God has a vision of a kingdom coming but that vision is not fulfilled today. God’s kingdom purpose is fulfilled as men and women yield their lives to His Lordship.
Much of what God does in history, He does through the lives of those who say yes to His kingdom established in their lives, who then yield their lives as instruments of divine purpose. If it is true that God has a vision of a kingdom coming, that He releases His vision into history through people, then doesn’t it follow that God has a particular purpose for your life and mine?
A. The Dreaming of a Dream
Before you and I were born, there was the dreaming of a dream. In Psalm 139:16, David said of the Lord, Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them."
Before we were born the Lord knew everything that would ever be true about us, foresaw the days of our lives. That doesn't mean He willed or approved the conditions surrounding each birth, nor every event that followed in each life. It does mean that God knew us perfectly, purposed us and loved us enough to include us in the calendar of His kingdom purpose.
God dreamed a dream for our lives. We were created for purpose. Though living in a fallen world with corrupted genetic inheritance, still there is the imprint of God’s creative design in every soul. God’s design is an expression of His love for us and His loving design is that we would experience His love, love Him in return and glorify Him as we serve His purpose.
Each of us has a unique place in God’s kingdom vision and all of life can be a journey into the discovery of that place. As we surrender to the God who has purposed us, He reveals His purpose to us: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight (Prov. 3:6)
God passionately and persistently moves in our lives to reveal His vision to us, preparing specific events, opportunities and encounters for us: The steps of a man are ordered of the Lord (Psalm 37:23). Again, this does not mean that the Lord purposed the sins that others have committed against us or the evil that has impacted our lives or the sins we have committed. It does mean that through it all, the Lord is present and exercising Lordship.
Centuries ago, a hymn writer looked back over his life and marveled,
When all thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys,
transported with the view I’m lost in wonder, love and praise
Unnumbered comforts to my soul thy tender care bestowed
before my infant heart could know from whom those comforts flowed
When in the slippery paths of youth with heedless steps I ran
thine arm unseen conveyed me safe and led me up to man
Through every period of my life thy goodness I'll pursue
and after death, in distant worlds, this glorious theme renew
(Joseph Addison, 1672-1719)
A pilgrim looked back over his life and said,
“What seemed to hold no purpose, no reason and no rhyme
reveals a pattern full of grace which God concealed in time.”
(from The Journey by Wesley Scott Amos)
God has weaved His kingdom purpose into the pattern of your life and mine. How do we surrender to a dream, a purpose, a pattern which we don’t always see clearly or understand? By surrendering to the God who dreamed the dream, as we submit to the God who designed the purpose and the pattern. As we surrender all of our life and being into the hands of the Lord our Creator / Redeemer, He will open our spiritual eyes and ears and guide us through our journey.
B. The Revealing of a Dream
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).
Can we believe that the same God who spoke those words to Jeremiah also speaks those words to us from the written pages of holy Scripture?
1. Before I formed you. There is a preordained purpose to your life. Before you were alive God knew everything about you that could ever be true and understood with perfect clarity the purpose He had for you.
2. I formed you. There is intentionality to your life. You are not a coincidence. God formed you, not random circumstance. The construct of your basic personality and gifting was formed, shaped, ordained by God to fit the purpose He ordained for you.
3. I knew you. Knew is the Hebrew word yada, the same word as in Genesis 4:1, Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived. It is a word suggesting creative intimacy. That is not a reference to the pre-existence of the soul but of God’s foreknowledge of all things. Because God is omniscient, knows and sees all truth that could ever be true from the beginning to the end, He knew Jeremiah perfectly before his birth. God knew everything that could be known about Jeremiah, including His pre-ordained purpose for Jeremiah’s life.
This is true also for us. The all-knowing God has always known us perfectly and knows exactly how He has weaved our lives into the pattern of His kingdom purpose.
4. Before you were born I consecrated you ... I appointed you. Consecrate means set apart. As with Jeremiah, so with us. We were set apart for God’s purpose before we were born. Appointed means assigned officially to a task. God did this before we were formed in the womb.
The God who knows us with perfect intimacy, created us, consecrated and appointed us for special purposes, to solve particular problems, to bless particular people.
“Oh that's God talking to Jeremiah,” you might be tempted to say. “God wouldn't speak to me like that.” Really? To the entire Hebrew nation the Lord said, ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope’ (Jere. 29:11).
Doesn't that same word apply to us also? Doesn't the Lord have plans for us too, to give us a future and a hope? In fact, to those who have placed their faith in Jesus, the Lord says, You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain (John 15:16).
What a marvelous thought! Write your name in that verse, let Jesus speak those words to you personally. You are chosen, ordained to live a life of fruitful purpose in the Lord.
