Charts 5-8: Second order – from the creation of man to the fall of man
Chart 5
THE SECOND ORDER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
(chart 5)
SECOND ORDER OF HEAVEN & EARTH – FROM THE CREATION OF MAN TO THE FALL OF MAN
REFLECTS PERFECTION IN A UNIFIED HEAVEN & EARTH
In the second order things were very different from the present earth. This was the time when man was in the Garden of Eden. He was living with and walking with God. Man was still pure and sinless. The Garden of Eden seemed to be on earth in the area that we call Mesopotamia, in current Iraq, Gen 2:8-15. It also seems that there was a Garden of Eden in heaven, Ezek 28:13. Apparently man lived in and had access to both. It seems that the abode of man had at least four dimensions to it. We know that there is at least one other dimension that we cannot see and do not have access to, 2 Kings 6:15-18, Col 1:15-16, 1 Tim 1:17. This is the spiritual dimension where God and his angels live. The currently most accepted model of the universe postulated by physicists has ten dimensions in it (string theory). The possibility that man may have originally lived in a higher dimensional universe seems to be very consistent with the situation presented in Genesis. After man fell into sin God kicked him out of the Garden of Eden and erected a barrier so that man could not get back into the garden. The garden that man was kicked out of was certainly not the earthly garden since we still have access to Mesopotamia today and have had continued access to it throughout history, as far as we know. The garden that man was kicked out of was apparently the garden in heaven, the garden that contained the tree of life, which represents Jesus. It is the place where Jesus walks even today. The barrier that God erected was apparently a dimensional barrier. It is described in Gen 3:24 as a flaming sword. In the Bible the sword represents the word of God and Jesus is called the Word. A flaming sword would be one that purifies. This symbology represents the fact that the only way that man can now get back into heaven is through being purified by accepting the word of Jesus, the gospel of Jesus. Jesus is the only way to heaven. After man was thrown out of heaven he could no longer and still cannot get into heaven by his own doing. The only way he can ever get back there is by the grace of God and accepting the sacrifice of Jesus that makes us perfect again and fit to re-enter the garden of God.
Another very interesting thing happened to Adam and Eve relating to getting back into heaven one day. As soon as Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden they noticed something quite shocking to them. They were “naked,” Gen 3:7. Surely this was not being naked in the normal sense that we usually think of. 2 Cor 5:3 explains what it means to be naked from the perspective of Paul. To Paul a person is naked if he does not have a glorified body. This shows me that Adam and Eve may have had glorified bodies when they were in the Garden of Eden. It is clear from a detailed study of Rev 21-22 and John 12-17 that a glorified body is necessary in order to be able to live and participate in a united heaven and earth, the new order mentioned in Rev 21:1-4. Adam and Eve were apparently able to do so before their fall into sin and all believers likely will be able to do this after they receive glorified bodies at the rapture. It seems clear from a study of John 17:5 and Phil 3:20-21 that our glorified body will be like the glorified body that Jesus had after his resurrection. John 17:5 may also be telling us that this is the same nature he had before coming to earth and before the creation of the earth. However, that certainly does not mean that Jesus was or is restricted to this nature, for he certainly must not be. Jesus appeared on earth and looked like a man several times in the Old Testament as “The Angel (messenger) of the Lord.”
We see two possible ways to view the unified heaven and earth in the second seventh orders. I assume that the final order will be similar to the original order and that Adam and Eve had glorified bodies just as believers in the final order will have them. Either the glorified bodies that believers will have at that time will allow them to freely go back and forth between heaven and earth or else they will be in both at the same time. The fact that in Rev 21 we see the Jerusalem that is in heaven coming down from God to a new earth leads me to believe that we likely will be able to reside in both at the same time. It seems that the symbology is of heaven coming to earth. So we see that the second order was likely a higher dimensional place, a union of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth were in unity, and man lived in both at the same time. This is the way that I interpret the many clues given for the second and final orders, but I certainly cannot be dogmatic about it.
Chart 6
SECOND ORDER: THE FALL OF MAN
(chart 6)
ADAM AND EVE IN THE UNIFIED HEAVENA& EARTH BEFORE THE FALL
When Adam and Eve were created they must have had a truly wonderful life. They lived in a garden that was a true paradise. It contained all kinds of fruit trees from which they could eat. This garden must have been in both heaven and on earth. It is described in some detail in Gen 2:8-14 and the description is clearly on earth in the area called Mesopotamia. It was in Iraq, basically between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and extended northward into what is today Turkey. It also must have been in heaven. I have several reasons for believing that. Four reasons are that Jesus and Satan both walked with man in the garden, God has a garden in heaven called the garden of Eden in Ezek 28:13, Hebrews 8:3-5 & 9:23-24 say that many of the things on earth are copies of things that exist in heaven and finally when man was kicked out of the garden he discovered that he was naked. Apparently when Gen 1:27 says that God created man in his image that meant that man had a nature similar to God. God could go freely through both heaven and earth, so man likely could do the same.
