Ways of God

Bible Handbook:

By referring to the chart, the various parts of which are numbered, the orderly series of God’s ways with man will be more simply perceived, their retention in the memory aided, and the general scope of the Divine purposes and plans more easily grasped by the mind:―

1. By far the grandest counsel of eternity, as also the grandest fact in time, is the Lamb slain (1 Peter 1:20²⁰Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (1 Peter 1:20)). Then the blessing of the saints and their predestination to the place, portion and relationship of children come next in importance (Eph. 1:4-5⁴According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: ⁵Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (Ephesians 1:4‑5)).

2. Geology clearly enough establishes the truth of a creation prior to Adam, but no conflict need thereby be apprehended between science and the Mosaic or rather Divine account of creation. The first verse of Genesis refers to the original creation of heaven and earth, and is an independent statement entirely apart from what follows; the second verse shows the earth in a ruined state, yet, at a period prior to man; while from Genesis 1:3-31³And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. ⁴And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. ⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. ⁷And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. ⁹And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. ¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. ¹¹And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. ¹³And the evening and the morning were the third day. ¹⁴And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: ¹⁵And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. ¹⁶And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. ¹⁷And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. ²⁰And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. ²¹And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. ²³And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. ²⁴And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. ²⁵And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. ²⁶And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. ²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. ²⁸And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. ²⁹And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. ³¹And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:3‑31) we have the earth got ready in six literal days as a dwelling for man. The terms ‘creating’ and ‘making’ are important in this connection. “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created (verse 1 of the Bible), in the day that the Lord God made (in six days Ex. 20:11¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:11)) the earth and the heavens” (Gen. 2:4⁴These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, (Genesis 2:4)).

3. Adam was created in innocence; we are born in sin (Psa. 51); in Christ humanity was holy (Luke 1:35³⁵And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)). The period of innocence or sinlessness was a brief one, and in it Adam stood alone as Christ did before the work of the cross (John 12:24²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)). Adam, as fallen, became the head of the race (Rom. 5:15¹⁵But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. (Romans 5:15)); Christ in victorious power over death is head of His redeemed (1 Cor. 15:45⁴⁵And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45)). Innocence and Paradise once forfeited cannot be regained; but holiness, heaven, and eternal life are ours in Christ.

4. For 1656 years God left man to himself. Conscience — that inward tribunal before which actions are weighed and judgment pronounced thereon — supplied the place of law and authority. Man went from bad to worse, until God in judgment swept creation by the besom of destruction — a remnant of man and the animal creation being preserved. In Noah, therefore, God instituted civil government (Gen. 9) in order to bridle the ungovernable will of man.

5. Idolatry was introduced after the defeat of the Babel attempt to establish a universal independency apart from God (Gen. 11:1-9¹And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. ²And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. ³And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. ⁴And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. ⁵And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. ⁶And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. ⁷Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. ⁸So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. ⁹Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1‑9)), and spread rapidly even in the family of Shem, so that Abram’s father was an idolater (Josh. 24:2²And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. (Joshua 24:2)). It was this awful evil which led to the call of Abram by the word of Jehovah and the appearing of the God of glory, thus God morally judged the world, and began a fresh depository of promise (Gal. 3:16¹⁶Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)) and committed a new testimony to man (Rom. 11).

6. The people after celebrating the triumphs of grace on the wilderness side of the Red Sea, foolishly accepted law as the ground of blessing (Ex. 19). The law was neither given as the ground of justification nor measure of Christian life. As a principle, it applies to man in the flesh, but believers “are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” Man before Moses was a sinner, but under the law he became a transgressor, as under Christ and grace an enemy to God.

7. Moses, the representative of the law (2 Cor. 3:15¹⁵But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. (2 Corinthians 3:15)), could not conduct the people into Canaan, type of the heavenly places; hence, Joshua, figure of Christ, in the power of the Spirit, triumphantly leads on the people to conflict and victory. Israel was ruled by judges till Saul.

8. Israel’s first king, was the man of the people’s choice (1 Sam. 8); Israel’s second king, was the man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22²²And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. (Acts 13:22)). The kingly power was continued in the tribe of Judah for 130 years after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel or ten tribes, but was finally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

9. Assyria became the place of captivity to Ephraim — the ten tribes. They have never been restored, and who and where they now are, cannot be ascertained. Ezekiel 20 details their future restoration. The Jews were deported to Babylon, and the government of the earth transferred to the Gentiles (Dan. 2); at this point of the history, “the times of the Gentiles” commence.

10. After a captivity of 70 years, remnants of Judah are permitted to return, first under Cyrus and then under Artaxerxes; they settle again in Israel but under Gentile subjection, and, after having been ruled over by Persia, Greece, Egypt, and Syria, the Romans in the year 63 B.C. took Jerusalem, and Judea became a tributary province to the Roman empire.

11. Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate, the then representative of the fourth or Latin power, was buried, raised, and ascended to heaven, all now being made subject to Him — the glorified Man (1 Peter 3:22²²Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:22)).

12. The descent of the Holy Spirit ten days after the ascension of Jesus, is the characteristic truth of the dispensation (Acts 2). By His coming, He has constituted believers what they were not before — the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12¹²For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)) and the house of God (Eph. 2:22²²In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)).

13. Jerusalem, after sustaining a siege unparalleled in history, was taken by Titus in the year 70, A.D. and thus the last historical dealings of God with His earthly people were broken; to be resumed, however, on their national return to Israel (Isa. 18).

14. God in grace has visited the world, and is calling out of it a people for His name. To those thus called, heaven is opened (Epistle to the Hebrews), and they are associated with Christ as joint heirs (Rom. 8:17¹⁷And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)); their prospect, hope, portion and blessings, are all heavenly — “partakers of the heavenly calling.” As Eliezer, the steward of Abram’s house, led Rebekah through the wilderness to Isaac — heir of all (Gen. 24), so the Holy Spirit is leading home to Christ on high the bride, sustaining and cheering her meantime by the way. Her immediate hope is the personal return of the Lord to fetch her to Himself (1 Thess. 4:13-18¹³But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. ¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. ¹⁸Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13‑18)). The Lord will descend from heaven, and by His voice and presence change the bodies of the living saints like to His own (Phil. 3:21²¹Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:21)); He will raise the righteous dead of all ages and dispensations, and, together with the changed living, take them up in clouds, in His own most blessed likeness — “for ever with the Lord.”

15. After the rapture of the saints to heaven, Daniel’s 70th week or seven years will transpire, during which Antichrist, accepted as the false Messiah by the mass of Judah thus returned, will reign as king in Israel (Dan. 11:36³⁶And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. (Daniel 11:36)), and the Roman empire be revived under a ten-kingdom form (Dan. 7; Rev. 17:8⁸The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8)). The judgment detailed in the central part of Revelation will then be poured out upon an apostate Church and apostate Judaism.

16. Christ, after the tribulation, will descend from heaven with all His saints and angels, and close in awful judgment “The times of the Gentiles” (Rev. 19:20-21²⁰And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. ²¹And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:20‑21); Dan. 2:44-45⁴⁴And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. ⁴⁵Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. (Daniel 2:44‑45)); deliver the Jews (Zech. 14) and restore Jerusalem to more than ancient grandeur (Isa. 60).

17. The millennium or world kingdom of Christ will then be established on and over the earth, and will exist in blessing and glory for 1000 years (Rev. 20:4⁴And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)). Christ and the church will together reign — one in power and glory — over the redeemed scene. Then Israel will be set in blessing on the earth, head of the nations, and Jerusalem become the metropolis of the earth (Isa. 60). The Gentiles too will be richly blest in these coming days, but subordinately to Israel (Psa. 67). Creation too will be delivered from her pain and sorrow, and rest in peace under the beneficent sway of its Creator and Preserver (Rom. 8:19-21¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, ²¹Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:19‑21)). The kingdom-reign will continue for a period of at least 1000 years (Rev. 20).

18. At the close of the kingdom a solemn pause ensues. Satan, who had been bound during the reign (Rev. 20:3³And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:3)), is let loose, and makes a last despairing attempt to occupy the throne of the world. He succeeds so far as to seduce the nations from under the rule of Christ and His saints, but quick unsparing judgment follows the impious attempt of Satan and his countless multitudes of followers — ”fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them” (Rev. 20:7-9⁷And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, ⁸And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. ⁹And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7‑9)).

19. Then the wicked dead are raised; the last of God’s saints had been raised 1000 years previously (Rev. 20:5⁵But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:5)). This will be followed by the last act of the drama. Creation as a sphere for the moral display of God and man, having served its purpose, will be rolled up as a worn-out vesture by its Lord and Creator — the eternal lover of our souls (Heb. 1:12¹²And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. (Hebrews 1:12)). As the heavens pass into eternal oblivion it will be with a great noise, but the earth and its works, stained with the crime and sin of thousands of years, will be burnt up (2 Peter 3).

20. The great white throne, before which the wicked will be judged, will be set up in eternity; and the “dead, small and great,” upheld before it in space by power divine, which can neither be gainsaid nor resisted. The doom pronounced is irrevocable and eternal (Rev. 20:11-15¹¹And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. ¹³And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. ¹⁴And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ¹⁵And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11‑15)).

21. The church will enter the eternal scene in bridal affection, and in established relationship as the Lamb’s bride and wife; also as the tabernacle of God amongst men (Rev. 21:2-3²And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:2‑3)).

22. The heaven and earth will be physically new, and in them will dwell righteousness; the Divine Sitter upon the throne will break the silence of these grand, magnificent and eternal ages, saying: “Behold, I make all things new.” Amen, and amen.