Times and the Eternal Purpose of God
One thing that is sure is that we have the victory and our tomorrow is better than our yesterday, even than today. We are not only confessing it, we are certain about it. We have a great future in God.
When the Lord is your strength, you are unbreakable. We thank the Lord for the strength we have in the house. We are a people of faith; we walk not by sight but by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith is not an assumption. We are walking by realities; things that are true and real. We are not a people who pretend that things do not exist. We are aware of the present, but there are more compelling realities in the spirit.
We see an example in Paul and Silas, who were in the prison with hands and feet bound (Acts 16:19-30). Apostle Peter was also arrested and thrown in prison. The Church had just lost James, but they stood and prayed and God had mercy on them and an angel was sent to set Peter free (Acts 12:2-7).
Even when Peter went to where the Church gathered to pray, they did not believe he was the one; the Church prayed but they were not too sure of the end of the matter (Acts 12:15-16).
The Church prayed because God gave them the burden to pray. Peter was freed and they rejoiced. We also see this same instance with Paul and Sailas. There was no reference to the fact that Peter prayed or rejoiced, but Paul and Silas prayed and sang praise in their affliction (Acts 16:25).
This lets us know that chains cannot hold the gospel. There has never been a time where chains or afflictions stopped God’s people.
The only enemy the devil has is the gospel. If he can stop the gospel, he is fine. As such, when he wants to stop the gospel, he attacks the Church, but the word of God is not bound (2 Timothy 2:9). Satan can touch our bodies so that we will not get what the gospel has to offer us, but thank God the gospel cannot be bound and we are overcomers.
That is why Paul said that in living or in dying, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8).
We should understand that there are seasons and timing in God. When we rejoice in a sad situation, it is not pretence, but a response in the spirit. When Peter was freed by the angel, he left the prison immediately (Acts 12:9), but when Paul and Silas were released, they stayed back to minister to the keeper of the prison (Acts 16:28-33).
This shows that there are different realms of understanding. It means that they had conquered death, knowing fully well that if they were caught, they could be beheaded.
They stayed back because the testament had become stronger than the incidence of Peter’s arrest and more light had shone in the gospel between Acts 12 and Acts 16. When the guard of the prison witnessed this, he was trembling and knew that he needed to be saved.
In the spirit, we were dead but Jesus quickened us (Ephesians 2:1). The apostles were dead men already, so physical death was not death to them. To kill them physically would not have done anything to them because they were already living. Paul and Silas did not run away from the prison because they knew they were living; they knew they were risen with Christ and death had no dominion over them.
Physical death is a mystery because the life that we live today is not a right, but a privilege. This is why we will give account of the time that the Lord has given us. Purpose gives meaning to time; it defines what time has been used for. Time itself makes no sense without purpose.
If we rejoice in time alone, we are without understanding, because it is purpose that gives meaning to the time we have. It is a privilege to live today. No one will reckon with our success if purpose is not achieved.
Terah lived for about 205 years (Genesis 11:32), but it was Abraham that God instructed to leave his father’s house. Terah lived longer than Abraham, who lived for 175 years. Terah died in idolatry, but Abraham died in faith (Hebrews 11:13).
Abraham lived a higher life than his father. This is why scriptures reference God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not of Terah (Exodus 3:6; 15). The Lord met Abraham at 75 years old (Genesis 12:4-7) so he actually lived for 100 years.
Abraham lived a life such that he was called the father of faith (Galatians 3:7-9). It is not a function of how long a life spends on earth but how well a man lived. A life that does not capture eternal purpose is a wasted life because it is numbered by the days of men.
Life under the sun has purposes (Ecclesiastes 3:16). There are times that we need to accept certain realities and there are times when we stand refusing them. There are calibrations under the sun and there is nothing we can do about it. All these purposes are set to make men under the sun never have lasting joy because we have and we lose.
Abraham lived more than 100 years and he is still living today. God is the God of the living, not of the dead (Matthew 22:32). Terah died but Abraham lived and is still living till today. This shows that man can live forever! There is something that a man finds that changes his whole story. This is what takes the man beyond the life beneath the sun.
When the Church talks about Jesus, what is majorly spoken about are the miracles He did while on earth. I believe in miracles. If you do not believe in miracles, then you do not believe in God. There is nothing God cannot do (Luke 1:37). There is nothing impossible with God. While God can do all things, He does not do all things. He works according to His purpose, not our purpose.