God initially set some standards for man that are still in place today. Man was created without sin and he had to remain that way in order to continue his access to heaven and be in the presence of God. God placed two trees in the center of the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represented Satan and sin. Man was warned to not partake of the fruit of this tree or he would be banned from the garden. Man was given “free will” to choose to follow God’s plan for him or to ignore it and fall into a life of sin. Man ultimately listened to the father of lies, Satan (John 8:44), and partook of the forbidden fruit, sin. When he did he was kicked out of the heavenly dimension of the Garden of Eden. He obviously still had access to the earthly garden. God was seriously offended by man’s actions. What did he do as a result of man’s free will choice to disobey him? We will cover that next.
Chart 7
(chart 7)
SECOND ORDER: GOD’S RESPONSE TO INITIAL SIN IN THE UNIFIED HEAVEN & EARTH
As a result of this initial sin man was confined to earth and a barrier was set up to keep him from ever again being able to get back into the garden of God in heaven by anything he could do by himself. This barrier was referred to as a flaming sword in Gen 3:24. It symbolically represented purification (fire purifies, Zech 13:9, Mal 3:2, Matt 3:11, Mk 9:49, 1 Cor 3:13, Rev 3:18) by accepting the word (sword of the Spirit in Eph 6:17) of God, the gospel of Jesus. Accepting Jesus means that his shed blood covers up our sins and purifies us, meaning that God then looks at us and sees us as perfect in his eyes. Thus we must go through Jesus to get back into heaven. Jesus is the only way. He is the barrier that stands in the way of the world. I Peter 2:7-8 says, “Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes men fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message.” They cannot get into heaven because they do not know Jesus.
Another very interesting thing happened to Adam and Eve relating to getting back into heaven one day. As soon as Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden they noticed something quite shocking to them. They were “naked,” Gen 3:7. This was described above in the chart 5 commentary.
Two other very critical things happened when man was kicked out of heaven. First, God placed a curse upon the earth, Gen 3:14-19. This curse resulted in serious consequences for Adam and Eve as well as their offspring. The consequences included:
- Women would be the physically weaker sex and would experience pain in childbirth.
- Man would now have to work painfully hard to provide food for himself and his family.
- Plant life was cursed and weeds, thorns and thistles emerged to make life very difficult for man.
- Man was apparently created to live with God forever in heaven; however because of his sin his body would now age and die. Along with this physical death came all of the things that cause death including diseases, poisons, accidents, wild animals, murder, destructive forces of nature, etc.
Second, when man was banned to earth it began a spiritual war in the heavenly realm over the spirits of men that is still taking place today. Satan and his angels became man’s worst enemy, Gen 3:14-15. This war was basically for the heart of man and was between the angelic forces for good and evil, with each trying to influence man to use his free will to follow their respective leaders, either God or Satan, Eph 6:10-12. God won the critical victory with the death and resurrection of Jesus, which accomplished one of God’s ultimate purposes, allowing man to once again be seen as perfect and fit to enter heaven for eternity, Col 2:13-15.
THE CONTINUING SAGA
Man made his choice by exercising his free will given to him by God. He chose the way of Satan over the way of God; he chose Satan’s fruit, sin, over obedience to God. Unfortunately, believers in Christ will continue to have to bear the consequences until their deaths. After that their spirits return to God. Again, this was made possible because Jesus bought their pardon for sin with his death and resurrection. However those who do not belong to Jesus will have to pay the consequences for eternity. They will never be able to return to God’s garden in heaven. They will be sent to a place of darkness, a place where the light of Jesus does not shine. There are eternal consequences for not belonging to Jesus.
Chart 8
(chart 8)
THE STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH IN THE SECOND ORDER
1. UNREDEEMED MAN
SECOND ORDER: There were no unredeemed in this order, since man did not fall to sin until the end of this order. Man was kicked out of heaven as soon as he fell into sin. Death apparently did not enter the realm of existence until after this order ended. Thus there would have been no after death.
2. REDEEMED MAN
SECOND ORDER: This phase encompassed the time from the creation of Adam and Eve until their fall into sin. Adam and Eve may have been the only living members of mankind and they were living in a unified heaven and earth. They were sharing the Garden of Eden with Jesus, the Father, the Spirit and the angels, including Satan. After they fell to the deceptive lies of Satan they were no longer sinless and were therefore kicked out of heaven and down to earth (dimensionally speaking). They were banned from re-entering heaven and a barrier was erected between heaven and earth. This barrier will be removed in two phases as we will see later. Again, in the second order there was no death and thus no after death.