God's Endgame Series

Avengers Endgame Movie

The biggest opening weekend box office hit was Avengers: Endgame. The movie grossed over $350 million on April 26, 2019. Avengers: Endgame went on to make over $1 billion in just 5 days! Now, why was this movie so popular? One reason: did you know that 60% of people between the ages of 18 to 54 years old consider themselves fans of such superhero movies. To understand this you have to realize that the second biggest grossing movie was Avengers: Infinity War that made nearly $260 million the year before (April 27, 2018). That movie was a cliffhanger where the evil Thanos collected all six Infinity Stone and the fate of the planet was never more uncertain. Plus, Avengers: Endgame was the culmination of approximately twenty-five movies over ten years. And the word “Endgame” caught so many people’s attention. The word “Endgame” comes from the world of chess or backgammon. The word “Endgame” has long been used by players to describe what happens when very few pieces are left on the board. It’s simply the final stage or the last part of your strategy. The “Endgame” is desired consequence of a planned series of events. So, all these Avenger fans knew that there were some things that were coming to a close and they couldn’t wait to see what it was.

Keep your Bibles open to Ephesians 3 with me.

Hollywood and the Avengers have picked up on an important them in God’s story. From the beginning of time, God has a plan for human history. God has an “endgame” for all of us.

1. God’s Big Plan

1.1 God’s Endgame

God has a secret He wants to tell us. Because God has a plan that He wants to include us. You can best see the connection between the mystery and the plan down in verse 9: “and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things…” (Ephesians 3:9). The letter to Ephesians informs us of part of God’s plan for human history.

Note carefully the word “mystery” in also in verse 2 and again in verse 6. In fact, you’ll see this word “mystery” seven times in the book of Ephesians. God has a plan and He’s filling us in on His secrets or the mystery to His plan. Like the Avengers Endgame told the story of a fictional superhero movie, God’s Endgame tells the story of the factual life story.

1.2 Have You Pondered God’s Endgame?

You may view the nighttime sky through a telescope in order to awe and wonder, but have you pondered in detail the plan of God to save you? Have you considered in detail God’s endgame that was set before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)? Has your mind spent portions of the day daydreaming of how so many were included in the promise of Abraham and Sarah from every nation, tribe, and tongue encircling the globe? Or have your brain cells gone spinning in every direction to consider how God chooses to work through the heinous actions of King David and Bathsheba to bring us none other than Jesus Christ a millennia later? Have you considered the meticulous planning of the Trinity and how He acted “in the fulness of time” with a greater precision than even NASA launches its spacecraft through its celestial launch windows (Galatians 4:4)? Have you measured the pace of God as He seemingly moves slower than iceberg glaciers over the North Seas? Have you watched His comprehensive handiwork century upon century in order that Judas would betray Jesus with a kiss and how might Joseph betrayed by his brothers only to face and forgive them as the vice-regent of Egypt all those years later? Or have you considered the extent of how the Trinity plotted and planned every little detail before anything went wrong in the Garden of Eden so that one day Christ would return to end all the sand moving through the hourglass of time? And have you seriously contemplated how He included you in His plan? What if you studied the connecting links to God’s plan like someone might connect the “the Big Dipper” in the night sky above? How might you marvel more and worship more because you ponder how the Divine mind of God thinks of every little intricate detail? Do you not marvel at how He simultaneously sweeps you into this plan while not forgetting to spread His light over the backwater peoples of far-flung nations? Do you have any idea of how much trouble God has gone to in order that you and I might be redeemed and rescued? Do you have any idea of how much trouble God has gone to in order that you and I might eventually spend our eternities in His presence?