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Pentecost season
Atlas — The Arc of Redemption

Time & Ages

From Creation to New Creation — the turning points, appointed times, and rulers of the ages laid out in order.

  1. Mazzaroth / Ordinances of the Heavens

    Cosmic Law

    Mazzaroth and the ordinances of the heavens name the ordered celestial realm under God's authority, not an independent fate-machine.

    Biblical Theology

  2. Lake of Fire (Gehenna)

    Final Judgment Place

    Eternal punishment for devil, his angels, and the wicked.

    Biblical Theology

  3. Outer Darkness

    Judgment State

    Expulsion into darkness; weeping and gnashing of teeth.

    Biblical Theology

  4. New Jerusalem

    Eternal City

    The New Jerusalem is the final dwelling of God with redeemed humanity, Eden restored and surpassed in the Lamb's light.

    Doctrine

  5. River & Tree of Life

    Life Source

    The river and tree of life show the final restoration of Eden through the throne of God and of the Lamb.

    Doctrine
  6. Creation onward

    Boundary of the Sea

    Divine Decree

    Proverbs, Jeremiah, and Job converge on a single image—the sand and the decree that hold the sea's proud waves at the shoreline—as a working figure of God's restraint over chaos.

    Biblical Theology
  7. Monarchic, Exilic, Church Age

    Fixed Laws of Heaven & Earth

    Cosmic Covenant

    Jeremiah uses the fixed cycles of day and night and the unnumbered host of stars as a sworn guarantee—God's covenant with David is as unbreakable as His covenant with the cosmos.

    Biblical Theology
  8. Church Age (Apocalyptic)

    Mark of the Beast

    Allegiance Mark

    Economic/religious mark on right hand/forehead; opposed to God’s seal.

    Biblical Theology
  9. Church Age (Apocalyptic)

    Seal of God on Foreheads

    Divine Protection

    Servants of God sealed; spared from certain judgments.

    Biblical Theology
  10. Mosaic, Church Age (theology)

    Appointed Times (Moedim)

    Sacred Calendar

    Israel's feasts and Sabbaths are appointed meetings with God in the calendar—rest, harvest, atonement, ingathering—each one read by the New Testament as a shadow whose body belongs to Christ.

    Biblical Theology
  11. Church Age, Consummation

    Sabbath Rest (God’s People)

    Rest State

    Sabbath-rest remains for the people of God.

    Biblical Theology
  12. Consummation

    Nations Bring Their Glory

    Sanctified Culture

    Nations walk by the city’s light; bring glory and honor in.

    Biblical Theology
  13. Church Age (Apocalyptic)

    Seven Thunders (sealed)

    Withheld Revelation

    Utterances John was told not to write.

    Biblical Theology
  14. Creation

    Creation of Day & Night (Day 1)

    Origin of Temporal Cycle

    On the first day God speaks light into being, separates it from darkness, and names them—and the canonical text uses that act to teach that time itself is a creature, given by God, marked by evening and morning.

    Biblical Theology
  15. Creation onward

    Luminaries for Signs and Seasons (Day 4)

    Heavenly Timekeepers

    Sun, moon, and stars appointed for signs, seasons (moedim), days, and years.

    Biblical Theology
  16. Creation, Mosaic, Church Age, Consummation

    Sabbath Sanctified (Day 7)

    Time Made Holy

    God blesses and sanctifies the seventh day—time consecrated for rest and worship.

    Biblical Theology
  17. Patriarchs, Monarchic, Exilic, Church Age

    Fixed Order of Day and Night

    Covenant of Time

    Fixed order (berit) of day and night undergirds creation’s stability.

    Biblical Theology
  18. Patriarchs/Wisdom

    Ordinances of the Heavens

    Cosmic Laws Governing Seasons

    Mazzaroth, Pleiades/Orion—heavenly ordinances set times on earth.

    Biblical Theology
  19. Monarchic

    Womb of the Dawn

    Birth of Day (Poetic)

    The dawn portrayed as birthed from a womb—poetic source of mornings.

    Biblical Theology
  20. Prophets

    God Inhabits Eternity

    Divine Dwelling beyond Time

    The High and Holy One dwells in eternity yet with the contrite.

