DOES GOD HAVE A MASTER PLAN?
Throughout
the ages of man, philosophers, mystics and visionaries have pondered
the meaning of human existence. Why was man placed on this good, green
earth? What, if anything, is God doing with His human creation? Does
God have any kind of plan, or is man merely some kind of uncontrolled,
divine experiment?
Life on earth just seems to happen, doesn't it? It's all action and I
reaction. The fickle finger of fate seems to be constantly stabbing the
human race entirely at random. You never know what's going to happen
next. There just doesn't seem to be any purpose in it all. The Apparent
Futility of Life. It appears that there is no plan, no intelligible
scheme of things. Life is a series of accidents and chance
circumstances. Everything is cyclical it seems; history does repeat
itself. There is predictable pattern but no apparent purpose.
People go on having wars, maiming and killing each other, never seeming
to learn the lessons of history. Any solved problem is immediately
replaced by another just as serious. Man advances technologically, but
regresses morally and spiritually.
Good people suffer too! Evil people thrive and capitalize on the
vulnerability of the masses. Oppression is the hallmark of our age;
there is no apparent justice. Those who break the rules seem to get
away with it with impunity. The
wicked flourish like a green bay tree (see Psalm 37:35, KJV).
To the average citizen of the world, life just doesn't seem to make a
whole lot of sense. It's a series of happenings over which one seems to
have little control. Many disillusioned people, faced with the
harshness of life on this planet, descend into an attitude of despair
and cynicism.
"Where is God?" they ask. "I don't see any purpose in all this mess
that mankind has gotten himself into. I think the best thing to do is
to eat, drink and be merry. Tomorrow we'll all be dead anyway."
And so they adopt an attitude of selfishness. Me first. I'm going to
get all I can out of this life. I don't want to hurt anyone, but I will
if I have to.
Life becomes an endless round of pleasure seeking and self-indulgence. It becomes meaningless and fruitless.
Too many people adopt an attitude of total pragmatism and opportunism.
They give up on life in a sense. After all, what's the use of being
moral if people are just going to step on you for it? Why try to fit
yourself into some great scheme of things when everyone seems to have a
different idea of what the scheme is — or even whether there is
one?
Reason for Life. Of course, not everyone who has searched for meaning
in life has become cynical. Abraham Lincoln, for example, concluded
that "The Almighty has his purposes" (address to an Indiana regiment).
Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime leader, was convinced that "There
is a great purpose being worked out here below."
Those who truly wish to find meaning in life can do so. God, the
Creator of life, has revealed Himself and His purpose in the pages of
the Bible. To those who accept God's written revelation, His plan is no
mystery.
Speaking of the Church, the apostle Paul wrote: "For he [God] has made
known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will,
according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the
fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and
things on earth" (Eph. 1:9-10).
God has a purpose — a plan! That plan is being worked out by
Jesus Christ. It will come to fruition in "the fullness of time" and it
will involve the uniting of all of the elements of the universe in
Christ!
What God is telling us is that someday It will all come together
— it will all make sense! What seems to be a random, uncontrolled
divine experiment will ultimately jell into a beautiful, cohesive unity
that will dazzle the senses and stagger the mind!
Jesus Christ, as "Executive Director" of the divine plan, is very much
on the job. He said: "I work and my father works" (John 5:17). Christ
is working our the great master plan of salvation which involves the
reconciliation of all of mankind to God. Ultimately, Jesus will bring
about the "restitution of all things" (Acts 3:21, KJV).
But how is this to be done? What is the mechanism through which God is
working? How does it involve Jesus Christ? Jesus' Message. Jesus Christ
came with a message from God the Father. It was one of good news
— the "gospel of your salvation" (Eph. 1:13). That message
contained hope for the future of the human race. It was a message of
how man could be reconciled to God and how he could actually become a
part of His divine Kingdom. Therefore it was called "the gospel of the
kingdom" (Matt. 24:14). In the first instance of Jesus' preaching, we
find this account: "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into
Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in
the gospel' " (Mark 1:14).
Jesus came to reveal the way into the Kingdom of God! Prior to Jesus'
time the people had only had "the law and the prophets" (Luke 16:16),
but now "grace and truth" were added (John 1:17). Jesus brought the
light of the gospel into the world. He came with new information that
had not previously been revealed. Until God sent Jesus Christ with the
message of the gospel, the plan of God had been somewhat enigmatic to
the religious world. A blanket of "darkness" had been spread over the
Jewish people concerning the real meaning of the Scriptures. Paul
pointed out that "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should
not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day" (Rom.
11:8).
No one had really understood, with full comprehension, the marvelous
plan of God up until that time. Even Paul confessed that "we know in
part" (I Cor. 13:9, KJV).
