God’s Vision for Man
By Pastor Marvin Byers
There are some questions that should never be asked. For example, Solomon wrote,
“Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this”.
— Ecclesiastes 7:10
Many scholars of God’s world have asked: “As God knew the future before creating man, knowing that he would fall in the vilest sins and every imaginable abomination, why did he proceed and create him?” This is a question that should never be asked.
The question that we should ask is: “As God knew the future since before creating man, even knowing that he would fall in the vilest sins and every imaginable abomination, and knowing that the only solution to man’s fall would be to die in his place, why did He proceed and create him?” We find the answer to that question throughout the entire Bible. The answer is a single word: Love!
God so loved the world that He was willing to give Himself to redeem it. He so loved it that He was willing to create man, knowing that the salvation of His creature would cost Him His own life. This is what the Creator affirmed when He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
When referring to the sufferings of Christ on the cross, Isaiah wrote, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). Before the Savior created this world, He could foresee, not only his own affliction, but also, “the travail of his soul.”
Because of the love for His eternal bride, the Church, He made the decision of going to the cross from before the foundation of this world, knowing very well what it would cost Him. Because of His love for man, the Creator made the decision to be the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).
From the beginning, Christ had a vision of the world. He could see the fruit of His affliction and found satisfaction in what He saw. The fruit of the work on the cross will be an innumerable company of saints who will live for ever in the presence of the King, in an intimate love relationship that surpasses human understanding.
Of course, some men will refuse to be part of the Lord’s plan and vision for humanity. They reject the free gift of salvation from the Lord and His work of infinite love obtained on the cross by all men.
Despite the eternally tragic decision of human beings against their Creator, they continue to be created beings and, as such, the Creator’s property. God will even use them for something, because He uses each person He has created. Nevertheless, as Paul says, in every house there are vessels unto honor and vessels unto dishonor (2 Timothy 2:20).
Although some vessels of a house bring joy, like fine china, other utensils are used to clean the house, and even to hold trash. The latter are so dishonorable that we often avoid even touching them.
Whether for good or for evil, God will use every human being. The Bible says that even Pharaoh was used by God to reveal His power and judgment, and so that His name would be proclaimed through all the earth (Romans 9:17). Even atheists who deny God will one day understand that they were used by their Creator as vessels unto dishonor.
Fortunately, in the beginning, God did not repent of creating man when He foresaw that many men would choose sin and eternal condemnation.
His love and His vision of harvesting a godly people was simply too great to make the eventual appearance of “weeds” in his field a valid reason to not create the righteous! What laborer will refrain from sowing his field, simply to avoid dealing with weeds?
The vision and plan of Christ for the harvest includes the Body of Christ collectively, but also includes each individual who belongs to that Body. He has a specific plan for each one individually. Christ’s plan includes each believer in an individual way. He has a perfect and glorious plan for each life.
God told Moses, “Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock” (Exodus 33:21). If someone is standing upon the rock, which is Christ, then there is also a place reserved by Him. His heart of love for each individual grain of wheat in His harvest is found in Amos 9:9: “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”
Each individual believer is compared, not only to wheat, but is also called a “lively stone” (1 Peter 2:5). Now, not all stones are used in the same way or in the same place in a building. Some are visible and other are not. Some are more important than the others.
In the description that the Lord makes of judgment in Luke 19:12–27, one servant is placed over ten cities, while another is placed over five cities. Speaking of how we shall be in the resurrection, Paul explains, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.” (1 Corinthians 15:41). In the context of the resurrection, Daniel 12:2–3 compares the saints of the Lord to stars. Not all saints will have the same degree of glory in the resurrection.
In the same manner, God has a specific vision for each one of His children. Each one has been created to fulfill a specific purpose in God’s eternal house.
He knows exactly what makes each person feel completely fulfilled, happy, grateful, and full of joy forever. It is sad that some people reject what God chooses for them in this present life and seek a position or ministry in the Body of Christ that is different from that which the Lord has chosen for them. They do not understand that a little round block will never feel comfortable in a square space and that the little block will never be able to fulfill the purpose for which he was created.
The specific kind of vessel that God makes of each person is the only kind of vessel that can perfectly fulfill His vision and plan for His life. How can it be otherwise with an Omniscient Creator? All my physical and spiritual life has been made to occupy a single place in His eternal temple. I myself will be eternally full of joy if I reach the goal that He has determined for my life, not that which He has determined for someone else.
