have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give

you hope and a future" (Jer. 29: 11, N.I.V.). Ezekiel records the words of God, "I the

Lord have spoken, and I will do it" (Ezek. 22: 14; 36: 36).

These Scriptures make it abundantly clear that God is not working in a haphazard

way. He has a master plan which He conceived in past eternity. It is centred in Christ

and what He would accomplish in His earthly life and witness. Eph. 3: 11 A.V. refers

to it as "His eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord", literally the

"plan of the ages", the ages being the time when the gigantic plan is being worked out by

God. He has the power, the wisdom and the foresight to bring this plan to a certain and

glorious goal, and not all the opposition of Satan, the powers of darkness, and the

unbelieving world energized by him, can prevent this from being accomplished. Even

the pagan king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had to learn this lesson. When God had

finished dealing with him, he declared, "He does according to His will in the host of

heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; none can stay His hand or say to Him

`What doest Thou?'." (Dan. 4: 35).

God never needs to modify His plans, nor can anyone accuse Him of wrongdoing in

carrying them out.  Moses certainly stated the truth when he said "Oh, praise the

greatness of our God! He is the Rock, His works are perfect and all His ways are just. A

faithful God Who does no wrong, upright and just is He" (Deut. 32: 3, 4, N.I.V.). It is

this One Who, later on, was revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom the

apostle Paul described as "our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2: 13), and it

is His master plan we are considering, and we shall find that this plan is eternally linked

with God's great kingdom which finally finds its complete expression in the "new

heavens and a new earth" which God will create when this present universe ceases to

exist (II Pet. 3: 10-13). However, we must be very careful not to exceed the revelation

of holy Scriptures concerning this kingdom, nor on the other hand to lessen what is

revealed therein.

We may be sure that the fall of Satan and his angels, and then the fall of Adam,

greatly complicated matters, for sin and death would certainly find no place in the great

kingdom of God; and death is an enemy till the last (I Cor. 15: 26). Hence the need for

the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus to remove these barriers to God's purpose:

Protithemi, a verb meaning to purpose or plan (translated "designed") shows us that

this all-necessary redemption was an essential part of God's plan, otherwise any sinner

could never have a place in God's perfect kingdom.