God has a destiny and a plan for your life…

God has a destiny and a plan for your life!

It has been said that all of life is but a stage, and I think as we examine the above Bible verses, and other scriptures in the Bible as well, I think that statement has more truth in it than most would recognize.

The truth is, as we understand the Bible, the script of ALL our lives has already been purposed in the mind of our Creator, as God because He is the creator of time and space, and all things in it, He dwells and exists outside of our time and space continuum (which is the dimension that we live in).

God dwells in a place called eternity; and consequently having wound the universe up and set it all in motion, infinitely more precise than any Swiss Watch, and owed to the fact that God, in Yeshua (Jesus) is both the Alpha and Omega (the beginning and end) of His creation, He (God) has started literally at the end of time, and from there He backed up to the beginning, and has predestined and purposed every detail that was to exist in between, from start to finish; and for each of us, who are of the seed of Adam, to us God has given a perfect destiny, that we can either choose to follow or not!

Here is where it all began, when the eternal God and Creator of all things first created and then entered into time and space:

Gen 1:1

1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.

So what exactly was God’s purpose in all of this, that even the Bible says the angels in Heaven bend over in amazement and in awe at what God is doing with the sons and daughters of Adam.

Rom 8:29-30

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Eph 1:3-6

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Eph 1:9-14

9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both* which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who* is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

The only caveat, or self imposed limitation, as it were, that God required in His immense and grand plan was to give free will to the crowning jewel of all His creation (Adam), whom again the Bible says was created in the image of God, and after His likeness; and it goes on to say that we even are His “offspring.”

God gave to Adam a free will to choose for himself, whether to follow, to obey, and to cooperate and work with his Creator, in partnership with Him, as his Abba Father and God; or whether to follow His own path, which is what the nature of sin is, as it is defined in the Bible!

In Hebrew the word for sin is:

OT:2403 – ha*F*j^ ‎chatta’ah (khat-taw-aw’); or chatta’th (khat-tawth’); from OT:2398; an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness), and its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, or expiation; also (concretely) an offender, coming from (OT:2398) af*j* ‎chata’ (khaw-taw’); a primitive root; properly, to miss; hence (figuratively and generally) to sin; by inference, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causatively) lead astray, condemn.

In Creek the word is:

NT:266 – ‎a(marti/a ‎hamartia (ham-ar-tee’-ah); from NT:264; a sin (properly abstract), which comes from
NT:264) ‎a(marta/nw ‎hamartano (ham-ar-tan’-o); perhaps from NT:1 (as a negative particle) and the base of NT:3313; properly, to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), i.e. (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin.

In both Hebrew and Greek the word basically means to miss the mark (of God’s requirements).

God the Father did not want tom-a-ton robots as His offspring, who had no choice but to follow and obey Him, so He gave to Adam and to his descendants the ability to choose; but mind you, we also can learn from the Bible that it was always in the purpose of God to ultimately become one with His creation, with these sons and daughters of Adam; and the way He would do this was through the life, earthly ministry, and propitious work and sacrifice (on Calvary’s cross) of His only begotten Son, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach (Jesus, the Christ—Anointed One), who is the Jewish Messiah.

It is this same Yeshua (Jesus—Saviour), who was the Seed of Abraham that God promised would be a blessing to all the nations of the world, who is Himself God incarnate (meaning God in the flesh)!

Gen 18:18

18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

Gen 22:15-18

15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said:”By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son —
17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your Seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Who is this Seed of Abraham that was promised to be a blessing to ALL the world?

Isa 9:6

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

As it happened, our original parents (Adam and Eve) blew it, when they failed to heed the command of God and disobeyed Him; that happened when they eat of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden (a fruit called “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil“), after which He promised that they would surely die.

The first death was spiritually, and it happened immediately, in that the moment Adam and Eve choose to go their own way and disobey God, what God promised happened, as they were instantly cut off from the Source of their life, in that the connection between God and man was now broken.

Physical death was also a consequence of this estrangement and separation from God, howbeit the physical death, for Adam and Eve and for their children, did not happen for many years later, and that was because God had barred Adam and Eve from eating from the “Tree of Life;” and so eventually the tent of their human (physical) bodies, minus being able to eat from this “Tree of Life,” eventually it wore out and died… and went back to the dust of the earth, from whence it came… but their spirits lived on!

