Good morning,
For God knew his people in advance
When God designed the earth, we commonly don’t think beyond Genesis 2 as the wonderful, complex creation that is still going on around us. Careful reading of the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments makes it quite clear that when God started his work he did so as a finished package. God has set his heavenly timer to include all the plans that he has made from the garden in Eden to the final blast of fire that will swallow what we know today as our earth. Our Enemy has done his best to get us to miss an even more important part of God’s timeless plan. The prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament all tell us that God didn’t just design what we now call nature, he also designed all the people who would live in time as the most important part of his master plan. For example, the prophet Isaiah wrote about God’s choosing and knowing the people who would be a part of his eternal plan.(Isaiah 43:1,2) The same truth came out again and again from what Jesus said and the apostles who wrote about in their letters to the churches.(Romans 8:28-30)
What God keeps telling us in each generation is that he knows all of us and that he has chosen from all of the billions of people who have or who are or who will live in time, people who would belong to his eternal family. He already knew before Adam and Eve that each of us would be an important part of his plan, even though, from our point of view, we knew we had to decide to trust him to be a part of God’s eternal family. Paul pointed out to the church in Rome that our loving Father would cause all of the events of each of our lives to have eternal value in time and in eternity. God’s plan wasn’t just about what he wanted for his glory. God’s plans for his sons and daughters would be so detailed that everything that happened would also be for the good of those who loved him and were called as part of his plan. If we really think about this, we begin to realize the complexity of matching us as individual people, with individual backgrounds and individual abilities who will live our lives under the guidance of our lover, working out for our good as well as his eternal plan. Just think. Our Father has a perfect lesson plan for each of his kids to build and train and encourage and use us in time and eternity so that we will be eternal brothers and sisters of Jesus, our Savior. Wow! We serve an awesome God. Please Lord, help us not to forget that we are important parts of your eternal plan.
Romans 8:28 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.
Roy Wisner
