Perfect Planning

Oh how we get it wrong. How quickly we stray from the path God intends for us. It seems that humanity is predestined for failure. When we are faithful to God, He blesses us and then we somehow take credit for ourselves and go our own way, only to have God’s blessings withdrawn. Human nature leads us to ultimately serve ourselves and any benevolent inclinations we may have are secondary to our self preservation and in extreme cases self glorification.

We permit our differences to govern our perspectives and promulgate paradigms that result in racism, stereotypes, financial classes, and social status to name a few. Ever since the tower of Babel incident (Genesis 11) that drove humanity apart through linguistic confusion into remote people groups, we have been looking at others in adversarial assessment. Satan was no doubt pleased by the resulting barriers between people to prevent them from collaborating and the suspicion they would cause. He thought he had succeeded. But God set Israel apart and began restoration through them.

Jewish Distinction

We see the prevalence of this logic in the Jewish perception of Gentiles during the first century. When Jesus was approached by a Canaanite woman in the fifteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, He states that He was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. When she persisted, “He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.’

‘Yes, Lord,’ she said, ‘but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” (Matthew 15:26-28).

This conversation reflects the reality of the social order of the day. Jesus responds in a way the woman can understand but goes beyond the social norm by rewarding her faith. The lesson is that God’s grace transcends cultural boundaries. Similarly, Jesus went out of His way to encounter a Samaritan woman at a well in John chapter 4. The dialog between them illustrates what was considered acceptable social practice of the day.

John 4:7-9, “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ The Samaritan woman said to Him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)” Later she focuses on their differences once again when she says, “’Our fathers worshipped on this mountain but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’

Jesus declared, ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.”(John 4:20-23).

Jesus demonstrates once again that ethnicity is not an obstacle for God as it is for man. He did not shy away from potentially awkward situations but rather engaged them head on in order to illustrate the plan for God to bless all nations through Abraham (Genesis 12:3, 22:18).

A Gospel For All

Even more dramatic is the transformation of the message of the gospel into several languages on the day of Pentecost. The scrambling of language at Babel was reversed on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrived and enabled the disciples to preach the gospel in the languages of the foreigners present, thereby commencing the delivery of the gospel to all nations.

From that point the gospel spread throughout the region and then through the entire Roman empire. As the church grew and spread, the gospel message traversed the globe and transcended the generations to our present day, where Satan cannot stop it.

Breaking Paradigms

Jesus challenged accepted norms and dogmas. He leveled the playing field for everyone who earnestly seeks God. When the religious leaders of Judaism attempted to trap him with questions spawned by ulterior motives, He confronted them directly and called them out for what they represented. Mathew 23 records His chastisement of the establishment and verse thirteen succinctly sums his indictment up.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” (Matthew 23:13-14).

And just when it seemed as though Satan had finally won, when all hope seemed lost and He drew His final breath on the cross… when the stone was rolled into place and the tomb was sealed… Jesus crashed through the interface between the spiritual and physical realms and conquered death!

But Satan never gave up (Revelation 12:17). He undermined the church, through the temptations of power and wealth. The Church of Rome became the pharisaical embodiment of the Christian era. In a horrific persecution of “heretics”, thousands of martyrs were imprisoned, brutally tortured, burned at the stake and perished at the hands of the Christian church leadership.

It seemed that the kingdom of darkness had once again derailed the plans of God to bless all nations. However, just as God had used the apostle Paul millennia before, Martin Luther exposed the Catholic hypocrisy and sparked the reformation that was the catalyst to the church to growing exponentially.

The Universal Truth Of The Gospel Will Prevail

Today the Christian church encircles the globe and there are over 2.2 billion believers in Christ on our planet. And despite the ever increasing prevalence of sin in society, there remains a potential harvest of souls for Christ that vastly exceeds any point previously in humanity’s history. Despite all of the attempts of the evil one to sabotage God’s redemptive plan, there now exists the greatest opportunity for salvation since the creation event.

The devil thought he had won when they nailed Jesus to the cross. The future of the Jews looked bleak when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70 yet Israel is once again a nation and Jerusalem is its capital. It seemed as though the church was headed for self destruction until Martin Luther courageously posted his 95 thesis on that door in 1517. And the abundance of false teachers and false gospels being preached in our current society seems overwhelmingly destined to dismantle today’s church.

But Christ’s predictions will come to pass. He said of the Jews: “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43). This has come to pass. Jesus prophesied that there will be terrible times in the last days (Matthew 24:21-22). He described many of the signs that would precede His return. Many of the events we are witnessing in our lifetimes.

God’s promise to Abraham that he will bless all the nations through him is playing out as Christianity spreads the gospel. The body of Christ is producing fruit and the good news will soon be preached to every nation on earth until the full number of Gentiles has come into the kingdom (Romans 11:25). Then all will be completed as Jesus predicted in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

This has always been the Lord’s plan. God has never changed despite those who contend that Christianity is God’s plan B. God hasn’t deviated off course even though the plethora of institutional religious narratives would have you believe otherwise. The church may not be perfect but it is powered by perfection. The true Christian church is an unstoppable force fueled by the Holy Spirit with the authority of the name above all names. The true gospel of Christ Jesus will overcome all and conquer all.

God’s magnificent masterplan dovetails both spiritual and physical agendas perfectly into one beautifully designed strategic initiative that enables freedom of choice and freedom to love while administering justice. Evil is exposed for what it is and the righteous are rewarded with eternal life. All we can say is thank you God for your immeasurable love and mercy.