A PERPETUAL PURPOSE by Uriah Smith

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 9, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 28.

A PERPETUAL PURPOSE.

By Uriah Smith

OUR God, who is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever," must have a purpose concerning His creation that is as unchangeable as He declares Himself to be. If His purpose were vacillating, He must be changeable; but He says of Himself, "I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Mal. 3:6. Because God's purpose was not a changeable one, the sons of Jacob were not destroyed. In permitting that nation to continue to exist, tho it had ceased as a nation to do His will, God demonstrates to the world the unchangeableness of His purpose. He had promised a Redeemer who should come through that nation; and because that word had gone out of His mouth, the descendants of Abraham could not be destroyed or lose their identity among the nations of earth until He who was promised to and through that people had come as the recognized descendant of him to whom the promise was made.

Now, as God showed His unchangeableness in preserving Israel from a fate which their course would naturally bring upon them, so He continues to show that same unchangeableness now, in bearing with a sinful world until every honest soul has been won from the clutches of the enemy. Our God is a righteous God. He can not look upon sin with any allowance. Were He changeable, we might expect Him to alter His purpose and wipe the wicked world out of His sight. But He does not do it. His character as an unchanging God makes necessary a fixity of purpose. We learn from Eph. 3:11 that God has an "eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus." If God were to change His purpose, then that purpose could not be an eternal one.

The prophet, in speaking of God's purpose concerning Babylon, declares, "Every purpose of the Lord shall be performed." Jer. 51:29. And again: "I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it." Isa. 46:11. That fixity of purpose is shown also in the declaration of the Lord in Jer. 4:28. "Because I have spoken it, I have proposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it." True, the Lord has not carried into execution all the punishments pronounced upon individuals. When they have repented, He has turned away the punishment. But that did not change or affect His great purpose concerning man. Rather, it was in direct line with that purpose and with His character as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious."

Because the Lord is unchanging and His purpose eternal, this earthly home will again be man's possession, and righteousness replace the rule of sin. To fulfill that mighty purpose, God found it necessary to "lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation." Isa. 28:16. We learn from Eph. 2:20 that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself is that foundation-stone, upon which has been established and is now being completed that wonderful building of God's purpose concerning man. It was necessary that such a foundation-stone should be tried and proved. God's purpose must not fail. That Stone was put to test when rebellion raged in heaven. It was put to the test when the author of that rebellion attempted Christ's overthrow in the wilderness of this earth. That Stone was indeed a tried one; its worth was demonstrated; and now it has become the foundation Stone of God's triumphant building. Ritual-ridden religion refused to honor or accept that corner Stone, and as a result that system withered and shriveled and wasted into the bleakest kind of dead ceremonial, its house left desolate, its holy of holies flung open to the gaze of the multitude. To that system and to those who held it that Stone became a "stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." Whereas those who believed and accepted Him became "lively stones," and were built into that "spiritual house," offering up "spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God." 1 Peter 2:5-9.

Thus has God shown to us by a wondrous object-lesson the wisdom of harmony with His eternal purpose. That people was withered by its own unbelief and lifeless ceremonies, and the blasts of the ages have scattered them to the ends of the earth. It is never safe to battle against the purpose of the Almighty. It is better to accept His way, the way of a righteous, unchanging purpose, and then share in His everlasting triumph. It is better to do right than do the way our will may choose. It is better to think right than think the way we may choose to think. Our doing can not make wrong right; our thinking can not alter fact. God's way is right, is in harmony with His eternal purpose, and will triumph. The question for each one is: Would I rather have my own way? or share in God's everlasting triumph? We can not have both, only as we allow our own way to be swallowed up in God's way, and then the way is His own and not our own. Would I rather do as I wish? or have a part in the saints' inheritance in the earth made new? I can not have the one and do the other, unless "as I wish" means as God wishes. These are important questions; eternal consequences hang upon the answer. It is the part of wisdom to say, I will be in harmony with God's purpose, and triumph in His victory.