Trust The Plan

TRUST THE PLAN

August 2019

In these days of turmoil and chaos around the world, where can we find hope and promise of a good and even great future?

Proverbs 24:13-14 The Passion Translation (TPT) ¹³ Revelation-knowledge is a delicacy, sweet like flowing honey that melts in your mouth. Eat as much of it as you can, my friend! ¹⁴ For then you will perceive what is true wisdom,
your future will be bright,^[f] and this hope living within will never disappoint you.

Hope and a good future are to be found in the LORD. Knowing the PLAN is where we can find comfort, hope, and peace in the midst of the storms that are coming to the planet earth.

[Jer 29:11 NASB] 11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

So, just what is “THE PLAN”?

The plan is laid out in the Word of God, the Bible. It begins in Genesis where God creates mankind. God was seeking a being of His likeness and kind to be His companion, someone to love Him and to be close as to be one with Him, as close as a wife. There was a test of this love in the Garden of Eden. Mankind was given a choice to obey God because of love for Him or seek to know good and evil so as to be like God.

[Gen 1:26-27 NASB] 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

[Gen 2:7 NASB] Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

[Gen 2:16 NASB] The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;

[Gen 2:17 NASB] but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

Mankind failed the test and was expelled from the Garden.

[Gen 3:3 NASB] but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"

[Gen 3:4 NASB] The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!

[Gen 3:5 NASB] "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

But Eve and Adam did eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

[Gen 3:22 NASB] Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"--

[Gen 3:23 NASB] therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

[Gen 3:24 NASB] So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Now, expelled from the Garden and no longer able to eat from the tree of life, death and sin came into the world of mankind. 

Throughout the years of the Old Testament this was the condition of mankind. God however did not give up on mankind. He chose an ethnic group of people called the Hebrews to be His special people on the earth. He even likened them to a wife. They went through many cycles of being obedient, then falling away but eventually God divorced Israel and initiated a new phase of the plan. The book of Hosea is the story of God’s dealings with Israel and Jacob throughout the ages. It is an important part of the plan with regards to Israel and Judah.

God, in the person of a man called Jesus, the Son of God, came to the earth to redeem mankind from the sentence of death, which was the just penalty for rejecting God through disobedience and sin, (sin - to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong,  to wander from the law of God, violate God's law).

Jesus paid the price for all mankind’s sin through His death and resurrection. Now redemption, salvation, and regeneration were available to all who would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Those that accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior are born again by the Spirit of God and become a new creation though still having to deal with their old, fleshly body and all of its passions and lusts.

[Jhn 3:5 NASB] Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

[Jhn 3:6 NASB] "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

[Jhn 3:7 NASB] "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

[Jhn 3:8 NASB] "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

[1Pe 1:23 NASB] for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, [that is,] through the living and enduring word of God.

[2Co 5:17 NASB] Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Yet this new creature or creation still had to deal with the old, sinful nature of fallen mankind.

[Rom 7:5 NASB] For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were [aroused] by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

[Rom 7:24 NASB] Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

[Rom 7:25 NASB] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Even in this condition, those who proclaim Jesus as the Son of God, their Lord and Savior, are now called saints, His Church, His Bride. Born again by His Spirit, and anointed by His Spirit with His power and authority, these born-again followers of Jesus were sent out into all the world to be His ambassadors on earth.  Today, this unique group of human beings are aliens on this earth. No longer citizens of the kingdom of this world, but citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are people living in a fleshly body, but born again spiritually by the Spirit of God and anointed by the Spirit with power to be His witnesses in all the world.

[Act 1:8 NASB] 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

[Mat 28:19 NASB] "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

[Mat 28:20 NASB] teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Today, believers find themselves at this stage of the plan. Today, believers are a pure, eternal spirit living in a corruptible and perishing human body. In this world, these believers are to expect to be persecuted, have tribulation, and many will even have to die physically for their faith in Jesus.

