What Is God’s Purpose for Mankind?

God created human beings for an awesome purpose, but few have ever understood! The Bible reveals man’s incredible potential. It shows how God is working out His purpose on earth! Let’s suppose you have just won an all-expense paid trip. Wouldn’t you want to know where you are going, how you will get there, and as much as possible about the trip?

Our present life can be compared to a journey. Yet, how many know-or have ever thought about the possibility-that God has something to say about it? He gives us the itinerary for the trip, and tells us the marvelous things we will do when we get there. But to successfully complete our journey, we must carefully follow the travel plans. Exactly what is your exciting destination, or destiny, the tremendous future God has planned for you?

Man to Have Dominion

King David of ancient Israel thought about God’s purpose for man. And was inspired to write: “…when I consider your heavens… the moon and the stars… what is man, that you art mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:1, 3-4). From several thousand feet up, men look like tiny insignificant ants! Yes, why should God be concerned about puny man?

The connection between man and the stars began to be revealed to David, for he continues: “For you have made him a little lower than the angels…” “You have put all things-on earth-under his feet…(verses 5-8).

David here refers to man’s “dominion” or rule as that over which God gave mankind authority when Adam was created. This includes the earth, the atmosphere, the sea and all animal life (Gen. 1:26-28). These are under man’s jurisdiction at the present time. But in the New Testament scriptures, written much later, a far greater destiny for man is revealed!

The Incredible Human Potential

In the book of Hebrews, we read: “For unto the angels has he [God] not put in subjection the world to come…, (Heb. 2:5). Speaking of the first half of this chapter of “the world to come”—the 1000 year Millennium and after!

Then, beginning with verse 6, is a quotation from verses 4-6 of the eighth Psalm. Again, the writer of the book of Hebrews shows that God has now placed the earth, the earth’s atmosphere, the sea and all living things under man. But something infinitely more profound is to happen to man in the world to come.

This knowledge of God’s purpose for mankind—of man’s incredible, awesome potential! Science, education and religion of this world knows nothing of . Continuing in Hebrews, this human potential is revealed. For in that he [God] put all in subjection under him [man], he left nothing that is not put under him” (Heb. 2:8). nothing is excluded here!

The Greek word translated “all things” also appears in chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, and is there translated “the universe” in the Moffatt translation. That is the intended meaning in Hebrews 2:8. In other words, God is revealing to us that the endless universe, with all its galaxies, its countless stars and planets—everything—will eventually be put under man’s dominion! “But now we see not yet all things [the universe] put under him [man]” (verse 8). Remember, this is speaking of the “world to come”—not today’s world. Man will be put over “all things” after God’s plan for man is complete—after becoming member of the Family of God.

But what do we see today? “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour…” (verse 9). Man, except for Jesus Christ, is not yet crowned with glory and honor. But he will be—yet in the future. Christ already sustains the entire universe by His limitless power (Heb. 1:3). The passage in Hebrews 2 continues to show His superiority over the angels.

Angels are individually created spirit beings. Invisible to human eyes, they are servants of God, ministering to those who are now on a lower level than angels. The Bible reveals that these heirs shall be in God’s ruling Family as Christ now is! (Heb. 1:4-14). What a magnificent heritage God has in store for us. We are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ to inherit the universe! (Rom. 8:14-17)

Original Purpose for Angels

What God creates He maintains. What He creates He creates for a purpose. He intends it to be put to use—a right use that preserves and improves. It is controlled by the government of God. The universe, with its countless galaxies and solar systems containing planets such as our earth, was created perfect, but subject to a beautifying finish. The original “unfinished” creation was produced by God. It was perfect and orderly.

But God intended the angels to finish this part of His creation by adding the final beautifying touches and phases of what was to become the final completed creation! God wanted to share the joy of creative accomplishment with all the angels! This was the potential God originally had in mind for His created angelic beings.

Man’s Potential Far Greater!