God is the God of the holy prophets, not of the prophets. The holy prophets are prophets of salvation. Many of those who were called prophets in Israel were actually seers, that is why the term “holy prophets” came in; separating them from other prophets (Luke 1:70; Acts 3:21; Revelation 22:6).
Holy prophets are prophets separated for salvation; prophets whose commitment was towards salvation. They are prophets of the scriptures. They lived for things pertaining to God’s promise of life to man. The Lord God of the holy prophets will work out everything according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
All things work together for good to them, not to all, who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). There is something in God that has been in His mind before time and whatever the devil has done or is doing cannot alter it. That is why in the fullness of time, God sent His Son (Galatians 4:4). When the time came, Satan could not stop it. As such, when it was time for Jesus to die, no hell could stop it because the fulfilment of prophecy was hanging on His death.
The night Jesus was arrested till He was crucified and raised from the dead, more than half of the Messianic prophecies were fulfilled. Everything that happened was according to how it had been written; even His refusal to speak was prophecy (Isaiah 53:7). While Paul was permitted to speak when he was wrongly accused (Acts 23:3), Jesus was not permitted because prophecy had to be fulfilled. Prophecy is an intention beyond and above life under the sun.
The free use of will to make choices that were against the purpose of God was why the sons of God fell and became flesh (Genesis 6:2-3). God was angry that man’s imagination had developed by sin that had trained men to choose what is good for themselves. The fair women whom they chose for themselves do not depict physical beauty, but rather a soul radiance. They were sons of God, which means they were also sons of light.
Light gives radiance and brightness; they saw daughters of men and saw the image of the future in those women. That is why their children were giants (Genesis 6:2-3). The sons of God were not giants; it was sons of men that were giants. Flesh has its own stature such that when you see it, you would recognize it as a giant. It could be intellectual brightness or industrial brightness.
David had no brightness; he came from the wilderness (1 Samuel 16:11-12). Samuel was not looking at the physical appearance of the sons of Jesse because he was a prophet, rather, he was looking at their countenance, yet God said He does not look after the outward (1 Samuel 16:7). This shows that countenance is still an outward expression. However, there is something deeper than countenance – the heart.
The Lord looks at the heart and for that reason, He chose David, a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). When Jesus was choosing His disciples, He did not choose men that looked befitting, but men that had the heart for the work ahead (Matthew 4:18).
“He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Time is an asset to fulfilling purposes. There are purposes under the sun and above the sun. There are times of men and times of God. However, no beauty can come from the time of men because beauty is attached to the time of God. We cannot work against nature and claim to be spiritual.
No man can love two masters; he will love one and hate the other (Matthew 6:24). The sins of men in those days was not the sin of fornication, it was the sin of serving gods. The world has set men on a race faster than what was originally intended by God. Man has entered into a system the world has created to make him forget his need for God.
Flesh is a life. Many men have moved from the works of the flesh to life of the flesh and they think they are free. There were no works of the flesh where the sin of flesh began. Flesh is what God even gave to us, so nature and flesh married unto themselves. What nature gave, flesh put lust (love) there, thereby tampering with the order of God’s purpose. Hence, we need truth and light to liberate us from the purposes under the sun.
This world has been designed to make a soul fall in love with creatures instead of the Creator (Romans 1:25). What we sometimes call love is actually lust because it is not serving the purpose of God. When we have children for instance, we are not to own them but to raise them for God (Psalm 127:3).
The purposes above the sun (God’s purpose) transcend a physical location. In fact, as important as the Church is, it can be a veil. The Church is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. The Church is to guide us, help us and bring us into the realm of God’s children. The realm of everlasting life is a realm of eldership because it is a realm of God’s children. We can see what is going on in us in the season of the formation of Christ, but we cannot see it when we move up to the season of becoming sons of God.
In the development of the sons of God, the world does not see it so they cannot celebrate it nor can they appreciate it. However, when we are growing in Christ, the world can see it. In God’s mind, He has provided a way for us to move us from the world of men/flesh to His world where the purpose of man can really be seen in the way it is in Him. This is the real reason He sent His Son. What we call entrance into the Kingdom is an escape from the world of men, which helps us to see life the way God sees it.
“I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.” (Ecclesiastes 3:18). Spirits that designed courses of men see the world as a confused place. Thus, we have to become Christ to make a show of principalities and powers (Ephesians 3:10). The essence of the Christ life helps us gain mastery over principalities and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).
