-5), while Cain’s is not acceptable (done apart from faith) (Gen. 4:3-5).
Cain, jealous of his brother’s favor with God, kills Abel (Gen. 4:5-8).
God judges Cain (Gen. 4:9-15); Cain departs from the presence of the Lord and settles in the land of Nod (east of Eden) (Gen. 4:9-16).
Adam and Eve give birth to another son, Seth, who takes Abel’s place in the Godly line (Gen. 4:25-26).
Adam and Eve have numerous other children (Gen. 5:4); these children intermarry [implied, Gen. 4:17] and begin to populate the earth in the Tigres-Euphrates area (Gen. 5:1-32). Seth propagates the Godly line; Cain propagates the ungodly line.
Those in the Godly line begin to call upon the name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26)—i.e., they (1) offer animal sacrifices to God to make atonement for personal sin (Gen 8:20-22); (2) worship God as Creator (implied, Rom. 1:18-20); and (3) through faith in the promised Redeemer, ask God to meet their spiritual and physical needs (Ps. 50:15).
Mankind Falls Away from God
After an unspecified period of time, the Godly line increasingly begins to marry into the ungodly line, which it turn causes an infiltration of evil and decadence into the Godly line (Gen. 6:1-6; II Cor. 6:14-18).
Approximately 1500 years after the creation of Adam, God—because of mankind’s refusal to acknowledge Him as Creator and because of its exceeding wickedness despite the God-given check of a human conscience (and, hence, a clear awareness of the difference between good and evil—Gen. 3:7; Rom. 1:18-20)—decides to judge His entire population, except for one righteous man and his family, through the means of a worldwide flood (Gen. 6:5-8,11-12,17).
God instructs the one righteous man, Noah, to build a large ark and to fill it with a male and female of every kind of bird, animal, and reptile (including seven pairs of every “clean” animal and bird) (Gen. 6:13-22).
Noah, after 120 years, completes the ark and loads it as instructed. God brings the birds, animals, and reptiles to Noah (Gen. 6:3; 7:1-16).
God Judges Mankind’s Wickedness
God not only causes it to rain for forty days and forty nights, but He also causes massive fissures in the earth’s mid-ocean crust (implied)—openings which in turn rush subterranean waters to an elevation (after 150 days) of at least fifteen cubits (approximately twenty-five feet) above the highest peak on earth. All of mankind is drowned, except the eight persons in the ark: Noah, his wife, their three sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth), and the wives of the three sons (Gen. 7:11,17-24). In addition, all animals, reptiles, and birds are drowned except those in the ark. [Note: The Ark is a word-picture of the present-day Christian’s position in Jesus Christ. The believer is “in the Ark”—i.e., safe from all future judgments because he, in God’s reckoning, is “in Christ” (Eph. 1:3-14).]
God causes the flood waters to recede to the levels witnessed today, and Noah empties the Ark (which has come to rest on the mountains of Ararat approximately 500 miles north northwest of Eden) (Gen. 8:1-19).
Noah builds an altar to the Lord and, in faith, offers sacrifices to the Lord (from the “clean” animals in the ark), who has kept His promises to Noah (Gen. 8:20-22).
God blesses Noah and his sons, and God for the first time permits man to eat every moving thing that is alive (i.e., birds, fish, and animals), the one prohibition being that man is not to eat the blood of animals (Gen. 9:1-4).
God institutes capital punishment for murder (Gen. 9:5,6).
God covenants with Noah never again to judge mankind by means of a universal flood (Gen. 9:11-13).
The Earth Begins to Become Repopulated
Noah’s three sons through their respective wives begin to repopulate the earth (Gen. 10:1-32).
[Note: Once the earth becomes substantially repopulated, God (over the next 500 to 1,000 years) gradually shortens the life-span of humans from 700-800 years to the current span of 70-80 years. (In the Millennial Kingdom, God once again will allow life-spans of 700-800 years—Isa. 65:20).]
Mankind Again Falls Away from God
Approximately 100 years after the Flood, the post-Flood human family (estimated by this writer to be 10,000 in number at this point) has migrated from the mountains of Ararat to Babel in the fertile Tigres-Euphrates plain. Most of the post-Flood human family again rejects their Creator and attempts, at Babel, to build a counterfeit religious system (whose place of worship is a massive tower rather than an altar) and to make a name for themselves—arrogant beliefs which, no doubt, were spawned in man’s mind by Satan himself (Gen. 11:1-4).
