God’s Construction Plan: The Transcendent Transformation of Man—Born of the Spirit

By James Juers

Having shared my first booklet, ‘Genesis 3 Christianity’, with a friend, the critique I received from him was that I did not adequately offer an alternative to that gospel of ‘sins-forgiven-going-to-heaven-when-I-die’. I made a good defense by pointing out the subtitle, ‘and a Look Beyond it’, as well as having spent pages discussing a more advanced gospel description for which I used the term ‘transcendent transformation’. I felt my defense well made; but over the days the thought continued to press upon me that the critique of one form of the gospel perhaps deserved a more complete presentation of a more complete gospel message. And so we have this sequel booklet, ‘God’s Construction Plan—The Transcendent Transformation of Man—Born of the Spirit’. The structure of this booklet, the sequential developments of God’s Plans over His dispensations, is meant both to expose some common misunderstandings of believers and also to point out the always higher ways of God. May you enjoy the quest in better discovering God’s great Construction Plans for yourself, for His plans for the glory of humanity, and all for the pleasure of God!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798385021192

James Juers

Jim is just your everyday, run of the mill Christian—if there is such a thing. For more than half a century God has been dealing with him and leading him to ponder that the gospel story of salvation is even greater than when he first believed. Here he shares his maturing thoughts with the hope that the Church’s saints will join in an eschatological striving after God’s greater goals!

Book preview

Copyright © 2024 James Juers.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-2118-5 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-2119-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024905222

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/01/2024

Contents

Foreword by Alan Olsan

Introduction

This booklet is a sequel to a previous one, Genesis 3 Christianity and a Look Beyond It. It seeks to study more carefully an aspect of the gospel (too much ignored by historic Christianity) that goes beyond the remedial dimension of salvation in order to discover the full scope of God’s Construction Plan for man in Christ Jesus.

I

A Vast and Complete Plan Originating in God Already in Past Eternity

The heavenly Father’s everlasting desire and plan was to glorify His Beloved Son with a family/race of humans patterned after Him and actually sharing in the divine life. The creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was only the first step, not a goal that seemed to fail. The ‘Fall’ complicated matters but did not change the Plan. It actually elevated the Plan and glorified God through His gracious remedy! The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is the key element in God’s Construction Plan!

II

A Plan Prophetically Anticipated and Described as the Kingdom of God Already During the Pre-New Testament Ages

We will likely never fully know the reasons and methods of God’s timetable for fulfilling all of the necessary steps in His Construction Plan. But we know that there are two main stages of events prior to His initial steps of fulfillment. And through the chosen Hebrew nation and its prophets, He progressively revealed tantalizing glimpses of His coming Kingdom Age fulfilled.

III

A Plan With a Provisional Inauguration 2000 Years Ago

The proleptic or provisional inauguration of the Kingdom of God as a present spiritual reality has gone essentially unobserved or, at best, poorly implemented by the churches of Christendom. The blindness to ontological and present realities coupled to the emphasis on the remedial aspects of the gospel lie at the heart of this shortfall in understanding. The Church of the Eschaton must correct this error!

IV

A Plan With a Glorious Future Fulfillment

Apocalyptic literature has long been a tantalizing part of God’s people probing into the expectations for God’s victories against His evil enemies and His blessings on His faithful people. The Apostle John gave us Christian believers his book of Revelation as our version of the dénouement. We are left with the challenge and blessing of seeking to interpret it for our understanding of the future awe.

Conclusion

It is not difficult to imagine the world in which we are now living in terms of the Last Days cataclysm! It is time for the Church of the present kingdom Eschaton to embrace its entire heritage—that would be the Construction Plan of God as built on the remedial work of Jesus. There will be glory in the Kingdom of God as that Church embraces its full blessings and accepts its responsibilities!

Appendices 1, 2, and 3

An Ascension/Pentecost greeting card helping to instruct us about our vast places in God’s Construction Plan.

Foreword

I n this booklet, Jim Juers continues to explore themes he began in Genesis 3 Christianity and a Look Beyond It . In that first booklet, the shortcomings of the truncated and abbreviated gospel of forgiveness of sins and going to heaven when you die was weighed in the balance and found wanting. Without denying the important and necessary role an interim penal substitutionary atonement and a future resurrection of the physical body plays, Jim reveals how the New Testament, sometimes with hints and sometimes with shouts, points to goals and outcomes of the gospel greater than what is usually presented or expected – a life, as Jim describes it, of transcendent transformation; a life in the Kingdom of God beginning in the here and now before a possible ‘Millenium’ or the bodily return of the Lord.

In God’s Construction Plan – The Transcendent Transformation of Man – Born of the Spirit, Jim reviews and reiterates some of his previous thoughts while introducing new terminology that can be helpful in seeing and understanding the eternal purposes of God with mankind despite the temporary interruption caused by the rebellion of angels and the Fall of man. The material shared is born out of decades of prayer, observation, study, seminary training, reading of scholarly texts, testimonies of many throughout church history, classical Christian literature old and new, and weekly informal discussions.

Jim’s emphasis on transcendence should surprise no one familiar with the New Testament. Exhortations to set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth, for you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God and others like it show how far above and beyond the earthly created world our faith is meant to