Instead of proceeding with God’s plan for them, a third of the angels rebelled against administering the government of God. They finally attempted to replace God and take over the control of the universe. The account of this is revealed in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

God then fully realized that He and the Word, who later became Jesus Christ, were the only beings who would never sin. Only members of the God Family have that kind of righteous character. So how could the final beautification and completion of the limitless universe be accomplished? Only by the addition of many more members to the God Family.

So God created mankind for the purpose of reproducing more members of the God Family. They would help to restore the government of God on earth, born into His Family. Then they would go on to finish God’s creation, carrying God’s government around the universe!

Earth Our Training Ground

God has given this earth to us as a training ground, and this life as the time for our training. Adam would have received God’s Spirit. He would have begun the process of spiritual character growth, and ultimately would have been born into God’s Family. He would have been given the opportunity to finish the creation of the earth and the rest of the universe. But Adam never began his training program.

So Christ, the second Adam (I Cor. 15:45, 47), came to earth about 4,000 years later to qualify to replace Satan and was successful! He qualified to restore God’s government on earth, and to be entrusted with the responsibility of being in charge of finishing the creation of the universe.

Christ also became the leader (Heb. 2:10). He is now at God’s throne in heaven as our High Priest. He is helping us become His assistants. With Christ’s help through His Spirit, the members of God’s Church are growing in godly character through obedience to God’s Law during this life, which is their training period. Our incredible potential is to become members in God’s ruling Family!

Yes, God created man with a far greater potential than the angels, for no angel can ever become a born Son of God. God is now in the process of reproducing Himself through mankind. He is now producing Sons of God who can be trusted to never rebel against God’s government as Lucifer did, but will always obey their spiritual Father.

God Is a Family

The Bible reveals that we were born for a tremendous purpose. To fully understand God’s purpose for mankind, let’s begin in the first chapter of Genesis.

1. What do the very first words of the Bible tell us about God? Gen. 1:1. Does the Bible clearly indicate that there is more than one God Being? Verse 26. (Notice the plural pronouns “us” and “our” referring to God in Genesis 1:26.)

COMMENT: The original Hebrew word translated “God” in Genesis 1:1 and throughout the account of creation is Elohim. It is a noun, plural in form, meaning more than one—like the words church, family, or kingdom. Just as there is the animal kingdom and the human kingdom or family, Genesis 1 shows that there is also a God Kingdom or Family! There is one God, but God is a Family composed of more than one member. Elohim, which means “Mighty Ones,” is the name of the God Family.

2. How many Beings presently compose the God Family? John 1:1-2. Was it the “Word” who created all things? Verse 3. What did the Word later become? Verse 14. Who, then, is the Word? Eph. 3:9; Heb. 1:2. And who is the other member of the God Family? I Cor. 8:6.

COMMENT: John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1 take us back to the same time in prehistory—to the original creation of the universe. Both verses reveal that the two supreme Beings composing the God Family created all things.

The Greek word translated into English as “Word” in John 1:1 is Logos. It means “spokesman” or “one who speaks.” It was actually the Logos—the Spokesman, the Word of the God Family—who “spoke, and it [the creation] was done”(Ps. 33:6-9; 104:30). And so everything was created and made by the Being of the God Family who later became the human Jesus Christ.

3. Is God the Father of Jesus Christ? John 1:14, 18, 34.

COMMENT: Nearly 2,000 years ago, at the prehistoric time of John 1:1, the Word was not yet the Son of God. He became God’s Son later, through being begotten by God and born as a human being, Jesus became the Son of God. He called the great Supreme Personage who is head of the God Family “Father.” Father is a family title—that of the head of the family! A father-and-son relationship is a family relationship.

God to Expand His Family

There are only two members in the God Family or Kingdom at the present time—God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. But your Bible reveals that God is going to expand His universe-ruling Family. And you can become a member of that eternal spirit-composed Family! See how this marvelous truth unfolds in your Bible.

1. After whose “image” and “likeness” was man created? Gen. 1:26-27; Jas. 3:9, last part.

COMMENT: In God’s pattern for all life, kind reproduces like kind. Just as each plant or animal reproduces after its own kind, so humans reproduce humans. But unlike any of the animals, man was created in God’s own “image” and “likeness.” God made man like Himself—same form and shape. The astounding truth is that God’s purpose is to create mankind after the God kind!

