How binding is God’s Decree to Man?

It is evident that everything God created was decreed and foreordained to fulfill a particular function and purpose in life.  Man like every other created being is no exception: just as it is stated; “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” Because, God commanded and they were created, therefore every created thing must fulfill the purpose for which they were fore-ordained.

 Evidently everything fulfills precisely what it was decreed to perform in the exact manner with no abstention with the exception of man. Take for example God’s ordinance with the heavens, in the Lord’s discourse with Job the Lord said to him; “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?’ (Job 38:33).

 It is clear that the ordinances of the heavens are, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:14-18).

The lights in the firmament of the heavens have never failed to divide the day from the night, or to give light on the earth. The sun which is the greater light has never failed to rule the day as ordained: neither have the moon and stars failed to rule the night as ordained. They have never failed to be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.

 So reliable are God’s ordinances with the heavens that the Lord made a New Covenant with Israel saying; “Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever" (Jeremiah 31:35-36).

 The Lord also made an ordinance with the sea, and He revealed this decree to Job by saying, “…Who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; When I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; When I said, "This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!' (Job 38:8-11).

 Despite the vastness of the ocean and its majestic waves, the sea shore is its boundary, even when a tsunami or a tidal wave strikes and the waves go beyond their boundaries, their quickly resort to their designated area. This again is an ordinance which is perpetual, and it is daily in operation.

The Lord also made a decree with the horse, and He revealed this to Job by saying; “Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; nor does he turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and javelin. He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded. At the blast of the trumpet he says, 'Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting” (Job 39: 19-25).

 Nothing scares a horse, he mocks at fear, he rejoices in his strength, he covers distances with fierceness and rage, he does not turn back from danger, this is what he is destined to do, and he does it consistently without fail.

 But what about man! Is God's decree to man as consistent and irrevocable as that of the heavens, the sea, and the horse? Logically it should be because David in the Psalms wrote; “Let them [including man] praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away” (Psalms 148: 5-6).

 The decree which the Lord made with His creation is irrevocable, including the one he made with man saying; "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:26-28).

 Man’s first decree is to be in the image and according to the likeness of God, but is man like the other created things fulfilling God’s decree? Unfortunately not, because man has the power of choice to choose God's ordained way of life, or his own way, as it is written; "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.”

 Therefore because of the prerogative to choose, man must be taught the ordinances of God in order to make his choice, and when he has made the right choice, he must seek the provisions which are available to him to fulfill his ordained purpose.

 For example to attain man’s first decree which is to be in the image and likeness of God, man must first seek to know and understand the mechanism which is already in place by which this state can be attained, and therefore the apostle Paul wrote; “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:9-12).

 Man’s destiny unlike those of the other created beings who operate by decree and from natural instinct, are destined for higher degree of glory than how they were originally created, and therefore must put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.

 Man therefore can only fulfill his destiny by being instructed in the ordinances ordained for him to follow. So how can man fulfill his decree of becoming the image and likeness of God?  First of all one needs to know and understand what it means to be in the image of God, and what it means to be in the likeness of God. Technically there is not much of a difference between the word image and likeness. In fact the word image denotes “A likeness or copy, resemblance, form, appearance.

Therefore the word image here denotes form or embodiment. Signifying that man is a being in whom God is embodied like the body of Jesus Christ of whom it is said; “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2: 9-10).

In the God’s word translation of the bible it is stated this way “All of God lives in Christ's body.” And in the New American standard version of the bible it states it this way, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” The likeness is undoubtedly to be like Him in nature, and in character until Christ is formed in us, because Christ came to set us an example that we should follow His steps.

For man to become the image and in the likeness of God, for which he is destined it was foreordained before the foundation of the world the he should be holy, for it is written;  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”

 There is only one way by which man can attain his destiny is through the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and so it is written; “ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth --- in Him.”

“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1: 3-11).

 To fulfill God's decree for man which was destined before the foundation of the world, one must understand and fulfill the mystery of God’s will which is recorded in Ephesians chapter three, and unveiled by the apostle Paul stating;  “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This does, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes” (Ephesians 3:2-5; 1Corinthians 11:23-24).

Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.”

For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order.”

Unlike the rest of God's creation man does not fulfill his decreed purpose by instinct, but rather by choice, and a concerted effort using the resources available to him, that were foreordained before the foundation of the world for his glory, which is the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.  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 by the Spirit of the Lord.

 So let us not neglect so great a salvation, and let us not receive the grace of God in vain.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/145385777X

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BFP1SMV

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FV4WTWQ

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FV4WTWQ

 Copyright © 2013 by Lucius Joseph

All rights reserved