This was all a part of God’s plan, for He in His foreknowledge already knew that this would happen, and that Adam and Eve would disobey Him; and so God, in His great love for His offspring (His lost children), He had already ordained and had provided for them a way back home; that they may have their sins forgiven; and that the penalty for their sin of disobedience (which was death) would be paid by the One (the only One) who knew no sin, who is Jesus Christ; in order that Adam and his descendents might be restored back into fellowship and relationship with God, who is now our Abba Father once again, as we who are born-again are now become members of His eternal family.

The way this was to happen was through faith in Jesus Christ, through something called “The Gospel” (Good News) message, which is spelled out in the following verses of scripture:

John 3:16-21

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Here is the story of Yeshua (Jesus), and His propose for coming to earth, as it was explained to us in the Old Testament, by the Prophet Isaiah:

Isa 53:1-6

53 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

and by His stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

So the choice is really very simple, simple enough in fact that a child can understand it.

For those who will heed the call of God on their lives, who of their own free will and volition will surrender their own will, who will die to self, and will pick up their cross (which is a symbol of our death to self); who by faith obey and follow the teachings of Jesus, as found in His Word (the Holy Bible); who receive Him (Jesus) not only as Saviour, but also who make Him Lord over their lives; who also by faith surrender and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit; to those chosen few, to them God has ordained that they, those who are called Born-again Christians, that we should live with Him and rein (rule) with Him forever!

However, clearly as the Bible teaches, the only time and the only chance for any of us to get right with God, to be forgiven of our sins, and be restored back into His eternal family, is sometime in the period between when we are first born into this world, at our physical birth, and when we depart it, in our death.

Just know that as per what the Bible says on this subject, there are no exception to this rule; as there are also no opportunities for anyone to get right with God after they die!

So that means that the window of opportunity, for each person that is still alive, grows narrower and narrower with the passing of each day… and since no man or woman knows the day of their own death, it behooves all of us to pay attention to this message that God is trying to communicate with us!

This is what God, through Jesus Christ, requires of ALL men and women; and being that He is both Creator and God, as certainly we did not create ourselves, He certainly has every right to demand and require of us whatever He wants… we just need to pay attention and obey.

Mark 8:34-38

34 Then (Jesus), calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said:

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.

35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.

36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?*

37 Is anything worth more than your soul?

38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Mind you that this of which I am speaking here is without a doubt the most important decision any of us will ever make in our lifetime, in whether we will follow and obey what Jesus says, and be Born-again (as per Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, as we just read in John chapter 3—see above); or whether we will choose to go out into eternity, after we die, without the benefit of a Saviour, having rejected God’s grace; and then each person will be responsible and have to answer to God for their our own sins, after having rejected the only name under heaven, whereby they could be saved… and that is through faith in Jesus Christ!

This is an illustration that God once showed me, in how the stage of this world has been positioned, as though all of mankind were sitting in a room; and someone came into that room and constructed a door, and then they placed over that door a sign stating, “In Case of Fire, this is the ONLY EXIT!”

There were others that came into that same room later, and they posted other signs, saying “This one is the only EXIT,” but unbeknownst to the people, save for the first EXIT that was posted, all the others were only dead ends; and yet since most who were in the room smelled no smoke and saw no fire, the majority of people in the room paid no attention whatsoever to any of the signs that were posted, nor to their message (the warnings) that was given; and truly that is the condition of most people in the world today.

It is God who gave us our life, and with it He also gave to us the right and will to choose how we would spend it.

The Bible tells us that it is God’s desire that we would choose of our own free will and volition to spend our lives on Him, in His service; but He does not force that decision on any man!

Consequently, for those who live their lives only for themselves (to please only themselves), according to what they think is right, by earthly standards; of men and women who have also chosen to go their own path apart from God, just as the Prophet Isaiah said, living their lives their way, without consideration for God, in what He wants and expects of us (as we can read in His Word), these are people who live their lives as Frank Sinatra once sang in a song, as he said “I did it my way;” to these people who pursue only mammon (the world system) and what it offers, in the way of fame, glory, earthly riches and power, to these people, this is what the Bible says that their destiny will be:

Luke 12:16-21

16 Then he (Jesus) told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’

18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods.

