GOD’S PLAN IN DETAIL – THE STUDY GUIDE

Where did this all come from?

The Holy Bible is God’s Message for us

The Holy Bible is an amazing collection of books. Beginning with Moses writing the first 5 books, and ending with the book of Revelation written by the apostle John, at least 40 different authors have contributed to it over 1,600 years. The 39 books of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew between 1,500 and 400 BC, while the 27 books of the New Testament were written in Greek between 40 and 90 AD.

The writers came from many different backgrounds, from kings and priests to shepherds and fishermen. They wrote in many different styles - from historical chronicles to poetry and personal letters. There were many detailed prophesies that claimed to predict what would happen many years, even thousands of years, into the future. Some of those authors even claimed that they were writing under the inspiration of the only true God.

With so many authors, from such different backgrounds, over such a long period of time, you would expect wildly different accounts of both the God that they are writing about, and his relationship with mankind. What we actually find is an amazing coherence and synchronisation, even between the Old and New Testaments. This is true in spite of the fact that most of the messages contained in those books were strongly critical of the people receiving and preserving them.

There is nothing else like this in human literature. Imagine a collection of religious documents written by 40 different authors over 1600 years during a time when the whole world, including Israel, worshiped a host of different gods. That these documents are so unified in their content is amazing. It would be optimistic for even ten people confined to one room and sharing a common experience and background to write a collection of documents that are so unified in content.

Even the process of accurately preserving these books over such a long time has no other parallel. Each document was copied accurately by hand as it became old and had to be replaced. They had to be preserved through long periods when the Israelite people lapsed into idolatry and suffered persecution and war before they were finally destroyed as a nation and scattered throughout the earth.

The Ark of the Tabernacle was lost and the Temple in Jerusalem has been twice destroyed. However, the more fragile written record of the Old Testament ‘somehow’ remained to be available for us today. Likewise the New Testament books were compiled and preserved, even while the early New Testament church suffered intense persecution by the Roman government of the day.

Compare this with the scattered remnants of the documents, histories and commentaries of other authors throughout the same long period of time.

The 66 books of the Holy Bible can only have one author – the one true God who inspired each of the many writers to put down in their own words the message that he wanted to be recorded for us at that time. No other explanation makes sense.

Understanding God’s Message

This website is the result of consciously setting aside everything that I had previously been taught and then asking God to help me to understand. I then set about reading both the Old and New Testament books of the Bible with the intention of finding out what they really say.

I began with an understanding that the Bible wasn’t written to be easily understood. Knowledge is deliberately scattered here and there throughout Scripture so that men and women who had set their minds to live their own way would be able to read but not understand. Isaiah 28:9-13 NIV“Who is it he is trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?

For it is: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there.”

Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, to whom he said,

“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose” - but they would not listen.

So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured., Romans 11:7-10 CEVThis means that only a chosen few of the people of Israel found what all of them were searching for. And the rest of them were stubborn, just as the Scriptures say,

God made them so stupid that their eyes are blind, and their ears are still deaf.

Then David said, Turn their meals into bait for a trap, so that they will stumble and be given what they deserve. Blindfold their eyes! Don't let them see. Bend their backs beneath a burden that will never be lifted..

As I progressed, I learned that God Himself has to open our minds to understand and believe what he has inspired to be written, and that he will only do this if we demonstrate that we are willing to act on the knowledge and understanding that he provides. 2 Corinthians 3:14-18 NIVBut their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.

Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lords glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit., Philippians 3:15-16 NLTI hope all of you who are mature Christians will agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must be sure to obey the truth we have learned already., Mark 4:23-25 NIV"If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

"Consider carefully what you hear", he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.".

An example of this was provided by Yeshua’s own disciples. They had no idea what he was talking about when he described his impending death. Mark 9:30-32 NIVThey left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."

But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it., Luke 18:31-34 NIVJesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again."

