…Before the foundation of the world…before the ages began…before times eternal… (Ephesians 1:4, Titus 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:9)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1)
In the beginning was the word… (John 1:1)
You’re Older Than You Think
The reality of God’s love and purpose for you (and everything) must be seen and known in light of Ephesians 1. Called, chosen, adopted, loved, promised, provided for - all before one star was strewn across the night sky or one grain of sand began to make up the beach. You preceded creation. The purpose of God’s will revolved around you and Jesus before any of the fireworks of Genesis 1.
You think the mountains are awesome? They were an afterthought compared to you. The stars can be counted. God’s thoughts towards you cannot. There is an immenseness that we miss when we fail to begin at the beginning. And the beginning is not Genesis 1. It is Ephesians 1. The gospel of God’s love and purpose for you predates the creation of the world.
Adding Why To What
Purpose precedes action precedes reality.
In creation (reality) we see what God did (action), and by it understand who God is. But only through Christ do we know why He did it / to what end He did it (purpose). The ‘mystery of his will’ is revealed to us only through the gospel: the act of redemption accomplished by Jesus on the cross (Ephesians 1:9).
Redemption is purchasing some reality from non-existence by the sacrifice of another reality’s existence. It is a transfer of being. For example, I have a coupon for a free cup of coffee. The coupon is real, the cup of coffee is not. I must cause the coupon to cease to be real to me in order for the coffee to become real to me. I must redeem the cup of coffee by transferring the being of the coupon to the cup of coffee. Jesus does this for us in regards to our righteousness, and he does it in regards to God’s purpose.
Mission Accomplished
Our state of righteousness is embodied in Jesus. It was not a reality in anyone before the cross. Christ redeems us from our sinful state by allowing God to transfer His being to us. He became sin that we may become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). The reality of our righteousness comes at the expense of Christ’s.
And in doing so Christ also redeems God’s purpose of uniting everything in subjection to one head, Christ himself (Ephesians 1:10). The reality of His position of exaltation is redeemed by Jesus giving up his life in humble submission (Philippians 2). The reality that now exists is the product of God’s action in accordance with God’s purpose from before the beginning.
Ponder this new timeline of events and be transported to time before time when God’s purpose for you always existed. And be lifted out of the earthly, temporal muck that we feel every day. Yes, the muck is still going to be there, but so is the love that has been yours forever. What will your focus be? It’s your choice.
