God’s Plan

Question 1: Did God plan to insert sin into His creation?

ANSWER: No! James 1:13; "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man." Since God clearly loves His creation so greatly (John 3:16), the insertion of evil into it would be against His very nature!

Question 2: Why did God not immediately destroy Satan so that we would not sin?

ANSWER: God does not cause man to be tempted to sin (James 1:12-15). Neither did He create man so he would not have the opportunity to express through his actions the likeness of the God in whose image he was made. Indeed, there would be no spiritual or moral value at all in our lives, if we did not have the choice of right or wrong. Even in this, our loving God through His Son graciously provided the church. He did so that we could be made free from sin by the blood of Christ even when we sometimes choose the wrong way. This provision was according to His eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:9-11).

God will deal with Satan at the appropriate time according to His schedule (Revelation 20:10).

Question 3: Because God allowed Satan to mislead His people, does this mean that God was powerless to do anything about it?

ANSWER: No! God is all-powerful. If He were not, He could not be God! Please refer to our response to the question above.

Question 4: Was God slack concerning His promises because Jacob received the blessing instead of Esau?

ANSWER: God is not slack concerning His promises (II Peter 3:9). When Esau, described in Hebrews 12:16-17 as a fornicator and profane person, sold his birthright he also sold the accompanying blessing. The blessing was then justly given to Jacob to whom the birthright had been sold! God does no wrong (Job 34:12; Revelation 16:7).  

Question 5: Did God create man to be eternal before the disobedience in the garden (Ephesians 3:10-11; Genesis 1:31)?

ANSWER: God did create man to be eternal and he (the soul of man), in fact, is eternal. Only the flesh of man is corruptible (Ecclesiastes 12:7; I Corinthians 15:42 & 50). Of course the question is asking about the fleshly existence of man; did God intend man to exist eternally in the flesh? To answer, it must be recognized that if man had not sinned, man would still be in the garden. That was the arrangement God had made. He did not want man to sin and, thereby, to become susceptible to death, but man did, yet over the wishes of God. Therefore, to say that God created man not to be eternal would be to say that He created man in order that he would die through sin, even while knowing that He would sin. This I cannot accept! It is my opinion that God being all-powerful; while at the same time being all-knowing, has, and indeed did exercise, His power and ability to limit and restrict His knowledge about the sin that would finally occur in the garden, bringing about death that would fall to all men. God wanted the best for man, but had to create him with the ability of choice. Man was not created by God to be in rebellion to God. Man made the choice to sin through the urging of Satan and, thereby, lost his eternality in the flesh, no longer having access to the tree of life that was in the garden.

Question 6: Why did Jesus die?

ANSWER: Jesus came into this world to save sinners (I Timothy 1:15; John 1:29). Though "He knew no sin, He was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21). The blood of animals could not take away our sin (Hebrews 10:4), so Christ became the only perfect sacrifice, by which we could be sanctified (Hebrews 10:10-12) through His blood, which was shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). Because of our sin (which God hates), we deserved the prescribed penalty of death and eternal separation from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). Either we had to pay the penalty for our sins or a perfect, sinless sacrifice had to be found to pay the penalty for us. Paul tells us (Romans 5:8-9) that God demonstrated “His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Christ paid the penalty for you and me in His death (I John 2:2).

Question 7: Why couldn't Jesus have destroyed the disease of sin that has plagued our spiritual lives?

ANSWER: Jesus is God (John 1:1) and is, therefore, all-powerful! He does not, however, exercise His power according to man's timetable. When the father of sin (Satan) is finally destroyed at the end of all things (Revelation 20:10), then sin too, will have been destroyed. The coming of that day will be determined only by the God of heaven (Matthew 24:36). God created each of us as free moral agents with the choice of serving Him or serving sin (Romans 6:16). He temporarily allows sin to exist so that you and I may prove our love to Him by the proper exercise of the choice He has given us. The fact of the existence of sin in this life does not mean that it will or should plague our lives! We can overcome it by destroying the "body of sin" in our scriptural obedience to Him (Romans 6:1-18).

Question 8: Jesus was not a sinner. Why was He baptized?

