What Does God Want? (Part 1)

How do we know what God wants? What did He have in mind when He created the heavens and the earth? Genesis 1:1 only goes back to the beginning, and we want to know what was on God’s mind before the beginning. For that, a good place to start is the more or less parallel scripture in John 1:1-14.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man named John who was sent from God. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (Joh 1:1-14)

In this passage, we see that the Word is another name for Jesus, the Son of God. We see that the Father and the Son were together before creation began, and that it was God’s desire (at the time Jesus was sent to the earth) that all men believe on the Son. Jesus came to enlighten the human race and to give (to those who received Him), the right to be children of God.

But there’s more;

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified. (Rom 8:28-30)

Clearly it is God’s desire that we should be the younger brothers (and sisters; the original text is not sex-specific) of Jesus, and that we should be like Him. This is a predestination situation. God has committed to making this happen; we are in ourselves helpless to initiate the process or to further it, though we are capable of cooperating (or resisting, for a time), and are commanded elsewhere to obey the commands of Jesus. Please note; we are predestined to this end, and while our cooperation can help expedite the process, the end is in the Father’s hands. He will do it.

I’ll carry on with this theme in my next post . . . .

Blessings, Cindy