See the Desire, plan and work of God!
4.just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5.having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6.to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Eph1:4-6)
God’s dream and plan of the church before Genesis / before creation / before time/ in eternity past! This text gives the identity and nature of the church God desired to have.
26.Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Gen1:26)
God began the work of creating and realizing the kind of man He had in His mind before time began!
Satan tried to sabotage God’s plan by separating God and man thru sin (Rom3:23)!
But God overcame satan, sin and death by the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross and redeemed man , paid for the penalty of his sins and gave him eternal life and reconciled man to Himself (Jn3:16, Rev12:9-11)
Through the death of Christ on the cross God has brought forth the church that He had in mind from eternity. (Jn1:12-13, Eph2:1-10)!
2.Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3.And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (Rev21:2-3)!
Now in this text you can see the church in reality no longer a plan or desire in God’s heart!
Genesis to Revelation is a journey of about 7000 years of God’s work to have the church He had in His heart from eternity past.
This new Jerusalem, this holy city , this great city coming down from Heaven is the church / the body of believers/ the bride …..this is God’s desire and God’s work! This is the man God’s dreamt to have , “the man in God’s perfect image”!
God is working to fulfill His desire to have this glorious church through His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