19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”‘

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

You know these things of which I speak, regarding our eternal destiny and our eternal salvation, they are very serious indeed; and yet so many there are today and also in the past, in fact the majority of the world’s population (past, present, and future—even as it has been predicted in the Bible), having already been deceived by Satan and the lure of earthly riches (including the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life), most of these people who are living today are completely oblivious to God’s warning and they could even care less about His offer for reconciliation.

How sad that is, but it is only for a time; as eventually ALL men and women will one day be faced with this truth, of who Jesus Christ is; having either responded and obeyed the calling of God on their life, or having rejected it.

And this is what Jesus told us about what happens after death, in this account that He gave to His disciples, where He actual described an actual account, that happened prior to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead; where there were two compartments in the bowels of the earth; one was called “Abraham’s Bosom,” which was a place where the Old Testament saints went to await the coming Messiah and His sacrifice; and the other was called “Hades,” which was the place of the dead, also called the “Lake of Fire,” and still is until this day.

Luke 16:19-31

19 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. 20 At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores.

21 As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.

22 “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham.* The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and his soul went to the place of the dead.* There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.

24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’

25 “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’

27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’

29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’

30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’

31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.'”

These verses of scripture prove that we ALL become Believers in God’s plan for salvation eventually, even those who are in Hades (in flames of torment), at least that was true of this man, as he obviously was still concerned for his five brothers, who were still alive!

The Old Testament saints, after the resurrection, the Bible says that their spirits were taken to Heaven with Jesus, as the Bible says that “He led captivity captive.”

Eph 4:8

8 Wherefore he said, When he (Jesus) ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

And the report of the Bible goes on to say, regarding some other things that happened on that day, after the crucifixion of Christ had taken place, just after He died:

Matt 27:50-53

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,

52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Imagine that, I bet you that got people’s attention, not to mention the earthquake, along with the wind, storm, and thunder; and also the solar eclipse that just happened to happen at that very same time, that caused it to become dark in the middle of the day!

Another very important point can be learned from the Bible, and that is God can take an ordinary flesh and blood man, who is totally surrendered to Him, and do some amazing things.

Jesus our older brother, who is called in the Bible “The Last Adam” is our model for all of mankind, as He walked with God as a mere man, in flesh and blood, as Adam did before the fall, with the only difference being He (Jesus) did not have our sin nature; and thus that is why He had to be born of a virgin; or else he would also have the blood of Adam in his veins, and therefore would have had that same nature.

As the Bible says of Jesus, in that though He was tempted in all manners and ways, as any other man, He was nevertheless without sin.

The Bible also says of Jesus that He ONLY did what He sees the Father do; and that He ONLY spoke what He heard the Father speak; and so in other words, Jesus never took any rabbit trails on His own, to do His own thing, but He was in perfect sync and harmony with the will and purposes of God from day one… and to do otherwise (as I have pointed out before) is what sin is all about!

As we study the lives of the characters in the Bible we can also learn some very important things; for instance God took a simple man, a humble man by the name of Saul, and He made him the first king of Israel.

While Saul remained humble in his own eyes, God could use him; but when he became puffed up in pride, as he made the mistake of believing he was somehow more important, becoming cocky in his own thinking, he began to stray away from the commands of God, and he got himself in trouble; and the Bible says that God sent to Saul a tormenting spirit, as a result; and then God removed his kingship and gave it to another… King David!

Again God takes a simple flesh and blood human being, who was the least of his father’s other sons, and the youngest; and when the Prophet was looking for the next King of Israel and asked to see all of Jesse’s sons, David wasn’t even considered, and was left out in the fields.

So God took one little boy, whom the world and even his own family considered of little importance, and David became God’s choice for the next King of Israel.

Now David was also not without his faults, but whereas King Saul would make excuses and would seek to defend his disobedience before God, David on the other hand would pan cake before God, and bowed himself in repentance.

This is what makes the difference, and this is also what God is looking for in each of His born-again children; does doesn’t need our perfection and we don’t have to be perfect, as Jesus was, His propitious sacrifice on the cross took care of that; but what God does expect is sincere and honest heartfelt effort, that is evident in a heart that is all about pleasing and following after God, in love. King David had such a heart after God.

