Before the Foundation of the World
December 2000 by Asher Intrater
Often
in life many things seem to go wrong. Things seem to happen by accident. In
fact, it seems that the circumstances of our life are out of control. Because
of this many people think that there is no plan or purpose to life. They
think that everything happens by a combination of time and chance.
Everything is an
accident. Some even think that human beings evolved through time
and chance to our current state of being. Even
as believers, we can sometimes feel confused in the rush of day to day events,
and forget that we belong to a sovereign God who is in control. There are
seven times in the New Testament where we read that God had prepared or
planned something before the foundation of the world. When we see
these seven statements together, we can be encouraged that life is not just
happening to us but rather that God has a plan and has always had a plan.
1. Secret
Wisdom
Whenever Yeshua spoke, He talked in parables. Parables are symbolic stories
that need to be interpreted. Yeshua said that He talked that way in order
that people with proud hearts or hard hearts would not be able to understand. Matt. 13:35 (Ps. 78:2) I will open
my mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation
of the world. God has
always had a plan. It seems secret to us, because we do not see it or we
have become spiritually blind. God is never confused. We only become confused
when we do not see what His plan is. But there is a plan. The plan is always
there and always available to anyone who is willing to turn to the Lord.
2. Perfect
World
God is in the process of building a perfect society and creating a perfect
world. He calls that perfect society His "kingdom." The architectural
design and city planning of that perfect world were fully completed in every
detail before God even started the creation. Matt.
25:34 Come
you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. Even
in modern construction, a contractor would never hammer the first nail or
dig the first ditch until the building blueprints were already in his hand.
By the time we get to Genesis one where "in the beginning God created...,"
God had already finished all the details of His plan.
3. Father's
Love
The primary rule of that perfect world to come is love. The foundational
example of love is the love that the Father had for Yeshua. John
17:24 Father,
I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am... for
You loved Me before the foundation of the world. That
Father's love is the pattern for all of our relationships. We are invited
into that network of loving, trusting and intimate relationships which was
started by God in Yeshua before Adam and Eve were even created. It's somewhat
similar to when children are born into a family in which the pattern for
love has already been set by the father and mother before the child was
born.
4. Chosen Destiny
Many people
try to figure out what they want to do in life. Then they spend much time,
money and energy into making that plan come to pass. As believers we do
not try to "come up with" a purpose in life. We understand that
God has a perfect plan for each one of us and that plan was prepared and
predestined for us. Ephesians
1:4 "He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
without blame before Him in love." God
chose you before you chose Him. His plan is not tainted but perfectly pure
and holy. That plan for your life was pre-written and pre-programmed
into the person of Yeshua. The spiritual genetic code for the plan for your
life is found in Him.
5. Blood of Messiah
Everyone has
failed to live up to the perfect world and the perfect love and the perfect
plan that God has designed for us. God knew that would happen, so He prepared
the medicine before the disease ever happened. The disease is sin. And the
medicine is the blood of Yeshua. I
Peter 1:18-20 You
were not redeemed with corruptible things...but with the precious blood
of Messiah...who was foreordained before the foundation of the world. We have failed. Our
situation, without God, would be hopeless. But He has redeemed us and brought
us back to His original purpose. It is the power of the blood of Yeshua
that purifies and restores everything. The testimony of His blood and His
person was set from the beginning. The
Messiah did not come after Adam but before Adam. The blood of Yeshua did
not come after sin but before sin. That highest level of purity and power
was set as a standard before the world was ever created.
6. The Lamb
Slain
In that same
thought, the crucifixion of Yeshua was planned and determined before creation.
God's love is not only perfect, it is also sacrificial. It is perfectly
sacrificial. The standard that Yeshua was willing to give His life for us
was set before the world began. Revelation
13:8 ...In
the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Logically, the crucifixion
had to happen. A loving creator makes a loving creature. A loving creature
has free will. Free will allows the possibility of sin. Sin leads to death.
Death can only be cured by resurrection. Resurrection can only happen to
one who has died. The crucifixion and resurrection of Yeshua was preplanned
before creation.
7. Eternal
Salvation and Damnation
If there is eternal reward, there is also eternal punishment. God has a
perfect, thorough and eternal system of justice. The documents, files, and
records of the court system in heaven are perfectly kept. Revelations
17:8 The
beast that you saw...will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition.
Those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in
the book of life from the foundation of the world. God
is sovereign over heaven and hell. He is a holy judge and a sovereign lord.
He is in control. He knows the heart of each and every one of us. The eternal
past and eternal future is both terrifying and comforting.
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