God Again Judges Mankind’s Wickedness
God judges mankind’s rebellion at Babel in a two-fold way: (1) He limits mankind’s ability to communicate with one another by supernaturally and instantly causing humans to begin speaking in a number of different languages (heretofore, mankind has spoken only one language); and (2) He supernaturally (and perhaps instantly) (see John. 6:21; Acts 8:39-40; Gen. 2:15) moves most of mankind out of the Tigres-Euphrates corridor and into a 1,000 to 1,200-mile radius of the future Jerusalem (Gen. 11:5-9). The descendants of Japheth settle largely to the north of future Jerusalem; the descendants of Shem settle largely to the east of future Jerusalem; and the descendants of Ham settle largely to the south of future Jerusalem. Hence, through these two judgments, God sees to it that mankind will have great difficulty in ever again uniting en masse to exalt itself above God. It is also likely at this time that God—by way of the gene pool which we now know exists in every human—begins to bring forth, through the birthing process, the different “races” (human families) on the earth. In addition, men apparently begin to migrate to other parts of the world after this initial judgment and dispersal.
Nimrod Establishes Mankind’s First Empire
Sometime (perhaps 200 years) after God’s dispersal of mankind from Babel, Nimrod—a grandson of Ham—migrates back to Babel, consolidates his power throughout Babylonia, and becomes the world’s first “emperor” (Gen. 10:8-12). Nimrod, in turn, represents the first foreshadow of the End-Times Antichrist; and Nimrod’s empire represents the first forerunner of the Antichrist’s Godless End-Times Empire (“Babylon the Great”), which in turn will attempt to overrun the entire earth (and which will attempt to annihilate Israel in the process).
God Initiates His Plan of Redemption for Mankind
367 years after the Flood, God calls Abram, a Semite (i.e., from the line of Shem) from the Babylonian city of Ur in the Tigres-Euphrates area, to leave Haran (his home at that time) and to go to a land which God will show him (Gen. 12:1). (Note: At the time of Abram’s call, which occurs between 2,100 and 2,000 B.C., the entire world has become filled with idolatry and various shades of the occult. All of these practices were authored by Satan during this 367-year period following the Flood—and were spawned in the hearts of much of the human family at Babel.)
God makes an everlasting covenant with Abram (soon to be renamed Abraham), the three-fold nature of which is as follows (Gen 12:2-3):
(1) Corporate promises to Abraham: First, God promised that Abraham’s descendants would be a great nation. (This promise had primary reference to Israel, the descendants of Isaac and Jacob, to whom the everlasting possession of the land is promised, to whom the everlasting covenant is given, and to whom God said, “I will be their God.”) Second, God promised that Abraham would father other nations, principally fulfilled through Ishmael and Esau;
(2) Personal promises to Abraham: (a) to be the father of numerous descendants; (b) to receive personal blessing, both temporally and spiritually; (c) to receive personal honor; and (d) to be the channel of blessing, fulfilled pre-eminently through Christ, Abraham’s seed; and
(3) Corporate and personal promises to the Gentiles: (a) those who honored Abraham would be blessed; (b) those who did not honor Abraham would be cursed; and (c) all peoples on earth would be blessed through Abraham. (This latter promise is the great evangelic promise fulfilled in Abraham’s Seed, Jesus Christ, and in all the spiritual seed of Abraham who, like Abraham, are justified by faith.) [Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible, pp. 18-19]
Abram (now 75 years old) obeys God and, taking his family with him, leaves Haran (Gen. 12:4).
God leads Abram to Palestine (Gen. 12:5-9).
God shows Abram the land which He will give to Abram and his descendants forever, and God asks Abram to walk through the entire land (Gen. 13:14-18).
God promises to give Abram an heir from Abram’s own body, and Abram believes God (belief which God, in turn, reckons to Abram as righteousness) (Gen. 15:1-6).
God informs Abram that his descendants will be enslaved in a land [Egypt] that is not their own for a period of 400 years, and God reconfirms His previous promises made to Abram (Gen. 15:12-21).
Abram (now 87 years old) and his wife, Sarai, fail to wait on God’s promise of a new son and take matters into their own hands; Hagar (Sarai’s maid)—having been impregnated by Abram—gives birth to Ishmael (Gen. 16:1-16).
God, for the third time, confirms His covenant with Abram; God changes Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah (Gen. 17:1-22).
Some years later, when well past childbearing age, Sarah conceives and gives birth to Isaac (Gen. 21:1-7). Abraham is 100 years old when Isaac is born.
Abraham and Sarah cast out Hagar and Ishmael (Gen. 21:8-14).
God has compassion on the helpless, broken Hagar and promises Hagar that her son will one day be a nation (Gen. 21:14-21).
Abraham, through faith in God’s promises and in obedience to God, offers up his only heir, Isaac, to God (Gen. 22:1-10).
