Don’t forget your beginning

Once upon a time there was a kingdom in which only good dwelt. Everyone who lived there lived a life full of love. There was no hate, jealousy, cruelty, stealing, or lying. All was perfect and there was only harmony in this kingdom.

One might begin a story in such a manner and we would quickly recognize it as a fairy tale. From our experience and knowledge, we know that no such place exists anywhere on earth. But such a place does exist and has always existed. It is called Heaven and it is the home of God. This place is where I had my beginning.

When I say this I do not mean, as some wrongly teach, that I had an existence in Heaven before I had an existence on earth, at least not physically. I mean that I existed first in the mind of God before I existed actually on the earth. I was in God’s mind even before I was in my mother’s womb. Since I was thus conceived in that mind and created by that mind it stands to reason that, since that mind is perfect, I was created perfect at my actual earthly beginning. I must never forget that my beginning was in the mind of God. This will better help me to realize who, through His grace, I am today.

I come to this conclusion because of the abundance of evidence, both through experience and through revelation. Experience tells me that everything that exists was a dream before it was a reality. In construction, someone conceives of a building. Someone then sets about to develop drawings of that mental image so that it can be constructed. corrections, Finally, after revisions, and construction efforts, that building becomes a reality. The same is true of inventions, medicines, plays, and even books such as this one. All of these things are dreams before they are realities.

The universe was in the mind of God before He created it. It was by His will and His power that it gained existence (Psalm 33:6-9). He also preconceived man before His existence and created him in His own image (Genesis 1:26). He even preconceived the salvation of mankind from his sinful rebellion (Ephesians 1:1-5).

Not only did God bring everything initially into existence by His power but He continues to sustain His creation and remains involved in its activities. David’s reflection on his own creation in his mother’s womb has God directing the process intricately and lovingly as David reaches the time of his birth (Psalm 139:13-16). God takes as much interest in us today as He did in David in the long ago. My beginning was in the mind and the hands of God.

This brings us to our chapter heading, Past, Perfect Peace. In the beginning, before sin, everything was in harmony with the will of God. This was the past and this is the perfect, existence with God in His kingdom. The peace comes through submission to the will of Christ. It is through that submission that I have peace because I know that after time has run its course and is no more, and the day of judgment has been fulfilled, I will spend eternity with God in perfect harmony with Him. I need to remember my beginning because, if I am faithful, it becomes my destiny.

Now I have heard some people teach that mankind was not created perfect or sin could not have entered into the world. One having his thinking so confused needs merely to read again the first three chapters of Genesis. The work that God did was perfect and mankind was created in that work. Mankind was created perfect.

The argument is that if man had been created perfect then he could not have sinned. But it was the will of God that we be created in His image and that included the ability to think, decide, and make choices. The ability to choose did not make us imperfect. Our poor choices corrupted us from that perfect state. What some consider as being created perfect is in reality being created a puppet. Puppet and perfect are not the same. But enough theology for now.

Because of sin we lost our perfection. Sin separated us from God and man had no hope (Isaiah 59:1,2). But God had prepared for that and in the fullness of THE time God sent His son to bring perfection back to man by grace through His atoning sacrifice (Galatians 4:4). The effects of that sacrifice are given freely to those who love and obey the Father in Heaven (Matthew 7:21, 1 Cor. 13:). By accepting that sacrifice and obeying God we can be assured of that destiny which awaits us in Heaven.

It is extremely important that we always remember that our destiny is sealed by the blood of Christ in and only in His church (Ephesians 5:23). There simply is no other way we can obtain spiritual blessings outside of Christ (Ephesians 1:3). But as long as we remain in Christ and hold His hand, Satan is powerless against us (John 10:27-30).

With this understanding we can face life with great confidence. Sacrifice cannot take away our hope in Christ. Loss of all personal possessions cannot take away our hope in Christ. Personal tragedy including loss of love ones, persecution, or anything else in this world and its tragic events cannot take away our hope in Christ. Our destiny is sealed as long as we walk hand in hand with the Savior. Just here we need to consider some “movements” that are constantly threatening our destiny. One of these is the restoration movement.

I appreciate the efforts of the men of the “restoration”. I appreciate “Raccoon” John Smith, and Thomas Campbell, and Barton W. Stone. i appreciate the efforts of “reformationists” such as John Wesley, Martin Luther, and others. But I am not a part of the reformation or the restoration movements. I am simply a christian and a christian only. To be a part of a movement is just as wrong as to be a part of denominationalism. The church never ceased to exist and never needed to be restored (Micah 4:1-7, Daniel 7:13,14).

There is also the ‘new’ unity movement. It is the idea that we should fellowship all believers in spite of any differences we might have. This is simply a call to us to fellowship the disobedient and is not really so new at all. Genesis 6:4 discusses an early unity movement between the sons of God and the daughters of men. Balaam suggested a unity movement to Balak as a means of causing God to turn His back on Israel (Revelation 2:14). Unity with the wicked and sinful has never been acceptable and has always been rewarded by the wrath of God.

If fellowship of all believers is acceptable today then it would have been acceptable at the time of Christ. Let us briefly test this concept. In Mark 1:23,24 we find believing demons. In John 12:42 we find chief rulers who believed but would not confess. Paul taught Agrippa and it seems obvious that he believed but would not respond and become a christian. Could the early church have fellowshipped these persons? I think not! If it did not work at the time of Christ, it will not work now no matter how pretty some would paint it.

We must remember that our beginning was in the mind of God. To achieve our destiny we must return to that mind and allow it to guide us and consume us in all things. Dead to the world but alive in Christ must be our way if we are to have past, perfect peace.