Do I Hear a Whoa?

In Ephesians 1:4, we read, ‘For he chose us in him before the foundation of the world…’ I stopped there in the verse because, just last night (Monday, October, 3, 2022), I mused on those words.

Indeed, before the foundation of the world… before day one of creation, he knew me. Whoa, I thought. Of course, what Paul wrote in this verse isn’t just about about my choosing, or yours for that matter, but about everything that was, is and will be in the history of man and Jehovah’s new heaven and earth. Everything – past, present and future; seen and unseen – was foreknown of God and predestined. It’s in that sense – foreknown and predestined – that I can reconcile what the prophet Isaiah (46:10) wrote about Jehovah, ‘… declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.’

How about two whoa’s?

Now, you may ask, how can that be true? Well, as I consider it, God inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15). From such a high and holy mount anyone could see everything – coming and going. You could! You could both foreknow and predestine what would come and you could declare it, end from the beginning, especially if you could bring to pass what you imagined in your own mind. The way I envisage infinity, eternity? God’s holy habitation? All of created time, as we know it at least, started there and will return without void to its apex – God’s holy mount and eternal habitation, which is so high and lofty a place there is no air (metaphorically, time.) Consider Isaiah 55:11: So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Next consider God’s command. Was not all creation brought into existence by Jehovah’s command or words, ‘Let there be light?’ Didn’t the Apostle John write of Christ, ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God?’ (John 1:1)

Hmmm. The plot thickens.

Based on this – let’s call it my hypothesis at this point – if Jehovah did lay everything out in the counsel of His own mind before the foundation of the world… before He spoke His first words to make nothing (void) into something (quite a feat, eh? creating something out of nothing? You try it.) – everything that He planned beforehand He set into motion (which included, in my imagination, God’s ability to create a world with the appearance of billions of years just to confound and point out the folly of men). How is that? For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)

So, with that and in the dark of night, I asked myself what do we know that He planned for? Well…

• God gave the first man, Adam, an absolutely unencumbered right of choice – a truly free will, without an inclination towards evil.  Total innocence.
• God placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden, which God instructed Adam not to eat. A choice to make.
• Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, regardless of Eve’s involvement and Adam’s blaming her. His choice.
• Adam’s choice affected all mankind, and the curse of physical death was levied on all men.  The consequence resulting from his choice.

Doubtless God knew that Adam would disobey and eat. Nonetheless, in Genesis 3:14-15 we learn that God had a plan already established. That plan? To deal with the Devil, the one who tempted Eve (Eve did not necessarily hear the command God gave to Adam not to eat). In this passage, Jehovah revealed the curse He placed upon the serpent, Lucifer, ‘And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’ Oh, and that seed that God placed between the woman and the serpent was God’s only begotten Son, Jesus. You see, the eternal battle that has raged from the beginning has always been between Jehovah and those he cast out from heaven when Lucifer and his minions rebelled against God’s authority. And here we thought everything is about us. No, not all.

Man is but a pawn
which the Devil used to spawn
an earthly rebellion.
While the battle has long raged
the dead in Christ – in death, now raised,
all, except the hellions.

Now, consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’  It is a battle where we wrestle. In Galatians 5:17 we’re told, ‘For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.’ Yes, the elect of God are called to fight but our war is not with others of our kind. We are called to love our neighbor, whether he or she shares our faith. The elect know where their battle rages and they know to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians Chapter 6:11-18.)  You see? Because God both foreknew and predestined what would come our way, He is Jehovah-Jireh – our Provider, and He made provision. 1 Corinthians 10:13, God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 

The point I want to make is this: What I observed is true because God is God – apart from his humanity in Christ, God the Father is not a man. Thus, we can be confident. Jehovah-Jireh sees and declares the end from the beginning! Because he does, He is our Provider and we can trust Him. We also know what the Apostle Paul said is true, ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’ (Romans 8:28) How can that be true? Everything that happens – for good or evil? Yes, for God preordained all that would follow when He gave Adam that freedom of choice, and Adam chose to defy God’s instruction.

Herein I have great confidence and hope because God is in control for he planned it and set it into motion.