Understanding God’s longsuffering

God’s Eternal Purpose

[Doctrine & Longsuffering]

Understanding God’s longsuffering

 - "Is there a God?" 

 - "Where is God in the midst of all the evil, the pain & suffering?"

 - "Why doesn't He intervene and stop the injustice?"

All these questions reflect a concern over God coming to see to the affairs here on earth.

The Bible declares that there is nothing “new” in our present day & time (Eccl. 1:9).  What issues we face today, were faced by those in the past; we may not be aware of the scriptures that reveal this, but I am yet to find that a present-day problem is one in which we can find no scripture to apply.  It happened in the Bible w/past generations.

Consider this relevant to the questions asked above.  Have you ever heard them, or perhaps even asked them yourself?  

First, consider the question, “Why does God tarry??  This very question existed in the days of the apostles.  There was division among Christians in the first century on this matter, and THERE IS STILL DIVISION TODAY ON THE SAME SUBJECT!  The apostle Peter dealt with this in 2nd Peter 3.

Beginning with verse 15, Peter here explains why God does not ‘intervene’ and attributes the division among Christians about God’s patience with man to ignorance of God’s eternal purpose.

Long ago, king David acknowledged of God in Psalm 74:12 – “My God is of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.” 

Here in 2nd Peter 3:15-18 we read these words:

“And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.  There are some things, in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

God purposed to save man; this was according to a great eternal plan and purpose that began in eternity in God’s mind (cf. Titus 1:2; Eph. 1:3-11).

Still today, confusion and division in the religious realm exist because of ignorance of God’s eternal purpose for man.

The Bible reveals that God had a plan as to how our salvation would be accomplished.  It was purposed to be thru His only begotten Son.

Therefore, one of the most important doctrines in the Bible is HOW we get into Christ; at what point are we forgiven of our sins…i.e., how do we ‘call upon’ the name of the Lord?

Christ’s people, the church are identified by their teaching on this matter. 

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