When we talk about “purpose” we mean a desired result one wishes to achieve. Or, what is the aim or goal one has in mind for doing something? In plain terms we can say that all our acts are governed by purpose. For example, if we get in our car we have in mind to go someplace. Or, if our wives set dishes on the table it is for the purpose of eating our food. When people do things rashly we often say they didn’t have a clear purpose in mind, which leads to a bad result.
God always has a purpose in whatever he does. Thus, he spoke a word by which he created the world and all that is in it. Psalm 33:6 states clearly: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made. And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Scripture references are from the New King James Version). And Hebrews 11:3 further enlightens us as to how we know this when it states: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Thus, by faith we believe that God is the Creator who, by sovereign power, made all things.
When God created mankind, he also did so with a purpose. God desired that mankind would reflect himself, for he said: “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” God also intended that man should rule over nature as his representative. Therefore, God said also: “Let them have dominion over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Gen. 1:26). It is mankind’s calling and duty, therefore, to seek to be godly and act for God in this world. This requires, of course, that man should seek to rule in accord with the teachings of God’s revealed will to him. Unfortunately, people often act as though they are free to do as they please without any guidance from God. Thus, as the songwriter states it:
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain.
God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.
William Cowper, 1777 (Psalter Hymnal, 434:5)
God’s Word should always be allowed to enlighten us in our duty with regard to all matters of this world. We must regard God’s Word as “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105). In this way, the Christian worker must develop a world and life view of all activity. In much literature today, the theory of Darwinian evolution is used as the background of the writers’ view of life. Yet God alone is the Creator and Sustainer of all. We must honor him in all our thinking and labors.
God’s good purpose for mankind is also displayed in our redemption. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, God extended a promise of deliverance for mankind. God’s grace gave assurance to our first parents that “the seed of the woman . . . shall bruise your head [the serpent’s; that is, the devil]” (Gen. 3:15). Victory for the human race was assured by this promise of God. However, the meaning of this promise was more fully revealed over the ongoing course of history. God later revealed, for example, that this “seed of the woman” would be a man child (Isa. 11:1–5). Later on, we also learn that this “seed of the woman” would be in the lineage of the great King David (2 Sam. 7:12).
The evangelical prophet Isaiah had the privilege to reveal that it would be by the sufferings of this “seed of the woman” that the bruising of the serpent’s head would be accomplished (Isa. 53). Therefore, it is in the light of God’s Word recorded in Scripture that we come to understand God’s purposes regarding mankind’s redemption. For as Jesus himself told the Jews of his day: the Scriptures “are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). To know Jesus, we must listen to God’s Word about him. Apart from God’s Word revealed in Scripture, we cannot come to know the true Christ as Savior and Lord. Ignoring Scripture about Christ, some people worship and serve a Christ of their own making. Let us make sure that the Christ we know and serve is the one of whom Scripture says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him” (Heb. 1:6). He alone sits at God’s right hand while his enemies are subdued by God’s powerful hand (Heb. 1:13).
Surely, it is incumbent upon believers in Christ to seek to plan all our activities with a view to doing God’s will “which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). Yet we must remember that because of our innate depravity we may often err in complying with God’s good and perfect will. In awareness of our tendency to err, let us be comforted by the truth of Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Praise God that he rules and overrules in our activities so that his purpose finally prevails. It is such knowledge that assures the believer that our salvation is secure with God. As the apostle Paul expressed this truth to the Philippians: “being confident that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (1:6).
Let us seek to live meaningful lives so that God’s purpose may prevail in us with a view to its completion in the Last Day.
Dr. Harry G. Arnold is a retired minister in the Christian Reformed Church and lives in Portage, MI. He is a member of Grace Christian Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, MI.