We truly serve an awesome God! He is our God and I am so blessed to know Him. Recently I heard a sermon that included the passage from Matthew 25:34 - "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:" Suddenly sitting there listening to that scripture being quoted at that time - that phrase "from the the foundation of the world" just got stuck in my brain. I have been thinking about it ever since then.
How awesome is it to know that all the way back to the very beginning, before God even started creating this magnificent world -He planned and prepared heaven first! He knew he wanted to have a place where His children could come and live with Him forever. God set up a kingdom that was there "from the foundation of the world." Wow - just wow! It has been there all along. He is waiting for us there.
I heard that some say God only came up with heaven after Adam and Eve sinned. They believe that no plan of salvation was in place before they disobeyed God. What? If you believe in God at all and believe in His power and majesty in the creation, how can you think for one minute that God didn't know ahead of time that somewhere along the way sin was going to enter the world?
The creation of earth shows His infinite wisdom and love by giving us such a beautiful earth to live in and by providing for man's every need. The creation of heaven first - before the creation of this planet - shows His infinite wisdom and love by providing a place of reward for those who obey Him. We have a place of rest if we follow Him while we are here on earth. God set heaven up first and then He went about creating the world and everything in it.
God knew before He ever created man that He wanted those who love Him to be with Him forever. Thinking about this gives Jesus' promise in John 14:1-3 an added dimension. "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, you may be also."
Now, I know this says Jesus is going to prepare a place for his apostles; but Heaven is already there. He tells us there are many mansions in His Father's house. Heaven and the mansions were there already. I am not a Bible scholar, but it seems that perhaps Jesus was preparing a special place for His apostles. But again understand that "His Father's house" is already there. Of course, another important lesson from this passage is the strong desire that Jesus has for the apostles to be with Him. Jesus is wants them to be where He is. This planning and preparation is proof of the immense love that both God and Christ have for man.
Let us consider one more passage before we close out for the night.
Ephesians 1:3-4 says -- "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 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." Paul is praising God for spiritual blessing in heavenly places. He further states God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Now what does that mean? Well, it certainly does not mean that God has handpicked those who will be saved. No it doesn't mean that at all. It does mean that God knew there would be some who would choose to obey Him and others who would choose not to obey Him. He chose to prepare a place and He chose to give us spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He knew ahead of time that some would be baptized into Christ -- be "in Christ." These are the souls He knew heaven was prepared for.
Those spiritual blessings in heavenly places are not automatic. God does not just pick a few people and say --"Oh he'll be good, let's put him heaven." No this is conditional. It is totally dependent on choices we make. See Paul says that we "should be holy and without blame before Him in love." Should is conditional. Those who want to be saved -- who want to go to this prepared place --should be holy. They should be blameless. They should serve Christ with love all their lives and then be ready to stand before Him in love. This is not a guarantee for some and a condemnation for others. We should love Him enough to live our lives in such a way that we will be holy and without blame and then -- yes then He will bless us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places which God prepared before He ever made the world.
Sorry folks, somewhere along the line I think I have started repeating myself. That means it is a good place to stop.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for loving us enough to want to be with us. All praise be to You, dear God for you are an all-wise and all-powerful God. Thank you Father for preparing a place for those who choose to follow You. Thank you for planning ahead so that we could be with You forever. In your Son's holy name, Amen.
Christ above all things -- from the foundation of the world,
Robin
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