We have covered the believers’ status, designations, symbols, life, nature, and past. Now we come to the most crucial section of these messages on the believers—their present. We shall begin with the initial stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of regeneration.
God’s full salvation is in three stages: the initial stage, the progressing stage, and the completing stage. The first aspect of the initial stage is that the believers experience God’s calling.
If we would understand what God’s calling is, we need to realize that it is included in the initial stage of God’s full salvation, that is, in the stage of regeneration. God begins to save us by calling us. In eternity God foreknew us, chose us, and predestinated us. Then in time He created us. In time we also became fallen. Then God came in to save us, and the first thing in His salvation is that He calls us. This means that the One who foreknew us, chose us, and predestinated us before the foundation of the world, one day came to visit us. In His visitation He may have caused us to think about salvation. Our thinking concerning salvation was not initiated by us but by the calling God. Our thinking about salvation is a sign of God’s calling.
The believers are called by God Himself. This means that God’s calling is not originated or initiated by the called ones. It is initiated by God, the One who calls. God is the Originator of His calling.
Romans 8:30a says, “Whom He predestinated, these He also called.” This indicates that we were called by God according to His predestination. God is eternal and purposeful, and no one can change Him. We cannot cause Him to change His mind concerning His purpose. According to His purpose, He predestinated us in eternity past, and eventually He will come to us and gain us. Because God’s calling is according to His predestination, we cannot escape His calling. God calls every one whom He has predestinated.
The believers are called by God according to His purpose. Romans 8:28b speaks of “those who are called according to the purpose.” Here the word “purpose” is equal to a plan. God’s purpose is His plan. The purpose of God’s calling is revealed in Romans 8:29: “Whom He foreknew. He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He should be the Firstborn among many brothers.” God’s firstborn Son is the prototype, and we are the mass production. Christ is the model, the mold, and the pattern. God has put us all into Him that we may be molded into the image of His firstborn Son. Eventually we all shall be conformed to the mold. We have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son that He may be the Firstborn among many brothers. This is God’s purpose.
God’s purpose is to produce many brothers of His firstborn Son. When Christ was the only begotten Son, He was unique, but God desired to have many sons who will be the many brothers of His Son. In this way the only begotten Son of God becomes the Firstborn among many brothers. He is the firstborn Son, and we are the many sons. The purpose of this is that we express God in a corporate way. God’s house is built up with His many sons for His kingdom, and the Body of Christ is built up with His many brothers. Without the many sons God cannot have a house for His kingdom, and without the many brothers Christ cannot have a Body. Thus, the many sons of God are for the house of God and then for the kingdom of God, and the many brothers of Christ are for the Body of Christ. The kingdom of God is actually the Body life, and this Body life in the church is God’s kingdom where He is expressed and where His dominion is exercised on earth. This is the purpose according to which God has called us.
Another verse which reveals that we have been called by God according to His purpose is 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose....” God has called us with a holy calling, a calling for a particular cause, to fulfill His purpose. The purpose here is God’s plan according to His will to place us into Christ, making us one with Him to share His life and position that we may be His testimony.