Does God Have a Plan for this Planet?

2009, so far, has been another one of those years that can make a person a nervous wreck.

∙ We have a new President that some people almost worship like he is a Messiah while others revile him with an irrational disdain. No doubt about it, he intends to make his mark on these United States and some of his proposals frighten me with the long-term implications for creating an ever-more intrusive Federal government!

∙ Then, too, there is the elephant in the room - the economy. In my entire adult life, I have never seen times like these, headlines that are so gloomy.

∙ We now have been at war longer in Iraq and Afghanistan than we were in World War II, with results that are not all that re-assuring.

All in all, these are troubled times! So, many are asking the question: What next? What does the future hold?

Human beings have always been fascinated with the future. What will tomorrow bring?

In our daily newspapers one of the most popular and widely read portions are the astrological predictions where supposedly those who peer at the stars are shown the outlines of the future for us. What silliness and yet millions take it seriously!

ill. Near the end of the Reagan presidency, the White House was embarrassed when it was revealed that after the attempted assassination of the President in 1981, Nancy Reagan started to consult an astrologer prior to her husband traveling from the White House! The most powerful man in the world was being influenced by a woman who consulted the stars for her guidance! Amazing, isn’t it?

The point is that we want to know about tomorrow! If someone handed you a book with the title, Your Life from Beginning to End would you read it? Would you want to know who you would become, what would become of your kids, if you would die tragically, if fame or fortune were coming your way? We both dread and anticipate the future. We ask -

am I an accident, a meaningless collection of carbon atoms, struggling to survive against overwhelming odds and headed for a hole in the ground, regardless of my courage, intelligence, or work?

Or, am I beloved child of God, with a Divine Purpose, a reason to exist, and a destiny that survives this present world?

A great debate exists today with some insisting that earth is an accidental product of random events and others seeing purpose and order in all. Those who reject the idea of Creation are convinced that Life emerged from the primordial slime and by natural processes became more and more complex. Eventually, the entire planet will collapse and perhaps the process will begin again. Isn’t that a hopeful idea?

I see the exquisite designs in the universe -from the balance of the galaxies to the mechanism that enable a fruit fly to exist - and I am convinced that there is a Designer who created the universe. Greater minds than mine study these things and write eloquent arguments for the existence of God. Dr. Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University, under heavy criticism from much of the scientific establishment, continues to assert that he sees irrefutable evidence for intelligent design in the universe and bases his argument on the theory of irreducible complexity. http://www.lehigh.edu/~inbios/faculty/behe.html

I’m a simple preacher, so I’ll stick with what I know. The Scripture teaches me that the Creator is a Person who loves and forms plans for me!

TEXT - Isaiah 46:9-11 PB 1134

READ –

So, what are these plans that God has for this world? Can we know exactly what each new day holds for us?

No, of course not! However, Christians are given a glimpse of the future in the Scripture. The Bible clearly shows up that God has a plan that He is working out, that He has declared a destiny for this Creation.

The study of these matters is called eschatology - a word that means ‘study of last things.’

Some preachers, and as I have confessed before I was one of them, say,

“I do not care much for eschatology for I just trust God to work it all out in the end!” And with that, a major part of the Bible is pushed to one side, as though it were of little importance to Christian life.

The fact is there is GREAT HOPE gained from knowing that God plans, that His purposes will stand, and that, in the end, He wins!

TEXT - 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 PB 1840

READ

Isn’t that great promise? Those who have died in Christ will be raised to eternal life. Those who are alive will be caught up to be with the Lord! God’s got a plan!

There is so much more, but that gets us pointed in the right direction.

Let me offer this caution:

As important as the subject is, we must not become obsessed with prophecy as some do.

There are several reasons that prophecy is overly magnetic to some:

a. It is a means of gaining hope, when all appears hopeless.

To those who have come to believe that the world is beyond redemption, that life is a tough experience that we simply endure, the promise of the Second Coming and the final defeat of sin and evil is a means of escaping their hopelessness. It is true that the promise is a source of great hope, but it is also true that there is much to do for the sake of the Kingdom of Christ - right now, right here!

b. Focusing exclusively on prophetic themes also takes away the sense that we need to deal

with life and work out our Christianity; with our kids, our wife, our boss, and yes, ourselves.

Prophecy for some is an escape hatch from the often ugly reality of life. But Christians are not called to escape life, but rather to deal with it with the power and help of the Spirit of God!

To become overly fascinated with prophetic themes is a misplaced perspective on the Christian life. Let me illustrate my point with something we all do everyday.

Imagine trying to successfully drive your car while peering through a telescope at some spot far away on the horizon. You would soon have a terrible collision. It is important to know the destination and to plot the course, but a driver has to pay attention to what’s going on right in front of his car, too!

We cannot live our Christian lives successfully while obsessing on the events we believe will happen around the Second Coming of the Lord. In the same breath, however, let me hasten to say that we must keep the promise always in view, so that we stay ‘on course.’

One of the major reasons that some of have avoided prophecy is that it is a complex subject about which there are real differences of understanding. If the Lord wills, it is my plan to explore our doctrine of the Future of the Church and this world for a few weeks. My aim is to help you to stay hopeful, to be at rest in troubled times. I also want to equip you today to delve into the Scripture for understanding. I want to arm you so that you are not duped by those who twist these doctrines into strange scenarios. I want you, for example, to be able to recognize the major errors in false religious systems such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Despite many differences about the exact events and sequences of events of God’s plans, there are some things about which Bible-believing Christians generally agree.

