List of Key Events

Creation - God, Man, Nature (Man in the image of God is created to reign over creation and be loyal (obedient) to God; Doctrine of the soul.)

Divine Essence

Creator-creature distinction - God is above Man & Man is above Nature

Divine Institutions 1 – 3 (human responsibility, marriage, family)

Fall - Evil & suffering (Man’s problem, God’s solution, Loyalty (obedience) is still required of Man to God, but man now has the impediment of Sin)

Adam & Eve in garden, death as penalty for sin

First promise of a Savior/Deliverer

Cain & Abel, (works vs. faith)

Evil has a starting point and will have an ending point.

Flood - Judgment/Salvation (A fallen world that suffers the consequences of bad decisions.)

God, Man, Nature, what is a covenant (contract); rainbow=signature of God

Divine Institution 4, (human government)

Grace comes before Judgment. First use of the word Grace is in Gen 6:8

God will NOT compromise his Holiness, Grace does have a ending point.

When God creates a plan of Salvation he only creates ONE way.

Babel (Man lacked the spiritual relationship w/ God and acted independently from God)

Disobedience & Linguistic confusion

Divine Institution 5, national distinctions

Call of Abraham (Positional Sanctification is what God promises to do, revealed in the Abrahamic Cov.)

Election/Justification/Faith

Abrahamic Covenant – (land, seed, blessing)

Claiming promises - Faith Rest Drill

Exodus (The Exodus event is to Israel what the death of Jesus Christ is to the New Testament: it provides one of the great pictures of what God means when He speaks of redemption.)

Ten plagues show God’s sovereignty over the false idols of the Egyptian pantheon

The tenth plague and Passover event illustrate judgment, salvation (blood atonement, one way of salvation.)

Mount Sinai (Experiential Sanctification is what God expects us to do, revealed in the Sinaitic Cov.)

Revelation/Inspiration/Canonicity

Instructions on how a redeemed people (Israel) are to live (sanctification).

Conquest & Settlement (God for a limited time suspended the ethics of common grace to reveal the ethics of final judgment.)

Sanctification/Holy War provides a pattern for how the believer is to deal with sin within his own life (removal) and what results when that does not happen (compromise and failure).

Rise & Reign of David (The David model shows us how to be restored quickly to fellowship w/ God.)

Davidic Covenant – (Eternal Seed, Throne, Kingdom)

Sanctification – (Confession/restoration)

Golden Era of Solomon (Prolonged walking in the flesh does damage to the soul and spiritual growth stops.)

Rise of Solomon – (Administration, Temple, Glory, Wisdom)

Decline of Solomon – (Polygamy, Idolatry, Death)

Kingdom Divided & in Decline (Apart from God, man will never have happiness, stability, or prosperity.)

Discipline & Repentance

Sanctification (Chastening, Repentance, and Final Cleansing)

Exile (Explosion of new religions throughout the world along with the rise of philosophy)

Sanctification teaches how the believer is to live in a pagan environment.

Revelation/Inspiration (Apocalyptic Literature/rise of false religions)

Restoration (The restoration was only partial, but it provided ample proof that God would keep His promises for the ultimate, final restoration.)

Canonicity (preservation of the text); prayer

Birth of the King (Since the birth of the Messiah brings into existence the God-man, the doctrine resulting from this historic fact centers upon the person of Christ, i.e., what sets Him apart from all other teachers. The correct interpretation of the virgin birth depends on understanding the prior biblical doctrines of God, man, and nature. On the basis of OT revelation, the virgin birth and incarnation of God fit neatly into the big picture.)

Hypostatic union – Jesus Christ is eternal God and true humanity united without mixture in one person forever.

Prophecy fulfillment

Life of the King (This event focuses on the authority and sanctification of Jesus. The correct interpretation of Christ’s life depends upon the OT doctrines of revelation and sanctification. If, for example, God truly speaks into history as the OT insists, then Jesus’ claim to have implicit (self-authenticating) authority for what He taught is perfectly reasonable, given His accompanying claim to be God incarnate. The apparently real temptations and vexing decisions facing Christ, too, are reasonable if the OT picture of human sanctification is true.)

Kenosis/Impeccability/Infallibility

Testing/Filling of the Holy Spirit

Death of the King (The great truth revealed through the death of the King is the substitutionary blood atonement and what that atonement accomplishes.)

Substitute/blood atonement

Distinction between spiritual death and physical death

Resurrection Ascension & Session (These events are loaded with new details about how the OT promised Kingdom of God comes about. The King has come, has been rejected, and leaves. His “coming” has been split in two—a first advent and a second advent—with an inter-advent period of history that now comes into existence. The Kingdom is postponed. During this interim time period the King does not reign over the global physical-political domain on earth that was the expectation of the OT. He does not sit on David’s throne in Jerusalem. He sits at the right hand of the Father’s throne. The Lord Jesus awaits the time when the Father will give Him the kingdom and then He will return to earth to begin the kingdom.)

Glorification, Judgment & Salvation

High Priesthood of Christ

Pentecost - Birth of the Church (The key to understanding what purposes the new inter-advent age accomplishes is that history from the time of the ascent and session of Jesus Christ will now be known as the “last days” (Heb. 1:2; 2:26; I Pet. 1:20; I John 2:18). During these “last days” God imposes the gospel invitation to trust in Christ or face exclusion from the Kingdom onto all men everywhere in every culture after the manner of Psalm 2:12 (Matt. 24:14; 2:19-20; Acts 17:30-31; Rom.1:5). Viewed in this light, the gospel message is not a sweet, anemic religious appeal to humanity. Rather, it is a very sober combination of grave and threatened judgment.)

Person & work of Holy Spirit

Separation of the Church from Israel - Dispensations

Importance of the local Church

Growth of the Church (Unlike Israel, the Church originates no new Scriptural covenants, produces no new Messiah, nor inherits a national position in the future Kingdom. There is no outline of historical progress like Moses gave Israel; there is only the picture of gradual maturity in the midst of a hostile world.)

Doctrinal clarification, Church History

History of how we have the Bible

Destiny of the Church (Clearly, there is a distinct difference between how Israel and the Church function under God in history. The challenge of eschatology is to respect this difference, these two dispensations of God’s working, while showing how both fit into the one single sovereign plan of God. Each has its own “end” or destiny under God’s comprehensive design for history. Each is related to the Lord Jesus Christ. Each receives the gracious benefits of the substitutionary atonement. Yet each differs fundamentally from the other.)

Rapture of the Church & Judgment Seat of Christ

Tribulation and fulfillment of promises and covenants to Israel

Establishment of the Millennial Kingdom