Introduction: This world (system) is 'winding down', it is only temporary,... finite. It is evident by the signs of the times, by the wars, rumors of wars, the lawlessness and corruption in the world today. There is a programmed end to the activities which were placed in motion by God and placed under man's dominion. Because of man's disobedience and fall from fellowship with God, this world has been cursed and corrupted by man's sin nature (his innate desire to 'do his own thing') and the deceptive influence of satan. God's infinite love for his creation and his righteous nature compelled him to provide a plan of redemption for the world and man, his special creation. There is hope!

Where It Began: From eternity past God always had a plan to create a creature 'in his own image'. His desire was to have a creature 'in his likeness', to fellowship with. This creature must have a self will and be able to 'choose' to love him and trust him.

God created Lucifer (satan), the most perfect and beautiful of his angelic creations and placed him in a position of authority in the heavens and on earth. But, satan allowed his self will to lead him to a sinful desire to usurp God's authority and to desire to make himself 'God'. He persuaded one third of the angels to follow him. God, of course, was not caught by surprise but I'm sure this disobedience saddened him. Because of the severity of this rebellion, God could not allow it to go unpunished. Satan and his followers were cast out of Heaven.

I'm sure God gave satan and his followers adequate opportunity to repent but they would not. Because of their arrogant pride, the angelic host would not repent once 'iniquity was found in them'. In any case, God showed his infinite mercy here. He could have completely annihilated these rebellious angels. Instead he cast them down, out of heaven, where they were allowed to have influence on the earth. Because of God's integrity he was obligated to show his righteous justice and mercy.

In the mean time, God's ultimate plan was still on course and he set about to demonstrate his justice and mercy. He created man, 'in his own image', male and female, and set them in a garden on the earth. Here they had all their needs met and, surrounded by the beauty of God's creation, they had a face to face relationship with God.

The man, called Adam, was given one rule; "You have dominion over all the garden, but do not eat the fruit from the 'tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil' which is in the center of the garden.". Adam's wife, Eve, who was formed 'from' a part of Adam did not have God's direct revelation of his 'Law' but was to be instructed by Adam. Evidently Adam's teaching was lacking because Eve was the target of satan's deceptive influence on God's created man. Working through a beautiful and intelligent creature called 'the serpent', satan cast doubt in Eve's mind concerning God's integrity and trustworthiness. He persuaded her to look at the fruit from the 'tree' as something God was keeping from them for selfish reasons. Here is shown clearly that man's sin nature needs only a temptation to begin its slide into self destruction.

To continue, Eve, decided the 'serpent' might be right. She took the fruit, ate some and then gave it to Adam to eat. Now, at this point, all could have been saved. Adam had the direct revelation of God's command directly from God. He was not deceived. Had he admonished Eve and refused the fruit, satan's influence would have been negated and man could have continued in God's fellowship. However, Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit. By this act of disobedience and rebellion, the curse of sin, guilt and death entered the earth. The man and woman broke fellowship with God. They tried to appease their guilt and cover up their sin by their own efforts. They fashioned themselves clothing of leaves. They tried to hide from God.

Once again, God's creatures rebelled and broke the relationship. God was not surprised. He was disappointed but his love and mercy would not allow thwarting his plan. In dealing out the necessary punishment for this disobedience, he gave a hint to his ultimate plan. In Genesis chapter 3, verses 14 and 15, God declared to the serpent that the serpent's descendant would strike the 'heel' of a descendant of the woman, but her offspring would strike his head. This was a prophesy of Jesus, the offspring of woman, being struck temporarily by death, but defeating the 'works' of satan for all time by his obedience and resurrection to new life.

The Garden of Eden had now been violated by man's rebellion and God's justice required him to cast the man and woman from the garden before the corruption spread. Now they must force the earth to yield to their dominion and only by specific sacrificial acts of their will and faith could they establish a relationship with God.

From that point on man's constant quest was the works of his hand and disobedience to God's will. Man reproduced and filled the earth, but always he replaced worship of the one true God with his own idols. At one point man had corrupted himself with lawlessness so much that God was forced to destroy the earth with a deluge of flood waters. Washing clean the blot of sin upon the face of the planet. In God's infinite knowledge; however, he had preserved for himself one man, Noah, and his family through whom he would continue his plan for man's ultimate redemption.

God made a covenant with man, never to destroy the earth again by floods. He continued through the ages to strive with man to work out his plan to redeem mankind and restore the earth to the state he has always intended. First, he must set apart a people who would obey and by their own will seek to love and serve him with 'all their heart, mind and soul'.

God made a promise (covenant) with a man named Abram (who he renamed Abraham) that he would make a great nation of people through his descendants and that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed by his heir. Thus began God's working out of his plan with men and nations. Blessing and cursing the people of Israel as they continuously disobeyed and repented. Setting up and bringing down nations so that 'in the fullness of time' he would send his son, a descendant of Abraham and the 'last Adam'. He provided Abraham and his descendants a glimpse of the ultimate plan of atonement by giving them laws of sacrifice for sin to cover their transgressions until the perfect sacrifice was given by the true Lamb of God on the altar of a cruel cross.

The Plan is Executed: At a time in man's history when all of the civilized world was under the control of a single empire and the descendants of Abraham, the Jews, were crying for the long prophesied 'Messiah' to come and deliver them from the oppression of the Roman nation, God implanted the 'Seed' that would 'strike satan's head' in the womb of a gentle jewish maiden in Galilee of Judea. At that time God declared by his Angel messengers that the long awaited 'King of the Jews' and 'Messiah' was born in the ancient city of David, Bethlehem.

