August 14, 2020

Brothers and Sisters,

(Matthew 1:17)  So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

Have you ever noticed how that God is a “God of order”?  I think it is amazing how God does things in order.  When He sent His only begotten Son into this world, He had an order of how this was to take place.  From Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David until the Babylonian captivity are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon until the birth of Christ are fourteen generations.  Isn’t that amazing?

We can see God’s order in several other passages of scripture.  For instance, the Apostle Paul tells us that the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was all done according to the scriptures.  (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. 

We see here that Jesus fulfilled God’s plan for our salvation according to a preordained order.  Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  (Revelation 13:8)  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

So, we see that God had made a plan for salvation before He ever created this world.  Salvation was no afterthought with God.  According to His foreknowledge, God already knew everything before it ever happened.  Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God.  That is mind blowing to me.  We are serving an Omnipotent (All powerful), Omniscient (All Knowing), and Omnipresent (In all places at the same time) God.

Since God had already come up with the plan for salvation from the foundation of the world and since God knows the ending from the beginning, everything happens according to God’s schedule.  A study of the book of Daniel reveals the exact time that Jesus would come to this world and be cut off.  (Dan 9:24-27)  Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 weeks revealed to us that after 69 weeks the Messiah would be cut off.  This was a time period of 483 years, so we know that each week is representative of 7 years (483 divided by 69 equals 7). 

God’s timeclock stopped when Christ was cut off (crucified) on the Cross.  Since that historical event and by the way this was the greatest event in the history of mankind, we have been living in the “church age” or the “times of the Gentiles”.  This will end at the rapture and then God’s timepiece will once again begin and we have one week (7 years) left to be fulfilled.  This is the Tribulation period we read about in the Revelation.

So, as you can see God is a “God of order”.  Nothing is taking place in this world by happenstance.  It may look like it to us, but we can’t see the end from the beginning.  Let’s just live each day by faith and not by sight.

Bro. Rick