As explained in "The Principles of the Creation," God created man to live in his love for eternity--first, in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and later, as a spirit person, in the Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world. However, because the first man and woman fell (during their growing period), they embodied sin and were dominated by Satan. But God could not leave his original Ideal for the Creation unaccomplished. In Isaiah 46:11 God said, "'I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it,'" showing that he will definitely carry out his original plan. He is determined to save man. His dispensation to save fallen man consists of restoring man to his original state. Let us examine how God has worked for man's salvation throughout history.

History does not consist solely of who did what, when they did it, and where it was done. It is man's experience that he can barely shape the course of his own personal history. From God's viewpoint, man's history is the record of God's dispensation for salvation--that is, of His dispensation for the restoration of fallen man, who is under the dominion of Satan. Human history is the manifestation of God's work to fulfill the purpose of restoration. Thus, it is the history of God's Dispensation for Restoration.

The goal of God's Dispensation for Restoration is the restoration of fallen man to the position where he fulfills the Purpose of the Creation and the restoration of the cosmos as it was originally created. Therefore, the history of mankind can be defined as the history of God's dispensation for re-establishing the Purpose of the Creation in man's life.

A person who fulfills God's Purpose for the Creation becomes God's temple, where God's spirit dwells (1 Cor 3:16). Such a person would have a divine nature and would be "'...perfect, as [his] heavenly Father is perfect'" (Mt 5:48). And God would always be the center of the thoughts, actions, and life of such an individual. The personal history of such a person would be good; and the histories of the families of such individuals, and of the nations and world populated by such individuals, would be nothing other than good. Therefore, the ideal history of mankind as conceived of in the mind of God can be stated in one word: goodness.

However, because of the Fall, man did not become God's temple. To the contrary, he became the dwelling place of Satan, and by becoming one with Satan, man came to have an evil nature instead of a divine nature. As a result, Satan is "'...the ruler of this world..." (2 Cor 4:4) and controls fallen man's thoughts, activities, and life. Consequently, the history of mankind has been evil. The histories of such fallen individuals, of the families of such individuals, and of the nations and world populated by such individuals, could be nothing other than evil. The history of mankind began as a history of sin and evil and has continued as such.

As was already explained in "The Fall," man fell during the time he was growing toward perfection. Such perfection means becoming the embodiment of the Ideal for the Creation. However, as a result of the Fall, fallen man became the embodiment and womb of good and evil.

Adam and Eve had grown to a certain stage centered on God, and therefore they had within themselves a base of goodness resembling God, although it was not fully developed. Additionally, they developed a base of evil within themselves by receiving evil elements from the archangel. The evil element received from the fallen archangel is Original Sin. However, the degree of good and the degree of evil operating in fallen man are not equally developed. The base of evil is highly expressed. On the other hand, man's foundation of goodness is only germinal, and so unless conscious effort is made to encourage it, it is extremely difficult for that goodness to bear fruit.

In order to realize the Purpose of the Creation in the midst of the fallen world, which Satan rules, God consistently carries out the Dispensation for Restoration by separating good from evil. As a result, most of human history is composed of struggles between good and evil. Fallen man unites with Satan in his mind and commits sins through his body. Yet, man still has within himself the Original Mind created by God, and it always remains directed toward God.

In the Dispensation for Restoration, there is an unseen struggle between God and Satan. And man, being the embodiment of good and evil, is caught in the middle of that struggle--between God, working to win man to his side through the base of goodness (the Original Mind) within man, and Satan, working to keep man on his side through the base of evil (the evil mind) within man. Without understanding the unseen causal dimension of God and Satan, human history cannot be properly understood. It cannot be understood simply by examining the superficial activities of man on earth.

There is continuous conflict between the evil sovereignty of Satan, who is trying to hold on to man, and the good sovereignty of God, who is trying to recover man and restore him. This is reflected in the battles between the good and evil in this world. In this struggle between God and Satan lies the reason for the first bloodshed recorded in the Bible, that in which Cain killed Abel; and in this same struggle lies the reason that the history of mankind has been marked by conflict and war, regardless of whether one looks to the East or to the West. Whether the leading roles in these struggles are played by individuals, families, tribes, nations, or blocs of nations, these struggles all amount to a struggle between God, working on the side of goodness, and Satan, working on the side of evil. Accordingly, it is God's work and Satan's work that are behind any type of human conflict, whether it is a struggle between one individual and another, one family and another, or one bloc of nations and another.

