Life Ministries

God’s Plan – “Simple as 1 2 3” - Ephesians 1:9-11

    I want to begin by saying; “I believe God has a plan and a purpose for all that he has created.” I want to attempt to show that in a simple way. First of all, I think we could agree that the words “plan” and “purpose” and “will” are sort of synonymous in scripture. Hopefully you have already read the scripture above that speaks of God’s plan and purpose… but, there is also Eph. 3:10-11 that says “His “intent” (another synony-mous word) was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which he accomplished through Jesus our Lord.”

    In other words, it was also part of God’s eternal plan to make his plan known through the church, and accomplish it through Jesus Christ. Not only to the world, but to “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”…Think about that awesome thought for a moment.
    It also says in the Book of Isaiah 14:24 – “Surely as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand”… and in 46:9-11 “I am God, and there is no other; I make known the end from the begin-ing, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, my purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do!” 
    So, indeed, God has a plan and a purpose…And, because He is God, His plan and His purpose will stand. No matter what man may think or do, God’s plan prevails from beginning to end. So, my purpose is to show God’s plan from beginning to end - 1 2 3… In three posts; concerning three Books; using the first chapters of Genesis 1, 2, and 3…Then the first chapters of John 1, 2, and 3…and, finally, from the last three chapters of Revelation 20, 21, and 22. 
     All that being said, we start at Genesis 1:1 – As Dr. Don Wood from Southern Wesleyan has said; “If you don’t get the first button in the right hole, nothing else will line up!” 
     If you were raised in church, you’ve heard the creation story dozens of times. And you probably know the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden by heart. So why do we need to look at it again?  Because without the first three chapters of Genesis, the rest of the Bible is meaningless. It’s putting the first button in the right hole. I will say this - if you can’t agree with Genesis 1:1, you will have a hard time agreeing with John 3:16… and you may as well forget about the Book of Revelation! That’s why Satan attacks it so hard.       
    Scholars tell us God didn’t create the universe, time and chance did. They tell us the Genesis account is a myth. Satan attacks the first three chapters of Genesis, because if he can discredit them, it will discredit the entire Bible. They are that important.
    What I want you to notice about the creation passages in Genesis 1 and 2 is that in Genesis chapter one when God created the heavens and the earth he spoke them into existence. But when God creates man in chapter 2, it says he formed him and he breathed into him. There is definitely a difference.
    This word formed means that God crafted man with his hands. God took extra special care when he created man. He crafted him with his own hands and then he breathed into him the breath of life. The universe is pretty amazing, the stars and the galaxies, but as John Wesley said, “man is the crown of creation.” God put special care into making us.
    Another thing we notice is that the first three chapters of the Bible are all about God. Here are some of the words we find in these chapters; “God created” “God said” “Spirit of God hovered” “God called” “God made” “God saw” “God set” “God blessed” “God finished” and “God rested”… And, God said it all was “very good!”… It was “Paradise Perfect.”
     Now, God’s original plan is given to us in chapter 1 verse 26 – “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”… It is a two part plan – It goes like this; #1 – God said “Let us make man in our image”… And, #2 – “Let them rule over all the earth.”
    So you see it really is a simple plan!  “Let’s make man in our image, and let them rule over all the earth”!...
    Then came the fall of man, and the rest of the Bible has to do with God’s plan to restore man’s image, and man’s rule! Please don’t miss that… The rest of the Bible has to do with restoring man’s image and man’s rule.
    It would be so much better if you didn’t know the end. So, just pretend that you don’t know that in the end man’s image and man’s rule are restored, and we will talk about that when we get to the part from Revelation.
    Now, it says that in the middle of the garden was the “tree of life” and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”… Notice that God never said they could not eat from the tree of life! (He said they could not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil)… “For when you eat of that tree, you will surely die”…Notice also that God said “when” you eat and not “if” you eat… He already knew they were going to sin, and they did, but, God had a plan!... Aren’t you glad that God had a plan!
    Well, man was tempted and he – and she – sinned, and the consequence was “Paradise Lost.” 
Genesis 3:22-24 – “And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”  Let me just pause there to point out…that even though God never said they couldn’t eat from the tree of life, they didn’t…Maybe life and death were too close together…But, for whatever reason, they chose not to eat of the tree of life at this point…“So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the “tree of life.” … Man no longer had access to the “tree of life”…Once again, I wish you didn’t know the end of the story…
    Well, the rest of the Bible – from Genesis chapter 4 all the way to Revelation 1 is all about man. Man’s relationship to God and man’s relationship to one another. It’s the story of the rise and fall and judgment of man. It’s the story of how God chooses a man – Abraham…and, God chooses a nation – Israel… because, through it all, God has a plan… a plan of redemption… A plan that, in the end, will take us back to the beginning. More on that next as we look at John 1 2 3…

If you are not absolutely convinced of Genesis 1, 2, and 3…If you are not absolutely convinced that “God is who He says He is”…You need to make that decision in your life. There is only one thing that can give you hope in the end, and that is if God is the beginning!  I pray that He will make himself real to you today.You need to get the first button right!