The Signs of the Times, vol. 21

May 2, 1895

“God’s Eternal Purpose” The Signs of the Times 21, 18, pp. 5, 6.

BY ELDER A. T. JONES

[From a discourse before the General Conference Institute.] SITI May 2, 1895, page 5.1

“And we know that all things work together good to them that love God.” Romans 8:28. SITI May 2, 1895, page 5.2

How do we know it?—He not only says but he has worked it out before our eyes; has given a living demonstration of it. So he carries us right through that now. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” What purpose?—Why, his eternal purpose concerning all creatures, concerning man with the re which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. That purpose from eternity is purposed in Jesus Christ; and when we are in Jesus Christ, that purpose embraces us. When we yield to Christ, sinking ourselves in him, we become a part of that eternal purpose; and then just as certainly as God’s purpose is to succeed, we shall be all right; for we are a part of his purpose. Then just as certainly as Satan can do nothing against God’s purpose, so certainly he can do nothing against us; for we are in that purpose. Just as certainly, then, as all that Satan does, and all that the enemies of God’s truth can do, working against God and his divine purpose, and at last all these things against us—so certainly as all this cannot defeat or cripple that eternal purpose, so certainly it cannot defeat or cripple us, because in Christ we are a fixture in that purpose. It is all in him; and God has created us anew in him. SITI May 2, 1895, page 5.3

Read on, then. God tells us how we know that all things work together for good to those who are called according to God’s purpose. “For”—what does that mean?—It means the same here as “because;” that is, we know this because God has done something here to demonstrate it so that we can know it. What is this, then, by which we know it?—We know it because “when he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” What is God’s predestination, then? What is the design that he has fixed beforehand, that he has prepared before hand for every man in the world? For he has foreknown all; he has called all. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 45:22. SITI May 2, 1895, page 5.4

What is the destiny that he has prepared beforehand for every one?—It is that we should be conformed to the image of his Son. Where?—While we are in this world, conformed to the image of his Son, as his Son was in the world; but he did not get done with his Son in this world; he took him from this world. Then as certainly as his eternal purpose carried Christ beyond this world, that predestined purpose is concerning us beyond this world, and carries us beyond this world. And as certainly as his predestined purpose is that we shall be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in this world, as he was in this world, so certain it is that we shall be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in that other world, as he is in that other world. SITI May 2, 1895, page 5.5

God’s eternal purpose prepared beforehand for every one of us, for you, for me, is that we shall be like Jesus Christ as he is, glorified, and at the right hand of God to-night. In Christ he has demonstrated this. In Christ, from birth to the heavenly throne, he has shown that that is his purpose concerning every man. Thus he has demonstrated before the universe that such is his great purpose for human beings. SITI May 2, 1895, page 278.1

God’s ideal of a man is not as man stands in this world. Take the finest figure of a man that ever stood in this world,—the tallest, the most symmetrical, the best educated,—the finest in every respect, the fullest, completest man in himself—is that God’s ideal of man?—No; God’s ideal of man is God and the man joined in that new man that is made in Christ Jesus by the destruction of the enmity. See Ephesians 2:14-16. That new man that is made of the union of God and man is God’s ideal man. SITI May 2, 1895, page 278.2

But take that man as he stands in this world, in the perfect symmetry of human perfection, and unite God with him so that only God is manifested in him, and that is not yet God’s full ideal of a man; for the man is still in this world. The ideal of God concerning that man is never met until he stands at God’s right hand in heaven glorified. O, he has prepared great things for us, and let us enjoy them! SITI May 2, 1895, page 278.3

Read on, therefore: “Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.” “He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” “He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one.” “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called [those in whom that call meets its purpose, and in whom the call is effective. He calls every soul—that is true on his part; but the call itself does not meet its purpose; only those who respond and meet the purpose of that call, in whom the call takes hold], them he also justified; and whom he justified [mark, not those who justify themselves, those whom he justified], them he also glorified.” SITI May 2, 1895, page 278.4

Thus we see that God’s purpose concerning man is not fulfilled until man is glorified. Therefore Jesus came into the world as we do; he took our human nature as we do, by birth; he went through this world in human nature—God dealing with human nature; he went to the cross, and died—God dealing with human nature; he went to the cross, and died—God dealing with human nature on the cross and in the grave, and God raising him and setting him at the right hand of God, glorified. That is God’s eternal purpose; that is his eternal predestination; that is the plan he has arranged and fixed for you. Will you let him carry out the plan? We cannot do it; he must. But he has shown his ability to do it. He has proven that; nobody can dispute it. He has proven his ability to take us and fulfill his purpose concerning human nature, concerning sinful flesh as it is in this world. SITI May 2, 1895, page 278.5

Furthermore, “Whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified”—what did he do next?—He glorified them. Now a questions: Those whom he justifies he glorifies; he cannot glorify them until he has justified them; what, then, means this special message of justification that God has been sending these years to the church and to the world? It means that God is preparing to glorify his people. But we are glorified only at the coming of the Lord; therefore this special message of justification which God has been sending us is to prepare us for glorification at the coming of the Lord. In this, God is giving to us the strongest sign that it is possible for him to give, that the next thing is the coming of the Lord. SITI May 2, 1895, page 278.6

He will prepare us; we cannot prepare ourselves. We tried a long while to justify ourselves, to make ourselves just right, and thus get ready for the coming of the Lord. We have tried to do so well that we could approve ourselves, and be satisfied, and say, Now I can meet the Lord. But we never were satisfied. No; it is not done that way. Whom he justified, them he glorified. Now since God justifies, it is his own work; and when he is ready for us to meet the Lord, it will be all right, because it is he himself who prepares us to meet the Lord. Therefore, we trust in him, we yield to him, and take his justification; and, depending only on that, we shall be ready to meet the Lord Jesus whenever God chooses to send him. SITI May 2, 1895, page 278.7

Thus he is preparing now to glorify us. Again I say, It is a fact that we have been content to live too far below the wondrous privileges that God has prepared for us. Let the precious truth raise us to where he wants us. SITI May 2, 1895, page 278.8