Message of the Month by Pastor Paul January 2021
GOD'S GREAT ETERNAL PLAN OF THE AGES
God’s Great Eternal Plan
It seems appropriate at the beginning of a New Year following on from such a cataclysmic 2020, to look at the bigger picture before we move on.
Whatever happens, God is still on the Throne and for sure God has a plan – but what is it?
As Tevye sings in Fiddler on the Roof: “Would it change some vast eternal plan – if I were a wealthy man?” He got one thing right – God does have a VAST ETERNAL PLAN and for those with eyes to see, it is revealed in His Word - which is the revelation of His Will.
God’s Perfect Plan
Within Himself, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, had a plan which, in His perfect will, He set in motion at the dawn of creation. This vast plan came out of WHO He is – He is LOVE, and because God is love He could not be selfish - it’s opposite to His nature.
It was impossible for God to keep all His wonders to Himself so He planned to have a HUMAN FAMILY to love and share all his riches with for all eternity!
He therefore created mankind and an amazingly beautiful and complex environment for us to live in - planet earth - set in a vast expanse of stars and galaxies that seemingly go on forever!
God is Sovereign (He rules and reigns as King) and does everything according to His self- determining will and purpose.
In Revelation 4:9-11 those closest to God – the four living creatures and the 24 elders are constantly amazed at God’s wonderful plan (His will) as they fall down worshipping and saying:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
Genesis 1:26-27 shows us that mankind was unique in all of God’s creation - made in God’s image with self-determining will - just like Him, and with the purpose of ruling over all that God had made for us.
It was God’s perfect plan for HIS FAMILY to rule and reign with Him forever.
To endlessly enjoy discovering what a wonderful heavenly Father we have and to live in an environment of glory, perfection and beauty as joint heirs with His only begotten Son for all eternity! (Romans 8:17)
God’s Contingency Plan
In order for God’s family to have a relationship with Him based on love, mankind had to have freedom of choice, just like He has got (we are made in His image). So God gave mankind self-determing freewill – the freedom to love Him or not.
This was a great risk – and God knew what they would do - Adam and Eve used that freewill to disobey God (Genesis 3:17). When this happened, God had to set in motion His Contingency (backup) Plan.
His Perfect Plan remained the same but it would take a long time to achieve it!
His backup plan involved His Plan of Salvation and this is the amazing thing: in giving man freewill God knew what it would cost Himself to turn everything back to His original plan. The Son agreed with the Father and effectively was slain from before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8) in order ultimately, to bring us back to God’s original plan!
God’s Salvation Plan
All of us know how that plan involved various steps along the way firstly with the promise to Abraham that: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:1-3) and then by choosing the people of Israel to demonstrate His love for mankind:
“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you” (Deut 7:6-8).
The people of Israel were to be God’s servants in His great plan (Exodus 19:5-6, Leviticus 25:55, Isaiah 41:8, 44:1 & 21) but they failed.
Isaiah 49:6 finally reveals the full purpose of choosing Israel because out of them One who would not fail was coming: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob… I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
God’s Plan of the Ages really took off with the birth of Jesus. This was the beginning of the end, the fulfilment of all the signposts along the way in the Old Testament (Hebrews 1:1-3).
It was the great turning point in God’s Plan to restore the relationship between Himself and mankind.
Salvation was made available to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – Jews and Gentiles (Romans 10:9) “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
The Church in God’s Plan
Jesus left the church to carry on the work He had begun - of bringing in God’s Kingdom (by doing God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven) - with the promise that: “I am with you always until the very END OF THE AGE” (Matthew 28:20).
We are living right now in that part of the plan – we are in the last days!
The apostle Paul taught that the church has a very special role within God’s Plan of the Ages:
“Now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-11).
Jesus will come again to collect His Church on earth to be with Him forever in glory (Matthew 16:27, 24:30-31, 25:31, 1 Thes 4:13-18, 2 Thes 2:1-17, 2 Tim 4:1).
Ultimately there will be the Final Judgement when:
God will finally put right - all that has been wrong - since the Fall of man!
The New Heaven & New Earth
Revelation 21 talks of a new creation & the new Jerusalem in which God will dwell among His people for all eternity! In Rev 22 we see Eden restored and redeemed mankind ruling & reigning with Him (Rev 2:26, 3:21) as He originally planned for us to do – FOREVER! Hallelujah!
We go into this New Year of uncertainties with this Great Assurance!
Even so, Come Lord Jesus!