FCP-13-GOD'S PLAN.
GOD’S PLAN.
Truth and fact remain ever steadfast, and while, one after another, the delusions imposed upon men come crashing down before the revealed facts of Archaeology, and other discoveries, these numerics, together with the marvelous fulfillment of prophecy, all serve to make the truth, as revealed in the Bible, stand out unshaken amid the ruins of exploded theories put forth by the enemies of the truth. The Bible clearly states that God created all the animals, the birds, the fishes of the sea, the herbs of the field, the trees, and endowed them with the power of reproduction, to ’bring forth after their own kind’, Genesis 1, and there is not the slightest doubt that all the laws we see operating in the animal and vegetable kingdom today were invested in each member at that time.
CONCERNING MAN. The Scriptures state that God created man after His likeness, and gave him complete dominion over all other creation, but this likeness has no reference to the physical because God is a Spirit. ’God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.’ John 4:24.
It refers to that inherent, or God-breathed essence, which gives man all those marvelous spiritual, inventive, progressive powers, which in reality make him a miniature god over all other Creation. For although man and animals were both formed from the earth, Genesis 1, 2, not a single member of the animal kingdom ever has, or ever will, possess these rights. The Psalmist writes, Psalms 8. ’Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, thou hast put all things under his feet.’
God formed man from the dust of the earth and only a fool will deny that the human body was designed and built by a Master Mind, a Mind far greater than that of any man. Actually the human body is a combination of automatic machines, all working separately and yet co-operating to function as one machine.
Man has made some wonderful automatic machines of course, but he still remains in complete control of them but this human machine. with its millions of working cells, and intricate parts has baffled medical science and human understanding for thousands of years.
Why then did God make man above the animals? The answer is clear.
God desired to fill the earth with a race of beings with whom He could commune and who had the power to appreciate Him as their Creator. Men and women who, of their OWN choice would give their love and obedience to Him, knowing, that their whole life and happiness stemmed from Him. No other of God’s Creation, could ever, willingly, respond to the Creator like this. This now brings us to that question at which so many stumble.
Why did not God make man, and his whole environment, in such a way that he would have no alternative but to fulfill the above purpose, and therefore live in perfect peace and happiness free from sickness and death? The answer is so simple that one marvels that ignorance on this vital matter is so universal. It is easy to see that if a man and a woman are going to live together in happiness and harmony, there must be mutual love between them. That is the key to the whole question, but love must be in response, that is, it must spring from a free will.
God had no option but to give man a free will.
Sir Ambrose Fleming once said, ’The Bible record of man’s fall and Redemption is the only feasible means whereby God’s purposes for man could be achieved.’
You might say then that God’s Plan has failed?
No! A thousand times no! Only delayed.
God could, quite easily, have made man to render perfect obedience but what would He have had?
Simply machines! Do not pass over this point until you have grasped it. No free will. No love. The inauguration of God’s Plan to fill this earth with human beings who will give love and obedience to Him is more sure than that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, and not all the wisdom of men, nor all of the demons from hell, can prevent the fulfillment of that glorious Plan. This plan has been in the course of fulfillment down through the ages, and all who have submitted to the will of God have a part allotted in that plan, and every passing day, that number is increasing.
Indeed, the evidence of fulfilled prophecy shows that God’s required number is almost complete, and when it is there will be heard the voice of the archangel. The thunders of Almighty God will not only shake this earth, but the heavens also. Hebrews 12:26.
There will be a terrible and mighty manifestation of power, and brilliant glory, as the King of kings, and Lord of lords, together with the holy angels, burst forth on this Christ rejecting world. Mark 8:38. The Scriptures say.
’And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.’ Revelation 6:15-16. Which company will you be in that day?
You have a perfectly free will to choose your own destiny, but your choice must be made now! The sad thing is that in general, just as John records our Lord’s words in John 3:19, men prefer darkness to light and because of that only a small proportion of those born into the world choose the way of life. This fact does not alter God’s plan, it simply proves the truth of His Word. Have you not found it a very strange thing that men all over the world, for the first time in its history, realize that some sort of new order is absolutely necessary if men are to live in any kind of security?
Men know what they want. To live in peace, safety, and happiness, but how to achieve this is perplexing the world more today than ever before.
Let me state plainly.
According to God’s Word, all man’s efforts to do this are doomed to utter failure. The change has to begin in man’s heart, and there is only One who can do this, hence the plan of God.
God has been changing men’s hearts down through the centuries. He can change yours today ’if you are willing’, for it is only those who have been willing to submit to God through the ages who will ever have a part in that plan, or new order. This plan, which God will put into operation immediately the number is complete, will be far more marvelous than anything men have hoped to achieve, for peace will extend even to the animal kingdom.
’The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion eat straw like the bullock, says Isaiah 65:25, ’Dust shall be the serpent’s meat.’ Sin, sickness, sorrow, and death will be abolished and the condition of Eden restored.
Now can you see how the plan, (which could have been developed through Adam, but because of disobedience was diverted), will in due time be inaugurated, and the exact purpose for which God created man will be fulfilled, for those who are with Him at that time will be those who have chosen to do so through love and obedience.