Through many special circumstances, God thwarted satan's attempt to short circuit the plan by destroying the infant Messiah, but, as always, God is not mocked. He protected his gift to man, his 'Lamb which would take away the sin of the World'. The infant grew and became a young adult, filled with God's spirit and truth until the time of his introduction to his people as Messiah, Prophet and King.

Now, the Jews were looking for a Messiah, a conquering king to deliver them from bondage and setup the Kingdom of God on earth, of which they expected to be a nation of priests and kings. Jesus came as a lowly carpenter's son, meek and mild, preaching love and repentance. Although he claimed to be the Messiah and King, he clearly taught them that the kingdom of God was not a kingdom of flesh, the works of men's hands. It was established by God in the hearts of a chosen, separated people. He just did not fit the mold of the 'Earthly' Messiah they were looking for and in fact he was totally shattering their little 'house of cards'. Although they claimed to be the heirs of Abraham and God's chosen people, they had missed the boat. They were trusting in their heritage and the keeping of the 'letter' of the law and had stumbled over the 'spirit' and intent of the law. Their faith was in their works and not the plan of God. They did not even know their own prophets, such as Isaiah who clearly predicted the coming of a 'suffering' Messiah before the restoration of all things.

Again, God's plan was being fulfilled by their own actions. For by their own hands they crucified their Messiah and thereby sacrificed The Lamb of God. Thus they executed the plan of redemption by executing God, incarnate, the perfect sacrifice for sin once and for all. As a result the earthly veil which had separated man from access to God was ripped in two and declared that reconciliation of man and God was complete and those who desired could once again have a relationship with God through the blood of God's only begotten son, Jesus Christ. He paid the price of redemption which we all owe but cannot pay.

The Plan Consummated: But, that was only the beginning. Three days later Jesus arose from the dead and after appearing to many, he returned to God, the Father, to ever make intercession for those who, by faith, believe him and put their life in his hands. Fifty days later, God's Holy Spirit was poured out on those who were in obedience to his word and anticipating his return. Thus, The Church, the 'called out ones', his body on earth, was born. By his Spirit he remains the Head of his Body the Church and has promised that all who remain faithful will be 'saved' from the wrath to be poured out on all those of the earth who remain disobedient and reject God's free gift of salvation. God's righteous justice and mercy is being played out through the church so that in the ages to come he can show the members as his 'trophies of Grace' through faith.

Where do we go from here? Even the faith required to believe is his gift. All we have to do is repent and turn to him. By our own efforts we can never make it.

As stated in the introduction, there is an end to this world system. All the things man is trusting in will soon be brought down to nothing. Apart from God, all of man's philosophy and high ideals are 'as filthy rags'. Look around and see how man has foolishly disregarded God's commands and attempted to circumvent his plan. We have become fools. Evil is good, good is evil. Light is dark, dark is light. There is no justice because man's wisdom has become foolishness, reprehensible, because we have disregarded God's wisdom and placed our own desires above his perfect will. Through the ages God has warned man that he will one day restore all things and he will not hold those guiltless who have ignored him and sought their own way. We all have gone astray, each seeking his own way. But God's plan has provided the way, The only Way, back to the planned destiny of mankind.

God's revelation to the apostle John in the book of Revelation, gives us the final solution to the problem of man's rebellion. Through Jesus, himself will come the ultimate kingdom. He will return, this time he will come as the conquering Messiah long sought after by the Jews and long needed by all of mankind. Those who are his, members of his body by faith and faithful to his plan, will be caught up to him before his judgement and wrath is poured out on the godless and unbelieving residents of planet earth. A period of seven years will commence in which God will once again deal with mankind through the Jewish nation, who by this time are under subjection to a REVIVED Roman Empire. He will complete his plan and fulfil his covenants with the prophets. During that time, it will be a 'hell on earth'. Man's defiance will reach a crescendo and all of the fury of God will be poured out to try those who repent and bring to ruin those who will not. After this, Jesus as King of Kings will reign 1000 years and restore the earth to its Eden state. He will exalt the righteous and bring down the proud and defiant. No longer will man's sin be a problem and ultimately satan and all his angels will be cast into the 'Lake of fire' to be tormented, punished forever. Those who are not with God will, by default, share in satan's end.

And What about you? After all this, where do you fit in? Do you see yourself as a member of this fallen race in need of a savior? Are you in the Body, by faith? Are you one of the faithful who have washed your sins clean by the blood of Jesus Christ? Do you even believe these words? They are not my own. I have merely condensed the message of God to man in His Word, the Bible. It would be a terrible shame to miss the blessed hope of God's plan because of one's pride or stubbornness. By accepting God's free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, you can move from darkness to light, from death to life, from eternal damnation to eternal joy. Jesus himself said, "God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes on him shall have eternal life." You see, one day, all will stand before God in judgement. Since God has already condemned all men, the only question you will be asked is "What is your relationship to Jesus, my son?" Apart from Jesus, there is no other means of being saved from the wrath God must loose, shortly, on this ungodly earth. This may be your last chance. Death closes the door forever.

Here I have attempted to describe God's eternal plan for man's redemption from sin. I can not convince by argument. You hear and the condition of your heart will determine whether you believe or not. It has been said, "For those who will believe, no argument is necessary. For those who will not believe, no argument is possible." Where will you spend eternity? "Now is the time of salvation, all who call upon the Lord can be saved ." You can be saved today. Don't leave this site without praying for this free gift of God.