“According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” (Ephesians 3:11-12). What is called life to men is what Satan designed for men. Men can rise above this life by following a higher purpose. We have an advantage because everything about purpose rests on time, and what many people complain about is that time is not enough. However, this is a scheme of this world to excuse us from our true responsibilities.
We should want to have age and not be aged. Time is a gift but it can be wasted when we do not use it for the purpose it is ordained for. The pursuit of Eternal Life is a discovery of purpose and not to play church; it is how man should live because life itself is understanding, and the way we do things is a reflection of understanding.
Flesh is also an understanding, but a darkened one; Eternal Life is also an understanding (John 17:3). We must move from having a darkened understanding into light. Understanding means that we can engage time to fulfill God’s purpose. Jesus’ 30 years brought us redemption because no year was wasted. When we do not have what we want and sorrow fills our heart, then we are not redeeming the time (Ephesians 5:16).
The years we spend waiting for something we want are years God has given us to buy back our time, but we rather spend those years in sorrow of what we have not received. All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and have answered the call of heavenly purpose (Romans 8:28). These are the people who start seeing life the way it has been designed.
Help does not come from abroad, it comes from above (Psalm 121:2). If all we have in our days on earth is to live in the community we are, we should make a difference to ensure that the life we live is accounted for. Man will give account for every time lived, for the earth is like an embassy of heaven.
Our coming into understanding helps us to leave the beastly world of human civilization. The lusts of the flesh are our supposed basic needs that every man will spend his life trying to satisfy except he finds a higher help. Solomon finished all of man’s desire and understood the vanity of man’s pursuit (Ecclesiastes 1:14). The essence of the gospel is to give us back what we lost, which is the love of God.
God’s ultimate plan and purpose is to bring us to where He is. We can be in church and not be where He is. God knew where Adam was but wanted him to attest that he had left where He put him in the spirit (Genesis 3:9). Eden is not just a land space, it is a place in the spirit. One sin the devil succeeded in making the woman commit was to see (Genesis 3:6). Immediately she saw, she desired the fruit. The fruit the devil offered Eve was to make her see and desire it. This is still the same strategy he adopts, even in our days.
When we sow into the program of the world, we leave where God is. Actualisation and attainment are expressions of the pride of life. The hope Paul referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 is a world in itself. Thus, we should be happy for those who journey beyond here knowing the hope that they are buying into.
“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). The rich young ruler wanted to finish his journey with the actualization of Eternal Life without going through the training of entrance. Regardless, Jesus loved the fact that he could desire it (Mark 10:21).
The Kingdom is not ministry; Jesus came to give the Kingdom and not ministry. He said we have to be childlike to enter into the Kingdom (Matthew 18:3). This conversion to become like little children is our journey from earth into Eternal Life.
We should no longer live our lives in the flesh to impress men. Everyone of us has wasted time living to please the expectations of men to various degrees. Jesus at the age of 12 was making enquiries about the project of the salvation of God promised unto Israel (Luke 2:49). In our days, a child at the age of 12 is spending time on social media, whereas Jesus at the same age was about His Father’s business.
“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Ephesians 5:14). “Arise from the dead” means sleep is not far from death. Sleeping means we are still living the rest of our lives to the lust of men. We must come to a point where we decide to follow the course of the life of God and say to ourselves that if we perish, then so be it.
There is no celebration worth more than heaven’s celebration. Heaven celebrates people when they lay hold of Eternal Life. The end of the whole matter is that we may lay hold on that for which we were apprehended. A believer can live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men and not lay hold on Eternal Life (1 Peter 4:2). The will of God as used by Peter is what Paul calls the eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:11).
Fighting the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) means to pursue the kingdom of Christ. No one can fight the good fight of faith without first laying hold on faith (1 Timothy 1:19). Fighting for life is engaging with every contradiction that can stop us from our pursuit of life. The wisdom of God here is that we buy time when we are fighting. This is how we redeem lost time. It is still possible to live on earth for 30 years and make much progress.
Faith is meant to make people escape the corruption that is this world through lust. If we are not calibrating people in this manner, we are wasting faith. The folly of Jannes and Jambres was made manifest when the rod of Moses swallowed up their rod (2 Timothy 3:8-9; Exodus 7:11). We should be able to show how men can escape from this world.
Timothy pursued until he fully knew what the world of Eternal Life was. He fully knew the hope, the vision, and the purpose for which the Son of God came. Eternal Life is a whole world bigger than the present heaven and earth. The Son of God embodies the fullness of Eternal life.