The alternative is to be brushed aside, and considered of no more use to God, as happened with King Saul. There are also other people in secular history, as well as other characters in the Bible, whose lives we can study, where I believe we find this to be true.

All good things comes from God in Heaven above, and regardless of who we are looking at, God can take any person, even those who don’t know Him and have rejected Him, and God can nevertheless use them for His purposes and for His glory; but I would wager to say only those who have never known God, who have never tasted of His goodness, only these sorts of people would ever do such a thing!

For me, to my way of thinking (knowing myself as I do), being the absolute worst person I know (as even the Apostle Paul said of himself, I’m just very thankful and glad that I have the promise of God (given in Philippines 1:6) that God will never give up on me, and that He will complete the work that He has begun in me… and also in you too, if you will surrender and follow Him.

So what are we to do, as we all will inevitably do, sooner or later, when we blow it and we take our little rabbit trails, going contra wise against God’s pattern?

It is important for me to say here that Christians are NOT perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination, we are just forgiven, and we are forgiven ONLY because we have a Saviour who took to Himself the punishment that was owed to us; and the truth is, everyone who is on this pilgrimage, called life, will many times make mistakes along the way, from time to time (and I am sure I do more than most); but this is God’s answer to that problem… Jesus Christ.

The difference between Christians and those who are not, Christians know that they are not worthy, and that they are only saved by grace (the unmerited favor of God); whereas there are many in the world, who as yet have yet to meet God, who would argue that there isn’t any such thing as sin; and if they do admit such a thing, then there are many who don’t consider themselves to be one of them.

Consequently there are basically two conditions of man in the world… the Saved and the Unsaved!

Here is what the Bible has to say about that condition, and the provision He has proved for us, who are Saved, to be forgiven and lose our position with Him… not ever!

1 John 1:6-10

6 If we claim that we experience a shared life with him (Jesus) and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth — we’re not living what we claim.

7 But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

8 If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense.

9 On the other hand, if we admit our sins — make a clean breast of them — he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself.

He’ll forgive us of our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.

10 If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God — make a liar out of him.

A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. (from THE MESSAGE Bible)

Saint Augustine once put it this way, folks, and I agree with him totally that, “It is impossible for any man or woman to truly know God and not love Him; and it is equally impossible for anyone to love Him and not want to serve Him.”

And Jesus Himself said that “He came that we may have life, and have it more abundantly!”

This abundant life is something for which ALL of mankind is searching for, though most are looking in all the wrong places; and the truth is nothing but Jesus (who made us and is our Creator) will fill the heart of man, and satisfy us… houses won’t satisfy us, relationships with people (even our family) won’t satisfy, money won’t, and power won’t… ONLY Jesus Christ!

Check it out:

John 1:1-5

1 Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God.

3 He (Christ) created everything there is—and nothing exists that he didn’t make.

4 Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. 5 His life is the light that shines through the darkness-and the darkness can never extinguish it.

The fact is, God has seen to it that nothing will ever truly satisfy the heart of man, except for the one who created him; and so if you really and truly want to find the abundant life, and if you want to find out what your destiny and purpose in life is, then you will of necessity have to go to the manufacturer, your Creator, Jesus Christ, because He is the one who made you, and who gave you your life!

No person in their right mind would ever turn away and reject this gift of salvation and reconciliation, that is being offered by God; but the Bible says that the enemy of man’s soul, who is the Devil, has blinded the eyes of many of Adam’s children, who are in the world; and this will remain true until the light is turned on for them to see.

Therein is our mission, as Christians, to reach out and bring as many as we can, along with us, as though snatched from the very fires of hell, and therefore see this message of the Kingdom of Heaven spread throughout the world!

All who would reject that message, the Bible says they will die without the benefit of a Saviour; and so it is my prayer, if you are reading this and you have yet to make that decision to follow Christ, and to accept Him as your personal Lord and Saviour, that you will do so in this moment… for the next moment is promised to no man!!!

Jesus Christ… DON’T LEAVE HOME WITH OUT HIM and by all means… DON’T GET CAUGHT DEAD WITHOUT HIM EITHER!

Shalom,

Skip Barland