The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.. They didn’t finally understand until Yeshua removed the barrier to their understanding after was raised from the dead. Luke 24:25-31,44-45 NIVHe said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight...

He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures..

We must be willing to believe Yeshua and accept his sacrifice. We must obey him by living according to what we begin to understand – further understanding will then follow. John 8.30-32 CEVAfter Jesus said this, many of the people put their faith in him. Jesus told the people who had faith in him, "If you keep on obeying what I have said, you truly are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." , John 14.22-23 NIVThen Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.", James 1:22-25 CEVObey God's message! Don't fool yourselves by just listening to it.

If you hear the message and don't obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave.

But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don't just hear and forget.. We have to train ourselves to know what we should do, and to then do it. Hebrews 5:12-14 NLTYou have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right..

Human scholarship and wisdom are not requirements. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 NLTI know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God.

As the Scriptures say, "I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas." So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the worlds brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense.

Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe.

God's way seems foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven to prove it is true. And it is foolish to the Greeks because they believe only what agrees with their own wisdom.

So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say its all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the mighty power of God and the wonderful wisdom of God.

This "foolish" plan of God is far wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is far stronger than the greatest of human strength.. In fact, rather than calling the wealthy and capable, God mostly calls simple people and helps them to understand. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NLTRemember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the worlds eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God..

This knowledge of God and his Plan will seem foolish to the world’s wise and educated. 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 NLTBut people who aren't Christians can't understand these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means.

We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can't understand us at all. How could they? For, "Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?" But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ., 1 Corinthians 3:18-21 CEVDon't fool yourselves! If any of you think you are wise in the things of this world, you will have to become foolish before you can be truly wise. This is because God considers the wisdom of this world to be foolish.

It is just as the Scriptures say, "God catches the wise when they try to outsmart him." The Scriptures also say, "The Lord knows that the plans made by wise people are useless."

So stop bragging about what anyone has done. Paul and Apollos and Peter all belong to you. In fact, everything is yours, including the world, life, death, the present, and the future. Everything belongs to you.. Too often, being educated simply results in reading the Bible with preconceived ideas that prevent us from understanding what would be obvious to a child.

We need to understand that our minds, attitudes and desires have been corrupted by a lifetime of sin. Our heritage is built upon hundreds of generations of human life dedicated to following our own way while living in a world controlled by Satan.

One of the consequences of this is that we don’t even know how to be happy. It is hard for us to imagine living in a world where pain and suffering don’t exist.

Look at our entertainment, music and literature. It is almost universally a celebration of the many different facets of the pain and suffering that we have accepted as being part of our human experience. This has become so engrained that it is almost impossible for us to imagine how life could be otherwise.

While not what God wanted for us, he has allowed this to happen so that we can ultimately learn from bitter experience some very important lessons. Romans 1:18-32 NLTBut God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.

So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen.

That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved.

When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving.

They are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too., Romans 3:9-20 NIVWhat shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.

As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know."

"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin., Romans 7:14-25 CEVWe know that the Law is spiritual. But I am merely a human, and I have been sold as a slave to sin. In fact, I don't understand why I act the way I do. I don't do what I know is right. I do the things I hate. Although I don't do what I know is right, I agree that the Law is good. So I am not the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

I know that my selfish desires won't let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot. Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong. And so, if I don't do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

The Law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right. With my whole heart I agree with the Law of God. But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do.

What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die? Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.
So with my mind I serve the Law of God, although my selfish desires make me serve the law of sin.. Whatever we might think of ourselves, we have all sinned and our own righteousness is like filthy rags to God. Isaiah 64:6 NLTWe are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away. , It can only lead to misery, pain, suffering and death.

God has to open our minds to see this and to give us a new heart to want to seek him and obey him before we can begin to understand his message. Romans 11:7-10 CEVThis means that only a chosen few of the people of Israel found what all of them were searching for. And the rest of them were stubborn, just as the Scriptures say,

God made them so stupid that their eyes are blind, and their ears are still deaf.

