“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him BEFORE the foundation of the world…” Ephesians 1:3
It is one thing for men to use the day of their birth as a point of reference concerning life, and this for as long as they live on earth. It is quite another to go back even further to the creation of the world and use it as a point of reference to understand something of the meaning of man’s existence, in particular as it relates to God. But Scripture goes back even farther than this to reveal to mankind in the past, the present, and in the future, that with regard to the eternal God, the point of reference to begin with to understand the worth of man in God’s sight, the marvel of his creation, and in particular the enormity and magnitude of the perfect work of Christ on the cross to save him from his sins, Satan, and world, goes back into eternity, beyond the grasp of man to truly understand. Man can only stand on the eternal gulf of the wisdom and knowledge of God, and gaze with earnest intent to seek to understand something of the meaning and purpose of life. The one single, and overwhelming “factor” that gives purpose and direction to man in this present fallen world, is the eternity of the everlasting, unchanging God, who is good, merciful, and faithful. It is for this reason that God through the Scriptures, whether in speaking of the “everlasting love” that He had for Israel, and believers today, or in the days when Jesus walked this earth, that He would pray concerning, “…the glory which I had with You before the world was,” (Jn. 17:5), God’s eternal purpose, will, and desire is made known to men. As it was before the beginning, and in the beginning, so now it is, having never changed. The work of God in a human soul is an eternal one, designed by God, and will be finished by Him for His glory, and the eternal blessing of men. The question becomes, “And how shall man in his littleness, and sinfulness, respond to such knowledge and truth?” “Is it possible to know the mind of Christ, the will of God, the means of receiving His blessing in its fulness, in order to glorify God, finishing that work which God would have us to trust Him for, increasingly coming to know Him?” Part of the answer to these questions lies in the details of God’s calling, details which lead us to a deeper faith in Christ, and the experience of His power and strength to live in a manner worthy of Him.
When God called Moses to go to Egypt and be His servant to lead the people of Israel out of slavery and into the promised land, He was dealing with a man who was approximately eighty years old. Moses was a “broken” man at this time, for the concepts that he had of himself being great in Egypt had been dashed. Though he received glimpses of his calling from God while a younger man in Egypt, he was now persuaded that he could not deliver Israel. He was no longer eloquent, able to speak. God would save Moses from himself, in order to reveal His glory in Him, making him to understand his eternal calling and purpose.
When Jeremiah was called of God, God would tell him: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer. 1:5) The unchanging, established calling of Jeremiah was in the heart of God, according to His perfect design before he was born.
As for the Apostle Paul, he would write that God had separated him from his mother’s womb, “not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, Christ being revealed IN him to preach Christ to all.
Dear Father, Open our blind eyes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.