Four tips to understanding the Plan of God

The plan of God is part of the framework of our foundation.

When was the last time you saw a good movie? Are you one of those hopelessly romantic types, tissue box in hand, anticipating the main character’s reunion with her long-lost love? On the other hand, maybe you enjoy one of those good old dramas; you know, the ones that keep you on the edge of your seat; you feel obligated to scream at the T.V. as if your response would warn the main character she is about to walk right into the arms of a killer.  

I love true-life stories about people who have overcome. Of course, the main character is portrayed as having a challenging situation, leading to an even worst situation that can feel like the possibility of scaling Mount Everest! But, in the end, you feel warm and tingly inside seeing such triumph; it isn’t hard to relate when we see another person overcome.    

The story of the Bible is very different. The main character, God, isn’t in a difficult spot; instead, it is the supporting cast, His people.

We are the ones who feel we are facing Mount Everest, but we have no hiking shoes or climbing gear, nor is there a partner to support us. There is no “triumph” if we work longer, try harder, or work smarter. We are without an answer to the problem the Bible calls sin; there is nothing in our power that can erase our debt to God.   

Understanding the story of the Bible, and the plan of God is our first step in building on the basics of the Christian faith. The plan of God begins with, “In the beginning God…”

In this blog, I would like to share a bird’s eye or bookend view of the plan of God through the books of Genesis and Revelation. 

The Bible is often seen as a manual on living a good life, a godly life, or a guide on what not to do.

Though some of these things make up the Bible, Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us that the story is about God, revealing Himself first in shadows, types, patterns, and symbols (we will go in-depth later into these things) and finally in the person of Jesus Christ.

The plan of God is about His glorious grace to hell-bound sinners so that we might live to the praise of His glory.  Understanding the plan of God gives us part of the framework for understanding the Bible and how it applies to our lives.

His story helps us answer questions like: Who am I?, Why am I here?, How do I answer the problem of evil?, and What is my purpose? So, let’s begin at the beginning…In the beginning, God. 

The Plan of God: Paradise Created

Genesis 1:1&2

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” What’s significant about this verse?

God is making a dramatic statement, declaring Himself eternal, creator, and sustainer of all things.

  • He is the beginning of all things; the one who has always been, the one who created everything, and He is the one who has authority over it.

The first question we must ask ourselves is, whose authority will I follow, God or men?   

Genesis 1:3-25  

  • The second thing to observe is the distinct order of His creation. God created the form, filled it, and gave it a specific function and purpose.  
  • If you read my blog “Why Foundations?” you know that I suggested that God’s Word has a set of directions. We see His sovereign control giving direction that actively sustains and directs each moment in history through the order of creation.  
  • The late, great theologian R.C. Sproul, often said,

If there is one maverick molecule in the universe, one molecule running loose outside the scope of God’s sovereign ordination, then ladies and gentlemen, there is not the slightest confidence that you can have that any promise that God has ever made about the future will come to pass.

r.C. sPROUL

Genesis 1:10,12,18,21,25,31

  • The third thing we can learn about the plan of God is by emphasizing “it was good or very good.” Before the Fall, His perfect and holy character, worthy of all honor and praise, was reflected in the creation Psalm 19:1.  
  • The first time God revealed Himself in time and space was through His creation. His story starts with Him; He is the focus, and His creation was to reflect what is the ultimate good, Himself. 

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The Plan of God: Paradise Lost  

Genesis 3: 1-7  

The Bible doesn’t tell us how soon after creation the fall of man occurred; however, we do have a clue. Genesis 1:28 tells us that God told Adam and Eve to be “fruitful and multiply”; however, no children had been born before the fall. Knowing that there were no children tells us that paradise, as God created it, was short-lived Satan came immediately to usurp God’s authority.  

God’s authority and perfect and holy character are what Satan put on trial before Adam and Eve. Understanding God’s story requires us to have a proper understanding of sin.  

  • Sin is often seen as what we do or don’t do. It is also seen as a mistake or as society would say “we are broken“ It wouldn’t be wrong to think of sin in some of these ways; however, these things are not the basis of the doctrine of sin. We want to understand how God defines sins.

