In this message we shall begin to consider God’s work as revealed in the New Testament. Our God is a working God. The Lord’s word in John 5:17 indicates this: “My Father is working until now.” In the New Testament we see God’s work in eternity past, in His old dispensation, in His new dispensation, and in eternity future, with many aspects.
In eternity past God made the divine economy, His eternal plan (Eph. 1:9-11; 3:9-11; 1 Tim. 1:4b). The Greek word translated “dispensation” in Ephesians 1:10; 3:9; and 1 Timothy 1:4 is oikonomia, the anglicized form of which is “economy.” The Greek word means the law of a household or household administration. It denotes God’s household administration to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people so that He may have the church as His corporate expression. Economy equals dispensation, arrangement, plan. In simple words, we may say that in eternity past God made a plan, a divine, eternal plan.
After God made His eternal plan, He chose the believers: “According as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blemish before Him, in love” (Eph. 1:4). God’s choosing is His selection. From among numberless people He selected us, and this He did in Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ was the sphere in which we were selected by God. Outside of Christ we are not God’s choice.
The phrase “before the foundation of the world” means in eternity past. God chose us according to His infinite foresight before He created us. This implies that the world, which is the universe, was founded for man’s existence to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. God selected us not only before we were created, but even before the foundation of the world. Nothing of His creation had yet come into existence when He selected us.
God chose us in eternity past. The fact that we were chosen in eternity past means that our salvation began before the foundation of the world and before time. The word “chosen” implies that some were selected and that others were not selected. We praise the Lord that we are among the chosen ones. If we turn to our spirit and contact the Lord regarding this matter, we shall realize that just as God is eternal, so His choosing of us was also eternal.
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