God spares Isaac because of Abraham’s faith; God once again reconfirms His covenant with Abraham to bless him personally, to multiply his seed greatly, and to bless all nations through his seed (Gen. 22:11-18).
Isaac marries Rebekah (Gen. 24).
Isaac and Rebekah have twins: Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25:19-26).
Esau, the unrepentant and Godless one, despises his birthright and sells it to Jacob for a single meal (Gen. 25:27-34; Heb. 12:15-17).
God covenants with Isaac (Gen. 26:24-26).
Jacob inherits the promised blessing from his father, Isaac (Gen. 27:1 – 28:9).
Jacob wrestles with God (apparently the pre-incarnate Christ in this episode), has his sin nature broken, and hereafter lives by faith in God rather than relying on his flesh (i.e., his sin nature) (Gen. 32:22-32).
God changes Jacob’s name to “Israel,” and God blesses him (Gen. 35:9-15).
Israel (Jacob) has twelve sons, including Joseph (Gen. 35:22b-26).
Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers and is brought into Egypt by the Ishmaelites (Gen. 37).
Joseph, through the sovereignty of God, becomes Prime Minister of Egypt (Gen. 41).
Famine brings Joseph’s brothers to Egypt for grain. Joseph reveals his identity to his startled brothers. Joseph (through his brothers) tells his father, Israel, to bring the entire family to Egypt where he (Joseph) will keep them from the ravages of the famine in Palestine (Gen. 42:1 – 46:7).
God Delivers Israel from the Bondage of Egyptian Slavery
Israel’s (Jacob’s) family, after a period of 430 years in Egypt, grows into a nation of three million people (Exod. 12:37-40).
The Egyptian Pharaohs persecute Israel (Exod. 1:8-22). The Israelites, after generations of indifference toward God, cry out to God for deliverance (Exod. 2:23-25).
God raises up Moses to deliver the Israelites (Exod. 3 – 7:7).
God sends ten plagues upon the Egyptians because of their idol worship. God shows the Egyptians that He (God) is Lord rather than their useless idols (Exod. 7:8 – 11:10).
God instructs Moses to institute a Passover feast, and God strikes dead the first-born of the Egyptians but not the first-born of the Israelites who, in faith, have placed the blood of the sacrificed Passover lamb above their doorway (Exod. 12:1 – 13:10). (The Passover episode in turn is a picture of the Christian’s sins being “passed over” because of his/her faith in the shed blood of the Passover Lamb—Jesus Christ)
God supernaturally (by the parting of the Red Sea) delivers the Jews from their Egyptian bondage (Exod. 13:17 – 14:31).
God Gives Israel the Law
God gives the Israelites the Law (including the Ten Commandments) (Exod. 19 – 23). [The Law was designed (1) to heighten man’s awareness of sin and (2) to make man see his need for a Redeemer (Rom. 3:19-20). The Law was never designed to save anyone.]
God instructs the Israelites to build the Ark of the Covenant and to erect a Tabernacle (Exod. 25 – 40).
The Israelites, because of their widespread lack of faith, wander in the Sinai wilderness for nearly forty years (Numb. 10:1 – 33:49).
After forty years God commands the next generation of Israelites to take possession of Canaan, to drive out all of the inhabitants in the land, and to destroy all idols, images, and pagan altars found in the land (Numb. 33:50-56). God also prohibits the Israelites from practicing any form of the occult (Deut. 18:9-12,14,15).
God Places Israel in the Land of Canaan
God, through Joshua, leads this next generation of Israelites into Canaan, the Promised Land (Joshua 1 – 4). [The Promised Land—”the land of Milk and Honey”—is a picture of the spiritual blessings which each believer has in Jesus Christ when the believer, by faith, reckons on them]
God supernaturally defeats certain enemies of the Israelites in the Promised Land (Joshua 6 – 11).
The Israelites fall short of driving out all their enemies from the land (Judges 1).
The Israelites enter into long cycles of apostasy-confession-restoration (Judges 2 – 21).
The Israelites clamor for a king (in order to be like the other nations), a desire which is against God’s will (God’s will for Israel instead being a theocracy) (I Sam. 8:4-22).
God tells Samuel, the nation’s last judge, to anoint Saul as Israel’s first king (I Sam. 9 – 11).
Saul becomes king of Israel (I Sam. 10 – 13).
Saul disobeys God, and God directs Samuel to anoint a shepherd boy, David, to be Israel’s future king (I Sam. 15 – 16).
The young shepherd, David, slays the giant Philistine, Goliath, and becomes Israel’s national hero (I Sam. 17).