At times, the struggle has centered on property, land, or people; at other times, on ideologies and beliefs. But actually all of these are just reflections of the struggle between God and Satan. God is trying to restore man to the purpose of goodness, and Satan is trying to maintain his evil position and power. This struggle then manifests in the world as the conflicts recorded in human history.

Then, what is the real driving force of history? When we say that all of history is the reflection of God's dispensational work, does it mean that history advances solely by the plan and work of God? Even though the goal of history is to restore the Purpose of the Creation, do the conflicts between good and evil automatically and naturally progress toward that Purpose? If so, then how can we explain the many injustices and tragedies in history, such as the prevalence of evil or the suffering of righteous people, things which could hardly be thought of as the work of an almighty God of goodness?

In the beginning, God gave the first man and woman a commandment which they were to obey until they perfected themselves. The realization of the Purpose of the Creation is possible only if man and woman accomplish their responsibility, by obeying the commandment. The Purpose of the Creation is not to be accomplished simply by concern and action on the part of God. Although man's responsibility may seem infinitely small, it is a principle of the Creation that man's responsibility is a necessary element. Thus, in order to restore the lost Purpose of the Creation, man's portion of responsibility is also absolutely essential-- it cannot be done by God's power and dispensation alone.

But it is possible for man either to fulfill his responsibility or not to fulfill it. When a person does fulfill his responsibility, God's Will is manifested in history through that person, and God's dispensation is concretely accomplished and restoration progresses. But when a person fails to fulfill his responsibility, God's dispensation through that person is frustrated, and Satan's will comes to be reflected in history instead. Thus, man can make God happy, by fulfilling his responsibility, or sad, by failing in his responsibility. The reason that human history appears to be nothing but a constant re-enactment of sinful history, with the prospect of an ideal world seemingly so distant, is not because God is impotent, or because he is not absolute, but because man has not fulfilled his responsibility to carry out God's Will. God is absolute, eternal, and omnipotent; therefore, the accomplishment of his Purpose for the Creation and of his purpose of restoration are also absolute. God's will for restoration will definitely be accomplished (Is 46:11). Therefore, when the person carrying out the will does not fulfill his responsibility, God, after a period of time restores the same foundation and conditions as before, and chooses another person to carry out the same mission. This is precisely the reason that we see very similar incidents and events recurring throughout the long history of God's dispensation, even after periods of two to four thousand years. We call this recurrence of similar events or periods, Dispensational Time Identity. (For a full explanation, refer to "Dispensational Time Identity.")

A. The Dispensation for Restoration and the Messiah

What are the specific principles of God's dispensation for the restoration of fallen man? At the completion level of the growth stage, man fell and thus came under the dominion of Satan. In order for God to restore fallen people, God must first separate them from Satan. This is because as long as man remains an object to Satan, or remains under his influence, the Purpose of the Creation cannot be fulfilled. In order to be completely separated from Satan, leaving no basis by which Satan can invade again, a person must be cleansed of Original Sin, because it is the root of all the bases by which Satan accuses and invades fallen man. However, Original Sin cannot be removed unless man is reborn through the Messiah, who comes as the True Parent. Only the Messiah can eliminate the Original Sin.

The Messiah, who is thus the most indispensable central person in the Dispensation for Restoration, is the model of a true person, and it is through him that God creates true individuals, families, tribes, nations, and a world that fulfill the original Ideal for the Creation. So, God cannot send the Messiah to the world without preparing it. Preparation is necessary because, ever since the Fall of man, mankind has been serving the false master, Satan, and if the Messiah were sent without a prepared environment, there is the danger that the satanic world would try to eliminate him. Therefore, from the midst of the evil people who are serving the false master, God first chooses one individual who will honor and obey him. Based on this individual, God creates families and nations separated from Satan's side, families and nations which then can serve as a foundation of faith upon which the Messiah can come.

