Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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(Today’s Reading)
The Implications of the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact
(Book Installment 54)
The Plan Behind the Second Coming
Chapter 4 – The Predetermined Plan
The Plans of God
Since man is made in the image of God, and since God plans, let’s think more about how He plans and what sort of plans He makes.
Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Notice how beneficial God’s plans are to us: they bring “welfare,” “a future,” and “a hope.” It therefore makes sense that when our plans bump into God’s plans, it’s our plans that should give way.
Proverbs 19:21 Many plans are in a man’s heart,
But the counsel of the LORD will stand.
God will even use our defiance of Him to accomplish His purposes, as Joseph explained to his brothers:
Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
Of course, Joseph’s trials only foreshadowed the far greater trials of Jesus. And the most notable evil of all – the crucifixion of Jesus Christ – was to God a stepping stone to the most notable good of all – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. God is thus always able to use even our evil for His own good purposes. For this reason we can always say with confidence:
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Thus the plans of God are superior to, and fully supersede, even the best human planning and execution. We absolutely have free will but He absolutely does, too – and His word on any matter is the last word. Thus He says through the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
Isaiah 46:11 …Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.
Stated more succinctly:
Psalm 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation.
Thus the Lord lives by plans, and thereby sets an example for us to follow. But there is one plan of His that exceeds in scope and gravity all His other plans – by far. This is the plan that concludes with the Second Coming. In other words, which means it’s also the plan that concludes with the coming of the kingdom of God. This is the kingdom that He has promised will last forever and ever. Such a goal surely deserved and required a master plan.
The plan for God’s eternal kingdom was not conceived when Adam and Eve fell; rather, it was conceived before God ever said, “Let there be light.” And everything that happened from “In the beginning” onward was an outworking of that plan of all plans.
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