    Biblical Theology
  21. Exilic/Apocalyptic

    Ancient of Days Enthroned

    Sovereign over Times

    Daniel 7 names God by a title no other text uses—the Ancient of Days—and shows Him seated in a court of fire to which the Son of Man is presented and given an everlasting dominion.

    Biblical Theology
  22. Wisdom

    Eternity in Human Heart

    Innate Sense of the Aeons

    Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has set eternity—*olam*—in the human heart, and that the same setting makes us unable to find out the work of God from beginning to end.

    Biblical Theology
  23. Wisdom

    Book of Days (Allotted Days)

    Personal Time Ledger

    Psalm 139 says the days ordained for the psalmist were written in God's book before one of them existed—an intimate disclosure of providence over the span of a single life.

    Biblical Theology
  24. Church Age (Apostolic)

    Appointed Times & Boundaries of Nations

    Historical Kairoi

    Paul tells the Athenians that the rise and fall of nations is providence with a goal—God appoints periods and boundaries so people might reach out and find Him.

    Biblical Theology
  25. Church Age

    Times and Seasons in the Father’s Authority

    Sovereign Timing

    Times and seasons (chronoi kai kairoi) belong to the Father.

    Biblical Theology
  26. Incarnation, Church Age, Consummation

    Fullness of Time

    Messianic Fulfillment

    At the fullness of time God sent His Son; summing up all things in Christ.

    Biblical Theology
  27. Church Age, Consummation

    This Age and the Age to Come

    Two-Age Schema

    Scripture contrasts the present age with the age to come.

    Biblical Theology
  28. Church Age, Consummation

    End of the Age

    Harvest & Judgment Time

    Jesus speaks of *the end of the age*—a single Greek phrase that names the close of the present world-time and the harvest of judgment and salvation that consummates it.

    Biblical Theology
  29. Prophets, Church Age

    Day of the LORD

    Divine Intervention Day

    The Day of the LORD is the prophets' name for the convergence of God's judgment and salvation in a single appearing—a day Amos warns is darker than the careless expect, and Paul says will come like a thief.

    Biblical Theology
  30. Church Age, Consummation

    Seasons of Refreshing & Restoration

    Redemptive Seasons

    Times of refreshing from the Lord; restoration of all things.

    Biblical Theology
  31. Mosaic, Church Age (fulfillment)

    Sabbath Year & Jubilee

    Long-Cycle Sacred Time

    Land Sabbath and Jubilee liberty proclaim release and return.

    Biblical Theology
  32. Prophets, Church Age, Consummation

    Signs in Sun, Moon, and Stars

    Portents of Timing

    Celestial signs accompany climactic moments.

    Biblical Theology
  33. Consummation

    No Night There; No Need of Sun

    Transfigured Time

    New Jerusalem needs no sun; no night—Lamb is its light.

    Biblical Theology
  34. Consummation

    Tree of Life—Twelve Fruits Monthly

    Sanctified Months

    Tree yields twelve fruits each month; leaves for healing.

    Biblical Theology
  35. Church Age

    God of This Age

    Adversarial Title

    Satan as 'the god of this age' who blinds unbelievers.

    Biblical Theology
  36. Church Age

    Rulers of This Age (archontes)

    Temporal Powers (Seen/Unseen)

    Rulers of this age who do not understand God's wisdom.

    Biblical Theology
  37. Church Age

    World-Rulers of This Darkness (kosmokratores)

    Hostile Powers

    Hostile cosmic rulers in heavenly places opposing the church.

    Biblical Theology
  38. Church Age

    Prince of the Power of the Air

    Domain Descriptor

    Satan as prince of the authority of the air; spirit at work in disobedience.

    Biblical Theology
  39. Church Age (theology)

    Elementary Principles/Elemental Spirits (stoicheia)

    Elemental Powers/Principles

    Paul uses the Greek word *stoicheia* to describe the elementary principles—or possibly elemental spirits—that once held the world in bondage and from which the cross has set believers free.

    Biblical Theology
  40. Exilic/Apocalyptic

    Princes of Persia & Greece

    Territorial Princes

    Angel-princes opposing God’s messenger; Michael assists.

    Biblical Theology
  41. Exilic/Apocalyptic

    Michael the Great Prince

    Guardian Prince

    Great prince who stands over Israel; end-time deliverance.