Simply stated, God is reproducing Himself. All human beings have the awesome potential of becoming God’s literal children—members of God’s own Family!

2. Does God plainly state that it is His purpose to increase His Family by bringing many Sons into it? Heb. 2:9-11; Rev. 21:7.

COMMENT: Most scriptures dealing with the spiritual children of God refer to them in the masculine gender. This is because God is referred to in the Bible in the masculine gender. However, we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:26-28), and shall be neither male nor female when born of God (Matt. 22:30).

3. Are those who are Spirit-begotten—true Christians—already the children of God and heirs of the God Family? 1John 3:1-2; Rom. 8:16-17.

COMMENT:If we have God’s Spirit we are now the begotten but not yet born children of God. We will be born into God’s Family at the return of Jesus Christ. For this reason, God ordained the family relationship for human beings as a part of their training prior to their spiritual birth into God’s Family. No other beings—whether angel or animal—have this relationship.

God instituted the human FAMILY to be a physical type of His own Family. He wanted humans to learn certain vital lessons that this relationship teaches (read Ephesians 5:21-33).

4. Are Spirit-begotten Christians also the affianced Bride of Christ? Eph. 5:25-27; II Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7-9.

COMMENT: The family relationship demands the husband-and-wife relationship. And that demands marriage, mutual love and faithfulness to the matrimonial bond. The Church of God is composed of the begotten children of God. And the Church, as a body, is the affianced Bride of Christ—to marry Christ at His Second Coming, when the first resurrection occurs.

The Church’s coming marriage to Christ is additional evidence that the Kingdom of God is a Family—with Father, Son and Wife—and that God is to expand His Family! Notice further:

5. Will the humans still alive at Christ’s coming be ruled and taught by Christ and the Church of God then already made spirit beings— who will have become the collective wife of Christ? Dan. 7:18, 27; Rev. 2:26-27; 5:10; 20:6.

COMMENT: The humans on earth will be taught by those already made Spirit Beings. They will then receive God’s Spirit. And, after a life of growing in God’s character, they shall be born into the Family of God.

The marriage of the Church to Christ will result in untold millions of Spirit-born members of God’s Family—during the thousand-year reign of Christ and those made Spirit. Man, and man only, of all life forms can be born into the God Family—the Kingdom of God. Since humans were put on earth for the very purpose of being made members of the God Family. This God-plane family relationship is for humans—and for humans only.

What a wonderful privilege to be given the family relationship—that we may be prepared for Family status in the Kingdom of God for ever!

Christ the Firstborn Son

1. Is Jesus Christ actually the firstborn of MANY Sons of God? Rom. 8:29; Acts 26:23; Col. 1:18. When will the other Sons of God be born into His Family? I Cor. 15:22-23.

COMMENT: Christ is the only Son of God who has already been resurrection from the dead. Other Sons are now only Spirit-begotten. They will be born again (John 3:3-8) be Made Spirit in the first resurrection at Christ’s coming to rule the earth.

2. Is Christ, as the firstborn Son of God, actually the captain or forerunner—the leader. Heb. 2:9-10. Has He already inherited all power in God’s ruling Family? Verse 9.

3. What made it possible for Christ to be resurrected as the firstborn Son of God? Rom. 8:11; Eph. 1:19-20. Will we become members of God’s Family if we have God’s Spirit dwelling in us at the time of Christ’s return. Also read 1Corinthians 15:49-53.

COMMENT: Eventually, God wants thousands of millions to be born into His Family, governed by His government, to complete the other planets of our solar system, our own Milky Way galaxy and the countless other galaxies of the vast, limitless universe!

God’s Begotten Children Now Growing Spiritually

Now is not yet the time for the birth of the children of God. Now is the time of their spiritual growth prior to becoming members of the God Family. And the earth is the place of their spiritual growth—the “training ground” for entering the Kingdom of God. The universe is not the area of training to become like God—it is the reward given to us only after we have successfully completed our training here on earth!

