 “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:
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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.
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 fulness 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]
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