Those who make up the Bride of Christ will reign with Him, over this restored earth for the one thousand years of the millennium, and then be with Him forever.
’Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.’ Revelation 19:7-9. And Revelation 20:6.
’Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ Jesus and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Time is of no account with God.
Millions come into the world and, under the power of Satan, rush blindly on, grasping at every bit of excitement held before them. Not knowing where they are going and, in most cases, so under the powers of darkness, they do not want to know.
How sad that such a marvelous creature as man could sink into such a state of blindness and ignorance.
Sadder still. That mankind remains so even in the face of the marvelous things God has allowed to be revealed today before their very eyes. The Bible emphasizes the fact that ’the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.’ 1 Corinthians 2:14, and until a person is born-again, (born from above), John 3:3-7, he has not the Spirit of God to guide him in the study of the deep things of God’s Word for the natural mind cannot understand spiritual things. Romans 8:1-14.
However, even when a person is born of the Spirit, God’s Word has given us certain ’guide-lines’ to which we must be very careful to take heed, otherwise confusion, and wrong interpretation will surely result.
Paul wrote to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2:15, ’Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’, and Peter, in 2 Peter 1:20 urged us not to put a private interpretation of our own on the Scriptures because, verse 21, ’The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ The Greek word, ideos, here translated ’private’ means one’s own, private, independent, or separate opinion. In plain words, Scripture must be interpreted in strict harmony with Scripture and the failure to observe these injunctions is almost entirely responsible for the hopeless confusion of sects all claiming to be based on the Bible.
It must be remembered that the Bible is a record of God’s dealing with man from Adam to the time of the end, and this period can be divided into six dispensations, with one more to follow after the Coming of Christ, Revelation 20, and during each of these periods God has given man certain instructions, or laws, by which He has judged, and closed, each of these periods.
It should be noted also that God has made specific promise throughout the ages.
These periods are:--
Adam to the Fall.
Expulsion to the Flood and Noah.
Noah to the man of faith Abraham.
Abraham to Moses and the Law.
The Law to Christ.
From the Resurrection of Christ to His Coming again.
Now, and this is most important!
Under each of these periods, God made a new covenant with new conditions. and each one was closed by God because of Sin and Disobedience.
If we bear in mind that a covenant is a testament, or a will, and we remember that as soon as a new will is made it automatically cancels the old one we should be able to understand how each new covenant God made, cancelled the previous one.
Paul makes it very clear in Hebrews 9:16-17 and the only things carried forward into the new dispensation are the promises.
’And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.’ Galatians 3:17-18.
Just for a simple example.
Under the covenant of the Law, (Moses to Christ), the Ten commandments were given, nine of which are moral and are duly incorporated in the covenant, but the Sabbath, the seventh day, the Day God rested, although to be rigidly observed under the Law, as being a type of our rest in Christ, is not emphasized by our Lord Himself, when questioned by the lawyer, the important thing being to ’love God with all our heart and soul and being’ and keep a day aside to involve ourselves in such which we do, as followers of Christ Jesus, on the Day of His Resurrection. The Sabbath, that is the seventh day, has not been abolished. It has been replaced by the First Day of the week which we, (who are ’no longer under law’ as those who do keep the seventh day), should keep as Holy and with as much reverence as to its meaning as they do who are still entangled in the Law.
Paul wrote. ’Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.’ Colossians 2:16-17. The Jews, like some today, were clinging to ’shadows’ instead of entering into the substance. Hebrews 3:19 says, ’They could not enter in because of unbelief’ and, in Hebrews 4:3, we read. ’We which have believed do enter into rest’, and verses 10-11 tell us that ’He that hath entered in that rest hath ceased from his own works.’
They were all rigid instructions under the Law, but only ’shadows’, (types), of those things fulfilled in the present dispensation. Our Lord said the first and greatest commandment was.
’Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,’ and that, ’upon these two commandments ’hang all the law and the prophets.’ Matthew 22:37-40. And of course, if we obey these two laws ALL the other ’laws’ are written upon out heart as Jeremiah wrote they should be.
’After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.’ Jeremiah 31:33.
One might say then. How am I to know what applies to me?
Well that is quite simple if we remember that the ministry of Jesus covered an over-lapping period.
He came to conclude, or seal up, the Law.
’For the Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’ John 1:17.
He came to usher in a new Covenant.
’Likewise also (He took) the cup after supper, saying. This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.’ Luke 22:20. And just here let me impress this significant fact upon you.
Each of the covenants were sealed by blood. A reading of Hebrews 9 would be helpful to an understanding of this. ’How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God, and for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament.’ Hebrews 9:14-15.
Let us consider another aspect of rightly dividing the Word of God.
There is much misunderstanding regarding what is meant by 2 Timothy 3:16.
’All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.’
First we must remember that the Greek and Hebrew texts, from which our Bibles are translated, are themselves copies. The phrase means that the Word, as originally given was recorded by inspiration, that is, it pleased God to inspire holy men to record, not only His own, Spirit breathed Word, revelation, prophecy, instruction, and guidance but, to also record the words of good men, wicked men, angels, demons, and even the words of Satan himself.
