In the present day we are beginning to regain a vision of the fullness of our Creator’s original plan, which goes well beyond individual salvations. Salvation is obviously a critically important part of God’s plan, but the fact is that there is more…much more! Salvation is the gift of God through Jesus that restores us to His family, enabling each of us to do our part in fulfilling the destiny of mankind. Our personal destinies are linked to it and when we fulfill them we help advance the bigger picture. Simply put, the earth is meant to be a heavenly place. It began when He pronounced the wild, undeveloped world He created as “good” and “very good”. But it was not an end in itself. Rather it was a rich stage upon which human life would rise and prosper. Adam and Eve were getting to know God and their own identity as his spiritual children. When they came to the point of understanding this they would have been sent from the Garden of Eden into the wilderness beyond its gates where they were to be the first of a long line of builders of beautiful, dynamic, lasting civilizations.
The qualities and characteristics of those civilizations were to be the same as those of the Garden, which itself is a picture of heaven manifested into the material dimension of time and space. They include abundant provision, peace, beauty, joy, purpose, and love. In all of this, God the Father would perpetually be at the center as the source of life and of all good things. Mankind would find true joy and rich satisfaction in establishing and building societies of great peace and beauty. The strife and evil we see everywhere on earth today has no place in God’s master plan! Suffice it to say that the world is in dire need of being steered away from our ongoing path of destruction. The coming Third Great Awakening is not only for our restoration as individuals, but for the salvation of the beautiful world God gave us as well. The Church has to lead the way by shifting out of religion to true relationship with God. The fatalism, shortsightedness, and lethargy have to go!
Bob Kloppel
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