- 43rd International Bible Conference, August 3, 2011God Planned the Course of History from the BeginningThese days, you can carry out your work sending and receiving mail wherever you go in the world simply with a cell phone in your hand. The needle of a compass will always point to the north, but it occurs to me that as I travel from place to place in this world that has become so technically advanced, if I did not have a fixed direction in my life, if I did not have people to meet, if I had no homeland in my heart, if I just boarded a plane with no particular place to go, my life would be very dismal. In the Bible it says, “Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air” (1 Corinthians 9:26), but there are many people in the world who live their lives, beating the air. When I consider people who strive without end trying to make a little more money and make a better life for themselves, I wonder what they hope their efforts will bring and whether they feel any satisfaction at the end of it all.   Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.  James 1:17-18   When you just read these verses, you might think that you already know this. You might think it goes without saying that “the Father of lights” is God—since God is above, everything comes down from above—and that “every perfect gift”—that is, all good things—comes down from God. Yet, when we read verses such as these, we need to think about how the God of whom these verses bear witness shines upon us and testifies to us through the entire Bible. Many people believe that God is the one and only God and that He is omnipotent. But what is “every good gift and every perfect gift” and what does it mean when it says here that they come down from above? Also, what does “the Father of lights” mean, and how do the historical events in the Old Testament bear witness to the fact that there is no variation with Him. And, what exactly does it mean when it says here that there is no shadow of turning in Him? Peter wrote, “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:10-11). We, too, need to think carefully about how these words from the Bible shed a light on our own position, to what extent these words from the Bible that we read together will take hold of our thoughts in the future, and how we should examine the Bible carefully so that this might come about. James referred to God as “the Father of lights.” This term “lights” is not just one to be glossed over. People can see only visible light, whereas bees can see only ultraviolet light. Every creature has its own way of seeing objects. The light that each sees is different. Yet James wrote, “Every good gift comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” The Bible says that we have such a Father and that “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth.”In the letter to the Hebrews it says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (2:3). What is the life that we have received and believed in our hearts through the words of the Bible? What was the change that occurred the moment we were born again? There may be times when you look at yourself and you seem so evil and vile that you wonder if you really are born again. You continue to commit sins even though you are born again. When you see yourself just living as you please, you lament, you have doubts, you are in anguish, and you cry out to God. After you were changed, perhaps you thought your life would be peaceful, as expressed in some hymns, but as time passed, you found there were times when this peace was accompanied by anguish. The reason I am telling you this is that, in light of what it says in James chapter 1 verses 17 and 18, we need to think about what this life is that God has granted to us in our hearts. We need to think deeply about the conflicts and struggles that arise in our hearts in the course of our lives, and what they are telling us. If you dismiss any difficulties that may arise, thinking simply that such things are only to be expected after a person is saved, or if the testimonies of many brothers and sisters around you remain in your mind and you think it is only natural that your life should be just like theirs, the Bible will become pushed into the background slightly. It is, of course, important to listen to the testimonies of brothers and sisters, to comfort one another and support one another in our weaknesses, but first we need to know what it is that God has granted to us through verses such as these. When it says here, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” it is saying that there are things above and that we are below on earth (see Colossians 3:1-2). From a scientific perspective there are various forms of light, but when the Bible says, “coming down from the Father of lights,” it is telling us that there is One who is the embodiment of all these different forms of light with all their different characteristics. It also says that with Him “there is no variation or shadow of turning.” As I read the Bible, on the one hand it fills me with joy, but on the other hand, it occurs to me that there are many parts that I have misunderstood until now. It is a definite fact that there was a moment when a change came about in my heart, but to be honest I have had many complains towards God in the course of my life. Whenever I have encountered difficulties and suffering, endless complaints have arisen in my heart and I have thought, “This is not what the Bible has promised, so why is this happening to us?” and, “The Bible says clearly that God gives us good things in our hearts, so why does this not seem to be the case?” If we look at what it says in this verse, however, we find that the life that God has planted in our hearts was planted directly by Him, and therefore there can be neither variation nor shadow of turning to that life. It occurred to me that since God has granted this to me in my heart, I must change the direction of my thinking. Before I start thinking that a certain verse means one thing or another, I need to consider the fact that God has ordained the nature of the life He has planted within us, and we must accept it as it is and adopt a different method of looking at the many problems we face in the course of our lives. We often use