John 3:
19“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Paraphrase
This is the conclusion, that wisdom has come into the world, and men loved foolishness rather than wisdom, because their lives were evil. For everyone who loves evil hates wisdom, and does not come into its sphere of influence and discussion, for fear that their wickedness will be exposed.
God places everyone in an oppressive state, where we are starved and deprived: of answers. Light comes and some men will accept it and look for solutions. The light is the conclusion that life is futile, and we should abandon following our goals, and look for other options. The wicked, say gangsters, love evil and do not want to gather with the enlightened, because they fear their enjoyment of evil will be exposed.
God takes the enlightened and gives them to Christ. This is the plan, this is the predestined way, TO GIVE THEM TO CHRIST FOR ADOPTION. The plan, the
telos, is predestined, not the people:
Romans 8:29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Ephesians 1:5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Ephesians 1:11In Him we were also chosen as God's own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
In this interim period, in between abandoning futility, Egypt, and entering the Promised Land, we are fed from the Rock, who is Christ. We remember the amazing miracles God did, powerful arguments that wrenched us out of the grips of Egypt, and have faith that He will continue to deliver, make powerful revelations that will seat us firmly in the Promised Land, just as He did with Abraham and Joshua, who were firmly convinced that they could hand the most precious things in their lives to God, and He would preserve them.
However, sometimes we fail.
Then God does these things:
Deuteronomy 28:
38“You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little, for the locust will consume it.
39“You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes,for the worm will devour them.
40“You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.
2 Chronicles 7:
13“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,
No water from the Rock!
However,
14if
my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then
I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
You see, you need to have a land that feeds its people, and it was not Moses who gave bread, but God.
John 6:32Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.