Since at the beginning of God's Dispensation for Restoration the Messiah had not yet come, fallen man had to meet the condition of symbolically restoring himself to the completion level of the growth state. Man thus establishes the foundation to receive the Messiah. To begin this process, man must go through a course of separation from Satan. And as a result of this process, fallen man receives the Messiah, who comes as the True Parent, and is reborn. Through this rebirth, a person is restored to the position of Adam or Eve before the Fall. Since the level from which the first man and woman fell was the completion level of the growth stage, the completion level of the growth stage is also the level at which he is born again in the course of restoration. Consequently, the completion stage still remains to be gone through. Man grows through this stage by following the Messiah, finally reaching the position where he fulfills the Purpose of the Creation. Originally, man's responsibility during his growing period is only to follow the Way of The Principle. However, fallen man is required to pass through two courses on his way to perfection: (1) the first course is the Way of Restoration, which includes the course he must follow until the Messiah's coming and his rebirth through the Messiah; (2) the second course is the original Way of The Principle, which is the path he must follow through the remaining stage of the growing period, namely, the completion stage. Fallen man does this by following the Messiah.

If Adam and Eve had perfected themselves, thus becoming the True Parents and True Ancestors of the human race, their children would have followed the Way of The Principle under the guidance and protection of their parents. After being born again through the Messiah, the Way of The Principle requires man to be completely obedient to the Messiah and to rely on him while growing to perfection, for he stands as the True Parent.

Then what is the Way of Restoration which must be followed until the Messiah comes? In other words, what are the principles of God's dispensation until he sends the Messiah? These questions can be answered by understanding what is involved in preparing for the Messiah. Since the Messiah comes in the position of Adam (1 Cor 15:45), he cannot appear at just any time; he can only appear when man has been restored to the position that Adam had reached just prior to the Fall, that position being the completion level of the growth stage. That is, the Messiah can appear only when there is a foundation for him to stand on in the position of the original sinless Adam. However, fallen man cannot reach that state on his own because he has Original Sin. Therefore, God requires that fallen man meet certain conditions--conditions such that man can be considered as having been symbolically restored to this level--in other words, such that man has restored the completion level of the growth stage in form. Therefore, God's dispensation prior to the Messiah's coming may be summarized as mankind's restoring the foundation upon which the Messiah can appear. Consequently, in the Way of Restoration, man's responsibility is to restore the foundation for receiving the Messiah.

What does 'restoration through indemnity' mean? In order for something to be restored to a position or state which it has lost, certain conditions must be met. To meet these conditions is to indemnify the loss of the original--and thus, to restore through indemnity.

Man lost his original state and position because of the Fall. In order for him to restore that original position and state, he must meet certain conditions. Since meeting these conditions indemnifies the loss, returning to the original state by meeting the required conditions is called restoration through indemnity. The conditions that need to be met for this process of restoration through indemnity are called indemnity conditions. The dispensation to restore fallen man's Original Nature through fulfilling indemnity conditions is called the Dispensation for Restoration through Indemnity.

Next, we need to understand the different kinds of indemnity conditions. The first kind is the indemnity condition of an equal amount, such as that found in Exodus 21:23-25: "'If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.'" This means that the original state is restored by paying indemnity of a value that is identical to the loss or damage.

The second kind of indemnity condition is the indemnity condition of a lesser amount. In this case, the original state is restored by paying indemnity of a value that is less than that which was originally lost. For example, we receive the great benefit of Jesus' resurrection from the dead by meeting the very small indemnity condition of 'having faith in redemption through the cross'. Other examples of indemnity conditions of a lesser amount are baptism and holy communion. Through baptism we meet the condition of having to be cleansed of sin, and in holy communion we meet the condition of having to be one in spirit and body with Christ.

The third kind of indemnity condition is the indemnity condition of a greater amount. When a person fails to fulfill his responsibility to meet an indemnity condition of a lesser amount, then he must restore the original state by meeting an indemnity condition of a greater amount. For example, when the Israelite's forty days of spying in Canaan (at the time of Moses) failed to meet with God's approval, the duration of the indemnity condition was increased to one year for each of the original days. Instead of suffering for forty days in the wilderness, they had to suffer for forty years (Num 14:34).

Next, what is the method involved in meeting an indemnity condition? An indemnity condition is the condition that must be met in order for something to be restored to its original position or state. An indemnity condition achieves this by being the reversal of the process which led to the loss of the original position or state. Because the first man and woman failed to fulfill their responsibility and fell away from God, their descendants have been required to fulfill the indemnity conditions required in the Way of Restoration.

