THE JOHN 3:5 PROJECT

"God" Was Manifest In The Flesh

Great is the mystery of godliness

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: ~ Hebrews 10:5

One God: The Unity of Father and Son

Author: Kenneth Long

Posted: Monday, February 27 2023

Part 2 - The Plan of Redemption

With the introduction of sin into the human family, the soul of every human being, past present and future was slated to be forever separated from God. Despite the willful transgression of man and God’s judgement on humankind, the bible tells us that it was never the intent of God to abandon his creation to eternal destruction. The bible says:

Ephesians 1:4-6
"According 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: Having "predestinated us unto the adoption of children" by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption "through his blood", the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;.."
~ King James Version

In reading this verse, one must wonder, how can one be "chosen" "before" they exist. Did the chosen in Christ exist before the earth was created? Could sin be forgiven "before" sin or "sinners" came into being? No. The bible states in:

Romans 4:17
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which "be not" "as though they were."
~ King James Version

Whatever is spoken in the mind of God is "reality", even before it becomes part of "our" reality. At some point, in his will, and in his time of choosing, what God has formulated in his mind "will be" in our place of existence, but from the perspective of God, it "already" is. God is outside the realm of time. As such, the timeline of humanity: past, present, and future is stretch out before him. The bible states in:

Isaiah 45:9-10
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, "Declaring" the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that “are not yet done” , saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
~ King James Version

God is in complete control of all that has, and will take place throughout the history of world events. Of course, "control" does not suggest that God is the "cause" of all that happens; control simply suggests that all things happen in the foreknowledge of God; in his will and with his permission. God knew man would disobey his edict in the garden, and he was completely aware of "all" of the destructive events that would follow; for his reasons, he permitted it. Nevertheless, God has always purposed to reverse the adverse effects of man’s sin. Proof of God’s intent to deliver man is that his plan of redemption was "already prepared" "before" man was created. We read in

Revelation 13:8
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the "Lamb" slain from the foundation of the world.
~ King James Version

To restate, those thing in the mind of God are "in place" "already" from God’s perspective and will come into existence at some point. This included God’s means of atonement for man. To illustrate, God said to Jerimiah in:

Jerimiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I "knew" thee; and "before" thou camest forth out of the womb I "sanctified" thee, and I "ordained" thee a prophet unto the nations.
~ King James Version

Note that God applied the verbs "knew", "sanctified", and "ordained" in the "past tense" describing Jeremiah’s standing in God before he existed; Jerimiah was not "literally" a "prophet", "ordained", or "sanctified", from any perspective outside of God, before he was conceived, he didn’t exist. However, in the mind and plan of God, he was already "all" of the above and just as real as he was when he came into the world. Just as Jeremiah was a real being in the mind of God before his conception in the physical world, so too was the "son" of was God real in the mind and plan of God, while not physically existing at the time God formulated redemption. It is necessary to restate that God calls those things that "are not" as though the "are." ,John 1:1 tells us

John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
~ King James Version

The bible tells us three things, "the word" existed in the beginning, "the word" was "with" God, and God was "the word." The bible uses the word "logos" which means "divine thought" or "utterance (not a sentient being)." That "divine thought" would become "flesh" (John 1:14) and be the lamb of God to remove the sin of mankind. We should keep in mind that "in the beginning" is a reference to creation and its relationship to man, not God. Apart from the creation, and the events that culminated into sin, and its introduction into the human family; there was no "son" with God. We know there was no Son as the son of God was a “man”(Romans 1:3); Son by “flesh” and God by spirit. God came into our world veiled in flesh through the virgin Mary; which leads us to the only conclusion, no sin, no son.