    Biblical Theology
  42. Monarchic, Consummation

    Kings of the Earth

    Earthly Sovereigns

    Kings take counsel against the LORD; later bring glory to the city.

    Biblical Theology
  43. Church Age, Consummation

    Twenty-Four Elders

    Heavenly Councilors

    Elders enthroned around God; worship and intercede.

    Biblical Theology
  44. Incarnation, Church Age, Consummation

    Twelve Thrones of the Apostles

    Judicial Promise

    Apostles promised thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

    Biblical Theology
  45. Church Age

    Thrones, Dominions, Rulers, Authorities

    Invisible Hierarchies

    Ranks created through and for Christ; subject to Him.

    Biblical Theology
  46. Church Age, Consummation

    Domain of Darkness vs. Kingdom of the Son

    Two Realms

    Paul tells the Colossians that the Father has rescued them from the domain of darkness and transferred them into the kingdom of His beloved Son—a single sentence that names the most decisive change a human life can undergo.

    Biblical Theology
  47. Church Age

    Times of the Gentiles

    Historical Period

    Jerusalem trampled until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

    Biblical Theology

  48. Pentecost

    Pentecost is the third great feast of the Jewish calendar, fifty days after Passover. The Hebrew name is *Shavuot* — the Feast of Weeks. The Greek name *pentekoste* simply means *fiftieth*. In the Mosaic system the feast commemorated the giving of the Torah on Sinai and the firstfruits of the wheat harvest — both timings tied to the seventh week after the Passover the LORD's people kept in Egypt. Acts 2 records what happened on this feast the year of Christ's death.

  49. The Binding of Isaac

    Genesis 22 is the chapter the Jewish tradition calls the Akedah — "the binding." God tells Abraham to take Isaac, the son of the promise, and offer him as a burnt sacrifice on a mountain in the land of Moriah. Abraham gets up early, saddles his donkey, splits the wood, and walks three days. On the third day he sees the mountain. He tells his servants he and the boy will return — "the boy and I will go over there and worship and come back to you." (Genesis 22:5) Isaac carries the wood up. Abraham carries the fire and the knife. Isaac asks where the lamb is. Abraham says God will provide.

  50. The Council of Jerusalem

    The Council of Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 15 and traditionally dated to around AD 49, was the moment the early church decided whether Gentile converts had to become Jews before they could be full Christians. The question sounds technical. It wasn't. Everything about how the gospel would relate to ethnic Israel, to Torah, to circumcision, to food laws, to the mission of Paul — and ultimately the shape of every Gentile-majority church for two thousand years afterward — was decided in this one meeting.

  51. The Damascus Road

    The road from Jerusalem to Damascus is about 150 miles northeast. In the year 34 or 35 AD, a Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus was walking it. He carried letters from the high priest authorizing him to arrest any followers of *the Way* — the early Christian community — found in the Damascus synagogues. He was traveling to extend the persecution that had already killed Stephen and scattered the Jerusalem church (Acts 8:1–3; 9:1–2). The Damascus road episode in Acts 9 is the single moment in the New Testament that most changes the direction of the Christian mission.

  52. The Exodus

    The Exodus is the event the Old Testament treats as the founding act of the people Israel — the night God brought his enslaved people out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. It is not just a deliverance story; it is the template scripture uses for every later salvation, including the salvation Jesus accomplishes at the crucifixion. When the New Testament wants to talk about what Christ has done, it reaches first for Passover and Red Sea imagery.

  53. The Flood

    The Flood narrative in Genesis 6–9 is the second great undoing in scripture. The first was the expulsion from Eden; the Flood is the moment God responds to violence and corruption by un-creating the world he had made — and then recreating it through one family and a wooden ark.

  54. The Passover

    The Passover is the night Israel becomes Israel. Egypt has refused nine times to let the people go. The tenth plague will be the firstborn of every household in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. The LORD instructs Israel through Moses: take a lamb without blemish, one per household, on the tenth day of the first month. Keep it until the fourteenth day. Kill it at twilight. Daub the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts. Roast the lamb, eat it that night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, with belts on and sandals on and staffs in hand. When the destroying angel passes…

  55. The Shema

    "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." (Deuteronomy 6:4–5)