God’s Eternal Purpose

There have been many puzzling statements that have confused honest Christians and stoked the fire of many opponents of the Christian faith. Among these are (1) if God is so loving and kind as 'Christians
'say then why doesn't he crush out evil and sin, or better yet why did He, an all wise God, allow it to happen? (2) If when we die we go straight to heaven, as some Christians teach, then why don't we just kill ourselves and go even faster?

 Many more can be listed but we will turn our attention to the first statement. What does the bible say? ³ "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him *(Jesus Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." [(Ephesians 1:3, 4)* author's insertion.]


Let us analyse this text of scripture carefully. It says that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in His eternally begotten (proverbs 8: 23) Son. The apostle Paul further says that God has
chosen us in His Son before the world began. In other words, God's plan was that the human race should be perfect in character like His Son, Praise the Lord! It was always in God's mind, His
heart to have people who reflect His glory and love. God wanted a creation that would love Him, not by force, but through an intelligent understanding and appreciation of His unconditional,
all-for-the-other Agape love.

 However, this meant that the freedom of choice which creatures would enjoy could be used against God, in the form of rebellion, sin and opposition to his way. A
creature could choose to not appreciate, not allow God to be the center of their lives and disobey God.

When God announced in Eden "… You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die;" (Genesis 16, 17) He simply outlined the results of Obedience to His commands, that is LIFE and HAPPINESS and the natural results of disobedience or sin (1 John 3:4) SICKNESS, SUFFERING and ultimately DEATH. Oh dear reader, why not choose to be in God's eternal plan for your life by being in His Son (1 John 5:11, 12)