Salvation History. Chapter 2. God in Eternity.

Salvation History.
Chapter 2. GOD IN ETERNITY.
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The story of God’s plan for mankind begins way before there was a universe, before God created anything – in fact back to a “time” before there was anything else, only God.

I put the word “time” in inverted commas here because it is really the wrong word to use. Time, as we understand it, is related to this creation. Before this creation there was no time, only an eternity that stretched back into the “past” – but even that word is one we cannot really use because ideas of “past, present and future” belong to this time oriented creation. All there was, was God - and the eternity He inhabited.

In a later chapter we will discuss further the relationship of God to time and the nature of eternity, but for now let us confess it is a mystery we shall never fully understand in this life.

The plan of God, as we shall see, was to have some beings, mankind, who would be able to live in this eternity with Him and share the life He enjoyed. It may be that when we dwell in eternity with Him we shall have some understanding of what it is like.


GOD'S ACTIONS IN ETERNITY PAST.


(1) God Existed as a Trinity of Beings from all eternity.


God is one, but the Scripture reveal to us that this "oneness" contains a plurality of beings. This plurality is revealed to us to be three persons, the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God.

It is a mystery, but it is revealed to us in the incarnation of Christ.

The doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly stated in the Bible, it is Church doctrine. It was formulated from the Bible evidence by the Early Church for two reasons:

(i) To explain to an unbelieving world how the One God could be Three Persons, yet remain One. It was primarily a missionary response to the world’s question.
(ii) To overcome wrong concepts in the Church about this God we worship. It was an answer to heresy.

Thus the doctrine is both a missionary response and a defense against heresy. It sums up the truth of Christianity.

The Classic Statement was defined at the Church Council of Nicea and affirmed again at the Council of Constantinopal. It became the only creed agreed on by the whole Church.

It is summed up in the phrase: One ousia (substance), three hypostasis (persons).

This was the formulation of three Theologians known as "the Cappadocian Fathers" who were at Constantinopal, based on the work of Athanasius at the Council at Nicea. The two Councils affirmed their interpretation of the creed to be the correct one.

These points were made by the Church Fathers:
(i) The Father is the source and ground of the Trinity. The “substance” of God is not metaphysical, or some type of “substance-goo” but a Person. Thus the whole of reality is grounded in a Person; i.e. ultimate meaning is personal.
(ii) God is spirit thus ultimate reality is spiritual. But we are not to understand “spirit” in a metaphysical sense either. "Spiritual" does not mean "airey-fairy" or "insubstantial" compared with the idea of "physical" which we think of as being "solid" or "real". In actual fact the spiritual realm is more real than the physical realm but it is in a different dimension of existence. By comparison our physical real is the "airey-fairy" form of existence.
(iii) In that the Father speaks, the Trinity comes to being, the Son being his Word, the Spirit being his Breath (Pneuma = Spirit).
(iv) Both Word and Spirit come to be together, given eternal existence by the Father.
(v) The Word of God and the Breath of God are themselves given distinct hypostases (personhood) by the Father.
(vi) There never was when the Word was not, and hence the Spirit.
(vii) In that the Word and Spirit come from the Father they are of the same divine nature as the Father.
(viii) These three live in perfect unity.


(2) Perfect Communion existed within the Trinity.

In Eternity, God - The Father, Son and Holy Spirit - had perfect communion. This is taught in several ways in the Bible. The following verses speak of the relationship of the Father to the Word, the Son.

Proverbs 8:22-31.
"The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.”


John 1:1,2.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.”

* The idea contained in the phrase, “He was with God in the beginning” is that he was already there before the beginning, i.e. the beginning of creation. Thus the Word is eternal and thus he is fully divine.

John 17:5,24.
“(Jesus speaking) And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began…”
“…Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

* The phrase, “the world” in these two references is not to be limited just to the globe of Earth, rather it refers to the whole of the created universe. Christ thus claims to have had relationship with the Father before God began to create anything.
* This implies that Christ, the Word, is uncreated – he is before all creation. Thus he is eternal, he is divine.


We see this unity of the Trinity also in a picture the Early Church used to depict the Triune nature of God: that God is Love. This is essential to his nature as God. However the idea of love involves three things: A Lover, A Loved and the Love itself. Here we find the Trinity - the Father is the Lover, The Son is the Loved and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love.

To explain this "oneness" the Church teaches the Doctrine of Perichoresis:
The three persons of the Trinity indwell each other, yet without confusion of persons. Thus each knows perfectly the thoughts and intentions of the other. Thus they are of one will and one mind, having perfect understanding of each other and perfect agreement in thought and action.


