Paul writes of this plan of the ages in Eph. 3:8-11.
"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and
make all to see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to
the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." The word
translated "eternal" in the phrase "eternal purpose" is
the Greek word AIONON which means "ages." Young's Literal
Translation reads, "And to cause all to see what is the fellowship of the
secret that has been hid FROM THE AGES in God, who the all things did create
by Jesus Christ, that there might be made known now to the principalities and
authorities in the heavenly places, through the assembly, the manifold wisdom
of God, according to A PURPOSE OF THE AGES, which He made in Christ Jesus our
Lord." The Diaglott renders verse 11 thus, "According to A PLAN OF
THE AGES, which He formed for the Anointed Jesus our Lord," and Rotherham
says, "According to A PLAN OF THE AGES which He made in the anointed
Jesus our Lord. "
It will be a wonderful day for you, dear one, when first
your soul becomes enthralled with the revelation that God, before ever the
world began or ever the ages were formed, looked forth from His temple of
wisdom and omnipotence to chart with resolute care the course and purpose of
every age. Your heart will throb as you read the opening proclamation of
Scripture, "In the beginning - GOD! " In the beginning of
what? Not in the beginning of God, certainly, but in the beginning of His
creation of all things, in the beginning of time, in the beginning of the
orderly procession of the divinely destined ages. In the beginning stands God,
omnipotent and omniscient, creating, sustaining and guiding all things and all
people and all the ages of time according to the purpose of His own will. No
purpose ordained by God from the beginning can possibly go astray or be
hindered by the efforts of devil or man. Oh, for the hour when all creation
will grasp the beautiful message, "From Him everything comes, by Him
everything exists, and in Him everything ends!" (Rom. 11:36).
As men with the aid of God's Word have gazed into the vista
of the future, it seems to have missed their understanding that God says very
little in His Word about eternity, while devoting many hundreds of passages to
His will and works wrought through THE AGES. "God, who at sundry times
and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has
appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds"
(Heb. 1:1-2). What tremendous statements we have here! God has spoken to us
through His Son - literally, "spoke to us in Son," or, God
spoke to us in One who has the character that He is a SON, revealing the realm
and relationship of sonship to God. This Son is heir of all things and,
blessed be God! we are joint heirs with Him. "By whom also He made the
worlds. Many people believe this refers to the creative act - "In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Actually, it does not
refer to that at all. The word here for "worlds" is AIONAS. It means
ages- "... by whom He made the ages." This goes beyond His
being the Creator of matter and its arrangement into multiplied billions of
stars, suns, and planets with their atmospheres and inhabitants. This lends
purpose to everything. He is the heir who GIVES THE PROGRAM FOR THE FUTURE! He
framed the ages, He ordained the end from the beginning; not only did He
create everything, He did it for a purpose, and "known unto God are all
His works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18). Notice - the
Amplified Bible says, "But in the last of these days He has spoken to us
in the person of a Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things,
also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and
the AGES OF TIME - that is, He made, produced, built, operated and arranged
them in order! " "Through faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God." (Heb. 11:3), but it should read, "the
ages were planned by the word of God."
God made, planned, and determined the destiny of all the
ages by Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator of this universe,
and time and space, and there is purpose to it all. Abroad today is the
idiotic notion that the universe is running at breakneck speed through time
and space like a car that has lost the driver. The interesting thing is that
when a car loses the driver there is a wreck, but this universe, even
according to the scientists, has been running millions of years, and it has
been doing pretty well, by the way. The sun comes up at a certain time every
morning; it is very precise. The moon stays in a predictable orbit. As one of
the men who works on the moon modules says, all they have to do is aim, and
the moon will be there when the module gets there. This is not a mad universe
in which you and I live. It has purpose, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the One
who gives it purpose. HE is the architect and sovereign Lord of the ages. He
FORMED THE AGES and appointed what should be done in each of them. I must,
therefore, with utmost force impress upon all who read these lines that, if we
are to comprehend God's great plan for the ages, we must raise our eyes far
above the engulfing muck and sucking quicksand of Babylonish Church tradition
handed down to us by the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth to
keep God's people in bondage to eternal hopelessness. God has a plan of the
ages! It was conceived by the omnipotent and omniscient Christ of God, the
Creator and Redeemer of the world. Its successful conclusion is as sure and
unfailing as God Himself is sure and unfailing. God never "flits"
from one thing to another. He does not begin one work and then tiring of it,
drop it and start another. He does not create what He cannot control. He is
not the proverbial mad scientist who creates an UNCONTROLLABLE monster. The
prophet Isaiah gives us the words of God wherein God declares, "I am God,
and there is none else; 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" (Isa.
46:9-10). God's purpose is so unalterable, so fixed, so certain that He could
declare from the very beginning just what the end would be, and that end will
come to pass in just exactly that way.
For many years now multitudes of preachers and people in
the Churches would have us believe that God has been in this great work of the
ages for the short period of about 6,000 years. They tell us that in this day
God is about to become so disgusted with the whole mess that He is going to
close it down, take a few saints away to some far off heaven somewhere, and
give up on the rest of the creation, the work of His love. What a WEAK God
some folk have and worship! They worship a God who CHANGES, one who in the
beginning did start out to bring about a glorious end, but somewhere along the
line lost control of the situation and has now thrown up His hands in despair
and decided to destroy the whole thing and be satisfied with a little handful
for Himself for all eternity. What great pity I feel for such people and for
the god they serve! For this is going to put their god in the unenviable
position of being filled with regret throughout all eternity because He was
not able to carry out His purpose, and He will have to always remember that
over in the hell He created is the vast majority of His creation suffering the
tortures of the damned for ever and ever. What a prospect for God and His
creation! If God knew in the beginning that it would turn out like this and
included eternal damnation in His creative plans, then why did He create the
world in the first place? Better to have forgotten the whole creation in the
beginning! And if God DID NOT know this from the beginning, THEN HE IS NOT
GOD.