[Jhn 16:33 NASB] "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

[Jhn 15:20 NASB] "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

But the plan does not end here. At some point in time Jesus promises to return to the earth to collect His Church, His Bride and take them to Heaven. At this very time, all believers will be transformed, the perishing, corruptible body will become an eternal, incorruptible body, a body like the one Jesus appeared in when He walked out of that tomb some 2000 years ago.

[1Co 15:51 NASB] Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

[1Co 15:52 NASB] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

[1Co 15:53 NASB] For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

[1Co 15:54 NASB] But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.

Believers in Jesus are God’s sons and daughters, the temple of the Holy Spirit on Earth, the Bride of Jesus, the Lamb’s wife, co-ruler,
co-sovereign, co-administrator, a judicially equal partner to
the Throne by virtue of redemption and wedlock to
The King of Kings, Jesus.

Believers are Destined for the Throne!

[Rev 2:26-27 ESV] 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

[Revelation 3:21 NKJV] 21 "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

About this time on earth, God will turn His attention back to the Hebrews (Israel) to complete His covenant promises to them. There will be a time of trouble (tribulation) on earth like it has never seen before. It is a time the Bible calls “the day of the Lord” It will be a time of testing, judgment, and the wrath of God. It will be a time of unprecedented natural disasters, war, and the rise to power of a world leader who will in the end, be Satan embodied. It is called “the time of Jacob’s trouble”. Some will be saved by confessing Jesus as the Messiah, by the Blood of Jesus, their testimony, and by not living their lives, even unto death. But just as all seems lost and mankind is about to destroy itself, Jesus, as the Lord of lords and King of kings, returns to the earth with His people, His Saints, to end the destruction, and deal with sinners and Satan alike.

[Isa 13:9 NASB] 9 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

[Joe 1:15 NASB] 15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

[Joe 3:14 NASB] 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

[2Pe 3:7 NASB] 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

[Rom 2:5 NASB] 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

[Rev 6:12-17 NASB] 12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth [made] of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

[Jer 30:4, 7, 11, 22-24 NASB] 4 Now these are the words which the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah: ... 7 'Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it. ... 11 'For I am with you,' declares the LORD, 'to save you; For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you, Only I will not destroy you completely. But I will chasten you justly And will by no means leave you unpunished.' ... 22 'You shall be My people, And I will be your God.'" 23 Behold, the tempest of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, A sweeping tempest; It will burst on the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has performed and until He has accomplished The intent of His heart; In the latter days you will understand this.

[Rev 12:11 NASB] 11 "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

 [Rev 19:11-16 NASB] 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it [is] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes [are] a flame of fire, and on His head [are] many diadems; and He has a name written [on Him] which no one knows except Himself. 13 [He is] clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white [and] clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

Jesus returns to the earth to establish His Kingdom on earth. He returns with His Bride, His Queen, His Church who will sit beside Him on His Throne, to rule and reign with Him on earth for 1000 years. After the 1000 years, they will rule with Him in a new heaven and a new earth for all eternity.  

[2Ti 2:12 NASB] 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

[Rev 20:4, 6 NASB] 4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I [saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ... 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

[Rev 11:15 NASB] 15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become [the kingdom] of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."

[Dan 2:44 NASB] 44 "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and [that] kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

[Dan 7:18 NASB] 18 'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.'

At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be released from the Abyss where he has been imprisoned to lead a final rebellion against God. The rebellion will be quickly dealt with and Satan and all people who have rebelled against God (those whose names are not written in God Book of Life) will be destroyed in a “Lake of Fire”.

[Rev 20:7, 10 NASB] 7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, ... 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

[Rev 20:12, 15 NASB] 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. ... 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Then God creates a new heaven and a new earth, all things are made new.

[Rev 21:1, 3-5 NASB] 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer [any] sea. ... 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be [any] death; there will no longer be [any] mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." 5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."

This then is an overview of the THE PLAN. The details of the plan are all recorded in the Word of God, the Bible. Do you really know the plan?

