God's Secret Plan For the Salvation of Mankind: Understanding the Mystery of Christ Through Schematic Diagrams

By Nick Bratkovich

"God's Secret Plan For the Salvation of Mankind" was written with the intention of providing the reader with a panoramic view of God's eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord. Beginning in the timelessness of eternity past, and continuing into the endlessness of eternity future, each historic age is thoroughly examined as the details concerning the outworking of God's secret plan are progressively made known to both men and angels.

Throughout the book, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus is of primary importance. This, however, only stands to reason, for without his finished and all-sufficient work at the cross of Calvary, there could have been no completion of God's secret plan of salvation and reclamation. Without Christ's blood as the fully satisfying once-for-all payment for all the sins of the world, there would have been no possibility of salvation for mankind. Neither would there be any possibility of God reclaiming that which rightfully belongs to him, for there would be no saved individuals with which to reclaim it. Satan would remain in control for eternity because there would be no Remnant of Israel to reclaim the Earth and no Body of Christ to reclaim the Heavens.

From the onset of the study, the differences between God's program for the nation of Israel and his program for the Body of Christ are brought to light and diligently compared. The importance of this cannot be overstated, for it is only when the differences between these two programs are recognized and respected that doctrinal confusion is eliminated. Though Christ provides salvation for both the nation of Israel and the Body of Christ, their programs are entirely different. Only by rightly dividing the word of truth is the Bible student able to see these differences, and only then does the Bible begin to make sense from cover to cover.

"God's Secret Plan For the Salvation of Mankind" was written to be utilized as a Bible study, for either individuals or groups. God's eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord, the secret plan that was already in God's mind before the foundation of the world, the study's focus, while the Mystery, revealed to the apostle Paul by the ascended Lord Jesus Christ, forms the doctrinal basis. The doctrines of our salvation, including reconciliation, justification, and sanctification, are examined in detail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098397968

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Copyright © 2020 Nick Bratkovich

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner.

Published by BookBaby

7905 N Crescent Boulevard

Pennsauken, New Jersey 08110

ISBN 978-1-09839-796-8

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Dedication

Author's Note

Preface

The Basics of Schematic Diagrams

A Word of Encouragement

Introduction

The Secret Hid in God Before the World Began

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Understanding the Dispensations of God

Dispensational Considerations

The Eight Dispensations of God

A Dispensational Summary

The Error of Mixing Law and Grace

Chapter 1

Deep Time - Before Lucifer's Rebellion

The Heavenly Hierarchy of Deep Time

Three Truths About the Godhead

Time and Eternity - Seven Important Beginnings

Chapter 2

Deep Time - Lucifer's Rebellion

After Lucifer's Rebellion A Simplified Diagram

A Short Biography of Lucifer

Chapter 3

Time Past - The Dispensation of Innocence

The Destiny of Man

The Nature of God's Living Creation

Mankind - God's Most Special and Unique Creation

Chapter 4

Time Past - The Dispensation of Conscience

The Method, the Mechanics, and the Means of Salvation

The Details of God's Secret Plan of Salvation

Chapter 5

Time Past - The Universal Consequences of Sin

Adam - Before the Fall

Adam - After the Fall

Unbelievers of Time Past

Believers of Time Past

The Works of an Unbeliever

The Works of a Believer

The Spiritual Warfare Within Every Believer

The Work of the Holy Spirit in Time Past

Chapter 6

Time Past - The Dispensation of Human Government

The Reason for Paradise

The Sin Nature in Life and Death - An Expanded View of Hell in Time Past

Chapter 7

Time Past - The Dispensation of Promise

The Abrahamic Covenant

Abimelech the King of Gerar

Abram the Hebrew

Chapter 8

Time Past - The Dispensation of Law

The Jewish Remnant

Israel's Priesthood of Time Future

Salvation According to the Gospel of the Kingdom

The Connection Between Mount Sinai and the Jordan River

Scriptural Statistics

Chapter 9

The Birth of Christ - The Incarnation of the Word

Has the New Testament Already Begun?