the expression, “I am saved,” but the Bible says, “He brought us forth by the word of truth” and from this we can see that God has brought us forth. In other words, we have been born anew—the life of God has been implanted deep down in our hearts. The pure life of God has entered our hearts, not 99.99% pure, but 100%, and not mixed with anything else. That being the case, there can be no variation or shadow of turning to the life that God has given to us as a gift from above. It is just that all the dark thoughts and frustrations that arise in our hearts—all the matters of the flesh—surround the things that come from God, leaving us tormented. It was when I was reading this passage that I began to think that God has given me something that is truly good. Here and there in the Old Testament we see clear examples of how there is “no variation” in God. A long time ago, a beautiful baby was born in the land of Egypt. When that child, Moses, reached the age of about forty, he struck an Egyptian and killed him, and so he fled into the wilderness. He lived in the wilderness for forty years, and there he met God, who told him to return to Egypt and lead the Hebrews, his fellow countrymen, out of that land. God spoke to him for some time, and then Moses asked God a question.“When I come to the children of Israel and they ask me what Your name is, how should I answer?” These days, when you meet someone in a high position, after talking with them for a while, you might ask, “How should I address you?” In the same way, Moses asked God by what name He should be called. To this God replied, “I am the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He said the names of the founding fathers of the Israelites. At that time, it was already well over four hundred years sins Abraham had left this world, but as this prophet, Moses, stood before Him, God gave His name as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”Beyond the bounds of time and epochs, God permeates the entire history of the world and is always the same. You may meet a person one day, but you do not know what will become of him the following day. Your family may have lived in harmony and your job been secure ten years ago, but in ten years time, you may be having problems with your children and you may even have lost your job. It is the same with all things in this world. A plant with many fresh leaves may have withered and died in just a few days time. A river of abundant flowing waters may dry up at some point. The very ground on which we live and walk is constantly changing, and this all presents us with images of ourselves. Yet, as God described Himself to Moses as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” He was explaining that He extended across generations. The God we discover through the Bible is the same God who is speaking to each one of us today. This God saw our forefather Adam eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He walked in the garden in search of Adam and when He found him, naked, afraid and hiding, He said to him, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” God also made a promise, saying, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” At this time, God already had it in His heart to form a nation in the image of a woman in this world. That nation is Israel. There was an occasion when a young man by the name of Jacob wrestled with an angel of the Lord, and when he prevailed, God said, “Because you have fought well, from this day forth your name shall be called Israel.” It was not as a result of this incident, however, that the nation of Israel arose. In the midst of circumstances beyond our imagination, God determined everything in His heart, and planned everything out. Even before the words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” God predestined the Church. Then He created the heavens and the earth, created an environment suitable for man to live in, and put man on the earth, but then man ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At that time, God determined in His heart to form a nation, in the midst of which He Himself would be born in the image of a man. That nation is Israel. The history of Israel is gradually revealed through the contents of the book of Genesis. Then later Moses was born, and when he asked God what His name was, God said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God never changes. He has always been the same; when He gave the law to Moses, when He established David as king, when He allowed the Israelites to be taken captive to Babylon and there disciplined them, when He allowed them to return to the land of Canaan, when He was born through the body of the woman Mary, and when as a young Man of 33 He was persecute, hated and He suffered at the hands of the multitude. God is speaking to us to this day through the words of the Bible. God, who never changes, is saying that He has planted life in our hearts. He is the “Father of lights” and He sees clearly the light that has been planted in the hearts of each of us individually, even though this is not something that is visible outwardly and we ourselves cannot see it because we are too mixed up in the world. People see things by means of visible light while certain insects see things by means of ultraviolet light, but God sees everything, and it is with particular joy that He sees the light in our hearts. God reveals Himself to us through history, which, in English, might be seen as His story.   The Father of Lights, with Whom there Is No Shadow of TurningThe Bible says that with God “there is no variation or shadow of turning.” When we stretch out our hands, we may see a shadow of them on the ground. The fact that there is a shadow indicates that there is light. But in the book of Genesis, it says,   The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night  Genesis 1:2-5.   In describing the inner nature of God, the Bible says there is no shadow of turning in Him; it describes Him as the fountain from which the light pours out. In that case, what does the Bible have to say about us? Let’s turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 6 verse 12.   For who knows what is good for man in life, al

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