Summary of the Plan of God

Introduction

Once upon a time when there was no time God made a plan.

Everyone loves a great story. God is the greatest storyteller of them all. Billions of years ago he began a drama that dwarfs all dramas in terms of plot, character, and setting by a near infinite order of magnitude. The stage and scope of God's drama occupies the entire physical universe and all that is beyond--hidden from us. God is the archetypal writer who has written a drama with heroes and villains, life and death, triumph and tragedy. In this drama, God has given his creatures freedom to make choices. But as the writer of a novel knows the choices that his character will make, God knows the choices that will be made by his creations. He chose, in his wisdom, to create as he created. His goal is to bring glory and honor to himself so that his creation might rejoice in that glory--for we are a part of it. God determined that a fallen and redeemed world would be a more glorious drama than a world which never fell. We who have trusted in him will receive his very own accolade, just as actors receive the applause at the end of the play.

Eternity, the Angelic Creation, and Creation of the Universe

God has existed eternally in perfect harmony. He has existed as one in nature or essence and three in person as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Godhead share the attributes of sovereignty, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipotence, veracity, eternal life, righteousness, immutability, justice, and love. In eternity past God decided to create. His first creation was the angels--spirit beings with great knowledge and power. The preeminent angel he named Lucifer, the Light Bearer. He was the governor of heaven who had the privilege of orchestrating the worship of God. After God created the angelic host, he created the physical universe. Scientists currently think this occurred about 10-15 billion years ago. At some point, Lucifer became dissatisfied with his exalted role. He decided he did not merely want to be the highest and most beautiful creature of God: he wanted to be God. Instead, he became Satan, the Adversary of God, a twisted and monstrous creature. In his own rebellion, he convinced a third of the angels to follow him against God. This was the beginning of sin in the universe. This was the beginning of the conflict between good and evil--evil, which is goodness gone bad, gone spoiled. Instead of one will working in harmony, there became millions of wills, each with an agenda in opposition to God.

The Creation of Mankind

Following God's creation of angelic beings, God created man. He created man as a means to resolve the angelic conflict and the problem of evil. It seems from the Scriptures that what God is trying to demonstrate and what he wants is for man to choose him for his own sake. This is what faith is all about. The book of Hebrews tells us that it is impossible to please God apart from faith. The one thing that God wants from us (and the only way we can have a relationship with him) is our trust. The book of Job is a marvelous microcosm and mini-drama of the larger drama that God is playing out with the human race. When we exercise trust in the work of Christ for our salvation (his dealth for our sins and his victorious resurrection) we agree with God that we are incapable of pleasing him or commending ourselves to him by our own efforts. We are simple left to trusting and depending on his goodness and his work on our behalf. This act of faith is a choice of sides. Such an act of faith is a defeat for Satan. When we put our trust in Christ we transfer our allegiance from Satan to God.

God created Man without sin and man enjoyed a perfect relationship with his creator. Satan, however, hating God, and perceiving man's creation as a threat to him and his designs, decided to destroy him. Satan is a mortal enemy of both God and man and one of his purposes is to destroy the human race. Acting through the serpent, he was able to deceive Eve into eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil--the one tree's fruit God had forbidden Adam to eat. Adam, in contrast to Eve, was not deceived; he ate as an act of rebellion. God had warned Adam that the day that he ate from the Tree he would die. Adam and Eve died immediately--not physically (that came later) but spiritually. Their communion with God, which they had enjoyed freely and without inhibition, came to an end. Theologians refer to this as the Fall. From this act, spiritual death passed to all men. The Scriptures tell us that we are "in Adam" and that his sin imposed a death sentence upon us all. God was merciful, however, and in his grace drove Adam and Eve from Eden to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life, which had the ability to restore and rejuvenate. Without this Tree their bodies weakened and decayed until they died physically. God also gave Adam and Eve the promise in Genesis 3.15 that a redeemer would come to redeem the loss they had brought upon themselves and the human race.