Though we still see through a darkened glass, we do see much more
clearly than in ages past! God has revealed the essential elements of
His master plan to the Church.
The average man on the street would consider most of this foolishness,
of course. "Nobody really knows what God is doing," he would explain.
"The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God,
for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned" (I Cor. 2:14).
So long as the world refuses to "repent and believe the gospel," it
cannot know what God is doing! The world has shut itself off from that
information by its refusal to submit to God.
A Way Out. But you can know! You can understand. Jesus said: "Come to
me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you, and learn from me. . ."(Matt. 11:28-29).
Jesus Christ, the Captain of our Salvation, will teach and instruct you
through His Word and through the Holy Spirit. But you will first have
to allow Him to enter into your life — and become a vital part of
it! The only real hope of eternal glory is "Christ in us" as Paul
pointed out in Colossians 1:27. Jesus Christ is the "door" through
which we enter into eternal life. He is the only way to the Kingdom of
God. He said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).
There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved (Acts
4:12).
There is no way anyone can reject Christ and still expect to understand
the plan of God. Christ is the key figure in that plan. He is working
it out. He alone has made it possible for man to be reconciled to his
Creator: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and
through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in
heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:19-20).
It is through Christ's sacrifice on the cross that God set up the
mechanism by which man could be reconciled to God. That aspect of the
plan is complete. Jesus was born of a virgin, lived, preached, was
crucified, died, was buried and was resurrected after three days and
three nights. He now sits at the right hand of God the Father as High
Priest and Mediator for the children of God (the Church). The act that
made it possible for man to be reunited with God is complete. In that
sense, man has been reconciled: "And you, who once were estranged and
hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of
flesh by his death . . ."(Col. 1:21-22).
Paul was addressing the Church. Those who are true Christians and have
accepted the lordship of Christ, and who have faith in His sacrifice,
have been reconciled to God. We are forgiven, washed in the blood of
the "Lamb." We are no longer cut off from God by our sins (Isa. 59:2).
We Don't Have It Made. But we don't have it "in the bag"! We can still
lose that condition of reconciliation. God has attached a string, a
provision, on that status: ". . . Provided that you continue in the
faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel.
(Col. 1:23).
This is very important! Christians must realize that it is entirely
possible to lose out on salvation even after they have been reconciled
to God by the blood of Christ! Paul himself did not believe that he had
it made, though he was reconciled. He wrote: "I count not myself to
have apprehended . .." (Phil. 3:13, KJV). He knew he could lose out on
the Kingdom if he forsook his hope in the gospel.
"For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of
judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries" (Heb.
10:26-27). This refers to reverting to "sin" as a way of life. It
speaks of returning to the world out of which one was called — of
forsaking the Christian way of life. Peter likened it to a dog
returning to its own vomit (II Peter 2:22).
(A word of qualification here. Many have worried unnecessarily about
"the unpardonable sin." They have lived in fear and terror because they
feel they may have committed it inadvertently. If you have been
concerned about this, please be sure to write for our free booklets
titled Just What Do You Mean . . . "The Unpardonable Sin"? and Just
What Do You Mean . . . Conversion? They will put your mind at ease.)
The point is: it is possible to be "lost" after one has been reconciled
to God through Christ! Every Christian should strive to make his
"calling and election sure" (II Peter 1:10, KJV). Intended From the
Beginning. As we have clearly seen, God does have a purpose — a
master plan for the universe. It is being worked out through the agency
of Jesus Christ. And that purpose is one of long standing. It was
established even before the creation of the first man. God knew just
how He would reconcile man to Himself in Christ even before the world
was created! Speaking of those who would ultimately be in the Kingdom,
Jesus said: "Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34).
God had intended, right from the very beginnings of the material
universe, to provide a Kingdom for the saints to inherit. Preparations
were made long beyond the memory of man.
But certain aspects of that great master plan had been hidden from
man's understanding. God did not reveal the entirety of His plan to the
early patriarchs of the Old Testament. Many of the prophets earnestly
desired to look into the things which we can now understand and know
(Matt. 13:17). But Jesus uttered "what has been hidden since the
foundation of the world" (Matt. 13:35).
God's plan was "finished" — that is, established — at the
very beginning: ". . . His works were finished from the foundation of
the world" (Heb. 4:3). God knew, even before creation, that Christ
would have to
come to this earth and be revealed to man. Peter wrote: "He was
destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at
the end of the times for your sake" (I Peter 1:20).
God knew that He was going to select a people, an ekklesia (church or
group), to exemplify His way upon the earth. And He knew that long
before He created man through Christ: "Even as he chose us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him" (Eph. 1:4).