1. Does the Bible show that God is in the process of forming and molding His begotten sons as a potter works with clay? Isa. 64:8. During his time of training did Job realize that God was working with him in a special way? Job 14:14-15.

COMMENT: Notice the latter part of verse 15: “You will have a desire to the work of your hands.” The “work” was Job. Job knew he was a piece of God’s workmanship in the hands of the Master Potter. Job was in the process of developing the very character of God during his lifetime of spiritual training.

2. What did God say before creating the first humans that further reveals what He intends to accomplish in man? Gen. 1:26.

COMMENT: Notice again the wording in Genesis 1:26: “Let us make man in our image.” The Hebrew word for “image” indicates far more than merely the outward appearance of God. It also refers to mind and character. God intends for man, to whom He gave the gift of a thinking, reasoning mind, to develop the mind and character of God!

The attributes of human mind and character truly make man God’s unique physical creation. God has shared some of His own qualities with human beings and He intends that we develop His character during this life.

3. Did the Apostle Paul know that Spirit-begotten children of God are being fashioned by God for a specific purpose? Eph. 2:10.

COMMENT: Paul is not speaking of Adam’s creation nearly 6,000 years ago. He is speaking of true Christians, who are now being created unto good works. We are God’s “workmanship”—the Creator is still creating us. He is molding, fashioning, changing and transforming us into His own noble, righteous, holy, spiritual character!

This process begins in the mind. It is a change of mind. The receiving of Gods Spirit-His way of thinking-is a renewing of the mind. Gradually, through learning to live by “every word of God,” being continually corrected by His Word, keeping close to God in daily prayer, and being led by God’s Spirit, the NEW MAN—with spiritual character—is being created in God’s spiritual “image.”

If, during this life of spiritual training, our thinking and our ways are changed until we build godly character, conformed to His will, then that clay model, worked over, and shaped as God would have it, can finally be turned into the finished spiritual creation when entering God’s Family.

4. Did Paul refer to the completion of his training? II Tim. 4:7.

COMMENT: Paul successfully finished his spiritual training. Today, the first 6,000 years of human history are about over. Soon the time will come when Paul and others will be born into the spiritual God Family.

5. After completing the course of our training, what happens next? I Cor. 15:47-53. When will our change into spirit composition occur? Verse 52; I Thess. 4:16-17.

COMMENT: Those who are ready will enter the Family of God. No longer will they be bound to the earth.

6. What are those who look forward to becoming Sons of God doing now? I John 3:1-3. Notice especially verse 3.

COMMENT: At the resurrection, God will provide the proper spirit body for space travel that will be necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the universe-ruling Family of God. Meanwhile, those God is now training are allowing Him to work with them in first perfecting their character. Now is the time to be striving to become pure in character (Matt. 5:48). Now is the time of our training, preparing to inherit the entire universe with Jesus Christ our elder brother!

God’s Purpose Proceeding as Planned

Anticipating the probability of Adam refusing His Spirit, God had designed a fail-safe 7,000-year Master Plan for working out His purpose in man here on earth. During the first 6,000 years, He gave man what Adam had, in effect, demanded for the human race—to go its own way, cut off from God, doing its own thing, relying on self only. The results of man’s way, as influenced by Satan have been catastrophic!

Let’s review a few basic scriptures proving that God’s plan for man is on schedule.

1. Has God allowed Satan to deceive the whole world? Rev. 12:9. Is Satan in reality the god of this world? II Cor. 4:4.

COMMENT: So man began the 6,000 years of his sentence until now, Satan has successfully influenced human beings into forming their own governments, religions, societies and civilization based on his way of “get” instead of God’s way of “give.”

2. During this time in which man has been cut off from God can just anyone come to the truth? John 6:44, 65.

COMMENT: Except when God the Father does intervene by specially calling one to a life of training for His Kingdom. All are still cut off through breaking God’s law, except for the few God calls.