The Apostle Paul celebrates this truth in Ephesians 1:4, revealing that the Lord chose us in Him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world. Before there was a universe, the God who knew you would be born chose to set His grace upon you. He consecrated you, set you apart for divine purpose, assigned you tasks. You are more precious to God than gold and silver — He chose you before there was any gold or silver.
Rejoice in the wonderful truth contained in these Scriptures, that the Creator of this universe has lovingly purposed us and redeemed us so we can share in the unfolding of His kingdom purpose. He says to each of us, “I have a vision of My kingdom coming and I desire to release that vision through your life. Come journey with Me into the vision.”
There was the dreaming of a dream before you were born.
C. The Dying of Dreamers
There was also the dying of dreamers.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (Eph. 2:1-3).
How did the dreamers die? Through sin.
The word sins used above in 2:1 is hamartia, an archery word. It means missing the mark, shooting at the target and missing it. Sin is not just robbing a bank. Sin is going our own way in thought, word or deed in such a way as to miss the mark of God’s purpose. To go my own way is to be separated from God and this is fatal for God is the Source of our life, the Well Spring of all love and truth and being, In Him we live and move and have our being (exist) (Acts 17:28).
What a lie the devil whispers in the ears of every son and daughter of Adam: “You can go your own way, design your own purpose, dream you own dream. Why allow God to limit your vision?” So we went our own way and became separated from God. Isaiah described it this way, All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way (Isa. 53:6).
Since the Lord created us to draw life from Him as a branch draws life from the tree, then to be separated from God is to wither and die, even as a branch fallen from a tree withers and dies. This is why the Bible says that the result of sin is death. Sin separates us from the Source of our being and therefore, death is the natural, inevitable result.
To be separated from God is also to be separated from the purpose which He designed for our lives. The essence of sin is rebellion. God cannot work His purpose in a life lived in rebellion against Him. Sin separates us from God and therefore from His purpose.
Further, to miss the mark of His vision is to miss the mark of His blessing, His gifts, the anointing and resource, the wisdom and empowerment for service which always accompany those who enter and live the vision of God. To be dead to God is to be dead to all the kingdom good which God desires to release in us and through us. So it was for each of us: born into a world separated from God, then upon reaching the age of accountability we each chose to miss the mark.
This does not mean that God forgot His kingdom vision for our lives. The dream did not die in the heart of God. But we, separated from Him by sin, were dead to His dream.
There was the dreaming of a dream. There was also the dying of dreamers.
D. The Rebirth of Dreamers
Praise God, the Lord has made provision for the rebirth of dead dreamers.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:4-7).
God made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with Him and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places. How did God do this? Let’s finish the quotation from Isaiah: All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him (Isa. 53:6).
Jesus willingly surrendered Himself as the holy Sacrificed Lamb and God placed our sin on Him, Made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:17). Jesus became a sin offering on our behalf, satisfying the wrath of God. He bore the judgment of God for our sin, died our death and rose from the dead.
Jesus not only bore our sin. He took upon Himself all the brokenness of the human condition. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried … and by His scourging we are healed (Isa. 53:4,5). The Hebrew word for griefs can be translated sickness, wound, disease. The Hebrew word for sorrows can be translated pain, suffering, grief. When Matthew quotes Isaiah 53:4, he wrote, He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases (Matt. 8:17).
The Apostle Peter adds, And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by His wounds you were healed (I Ptr. 2:24).
In His holy sacrifice, Jesus took upon Himself all the brokenness of our human condition — our sin, our disease, our sorrows, our grief. And in that sacrifice He made a full, perfect and eternally sufficient sacrifice for all who turn to Him in true repentance and faith.
But how could I access this wonderful salvation if in my natural state I am dead spiritually, separated from God? Because salvation is an act of God. Jesus said, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him (Jn. 6:44). God comes to us, removes the veil of blindness from our eyes, shines the light of the glory of Jesus into our heart, awakens us to the reality of our lostness and the possibilities of grace, enabling us to turn to Christ.
When by the grace of God we confess our sin, place our faith in Jesus Christ as the saving Lamb of God and Risen Lord, God forgives our sin, rebirths us in our dead spirit and raises us up into fellowship with Himself. This is not accomplished by religious works on our part, but by faith in the gracious, free and loving gift of God: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast (Eph. 2:8,9).
There’s more Good News: to be reconciled to God is also to be restored to His vision for our life. God did not just save us for heaven, though eternity with God will be wonder upon wonder. The Lord also saved us for this life, that He might transform us into men and women through whom He can release His kingdom vision into our generation. We are reawakened to dream with God.
To be restored to His vision is also to be restored to the resources needed for the living of that vision. Alive in Christ means not only living in union with Him and at the center of His eternal design, but also seated in the storehouse of His abundant provision.
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Phlpn. 4:13).
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phlpn 4:19).
