God and Purpose

The word translated "God" in the Greek Scripture is from the root term the (literally "place"), and the suffix -os makes it a noun. Hence, "theos" (= the + os), which literally means "placer." When used as a term referring to the Creator it describes God as the One Who placed all and everything in their respective position according to the role that each would play in the entire scheme of things according to His will.

"Worthy art Thou, O Lord, our Lord and God [Theos, Placer], To get glory and honor and power; For Thou dost create all, And because of Thy will they were, and are created." (Rev.4:11, CV)

The supremacy of God's will and His absolute independence to do as He pleases, in creation, dominate and motivate the words and act of worship and adoration of the celestial beings described in the last quoted verse of Scripture.

God is the Creator of all. All is out of Him, as the Source. All is also through Him, as the Sustainer and Channel. And all is ultimately for Him, as the Goal (cf. Rom.11:36).

There is no other Creator out of Whom all originates and for Whom all finds their consummation. He alone is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, The Origin and the Consummation. It is therefore absolutely wrong and blasphemous to think that all originates from God, but only a few find their way back to Him, while all the rest (the greater majority) ends up with Satan (the adversary). Such a scenario, as commonly depicted by traditional religion, makes God the Origin of all, but a consummation to only few, for Satan is made a consummation also to the majority of unbelievers, thereby glorifying Satan as at least triumphant in the end in claiming the majority of creation.

The traditional point of view is therefore not only unscriptural but also blasphemous because it gives Satan a share in the glory that the Sacred Scripture reveals as ALL belonging to the supreme Deity alone. (cf. Is.48:11)

No, all that comes from Him is the same all that is being conciliated back to God through the cross of Christ. "Consequently, then, as it was through one offense for all mankind for condemnation, thus also it is through one just award for all mankind for life's justifying. For even as, through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners, thus also, through the obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted just." (Rom.5:18-19, CV)

All mankind came to condemnation, not through their works, but through the one offense of Adam. The same race without exception - all mankind - will come to life's justifying, and that not through merit of their own, but through one just award or free gift of righteousness that comes from Christ.

"...Who [the Son] is the image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature, for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him...for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens." (Col.1:15-16, 20)

God alone is the Creator of all - in, through, and for Christ. There is no other Creator of the entire universe but the Supreme God alone. This includes the creation of evil itself. He is also the Creator of evil (cf. Isaiah 45:7). But this does NOT mean that God sins. A clear distinction between "evil" and "sin" must be understood. "Sin" basically in the Scripture means "missing the mark," "a failure to reach the ideal," "a mistake." God cannot in any way fail, or make a mistake, or miss the mark as, for example, in attaining His goal, and therefore, He cannot sin. He is perfect, and everything He does is perfect.

But God is the Creator of evil. And uses it as a foil to reveal His infinite goodness. He makes evil to serve His holy purpose for the ultimate good of all and for His laud and glory.

The belief in two creators (a god of good and a god of evil), as in Dualism, is a pigment of human imagination inspired by the adversary and nowhere taught in the divinely inspired Scriptures.

All that God originates in and through His Son will all be eventually reconciled to God through the blood of His Son's cross. No one will be left out. All is for the Son Whom God appoints as the enjoyer of the allotment of all (Heb.1:2). God's victory will be absolute, and not just partial. For to have a partial victory, from the perspective of God's perfect purpose, is to have no victory at all. Partial victory is failure. No, God as the absolute Creator and Disposer of all will have none of a lopsided, second rate, consolation prize! He will only be satisfied with absolute victory! God will become All in all!

Satan will have no allotment in God's kingdom. He has no absolute claim on any creature. He is also a creature like any other creatures (Is.54:16). He is a god of this eon only (2 Cor.4:4; Rev.13:4; 2 Thes.2:4, 9), and that by God's temporary appointment (cf. Luke 4:6; Rev.12:12). Satan is no god of the past or the future eons. He will be arrested and incarcerated in the submerged chaos (abyss) during the future millenial eon , and will lose his present subjectorhood (Rev.20:1-3). He will end up, to be tormented with the wild beast and the false prophet, in the lake of fire, for the eons of the eons (Rev.20:10).

The one living and true God is the eonian God (that is, God of all the eons), and He is also the King of the eons (Rom.16:26; 1 Tim.1:16). God will be All, not just in some, as most religionists suppose, but in all. (cf. 1 Cor.15:28)

The Purpose of the Eons

In the King James (Authorized) Version we read the following: "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of world [lit. the eons] hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:" (Eph.3:8-11)

The KJV's handling of the English is majestic and nice to the ear, but we should not be after ear tickling but for the truth of God. The first fact is that the words translated "world" and "eternal" are identical in the original Greek language. The term behind both is the plural noun TON AIONON, literally meaning, "the eons" or ages (in the Genetive or "of" case).

Paul, in the Ephesian 3 passage, summarizes his prison ministry as having the goal of bringing the good news of the untraceable riches of Christ to the nations, and to enlighten all as to the administration of the secret. He describes the secret as a truth that has been concealed from the eons in God.

The secret is revealed in Eph.3:6-7 as follows: "in spirit the nations are to be joint enjoyers of an allotment, and a joint body, and joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, through the evangel of which I became the dispenser..." (CV)

This is an equality between elect Gentiles with the elect Jews that became true in spirit on the basis of absolute grace, without regards to the previous economical advantage of the nation of Israel in flesh. This dealing of God, in the present administration of grace, with the previously outcast Gentiles, who now form the ecclesia with the elect Jews, is becoming an object lesson to the principalities and powers (lit. sovereignties and authorities) among the celestials for these heavenly beings to learn the multifarious wisdom of God.

All creation - in the heavens and on earth - are being prepared and led for that climactic moment when God will "have an administration of the complement of the eras, to head up all in the Christ - both that in the heavens and that on the earth" (Eph.1:10). This reveals the claiming back of Christ's Headship over the entire universe of God's creation when all will unitedly be reconciled to God through the blood of His Son's cross (Col.1:20).

Nothing less but a reconciled universe on the solid basis of the cross can satisfy the loving heart of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The word "purpose" in Greek is prothesis ("pro," before + "the," place). The suffix -sis indicates process or action. The word prothesis literally means before-placing. It refers to the placing of the ultimate result before the mind of a subject. (cf. Keyword Concordance)

Here in Ephesians 1:9-10 and 3:11, it describes God, the supreme Placer (and Disposer), as placing before His omniscient mind, by predetermination, even before eonian times (2 Tim.1:9), what will be the ultimate outcome of His entire operation - from alpha to omega, from beginning to consummation, from creation to reconciliation.

Nothing is left to chance or random happening. Every minutest detail takes place "according to the purpose of the One Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will" (Eph.1:11).

By way of application, this means that you and I are here for a purpose, that is, for HIS PURPOSE, "that we should be for the laud of HIS GLORY." You are not a product of a mindless chance or accident. God created you for Himself, for His purpose, and for His glory.

This means that your life has real meaning and worth. But you'll find it only in God, in His word, in His purpose in Christ Jesus. BELIEVE GOD, for it is only in believing Him that you will realize that HIS PURPOSE is what gives you meaning. The enigma and confusion give place to true assurance and peace when we believe that He indeed is our God Who purposed and operates all for our ultimate good and for the laud of His glory.

Click here for the article Human Failure: God's Triumph for more light on this subject.