Then David said, Turn their meals into bait for a trap, so that they will stumble and be given what they deserve. Blindfold their eyes! Don't let them see. Bend their backs beneath a burden that will never be lifted..

Not everyone will recognise and believe that Yeshua is God’s Son and accept his message. The Father has chosen those he wants to call in this age, and they are under his protection. John 10.22-30 CEVThat winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Temple Festival. One day he was walking in that part of the temple known as Solomon's Porch, and the people gathered all around him.

They said, "How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!" Jesus answered: I have told you, and you refused to believe me. The things I do by my Father's authority show who I am. But since you are not my sheep, you don't believe me.

My sheep know my voice, and I know them. They follow me, and I give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost. No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father gave them to me, and he is greater than all others. No one can snatch them from his hands, and I am one with the Father.. Everyone else is living in a world controlled by Satan and will not listen to God’s message. I John 4:4-6 CEVChildren, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God's Spirit is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world.

These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to them, because they speak its language.

We belong to God, and everyone who knows God will listen to us. But the people who don't know God won't listen to us. That is how we can tell the Spirit that speaks the truth from the one that tells lies..

Very few of the Jews believed Yeshua while he was living with them. John 12.37-43 CEVHe had worked a lot of miracles among the people, but they were still not willing to have faith in him.

This happened so that what the prophet Isaiah had said would come true, "Lord, who has believed our message? And who has seen your mighty strength?"

The people could not have faith in Jesus, because Isaiah had also said, "The Lord has blinded the eyes of the people, and he has made the people stubborn. He did this so that they could not see or understand, and so that they would not turn to the Lord and be healed."

Isaiah said this, because he saw the glory of Jesus and spoke about him. Even then, many of the leaders put their faith in Jesus, but they did not tell anyone about it. The Pharisees had already given orders for the people not to have anything to do with anyone who had faith in Jesus. And besides, the leaders liked praise from others more than they liked praise from God.. 

The Purpose of this Booklet

God only opens the minds of people that he has chosen to work with, and only when they are ready to receive and act on what they learn. As part of his Plan for mankind, he is preparing a small group now as a first step towards working with everyone else later after Yeshua returns. Knowledge of God’s Plan is essential for those he is calling now. For everyone else it is dangerous knowledge – far better not to understand than to be convicted of having received and understood the truth, only to have rejected it. 2 Peter 2:20-21 NLTAnd when people escape from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up with sin and become its slave again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the right way to live than to know it and then reject the holy commandments that were given to them.. 

The purpose of this booklet is to help make God’s Plan, as detailed in the Bible, really clear for the people that God is calling at this time.

Using Different Translations

The Old and New Testaments have been translated many times. Each translation is to some degree an interpretation of the original Hebrew and Greek as it is often not possible to provide an exact translation of the original meaning intended.

Most people who make a study of the Bible end up having a favourite translation. Because of its readable English style, I have mostly used the New Living Translation for general reading and gaining an overview of what has been written. However, it does contain some significant errors, which become evident when comparing the texts concerned with other more rigorous translations. The New International and Contemporary English versions are also very readable while being more accurate.

The Bible Gateway at www.biblegateway.com  is an excellent resource for comparing different translations to establish which is most generally accepted as being correct. You don’t have to be a Hebrew or Greek scholar. Having God’s Holy Spirit helping you is far more important.

Each of the scriptures referenced will pop up when you click on the reference. The translation used was selected on the basis of what is both most generally accepted as correct and the most easily understood. 

While I have done this to make it easy to check the referenced scriptures, you should also spend time checking for yourself the context of each scripture quoted, as well as other translations, to satisfy yourself that you really understand what was written. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 NKJVTest all things; hold fast what is good..

I've made use of the following translations:

NLT: New Living Translation
CEV: Contemporary English Version
NIV: New International Version
AMP: Amplified Bible
ESV: English Standard Version
NASB: New American Standard Bible
NKJV: New King James Version