The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Great Design

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:27,28)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He made vegetation, animals, and man. God placed lights in the heavens for signs and seasons. All this was "very good."

Then God planted a garden on the earth, a paradise in which man was to dwell. Man was placed in the garden to cultivate and maintain it.

Adam was a "son of God," according to the Scriptures (Luke 3:38).

The Lord God Himself walked in the garden of Eden, revealing His desire to have fellowship with the people whom He had created.

God declared four things concerning man:

He is to be in the image of God.

He is to be male and female.

He is to be fruitful, filling the earth with the image of God.

He is to govern all the works of God's hands.

This is the great design. All the working of God are moving toward these goals. Although the four aspects of man are in a primitive form as yet, they are to be greatly expanded and glorified.

The blood of the Lord Jesus has redeemed mankind so that all who are found worthy of the Kingdom of God may be brought forward to the new heaven and earth reign of Christ, where God's intention concerning man may be fulfilled.

To be "saved" in the narrow sense means not to be destroyed in the day of God's wrath, not to be assigned to the Lake of Fire.

To be "saved" in the fullest sense means to inherit all that the Lord God has spoken concerning man.

The physical elements of the creation, including the sky, the earth, and the bodies of people, will be released from the bondage of corruption at the coming of the Lord from Heaven (Romans 8:20,21).

At the conclusion of the thousand-year period (the Kingdom Age), the earth and sky with which we are familiar will pass away with a great noise. God will replace them with a new sky and a new earth. God will make new all the things with which we are familiar, if they are found worthy to be part of the Kingdom of God.

The original design is eternal. The present physical elements are a beginning example of what is in God's mind.

The study of the original creation enables us to understand much concerning God's Person, His ways, and His eternal plan in Christ.

The Gospel call is going forth today as never before and multitudes are being saved. At the same time, God is dealing endlessly (it seems) with His elect, His saints, His chosen. Human history is moving toward the perfect and complete expression and glorification of all that is outlined and foretold by the original creation.

To be continued.