Demonstration to the Angels
Did you know that God has written a book about you? You must be quite a celebrity to have such notoriety.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10)
This is so important that the Great Evaluation, that we all must go through (2 Cor 5:10), will no doubt be concerned about this plan for your life. How much did your life actually match the ideal which God had planned for you? Though this is extremely important, I want to focus on another aspect of our lives.
I was talking to two men. One was a friend. The other man was someone I did not know. My friend mentioned something strange about another mutual friend (who was not present). In describing the absent man he said, “He is the kind of person that, as soon as you meet him you want him to go away”. That is quite a strange thing to say about anyone. What did this horrible person do that was so evil? What was his crime? He was not a bad person. He did, however, have an unusual personality. The reason for this weird description that this friend gave another man about him: He lived and breathed. If you know anyone like that, then you know what I mean. If you do not know anyone like that, it is really difficult to explain.
Maybe you are wondering why great exploits do not seem to characterize your life. If the Spirit of God lives in me why is my life so mundane and routine? As I explained above, your life does have a plan and we do not want to miss it. However, if you are a genuine believer in Jesus Christ, you are doing something important because of one thing. You live and breathe.
God created many spiritual beings before he created man. Some rebelled against God. Many remained faithful to Him. All of them, at some point in the early ages of spirit-time, lived in a sinless environment. They saw God (as much as the invisible God can be seen). They lived in the heavens which were totally free from sin and its effects. They all knew perfection. They saw it and lived it. It was part of their existence for as long as they remained faithful to God. Faith was not required of them. They could see everything. There was no reason to hope for anything better. It was their home.
God is very humble (Matt 11:29). Jesus was meek and lowly. He was the perfect reflection of God. If Jesus said this about Himself, it is also true of the Father. One day some powerful spirit being, who probably had an excess of ambition and personality, decided that he wanted to become united with the Godhead, to be equal to God (Isa 14:14). Maybe God did not vaporize him instantly which would give fuel to the rebellious idea that God was weak or that He did not care about things. Rebellion grew. God had a plan to demonstrate His real character.
God made a strange creature. He made a man. God took something out of the inside of the man and built a female creature like him. God called the name of both of them together Adam (Gen 5:2). After a short or a long time, a powerful spirit being deceived them into disobeying God's direct instruction. They and their descendants were plunged into a cursed environment. Why did God allow this? They are His creation. He can do anything He wants to do with them. He is doing something remarkable.
God produced a race of beings, the descendants of Adam, which live on a cursed planet. Other than Adam and his wife, billions of creatures know only this sin cursed earth. They are floating in an open cesspool of death. It seems normal because it is the only thing they know. They have never seen God. They have never seen heaven or the city of God. They have never known a minute of sinlessness. They have no advantage that spirit beings have had. They do not know of a supreme God, other than some deep instinctive knowledge (Rom 1:20).
This is what God is doing: Without any advantage that spirit beings have, with all the disadvantages than sinful man has known all his life, there are some who know that the invisible God exists. They love Him. They hope in Him. They expect to be where He is someday. These are the ones who have faith. It is the deep conviction that He is and that His Word is true. They may not know how they know, they just do. Some will maintain this conviction even to the death.
God is demonstrating this remarkable fact to the spirit beings, those that are faithful to God and those that have rebelled.
10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Eph 3:10-11)
This is especially true of the Church universal. This is the eternal purpose of God: To show to all the spirit beings the wisdom of God. This is demonstrated to all living things that a group of creatures who have known only death and sin can love God even when a group of beings that knew only purity do not.
This is the wisdom of God. He has also demonstrated that He is all powerful by putting the worst monsters in chains of darkness, keeping them for an ultimate judgment as well as everlasting torment (Jude 1:6). God has also demonstrated that He does care about His creatures by bestowing upon the faithful ones a richness of goodness that is beyond description, imagination, or human language (Eph 2:7).
There is something you can do that is of great importance. You can live and breathe. With faith in God you are a part of demonstrating to the watching angels, good and bad, that God can be worshiped, even in a cursed environment.
Of course, if one does not come to God in faith he shares the same fate as the devils do. God does not want this for any human and there is no reason for it now that Jesus has come to reconcile us to God.
Be reconciled to God by placing faith in Jesus' person and His work.
Jan 2, 2024