Comfort, hope, and peace are to found in THE PLAN. Believers are to keep our eyes on and live by the Plan and the joy set before us. We, the Bride of Christ, the wife God wanted when He created mankind in the beginning, His Bride who is to rule and reign with Him for all eternity, are the end of the story; we are the final objective of the PLAN.

Events in today’s world can cause people to become discouraged, fearful, and even hopeless. But, for those that know and trust THE PLAN, they know that God has everything under control. Current events in the world are all a part of the plan. When we know THE PLAN, and trust THE PLAN, we find comfort, hope, and peace! We find God’s Shalom; His provision, His protection, His peace, and His presence.

KNOW THE PLAN - TRUST THE PLAN!

KNOW THE PLAN

In our day and age, we have witnessed some of the key elements of THE PLAN occur. World War I, The Balfore Declaration of 1017, World war II, and very significantly, the regathering of Israel back to the land of Israel, and the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948.

[Eze 36:8-10, 24-28 NASB] 8 'But you, O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. 9 'For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown. 10 'I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt. ... 24 "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 "You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.

[Eze 37:1, 3, 5-6, 9-10, 21-22, 25 NASB] 1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. ... 3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." ... 5 "Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 'I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.'" ... 9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life."'" 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. ... 21 "Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. ... 25 "They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.

Since that day in May of 1948 Israel has been continually attacked by the Islamic peoples that surround the current nation of Israel. Against all odds, they have prevailed against all attacks including; The War of Independence in 1948, The Sinai Campaign in 1956, The Six-Day War in 1967, The Yom Kipper War in 1973 and the continual and ongoing attacks by Islamic terrorists. All of these attacks were probably a part of the fulfillment of Ps. 83.

[Psa 83:2, 4-8 NASB] 2 For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, And those who hate You have exalted themselves. ... 4 They have said, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more." 5 For they have conspired together with one mind; Against You they make a covenant: 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites; 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8 Assyria also has joined with them; They have become a help to the children of Lot. Selah.

The retaking of Jerusalem in 1967, and the USA moving its embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018 were especially significant events in the fulfilment of prophecy with respect to Israel that we have witnessed in our day.

All of these events lead us to this very day. We are watching another very significant prophetic event forming right before our eyes. It is a long-ago prophesied attack on Israel that leads into a time of testing and judgment that proceeds the return of Jesus to earth as King of kings, and Lord of lords. This part of THE PLAN begins in Revelation chapter 6.

[Rev 6:1-4 NASB] 1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." 2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. 3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." 4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that [men] would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

With the breaking of the Second Seal comes war. The Beast takes peace from the earth. As to the war, we need to look to see what great wars prophesied in the scripture have yet to occur. The most significant are the wars of the very Last Days, the wars of Armageddon and Ezekiel’s wars as prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Isaiah wrote about a war in which Damascus would be destroyed forever, something that has yet to happen. Also, Jeremiah prophesied about the destruction of Amman, Jordan. This is a prophesy that some believe has yet to be fully completed. Taking these altogether and observing the present-day events taking place in the Mid-East, it does not take much imagination to see that the war of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38) is just around the corner. 

This war basically involves the Islamic nations surrounding Israel coming together to attack Israel with the intent of destroying her.  These nations are supplied arms and supported by a nation to the north that many believe to be Russia. Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 are scriptures that deal with these latter-day events also. Today we watch Iran, Turkey, Syria, and the Islamic terrorist organizations as they support prepare to attack Israel. Russia is supplying them arms and giving them much support.  Each day that passes draws us closer to the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s war.

Knowing THE PLAN with respect to our day means knowing Ezekiel 38 and the events that follow; events of The Day of the Lord.

Bible studies concerning these events including; War in the Middle East-Ezekiel 38, Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, A Fresh look of Revelation, Forty Steps to New Jerusalem, and A Road Map Through the Last Days, can be found on my blog at: dpweary.blogspot.com.