David and Saul’s son, Jonathan, become best friends (I Sam. 18 – 20).
David refuses to slay the jealous Saul, even when the opportunity arises (I Sam. 23:15 – 24:22).
David again spares Saul’s life (I Sam. 26).
David becomes king of Israel (II Sam. 2 – 5).
God covenants with David (II Sam. 7:8-17). The Davidic Covenant, upon which the future kingdom of Christ is to be founded, provided for David: (1) the promise of posterity in the Davidic house; (2) a throne symbolic of royal authority; (3) a kingdom, or rule on earth; and (4) the certainty of fulfillment. [Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible, p. 317]
David falls into heinous sin (II Sam. 11 – 12).
David openly repents of his sin and, in fervent prayer, pours out his contrite heart to God (II Sam. 12:13,20; Ps. 51).
David’s son, Solomon, becomes king of Israel (I Kings 1:1 – 2:12).
Solomon completes the building of Israel’s Temple in Jerusalem (I Kings 5 – 9).
Solomon’s evil son, Rehoboam, becomes king (I Kings 11:41-43).
Rehoboam heavily taxes the people of Israel; the nation splits into ten northern tribes (“Israel”) and two southern tribes (“Judah”) (I Kings 12).
God Removes Idolatrous Israel from Canaan
The northern tribes (“Israel”) intermarry with the pagan peoples not previously driven out of the land and soon become idol worshipers, like the pagans of the area (II Kings 17:7-23).
God allows the ten northern tribes, because of their idolatry, to be carried into captivity by the Assyrians (II Kings 17:22-24).
The two southern tribes (“Judah”) also eventually fall into idolatry, and God allows them to be carried away into captivity by the Babylonians, who also destroy Solomon’s Jerusalem Temple (II Kings 17:19; 23:26,27; 24:10-15; 25:1-21).
God gives the prophet Daniel (who had been carried away into the Babylonian Captivity) several End-Times visions, including (1) the vision of the Seventy “Weeks” of Years (the final “week” being the Tribulation period) and (2) the vision of the Antichrist’s rise and reign during the Tribulation period.
God Brings a Remnant of Jews Back to Jerusalem
The southern tribes, after seventy years of captivity, are allowed by Cyrus of Persia to return to Jerusalem; the Jews rebuild the Temple and experience a brief revival under Zerubbabel and Jeshua (Ezra 1 – 7). Eighty years after Zerubbabel’s return, Ezra returns to Jerusalem and leads another revival (Ezra 8 – 10).
The Scriptures go silent for approximately four hundred years until the birth and life of Christ.
God Consummates His Plan of Redemption for Mankind
(God’s Complete Sin-Remedy through the Shed Blood of Jesus Christ)
John the Baptist is born (Luke 1:5-25, 57-80).
An angel of the Lord announces to Joseph, a Jewish carpenter living in Nazareth, that his virgin fiancee, Mary, (1) has been supernaturally impregnated by the Holy Spirit and (2) will give birth to the promised Messiah (Matt. 1:18-21). The angel also makes the same announcement to Mary (Luke 1:26-38).
Jesus Christ—God in the flesh—is born in Bethlehem by the virgin Mary (Matt.1:22-25; John 1:14). Jesus Christ is the prophesied son of David, son of Abraham (Matt. 1:1).
Herod, upon hearing from magi that the King of the Jews has been born, secretly plots to have all first-born males below the age of two slaughtered (Matt. 2:1-18).
Joseph, upon being warned of Herod’s plot by the Lord’s angel, takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt for several years (Matt. 2:13-18).
Herod slaughters all infant first-born males in and around Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16-18).
After Herod’s death, Joseph brings Mary and Jesus to Nazareth in northern Israel (Matt. 2:19-23).
Jesus grows into manhood and increases in favor with both God and man (Luke 2:40-52).
John the Baptist prepares the way in Israel for the promised Messiah (Luke 3:1-18; John 1:19-34).
Jesus begins His public ministry at the age of thirty (Luke 3:23).
Jesus, for a period of approximately three and a half years, explains the kingdom of heaven to His own people—the Jews—and proclaims the Good News of salvation from sin (through faith in Him) (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).
Jesus claims to be God in the flesh. His words, countless miracles, and sinless life attest to this fact (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).
Jesus, on the Sunday before His crucifixion, enters Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey, precisely 483 years after the issuance of the decree by Artaxerxes Longimanus to rebuild Jerusalem’s city walls—in exact fulfillment of the first sixty-nine weeks of Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks” prophecy (Dan. 9:24-26; Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:1-9)
Most Jews reject Christ and, indeed, have Him crucified (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).
