Ask the average Christian today, “What is God’s Ultimate Purpose?” or “What is God’s Mission?” and most will give one of four answers:
1. To save the lost.
2. To make disciples.
3. To make the world a better place.
4. To glorify God.
According to the whole sweep of Scripture, each of these answers is incorrect.
Each answer points to an aspect of God’s Purpose, but none of them constitutes the fullness of His Eternal Purpose.
The Eternal Purpose goes way beyond saving lost souls, making disciples, making the world a better place, “glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.”
Before creation and before the fall — when humans didn’t need to be saved, discipled, and the world didn’t need improvement — God had an Eternal Purpose.
Beyond creation, beyond the fall, and beyond redemption, but deep within the beating heart of God, was His Eternal Purpose.
And He’s never let go of it.
God’s Eternal Purpose is the very heart of my ministry. Unfortunately, most Christians still have no idea what it is.
In fact, the Eternal Purpose is the subtext for each of my books.
This page contains all of my work on God’s Eternal Purpose, which I call His “magnificent obsession” and “exquisite passion.”
Because the Eternal Purpose of God is so grand, so glorious, and so high, it cannot be reduced to a simple statement. All of the following resources unveil the Purpose of God from different viewpoints.
Free Audios on the Eternal Purpose
Find them all on the Christ is All podcast
Who Is This Woman? God’s Ultimate Passion
Vantage Point: The Story We Haven’t Heard – Part 1
Vantage Point: The Story We Haven’t Heard – Part 2
God’s Eternal Purpose: George Fox Seminary
Reframing the Mission – Part 1
Reframing the Mission – Part 2
The Peril of Listening to So Many Voices (Why So Many Don’t See the Eternal Purpose)
The Eternal Purpose Set to Music
Stairway to Heaven (Radical Revision): The Romance of the Ages
Books on the Eternal Purpose
From Eternity to Here – a 300-page opus unveiling the Eternal Purpose of God from Genesis to Revelation.
Insurgence – this is my 400-page landmark book on the explosive gospel of the kingdom, the central theme of the Eternal Purpose.
Some Articles on the Eternal Purpose
One Man’s Journey in Discovering God’s Purpose
God Hasn’t Forsake His Eternal Purpose (When His Children Have)
Master Class on the Eternal Purpose
The Exquisite Passion Master Class is a deep dive into the Eternal Purpose of God containing 29 exclusive conference messages.
More on the Eternal Purpose
Magnificent Obsession and Rethinking the Mission also unfold God’s Eternal Purpose. Both books have gone out of print and are part of the Titan Collectible called THIS MUST BE MORE.
Why wouldn’t this single statement encompass all other purposes?
Jesus Christ’s purpose is to have a Bride.
That’s it, from having His Divine Nature, to reigning via His Will, to intimate fellowship with Him.
First, that’s ONLY one aspect of His purpose.
Second, what it means MUST be expounded. “A bride” means many different things to different people. And how that applies to us today is another subject.
There’s a popular ministry today on the bride, but they aren’t preaching the eternal purpose of God nor have they ever invited someone in to speak who does (as of right now, anyway).
Third, there are other aspects to the divine purpose, the bride is only one aspect.
Fourth, the idea of “having intimate fellowship with Him” also misses the marks because (1) what does that even mean practically? All Christians say this and there’s nothing revolutionary about the statement in itself and (2) that statement is individualist, and God’s purpose is not.
Also, God has many purposes, but only ONE eternal purpose.
In short, a person who has truly seen the eternal purpose in way that floors them realizes that it cannot be cheapened and reduced into a sentence or a paragraph without draining it of its glory and power and majesty.
In “From Eternity to Here” and “Insurgence,” I explore all of this, but even those two works are but Introductions.
The rest of the resources on the eternal purpose page expand, enlarge, and explore.
How would you put it in a sentence? Maybe To have all of creation living by Gods Life?
IMPOSSIBLE to put it in a sentence. If one tries, the words will get filtered and diluted and reinterpreted. That’s why if it’s a book, it requires at least 300 pages to unveil. If a series of messages, at least 10 hours.
Your definition falls short. I encourage you to go through the material on the eternal purpose page. Once you’ve gotten half way through all the content, you’ll understand why I said the above.
Thanks for releasing this blog item this week, Frank. I’m doing some teaching in a local town to retrain a few of the saints to think from a Kingdom perspective. I have been looking for audio-visual to assist with this training and your email just popped up. It will be a blessing to those who hear your “The Eternal Purpose at the Infusion Conference” as this topic is a starting point to really understand why Father sent his Son into the world. As a Linux user I don’t use iTunes to vote for your productions so keep producing your valuable podcasts – I use them in my teaching.
Laurence Smart