(3) The Divine Decrees.


We may be tempted to think that God thought up his plan as he went along, particularly as problems arose like the rebellion of Lucifer and fall of man. Such is not the case. The Bible reveals that God had set in motion a plan for all Eternity - before he even began on his work of Creation. This plan has several points that the Bible tells us were specifically decided on by God before anything else was done.

We must remember that God dwells in Eternity, and as he looks at time he sees it like a piece of movie film. Hence when he thought of creation he was able to see it all before him, before he even began work on it. He could see the rebellion of Lucifer and the fall of man before creation even began. Hence he could build into his plan how to cope with those events.

God’s eternal plan was to bring into being a people who he could have fellowship with. This is called "Election". Before it all began God chose (elected) mankind, his own creation, to have a dignity of relationship with him, face to face. This was to be unique amongst all of the life forms God created - and we must assume that there are life forms on other planets we don't know of.

Jesus came to reveal eternity and to incorporate our time-based lives into that eternity. Apart from eternity humanity has no meaning – we are lost in an endless cycle of life and death which has no meaning. With the entry of eternity into time through Christ, history acquires a share in eternity and the event of Christ becomes a moment of decision.

God decided on several things even before he began to create. There was nothing that subsequently happened that he had not already planned for.


(a) God Settled His Counsel on Salvation.
(i) Christ’s sacrifice for sin was determined before Creation.

Revelation 13:7,8.
“He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast- all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

* The one “given power” here is the end-time Antichrist who persecutes the Church of God. For a period he seems to have rulership over the whole earth, but this doesn’t last long, as we shall see in later chapters.
* He sets himself up as God and makes people worship him – and those who don’t believe in Jesus do.
* What we really want to note here is that Jesus is called “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” God had determined that the way of salvation for mankind was going to be through the sacrifice of Christ. This determination was made before the creation of the world. The death of Christ was an event in time and eternity that has implications for all time and eternity, including the time before it happened.

(ii) The names of those who were to be saved were written in the book of life.

Revelation 17:8.
“The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.”

* This is a parallel reference to what we have just read about the Antichrist. But there is a difference.
* Here the thing that has been decided from before the creation of the world is whose names are going to be “written in the book of life”. However this is not an arbitrary decision of God’s over which we have no say, as we shall see. Rather the decision of God to write a name in the book of life is based on the fact that he knows from eternity what we are going to decide about Christ – whether to accept him as Saviour or to reject him. Because he knows from eternity what decision we are going to freely make for ourselves – before we make the decision – he was able to write our names in the book of life before Creation began.

(iii) Those who were to be saved were adopted as God’s sons.

Ephesians 1:4,5.
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…”

Here we find that God “before the creation of the world” decided three things about those who would accept Christ:
* That he (God) would “choose us in him (Christ)”. It is not only that we have chosen Christ – God has chosen us.
* Specifically he has chosen us to be “holy” (Set apart in a special way for God) and “blameless in his sight”. Because of the cleansing blood of Jesus there is no sin standing against us. God only sees us as already perfect, blameless because we are “in Christ”, and Christ is blameless.
* “he predestined us to be adopted as his sons”. We have been made members of his family, his children. But the idea goes beyond just becoming children, members of his family. In Roman law “to be adopted” meant to be made an heir of the Father’s estate. Even natural born sons had to be “adopted” to be qualified to receive the estate. In fact it was not uncommon for a rich man to “adopt” someone as heir who was not a natural son. God has predestined that his sons, those who are “in Christ” will be those who inherit the whole universe he has created.

Note on Predestination:
The idea of predestination has been the source of much controversy in the Church. More controversy than the few references to it in scripture warrants.
The extreme view teaches that God has predestined before creation who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell, i.e. who will be saved and who will not. Because God has predestined it already we really don’t have a choice in it. What God has decided will be.

This is confusing two different things, foreknowledge and predestination. God is omniscient – so he knew before creation who would respond to the gospel and be saved, but this is quite different to deciding for them whether they will be saved or not. Foreknowledge does not determine our choices for us – rather it simply says God knows what our choice will ultimately be. The extreme view of predestination suggests that God has predetermined our response for us - and that is not the case.

The idea that God has determined beforehand on a personal level who will be saved and who will not is contrary to scripture. God wants all people to be saved.

1 Timothy 2:3,4.
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

Predestination is not God deciding for us this choice; rather it is God determining what happens to us after this choice has been made.

