I felt urged by the Lord to show that God has a perfect plan to create and assemble His own family to last through eternity.

Before becoming a part of that family by being born again, (“Ye must be born-again to enter the kingdom of heaven” – John 3:5-7) I didn’t have a clue that God had a perfect plan and He would fulfill that plan whether people believe it or not. In fact, it doesn’t matter if people believe it or not, it has nothing to do with its fulfillment. Every “jot and tittle” shall be fulfilled “till all be fulfilled”. There are many folks, even those who are born-again, who are unaware of this unchangeable, perfect plan of God Almighty.

Satan’s Rebellion
We must begin with the original estate of Lucifer (Satan) and his fall. Gordon Lindsay, in his booklet, Satan: Fallen Angels and Demons, says the following:

The Bible states that in the beginning, Satan, then called Lucifer, was a sinless and righteous being. …” Thou wast PERFECT in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till iniquity was found in thee. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.” Ezek. 28:15 & 17 It is difficult for us to realize that this wicked creature, now the archenemy of God and man, was at one time a holy being, and guardian of the throne of God.

The Scriptures describe in some detail the original estate of this exalted being. He was son of the morning, the light-bearer of heaven. He possessed authority which so far as we know, was ONLY less than that of God Himself. As the “anointed cherub that covereth,” he reigned as vice-regent in God’s holy mountain (Biblical expression for the kingdom of God). “Wiser than Daniel,” there was no secret among the angelic hosts that was hidden from him.

…How then did it happen that this mighty archangel Lucifer, son of the morning, fell from his exalted position into the depths of depravity to become the prince of darkness? Concerning this profound question, the Scriptures are not silent. It is recorded in Isaiah 14:13 and 14; “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

…But God in His eternal plan had reserved this exaltation not for Lucifer but for Christ. It was given to Christ alone to sit down with the Father on His throne. (Rev. 3:21)

So, you see, the enemy of all enemies must suspect that “he has but a short time” Rev. 12:12, for his wrath grows greater and greater day by day. (Just read the newspaper and watch the nightly news!!!

So God Created Man
After Lucifer’s turning away, God begins His perfect plan of the ages. This time He would not rely on angels or heavenly beings, who had not had their faithfulness tested. This new order would be created in God’s own image. He allowed them to have “free will”, but they would have their wills examined and tried. In Gen. 1:27 we find; “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”

Again I quote here from Gordon Lindsay’s booklet Satan: Fallen Angels and Demons: “The Devil lost no time in going to work in the Garden of Eden. He tempted Eve. As we know, he succeeded in seducing her and her husband at the first try. He followed up his success by making a murderer out of their first born, Cain.” God no longer wanted to take any more chances of going through the same disappointment that He had suffered when the “heavenly beings” rebelled against Him. God decided He would allow men and women to undergo temptations and trials to see who would still stand true to Him.

The book of Job illustrates this truth. It is an acting out of God’s relationship with man, a creature made in His own image, for the purpose of becoming His everlasting family. The account of Job, who experienced just about every test one could imagine, is an acting out of what being born-again is – “man’s only entrance into the Kingdom of God.” (John 3) The book concludes with this admission of sin by Job:

“Then Job answered the Lord, and said
I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can he withholden from thee,
Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me which I knew not.
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee;
Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1 – 6

This stands as a universal preview of the opportunity offered to anyone who is willing to do it Gods Way, and not their own! Just as Job experienced, the reward is, “a new life in Christ“.

Man Corrupted
In the generations from Adam to Noah, mankind in general had become more and more corrupt. In the sixth chapter of Genesis we read: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented (be sorry – Strong’s Concordance) the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”. We are all familiar with the story of Noah. Only Noah and his family, totaling eight people, were saved from the world-wide flood, along with a sampling of all the other creatures which God had created. When this great cleansing and testing was over God gave Noah a wonderful promise, the beautiful “bow” in the sky, as “token of the covenant” which gives us, even today, faith in His perfect plan of the ages. “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be .for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall he seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall he in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all that is upon the earth.” Gen. 9:3-17

Then Came The Chosen Seed
Out of the eight people saved from the destruction of “the flood” came what would later become God’s chosen people, or “the apple of His eye”. The Jews were to become the sole recipients of God’s promises. Though they were often a source of disappointment and frustration for God, they did produce many great men and women of faith who have served as worthy examples for generation upon generation of believers. We find a wonderful review of some of these men and women in Hebrews, chapter eleven:

