From A Prison Cell

4. Chosen in Him

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world." (Eph.1.4).

One of the most wonderful and astonishing of these great thoughts with which the Epistle to the Ephesians begins is that embodied in the words of the text. Quoting the small section in full, we read: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, even as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love, having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself" (vs.3-5 RV).

There is far too much in this short section for this present study, and we must confine attention to just the few words in the head text, for they contain much food for reflective thought. It is a wonderful and solemnising thought to realise that the faithful of this Gospel Age have been chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world, and that we, also, of these strenuous days, if found faithful unto death, may also win Christ and be found "in him" when the ever living God makes up the number of his elect.

The context tells of many great positions of authority and power created for those high heavenly beings which were brought forth to be helpers and assistants to the first-born Son of God in the great Plan entrusted to his care, and into which they will enter in the fullest sense, when all things in heaven and earth are "headed-up" by Christ. In the words of the text Paul has transcendently great news for those from the human family who follow faithfully in the footsteps of their beloved Lord. In the unfathomable depths of ages gone by the same almighty sovereign God who framed the great all-comprehensive universal plan for the various gradations of heavenly beings also foreordained that a company of earthly beings, born as members of a fallen race, should be redeemed from the power of sin and death, and follow their Saviour and Redeemer from the confines of this terrestrial plane up into the highest place of the heavenly realms to be his own family of sons. This phase of the Divine intention took shape at the same time that Divine wisdom devised the great Plan for the heavenly realms—that is, it took shape even before the creation of the heavenly beings, for their respective places in the Plan. By this fact we are informed that ages before man was created, God had purposed that man should be created. And by the same evidence it was foreseen that circumstances would arise among men whereby a way would be opened so that beings of a lower sentient plane could be transformed and carried up to a higher plane. There must be some deep and unique reason for this procedure, otherwise, like all the native members of the heavenly hosts, they could have been created, at first move, in those heavenly realms. To be first born as men, and then changed and adapted afterwards to heavenly conditions is an experience without parallel in the vast creative Plan. So far as one can say, there can be no other reason for such a course than to give them contact with sin, on the lowest plane where the evil moral consequences of sin could be experienced and understood; and then for some great purpose, too deep at present to understand, have been lifted up to the highest place as companions and brethren of the first-born Son. Divine foreknowledge was fully equal to the task of knowing that man would fall into sin, and be allowed to die, and framing its Plans accordingly. That knowledge would not implicate the Divine Creator as conniving in man's fall any more than that He was responsible for Satan's fall. With full knowledge of the heavenly realms and of universal law, Satan fell by deliberate choice. He exercised the freedom of his will, and decided to rebel against high authority. So also did man—though within more circumscribed circumstances.

Divine foreknowledge could foresee the fatal swing away from righteousness of man's free-will, and planned to save man from the consequences of his fatal choice, and under the same circumstances call from among man's progeny a company to be transformed and then transferred to the higher sphere. Right back there in that distant past God purposed that man should be redeemed, and at that distant time made choice of One to be man's Redeemer. That is what Peter says when he writes: "...ye were redeemed...with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ: who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world." (1 Pet.1.18-20 RV). This statement is an exact parallel to the words of Eph.1.4-7. Right back there in the unfathomable depths of time God purposed that man should be redeemed, and not only so, but that from among fallen men he would invite such as were right-hearted before him to follow His well-beloved Son through death to his heavenly throne. This is what Jesus means in his great committal prayer. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. . .Father, that which (those whom) thou hast given me, I will that, where I am, they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17.5 KJV and 24RV).

This is the transcendental thought that amazes all who can comprehend it, and stirs their hearts to the very depths with emotion too deep for words. It is not easy to think back into those distant times and ponder on the Divine purposing, but, whether we can comprehend it or not, this inheritance in Christ was made secure by the sovereign will of God. And, more wonderful still, the fore-ordination of this purposing actually gave God joy and delight. Long ages before He would look upon this company of sons, God found pleasure in anticipating the days of their coming, and in the good pleasure of his Will deliberately ordained and chose this company and arranged its acceptance into his presence through his well beloved Son. That great pleasure sprang out of his great love for his unborn family, for it was "in love" that He predestined it to be adopted. That all-seeing eye of God could look forward down the long distance of time, and as He saw what would come to pass among men as the story of his grace was told, He felt the warm movements of his loving heart expand towards those who believed and responded to his call.

Full sonship and full access to the Father's glorious presence belong to a later day, when every trace of sin and selfishness has been cleansed away, and when the clinging tendrils of this earth have been cut away once for all. No trace of unholy thought or defiling desire can be carried up into his heavenly home. Hence his future sons must be set free from these undesirable things here and now. To that end He most graciously forgives their sins—covering them with the precious blood of the worthy Lamb of God—and thus looks upon them approvingly through the abundant merit of his Son.

Then, to help them break the power of sin in their lives God has sent his Holy Spirit into their hearts, as a source of energy and strength, upon which they can draw in time of need. It is as though the Divine hand reached down to snap all the fetters of sin and to lift his prospective child over every stone and obstacle, by making every right impulse and desire stronger every day, and impressing the minds of his beloved with firmer resolve to live always and only for this purpose of God. Thus, holiness is engendered in the adopted one's heart—first, a desire to be free from sin; next, a determined resolve to become devoted in every sense and degree to the Will and purpose of his Father and his God. Thus holiness becomes complete.

Who would not go through fire and flood, and fight down every foe, for such an inheritance as this? Who would not relinquish every earthly prize and count it as unworthy refuse to win such a place in Christ? Do we wonder that Paul writes words which glow with living fire, as he contemplates what that future inheritance will mean (Phil.3.17-21).

God grant this thought to lie heavily on our hearts so that in the few years of this earthly life it may penetrate and permeate us through and through with deeper longing to be accounted worthy to go up into the higher realms to see and share the glory of the worthy Lamb

To be concluded

TH