Moses and Elijah joined Jesus on the mount of transfiguration to discuss His death (Luke 9:31). Before Moses died, he did not know about the death of Jesus. However, they moved to a world where their discussions were about the life of the Son. They had moved on from discussions about the world of Christ and were now talking about glory, honour and power because the Son is always speaking.
There were conversations between the Godhead that went into the statement, “Let us make man in our image…” (Genesis 1:26). Also, “Let there be light…” (Genesis 1:3) was beyond a command, it was a reason, a thought with many conversations birthing it. When Jesus replied to Satan’s temptation to turn stones to bread (Matthew 4:4), there was a thought behind it.
What is called “word” are thoughts. “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:17). An understanding is a thought and by giving us these thoughts, God is expanding our horizon of reasoning to make us see.
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory…” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Our years on earth are a moment. The things that count as years in our lives are actually a moment. The present world we live in is a moment. The design of human life is stressful but eternal purpose is not, hence, we should live our life and time to attain eternal purpose. We should use time for what serves purpose; invest time in what matters.
Our entire worldview is all a light moment. We do not judge from the seen world, but from that which is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Jesus chased eternal redemption to make life truly meaningful for men. That which was from the beginning had been lost. For example, in the beginning, God’s ordination was for a man to have one wife (Matthew 19:8).
There is a place in God where all things are possible and true. We are getting older everyday and we are winding down our age. When we know this in our youth, we would hasten up our attainment of eternal purpose.
“[14] O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” (Psalm 90:12-15). Our gain is God and not our age. We have truly gained if God can raise us above things under the sun. Godliness is a great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). Mercy is God and to satisfy us early is for the world of understanding to bring us joy and love.
To access mercy, we need to move to a point where we can rejoice all our days. It is possible for a person to capture gladness all his days. When we capture mercy, we move to a world where we have joy all our days.
There was a season where God wrought miracles by handkerchiefs drawn from Paul (Act 19:11-12). There was so much demonstration of mighty miracles in the cChurch. Another season came that brethren were dying and this was the season that the book of 1 Thessalonians was written to comfort the brethren.
Paul himself had a season where Epaphroditus was sick unto death and it took the mercy of God to revive him, lest he should have sorrow on sorrow (Philippians 2:27). To sorrow upon sorrow meant that Paul had sorrow before which God had also allowed in a season.
In the eternal purpose, bodily redemption is not primary, it is the last. Healing of the body is not redemption, which is why the body can still die again even after being healed. The miracles that happened in the body were first aid because it was not yet time for bodily redemption. Redemption is first for the spirit and the soul. The redemption of the soul takes a long time to be accomplished.
The Church is built around salvation and God can decide not to intervene on the body because sometimes when He stops bodily intervention, He wants people to know the sorrow of the body. This is so that we can look to the salvation of the soul because bodily intervention gives you a feeling that can veil us from soul salvation. Anytime there is soul salvation, God can play down body intervention because to God, physical death is nothing but sleep.
A believer does not die, but rather sleeps and wakes up into the newness of life. Sleep (physical death) is a short moment for a believer. It is only the ultimate generation that will not taste death in the body. This promise is one we cannot lay claim to by faith because it is a build up of the labours of many generations; it is set aside by God as the harvest of people who have not labored for it.
Someone close to us but in another country is not necessarily separate from us because such a person is still on earth. The same is when a believer sleeps in the Lord; we are just not in the same place anymore. We have gained rather than lost any believer who sleeps in the Lord. This reasoning supersedes our emotions. Emotion is inherited but reasoning is not, hence, we must let our acquired thoughts supersede our reasoning. Everyone of us is dead – we do not have a life anymore, for the life we have now is for another.
The work of our hands can come out beautiful and when we come into the eternal world, we will see the present world more clearly. It is possible for us to use scriptures to engage the present world. The prince of this world desires to trap us, but if we come from the realm above, we will see the present earth more clearly. In our natural profession, we can attain eternal purpose using scriptural principles.
“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). Godliness can secure for us Eternal Life and also give us success in this present world. We should however not pursue the present gain but pursue God as our gain. Those who pursue Eternal Life prosper towards their end.
A tree takes more time to grow than a shrub. In this same instance, it will take us more time when we are pressing towards the things of God. When we understand this, the devil cannot get to us. Beauty is what God makes in His time; this beauty is salvation which God made (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Jesus endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2) when He saw the glory of God. Narrow is the way to life and straight is the gate (Matthew 7:14). As such, we will find the path accessible because of the way of the spirit.
Message Ends