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
For by it the elders obtained a good report. …
By.faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, …
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God …
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of righteousness which is by faith…
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. ….
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. …
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, …
Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; …
By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. …
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. …
By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. …
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also and Samuel, and of the prophets:…
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
(Of whom the world was not worthy.) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us, should not be made perfect”  Hebrews 11

The Coming of The Messiah
The countless lessons that were acted out by this “chosen road company” of God’s, set the stage for the next act of the most dramatic true-life story that would ever happen – the birth, the life, the ministry, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The experiences of those Old Testament saints showed us that man cannot keep the law and that the law was given to prove that very thing. It was clear that man needed a Saviour to pay for his sins, and that he could never enter the kingdom of God without that Saviour. Under the Law, the Jews’ sins were atoned for by the shedding of the blood of an innocent lamb, brought to the priest once a year who sacrificed it for that family and covered sin until the next year. This act of atonement was a preview of the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross, who laid down his life, once and for all to atone for our sins. Those who will accept this atonement, die to self, trust Jesus Christ to save them, admit that they cannot save themselves, repent of one’s past life and be born-again. By these fruits, they will partake of the heavenly blessing of redemption through the blood of the Lamb. These are just a few of the many lessons to be learned in getting to know God’s nature from the nearly 2,000 years of Biblical history of the Israelite’s origins, travels, oppressions, sins, rebellions, great victories, and blessings.

Always the prophets were among the teachers, most of the time suffering great persecution even from their own people, often not being believed. Their legacy, during the unfolding of God’s Perfect Plan of The Ages, has been one of obedience and faith. Their witness has been invaluable. And never more than today! At least seven of the prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah, each relaying different aspects of His arrival, life, death and return to heaven. The more one studies the prophets, the more one realizes that almost everything they uttered fit into God’s ingenious plan to create and gather to Himself His ultimately perfect family, made after His own image. All this time faith was being born and developed in some great men and women of God.

Gentiles Admitted To Family
When the Messiah did come it marked the beginning stages of God’s plan to ultimately bring Jew and Gentile together into one family, all under the headship of Christ. Biblically, anyone who is not a Jew by birth is considered a Gentile and therefore not in line to receive God’s promises. The early believers in Jesus were Jews, starting with the twelve Apostles. In a short time, Gentiles were added. Of course, there were exceptions, like Timothy, who had a Jewish mother and a Greek father. (Acts 16:1)

One of the Gentiles identified as becoming a believer are: Cornelius, a centurion mentioned in Acts 10:1; and the keeper of the prison who said; “Sirs what must I do to be saved?” seen in Acts 16:30. In Acts 11 it is recorded: “And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God.” We also see in Acts 11:17 & 18 this: “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”

Most of the Jews in that day, even up to the present time, could not believe that Jesus was, in fact, the promised and long-awaited Messiah. It was partly because they could not separate the “suffering servant” from the “King of kings who was to rule the world with a rod of iron”. When He didn’t clean up the world and begin to rule immediately, they thought Jesus was an imposter. But when we begin to search all the Scriptures, we find the reason for that. God has blinded them for the Gentiles’ sakes. When this reality truly hit my heart, it overflowed with love for the Jews as a people, and some certain Jews, in particular. One of the places I found out about all this was Romans 10 and 11. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them; record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Rom. 10:1 &2 “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded.” Rom. 11:7 “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” Rom. 11:15. “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, (Gentiles) wert grafted in among them, and with then: partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;” Rom. 11:17 “Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, (the Jews), take heed lest he also spare not thee.” Rom. 11:19-21 “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief shall be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.” Rom. 11:23 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happening to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them: when I shall take away their sins.” Rom 11:25-27 “For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief” Rom 11:30 “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon All.” V.32 “‘For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen”. Rom 11:36

The following are among my favorite verses, and I wait with great excitement and anticipation:

“And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness.for his firstborn,”  Zechariah 12:9 & 10

These verses from Zechariah set the stage for what we see will take place according to the prophetic book of Isaiah, as we draw near to the end of God’s perfect plan of the ages.

“Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for her joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies.” Isa. 66:10-14

The Family Together At Last
The last part of God’s plan of the ages that He has shared with us in His Word, is that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. We see what it will be like from the book of Revelation, and I quote a few Scriptures from the promises found there:

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Rev. 20:10

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Rev. 21:1-7

This is the wonderful plan of those who are truly grafted into the family of God, by receiving His Son, Jesus Christ, and being born again into the eternal family. Let us pray that we may be accounted worthy to dwell with Him forever.