Nothing is hidden. He has revealed ALL. And they are ALL for our instruction.
However I would like to enlarge upon this point because much wrong teaching has come about by the failure to heed the injunction to ’rightly divide the Word’ in this particular sense and, many times, a doctrine has been built up, based solely on the words of man. The most outstanding example of the recorded words of man, which show how even the wisest of men might reason, are found in the Book of Ecclesiastes, and it seems incredible that any person could be so woefully blind as not to see that God has caused to be revealed, and recorded, all the thoughts of King Solomon, and it clearly reveals how he set himself to find satisfaction in the things of the world, without God.
Solomon as the king of Israel could have everything his heart desired simply for the asking, and have it he did to the full.
Wealth, slaves, and craftsmen, to carry out all his building ambitions! Menservants, maidservants, to serve him. Musical instruments, and musicians to play them. Lust to the full, wives, feasting, wine, women, folly.
He exhausted every avenue, but all ended in disappointment.
It proved to be vanity ... vanity ... vanity.
He drew a few wise conclusions, but for the most part, ’all he did under the sun,’ as is written, led to disillusion.
Indeed. So far from God did he get with his natural reasoning that he made many very foolish statements, some completely hopeless, one of which we can read for ourselves in Ecclesiastes 1:9-10. ’The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.’
Solomon concluded that he had reached the peak of knowledge.
He had not seen what Jeremiah was to write of later, of the mercies of the LORD. ’They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.’ Lamentations 3:23.
He had not considered what Isaiah had found. ’Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.’ Isaiah 65:17. Nor what Daniel was to have revealed to him.
’But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’ Daniel 12:4.
Solomon would get a rude awakening were he to return today! His worst blunder was shown when he got so far away from God that he reasoned.
’As man is no better than the beast and all go to the same place, wise and fool alike, there is nothing better for a man to do than to enjoy the works of his own hand!’ Ecclesiastes 3:19-22.
’Even though a man lived a thousand years, twice over.’ Says Solomon in chapter six, ’all is vanity.’ That is how the mind of Solomon, the preacher, the son of David, the King of Israel, saw his life ending after all the LORD had given him.
It is more than interesting to note that the term, ’Thus saith the LORD’, occurs two thousand times in the Old Testament but is not found once in Ecclesiastes!
Why?
Because its theme is, ’Thus saith Solomon.’
He uses the personal pronoun ’I’ forty times in the first two chapters and it was not until he began to see all the work of God that he discovered the truth.
’Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. Ecclesiastes 8:17.
Why then did God record this?
I believe there is a great lesson to be learned from it.
Solomon was credited with being the wisest of men. He had unbounded wealth and could have anything his heart desired and yet we see that after taking full advantage of this, all it brought him was misery and a feeling of absolute hopelessness until he came to know what the conclusion of the matter was. "To fear God and keep His commandments.’ Ecclesiastes 12:13. My chief reason in bringing before you this example of Solomon is to show the need to ’rightly divide the Word’ because incredible though it may seem certain sects actually build their doctrine on the worldly words of Solomon!
How true are the words of 1 Corinthians 2:14.
’The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.’
Many of these sects deny the Deity of Christ, and His pre-existence and most of them deny the ’new birth’, and it is at that point they shut themselves off from the only means of understanding God’s Word. Our Lord said in John 16:13.
’Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.’
They are only reasoning with their natural mind and therefore cannot discern between the natural and the spiritual contained in this Word.
Some of them even deny the existence of Satan, the adversary, and his cohorts!
Let us all take a warning from these experiences of Solomon. Do not be led away by the word of man, seek the guidance of God and His Holy Spirit as you daily search His Word.
There is another point also on which I feel some comment would not only be helpful, but even necessary, as its neglect has led to a lot of very wrong teaching, even by so-called orthodox pastors.
It may surprise some to learn there are several resurrections and several judgments shown in the New Testament and here again it is needful to rightly divide the word. For example.
Sin was judged and paid for when Christ died on the cross.
There is a judgment for believers only, (of rewards), at the coming of Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11-14, where, after declaring our foundation is Christ, Paul exhorts us to build well for, ’If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.’
There is the Great White Throne judgment at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ on earth. Revelation 20:11-12.
Also, everyone familiar with the New Testament knows that during this dispensation of Grace, salvation is by faith in the finished work of Christ alone.
There are almost one hundred references in the Acts, and the Epistles, to the Christian’s safety in Christ.
One such is Ephesians 2:8-9. ’For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.’
Eternal inheritance cannot be purchased by some sacrifice, brave deed, good work, or money, and it is a tragic delusion to think so.
Certainly Matthew 25:40 reads as follows. ’Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,’ but although these words are often taken to mean this, it is obvious that the deeds mentioned here are works of faith, as the word ’inasmuch’ signifies, and so it must be, for salvation by good deeds would be in direct contradiction to the whole teaching of the Bible. We are, as we read a moment ago, ’Saved by grace", it is a ’gift’ of God.
Hebrews 11 is a wonderful record of the works of faith, and as you read it I pray the Holy Spirit will guide you.