What is God’s Purpose for Saving Us?
God does not save us just so we will not perish. God’s purpose for saving us is much higher than that. It is based on His hidden plan from the beginning in eternity past (Eph. 3:11).
As such, God’s salvation does not merely deal with our problems but restores us to His original plan, God’s purpose, before man ever sinned.
Now let’s look at a bird’s-eye view of God’s purpose in His salvation. Let’s consider what was in God’s heart from the beginning and why He took action to save us.
God’s purpose for saving us–a bird’s-eye view of God’s plan from eternity past
First, we need to see that God had a plan or purpose from eternity past. Ephesians 3:11 says,
“According to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If we are going understand God’s purpose for saving us we need to realize that there was something deep in God’s heart from before time was.
“According to His good pleasure”–Eph. 1:9
It all started with God’s heart’s desire, His good pleasure. Ephesians 1:9 says,
“Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.”
God’s good pleasure in something that gives His heart delight, that makes Him happy.
“God purposed in Himself”–v. 9
As Ephesians 1:9 points out, God’s good pleasure caused Him to “purpose in Himself.” That is, He made a plan to carry out what makes Him happy. This was His eternal purpose (Eph. 3:11).
But what was it that God planned or purposed? The first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, gives us a window into God’s heart. Genesis 1:26 says,
“And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth…”
God’s eternal purpose was focused on man, not just an individual man, but a corporate man, a group of people. He said, “Let Us make man.” and then continued, “and let them.” Here “man” is “them.”
God’s purpose with this corporate man is revealed in the two words: image and dominion. Image indicates expression and dominion refers to representing with authority. From eternity God wanted man to express Him and to represent Him. This was God’s desire in creating us.
“God purposed in Himself unto an economy”–Eph. 1:9-10
What God purposed in Himself was “unto an economy,” an arrangement for dispensing.
Ephesians 1:9 carrying over to verse 10 says,
“He [God] purposed in Himself unto an economy…”
What is God’s economy? It is simply His plan to dispense Himself into us so that we can express Him with His image and represent Him with His dominion (Gen. 1:26). Without such a dispensing, we would be like an empty glove without a hand [God] to fill it. We would be unable to express God or represent Him.
But God has His economy, His way to carry out what He has purposed.
“Now the serpent [Satan] was more crafty”–Gen. 3:1
However, before God could carry out His purpose to dispense Himself into man, God’s enemy, Satan came in to thwart God’s plan. Satan deceived man to not only disobey God but also to receive into himself a sinful and deadening element (Eph. 2:1) that ruined him for God’s eternal purpose.
“So great a salvation”–Heb. 2:3
However, God could never be defeated. Satan’s plot only afforded God the opportunity to display His surpassing great wisdom (Eph. 3:10). This is the context of God’s full salvation.
God does not intend to merely save us from our sinful condition and from God’s eternal condemnation. He intends to restore us to what He intended from the beginning. He intends to make us part of the new corporate man to fulfill His eternal purpose.
Now we can see God’s purpose for saving us.
God’s salvation not only cleanses us from our sins but dispenses God Himself in Christ as the Spirit into us so that we may become “a glove filled with the hand,” that is, that we may be filled with God to express God with His image and represent Him with His dominion for eternity.
Just tell God right now,
“Dear Lord, thank you for showing me Your purpose for saving me. Lord Jesus, I believe that you not only died to take away my sins. I also believe that you came as the Spirit of life to fill me with Yourself. Forgive me and cleanse me so that You may fill me, and make me part of this new man that fulfills Your plan. Bring me fully into Your eternal purpose. I receive You and I love You.”
If you were helped by this post, please take a moment to share it in a brief comment.
References:
This post was inspired by God’s Full Salvation, Lesson One, published by Living Stream Ministry.
About Tom Smith
Hi. My name is Tom Smith. I'm the writer behind Holding to Truth in Love, and I love the Lord Jesus and His life-giving Word. Please feel free to send me an e-mail through the contact page if you have any questions. I hope you'd take a moment to subscribe to the Holding to Truth blog. Then you'll be sure not to miss a post. Thanks!
Amen brother Tom. God has an eternal purpose which is His hearts desire. That is to dispense Himself into man that He may gain a corporate expression. Oh Lord Jesus dispense more of Yourself into all of us.
Larry, it is really good to see that God has deeper purpose in saving us! He redeemed us and reconciled us to Himself so that He may save us in His divine life (Rom. 5:10) and produce us as one universal, new man (Col. 3:10-11) full of His Son, Christ. How great that we could see this goal, cooperate with his process, and be one with our God to fulfill His eternal purpose. Thanks for the confirming comment.
Sir this is amazing.. but one question I wanna ask is that: Should God succeed in dispensing himself into us sir, then I say everyone will be holy. Then what will be our real work? What will our activity in the world be ?
First, we need to see that we are three-part vessels–spirit, soul and body–created by God to contain Him and express Him. We need to cooperate with God first to receive His dispensing of Himself into us. Then we become God’s fellow workers (1 Cor. 3:6-9) to sow Christ, whom we have received, as the seed of life into others through God’s living word (1 Pet. 1:23). This seed of the divine life grows into the kingdom of God, the built up Body of Christ and bride of Christ, for which He will return. For more on this wonderful, divine economy, I recommend the Economy of God, by Witness Lee. You can download the pdf or e-book here.
I’m so glad I came across this website. I’ve been teaching on Finding your purpose and this topic came to mind and I wanted to research it in depth and this was perfect for me to add to the teaching. I now know that God didnt just save me from my sins but he saved me for a greater purpose in life. And that is God wants to live in me so the world can see who He really is.
I’m also glad you came across the Holding to Truth blog. Seeing God’s deeper purpose in saving us, changes the direction of our Christian life. We are not merely waiting for a better hereafter. We are cooperating with Him that He may grow in us (Eph. 2:21-22), build us up to be His one Body (4:16), a beautifying us with Christ to be His glorious bride (5:25-27). Thank you for your comment.
It was so wonderful to read your post I am so blessed in Jesus Christ name amen
So glad you enjoyed the post. How wonderful it is to see that God has a purpose in saving us. May our experience of God’s salvation not stop with our need but advance to the fulfillment of His great purpose! Thanks for sharing your comment.
Thank you brother for your speaking I need the good news in a dark world Christ is making His home in our hearts
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. It is so good to see that God is not only saving us eternally from perdition. He is saving us continually, even moment-by-moment, by filling us with Christ as our inner life. As those created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26), we are His containers, “gloves,” to be filled with Christ as the real “hand”. As you said, it is good news in a dark world that Christ is making His home in all our hearts (Eph. 3:17). Thankfully we can pray, “Lord, make Your home in my heart more today! Grow in me today. Continually save me in Your life. Fulfill Your purpose in me and through me.” Thank you for sharing your comment.
Thank you brother Tom for your sharing. It really touched my heart. For all this time, I didn’t see in Gen 1:26 that “man” and “them” correspond to one another, referring to corporate man. It is so wonderful to see that! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed the post. To see God’s great desire for a corporate man with His “image” and “dominion” to express Him and represent Him is a life-changing revelation. This should be the goal of our Christian life and church life. Thanks for sharing your appreciation in a comment.
Amen! Thank you for your blessed words and faith!
It is a great thing to see God’s purpose in creating us, that we would contain Him, to express Him with His image and represent Him with His authority. May we be the new man of His plan to fulfill God’s heart’s desire. Than you for your comment.