Satan’s goal was not just to tempt Eve to the act of eating the forbidden fruit; instead, he wanted her to doubt who she knew God to be and to doubt His authority.

  • Sin is first an attack on who God is, and all He said is good (His authority and rule over creation).

Eve’s view of God changed; she no longer believed He was perfectly good, holy, and perfect in love. She also no longer trusted His perfect authority but instead relied on her judgment.   

  • The Apostle Paul gives us insight into a biblical understanding of sin in Romans 1:18-23 and Romans 3:10-18. He first tells us that God has revealed Himself in creation; man is without excuse in recognizing and offering praise and obedience.

Denying who God is and rebelling against His authority shows we are not just lawbreakers but, by nature and the totality of our person, are in rebellion against God.   

  • One of the most common sins the Bible speaks about is idolatry. Idolatry is misplaced worship; it takes the worship that God is due and replaces it with something or someone else as the object of worship. 
  • His second point in chapter 3 is that our choice to rebel against God’s perfect and holy character caused a separation in our relationship with Him. It has become our nature to sin, in our fallenness, we desire to oppose God and His perfect law. There are no balancing scales of “good” and “bad”; our flesh is completely fallen.  

Being completely fallen doesn’t mean we can’t do “good things”; instead, our good works can never repair our nature or our relationship with God.

  • Our own merits can never cancel our debt to Him. God’s grace alone allows us to recognize the condemned verdict against us and the ability to turn to Him in faith. 

Genesis 3:7-13  

  • Man, in his sinfulness, is prone to shrink back in shame when caught in sin.

Guilt that doesn’t see the need for repentance results in misplaced shame.

  • People do not recognize that it is God first whom they have sinned against; instead, they focus their attention on burying their guilt and shame by repackaging it. 
  • We dress it up, look for ways to find happiness despite it, or look to improve it. For Adam and Eve, the goal was no different. They chose to hide their guilt and, in their shame, made clothes of fig leaves. Knowing they were still guilty, they hid from God.   

Hiding from God is not unique to human nature because the Bible teaches that God is the one who is the author and finisher of our faith. We are powerless apart from His grace to turn to Him in faith and repentance. John 6:44, Hebrews 12:2, Matthew 11:27.

Genesis 3:14-19  

  •  Adam and Eve were dependent on God to make the first move; in their strength, they were powerless to repent and turn back to Him in faith.
  • A second quality of human nature is a need for grace. Like us, Adam and Eve were dependent on God to extend grace, for apart from grace, we would remain in our sin 2 Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 2:4&5, Romans 6:14.  
  • As an added consequence of sin, God first cursed His creation the animals and the serpent. God explained to Satan, the serpent, that he would bear worse of the curse. All would know Satan as the one who first denied God’s perfect character and authority. (More on this later, note that Satan was created as a heavenly angel. His rebellion against God did not bring sin to the human race because He was not human.)  
  • Next, God curses the woman, telling her that in pain, she would bring forth offspring who would be in continual war against the offspring of Satan (ones who reject salvation through Jesus Christ), and she would desire to rule over her husband.

God in His mercy would bring forth from her an offspring one who would destroy Satan, though it would be in death that triumph would come forth. 

  • To Adam, God would cause the earth to become challenging to work. The ground would be hard, and thorns would impede his ability to be fruitful. Work would no longer be a joy; instead, it would be a burden.

Physical death and spiritual death would be the final and eternal consequence of their action and would spread to the whole of humanity Romans 5:12. 

Conclusion

You might be thinking, well, this is rather hopeless. Genesis 3:22-24, on the other hand, doesn’t leave Adam and Even without hope. Instead, God drives them out of the Garden of Eden and away from the Tree of Life. Why? The Tree of Life would have provided them everlasting life, and now that sin had entered the world, God, by His mercy, kept them from living eternally in their fallenness.   

In the next blog, we will turn to the outworking of redemption, God’s answer to the problem of sin, and the final hope we have when we place our trust in Jesus.   

Resources I recommend on Understanding the plan of God in Redemption

A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament: The Gospel Promised

How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology