Therefore, God's central providence is found in the history of Christianity, which God prepared as the Second Israel on the worldwide level in place of the lost First Israel. Furthermore, the history of the First Israel, which began from Jacob, and the history of the Second Israel, Christianity, which began from Jesus' time, must be identical because both were prepared for the purpose of enabling the Messiah to be received on earth.

The history of the Jewish people and the history of Christianity differ in terms of time period, make-up, geographical setting and cultural background. However, the mission of these two histories has been passed on from one to the other as part of God's central history of the restoration providence.

Each was prepared for the final product of its dispensation-the foundation for the Messiah through the principle of restoration.

Now let us compare these two histories from the standpoint of the restoration providence and examine the question of when the time of the Lord's Second Coming will be.

The history of Israel from the time of Jacob until Jesus was divided into six periods: the period of slavery in Egypt, the period of Judges, the period of the United Kingdom, the period of the divided kingdom of North and South, the period of Babylonian captivity and return and the period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah. In each period, God directly guided the providence, but the people could not fulfill their responsibility, and thus only after going through all of these periods could the Messiah come. Let us examine each time period in greater detail and compare each to the corresponding historical period after the time of Jesus.