God knew that Christ would have to die in order to pay the penalty for human sin. The Lamb was "slain
from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8, KJV).
Every human being, from Adam to the last human being ever born, will
have his or her opportunity to become a part of God's great plan of
salvation! God is not willing that any should perish, but that "all
should reach repentance" (II Peter 3:9).
The Three Resurrections. Each of us will be included in one of a series
of three possible resurrections. There is a resurrection to eternal
life; there is one to judgment; and finally, one to eternal death.
Jesus said: "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who
are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have
done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil,
to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28, 29).
Those who take part in the first resurrection will live and rule with
Christ in the Kingdom, administering God's government on this earth for
a thousand years (see Rev. 20:4, 6).
Others who have never had an opportunity to be called to the Kingdom
will be resurrected back to physical life and given an opportunity to
live God's way. This second resurrection will occur after the
thousand-year rule of the saints: "The rest of the dead did not come to
life again until the thousand years were ended" (verse 5).
But all who refuse to "bend the knee" to God, in the final analysis,
will come up in a final resurrection to be judged and condemned to
eternal death from which there will be no resurrection. Those who have
been incorrigible and unwilling to submit to God's rule and government
will be destroyed in this third resurrection.
"Then Death and Hades [the grave] were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire; and if any one's name was
not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of
fire" (verses 14-15). (More detailed information may be obtained by
writing for After Death - Then What? and "Is This the Only Day of
Salvation?") The Exciting Climax. After the third resurrection, which
follows the millennium, God the Father will descend to a refurbished
earth which has been prepared for Him by Christ and the saints. John
wrote of this in Revelation 21: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. ... I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God .. . and I heard a great voice from the throne saying,
'Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them . ..
and God himself will be with them ..." (verses 1-3).
Here we are reading about the culmination of the master plan of God!
Here is the exciting climax to that great, divine purpose! God dwelling
with men! The complete absence of evil in the earth and its environs.
In the new Jerusalem, "There shall no more be anything accursed, but
the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants
shall worship him; they shall see his face, and his name shall be on
their foreheads" (Rev. 22:3-4).
At this point in future history, every human being who has ever lived
on earth will have had his or her chance for salvation. The vast
majority of mankind will have "made it." Some — the incorrigible
wicked — will have ceased to exist. They will have been burned up
completely in the lake of fire (see Malachi 4:1). No trace, no spirit,
no soul, no flesh — nothing of them will remain. It will be as
though they had not been.
Satan, too, will have been banished to "outer darkness." Never again,
from that time on, will he or his demons be allowed to influence the
children of God. They will be like "wandering stars for whom the nether
gloom of darkness has been reserved forever" (Jude 13).
Evil will have been banished from the universe and peace will reign
supreme. Death will be a thing of the past. Mankind will have realized
his ultimate destiny within the family of God. Man will have been made
immortal.
The apostle Paul summed up the sequence of events in the master plan of
God in his letter to the Corinthians: "As in Adam all men die, so in
Christ all will be brought to life; but each in his own proper place
[order]: Christ the firstfruits, and afterwards, at his coming, those
who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers up the
kingdom to God the Father, after abolishing every kind of dominion,
authority, and power. For he is destined to reign until God has put all
enemies under his feet; and the last enemy to be abolished is death.
Scripture says, 'He has put all things in subjection under his feet.'
But in saying 'all things,' it clearly means to exclude God who
subordinates them; and when all things are thus subject to him, then
the Son himself will also be made subordinate to God who made all
things subject to him, and thus God will be all in all" (I Cor.
15:23-28, The New English Bible). The Master Plan Complete. What a
marvelous statement: "God will be all in all"! The entire universe will
be united to God — reconciled in Christ! Man's destiny will be
complete. The master plan of salvation will have been worked out by
Christ. The Spirit of God will permeate the universe.
How could anyone, realizing these dazzling, inspiring truths, wish to
remain apart from that magnificent plan? Can you possibly remain
uninvolved?
"Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. And every one who thus hopes in him purifies
himself as he is pure" (I John 3:2-3).
Will you take the first step to such self-purification? And if you have
done so, will you continue in the faith? Will you do what is necessary
to fulfill your intended role in God's great master plan of salvation?
RECOMMENDED READING
Further information about God's master plan for
mankind is available in the booklets listed below. To receive your free
copies, please request them by title (mailing addresses are on the
inside front cover). Why Were You Born? What Do You Mean —
Salvation? After Death - Then What? Just What Do You Mean —
Conversion?
by Brian Knowles reprint from the GOOD NEWS magazine April 1976