God’s purpose was to to prove by 6,000 years of human experience that Satan’s “get” way, is the cause of untold suffering, pain and death—just the opposite of what man really wants.

About 4,000 years after Adam, God, as previously planned (Rev. 13:8), sent Jesus Christ into the world to rescue man.

3. Jesus also was a Messenger sent from God. What message of hope and good news did He bring to mankind? Mark 1:14-15; John 3:3-8.

COMMENT: Jesus foretold the time when all mankind will no longer be cut off from God and ruled by Satan. He announced that the government of God would be restored on earth by the Kingdom of God, composed of the Spirit-born members of God’s Family.

Jesus proclaimed the good news that those called by God may become God’s own children, ultimately to be changed from material to spirit composition, becoming the members of God’s ruling Family. Of the many thousands who heard Jesus’ message, only about 120 were called as His disciples (Acts 1:15). They were chosen by God the Father to be the first members of His New Testament Church. Thousands more were added to the Church by God.

4. Did God long ago prophesy today’s knowledge explosion? Dan. 12:4.

COMMENT: After almost 6,000 years of human history, we find awesome material progress in the world. Nearly all modern technology and industry has been developed in the past 200 years, and far more than half of all the world’s technological, scientific and industrial development occurred in the 20th and early 21st centuries!

The machine age, the nuclear age and the space age have followed in rapid succession. The automobile, airplane, radio, television and many laborsaving devices have all been invented in very recent times.

Men have also designed and produced incredible computers, and even sent astronauts to the moon and back. And just a few decades ago, men developed the weapons of mass destruction that could erase all human life on this planet, were it not for God who has promised to intervene and prevent the annihilation of humanity!

Almost 6,000 years of human history have proved that man’s mind, without God’s Spirit, is confined to understanding and working with the physical world. Human systems of education have become wholly materialistic, and most of man’s motives stem from the attitude of “get.” He does not know how to live in harmony and peace with his neighbor, but is capable of going to the moon and back! The evils and problems are the result of Adam – the first man’s- decision.

For nearly 6,000 years, God’s purpose for man has proceeded just as He had planned from the beginning. Soon, God’s Spirit will be available to all humanity after Christ comes to assumes the rulership over all nations which He qualified for nearly 2,000 years ago.

We are now living in the last generations of the 6,000-year period in which man was to be cut off from God. We are now nearing the time when God’s purpose for those He has called prior to Jesus’ Second Coming will become reality. They shall then be born into His Family.

What We Will Be Like When Born of God

Those who are called by God, who receive His Spirit and who grow and overcome spiritually, will enter God’s Family when Christ returns. But what will it be like as a member of God’s Family? What characteristics and abilities will we possess? Let’s have a preview of what it will be like.

1. What must take place to enter God’s Family? John 3:3-8. will we be like Him? Rom. 8:29; I John 3:1-2.

COMMENT: To be “conformed to the image” of Jesus Christ means to become like Him, to become a member of the Family of God! The Bible reveals that we are to become like the members of the God Family. We in a lesser position will be like God the Father and our elder brother Jesus Christ.

2. When will the spiritual birth take place? I Cor. 15:52. When will the resurrection occur? I Thess. 4:15-17. Will they be changed to spirit at that time? I Cor. 15:42-49; Phil. 3:20-21.

COMMENT: When Jesus Christ returns to earth, the Spirit-begotten children of God who have died through the ages will be resurrected to spirit life by God, and those still alive will be instantly changed into spirit beings. And God’s own offspring will then have eternal life within themselves like Jesus Christ their elder brother!

3. To what did Jesus compare one who is born of God’s Spirit? John 3:8.

COMMENT: The effects of the wind are easily discernible, but the wind itself cannot be seen. When you are born of the Spirit of God, you will be invisible to human eyes, unless you choose to be seen.

4. After His resurrection, was Jesus, with His spirit-composed body, able to suddenly appear and disappear? Luke 24:36-37, 31. Was He able to pass through walls? John 20:19, 26. Can one composed of spirit appear as human when necessary? Luke 24:38-40. Can he even eat if he so desires? Verses 41-43.