The subject of predestination in Ephesians 1:5 is not the decision of accepting Christ, but what happens after that. Those who have decided to accept Christ are “in Christ”, and those who are “in Christ” God has predestined to be his “sons”. This is not to be understood in a sexist way, i.e. excluding women; rather it is a reference to the cultural fact of the time that only the sons were made heirs of the Father’s estate. By calling us all "sons" - whether we are male or female - God is saying that we all will share in the inheritance. Gender has no place in this decision. God here shows himself to be the first member of the Women's Liberation Movement.

So predestination, as taught here in Ephesians 1:5, basically says that “those who have decided to accept Christ, God has predestined to be heirs of his glory.”

Predestination then is limited to those who are already “in Christ”. It has nothing to do with whether or not we are going to Heaven or Hell. Nowhere does the Bible say God has predestined people to Hell. Hell was not, or is not going to be, made for men. It is for “the Devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41)”. Men only go there by their own choice, not by the choice of God.

(iv) Eternal life was promised to those who were to be saved.

Titus 1:2.
“a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,”

* Eternal life – the right to share in God’s own kind of life – was promised before the creation of the world.

(v) God gave us an eternal purpose and grace to enable us to fulfill it.

2 Timothy 1:9,10.
“…who has saved us and called us to a holy life- not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

* God’s unlimited favour, his grace, was given to those who accept Christ before we even existed, before the beginning of time, before creation.


(b) The Salvation of the Church was settled, and their part in God's plan.

Ephesians 3:6-11.
“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

* This is a “mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God”. It was the “eternal purpose” of God. It has always been God’s plan; it’s nothing new. It is not a “second option” because the first plan didn’t work. There was no other plan. It may have looked like there was another plan in the OT period but such was not the case. It only looked like a different plan because God had to keep aspects of his plan hidden until Christ was revealed.
* The mystery is that “in Christ” Jews and Gentiles receive the same promise. There is not one set of promises for Israel and another set for the Gentiles.
* The centre of this mystery is Christ. The promises we inherit are all through Christ. He has the “unsearchable riches”; we are simply invited to share in them.
* The outworking of this mystery is going to come “through the church”, not through any other group (including Israel).

(c) A Kingdom was Prepared.

Matthew 25:34.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

God has a kingdom – it was prepared before creation. It exists in God, in heaven now. But it did not break into the experience of men until Christ came. The prophet of the kingdom was John the Baptist:

Matthew 11:12-13.
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.“

John prophecied the soon coming of the kingdom, but the kingdom came in Jesus, the King. Since John, and then primarily since Jesus, the Kingdom of God has been breaking in on the kingdom of this world.

(d) Christ was Appointed Mediator.

(i) Of Creation.

Colossians 1:16,17.
“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.”

Revelation 3:14.
"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.”

John 1:3.
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

(ii) Of Preservation.

Colossians 1:17.
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

(iii) Of Redemption.

1 Peter 1:18-20.
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”

(iv) Of Judgement.

John 5:22.
“Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.”

(e) Christ Delivered Himself up for our Salvation.

Hebrews 9:14.
“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”


Thus the whole plan of God, creation and redemption, was determined before creation began. Hence redemption was not an afterthought put in by God to deal with the sin of man, but was part of the essence of how things are.

It is pointless to ask questions like, “What would it be like if…?” This universe is the only one we know, and it was planned with the incarnation and redemption in mind from the beginning. Hence in the End all things will find their fulfillment and meaning in Christ.

In the Christian allegory, the book, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S.Lewis it comes to the point where the Witch (who is the allegory of Satan) is trying to claim the life of Edward because he was a traitor. She claims that the "deep magic" of the universe says that the life of every traitor belongs to her.
Aslan, the Lion (who is the allegory of Christ) acknowledges her claim but calls on a "deeper hidden wisdom of the universe" which says another could be substituted for the traitor - life for life - and the traitor would go free. So Aslan offers himself in place of Edward and is killed on the stone table.

But later Aslan rises from the dead and in talking with the two girls explains: "The witch was right in her claim. The hidden wisdom of the universe meant that she had a just claim. But that same wisdom also allowed for a substitute." But then he goes on to explain to the girls that there was an even deeper hidden wisdom, that "If an innocent person died for the guilt of another then the judgement would be reversed by the wisdom and the one who died would be raised to life again."

In this picture C.S.Lewis depicts what we are talking about here in the gospel. God saw beforehand what was going to happen - the evil, the death, that was going to be unleashed on the earth through Satan and man's sin. But God also planned - before it even happened - and built into the fabric of the universe the methodology that he would use to reverse that death so that his original plan of having a relationship with man could be fulfilled.

It is this "secret hidden wisdom", that which God has written into the fabric of the universe, that I want to bring out in this series of studies. God has revealed it through Christ and we can experience it.