An Overview of God’s Eternal Plan

An Overview of God’s Eternal Plan

As strange as it may seem, the eternal plan that God has had for this world can be summed up in just a few short statements. Just suppose that you were asked to give an overview of this plan, what phrases or words would you choose? With this in mind, let me suggest four eternal truths about God’s plan. Here’s my list. How would you briefly express the truths all mankind needs to know?

God has an Eternal Plan for man.

God has an Eternal Plan for man.

God has spoken. The fact Jehovah has spoken affirms that He exists. If He is truly the Supreme One, He must have existed eternally. His Deity and His power can be known to all mankind, for in every language on earth the heavens proclaim His glory (Rom. 1:20; Psa. 19:1-2). God is and God has spoken.

Throughout history God has spoken in many ways. For many centuries, He spoke through the prophets, but at the end, He has spoken through Jesus and His prophets. When God’s revelation was completed, He left us the Bible which completely furnishes us (Heb. 1:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. When the Man of Galilee lived on this earth, some did not fully understand who He was. But He is in truth “….the Christ the Son of the living God.” God confirmed His claims by “…miracles and wonders and signs.” These signs are recorded so that we might believe Emmanuel came. This faith empowers us to become God’s children.” (Matt. 16:16; Acts 2:22; John 20:30-31; John 1:12).

God’s plan resulted in all men enjoying His promises in the establishment of the one body, the church. He did not immediately reveal His plan for our redemption. It existed before the world began but was fully revealed through Jesus’ apostles and prophets. The plan was “…the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” (Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 3:3-6). The steps of faith to enter that church are clearly revealed and easily understood.

We must all appear before God to give an account of how we have lived. At the end, Jesus will return, and all men who have ever lived will stand before the great white throne to be judged by how they have lived. There will be a separation made between those who have followed God’s teachings as they are recorded in the books of the Bible and those who have not sought His will. Some will hear the words “Come, you blessed of My Father,” and others will hear, “Depart from Me.” Eternal justice will be meted out (2 Cor. 5:10; Acts 17:30-31; Matt. 25:34, 41; John 5:28-29; John 12:48. Rev. 20:11-15).

It is not enough to know the truths just mentioned. What matters is how you are responding to them!

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A Life for Christ

A Life for Christ

While Paul is in prison he writes an impassioned plea to his beloved brothers and sisters in Philippi. He says that while dying would be most beneficial for him it was more needful for them that he remains alive; and that remaining alive, for him, is Christ (1:21–24). He desires that they too live their lives together as “worthy of the gospel of Christ” and that they “stand fast in one spirit” and strive together with “one mind” for “the faith of the gospel” (1:27). But just what does that life look like?

How do you live your life?

How do you live your life?

1. It suggests humbling ourselves and having the mind of Christ (2:2–8). Pride will lead to our destruction (Proverbs 16:18), but humility will lead to our exaltation (1 Peter 5:6).

2. It indicates being obedient and working out our own salvation (2:12). True, biblical faith always acts (James 2)! Jesus’ faith in the plan and operation of His Father lead him to “always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29). It is imperative for us to prove our love by being obedient (John 14:15)!

3. It points to doing all things without griping or complaining (2:14).

4. It implies rejoicing (3:1; 4:4).

5. It signifies never giving up (3:13–14; 4:1).

6. It means being thankful and thinking on the things that come from above (4:6–8).

What does continuing to live here on earth mean to you? Would you consider death to be gain? These two questions are inseparable. Have the mind of Christ my friends, and be faithful!

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Interpretation vs. Interpolation

Interpretation vs. Interpolation

Imagine the following scenario: A police officer pulls up behind a car that is traveling a bit over the speed limit and turns on his lights and siren. The car in front of him immediately speeds off. After several miles and minutes of high-speed maneuvers, the speeding motorist is finally stopped. When asked why he sped off, He replied, “When you pulled up behind me and put your lights on, I thought you wanted to race and your lights were the signal to go!” We laugh. But his self-serving “interpretation” led to his swift and speedy incarceration! The law is clear. When a police cruiser’s lights and sirens come on, motorists are to pull over. Period. How difficult is that to understand and obey?

God's laws are not up to man's individual interpretation.

God’s laws are not up to man’s individual interpretation.

What about the motorist who sees the speed sign in a school zone that reads “Speed Limit 25 M.P.H. When Children Are Present,” and decides it doesn’t apply to them for whatever reason and speeds through the school zone? What if they tried to tie a huge “not” into the wording of that warning, in exactly the same way which Satan did to God’s word of warning concerning the forbidden fruit (as seen in Gen. 2:17 and 3:4), rendering their interpretation of that sign to therefore read, “Speed Limit NOT 25 M.P.H. When Children Are Present?” What if they told their arresting officer that his literal reading of that sign, and the law regarding it as it was both clearly and concisely written by those in authority, was only his “interpretation?” Would that change the law or their guilt when they came before the judge for sentencing? Of course not!

And the same is true in religious circles as well – and especially! God is neither stupid, illiterate, nor unable to clearly communicate with His creation. In His divinely-inspired (2 Tim. 3:12-4:4), all-authoritative (Matt. 28:18-20), and eternally settled in heaven word (Psa. 119:89), which is the authority by which we shall all be judged on Judgment Day (Jn. 12:48), He said exactly what He meant. And He meant exactly, every perfectly, concisely, and precisely-chosen word of what He said (Psa. 19:7-14; Matt. 4:4).