5. Are spirit bodies capable of traveling through space at incredible speed—undoubtedly faster than light? Compare John 20:17, 19-20 with Matthew 28:9.

COMMENT: Earlier on the day after His resurrection from the dead, Christ would not let one of His disciples touch Him because He had not yet ascended to His Father’s throne in heaven. But later that same day, Christ allowed His disciples to touch Him. This clearly shows that Christ traveled to heaven and returned to earth on the same day!

“Truth is stranger than fiction.” The exciting truth about your awesome potential, as revealed in the Bible, is better than any science fiction thriller you could ever read or see!

6. Once a person has been changed into spirit, can he ever die? Luke 20:35-36. Does the God Family live forever? Ps. 90:2; 102:25-27.

COMMENT: Both members of the God Family have always existed, though our human minds cannot understand how this is possible. Nevertheless, God tells us that we, like God and Christ, will live forever once we are born into the ruling Family of God!

7. Was Jesus “glorified” after His resurrection? John 17:5; Heb. 2:9. How did Christ’s spirit body appear in a vision to the Apostle John? Rev. 1:13-16.

COMMENT: To be “glorified” means to be given great power and brightness. Before Christ became a human being, He had a spirit body like His Father’s. After His resurrection, He was restored to the same power. Christ’s powerful spirit body radiates light as bright as the sun!

8. Will God also ‘glorify’ all those who become members of His Family by giving them this same great power ? Rom. 8:17; Col. 3:4; Matt. 13:43. Did Jesus give three of His disciples a fleeting glimpse in a vision of this future condition? Matt. 17:1-2, 9. What other scripture gives us an idea of the future state of those who shall be born of God at the resurrection? Dan. 12:2-3.

COMMENT: But this is only a part of what God has in store for members of His Family. Let’s notice other wonderful characteristics they, will possess.

9. The most important attribute of God the Father and Christ, the firstborn Son of God and our elder brother, is their character. What are some of the aspects of God’s character that God’s children will possess? Gal. 5:22-23; II Tim. 1:7.

COMMENT: God possesses holy, righteous character. And He intends that we possess the same love, patience, mercy, faith, kindness, gentleness, meekness, self-restraint and right self-direction that He has. Character also involves knowledge, wisdom, purpose and ability.

It is this character that they will possess in full measure when born into His Family. In the meantime, God wants us to be developing, with the help of His Spirit, these aspects of His character during our lives.

10. How does the Bible define the nature and character of God? I John 4:8. What is the love of God? I John 5:2-3. Is God’s love (“charity” in the King James Version) the greatest single aspect of His character? I Cor. 13:1-13. Why? I John 4:16.

COMMENT: God’s character can be summed up in one word—Love. God’s character travels in the direction of His Law, the way of Love. It is the way of giving, serving, helping, of outgoing concern for others. God has that character!

God has outgoing concern for all of humanity. He gave His only Son to reconcile us to Him, and He will give us the ability to live forever. Those born into the Family of God, will possess the love of God perfectly. And through that love, they will administer God’s government on earth, and throughout the universe forever.

11. Will the God Family ever break God’s Law? I John 3:9. Will they be perfect as the Father and Christ are now? Matt. 5:48. Will that perfect, holy and righteous character ever change? Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8.

COMMENT: The character of both God the Father and Christ the Son is that of spiritual holiness, righteousness and absolute perfection. That character, as we have just seen, can be summed up in the one word “love,” defined as an out-flowing, loving concern for others. It is the way of giving, serving, helping, sharing—not the way of “get.”

It is the way without coveting, lust and greed, vanity and selfishness, competition, strife, violence and destruction, envy and jealousy, resentment and bitterness—all characteristics of Satan’s nature.

God’s nature is the way of peace, justice, mercy and happiness radiating outward toward those He has created. He is the embodiment of perfect, righteous character! Since God possesses perfect character, He has determined that He will not go contrary to the perfect, holy, spiritual Law He set in living, active, motion to cause and produce all good.