Satan's Attack on the Seed Line of Christ

Chapter 10

The Crucifixion of Christ - The Reconciliation of the World

The Magnitude of Christ's Work of Reconciliation

The Result of Adam's Fall

Israel's Temporary Reconciliation

The Aftermath of Temporary Reconciliation

After Christ's Work of Reconciliation

A Computer Networking Analogy

Chapter 11

The Resurrection of Christ - The Justification of the Faithful

The Grand Exit from Hell - Order of Events

The Captivity of Paradise

The Nature of Christ - At His Birth

The Nature of Christ - At His Crucifixion

The Nature of Christ - At His Resurrection

The Nature of an Unbeliever During the Dispensation of Grace

The Nature of a Believer During the Dispensation of Grace

The Works of an Unbeliever During the Dispensation of Grace

The Works of a Believer During the Dispensation of Grace

The Work of the Holy Spirit During the Dispensation of Grace

Had Satan Only Known

Chapter 12

Time Present - The Dispensation of Grace

The Dispensational Change from Law to Grace

After the Resurrection of Christ

At the Start of the Dispensation of Grace

The Dispensation of Grace in Full Force

Differences Between Prophecy and Mystery

The Mystery Kept Secret Since the World Began

A Grace Age Statement of Faith for Local Churches

Chapter 13

Time Future - The Rapture

The Rapture of the Church Order of Events

Chapter 14

Time Future - The 7-Year Tribulation

Tribulation Overview

Chapter 15

Time Future - The Second Coming of Christ

The Importance of the Second Coming of Christ

Differences Between the Secind Coming and the Rapture

Christ's Promise to the Kingdom Saints

Individual Resurrection and Judgment at the Second Coming

Individual Resurrection - The Four Resurrections

Israel's National Resurrection - Order of Events

Israel's National Resurrection - The Details

Israel's Law Failure Confession

The Mechanics of Corporate Resurrection - The Body of Christ

The Mechanics of Corporate Resurrection - The Body of Israel

Chapter 16

The Future - The Dispensation of the Kingdom

Millennial Kingdom Overview

Chapter 17

The Future - The Final Rebellion

Final Rebellion Overview

Final Rebellion - The Aftermath

God's Secret Plan of Reclamation Completed

Chapter 18

Eternity Future - The Dispensation of the Fullness of Times

The Beginning of Eternity Future

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

The New Heaven

The New Earth

The New Jerusalem

End Times Chronology

The What, the How, and the Why

The Reason for Everything

Appendix A

How to Get to Heaven

The Gospel of the Grace of God - Not Just for Unbelievers!

Appendix B

Loss of Salvation

The Sin of Unbelief

The Unpardonable Sin

Appendix C

Questions for Further Study

It shall greatly help thee to understand the Scriptures if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, and with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeth after.

Myles Coverdale (1488-1569)

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Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what was mine, yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Dedication

3 I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. 4 For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; (Ps 108:3-5)

I humbly dedicate this book to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the precious Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20). To God the Father, who made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for me so that I might be made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor 5:21). And to God the Holy Spirit, who dwells within me, and who seals me unto the day of my redemption (Rom 8:11; Eph 1:13-14).

To my wife Nancy, the love of my life, who has always stood beside me and encouraged me in all my endeavors. Thank you for making our life a song. To our children, Michael, Andrew and Rachael, and to their families and their children, whom I love more than words can say.

To my father Dan and my mother Elizabeth, who set my feet on the narrow way at an early age (Matt 7:14), and for which I will be eternally grateful. To my sister Lillian and her family, as well as to my extended family, both physical and spiritual, especially the brothers and sisters of Grace Bible Study Fellowship of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Thank you for your encouragement and inspiration during the completion of this project.

Finally, I dedicate this book to you, the reader. My prayer is that you would refer often to this work in your daily walk with the Lord. May it serve as your spiritual handbook in helping you to better understand the Bible, and the things that the apostle Paul calls the deep things of God (1 Cor 2:10), of which the apostle Peter says some things are hard to be understood (2 Pet 3:15-16), and yet, they are all things that the Lord would have us aspiring to understand (2 Tim 2:7).

