A Divine Plan

Uplook – January 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

A Divine Plan

“All things were created” by the Son (Col. 1:16 NIV ). This includes intelligent creatures such as angels and humans who, within limits, are free to do as they choose. Some angels have sinned (2 Pet. 2:4) and all humans “have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). God knew all that would happen from the very beginning but He had a plan to deal with it.

God’s Plan
In God’s plan His beloved Son would “become flesh” (Jn. 1:14) and “share in humanity so that by His death” (Heb. 2:14) He might “destroy the devil’s work” (1 Jn. 3:8). Through His death believers would “escape from the trap of the devil who had taken them captive to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:26). We first see this trap operate with Eve and Adam!

Escape from this captivity would, in God’s plan, be made possible for people when they were redeemed by the Son. The Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, would shed His “precious blood ... [as] a Lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Pet. 1:19-20). Also, “from the founding of the world” there would be “the book of life of the slain lamb” (Rev. 13:8 JND). In it would be written the names of those of every dispensation who believed God and had eternal life. Sadly, there would also be rejecters of God’s way of salvation. Their names would not be found “written in the book of life” and they would be “thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15 NIV) for eternity – presumably the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 25:41).

Believers During The Present Dispensation Are To Be Special
Believers since the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41) are now made part of the “body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12,27), the Church. The Son of God came as Christ to form the Church (Mt. 16:16-18) and He “loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27).

She is called “the bride,” “the wife of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:9), and will be married to Him when “the wedding of the Lamb has come” (Rev. 19:7). Attending that wedding as guests will be the saints of other dispensations, including John the Baptist who called himself a “friend who attends the bridegroom” (Jn. 3:29).

Conclusion
The bliss that we, the Church, will experience with our Lord in heaven is beyond verbal description. Therefore, the Holy Spirit resorts to the metaphors of the bride, the wife, and marriage to communicate something of what that bliss will be like. We are now, so to speak, a fiancée who is deeply in love, who adores her fiancé and awaits her wedding day. We look forward to that day when He fulfills His promise – “Yes, I am coming soon” – and we, the bride to be now says, “Come, come Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:17,20).

By Alan H. Crosby

With mercy and with judgment my web of time He wove, And aye the dews of sorrow were lustred with His love. I’ll bless the hand that guided, I’ll bless the heart that planned, When throned where glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.
Oh, I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved’s mine; He brings a poor vile sinner into His “house of wine.” I stand upon His merit; I know no safer stand, Not e’en where glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.
The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom’s face; I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace; Not at the crown He giveth, but on His pierced hand: The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land. By Mrs. Anne Ross Cousin (1824-1906)