ANSWER: When Jesus came to the Jordan river to be baptized (Matthew 3), John at the first refused to baptize Him saying, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" What John implied by this was, 'You (Jesus) are without sin and, therefore, do not need to be baptized for the remission of sins, but, I am, indeed, a sinner and have need to be baptized of thee!' Jesus did not argue with the truth of John's statement. In fact, He agreed with it in saying, "Suffer (permit) it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus knew the design and purpose of John's baptism (Luke 3:3), and He approved of it, but by saying "Permit it to be so now," He is telling John that they, in this one case, must make an exception to this purpose, because He was without sin. Nonetheless, Christ insisted that He be baptized in order to "fulfill all righteousness." In other words, God commanded all men everywhere to be baptized and because Christ was, at that time, in the flesh (as a man), in order to satisfy the will of the Father, He, too, needed to be baptized in order to fulfill His will, or all righteousness!

Some people today who reject the scriptural teaching of baptism "for the remission of sins," (Acts 2:38) say, that since Jesus was not baptized for this purpose, neither do they have to be baptized "for the remission of sins." They, too, want to be baptized (as Christ was) to "fulfill all righteousness." This could be the case, if they were (as Christ was) sinless, or without sin. But it is the case that they are not without sin, for Paul said in Romans 3:23 that, "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The logical and scriptural conclusion is that since "all men have sinned," they (all men) cannot be baptized (as Christ was) solely to fulfill all righteousness, but must be baptized for the express scriptural purpose of "remission of sins," which, in man's case, results in the fulfillment of righteousness, or God's will. Christ was the only one not to be baptized "for the remission of sins," simply because He did no sin (I Peter 2:22). There are no other exceptions, because all other men have sinned! Every man must, therefore, be baptized "for the remission of sins" in order to be saved (Acts 2:38; Mark 16:15-16)!

Question 9: Why did Moses and Elijah appear with Christ at the transfiguration?

ANSWER: The purpose of the transfiguration is very significant to us today! Moses represented the "law" and Elijah represented the "prophets." When God said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him" (Matthew 17:5), He was saying that, under the New Testament dispensation, we are not to hear and obey Moses and Elijah (the Old Testament, i.e., the law and the prophets), but, rather, we are to hear and obey Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son! The Old Testament (represented by Moses and Elijah) would be fulfilled with the death of Christ and taken out of the way (Colossians 2:14).

Question 10: Why did Christ rise on the third day?

ANSWER: It was in fulfillment of His prophecy in Matthew 12:40, that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the great fish’s belly, so would He be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Undoubtedly, there is a relationship between His resurrection on the third day (the first day of the week-Luke 24:1) and the fact that His disciples throughout all the ages were to worship on the same day of the week!

Question 11: Would you please explain Matthew 27:46-47?

ANSWER: In the first part of Verse forty-six, Jesus from the cross, 'cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani."' The second part of the verse tells the meaning of the first part, i.e., Jesus had said, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Verse forty-eight says that those who stood nearby misunderstood, thinking that Jesus was calling for Elias!

There are many opinions as to what Jesus meant when He said, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Clearly, it is the case that Jesus, as Deity, knew what was before Him as He went to Calvary (John 12:27). And as Deity, He also knew that whatever He would have to face His Father would never totally forsake Him (John 16:32). It follows and appears then that, in keeping with the divine plan; in order for Jesus to experience the fullness of suffering and the total weight of the sins of mankind, that Deity (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) withheld the slightest of support and allowed the human side of Jesus to woefully recite the words from Psalms 22:1, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"     

Question 12: What was the reason and what was really happening on the Cross, when Jesus said, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

ANSWER: The phrase was a quote from the book of Psalms 22:1 indicative of one that was in deep suffering. The citing of this passage showed that He alone bore our sins to that cross (Isaiah 53:4-5) and that indeed what He was undergoing was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Certainly, it teaches us also the hatred that our Father has for sin; in that, while with the sins of the world upon His Son, apparently, God temporarily, turned away, rejecting Him in that moment, because of the great love that He had for you and me (John 3:16). Did Jesus have foreknowledge of the events of that day? Of course He did (Luke 18:31-34), but the human side of our Lord could not contain and uttered in much agony the phrase, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!  

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