God’s Future for Man: More Than a Dream

by Tim Groves
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Fifty-five years ago Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The Bible shows that God has more than a dream. He is bringing about a reality, and it involves you and me.

Sadly, 58 years later, though great progress has been made, his dream is still not a total reality.

But God has more than a dream. He has a plan that will become reality. It has similarities to the vision painted 58 years ago by Dr. King—but its vision is on a much greater and grander level!

Before the world was

Long before man existed, God wanted to expand His spiritual family. He wanted others to be like Him and enjoy life at His level—the God level—of existence. So God turned His vision into His plan.

Long before man existed, God wanted to expand His spiritual family. As part of this plan, God first created millions of angels with free will. These angels sang with joy when God later created the earth, which had a special place in His plan (Job 38:4-5, 6-7).

After God created the earth, He placed some of the angels here to help prepare it for the pinnacle of His created beings—the creation of mankind.

An attempt to overthrow God’s plan

As Scripture shows, an archangel named Lucifer decided not to follow God and convinced a third of the angels to follow him. Incredibly, Lucifer and his followers tried to overthrow God—but failed (Isaiah 14:12-13, 14-15; Revelation 12:4). Lucifer was renamed Satan (meaning “adversary”), and he and his demons were cast back down to the earth (Luke 10:18).

It was because of their rebellion that the earth became “without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2).

But God did not give up on His plan. He cleaned up the mess the fallen angels had made and then filled the environment with plant and animal life for the sustaining of mankind (verses 3-25).

The masterpiece of God’s plan

Genesis 1:26 not only mentions the creation of mankind, but also shows how special mankind is to God. In the preceding verses, the animals were made “according to their kind,” but men and women are made after the God kind: “Then God said, ‘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’” (emphasis added).

God reigns, and God has planned for mankind to reign with Him. As physical humans, we have a form like God and have intellect like God, but on a much smaller scale. And God has given us, as humans, dominion over the earth. But God has more than we can possibly dream of in store for us once we become spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9)!

God is intent on “bringing many sons [and daughters] to glory” (Hebrews 2:10).

Yes, bringing many sons and daughters to glory is God’s expectation—His plan. Most read right over that phrase and don’t grasp what it really means. God is saying that His plan is to make human beings a part of His family. If you have children, you know they are the same kind of being as you are. They are your blood—your kin! God’s purpose for human beings is the same—we are to become God’s kin—the same kind of being that He is.

This plan—that human beings be born into the God family—has been a mystery to the majority of humanity (Mark 4:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:26). But it doesn’t have to be a mystery to you!

God’s plan revealed through His holy days

We can understand God’s plan through special days He set aside for us. These holy days show how God’s plan—God’s expectation—will be fulfilled.

One of these holy days—the Feast of Trumpets—points to the day when Jesus Christ will return to this earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And shortly after the Feast of Trumpets is the Day of Atonement, which pictures the removal of Satan and his influence and the reconciliation of mankind to God.

Then comes the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, which portrays the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ and His saints on the earth. During this time, the earth will be restored like it was in the Garden of Eden, and peace and prosperity will fill the earth.

It is God’s desire that everyone be in His Kingdom. God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Yes, this is so much more than God’s “dream.” It is the expectation and fulfillment of His plan. And He eagerly looks forward to the time when it finally becomes reality.

To learn more about God’s plan for you and all who have ever lived, request our free booklet The Mystery of the Kingdom.

Date Posted: January 18, 2021