As was explained earlier, although God sends the Messiah out of his grace, in order to receive the Messiah, man must fulfill his responsibility, by meeting the indemnity conditions.

What are the indemnity conditions needed to establish the Foundation for the Messiah? Since indemnity conditions must reverse the process by which Adam lost his original position and state, in order to answer this question we must understand by what process Adam fell--what it is that he did and did not do that left the Purpose of the Creation unfulfilled.

Because Adam and Eve did not believe God's Work, they could not establish the Foundation of Faith and they fell. in order to receive the Messiah, fallen man must first restore the Foundation of Faith by indemnifying this failure to believe in God's Word.

After establishing the Foundation of Faith, fallen man must then restore, through indemnity, the Foundation of Substance. Let us examine the reasons that this foundation has to be made. If Adam and Eve had established the Foundation of Faith, they would have become perfect incarnations of God's Word. In other words, they would have developed the character of perfected individuals. This perfect incarnation is the ultimate goal in the creation of man. Faith in God's commandment 'not to eat' was necessary for Adam and Eve only until they reached perfection. God's wish was for them to become beings embodying his character and resembling him. When this took place they would have been able rightfully to have dominion over all of the cosmos, including the archangel, But because Adam and Eve did not base their life on an attitude of faith, they lost the basis by which they could embody God's character and resemble him, and instead they came to be dominated by the archangel, who was to have been the servant of God and man. Thus, the Foundation for the Messiah which fallen man must establish requires establishing through indemnity the Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance.

First, what are the indemnity conditions that must be met in order to establish the Foundation of Faith? To know what they are, we must understand what Adam and Eve failed to do. Adam and Eve failed to establish this foundation as a result of their not having absolute faith in God's commandment during their growing period.

To indemnify this failure, first of all there must be a central person who can stand in Adam's position and restore the Foundation of Faith. Secondly, to indemnify and restore Adam's and Eve's failure to keep God's commandment, the central person must make the required offering with absolute faith. Thirdly, Adam and Eve did not go through the growing period in accordance with God's Will, thus failing to meet the condition of demonstrating faith. In other words, they did not properly go through the period in which they were to carry out their responsibility--by living in accordance with God's Will. As a result, a numerically determined indemnity time-period became necessary to restore the misused growing period. This period is called the mathematical period of indemnity.

The Foundation of Faith is the absolute vertical relationship that man must establish with God. Since man's vertical relationship with God was severed by the first man's and woman's faithlessness toward God, the condition required to indemnify and restore this is called the Foundation of Faith. The reason that throughout history great men of God such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Isaac were required to demonstrate tremendous faith was because they were the individuals responsible to restore through indemnity the Foundation of Faith.

Let us now consider what indemnity is required to restore the Foundation of Substance. If, on the basis of their Foundation of Faith, Adam and Eve had perfected themselves as true children of God, they would have been the perfect incarnations of God's Word and the incarnations of the character of the invisible God. Had this happened, man would have had dominion over all things, including the archangel, thereby fulfilling God's Third Blessing. A Principle relationship would have been established between man and all things, including the angels.

However, Adam and Eve never established a Foundation of Faith, and consequently, did not establish the Foundation of Substance either. Instead, Adam and Eve were defiled by Fallen Nature and ended up being dominated by the archangel.

To establish the Foundation of Substance, fallen man must meet the Indemnity Condition for Removing the Fallen Nature and restore the proper horizontal order, which was disrupted. This is done by reversing the process through which man acquired the Fallen Nature.

Specifically, what is it that has to be done to remove the Fallen Nature? The first factor in the process of the fall of the archangel lay in the archangel's failure to love Adam, who was receiving more love from God. Fallen man inherited this fallen nature of 'not taking the same viewpoint as God'. To remove this fallen nature, a person in the position of the archangel must love a person in Adam's position, thereby taking the same viewpoint as God.

The second factor in the process of the fall of the archangel was his not wanting to receive God's love through Adam who was closer to God. Instead, the archangel attempted to take Adam's position, and he fell, giving rise to the fallen nature of 'leaving one's position'. To remove this fallen nature, a person in the archangel's position must receive God's love through the person in Adam's position, thus keeping his proper position.

