By Zachary Teasley
This year we are focusing on a series of lessons during our Sunday Morning and Evening Worship Services and Sunday Morning Adult Bible Class to help us to better understand and acknowledge God’s Divine Structure or plan for the redemption of mankind. All christians in the Lord’s church, in whom Christ died for, must be able to understand and should be able to explain to others the “how and the why” they are members of God’s Spiritual Kingdom, His Church, the pillar and ground of truth, 1st Timothy 3:14-15, “These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” Also 1st Peter 3:15 tells us as christians that we must be able to effectively handle and use God’s word to show and teach other lost souls why we have the faith and the hope in us, for it says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” Each individual christian must be equipped with the truth (God’s word), to contend and defend God’s Divine Plan as fellow saints in His kingdom, Jude 3 echoes this point for it says, “Beloved while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” It is through God’s divine plan revealed that we now have the opportunity to obtain eternal salvation for the saving of our souls. This great mystery of the gospel and the spiritual blessings in God’s kingdom which was before secret and hidden in the mind of God has now been revealed through the divine revelation of the Holy Spirit to the prophets and apostles who wrote it down for our reading and guidance. To enlighten us and to aid our understanding of this point using scripture, we will provide a section of scripture from Ephesians 3:1-12, “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles. If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already, by which when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” In the unveiling of God’s Plan of Redemption, we must acknowledge that God indeed has a divine pattern or structure that must be followed because He is Jehovah God and we must follow His conditions for obedience. If we attempt to make any alterations to His plan in the form of omissions, additions, or subtractions, He will not accept these false efforts. Galatians 1:6-8, warns us, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Furthermore, as the subject of this article indicates, we must respect and acknowledge God and His divine plan because it came from Heaven above and that the Headquarters of the Church of Christ, whom Christ died for is in Heaven where Jesus Christ sits on the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.” Contrary to popular belief, the origin of the Body of Christ is not located on the earth at a specific physical location, but the kingdom originated in Heaven. God’s eternal kingdom (the church) is not an earthly kingdom composed of iron, wood, brick, and mortar but is a spiritual kingdom composed of people who have obeyed the gospel calling and who have been saved and added to God’s spiritual kingdom, Acts 2:47 confirms this, “Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Also, for further clarity, we go to 1st Corinthians 12:12-13, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many are one body, so also is Christ, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” The Lord God has expressed His grace upon us and has been very mindful of mankind and what a glory and a blessing it is that God loved us first even before He created the earth and us as humanity. God determined or purposed in His heart to create man and He had also created a plan for the redemption of mankind through the blood of Jesus Christ. King David acknowledges God as the origin of life and the blessings that we enjoy, for he states in Psalms 8:4-6, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” Lastly, I want to remind you that God created us and has dominion over what will happen to our souls after we die so we must acknowledge His divine structure or pattern for salvation and entrance into His kingdom, see Jeremiah 10:23