“Lord Jesus, words are not enough to thank You that You chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before You in love. In Your name, we pray. Amen.”
Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
Though the sin of humanity, for crucifying the Son of God, is in no way being condoned, what is the overarching plan of God in decreeing His Son to be crucified?
The Lord is separating for Himself, His bride, His church. I Peter 1:15-17 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, (16) because it is written, “BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” (17) And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
The Lord will judge all of us, without partiality. Yes, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to His Holy Spirit. Being in Christ Jesus and saying that there is now no condemnation, is about His grace, by which He enables us to be holy as He is holy.
This application of His grace is what God intended for us to have, by faith in His Son, who was crucified before the foundation of the world.
I Peter 1:18-22 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, (19) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (20) He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you (21) who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (22) Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
The eternal plan of God, of taking His Son to the cross, was for God to set apart His church. We are to be a demonstration of God’s grace, which becomes applicable by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
We are not redeemed by silver or gold, which are corruptible. The non-negotiable criteria of being His church is that we are those whose pursuit is not after the material things of life.
I Timothy 6:6-10 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. (7) For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. (8) And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. (9) But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. (10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith* in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
When we take a glance at ourselves as His church, we are appalled, for our pursuit is evidently after money. We attempt to put a cloak over our covetousness, claiming to be people of God, because we hope to please God with our works. Will we repent and seek Him with our whole heart?
Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world to set us apart as the bride of Christ, from the stench of the world, by the application of His grace.
The second area in which God is separating His church from the pollution of the world is from the tradition of our fathers or the culture of the world. God has given us His culture, whereas the world has put in place a counter-culture, that is against God.
The God-culture was given to us from the very beginning. Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (27) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The God-culture begins with us being in the image of God (vs 26). We rule over God’s creation, in His image. The details of how we will rule over God’s creation are further explained in the following verses (vs 27-28).
Therefore, to set apart His bride, free from self-seeking, but living out the God-culture, by grace through faith, God pre-ordained His Son to go to the cross.
God has brought this into place by washing us with His precious blood. We are to sincerely love the brethren.
May we as His church, live in the understanding of why God foreordained His Son to go to the cross before the foundation of the world.