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 in 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 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 like 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 pre-planned 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 every one of us. The eternal past and eternal future are both terrifying and comforting.
