 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith
the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
I would like to think that God had a plan in mind even before He began the
act of creation. Some have said that a man like Michelangelo could look upon
a raw stone and see the moving, living form trapped inside. His statue of
David is a piece of art that has lasted through centuries of time; but once
it was nothing more than a large stone with Michelangelo walking around it
looking at it, thinking about that first blow with the hammer and chisel. As
he broke away the excess stone the life-like image of David appeared.
Now we know that Michelangelo made something from something else; God, on
the other hand, made something from nothing. If He didn’t have something He
needed, He created it. I suppose that is the essence of the difference
between “Creationism” and “Darwinism” or evolution.
Evolution must start on the premise that “something” was already available
(Big Bang, ocean, etc.) and from that available “something” life forms began
to evolve. In the beginning of many evolution books, especially text books,
on about the second or third page tucked away in the middle of a paragraph,
inside a sentence is a little phrase that usually says, “the inorganic
became organic.” The writer then moves, without fanfare, to build the theory
of evolution on the foundation of that little phrase without ever stopping
to explain how that event happened.
The difference is that God created something from nothing. He then formed
mankind from the soil of the ground. God then did something that answers the
question about the inorganic becoming organic: God breathed into the man’s
nostrils the breath of life. The man came alive with actual life from the
Creator God, animated with a soul and spirit that gave him a conscience no
other part of the creation had. Man had a spirituality that had capacity to
link with God’s Spirit and commune with Him and have relationship with Him.
(Review this by reading Genesis chapters 1 and 2.)
God is credited with being all-knowing (omniscient), all-powerful
(omnipotent) and everywhere present at the same time (omnipresent). Knowing
that about Him only stands to reason that He doesn’t do anything
haphazardly, unknowingly or without thinking. Therefore, I would like to
believe that He had very deep thoughts about what His creation would be
prior to His creative actions.
I wonder if He didn’t see the fall of mankind from the perfect relationship
even before it actually happened; I wonder if He didn’t see the entry of sin
into His creation at the beguilement from Lucifer (in the form of a serpent)
long before it actually happened. At that very moment when sin entered into
a world of perfection, God seemed to have a plan in mind that would heal
that wound and bring mankind back into a relationship with Him (See Genesis
3:15 for details). He knew that there would be a great separation between
Himself and His creation, mankind. So He created a plan of redemption for
those who wanted to choose Him over Satan. Adam and Eve had chosen Satan
over God and thereby brought death and ruin into the creation. But God’s
plan was to reconcile all of mankind to a position and opportunity to
exercise free will and choice to choose God to regain that close
relationship and receive life with Him.
The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in Ephesus and with the
inspiration of God the Holy Spirit explained the plan God had even before
the foundations of the world. The following is that account:
"1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which
are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved.
[to top of second column]
|
 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and
which are on earth; even in him:
11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will:
12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in
Christ.
13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of
the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." (Ephesians
1:1-14 KJV)
It seems that what God may have had on His mind prior to creation
was the plan to redeem us from sin and death. He wanted to establish
a plan where He completed the work that required sacrifice and in
order to do that He needed to do it Himself.
His plan, established prior to the “foundation of the world” was to
complete the requirements of sacrifice to pay the price of sin and
overcome the power of death and separation from Himself to His
creation, mankind. His plan made a way for anyone who believed in
Christ to accept Him, be washed in His blood and be saved into an
eternal relationship to be with Him forever. The plan was
“predestined” even before the presence of sin, and became the only
plan acceptable to God as a means for salvation.
Those who exercised their choice to yield to Jesus Christ the Son of
God would be making their choice to be saved by God only on His
conditions of accepting the blood of Jesus and yielding to Him and
be covered by that specific redemptive blood. It is that blood of
Jesus that takes away our sins through the work that Jesus did on
the cross to present Himself as a perfect, unblemished (paschal
lamb) that allows us to be adopted as His sons (and daughters)
through Jesus Christ, because that is what He willed and was given
through His grace.
God does not “cause” us to be saved or unsaved by forcefully
directing us against our will. He has “predestined” His plan for
redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ, and only when a person
chooses to accept God’s grace and yield himself to Jesus Christ
through accepting His sacrifice, does the person enter into the
“positional” place of adoptive child and be justified in God’s
sight.
From my perspective, to sum it all up, I think I know what was on
God’s mind before He began the work of creation. I believe He was
thinking about me. And if you are reading at this very point in this
article, and you have accepted Jesus Christ and have been buried
with Him into His death and raised to a new life in Him, God was
thinking about you too.
Now if you are outside of Christ and have not yet believed in Him or
accepted Him as your Redeemer, you need to accept Him, be buried
with Him in His death through baptism, be raised up to walk in a new
life with Him, yield to Him as your LORD as well as Savior, and
receive the gift of His Holy Spirit so you can grow in Christ.
Associate yourself with a Bible-believing group of Christians and
begin to gather with them to worship and continue to learn and grow
in Christ. Submit yourself fully to Him and be assured that even
before the beginning of creation, God was thinking of you as well.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
Click here to respond to the editor about this
article.
 |