In more practical terms, what exactly is the Lord’s vision for each man who is redeemed? What is He calling us to? We find the answer in the beginning and end of the Bible. In Exodus 19:6, God told His people, “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” Then, in Revelation 5:10, the elders say to the Lord, “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
For many years I lived with the idea that you, too, may perhaps have had. I believed that if we received God’s grace to be meek and humble servants in this life, denying ourselves, taking up His cross, and allowing other to take the first place, we would be allowed to reign with the Lord forever. Of course, the idea was that then we would be served eternally!
One day, a revelation appeared in my heart like a light that is suddenly switched on, while reading Jesus’ words, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 1:9). For several years, the disciples had seen Jesus live His life as a meek and humble servant. He told them that He had come to serve, and not to be served (Matthew 20:28). He also invited them to daily do what He was doing, denying Himself and taking up His cross (Matthew 16:24).
Christ continually gave Himself up for others, doing what was best for others, without seeking what was best for Himself. This is the essence of what Jesus said to His disciples at the end of His life, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. The life that you have seen me reveal in this world is a revelation of what the Father is like. As a Father, He gives Himself continually for others. He serves His children and only thinks on what is best for them. The Father has always been like that and will always be like that for all eternity.” Of course, most natural parents do the same for their children, because this is the heart of any true parent.
While I read these words I realized that, being a servant, Jesus was not trying to tell us that we must live very spiritually in this world for 70 years, to become someone important in eternity. Christ was not trying to show us that the price that we must pay to be served eternally is to serve for a few years in our earthly life.
On the contrary, He was demonstrating that this life is only a training field—it is a time of preparation. If we choose, in this life, the same way that Christ took, we learn to live as the Father lives. Our continual concern should be for those who are around us, and not for ourselves. We must not demand our rights or do what seems best for ourselves.
Surely the elders who were before King Solomon for 40 years, hearing the wisdom that would come from his mouth day after day, understood God’s vision for true kings. That is, the vision for each man. According to what Solomon himself declared in Proverbs, much of his wisdom came from his father, David, a man after God’s heart.
After Solomon’s death, the elders told Rehoboam, son of Solomon, “If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.” (1 Kings 12:7). Sadly, the youth advised Rehoboam to be a hard, demanding King who was indulgent to himself. Because he followed this foolish advice, Rehoboam lost the greater part of his kingdom.
Jesus makes His plan very clear in Matthew 20:25–27, “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.”
Nothing could be clearer: “It shall not be so among you.” No one has been called in this life to exercise authority over others. We have all been called to be servants. Those who become the greater servants on this earth will be kings in heaven because they were conformed to the likeness of the King of Kings. The subjects of such kings will submit wholeheartedly because of the love and care that they will be shown, and not because of the powerful authority that they exercise.
Some of them could reach the tragic conclusion that if being a king forever means being a servant to everyone else, without personal interest, then they will prefer not to be kings. Nevertheless, there are some great advantages of being a servant-king who reigns with Christ. Surely, the greatest blessing is that the kings and priests of the Lord will be in His presence and will be near to Him eternally.
Furthermore, His kings will be those who have been conformed to His image and likeness. Even Christ, today, is a Servant-King!
King Jesus seeks kings who are servants without personal interest. Through years of experience, humanity already knows another option: being governed by demanding and egocentric kings who think primarily about what is best for them.
This has characterized human government for over 6,000 years! Most governments are like that. Do we wish to have this kind of government eternally in heaven?
Throughout the entire Bible, it is clear that God’s vision is that men would become kings and priests in His Eternal Kingdom. Of course, those kings and priests will be part of His bride that will reign with Him, bound to Him in an intimate love relationship.
As Jesus is both our King and our High Priest, He simply wants us to be as He is. From the Creation, His vision has been to conform us to His image and reproduce in us His life that is dedicated to loving and serving others.
How wonderful heaven will be! It will be governed by people who reveal the very life of Christ. They will be people who have been delivered from the narrowness of love for themselves, to live in the glorious freedom of disinterested love.
No wonder Jesus commands us to seek first the Kingdom of God. We are called to become servants on this earth in the same way that He lived in service of others, seeking always the lowest place rather than the highest. Thus only will we govern and reign with Him eternally!