Ten New Testament verses reveal an amazing key to Christian understanding. Understanding them makes ministering easier.
1. Matthew 13:35 – His Secrets. “That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.” (Later revealed by the Apostles.)
2. Matthew 25:34 — His Prepared Kingdom. “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’
3. Luke 11:50 — The blood that His Prophets Would Shed. “That the blood of all the prophets that was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation (those living in the time of Christ).”
4. John 17:24 — His Love for Jesus. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (In God’s foreknowledge.)
5. Ephesians 1:4 — His Chosen Believers. “Just as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
6. Hebrews 4:3 — All His Works. “For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” (They would be revealed in Time.)
7. 1 Peter 1:20 — Christ’s Appearance in Time. “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you.”
8. Revelation 13:8 — The Slain Lamb. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
9. Revelation 17:8 — The Book of Life. “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
10. John 17:5 — His Glory in Christ. ” And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (As the Word before being made flesh.)
When we have the insight to see that God saw everything in foresight, we see clearly in hindsight that nothing can happen to us that the Eternal God did not know about from the foundation of the world.
This is not fatalism! Pontius Pilate said to Jesus, “Don’t you know that I have the power to crucify you or release you?” Jesus replied, “You could have no power against me at all, unless it had been given you from above.” That power came from God in heaven. But God would hold Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, responsible for the death of Jesus, because was the manipulator and Pilate merely the executioner.
But God knew all and for the sake of the salvation of the world, permitted the death of His beloved Son to take place. We do not need to know why evil things happen to us: we only need to know that they could not happen without God’s permission. But if we perceive it as having no Christian purpose or value, then we should do as the Apostle Paul twice did by claiming his civil rights. Either that or by facing it, challenging it head on, and fighting it with all that is in us!
Now, read Ephesians 2:10, which sums up the above, which is that ministry is a matter of walking in God’s will and seeing Him work miracles while being naturally supernatural. Don’t get ahead of time and you’ll see miracles take place exactly on time.