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed (2 Cor. 9:8).
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us (Eph. 3:20).
Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary (Isa. 40:31).
Reborn spiritually, we are restored to the purpose and resources of God. He then begins to transform us into men and women who can know His purpose and live in His resources. He shapes us into people through whom He can release His dream.
E. The Transforming of Dreamers
When we surrender our life to Jesus, He begins the process of restoring, rebuilding, remolding us into persons who can live His dream. He begins to conform us to the vision, establishing kingdom vision in us so He can release it through us.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10).
The word workmanship or craftsmanship is poeima from which we derive the English word poem. We are God’s artwork, clay in the hands of the Divine sculptor. The brokenness from those days when we were missing the mark, the distortions of character and talent, the bending and twisting of our true self through sin, failure and the destructive influence of a fallen world — all of this is lovingly dealt with by the Master Craftsman.
The Lord labors in us as an artist, graciously, patiently, lovingly transforming us, recreating us, drawing us into His holiness and His wholeness so we can live out those works which He prepared before we were born, so we can fulfill His wise design. When Jesus began His public ministry, He read these words from the scroll of Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord anointed Me to bring good news to the humble; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18,19).
Only God can transform and recreate us. But there is also a human side — we must actively engage with the process. We exercise the discipline of discipleship as we pray and worship, as we read and study the Word of God and as we live the truth day by day.
Paul thanked the Lord for those who received the word of God which also performs its work in you who believe (I Thes. 2:13). The word of God is dynamic and creative and works in us as we read it, study it, live it.
Paul said, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2).
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).
As we submit our lives day by day to our loving, gracious Savior, He progressively transforms us into whole and holy men and women who can fulfill His purpose. Paul exhorts us, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling (with reverent humility), for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phlp. 2:12,13).
The Lord desires to release His kingdom vision through our lives but He can release through us only that which He first establishes in us. So we yield, day by day, to His transforming work. We don’t hide our sins and failures from this wonderful Savior who has a design for our lives. Rather, we confess our sins and failures as He shows them to us. We turn from them and receive His gracious outpouring of forgiveness and transforming grace.
A man was apprenticed to the great Master Weaver. Someone asked him, “What happens when you make a mistake in your weaving? Does he tear your work out of the loom? Does he shout at you and make you being again?”
“No,” replied the apprentice. “The Master Weaver is so wonderfully creative, when I make a mistake, if I will admit it and invite him, he will sit at my loom and weave my mistake into a more beautiful pattern.”
If we truly and daily surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, He not only forgives our sin, He also weaves our failures into His most beautiful pattern, recreates us into persons who can enter in and live His vision.
How do I surrender to a purpose I don’t always understand? I surrender to the God who has the purpose.
How do I surrender to the kingdom vision of God when I don’t always see it? By surrendering to the God who has the vision. As we day by day lay down our lives in loving obedience and holy praise before this merciful, wise Savior, all of life becomes an exciting, challenging, fulfilling journey into His kingdom dream. On this journey, we will make wonderful discoveries.
We discover that each of us has a unique place in God's kingdom vision. There will never be another human being with your combination of gifts, personality, DNA, resources and opportunity. You and I are once-in-a-universe expressions of God’s dream.
As we journey, we discover that wilderness is not our adversary. It is the school where God qualifies us to enter in and live His vision.
We discover that failure is an instrument God uses to shape us for His kingdom purpose. God is able to overrule our failure with His grace and mercy and by His creative power, weave our failures into a more beautiful pattern.
We discover that the truly important rivers in life are bridged by holiness. Unholy traits will keep us on the far bank. Better to use the bridge marked, “Holy unto the Lord.”
We discover that vision is entered through brokenness. Better to walk with a limp into the fulfilling of the kingdom purpose of God than proudly strut all the way to hell.
We discover that years of struggle are not wasted time. Struggle builds perseverance which is more to be desired than gold.
We discover that history is where we’ve been. Destiny is where we’re going. Surrendering to the God who holds the future is how we enter the future.
We discover that disability never disqualifies anyone from entering God’s vision. He is the God who meets us in our weakness and failure and recreates, restores and transforms.
We discover that God looks on the hidden person of the heart. If we are qualified inwardly, we can do whatever God calls us to do.
We discover that God gives the most authority to the most humble.
We discover that though we are greatly flawed and greatly gifted, the fire in our journey will burn out the flaws and purify the gifts.
We discover that faith beholds the vision of God. By faith we discover the wonderful truth that the promises of God are more real than anything else we can see or hear.
We discover that the times are always dangerous, unstable and challenging but if we will maintain our faith and our focus on Jesus, we will enter and live His vision.
God designed us to share His vision of a kingdom coming. As we journey with Him, He transforms us into men and women who can enter and fulfill the vision.