Jesus Christ Completes His Suffering-Servant Ministry by Dying on the Cross for Mankind’s Sins
Jesus is crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem at 9:00 a.m. (on the Jewish day of Passover) and becomes mankind’s perfect, sinless, and substitutionary Passover Lamb by bearing all of mankind’s sins—past, present, and future—on the Cross (Mark 15:22-33).
Jesus dies at 3:00 p.m. (on the Jewish day of Passover) (Mark 15:34-41).
Jesus is buried approximately three hours later (immediately before sundown on the Jewish day of Passover), and Jesus’ corpse is in the tomb during the Jewish day of Unleavened Bread (John 19:31-42; Mark 15:42-47; Deut. 21:23).
God Raises Jesus Christ from the Dead
God raises Jesus from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion (sometime before sunrise on the Jewish day of First Fruits) (John 20:1-19).
Jesus appears bodily (in His resurrection body) a number of times to the Eleven after His resurrection and begins to show them how all of the Old Testament Scriptures point to Him (and to His crucifixion/resurrection) (John 1:20-31; Luke 24:36-49).
God Lifts Jesus Christ back into Heaven
Forty days after His resurrection and after having appeared bodily to more than five hundred of His disciples, the resurrected Jesus Christ ascends into heaven (an ascension witnessed by the Eleven) where He presently sits at the right hand of God the Father (I Cor. 15:3-7; Acts 1:1-11).
While the Lord ascends from the Mount of Olives, two angels inform the Eleven that the resurrected Christ will one day return to the earth from heaven in exactly the same manner to exactly the same location (Acts 1:9-11).
The Eleven choose Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot, the Lord’s betrayer who hanged himself (Acts 1:15-16).
God Sends the Indwelling Holy Spirit and the Church Age Begins
(God Gives Mankind a New Covenant, and God Institutes His Plan to Restore Believing Mankind into His Own Image)
Ten days after the Lord’s ascension, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jerusalem to indwell (on the Jewish day of Pentecost) each of the Lord’s disciples present in Jerusalem (the indwelling of believers being the pre-fulfillment of the New Covenant which the Lord made with Israel on the night of the Last Supper and which will be completely fulfilled at His Second Coming—Matt. 26:28; Joel 2:28-32; Heb. 8:7-13; 9; 10; II Cor. 3:6). The “Church Age” thus begins. Peter, indwelled and supernaturally filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaims the Good News of the free gift of salvation from sin—through belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross—to many who have gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Pentecost. Three thousand Jews believe the Gospel message given by Peter and are born again (i.e., born spiritually—a supernatural birth from God) as a result of their faith (Acts 2:1-41).
Peter and the disciples continue to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. The twelve Apostles attest to the Good News message by performing many of the same miracles Christ performed (Acts 3 – 5).
Approximately a year after the Church Age begins, Stephen is stoned in Jerusalem and becomes the first Christian martyr (Acts 6:8 – 7:60). Hereafter, the Jerusalem church faces intense persecution, and the church, except for the Twelve, scatters into Judea and Samaria (Acts 7:54 – 8:1).
Philip takes the Good News of the crucified, resurrected Christ to the Samaritans, some of whom believe (Acts 8:5-25).
Approximately two years after the Church Age begins, God calls Saul of Tarsus (also known by his Greek name, Paul) to belief in Jesus Christ—in supernatural fashion on a road near Damascus (Acts 9:1-30). (Paul, some years later, will become God’s principal human instrument through which the Gospel is proclaimed to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; Rom. 15:15,16; Eph. 3:1,2).
Peter takes the Good News to a Roman Centurion, the first Gentile to believe in Jesus Christ (Acts 10:1 – 11:18).
Some years later Paul and a handful of other missionaries, takes the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), Greece, and Rome. Some Jews and many Gentiles receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior (Acts 13 – 28). Other Christians take the Gospel into Spain and North Africa.
Titus and his Roman armies destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. (from the record of secular history).
The Apostle John, in approximately 95 A.D., upon receiving three visions from the resurrected Jesus Christ, records Revelation—God’s final revelation of Christ to mankind before His Second Coming. By this time Christianity has taken root throughout most of the ancient Roman Empire.
