The Eternal Plan of God # 1

The Lord said to me,.."I will test my people with a plumbline. Amos 7:8 (TLB)

The Plumbline is a blog to encourage the Body of Christ.

The Eternal Plan of God # 1

When we understand God’s eternal plan then questions like so many ask will be understood; (1) Who is God? (2) What is He doing?  (3) Why am I here?  (4) Where am I going? (5) How can I live to please God?

God has a plan, purpose and future for every living being. You might be asking, how can I know this is a fact? The plan of God can be found His “Love letter” to the world.

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The Original Plan begins with God Himself. Check out Genesis 1:26-28 “God said...” God made Adam a spiritual son. “Let us make man in our image and likeness...” There are possibly as many as 15 ways that Adam was like God. His plan included the testing of Adam Genesis 2:8-9,17 (NKJV)  8 The LORD God planted a garden... there He put the man... 9 The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." God gave the man free access to all the trees in the garden except you may NOT eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you fail this test you will die.

In God’s Original plan if the man passes the tree test he would follow God on the “WAY”  to Father’s House. Sadly the man FAILED the test and lost his way to the Father’s House. (see the two diagrams by my friend David Dean).

The Apostle Paul has insight into this proposition look at Romans 8:28-30 (NLT) 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Paul says, we have knowledge - (1) All things are for the good of those who LOVE God. (2) God KNEW those who would chose to become like Jesus. (3) These God chose and called - (4) Then God gave them RIGHT standing with Jesus. (5) Then He gave them the Son’s GLORY.  This is glorious information that thrills one’s heart. John the Apostle declares, Yes, friends, we are already God’s children, right now, and we can’t even imagine what it is going to be like later on. But we do know this, that when he comes we will be like him, as a result of seeing him as he really is.

Let’s continue to look at some scriptures that tell of the plan -

• 1 Corinthians 1:24-25,30 (NLT) 24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. 30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.

• Ephesians 1:4-5,9-12 (TLB) 4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to! 9 God has told us his secret reason for sending Christ, a plan he decided on in mercy long ago; 10 and this was his purpose: that when the time is ripe he will gather us all together from wherever we are—in heaven or on earth—to be with him in Christ forever. 11 Moreover, because of what Christ has done, we have become gifts to God that he delights in, for as part of God’s sovereign plan we were chosen from the beginning to be his, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. 12 God’s purpose in this was that we should praise God and give glory to him for doing these mighty things for us, who were the first to trust in Christ.