God's Dealings With Mankind

God's first dealings with man were with all mankind. We have lost the historical records of ancient man but some archaeological evidences remain to show that early man built great civilizations. The pyraminds give us some insight of their technology. In Genesis 6 we read a strange account in which the "Sons of God" cohabited with women and produced men of great strength and power called the Nephilim (literally, "fallen ones"). These Sons of God were fallen angels. Such activity was a Satanic strategy to corrupt and destroy the human race. It was nearly successful. From these unions come our stories of gods, goddesses, demigods, etc. that have been passed down from mythology and folklore. During this time the earth became so corrupt and full of violence that God determined that to preserve the human race he had to destroy the existing world and began anew.

God found one righteous family, the family of Noah, and instructed Noah how to build a great ship, the ark, which survived the flood that God brought. This flood destroyed all humanity except Noah and his immediate family. From this family and Noah's sons, Shem, Japheth, and Ham, have come all the races and nations of the earth. Civilization thus began again. But instead of spreading forth across the world as God had commanded (Genesis 1.28; 9.1), the people settled and consolidated at a place called Babel. Here they tried to set up a world government with a religious system which worshipped the heavenly host and not God. The heavenly host are the evil spiritual beings (fallen angels) behind all false religion. Thus, Babel is the source of all false religion, i.e. all religion that does not acknowledge that faith in YHVH or Jesus Christ (following the incarnation) is the only way to God. In order to preserve the human race, God broke up the world government and religion by confusing mankind's language. This new language barrier forced divsions which led to the forming of nations and nationalism. Nationalism is a blessing of God to the world for through it we have balances of power which curb evil.

God's Dealings With Israel

After having dealt with humanity as a whole, God determined to reveal himself in a different way. He decided to create a new race of people to carry out his plan to bless the world and defeat evil. God chose a man by the name of Abram, who became Abraham. Abraham responded to God (he believed God) and God made an unconditional covenant with him (the Abrahamic Covenant). The elements of that covenant were that God would make Abraham great, that he and his offspring would be a blessing to all mankind, that God would bless those who blessed him and curse those that cursed him, that Abraham would have innumerable offspring (physical and spiritual), and that God would give Abraham and his offspring land--"from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates". Satan, in his mortal contest with God, is committed to defeating God's plan and destroying the agents of that plan. One of Satan's greatest strategies has been the destruction of the Jewish people. The strategic importance of the Jewish people is that ultimately, all of God's blessings come from the Jews, through the person of Jesus. Satan has been unsuccessful in destroying God's covenant people throughout history. His evil plan is still in effect since God's promises in the Abrahamic covenant remain unfulfilled. If Satan can destroy the Jews, God's promises cannot be fulfilled. God would thus be a liar and defeated. Anti-Semitism is Satanic. Those who hate the Jews are enemies of God.

The Abrahamic Covenant formed the basis of God's future unconditional covenants made with Israel: the Palestinian, Davidic, and New Covenant. God's promises were made to Abraham through the line of Jacob or Israel. For hundreds of years, God dealt with Israel, blessing them for obedience and disciplining them for disobedience. God also fought for Israel. His greatest victory for them was their deliverance from Egypt. Through Moses, God gave the Mosaic Law. The Law revealed God's holiness and righteousness. The Levitical sacrifices were pictures of grace which pointed to Christ. They "covered" sin until the the death and resurrection of Christ who was the paschal lamb slain from the foundation of the world. For hundreds of years, millions of animals were sacrificed as types of the future sacrifice of Christ whose death and resurrection would forever defeat the power of sin and Satan. All the festivals, buildings--the Tabernacle and Temple and all its instruments--were symbols and pictures of Christ.

