Wednesday – September 14, 2016
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ. I don’t know about your day, your week, or your life but in Him it is to be nothing but one victory after another. The storms will be ferocious but our focus, our care is not the storm, but the Word, Jesus. Like Peter on the water, once we divert our focus from Jesus, the Word of God to the waves boisterous, or the one who goes about as a roaring lion seeing who he may devour, we (not God) is opening the door for him to steal, kill, and destroy. God does not pick you or me to sink or be devoured today, we do individually primarily in our thought life, by our words, and by our ways.
Ephesians 1:9-11 (KJV)
9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Today let’s take a look at the phrase “which he hath purposed in himself” from Ephesians 1:9. The word ‘purposed’ in our text can mean ‘to place before’. Before what? Before Himself. His will for us would be carried out at any cost. The word ‘purposed’ also means ‘to exhibit or set forth’. It was decided before one speck of dust was picked up to make the physical body of a man and before the breath of God flowed into this man making him a living being that God would put the man before Himself and that plan would be plain to see for all with ears to hear and eyes to see. Just looking back a few verses gives us another look at the same general idea phrased slightly differently.
Ephesians 1:3-5 (KJV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
I will now examine the phrase ‘fulness of times’. The word ‘dispensation’ which precedes this phrase has to do with the administration of a thing, in this context the administration of time. We see this same idea expressed in the Apostle Pauls’ writings to the Galatians.
Galatians 4:4-5 (KJV)
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
As you watch from epistle to epistle, this theme is expressed over and over. Now, what do you think about this phrase “the fullness of the time” in Galatians or “fullness of times” to the Ephesians? Was it God’s plan from the get go to allow four thousand years to elapse before The Word (Jesus, the Redeemer) would come and then another two thousand years and Jesus has not come back yet? Was that the plan from before the foundation of the world? From all that we know about God, who is a good God, would this be a paradigm He would choose? I don’t think there is any question that Elohim (Godhead) was about the redemption of mankind from the moment Adam sinned. What stood in the way? The same thing that led to sin in the first place, the free-will of man. Not only is there the issue of mans’ free-will but the will of God must be spoken into the earth in order to loose God to work and accomplish His ends.
Amos 3:7 (KJV)
7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
He will do nothing, nothing is nothing, zero, and nada! Once the Word is spoken He must groom willing participants. My guess is that it is something like herding cats. Do you see the problem? On the other hand real Bible love cannot exist without choice. Love may involve warm and fuzzy feeling but it is not warm and fuzzy feelings. Love at its core is obedience to the Word of God, being selfless, and adhering and honoring The Blood Covenant. I have often wondered how long He waited for Noah, how many Abrahams He approached, how many prophets would not prophecy the Messiah. Even people who in the end were used mightily of God like Moses and Abraham had hiccups in their obedience and delayed the will of God. I hope this gives us all a little more light, insight, knowledge of the fullness of time.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