May God bless you on your journey of discovery and understanding.

The Gospel alone is sufficient to rule the lives of Christians everywhere. Any additional rules made to govern men’s conduct adds nothing to the perfection already found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

John Wycliffe (1328-1384)

Author’s Note

10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The underlying message on every page of this book is the Gospel of Christ (Rom 1:16), also known as the Gospel of the Grace of God (Acts 20:24). I proclaim this with great joy and without apology, for the understanding of it is the single most important thing in a person’s life. The apostle Paul refers to his unique message as my gospel (Rom 16:25), and to us he describes it as the gospel of your salvation (Eph 1:13). He tells us that his gospel has been hidden to them that are lost, whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world, lest the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Cor 4:3-4).

According to the Scripture passage above, the natural man is unable to receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. In other words, an unsaved person is unable to gain any spiritual understanding from the Bible, no matter how hard he tries. You must possess the mind of Christ before the Holy Spirit can provide you with any spiritual understanding. However, in order to possess the mind of Christ, you must first be placed in Christ (1 Cor 1:30), and that requires trusting in the finished and all-sufficient crosswork of the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation.

If you are someone who has never trusted in Christ, or perhaps a churchgoer who is unsure of his salvation and searching for the truth, I urge you to study Appendix A very carefully before proceeding any further. There you will find some helpful illustrations that present Paul’s gospel in a way that is easy to understand. Once your salvation is secure, and the Holy Spirit is living inside of you and guiding you, the material being presented will not be difficult for you to understand. In fact, you’ll be surprised to see how the Bible will become an open book, and how the deep things of God will suddenly start to become very clear (Col 1:9-10).

So, if you truly desire to know God and to understand his written word, then begin by trusting Christ, and him alone, for your salvation – not your good works, your high moral standards, your water baptism, making the sign of the cross, observing sacraments, attending church regularly, reciting the Lord’s Prayer, confessing your sins to a priest in order to obtain forgiveness, or any of a dozen other things. As far as God the Father is concerned, these self-righteous acts contribute nothing to your salvation and only diminish the magnitude of his Son’s accomplishment at the cross of Calvary. Simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust that he has already done everything required for your salvation (Acts 16:31). You’ll be thanking God and rejoicing for all eternity!

Preface

I have always believed that difficult subjects are easier to understand when accompanied by a diagram. What came as a surprise to me, however, is how well this concept also applies to Bible study. My hope is that the diagrams in this book will help you to better understand the doctrines of your salvation by giving you a glimpse into the unseen spiritual realm where those doctrines first became a reality. In the process, I hope they form within you a new appreciation for the sheer magnitude of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished at the cross of Calvary.

I also believe that for a diagram to be true and accurate, it must be based on factual and unbiased data. For this reason, all the diagrams appearing in this book were based solely on the Scriptures, for the word of God is the only truth on which we can rely for our doctrine. Denominational teaching and traditions of men played no part in the development of the diagrams. Lastly, I believe the Authorized 1769 King James Bible to be the pure, inerrant, and preserved word of God in the English language. Therefore, all the Scripture references found in this book have been taken from its pages.

All believers, by definition, understand the basics of what Christ accomplished for them at the cross of Calvary. Those who have come to appreciate dispensational theology and right division understand it much better (Eph 3:2; Col 1:25; 2 Tim 2:15). But while all believers understand to some degree what Christ accomplished for them, they find it much more difficult to see how he accomplished it – and therein lies the beauty of a schematic diagram. It helps one to visualize the effects of the unseen events that took place in the spiritual realm. Now, Bible doctrines such as reconciliation, justification and sanctification, often treated merely as abstract concepts, suddenly become real and meaningful when connected to the events that caused them to occur.

Although it was not my original intent, I realized, after starting this project, that a discussion regarding God’s plan for the salvation of mankind would not be complete unless a discussion of God’s plan for the reclamation of the Heavens and the Earth were included as well. The reason is because reclamation is the result of salvation. The two are inseparably linked, and together make up God’s eternal purpose in Christ (1 Cor 15:28; Eph 3:11). Therefore, it seemed proper to include enough information regarding the reclamation process.

