The Four Primary Estates of Man
We are an eternal family of God, and the earthly family is patterned after the eternal family of God. There are four primary estates of man. The First Estate was in heaven. As spirits we lived in the kingdom of heaven with God who is the Father of our spirits. In Jude we read.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6)
The Second Estate began when we left heaven as spirits and came to earth through mortal lineage to gain a physical body on earth. When we left heaven, a veil was drawn over our minds causing us to forget our former estate, thus faith was born which thrives in uncertainty. In Ecclesiastes we read:
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? (Ecclesiastes 3:1-9)
The purpose of earth, or the Second Estate is to gain a physical body, to seek the Kingdom of God on Earth and to strive to return to the Presence of God. The Preacher continues:
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.…14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
The Preacher saw that a judgment would be made, dividing the righteous from the wicked.
16 ¶ And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. 17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
It was intended that on earth, even with the veil over our minds that we distinguish between the natural man and the spiritual man, that we should rise above the beast.