Those who truly trust and have total faith in Him (like the great heroes of the faith found in Hebrews, chapter eleven), understand, accept, and seek to readily and lovingly obey His every word, exactly as He instructed. They dare not “tamper” with (2 Cor. 4:2 ESV), nor add to or take from, God’s divinely-inspired word (Rev. 22:18-19). They know “first,” foremost, and for all time: past, present, and future, “that no prophecy of Scripture is (present tense) of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came (past tense) by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Ptr. 1:20-21).

Sadly, tragically, many deeply religious people today seek to selfishly twist, pervert, tamper with, “interpret,” and/or take from or add to God’s all-authoritative word, in such a way as to completely nullify and circumvent any semblance of their humble obedience to it. This too, is nothing new (Gen. 3:4; Mk. 7:1-23; 2 Ptr. 2 + 3). For example, Jesus very clearly and simply commanded in Mk. 16:16: “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” How can any honest and sincerely God-seeking person actually miss the fact that both belief and baptism must come before salvation in that text? That belief and baptism are ‘both in the same boat’ in that text? That if baptism is not necessary both before and in order to accomplish one’s salvation, then neither is belief! Nonetheless, the denominationalist per-version of that particular instruction is, in effect and practice: “He who believes shall be saved at that point, but then should be baptized as an outward sign of their having recently received forgiveness as soon as they believed.” By saying and doing such, they also seek to launch a huge “NOT” into the text of 1 Ptr. 3:20-21 regarding water baptism, wherein God very clearly, simply, and specifically stated through Peter, that His patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you… But they say, “Baptism does NOT now save one.”

Whenever God’s new covenant (Matt. 26:28; Acts 2:38-41) law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), is literally quoted, word for word, by those who truly and fully trust God’s ability and authority to say exactly what He means and to mean exactly what He said, then those who want to continue to do religion the way they feel best within their own self-deceived hearts (Jer. 17:9-10; 1 Sam. 13:8-15; Matt. 7:21-27; Acts 26:9-11; 2 Thess. 2:9-15) instead of according to God’s word, will inevitably seek to throw up, retreat to, and hide behind, the flimsy, satanic, and transparent and totally unacceptable-to-God smoke-screen, that “That’s just your interpretation,” when in fact, it’s a direct quotation from God Himself! The fact is, it is THEY who are, and will be held guilty on that day, of INTERPOLATION (for definition, please see: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interpolation)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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INSTRUMENTOS MECANICOS EN LA ADORACION A DIOS

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No More Sacrifice for Sin?

Can an Erring and Lost Christian be Restored to Christ?

One of your articles discussed that a person who leaves the church and rejects God has no more sacrifice for sin. Can these people be brought back into the fold?

Are those whose sin Christ's sacrifice will not cleanse?

Are those whose sin Christ’s sacrifice will not cleanse?

Yes, provided they sincerely desire to come back. The book of Hebrews deals more with this issue of falling away than does any other book in the New Testament because so many Jewish Christians were falling away from the church to go back to Judaism. In Hebrews 6:4-6 we read, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” Please understand what this passage is saying. Here are people who were Christians. They were “once enlightened.” They had “tasted of the heavenly gift.” They partook of the Holy Spirit. They experienced the “good word of God.” They partook of the “powers of the world to come.” Yet, they made a conscious choice to refuse these things, forsake Christianity and go back into Judaism. The Hebrew writer says that it is “impossible to renew them again unto repentance.” I take this to mean that no outside force is going to be able to bring them back to faithfulness to the Lord.

Now, can they come back? There is no doubt that they can repent and turn back to God again. The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 illustrates this very point. God is always willing to accept those who, in repentance, turn to Him and declare their love for Him. The Prodigal Son is an illustration of the very point that we need to make in this regard, so let’s look at that. Notice that the Prodigal Son left his father of his own will. He was in a good and blessed situation, but he decided that he knew what was best and left his father’s house. As a result, he squandered his inheritance living a sinful life. He eventually ran out of money and friends, and ended up in the lowest situation imaginable in that day–feeding pigs. When he himself realized the depravity of his situation, he decided to make a change. He came home and was restored to his father. His father forgave him and received him back into his house. The one thing that you don’t read about in the story of the prodigal son is people going out to check on him to make sure he was well. The father didn’t go looking for him; the servants didn’t go looking for him and the brother didn’t go looking for him. They didn’t look for him because in his situation there would be nothing that could be said to bring him back.

Now, there are situations where we should look for those who are lost. This is illustrated in the parable of the lost sheep and lost coin that are told immediately before the parable of the Prodigal Son. The lost sheep illustrates those who are lost through ignorance. The lost coin illustrates those who are lost through neglect. However, when one deliberately chooses to leave that which he knows is a place of rest and safety, then the only way that person can be restored is through their own personal decision. No amount of reasoning from us is going to persuade someone to come back who has purposefully chosen to be lost. So as the Hebrew writer said in Hebrews 6:4-6, it is impossible for us to renew them again to repentance. That is a choice that only that person can make. What must one do to come back? He needs to acknowledge his lost state. And since this question is addressing Christians, this means making a public confession of fault and recommitting oneself to the cause which was publicly abandoned.

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