[ Note: all the events listed below have yet to take place. Many Christians believe, however, given the destructive power of the world’s military technology today, that these events are imminent. ]
God Removes the Indwelling Holy Spirit at the Rapture of the Church—and the Church Age Ends
(God prepares to begin His End-Times Judgments)
The Church (i.e., all dead and living born-again believers in Jesus Christ) will be instantaneously “caught up” (resurrected if dead, “translated” if living) to meet Jesus Christ in the air (somewhere between the earth and heaven itself). Dead and living believers will receive their eternal, imperishable, resurrection bodies at this time (I Thess. 4:13-18; I Cor. 15:50-57; Matt. 24:36-44). [This event, the so-called “Rapture” (the sudden and instantaneous disappearance of perhaps five percent of the population of the earth, will be the most startling event to have occurred in human history to date and will catch the unbelieving world completely by surprise (Matt. 24:27; Luke 12:40; 17:24).]
Apostate Christendom (i.e., all persons who profess to be Christians but who are not born-again) will be left on earth.
Immediately after the Rapture (perhaps within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of the event), God will call 144,000 Jewish males to salvation in Jesus Christ. These Jews (as “first fruits” of God’s post-Rapture harvest of souls for Jesus) will be the first persons saved after the Rapture (Rev. 7:2-8; 14:1-4). They will also be saved before the Tribulation begins (Rev. 7:3-4). These Jews will proclaim the Gospel to every Jew on earth, and will then proclaim it to the earth’s Gentiles (“to the Jew first, then to the Greek”—Romans 1:16). Moreover, it is likely that the 144,000 will spend little or no time proclaiming the Gospel in the Antichrist’s Empire (the Western world, which has heard the Gospel for centuries), but will instead proclaim it in those nations, tongues, and tribes which have never heard the Gospel or have had little Gospel penetration.
Soon after the Rapture (and in accordance with the activities of Satan), the Antichrist—a charismatic, Satan-empowered leader coming from a ten-nation coalition having its roots in the Roman Empire of two thousand years ago—will rise to worldwide prominence and power. Ten powerful nations will form a “world empire” (based on a “new world order”), and the respective heads-of-states of these ten nations will give their allegiance to this charismatic, world political figure (the Antichrist), who will lead the new world order. This “new world order” will pit the “industrialized” and “civilized” nations of the world (principally, the Western nations) against the “terrorist” and “renegade” nations of the earth. The False Prophet—the Antichrist’s right-hand man (and “spiritual” advisor)—will also rise to prominence at this time (Dan. 9:26; Rev. 13; II Thess. 2:3-10).
God will send a deluding influence upon all persons who refuse to put their trust in Jesus Christ (I Thess. 2:10-11).
Jews throughout the earth will begin to return en masse to Israel (Ezek. 37:11-23).
God Begins the Seven-Year Tribulation Period
The Antichrist will sign a seven-year treaty with Israel and her surrounding Islamic neighbors which guarantees the peace and protection of Israel (Dan. 9:20-27). Some in Israel will return to their Mosaic roots and will begin construction of another Jerusalem Temple (and will reinstitute the Levitical sacrificial system, including all the prescribed Jewish Feasts) (Ezek. 39:17-29). The seven-year Tribulation period, also known as Daniel’s Seventieth Week, will begin with the signing of this peace treaty (Dan. 9:27).
The Antichrist, during the next three and one-half years (the first Seal Judgment), will expand his Empire (“Babylon the Great”) well beyond its ten-nation core and will gain widespread political and economic control over much of the earth (principally that portion of the earth where Christianity represents the predominant religion).
Apostate Christendom (“the Great Harlot”) will persecute and martyr many of those who, after the Rapture, have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior (Rev. 17:3-6).
Israel will complete its construction of the Jerusalem temple (Matt. 24:15) near the end of the three-and-one-half years.
The False Prophet (most likely immediately after the completion of the Jerusalem temple) will decree that all persons on earth make an image (idol) of the Antichrist to worship (Rev. 13:14). Furthermore, he will decree that all persons who refuse to worship the image are to be killed (Rev. 13:15).
The Antichrist will begin his destruction of Apostate Christendom at or near the end of the three-and-one-half years (Rev. 17:16).
God Begins the Last Half of the Tribulation Period: The Great Tribulation
The Antichrist will break the Israel-Antichrist peace treaty after exactly three-and-one-half years, will cut off the Jews’ renewed Levitical system of worship, will enter into the Temple, and will declare himself to be God (II Thess. 2:3-4). The Great Tribulation will begin at this moment (Dan. 9:27; 11:36-45).
Several million post-Rapture Jewish believers in Jesus Christ will, in faith, flee to the mountains of Israel and Jordan, where they will be protected supernaturally by God for the rest of the Tribulation (Matt. 24:15-22; Rev. 12:13-16).
God will place two Jewish witnesses in Jerusalem to prophesy for three-and-one-half years, to keep parts of the temple (supernaturally) from being destroyed by the Gentile invaders, and to protect supernaturally the several million believing Jewish refugees (implied) (Rev. 11:1-13; 12:6,14-16).