When Jesus was born he was proclaimed as Israel's King by John the Baptizer. Both John and Jesus preached to Israel a message of repentance and acceptance of the King and his kingdom. Jesus' first miracle, the making wine (wine was a symbol of gladness and blessing) at the wedding of Cana, was a sign of this kingdom. Rather than accept Jesus as the Messiah, the nation rejected and crucified Him. God, however, satisfied with the work of his Son, raised him from the dead. Christ's victory over sin and death is the basis of all spiritual blessing for those who have trusted in Christ. Christ's victory is the basis for the future physical and spiritual blessings promised to Israel in the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New covenants. Despite the repeated pleas by Jesus' disciples for the nation to repent and accept Jesus as the Messiah after his resurrection, national Israel hardened its heart and continued to reject him. After 40 years of testing, in 70 A.D., God judged the nation through the Romans who destroyed Jerusalem, the Temple, and the nation. Israel ceased to be a nation and became scattered throughout the world. This status continued for almost 1900 years, until 1948, when the nation of Israel was reestablished.

God's Creation of the Church (Body of Christ)

While God was working through the disciples of Jesus in their ministry to Israel, he also began to work in another way. Even though national Israel had every opportunity to accept Jesus as the Messiah, God knew that they would reject his Son. In the midst of Israel's rejection (recounted in the Gospels and Acts) God chose a man by the name of Saul. Saul, a brilliant Pharisee, was caught up in the national rejection of Jesus and was a violent opponent of Jesus' disciples and the message they were proclaiming. He was so zealous an opponent that he petitioned and received from the Jewish authorities the power to persecute those who were following Jesus. But the resurrected Jesus revealed himself to Saul and changed his heart. Following that experience, he became as zealous a follower of Christ as he had been his enemy.

It was through Saul, who became Paul, that God revealed a new entity, a new creation, which we know as the Church or the Body of Christ. For hundreds of years, God had worked through the nation of Israel. If one came to God, one came through Israel. However, in light of Israel's continued rejection of the Messiah, God revealed a new plan in which distinctions between Jew and Gentile were removed. The Church was a "mystery" creation, previously unknown, which God revealed to Paul. Most early believers in Christ were Jews. As time passed, the majority changed from Jew to Gentile. Paul was the "apostle to the Gentiles" while Peter and Eleven were ministers to the Jews. Paul was given a new gospel, the "gospel of the grace of God" different from the "gospel of the kingdom" which had been proclaimed by the twelve apostles, John the Baptizer, and Jesus.

To be a member of Christ's Church is an incomprehensible blessing. Paul tells us that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing and that we are positionally seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We have heavenly citizenship. The Church is referred to as the body of Christ and Christ is its Head. Every believer is in a grace relationship with God and indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. One day, God will complete the body of Christ and take it to heaven. Following this event, known as the Rapture (which is the resurrection of the Church), God will return to his unfinished dealings with the nation of Israel.

Israel Reprised

Centuries ago, God revealed to his servant Daniel things that would happen in the future. This is easy for God since he created space, time, and matter and is outside its confines. God told Daniel about the rise and fall of great empires--Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. He revealed through him when Christ would come and when the Antichrist would come. God gave Daniel a timetable measured in weeks of years of Israel's future. This time frame involved seventy weeks of years. He told him that at the end of sixty-nine weeks the Messiah would be crucified. That is where we are presently with regard to Israel's clock.

The Church was unknown and unrevealed. It was God's secret until he disclosed it to Paul. According to Daniel's timetable, one week (of years) remains in Israel's history before the return of the Messiah. It is referred to as the "time of Jacob's trouble". Jesus spoke of this time as a time of great tribulation. These events that Daniel foretold are expanded in detail by the revelation that John received from Jesus. During this period, the Antichrist will come and deceive the world. He will be brilliant, charming, and a proponent of peace. He will appear to be a friend of Israel but in the middle of the "week" or after 3^1/2 years he will reveal his true nature. He will seat himself in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and proclaim that he is God. This will be the moment of revelation and enlightenment for Israel. They will realize that they have been deceived and that this world ruler is not the Messiah but the AntiMessiah. They will change their hearts and repent (which they would not do during and following the Messiah's first advent) and will accept Jesus as the Messiah. God will seal and protect 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes for a special ministry. They will proclaim the Messiah and many will come to trust in him. The apostle Paul says that during this time all Israel will be saved. At the end of seven years of terrible tribulation the armies of the world will surround Israel. At the moment when the Antichrist has victory in his grasp and all hope appears lost for Israel and the world, Christ in his rôle as the Lord of Hosts or CINC Universe will return from heaven, deliver Israel, and destroy those who oppose him.

