09.01 God's Plan of the Ages

9 - God All in All; Section 1 The Savior of the World Series by J. Preston Eby 9. GOD ALL IN ALL GOD’S PLAN OF THE AGES

GOD has a plan! At the beginning of the Church age the world was visited by events so momentous in their power and glory that all things were changed from that time onward. In the eternal realm before the ages were formed, and ages before man first saw the light of earth’s day, the almighty Lord set in motion His omniscient and immutable purpose for the ages which were to follow. As a year is filled with weeks and a week is filled with days and a day is filled with hours, so time is filled with ages and ages with dispensations. Let it be thoroughly known that our all-wise heavenly Father planned the events of each successive age from the very first age unto the ages of ages far beyond the comprehension of mortal man. The plan of the ages conceived in the heart of Him who purposed all things after the counsel of His own will is being worked out one step at a time in each succeeding age in like manner as people who read these lines have often planned in advance the work for each successive day of a week or each week of a year. Is it not true that many of the wives and business men now reading this booklet have plans in mind for today and tomorrow and perhaps even months and years in the future? Whether consciously or unconsciously we all plan ahead, daily and hourly working toward some human goal.

Each week a portion of your pay check goes into social security or some pension plan in preparation for a day of retirement that lies years distant in the future. Accumulation of property, savings, investments, etc. are all part of well-laid plans for a day when there will be time for relaxation, travel, and other projects and accomplishments. If you remove plan and purpose from your life then your sheltered harbors will become whirlpools and all your cherished hopes and dreams will become dark clouds and empty holes. And, precious friend of mine, if you remove GOD’S PLAN OF THE AGES from your understanding, then your spiritual treasure house of hope is left full of gaping holes where thieves break through and steal, and you yourself are left as hopeless as a crow in the ocean or a prince-charming lost in the great Sahara. When we think of a plan, we think of something involving more than just a single element. An architect’s plan for a building consists of drawings and specifications descriptive of its several floors, including styles of plumbing, decoration, arrangement of rooms, etc. Unless each floor of the building is to be identical to every other floor, necessarily the drawings and specifications for any given floor do not harmonize with the details of the other floors. No one, however, would construe this to mean that the architect is incompetent, nor that his plans and specifications are contradictory. God’s plan, like the plan of a building, is also made up of many parts. Instead of different floors, however, it embraces EPOCHS AND AGES. Through each of these ages the divine plan has steadily progressed toward completion. Only when it is complete, and mankind sees the final result, will they all be able to appreciate the wisdom, justice, love, and power of the Divine Architect.

Such a view as this opens to us entirely new and greater vistas of the love and mercy and wisdom and power and glory of God. it is not any longer a question of the Church working to get a few souls saved, but it has become a question of the working out of God’s plan and purpose for all people and for the ages He has created. All the ages are created for Jesus the Christ. As we read in Hebrews 1:2 from the Diaglott, "In the last of these days, spoken to us by a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and ON ACCOUNT OF WHOM, also He constituted the ages." Ephesians 3:11 also speaks of this, the Diaglott says, "according to a PLAN OF THE AGES, which He FORMED FOR THE ANOINTED JESUS, our Lord." Herein lies the great work of God in this age and in all ages yet to come. It is all for Jesus Christ! In God’s blessed Book numerous ages are visible, stretching in a vast panorama from the first ray of light in chapter one of Genesis to the end of the dispensation of the fullness of times when all shall be subdued unto God and God becomes all in all. As the years have gone by the Holy Spirit has convinced me more and more that it is intensely important to the spiritual growth and understanding of every Son of God to know the intention of God in each successive age as it unfolds. Some precious saints have in ignorance stated, "I am not concerned about what God may do away out there in the ages to come; it is enough to know what He wants me to be doing right now! " That sounds very wise and spiritual, and it gives me pain to say it, but the truth cannot be denied that such a statement is really an excuse, a "cop-out" to absolve these dear ones from searching the Scriptures or exposing themselves to the revelation of God’s beautiful plan of the ages. Furthermore, it saves them the trouble of getting involved in some controversy! What spiritual cowards we are!

Failure to understand God’s plan of the ages will leave us on the rocks of ignorance and unbelief and we will spend our lives in the shallows, chanting aimlessly about God’s acts and blessings, but never knowing or embracing His purposes. I am convinced that those who reject or deliberately side-step the great truth of God’s plan of the ages and the reconciliation of all things to God will never be a part of that blessed company of Sons who are destined to set creation free! How can any one be God’s instrument to bring deliverance to the whole creation while he closes his eyes and stops his ears and shuts up his heart to the beautiful revelation of His purposes?

There is nothing that opens the wellsprings of love, of faith and understanding, in the human heart like the knowledge of His purpose. What infinite joy, what satisfaction and assurance floods our souls when for the first time in our lives our great and wonderful Father is seen to be a God of purpose, knowing the end from the beginning because He planned the beginning and planned the end! He created all things and made all things and brought all things into being that His glorious purpose might be fulfilled. It was this triumphant knowledge that gripped the heart of the apostle Paul when writing to the Romans, he drew aside the veil to give the saints a clearer view into the mysteries that lay hidden in God’s mind from the foundation of the ages. This is what he plainly stated: "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God." Now take particular notice of the words that follow: "For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him (God) who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself ALSO shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the son of God " (Romans 8:18-21).

Frankly, I never cease to be amazed at those who profess to yearn for the Sons of God to be manifested, who continually quote the Scripture about the WHOLE CREATION GROANING, WAITING for the manifestation of the Sons of God, because THE CREATION ITSELF SHALL BE DELIVERED FROM THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION INTO THE GLORIOUS LIBERTY OF THE SONS OF GOD - and then when you tell them that the Sons of God shall really, truly, actually, factually, completely SET ALL CREATION FREE they get upset and call you a heretic, or ask foolish questions like, "What good is it to believe that?" If God isn’t going to do what He said; if Christ isn’t going to actually draw all men unto Himself; if the whole of creation is not going to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God; if God will not make all men alive in the Christ; if the last enemy, death, and hell shall never be destroyed; if the devil is going to possess the souls of the vast majority of men forever; if God is never going to become ALL IN ALL; then I fail to see what is the purpose of all this qualifying for sonship, for a glorious ministry in the age and ages to come, for THERE IS NO MINISTRY FOR THE SONS. We may as well forget about sonship, forget about being kings and priests unto God, forget about God setting all creation free, content ourselves with the present Church program, and be satisfied that while untold billions are damned for ever God shall have His sweet little handful of saints to rejoice with Him in heaven!