IT’S ALL ABOUT HIM!

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!

“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been His counsellor?

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”

“For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things.

“To Him be glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:33-36.

Could Paul have concluded his presentation of God’s wisdom in any other way than a grand doxology of praise?

How mistaken we are if we think that salvation is all about us! Have you ever wondered why God created Adam and Eve in the first place, knowing full well that they would disobey Him and drag the whole universe into disarray?

This salvation saga goes much farther back than the Garden of Eden. Before God spoke the universe into existence, He created an order of spirit beings called angels (or messengers) who would share His domain of the unseen realm, and worship and serve Him with unceasing praise.

There were different orders and functions of angels; those who worshipped Him around the throne (Isaiah 6); those who carried out His instructions (Psalm 103); warrior angels headed by the archangel, Michael (Daniel 10) and the archangel, Gabriel, God’s special messenger who would later be sent to announce the imminent arrival of Messiah (Luke 1). After the creation of angels, God created the heavens and the earth and the angels celebrated His magnificent work with Him (Job 38).

Lucifer headed the throng of angels who worshipped around the throne. He was the most beautiful (Ezekiel 28) of all the “sons of God” (Job 38) who perpetually celebrated His glory and holiness. However, pride in his beauty crept in (Ezekiel 28) and turned him from a worshipper into a rebel. He had designs on God’s position (Isaiah 14) and lost his place in heaven, taking a third of the angels with him.

God banished him and his minions to the earth (Revelation 12), where he would mount a campaign to discredit God, steal the allegiance of God’s human children and lead them down a path of self-destruction. In spite of His foreknowledge of what would happen, God created the beginnings of a human family with the purpose of revealing Himself to them and winning their love in spite of the devil’s efforts to turn them away from Him.

Why did He do this? Without man’s fall, there was one aspect of the God’s character which remained hidden – His mercy, the weightiest of all His attributes. In the unfolding of His salvation plan which He put in place before the foundation of the world, His mercy is revealed in His rescue of rebellious and undeserving sinners. He purposely created a race of people who could and would choose against Him and then won them back by His bold plan to send His representative – His own son – to become one of them. Jesus risked the same fate as theirs, eternal death, if He failed to live as a perfect son.

Where the first Adam failed, the last Adam, Jesus, overcame and exposed the devil’s deception. He revealed both the Father’s love and His justice by taking the punishment for sin in Himself and forgiving the sinner. Was there ever a display of mercy like that!

Who taught God wisdom like that? Does He owe us anything? Who but Almighty God could think up a plan like that and carry it out with such outstanding success? He showed the world that love and mercy are far more powerful than bombs and guns. Only through love could He rebuild and restore what was destroyed through man’s disobedience.

And it’s all about Him!

The hostile forces of darkness were left in no doubt about who was right and who was wrong. Mercy won the day, and the rebel hoards of demons and all the humans who side with them now, await the day of their final judgment; banished from the presence of God then; banished to a place of everlasting darkness and torment when Jesus comes again to complete what He started – God’s eternal kingdom of love and light.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.