Throughout this book you will be reminded of the fact that God’s plan was kept secret from before the foundation of the world. Not until the ascended Lord Jesus Christ revealed the Mystery to the apostle Paul (Rom 16:25-26) was the existence of this plan even known, much less all that it entailed. But now, through our apostle, we have been given all the details. Read them for yourself in the following passage from the book of Ephesians.

1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: 3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6 That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: 7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Eph 3:1-11)

Please try to understand the importance of what is being said here:

Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles, sent specifically to the Gentiles, by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

The ascended Lord of Glory revealed to the apostle Paul, and to him alone, the dispensation of the grace of God.

This dispensation was a mystery, hid in God from the beginning of the world.

Jews and Gentiles are now joined together by the gospel in one body, the Body of Christ.

Paul wants all men to see what is the fellowship of the mystery – the communion that exists between like-minded believers who understand and appreciate the body of truth revealed to the apostle Paul by the ascended Lord Jesus Christ – though sadly, few have ever heard of it.

The Church today is the living manifestation of the Mystery, making known the manifold wisdom of God to the angelic principalities and powers in Heavenly places.

God created all things by Jesus Christ, according to his eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Yes, dear reader, all this information is contained right there in the passage you just read, and Paul is the only apostle who makes it known. If you’re unable to see why all of this is so important, then I suggest you read it again – and keep reading it until the light goes on! If you’re serious about understanding the Bible, you must begin by acknowledging the uniqueness of the apostle Paul and his ministry (Rom 11:13; Gal 1:6-12; 1 Tim 1:15-16). If he is truly the apostle of the Gentiles, as the Scriptures declare him to be, then that makes him our apostle. It is from him alone that the Church of this dispensation, the Body of Christ, receives its doctrine – and it’s only when you recognize him as God’s spokesman for the Age of Grace that everything in the Bible finally begins to make sense.

The goal of this study is threefold:

To provide Christ’s ambassadors with an effective way of presenting the only gospel that saves lost people today, the Gospel of the Grace of God.

To liberate the countless number of denominational prisoners who believe that forgiveness of sins and salvation are one and the same.

To present the Doctrine of Reclamation, the final piece of the puzzle that makes everything fall into place – God’s plan for taking back ownership of the Heavens and the Earth.

I pray the Holy Spirit would use this book to lead the lost to Christ, and to bring the one true Church, the Body of Christ, into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God – unto a perfect man, unto the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13).

Nick Bratkovich

Tulsa, Oklahoma

August 2021

The Basics of Schematic Diagrams

What is a schematic diagram?

A drawing intended to explain the workings of an operational system.

A representation of the components making up an operational system, as well as their interconnections.

What makes them so useful?

The components are represented as simple graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures.

Irrelevant details are omitted in order to make the essential meaning simpler and easier to understand.

How will they be used in this study?

To help you visualize the various connections involving the entities of the unseen spiritual realm.

To help you analyze the effects of those connections, on the individual entities as well as on the entire operating system, known as the Kingdom of God.

The symbolism is practical and straightforward. The chapter numbers indicate where the symbolism first appears:

Intersecting lines of the same color are connected by a large dot. (ch.1)

Intersecting lines of a different color are not connected. (ch.7)

A line terminating in an X symbolizes a broken connection. (ch.2)

A black dashed line represents the satanic sin nature. (ch.2)

A block style arrow symbolizes an influence or a motivation, not a connection. (ch.5)

A dashed line enclosing two or more components is called an envelope. (ch.1)

All components within an envelope are part of the same unit. (ch.1)

Red and gold symbolize holiness and righteousness. (ch.1)

Gray and black symbolize sin and corruption. (ch.2)

Green symbolizes an immortal physical body. (ch.1)

Blue indicates supplementary information. (ch.1)

A Word of Encouragement

Schematic diagrams can be a little difficult to understand at first, but I encourage you not to give up. In a short time, they will make perfect sense, and you will begin to see things and