Before the Foundation of the World
- James Ward
- Oct 15, 2017
- 6 min read
Many preachers talk about the crucifixion like it was God's "Plan B", put in place as a result of mankind falling to sin, God's reaction to sin. But God does not react to us, or to anything. That would imply that He didn't already know what was going to happen. He doesn't react, He knows and He decrees.
Since God is eternal and all-knowing, everything that is known to Him has always been known to Him forever. God cannot learn.
Our all-knowing God knew forever ago that when He made man, man was going to sin. He did not have to come up with an emergency remedy because sin caught Him by surprise. He's the one who speaks everything into existence (Genesis 1), and decrees the end from the beginning. (Isaiah 46:10)
All of history is just one moment to Him. He has complete sight of all details, forward and backward in time, in all dimensions, all realms, all aspects.
He's the one who put the tree of knowledge of good and evil into the garden. There are no accidents with an all-knowing God. Everything that happens in His universe, happens under His watch, with His knowledge.
If something were happening that God did not want to happen, and He's all-powerful, He would stop that thing from happening immediately. He gets what He wants. Because of the fact that God is ALL-POWERFUL, whatever He doesn't want, just doesn't happen in the first place.
God does not pace back and forth wishing He could do something. That's not the God of the Bible. God speaks, and it happens. And nothing happens without his say. Even Satan himself must ask permission before he does anything. (Job 1)
Satan tormented Job and destroyed everything the man loved, all of his vast wealth and property, even Job's children were all killed, and God even told Satan that he could add the misery of festering boils to Job's flesh. But God was specific about what Satan could and couldn't do. That is how sovereign God is. He is ALL-POWERFUL.
When people think of a biblical timeline, they usually start with Genesis 1:1. It's the logical place to start since it's the first verse in the Bible and it even says "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". But if you pay attention, you will find a few clues in the Bible about things that occurred before the creation.
The phrase "before the foundation of the world" is used a few times.
Ephesians 1:4 "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world"
Titus 1:1-2 "...for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago" (KJV says "before the world began")
Revelation 13:8 "...everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." (KJV says "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.)
2 Timothy 1:9 "(God) who has saved us (Christians) and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity"
From this information we can know the following:
1. Before God created the world He wrote the names in the Lamb's Book.
(Eph 1:4-5, Titus 1:1-2, Rev 13:8, 2 Tim 1:9)
2. Then God created the world. (Genesis 1:1)
3. Put the tree in the garden of Eden. (Genesis 2:9)
4. Man sinned and needed a Savior. (Genesis 3)
We also know:
5. Everyone who believes in Christ is saved (John 3:16)
6. Everyone who doesn't believe in Christ has already been judged (John 3:18)
7. There are two groups, sheep and goats, vessels of mercy & vessels of wrath, the lost and the saved (Matthew 25, Romans 9, Rev 20:15)
8. All humans are born spiritually dead because of sin (Ephesians 2:1)
9. God's grace made "us" alive, He only gives life to believers (Ephesians 2:5)
10. So that in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches
of His grace, in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7)
Everything has a purpose (Romans 8:28), and since He knew ahead of time that man would fall, He has also known forever who His children are, and He even wrote down their names ahead of time, all because of His Divine purpose.
Do you think there's any force in existence which could erase the names from the book?
Could anyone sneak a name into the book that doesn't belong?
Did He write the names with a pencil so that He could erase names and then add them back whenever His children sin and when they behave?
No!
"But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us..." (Ephesians 2:4)
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)
"prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them"
Even our good works were planned ahead of time.
Romans 8:28 says "God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose".
It doesn't say all things work for the good of every human being.
When Paul laid out his amazing sermon on God's sovereignty in Romans 8 and 9, he knew people would think God is unfair, so he went ahead and answered the objection for us.
Romans 9:19 "You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory
Some people are vessels of mercy, which eternally show God's grace.
Other people are vessels of wrath, which eternally show God's justice.
Both are demonstrations of God's holiness.
So before God created the world, He wrote the names of His children.
Then God created the world, allowed sin to happen, so that men could be saved, so that God could demonstrate the fullness of His attributes to all of creation, specifically His holiness, grace, love, mercy, patience, wisdom, power, justice, and wrath.
He put the tree in the garden and He even allowed the serpent into the garden. There's no way around the fact that God allowed the fall to happen. Then He provided everything necessary for salvation. On the cross, Christ received the wrath of the Father on behalf of those who would believe in Him, so that those people would not receive wrath. He provided atonement because we are not able to do this for ourselves.
His children receive His Spirit as He "set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come". (2 Corinthians 1:22)
You cannot believe in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins unless the Holy Spirit is in you. The gift of faith is given to His children by the Spirit of God. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is proof of one's salvation. (Romans 8:16)
The names were written in the book before there were any humans yet. His children will hear the gospel and they will receive faith, and they will be with Him in heaven forever. Those who are appointed for eternal life will believe. (Acts 13:48)
It says "as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed".
They believed because they were chosen ahead of time to receive faith, because their names are written in heaven, because they are God's children, because He chose them, not because they chose Him.
"He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4)
Faith is not the product of our effort, it's a gift that is granted to those who were chosen to receive it. And if you have it, you are saved.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
If you believe, it's because God granted you the ability to believe, and He chose you before He created anything, so that "in the ages to come", He will display you like a trophy commemorating His grace and mercy throughout the rest of eternity.
The reason Christians share the gospel is so that God's children will hear the word of God and receive faith.
"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 4:10)
Thanks for reading. God bless.
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