Parts of Jerusalem and most of Israel will be overrun and occupied by the Antichrist’s forces (Dan. 11:36-45; Joel 2:1-8). Those Jews in Israel who refused to flee to the mountains will be slaughtered. Any Jews who have chosen not to return to Israel after the Antichrist’s rise to power will be fiercely persecuted during the second half of the Tribulation, and most will be murdered (Rev. 11:1-2; Dan. 11:36-45).
The Antichrist and his Empire will viciously hunt down and martyr many of those who, after the Rapture, have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior (and who, as a result, refuse to worship the Antichrist) (Rev. 13:15; 18:24).
The False Prophet will decree that all persons on earth must receive the mark of the Beast (666) on their forehead or right hand (Rev. 13:16).
The False Prophet will decree that persons throughout the earth cannot buy or sell goods within, into, or out of the Antichrist’s Empire unless they have the mark of the Beast (666) on their forehead or right hand (Rev. 13:17).
The second through seventh Seal Judgments will take place, resulting in the death of one-fourth of post-Rapture mankind (Rev. 6:3-17; 8:1). These judgments will likely take place during the fourth and fifth years of the Tribulation period. As part of this judgment the Antichrist will double-cross and slaughter Apostate Christendom (Rev. 17:16).
The seven Trumpet Judgments will take place, resulting in the death of another one-third of remaining post-Rapture mankind (Rev. 8:7 – 9:21; 11:14-19). These judgments will likely take place during the sixth year of the Tribulation period.
The seven Bowl Judgments will take place, likely resulting in the death of another one-half of remaining post-Rapture mankind (based on the symmetry of the Seal and Trumpet death tolls). During the seventh Bowl Judgment (Rev 16:17-21), on the final day of the Tribulation, the following events will transpire: the most powerful earthquake in human history—worldwide in scope—in which all the cities of the nations fall; the final destruction of the Antichrist’s Empire; the disappearance of the Antichrist’s Empire underneath the earth’s oceans, never to be found again; the radical change in the earth’s topography, including the disappearance of all the earth’s islands and the leveling of all the earth’s mountains; and the pelting of the earth with one hundred pound hailstones. The Bowl judgments will likely take place during the final six months (“half a time”) of the Tribulation period, perhaps one month apart.
God Raises His Two Witnesses from the Dead after the End of the Tribulation Period
The Antichrist will murder the Lord’s two witnesses after the three-and-one-half year Great Tribulation period ends. Those present in Jerusalem will rejoice over the death of these two Jews, and the Antichrist will leave them unburied in Jerusalem for the nations gathered there to see. After three days, God will raise them from the dead and, as He did with Jesus Christ, will cause them to ascend to Heaven—before the startled eyes of all Gentiles present in Jerusalem (Rev. 11:7-13).
The Antichrist and the Gentile armies who have gathered from all over the world into northern Israel will overrun and plunder Jerusalem as the Battle of Armageddon begins. Nevertheless, God will show Himself strong on behalf of Jerusalem and begin to thwart the invasion supernaturally (Zech. 12:1-9; 14:2-4).
Jesus Christ Returns Bodily to the Earth
Thirty days after the end of the Tribulation, the Lord Jesus Christ will return bodily to the earth (1) to save Israel from annihilation and (2) to put an end to the carnage created by the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and unrepentant mankind. Accompanying the Lord at His return will be His heavenly host, including His angels, all resurrected pre-Pentecost believers, all resurrected Church Age believers, and all resurrected Tribulation martyrs (Dan. 12:11,12; Zech. 14:4; Matt. 24:30; Rev. 14:1; 14:17-20; 19:11-16).
The Antichrist and the world’s armies (some still gathered in the plain of Megiddo) will ready themselves to eradicate Jesus Christ and His armies (Rev. 19:19; Zech. 12:23; Joel 3:2, 9-14; Ezek. 38 – 39).
At the Battle of Armageddon and with the word of His mouth, Jesus Christ will slay the remaining Gentile armies who have gathered in Israel and Jerusalem against Him (Rev. 19:20-21). Those slain will then be consumed by the predator birds which God has gathered over Israel (Rev. 19:17,18,21; Zech. 12:4-9; 14:2-15; Ezek. 38 – 39).
After the completion of Armageddon, God will throw the Antichrist and the False Prophet alive into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19:20,21).
Christ will supernaturally gather all of the earth’s remaining Gentiles to Jerusalem, and Christ will judge them according to their treatment of Israel and the Jewish people during the Tribulation period. All unbelievers will be slain by the Lord’s angels. All believers, on the other hand, in a matter of days will enter the Millennial Kingdom (Matt. 25:31-46).
