Predestination
Back to The Believer's Triumph!
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" Romans 8:29
Having comforted the Lord's people with the assurance that all things work together for their good, our apostle proceeds to assign a reason for this. The present not only introduces us to, and prepares us for, the future—but it is connected with the past, and only forms part of one glorious, complete, and perfect plan. Hence we read, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). God, in the exercise of his infinite foreknowledge, formed a plan by which he at once secured the greatest happiness of his people—and the highest honour of his Son.
The End of God's Plan.
God's end in reference to US—that we should resemble Jesus—be conformed to his image. The person of the Lord Jesus is the most glorious conception of the divine mind—God's finest, grandest thought. He is the image of God's glorious nature, of his holy mind. To him, his whole Church is to be conformed; and each member of that Church must resemble him.
We must resemble Jesus in his character as the Holy One of God; for "as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." His Spirit dwelling in us—his graces and excellences will be shared by us, and so we shall show forth his praises by exhibiting his virtues. We must be like Jesus, "But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct." Holiness must characterize us in body, soul, and spirit.
We must resemble Jesus in his destiny. He humbled himself. His whole life below was humiliation and suffering. He had nowhere to lay his head. To the comforts of home, he was a stranger. He was the man of sorrows; with grief he was most familiar. His afflictions were great and constant. And as the Head was afflicted, the members must be so too. This enters into the divine arrangement; therefore says the apostle, "That no man should be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto." Afflictions are appointed for us—and we are appointed to afflictions. If we suffer with Jesus—we shall also reign with him.
On earth we resemble him as serving; in heaven we shall resemble him as reigning. His happiness will be our happiness, and his glory will be our glory. "We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." Even now, "our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body!" We shall be like Jesus, perfectly like Jesus, and like Jesus forevermore.
God's end in reference to JESUS, "That he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Jesus is to be preeminent, always and everywhere. As it is written, "I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure!"
His authority is to be unlimited. He possesses, as the privilege of the firstborn, the double portion and the blessing. Hence the apostle's magnificent testimony of him: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."
Jesus is also to stand in fraternal relation to many. He is to be "the firstborn among many brethren." His Church will be large, composed entirely of his brethren: "For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same." Thus Christ and his people have one nature, and constitute one vast and glorious family.
Jesus is to be also the source of every blessing. He is the heir of all things. He is the possessor of heaven and earth. It has pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. He is thus first in existence, first in office, first in dignity, and first in glory. All things are under his feet. All resources are at his command. His will rules heaven, earth, and hell. Men are blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed.
This is God's great end in predestination. Let us notice—
The Means of Accomplishing His Design. "Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine." God's knowledge is infinite. He knows all things at once. He always knew—all that he knows now. There is nothing new, nothing contingent with him. He from all eternity knew the persons of his people, the state into which they would be plunged by sin, and the danger to which they would be exposed as transgressors of the holy law. Let what will take place in the world, or in the Church, whatever errors may spread, or deceivers may arise—we may still say with Paul, "Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows those who are his. And, Let everyone that names the name of Christ, depart from iniquity."
God's foreknowledge embraces all people, things, times, and events; and God foreseeing what man would become, what man would do, and how he would certainly destroy himself— determined to prevent it, at least so far as his Church is concerned. To foreknow indicates, not simply to know beforehand—but love. Whom he loved before, he predestined. He loved his people—as early as he loved his Son. He loved his people with the self-same love as he loved his Son; therefore Jesus said, "You have loved them—as you have loved me."
To foreknow is to determine before. God determined to do, or permit to be done, all that occurs in time. He knew what effect every cause would produce, and determined to get glory to his name, secure the salvation of his people, and give the fullest possible manifestation of himself; in order to which everything was determined, fixed, and settled. Therefore we read of the death of Jesus, "Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." And again, "Against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, were gathered together—to do whatever your hand and your counsel determined before to be done."
God loved, foreknew, and decreed. He predestined—which is to set apart his people to be saved: in order to which the Son of God was appointed to be the great sacrificial victim, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hence we read, "You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who truly was foreordained before the foundation of the world—but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."
On the ground of what Jesus engaged to do in the everlasting covenant, and which God gave him credit for, elect sinners were saved from the foundation of the world. God determined to deliver us from evil, and therefore he committed us to Christ, gave us grace in Christ, and appointed us to be one with Christ; hence Paul says, "Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works—but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
Predestination includes the provision made for us in the everlasting covenant, the fullness stored up for us in Christ, which is opened up to us, and set before us in the precious promises of the word. As we read, "Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will."
What God does for us now—is the effect of his love to us, and what he did for us in eternity. Time reveals God's eternal thoughts. Providence fulfils God's deep decrees. The Holy Spirit carries out the secret purposes of the Father. Our sorrows—and joys, our baseness—and glory, are alike in accordance with God's gracious purpose, or predestination. All flows from his love, which prompted his wisdom to draw the plan and make the appointment; and he only performs the thing that is appointed for us, in all that he works both in providence and grace.
Let us therefore adore the divine wisdom, seek grace to fall in with God's plan, and to acquiesce in the Lord's pleasure. His arrangement is perfect, his plan is complete, his purposes must be fulfilled, and his glory will be great in the consummation. If we cannot rise so high as to enjoy God's predestination, let us hold fast by his promises; but never let us cavil at his decrees, or dispute his right to do as he will with his own. Wrong he cannot do; and when all the cavillers and disputers of this world shall appear before him at last, he will say, "Friend, I do you no wrong!"—in which conscience will acquiesce, and the dispute will be settled forever.
Back to The Believer's Triumph!