God’s work in eternity past also included His predestinating-marking out-the believers before the foundation of the world. Concerning this, Ephesians 1:5 says, “Having predestinated us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” The Greek word rendered “predestinated” may also be translated “marked out beforehand.” Marking out beforehand is the process, while predestination is the purpose to determine a destiny beforehand. God first selected us and then marked us out beforehand, that is, before the foundation of the world, unto a certain destiny. The destiny of God’s marking us out beforehand is sonship. We were predestinated to be sons of God even before we were created. Hence, as God’s creatures, we need to be regenerated by Him so that we may participate in His life to be His sons. Sonship implies not only the life of a son but also the position of a son. God’s marked-out ones have both the life to be His sons and also the position of sons.
God predestinated us according to His foresight (1 Pet. 1:2). This indicates that our relationship with God was initiated by Him according to His foreknowledge.
Furthermore, God predestinated us unto sonship through Jesus Christ. “Through Jesus Christ” means through the Redeemer, who is the Son of God. Through Him we have been redeemed to be the sons of God with the life and position of God’s sons.
Ephesians 1:5 says that God predestinated us unto sonship according to the good pleasure of His will, which is His purpose. God has a will in which is His good pleasure. God predestinated us to be His sons according to this pleasure, according to the desire of His heart.
Ephesians 1:4 says that God has chosen us to be holy, and verse 5 says that He has predestinated us unto sonship. “To be holy” is the procedure, and “unto sonship” is the goal. We have been predestinated unto sonship. In other words, God has chosen us to be holy so that we might be His sons. Thus, to be holy is the process, the procedure, whereas to be sons of God is the goal. God does not merely want a group of holy people; He desires many sons. It may seem to us that it is adequate for God to choose us to be holy. We may be fully satisfied with this. Nevertheless, God has chosen us to be holy for a purpose that we might be the sons of God.
When I was young, I loved Ephesians 1:4 and 5. However, at first I thought that God had predestinated me unto heaven. Then I thought that I was predestinated unto salvation. Many of us may have thought the same thing, reading into the Bible something of our own concept. But Ephesians 1:5 does not say that God has predestinated us unto heaven or unto salvation. It says that we have been predestinated unto sonship. God made a firm decision before the foundation of the world that we would be His sons. In eternity past, God, through His foresight, marked us out from among a vast number of people to be His sons. It was not initiated by us in time; it was initiated by God in eternity.
In eternity past God probably also made a counsel among the Trinity of the Godhead concerning the coming creation and redemption, as indicated, or implied, by Acts 2:23, which says, “This man [Jesus], delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, through the hand of lawless men, nailed to the cross and killed.” A bracketed insertion in translation of Acts 2:23 says that “the determined counsel...of God” was decided “in the council held by the Trinity.” In eternity past God should have made a plan according to His good pleasure. Then according to this plan, He selected us and marked us out. In His foreknowledge God knew that the creation would become fallen. Therefore, probably among the Trinity of the Godhead there was a conference concerning the coming creation and redemption. A decision was made regarding how to create the universe and how to redeem it after it had become fallen. This indicates that the Lord’s crucifixion was not an accident in human history, but a purposeful fulfillment of the divine counsel determined by the Triune God.
Christ’s death was also according to the foreknowledge of God. Christ was foreordained, prepared, by God to be His redeeming Lamb (John 1:29) for His elect according to His foreknowledge before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20). This was done according to God’s eternal purpose and plan, not accidentally. Hence, in the eternal view of God, from the foundation of the world, that is, since the fall of man as a part of the world, Christ was slain (Rev. 13:8).
According to the revelation we have collected from Acts 2:23, 1 Peter 1:20, and Revelation 13:8, the redemption accomplished by Christ through His crucifixion is a great thing in the heart of God for the carrying out of His eternal plan according to His good pleasure.
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