The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 1:4-6,
"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."
In this passage, Paul has a sweeping perspective of God's promises from eternity past all the way through to eternity future. God wants us to know, through Paul, that what he has decided to do for those who embrace him in faith are things that he decided to do before the creation of the world and have wonderful and far-reaching implications for eternity future. What God decided to do before he created the world will "be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." 1:10.
God knew before time began that mankind, given a free will patterned after his own, would need to be rescued from his own fiercely destructive and appropriate judgment. It was then he determined, chose, predestined to send his Son Jesus Christ to redeem us, that is, all who will embrace him in faith.
Paul begins his letter as a missive sent to those who believe in Jesus Christ, the "faithful". Paul identifies himself with this group as he uses the plural pronouns, "us" and "we". In these introductory thoughts he tells his readers of wonderful things God has for those who embrace him in faith and that none of what God has decided to do is new. None of it is something God just thought up.
For those of us who live over two millenia after the fact, it is hard for us to relate to the thoughts and concerns of those who heard these wonderful promises for the first time. Much of this material is new to the human ear since the birth of the church. Paul says God, "made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ." 1:9. Paul assures his readers that what God has promised is not something new, not something from an impulsive streak God has just adopted. One can imagine that the Jews of the day that rejected the gospel message, who claimed ownership of God's revelation, accused the early church of just such a thing, e.g. "You are attempting to persuade us that God has turned over a new leaf, and now what he told Moses is all changed?"
The message that Paul carried is that what we, as believers, have in Jesus Christ does not reflect any change with God, but that God intended and predestined these wonderful things before he even created the world. All the Scriptures, from Moses forward, builds to the culmination of God's revelation in Jesus Christ and our future eternity with him. Much theology these days misses the point and attempts to ascribe to Paul's writings things he never intended to say.
"He [God] chose us in him... to be holy and blameless in his sight", "he [God] predestined us ["the faithful"] to be adopted as his sons", "we were also chosen... for the praise of his glory." These are all wonderful statements Paul has made to underscore that our future with God is not a result of some new impulsive leap God has made. The promises we have from God are born from the intentions God has had for us from the beginning of time and have the durability of God's ancient wisdom and purpose.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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