Firstly, God’s big picture is the salvation of mankind. He wants all his creation to be saved because of virtuous works. According to 2 Peter 3:9, He doesn’t want anyone to perish. Ezekiel 18:32 also says He has no pleasure in seeing anyone die. Instead, He wants us all to repent, live morally, and be saved, in the end of course. His goal is the salvation of man whom He put so much thought and work into creating. His initial goal was for man to be trained and become God. However, Eve changed that path when she convinced her husband Adam and he actually accepted her proposition. “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” Genesis 3:22. You know the story. Eve should have ignored the serpent. She should have fell on her knees to pray. She should have reported the incident to her husband immediately. Instead, she yielded to sin. Nonetheless, the big picture is the same, the salvation of mankind. The promises He makes to man are His responsibilities to keep. He must keep them because He cannot lie and He cannot fail. Many scriptures confirm God’s responsibility toward mankind. We need to do what Eve did not do, we need to pray for the mind to choose righteous works in lieu of consequences for disobedience.
However, all His promises are contingent upon man doing His part. All His promises have an IF; Then statement. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” If we call on Him when life gets difficulty, then He will deliver us. We are responsible for glorifying Him in exchange for His deliverance. It is His responsibility to deliver us in times of trouble. Why, because He promised. He keeps His promises because He is righteous, it is not for our sakes, but for His own. Ezekiel 36 tells us that. Psalms 50:15 tells us that, “and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” He promises us a new heart, a heart that will walk in His way.
This is His ultimate goal, to have us walk in His ways by keeping His statutes and judgments, His commandments so our names can be written in the book of life. We can also read that in Ezekiel 36. Nothing impure will ever enter into the book of life, anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful will be blotted out. “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life, Revelation 21:27.” Those who remain in this book will ultimately live in New Jerusalem, the city being prepared and coming down from the third heaven, Revelation 21:2. Deut. 10:14, 1 Kings 8:27, Matthew 5:16, Psalm 2:4, and 1 Kings 8:30 speaks about the third heaven, the dwelling place of The Most High. Thus, this is the big picture God has for His servants.
On the other hand, He will not make adjustments to His expectations. His expectation is for man and woman to be a family of gods. He created us for His glory. He knew when Adam sinned that we would continually fall into sin. He had to create a program for us to be god using an alternative route. Yet, His goal did not change. He still intends for man to be a family of sinless gods. He could have very well created a new man out of rock, since He created Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, He could have easily created a new man. Regardless, there would be no glory to him nor any pleasure to Him had He done it that way. Psalms 102:18, Psalms 104:30, Isaiah 43:15, Isaiah 44 is a good read, Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 43:7, as well as many other scriptures confirm this. God could have easily created a new man from anything of His choice. He simply had to speak it into being.
God is the epitome of righteousness. This is why He must do right by His creation. He must keep His promises. He is our example of patience, longsuffering, forgiveness, and love, despite the overall degeneration of man’s morals. His overall plan for salvation will at least save the very elect. Deuteronomy 32:4 calls him “just and right”. John spoke it best when he said, “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
How much more patient, longsuffering, forgiveness, and loving can he be? We need to pray for wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and strength to overcome adversity so that we can be saved in the end. We need to pray for the fruits of the spirit, those actions and behaviors that get our names in the book of life. Overall, his plan is the same for all man, since salvation is command. Unfortunately, this plan will be put into action with a great deal of casualties, but put into place just the same.