1. Jesus Christ will return to earth in a visible, sudden, and bodily way!

The Second Coming is not a just a spiritual thing, nor is it a metaphorical way of dealing with death. Jesus will come back to earth in a body we can see and in a way that everyone will see!

∙ He said, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:3, NIV)

∙ The angels who appeared to the disciples who saw Jesus taken up to Heaven said, “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”" (Acts 1:11, NIV)

∙ From the text I read a moment ago, we learned that "the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." (1 Thessalonians 4:16, NIV)

2. The Return of Christ should be anticipated by Believers anytime.

Peter reminded the early church "The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray." (1 Peter 4:7, NIV) To those who scoffed, even then, that the Second Coming was just a dream, he said, "Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:8-9, NIV)

Paul, likewise, urges us to have a sense of expectancy in our lives, writing that we "say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ," (Titus 2:12-13, NIV)

That does not mean that we avoid long-term projects or just let the world around us go to Hell because we are so fixated on the Second Coming! True readiness for the return of Christ involves faithfully serving Him and advancing His call so that when He arrives, we are ready for inspection, and will hear His commendation; “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

3. We must not set dates for WHEN Jesus will return.

Nothing has caused more damage to the glorious doctrine of the return of Christ than date-setting! It is one of the reasons that I avoided the subject for so long. In my formative years, I was convinced by teachers and preachers that Jesus would most certainly show up by the late 1980's! I won’t go into their prophetic schemes and understandings, but suffice to say, ‘we’re still here!’ so they were wrong.

Jesus clearly taught us not to set dates for His return, but Christians have done it for the last two thousand years. He said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." (Mark 13:32-33, NIV) Some miss the whole point, by insisting that while we cannot know the day or hour, we can know the year or the decade! How silly! That forced literal reading avoids the main message of the passage.

Jesus was saying, “Don’t try to figure out times and dates. Be faithful all of the time!”

So, if anybody, regardless of how trustworthy you think they are, tries to tell you that they have found the key to Bible prophecy and know when Jesus is coming again for His church, you can conclude - “they are wrong!” End of story!

One of the more brazen time-setters in recent history was a rocket scientist (yes, literally) with a great set of academic credentials, who circulated a book called Eighty Eight Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1988. He soberly made the case that Jesus would appear on September 12, 1988 and many Christians who were in other ways wise, took his word. Thousands built their lives around his prediction.

Even more bizarre was the fact that when September 12, 1988 came and went with no Second Coming, Edgar Whisenant actually had the ‘chutzpa’ to re-publish his book with revisions, and he called it The Final Shout, The Rapture Report, 1989. He claimed to have made some calculation errors, and insisted that Jesus would appear on September 12, 1989, though he allowed it could be 1990, 1991, or 1992, or at the very latest - September 15-17, 1993. And people bought it... go figure!

- quoted from Grudem’s Systematic Theology, pg.1094

Repeated through history, Christian groups have reached the conclusion that their pastor or prophet has figured out the timeline of Bible Prophecy and found the key to knowing the date of Jesus’ return. They have sold their homes, cars, pulled their kids from school, abandoned work on projects, quit school - to go and wait. And, they’ve been disappointed!

The promise of His return is NOT to provoke us to withdraw from our world. It is to stir us to be diligent in the work of the King!

4. The Second Coming will set off a series of events that lead to a Final Judgment and the revealing

of a new order of things that is free from evil, sin, and death!

The close of John’s Revelation is quite clear about God’s declaration that there will be an End of the world as we know it. He writes with symbols that are compelling and difficult to decipher. John writes of the destruction of the systems of the world, of great and terrible justice visited on all who have ever lived.

In a passage, both awesome and terrible, we read:

READ - Revelation 20: 11-15

But, thankfully that is not the end of the story. Then, God showed John this scene:

READ - Revelation 21: 1-6

What a glorious promise! Believer, we must hold onto it, never let it fade from our minds - for this will be the final vindication for those who have followed Christ, even into suffering. It is a powerful motivator for working to bring others into the Kingdom, as well.

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So, what brings us to that final glorious moment?

We are not wrong to wonder about this. Jesus’ disciples heard him predict the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and they asked Him - "Tell us, when are these things going to happen? What will be the sign of your coming, that the time’s up?” (Matthew 24:3, The Message) Likewise we want to know, don’t we? Do we know something of the prophetic sweep of events that lead to the coming of the Lord? Yes, but the discussion is a complex one.

So, hopefully, I can be a guide that helps you to gain greater faith in the promises of the Lord.

For today, I want you to settle your heart on this fact:

God has a plan for this planet!

I want to leave these words from Isaiah in your mind. Meditate on them this week. Take comfort from them.

Be motivated to holy living by them. Defeat temptations to sin, slothfulness, and despair with them.

"Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. I will call a swift bird of prey from the east— a leader from a distant land to come and do my bidding. I have said what I would do, and I will do it." (Isaiah 46:9-11, NLT)

Amen

Jerry D. Scott,