The third factor in the process of the Fall was the archangel's dominating Adam and Eve instead of allowing himself to be governed by them. From this came the fallen nature of 'reversing the order of dominion'. To remove this fallen nature, a person in the archangel's position should be obedient to and submit to a person in Adam's position, thereby establishing the proper order of dominion.

The will of goodness not to eat of the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil should have been received from God by Adam, from Adam by Eve, and from Eve by the archangel, thus multiplying goodness. However, instead of goodness being multiplied, Eve accepted from the archangel that she could eat the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and Adam accepted that direction from Eve, thus multiplying the will for evil and causing them to fall. Thus, the final aspect of the Fallen Nature was created--the nature of 'multiplying sin'. To remove this fallen nature of multiplying sin, a person in the archangel's position must receive the righteous will from a person in Adam's position, restoring the nature that multiplies the will of goodness.

When all these conditions are met, the Indemnity Condition for Removing the Fallen Nature is met, and this constitutes the Foundation of Substance. The Foundation for the Messiah is made by restoring through indemnity the Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance. It is only on this foundation that fallen man can receive the Messiah.

From the foregoing, we can understand that the history of mankind is the dispensational history in which God leads man to prepare himself to receive the Messiah by inducing man to fulfill his responsibility. When man finishes this preparation, God will send the Messiah and conclude his Dispensation for Restoration.

This interpretation of history based on the principles of God's Dispensation for Restoration is called the Restoration View of History or the Unification View of History. Now, let us examine the central history within God's Dispensation for Restoration.

Through the Dispensation for Restoration, God seeks to save all of mankind. His methods for accomplishing the dispensation have varied somewhat according to the different histories, traditions, cultural backgrounds, and living conditions of the people with whom he has been dealing. However, God carries out a model dispensation through one central nation. He works his dispensation in other nations as peripheral histories, at some point grafting the peripheral histories to the central history in order that all of mankind can receive the benefit of salvation.

As can be seen in the Old Testament, God had to go through many difficulties in the restoration process before finding one central nation. From what is recorded in the Bible, it seems that once God established Israel as the central nation, he worked only through that nation. And it is true that the training the Israelites received from God was very strict and special and that they received special blessings which cannot be found among other peoples.

However, Jesus did not introduce God only as the God of the Jews, but as the God of all nations. This is clearly shown in John 3:16, where Jesus said "'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life'" (emphasis added). This means that anyone can be connected to the central dispensation of God--even those in the peripheral histories.

As we study the Bible it becomes clear that God has focused on educating a central individual, family, tribe, and nation who will take charge of his model dispensation. Yet, he has also led the peripheral dispensations toward the day when he would connect those individuals, families, tribes, and nations to the Messiah.

John the Baptist also showed that salvation was within reach of all when he chastised the Israelites who did not have sincere faith and arrogantly prided themselves on being God's only chosen people, say to them, "'...do not presume to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father"; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham'" (Mt 3:9).

God's central dispensation of preparation for the Messiah is clearly shown in the Old Testament. Right at the beginning, God's dispensation for Adam's family was frustrated by Cain's slaying Abel. Ten generations later, God's Will was transferred to Noah's family. However, because of the disbelief and failure of Noah's second son, Ham, the family Foundation for the Messiah was not established. It was not until the time of Abraham's and Jacob's families that the Foundation for the Messiah was established (refer to Chapter 11). Based on Jacob's family, God was able to form the Israelites as the chosen people. God's dispensation for the Israelites was to prepare the landing site of faith for the Messiah by having the Israelites establish the national Foundation for the Messiah. As was explained in detail in "The Purpose of the Messiah," the Israelites failed to establish the national Foundation for the Messiah. They ended up committing the historic error of not believing in the Messiah.

Jesus promised a Second Coming. There should be preparation on earth for the Second Coming similar to that made for the First Coming. The past two thousand years of Christian history have had one central purpose--that of establishing the world-wide foundation for the Second Coming of the Messiah. Therefore, the history of Israel before the coming of Jesus and the History of Christianity since his time are the core material of the history of the Dispensation for Restoration.

Looking at history in this way, we can begin to understand the meaning and significance of the events in the history of the Jewish people as recorded in the Old Testament. It is not merely a history of one particular nation, but is rather the model history through which God has worked his dispensation for salvation. The history of the Jewish people, centered on Judaism, and Wester history, centered on Christianity, together are the clearest record of God's Dispensation, and astonishingly, we can see a consistent formula which is applied throughout these two histories.

