As God created the existence we understand, He created us to live in that reality. It was the state of being which God intended for us, and He dwelt with us in the Garden of Eden, conversing, and enjoying the love and relationship He had with His creation. We enjoyed the intimacy and joy of being with our God. A tree of life was planted in the garden, and with it, man could live forever in this existence, in a paradise intended for him. Unfortunately, sin entered the world.
Genesis 3:22 says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like on of Us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’”
Scholars can only speculate as to why God never finishes the sentence in that the result is too horrible to name: eternal damnation. So, God removed the tree of life so that death would enter the world allowing for the redemption of man’s soul back to God through Jesus.
Paul explains it this way, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6).
The plan of salvation was formed in the mind of God, from start to finish, and has been executed without flaw except for one final component. It is natural and normal to be interested in knowing what God knows. The desire of which was enough to lure Eve into disobeying the only commandment she had been given. The desire to know was enough to make angels long to understand what God had in store for the salvation of man: “It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look” (1 Peter 1:12).
For every other aspect of the plan of salvation, God has given us prophecy to prepare. Once the events take place which fulfill the prophecy, the meaning is made clear, but until that moment is veiled, but the prophecy still exists to aid in our preparation for that day. The final moment of man in this existence is coming; Christ has told us, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the mater of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42-44).
Jesus acknowledges our very human tendency to procrastinate. I know that when I have company coming, my house is cleaned the most in the last ten minutes before they arrive regardless of whether I have known what time they will arrive or not. Jesus uses the analogy of a thief in the night to describe His coming. You never know, so you have two options: to be ready always, or to allow harm to come to you.
Many may try to predict when the Lord will be coming back, but it is all futile. We have the prophecy, and none know, even Christ Himself, at what moment that will happen, but when it does all will know. In that day: “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Romans 14:11, cp. Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:9-11).
As we go through life, trying to predict the future is impossible. We have no insight into what will come. The Bible reveals nothing about the day or hour, despite what many will claim. Instead, as Jesus tells us, we should always be ready. To prepare for the test, one might sleep less, believing that nothing else matters at that moment. Every mind will be engaged with either joy with entering the rest of heaven, or sorrow for having not followed God.
Lance Byers