BUILDING THE ULTIMATE COMMUNITY
What if you had all the money, power, authority and resources you needed. You also have access to all the people of the world over a vast amount of time. You could start assimilating people from all walks of life, from all nationalities, male and female, who will willingly want to come to you and join your community. Over time you would be able to find for each person the perfect job which would be most beneficial to you and your community but also enjoyable to each person.
With your unlimited resources you would also have a communication system which would allow you to be connected to all people at all times. You could supply all their needs, allowing all people to enjoy a pleasureful existence in peace and harmony with each other and you forever.
You would be able to keep all crime and evil out of your community. No people would have desires to do wrong; they would all develop loving relationships with all other people in your community.
Now I am sure your are thinking something like "How is this possible? People have tried parts of this plan throughout history but have always failed eventually." Well, that is the problem - people have tried. The answer is that people alone can’t accomplish this but God can and will in His heavenly kingdom.
The Ultimate Community
The people of God’s ultimate community have been described as the body of Christ. Jesus is the head of the body while all true believers in Jesus make up the body. Each believer has been given special interests, gifts and talents which will make them of special use as part of the body of Christ. All body parts must work together in perfect harmony for the body to function perfectly. Unfortunately all of God’s people are still full of flaws because they have all lived in a fallen world. The world we now live in is not the perfect, defect-free paradise God originally created and it is not like the new heaven and new earth God has in store for us in the future.
Therefore His flawed people will have to work out all their flaws and grow toward perfection. God will continue to teach and guide us in our present lives and through His millennial kingdom, where Satan and evil will have been removed. When God is through building His ultimate community, at the end of His millennial kingdom, it will function flawlessly forever.
Although God wants all people to come to Him with heartfelt belief in Jesus, He realizes that not all people will accept Him. God has been building His community of believers ever since the beginning of mankind. It may be awhile before He has all the members He desires, but then again He may be ready to close the door of opportunity for believers to come to Him in the very near future. His ways and plans are far beyond our understanding. Therefore we can only imagine and have hope for what God has in store for us.
The Ultimate Plan
From what I have learned, my view of God’s ultimate plan would be: God created a perfect world with a perfect environment optimal for mankind to live, then God created mankind. God loved His entire perfect creation, especially mankind. God wanted mankind to love Him in return so He gave mankind "free will’ to choose whether or not they wanted to love God. For those who choose to love and respect God, God will guide and watch over them until they die. Once they die their soul will remain in the presence of the Lord forever. Eventually, when Jesus returns to the earth, they will once again inhabit the earth, but this time under Jesus’ rule. For one thousand years they will continually grow in the ways of God and learn to get along (love and respect) all other believers. Once all believers have reached their ultimate level of spiritual maturity, at the end of the millennium, God will roll away the old heaven and old earth, and create a new heaven and new earth. It is here that all believers will enjoy residing with God in total everlasting love, joy, peace and harmony.
How prepared for eternal peace and harmony are you now? How prepared will you be when you first go to be with our Lord? Will you even end up in Jesus’ presence when you die? If this is how God expects us to live in the eternal future, will it be a big change for you compared to how you now live, or will you fit in with ease? To me, the more we learn to love and respect God and others, the easier our transition will be from life in this present world to God’s ultimate eternal community.
