we learn that the accomplishment of God's purpose does not rest with the

creature, but with God Himself.  Ephesians 1:11 is emphatic on this:

`Being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all

things after the counsel of His own will'.

Isaiah 46:9 -11 also shows that the Old Testament equally with the New

demonstrates this fact:

`I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the

beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,

saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure ... yea,

I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I

will also do it'.

We will not multiply passages; the Bible is insistent on this grand

fact that God Who purposes is the God also Who fulfils.  This was the secret

of Abraham's faith, for it is recorded in Romans 4:17 -21:

`Before Him Whom he believed, even God, Who quickeneth the dead, and

calleth those things which be not as though they were ... being fully

persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform'.

Nothing is so strengthening to faith, even in the small details of

life, as this glorious fact that God is the fulfiller of His own will.

The next truth we would bring to notice is that the great centre of the

purpose of the Ages is the Lord Jesus Christ.  Going back into the past we

find that creation is the work of the Son of God.  John in chapter 1 of his

Gospel speaks of Christ as the Word, Who was God (verse 1), Who became flesh,

the only begotten of the Father (verse 14), and says:

`All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made

that was made' (John 1:3).

Hebrews 1:10 says of Him:

`And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the

earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands'.

Colossians 1:16 speaks further of the creation, not only of visible but

of invisible and mighty beings in the heavens, yet all the creatures of the

Son of God.  The first man Adam is `a figure of Him that was to come' (Rom.

5:14), and is placed in contrast with `the last Adam', Who is a life -giving

Spirit, `the Second Man' Who is the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 15:45 -47).  The

promise of the seed of the woman (Gen. 3) finds its fulfilment in the Person

and Work of the Son of God.  All typical events and institutions, such as the

Ark built by Noah, and the Passover Lamb, the Tabernacle, the Offerings, the

Priesthood, all find their anti -type and fulfilment in Christ.

Every prominent figure of the Old Testament prefigures either Christ or

Antichrist.  We have only to think of men like Joseph, David, Moses, Pharaoh

and Joshua to see how fully this can be demonstrated.  However stupendous may

have been such interferences with the course of nature as the Flood, the

redemption from Egypt, the giving of the Law from Sinai, or however important

such events as the fresh start after the Flood, the entry into Canaan, the

setting up of David's throne, yet all these events but lead on to one point