God chose you before He created anything else!
Ephesians 1:3-6 (NIV)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
7 - Election
Election is God’s unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:
Before the foundation of the world,
by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will,
God chose in Christ to salvation
a definite number of particular people
out of the entire human race,
which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin.
Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery.
God did this in Christ,
whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator,
the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation.
And so God decreed
to give to Christ those chosen for salvation,
and to call and draw them effectively into Christ’s fellowship through the Word and Spirit.
In other words, God decreed
to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them,
to sanctify them,
and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of the Son, to glorify them.
God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of God’s glorious grace.
Summary
Reading today’s passage feels like opening an ancient chest overflowing with treasure. Yet, the riches within this text surpass golden crowns and jeweled trinkets—it holds some of the Bible’s deepest and most foundational theology.
This passage explains who God the Father is:
He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...
He blesses us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing - Whatever God has blessed you with here in this physical world is only a foreshadowing of what He's already set out for you in the heavenly realms!
He chose you... before the creation of the world - Before God spoke any aspect of the universe into existence, He knew you and chose you to belong to Him! This is one of the most astounding statements in all of scripture!
He predestined you for adoption to sonship - God does much more than to just choose you to belong to Him and then hope for the best. He also predestined / foreordained all of history to work out the way it has so that you become His son - that is, His legal heir set to inherit all that's been created!
Everything that God has done and will do - especially His choosing and predestining you - is done in accordance with His pleasure and will. As R.C. Sproul has written, "This is the only reason to be found in Scripture that explains why God elects people for salvation. The reason for election is not my foreseen righteousness; or my foreseen obedience; or my foreseen response to the gospel."
This passage explains who Jesus Christ is:
He is the Son of God the Father.
It is through His atoning death and perfect obedience that enables you to be adopted to sonship.
This passage explains who you are:
You are different than those of this world, because:
You are blessed by God your Father;
You have been chosen by God, who has predestined all things to work out your adoption to sonship;
You are in Christ. This is the most fundamental definition of what it means to be a Christian. God accomplished that which He predestined - that you would be holy and blameless in His sight - by putting you in Christ.
God has freely given you His glorious grace in Christ - the One He loves.
Dig Deeper
No doubt your day will be (or has been, depending on what time you read this) filled with stresses and worries. The work and tasks of your daily grind are important, but remember, no matter how much God has or has not blessed you with here and now pales in comparison to that which He has blessed you with in the heavenly realms.
Don't get so caught up in the daily trappings of this world that you lose sight of who you are in Christ. You have been chosen by God before the creation of the world. You have been made holy and blameless in Christ, and you have been adopted to sonship through Christ.
In this light, whatever fleeting problems you struggle with today seem rather insignificant, don't they. Remember, God's grace, which He initiated toward you before He created anything else, is stronger than you. Praise God.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will glorify God in gratitude for the grace which He chose to give to you;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Acts 13
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