In this lesson and in the next we shall focus on God’s calling. God’s calling is the first thing that God does in His chosen ones in the initial stage of His full salvation. In order to fulfill His purpose of selecting and predestinating man in eternity past, God comes in time, under His sovereign arrangement, to call His chosen ones that He may bring them back to His original intention to receive all the blessings that He intends to give them.
God’s calling is God’s new beginning. When God created man, there was a beginning. However, because man was corrupted and spoiled by Satan, he fell. Nevertheless, God would not give up man. His purpose in man never changes. So God came in to call man in order that He might have a new beginning with fallen man, and that His called ones also might have a new beginning and a change in their life, their concept, and even their entire being. This is God’s calling.
God’s calling is a transfer of race. God’s calling of Abraham meant that He had given up the race of Adam and had chosen Abraham, with his descendants, as the new race (Gen. 12:2-3; Gal. 3:7-9, 14; Rom. 4:16-17) to be His people for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. All the called ones have been transferred from the created race to the called race. Although we were born into the Adamic race, at the time of our calling we were transferred into the Abrahamic race, the race of the called ones. Hence, God’s calling is a transfer of race.
The transfer of race is actually the transfer of life. The transfer of life is a transfer from the life of Adam to the life of Christ. This is also a transfer from the life of the old creation to the life of the new creation. Because of the fall of man, all of God’s original creation became old and is no longer able to fulfill God’s purpose. Therefore, God needs a new creation, a creation with a life that is stronger and much better than the created life of Adam. This life is the uncreated life of God, the life of Christ. The transfer of life in God’s calling is from the fallen life of the old creation to this stronger and better life of the new creation.
God’s calling originates with and is initiated by God. Romans 1:7 shows that all the saints are beloved of God and called by God. In eternity past God foreknew, chose, and predestinated us (Eph. 1:4; Rom. 8:29-30); in time He created us. However, we fell (Rom. 5:12), falling into sin, the self, the flesh, the world, and the old creation. Hence, God came to call us out of everything that is other than God Himself.
God’s calling is according to His predestination (Rom. 8:30). In eternity past He foreknew, chose, and predestinated us (1 Pet. 1:1-2; Eph. 1:4-5). Moreover, according to His predestination, in time He called us, justified us, and glorified us. This was foreordained in eternity by God, with whom is no variableness (James 1:17), according to His purpose and plan.
God’s calling is not only according to His predestination but also according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28b; 2 Tim. 1:9a). His purpose is His 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. According to such a purpose, such a plan, God predestinated us in eternity past and called us in time.