In the Beginnings of Time

What Age Are We Living In? We are presently living in the Age of Grace, based on world events, time-line indicators and, most importantly, the aspects of relationship with God that are available to us today. In the Beginning We can conclude that we don’t know everything about time, that it is not an “absolute,” and that some of our beliefs that involve time and the boundaries it represents are probably incorrect. In the Garden We have no idea how long Adam and Eve were in the garden. But we do know that at a certain point in time God kicked them out. A new era, or age, had begun: What was okay one day was not okay the next. Every Man’s Heart During the Age of Knowledge, everyone did what their personal knowledge told them to do. During this time period there were judges, priests, kings, prophets, seers, and other leaders God would occasionally raise up in order to instruct and guide the people. Age of Transition One day God’s people were sacrificing animals in the temple, and it was acceptable; the next day — the day of the Resurrection — the sacrifice was no longer acceptable or sufficient as atonement for sin. Age of Grace As great and awesome and wonderful as the Crucifixion was, it only concluded God’s purpose for the previous time period (Age of Law): It didn’t start something new. It wasn’t until the Resurrection that the Tree of Life, Jesus, was made available again to any who were without sin (all sins were paid for, even those not yet committed). Overlap of Law and Grace We often insist on using the old rules to judge by, as if the debt hadn’t been paid, as if there was still something that needed to be done in order to enter into union with God.