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Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:5, 8-11; 3:3-6; 5:17; Col. 1:9b; 2:2b; 1 Cor. 2:7; Rev. 4:11b; Rom. 12:2; Matt. 6:10
The verses listed above show us God’s eternal purpose, God’s eternal plan. Everyone needs to know God’s eternal plan. If as a young person you are somewhat thoughtful, you do not need to be a great philosopher to eventually ask questions such as, “What is the meaning of my life in the world?” and, “For what purpose was I born?” If you consider even further, you might also ask, “Why do the heavens and the earth exist? Why does the universe exist?” If you give a little thought to these matters, you will discover that the meaning of human life cannot be found in clothing, food, housing, or transportation. You will also conclude that the meaning of the heavens, the earth, and all things cannot be focused merely on human living. These conclusions, however, reveal only what the meaning of the universe and of human life is not. It is difficult to determine a direct answer to the questions concerning the true meaning of the universe and the true meaning of human life.
If we want to find the definite answer to these questions, we must look in the holy Scriptures. Today there are millions and millions of books in the world. However, there is only one book—the Bible—that clearly explains the meaning of the universe and the meaning of human life. The Scripture verses listed at the beginning of this chapter are the answer to these questions. If we would thoroughly get into these verses, we would see the meaning of the universe as well as the meaning of human life. We would see why the universe exists, why human life exists, and why we were born.
These few passages from the Scriptures tell us that God has a plan. A purpose is a plan, and a plan is a purpose; however, plan may be a better word than purpose. God’s eternal purpose is God’s eternal plan. The word for plan in Greek has the sense of “beforehand.” A purpose, design, or plan exists before the actual event occurs.
In brief, God’s eternal plan is that the universe, including the heavens, the earth, and myriads of items, would be a background or backdrop and that the center of all these things would be man. Man is the center of the universe. God’s plan is to gain a group of people to be His corporate expression. God desires to have an expression for Himself, and He wants this expression through man. God’s desire is not to be expressed through angels or through any other creature but to be expressed through man. Furthermore, He does not want this expression to be through an individual man but through a corporate man. Therefore, God’s eternal plan is to obtain a corporate man to be His expression in the universe. How will He obtain a corporate man as His expression? He will do so by dispensing His life and nature into this corporate man. Hence, He ordained that this man should have the sonship. God planned beforehand and foreordained that we would receive the sonship, that is, that we would be born of Him and become His sons, having His life and nature.
This matter is absolutely unrelated to man’s fall and his acts of sin. If man had not fallen and sinned, and even if Satan, the devil, did not exist in this universe, God would still desire to carry out this matter. This is because God’s purpose, God’s plan, is that the heavens, the earth, and all the myriads of items in the universe would be for the existence of a group of people whom God would regenerate to be His sons and who would have God’s life and nature. Although God is divine and these people are human, God’s divine life and nature would enter into them so that they would possess His life and nature. He would be the Father of these people, and they would be His many sons. Thus, they would receive the sonship not for the enjoyment of abundant blessings but for the expression of God.
God is a great mystery. A mystery is a story. A story that can be clearly explained is not a mystery. However, if there is a story that cannot be clearly explained, it is a mystery. A mystery is a story that cannot be made known or explained in a complete way. God is a mystery because although God is a story in the universe, no one can explain Him or describe Him thoroughly.
God is a mystery, and this mystery is in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God’s mystery, God’s story. Do you want to know God? You must look at Jesus. Do you want to know more concerning what God is all about? You must come and see Jesus, and then you will know. Jesus is God’s story, God’s mystery. God has put all the fullness of His Godhead in Christ. Christ is the embodiment of God, the depository of God, and the expression of God. Christ is not merely God; He is God’s embodiment, depository, and expression. God is hidden, but Christ is expressed. God is inexplicable, but Christ is explained. If you do not understand God, who is a mystery, you only need to come and see Christ. Christ explains God, who is a mystery. Hence, Christ is God expressed, God explained, and God spoken forth.
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word.” The Word is God explained and God coming forth. This is Christ. You cannot find God outside of Christ. God has put all that He is in Christ. Ephesians 1:10 says, “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ.” God’s intention is to head up all things in Christ. Today God is still proceeding with this work of heading up all things in Christ.
When I stand, is it my two legs that support my body, or is it my head that holds up my body? Those with a shallow view will say that the feet and the legs uphold the body, but actually, according to the inner life, it is the head that holds up the body. If someone were to cut off your head, your body would immediately collapse and drop to the floor. Apparently, when I stand, it is my legs that support my body, but actually, it is my head that holds up my body, heading up all the members in oneness. The head heads up and holds up the entire body.
Today the universe is in a state of collapse and disarray because it does not acknowledge Christ as the Head. The United Nations is actually a group of quarreling nations because not one nation acknowledges Christ as the Head. One day all the nations of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Rev. 11:15). At that time Christ will head up all the nations as their Head in order for God to be expressed. We all must see that God needs to obtain a corporate man to be His expression, and He also needs all things to be headed up in Christ as the Head.
This corporate man is the Body, and Christ is the Head. Christ and this corporate man together form a universal, great man. The Head of this universal man is Christ, and the Body is the church. This universal man is God’s full manifestation, God’s full expression. This is God’s eternal plan, God’s eternal purpose.
We need to see that this is our destiny. Our destiny is not to make a fortune, to have a good family, or to have longevity, but to be the members of the corporate man with Christ as the Head to express God. This is the meaning of the universe, and this is the meaning of human life.