God's Kingdom on Earth

For hundreds of years God's prophets had proclaimed God's kingdom. It will be a kingdom in which God will restore the Edenic splendor of earth. Its character will be peace and righteousness. Warfare will cease and people will once again enjoy the long lifespans that were in effect before the Flood. All the blessings that God promised Israel in the covenants will be fulfilled. Jesus will reign as king in Jerusalem as David's greater son in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. Israel will possess the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. God will write his laws onto hearts. The New Covenant will be fully established. Also, during this time Satan will be incarcerated. It will be a golden age, a time of unprecedented happiness. At the end of this thousand year age, God will free Satan. Even though mankind has enjoyed perfect environment and has been exempt from war, poverty, crime, and disease with Jesus reigning as a perfect ruler for a thousand years, Satan will convince some to rebel against God. God will destroy this rebellion. He will incarcerate Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet into the Lake of Fire where they will remain forever. All the human race who have not trusted in Christ for salvation will then stand before Jesus in judgment. Each person will be judged according to his works. No one will be judged for sin since Jesus died for all and has paid sin's penalty. Since those standing before Christ have rejected him, the only thing they have to commend themselves is their works. It will be a court setting and God will say in effect, "What do have to commend yourself to me?" Therefore, judgment will be made on that basis. But no matter how many good works a person has done, they are insufficient to meet the righteousness of God. The works or good deeds of those being judged will be judged against the perfect standard of God's righteousness--Jesus Christ. After works are judged, God will open the Book of Life. This is a double check by God to see if there is any basis to accept those being judged. God, even in this terrible moment, will demonstrate his fairness by looking into the Book of Life--even though if those being judges names were in the book of life, they would not be there standing in judgment. Jesus will then exercise his position as judge (John 5.22) and cast them into the Lake of Fire to join Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.

A New Beginning

After the final judgment, God will create a new heavens and a new earth. That is, he will create a new universe. We do not know what it will be like or how it will be different than our present universe with regard to its physical laws or properties. We do know it will be wonderful beyond our comprehension. Death will have vanished. The sun and moon will not exist as sources of light since the glory of God will light the earth. The new Jerusalem will come down from heaven and reside upon the earth. It will be immense, measuring 1500 miles on each side. The Temple will be gone as reality will replace symbol. Rather than the Temple, which was a pattern of the throne complex of God, the very throne room of God will be moved to earth. The Tree of Life, unseen since Eden, will reappear. God will have become fully victorious and there will be no possibility of sin or evil. All who have loved and trusted Christ begin a new adventure of love, righteousness, and peace. All of mankind will love and adore God from a free and willing heart. John described a heavenly scene that those who have trusted Christ will one day experience:

"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying,"

'Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'

"And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,"

'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' (Rev. 4.4-11)

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice,"

'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.'

"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,"

'Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.'

"And the four beasts said,"

'Amen.'

"And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever." (Rev. 5.11-14)

God's story ends as all good stories end. And they all lived happily ever after....

The End...

of the beginning...

and the Beginning of that which has no end.

tw~| a)gapw~nti h(ma~j kai\ lu/santi h(ma~j e)k tw~n a(martiw~n h(mw~n e)n tw|~ a(i/mati au)tou~.

Updated Friday, November 05, 2004