The character of both God the Father and Christ the Son, which one-third of the angels failed to copy and develop, is the way of God’s Law. And, as we have already learned, He is now in the process of creating this same godly character in Spirit-begotten Christians as they, by choice and with the help of God’s Spirit, live His way of life!

When we are finally born of God—when we are given a spirit body, we will begin a never-ending life in the universe-ruling Family of God!

A Never-ending Future!

The Kingdom of God is the ruling Family of God. And those who become a part of that Family are destined to rule the earth with Jesus Christ for 1,000 years. Thousands of millions will learn to live God’s way and be born into His ruling Family during this period. Then, after the Millennium, the billions who died before Christ’s Second Coming without having had an opportunity to know and understand God’s way will be raised in a physical resurrection. They will be given the opportunity to become Sons of God during this period (Rev. 20:11-12), as we learned.

These additional billions will be added to God’s Family at the conclusion of God’s plan for physical mankind. It has been estimated that 40 billion people have lived until now. It would be difficult to accurately estimate the number of people who will yet enter God’s Kingdom during the Millennium and Great White Throne Judgment periods. There no doubt will be multiple billions.

Since God is busy working, creating, and sustaining what He has created (John 5:17), He knows His Family would not be happy unless they, too, are working and producing. And so what could keep this incredibly huge Family of God busy for all eternity?

1. Just how great is the authority Jesus Christ has already inherited? Heb. 1:1-2; Matt. 28:18; I Cor. 15:27-28. Will those who are born into God’s Family share in that inheritance as co-owners and co-rulers with Christ? Rom. 8:16-17; Rev. 21:7. And will God’s government continue to expand for all eternity? Isa. 9:6-7; Rev. 22:5.

COMMENT: The Moffatt translation correctly renders “all things” in Hebrews 1:2 as “the universe.” Incredible as it may sound, your ultimate potential and the potential of every human being is co-rulership of the universe with Jesus Christ and God the Father! But is there really enough “out there” for the estimated billions to rule?

The Encyclopedia Britannica estimates that there are more than 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10 sextillion) stars in the universe. This figure is virtually impossible to comprehend. That means each member of God’s Family would be responsible for maintaining and developing billions of stars, and their attendant planets!

Our awesome potential is to be born into the ruling Family of God. Together, all will ultimately be given jurisdiction over the entire universe!

2. Is the whole creation characterized as anxiously awaiting the birth of the Sons of God? Rom. 8:19-23.“Creature” should be translated “creation,” as it is in more translations of the Bible.

COMMENT: Paul here personifies the whole creation of God, including the stars and planets. He shows that the whole universe is waiting for the appearing of the Sons of God. That is because these billions of beings, governed by God’s government, will restore from the condition of decay, “corruption” in Romans 8:21 of the King James Version, that resulted from Lucifer’s rebellion, and complete the creation of, not only the other planets of our solar system now in waste and decay, but also the rest of our galaxy and countless other galaxies in the universe.

What else are we going to do? God, first of all, is Creator. Those who become the Sons of God will also be creators! The Scriptures indicate we shall give LIFE to billions of dead planets, as life has been given to this earth. We shall create, as the Father directs and instructs. Planets will be turned into beautiful, productive, life-sustaining worlds. We shall continue to create and rule throughout all eternity!

Revelation 21 and 22 show that there will then be no pain, suffering or evil, because all will have learned to choose God’s way, which leads to all that is good. It will be an endless life of accomplishment, constantly looking forward in anticipation to new creative projects, as well as looking back with happiness over what shall have already been accomplished. Having a full part in the family life as well as the work of God.

We shall never grow tired or weary. We will always be alive, full of energy and strength.This is the incredible potential of every human being! Are you in the process of preparing to fulfill God’s purpose for your life?

Summary, A. C. Study. Free Library Copy

Return to Library

In accordance with Sec 107 of Chapter 1 of Title 17 of US Copyright Law, this material is distributed without charge or other commercial interest for the purposes of comment, teaching, scholarship and review.

U.S. British Future, P.O. Box 4877, Oceanside, Ca. 92052. U.S.A.