Christ will also supernaturally gather the earth’s remaining Jews to Jerusalem. Those who have received Him as Savior during the Tribulation will be allowed to enter the Millennial Kingdom. Those who have rejected Him (the “rebels”) will be slain (Ezek. 20:33-44).
Jesus Christ Reigns over the Earth for 1,000 Years
(The Reign of Christ as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”)
Christ will cleanse the earth of all contamination caused by the judgments of the Tribulation period [implied] and will then begin His Millennial reign. The Millennial Kingdom will begin forty-five days after Christ’s bodily return to the earth (Dan. 12:11,12).
Jesus Christ, in His resurrection body, will reign over the entire earth as King of kings and Lord of lords for one thousand years (Rev. 20:2-4,6). Israel will occupy the land promised it by God in the Abrahamic and Palestinian Covenants (Gen. 17:8; Deut. 30:5). The resurrected King David will be king of Israel during the Millennium (Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:23; 37:24; Hos. 3:5). The resurrected Twelve Apostles will govern the twelve tribes of Israel on behalf of King David (Matt. 19:27-28). Resurrected Jewish believers from all previous ages will serve in various capacities on behalf of Christ in Israel. Resurrected Gentile believers from all previous ages will serve in various capacities on behalf of Christ in the Gentile nations (I Cor. 6:2-3; Rev. 20:4). The Millennium will be a time of perfect peace and righteousness on planet earth, in contrast with the unrighteousness evident on the planet today (Isa. 9:7; Micah 4:1-4). Israel will be the head of the nations (Isa. 14:1-2; 49:22-23; 60:14-17; 61:6-7,9). All Israelites will be mightily filled with the Holy Spirit, thus completely fulfilling the Lord’s New Covenant promises to Israel (Ezek. 36:25-27; 37:14). Israel will be the worship center of the earth (Isa. 2:2-3; Mic. 4:1).
Jesus Christ Defeats Satan’s Final Rebellion
After the one-thousand-year reign ends, God will release Satan from the Abyss (Satan’s “jail” during the Millennium) in order to allow Satan to lead one final rebellion on earth (Rev. 20:7-10). [Hence, as has been the case in all preceding ages of human history, God will test the spiritual condition of the human heart. Each person born during, and living at the end of, the Millennium will be put to the test after the Millennium (by Satan’s rebellion) to see if Jesus Christ—mankind’s Redeemer (living in Jerusalem for all men to see)—is the object of that person’s faith.]
Having been deceived by Satan, those persons born during the Millennium who are unbelievers at the end of the Millennium will descend upon Israel and Jerusalem in an effort to destroy those who remain loyal to Christ (Rev. 20:8-9).
God will send down fire from heaven and will destroy all of Christ’s enemies. Satan will be thrown into the Lake of Fire (Hell) to be tormented forever (Rev. 20:9-10).
Post Human History from the Perspective of God’s Word:
God will resurrect all unbelievers who have ever lived and will give them imperishable, eternal bodies (Rev. 20:5a). All humans who were allowed to enter the Millennial Kingdom after the Lord’s Second Coming or who were born during the Millennial Kingdom will also be given their resurrection bodies at this time. As well, all persons—believers or unbelievers—who were born during the Millennial Kingdom (and who either die before the end of the Millennium or who are alive at the end of the Millennium) will be given their resurrection bodies. This event is called the Second Resurrection (implied, Rev. 20:4-6)
After the Second Resurrection, God will destroy the present earth and the present heavens (Rev. 21:1; II Peter 3:10-13).
God the Son, Jesus Christ, at the Great White Throne Judgment, will judge every person resurrected at the Second Resurrection (John 5:22). Those who have put their faith in God’s plan of redemption through Jesus Christ will be declared “not guilty” and will spend all eternity with God and Jesus Christ in God’s Eternal Kingdom. Those who have not put their faith in God’s plan of redemption will be declared “guilty” and will be cast alive into the Lake of Fire (Hell) where they will spend eternity—away from the presence of the Godhead (Rev. 20:11-15).
God will create the New Heaven, the New Earth, and the New Jerusalem. The New Earth and the New Jerusalem will be the eternal abode of all believers from all Ages since the time of Adam and Eve (Rev. 21:1 – 22:5). God will illumine the universe (the New Heaven, the New Earth, and the New Jerusalem) with the light of His own glory (Rev. 21:23,25; 22:5). Sin (and the darkness of nighttime, which in turn symbolizes sin) will be eliminated forever in God’s Eternal Kingdom (Rev. 21:2,4,27; 23:3).
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