Since religion guides man's mind and spirit toward accomplishing the restoration of mankind, from the dispensational viewpoint, the history of religion is the central history of God's Dispensation. The other histories, such as the histories of the development of politics, economics, science, and culture con be considered as peripheral.

God's Purpose for the Creation is fulfilled in the Three Blessings. First, each individual is to perfect himself. Next, he is to establish an ideal family, an ideal world, and ideal living conditions. Consequently, the first objective in God's Dispensation for Restoration is not to restore man's social institutions, or his living conditions; it is to restore people. Consequently, from the standpoint of the Dispensation, the history of religion is the central history, while the other histories are peripheral.

Let us summarize human history from Adam to the present in light of what we have discussed. The entire course of the Dispensation may be divided into three ages of approximately two thousand years each:

1. The age from Adam to Abraham;

2. The age from Abraham to Jesus;

3. The age from Jesus to the Second Coming.

The period after the Second Coming is the new age in which God's Ideal is accomplished in its entirety on earth and in the spirit world.

Now let us examine the contents of the dispensation for each age from several different standpoints. First of all, the ages may be looked at from the stand point of God's Word of re-creation:

1. During the age from Adam to Abraham, man could not yet receive God's Word, through which the Dispensation for Restoration is carried out. Through the offerings that God instructed man to make, man was establishing the foundation to receive the Word of God, so this period is called the Dispensational Age of the Foundation for the Word;

2. The age from Abraham to Jesus is called the Old Testament Age and the formation stage in the history of restoration;

3. The age from Jesus to the Second Coming is called the New Testament Age and the growth stage in the history of restoration;

4. The time after the Second Coming is called the Completed Testament Age and the completion stage in the history of restoration.

Secondly, the ages can be divided from the standpoint of the dispensation for resurrection. As already explained in "Resurrection," the dispensational history may be divided as follows:

1. The age from Adam to Abraham is the Dispensational Age of the Foundation for Resurrection;

2. The age from Abraham to Jesus is the Dispensational Age of Formation Stage Resurrection;

3. The age from Jesus to the Second Coming is the Dispensational Age of Growth Stage Resurrection;

4. The time after the Second Coming is called the Dispensational Age for Completion Stage Resurrection.

Thirdly, the ages of faith may be divided from the Standpoint of Restoration through Indemnity as follows:

1. The two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham was invaded by Satan, but was completed by the victory of Abraham's family. This period established the foundation to start the period for restoration through indemnity of what had been lost to Satan. Therefore this period is called the Dispensational Age of the Foundation for Restoration through Indemnity;

2. The age from Abraham to Jesus is the Dispensational Age of Restoration through Indemnity;

3. The age from Jesus to the Second Coming came about because the dispensation which was supposed to be fulfilled at the First Coming was extended until the Second Coming because of the chosen people's lack of faith. This period is called the Dispensational Age of the Prolongation of Restoration through Indemnity;

4. The time after the Second Coming is the Dispensational Age for the Completion of Restoration.

Fourthly, the ages may be divided from the standpoint of the level of the Foundation for the Messiah:

1. In the age from Adam to Abraham, God's dispensation to prepare the Foundation for the Messiah was based on the family. Therefore, this period is called the Dispensational Age of the Family Foundation for the Messiah;

2. The age from Abraham to Jesus is called the Dispensational Age of the National Foundation for the Messiah;

3. The age from Jesus to the Second Coming is the Dispensational Age of the World-wide Foundation for the Messiah;

4. The time beginning with the Second Coming is the Dispensational Age for the Cosmic (i.e., physical world and spirit world) Foundation for the Messiah.

Finally, the ages may be divided according to Dispensational Time Identity, as follows:

1. During the age from Adam to Abraham, man established his faith before God through symbolic offerings, and so this period is called the Age of Symbolic Time Identity;

2. In the age from Abraham to Jesus, man demonstrated his faith in God by offering things in image form--that is, by offering such things as the tabernacle and the temple, which represented the image of the true human being, which had been lost at the Fall. So this period is called the Age of Image Time Identity;

3. From Jesus' time to that of the Second Coming, man demonstrated his faith through Jesus, the substantial temple. This period is therefore called the Age of Substantial Time Identity.

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